Keeping Me in Stitches

I'm still here!

2009-10-22T00:06:00.003-05:00

Still here and still alive! In case you haven't heard, I've started my own videocast, which is why I haven't been here. I put up a new episode each week, either late Wednesday or early Thursday. Look over there --------> in the sidebar for the link, or just go here. There are links to everything I talk about included in each episode post.

I guess I've been slacking on this blog because everything I'm working on has been posted over on the blog for Round the Twist. I'll still be updating this one periodically, but if you want to keep really up-to-date then head over to the other blog.

the Queen of Procrastination strikes again

2009-08-26T04:04:00.003-05:00

One of my college roommates is coming into town later today and will be staying with me over the weekend. I should be cleaning. I'm not.

Well...that's not entirely true. I've cleaned the kitchen and cleaned off the dining room table. That's actually quite a bit. I've still got to: take down the old computer/card table from the spare room, set up the airbed, vacuum the entire house, clean both bathrooms, dust, and give the dog a bath. If I've got time, I'll clean my bedroom too, but I do want to sleep at some point in there.

Guess I'd better get my butt in gear. I've got the ipod loaded up with podcasts, so I guess I just need the motivation now.

My new video cast!

2009-08-13T20:27:00.002-05:00

Go take a look!

I know the sound is wonky on this first one. I'll work on it for next week. And if anyone has any insight on how to get the "embed" feature on YouTube to actually paste to the blog, then I'd be forever greatful.

Sock Summit - Day 2

2009-08-07T21:00:00.002-05:00

Wow....just wow. I'm on so much overload right now.

Today was an early day for us. Up early so we could be at the convention center to pick up our tickets for the Guiness Book of World Records knitting. We got the tickets, then Mom and I started moving chairs. The convention center people have a *thing* about having chairs set up in neat rows all facing the same way. We take the rows apart and make a circle. Who knits sitting in rows like a classroom? How are you supposed to have a conversation like that?

9 AM was our first class. We both took Toe-Up Socks for the Stubborn by Deb. I've got all my numbers crunched and I'm ready to give the toe-up socks another try thanks to her!

Then at noon it was a run up to the upstairs ballroom to take part in the Guiness record knitting. The 15 minutes went by so fast! Probably the best part was when Yarn Harlot announced that the 15 minutes was up and someone hollared out from the back of the room, "Just one more row!"

Lunch was the buffet at the convention center and it was some of the best food I've had buffet style in a while. Today was a taco salad offering and I had so much food.

Then it was another wander through the marketplace to hit the booths that I'd seen yesterday and hadn't been able to get into. Snagged a great deal on Misti Alpaca laceweight from Webs, spotted the spinning fiber at Blue Moon, and got Dye for Glory entries from Purlescence Yarns (sock yarn) and Yarn Love (spinning fiber). Got some merino/bamboo blend sock yarn from The Sanguine Gryphon too since I missed out on their Bugga yarn. I think the only booth I still want to hit is the Signature Needles booth. I've got a yearning for some Stilletto dpns.

Tomorrow is my slow day, but I'm planning on being at the Ravelry meet-up tomorrow night. Hope to see some people there!

my very own weenie

2009-08-06T08:48:00.005-05:00

Some of you might remember the Yarn Harlot's story of her encounter with a weenie on an airplane

Leaving Omaha, I was in the middle of three seats on the plane with Mom on the aisle and a business-man type in the window seat. As soon as we sat down, we pulled out our knitting. Immediately, the guy next to me said "They let you on the plane with those?" I really wanted to tell him no, but just fixed him with a *look* and said "They've been allowed by the TSA since 2002." Now, I'm knitting on dpns, but Mom's on the other side of me with a circ. Weenie kept going.

"What about that one?" Nodding towards Mom's circ. "Can't they be used as weapons?"

Mom just piped in with "These are allowed too as long as it's under 32 inches. Which this is."

Dude just kind of hmphed, leaned back in his seat and proceeded to dig out every electronic device known to man.

What a weenie.

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Met a very nice knitter, Janelle, at the Denver airport. We ended up sticking together to get to the hotel from PDX and then met her and her friend at the lounge to get some food. As we stepped off the elevator to the lounge, we ran into Yarn Harlot. She looked busy and tired, so I just let her go. Rashad, the awesome bartender, got us pizza and wine. A very good end to a great day. Also met MrsQuimby and Annimol (rav IDs), and got to chat with them. We managed to stay up until 11:30 or so before we both collapsed for the night.

-------------------------------------------------------

Today is the day for registration, finding a grocery store and possibly Yarnia, and volunteering to help in some way with Summit. When we emailed about volunteering, we were told to show up at the info booth to get our marching orders. We'll see what they have us doing. I'll report more later. Hopefully with pictures!

Let the Freak Out commence!

2009-08-02T22:35:00.002-05:00

I always tend to freak out a little bit before I take a trip. Scared I'm going to leave something important behind, worried that something will happen to the dog while I'm gone...that kind of thing. This is a little bit bigger.

Sock Summit. I'm going. Leaving Wednesday. Have I packed? No. Do I have a list? Sort of....I've written down all the stuff I need to remember for classes and my laptop and Kindle. Am I worried that this trip will somehow come off the rails and crash and burn in a glorious explosion? Oh yes!

I know that everything will be fine, but that little ocd part of me wants to plan everything out to the smallest detail and do it *now*....two days before I leave. I'm fighting this right now. But I'm going to show you what I've got on the *must not forget* list so far.

-Stuff for toe-up sock class (half-done sock, needles, copy of stitch pattern)
-Stuff for sideways sock class (pick out yarn, needles, knit swatch)
-Scarf for Guiness World Record knitting
-Queen of Beads sock for plane knitting (yarn, needles, pattern)
-Kindle and power cord
-laptop and power cord
-camera and power cord
-phone and charger

And that is currently my whole packing list. Should probably include some things like clothes, underwear and deodorant, huh?

Excuse me while I go freak out in my little corner.

Pulling a 360

2009-07-25T05:51:00.002-05:00

I don't know if I ever wrote about it, but when I first started knitting socks, I did them from the toe up. There was so much appeal to this! Since I've got size 11 feet, I could knit until I ran out of yarn and not worry about running out before the socks were complete! Unfortunately, the pattern I chose (one from Elann.com that I can't even remember the name of) had a short-row heel. I've got a freakishly high instep that I have inherited from my mom, so the short-row heel posed a *big* problem. Still, I slogged my way through two pairs of socks (one in Koigu KPPPM and one in Knitpicks), neither of which will fit my foot without a major wrestling match.

Then I switched to cuff-down socks. Amazingly, I have yet to run out of yarn knitting from the cuff-down. It's been close a couple of times, but I've managed to make it through. The closest episode was a pair of Dublin Bay socks out of the old put-up of STR lightweight. Finished with 10 feet to spare and I was freaking out through that whole toe.

Well, I have now come the full 360. I am taking a Toe-Up Socks for the Stubborn class at Sock Summit in a couple weeks. Homework was to get a sock done halfway up the foot to be ready to do a gusseted heel turn. And I am happy to report that I have a toe. One sock toe out of Flat Feet by Conjoined Creations. We'll have to see how it goes....

Contrary to popular belief....

2009-07-13T03:50:00.002-05:00

....I have not dropped off the face of the earth. Been traveling (Estes was wonderful) and got a new computer (that I finally set up tonight). Really not too much going on.

Knitting....

Working on a 7th knitted gater to send to Operation Knitted Gater on Ravelry. Stopped work on my Mystic Roses, but I'm ready to pick it up at clue 3. Started and finished a Magic Shawl in some Brooks Farm Acero that I got at Estes. Finished Mom's birthday Lenores. Started on a Baby Yours sweater for Elaine's peanut. I think that's it.

The Garden....

Strawberries were delicious and the rhubarb gave me two quart bags of pieces so far. I've been baking rhubarb custard cake and loving every bit of it. My new daylillies have been blooming and so have the new fairy lillies. Still nothing from the gladiolas and irises besides leaves. The bunnies mowed off my gloriosa daisies and I don't think anything is bringing them back, but the coneflowers at least have leaves.

Work....

...is work. What more can I say? I passed my 5-year mark at the beginning of June. It's hard to believe I've been here that long.

Sock Summit....

Still can't believe I'm going. Hopefully I'll see a bunch of you there. Be sure to come up and say hi! I still need to start my homework for the two classes I got into. I think we're flying out the 5th, coming back the 10th. Mom and I will be staying at the Red Lion and going to the Luminary Panel as well.

Guess that's it! Really, it's been a boring bit for me. Keep your eyes peeled for something new around there though!

Love Story meets Viva la Vida

2009-05-30T05:17:00.001-05:00

This is amazing!

Apples and Wine

2009-05-10T21:41:00.001-05:00

A wonderful person posted this on the Atlas Quest messageboards! Just wanted to share it with more people!

Women are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree. Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they sometimes take the apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy. The apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing. They just have to wait for the right man to come along, the one who is brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree.

Now Men....
Men are like a fine wine. They begin as grapes,and it's up to women to stomp the crap out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.

Bad things only come in threes...right?

2009-05-06T22:21:00.002-05:00

I finished two really crappy nights at work this morning. At the rate things are going downhill, it'll be par for the course if I have a patient die on me when I go for my shift Thursday. Needless to say, very little fiber activity has taken place.

On the spinning front, I did manage to finish spinning up 4 oz of merino/tencel from Copperpot Woolies in Steel Roses. I've still got to ply it and I'm thinking Navajo ply just because. I might do that tonight if I feel up to it.

And today in the mail I got a box from CJ Kopek with my ravelry spin-a-long fiber. Eight ounces of the merino/silk blend in Envious Eyes. I had her leave out the glitz that was supposed to be in it and it's completely gorgeous and very much in my color comfort zone. Beautiful greens and blues with just a little bit of natural cream colored merino thrown in. Can't wait to get this on the wheel!

In knitting, I'm still slogging along on my two current projects. I'm almost done with the gusset on the first Lenore sock for my mom. I can't remember if I've mentioned those on the blog before. I'm knitting them up in Wollemeise in Granatapfel, a deep, rich red. The school Mom teaches at likes the teachers to wear red and black (school colors) on game days to support the sports teams. I had knit a pair of socks for her in another yarn that was red and black and she's worn and washed them so much that now they're pink and grey. So these should be done for her in time for next fall!

And then there's the bane of my existence....Mystic Roses. The KAL for this ended weeks ago. I'm just barely started on clue 2 out of five. I've seen pictures of this shawl finished and it will be gorgeous when it's done, but it's taking forever. I'll keep slogging away and hopefully finish it to wear to Estes Park in June. If it's not done by then, the back-up date to finish by is August for Sock Summit.

So that's the state of things right now. Just don't want to have the silence go too long here on the blog anymore.

