i guess this is required

i'm supposed to post 4 time a month for the SP11.

i need to post more often anyway, lol.

What's on my needles.

whew! i'm still working on my sockpalooooza socks. it's a test knit, so i can't really show you a pic, but they're coming out lovely. I have 2 problems. 1- my pal's feet are much bigger than mine. my duck feet are saving me as far as the width, but i'm having to get assistance on the length. the other problem? i'm making these out of trekking xxl, which is 100 grams. i have one sock finished, and it weighs 50 grams. yikes! the good thing is i've been working on these exclusively for a week, and i'm into the gussets on the second sock. i ought to have them done soon. A funny story: I was skeining yarn @ miss V's, and while i waited for skeins to finish (once i finished my other work), i would knit on my sock. i'd set my bag on the sofa next to the table the skeiner was on, and my sock on the table. her older dog, shunka, jumped off the sofa when she heard the other dogs bark, got the sock wrapped around her neck, and strung the yarn all the way from the studio to the stairs! we both yelled at her to stop, which she did (thank god!). i have now been dubbed Adminnie of the Iron Knitting. not a stitch dropped! and the yarn was ok, too. that part scared me!

I'm working on a test knit for shannon okey, that is very interesting. working things out as i go, but it's coming along.

how embarassing is this? i'm having to check my ravelry account to see what i've got on the needles! (btw, my name is dragonknitter (imagine that!))

i'm making a black newborn wool soaker to send to Father's House. it's actually quite interesting, and i may make a few for some pregnant people i know.

MS3 is not progressing (see above about the sockpaloooooza sock). However, i did finally get past chart A, and am now into Chart B. (yes, that's still clue #1! hush! as long as it's done by christmas, i'll be fine!)

the spring socks are technically on the needles, except i broke one of my sock needles, and it gave one up for the sockpalooooza socks. i just bought some aluminum size 1's and 0's last weekend, so if i so feel it, i'll cast them back on all the way (it's a short row toe to start, and i only use 2 needles for that). however, i found another pattern that uses the panda cotton i am using, and i just may drop this one, and change patterns. we'll see.

the bereavement booties have been on hold for months. i need to find the needles and the yarn, and finish the last one, and send them off (they were only due in May!)

the baby surplice jacket went into time out when i lost the magazine. i recently found it, but i need the green yarn for a project miss v wants me to take on (i volunteered, lol!), so it will sleep on a bit longer.

i have a pair of mittens in my bag, that have sat idle for quite a while (since the Ratdog concert on July 20!). i've got too many irons in the fire.

there's another project i'm doing for miss v, but hopefully she doesn't mind while i finish up a few things, lol.

SEVEN DAYS LEFT TIL SCHOOL STARTS! gee, think i'm ready for them to go back?

Liam will be a freshman this year, and while i'm looking forward to it, it is a bit frightening. i've been able to put off letting him take the learner's permit test by telling him i want to see his first quarter grades before i'll let him, but that will only work for so long. Gah! that lunatic, driving? Lord help me. I did tell mark he could teach the boys, as i had taught both girls. he's cool with that. we've agreed that liam needs to learn in mark's truck, first, since it's a stick. he's going to take liam down to work and let him drive around in the parking lot (when we get that far).

liam is in marching band as well. those 2 a day practices were wearing me out! (yeah, i know, it was hard for him, too, but he's young!). he still has practice every tuesday night, and when school starts, he will have zero hour marching band, which means he will need to be at school by 705, which means we're getting up at 545. ugh. however, he's enjoying it as much as i am (i never got to play in band. in my day, you had to purchase your own instrument, and my folks were farmers. now the school will provide one if you don't have one. i bought liam's trombone, cuz i have the money. that way, someone else could play). and i'm a band mom! we had fittings last weekend, and the pants they gave him were too short. because the uniforms are $700, they don't allow them to leave the school, so i was nice, and helped out the hemming moms by doing liam's pants myself. i would have stayed and done more, but sean was s upposed to be mowing, and i had to get back.

