Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Pics

Here are the pics I promised.

Finished socks:
skajun09


Jake at his EEG:
Jake's EEG


And Sean and I at Thomas:
Sean and I at Thomas

More another day. Cheers.

Goings on

Last month, my 8 yr old was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome. This is something we've suspected for over a year, but finally took him to the neurologist to have it confirmed. He's had bloodwork, and today we take him for an eeg. These tests do not diagnose TS (nothing does), but it rules out Epilepsy and other problems. The Neuro says it's mild enough not to need meds at this point and we have a follow up in 5 more months. We'll see how he does in school and go from there, that will be the basis of our decision. I have been doing so much research trying to be knowledgable, and I ok with all this, since he is really ok. There are so many out there with really bad symptoms and it makes me grateful that Jake's case is mild.

Anywho... I finished my 2nd sock of my 2nd pair of June socks - "Meida's Socks". I'll post a pic later but I am just so happy to have it done in time. The suck thing is that they are too small for me so I need to find them a home. My mom might be able to fit them since her feet are a little smaller than mine, otherwise I'll have to keep hunting for a size 6! Now I'm back to finishing Brainless and I'm almost done with the heel, then on to the leg.

My arm is doing ok, still sore and pretty bruised but somewhat functioning. I still keep it in the sling most of the time. Let me tell you it's really building up the stregnth in my right arm - I seem to do everything with it! Picking up Sean with only my right arm is difficult and boy is that kid heavy! He's only about 30lbs but that's a very wiggly 30lbs!

That's really it for me, I'll try to post a pic of the finished socks later today.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Nothing puts a damper on life like...

A broken arm.

I went skating with Jake on Tuesday and after I went about 2 feet I fell on my butt. Hard. I also braced my fall with my palm. This had 2 effects: bruising the ribs where my elbow rammed into my torso and causing a "radial head fracture" which is a little break of the fat part of my forearm bone that goes into my elbow. The bad news? It hurts, and so do many of it's friends (my hips, backside, ribs, shoulders) but the good news is that they this is one of the few fractures they don't put in a cast.

So. My sock knitting has slowed to a walk and I only have 7 days to finish that 2nd sock! (I am half done with the heel and it's going somewhat quickly.)

Notice: No 8 yr olds were harmed in the "Great Skating Incident of 2009".

In another nice turn of events, I found an old friend from my childhood on facebook. I love that site! Anywho, we were friends from like 5 yrs old until she moved when were about 12 in 1987. Crazy stuff on these innerets, I tell ya!

That's really it over here. How are you?

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

No news...

I thought this was feeling neglected so I figured it was time to post but I really dont have much to show or talk about... so we'll talk about crochet and knitting. K?

I am almost finished with the center 4 12" blocks of the quilty babyghan. I had to pull out some stitches because I didn't think it was important to figure out how many stitches up it would be and just plugged along. Obviously I am a moron. So, as we were watching the moon landing on tv last night (I wasn't around for the first one and that was pretty cool that they did it real-time) I frogged and re-crocheted on the blanket. I didn't get as far as I frogged but maybe I'll work on it at lunchtime. I will also need to get some more yarn for the borders.

I have done a little more than half of the cuff of my 2nd Meida sock. I have 10 days to finish to qualify for a prize. Think I can do it? Yeah, me to. That is mostly what I've been working on at lunch.

I borrowed a library book last week called Crochet that Fits by Mary Jane Hall. I found 4 patterns that I want to do and I actually started one even though I have no business starting anything right now! It's a top for me out of Simply Soft. I had the yarn and the time (although 2 hours does not a sweater make... trust me) so I just dove right in. I love how it looks in my head, we'll have to see how it translates into real life.

