BzzLaraBzz

Spring? Please?

2009-03-24T12:18:00.005-06:00

I know this winter has seemed interminable to many people, and I am one of them! Spring Break was last week and the kids and I had plenty of fun with the beautiful weather. It was perfect! Of course, this week is rainy and now today it feels cold. Not that it actually is cold, it's just nowhere near as nice as it has been. (The picture above was taken last year by one of my daughters. Love the heart in the flower. :) )

I have been sick off and on for about a month (just different viruses, respiratory crud, etc.) and now my marathon training feels like I'm starting over. I'm getting out there, though. I have to get those miles in.

My sister-in-law was laid off. She hasn't had much luck in finding another job so far, so at the end of the month, that means I'm out of a job taking care of baby J. She just rolled over for the first time yesterday! Growing so fast, just like they always do. Depending on what my sister-in-law ends up doing, I may look for a part time job. :p Ugh. Maybe I can just do some odd jobs.

Baby J, swinging at the park last week. See the two mopey girls sitting in the swings in the background, facing this way? Those are my two oldest, thrilled to be at the playground. They're just too cool, I guess. My other two were running around and climbing everything. After they were played out, we walked around and looked at the little zoo. I had promised them ice cream when we were done, but the ice cream guys at the park had disappeared by then. So, I promised cones from Dairy Queen on the drive home. Well, Krispy Kreme was on the way, too . . . We ended up with donuts and ice cream, a rare treat. One of the kids exclaimed, "Donuts and ice cream? This is the best day EVER!"

Here's your reminder to give the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society if you can. I'm almost halfway to my goal, and I could really use your help! Every little bit helps, just like stacking those miles up. The first step is the most important, just getting out there, giving what you can. http://pages.teamintraining.org/ks/rnr09/lteter

Let me know if you have any ideas to help raise more funds. :) I'll take all the help I can get.

Gimme 5!

2009-03-04T11:14:00.003-06:00

As you probably know, I'm running a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It's my first one, and I could use some help! So I am asking you to Gimme 5!

1. Gimme 5 minutes of your time - go to my website at http://pages.teamintraining.org/ks/rnr09/lteter, and read about what I'm doing.

2. Gimme 5 bucks - just donate online: five dollars for a great cause - and if you want to donate more, fantastic!

3. Gimme 5 friends - send this to five friends and help spread the word!

4. 5 is the number of years that some blood cancer patients have to stay in remission in order to be considered cured.

5. Every 5 minutes someone new is diagnosed with a blood cancer - money for research is desperately needed - so PLEASE donate now.

Thanks so much for your help! I couldn't do this without you!

Lara
http://pages.teamintraining.org/ks/rnr09/lteter

p.s. The picture above is my dad, my grandma (who died of Leukemia shortly after this picture was taken), my mom, my brother, and me (the baby.)

2009-03-03T10:42:00.003-06:00

E's birthday cake. Isn't it cute? Her birthday was January 6, but when I was looking for pictures to put in this post, I couldn't resist. I made it using a funny cake pan. That's a luncheon plate it's sitting on, so that's a lot of cupcake! It takes 1 1/2 cake mixes. We made mini cupcakes with the other 1/2 a mix.

Here are a couple other things I made in January. Bella's Mittens and Rose's Wristwarmers. They were both fun and fast. I made them for a friend and I'm happy to report that she loves them! I'm going to make another pair of the Bella's Mittens for use at our house. I expect all of us girls will use them at times.

I'm still running and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Last week was tough with a lot of sickness going around our house. It's hard to run when you get queasy, so I took it easy and got back out there yesterday, feeling good. Everyone is finally at school and work today for the first time in a week, so that's nice!

I'm thinking about having a giveaway here on my blog for people who donate and mention in the note section that they would like to be entered. What do you think? What would you like to win?

Great story at the Toy Society blog!

2009-02-26T11:45:00.003-06:00

The Toy Society is a blog where people make toys and drop them in public places around the world to be found. The post on there today really touched my heart. It amazes me how often these toys seem to find just the right caretaker, but this one is extra special.

http://thetoysociety.blogspot.com/2009/02/found-drop-120.html
It begins . . .
"I am currently living at Ronald McDonald House Westmead whilst my 2 year old son has Chemotherapy to treat his Luekeamia. We live in Bellingen NSW and found out about Alex's cancer 3 days before Christmas. Since then there hasnt been alot to smile about."

Please click over and read the whole story if you want to feel uplifted today.

It really helped me. It's been a tough week with people in my house (including me) feeling yucky, and my marathon training has been really hard to get in, and hearing a story about a little boy who is one of the people I'm trying to help with my fundraising really made my day. If you can spare anything at all, please consider donating to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society so we can help more children like this sweet boy. http://pages.teamintraining.org/ks/rnr09/lteter

Fun at Wal Mart

2009-02-12T13:09:00.003-06:00

So, I don't like going to Wal Mart. Hate it, in fact. Avoid it if at all possible. Yet, somehow the last two weeks, I've ended up going there about 10:30 at night on a Friday for things I had to have before I got up the next morning at 5:30. (Have I mentioned that training for a marathon makes you get up much earlier than you would ever consider doing otherwise? Well, it's done that for me anyway.)

So I'm standing in line to check out, because there's always a line at least three people deep, of course. (One reason to avoid Wal Mart.) Now, who can resist peeking at the items your fellow nighttime shopper is purchasing? I'm boring. The first time, I had a ream of paper and a giant box of envelopes (to print fund raising letters for said marathon.) The second time, I had a clock radio (helpful for getting up at 5:30 when your old one has become possessed and won't turn off) and a couple running shirts that were on clearance. What did my fellow shoppers have? The first time, it was condoms, personal hygiene wipes, and ice cream. Sounds like she's having a fun Friday night, right? The second time, it was a pregnancy test. I'm pretty sure it was a different woman, probably not having as much fun.

If I went back there tomorrow night, do you think the person behind me would be buying diapers?

Helloooooo! (hellooo, helloo)

2009-02-09T15:35:00.000-06:00

Hi, out there in blogland! I've been a bit absent, huh?

I haven't been knitting all that much (which is odd.) I have been stitching some (which is a little odd, too.) But mostly, I've been running, watching my niece, and going to bed earlier than I used to.

Speaking of running, I'm going to be running a marathon and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The following is my fundraising plea. :)

Dear family and friends,

I have lost my marbles, and I’m going to run 26.2 miles around San Diego to find them! May 31st, 2009 my sister Keri and I, along with other Team in Training members, will be running the Rock n’ Roll Marathon in San Diego, California. This will be my first marathon, a huge undertaking, and I need your support to accomplish my goals.

I’m not going to make you run with me, but you can still help. Team in Training (TNT) supports the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) in finding a cure for blood cancers. I have a goal of raising $4,100 for LLS. I am running in honor of a 10-year-old boy named Michael. He’s battling Hodgkins Lymphoma, and I would love nothing more than for him to have many more years of picking on his younger sister, just as I have with Keri.

My father lost both of his parents to Leukemia. I never met my Grandpa Engle, and I don’t remember my Grandma Engle. She died when I was only 4 months old. Dad ran marathons in his youth; Keri and I want to make him proud and memorialize his parents.

I know times are tough, but families dealing with blood cancers have to be tough. 75% of all funds raised goes directly to research and patient services. Please make checks payable to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and e-mail me at bzzlarabzz@gmail.com for information on where to send it, or contribute online at my TNT site http://pages.teamintraining.org/ks/rnr09/lteter by March 1st. I can accept donations later than that date, but the earlier the better so I can better reach my goal! Remember your donation is 100% tax deductible, so please give generously to LLS, so we can all make it to the finish line.

Thank you for your support,

Lara

p.s. Please pass this along to anyone who you know that might want to help find a cure! Thanks, again.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-07T13:49:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year, everyone!

I know I've been a neglectful blogger. I can't promise that it's going to get any better. I just don't have a lot of patience for this dinosaur of a computer, and buying a new computer isn't very high on the list of priorities. I'm thinking about getting one of those tiny laptops, though. Maybe in the next few months.

Meanwhile, enjoy some pictures of the Christmas knitting from this year. We had a merry Christmas. Busy, as always. With a big family, that's what we expect and enjoy.

I made hats for my two nephews and my niece. As you can see the nephews (who are at the running around stage of life) wouldn't sit still for pictures, so my brother (the nephews' dad) modeled the fish hat I made for T1 (who is 3 years old) and the couch modeled the Ganomy Hat I made for T2 (who is 1 1/2.) They also shared the news that they are having a baby girl in May, so there will be a T3! :) Everyone is excited. They just bought a house and are in the process of moving in. Fun!

J was kind enough to model her hat for me. Isn't she compliant? Hee. She's such a good baby. She's even being kind enough to bop around in her bouncy seat while I write this blog post. She spends her weekdays with me, so we get to have lots of fun. She's not mobile yet, being only 2 months old, but she's strong! She's going to be a go-getter. She's already growing so fast.

My oldest daughter, E, turned 14 yesterday. It's impossible! She's a good kid, though. I have hope she will grow up to be a good, strong woman. It's hard to believe she's so close to grown. We're having four of her friends over Saturday evening for pizza, popcorn and movies, so wish me strength! Heh. I said no to the sleepover. I don't know if I'm a strong enough woman for that! lol. I remember my sleepovers at that age with that many girls and it was always a drama-fest. Fewer, no problem, but not that many at once.

Catch you next time! Don't make too many New Year's resolutions, unless they mean you have more joy in your life as a result.

What laundry?

2008-11-20T10:39:00.002-06:00

Today, on the latest edition of "Avoiding the Laundry," I bring you socks. Lovely, handknit socks. Random socks which I'm pretty sure have not been posted before despite the fact that they have been living in my sock drawer for, lo, so many months, and are now getting the chance to reside on my feet. Which, sadly, means more laundry.

Peak Experience socks. These were in the Twist sock-of-the-month (SOTM) club, oh, sometime.

Rather than give you all the details on all these socks, I'm going to link each to my Ravelry project page for each. If you want details and you're not on Ravelry, well, you should be.

Elegant Cable socks From theknitter.com SOTM club a billion (or about 2) years ago.

Sake socks. Jackie's design for Twist SOTM.

Road to Hana socks. From theknitter.com SOTM a while back.

Now, I'm not going to tell you how long those pictures were sitting in my camera before I managed to put them on the computer. I am going to tell you that I hid the camera from my husband, because, despite the fact that the camera was bought for the express purpose of ME having it, and not HIM, there were approximately 1 billion pictures of model cars, 10 of the kids and 5 of the knitting in the batch I downloaded from the memory card. He will have to go back to using his own cruddy camera which he made cruddy all on his own and get no more painty fingerprints on mine.

OK, back to the laundry . . . At least there are cheerful socks in there.

Babies!

2008-11-19T10:27:00.002-06:00

I've made a couple baby gifts lately, for a couple babies.

This last weekend I went to a baby shower for an old friend. Turns out they had that shower just in time! She was being induced last night because of high blood pressure. I haven't heard anything yet, but fingers crossed that everything is going well!

I gave her these for her baby boy.

This hat (Reversible Stripes and Dots from Itty Bitty Hats.)

And this blanket, with sailboats on one side, and smooth superman-colored satin on the other.

The other baby shower was one I hosted for my sister-in-law back in September. Here's the package I put together for her.

I think I've posted most of those things in the past. It's the crocheted star baby blanket, a pewter frame that matches the nursery (baby bugs), some knitted socks, a Mason-Dixon baby kimono, baby bell bottoms, and a lovebug bee.

Here are the bell bottoms alone. They were a last-minute addition.

And the lovebug.

And the sweetest lovebug of all, my niece. She's dressed as a ladybug for Halloween. She's snuggling with her grandpa (my dad.) They look pretty content, huh?

2008-11-18T10:50:00.003-06:00

Saw this on Mental Floss.

Good Actresses in Bad Horror Movies

Score: 40% (4 out of 10)

Think you can do better?

Saw these on my feet.

I love knee socks. Unreasonably. Love.
Pattern is "Evening Stockings for a Young Lady" in Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. I used Knit Picks Essential sock yarn. Pattern called for 3 skeins, but I used one for each sock with less than a meter left over, even with the extra inch I added to the leg. So I have one skein left to play with sometime.

I know there are more knee socks in my future.

INTP

2008-11-06T09:40:00.003-06:00

That's my Myers-Briggs profile. Now, I've known this for about 15 years, so why bring it up now? I saw this "Colors of Fitness" inventory on Lolly's blog. Interesting. You know I can't resist an online quiz. My result was Blue Efficient. And while I see bits of myself in there, I decided to look up what my known Myers-Briggs profile pulled up. Saffron Efficient! That's more like it. This in particular sounds like me: "Independent, and often perfectionists, Saffrons are drawn to activities that require a high level of performance. Boredom can be a concern for Saffrons, and they find satisfaction in physical pursuits that push them to higher fitness levels."

Sounds like me in my knitting, in my workouts, in school, in work, in life.

It's so nice to be understood. :p

While I was puttering around, I read a bit about traits of INTPs. It all seemed very familiar. What surprised me was that, depending in which site I trust, only 1-3% of people are INTPs. I am a rare gem. ;) Makes me wonder which of the people around me would pull up a similar result.

