well

I'm feeling odd today. Needy. I got some news from the doctor yesterday when i went in for my annual exam, and i'm not sure how to take it. NO I'M NOT PREGNANT. I'm not ready to talk about it right now. Only mark knows what's going on.

I watched the season premier for Grey's Anatomy today, and i'm sure that's part of it. That show always makes me feel odd. The ending? OH MY GOD! George, George, George. All i'm saying, so i don't spoil it for anyone else who hasn't watched yet.

I did get my package from my spoiler last week, and i love everything with it! It was a definite spoiling package. Hard peach candy. Needle felting stuff. Bath Confetti! (i'd never heard of it before, but it comes in a really cool test-tube thingie that someone told me is an embryonic 2-liter bottle, lol!) a manicure set with lotion, hand scrub, and gloves in a tasty vanilla-rose scent. I can't remember what else right off hand, but i will give y'all a pic as soon as i get off my ass and take a pic.

i've been spinning, and knitting like mad. I am presently knitting socks for ships' support. Men's socks. With fingering yarn. I'm doing pretty well with them, too! I knit on them everytime i sit down at the puter, so that's 3-4 hours of knitting anight! They're a men's size 10 1/2 (iknow, cuz they fit liam).

I think they're turning out pretty well, considering i started these on sept 22, and i'm on the foot of sock #2.

Other knitting? Well, i did finally finish a pair of mittens for the cheyenne river reservation that i'd commited to anne to make. of course, i'd actually promised to make 7, but remind me next time i want to do a 2-color project like this, to NOT make it my car knitting. oy!

These were made with yarn given to me from the estate of a lady who was a member of the local Spinner's & Weaver's Guild. I know for sure that the red is lamb's pride superwash, and i THOUGHT the brown was as well, but when i started getting to the middle of the ball (i ran out JUST as i was finishing off the binding for the second mitten. oy, talk about close!), it was sticking together like it was almost felting. i'm just going to mark these as wool. They're done top down, with a provisional cast on, and the cap worked short rows, then pick up the stitches from the cast on and worked down. the thumbs are only red because i ran out of the brown, lol. they're big on me, but that's ok because i have hands smaller than most 10-year-olds. seriously. i measured against ALL my kids for years, and every single one of them had hands bigger than mine by the time they were 10. even the daughter who is only 5'1" and weighs about 115.

ok, i gotta do something, even if it's wrong, so i'm gonna scoot for now.

What I'm Reading:

Yes! Your Teen IS Crazy by Michael Bradley(and i'm happy to report that most of what i'm doing is right! yippee!)

Rose Daughter by Robyn McKinley (a revisitation to the beauty and the beast tale, for the second time. i like this version too, although it's much more adult sounding than the first one she did)

The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan (book tape in the car, i had to turn it back inbefore it was done last time, and it took a month for it to come back in!)

amazingly enough, that's all i've got on the books at this time. i've got a whole stack waiting for me, and even 2 book tapes, but i just haven't tapped into them yet. the idiot box has my attention, if only cuz i'm trying to get all my DVRed shows watched, so i can keep up with silly things like Dancing with the Stars.

Speaking of which, how many of you were absolutely shocked that Albert got booted off? I wanted to see more gyrating, pulsating, stripper style dancing! I mean, i like that Wayne Newton is on there, but he got a FIFTEEN! oh well, there's a reason why billy ray ended up on there for over half the season. FANBASE!

now i'm really going, i need lunch

a reply to a comment

June, yes i did get a package, on wednesday! i will blog about it later, i gotta scoot. thanks for asking (and if you're my secret pal, you're a stinker! not activating your profile, lol)

Edit: um, yeah, june, you did goof up, lol. I'm not Char. But thanks for asking! (just the giggle i needed this morning!)

*sniff*

my babies are growing up. liam is a freshman in high school, and 15. And about to go to his first school dance with a girl. He asked one of his friends to go with him to homecoming. And she said yes. i know her mom (she's a band parent as well), and we are actually coordinating so that liam and her daughter look good together, lol. i don't think liam expected us to do that, lol! i promise i will post pictures.

i told steph that he had a date, and s he said "that's so cute!" she forgets that she didn't even get to go to her freshman homecoming. she was a hellion that year.

just one bad part. that day is a freaking insane day! there's a marching invitational that afternoon, steph's best friend from high school is getting married that day (and we're invited!), and then there's homecoming. oy!