And Why do I have no business starting anything? Let's look at the list of WIPs.
~Brainless socks: #1 is done and #2 is at the heel turn. This is what I bring with me when I don't want to worry about a pattern like doc visits and watching the kids swim.
~Meida socks: #1 is done and #2 is in the middle of the cuff (working down). This has a "Sometime in July" deadline which is quickly being eaten up. I don't really need the pattern for this until I get to the heel which hopefully will be tonight.
~Blue/White socks: #1 is done and I dont know where the yarn is for #2 which has not even been started. I did #1 during the cruise in May of '07. Languishing a bit? Right now it's decorating the bookshelf in my living room so it can torment me at every possible occasion.
~Sheldon: Sheldon's body is done. Sheldon has no shell (does that make him nekkid or homeless?). I have started Sheldon's shell twice and frogged it both times because it makes me feel like a knittard. Eventually I hope to have time to dedicate to it and have him finished. I'd also like to make him a couple "outfits".
~Cliffyghan: This has not had anything done on it in a long time. Not as long as the blue sock but close. It's just such a behemoth right now and I hate working on it. If he were a baby it'd be done by now!
~New top: This is worked long ways (each row is worked up/down and you keep making rows until it fits around my body then the shoulders are done. It will be put to the back of the list until I have more done and really do have time to work on it.

That's really it. Not terrible but not great either. I just finished testing a pattern for a Real Designer (it was a test to see if I am good enough at testing to test for real.) so that took some of my time. Back to the grind now until I hear from her to see if I get to make something for her. First on the list is the Meida socks, then the babyghan. Sounds good.

Here's Sean's new haircut. He says he's handsome. I agree.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Yarn...

I wanted to show off some pics - yarn I dyed, yarn I got as a gift, all sorts of good stuff.

I dyed 2 skeins of yarn. One is a natural cotton that I dyed with Rit in a dark forest green. I swear that was only in the dye for like 20 seconds and it's is VERY dark! The 2nd skein is sock yarn that is a blend of Merino wool and silk. I did not notice the lack of "superwash" when I bought it so I am afraid to knit it into socks... Whoopsy! (Pics show the yarn drying in the shower stall, then skeined up to look pretty.)(Also, these pics are a little washed out with flash and these are actually a little darker in color than it looks like.)




















And finally my gift yarn. My mom went to visit TN a couple weeks ago and I advised her of the not-quite-well-known little tidbit that yarn makes a fanTAStic souvenir! She took the bait and I scored some sock yarn. She can go out of town Any time she wants!









That's really it. I've still got Sweet Summertime out for testing and I still have only sold 1 hat pattern. No word yet on if the mag wants the Sweet Summertime pattern. I am still working on the quilty afghan pattern. I've got it about 70% done. I love how it's coming out and writing it is a little easier than I expceted since I am making up connecting stitches as I go. Funky. But, all in the name of no-seaming.

Have a great weekend kids!

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Secret Words

Let me start by saying that I may need an intervention. I'll gush about my new-found love in a bit but first... a finished object. Or, a half finished object, depending on how you look at it.

This is my first Meida sock. It's pretty but a teensy bit too small but "fit" if I tug. These may go to my Mom since her feet are a tiny bit smaller than mine. I will be terribly disappointed since I really like this stretchy yarn. I really could have made them a bit longer since I have maybe 10 yards left of yarn, that would have given me a few rows and that would have made them perfect. But I am not a frogger if I expect to keep knitting on it, I am a tinker... and I ain't tinking back a whole toe! Lookee... pretty:









Anywho, I'm sure that I'll cast on for sock #2 soon. It needs to be done by end of July to count towards prizes so I won't let it linger.

Back to my intervention. I checked out "Mason Dixon Knitting Outside The Lines" from the library and I have really taken a liking to a few of the projects in there. I even made a copy of the basic sweater one with thoughts of actually making it. Then, I found Margaret. Meet Margaret:










Margaret is a Beautiful piece of Knitting. That there is Real Knitting. This jacket has secret words on it - and I think that's the part I like best. It's really a Nobel Peace Jacket... seriously. Here are the sayings: Front - from Martin Luther King Jr "The means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek." and from Gandhi: "You must be the change you want to see in the world." Back - from Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

How awesome is that? Very. That's right!

However. And here is where the crack part lives... This is done on size 6 needles (think between skewers and chopsticks) with 10 balls of yarn. I don't know if I would be able to knit 10 balls of anything! Of course I'm po and certainly wouldn't be able to afford 10 balls of nice yarn, so it'd be done in something else. Not Simply Soft since that is pretty slippery and I don't think it would keep it's charm. Wool Ease? Perhaps. I am afraid that I start a project of this caliber that I wouldn't ever finish. I don't think it's HARD particularly, just LONG. Now I have to think on this. Could I possibly ever wear it enough to justify 10 balls of yarn? Even with cheapy Wool Ease it'd still be over $30 and that's a lot for cheap yarn.

