New FO's Finally!

I'm still hunting for a solution for my ball winder and swift dilema but for now I'm using the chairs from the old table. I'll figure something out eventually. I have time since we're holding on to the old table and chairs for an airman that works for Shawn. He's being told he needs to move off base so we're giving him the table and chairs to help him out. 

I've finished a few projects since my last post.

First up is Bree's Sydney sock (ravelry).

The yarn is The Unique Sheep Footprints sock yarn and the colorway is Echinacea. The yarn is sports weight so I had to use the smallest size in the pattern to fit Bree. She loves them and I see more of these in the future. 

I also finished my Embossed Leaves socks (ravelry).

The yarn is Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 and the colorway is Wine Storm. I love ZYG's yarn and the Serenity 20 is a 70/20/10, Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blend.....very soft and squishy. 

I also started a new skirt for Bree. 

I'm making the Hip in Hemp (ravelry) pattern again. It's been reworked for smaller toddler sizes. I really loved working this pattern before. I only wished I could have found a deal on the Hempathy yarn I used for Kaity's skirt. That yarn wears really well and I always washed it in the washing machine. The yarn I'm using this time Elann Camila which is a 50/50 linen/cotton blend. It's a little rough on my hands but seems to be a fairly nice yarn.

My Camp Loopy project is done.  

In the Land of Oz (ravelry) with Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine. I added 6/0 TOHO glass beads where ever there was a central double decrease. I'm really glad that I opted to add the beads.

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

This was ordered from The Loopy Ewe. The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy and I'll use it to make Dawn Gnot (ravelry) socks for my second Camp Loopy project. The fiber was added in to keep the yarn company and to hit free shipping. I'm participating in Tour de Fleece this year so I'm in a fiber buying mood. 

Lovely BFL.

It's from Spinneretta's Studio. The colorway is called Peony II.

My tomato plants are doing great

While I haven't seen a single tomato on my big plants my cherry tomatoes are starting to multiply. 

I really can't wait to have some yummy home grown tomatoes. We had such a wet, cool spring. It took forever to warm up so the tomatoes are probably going to have a shorter growing season this year.

George had a bout of illness a few weeks ago. The vet thinks he was coming down with a upper respritory issue so he ended up on on anitbiotics and antifungal meds. Birds deteriorate very quickly when they get sick so an emergency trip to the vet was necessary. Lets just say that giving meds to a cranky cockatiel is not very fun and it's a slow process. Be prepared to have meds flung in your face. George is feeling better as you can tell from the video.

== There is a video embedded but doesn't show up in RSS feed readers. If you want to see it you'll have to go to the blog. 

 

I'll leave you with a pic of Penny and Shawn. 

Penny thinks she's a lap dog and loves to lay in Shawn's lap. It's not uncommon to see the two of them snoring together like this.

Until next time....

Happy Crafting!

Headline News: Table Causes Problems

The other day Shawn and I wandered around one of the local furniture stores debating on which dinning room table. After much hem hawing we finally decided on a table made of mango wood. It's a solid durable wood that is sustainable which is important to us. With proper care this table will last a long time. It's it gets messed up with to many nicks and such as most tables and chairs will with use we can always sand everything down and refinish it. As you can see in the pics below the design is simple with clean lines which means it'll be simple enough to sand down. We went with the bar height since Bree can sit in the chairs without a booster seat. I find this odd that Bree has to sit in a booster with normal height table and chairs but the bar height table and chairs are perfect for her.

Anyway I digress, we brought home our beautiful table and chairs with the help of a friend and after the kids went to bed Shawn and I spent a little less then two hours assembling them. We're still waiting on the bench which is what the girls will use but they didn't have any in stock. So we stand back and behold our lovely table. The table has a hidden leaf to extend out the size and with the bench and 4 chairs we can now comfortably have 6 adults sitting at our table. We try out the chairs and decide that we love our new table. Fastforward to two days later, I decide that I want to wind some yarn and look at the table only to realize that there isn't much of a lip on the table top and I now have nowhere to clamp my ball winder and swift. How in the world did I not notice that when we were picking out the table? Isn't that suppose to be a requirement for a table when a knitter is looking for a new one? (thumps head on desk a few times) So now I need to figure out where I'm going to wind my yarn but I still love my new table. Maybe it's time for an upgrade to a table top swift?