One question for ya. Since Liam isn't old enough to drive and pick her up on his own, do we chauffeur them? More like, do I chauffeur them, cuz you KNOW mark is going to be sound asleep by the time homecoming is over. I'll have to order a corsage. I'm trying to decide if i'm going to be a nice mommy and pay for it, or make him do it, lol. I may just give him a bye this first t ime around, lol.

This is part of a super secret project that I knit for an upcoming book. You'll have to wait to see what it is, lol. Wanna see a little more?

Here's another part of it.

part 2 to my babies are growing up. we've been letting sean stay home for small amounts of time. he's been handling it well. this is a lead-up to next summer. he'll be almost 14. wow. tara had given me a pair of jeans that her hubbie wouldn't wear, and they fit liam like a glove. and i thought they'd be too big. sean is growing out of all his size 14 jeans. those had fit for a very long time, but i looked at him one day, and his jeans were high enough i could see his socks when he walked. growing up too fast.

bad blogger

I've been so busy, I've forgotten to post here! Miss V has me running my tush off. Wait, scratch that. It's still there, darnit. Anyway, I've been having fun posting over here.

I've also been knitting like a maniac. Many of you already know about the squirrel. I have to admit, i've been giggling ever since we hatched this plan. I finished it Friday and delivered it to Miss V, and she concocted the note and gave him all his other little goodies.

I've always thought unfelted, unstuffed critters look like road kill.

I finally got a good pic of Liam in his band uniform. He looks so cool! I was gonna say grown up, but . . . well, he's 15. And he looks it, lol.

We're going to adjust his hat this coming Friday. He kept complaining that it was down on his glasses, and trying to use the excuse that he needed contacts because of it. In fact, several of his (girl)friends told me i needed to buy him contacts so everyone could see his beautiful eyes. All the more reason not to, in my book! I'm going to have enough troubles with this kid when he finally decides that girls are girls, and not just buddies.

This is the evidence of Liam's first (and at this point, ONLY) driving lesson. Mark has decided to teach him in his pick up truck, which is a manual. I sat here and LAUGHED the entire time.

This little soaker was made from wool warps wound by a lady at the SWG here in Omaha, who passed away last year. Her husband gave them all her yarns and equipment, and between Tara and Miss V, i got all kinds of charity wool. Whee! Ok, now i gotta scoot, cuz i gotta get these LOVELY children ready for school.

While you're at it, we'd appreciate some good thoughts for the kitty joplin. She's been ill, and I finally convinced mark it might be a good idea to take her to the vet. She's going thursday. She's 12. sigh.

PICTURES!

and some will even be of knitting/crocheting!

these are some squares that i mailed out yesterday. the pink & the camo are for an A4A project (balboa military hospital, to be exact), as is the gold knitted square. the smaller, crocheted gold square is for a baby blanket for a friend.

well, apparently, i'm only going to get to upload one stinking picture.

i swear, there are days where it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.

anyway. i've been knitting like mad. yeah. uhuh. well, at least i've been TRYING to. i'm working on my red scarf, in handspun from roving dyed just for me by Lisa Souza. It's soft, and kushy, and ooooooooooooh, my. some college kid is just gonna LOVE me. and it's in mistake rib, so i can even do it while skeining mondo skeins for E.

I've also got several secret projects going. I'm designing a sock to submit for sockmadness II. the question is, at that point, if it gets accepted, do i want to join, and knit these socks twice? cuz this first pair is going to be for my MIL for christmas. i especially asked tara to dye a semisolid for me in a dark red. it's purdy.

secret project #1 is done. it's blocked. i just need to trim ends and send it off! you'll get REALLY close ups but that's it, lol.

i'm also working on a project for E, to go with carin on a trip. it's going well.

life?

meh.

i'm tired. it's hard getting up at 530 so i can get the kids up for school. sean has been having so much trouble getting up at 545, and being ready when the bus gets here that mark has been getting him up at 515, so he can wake up and get his meds in him. he actually had 2 bowls of cereal this morning before the bus got here (at 635, sigh). he's doing well in school, though. he's been mainstreamed in a number of his classes (he is in the resource room for behavioral issues, for those who are unaware of what his deal is), and, if he keeps up the good work, is slated to be mainstreamed into all his classes in 2 weeks. woot!