Speaking of my fitness goals, my daughter M (11) asked if we could run the 10K next May, since we didn't make it last May. I told her we'll aim for it. My left shin is giving me serious trouble right now, so I'm not running on it. I don't want to end up with a really big problem. I never thought I would say I miss running, but I really, really do. More pilates for me. (I like pilates, but it's not the same as going out and pounding out a good run.) Pilates and other low-impact exercise. I know that's where I started out, but now I'm used to higher intensity and I don't want to backslide. I just have to keep reminding myself that its better to take a break and stay healthy than to keep going and have a serious injury.

But I really want to run.

Vote!

2008-11-04T10:23:00.002-06:00

I have this sticker on my shirt. Now go get one of your own! Vote!

I'm an aunt again!

2008-10-22T10:04:00.002-05:00

My new baby niece was born this morning at 4:40. She was 8 lb 7 oz. My sister-in-law was induced yesterday morning (past her due date), but that baby was still taking her time! SIL pushed for 2 hours. What a trooper. I'm going to go see her in a bit. My first niece and the first child for this brother and his wife, after 4 years of anticipation. They're over the moon.

I've been stitching lately. I did three little Twisted Threads gingham monthly pieces over the weekend. I'm in sleeve hell (which doesn't usually bother me) on the sweater I'm knitting and some small stitching pieces were the cure. Now I'm back to sleeves with only an inch of reverse stockinette left before I join to the already-knitted body and knit up from there.

In the absence of pictures, here's another blog quiz. lol.

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Non-conformist, Visionary, and Independent

4 Abstract, -4 Islamic, -5 Ukiyo-e, 3 Cubist, -1 Impressionist and -22 Renaissance!

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which exists independently of what may appear to others as visual realities. Western had been underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. It allowed the progressive thinking artists to show a different side to the world around them. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a 'new kind of art' which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. Abstract artists created art that was diverse and reflected the social and intellectual turmoil in all areas of Western culture.

People that chose abstract art as their preferred art form tend to be visionaries. They see things in the world around them and in people that others may miss because they look beyond what is visual only with the eye. They rely on their inner thoughts and feelings in dealing with the world around them instead of on what they are told they should think and feel. They feel freed from the tendency to be bound by traditional thought and experiences. They look more toward their own ideas and experiences than what they are told by their religious upbringing or from scientific evidence. They tend to like to prove theories themselves instead of relying on the insight or ideas of others. They are not bound by common and mundane, but like to travel and have new experiences. They value intelligence, but they also enjoy a challenge. They can be rather argumentative when they are being forced or feel as if they are being forced to conform.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

(Now what does it mean that I had to correct some spelling in there before I could post this? :p)

Another lame blog quiz . . .

2008-10-16T10:53:00.003-05:00

Maybe I like these so much because I'm such a nerd. ;) And I think if there were questions about knitting rather than sci-fi, my geek number would be higher.

Your result for The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test...

Pure Nerd

91 % Nerd, 39% Geek, 22% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

Congratulations!

Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Jane Austen, anyone?

2008-09-26T13:06:00.002-05:00

Take the Quiz here!

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

Another silly blog quiz, found on my friend Christina's blog. If you've read a lot of Austen (or even just watched all those movies on Masterpiece Theatre) it's a fun little quiz.

Still running, still loving it. It's been hot here again (mid to high 80s) so not quite as fun as running on a cool morning, but it's still nice to get out and run, especially when the hubby comes with me.

I'm still knitting that never-ending shawl. It has become my nemesis. I ran out of yarn halfway through the first attempt at the border. After letting it sit in timeout for a while, I unraveled that border and chose one half the width. That should have worked, right? Ha! I got three quarters through that one before I ran out. I unraveled that one yesterday and decided to just do a row of yarnovers, a knit row, and a picot bind-off. The yarnovers will separate the bind-off like a border and also make certain it is loose enough to allow for proper lace blocking. I'm not declaring victory yet, but it's going well so far.

I want that shawl done, and those needles free for my green sweater! I've decided on Tussie Mussie from the Fall '07 Knitty. My yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK.

Oh, if you're a Twist Yarn Shop customer, check out the black Oblique cardigan on display there. (I just realized that's from the same issue of Knitty as Tussie Mussie and Mr. Greenjeans, which I knitted last fall and wore all winter. Love Knitty!) I knitted Oblique with the KAL there, and they're picking it back up. Check it out fast because once it gets cold, I'm stealing my sweater back. I haven't worn it yet.

Sad sock

2008-09-17T11:13:00.002-05:00

I've been going through my pictures and my Ravelry projects trying to get things caught up. There are several projects lacking pictures and several pictures without project listings and lots and lots of pictures and projects that need to be added.

This is a sock that didn't make the cut. See, it even has sad cell phone pictures? I didn't even bother finding the camera for this when I decided to frog the sock a few weeks ago.

I love this pattern (from the Fall '08 Interweave Knits.) I love this yarn (Fibranatura Yummy.) I even like the way they look together. But two things doomed this sock to the frog pond: a gauge issue, and a knitter issue. I was knitting this sock on size 0 needles, which gave me a good gauge for fitting the sock, but it was really too tight for the yarn. It was making my hands hurt, which is bad. Also, this pattern has two different charts for the two different feet. In the magazine, they give you the instructions for the right sock first, but the chart for the left sock is on the left (thus first, in my mind.) You got it. I knitted the wrong chart, and it really messes everything up. So, away the sock went. I will knit these socks (left one first) and I will use this yarn, but not together.

Still running. I'm doing more pilates between running days in hopes that my lower legs will be happier that way. Don't worry, I'm taking care of myself. My whole body is responding well to the running, and I know I could run faster, but my lower legs are not happy when I do, so I slow down. Don't make fun of me if you see me out jogging along with my short legs. lol. I used Google maps to track the route the hubby and I took this morning, and it says we went 1.8 miles. My pedometer said 1.77 miles and I wasn't sure whether I could believe it, but it seems like it was pretty accurate (assuming Google maps can be trusted.) We ran for 3 minutes at a time today (walked 90 seconds between) and it felt good.

Friday is "Walk to School" day here, and I think we'll walk the younger kids to school and then run a convoluted route home. We'll have to go the opposite direction and then come back or do some wacky loops to fit the whole run in between the school and home.

Mmmmm, cake.

2008-09-12T14:35:00.002-05:00

This is the cake I made for my daughter M's birthday at the beginning of April. Hmmm. Seems I may be a little behind on the blogging. Isn't it cute? It was yummy, too. We made a banana cake with chocolate frosting. The face is vanilla frosting mixed with a little peanut butter. The recipe was on familyfun.com.

So, about food . . . My sister's boyfriend (a fitness fanatic) is always saying that exercising will make you less hungry. Now, I will agree that it makes me crave healthier things, but less hungry? No way! The days I run I feel like I am starving all day. Starving! I could eat a whole cow. OK, maybe not a whole cow, but definitely a big steak. I usually make do with a hard-boiled egg, because I figure that means I need some protein.

Hubby made dinner (4 courses) all on the grill on Wednesday. It took a crazy long time. We decided that we don't expect to use those particular recipes again, but he's planning to do the grill again tomorrow. (I hope it's not raining at dinner time.) He got these recipes out of Men's Health magazine. There was a salad with grilled shrimp (yummy,) quesadillas (fine, but easier in the oven,) grilled corn on the cob (good) with a chipotle sauce (not so good,) and vanilla ice cream with a caramelized rum sauce (which didn't turn out right.) In any case, food I didn't have to cook is always better than the alternative.

Today was the third run of week 2. The hubby came with me again. It was pouring down rain (but no lightning) so we got good and soaked. I love the rain. It got me thinking about winter, though. I will run in the cold this year. Last year the cold (along with all the stress that was my life last year) got the best of me. If I can run in the rain, I can run in the cold. But what about when it's slippery? I suppose I will just deal with that when it happens. Maybe that membership to the Y would be the way to go. I am determined to keep going this time.

My calves will thank me for two days of rest, I'm sure. Week 3 running happens MWF next week. I think the hubby will keep running with me. We had a chat about the sudden interest in a healthier lifestyle and he admitted that he knows he's quickly approaching his mid-30s, which he says is not as young as he once was. Hee. He may be getting cuter in his "old" age. Ha.

Success!

2008-09-10T18:56:00.004-05:00

The hubby came running with me today. He wasn't working today, so he was glad to come along. We got back home well before he leaves for work normally anyway, so we'll see if he tags along again. I think he enjoyed it. He's been surprising lately: reading Men's Health magazine, volunteering to cook dinner on the nights he's home at dinnertime. It's fantastic. A helpful man who is finally getting interested in taking good care of himself. He's never been a plump fellow, and still isn't, but his suit didn't fit for my grandma's funeral and I don't think he liked that. Plus, I think he sees how much better my mood is when I've been taking care of myself. I'm not sure what it is, but I like it.

Because we've been pictureless lately, here are some belated pictures of our silly underwater bathroom. We have three bathrooms in the new house, one more than the old house. This is the basement bathroom, which is across the hall from my two oldest girls' bedrooms. Seems like a great place for a fun theme to me. (Sorry for the sideways pics. Didn't have time to fix them today.)

The kids and I all smeared the white walls with whatever paint we had on hand and thought would make a nice water color.

Then, a couple weeks later, we all grabbed our smaller brushes and painted whatever "under the sea" things we liked. The whole family jumped in, all four kids and the hubby and I.

The woodwork and floor required a real cleanup, but it was worth it. Fun! We don't have pictures of it here, but I painted some really tall (and some not so tall) sea plants to fill in some of the space between other things.

In any case, it's a cheerful place to be (and pee.) Ha. :p

Still running, still knitting.

2008-09-08T18:25:00.002-05:00

Still running. :) I'm doing couch-to-5K (again.) I made it to week 3 the last time. I'm on week 2 now. I'm definitely enjoying it more this time. I haven't managed to drag the hubby out with me yet. I didn't even get out on Friday, afflicted with 2 sick children. (They're fine now. Minor stomach bug.) Thanks, Stefaneener for the tip about the *ahem* intimate lives of couples who exercise together. That should hold some sway with the hormonally ravaged man. Oh, yeah only him. No one else. ;) I know he can't resist touching my back when I tell him to after I work out, even though he should know by now that I just want to gross him out with the sweat. (Sorry, was that TMI?) Anyway, he's either really dumb or unable to resist. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and go with the one that makes me sound more desirable.

Knitting! Yes, I have been. I don't think I mentioned that I designed a sock for the Twist On Your Toes sock of the month club in July. They're the Bamboo Lace socks. I have to say I rather like them. :) Weird to be called a designer, though.

I was plagued by some kind of yarn-munching monster for a while there. (No, not moths! Knock on cedar.) I was only knitting two projects and I ran out of yarn on both. Annoying! One was a towel I was knitting on the fly (no pattern.) Totally my fault that I ran out. I knew I was going to, but I erroneously thought that yellow dishcloth cotton would not be difficult to procure. It took me weeks to find some! When I finally found some, I bought three more balls even though I thought I would only need two. Turns out I just needed slightly less than one. Oh well. The towel is now gracing my bathroom. :) The other project was a shawl. I should have had plenty of yarn, but halfway through the border, I ran out. It's particularly annoying because I don't need all that much more, but it only comes in a monstrous 1375 yd skein. Of course I bought the one I used out-of-town a couple years ago. Ugh. It's in timeout until I decide to suck it up and buy another skein. What will I do with all the leftover Skacel Merino Lace, color 91? :p

OK, enough whining. I have been having fun, too. I'm knitting socks for me, my 11 yo daughter, and a Jeanie shawl for fun. Up next are socks for the other three kids. We'll see how long I can hold off the green sweater yarn that's calling to me from across the room. "Knit me! Knit me!" Silly yarn. It doesn't have to act so desperate.

Enough rambling for now! It's cooling down here in Kansas. Crisp leaves, sweater weather, and lit fireplaces are around the corner.

Am I a runner?

2008-09-04T12:47:00.003-05:00

First off, thanks to everyone for the condolences on my grandma's death. She was a great lady. The services were so nice, and the priest knew her very well. He gave a great eulogy during the homily. Afterward, Saturday, many of us went back to my parents' house and stayed until bedtime. It was great to catch up with family we don't have unstructured time with very often. Turns out my cousin's husband is some kind of board game aficionado. He was like the cruise director for anyone he could rope into playing. I discovered that if you sat at the table, even just to see what was going on, you were in the game. No backing out! You were learning the rules to obscure board games no matter how little brain power you had at that moment. We asked if he's busy Fridays (when we have family dinner) because it was a lot of unexpected fun.

Now about running . . . I've been doing it. Yesterday I had the first run of my life that I can genuinely say I enjoyed while I was running. In my very short, very sporadic running life, I have only ever enjoyed it when it was done. You know, like, "Hey! I did it! I did something very unpleasant that is good for me!" But yesterday I caught myself smiling instead of grimacing. I found a comfortable pace. I looked at the clouds that were spitting rain on me and saw how pretty they were. I was even friendly to the barking dogs running along the other side of fences.

I'm not even too sore today. I can feel that I did it in that good "my muscles worked" way, not in that "I don't think I can stand" way. I'm dragging my husband out with me in the morning. I convinced him that it will be like a date. Heh heh heh.

Does this mean I'm a runner? Only time will tell, but I just may be after all.

My grandma died yesterday afternoon.