I finished Bree's toe up socks.

They are knit with JoAnn's Sensations Soles and More sock yarn, colorway 1813. Not a bad sock yarn to knit with and it's pretty cheap specially if you use those coupons JoAnn's loves to send out in the mail and email. It's like all the other work horse sock yarns out there, ie Opal, Patons Kroy, etc. I only used about half of a 50g skein so there's enough to make another pair for Bree.

I have my yarn for the first project of Camp Loopy.

I picked up two skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine. The colorways are Berry Pie Mix and Salt & Pepper. I've waffled on the pattern several times now but have finally decided to make In the Land of Oz (ravelry). I think I'm going to wander down to the local hobby shop and check out their bead selection. I'm going to put beads in the lace section of the shawl. I'm going to knit the stockinette part in the salt & pepper colorway and then swap to the Berry Pie Mix for the lace. 

I'm almost ready to start knitting the toes on my Embossed Leaves socks. I won't bother with a picture now. I'll post one when I finish the socks. I'm also just about done with a pair of Sydney socks (ravelry) for Bree. I'm using Unique Sheep Foot Prints sock yarn which is sports weight so I had to knit the smallest size to make sure Bree could wear them. They're currently turned inside out so I can knit the ruffle so no picture until they're done. 

I think that's it for now. Be back later with some more FO posts.

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

 

Crying Shame

We finally found out how hard our school was hit after the failed school levy. It's not as bad as some of the others in the district but it's definitely not good. We lost the HIP HOP program for the whole district, which was an after school program that helps K-8 students with math, reading, writing and study skills. We lost our Para in the resource room, all of our library aides, 15% of the building budget (who knows what that will do, guess the kids will have to do without lights and heat for 20 minutes every day to save money), and our intervention specialist (she helps teachers with ideas for dealing with academically and behaviorally challenged kids.

Sadly, most who voted against the levy were doing so because they do not have kids in the school system and are on this no more taxes kick. It's one of the drawbacks to being in a town where there are a lot of empty nesters. Every year the cost of living goes up. Taxes and death are the two constants in this world. Do they really expect that the cost of running a school is going to stay the same? What freakin bubble world do these morons live in? See the levy would have raised property taxes around $15 per year for someone with a home valued at $100,000.....if I remember correctly. I know it was a small amount. $15 per year isn't much when you think about it. Hell one less trip to the casino would make up for that. That's 3 less trips to Starbucks for me. The school district was asking for a little shy of 1 million dollars. When you factor in that the school district is comprised of 15 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 2 high schools, I'd have to say that 1 million dollars is pretty damn reasonable. So instead of paying a little more each year on property taxes they voted no and now the kids are the ones paying for it. 24 teachers have lost their jobs, classroom sizes are going up, German language classes have been cut from Middle School and the kids are without the ability to recieve tutoring for free. What's next, band and art? Sure as hell won't be sports. It drives me crazy that schools put more priority on sports then actual education. 

Needless to say I'm sick of schools taking the beating from people who don't want to pay taxes. Watching these idiots in town with their picket signs for their tea party braggin about how they won because the levy was defeated and talking about doing away with our government and going back to a simpler Montana. One boob in town actually has a sign is his yard that says impeach Obama. Impeach him for what? That ignorance makes me laugh every time we drive by it. I swear our country's founding fathers have to be rolling in their grave with all the political BS going on right now. Never mind that some of these people who want to do away with our government completely, are now standing in the freebie line with their hands out for help from FEMA and the Red Cross because they had homes and property destroyed from all the flooding we've seen in this state. Oh shoot wait it's the presidents fault that we had heavy snowfall in the mountains this year or that it's been raining like crazy (gonna have to insert the sarcasm here and a few eyerolls since you can't see or hear me). Don't bitch about taxes and the federal government and then stand in the line to get help from said government when you need it. Talk about being hypocritical. 

