More Boxes Coming

I just placed all my yarn orders *Squeal* unfortunately they are going to have to last me for awhile. Kaity has a B-Day coming up and of course that means B-Day party for her and her friends....that should be lots of fun. : )
Back to what's making me smiley and happy. I decided to go with the JaggerSpun Zephyr in Emerald for my Civil War Shawl KAL. So I went ahead and bought that and got the pattern on order. Then it was off to Knit Picks I go....Yippy. Don't you just love, love, love Knit Picks. I got a few things, needles, cables and such. Plus I got a pattern and some yummy yarn so that I can start knitting up a B-Day gift. I still have quite a few months to go but want to get started early. I won't talk about the B-Day gift till after the recipient has gotten it. Then I'll definitely post some pics.
Finally it was off to shop at The Loopy Ewe. I love that shop and all it's yummy sock yarn goodness. I snagged some mini Soak sample packs, Schaefer Ann in a georgous green and blue colorway (I believe is called Blue Spruce), Cherry Tree Hill supersock in Tropical Storm colorway for my Martha socks, the Parallel sock pattern by Wildhorse Farm and the Loop Ewe Stitchmarker set...they were so cute I couldn't pass them up. My order from Sheri was my reward for having to shave Shadow.
Now I must be good with my yarn orders till after our vacation in March. Well except for the LYS hopping during vacation time. : ) There is one shop I will definitely go to and one more that I'm going to try to hit.
Even though this is my last order for now, I can look forward to the $25 gift certificate I'll be able to order after the 22nd of Feb. I've got enough points from MyPoints.com to get another gift card. I knew I was reading those emails and visiting websites for a reason.....lol. Not to bad for a few minutes of time out of my day. I think it took me about 6 months to get enough for the certificate. Definitely not a major money maker but it helps me pay for my knitting books. : ) I think I'll get it to use at Overstock.com. This one will be buying the new More Sensational Knitted Socks and maybe a book or two more. There are so many books that I want....just look at my Amazon.com wish list.....lol. I'm going to stretch that $25 as far as I can go and I'm sure I'll end up kicking in a few dollars....lol.

Tuesdays Fun!

What do you get when you take one human mommy, a very shaggy 35 lb cocker spaniel, 2 pair of clippers, and 6 hours of time? You get a human mommy wanting a Capt Morgans and Coke, with a very clogged nose, coated in the hair that was once on the cocker spaniel and a cocker with a bad hair cut.
This afternoon I swapped my knitting time for dog shaving time. My cocker spaniel, Shadow, was in serious need of a grooming. My fault completely, I've been a bad mommy. Due to lack of time the poor girl ended up with a bunch of knots in her fur and the hair on the top of her head was so long she couldn't see where she was going. : )
Now me being allergic to pet dander and all, wanted to take my loving fur baby to our groomer to get her done up. When I groom the dogs it plugs my nose up almost all the way and gives me a vicious headache. So you could probably understand why I would want to take Shadow to the groomer.
Now a normal trip to the groomer would cost about $50 or so but with all the knots and long fur it probably would have upped the price considerably. So Shawn in his infinite wisdom and frugality decided that we (please interpret the we as I) would shave Shadow here at the house. So being the helpful spouse that he is he ran to the store to get me another pair of clippers (YIPPY)!!!.....my first set is getting dull and I need to get new blades.
Between 2 sets of clippers and 6 hours of time I was able to get Shadow shaved, yes she was that bad and no it ain't pretty so I will skip the pics. Needless to say, from here on out Shadow will be going to a groomer and Trish will not be shaving dogs anymore. : )
5 hours later I'm starting to finally be able to breathe out my nose. I still want that Capt Morgans and Coke but since I'm nursing Bree still the rum and coke will have to wait *sigh*.

Sock Update

This sock is moving along so quickly. Tonight was night number three of knitting on this sock, well actually I don't really count the first night I started the second sock because I only put like 5-6 round of ribbing on it before I ditched it to catch some sleep. All I wanted to do on Saturday night was get it on the needles so I wouldn't drag my feet about getting the second sock started. I'm getting ready to start the heel turn. I may very well have these done before the end of the week. I doubt that they will be done before the end of the month but they will be done by this weekend putting the socks at about 3 weeks to make. Not to bad.

Valuable Lesson

Today I learned a new lesson. Clorox 2 color safe bleach will indeed freeze when left outside in the winter. We shop at Costco's for certain things, which of course means that it's bought in bulk. Among those things are laundry soap, fabric softener, and Clorox 2. Since I have a small house but have a nice shed with cabinets and shelves I keep a lot of my stuff stored out in the shed with the freezer. Now I know for a fact that the fabric softener doesn't freeze, since I've filled up the small bottle I keep in the house several time. Of course silly me assumed that everything else would be fine out there.....WRONG! This is what happens when you assume. So now I have a bottle of Clorox 2 sitting in my kitchen unthawing so that I can use it to do laundry.....lol. Had I known that it would freeze I would have brought it in last night so that it could unthaw just like I do with the syrup. I guess I need to check the laundry soap to see if it is frozen. At least I will now know this for future occurrences....lol.

On the knitting front, I've got about 2 inches done on the cuff of my sisters second sock. only 4 more to go before the heel. I'm itching to cast on something else but am holding back so that I can get these socks done. Plus I'm going to be ordering some yarn (CTH and Schaefer Anne) and a new pattern from Sheri so I'm going to wait to get that so I can cast on with one of those yarns. Unfortunately this will be the last of my internet ordering for now. I may pick up some yarn while in Oregon on vacation.

I believe that Shawn thinks I need more yarn like I need a whole in the head so I think I will refrain from buying more for now....lol. Of course he doesn't stop me from buying but he does roll his eyes so I can imagine what is going through his mind....lol. I need to find that man a hobby. ***Trish sits in her computer chair pondering about getting her hubby hooked on knitting*** Yeah right, like that's ever going to happen....lol. Although our budget probably couldn't handle another knitter right now anyways. : )

First Sock Done!!!!

