A lovely Tribute and Pattern

One of my favorite patterns is now part of a tribute. Larissa Brown, designer of the Meathead Hat and many other wonderful things, at Stitch Marker has set up a tribute and contribution to the Christopher Donn Memorial Fund.

Christopher was a 37 year old father and husband. He was struck by a car and killed. No one was doing anything wrong, the car that hit him was swerving to avoid another car, Christopher was on the sidewalk jogging. This is a tragedy and by purchasing Larissa's Meathead pattern, we can all contribute and show our love for a family who is hurting. I know the money won't bring him back, but at least his wife, Cassie, will not have to worry about those mundane things like bills for a bit at least while she and her family grieves.

Spring has Sprung (?)

Well, if Walmart can start getting out all the mulch and things, then spring must be near right? RIGHT!!

I have been dying to get to these beautiful yarns, like running sunshine through my fingers. One is sock weight I ordered from Etsy and have been eyeballing for sometime. I finally ordered it even though I can't get to the socks anytime soon. I will just love and touch this in the meantime right? Yup!!
I have about finished my knitting on my tote exchange tote. Time for felting is looming ever nearer. Does felting ever get less scary? The fear, mingled with the anticipation is all part of the fun I'm thinking.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I thought I would share my beautiful flowers with you!! I can't share the chocolates though, they are mine!! ALLL MINE!!!

What says "love" more then spending the day with a guy with an outrageously silly French accent I implore? (the tiger is very french, wee wee, au ha ha)

Many hugs and kisses to everyone!! May all your knitting be frog free!

SP10 Questionaire

I am so excited to do this exchange again. The last one was loads of fun!

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I am not picky, I use whatever yarns are appropriate to the project I am making.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? A tupperware "shoebox" mostly.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? About a year now, I consider myself advanced beginner, intermediate if pressed. ;-) I taught myself using the internet mostly.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?Yup, I have an Amazon wishlist

5. What's your favorite scent?Vanilla, ginger/orange (Bath and body works), toffee, nothing too flowery- lilac or hydrangea

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? ooooh, anything chocolate!!!!!!!!

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? smocking, sewing, all the power tools in the house are mine (I own a bandsaw). I do some woodwork (tole painting, decorative painting. I don't spin, but would like to learn someday. There is still so much to do and learn!!

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)adult contemporary, alternative. I own an MP3 player and my Hubby just bought and uploaded a whole new memory card for me.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? I love purples, but am luuuving robin's egg blues (or various shades) with brown. Pinks too, with brown. I really don't like brights- neon or anything loud.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I am married, have three sons (13,9,7). I have a German short-hair pointer (dog)

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Not really, but I do like all of them. Love scarves!! We just don't get very cold most of the time here. (I say that looking at my snow covered yard)

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? no favs. Just whatever floats my boat at the moment.

13. What are you knitting right now? Baby things for my newly expecting sister, purses for International Tote Exchange 3/my Etsy shop/self.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? OOH ya!! I love the creativity of others and the thoughtfulness the time takes. Storebought is cool too though!
15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Circs all the way if possible. Bamboo always.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? nope

17. How old is your oldest UFO? ummm, are we talking just knitting? This could be bad so I ain't telling! ;-)

18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas, but I get a kick out of all of them.

19. Is there anything that you collect? Not really, I think I collect sewing patterns though (hehe).

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Alterknits. No subscribtions, I just buy mags as the fancy hits so I use all the different mags at some point.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? cables. Still chicken for cables

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? weeeelll, I want to be, I can and that's some other yarn staring at me to get to. I would love to answer a big YES, but can't yet. I am a size 9 US

23. When is your birthday? May 11

I am very casual. My husband works from home and I'm a stay at home mom. I run around in track pants most of the time and look for excuses to need to dress up in jeans (except for church when I usually am VERY tailored, weird huh?). I would be happy to get to know my new pal but am okay if you would like to remain secret too.

Guess what I just Preordered!!!!!!

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!
hoping up and down with glee I just preordered this on Amazon for only $18.99!! It is due in July just in time for hubbo's birthday!! OOOOOH, we are excited little Harry Potter geeks around here!!

My Fabulous Secret Pal!!

Secret Pal 9 is all finished and I am one lucky girl!! All these lovely goodies are from my awesome secret pal,Heather, over at Life on Sesame Street. She knew how much I love England so she made a vacation in a box. We have been munching on yummy jam tarts (they were gone immediately) and smearing yummy black current jam whenever appropriate (don't wanna waste such yummieness with inappropriate smearing don'tcha know). Don't you just love the little phone booth, it's a piggy bank with some English Breakfast tea in it!! Too cute!! Oh, and the toffee is to die for, you use the hammer, which came in the box, to break it apart. Heather really spoiled me and totally nailed it on the head for things I love so much.