Anyways, I could rant on and on about this place and the serious problems and lack of progression in this town but that would probably shoot my blood pressure through the roof. Instead I'll just move on to the knitting portion of the post which calms me and keeps me sane. Plus every city has it's problems so it's not as if Great Falls is any different then any other city in the US. Find me a perfect city and I shall flock to it when retirement hits in 1 year, 3 months. If not I'll be bloggin from Boise, ID and happy to be away from the messed up town.

I powered through my moms Rosalind shawl (ravelry)(non ravelry) so that she could take it home with her. 

The yarn is Dream in Color Baby and the colorway is Blue Sage purchased from TLE. I used 4mm megatamas from Earthfaire. DIC Baby is a really nice yarn but I'm really wishing I would have used a thicker yarn. Baby is more like a light finger weight yarn and the pattern called for fingering weight yarn that is on the heavier side. I'm thinking I should have gone with Smooshy instead. Oh well, I'll just have to make another shawl for mom. Maybe this time I will make one out of worsted weight yarn for those chilly days. 

I finished the dishrag made with Knit Picks Dishie.

I really enjoyed knitting with this yarn. It has great stitch definition and worked up beautifully with US 7 needles. It's been pressed into service and I'll report back after a few trips through the washer and dryer on how it's holding up. No bleeding in the dish water so that's good. I have a few dishrags using the Peaches and Cream and Sugar and Cream that still to this day bleed and they've been used countless times. 

Bree's socks are making great progress.

A few more trips into town and I'll have these babies done.  They actually have about two inches more on them since this photo was taken. My parents were here for a visit so the blog post got pushed back until after they left. I need to have Bree pick out a solid yarn for the next pair since they have a lace pattern and a fancy ruffle on them.

I'm joining in on Camp Loopy. It's my kind of camping. :) The yarn has been ordered so now I just need to sit back and patiently wait for the yarn to get here. I order Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in the Berry Pie Mix and Salt & Pepper colorways to knit Whippoorwill (ravelry).

On the gardening news front I planted 4 tomato plants. Two cherry tomatoes, one early girl and one big beef. Even with all the rain and lack of sun they are doing good. The cherry tomatoes each have one tiny green tomato and tons of blooms. The early girl and big beef still haven't shown any tomatoes yet but they are blooming quite well and some of those blooms have closed so I have a feeling I'll soon be seeing more green tomatoes. We're going to have sun for the next two days so I'm hoping that will help.

Happy Crafting!

Not Much Accomplished....

Well not much that I can post about anyway. I've been working on test knits mostly. I did finish Bree's toe up socks but that's about it. Between test knits and spring cleaning I've been pretty busy. I've been going through the house room by room eliminating clutter, cleaning windows and vacuuming the screens on the windows. The window screens get crazy dusty considering they are located on the the side of the window in the house. I'd expect the dust outside but not inside. It's slow going because I have to make sure I don't over do it. It can be rather aggravating  because I'd much rather get it all done and over but can't. Well I could but I'd be in so much pain I couldn't move and frankly that's just not an option nor is getting all the work done worth the pain. It's not as if it's going anywhere.

I finished Bree's socks. The sock blockers are mini sock blockers that I received from The Loopy Ewe as part of a promotion they were doing to get pictures in their photo gallery shortly after they opened their virtual doors for business. They don't sell these. 

The pattern is my basic toe up pattern with a short row heel and a k2,p2 ribbing on the cuff. Nothing fancy but I have the pattern memorized and perfected for the girls and I. The yarn is Apple Laine Apple Pie sock yarn. It's yarn I bought from The Loopy Ewe a long time ago. I was going to knit a ruffle at the top but I don't think it would have worked very well since this yarn is a little on the thick side. I'm going to knit the next pair with a thinner yarn and I'll knit the lace pattern on the foot too. I'm not sure what yarn I'll use yet but even with the ruffle I'll need way less then 50 grams of sock yarn. These socks only took about 25 grams.

I placed a small order with Knit Picks.

I wanted to try out their new dish cloth cotton called Dishie. Since I was ordering I tossed in a skein of Chroma fingering weight for a shawlette. I'm planning on using this to make Bakersfield (ravelry). I'm from a small town near Bakersfield, CA and this pattern has been calling me ever since I saw it which is funny because I really don't wear shawlettes or shawls. The dishie is soft and it feels like it's a little bit thinner then Peaches & Creme or Sugar'n Cream. I'm going to cast on a dish cloth for my take a long project. I'm curious to see how well it wears. 