WooHoo. It only took me 13 days to do it but the first sock is done....lol. I did cast on the second sock as soon as I got done winding the yarn into a center pull ball. I actually sat there and counted out the colors in order on the finished sock as the yarn was winding into a ball. I wanted to make sure that I was going to have enough yarn. Good news is I've got enough with a few yards to spare. I've yet to breakdown and buy a digital scale to weight yarn on. I've added it to my list but for some reason yarn keeps getting bumped to the top of the list.

This sock had better fit my sister. I tried it on and it's to tight and short for me so it should fit her just fine. Her foot is about 1/2 a size smaller then me plus her foot is skinnier. My sizing has been right on the money with all of Kaity's socks so I think it's good to go. Of course she isn't here right now so it will have to wait till she gets back.

My Aunt is wanting to learn how to make socks and is waiting for me to come over in March so that I can help her through the sock making process. My guess is that she's seen a pair of Kaity's hand knit socks. The kid wears the hell out of them so I would not be surprise if she packed at least on pair....lol. I'm going yarn store hopping when I get over there so I'll be able to help her get some yarn and needles. I think I'm going to have her make her first sock with worsted weight or at least sports weight yarn so she can get a handle on using the needles. This should be a FUN challenge since we are talking about someone that hasn't wanted to move past the knit stitch....lol. This should be fun teaching her to SSK and K2tog....Lol. Wish me luck and lots of patience. : )

Burnin' Up the Sock Yarn

It's amazing what a little uninterrupted knitting time will do for a person. There was no one to interrupt me so I got a good amount of knitting done. I will definitely be casting on the second sock for my sis tonight. I've got about 26 rows to knit and I can Kitchner the first sock and get to crackin' on the second one. I started this sock on 14 Jan so it's taken me about 13 days to get to this point. Of course there were days when I didn't work on the sock at all. So all in all not too bad. Of course I still have the other one to finish. Hopefully it doesn't take me quite as long to finish it up. I'm sure I'll post one more time tonight before I head to bed. I'll post some pics of the socks.
I'm off to go get my stinky little monkey in the bath and then hopefully to bed on time.

6 Weird Things About Me

Ok, I've been tagged by Tammy. Of course I have to be the odd ball and do things differently. I'm one of those people who don't like to pass these kind of things off on other people because I feel that I'm bothering them. So what I'm doing is giving everyone who reads my blog the option to do this on their own blog. So if you wanna answer the questions copy em and paste them on your blog....no obligation. I'm sure I'm breaking some major blogland rule....lol. Thats me, the rule breaker and odd ball.

It took me a little while to come up with these and even these are stretching for being weird. I ended up saving this post as a draft more then once. I had a hard time coming up with weird things about me.....probably because Shawn isn't here right now to point out my weirdness.

Six Weird Things About Me
THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

1. I'm a closet NASCAR fan. Ok, now there are a few more people that know I like NASCAR....lol.

2. I absolutely hate the game of baseball, I'd rather watch paint dry or grass grow....how much more un-American can I get. However I will watch little kids play baseball, because that is cute and funny.

3. I hate the taste of meatloaf but can eat hamburger made up any other way without a problem, including baked in casseroles.

4. I talk to myself and answer my own questions frequently....OK that could be considered borderline scary....lol.

5. I feel guilty when I spend money on myself instead of my two girls.

6. I love to shop but don't really care for going to the mall....way to many rude people.

I'm giving everyone the option to answer or not. I'm not tagging anyone. Once again I have to be the Odd Ball....lol.

Updates Finally!

I finally have an update on my sisters socks. I managed to get a whole lot of rows in on the foot of it. I've managed to get 5.5 inches of 7.5 inches for the foot done, 2 inches left before I start the toe decrease....Yippy!!! I'm really hoping that I can get the first sock finished and get the second one casted on before the end of this weekend. Shawn was laughing the other night because when he got home I was standing in the kitchen working on my sisters socks and cooking dinner. Shoot I was just frying some potatoes so I had free time in between flipping the taters. I'm now taking advantage of every free moment to work on them. If I get the second sock cast on this weekend then I'm going to start some socks for Bree. I have enough of the LL Rainbow yarn left over from Kaity's socks so I'll make some wild socks for Bree.
I must have some bad JuJu going on right now. This is my weekend that is going to be Shawn and Kaity free and what happens....I end up with a nasty head cold. Go figure! Of course that isn't going to stop me from enjoying this weekend. Chances are I'm going to sit around the house and enjoy the quiet, well at least the quiet when Bree is napping. : )

DIY Knit-In/Warm Up America

Found out this info reading Isabelle's blog.

Super Knit Sunday, Feb. 4, 5 pm - 11 pm ET

DIY is holding a Knit-In on Super Bowl Sunday. They are asking Knitters & Crocheters to make 7"x 9" squares to send to Warm Up America. DIY has more info out on there site. You can read more about it here. Just wanted to spread the word to all those who are interested.

Stash Enhancement

I got this lovely stash enhancement from Sue. Lots of different shades of Lorna's Lace worsted weight and Manos del Uruguay. I've tagged several hanks for stuff for the girls. The pastel hanks are definitely going to be simple sundresses for Bree and I'm thinking about using two hanks to make the cute little skirt in Creative Knitting Magazine for Kaity. My hands are just itchin' to get to knittin'....lol.

Updates

I'm now officially on the list to be a part of Sheri's first ever Seasonal Sock Club. I can't wait till the first one comes out. I also wanted to join the Socks That Rock Sock Club but it wasn't in the cards this year.....didn't have the money. Maybe next year. I do need to order a skein or two of Socks That Rock so I can try it out. I've heard it's awesome to knit with.
I've finally decided to go with Zephyr laceweight for my shawl. I'll be ordering that next week. I've been hem hawing over it for the past few days. I think I'm going to go with Emerald. If I don't go with Emerald then I'm going to go with one of the dark reds.
I get the house almost to myself this weekend....Bree is the only one who'll be here. Shawn and Kaity are taking our cat Mr. Puff back to my Aunt. He's a killer on our allergies so my Aunt is taking him back. It's going to be so quiet here.