i'll get a pic of him in his uniform (and his XL head! he said he wanted to get his hair cut to help that, but it won't, lol)

sean is going to be in the 8th grade, and is actually looking forward to going back to school. he is in resource (because of his adhd and ODD), and misses his teacher. Unless she's gone to another school, or left the system, she will have him again this year (he loves that!). it doesn't hurt that she's pretty (she's also my age, and "gets" sean, which is more than what i can say for his 6th grade teacher).

i intend on helping with knitting club again (if they have it at the middle school. sean was the only 7th grader last year, and he'd rather play video games in the library), and i intend on finding out who the sponsor is for knitting club at the high school, and seeing if he/she wants help, or just let me come and schmoooze, lol.


What I'm Reading
Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier (book tape in the house)
Sorcery & Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede (this book is wonderful! it's england in edwardian times, only with a magical twist, with letters being written back & forth between two cousins who have come of age. priceless!)
The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan (booktape in the car, maybe i'll finish it this time!)
Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky. technically, this is a book about a woman trying to find her roots after she bears a child with african american traits, even though she and her husband are both white. however, there's quite a bit of knitting in it (i didn't know this when i requested it, oh so long ago). i'm not very far into it, but it's definitely interesting!

and now, i must hie me to a bed. i gotta start going to bed earlier if we're going to be getting up that freaking early!

her harlotyness

ok, here's the post y'all have been waiting for.

i took off from here about 10:30 wednesday morning. i had wanted to leave earlier, but my mom's hematologist appointment took a little longer than expected, although we did get the good news that she didn't need a procrit shot, for the second month in a row. her hemaglobin seems to be doing well.

anyway, so i started on my way, and ended up at the hotel at 4:30 that afternoon, after getting just a tiny bit lost. the main road the hotel was on goes north and south, and i ended up on the northbound, when i needed the southbound. fortunately, i found my way back, and made good time. i called beth, from AC4C, whom i had made arrangements to meet, and let her know i was in town, and then dug out my directions to find the wild onion, where we were going to meet and have dinner. it was actually much easier to find that, than the hotel! anyway, we had dinner (we both had steak sandwiches, lol), then walked to the auditorium. it was about 20F (maybe 2 or 3 degrees warmer, but what does it matter at those temps?), and everybody around me was having a fit because i was wearing my flipflops and no socks. just my way, lol.

we got there, and stood in line to check in. the yarnery was taking reservations, because they only had room for 400 people in the hall at the law college (i can't remember what the name was, i only know it was only about a 2 block walk from the wild onion). when they got to me, the lady taking names had to tell me a story. apparently, a knitter had called, and found out they weren't taking reservations any more (apparently they had 100 people wait-listed!), and told them that a large # of knitters would be upset. she even sent a link to my blog, and asked them how upset would i be if i didn't get in? she laughed (to me) and said, "you've chosen the wrong example. she has a reservation." good grief!

we ended up sitting toward the back of the room, so i got up to take these pics:

Stephanie is doing her thing. that is why you can't see me sitting way back in her pics. i was up here!


and then her talking:


as for what she said? down with C.H.O.K.E.! granted there was a small amount of kidding about u.s needle sizes (i would live with metric, honest i would! i'm of the generation where they tried to teach us metric, so we could match with the world, and then never did. however, i know a meter is approximately 39 inches, and an inch is 2.54 centimeters, and a kilogram is 2.2 pounds. and a kilometer is .6 miles. good enough?), but it was a WONDERFUL talk. she went over by half an hour, and finally, the lady running the event had to rein her in, and told her they needed to start the signings. so stephanie announced that anybody pregnant, aged, or needing to feed little ones (there were two babies there) would get to go first. they were handing out totebags with "the yarnery" on them, and whomever had the "golden ticket" got to go first as well. i didn't mind waiting, lol. i knew i didn't have to work the next day, and it wasn't that long a drive to the hotel. so, i bid beth adieu (she'd gotten a pre-signed book, as she DID have to work the next day), and got the ladies sitting behind us to take a picture:

well, i thought i'd loaded it on flickr, but i didn't. you'll have to wait to see beth & i holding the sock! (mine, lol, not stephanie's)


i got in line (at the very end!) and met a lovely lady named Theresa. While we waited, a reporter came and interviewed both of us, and we both got quoted in the paper! here's the link to the article. thank you to theresa for emailing that to me! we got in line at approximately 8:25, and waited. and waited. and waited. we were in the hallway til almost 9:30. i didn't mind, because i got to chat with theresa (i never got your blog address dear!), and they were going down the line handing out chocolate! if you pulled a particular color, you won a prize. theresa got a nice sock pattern. i kept pulling the previous color, lol. i had worn my marge t-shirt from franklin, over my prison long-sleeved t-shirt, also a franklin original, as i knew it was going to be cold. however, it was hot in the hall! i should have known, 400 women (and men!) with wool. sheesh. i had to ditch marge because i got to hot, and i couldn't keep her because it was a white t-shirt, and i wasn't wearing the appropriate color of undergarment (yes, that means i was wearing a black bra!) as i got to the table that the yarnery had set up with all kinds of yarny goodies to tempt us, everybody started asking about the prison t-shirt. so i told the story as i remembered reading it by franklin. everybody got a huge kick out of it (i also get odd looks and questions when i wear this t-shirt in public (mark bought it for me, lol!)). so, franklin, if you have a lot of new readers, you can blame me, lol.


and then it happened. i was standing in front of her yarnness. it was 10:20 at night, i was barefoot (i had taken off the birkies and stuffed them in my yarnery bag so i could cool down a bit), and my arms felt like they were going to fall off, as i had balanced my coat over my original bag, and hung it from my right shoulder, and put my sock (which was at one inch of cuff when i got there, and i had just finished turning the heel by the time i got to THE table) and all my books in the yarnery bag and hung that from my left shoulder. i had marks on my chest from the straps for 3 days! i looked at her, and grinned. "you had told me to tell you my email address when i got here, so you would know who i was." i started to spell it, as nobody gets it other wise, but as soon as i got through "d-r-a-g-o-n," she grinned, and stuck her hand out to shake mine, then got up and gave me a hug! she said it was wonderful to connect names & faces, because her imagination never got it right. i laughed and said that i could just imagine what images my email evoked. so we chatted for a few minutes while she signed my books (i brought all my old ones, as she had said it would be fine), and then we got down to picture taking:

i actually have a picture of her and i holding each other's socks, but it's on mark's puter, and i forgot to upload it to flickr, so you'll have to wait for that one. Theresa took it for me, as well as another one i hadn't been aware of. i'm wondering about posting that one, it highlights my ultimate dorkiness, lol.

anyway, this post is getting way too long, and i haven't had breakfast (taco bell has started serving breakfast from 9-10:30, as a test, apparently, so i'm having a guacamole bacon grilled stuft burrito!), so i'll sign off for now. you'll get more later, i promise

i've been busy

see these?

These are a small dent in my mileage for the L&V Sock Marathon. This is the same yellow & blue yarn i used to make these mittens. after these, i think i've got a thumb-sized ball of it, plus a thumb-sized ball of the xxl trekking color #69 (giggle). these are toddler sized, and i started them yesterday afternoon and finished them last night. fuuuuuuuuuuuuun stuff! definitely fraternal, lol. they're 4 1/2 inches from toe to heel, so i think that would fit a toddler (i hope!) as soon as i get the tails tucked, they will go in the box for Dulaan.

life has been interesting around here. Pray for me. i just volunteered to be a chaperone for a field trip for liam's band class. on friday. Gulp.

and the A+ classes started again today. the crappy part? it's from 9:09 to 9:39 on tuesday mornings. apparently, having it as the last period on fridays didn't work well, because kids were skipping out on the classes, and going home early. sigh. So, once again, i get the weekly torture of trying to teach kids to cast on & knit. there is one boy in the group this time, but i think he was forced. he did not look happy. there was another girl who wanted out RIGHT NOW. she hated it. poor things.