2008-08-27T14:19:00.000-05:00

She'd had a stroke 2 years ago and had various health problems since then, but she was doing OK, despite her inability to speak. She was in assisted living and I saw her at least once a week, unless she was in the hospital. Monday night, she started breathing shallowly. They took her to the hospital and did some tests that indicated she had a blockage in her aorta. No way to operate, and even if they could, it would be prolonging the inevitable. She slept all day yesterday and died peacefully with her four children surrounding her.

I'm really sad, even though I know she's with my grandpa now. She'd missed him terribly since his death 10 years ago.

If you're the praying sort, please say one for the soul of my grandma (and godmother.) She was a lovely woman and I loved her.

2008-08-18T19:12:00.002-05:00

What Disney Princess are you?

Belle
You see past the bad things in people. You also don't settle for someone who is below your standards. You care about your education and you love your family. It takes a lot to win your heart, but once someone does they can count on you to be loyal.

How do you compare?
Take this test! | Tests from Testriffic

I'm not so into Disney, but I thought this was a fun quiz. Besides, I knew the result before I ever took the test. Belle really is the least princessy of the princesses. Not such a silly girl.

I've been helping my mom clean out my grandma's house a lot lately. It's a lot of work, but I have come home with some treasures. We have also found a lot of trash. Literally trash. I mean, empty plastic bags, old pill bottles, random stacks of crumpled tissue paper. The house looked like it was in good shape (it's a beautiful old house), but you look a little deeper and it needed a lot of organization. It's SOOoo much emptier than it was, but there's still a long way to go. I don't know what the plan is for getting rid of the last things no one wants. The house needs to be sold to someone who will love it and take care of it. It's a historic home that has been completely restored. It's been 2 years since grandma had her stroke and moved to assisted living. The house needs a family again. It will be sad to see it go, but it will be good to have someone in there taking care of it the way it should be.

These crack me up.

2008-08-12T16:57:00.001-05:00

McCain and Obama paper dolls. I got the heads-up on these from my regular Dover books e-mail. What fun we could have with these! Heeeee.

Barack Obama Paper Doll Website
http://www.obamapaperdoll.com

John McCain Paper Doll Website
http://www.mccainpaperdoll.com

Mosaic Meme

2008-08-12T14:31:00.002-05:00

The kids go back to school Thursday. Everyone is excited. M (11) is trying to go down there every day anyway just to open her locker and walk back home. Nutty kid. The schools are at the end of our street. It will be nice to be so close. Registering them last week was the nicest school registration experience I've ever had. Everyone was so nice and helpful. They seemed genuinely happy to be there. The school facilities are great, too. It's wonderful to have school be such a positive place!

I don't know that I'll be blogging more once they're back to school, but I will finally have the time to go to the grocery store by myself and work out without having people interrupt me 18 times in an hour. In the meantime, here's a fun meme to tide you over.

Here's the meme:
Type your answer to each of the questions below into a Flickr search. Choose your favorite image from the first page, then copy and paste each of the URLs into the mosaic maker (3 columns, 4 rows).

The questions:
1. What is your first name? (Lara)
2. What is your favorite food? (lasagne)
3. What high school did you attend? (Kapaun Mt. Carmel, had to drop the Mt. Carmel to get results)
4. What is your favorite color? (blue)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (no big ones, but I went with Milo Ventimiglia)
6. Favorite drink? (Diet Coke, yes I know it's evil)
7. Dream vacation? (New Zealand)
8. Favorite dessert? (chocolate cake)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (artist, still figuring out what that means)
10. What do you love most in life? (my family)
11. One word to describe you. (creative)
12. Your Flickr name. (bzzlarabzz, had to go with bzz)

Look, stitching!

2008-07-07T17:59:00.002-05:00

My friend Christina sent me the chart and threadpack for this piece as a housewarming gift right after our move. She said this little piece would be something I could finish fast and give me a sense of accomplishment amidst the chaos of moving. Smart woman! It was really fun to stitch and turned out very cute. I always love stitching with Crescent Colours floss. It is so smooth and shiny and the colors are beautiful.

Speaking of moving, here are a couple of pictures of the new pad. I probably could have gotten a picture of the whole front in one if I had crossed the street, but I didn't. My side of the garage is nearly empty. I should be able to park in there in two weeks after we take the rest of the empty boxes to the recycling truck. (It only comes around once every two weeks, and we were out of town this weekend when it came.)

This is my first porch that is big enough to hold a chair, much less two and a little table. :) I've enjoyed sitting out there in the evenings with my knitting and a citronella candle.

You can see with the landscaping, I keep having surprises popping up. I have never been a gardener, but I keep looking things up to see what I can do not to kill them. My dad says I should go to the local nursery and get a book about plants to help me identify things. I sometimes have problems telling if something is supposed to be there or not. My policy so far is to leave it if I'm unsure and pull it later if I don't like it or it's getting invasive.

We love it here. I made a list this morning of all the house projects there are to be done. It's not too long, really. I didn't get any of those things done today, but I did get the van cleaned out after our weekend trek to Branson. That's a pretty big accomplishment, really. ;)

Rainbow herring

2008-06-24T16:09:00.003-05:00

I finished these socks a long time ago, sometime in May.

They are the Red Herring pattern from Knitty, made with Noro Kureyon Sock and gray Knitpicks Palette.

They really are both the same length. I must have been holding my legs funny or something. :p

The Kureyon Sock is very interesting. I didn't mind working with it, having worked with Noro before, I knew what to expect. We'll see if the socks soften up as much as the other Noro I've used has.

I did a short-row heel rather than the afterthought heel the pattern called for.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the colorwork. I haven't done a lot of it in the past, but I can see myself doing much more in the future.

I love them! So cheerful.

2008-06-20T10:39:00.003-05:00

I am a
Sunflower

What Flower
Are You?

"When your friends think smile, they think of you. There is not a day that goes by that you can't find something good about the world and your fellow human."

I hope that's true. :)

Speaking of sunny, here is the little yellow hoodie. I am very happy with how it turned out. It had way too many little pieces to sew together, though. It's very soft. Knit from Bernat Cottontots.

This picture is courtesy of M, my 11 year old daughter. I need to tell her about taking pictures of FOs straight on. :) She's having fun with the camerra now that it holds over 1000 pictures instead of 3. She was taking pictures of any of my knitting she could find.

Off with me! We're going to go visit some friends who used to live around the block from us. Lunch and fun! A couple years ago, they moved to the next state, but now they're back. Unfortunately, I couldn't convince them to move to our new small town. They chose one on the other side of our metropolitan area, 35 minutes away. But, we'll drive this time and see their new house. They'll drive next time and see our new house. Maybe we can meet in the middle sometimes and do something in town. Hopefully we can get together once a month or so.

2008-06-18T12:19:00.002-05:00

I saw this on V's blog. Fun!

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Looks like I've got a big gap in the northwest. I think it would be fun to eventually visit all the states. (And perhaps go back to some of these I only saw as a young child.)

Here are a couple pictures of a finished pair of magic booties and the baby pants. The hoodie is now seamed up, all I have to do is the buttons and loops.

These photos are courtesy of my oldest daughter, E. She has more patience for taking 3 photos at a time and uploading them than I do. She took them on our front porch. For the first time, we have a porch big enough to allow sitting, so we got some things to sit upon. It's very nice to sit out there in the evening if it isn't too hot, or raining sideways. If it's raining straight down, we're fine. But there's been a lot of sideways rain, and also lightening, lately. It's been a stormy spring and summer so far!

2008-06-15T21:08:00.003-05:00

So far, so good on the yellow baby sweater. It seems to be doing just fine. I've been knitting the Magic Baby Booties in free moments. They are brain-free knitting and fast and cute. I knitted a pair on Wednesday that accidentally matched the new pants and in-progress sweater. You just knit them from sock yarn leftovers, which I have plenty of.

I am planning to buy a pair of little pants to match the pink and cream kimono. That seems to be the best solution. I don't know that I'll have a lot of luck finding a good color to go with it. It's a funny pink and a heathered, natural cream.

I have a baby surprise jacket, also, that would look good with a lot of different colors of pants. I finally sewed buttons on that today. It's been sitting buttonless for a very long time, because my buttons were packed, and since there were no babies in need of it, it waited. Now it's ready.

I finally ordered a memory card for my camera. It should get here this week, I hope. I had been looking in local stores, but no one stocks them anymore. Must be a format that is going out of style. So, you may get photos yet! I'm itching to update my ravelry projects.

You may get to see my house eventually. :p

Ahhhhh, summer.

2008-06-10T14:39:00.003-05:00

Summertime . . . and the knitting's easy.

Or not.

I'm trying to knit a baby sweater. It's giving me fits.

OK, it started with a baby kimono I knitted a long while ago, simply because I wanted to. I thought,"Oh, that kimono and socks would be a great gift for one of the many babies that will be coming along in the next 2-8 months. I think I will knit some little pants to go with it."

I started out with some baby bell bottoms. I knitted one leg and it was wide and stumpy and weird. No go. Rippit.

Then I went for a pair of the baby pants from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts." I've knitted them before. No problem, right? I decided to add a little ruffle to the bottom of the legs. Things were going along swimmingly until I got 3" from the top of the pants and ran out of yarn. A couple emergency stripes later, they are adorable.

And too big. There is no way they will go with that tiny kimono.

OK, another sweater now to go with the pants. (Try to forget that the whole point was to gift the surplus kimono.) I started a girly hoodie in a deep blue. Lovely! And tiny, I noticed, after knitting a hood, a yoke, and two sleeves. Rippit. Also ripped up the pattern, because the tininess was only one of its many problems. (Suffice it to say that I had to rewrite the stitch pattern to make sense, and none of their stitch counts at the end of the row were correct, either for their try at the stitch pattern or mine.)

I'm getting ready to start my next try. Different yarn, a pale yellow. Different hoodie.

Wish me luck! If this doesn't work, every baby is getting a storebought pack of burpcloths.

Feeling unfinished

2008-05-14T15:16:00.002-05:00

I've been reading blogs today, between prodding children, and I've found a lot of people feeling restless, unfinished. We're all antsy. Things to be done, faced, finished and we don't know how, don't have the means, or don't want to do it.

I'm there with ya.

We are racing to finish the school year, but neither the kids nor I really feel like sitting down and doing it. We've been doing marathons of work to get to that completion percentage, but no one kid is completely finished with anything yet.

All the schoolwork is getting in the way of me finishing anything else. The house is a mess. (Believe me, with four kids and a non-neatnik husband, the house is rarely up to snuff.) I want to organize, I want to paint things. I want to GET THINGS DONE!

It's not happening. I have to just plod along on what we're doing and remember that the summer fun will come soon enough.

(Please don't tell me I'm a freak for thinking summer fun includes organizing and painting. I like it. And I particularly like it when it's done and looking lovely.)

I also want to have people over and drink icy, fruity drinks and grill things and hang out in the sun.

I want to get the school books out of my dining room and gear the kids up for the fall when they will be attending new schools.

There is so much I want, and so little is happening.

That song from Santa Claus is Coming to Town keeps popping into my head. "Put one foot in front of the other."

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

You never will get where you’re going
If you never get up on your feet
Come on, there’s a good tail wind blowing
A fast walking man is hard to beat

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

If you want to change your direction
If your time of life is at hand
Well don’t be the rule be the exception
A good way to start is to stand

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

If I want to change the reflection
I see in the mirror each morn
You mean that it's just my election
To vote for a chance to be reborn

(repeat chorus twice)

See how it says "repeat chorus twice"? Yes, I know it's the construction of the song, but I think it's a good reminder that we have to just keep going. We'll get past it and soon we'll look back and see what we accomplished.

Keep on going, everyone!

Baa, baa, black sheep . . .

2008-04-24T17:56:00.002-05:00

Have you any wool?

Yessir, yessir, TWO bags full!

These are my first raw fleeces, from two Icelandic sheep named Carry and Alle. The fleeces were already very clean, but they still get a bath.

They are currently making my hall bathroom smell all sheepy while soaking in some hot water and Dawn dish soap. Once they're clean, I'm going to have to figure out where the cats won't try to attack them while drying. :p

2008-04-22T13:44:00.001-05:00

Funny. The only celebrity I've ever been told I resemble is Renee Zellweger. But Drew Barrymore is my husband's #1 celebrity crush. Hee.

I may be predictable.

2008-04-18T12:22:00.003-05:00

A package came in the mail today. Q ran out to grab the mail from the mail carrier. He came running in and said, "Mommy! I think you got yarn!"

"Noo,"I said, "it's not yarn."

"It's squishy like yarn."

I told him to open it up and see what it was. He opened it and said, "It is yarn!"

I said, "Noooo."

A said, "No! It's wool! That wool stuff mom spins into yarn!" (Making little spinning movements with her hands.)

I said, "Nooooo. Open it up the rest of the way."

"Oh. It's a blanket. Why did you order a blanket?"

"It was free with my order of our TV cabinet and patio panel."

"Oh, OK. I thought it was yarn."

Tractors, ugh!

2008-04-17T12:27:00.002-05:00

There are tractors working behind my fence. They are noisy and annoying. Our backyard backs up to what used to be railroad tracks. The tracks have been removed and the resulting trail covered with gravel. Sometimes we see people walking or running or riding bikes back there. The kids and I did a bit of all three evening before last.

Last week, there were surveyors back there one day. Yesterday, some trucks came and dropped large yellow pipes along the (former) tracks. Today, there are tractors and diggers. Noisy. Annoying. I have no idea what they're doing. I wonder if they notified people about it before we moved in. I should ask the neighbors.