Thank you Heather, you totally rock!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Snowed In!!

Baby, it's cold outside and we've got no place to go! Life has been temporarily called off on account of snow and lots of it!! We have cocoa, games to play and lots of knitting and sewing to do. What more does a girl need?!?! Bring it on!! These are pictures from my front porch. There should be a sidewalk lined with rocks in front of the concrete step. Snow all day today, more snow allll night and not stopping until Monday. Whew!! That's alot!!

Knitting Tote

Okay, I've made two of these small project/single skein bags out of Elvis fabric. I'm really not a fan, but my sister LUUUUUVS Elvis and says to try them on Etsy and Ebay so I am. We shall see.

Still working on the binary scarf. I'm on row 40 out of 60 and need to be done by Friday. Think I can make it? We shall see. I think I'm kind of a slow knitter and I'm reallllly getting bored with this thing. Having a heck of a time staying focused on anything lately.

Mostly, I want to make burp clothes from my new "Mason Dixon Knitting" I neeeed some bright colors. Then some bright toe up socks. That would be good seeing as I signed up for "my first toes up" and haven't been able to get to anything aside from that scarf. NO more numbers, no more numbers. Please stop with the 1's and 0's!! AHHHHH!!!

Knitting Content (?)

Okay, so it's not really knitting, but it FOR knitting. This is my circular needle case. I've seen some pretty (and very expensive cases) and thought I'd give it a shot with my new vintage reproduction fabrics. Finally something new for my poor, sad little Etsy shop. I've been sooooo slow and unproductive lately. Ugh!! This is a start in the right direction though. I haven't done any embroidery for a long time so this little vintage reproduction was fun to do. Hmmmm, what else needs some embellishing?

Happy New Year!!

New Year everyone! I hope it found everyone happy, safe and warm. We have been very slow around here and I think I'm about catatonic. The boys would disagree but I'm excited for school to start again just to get back into the swing of things. I have actually been able to do some knitting for myself and this is for Dale. I'm doing the Binary scarf from knitty.com. He is "the one" for me after all. (Matrix humor for the non-geeks out there) Hancock was having a big sale and since it's waaay past time to get back into things, I found these super cute retro copies. I'm really wanting retro in a bad way and these beauties should satisfy the bill for a bit. Thinking they will be circular needle holders for Etsy. Start there and see where we land.

This is Jordan's contribution to my blog, he picked this picture just for you!!! Awww. (or is that ewwww)?

I don't make resolutions, think it's silly since we all know we are going to break them. I do believe in honest goal setting but that's different, don't know why but just go with me on this. Goals are something you take time and honestly plan, New Year resolutions are empty promises we don't intend to keep (Hmm, little Disney Beauty and the Beast there). BUT I did decide after seeing some photos with my family that it's way past time to drop some pounds. Last week I joined weight watchers with my mom. See, did it BEFORE New Year's!! A local sports store is doing "The Biggest Loser" and having a competition. Dale signed his life away and started the same day as WW. His diet is much more restictive but he is doing well so far. They only use this diet 90 days and there are monetary prizes. OOOOhh, we like monetary prizes. We fiqure he will drop his weight then join me on WW. It will be like a treat for him by then. YIKES! I don't think I've ever drank sooooo much water. You can hear me coming, slosh slosh slosh.

Christmas Silliness

Here's our tree all lit up. Awww, oooh :-o
And now here's what happens when you have silly boys and some old pantyhose! Awwww (um, well I thought it was funny)Awwww
And this is what Josh thought of bedtime- awwwwwww :-(

Don't Be Scared, Just Be Smart!

NEW FORM OF KIDNAPPING
Please take a minute to read this. This is very scary and could happen to any of us.. Seems like every nice thing people do for one another can be perverted. A new twist on kidnapping from a very smart survivor: About a month ago there was a woman standing by the mall entrance passing out flyers to all the women going in. The woman had written the flyer herself to tell about an experience she had, so that she might warn other women. The previous day, this woman had finished shopping, went out to her car and discovered that she had a flat. She got the jack out of the trunk and began to change the flat. A nice man dressed in a business suit and carrying a briefcase walked up to her and said, "I noticed you're changing a flat tire. Would you like me to take care of it for you?" The woman was grateful for his offer and accepted his help.