LL Shepherd Sport Socks Done

They're done. Yippy, Skippy! I finished up Kaity's Lorna's Lace Rainbow socks. I think they came out pretty good. I decreased a little more in the foot to get them to snug up on her feet. I think the next pair I try will be toe ups, but that will be a little while I need to get my sisters socks finished next.

Old Meow

Here he is folks....Old Meow in all his glory. Don't you love his snazzy clothes?. They came from various mini babies that have been bought for Kaity. She striped the babies and gave the clothes to Old Meow. I had to make him a scarf to keep him warm. I'm waiting for her to ask me to make him a sweater...lol.
This cat is Kaity's most favorite thing on the face of the planet. The poor cat has patches of fur missing almost like he has mange, his eyes are scratch like he has glaucoma, and his whiskers were rubbed off years ago. This rates up there with her first blankie she had before my mom sewed a new one for her. I've got it put up but that blankie has more holes in it the swiss cheese...lol. I wonder if this is what Ty had in mind when they came out with this Beanie Baby....lol.

The New Cat's Sleeping Bag

Kaity informed her Daddy that her new stuffed kitty had to have a sleeping blanket like Old Meow. I'll explain Old Meow. This cat was once a pristine white Ty Beanie Baby Cat. Of course that was 3 years ago. I can attest to the quality of Ty's products. This poor cat has been completely abused and has gone through the washer and dryer many, many times. He's very well loved.
My mom bought me Jan Eaton's "200 Ripple Stitches" book for me. I sat down one day with a big skein of Red Heart Classic yarn in a bright yellow and started trying out the stitches. I gave all the swatches to Kaity. There was one that was longer then the others so I folded it over and made a sleeping bag out of it and gave it to Kaity for Old Meow. Old Meow will not sleep without his sleeping bag and scarf I made him. I'll have to get a pic of the cat and his bag. It's priceless. I'm sure that after seeing this bag for the new cat, Old Meow is going to be jealous and want a new bag....lol. Just wait I'll be spending another evening knitting another bag with scrap yarns.

Anyway back to present time, Kaity told Shawn to tell me that her new Kitty (can't remember its name right at the moment) needs her own sleeping bag because Old Meow refuses to share and she doesn't want her new Kitty to get cold. Thus the pictures I'm now showing you. I'm not the one who picked out the yarn.....that one can be blamed on a 5 year old.....lol. So this is what my few hours of knitting was spent on tonight and why I'm going to bed so late. I know it will be loved so it makes it worth it.

Civil War KAL

I decided that I'm going to make my first foray into making a shawl. Of course I go and pick a big one....lol. This thing is suppose to be like 72" in diameter. I'm going to have to figure out how I'm going to block this baby when I'm done with it. I don't think I have that much space in my house...lol.
The other day I joined in on the Civil War KAL. I saw the design and fell in love with it. Of course now I can't decide if I'm going to use lace weight or fingering weight yarn. I was starting to chicken out on the lace weight yarn since it is so skinny but now I'm thinking about going with it. I've got until payday to make up my mind...lol. I'll probably go with lace weight, time to get brave and jump right in. If I go with lace weight yarn then I'm going with Sue's suggestion and getting JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk Yarn.
Of course this also means another shopping trip through the Knit Picks website for some longer cables.....of course that means I'll have to buy something else....lol. I think I'll lay off the sock yarn for now. I may pick up some worsted weight yarn to try my hand at a skirt for Kaity I found in March's Creative Knitting magazine. I can get some of the Swish Superwash.

More Boxes

I got in just about everything that I had ordered. The only thing I'm waiting on is some yarn that I ordered for Kaity's sweater. Here's shots of some of the things that I got in. Isn't that Opal Summer Night yarn just the yummiest yarn you ever saw. It's a little less bright in person but it's still beautiful. When I ordered from Knit Picks I just had to throw in some sock yarns....lol. I got some Memories sock yarn in the Rocky Mountain colorway (purples and blues), I picked up two skeins of the Dancing sock yarn....it's $1.99 a skein, can't pass that up. I picked up one skein of the Essentials Bight Pink (think they call it Bubblegum) sock yarn for Kaity. And the stitch markers I bought off eBay. They have a store called Keeping You In Stitches, eBay ID: immaile2. I paid $3 per set and like $1.50 for shipping.....very reasonable. They'll also customize the ring size at no additional charge. I had them make my markers to fit needles up to a US 10.5 since I have a cute little set of green ones for socks.

Just Frog It

I had read on ScoutJ's blog about her experience with frogging some projects. One of these days I'm going to get some of her hand dyed yarn....it looks absolutely gorgeous and I've heard tons of great things about her yarn. I decided to snag the button she made and frog some projects that I just knew I was never going to finish. So if you've noticed I took out the two scarves I was working on. I was just totally hating the one for my hubby. The scarf looked like it would be the perfect width for Kaity but would never work for my hubby. I'm going to give the Seaman's Scarf out at Knit Picks site a try since it's 9 inch wide and I could probably tweak the pattern to make it wider if I had too....I don't think I will have too though. Aaaaahhh, now that those projects are out of the way and not constantly haunting me, I can finish up on some of my other ones. I haven't touched my sisters socks or Kaity's socks in days. I need to get crackin' on those. : )

Sniffle Sniffle

Sniffle, Sniffle....I didn't get any more boxes today.....lol. Although I didn't think I would actually see any more boxes come in today. I did get my replacement needles and cables for my Options set but I didn't get my Knit Picks order that was placed either the same day or the day before my call to Knit Picks for the replacement needles and cables.....lol. Of course my replacements were sent out USPS First Class mail and my order which got hung up in Denver for 5 days was sent via Fedex Smartpost. Who said Fedex was suppose to be faster. : )

Plus I'm waiting on Fedex to bring the new parts to Kaity's dresser mirror. We got Kaity a new 6 drawer big girl dresser for her room and it has a big mirror that mounts to the back of the dresser. The mirror mounts were flawed so they are sending us new ones.