We have a wooden platform in our back yard that looks like a half-built kids' playhouse. My kids like to climb up on it and see what is going on behind the fence. It's rainy today. (And NOISY. And ANNOYING.) So the kids have not gone out there.

Ugh.

Oh, I have a new digital camera. I love it! Except for one thing. It holds three pictures at a time. Three. I need to buy a memory card for it. :p Maybe I could then take pictures of the NOISY, ANNOYING TRACTORS!!!!!!!

(And my house.)

(And my knitting . . .)

Habits of the Modern Stitcher

2008-04-16T12:34:00.002-05:00

I haven't been stitching a lot lately, but unpacking my completed, framed pieces and finding homes for them in the new house has me thinking about it. So, here's a meme I found on V's blog.

Habits of the Modern Stitcher

1.How do you hold your fabric?
I stitch in-hand (no hoops or frames) so I just hold the fabric in my left hand, rolled up if it's a large piece.

2.Floss licker?
Sometimes

3.How do you thread your needle?
I pinch the end of the floss between the thumb and forefinger of my left hand and kind of squeeze it into the eye of the needle.

4.What needle do you like best?
For the fabrics I use most often, a 26.

5.Are you a needle loser?
No.

6.What fabric do you prefer to stitch on?
Linen, 32 ct or higher.

7.Bobbins or floss bags?
I use the DMC stitchbows.

8.Are you a scissors collector?
Not really. I have maybe three pairs of embroidery scissors and none are anything amazing.

9.Do you do your own framing, and if so, do you lace or pin?
Yes. I usually lace. I used to pin.

10.Are you a floss floozy?
What did you call me? :p I do have a lot of floss.

11.Silk?
Yes. But I have my preferences. A good cotton can have as much sheen and smoothness as a rough silk.

12.Railroader?
Not usually.

13.Are you a pattern or designer snob?
No. But I do have my preferences, of course.

14.Do you get antsy when you give someone a stitched gift?
Rarely. I only stitch for people who I know will love it.

15.Have you reached S.A.B.L.E.?
Does it really matter?

16.Do you wash your projects?
Yes.

Long time no see!

2008-04-10T14:19:00.003-05:00

Organizing after a move is a lot of work! I'm up to my ears in it!

Yes, we moved! And there is now a contract on the old house. Cross your fingers that everything goes smoothly with that. It only took 4 days after we moved out to get a contract.

I've also been dealing with the fact that some of our furniture just doesn't fit right here. lol. We didn't move any of the stuff we didn't like. The old computer desk, an armoire from our room, some storage shelves in the basement. They're all being picked up by Amvets. But I have some nice oak bookshelves and they just don't fit anywhere upstairs! I managed to find a decent spot for them in the basement, but I think I'm going to need something else for upstairs, too. Also, our TV armoire ended up going to the basement rec room, so there's no TV in the living room. I thought I might like that, but now I realize I really would prefer to have a TV up here. I found a TV armoire on clearance at Domestications that is the right height. A little tricky because it needs to be short enough to go in front of a half wall by the stairs. And it was the mission style I like, in real wood. I got the shipping notice on it today. This way I can still close the armoire and pretend there's no TV when I don't want to see it.

The sellers here took all the curtains the week before we closed on the house. Honestly, I didn't make a big deal about it because I was planning change them. The living room curtains had jungle animals on them. :p They took the rods, too, which is fine because they weren't to my taste. All the bedrooms have blinds, but we've been living without window coverings over the patio door and the living room window. That window is almost 10 feet wide! I had been having a hard time finding a curtain rod that would be long enough. Well, I was at Super Target over the weekend and they had a nice hefty rubbed bronze one long enough. And it was on clearance! $24 for a nice curtain rod. I ordered some drapes from JCPenney.com, on sale, and used a coupon code. I ordered Monday, they came Wednesday morning! I need to buy the rings now. All told, it's going to be less than $200 to have this window treatment done and it will look so nice. I also ordered a patio panel from Domestications for the patio door. After I have it up, I'll have to decide if I want some kind of tailored valance over the top of it. No ruffles!

I have a goal to have no boxes in the living room by Saturday. But, I just tracked my new TV armoire and it should be here tomorrow. :p I'd better get back to work.

Yummy!

2008-01-25T12:14:00.000-06:00

The Recipe For Lara

3 parts Originality
2 parts Desire
1 part Glamour

Splash of Tolerance

Chug!

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

I thought this was cute. I love that my recipe gets to be chugged.

Knitting and spinning continue apace. I've decided to stitch a mystery sampler from Papillon Creations. It looks like a nice, small, fun piece to do.

The hubby is doing well at his new job. It offers many great benefits (besides the higher paycheck.) It has been nice having him home in the evenings. I was feeling sorry for myself yesterday, and when the major activity of the day was done, I just wanted to curl up on the couch and watch Ugly Betty (and maybe some Celebrity Rehab. Shhhh.) He took it upon himself to make a list and go to the grocery store all on his own. And the stuff he bought actually makes sense. He didn't come home with 18 bags of chips and a candy bar. He actually bought milk and bread and lunch meat and cereal for the kids. Shocking! Then, he made the kids help put it away.

Then, he accidentally turned on the wrong burner on the stove and exploded my new casserole dish, which was holding the cooling brownies my oldest daughter cooked while he was gone. I can still smell the lingering odor of brownies afire.

But he put it out and cleaned it up and apologized. Nobody's perfect. Certainly not me.

Spinning Wheel!

2008-01-15T11:18:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend, I finally found time to put together my spinning wheel. I love it! All the kids have taken turns treadling.

It's a Fricke S-160-DT.

And a box of fiber, waiting to be spun!

I haven't yet gotten fiber and wheel together, but I have read my book and just need to find a little time to focus and try it out. I'm so excited!

(Sorry for the blurry pictures!)

Four finished or frogged.

2008-01-14T15:34:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend I finished or frogged four projects. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! By the time the Christmas knitting was done, I was feeling used up and a little overwhelmed by projects. I had a wicked case of startitis brewing, too. All of my projects seemed to require too much of me. I started knitting the Celtic Tote from the Winter 2007 Issue of Interweave Knits. I started a star shaped baby blanket. I wanted to start a sweater for me and a sweater for the husband, and almost anything where I could get yarn and needles to connect. Startitis! Too many projects!

But look! Finished Celtic Tote.

Finished star baby blanket! (I keep typing that start baby blanket, like an instruction. :p)

And finished Ninja Turtles! (Okay, they need eyes, but I need to buy matching black buttons, apparently. He's playing with them eyeless.)

They go with Michelangelo from Christmas.

I also frogged (rip it, rip it) the Mystery Stole III. I decided I didn't like it enough, with wing, without wing, symmetrical or not, to finish it. My trusty ballwinder aided greatly in the unraveling process. Beads went flying, cats went chasing, laceweight went winding. One more project taken care of.

Do you feel overwhelmed with projects? Do you have four you could finish or frog? Let me know about it. (Any kind of project can be frogged. If you decide it's not worth it, clean it up, cross it off the list and move on.)

Tomorrow, my spinning wheel!

Happy St. Distaff's Day

2008-01-07T13:25:00.000-06:00

Distaff Day
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Distaff Day, also called Rock Day, is 7 January, the day after the feast of the epiphany. It is also known as Saint Distaff's Day, since it was not really a holiday at all. In many European cultural traditions, women resumed their household work after the twelve days of Christmas. The distaff, or rock, used in spinning was the medieval symbol of women's work. Often the men and women would play pranks on each other during this day, as was written by Robert Herrick in his poem "Saint Distaffs day, or the Morrow After Twelfth Day" which appears in his Hesperides.
Some modern craft groups have taken up the celebration of Distaff day as part of their new year celebrations.

Saint Distaffs Day, or the Morrow after Twelfth Day
by Robert Herrick

Partly worke and partly play
Ye must on S. Distaffs day:
From the Plough soone free your teame;
Then come home and fother them.
If the Maides a spinning goe,
Burne the flax, and fire the tow:
Scorch their plackets, but beware
That ye singe no maiden-haire.
Bring in pailes of water then,
Let the Maides bewash the men.
Give S. Distaffe all the right,
Then bid Christmas sport good-night;
And next morrow, every one
To his owne vocation.

Yes, I have become a spinner. And what better day to talk about it than Distaff Day? The historical first day back to work after the twelve days of Christmas are up and people typically wanted to goof off half the day? Sounds normal to me. The picture up above is my spindle and my first two little hanks of yarn. They weigh the same, but the blue one has almost four times the yardage. I certainly managed to spin it thinner than the first, huh?

My spinning wheel should arrive tomorrow. It's sitting in the UPS warehouse in town waiting to go on the truck. I wish I could just wave my spindle and shout, "Accio Wheel!" Alas, I will have to wait.

Here's a picture of my sewing machine. Isn't it cute? My daughter, M, has been wanting to sew things. As a reward for finishing all her schoolwork for the day, she gets to sew. Unfortunately, with all this having the house on the market stuff, my sewing machine has sat unused for much longer than it ever has before. It needs oil, and I'm out. A trip to the fabric store is in order sometime this week.

Hats, anyone?

2007-12-31T12:58:00.000-06:00

I made a few hats for Christmas, as I mentioned before.

For my youngest nephew, who is 9 months old. (Swirl hat from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.)

This one went to my youngest brother's wife. (Foliage from Knitty.)

This one ended up coming back home with M, who is modeling it. (Beaufort hat.)

My other younger brother's wife chose this one. It reminds me of Charlie Brown's zigzag shirt. (Claudia hat.)

This one came back home with us, and my oldest daughter E is trying to claim it. I told her she has to share with me. Hee. (Chicabean hat.)

This one went to my other nephew, who is 2 years old. (Unoriginal hat from the Yarn Harlot.)

My older brother claimed this one. (Kim's Hats from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.)

This one came back home, and I think I'll keep it. (Prime Rib hat by Elizabeth Zimmermann.)

My older brother's wife took this one home. The brim can be worn up or down. (Palindrome hat.)

At the last minute (the 23rd of December) I freaked out that there weren't enough masculine hats in case some of the women claimed the more manly ones and left the lace ones for the men. I made a Natty Hat by Wendy Bernard (Knit and Tonic) with black yarn which was claimed by my younger brother. I neglected to get a picture of it, though. I was finished knitting the whole thing before I realized the cables were reversible and there was no wrong side. It's always right side out. Her free pattern also has a scarf to match, which would make a lovely set.

I saw a lot of the hats being worn at a second Christmas celebration we had this weekend. Everyone seemed very pleased. Success!

All hats were made of Patons Shetland Chunky, a soft, washable wool/acrylic blend.

2007 was a challenging year. I think we've learned a lot about ourselves. My husband is starting 2008 with a better-paying job and a new-to-him car. We have high hopes of making a lot of positive moves (literally and figuratively) over the next year. Happy new year, everyone!

Bowls

2007-12-20T14:37:00.000-06:00

No, these bowls are not suitable for cereal. But fruit would be fine.

I think they're pretty cool. They were fun to make. The kids helped and they wanted to keep going. They would have melted all the records they could lay their hands on.

Fingers off The White Album, kids!

Don't worry. No valuable or even mildly desirable albums were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Purple Brain

2007-12-13T14:27:00.000-06:00

Sorry, Heather, no pictures. I'm fairly certain none of my gift recipients read the blog, or I wouldn't be writing about the gifts. But between the possibility of them seeing the gifts and the fact that I am suffering from crappy camera/laziness syndrome, there are no pictures, yet.

Here, enjoy a picture of my apparently purple brain. I think the purpleness is due to bruising from all the wild thoughts banging around in there.

Your Brain is Purple

Of all the brain types, yours is the most idealistic. You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense.Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries.
You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself.

What Color Is Your Brain?

In the midst of holiday crankiness and overwhelmedness . . . (Yes, I know few of the "ness" words are real words. Deal.) . . . look at this funny blog. It never fails to bring a smile to my face. http://bentobjects.blogspot.com/ This guy has a really clever mind. And apparently some good fine motor skills. Look at all the little stuff he bends and puts together! Fun.

Christmas is coming . . .

2007-12-11T18:24:00.000-06:00

The goose is getting fat!

Or maybe the schedule is just getting fat. This time of year sure comes with a lot of things to do.

Oops. Half hour break there. Phone call. Discussing Christmas plans. All has been worked out. There has been a little family drama in my mom's family. It's not a usual thing with them, but with Grandma's stroke a year ago August, things are in transition. Everything is now arranged for this year. Next year may be different. We'll have fun either way. Grandma will get to see everyone.

Christmas knitting has consumed me. Why did I decide to do Christmas knitting? What's my damage? Sheesh. Last year I had a large stack of knitted washcloths that I decided would make lovely gifts. So, the kids and I made soap to put with them and let people choose their favorite. It was a success. So this year, I thought, "Hmmm, maybe a hat grab bag would be fun!" But, there is one major difference from last year. I didn't have a stack of knitted hats laying around waiting to be gifted. I had no hats laying around waiting to be gifted. So, I bought a pile of bulky, soft, washable wool blend yarn to make a variety of hats. I'm nine hats in, and I'm sick of hats. There are 20 people on the list. (This is just immediate family, meaning parents, siblings and their partners and kids.)