I'm test knitting all the patterns this year for the 2011 Woolgirl Sock Club.

Here's the socks that I knit for Aprils shipment. Since I knit both socks Woolgirl gave them back to me as payment along with the kit because I also knit the shawlette too. Normally I only knit one sock but these left and right socks are different. I absolutely loved knitting these socks. The pattern is awesome and the Stricken Smitten sock yarn was a dream to knit with. Never mind that the color is my all time favorite color!! If you want to see the whole kit Click Here to head over to my Flickr page. I'll definitely be knitting these again!!

I also got the Little Women Kit from Woolgirl. 

Seriously what's not to love about this kit. A pattern from Sivia Harding and 770 yards of MCN from Plucky Knitter not to mention the teas and other little goodies. Yum yum yum! If you want a great beaded shawl pattern go check out Sivia's (ravelry)(non ravelry) patterns. I didn't test knit this one.

April's shipment from Twisted Fiber Art.

This ones named Foxy. I have one more shipment coming this month and sadly the club will be done. I really loved their yarn.

I'll leave you guys with a shot of my demon dog. 

I snapped this shot just as Penny was jumping off the couch. She was playing of game of "Find Daddy". Shawn was hiding under a blanket and Penny was looking for him. When he didn't pop out from under the blanket Penny would jump down and run around the house in a big circle then hop back on the couch at the other end. Zeus was in his supervisory position to make sure that Penny didn't do anything she's not suppose to. For a 7 pound dog he's very bossy. It's a little dog thing.

Happy Crafting!

No Knitting Here, Just Talking bout Terrorists

Hooyah Navy SEALs! A heartfelt thanks to all our armed forces for their sacrifies over these past 9 plus years. To all the first responders on Sept 11 who put their lives on the line to help save lives. A moment of silence for all those individuals who lost their lives on 9/11 and after. I know this isn't over but all these individuals should never be forgotten!

It really bothered me last night to see all these people gathering at the White House and Ground Zero to cheer and celebrate. There shouldn't have been singing, laughing and celebrating. These people were doing basically the same thing that the terrorist did when they killed an American. Going to these places and saying a prayer, reflecting on all that has happened, remembering a loved one, leaving a sign, flowers or lighting candles all would have been acceptable things for last nights annoucement, not cheering and hollering like a bunch of drunk fools at a frat party. I will openly admit that I cheered and did my little snoopy dance in the privacy of my own home. I can not and will not mourn the death of a murderous monster.

Now it's time to sit back and see what happens in the aftermath of bin Ladens death. I keep hearing people saying that this is the end and that bin Laden's death will cause his terrorist organization to crumble and that we should bring our armed forces home from Afghanistan. I personally think the murderous SOB had a backup plan in place if he was ever captured or killed by US forces. If I was a terrorist I'd have a backup plan in place for someone to step up and continue on the fight against the infidels. Ok, who wants to take bets on the fact that this post has sent flags flying on some super computer buried deep in NSA or Homeland Security's headquarters? No Homeland Security I'm not saying I'm a terrorist. I'm saying that I'm trying to think like one or as much like one as I can stomach and I think that the US is far from done with Al Qaeda. I truly hope that I'm wrong and will be happy to admit that I'm wrong if Al Qaeda falls apart. Course there are a lot of other terrorists out there. They all aren't card carrying members of Al Qaeda. 

Of course if you believe the conspiracy theorists they'll say he's not dead and this is some big coverup by our government. I know, I know he's hanging out with Jimmy Hoffa in a bar chatting over beers. If I was the president I'd be leery about releasing death shots of bin Laden. What do you think all the media outlets are going to do with those photos when they get their no morals whatsoever, don't give a crap about anything but shoving their First Amendment rights in everyones face, grubby hands on them? (no I really don't think much of the media) Why, they're going to splash them all over the place where I'm betting quite a few children are going to see the pictures. While I myself could stomach the photos. I do not feel that my two children should see something like that. We don't keep them in a bubble world but we sure as hell don't try to make them grow up fast by being exposed to something like that.