sean is taking origami, and liam is taking kitchen science (imagine that, getting to eat twice at school!) i think liam did it specifically because he thought he would get to eat, lol. i'll have to ask him what they did today. sean says they did cranes (sean threw up after lunch (greasy school food, sigh) so he's home now)

well, since my day has been all screwed up, i'll dash now. i've got some spinning to do before i go to the store.

growl

i didn't want to do it. they made me. i'm in the new blogger. oy. we'll see how this works.

anyway, i was supposed to post a pic of the bunting from hell last friday, but i got lazy. so here it is:

This is the third picture i took of this little bugger, and i had to go outside to do it. the bright bits don't pop as much as they appear in this pic, but you know how that crap goes. as miss vi put it at S&B thursday, baby could play outside in the arctic and be comfy! it's soft, but my god, is it dense!

And my contribution to the Holiday Headstart thingie:

i know it's a dishcloth. i've had this cone of peaches & cream for over a year, with the intent of making holiday dishclothes for my family & friends, and never got 'round to it. so this is #1. who knows what else i'll make for the holidays. i'm not inspired yet, i'm still worn out from last month!

other knitting progress. i got hat/bootie set #1 started. the booties are done and the hat is in the decreasing stage. i'll post a pic as soon as it's done. i did have to cheat a bit, as i ran out of the yarn i was using.

i'm up to the hood on the dragon sweater. now all i gotta do is assemble, knit spots and attach, and figure out how i'm going to close it (i really don't wanna use a zipper. oh, and the ridge. mustn't forget the ridge.

that leaves me 2 more sets of hats/booties, and norbert. ugh.

i'm definitely cutting back for next month!

and since i know you've had a hankerin' for this, here we go:

you might be a redneck if you carry more than two extra tires in the back of your truck.

. . . you've taken a pregnancy test and a sobriety test on the same day.

. . .you were married in a Laundromat.

. . . you think a "sex change" means trying the backseat.

. . . a screwdriver is required to open the trunk of your car.

. . . your bucket seats are real buckets.

And i've already started myself out behind on the Pattern a Day calendars. sigh.

Let's finish out 2006, shall we?

Knitting

9/1-3: Hooded Baby Sweater. At least i think it is, lol. another one of those patterns i pulled out to work. i may have to change it a bit for the purpose i have, but it is cute!

9/4: Silly Snake Scarf. Very cute, but it's done on a knitting machine. sigh.

9/5: Autumn Shrug. This is supposed to be one size fits most (i'll be glad when they get rid of that "all" thing. most things that fit "all" don't fit me!).it's hard to gauge this pattern (get it, gauge? ok, i'll just review then, since you obviously do not appreciate my comedic talent (sniff)), because there's one crappy pic. i don't thinkso, though.

9/6: Julia's Hat. At first i just thought this was an ordinary short-row hat. then i looked closer. teh "popcorn" is very un-bobble-like, and the fringe is actually knit in as well. rock on!

9/7: Opal Fall POncho. made with doublestranded sock yarn. i can think of a better use for sock yarn, like socks for A4A (go knit a pair for them, they want 250 prs by March 7. let's blow their doors off!)

Crocheting:

2006

9/1: Strip Method Rose Pattern. Really pretty. i could see attaching a lot of these on hats (not my type of hat, but i know a lot of people who like those kinds of hats)

9/2-3: Dolls! I could see making a plethora of these for little girls. wheee! (there's that granny lust going again!)

9/4-5: Framed Sunset. this is a Dude square. very nice. but too lacey for most of my purposes.

9/6: Universal Shell Lace Hat. this is very nice. and simple. and SOOOOOOOOOO not me, not in that namby pamby peach pastel crap. gimme color!

9/7: Fall Poncho. Doesn't any body get that ponchos are out again? Huh?

ok, i'm tired, i'm going to go take a nap now. gotta gear up for the PARTY CELEBRATION!

(steph's 21, today, wait for the post, lol)