Yesterday, it all resolved itself. Hubby suggested we send gourmet popcorn to the New York relatives. A few clicks and a few bucks later, four people done. Then, I saw an online tutorial for making bowls out of old record albums. I had seen these before, but never realized how easy it was. I just happen to have a box of old records in my garage that even the thrift store didn't want. The kids and I made three of those last night for the most musical members of the family. I also made boxes out of the album covers, but I don't know how useful they'll be. (Amazing what you can get done while watching Samantha Who and October Road, huh?) I think I'll make one more. By the magic of co-habitation, these four record bowls cover five more gifts. I even managed to match the genre of music to the recipient. (Don't worry. None of these albums was valuable or desirable on its own, but as a bowl, cool.)

Eleven to go. Well, I already have nine hats. I'm in the midst of a lace scarf for Mom after she expressed several times how much she liked mine last week. (Still knitting, but not a hat.)
And I always make a cross-stitched cat ornament for MIL. Yes, I have to stitch and sew it, but again, not a hat. In fact, I'm due for a little stitching project like that.

Ta-da! All 20 gifts accounted for. This also means that the hats will be going to the people most likely to want and wear them. The alternate gifts are being given to people who probably wouldn't wear them or already have a knitted hat from me. We may make a little yummy something to pass out to everyone, as well. The kids love to do that.

Ahhhhhh. How nice to take a deep cleansing breath. Now where are those cross-stitch ornament magazines?

Sadness.

2007-11-29T18:59:00.000-06:00

From Kim's husband--

Dear friends and family,

I am very saddened to say that Kim's body lost her battle with breast cancer 5:47AM Thursday morning. She remained amazingly courageous and strong to the very end. She did everything she could to hold on for her family and friends, but her cancer was too aggressive.

The kids and I already miss Kim very much. Please keep us in your prayers

Even though I never met her in person, Kim has been my friend for many years on our mommy board. It seems so unfair that her young children will always have the holidays intermingled with thoughts of losing their mom. She was brave and strong and amazing, even when she was in great pain. We miss you, Kim.

2007-11-27T15:23:00.000-06:00

You Are a Trifle

No doubt, you have many intricate layers. But deep down, you're a little squishy.

What Holiday Food Are You?

OK, so that's a funny little quiz thing. I just can't help myself. I know a lot of people find them annoying, but I think they're fun.

Not fun, my friend Kim is in the hospital. (She's who I had you lighting candles for a few posts ago. Light another if you're so inclined.) She's half a country away, and I wish I could go and hold her hand. She's on a respirator and if she doesn't improve, she doesn't want to stay on the respirator. It's so close to Christmas, and she has three young kids. If you're the praying sort, please pray. I'm not sure what to pray for. I'm praying for comfort for her and her family, no matter what happens. And if you're not the praying sort, please do whatever you do. Vibes, thoughts, calming feelings.

2007-11-15T14:24:00.000-06:00

Thanks to everyone who commented on yesterday's post. If anyone else wants to make me feel better, please do! Heh.

Here's another silly blog thing. Makes me sound really flighty, huh? I like parts of it. I always told everyone I was going to be an artist when I grew up when I was a kid.

You Should Be an Artist

You are incredibly creative, spontaneous, and unique.
No one can guess what you're going to do next, but it's usually something amazing.
You can't deal with routine, rules, or structure. You're easily bored.
As long as you are able to innovate and break the rules, you are extremely successful.

You do best when you:

- Can work by yourself
- Can express your personality in your work

You would also be a good journalist or actor.

What Should You Be When You Grow Up?

2007-11-14T12:34:00.000-06:00

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Her Royal Highness Lara the Apocalyptic of Bow under Bumpstead
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

I have no pictures for you today. Just another silly blog thing.

I'm thinking about quitting the blogging. Life has been too challenging lately. Too much to do, not enough time. I may keep to this once a week thing, but I just don't know if it's worth it.

I have been knitting. I finished my Tangled Yoke Cardigan and I started my Mr. Greenjeans. The body is done and half of one sleeve. I made a little progress on my Secret of the Stole last night.

Is life really supposed to be this hard? Please tell me your life is hard. :p I'm working on ways to make things easier on myself. That's not something I'm very good at. I tend to make things hard on myself . Even in my hobbies, I pick the most complicated thing and say, "I want to do that!"

Kind of like homeschooling four kids. I'm glad I'm homeschooling them. I know I made the right choice. I also know I'll be making a good choice if I put them in regular schools next school year. (This will only happen if we move.) I'm just irritated that I know lots of people are watching and when I do that they're going to say, "Oh, I knew it wouldn't last." Like they're waiting for us to fail. I don't want to care what they think, and I don't really. What other people think will have absolutely no bearing on how I choose to educate my children. I'm just annoyed that so many seem to think homeschooling is ridiculous or just too hard. Yes, it's hard. No, it's not the only choice, or the best choice for everyone or every child. But it is the best choice for us for our current situation. If we decide something else is the best choice when things have changed, it's our business, and no one else's. The kids are getting a good education, and they are well-rounded. They're not going to become criminals or social outcasts because they are being homeschooled. Wonderful things are happening in our family because of homeschooling. And it's hard. Just because it's hard doesn't mean it shouldn't be done.

For Kim

2007-11-07T14:00:00.000-06:00

My friend Kim has been battling breast cancer for two years. Yesterday, they decided to suspend her treatment because it's not working. They're trying to get her in a trial.

She's a young woman, mid 30s. She has three young children and a wonderful husband. She is an inspiration. She could use all of our thoughts and prayers or whatever other good vibes you can spare.

The mommy group we're a part of started a candle lighting group online to show our support. Feel free to light another.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T10:59:00.001-06:00

I love Halloween! I love to decorate for it. I love to dress up for it. I love to make the kids costumes for it. Carving pumpkins!

I did none of those things this year. I was getting ready to throw myself a big pity party. Then my kids decided to make some cute Halloween decorations and get out some of my favorites. They made vampire potatoes. Hee-heeee. Don't let the lack of pumpkins stymie your Halloween spirit. (Oooooo, spirit. Heh.) And I'm going to go to a movie this weekend with one of my very favorite people.

I may have just ordered a "begin to spin" drop spindle kit on etsy. *whistle* And that may have required me to sign up for the etsy account I was avoiding getting. Too dangerous! Of course, it may spur me to make some things to sell on there. I'm going to think about that.

(The cross-stitch pieces are a small sampling of my Halloween pieces over the years. I've stitched way more for Halloween than for Christmas. Even if I don't have real pumpkins, I'm going to have virtual ones!)

Did I show you my blanket?

2007-10-24T13:11:00.001-05:00

I finished it a few weeks ago. The children have heeded my warning not to try to to sneak it off to their bedrooms. This is officially a couch blanket. Only to be used in the living room. (Otherwise I would never get to use it.)

It's based on the Mason-Dixon Knitting log cabin blankets. I used an applied i-cord border. Quite nifty. Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in the old colors. Less than three balls each of six colors used.

And for a bonus picture, my sock drawer. I was having trouble getting it closed, so I cleaned it out. Wonder why it was so full? Could it be all these hand-knit socks that have been added in the last two years? I got rid of about 15 pairs of regular old socks that I just don't wear anymore. You can see a few of the regular ones left in the top right corner there. I cropped out the pile of running/workout socks. I'm counting 20 pairs of hand-knit socks. I think they were all in there. All of mine, that is.

I think if we ever finally move and get the rest of the furniture out of storage, the hand-knit socks will get heir own drawer and the other socks (mostly workout socks) will go in a drawer with the workout clothing that is threatening to take over the undie drawer.

I need to knit three of the four kids a new pair (of socks, not undies) since fall has arrived. (M already has her Monkey socks.) Q has requested General Lee socks (the car, not the man.) Luckily, I don't have to dye the yarn this time. Twist has orange sock yarn the right color! So happy to have a LYS.

Secret of the Stole

2007-10-18T15:56:00.001-05:00

Part one:

Parts one and two:

It doesn't look like much yet. I'm interested to see how this looks once it's blocked. I generally prefer my lace to be more, well, lacy. There's a lot of solid stockinette here. Hopefully, this will cure me of the whole "mystery knit" thing. :p

The next portion comes out tomorrow.

Alpine Lace Shawl

2007-10-17T11:35:00.000-05:00

I joined Secret of the Stole a while back. Two clues have come out. But back before the first clue was released, I knew I needed to finish the Alpine Lace shawl that was on the needles I needed for SOTS. Voila!

Here are two pre-blocked images.

And one post-blocking. This is why we have kids, right? To hold up the knits for us for blog pictures? ;)
The pattern is in Victorian Lace Today, the Alpine Lace Knit Scarf, or something similarly inspiring. Gorgeous lace in that book, but boring names!

I've finished both clues for SOTS, too, and taken pictures. But blogger won't let me add any more pictures right now. Error! :p

2007-10-12T12:18:00.000-05:00

I really planned to have the lace shawl ready for today's post, but the pictures are still on the camera, we had a house showing yesterday which required far too much cleaning time, and I'm having a birthday party for my son Q tonight. He's 8 today!

So you get a lame-o blog quiz again. :p I don't know why I like these things so much. I always liked tests in school, too.

You Are 5: The Investigator

You're independent - and a logical analytical thinker.
You love learning and ideas... and know things no one else does.

Bored by small talk, you refuse to participate in boring conversations.
You are open minded. A visionary. You understand the world and may change it.

At Your Best: You are sharp, inventive, and creative. You have the skills to lead the world.

At Your Worst: You are reclusive, weird, and a bit paranoid.

Your Fixation: Greed

Your Primary Fear: Being useless or incompetent

Your Primary Desire: Being competent and needed

Other Number 5's: Bill Gates, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Bjork, and Stephen Hawking.

What Number Are You?

Burnt Popcorn

2007-10-10T13:48:00.001-05:00

My daughter just burnt microwave popcorn. Don't you hate that smell? I think that is just the worst smell. (Yes, I know there are much worse things to smell, but it's got to be in my top 5. Blech.)

Burnt popcorn really has nothing to do with today's post. I just smelled it as I opened up this window. Speaking of open windows, we finally have our windows open in the afternoon today. High of 76 is what the weatherman said.

This morning we went out and bought M a new mattress. She has been complaining for a long time that her mattress is uncomfortable and she can't get to sleep. (This girl really knows how to complain, too.) We had tried two of those foam toppers plus a deluxe mattress pad, but nothing helped. The mattress really was worn out. She wasn't just complaining for no reason. So, today we went several different places and had her try some out. At the last place, with the mattress she wanted, we got an "inventory deal." I'm pretty sure that's code for: "They're walking out. Do anything to get them to buy!" They weren't really doing inventory. But we had already shopped around and we know we got a good mattress for a good price. Now M is doing her schoolwork on her bed, she loves it so much. Hee. I hope she's that excited about it at bedtime.

My second training walk/run was this morning. Feeling good! Two out of three brothers, one of their wives, my sister, and my dad have confirmed that they will be running the 10K with me. My dad made an amazing diet and exercise spreadsheet for himself, and he's sharing it with everyone. I have one brother designing t-shirts for us. He's doing several designs for us to choose a favorite for the group. I think this is so cool!

I'm still doing my beloved workout videos on off days, but I think they will will be trending toward more pilates and less long cardio/weights. I'm going to take one day a week completely off.

Now for some knitting. I promise I will get the pictures of the blocked lace shawl off the camera before my next post. For now, you get a hat I knitted for an old friend's baby shower. A is wearing it. Yes, she's 6, but the hat has a lot of stretch. Hopefully, the baby will get a lot of wear out of it. Knitted with small amounts of 6 old colors of cotton-ease. Pattern is "Cotton Stria hat" form Itty Bitty Hats. The mother-to-be was thrilled with it. They passed it around at the shower and everyone was turning it inside out. It's so funny that even non-knitters want to examine how it was put together.

Monkey see, Monkey do, Monkey run

2007-10-08T08:21:00.000-05:00

These are M's Monkey socks. Knitted with Cherry Tree Hill supersock on US size 0 DPNs. I started these after seeing just about everyone in my KIP group knitting them. I couldn't resist! I may actually knit another pair for myself sometime.

I'm training for a 10K run in May (the River Run, for those in the know.) I've challenged my siblings and their significant others, as well as my parents, to join me. My sister and one brother and his wife have joined me so far.

Today was day 1 of my training. I've never been a runner, so I'm starting slow, with an 8-week beginning to run program. Once I can run 3 miles, I'll start a 12-week 10K training program. I have 31 weeks until the run.

I've never been an early riser, but I'm trying not to feel superior for having gotten up, gone out and gone for a run, and checked my e-mail before my husband's alarm even went off this morning. I think this early morning running will help my homeschool stamina, too. I'm certainly wide awake, and you can rarely say that about this night owl before noon. Yes, I would be up long before that, but I wouldn't feel this energetic, that's for sure.

Hat for an 85 degree day.

2007-10-05T11:04:00.000-05:00

Does the weather realize it's October and I shouldn't have the air conditioner running? I keep trying to turn it off, but by mid-day, it's back on. I school the kids in the sunniest room of our house, and it just gets too hot, and with four kids being taught by one mom, that makes for too much crankiness. AC it is.

Here's a picture of me wearing the the hat I knitted my sister for her birthday. She's 22 now, the baby. I gave her a card that entitled her to "one hand-knit item, within reason." She asked sheepishly if she could have a hat with a big pom-pom on top. Ask and you shall receive! Isn't it nice when you have non-knitters who love your stuff and ask politely even when you have already offered? She even came to the yarn shop with me and picked the yarn. She wanted a neutral that had a little interest, so this heathered gray was perfect. She said she wanted a neutral so she could wear it with everything. Now, if it will just cool off, she can.