I'm figuring I'll see my Knit Picks order, Opal yarn, and stitch markers sometime next week. I'll still have my yarn for Kaity's sweater and the order of needles from the new place. Man I didn't realize I still had so much stuff out there. I knew the stitch markers were going to take an extra day or so before they shipped because the seller is going to custom make them so they will fit on all my needles up to US 10.5. I already have some pretty green ones for sock making....needed some for my bigger needles. I have some of the boyle plastic ones but I wanted some pretties...lol.

Well I'm off to try and get my little monkey in bed....hopefully.....so I can knit.

Box #'s 3, 4, & 5

Even though I have to go through the headache of canceling my debit card, the good part is I got 3 more boxes in today. I got my two orders from JoAnn's.....fun fur and a yarn winder. The other box was from Sheri at the Loopy Ewe.....key chain sock blocker and some sock yarn to use for socks for Kaity and Bree. Sheri is awesome and I love the fact that she puts little extras in and she personalize your order with a note on your invoice. I'm sure that I'll be ordering from Sheri a lot more in the future.

I'm off to go give my little monkeys a bath.

Beware of JKLNeedles.com

I just want to warn everyone about ordering from jklneedles. Stupid me, I never thought to check them out before purchasing. Needless to say I will never purchase without major research again or if the website comes highly recommended by someone I trust. I've read quite a few posts about Needles! from the Knitters Forum. If you want to read more go here. There's definitely enough people that have had problems with them to stay away. Plus the BBB has had quite a few complaints and the business has never responded to them. There's a major tip there that the site is worthless.

I started to search when after a week I hadn't heard anything back on some needles I ordered and the business never replied back to the 3 different emails that I sent them. I found 2 different phone numbers for the company and when I called them, Surprise, neither number was for Needles!

Thankfully I was never charge for the order. I sent an email to the company stating that I was canceling my order and then to be on the safe side my bank recommended that I cancel my debit card and have a new one reissued. So now I'm out a debit card for the next 7-10 business days. What a pain in the butt end!!!

I've ordered my new DPN's from Full Thread Ahead where they may have cost me $1 more per set but at least I know they will ship out my order on time.

Poor Bree

My poor little Bree was so crabby today because of her 6 month shots and they also gave her a flu shot, which came to a grand total of 3 shots. She didn't nap at all and she didn't want to be anywhere but cuddled up in my arms. I felt so bad for her, but at least she doesn't have to get anymore for 6 months.

Bree went to bed late so I didn't get much knitting done. I decided to cast on for another fun fur hat. They're simple mindless knitting so I can do that through the day when Bree is awake and Kaity is at home. I'll save my sock knitting and Peanuts blanket to work on at night when both my girls are in bed. That way I don't lose count and have to tink or even worse frog. Ah, ya gotta love knitting speak.

My yarn stash is slowly taking over a corner of the living room. There is yarn in zip up bags, ziplock bags, grocery bags, priority mail bags....you name it they're all over the place.....not to mention the yarn in the plastic tubs. Here in the next few days I'm going to be doing some major organizing. Kaity has a play kitchen that is beat up and falling apart, plus she doesn't play with it anymore so out it goes and in comes the 3 big drawer storage thing that use to have all my quilting stuff in it. Yes I like to make quilts too but don't have the room or time to set up my sewing machine to sew right now, so I sold off my fabrics on eBay. Some day I'll have a room of my own for my crafts. I'm a woman of many talents. :-)

And here I am adding to my stash and planning on adding more.....Ok I can see a habit forming here...lol. I've been looking for worsted weight yarn to make Bree some summer dresses. I know it's winter but I've got to start planning now. There are three different dresses I'm looking at. I'm leaning more toward the one called Emma's Sundress and the Knitting Pure & Simple Toddler Jumper/Sundress (see my side bar for projects in waiting). The Knitting Pure and Simple uses about 205 yards of yarn and I was thinking about splurging on one or two dresses and getting some Lorna's Lace Shepherd Worsted....maybe I'll get lucky and catch a sale somewhere. I just love that yarn.....I think it would make a soft dress. I think for the rest I will probably fall back on Plymouth Encore in both solids and prints.

Well I'm off to go dream of yarn frolicking around in a meadow with butterflies and flowers waiting for me to take it home and knit it up into something beautiful. I know, I know I just can't be a normal woman and dream of Russell Crow or George Clooney.....lol.

Box #2

Box #2 came in today, only 6 more to go. It would have been 5 to go but I bought some Opal Summer Night sock yarn off of eBay. It's so gorgeous, I couldn't pass it up. Plus is was $15.50 for a 100gm hank so the price was definitely nice too. I was expecting the fun fur to come through regular mail but to my surprise the UPS lady was knocking on my door this afternoon. This box was the yarn that I ordered from Yarnzilla for the Fur Fur Charity Hats. She has good prices and fair shipping. These yarns will make up some super bright hats.