I'm back baby!

2009-04-30T02:10:00.002-05:00

Wow! Hadn't realized how long it had been since I last blogged! But I come bearing pictures.

First are my Holidazed socks. These were part of the December shipment for the RSC last year. Done in the medium size, STR mediumweight in Muddy Autumn Rainbow. I think this is going to be my new go-to pattern for the rest of the mediumweight STR in my stash. Easy to memorize and it's got so much ribbing to it that it hugs my foot nicely.

And here's a really bad, blurry, bathroom mirror picture of my Snow White sweater. I'll get a better one this weekend hopefully.

And my February Lady sweater. Don't know what's up with the squinty eye in this one...wasn't that sunny out when we took it. I'll try to get a better one of this over the weekend as well. Oy. Done in DiC Classy in Blue Lagoon. I ended up not making the sleeves full-length like I originally planned because....well...I'm not a patient person and I wanted the sweater done. Now I'm glad that I did them 3/4.

Last of the pics is one of my new hair! I still go to a hairdresser in my hometown 4 hours away because I trust her and can just walk in for my appointment and tell her to "have fun." It always comes out different and always looks good. You can't really tell from the picture, but that dark part is just in the front. The rest of it is about 4 different colors and I love it so much! Might have her keep it this way for a while.

Aside from that, I've been spinning some and since the weather has been nice I've been out letterboxing too. And I bought a Kindle 2 which is my new baby. It's so nice to not have to cart around a heavy book in my bag all the time.

wow...

2009-03-08T00:17:00.002-06:00

Out of communication for nearly a month. Don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm back! Now where was I?

Remember these?

Imagine them about twice as long and that there are two of them. Other than that, I haven't touched them in over a month.

The Holidazed socks are finished, but no pictures yet. I keep forgetting or I wake up *way* after the sun is down.

Still no pics of Snow White either. I'll get Mom to take some for me when I'm home this week.

Here are the Fetching mitts that I made for our evening shift unit secretary. Done in the Little Lovely colorway of Malabrigo.

She says her cat loves them too and keeps stealing them.

I also started another pair of Lenores, this time in Wollmeise in the Granatapfel colorway. These are Mom's birthday socks for this year. The colors of the school she teaches at are black and red. Well, the socks I made her a couple years ago in Little Devil by Lisa Souza aren't red and black anymore, but pink and grey. So the Granatapfel was recruited to be Lenores. I'm doing the larger size on size 2s. Hopefully they'll fit Mom's instep. I'll have her try them on this week before I continue down the leg.

Finally, my February Lady sweater is slogging along. The body is done and I'm about 8 inches out one sleeve. I was planning on making the sleeves full-length, but I may just go with the 3/4 sleeves so I can finish quicker. What can I say? I'm not a patient person!

collapse

2009-02-08T17:47:00.002-06:00

I'm home from the Des Moines Metro Knitters gathering. Second year attending and it was even better than last year. Great fun to reconnect with people.

The State of the Knitting

County Clare Leyburns - Didn't touch them all weekend. They were too big a pain to haul in and out of the bag with a sock attached to both ends of the ball.

Hollidazed socks - Got a bit more done on them. Heel flap of #2 needs a couple more rows, then I can start the gusset and head out the foot.

RSC Queen of Beads socks - A very nice lady at the gathering (ToastyToes on Rav) helped me string the beads for these so I'll be able to start the actual knitting soon.

Fetching mitts for Rene - Knit entirely this weekend for a secretary at work. Just need to do the thumbs and weave in ends. Out of Malabrigo in a pink called Little Lovely.

February Lady Sweater - To be done with DiC Classy in Blue Lagoon. Swatched this afternoon when I finished the second Fetching and didn't feel like moving on to the thumb. Swatch came out great so I'll be starting the actual sweater sometime this week.

And now I need a nap! Who knew that knitting and talking for a weekend could wear a person out so much?

catch-up

2009-02-06T04:12:00.002-06:00

It's been a while, hasn't it? Time to play a little catch-up.

Have to go all the way back to early January. My parents had bought me a new stove for Christmas, so a weekend they were down to visit I picked one out at Lowe's and had it delivered. Here's my new baby, Frank (I named him after one of the delivery guys).

We're happily making beautiful meals together and I love the fact that the burners light on the first turn of the dial.

I also joined the Leyburn KAL on the rav Socks that Rawk! group. I'm using lightweight STR in County Clare. This has been marinating in my stash for at least 3 years now....maybe 4. All I know is that it was one of the first skeins of STR I purchased. These are being worked top-down and I've already had to rip out and increase from 60 stitches to 66 to make it fit over my instep. Things are going fine now. And I'm much further along than this.

Guess what? I've got a picture of Snow White!! Okay, it's only of it in the sink being washed, but it's a picture. I just couldn't believe the color of the water as I was pulling the sweater out. And I don't think it was dye. Considering this was mostly at-home knitting, I was pretty disgusted. But I keep my house fairly clean, so I couldn't figure out where this dirt was coming from. I guess it's just off the yarn from the spinning process. But ewww!

Finally, my sock yarn stash tried to rebel a couple weeks ago. It exploded all over my craft room, leaving me with a 4" path to get across the room. I couldn't stand for this little rebellion, so tonight I went through the offenders with an iron fist. Culled out at least 50 skeins that are now packed in the duffel and the white plastic shopping bag. They will be going to the Des Moines Metro Knitters gathering this weekend and divided among the knitters there.

Knitting on the second Holidazed sock continues, I've got another sweater planned soon, and I still need to work on my mom's birthday present and the Fetchings for the secretary on my hospital unit. But I'm going to get through the weekend first.

Mystery cookies

2009-01-15T03:52:00.002-06:00

I baked a half batch of these tonight to break in my new oven. The "mystery" to these cookies is that they contain tomato soup! Once you tell people, they keep eating them and trying to taste the soup.

Mystery Cookies

1/2 c. melted butter
3 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 can tomato soup (just plain tomato, not bisque or any other fancy variety)
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
2 c. raisins
2 c. chopped walnuts
4 1/2 c. flour

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter and sugar. Let cool before adding eggs. Add the can of soup. Mix in spices, soda, and salt. Add walnuts and raisins, mix. Add flour slowly, mixing between each cup. Scoop dough onto greased cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes until brown on top. Let sit on pans 1-2 minutes (no longer or they'll stick!), then place on a cooling rack.

goal-setting

2009-01-12T23:43:00.002-06:00

I really don't like to make resolutions. I never seem to keep them, so why bother making them? Kind of the same thing during Lent. Some years, rather than giving up something I'll make a commitment to *do* something instead. I've had a couple of weeks now to mull over what kind of goals I'm setting for myself for the new year and I need to post them so I'm accountable.

- Knit the Peacock Feathers shawl. I've had the pattern and yarn for at least 3 years now....it's time to do something about it.

- Rip out my aran sweater. Seven years after starting it is just too long of a gap.

- Whittle down the stash. This doesn't mean that I won't buy yarn! But I'm going to do my best to work from what I've got and even send out RAoKs to people this year.

- Write letters to friends. A good friend from high school keeps writing to me and I have yet to return a letter.

- Reorganize my craft room. Paint, shelving, the works.

- Rent a dumpster, clean out the basement, give away clothes I don't wear anymore, just a general cleaning.

- Organize the garage.

I guess that's enough to be getting on with for now.

Here's to a great year!

2009-01-03T16:01:00.002-06:00

I've decided to start the new year with a great big cleaning binge. Don't ask me why, but I want nothing more than to clean out my closet, dust, vacuum, do home improvement projects and just generally do what most people would consider "spring cleaning" in January. To illustrate how crazy I was....I was actually considering calling my trash company to rent a dumpster just so I could throw stuff into it from my second story windows. I'm sure the neighbors would have loved that one. Decided to sit on that idea until we're not having sleet/rain/snow on a daily basis. But it will happen this spring!

Speaking of out with the old....

These are my old Fibertrends Felted Clogs that my mom made me 4 years ago. Notice the gaping holes in the toes of each one. The soles were just as bad.

....and in with the new!

My new felted clogs (same pattern) knit by me! Knit out of Cascade 220 in Purple Jewel Heather and Dark Charcoal Heather in the women's large size. It took 2 balls of each color and I still had quite a bit left over.

More FOs!!!

My Bluebird Lenores from the RSC 2007 Lenore pattern and knit in STR lightweight in Sapphire. As much as I love the original socks in the Raven colorway, these held so much more magic because I could see the stitch pattern of the feathers at the top. I might do these again in a red sometime.

My Christmas present for V. It's the sushi wallet kit done with the single"sushi" that really looks like some kind of diseased nipple. It's worse in person...trust me. But V loves it so I'm leaving it. This just needs the zipper sewn in and the "sushi" attached to the front.

Tonks socks!

These are just plain vanilla stockinette socks on 64 sts and a US 2 needle. Done out of Opal's Harry Potter line in the Tonks colorway. I told the little ocd part of my brain to shut up when it tried to insist that I make the stripes match and I love that they don't!

...and hope for the future!

Cascade 220 in Shire to make Snow White by Ysolda Teague. I've swatched and I'm ready to start!

winter clothing memo

2008-12-19T06:16:00.002-06:00

To: Me

From: Me

Please note. In the winter, when using the snowblower, it's a good idea to wear more layers on your legs. T-shirt + hoodie + scarf + winter coat + hat + mittens on top is more than enough since you end up sweating on the top half of your body. Just jeans on your legs is not enough as evidenced by the fact that you cannot feel your thighs after just 25 minutes outside.

Wear long underwear while moving snow!

wrapping things up

2008-12-17T01:44:00.003-06:00

Christmas has snuck up on me again! All my knitted Christmas presents are done (minus weaving in a few ends), so I'm all set in that department. My tree still needs to be decorated, but at least it's up.

I've spent the last couple of days working on a new pair of slippers for myself. The old ones my mom made for me almost 4 years ago are coming apart and I've had to switch to a pair of store-bought ones that work, but don't keep my feet as warm as the wool ones did. A couple months ago, I ordered Cascade 220 from The Loopy Ewe just so I could make myself a new pair of slippers and I'm finally getting around to it. I got Purple Jewel Heather and Dark Charcoal Heather to make the Fiber Trends' Felted Clogs. I've been amazed at how fast they've gone. One slipper was complete in about 4 hours of knitting time. Wow! Tonight I started the second one and I'm already working on the upper portion so I'm pretty confident that I'll have a pair by morning. Then they'll just have to be felted and shaped. Hopefully they'll be dry to take home for Christmas.

I've also got a surprise of a Christmas present for someone that needs to be finished and have some handsewing done to complete it. Should probably get going on that too. Forgot about that one.