Pattern is from Interweave Knits Fall 2007. I made it a few rows longer and worked a few more decreases to smooth out the top and cover the ears.

(I don't know why my hair is so weird in that picture. It's Kansas. It's windy. Whatever.)

Still alive and kicking!

2007-10-03T15:53:00.000-05:00

Just busy, as you may imagine.

We went to the State Fair for a family field trip a few weeks ago. How can you resist these young farmers? Hee.

Knitting content is promised in the near future!

Homescholing is a lot of work.

2007-09-11T11:33:00.000-05:00

Duh. Especially with four kids you're schooling. It has been taking an insane amount of time. But it's getting smoother every day. And we nearly have all our materials finally.

So, blogging, not a priority right now. I have been squeezing some knitting in most evenings, even if just a tiny bit.

Babies, babies, babies!

2007-08-28T16:43:00.000-05:00

Babies are popping up all around. My oldest daughter's uncle and his wife are having their second baby next month. I haven't seen them lately, though E has, and she wanted to give them a little something. Not knowing if they're having a boy or a girl, I thought a pumpkin hat would be ideal for a fall baby.

The hat was so cute (and I had so much green yarn left over) that I thought matching booties would be nice. Above is the first, frogged attempt. It was too big, too green, and too floppy. The leaves didn't pop the way I would like. And it looked too boyish to me.

These ankle strap booties were perfect. And they turned out so cute! Plus, the two of them just barely used all the yarn from the one frogged leaf bootie.

A's Bitty Baby is a very compliant model, but not very expressive, and too small for the newborn clothes. :p

My younger brother B and his wife are expecting after a very long wait! This is going to be a very long 9 months. If anyone can spare a positive thought for a smooth pregnancy, that would be fantastic.

A friend from my knitting group is waiting on a call about a foster-to-adopt baby. I know I'm thinking lots of good thoughts for her.

I guess my baby knitting can continue unabated. But right now, the turquoise bamboo sweater is demanding attention. :)

In a funk.

2007-08-26T13:57:00.000-05:00

I promise, this will be the only whining you will hear from me for a good long time. I am in a funk! A knitting funk! A house funk! Just a funk!

I blame the fact that almost all my fun stuff is packed and there is no moving date in sight. I'm also feeling a little lost about my kids' schooling. We're just in waiting mode. Our curriculum should be coming any minute, and as soon as we get going with that, I'm sure there will be no time for self-pity! Plus, the big girls' choir starts back up tomorrow. That will be good.

So, about the knitting funk . . .
You may have noticed I was on a sock kick. I started some Monkey Socks and promptly stalled out on my sock kick. I went down a little too far on needle sizes (to a 0, when a 1 would have done it.) And now the ankle is uncomfortably tight. I thought about frogging. Then I thought about my three daughters. Surely one of them will fit these and like them, right? My oldest daughter has feet bigger than mine. Um, never mind her. My second daughter wears pink constantly. These socks are a deep teal color. But she tried them. She likes them. They are hers. Sock one was finished yesterday. Sock two has been started.

This means I will have to make three more pairs of socks for the other three children shortly. Did I mention the oldest has bigger feet than mine? Why do they all keep growing? Oh yeah, I keep feeding them.

Knitting funk item two: Mystery Stole 3.
I started all gung-ho. I caught up in time for Clue four to be released. Then I stalled. Clue five soon appeared. A WING?! WTH?! A wing . . .

Turns out the wing is very pretty. And now there are many pictures on Ravelry and out on blogland showing how lovely it looks while being worn. But I still don't think it's for me. The hubby helped me decide I should just frog it. But I didn't. I'm still thinking about making it symmetrical. Then I start thinking about how much I love other stoles and shawls I could be knitting instead. Then I think about how much I love the beginning of this one, and the beads. Then I think about having a Diet Coke or working out or mowing the yard, or anything to stop obsessing about this silly stole!

What do I find to distract me? Secret of the Stole. I joined. And I claim to be a fast learner. Ha.

Knitting Issue #3 (Not really a funk.): Tangled Yoke Cardigan
I have the Fall Interweave Knits. I have yarn. (Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, yuuuuuuummmmmm.) I decide to swatch. (A true sign of dedication on my part. I usually just start knitting and then frog if the gauge is too wrong. Maybe I am learning.) I discover my size 5 Knitpicks Options tips are currently in a sweater-in-progress that has been packed. I have about half a back done on said sweater. I decide to open the box it is in (amazingly easy to locate and clearly labeled) and frog the sweater I haven't touched in months. As soon as I get it out, I just want to knit it! The yarn (bamboo) is lovely and soft, with a nice sheen. The braid-like cables have just the right amount of definition. The blue will look lovely with my eyes.

So, for the past hour, I have been knitting the blue sweater and listening to Tristan and Isolde on Craftlit.

Funk averted? Sorry, Tangled Yoke. You may have to wait for this sweater to be done first. Curriculum should be here any day. Think I can knit and teach at the same time? ;)

This is the blanket that doesn't end . . .

2007-08-21T11:57:00.001-05:00

It just goes on and on my friend.

It's lovely, it's colorful, it's soft, it's neverending! I used to take it to things like KIP with me because I knew I could talk endlessly and still be able to knit this without messing up. It's a garter-stitch log cabin blanket, for heaven's sake. But, it is now rather large, and much too warm to be carrying around in the 100 degree heat.
I rented Apocalypto. I have 2 strips left on each side, and a border (which is going to be equivalent to half a strip on each side, all in the same color.) I figure the movie is long enough that I can get a lot done. And reading subtitles will distract me from the boredom of endless garter stitch. (Yes, I can knit garter stitch without looking.)

Here are some knot booties from 50 Baby Bootees to Knit by Zoe Mellor. You may recognize the yarn as being leftovers from the bee stripe socks. (Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock.) They are soft, and so cute! They sill be adorable on little baby feet.

Typing kind of hurts. The skin right next to my pinky fingernail on my left hand has decided to pull away from the nail, and it hurts. (Duh.) When I type, the side of the finger seems to get a fair bit of pressure. Owie.

In other news, I'm homeschooling all four of my kids this year. I'm excited and scared and thrilled. This was both a snap decision and a long time coming. I'd been considering it for over a year, but since we were moving to another school district, I wasn't going to do it. Then, we didn't move. (House is still on the market, BTW.) I decided right away that I would homeschool my oldest. As I did more research, I thought that homeschooling would really benefit all of my kids, each in their own way.

We're enrolled through a virtual school, using the K12 curriculum. Since we were a little late getting started in our planning, we're still waiting on curriculum, but it should be here in the next week or so. We'll start school within the week after it arrives. In a selfish way, I'm almost afraid that I'll love this too much and it will take a very long time to get my own time back. But, in every other way, I feel great about it. I love setting our schedule, spending more time with the kids in a productive way, having more options in how to live our life. I feel a huge sense of responsibility to my kids, to make sure that they learn what they should and grow up to be responsible, productive, happy adults. What could be a better use of my time than that?

So, we'll do it for this year and re-evaluate at the end of the year to make sure everyone is thriving and that it still works for us. This is going to be a great adventure!

Bee Stripe Socks

2007-08-19T18:41:00.000-05:00

Knit with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Bee Stripe colorway. Picot edge, 64 stitches, short-row heel, wedge toe. I am reminded that I don't really like the way short -row heels feels on my foot. Too shallow. But I didn't like the look of a flap heel with the bee stripe yarn. (Yes, one of these socks had part of another heel knitted before I changed to the short-row.)

I really like them! Some people thought they might be Wichita State University socks. Since that's where I earned my college degree, I suppose that would work, too.

Tired of socks? How about babies?

2007-08-16T13:06:00.001-05:00

I have a bit of baby knitting fever. No more babies here, but my brother and sister-in-law are hopefully going to be pregnant any minute. We should know in the next week if their medical intervention has paid off. My friend J says I'm engaging in "wishful knitting." I think she's right. My oldest daugther's uncle and his wife are having their second child next month, so I think we'll knit them a little something, too. I think a pumpkin hat will be good for a fall baby.

Can you tell what that is in the picture above? It's a Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann. It's a genius bit of knitting geometry and origami. Doesn't look like much there does it?

How about here? You just fold it and sew a seam across the tops of the arms. I chose to do one row of single crochet around the neck, too, to make it look a bit more polished. I still need to add buttons. The yarn is Cascade Sierra, a soft washable cotton and wool blend. It has a lot of spring to it. And it's very reasonably priced, too!

Of course, I couldn't just make a jacket. I made the "Olive You" hat from "Itty Bitty Hats" and some simple slipper booties from "50 Baby Bootees to Knit". I made my 5 month old nephew try the hat and jacket on to check my sizing, and they looked SO CUTE! No pictures of that, though. We took them off quickly since the temps around here have been hovering around 100 the last week or so. Even inside in the A/C, no one needs an extra layer.

Clessidra Socks

2007-08-14T23:33:00.000-05:00

I LOVE these socks! They fit perfectly, the cables are gorgeous, and they were a lot of fun to knit.

What I think is really funny about them is that I went to Catholic Schools growing up, and while I generally liked the uniforms OK, I hated knee length navy blue socks. So what do I knit? Knee-length navy blue socks. Of course, the ones I had growing up weren't nearly this pretty.

These are knit from KnitPicks Gloss. It's not really a true navy blue, it's lighter and lovelier. I would heartily recommend this yarn for a variety of uses. It's soft, seems sturdy, and has a nice sheen without being too shiny. I kind of want to knit a sweater with it now. So pretty!

Hugs and Kisses socks

2007-08-13T21:48:00.000-05:00

I cannot get a good picture of these! They have the cutest x and o cable running up the front. And the other cables look like a column of little hearts. The color of the yarn is great too, a heathered purpley-pink. But the yarn is scratchy. It's Reynolds Whiskey. I wouldn't have chosen it for socks if it hadn't come in this kit. It would make a lovely lightweight sweater to be worn over other garments (not against the skin.) They will be warm in the winter, as long as they don't make my feet itch. We'll see how they feel after they've had a good soak in some Eucalan.

Only one more pair of socks to go from the ones I finished during my blog break! But I've finished another pair since then. I think I'm officially a sock-a-holic. I love to knit lace shawls and all kinds of sweaters, too, but I feel like an addict in need of a hit if I don't have any socks on the needles.

Horcrux Socks

2007-08-10T11:45:00.000-05:00

These were from the Six Sox KAL two patterns ago. Time flies! The name comes from Harry Potter's scar. The designer was surmising that she thought Harry's scar was a horcrux. Of course, now that the last book has come out, many of us know whether that was true or not. ;)

The pattern was really fun and fast to knit. Although, I'm not crazy about knitting ribbing down the whole foot of the sock.

The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in the Misty Moor colorway. I liked how the colors matched the covers of the last couple Harry Potter books (before Deathly Hallows). This yarn is so soft! It's very apparent when you just sit there trying on socks and taking pictures for your blog all in a row. These were the softest socks by far. I'm concerned that it may pill, though. I finished these after it was warm out, so I haven't worn them all day yet.

My oldest daughter is trying to steal some of my other CTH sock yarn for herself. The stinker.

Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

2007-08-08T11:40:00.000-05:00

I love the picot edge on these socks. In fact, I'm knitting a plain old stockinette pair of socks right now and I decided to use the picot edge on those, too, instead of ribbing. It's very easy to do. The bumps are made by doing one row of YO, K2tog and then folding on that line.

These are made from Lang Jawoll sock yarn. I love this yarn! It's nice and soft, but still feels sturdy. Great solid colors, too (which can be hard to find). My new LYS, Twist, carries it, too!

I can see these socks making their way into my regular rotation in the winter. I'll have to buy a shirt that will go with them.

Breeze Socks

2007-08-06T14:52:00.000-05:00

These are from the Summer 2007 Knitty. I knit mine with Rowan 4-ply cotton. I love the yarn! Soft, with a bit of a sheen, but not shiny.

I love the socks, too, they're so pretty! They have little cables on the heels and an interesting ribbed toe. I don't know if I will ever wear them, though. I don't wear socks in the summer unless I'm working out. These are not appropriate workout socks. I haven't worn them once.

They were a lot of fun to knit and very fast! I had them done in less than a day. I had to watch the measurements carefully while knitting. Their gauge and repeats in the pattern don't add up to the measurements they say. But, I usually knit socks by measurement anyway. My feet seem to be smaller than average.

Please ignore my bug-bitten ankles. Too much yard work, not enough bug repellant.

Entrelac knee socks!

2007-08-03T09:55:00.000-05:00

I love the rhythm of "Entrelac Knee Socks." Say it three times fast!

I have no fewer than six completed pairs of socks that I haven't shown you in the time I've been away. I'm going to blog them one at a time. Perhaps by the time they're all posted I'll get over myself and show you some completed tops, too. I wear them all the time!

The entrelac socks pattern is in the spring 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. I knitted mine with KnitPicks Palette yarn. I didn't need nearly the amount I bought. I have enough leftover to make some interesting gloves or something. And then some. I don't think I would recommend it as sock yarn. It's spun too loose for a sock yarn, in my opinion, and it isn't very soft. It's not marketed as sock yarn, but it's the right weight and it was a bargain. I'm still glad I used it for these. I'll wear them when it's cold out, for sure!

For you Ravelers, here's a link to my project page on these.