They chatted amiably while the man changed the flat, and then put the flat tire and the jack in the trunk, shut it and dusted his hands off. The woman thanked him profusely, and as she was about to get in her car, the man told her that he left his car around on the other side of the mall, and asked if she would mind giving him a lift to his car. She was a little surprised and she asked him why his car was on other side. He explained that he had seen an old friend in the mall that he hadn't seen for some time and they had a bite to eat, visited for a while, and he got turned around in the mall and left through the wrong exit, and now he was running late.. The woman hated to tell him "no" because he had just rescued her from having to change her flat tire all by herself, but she felt uneasy. (Trust that gut feeling!)

Then she remembered seeing the man put his briefcase in her trunk before shutting it and before he asked her for a ride to his car. She told him that she'd be happy to drive him around to his car, But she just remembered one last thing she needed to buy. (Smart woman!!) She said she would only be a few minutes; he could sit down in her car and wait for her; she would be as quick as she could be. She hurried into the mall, and told a security guard what had happened, the guard came out to her car with her, but the man had left. They opened the trunk, took out his locked briefcase and took it down to the police station. The police opened it (ostensibly to look for ID so they could return it to the man). What they found was rope, duct tape, and knives. When the police checked her "flat" tire, there was nothing wrong with it; the air had simply been let out. It was obvious what the man's intention was, and obvious that he had carefully thought it out in advance. The woman was blessed to have escaped harm. (Amen?thank you, God!) How much worse it would have been if she had children with her and had them wait in the car while the man fixed the tire, or if she had a baby strapped into a car seat? Or if she'd gone against her judgment and given him a lift?

Tell all the women you know. It may save a life. A candle is not dimmed by lighting another candle. Better to be safe than sorry.
> PLEASE BE SAFE AND NOT SORRY!!

a WIP and a couple of bags

First some knitting content!! Yaay!!! This is some BEAUTIFUL pink wool my bestest friend sent me. I wanted to do something quick and easy that I could get done for myself. I wanta really long scarf so I'm waiting for one more skein of this yumminess. I'm hoping to leave myself enough to do a mathching Hershy Kiss hat, awwww. The scarf is just k2,p2. Easy peasy lemon squeezie and OH so rewarding!!
Also, I managed two more bags. One is for Dawn's sister-the biggest diaper bag you've ever seen!! It has 17 (yes, I'm not kidding) pockets!!!!
And finally, another bag for Etsy, YAAAYYY!! It's about stinkin' time!!

Thank you SOO Much!!

This is a long past due post to say thank you!! I have received wonderful gifts from my secret pal!! There should also be a bag of oreos and M&M's but we ate them!! She made me this super cute pompom earflap hat, the lovely little intarsia bag and a great (and much appreciated) needle case.

She's a great secret pal!! Thank you!!

I also received a wonderful package from my holiday ball swap pal. She sent two of the nicest yarns (can you say silk/cashmere in purple?!?) So delicious!! Packed FULL of wonderful Christmas things. She packed the fabulous ball full of great ornaments, stickers and some awesome things from Ten Thousand Villages.
And finally, my best friend made me these awesome labels to put in my bags for Etsy!!Could anyone be more spoiled by such wonderful women? I think not!! HUGE THANK YOUS!!

Crazy Fun at Best Buy!!

It's been quite a bit since I last posted but I've been out having too much fun! For the Thanksgiving holiday, we went to our friends who moved out to Springfield,MO. Her husband is the GM for Best Buy out there. It was the MOST fun we have had as a family in a VERY long time.
My parents mentioned that I should look for them a new laptop for Dad and a new digital camera for Mom (which means for me too) to purchase on Black Friday since I happened to have an inside at Best Buy and all. Since there was such a good deal on both items, but my friend's hubby DOES NOT play favs, we decided after finding out that at 11pm Thanksgiving night, there was already a large line forming that it was worth it for us to get in line too. SO by midnight, we too were in line waiting for two laptops (a friend of my friend wanted one also), a digital camera, a flash drive (the friend's) and the new Neverwinter Nights 2 (YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT WAS MINE!!!! GOTTA GET MY GEEK ON!!)
We sat with blankies, large poofy jackets with hot cocoa in a thermos and the new yummy candy cane hershey kisses (oh man, the new addiction) in our camp chairs. We sat from midnight until 3 am (yes, you saw right). There were the trips to the porta-potties (courtesy of our GM friend, thanks!). You would not believe the setups we saw!! Some young guys had a pop-up camper pulled onto the line with extension cords running to a pickup they used as a generator. They had TV in there with X-box!! I kid you not! There were folks with cots, sleeping bags, portable heaters. We asked the first folks in line how long they had been there- since Thursday they said. I felt silly enough waiting for as long as we did, but that's NUTS!!
We were treated to t-shirts being given (thrown into the crowd to get our blood pumping again!! WHEEE!!) and doughnuts given to the back of the line. Oh, the line was over a 1/2 mile long was what I heard. I was about 200 folks from the front and the line was huge behind me.
SO at 3am, the Best Buy employees told us all to line up single file (we complained for this was a mistake). It ensued much running in panic to keep your place and some cheating on the place of those that just jumped from their cars into the line. There we STOOD for another hour until 4am when vouchers were handed out for the items on the 7 hour sale (front page of the add). We then waited for until 5am for the doors to open.
The doors were FLUNG open and the carnage began!!!! There was the biggest push of humanity I have ever seen! (I'm in Kansas so packs of people is not a common occurrence). There was no violence, just lots of jockeying for the goodies we wanted. I stood 2 lines for 3 hours total but I got my game, a nifty laptop for $250 (yes, you saw right!!) and the spiffiest new digital camera for $189!!!
We have already put the camera to use for my mom and OH BABY, was it nice!!