And aside from a boring pair of stockinette socks in Opal's Harry Potter sock yarn (colorway Tonks), that's it for knitting! I've even been boring myself.

Have to work this coming weekend and then Tuesday and Wednesday. Heading to the parents' Christmas Day after I get off work. So I guess I'll write again after Christmas!

a little parade

2008-12-07T23:59:00.003-06:00

Time for a little parade of the stuff I've finished recently and what I'm currently knitting on.

First up is my friend Sarah's Birthday/Christmas present. Which I can't show you since she sometimes reads the blog. If you really want to see them, the hop on over to my flickr.

Next is my new winter set of stuff....Fetching, Calorimetry, and an adapted One Row Scarf. All were done in Malabrigo Worsted in Whale's Road.
Fetching

Calorimetry

And scarf

Next to last is the Tulip Sweater I made for Brogan, a co-worker's baby boy.

And now for what I'm frantically trying to finish. It's another One Row scarf (done right this time) for the nursing student I've been precepting for the last 6 weeks. I gave her a choice of three yarns (two colors of Lamb's Pride and one of Malabrigo), and she chose Lamb's Pride Worsted in Persian Peacock....which I think is a discontinued colorway. Here's how much I got done that night at work.

Not bad...about 15 inches or so. It's grown since then, but I haven't moved on to the second skein yet. That might be later tonight after I get the tree set up. Time to go move the spinning wheel!

Someone set out the crash pads...

2008-12-05T21:14:00.002-06:00

...because I am going to fall down hard!

Blue Moon is having a sale tonight/tomorrow. My credit card is already screaming in anticipation.

Pics of recently finished stuff will be up this weekend.

Papparazi sneak attack!

2008-11-20T04:20:00.002-06:00

So Sunday I handed V my camera and asked her to take a picture of me in my Nottingham sweater. She took about 20 in quick succession, never pausing to tell me when she was taking them. This one is the best of the bunch.

Yeah....

So I was laughing my butt off and trying not to fall on the floor so I could at least get a decent picture. Click to go to my flickr account and see the whole sad tale.

When motivation hits...

2008-11-16T05:44:00.002-06:00

...don't question it. The Nottingham sweater is 99% complete. I only have to crochet around the neck edge and weave the ends in from that. So my one weekend goal will be complete either this morning or later this afternoon when I get up.

The Tulip baby sweater's body is almost complete. I'm on the bottom seed stitch border, but it was laid aside this weekend in favor of getting my own sweater done. Funny story with this one. I had another tulip sweater in another color in my Loopy Ewe tote at work on Friday. Cindy, the baby's mom, saw the sweater and asked what I was working (since she's a knitter too). I pulled out the sherbet colored sweater and showed it to her. She replied "Oh! One of the ladies at my SnB made one of these for Brogan, but the colors are kind of girly so my husband won't let me put it on him." When I heard she already had one, my heart about fell out of my chest. But the girly comment made it restart. I've got about the "manliest" colors that Dream in Color makes picked out for this sweater. Here's hoping that it'll still fit by the time I get done with it.

And I cast on the second Lenore sock in STR Sapphire. I'm into the easy part of the leg. Again, it's been put aside until the sweater is done.

No spinning, but I still have to ply the Bonkers' merino/tencel in Raspberry.

Now I need to go track down the Nottingham pattern and my crochet hooks. Just my luck, I probably won't have the size I need. Pics to follow late tonight since I'm supposed to head out to V's to record since KD is coming into town. Later!

one

2008-11-14T09:25:00.002-06:00

I only have one goal for the weekend....finish the Nottinham sweater.

There are other things I want to do. Like baking, letterboxing, knit another sweater, knit my new slippers, cuddle with Phoebe, watch movies. But my goal is the sweater.

It will be done!

just chillin'

2008-11-02T01:00:00.003-05:00

Nothing fancy for me for Halloween this year. Just normal clothes and handing out candy to the little beggers that came around. I had about 40 kids stop by this year. I kind of wish I had dressed up for that, but I just wasn't in the mood for it. Fell asleep watching the live Ghost Hunters episode.

I did finish spinning the first 4 oz of the Bonkers' merino/tencel in Raspberry. I'm planning to spin the other 4 oz of that and then 2-ply them. No plans for what it'll become yet.

Also started another pair of Lenore socks. The pattern is from last year's BMFA Rockin' Sock Club. I've finished the gusset of the first sock and am working my way out the foot. It'd nice to have a two row repeat. It lets the mind wander or be free to focus on movies.

I still need to start the Tulip baby sweater for my friend's baby. She's finally back at work after her maternity leave, so I think I'm going to take in the box of yarn and let her pick out colors. She still won't know what I'm making, but then she'll have a little control over it.

And I guess that's it! I'm going to try to update a little more frequently too. Still need to take pictures as well....bad blogger...no cookie!

Contrary to popular belief...

2008-10-25T00:11:00.002-05:00

I have not fallen off the face of the earth. My body has just been begging for more sleep lately, so I've been giving in and not knitting as much, not spinning at all, and sleeping a lot more. But I have finished stuff! (Not the sweater).

Pictures will come later when there's actual light out while I'm awake.

The completed list includes a birthday/Christmas present for a friend, a calorimetry, a pair of Fetching mitts, and a scarf. The last three are all for me and were done out of Malabrigo worsted in Whale's Road.

I've also started ordering yarn again. Still adding to the DiC collection to make Tulip sweaters so I'll have some on hand for all the small people that are turning up around here. I also ordered a bunch of Cascade 220 from The Loopy Ewe. A dark purple heather and charcoal grey heather to make myself a new pair of felted slippers since the one's Mom made for me are on their last legs. Well....more like they're little felted corpses that I keep shoving my feet in and dragging around since I don't have other slippers to wear. Must cast on for these soon since the cold weather is here.

Then I got 6 skeins of the Cascade in Shire, a beautiful green heather, to make a sweater. Not sure which sweater yet, but I've got a couple in mind.

I think the only other thing to report is that I cast on a Lenore sock in STR lightweight Sapphire last night at work. I'm 4 rows from having the top patterning done so should be able to start working my way down the leg tonight. I'll have to see how it goes.

weekend to-do

2008-10-11T04:43:00.003-05:00

If I don't put my to-do list somewhere then it won't get done.

-Mow the lawn. Hopefully for the last time this year.
-Dishes.
-Laundry.
-Finish seaming the Nottingham sweater.
-Finish the other Fetching.
-Vacuum.
-Grocery shopping.

Guess that's enough to be starting with.

ETA: Saturday 10:47 pm Laundry is started and the vacuuming is done. Going to finish seaming in the first sleeve of Nottingham now.

Like a herd of turtles

2008-09-24T01:00:00.002-05:00

That's how the seaming is going on my Nottingham sweater. Just not feeling the motivation for it this evening. However, if I want it done before Thursday's SnB then I need to get my butt in gear. I've found my tutorials that I need, my yarn needle and leftover yarn is ready, my pieces are blocked.....

....and now I'm thinking about spinning instead.

...meanwhile, back at the ranch...

2008-09-21T17:44:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the long time between posts everyone! I am just getting so bad at blogging. Ooops.

Knitting update:
As everyone has probably already heard on LnV, I had to rip the sleeves of my Nottingham sweater back three times. But all pieces are now completed, washed, and blocked. I had planned on sewing everything together and having a finished sweater this weekend, but due to my lovely voluteering capabilities that didn't happen. More on that later.

I've managed to knit exactly two rounds on my current monkey socks. Kind of sad actually, but I'm starting to get back into them. If I can resist the urge to start another sweater then they might actually get done.

And I've got another scarf on the needles in Malabrigo Whale's Road. Just a simple mindless pattern for when my brain is numb.

Crocheting:
I've done so many bath puffs. Don't know what I'm going to do with them all, but at least I'm blazing through my stash of kitchen cotton.

Spinning:
Nothing. No really. I've got nothing. Since I finished the Vesper Jolly Roger roving, I haven't spun at all. I want to, but can't seem to find the motivation to just sit at the wheel. Plus I've been sucked into Heroes and you kind of need to pay attention to the tv when watching that one.

Other crafty stuff:
I sewed!! That would be why the sweater isn't completed. V's hubby needed a pirate shirt for a local pirate festival he was performing at this weekend. But nothing at the local stores fit him. So I offered to sew a pirate shirt for him. Mind you that I haven't sewn anything in almost two years. I think the last thing I sewed was my Leia costume for Halloween 2 years ago. But I met him at the fabric store Friday at noon, got a pattern and fabric and headed home to strap myself to the machine. Seventeen hours later (including at 3 hour nap) the shirt was done. It fits him and worked for his gig, so that's done.

Around the house: I managed to get the lawn mowed this afternoon, and various loads of laundry done over the weekend. Just need to catch up on the dishes and clean out the fridge and I'll be set. But I've only got one night of work before the weekend, so I may just leave it all until Tuesday. Yeah...that sounds like a plan.

slight update

2008-09-05T00:58:00.003-05:00

Not much going on around here really. I've been knitting like a fiend on my Nottinham sweater and should have all the pieces completed tonight. I've also been crocheting more bath puffs. Don't know why, but I've just felt the need to crochet and that's the one thing I know how to do.

Work is this weekend and I've got 3 lbs of hamburger thawing to make sloppy joes to take and share.

Here I go again...

2008-08-24T01:00:00.005-05:00

I don't know why I'm taking three weeks to make posts around here. There's been stuff going on, but I just haven't sat down to blog about it.

First a couple of FOs.
The Blue Tulip sweater

And the Turquoise Monkey socks

Two weekends ago, my parents came down to visit and help me build a retaining wall/flower bed in my backyard. Here it is in all its completed glory.

And then an artsy shot from the far left end.

I'll get more pictures next spring once I get some plants in it. It'll really help to beautify the backyard and I might spend a little more time out there.

In knitting, I've completed the front of a Nottingham sweater by Jacquelyn Landry. No real spinning lately.

What's up?!

2008-08-02T18:54:00.002-05:00

Sorry for being so absent lately. I just haven't had the urge to blog. It might have something to do with the fact that it's been about 86 million degrees out lately and heat always slows me down. Or the fact that 4+ years of sleep deficit is finally catching up with me and I've been sleeping 10-12 hours on my days off.

Knitting has been slow. I'm still slogging along on the pair of socks I'm making for a Chrismas present. The Rivendell socks are due to be ripped and restarted....again....but I just haven't gotten to them. I did finish the Tulip sweater (did I mention that before?), but haven't started another one. What I really want to do is start a sweater since my huge order of Dream in Color finally arrived. But having a huge pile of wool on my lap in this heat has put me off starting on that project.