Peanut's Blankie

I started baby Peanut's blanket tonight. I've got 4 of the 6 blocks that go across done and have started the 5th one. I don't think it's going to take me to long to get this blanket done....what you see here in the pic is about 3 hours of work. I'm liking this pattern and I am definitely loving this yarn....Encore Colorspun. It's 80% acrylic and 20% wool so it has a nice soft feel to it because of the wool. For being mostly acrylic it doesn't have that acrylicy type feel to it. I will be buying this yarn again. I might buy some of the DK weight to make some socks for Kaity. Even the worsted weight would make good house socks. The worsted weight which is what I'm using feels a little lighter and thinner then Red Heart. I'm thinking about getting some of the pink/purple mix to make a bigger blanket for Bree. If I make one for Bree I'm going do a little pattern changing and make the squares 8" x 8" instead of 4" x 4". This blanket should come out small enough that it will be able to be used for a variety of things. Which is what I was shooting for and I want a something that can take the abuse of everyday life. This blanket definitely fits that bill.

Now on to this pic. Does this look like a baby who is enjoying her dinner? I think not....lol. We tried Peas today and they did not go over at all. She liked the Carrots and Sweat Potatoes but she is just not liking the Peas right now. We'll set those aside for another day and move on to something else. Squash or Green Beans....which will she like? lol!!!!

Box #1

Got my first of 7 boxes in the mail today. This one was from The Naked Sheep. I think I'll order from them again. Shipping is free in the US and it's fast. They sent my stuff Priority Mail. They shipped my stuff out on Friday and I got it today (3 days)....not to bad since it traveled from Vermont to Idaho and the mail didn't run on Mon....lol. In this box is the yarn and pattern for baby Peanut's blanket. The pattern link is in the Projects In Waiting section of my blog. I'm loving this color. It was hard to get a good pic of it on the net so I wasn't 100% positive I was going to like it. On most sites it looks so washed out because they are soft colors. This yarn is a really pretty mint, yellow & white print. I think it's going to work up nice. The pattern looks fairly easy and it makes sense so that is good...lol. I'm dying to cast on for this one. Since its a piggyback blanket it doesn't appear I'm going to need a cable longer then 24" or 32" which I already have. I think I'll cast on for this one after I get my workout in. I'll post updates tonight.

Well I'm off to get Bree down for a nap and do my walking.

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Quick Update & Then Sleep

I thought I would post an update on my sisters socks. I've finished the gusset so now I'm not the back stretch. Since the pattern goes all the way down the foot it is taking me a little longer then a plain sock. But I think it's worth it since they look good. They did give me a little bit of a headache earlier when I found a damn knot in the yarn. The knot I can handle, what pissed me off was the fact that they didn't even have the common decency to tie it together so that the color runs were still the same. So I had to spend several minutes pulling the yarn at the skein till I got back to the run were I was at. The sock looks like its suppose to but now I have to more ends to weave in....Yuck!!! Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I won't complain to much. I've heard heard worse knot stories then mine.
Here's my pics and I'm off to go catch as much sleep as I can. : )

At least I'm not seeing little green men today....lol.

Milage & Sleep

On a good note, I finally got some sleep today. Shawn took leave so that he could take care of Bree today so I could get a few hours of sleep in the morning and I was able to catch some more this afternoon. It's amazing how good you feel after a few hours of sleep. Now here's hoping that Bree decides to sleep tonight.

I just noticed I have about 74 days left to get my 100 miles done. Well actually I have 66 to go because I'm going to visit family during my daughters spring break. So now I need to try to figure out how to get 94 miles done in 66 days. I know I can do it if I can get Bree back on a normal schedule. I was getting in about 3 miles every day, until she started giving me trouble. I want to make this goal and my reward for making it before I leave will be a trip to the LYS's in Bend, OR...Yipee!!! So you can see why I want to make it. Plus it helps me hit my ultimate goal of losing 50 pounds. So far I've lost 1.5 pounds....guess it really does help to cut a good chunk of sugar out of your diet.

If Bree goes to bed at a decent time tonight I may get to do a little knitting. I want to get the socks done. I'm seriously thinking about frogging the scarfs I was working on for Shawn and I. I'm going to have fun fur hats to knit up as soon as I get the fun fur and I want to get started on a sweater for Kaity. I'm going to be starting a baby blanket for Baby Peanut, plus I have my socks to work on and my dishcloth KAL....this time around we are using cables on the cloth....that should be interesting.

Sleep Deprivation

Lack of sleep can do all sorts of weird things to you. I'm so tired now, I'm expecting that at any minute I'm going to start seeing little green men with purple & red mohawks go running through my living room. Wait, wait I think I just saw one. : ) Yup it was definitely a little green man. Oh man here comes three more. I'm being invaded.

I thought I had it made tonight with Bree. I had her in bed at like 8 pm. I figured I'd check my email, say goodnight to Kaity and Shawn and head off to La La Land to count hanks of yarn frolicking in a meadow. Well I didn't even get a chance to close my eyes...darn I so wanted to count all those beautiful hanks...lol. I was all but in bed when a screaming I did here come from Bree's room. So I go get her and I'm thinking to myself "Great she's now had about an hours worth of sleep" which translates to crap Bree's going to be up for at least 4 hours or so. 4 hours it was, I finally got her in bed around 1 am, crawled into bed less then 5 minutes later. I was just dozing off when I heard fussing coming through loud and clear on the monitor at about 1:20 am. It's now 3 am and she's still wide awake and I've all but given up on the hopes of sleeping. Meanwhile the rest of the household is sleeping soundly...I'll have to envy their sleep.

I didn't get much done with knitting yesterday, Bree was pretty fussy and I was just way to tired to get much done. I managed to accomplish a few gusset decreases on my sisters sock but I'm going to double check that after I've had some sleep....need to make sure I didn't forget a decrease along the way. Looks like today is going to be another non knitting day. The good news is that all my orders have shipped, except for one....well I'm waiting on a reply from the store to see if it's shipped. That's will perk me up to see all my lovely orders come in....almost like Christmas.

Well I'm off to go have my coffee and find something to eat. Might as well have my creature comforts if I'm going to have to be awake. : ) Please excuse any sentence that don't make sense....lack of sleep is making me crazy.....plus the little green men are still running around my living room.