What do you think? Is this biting off WAY more than I can chew or is it just being optimistic?

Monday, July 06, 2009

Busy weekend

I hope that you all had a nice Holiday weekend! Mine was long and productive but tiring. Friday I had the day off with both kids and we went with my MIL to the base to do some shopping. Nice to have a full pantry and not put the dough out for it! Then in the afternoon I put up the Pirate Skull Cap (buy now) pattern for sale and have had 1 sale so far - yay! I also worked on making Stacy's birthday present:










These are Drew's Wine Glass flip flops - they are coasters that "attach" to the wine glasses with the flip flop part. Too cute, and quick and she liked them... especially since they were attached to a bottle of wine.

Saturday I made some cookies and a new spinach dip (I'll share the recipe later) and headed over to the in-laws place. It was a nice time celebrating the holiday and Stacy's b-day with our family and hers. The kids had a blast playing in the pool! I worked on my Meida a little bit and I am almost to the toe. Ok, well I thought I was at the toe but realized (too late) that I had one more repeat to go and I will be tinking a bit before I move on at lunch today. Also on Saturday I sent out Sweet Summertime to the testers (go me for being ahead of schedule).

Sunday I started working on my Quilty Pinwheel Babyghan. I've gotten one block done and I've started on number two. I'm creating a new way to attach it so there is no seaming. So far so good, but I haven't gotten to the fiddly bit yet - we'll see how happy I am about it then!

See.... lots of progress! In today's mail I've gotten my Knitpicks order of bare yarn that is begging to be Cherry Limeade (a lovely blend of red/pink/bright green) and I cannot wait to get to dyeing it! However, I am holding off a little bit since I'm expecting a Vegetable dyeing book from the library any day now. Wouldn't that be cool! We'll see how it goes. This sock yarn is a superwash merino wool/silk blend and it's really nice. I hope it washes better than the last one which was all superwash wool. We'll see.

That's it from me, have a great day!

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Pattern For Sale










I just put my Pirate Skull Cap up for sale on Ravelry. I am so excited! If you have the extra $2 and need a hat to knit, here ya go:



Hey, a gal's gotta get yarn money somehow!

Wow, I've been missing!

Sorry about that! I have a bunch of pics to show, and some cool news. Today I send off my package to the mag with my Purse pattern and a proposal for the Sweet Summertime top. Yay!
Yesterday I got an email from a yarnshop in OH asking to use my Skull Cap pattern for a class. Yay! Now I need to put it all together and get it up on Ravelry for sale, since right now it's just the chart.
I finished my Grandmother's socks in time by the skin of my teeth. I also finished Mom's mitts although it was done at her house. AND one is bigger than the other. Whoopsy!
I finished my Zoom Zoom socks for me and although I love the pattern, I am not happy that my socks took a spin in the dryer and are now kinda fuzzy. Thank goodness they are superwash and washable but still - not as pretty as the before.
Aside from the Sweet Summertime I just sent off, I have the makings of an afghan in my head - I need to get it out and to the testers but that would require me stepping away from the library books for more that 7 seconds. I swear, it's like an addiction. A FREE addiction, but still.
I have started "Sheldon's" shell twice and frogged it both times - it's harder than I thought and I need to not be watching tv while doing it. So, it shall sit by itself in a project bag and wait until I am bored/brave/tv-free.

Ok, now for pics. Here are Zoom Zoom (in green), Grandma's socks (the done brown ones), my current sock project (called Meida's Socks by Nancy Bush - they are the not done brown ones)which is using the leftovers of Grandma's sock yarn and Mom's Mitts (uh, the mitts).

























Jake and Nana's birthdays. My boy on his 8th birthday, showing off the geode he picked and cracked open by himself at T-Rex at Downtown Disney, his new golf clubs, Sean trying to golf and Nana's socks.
























Had enough? Thought so. More another day. Hopefully soon I'll have awesome news about my afghan project. Have a great 4th!