Spinning is another matter. The llama yarn that I'm sure I mentioned before is completely done. Twist is set and everything. Just have to measure the yardage. I also finished spinning and plying the BMFA merino/silk in Sea. Twist will be set tonight on that one. Last night, I spun on some Vesper merino/tencel in Jolly Roger. I'm pretty sure I can finish those singles off tonight as well, and maybe ply them tomorrow. So while I haven't been knitting, I've been spinning like crazy.

Tonight I'm headed over to a barbeque to celebrate a co-worker getting her BSN. She's been a tech at my hospital for a few years now, and she's awesome to work with. If you don't hear back from me, I've probably melted in the heat. If I don't melt tonight, then I surely will tomorrow afternoon when I head out to mow the lawn. I know it's supposed to be 99 tomorrow, but I can't let my lawn go until Wednesday. Phoebe is already refusing to wade through the jungle as it is.

One more night...

2008-07-20T23:41:00.002-05:00

My weekend has been fairly uneventful. Full of lots of sleep, lots of food, watching Battlestar Galactica and Dr. Horrible....a pretty good weekend in other words. Only downside was getting a touch of heat stroke when I went out and mowed my lawn Saturday afternoon.

On the knitting front, things have been progressing. I finished the Tulip Baby sweater I was knitting in shades of blue/teal/grey in Galway wool. The turquoise Monkey socks were finished and washed. They have yet to be worn, but I may hang on to them to submit at the county fair in my hometown along with the Mystic Light shawl. The shawl will need to be blocked again before I take it home though.

Current stuff on the needles includes a pair of short Monkeys for a friend's birthday (if I get my butt in gear) or Christmas (if I don't). I also pulled out the plain vanilla socks I started in Austermann Step ages ago. Knit on those tonight while watching Dr. Horrible and I'm almost ready to do the toe on the first one.

Have also been spinning on some BMFA merino/silk in Sea. I'm probably halfway done with it. Hoping I can get that done this week.

The Wedding!

2008-07-07T23:09:00.002-05:00

My cousin Mark married Corlet last weekend. So the parents and I drove out to Loveland for the wedding.

My cousin Beth (Mark's sister) and I before the wedding started. Our dads are twins and our moms were best friends from the time we were 4. We've actually been mistaken for one another...at her bridal shower, her friends/bridesmaids thought I was Beth when I walked in.

The cake!

Close-up of one of the cakes.

Corlet walked in to "Storybook Love" from The Princess Bride. Love that song!

The water feature that was the backdrop for the ceremony.

Columbine flowers

Lillies!

Close-up of the pink one.

And some burgundy ones.

That's it for now! Knitting content will happen next weekend. I hope.

The Fiber Fumes!

2008-07-07T23:02:00.004-05:00

Saturday in Estes was for the wool market. Mom and I only ended up staying about 4 hours before we were overwhelmed. I thought I restrained myself quite well. At least I didn't try to shove one of the baby alpaca in my trunk to bring home with me.

Here's the haul!

12 oz of llama roving that was just too pretty to pass up. It reminded me of a cup of coffee as a swirl of cream is being added.

At the same booth, there was this gorgeous 80/20 llama/silk blend. I couldn't pass it up! The silk content looks like sari silk was handblended in to the llama. So soft and squishy!

From left to right:
Bonkers' Fiber merino/bamboo 8oz in Autumn
30/2 yak/silk cobweb lace yarn
Bonkers' Fiber merino/tencel 8oz in Raspberry

And that was all I got! Not too bad. I'm amazed that I didn't walk away with another wheel. Mom did though. Get a wheel I mean. She came home with a Schact Ladybug and it's so cute!

Coming up next in part 3 is my cousin's wedding!

ETA: I completely forgot the final item that I purchased that day!!! How I could forget an entire alpaca fleece is beyond me, but I did.

It's been too long!

2008-07-07T22:55:00.003-05:00

I have been busy busy busy lately and the blog has suffered because of it. So this update will be broken up into several entries.

First up is Estes pictures!

View of the front range from the Stanley Hotel on Friday.

The storm over the front range as we drove in on Thursday. It snowed 10 minutes after we checked into our hotel!

View of the Stanley Hotel. Went hunting for a letterbox on the grounds, but came up empty handed.

Prarie dog by the Stanley. There were about a dozen of these little guys running around, but this was the only one that would stay still for a picture. The rest dove for cover as we walked toward them.

Not Phoebe! Mom and I were trying to find a lady we used to know who worked in a quilt shop in Estes. This little dog, Gabby, belonged to the shop owner. We played fetch on the quilt shop floor for about half an hour.

Part 2 coming up!

baaaah

2008-06-22T01:36:00.001-05:00

Miss V finally badgered me enough that I joined Plurk. And it's addicting. Way too addicting.

But here's where you can find me.

http://plurk.com/redeemByURL?from_uid=1540900&check=335102349&s=1

spinning my wheels

2008-06-20T20:59:00.003-05:00

I promise that I'll get my pictures from Estes up soon, just not tonight. Tonight is going to be spent spinning and trying to finish the first bit of llama fiber that I started ages ago. I'm just finding it hard to motivate myself when all that there is to look forward to is more dark brown fiber.

Speaking of fiber, that's basically all I bought at Estes. The only skein of real yarn that I bought was some cobweb weight yak/silk to make a wedding ring shawl someday. Everything else was fiber. Including an entire alpaca fleece. I was bad.

But I guess I'd better get back to my wheel and my second cup of coffee is calling me too.

The Carin has landed!

2008-06-12T17:08:00.002-05:00

Mom and I made it safely up to Estes this afternoon. The drive up the little winding highway was an adventure since Mom had never driven in the mountains (neither had I) and there wasn't really anywhere to pull over so we could switch. But we made it!!

Within about 10 minutes of getting into our room, the snow started. That's right....I said snow. We're only minutes away from Rocky Mountain National Park and there were some clouds hanging low over the mountains as we pulled in. Then they moved in and decided to dump some snow. Temperatures for the next couple nights are going to be in the low 30s. Complete change from the heat and humidity of Iowa and Nebraska. However, the heater will definetely be in use while we're here.

Mom and I already made stops at The Plum Nelly and Imagiknit in Hastings on the way out, so we're getting ready to play with our new acquistions while we wait for the wool market to start.

Estes, here I come!!

2008-06-11T00:21:00.003-05:00

Mom and I will be leaving for the Estes fiber festival in the morning. I still haven't packed. Oops.

We will be making a stop along the way at The Plum Nelly in Hastings, then hopefully we'll make it to North Platte by tonight. Estes will be the next day. We'll be letterboxing and just enjoying the town on Friday. Then Saturday we'll hit the market. Planning on meeting up with a few people. I'll probably put in an appearance at the blogger meet-up at noon.

When you hear from me next, I'll be rolling in the wool.

I gave in...

2008-06-05T09:23:00.001-05:00

On a bunch of the messageboards I've been on lately, people have these cute little dragon icons in their signatures or on the side of their blog. Having other people click on it makes them grow. I finally got an egg today! Please click on my little dragon egg over in the sidebar so it can grow up!!

celebrate!!

2008-06-04T04:39:00.001-05:00

I passed my CRRN certification!!! Now to talk to my boss about that raise.....

a few more things

2008-06-02T09:41:00.002-05:00

V and SSH brought over the wheelbarrow last night, so what does it do today? Rain. For the rest of the week? Rain. It's going to take me the whole summer to move this rock the way the weather's cooperating.

I took a nap last night from 2:30 or so until 5. So much for keeping my sleep schedule. Tonight at work is going to be awful trying to stay awake thanks to that little nap. And I've got my CRRN test to take a noon tomorrow. At least then that will be out of the way.

I'm slowly ticking things off the list that I posted. I was surprised how much I was able to get done! Too bad the cleaning bug only strikes about twice a year....if I'm lucky.

Guess I'd better get to bed if I want to be up in time for work tonight.

critical mass

2008-06-01T01:58:00.006-05:00

My house has reached it. At least it has according to the cleaning part of my brain. You that part. The little bit in the back of your mind that you can ignore most of the time and just live with the dust and not vacuum this week? It's throwing a screaming temper tantrum right now.

The list of what done/needs to be done (in the house):
-clean off the dining room table (90% done)
-clean out my purse (done)
-dust my dresser and nightstand in the bedroom (done)
-clean/organize my desk (done)
-empty the dishwasher and reload (done)
-handwash the stuff that won't fit (done)
-wash towels (in the dryer now)
-put away clean laundry (done...except for those towels)
-dust/pick-up the living room (done)
-vacuum the family room (done)
-take the recycling stuff out to the garage
-vacuum the whole house
-clean my bathroom top-to-bottom (sink and toilet done, drain cleaner down the drain in the shower)

(with the yard):
-mow (done)
-weed whip (done)
-move more rock once Eliza brings over the wheelbarrow (wheelbarrow's here!)
-plant the daylillies
-split the hostas and replant them

(with the fibery bits):
-finish the first shopping bag (finished!!)
-work on the Rivendell sock
-work on the Turquoise Monkey sock (did a few rounds before Mom left on Monday morning)
-pull out the stuff to make another Tulip sweater
-spin on the llama roving so I can get something pretty on the wheel (spun after Mom went to bed....the end is in sight!)

Now I know all of this won't be done in the next 48 hours, but a lot of it will. I think part of why I'm wanting to get all of this done is that I'm going on two different trips during the month of June. My brain knows that if I don't leave the house at an okay level, then it'll just turn into a dump between all my trips. And I know that by the time June is over, I won't want to do anything about it.

Back to the list.

the blahs....again

2008-05-29T05:42:00.003-05:00

I've hit a time of knitting/spinning blahs. I'm pretty sure it corresponds to my work schedule since it always seems to hit during the week after I work the weekend. It's like my body just wants to physically shut down for a few days.

So there has been little to no progress on anything. Here's the current state of the projects.

Rivendell socks - Being working in DiC Smooshy in Happy Forest. The yarn acts completely differently than what I was expecting. I was thinking it would be a little thicker and "smooshier" like it feels in the skein. But once I started knitting with it, it seemed a lot thinner and more prone to splitting. Bizarre. I'm still working on the patterned part of the cuff, but once I get to the plain part these should just fly.

Turquoise Monkey socks - Done in STR lightweight in Turquoise. I'm 4 repeats into the leg of the first sock. These are what I take to work with me, so they're seeing the most action these days.

String shopping bag - Worked on this quite a bit on Monday. I'm getting close to finishing the bag part of the bag. How close? I don't know.....I'm too lazy to dig out my tape measure to find out.

Llama fiber - Haven't touched this since the first night I sat down to spin on it. Maybe this weekend in between studying for my CRRN certification.

I forced myself out of my malaise tonight and did two loads of laundry and a load of dishes, so maybe I can break myself out of the funk.

Forgive me, Betamor....

2008-05-22T01:30:00.002-05:00

.....for I have sinned.