Update on My Sis's Socks

WooHoo. They are starting to look like a sock...lol. I've never continued the pattern down the foot of a sock so this is a new experience for me. So far it's going great. The problems that I had with the sock in the beginning don't seem to be repeating, thank goodness!!!! If all goes well by this time next week I will have the second sock on the needles.

What Type of Yarn are You?

I just had to take this test to see what type of yarn I am. WooHoo I'm Merino Wool!!

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Merino Wool.You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to keep you close because you are so softhearted. You love to be comfortable and warm from your head to your toes.
Take this quiz!








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Updates

OK, I apparently got more done then I thought....lol. Kaity's sock is now at the start of the gusset decreases. I've finished 8 of 36 heel flap rows on the 1st sock of my sisters socks. I also managed to knit up to hats for the charity for the children at Children's Hospital Boston. I talked about that in a previous post. I'm waiting on orders coming from all over the place. I have sock yarn, 40" cables, and a replacement needle and cable for my Option set from Knit Picks. All I really needed was the cable and to have Knit Picks replace the needle and cable that are no good but hey who can order from Knit Picks and not get more then one thing. I had to round out my order....lol. I got 2 sets of Brittnay Birch 5" DPNs from jklneedles since they are on sale from $7 down to $5.95....not a large sale but good enough for me. They didn't really have any sock yarn that I wanted so I just got the needles. Then I was off to get the baby blanket pattern and Encore Colorspun yarn from The Naked Sheep. I'm going to be starting that for baby Peanut here really soon. There's no telling how long it's going to take me....lol. Then it was time to get fun fur and a yarn winder from Joann's. I went through amazon.com to get the fun fur, which was on sale, so I could use some gift certificates I had. I got the yarn winder through Joann's site because they have the 50% off of 1 item so I got it for $16.99, I figure if it dies on me hey no biggie since I got it for 50% off....lol. And finally, Fun Fur from Yarnzilla, she is giving a discount for all of us that are making Cap's for Kate's charity. She marked the Sirdar funky fur, which has more yardage then Lion Brand, down from like $6.45 a ball to $3....I thought that was really cool of her so I snagged a few more to make caps.

Wow....that was a lot of site hopping....man am I tired. I do believe that Shawn is going to ban me from Internet ordering when he see this stuff come in....lol. He's going to take my debit card away. Maybe it's a good thing we don't have a credit card. I could get into soooooo much trouble yarn shopping.

I think I've jabbered enough for now, so without further ado I give you pics of all my glorious projects. : )

Not Much Progress To Show

Over the past few days I haven't gotten much done. Bree has kept me busy with her fussiness. I've been trying to get her on a normal schedule. We are getting closer each day. Hopefully by next weekend I'll have her going to bed at a normal time again and not midnight.

I've got 1 charity hat done and 1 that is almost done. I haven't had a chance to get anymore done one Kaity and my sisters socks. I was hoping to work on my sisters sock tonight but I'm not sure if I can since Bree still isn't in bed and it's after 11 pm. I post updated pics when I get them.

Charity Knitting

I was reading someones blog...can't remember for the life of me who's blog I read it on...but they were talking about making children's fun fur caps for charity. BTW: they are also excepting other types of caps but the kids mostly want fun fur...No hat will be turned away unloved. What kid wouldn't want a fun fur hat. The stuff is so outrageously funny and fuzzy when it's knitted up. Kaity loves her fun fur hat, speaking of which I need to knit her a new one too. Guess I'll have her pick out her fav colors....duh as if I can't guess that Color!!! and knit one up for her too. Seeing this post, on the blog I can't remember, peaked my attention so I trotted off to Kate's blog...I use trotted figuratively, as if you'd ever catch me trotting....hah!

Kate is running this charity for Children's Hospital Boston, which treats children from all over the world. I figured what the hay I'll go for it. They'll be fun to make. I snagged some Lionbrand Fun Fur from JoAnn's for $2.79 a skein and I'll probably find more at Wal-Mart in the markdown area. Makes me wish I would have snagged some of this stuff from time to time when I seen it on sale or marked down. I just never figured I'd use it. That's what I get for thinking....lol. "Note to Self: No More Thinking" Our Wally World seems to always have stuff like that marked down. I always stop by to see what they have. The hats are due to Kate by I believe the 27 of Feb. If anyone has fun fur that they don't want you can send it to me and I'll knit them up into caps or you can got to Kate's blog and sign up to knit some too.

Thought This Was Cool

I found this out at blogthings....I'm bored and Bree won't sleep, so surfing the net is the only thing to do while holding a baby. : )

Your Birth Month is June

Peaceful and harmonious, you seek the gentle side of life. Your warmth and consideration touches many. Your soul reflects: Friendship, love, and beauty Your gemstone: Pearl Your flower: Rose Your colors: Light blue, white, and cream

What Does Your Birth Month Mean?

Never Ending Laundry

Anyone else have this problem?

Now I do laundry every 4 days or so....can't go much longer then that or the baskets are overflowing. Bree's laundry is done separately and I normally have a full load every other day or so. Anyone who has kids knows how much dirty laundry one baby can produce....glad I didn't have twins. : )

Anyways back to the matter at hand. There are some days when the laundry doesn't get put up on said laundry day and it takes a few days to get put away. This seems to be happening a lot here lately since Bree seems to be iffy iffy on taking her naps....hard to get laundry folded when holding a squirming, drooling baby. By the time I get it all folded, hung, and put neatly in their rightful places it's almost time to do laundry again. It feels like the laundry is never ending.

Now I don't mind doing laundry, which is much better then say cleaning the bathrooms. Of course bathroom cleaning is normally Shawn's job. There's very little work involved in putting the cloths in the washer and dryer. Throw them in go sit down, watch a little tube and knit away. What I don't like is folding, hanging, and putting it all away. It seems like it takes forever, plus it cuts into precious knitting time. Laundry is kinda like grocery shopping. I have no problems grocery shopping, it's lugging all the stuff into the house and putting it away. This of course is even worse after our monthly trip to Costco...lol.