Mystery Stole, part 3

2007-08-02T16:19:00.001-05:00

I joined the Mystery Stole 3 KAL the week before it closed to new members. I thought I must be insane at the time, because I knew I wouldn't have time to knit it, especially since I was already a few parts behind. But, then all my moving plans fell through and my brain thought, "A little mystery lace would be a nice distraction about now." Luckily, when I packed up everything I owned (including all but a weeks' worth of clothes) my laceweight yarn was still accessible, in the top of a basket which is too large to further pack into a box. So I pulled out some black Elann Peruvian Baby Lace Merino, bought some silver lined clear glass beads at Hobby Lobby, and off I went!

Here it is thorough part three. Like my quick and dirty blocking job? I pinned it to the blanket on my bed with size 1 DPNs. Hee. I was trying to measure about how long it is so I can decide whether to lengthen the next part. It's currently 1/3 of the finished length, as written. Part five and the theme are to be revealed tomorrow. I'm only one part behind. Not bad for just starting a little less than two weeks ago. I'm finding that the "deadline" of a new part coming out is spurring me on to knit this faster than I typically do with lace. I won't have part four done in time, but I will be close.

(Like my bee tape measure? It's made by Lantern moon. I have wanted one for a long time, but when I was ordering some yarn and the cost of the tape measure would put me over the free shipping amount . . . Well, how could I resist? It would have been wasteful to pay for shipping when I could just buy a tape measure instead, right?)

Great Mail Day!

2007-07-30T15:20:00.000-05:00

Don't you love a great mail day?

Today I had no junk mail, no bills. Just a little cross stitch catalog, the new Vogue Knitting magazine, and a box from KnitPicks! Containing four books. I think I've been in withdrawal from my knitting books with them all being packed up. It's so sad!

But new books are happy. And new books at 40% off are even happier.

Itty Bitty Hats
50 Baby Bootees to Knit
Favorite Socks
The Opinionated Knitter

Good choices, eh?

Plus, one of my very best pals in the world just got into Ravelry. Loads of fun! I guess I better go add my new books to my Ravelry book list. :)

(The two baby knitting books are in hopes that my brother and sister-in-law's IVF next month goes very well. You all know I can't resist knitting things for babies, but this baby will be extra special.)

Basements are yucky. (And interesting.)

2007-07-25T15:36:00.001-05:00

I swear I have a basement phobia. I even googled that to see if there's a formal name for basement phobia. I couldn't find anything, so I guess we'll just call it basementaphobia. Or maybe subter supter humus campester phobia. (Which is what an online translator tells me "below ground level phobia" would be in latin.) yeah, basementaphobia is easier.

Anyway, I don't like basements. So naturally, I decided to spend today working in our basement. So far, it has officially been my husband's job to deal with the basement. I am not pleased with his progress. I'm emptying it out and throwing stuff out. I'm also painting the walls and floor of the storage rooms. My 10 year old daughter and I did the walls already and I'm in the process of throwing away almost all the contents of the storage rooms. My rule is that if I have to deal with it when it's not mine, I can do whatever I want with it. If you want to have a say, deal with it yourself.

In the closet under the stairs I found a typewriter. Not an electric typewriter, just a regular old typewriter. I have no idea where it came from. (I should really stop wondering that. I was cleaning out the shed one time and I found a wheelchair in there. The neighborhood kids wanted to take turns riding it around the yard. Whatever.) My kids are now obsessed with the typewriter. They think it is so fun. My six year old said, "It's like a computer! Only not really." They are patiently taking turns typing. It is just cracking me up.

So, that's one less thing in the basement. Do you think I'll be able to get rid of it? Maybe I should keep it and have them practice their spelling words on it, since it's so fun. Anyone know where to buy typewriter ribbon these days? Maybe the same store as the record player needles. Ha.

I'm on Ravelry!

2007-07-24T15:38:00.000-05:00

It is a great site! They're still working out the bugs, but I think it is just amazing. So if you see this picture.

And the name BzzLaraBzz. That's me. :)

In Honor of Harry Potter . . .

2007-07-22T17:56:00.000-05:00

Find out your Harry Potter personality at LiquidGeneration!

Yes, I am an adult. Yes, I love Harry Potter. Apparently I am also a know-it-all.

I read Deathly Hallows yesterday. All I will say is that I liked it. Don't want to spoil anything for anyone. The hubby is reading it now, and I keep hearing him laugh and cry in the next room.

House stuff has gone kaput. Seriously, I don't even want to talk about it. Suffice it to say, our house is back as being "active" rather than "pending" in the MLS.

My hair smells funny. I used henna on it yesterday. (Reading time is great for letting green mud sit on your hair for an hour or so.) Then I washed it with grapefruit shampoo. Mmmmmm, a funny overcooked vegetable smell plus grapefruit. Yummy. It was worth it. My hair is so shiny and pretty and back to being the red I'm convinced it was supposed to be at birth. I was blonde until I was about five, then my hair turned brown, but my dolls always had red hair.

Things are not going so well.

2007-07-18T13:10:00.000-05:00

That is (was) my husband's vehicle. Luckily, my husband is fine.

He had picked it up from the the service shop yesterday, where it had been because it had a bad habit of dying while he was driving. He was driving back to work, only about 2 miles from the shop, but currently a five mile drive due to a bridge being out and detours. About half a mile from work, he noticed smoke, then a block later another driver yells, "Your car is on fire!" He pulls onto the frontage road and bails out. By the time he stood up, the front seat was engulfed in flames.

There will be an investigation. It is generally believed that the work the shop did was faulty. (Ya think?)

In moving news, we were to close this Friday, but things have been held up.

2007-07-05T19:04:00.000-05:00

50%

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

I haven't checked on the zombie statistics in our new neighborhood. Hmmmmm.

Yes, we have found a great house. We have a contract. Now we just have various inspections to get through. Assuming all goes well with the final inspection Saturday on the house we're selling, the POD will be arriving next week. No, not pod people, PODS. Silly.

Hiya.

2007-06-25T15:54:00.000-05:00

I'm enjoying my blog break. I anticipate being back full-time in the fall.

Don't you love the kitty's bonnet? She has a leg wound that she wants to lick, and it won't heal that way. It's getting better all the time. (Better, better, beh-tuh!)

We have a solid contract on the house. Everything is signed. The inspection is pending. Moving date is July 20. We're house-hunting is earnest.

Time to pack up the stash! (That's when you know its serious.)

Blog Abandonment

2007-06-06T11:55:00.001-05:00

I'm going to abandon my blog for now. I will probably come back at some point. I just don't have the time or energy for it right now.

If you want to contact me, feel free to e-mail at bzzlarabzzATgmailDOTcom.

Love you all! See you around!

2007-06-01T14:13:00.000-05:00

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know.
You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems.
Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green.
Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

Can you tell I like dumb little quizzes? I got this one from Michele.

The hubby is out of town this weekend, until Monday evening. I'm having a garage sale tomorrow morning. Just the morning. I hate garage sales! But I have a bunch of big stuff that I don't want to move and maybe I can get a little something for them.

I'm sick of this house and cleaning it! We had seven showings this week. The kids and I are off to get a little treat and waste some time at the used bookstore. Then I may swing by the health food store and get some henna. I've had enough of this natural color, growing-out thing.

Have a grat weekend!

2007-05-28T12:45:00.000-05:00

You Are the Index Finger

You are ambitious, driven, and capable.
You aren't afraid to take responsibility for your actions - or place the blame on whoever deserves it.
You are honest, free thinking, and objective. You see things in your own way - and you aren't afraid to let everyone know about it.

You get along well with: The Thumb

Stay away from: The Ring Finger

What Finger Are You?

Well, the house contract fell through. We're back to the drawing board. Yuck.

EWWWW!

2007-05-22T17:27:00.000-05:00

You Are Greg Brady

Outta sight! Suave and all American, you tend to be clean cut and upstanding.
You're friendly with most people and a huge flirt (sometimes even with family members!).

What Brady Are You?

I am a girl. And flirting with family members? Ick! But I thought this quiz result was too funny not to post.

Blogging will likely be infrequent for the foreseeable future. With any luck, the contract we're negotiating right now will go through and we will be doing a fast search for the house we really want, packing, and moving by June 20. Keep the fingers crossed?

I'm thinking of just getting one of those PODS things instead of renting a moving van. We can have it here for two weeks before the move and at the new house for two weeks after and they do all the moving for about the same price as renting a truck and killing ourselves for three days. What do you think?

I've been tagged!

2007-05-16T17:22:00.000-05:00

OK, I was tagged at least four times for the same meme. I guess that means I have to do it, huh? LOL. Velda was first, then J. Denae, then Lois Lane and Karen.

Here are the rules:
Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about
themselves. Those tagged need to write in their
blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need
to tag seven others and list their names on your blog.
You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in
their comments so they know that they have been tagged
and to read your blog.

1. When I was in high school, and even a little later on, when I was single mom to my first kiddo, I thought I would always be the breadwinner in my household. Somewhere along the way, I had a really hard time being away from my kids as much as I was and I found a way to stay home with them. I still miss my paycheck, though.

2. Sometimes (ok, often) I want more kids. Even as I type that I think, "Is she insane?! Isn't four kids enough?" It's never happening, but I still think about it.

3. I once told someone I thought there should be a cash prize for being married to my husband for 10 years. He's a good man and treats me well. We have a good marriage. And I still said that. :p

4. When I get an idea in my head, I generally make it happen. I wonder sometimes why everyone doesn't work that way. And then I wonder why I don't make bigger things happen.

5. I made shrimp cocktail sauce dip for my kids for an after school snack today. Because I wanted it. I don't even think they like the crackers I put out with it. I'm fairly certain they all ate oyster crackers instead.

I do know they like the seafood alfredo we're having for dinner.

6. When I was a kid, I told my dad I wanted to be an artist or a concert pianist when I grew up. He said, "You're going to be so poor, but probably really happy." Heh.

7. When there's a really good song on the radio I turn it up really loud and sing along and dance. While I'm driving. The minivan. With the kids in the back. Don't worry. I'm still driving safely, but I'm fairly certain the other drivers must think that weird lady in the red minivan has lost her marbles. My kids generally sing along, too, but my oldest has gotten old enough to tell me I'm really weird while smiling and laughing along.

OK, I hate tagging people. For now, I'm just tagging Christina, one of my very best pals!

Remember the Oregon Trail?

2007-05-15T15:03:00.000-05:00

I died of exhaustion.

You died of exhaustion on Oregon Trail.

How'd you die on Oregon Trail?

Take Other Caffeine Nebula Quizzes

Apparently the Oregon Trail turns out not to be so different from real life. :p We used to play this in computer class in elementary school all the time. After we'd completed our assignments in Basic programming. LOL. I never made it to Oregon. Did anyone?

Knitting Survey

2007-05-12T18:27:00.000-05:00

Knitting Survey
This is a knitting survey……

Mark with bold the things you have knit, with italics the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own hand-spun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Participate in an exchange
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Buttonholes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on one or two circulars
Knitting with someone else’s hand-spun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener stitch
Knitted flowers
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Free-form knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm-warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an on-line knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets (my sister’s dog will end up with a sweater sometime!)
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair (only if the stuff that sneaks in counts. :p )
Hair accessories
Knitting in public ALL the time!

What have you learned to do that has marked a definite change in your knitting life?
I can’t think of one thing. I’m always trying something new, and my knitting pals know that I don’t understand having limits. I see it! I do it!

I came across this Knitting Survey over at Bibliomaniacs.

HOW ABOUT YOU?!!

Friday Funny

2007-05-11T10:02:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine posted this on our mommy board (our babies are 8 now). I got a good chuckle out of it.

Women's Ass Size Study

There is a new study just released by the American Psychiatric Association about women and how they feel about their asses. The results are pretty shocking:

1. Only 5% of women surveyed feel their ass is too big.

2. 10% of women surveyed feel their ass is too small.

3. The remaining 85% say they don't care; they love him; he's a good man and they would have married him anyway.

Have a great weekend! I'm feeling much much better, and wading through the 8 tons of laundry that have been piling up while I was sick.

Bleh

2007-05-05T19:49:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. We've had an open house, several showings, and several people with fevers to contend with this week. I'm the one with the fever right now. I think I'll go lie down.

Here, have a couple pictures. This is a shawl I started to knit a while back. I love the pattern, but the yarn was just not doing it for me! I know I want to knit this shawl, but I also want to like it when I'm done. So I frogged it. (Rip it, rip it.) 64 rows of lace, sayonara.

I started another shawl with this yarn, and after a few rows, I'm fairly certain I won't like it either. The yarn just looked so much more subtle on the website when I ordered it! I think it's either feather and fan or overdying for this yarn.

Day Off

2007-04-28T14:46:00.000-05:00

The kids had a day off of school yesterday, and will again Monday. They found some good ways to fill their time.

E made a hat out of punching balloons.

M rode her skateboard.

And built a domino shrine.

A took a nap.

Q tried on some pajama pants.

And I squeezed in a little knitting. (Horcrux socks from the Six Sox Knitalong. Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn: Misty Moors. It matches the Harry Potter book covers!)

Rainbow

2007-04-23T13:55:00.000-05:00

It was stormy last week, but one evening we were blessed with a gorgeous rainbow. The whole thing! You looked out our front windows and this is what you saw.

We're having another open house Sunday, so things will be busy again this week. Cross your fingers for us!