I used fake potatos in my lefse. I knew as I was grilling these tonight that my great-grandmother and my maternal grandparents were probably rolling in their graves. But it's getting to that hotter time of year and I promised E that I would make lefse. This is just easier than boiling and ricing potatos.

And here's a blurry picture of the Purple Rain monkeys.

done!

2008-05-21T03:14:00.004-05:00

The Purple Rain monkey socks in STR were finished yesterday morning after work. So that makes 4 pairs of Monkey socks in a row. I really really want to cast-on another pair, but I've been pulled in a new direction.

I had been waiting for Rivendell by Janel Laidman to come out as a pattern. A Lime & Violet listener had pointed these socks out to me when they were available as a monthy sock club offering. The pattern is finally for sale by itself and will also be included in Janel's soon-to-be-released book.

Tonight, after I got back from E's, I dug through my stash to find yarn for these wonderful socks. Because I am nothing if not a LotR geek. Finally settled on DiC Smooshy in Happy Forest. And to get in the spirit of things, I popped Fellowship of the Ring in the dvd player. *sigh* Ah the college memories that come flying back with that one. I'm only 9 rows in, but I can tell I'm going to love it already.

Off to knit more and let my geek flag wave.

ETA: Three hours later and I'm ready to kick Lord Elrond in the head. The pattern for this sock said it was "stretchy" so I used US 1 1/2's instead of my usual size 2s. Ummm yeah. Couldn't fit the dumb thing over my foot. So it's been frogged. The leg will be knit on 2 1/2s and the foot on 2s. And I'm not going to bed this morning until I'm back to where I was!

bits and pieces

2008-05-19T00:12:00.002-05:00

I did a little more rock moving today. Got a second piece of ground cloth down, but don't have it completely covered with rock yet. The whole process would be quicker with a wheelbarrow, but I'm too cheap to go out and buy one. Plus now I'm working on the part of the rocks where a lot of weeds have been growing so I'm having to pick through the rocks by hand rather than just scoop them up with a shovel.

After I came inside, I sat down to watch Deadliest Catch and knit a little. Managed to turn the heel of the second monkey sock in Purple Rain STR. Now I think I'm going to go pick up the stitches and start the gusset before I get back to studying for my rehab nursing certification.

My achin' back...

2008-05-17T19:41:00.002-05:00

Who's brilliant idea was it to move the rock behind my house to the dirt area under the deck? Oh right! It was mine!

Next time I come up with some hare-brained do-it-yourself idea.....remind me of today.

I've moved a 4'x6' area of rock from next to the house to right behind the lattice work I've got on one side of my deck. And there's still a LOT of rock to move and a LOT of dirt to cover under the deck. But I'm taking a dinner break.

Why?!?

2008-05-17T10:33:00.003-05:00

Why is it that when the weather is beautiful and I want to sleep with the windows open, then that is the time that my neighbors feel the need to mow their lawn?!?

I understand that I work nights and my sleep schedule is completely opposite of most normal people, but why should I be punished by having to close my house and turn the air conditioner on just so I can sleep? If I didn't think they would call the cops and report me for a noise violation, I'd be tempted to breakout the lawn mower at 3 am and see how they like it.

Grrrrrr....

It never ends...

2008-05-15T00:54:00.002-05:00

Woke up early today and managed to mow down the jungle that was my yard. This weekend is going to be spent moving the rocks along the back of the house to their new home under the deck. Then I'll be able to plant the new daylillies along the house where the rocks formerly lived.

Knitting has continued. I've got about 6 inches out of 12 done on my first shopping bag. Turned the heel of my first Purple Rain monkey sock. And that's it.

Laundry must be done tonight or I will be going to work naked tomorrow. Not a good look for me.

And now I'm hungry. Go figure.

Socks!

2008-05-09T08:47:00.001-05:00

Another pair has fallen from the needles.

Monkey socks in STR lightweight in Seastone.

Without flash.

With flash.

That's all for now since I'll be out of town for the weekend.

So I've been thinking....

2008-05-05T21:45:00.002-05:00

As I was walking around Wally World in my work-induced sleep-deprived state this morning, I realized that I was going to be bringing home even more plastic bags. I've been planning on making some bags to carry with me to the store but I've just never gotten around to it. Just then, I happened to wander by the craft/fabric area and on one of the end shelved was the big cones of kitchen cotton. For a little over $6 each. Hmmm....

I bought two cones. Because sometimes when I go grocery shopping, I buy a lot of stuff.

That means tonight will be devoted to my second Monkey sock in STR Seastone and to starting the first of what will hopefully be many reusable shopping bags.

Oldest to Youngest

2008-04-28T00:50:00.002-05:00

That's the order that these pictures will be presented.....finally.

First is the Big Yellow Taxi 2-ply sock yarn, handspun by me.

Handspun Monkey socks in CMF Sock Hop I've Got You Babe, handspun by me.

Sorbet Tulip baby sweater

Socks you can see from space. Monkey socks in STR lightweight Rockstar.

And now, the just completed Mystic Light shawl. Done in STR lightweight Oregon Red Clover Honey. The color is actually a little bit lighter, but I just soaked it and pinned it out to block. I thought I would be able to make this out of 2 skeins of the STR, but I had to break into the third skein for the last two rows of the pattern and the bind off. I should still have enough leftover to make myself a pair of short socks.

That's it for now.

Since last we met....

2008-04-26T07:02:00.002-05:00

I still haven't taken pictures of two complete projects. I gave Mom the Big Yellow Taxi yarn when she was here this last weekend, so I'll have to bug her to get pictures of it. And the Monkey socks in STR Rockstar are done, and have been worn, but not photographed. That'll be this afternoon after I get up. Here's the state of things right now.

Mystic Light shawl - Four rows into the final part of the pattern. I'm hoping to get this done this weekend and blocked sometime during the week.

Seastone Monkey socks - Started these right on the heels of finishing up the Rockstar Monkeys. I'm just two pattern repeats into the first sock since this is what I knit during work.

Leafling socks - Were frogged. I just didn't like how the pattern was working, or wasn't working as the case was. Planning on making RPMs from this doing two at a time on magic loop.

Spinning - I have started nothing on the wheel since I've been obsessed with keeping up with the ML shawl and not getting behind on the weekly clues. But the llama roving is still next in line when I finally get a chance to start it.

In a 36-hour time period this week, I did get a little letterbox obsessed and found 17 local boxes plus a hitchhiker. I need to slow that down a little or I'll have to start traveling further to find boxes. *sigh* Off to bed.

no cookie!

2008-04-17T03:25:00.003-05:00

I've been a bad blogger. Obviously, I haven't posted the pictures that I promised. They're still on my camera and I'll be taking a few more pictures to add to them this weekend.

Let's see. Where to start? How about with knitting!

Over the weekend at work, I cast on for the March RSC Leafling socks. I've got the ribbing done for the first sock on magic loop, but I got distracted. You see, E and I had done a joint order from Blue Moon together and my 5 skeins of STR had arrived. I've pretty much decided to make Monkey socks out of all the yarn so those were cast on Friday night at work in the Rockstar (aka Cotton Candy on Acid) colorway. I finished the first sock on Tuesday morning before I went to bed and I'm 2 repeats into the second sock. This is also a bit of an experiment, since I don't know if the lightweight STR has enough yardage to complete a pair of Monkey socks for my ski feet. I've got high hopes that it will since I had a decent amount of yarn leftover from by Lenore socks.

However, both socks have been put on hold since the 4th part of the Mystic Lights shawl pattern came out today. I've been working on that tonight, but it's progressing slowly since there is now patterning on the right and wrong sides of the fabric. I can't just mindlessly purl back on the wrong-sided rows.

I haven't started spinning anything since I finished the CMF Big Yellow Taxi. I'm planning on starting in on some llama roving from a lady in my hometown. I've got 3 different shades, so I think I'm going to three-ply it and make a tweedy yarn. Should be fun!

Letterboxing will also happen this weekend. I've sucked my dad into the hobby and even carved him his own signature stamp so when he finds a box he can stamp in. We'll probably have a 10-box day this weekend while my parents are visiting. Yay for increasing the F count!

And now it's back to the grindstone. I need to finish laundry so I have something to wear to work tonight.

busy weekend

2008-04-06T02:10:00.002-05:00

It's been a busy weekend around here.

My friend, Sarah, who I visited last April out in Virginia has since moved back to Minnesota and drove down to visit me. She got here on Wednesday and she'll be leaving this afternoon. We've had fun just bumming around the house and watching movies.

And then Saturday I took her letterboxing. Managed to find three boxes at two different locations and the letterboxing bug that had lain dormant in my system during the winter reared its ugly head. I've got the clues for three more boxes printed out to be found later this week. I might add to that pile since I've got today (Sunday) off and then three days off this week before working the weekend again.

I've also been knitting and spinning like crazy. The Big Yellow Taxi/Hawkeye yarn is done. I just have to set the twist before I send it off to Mom. I also finished the second Monkey sock out of my handspun CMF I've Got You Babe. I do have pictures, but they're on my camera so you'll see them later. And I've been knitting like a fiend on the Mystic Lights shawl. I am actually managing to keep up with the clues. I finished the last few rows of clue one on Thursday night, but since the second clue had only come out on Wednesday, I didn't feel too bad about being slightly behind. I'm currently six rows into the second clue. Since Sarah's in bed, I'm planning on putting on a couple episodes of Voyager and seeing if I can get a couple more rows done before I hit the sack.

Oh! I also picked up the Yarn Harlot's latest book. I'm only 20 pages in or so, but it's already made me laugh at several different points. And I tried baking a chocolate-covered cherry cookie, and they came out sooooo good!

just breathe

2008-03-29T01:49:00.002-05:00

I feel like that's what I need to do this weekend....breathe. All week long I felt like a coiled spring just being wound tighter and tighter. I kept expecting to snap, but managed to hold it together. Ten hours of sleep yesterday helped with the relaxation and about 4 hours of spinning so far tonight has helped as well. I'll probably be able to finish of the CMF roving I've been spinning tonight. Plying will commence tomorrow/later today (it's not tomorrow until I sleep, so for me I still count this as Friday).

As is the norm for the weekend I work and the following week, very little knitting has been accomplished. I always take a project to work with me, but I just haven't been motivated to pull it out of my bag. I did manage to turn the heel and start the gusset of my second handspun Monkey sock in the CMF colorway I've Got You Babe. Also got the body of the Sorbet Tulip Baby sweater complete.

Right now though I'm going to focus on my spinning. I've got CMF Big Yellow Taxi that I'm spinning into fingering weight. When I'm done with that, I'll hand it off to my mom and she's going to knit socks for my uncle Jim. He's a huge Hawkeye fan (the colors are gold, black and white), and he has been doing my taxes for me for free as long as I've been working (detasseling since I was 13). He was almost giddy about doing my taxes two years ago when I bought my house. So as thanks for all the years of work he's done for free for us, we're making handspun, handknit Hawkeye socks for him. I can't wait to see his face!