Reward

I've finally figured out what my reward for losing 40-50 lbs will be. I'm going to reward myself by making this cable sweater: Maren, guilt free using the yarn of my choice, which means it will probably be pricey but I have time to save up....its not like I'm going to drop all 50 pounds in a few weeks, plus that wouldn't be safe anyway. I'm going to go ahead an buy the pattern now and that will be my motivator. Well I need to go exercise....lol. I need to go get my walking done before Kaity gets home from school. I can't wait for it to warm back up so I can do my walking outside.

Gratuitous Baby Pics

This has absolutely no knitting content to it at all but I'm beginning to see a pattern forming with my 6 month old. That Cutie Pie smile is what I see every morning when I go in to get Bree. My little midge is definitely a morning baby. Now I coming to the conclusion that she's becoming a clothing escape artist. These pictures were taken on separate days, hence the different sheet patterns...lol. I'm not exactly sure how she managed to wiggle her arm out of her PJ's but she did. It's one of those mystery things that babies due. Kaity did it all the time. The leg making it out was do to a bad zipper in the PJ's. I'm going to have to replace those PJ's before she falls out of them completely...lol. She's found her feet the other day and every chance she gets now she is constantly shoving her toes into her mouth. Ah, the joys of being a baby.

Kaity's Lorna's Lace Sport Socks

OK, here's the update on her socks. I don't think this picture does justice to the yarn. The colors are brighter then they show up in the pic, but this is pretty close. I finally got them on the needle and they're going to stay there this time. They didn't take anymore flying lessons tonight either....lol. They still look a little small but this yarn has some really good stretch. I've got about 2.5 inches on them, so I have about 10 inches to go before the second one will get started. I can get like 9 st per inch with this yarn on US 2 needles and the yarn still has good stretch and isn't stiff. I ended up having to go up to a US 5 needle to hit close to gauge. I ended up with 7 stitches per inch. I guess I can say I'm a tight knitter.

One of these days I'll learn how to do Magic Loop so that I can do both socks at once. My LYS is trying to convert me from DPN's to 2 Circs or Magic Loop. I might try it one of these days but I'm one of those who seems to love her DPN's.

Knitting Update

Now that I have internet connectivity I can finally post about the items I finished and stuff that I started. Over the weekend I finished my Dishcloth KAL, started my sisters socks, ditched a pair of socks that just weren't working out, and attempted to start a new pair of socks for Kaity.

The pics above are (left): Dishcloth KAL....I do not block dishcloths. They are going to get used to wash dishes so I don't bother to block them....lol. (Right): The first sock of my sisters socks, which was the bane of my existence when I first started knitting it. It's already had flying lessons. The yarn is Online Highland Color #843 from the Linie 3 collection. I'm using a 4 stitch Waffle Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks and US 1 size DPN's....they are one of the sets that Sue sent me....thanks Sue, these needles are so nice and smooth, the yarn is sliding on them nicely. The yarn kinda hides the pattern but it shows up better in person. It's hard to capture all the details with a camera. I showed them to my sis and she's really liking them so the frogging 3 times was definitely worth it....lol.

Hopefully I can get Kaity's socks going now. Her socks are currently me new frustration. Me and gauge just can't seem to get along with these socks....lol. I'm going to attempt to get my gauge tonight. I can't sleep so who knows how long I may be up....might as well make good use of the time. So maybe I'll have an update on her socks. I'm using Lorna's Lace Shepard's Sport. I love the feel of it. If LL Sport feels this nice I can imagine what the LL Sock will be like. I can't wait to get some now....lol.

Life Without Internet

The reason I haven't been posting is because my internet was down all weekend....aaaahhh not again. We found out that it is bad cabling in the walls and since this house isn't ours (military housing) there isn't much we can do about it. We are going to try to run a new line and just bring it in through the window using one of those flat cables so that we can bypass the bad wall cable.

I gave up on the SocknittersSAM KAL for Jan/Feb. I just wasn't liking the way it was knitting up and I really don't feel like hunting up some DK weight sock yarn to get it to work out right. I've got plenty of other things to do anyways.

I got my sisters socks started. I've got about 3.5 inches done. I've got about 3-3.5 inches to go before I start the heel flap. So far I'm liking it but I didn't like it during the 3 times I had to frog the stupid thing. The final frogging was due to dropping a stitch and not noticing until several rows later...couldn't get the stupid stitch pick up without it looking like crap. I was so aggravated that I threw the sock to the other side of the room cussing at it the whole time...as if the sock is going to magically fix itself. 5 minutes and a few pieces of chocolate later I picked the sock up and started it all over again....It's looking good now....lol.

I also finished my Monthly Dishcloth KAL and I started another pair of socks for Kaity....Damn I really have been busy....lol. I'll post pics later tonight or some time tomorrow. Haven't taken any pics....been too busy knitting.

Poor George the Monkey

My poor little George the Monkey (my blog sidebar pet) has thus since retired. I decided to get rid of George so that I could start a list of all the projects that I want to do. Notice that just about all of them are socks....lol. I will be adding other things as I remember. Right now the socks are fresh in my mind.

Now that George has been retired and my project list has been started I can now go to bed and sleep restfully for a few hours. Sadly my days of sleeping in have come to an end because Shawn had to go back to work.

Baby Bootie Experience

I decided to post a little about the baby bootie I worked up so I would know what I was talking about so I could help my mom. I did the baby bootie for my mom and it ended up being kinda like when you pick up stitches for the gusset of a sock, which my mom's never made socks so I can see where that stumped her....would have stumped me had I not made socks. To tell you the truth it did stump me for about 15 minutes. I was trying to figure out how to pickup stitches with one needle. Needless to say I just went for it and had one of those Holy Crap moments where everything comes together and the light bulb starts to flash...lol.