I've talked to several non military persons that have had a really hard time explaining this to their children. We have talked quite a bit with Kaity about this and she seems to grasp it. Maybe it's because she's a child of someone who is active duty and so are over 90% of the kids in her school. Deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq are a part of every day life. Being a military brat is tough. You learn how to live without mom or dad and in some instances both for 9 months to a year......sometimes even longer then that. You're well versed in how to use a computer to chat on Facebook or Skype. You learn what you can and can't send to mommy or daddy while they are gone. You get use to losing friends all the time because they move or you have to move. Kaity's living through that right now. Her two best friends are moving. One is moving to Japan this month and the other one is heading to Maryland during the summer. She's already lost one friend last summer because her dad retired. Bree isn't going to have to deal with military life as long since Shawn retires in Oct of 2012 and we can finally have a home of our own knowing we'll never have to leave it if we don't want too or worry about deployments.

I'll be back in a few days with a knitting related post. I just needed to post this to get it off my chest. 

Hero Worship

We spent weeks carefully researching dog food before we found one that our dogs loved and we felt one hundred percent comfortable feeding them. We really wanted to go organic but couldn't find one that we could afford that the Zeus loved. He's very picky. We finally decided to go with the Merrick brand dog food. The have a handful of different flavors that the dogs rotate through. We are firm believers that our dogs aren't just pets they're family. If we eat good so do the dogs. They are spoiled and babied. We have a separate charge account so that if they need vet care they will get it.

I'm sure there are a lot of you that are going to go see how much a bag of this dog food goes for. I can save you the trouble, at PetCo I pay around $32 for a 15lb bag. I also take advantage of their pals reward card which gets me a free bag of dog food for every 10 bags I buy. When you read the ingredients on their bags you'll see why they are a lot more costly they include salmon, buffalo, turkey, duck, trout, etc. A lot of cheaper dogs foods use corn meal, Iams and Hills Science Diet which aren't as cheap use corn meal and ground corn as fillers so they can use less meat. If it's the first or second ingredient you can bet there's more of it then meat which makes the food cheap and gives the company a high profit margin. Merrick doesn't use corn in their products. The problem comes in the fact that corn is something a good number of dogs are allergic too or can develop allergies. My mom had a cocker spaniel that was allergic to corn and was put on a expensive perscription diet. I'm betting Sammy would have been able to eat the Merrick foods without a problem. It's also harder for dogs to digest corn. Shoot corn is difficult for humans to digest. The dog food industry is one that's not very well regulated and when you see the by-product on the bag you can bet it's not good. By-product is all the nasty stuff that humans wouldn't consider for consumption. They throw in chicken beaks, feet, hooves, etc...you get the point. Not to mention the fact that they can use diseased animals and euthanized dogs and cats in meat meal and by-product. Can we all just give in a resounding ewwwwwww, gag! I don't know about you but lets just say I'm not willing to take a chance that one of these things is in my dogs food. Yuck, yuck, yuck, gag! That's just nasty and wrong on so many levels. So I pay more for my dog food because I think my dogs deserve to eat real meat.

Our household (for the humans) buy high quality fruits and veggies and we generally go organic whenever possible. Fresh is best but if we can't get fresh we go with frozen. I'm always happy when winter is gone and the fresh fruits and veggies start rolling back in. Farmers markets are always a bonus when we can make it there. We've adjusted our budget to make food more important then frivolous spending. High quality food has always been more important then eating out, video games, expensive cable packages, etc. That's not to say that we don't go out and do things as a family or buy extra stuff. Our kids don't lack in the toy department or want for clothing. We've just learned the hard way that a well balanced budget is an extremely important thing to have. 

But anyways, off my soap box and on to the real hero worship thing. The dogs were looking at me this morning with what I can only be call hero worship. We decided to pick up some canned Merrick dog food to give the dogs a treat. We give them a small amount in their morning bowl of dog food so the can lasts 2 days. We want them to eat more dry dog food because it's important for the tooth and gum health. It helps keep the tarter build up down. This morning was Smothered Comfort. Oh my goodness that stuff smelled good. It has really chunks of roasted chicken, carrots, apples, sweet potatoes, blue berries. You want to give your dog a treat, give them this stuff! They'll look at you with hero worship in their eyes. This is not your standard canned dog food mush it looks and smells like homemade human food. 