I'm off to get food, watch the last three episodes I've got of season 3 of Smallville, and spin some more.

smoothies!

2008-03-23T00:21:00.001-05:00

It's smoothie night here at work! Yummy!

another weekend post

2008-03-16T23:24:00.002-05:00

I guess I must be feeling particularly chatty this weekend. Here's a pic of the second Tulip sweater I finished. It's in the Sweet Baby Boy colorway from Coldwater Collaborative.

And then tonight as I was spinning the first 4 oz of Big Yellow Taxi CMF roving, this is what I kept seeing through my wheel.

I had given her a new bone as a distraction from the ball of fiber rolling around on the floor, and every so often she would just look up at me through the wheel and wag her tail. Too cute!

the list

2008-03-16T17:17:00.003-05:00

I knew when I made that list out that I was trying to cram too much into one weekend. But I did get a good chunk of it completed. So far I've done the dishes, picked up the general clutter in the house, almost finished the laundry (last load just went in the dryer), completed my first Monkey sock out of my handspun and cast-on the second one, and I think tonight is going to be a marathon spinning session. I've got season 3 of Voyager all lined up and ready to go. My cup of coffee is waiting downstairs and I'll get something more to eat for dinner after a bit.

Right now I'm going to go sit on my newly cleared off couch, drink my coffee, and try to soak up some of the overcast light from outside.

some of the list is done

2008-03-15T02:19:00.002-05:00

A very little bit.

I managed to get about 10 hours of sleep today. And since then I've done all the dishes except one cookie sheet that wouldn't fit into the dishwasher. I also worked on my Handspun Monkey sock (which wasn't on the list), and I'm just starting the toe. So that may take the place of the the baby sweater on the list for the weekend.

Nothing else really to tell. I'm thinking some nachos would taste good right now, and then I'm going to finish my sock.

making the to-do list

2008-03-14T02:09:00.002-05:00

I have to find some way to keep myself awake at work!

Weekend to-do list:
-Clean the house, including:
-Dishes
-Laundry
-Vacuum
-Pick-up the living room, dining room, bedrooms
-Do taxes and mail them.
-Do at least one part of secret project.
-Pack for going home on Tuesday.
-Finish spinning first 4 oz of Big Yellow Taxi.
-Finish Sorbet Tulip baby sweater.

I think that's about enough to be getting along with. Anything else I get done will just be a bonus. Like sleep....sleep would be a bonus this weekend.

WIP central

2008-03-01T09:19:00.005-06:00

On my way to bed this morning since I'm in the middle of working the weekend.

Handspun Monkey in progress on magic loop.

Fibertrends' Leaf Lace Shawl....it's blurry, take what you can get.

Branching Out from Knitty...blurry again, deal with it.

Austerman Step sock....mindless project for the purse

Tulip Baby Sweater in Sweet Baby Boy colorway

And one FO!!

The original colorway of the Tulip Baby Sweater

And now to bed.

another one for the finish-a-long

2008-02-17T15:57:00.003-06:00

Early Saturday morning, I finished my January RSC socks. Yarn is STR lightweight in Dragon Dance. Pattern is Serendipity by Adrienne Fong. I knit the medium size and went up to size 2's. I'm kind of wishing that I would have done them on 1.5's since they're a little loose, but that could be the construction too. I followed the pattern and used the short-row heel and star toe....neither of which are my favorites, but the point of the sock club is to expand your horizons, right?

Here they are.

And the weekend of my birthday, my parents and their dogs came down to visit. That Saturday afternoon, all three puppies decided that the only place they wanted to be was in my big chair with me while I knit. Once they settled in, I couldn't really move. Want proof?

I don't know what I'm going to knit on tonight. I may spin some more since I got a lot done at SnB last night.

Now where are my stretchy pants?

2008-02-13T20:48:00.003-06:00

After church stuff was done tonight, I made a Target run and then went to Applebee's for dinner. After a bruschetta burger with fries, sizzling apple pie, and two glasses of strawberry lemonade, I'm stuffed. Definetely need to find some pants with an elastic waist before I do anything on my list for tonight.

The list!

- Laundry. No, seriously. I feel like I do nothing but laundry lately, but I've really got to or I'm going to work naked tomorrow. I've probably got at least four loads to do.
- Dishes. Standard mountain of dirty ones in the sink after working the weekend.
- Serendipity sock. Do the heel already!
- Leaf Lace shawl. One pattern repeat.

I think that's enough to be getting on with. Now to find the stretchy pants.

ETA: That laundry detergent I bought? Completely says on the front label that it's meant for front-loading washers. Yeah. Don't have one of those. I have no other detergent in the house so I'm going to use it anyways. Seems to be working okay. At least the washer hasn't exploded....yet.

Once again...

2008-02-10T17:09:00.000-06:00

....working the weekend is kicking my butt. It's great to only get about 5 hours of sleep and then have to go back for a third 12-hour shift. It's also kicking me in the knitting category.

I've been trying to knit on my second Serendipity sock and if I hadn't worked the weekend, I'd probably have it done by now. There's half a repeat left on the leg before I turn the heel. I've also started the heel gusset on the first Austermann Step sock, but that's going slow because it's my purse project to be pulled out for mindless knitting time. The leaf lace shawl is my at-home-only project so it'll just have to wait. I have moved it over my Options needles and I love the ease of putting a lifeline in on them. Also the pointier tips (vs the Denise needles it was on) are great.

One more night of work, then tomorrow I'm making cheesy potato soup and Irish soda bread to take out to E since she's getting over the creeping crawling crud that's being passed around. I just hope I'm immune.

Hmmm....maybe I should grab a surgical mask at work tonight....just in case.

chatter

2008-02-06T04:45:00.001-06:00

That would be my teeth chattering. I don't know why I'm so cold tonight! My current knitting seems to be putting me to sleep, so I'm going to drag out my Leaf Lace shawl that I want to finish for my cousin's wedding in June and get that moved off the Denise needles and onto an Options one. I'm still working on the second Serendipity sock, but that's what's putting me to sleep. And no, I haven't written anymore secret patterns. I need to do that before I work this next weekend. All my testknitters have the current ones done.

Back to work.

Happy unproductive birthday to me!

2008-02-04T13:18:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my birthday. I don't like to make a big fuss about it which is why I didn't post. My parents came down for the weekend, so I ate really well. Per my request, Mom made me chicken lasagne, garlic bread and pistachio dessert. Yum!

Then on Saturday I had a slight panic when I realized that my ticket for the Sunday matinee of Phantom of the Opera hadn't showed up yet. A call to ticketmaster told me that even though I'd ordered it in October, it had probably gotten lost in the mail and that a new one would be printed for me at the theater. So Sunday afternoon I headed to the Orpheum. I had an amazing seat! Beautiful scenery, amazing acting, and phenominal singing. I miss theater stuff. I'll definetely have to get back to the Orpheum for more shows.

Then I went out to E's house and stayed there until about 3 am. Came home, ate a snack and the pup and I fell asleep in my big chair. Not a bad birthday.

Oh! I did get some knitting done over the weekend. My first Serendipity sock is complete and I got the heel turned on my Austermann sock.

evil evil yarn harlot

2008-01-31T04:28:00.000-06:00

So you may all remember the a game that makes the blog rounds every year that has a yeti whacking penguins across a glacier trying to get them to go the furthest distance.

Well, Yarn Harlot's friend Lene distracted her with this game and in her turn, the Harlot has done it to the rest of us.

I'm up to 400 feet. Go play! (It does have sound...Ride of the Valkyries if anyone cares.)

Two down!

2008-01-28T01:36:00.000-06:00

Two patterns have been written, one has been sent out to the test knitters. I haven't sent the other one simply because I'm waiting on a couple of people to get a free account on the system I'm using. I'm lazy and don't want to do attachments to emails.

Now it's time for a little food/knitting/movie break, then I try to bust out the third one....or at least get a start on it.

And can I just rant a little? Don't companies have people testknit their stitch patterns? I'm using about 17 different stitch pattern books and liked the looks of one picture better than another. Then as I was writing it out, I thought it looked funky so I pulled out the needles to knit a swatch. Sure enough, instead of the little motifs I was looking for, I got zigszags of eyelets. Went to the book with the picture of a similar pattern that I didn't like as well. That one came out with the motifs the way I wanted them. What the heck?!? Needless to say, I used the second one because I just wasn't in the mood to rewrite a stitch pattern that should have been correct in the first place.

Now I'm done.

It's here!!!

2008-01-27T02:52:00.000-06:00

The first shipment for the RSC '08 came in the mail yesterday. Of course since I didn't get out of bed until almost 9 last night, I didn't see it was here until even later. It's really not my colors, but the pattern looks neat and it's top-down so my yarn is already wound into a ball and I'm getting ready to cast on.

I also spent a couple of hours working on the secret project. I've still got a few stitch patterns I need to find and then tonight I'll buckle down and try to write out at least two of them, maybe three and get them sent out to the test knitters. Now if I could just get the charting software to load onto my computer.

Off to snuggle the puppy and spend some quality time knitting.

a night of rest

2008-01-24T04:51:00.000-06:00

....and getting rid of the housework looming over my head.

Work is slowing down a little...thank goodness. I just think that a lot of my stressing out over work has been from lack of sleep. I was able to get some good rest on Monday and again yesterday. I'll be in to work tonight, then it's three glorious days off.

I dashed off a quick crochet bath pouf tonight, just to give my hands something to do. I also finished the laundry (so I had a uniform to wear tonight), vacuumed the house, and washed the dishes. Now I just need to find time this weekend to pick up all the general clutter around the house and do a little dusting. Yes....I said the D word. I despise dusting, but when the dust bunnies begin to morph into dust buffalo, then it's time to break out the dust rags and pledge.

And since I finished Mom's socks, I don't know what my next pair will be. I'm kind of waiting for the first kit of the 2008 Rockin' Sock Club to arrive. If it's something that I really like, I want to be able to cast-on right away. I can hear you all now, telling me that I can have more than one pair of socks on the needles at a time. I tried that once and it didn't really work. I hit a point where I got sick of both of them and just didn't knit on either one for about 3 months. So one sock project at a time. That's fine with me. I need to get going on stuff for the finish-a-long anyways.

Tonight I also finished re-writes on the second pattern for my secret project. This weekend I'm setting a goal of writing up three more to get out to the test knitters. More if possible.

A couple days ago I signed up for the Mystic Lights shawl KAL. It won't be starting for a while, but it's knit in fingering weight yarn. So now I need to decide what to make it out of. I'm leaning toward STR in the Oregon Red Clover Honey colorway. I'm thinking that it'll be a warm enough yellow that I won't look jaundiced if I try to wear it. I'll have to look at E's skein of it when I'm out there on Friday.