The problem is that you have to pickup and knit the stitches all onto one needle so you have the right side of the booties stitches, then the heel stitches, and then the left side stitches. The only prob I had was picking up the left side stitches with the right side stitches and the instep already on the needle....you kinda have to manipulate the yarn a little bit to get it to work. After the stitches were picked up it was smooth sailing. It's a damn cute baby bootie but I think I will stick to using my 5 little ancient torture sticks and sock making...lol! My mom can make the baby booties for little peanut and I'll make the little socks.

On a brighter note I did find a website that is selling Brittany Birch 5" needles for like $5.85. Needless to say I will be ordering a few sets of 1's and 2's this payday so that I can have more then one sock project going. If I can find the time to even cast on. Here's hoping that Bree decides to take her nap tomorrow. The poor baby was soooooo tired I had a hard time getting her to bed tonight. She didn't doze off till about 11pm. She spent a good 45 minutes alternating between sleeping and fussing...poor baby.

Crappy Day

Today is just turning out to be one crappy day. Had to fight Kaity to get dressed, then had to fight her to get her to eat her lunch, then to make it all worse she managed to spray juice all over her shirt right before she needed to leave for school. She only goes half days to school....can't wait for next year when she'll be in school all day....YIPPY!!!! To top off my day Bree has decided, in all her infinite 5 1/2 month wisdom that she doesn't need to take a nap today, which of course keeps me from getting anything done. Not to mention that it's 1pm and I'm still in my PJ's and haven't had anything to eat, because every time I put her down she screams. When I say scream, I want you to get in your mind the loudest baby scream you have ever heard and triple the sound. My youngest has a set of lungs on her like you wouldn't believe. I love my kids to death but there are times when I think smacking my head against a brick wall would be easier and less painful. : )

Zip, Nada, Nothing

Well I shouldn't say I got nothing done because I did get my workout done. But I also wanted to get some knitting in. I was hoping to swatch for my sis socks and maybe pick out a pattern from one of my sock books or get a basic pattern figured out for her size....her feet are a little smaller then mine. I guess that will be on the list for tomorrow after I get a baby bootie pattern problem figured out. I'm helping my mom figure out a really cute pair of 2 needle baby booties out of a new book she bought. I'll probably post about my bootie adventures out here tomorrow night. Should be interesting.....never made a pair of booties on 2 needles. : )

Kaity didn't want to sleep because she said she didn't feel good and Bree finally went to sleep around 9pm but for some reason woke back up again....go figure. Kaity finally fell asleep around 11pm and Bree went down again around 12:20am. Here's to little ones staying in bed. Time for me to go find my bed and cop a few Z's.

Starting My Exercise

I managed to fit in a workout tonight and did a pretty good workout. Well good considering the fact that I haven't worked out in like forever...lol. I managed to make it 1 mile....WooHoo!!!! Only 99 more to go. I'm shooting for working out every night.

New Years Resolution

Losing 50 pounds is on my New Years Resolution...actually losing any weight right now would make me totally happy. I was out reading on Scoutj's blog and found a site that gave me motivation. The blog was set up by Scoutj and Yarnagogo. It's a blog set up so that everyone can help motivate each other. The blog site is called Runagogo. The goal is to run, walk, bike, 100 miles. You can pretty much do any exercise to help you hit the 100 mile mark by the 1st of April. I thought that was pretty cool so I signed up. I'm looking forward to logging my exercise. Me personally, I'm going to log my Gazelle miles. Here's to exercise and losing some weight. Hopefully by April 1st I'll be down a few pounds. I'll be posting how I do on my blog.

Feelin' Better

Aahh. A decent nights sleep really helped. Good news is I didn't wake up with a headache...Yippy!!! I can handle just about anything but a headache does me under. The bodyaches are down to a minimum now. Nothing I can't take a motrin for and forget about. WooHoo!!! At least I didn't wake up this morning feeling as if a Mac truck had run me over in the middle of the night...lol.

All appears as if it has returned to normal in my household. Shawn went back to work, Kaity will be heading to school soon and Bree seems to be in a happy mood. She had her nasty day yesterday so we should be good to go now for a few days before its drama time again....lol. Hopefully next time I won't have a splitting headache when it happens.

If all goes well my little punkin' will lay down for a nap soon and I will be in knitting heaven. I still haven't made up my mind on the socks I'm working on. I haven't decided if I want to ditch them so they just sit off to the side till I decide what to do. I think I may cast on my sisters socks and get them working up. I need to call her and find out how long she wants the cuff on the sock to be.

One of Those Days

I'd have to say that today was one of those days where you just want to crawl back into bed and sleep the day away. I went to bed last night with a headache and I wasn't feeling very well. Well the headache was still there when I woke up in the morning and it came with body-aches....Yuck! I hate being sick. Of course I doubt that there is anyone out there that enjoys being sick...lol. To top it all off today was one of those days that Bree was going to fuss no matter what any of us did to try to make her happy. We're talking about a baby that is a Super Drama Queen....lol. I believe that my little one could win an emmy with her performance in the dramatics.

I did get a little knitting done on my SocknittersSAM KAL. I'm not really sure if I like how it's working out or not. I'll figure that one out tomorrow when my head doesn't hurt and my body doesn't ache. If all else fails I will dig through my yarn for something else. If I can't find anything then I'll sit this one out and work on one of my other KALs. Not as if I don't have enough to keep me busy. : )

My Socks.....Their Done!!!!

WooHoo!!!! I finally finished them. It took a while but I finally got them finished up today. I think they came out pretty good. I need to tweek my basic sock pattern but all in all they fit really good and the striped up almost identical. Which is pretty good since I just kinda guessed where in the color pattern I started. I forgot to write down where I started. If the stripes wouln't have been as big I don't think I would have really cared if they were fraternal or identical.

Well time to start one of my KALs, my sis socks or some other project that may be calling to me.