This was the funnest, silliest thing my friend and I have EVER done! What a riot!!
Would we do it again? You betcha but after a nap this time!!!

Not quite knitting content

ok, so it's not even close. It is yarn, but just one stick. I saw a cute scarf made from lots of little crocheted flowers in three colors, then connected in rows. SOOO of course I thought, "oh, how easy!! I could make that!!!" I'm making one for a friend. I thought a cute little skull cap with a bigger flower to match.

MAn!! I wish my fingers could go faster!! I FINALLY finished the project of dooooom!! I can't say what it is since it's a birthday present for somebody (and I'm late, what a dork!!) Because I love her, it was worth it. I even didn't curse it with bad karma from all the bad words I uttered at it. Seeing as it was the project's fault and all, it had it coming!! Couldn't have had anything to do with me!!! NO WAY!!

I've been ooogling what to make for Christmas presents and who would appreciate handcrafted goodness and who gets store bought. Ya, you know who you are!!! I bought a Martha Stewart holidays, oooh, stuff I can make!! I neeeed to make the felted slippers! The instructions for these and lots of goodies from the magazine can be found here Martha Stewart Living

Not that she needs my help, but I reallllly liked this magazine. It's full of things I want and CAN do for normal people. Wow, usable things for normal prices from Martha. Who knew?!!

Knitting Content

I know, I know, it's another tote. It's all I've been allowing myself to make though, so sorry!! I really want to make this venture work and the ideas have been poring out of my ears! Ya gotta move it while the mood is there.

I made this one kinda for myself so it wouldn't break my heart to not sell. (are you supposed to say those things outloud,hmm, maybe not)

I think just for a break I'm going to finally get at the pattern BlackPurl sent me, but I'm going to use some black/grey regia first. I've not had the best luck with socks yet so if I biff it, I won't have wasted the gorgeous yarn she sent me. I gotta be worthy of that gorgeous yarn!!

Here's an attempt of an upclose of the colorway. It's so pretty but NO ONE can tell!! Ugh, what I wouldn't give for a better camera!! Oh well, it's better then nothing (not much, but...)

Who're You Callin' a Pansy?

We got another one!! I like how this one came out much better then the sweater one. Aww, cute if I don't say so myself. I'm kinda biased though.

Another bag for Etsy

WHOO HOO!! Look at me fly, wheee (can you feel the sarcasm). Now I have a whole two bags on Etsy. Gotta start somewhere though!! The happy news is I did sell the little black tote with roses. I'm actually pretty happy about the whole thing. There has been much inspriration flying around thanks to Dawn (HI!!) so this experiance is a work in progress. Etsy does a nice job of being very user friendly so be sure and give it a try!! What a wonderful place to get some unique Christmas presents and support the little artists with big dreams.

Like the lining? hehe

Vote 'Cause We Should!!

As good Americans, we need to vote to make our voices heard. I do wonder though if those we vote for actually hear what we are saying. This election year, on the local level at least, has been one of the ugliest, dirtiest, nastiest I've seen in a long time and that's really saying something. The funny thing is the worst mudslinging is for the Attorney General Position. Maybe I'm naive or uninformed but when has that been that important to most of us really?

I will pick but I admit it will be more of an eeny meany pick for these two. I'm tempted, very very tempted to write in Bernie of Bernie's Pizza. Quality you can count on and never snipey. I will vote because it is my duty and it's what we should do. I admit though that is not a task that brings any pleasure, but only that is my duty.

I wonder if the politicians really care that as Americans, I am not alone in this attitude? I wonder if the politicians really care about us at all or is it about position, pride and greed mostly? I'm sorry to say I believe politicians have no idea what is going on, care or are even able to truly make a difference.

I am one voice, but this is MY voice and I choose to use it. I only hope I use it wisely and to make a difference for all that is good and right.