Framing done!

2007-04-20T09:38:00.000-05:00

My mom ordered me a couple of frames for my cross stitch for my birthday a few weeks ago. They came last week, and I finally opened the box over the weekend and did some framing.

Above is the Quaker Mystery Sampler. It was a freebie released in installments online. Many people stitched this all in one color, but I already have a couple monochromatic medallion style samplers in my stitching basket, so I wanted some color! I just took my bag of miscellaneous silks and decided on a couple neutrals to use in several places to ground it. Then I went a little crazy with the color on random motifs. When I got to another motif, I just looked at my piles of silks and grabbed what caught my fancy. The fabric is just a natural colored linen. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

This one is Swirly Sampler by Bent Creek. I used the recommended Weeks Dye Works colors and didn't change anything. I've seen it converted to more vibrant colors often, but I just love the original earth tones. Gorgeous! I loved this when I was stitching it and when it was done, but now that it's framed, I am absolutely totally enamoured with it! The fabric is lambswool jobelan.

So, that's two more pieces out of the completed stack and ready to go on a wall, once I move to some new walls, that is. :)

I promised you pink socks.

2007-04-19T10:37:00.000-05:00

So, pink socks you shall have. I was wearing them in my shoes before I took the pics, so there's a couple smooshed spots. They were Mary Janes. :p

The first picture has more accurate color. The bonus is that you can see the floors the hubby and I installed. Both the back room and the front room are now complete!

And because he's too cute, here are some pictures of my new nephew wearing his knitted pants. Completely adorable!

M holding T2. (His older brother is the first T.)

E holding T2.

And me holding T2. The picture is dark, but our shirts match! His very talented mom (my sister-in-law) tie-dyed his onesie. It matches the little baby kimono I knitted him. He wore it that day, but it was warm in the house with all of us there for Easter. He's grown since then. They get big so fast.

Thanks!

2007-04-13T12:17:00.000-05:00

For all your support, everyone! I should be seeing grandma this evening, so we'll see how she is. From all reports, she's doing fine!

The camera has gone AWOL again, so I have no pink socks pictures. Silly hubby.

Boring, busy blogger.

2007-04-09T19:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the boring blog lately. :p Life has just been too busy.

We're laying the floors in our living room this week. There is only about 5 pieces of furniture in there now, but they're all heavy and/or bulky. There's the couch, an oak bookcase, a giant antique steamer trunk, the huge entertainment armoire, and the antique upright piano. That piano is so big and heavy that I can hardly move it myself, even though it's on wheels. We'll just see how this goes. :p

The kids and I (and my sister-in-law and two nephews) were dyeing eggs at my parents' house on Saturday afternoon. My grandma was there with us, having been brought over from the care home by my mom. She's been living in the (fantastic) care home since last August or September. She had a stroke the middle of last August (her second), so once she left the rehabilitation hospital, she couldn't go back to her 3000 square foot Victorian home. She had been reluctant to move before the stroke, but she was very relieved that she didn't have to care for all of that anymore once we moved her.

Well, on Saturday, she started complaining that her hand didn't feel right. (Well, that's what we got. She doesn't really speak since the stroke. But, she was gesturing toward her hand, which looked like a claw. Odd.) Mom (who is an RN) thought she was having a cramp, which sometimes happens. She took her over to the sink to run some warm water and massage it. Then grandma started moaning and her right side of her face started twitching. Mom hurried her into the dining room to set her in a chair, but grandma collapsed before they got there. Mom is strong, and grandma is small, so mom managed to lower her to the floor and yell, "Call 911!" I was holding my 1 month old nephew, so my sister-in-law grabbed the phone and dialed while I passed her the baby and she passed me the phone. She didn't know the pertinent info (address, etc.) that 911 would need. Meanwhile, grandma is having a seizure on the floor and mom is making sure she doesn't hurt herself further. 911 sent an ambulance very quickly and grandma had come back by then. At one point, she truly looked dead. Mom was monitoring her pulse and breathing and they both stopped for a very short time, but she came back to consciousness on her own before they got there. In the short time it took to get her up on the stretcher, she had already started getting mad about having to go to the hospital.

Today, grandma is back at the care home. It was determined that it was just a seizure, not another stroke, not a clot, not a heart attack. Her medications have been adjusted. And she's using words that she hasn't used since before her stroke in August. In fact, shortly after she got to the hospital she said, clear as day, "What am I doing here?" The brain is an amazing thing.

It was a frightening experience, and I had a bit of a flashback to just after Easter 9 years ago when my grandpa collapsed right next to me in that same house. He had just tapped me on the arm, and I turned to him thinking he was going to tell me a joke. He fell down, rode off in an ambulance, and never came back. I know her time will come, but I think it's an Easter miracle that grandma came back to us this time.

Later this week, pink socks, completed yesterday.

Purple-brained

2007-04-03T14:01:00.000-05:00

From Allyson's blog. Apparently, we are purple brain buddies. That doesn't really surprise me.

Your Brain is Purple

Of all the brain types, yours is the most idealistic.
You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense.
Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries.

You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself.

What Color Is Your Brain?

I had a blue birthday.

2007-04-02T12:16:00.000-05:00

No, I didn't feel blue. It was awesome! (And I don't use that word lightly.)

I went and saw some Blue Men. It was amazing, fantastic, stupendous! Words cannot describe it. Just so fun, and funny, and thoughtful, and cool.

I started knitting some blue socks.

I wore my red and blue plaid jammies all day (until we were getting ready to go to Blue Man Group.)

Having my birthday on April Fool's Day has never made me blue. I have made some people turn green (like when I was turning 15 but convinced all my friends I was turning 16 and could drive before them) or pink (with embarrassment over any number of other April Fool's jokes.)

Being 30 isn't so bad. Beats 13 any day! Even when you're blue. :)

Exhausted!

2007-03-30T10:47:00.000-06:00

This week has been exhausting. The doors and floors in here are done. They look fantastic. There's just a few little trim details to attend to. I had hoped to get the floors in the living room done this week, too, but it didn't happen. We had a couple showings in the midst of it all. And parent-teacher conferences. And a minor stomach ailment. Tonight is M's birthday party. We don't do the huge, billions of kids blowouts here. We have family over and eat dinner and cake and ice cream and have fun. We have a big family, so it is a lot of people, but we love them all! So, I'm making a cake and chicken tetrazzini.

Today, I'm going to answer the stitching blogger's question, even though I haven't been stitching much.

Do you have a system for organizing freebie charts in your stash? If
so, what is it? Do you print out copies of all of the freebies that
you find on the web (that you think you might actually stitch) or do
you maintain electronic copies of them until you are ready to stitch them.

I have a lot of freebie charts. Most of them are saved in a folder on my computer. They are categorized by theme and/or designer. The paper copies are organized the same way in page protectors in four thin binders. I only print them out when I'm ready to stitch them, but then I usually save my paper copy in the binders. Of course, I also have those great freebies that are sent along with your order when you buy things.

I used to stitch a lot of freebies. They're usually small designs, so they make a nice break when you tend to stitch huge, complicated things like I do.

French doors are beautiful, but evil.

2007-03-26T10:50:00.000-06:00

We took out the old sliding patio door yesterday and started to install some lovely french doors. They look great., but they are evil! My hands are all cut up, and the doors are still not in right. The hubby has a good friend who is a carpenter and bricklayer who is coming over this evening to help make it right. We know that the opening is not level and square, so compensating to make the door function right is much trickier than the instructions would have you believe.

I was going to start laying laminate floors today, but I was going to start in this room, where the doors are not yet done. So, I think I will start tomorrow.

In the meantime, here are a couple of finished knits. A would not let me take a proper picture of her standing in her Merry Maiden Dress from the latest Interweave Knits. But she wears it all the time. I have to pry it away to wash it when it gets too dirty.

It's knitted of Bernat Cottontots and some fuzzy Yarn Bee yarn from Hobby Lobby.

This photo cracks me up. I snapped a picture on the fly of M wearing her Very Berry T from the March MagKnits. But, she saw me. Hubby, on the other hand, did not. There's something very "superstar and her security team" about it to me.

Her shirt was a quick knit. Good thing, too, because the child has no patience. It's knitted of Plymouth Sundae Swirl yarn. So soft! She wore it almost every day during spring break, but she was very good about following directions and giving it to me to wash rather than throwing it in the hamper. It had a couple nice soaks in the sink.

We had a very overcast and stormy spring break. But, I had plenty of indoor activities planned and we had fun. They're back at school today, but they get out early three days this week for conferences. One day during spring break, after a stormy day, we were blessed with a gorgeous sunset. A truly purple sky. These pictures aren't the clearest, but they captured the color pretty well. I've never seen anything like it. It was truly spectacular.

This yarn thing may be getting out of hand.

2007-03-22T15:10:00.000-06:00

We had a house showing yesterday and one today. The one yesterday was in the evening. When we got home it was time for the kids to get ready for bed. The one today was just after lunch. In the intervening time, I painted this room. We call it the back room. It is a dining room/computer room/craft room. Two coats. Alone. Today, I am a little sore and cranky. The paint is called "oats" and it is much more boring than the lovely green I used to have in here, but it is fresh and broadly appealing to buyers. We are also putting in a new patio door, replacing the ugly, poorly functioning slider with lovely, hopefully well-functioning french doors. Then next week, I'm laying laminate flooring in this room and the family room (aka the front room.) This house will be totally WOW at that point and people would be crazy not to buy it. I'll be tempted to stay. (Ha. Not happening.)

So, getting ready for painting and the flooring extravaganza to come, I moved the stash cubbies to my bedroom. Over half of my stash(es) has been packed. Mostly cross-stitch stuff. I kept out a few projects in my stitching basket, but all the rest was packed. But somehow, I can't bring myself to pack up the yarn.

See how happy it looks in my grandma's old Longaberger Sewing Basket?

But, it is a little crowded over next to the bed. And Tegwyn clearly thinks I put it all there for her.

I like the cubbies unstacked. Something to consider for after the move.

So now, what should I do with this? *whistle* Silly mail carrier. Bringing me storage challenges. ;) What you see there is four pairs of socks and a sweater? See?

The greys are for entrelac knee socks. The blue is for clessidra knee socks. The bright pink is another pair of knee socks. (See a trend here?) I suppose I will just dream of knee socks until I finish the work on the house and collapse in a heap sometime next week.

P.S. Spring Break has mostly been fun, and we're off to the Titanic exhibit at the children's museum now!

Movie Meme

2007-03-20T10:42:00.000-06:00

I got this one from Nap Lover, but then I saw it on Michele's and Lois Lane's blogs, too. :)

"It’s been alleged that if you’ve seen over 85 movies you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog, paste it in and put x’s by the ones that you have seen. Add them up, figure out whether you’ve got a life or not, and post it."

( ) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(X) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(X) Neverending Story
( ) Blazing Saddles
(X) Airplane
(X) The Princess Bride
( ) AnchorMan
(X) Napoleon Dynamite
(X) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
( ) 50 First Dates
(X) The Princess Diaries
(X) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
(X) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
( ) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(X) American Pie
(X) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
(X) Harry Potter 1
(X) Harry Potter 2
(X) Harry Potter 3
(X) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(X) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
(X ) The Village
(X) Lilo & Stitch
(X ) Finding Nemo
(X ) Finding Neverland
(X) Signs
(X) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
(X)13 Going on 30
( ) I, Robot
(X) Robots
( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(X) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
( ) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
(X) Never Been Kissed
(X) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
(X) King Kong
(X) A Cinderella Story
(X) The Terminal
(X) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(X) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
(X) Final Destination
(X) Final Destination 2
(X) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
(X )The Ring
( )The Ring 2
( )Surviving Christmas
(X) Flubber
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
(X ) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
(X ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
(X) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
( ) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(X) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
(X) Nightmare on Elm Street
(X) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(X) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number SlevIn
(X) Ocean’s Eleven
(X) Ocean’s Twelve
(X) Bourne Identity
( ) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(X) Ice Age
(X) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(X) Curious George
(X) Independence Day
(X) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
(X) Christine
(X) E.T
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(X) Maid in Manhattan
(X) War of the Worlds
( ) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(X) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She’s All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(X) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
(X) Ever After
(X) Wizard of Oz
(X) Forrest Gump
(X) Big Trouble in Little China
(X)The Terminator
( ) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
(X) X-Men
(X) X-2
(X) X3
(X) Spider-Man
(X) Spider-Man 2
(X) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(X) Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
(X) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
(X) The Skulls
(X) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(X) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street
(X) Old School
(X) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf’s Tribe
(X) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
(X) Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
(X) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(X) Lord of the Rings: Return Of the King
(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
( ) Base-ketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(X) Elf
( ) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
(X ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(X) Monsters Inc.
(X) Titanic
(X) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
( ) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(X) Hook
( ) Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld
( ) Kill Bill Vol. 1
( ) Kill Bill Vol. 2
(X) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(X) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(X) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(X) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(X) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(X) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks: Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks: The Battle For Endor
(X) The Matrix
( ) The Matrix: Reloaded
( ) The Matrix: Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(X) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal

I wonder, is it the type of movies on the list that determine the "no-life-ness" of your life? These are mostly not my type of movies. Still, I've seen 102 of them. Hmmmm. A large number of them are ones I watched just because my husband was watching them and I sat next to him and stitched or knitted.

Anyway, I think it's mean to say someone has no life just because they enjoy movies. It may be sadder that I have watched so many of these and did not enjoy them.