Anyways, on to the knitting portion of this post. I have a few things that I finished up or have started.

First up the nylon scrubbies I made for my granny.

I used nylon netting I picked up from Season Decorator who sells on ebay. The rolls are 6 inches wide but for 50 cents you can have them cut it in half which is the perfect width for making the scrubbies. I got these 4 and one more that I didn't like because it was knit on needles that were too small out of one 3 inch wide 40 yard roll. I used US size 11 needles. If you have bamboo needles that need to be smoothed down knit with nylon netting. My cheapo bamboo ebay special needles are smooth as a babys butt now. :~)

I've started a new pair of socks for Bree.

These are being knit with a skein of Apple Laine apple pie sock yarn I bought from The Loopy Ewe several years ago. The colorway is Pretty in Pink. I'm using my basic toe up with a short row heel pattern but this time I'm going to use the ruffled cuff instructions for Sydney (ravelry). Sorry I only have a Ravelry link. The pattern is from Toe Up! Patterns & Worksheets to Whip Your Sock Knitting Into Shape by Chrissy Gardiner.

I decide to change to the Embossed Leaves (Ravelry) socks for my YOSS April sock pattern.

I picked out some Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 sock yarn out of my stash and started knitting away. I've made a few changes in the pattern. I hate twisted ribbing so I swapped to a k1, p1 cuff. I also worked a slip stitch heel instead of the stockinette one the pattern calls for. I'm also going to knit a regular toe instead of following the pattern.

I'll end this post with my babies who have passed out with contentment. 

Happy Crafting!

A Few FO's

Holy cow another post and it hasn't even been a month. Shoot it's only been a week since the last post. Shocking really.

No new yarn to post about. We're not buying anything that isn't absolutely necessary until the national budget has been fixed and I know for sure that Shawn and I will be getting our paychecks. It's t minus 3 days and counting before the possibility of a government shutdown. I'm planning on refraining from spending money on yarn and fiber even after everything is resolved because we have a move to save for. The less yarn I buy means the more we can put into savings. I've already got a nice chunk saved and I really hope we won't need to use it to survive. That doesn't mean I won't be getting yarn because I get paid in yarn for my Woolgirl test knits and I've already signed up and paid for the Twisted Fiber Art club. The only other frivolous yarn spending I've done is to sign up for the Margaritaville kit from Woolgirl.

The military will reemburse us for most of our travel expenses  for our final move however we won't have the lovely little government charge card to use which means we have to either a.) have the money in savings or 2.) have a credit card we can charge it all to. We'd rather pay for everything outright without having to incure interest on anything. Generally you're reembursed for everything fairly quickly but anyone that has ever had to deal with the military knows that things can go wrong and when they do they go waaaaaaay wrong. I'd rather not pay interest on that if I don't have to.

I finished my "on the go" socks so I need to start a new one.

The yarn is Opal (flamingo from the rainforest collection if I remember correctly) sock yarn and when all was said and done I had to weave in 5 different spots not including the normal yarn weaving at the cuff and toe. There was a lot of knots in this yarn. Way more then there should have been. This is my first bad experience with Opal yarn. I have some more in my stash so hopefully it's not full of knots too.

Bree's socks are finished.

They're just a basic toe up sock with some k2, p2 ribbing at the top. I've already cast on another pair for her in Apple Laine Apple Pie sock yarn.

I've picked some Gypsyknits BFL sock yarn for my April YOSS socks .

I'm going to knit Leyburn (ravelry)(non ravelry). I'll post a pic when I have a decent amount knit for a progress shot. 

I'll leave you with some pics I snapped of George the other day. Yes that's my desk and yes it's a mess!

 

These were snapped right after someone rang the doorbell. George's personality is really starting to show. We've discovered that he loves the theme song to Family Guy and will sing and dance when it's on and when George sings and dances it gets Petey to sing.

Happy Crafting!!