I guess that's it for now. I need to go try to get warm. My feet are freezing!!! (Even with wool socks and felted slippers.)

barely surviving

2008-01-22T04:52:00.000-06:00

We were so short-staffed at work this weekend. Sunday night especially....we had 3 nurses with 9 and 10 patients each for the 7-11 shift. I can handle that many on the 11pm-7am shift, but not those first 4 hours. I was basically running in and out of each room and just throwing pills at the patients. We survived, but it was tough. Then I got a call from staffing today (after only 4 hours of sleep) asking if I was available to work last night. Ummmm....let me think about that one...NO!! I'll be back into work tonight, off Wednesday, work Thursday, then have an entire blissful three days off. And I'm going to need it.

Once I dragged my sorry carcass out of bed at 8:30 last night, I got to knitting. I think that's what I miss the most when I work weekends. I don't really get to pick up the needles for three days. So after 8 episodes of Voyager, I have completed the Monkey socks for Mom's birthday!!!

They're the Monkey pattern from Knitty, done in Lisa Souza's Sock! in Berry Poppins. The only mod I made was to knit them on size 2s.

And that's it for now. My brain is fried so the secret project has made no more headway. That'll have to wait for the weekend.

drat!

2008-01-18T03:21:00.000-06:00

I forgot about the 4 skeins of sock yarn from my Taste of Germany package. And the two skeins of handspun hanging up in the bathroom. So the total actually should have been 124. Oops!

But I did cull 33 pairs worth from the stash.

So that leaves me with a current stash total of 91. Still pretty bad, but not as bad as before. I'll be going through the stash again next month I think and try to whittle that number down a little more.

Off to work on that second Monkey sock.

coming up for air

2008-01-17T05:55:00.000-06:00

I survived the stash diving!! But now I'm in a state of shock. Here's why.

118 skeins.
.....one hundred....eighteen....
*gulp*
(Phoebe the wonderdog included for scale.)

So I went through and culled the stash a bit. Thirty-five or so skeins gone.

Mom called just as I finished and laid claim to 10 of them. The rest will be gifted/given/traded/sold away.

And now I'm going to bed.

diving in

2008-01-17T02:45:00.000-06:00

I've got to finish up the final load of laundry, then I'm really going to do it.

Do what you ask?

Go through my sock yarn stash that has gotten completely out of control. There will be pictures.

E, Minnie, Tara, Deawn.....if I'm not at SnB tonight....send help!!!

relaxing

2008-01-13T21:48:00.000-06:00

The tension of this previous week is slowly working its way out of my back and shoulders. I can feel the stress melting away.

And my absolutely least favorite team was kicked off Amazing Race tonight. Yay! I honestly don't know which of the three teams left I'll cheer for. I'd be happy with any of them winning.

I've started designing some sock patterns and put out a call for testknitters on The Daily Chum. Talk about overwhelming! I've had over 40 people respond so far. Plenty to do all the knitting. Now I just need to write the last 13 patterns. *gulp*

The first monkey sock is about 8 rows away from being finished. I think I'm going to eat some nachos and then buckle down on that so I have a sense of accomplishment for the weekend. I might even get wild later and do the dishes!

just keep swimming...just keep swimming swimming swimming

2008-01-12T08:42:00.000-06:00

I am about on total burnout from work. I was never so glad to have a weekend off as I am right now. Yesterday, I slept until 8 pm or so then went out to E's to record a new podcast. My back was killing me from work, so we didn't do any dyeing while I was there.

Came home and finished watching a movie while I worked on Mom's monkey socks. I'm ready to pick up this gusset stitches before I head to bed for the day. This sock is just flying and I'm hoping to have the pair done in plenty of time for Mom's birthday.

I'm also working on designing some patterns, and will be in need of testknitters very very soon. If you'd like to volunteer, keep your eyes on The Daily Chum for an announcement. The turnaround time needs to be quick on this.

First FO of 2008!!!

2008-01-03T16:07:00.000-06:00

I completed my Lenore socks last night at work. These were from the Rockin' Sock Club October kit.

Pattern: Lenore by Yarn Harlot
Yarn: STR lightweight in Lenore
Mods: I knit the regular size, but went up to a size 2 needle.

And here's the color in sunlight. These are really hard to take pics of and don't do the color justice at all.

I'm off to one more night at work, then I'll have the weekend off to recover. Working 6 days out of seven does not a happy Carin make.

thud

2007-12-31T19:57:00.000-06:00

So here I sit, in the middle of a 6-day work stretch. I worked this last weekend (Friday through Sunday), I've got tonight off, then I'm back at work tomorrow from 3-11. I'll be working Wednesday and Thursday too. Friday will be devoted solely to sleep. There will be no major partying this New Year's Eve for me. Just a quiet night at home, doing laundry and dishes and eating an enormous amount of junk food while watching movies. And waiting for my berry cobbler to finish cooking in the crockpot. Happy new year to me.

On the bright side, this morning marked the first time for me to not be carded while buying alcohol! Although, now that I think about it, they probably didn't card me because not too many underage people buy their wine at 8 AM along with dog kibble and oreos. Yep.....exciting life I lead.

I think I'll be able to finish my fifth crocheted bath pouf tonight and then log some knitting time on my Lenore sock. I'd like to finish the sock now, but I kind of want to hold off so it will count toward the finish-a-long that L&V will be starting in the new year.

So yeah...that's my boring new year's eve plans. Now I need to go move the laundry.

cue the Imperial March

2007-12-24T13:53:00.000-06:00

....dum dum da dum da da dum da dum da dum....

I have crossed over to the dark side. That's right. I have learned to crochet.

Blame it on Stariel for posting a link to a pattern for a crocheted bath pouf. I had Mom teach me how to crochet at the coffee shop this morning and I just finished my first bath pouf half an hour ago.

Come to the dark side....we have cookies. Bwahahahahahaha!!!!

Holiday cheer!

2007-12-16T23:43:00.000-06:00

Horked this off the Mason-Dixon Knitting blog. I just had to after I was snowed in out at E's on Friday and we were subjected to some really really BAD Christmas acappella music on the podsafe music network. Namely the people who don't understand that acappella means NO BACKGROUND MUSIC!!! So this is to make up for it. Comedy and good singing all in one.

I've also almost got my few Christmas presents that I'm knitting/spinning done.

First up is the Lost socks for my friend Sarah. She's moved back to Minnesota after going to school in Virginia Beach so while she used to say that she didn't like to wear socks, she's begging for them now. These are out of Yarntini's varigated sportweight in 4-8-15-16-23-42. Sarah had actually picked out something completely different, but I thought this was more appropriate since we're both such huge Lost fans.

Next is my Secret Santa scarf. This was done for a secret santa exchange at work and I ended up with one of the therapist who I know nothing about. So she's getting malabrigo. It's the One Row Handspun Scarf by Yarn Harlot done on size 8 needles in malabrigo worsted. The colorway is Azul Profundo.

And finally, I'm almost done spinning up the singles of Crown Mountain Farm's Sock Hop roving in Magic Carpet Ride. This is for my mom, so if it's not done by the time I head home on Friday I guess I'll just have to find a way to wedge the wheel in the car.

Guess that's it for now! If I don't post again soon, then everyone have a happy holiday!

thanks

2007-12-10T17:35:00.000-06:00

Thanks for the support everyone! I will be going to my parents' for Christmas and calling in that day. Then I can stay home for 7 days. I should have written it "the plague." Because when we call in, they cannot legally ask us why we won't be in. If we volunteer the information, that's up to us. But my boss doesn't accept weather-related call-ins, so if I get snowed in and say so, then I can't claim PTO hours for that time.

And to add another bit of irony into the mix. This scheduler nurse has given herself from December 21 through January 2 off. Hmmmm.....not caring too much about anyone but herself. Never mind screwing over anyone else.

a work rant

2007-12-10T08:34:00.000-06:00

I'm a reasonable person. I know that I work in a service industry that requires me to work holidays. Fine. As my contract stands, I have to work every other holiday. Thanksgiving was my holiday this year. Christmas is not, but according to my place of employment, Christmas Eve is not the holiday.

I haven't been home for Christmas the last 3 years. My parents have always had to come to Omaha because I usually end up having to work Christmas Eve when it's not my holiday.

So this year, in September, I counted ahead in my schedule and saw that the way my work days are, I could go home the weekend before Christmas, ask for the 4 hours off (the 7 pm to 11 pm shift) Christmas Eve, then have 3 more days off until I had to be back for working the weekend.

And I was denied. There is no one for me to switch with and to add insult to injury, they didn't just schedule me 7-11, they put me on for 3-11. I would make the 5th nurse on this shift. Grrr....

....then this weekend I see a sign at work from the lady who does the schdule saying that they're going to be short this Friday for night shift and they need people to pick up. So I figured I'd offer a deal. I'll work the 12 on Friday if she let's me off my 8 on Christmas Eve.

Denied again!

So I'm just a little ticked off at the moment and I'm feeling the plague coming on that will definetely take me out of commission on the 24th.

And I'm sorry if this doesn't make any sense to anyone, but I had to get this off my chest and I just came off working 3 12-hour shifts. Off to bed with me now.

note to self

2007-12-06T09:18:00.001-06:00

Dear Self,
Remember to braid and/or put your hair up in a ponytail when you go letterboxing. Then you won't have your hair in your face while you're crawling through the woods in a snowstorm.
Sincerely,
Yourself

Seriously though. Found the other letterbox at Standing Bear that we missed. It would have been so much easier if it wasn't SNOWING!!!! Man...have I got it bad.

letterboxing

2007-12-04T20:42:00.000-06:00

So Eliza has sucked me into a new hobby called letterboxing. Basically, using a list of clues you find boxes people have hidden that contain stamps. You stamp your own journal using the stamp in the box, then stamp the logbook in the box with your own personal stamp. It usually involves a hike and some thinking to solve the clues. Well, we found one by my house, but messed up reading the rest of the clue and missed the second one. Tried another area where there are 4 planted, but the whole park is closed until next June. Tried to hit one more spot and the box was missing. So kind of a dud of a day, but tomorrow promises to be better.

Before I sleep tomorrow, I'm going to run back to the one we missed and try to find it. I know where we went wrong now. Gah!! I need another obsessive hobby like I need a hole in my head.

Back to knitting and spinning for the night.

Jackson scarf pics....finally

2007-11-26T17:04:00.000-06:00

I decided to get notscarlett off my back and take pictures of my Johnny Cash/June Carter scarf today. Here's the best one of the lot. I love it.

And now I'm off to work.

Soup recipe

2007-11-21T08:02:00.001-06:00

Here the recipe I used to make the soup I talked about yesterday. It's so yummy for these chilly days!

Cheesy Potato Soup

2 1/2 lbs. russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 c. cooked ham, cubed
3-4 green onions, sliced (I used 8, but I like onion and that's how they came at the store)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 oz. container sour cream with chives
8 oz. container plain sour cream
3 c. finely shredded Cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste (I didn't salt or pepper mine and it was wonderful, but to each his own!)

Cover potatoes with water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until tender. Place potatoes and cooking water in a slow cooker (mine's a smaller Rival brand....2.5 quart I think.....and that was too small for this recipe....use your big slow cooker). Combine other ingredients in another bowel and mix well. Add to potatoes in slow cooker and stir well. Cover and cook on high setting for 2-3 hours, or on low setting for 4-6 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste. Makes 6-8 servings.

Pictures!!

2007-11-20T05:00:00.000-06:00

RPMs in BMFA Chanticleer

And the cute little baby socks I made from the leftovers. I may have enough left for a third one. I think I'll go work on that now. You know how babies are always losing just one sock. Then she'll have a spare!

A night of things getting done

2007-11-20T01:30:00.000-06:00

Since this is my one day off out of 6, I had a bunch of stuff that needed to be done. I dragged my sorry butt out of bed about 4, and headed outside. I got my front and backyards mowed and all the grass picked up there. Then I came inside and did laundry so I'll have something to wear tonight for work.

I had finished my Chanticleer RPMs at work Sunday night and I have a co-worker who's expecting a little boy, so I sat down tonight and started a pair of baby socks out of the leftovers of the Chanticleer. One sock is done and the second one is cast-on.

I also put my Johnny Cash/June Carter scarf in some Soak wash so I could block it. It's now pinned out and drying and this coming weekend I'll be able to get some pictures of it. Then NotScarlett can get off my back about posting pictures! (just kidding)

I'll get pics of the RPMs and the baby socks as well.

Before I go to bed this morning, I'm going to make some cheesy potato soup in the slow-cooker and that should be wonderful when I get up in the afternoon. Yum!

spin spin spin

2007-11-15T03:09:00.000-06:00

I've been spinning like a madwoman in the last couple of days. I finished off the Crown Mountain Farms sock hop roving in I've Got You Babe. The singles are still on the bobbins and I'll probably ply those tonight.

Once those singles were done, I started in on the CMF sock hop in Magic Carpet Ride for Mom's Christmas present. It's okay....she knows about it. The roving is actually really similar in color to the I've Got You Babe, but there's more white in this one. The whole thing is spinning up a little lighter. I started that Tuesday night and I'm almost done with the first four ounces.

My Chanticleer RPM is progressing nicely. I had to attend a focus group at work today and I managed to finish the gusset so the rest of the foot should just zip by....if I can pry myself away from my wheel.

As soon as the RPM is done, I'll move on to my other two projects with deadlines. I can't really talk about either one, but I will say that one is for a friend for Christmas and one's something that Eliza needs to keep poking me on so I'll stay motivated to complete it (or the several its).

And I think that's it for me at the moment! Off to watch the rest of season 2 of Corner Gas. Then I can borrow season 3 from Eliza tonight.

BIG update

2007-11-12T00:37:00.000-06:00

This is going to be picture heavy....just a friendly warning.

I headed home a couple of weekends ago to drop Phoebe off with my parents while I went to a nursing conference. On my way out of town, I dropped off the Green Blanket of DOOOMMM with Cindi, and she loved it.

This one shows the colors a little better.

And let's not forget that Eliza found a dog....or should I say that the dog found her. Miss Emma is making herself at home with the other three pups and carving out her own place in the pack.

The trees were all changing color while I was home. This one is outside one of the local coffee shops.

And Dad got two pheasants with the help of Cozy the wonder dog. We had them a couple nights later after they'd been marinated in italian dressing. Yum!

After the hunt, Cozy always does a bird inspection and stays by Dad until he finishes cleaning them just to make sure he's doing the job right. Once they're cleaned, then she goes in the house without a fuss.

And both before and after the conference, Mom and I worked on seaming together an afghan for the Rebuilding Greensburg project. This one is done and sent back in. Can I just say that I really really want to hurt the person who knit the one square out of fun fur? That square was awful to sew because of the fuzz and the fact that it stretched out and never really went back to size. But it's in there.

I finished the Johnny Cash/June Carter chevron scarf as well and got a lot done on my Cherie sweater.

sadness

2007-11-03T19:59:00.000-05:00

I found out tonight after I got back to Omaha, that a good friend of my family and our trusted mechanic of about the last 15 years died today. I don't even know what to think. It was just really really sudden.

This is the man who has been watching out for me and making sure my car is safe for me to drive since I started driving. He just did the yearly tune-up last week on the car that he helped me to pick out.

I was so blessed to have known Darrell.

I made it!!!

2007-11-01T15:15:00.001-05:00

I survived the conference and all the traveling that I've been doing for the past week. I am now safely ensconced at my parents' house and a lot has happened this week. How about a list? I like lists.

1. Got all the Greensburg squares sewn into strips last week while I was home dropping the pooch off with my parents. Told Mom that she'd need to work on sewing some of the strips together while I was gone since it had to be mailed Nov. 1. Got back last night and Mom had been busy over the weekend and first part of this week, so they're still in strips. I started sewing them together today.

2. Completed the RPM sock #1 in STR mediumweight Chanticleer.

3. Finished the Johnny Cash/June Carter chevron scarf while I was at the nursing conference this week. Pictures once it's blocked.

4. Worked on my Cherie Amour at the nursing conference as well. I'm starting in on the neckline decreases. Saw at least 3 other knitters at the conference and talked to two of them. The third one escaped before I could ask her what the fuzzy white thing on her needles was.

5. Found a yarn shop in Rochester and got a couple skeins of sock yarn (don't look at me like that Minnie!!!)

6. Got to knit at Tires Plus while the starter on my boss's car was replaces after it died in the St' Mary's parking garage and we had to be towed.

7. Got my hair colored and cut today. I'm now blond and have bangs!!!

8. Dad called and he got 2 pheasants today. After not getting any the last two times he's been hunting, this is a big thing. He called and was very pleased with Cozy. I'll get a picture of them with their birds tonight.

Tonight is going to be knitting, sewing together the afghan and going to see Fiddler on the Roof.

I wonder...

2007-10-20T06:25:00.000-05:00

....if I'm coming down with something. I don't feel sick or anything, but it's just this feeling I'm getting. I worked Thursday night and didn't have to be in to work last night, so I didn't set my alarm. I went to be about 10:30 or so and woke up at 5:30. Six hours of sleep...not bad. Talked to my parents, went back in my room with every intention of showering and getting some errands run. Instead, I collapsed facedown on my bed and slept until 10:30 PM. Lovely. Errands didn't get run, but I feel great now!

On the plus side, I finished the Green Blanket of Dooooom!!!! It's completely done, ends woven in and everything. I'll put up pictures later when the sun's actually up. I ended up not using the last two colors I had bought for the blanket, but I figure that there's enough there to make myself a pair of felted slippers.

Now for todays' to-do list!
- Shower....I feel like a greaseball. DONE!!!
- Run errands to the Apple Store, the bank, Walmart (contacts) and the grocery store. Grocery store isn't exactly critical since I'll be gone for about the next two weeks, but I need a few staples to make it through until I leave. DONE!!!
- Mow the lawn. It's supposed to be almost 80 today so I'm hoping the grass will dry out enough for me to mow down the jungle. DONE!!!
- Haul out the suitcases and make a packing list. I'm going to have to pack 2 suitcases....one for the conference and one for my parents.

I think that's enough for one day. Off to shower and knit some more.

It's all good...

2007-10-15T09:19:00.000-05:00

I spoke to a very nice woman named Grace at Mayo and she said that everything's lined up for me at the conference. My credit card is being processed and I should have my confirmation packet shortly.

Didja feel that gust of wind? That was my sigh of relief. If I could have reached through the phone and given this woman a hug, I would have.

Now I can go to bed and sleep and not freak out.

not even close

2007-10-15T02:15:00.000-05:00

I totally didn't get my list done. That's okay. It'll still be there next weekend.

Right now I'm in a little bit of crisis mode, but I can't do anything about it until the waking hours.

Here's the thing. I registered for this nursing conference that's about a 7-hour car ride away from me. My boss is going with. She sent in her registration snailmail in mid-September. I faxed mine in on Sept. 21. On October 5 (Friday), I called the office that's handling the registrations and was told by a lady that she was putting the confirmation packets together and they would be mailed out on Monday (which happened to be a holiday). I asked her to please confirm that I was on the list since the fax machine I had used had never spit out a little confirmation copy for me. I heard her tapping on the keyboard and she told me that I was on the list. This is important because the deadline for the conference registration is this next Monday, the 8th.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning. My boss tells me that she had gotten her confirmation packet in the Tuesday mail. I hadn't checked my mailbox on Tuesday so I was sure it would be there when I got home. I checked....no packet.

As of the mail on Saturday, Oct. 13, there was no packet for me. I just checked my credit card transactions, and they haven't charged my card for the conference fee yet. I really want to go to this conference because I've already taken the time off work and it'll earn me over 3/4 of my continuing education credits that I need to renew my license next year. So I guess I'll be staying up later this morning to call the Mayo people and find out what the heck is going on. Because I certainly don't want to go up there on blind faith, enduring a 7-hour car trip with my boss only to be told that I'm not registered.

And yeah.....I said Mayo. As in Mayo Clinic. As in the place I did my 3-year nursing school clinicals at. As in internationally-renowned. And if they managed to mess up a simple conference registration and then have an office employee lie to me over the phone that I was registered, I'm not going to be a happy camper. And they will hear about it.

I'll update later.

another one down the toilet

2007-10-13T00:50:00.000-05:00

....or the storm sewer. Had planned on mowing my lawn today since it wasn't supposed to rain until tonight. But when I ran out to the mailbox it started sprinkling.....then it rained....then the power flickered....then it thundered loud enough to shake the house several times. All of which adds up to the fact that the jungle is going to be completely soaked and I won't be able to mow it today. I'm hoping this rain will let up some so I can at least mow the front yard so I won't feel so bad when I compare my yard to the neighbors' perfectly manicured lawns. I'm so ready to just hire someone to do the mowing for me.

And the green blanket is into the 6th stripe. I think there'll be a total of 9 if I end up using all the colors. I've got plenty of time to get this done. No problems. Especially with the weekend off and a stack of movies to watch.

To-do list for the weekend:
-do a general pick-up around the house
-finish the dishes
-mow (at least the front yard)
-go to the Apple store and get a new ipod
-go to Borders while I'm out
-try to get two more stripes knit on the green blanket
-swatch for the 5 secret projects that I've got to get going on

.....and I think that should be enough.