in not so good news, sean went out for football. the first practice was on august 27th, which ended up being a really hot day. he came home saying he was going to quit. we talked to him, and got him to give it a week. by friday, he'd decided he liked it, and wanted to keep going. we've been encouraging him to keep at it, because this will teach him to work with a team, as he is such a solitary individual. well, he came home from practice yesterday, and said he'd quit. first he said he wasn't doing well. then, he said that the kids were laughing at him. when we asked which kid, he admitted that he didn't actually hear anyone laugh, but he was sure they were anyway. then, he decided that he wanted more family time. RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT. he wanted more video game time. so, mark told him that even though he would be home, he would not be allowed to play video games until the time he would have gotten home after practice. sean decided to go back and ask the coach if he could play.

just to be safe, i emailed the coach, and found out sean had walked out of practice yesterday. soooooooooo, he's out. he is still not going to be allowed video games until 5, and any consequences will be tacked on AFTER that. i know, we're hard asses. we were pushing him because it was obvious, after the first day, that he was enjoying playing. and again, that whole learning to work with others thing. sean has a very small comfort zone, a low tolerance for his own inabilities, and not a ton of self-esteem, and we were hoping this would help that. it seems like those exact things were what got in the way of him playing. he knows he was wrong to walk out of practice yesterday, and he also knows that he's going to have to be on his most excellent behavior before we're going to let him go out for anything else. he wants to play soccer next spring, but i don't think it will work. he was having a hard enough time with the whole getting-in-shape thing of football, and soccer is 10x as grueling on a physical activity level. you never see a soccer player with a gut.

liam is having a ball with marching band. they marched in a game for the first time last friday, and while i didn't get to see much (i was helping with the band parent bake sale), i heard he did very well. i've watched them practice, and i'll say this: have you ever tried to hold an instrument as awkward as a trombone so that you are walking in one direction, while facing at an angle that is 90 degrees to where you're walking (yes, torso twisting going on there) and PLAY THE DAMNED THING? i've been watching, and the only instruments that make you move your arms as much is percussion. and most of them have straps, handles, etc t o assist in holding them. not a trombone. no wonder there's only 6 trombonists in a band of 130 kids. but he's keeping up!

up until tonight, he'd been keeping up with his homework, too! however, i got an email from his biology teacher saying he'd gotten behind. sigh. the hard part with that class is he is in band first period, which is in the basement clear over on the northeast corner of the ADDITION of the school. biology is on the third floor in the main building. oy. in addition, he fell asleep in class today. i'm sure that has to do with band practice running late last night, and he didn't eat dinner til he got home. he didn't get to bed until 1030, and still got up at 545. it's hard enough for me to do that (as i look at the clock and realize it's 1055, and i'm getting up at 530), but he's only 15. what do y'all think? i have been letting him have a substantial snack before band, but not full dinner because it's still been pretty warm, then letting him eat dinner afterward, w hich means he may not eat til 9 or later. with cooler weather coming, do you think it would be ok to give him a full dinner before practice (he'd be eating at 5), then a snack when he gets home? or keep doing what i'm doing? practice starts at 6, and is SUPPOSED to be done at 830. i can't eliminate eating after practice. he's 15, let's get real. he is my walking talking eating machine. he seriously can eat a full meal and ask for a snack an hour later (we had brats & kraut with mashed potatoes, and he wanted chips an hour later).

ok, i need to get to bed, but one more thing before i go.

What I'm Reading:

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty & the Beast by Robyn McKinley.

The Girls by Lori Lansens (this is about conjoined twins that are 29. told from the perspective of the ambulatory twin (she carries the other one around))

The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan (booktape in car)

The Forgotten Man by Robert Crais (booktape in the house)

the girls is thoroughly fascinating. amazing how two identical conjoined twins could be so different!

i am sick

Today, while a blow for freedom of speech has been struck, a deeper, more heartfelt blow has been struck for prejudice, and inequality.

This happened today. Go read. I'll wait.

Back so quick? I don't blame you. While I do defend these people their right to speak as they wish, and the fact that they followed all the proper channels to demonstrate as they wished, the whole idea behind the gathering makes me ill. These people have said they want a "white america" as our forefathers wished. how do they know what our forefathers wished? Correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't George WAshington (scroll down a bit) have all his slaves freed at his death? And, as most of these slaves were born on american soil, according to our laws today, that would have made them citizens (even though life was much different then).

These people are so quick to disenfranchise anyone who does not look like them, act like them, or think like them. Their claim that this rally was strictly about illegal immigration is shallow at best, and put paid to as a lie with comments like the above about our forefathers.

And something else i'm sure they'd like to hide and stuff down? Who was here first? Anglo-saxon europeans? or native americans? if they really wanted to keep this country for those who "belong" here, then i think about 200 million people better start packing their crap.

What got me the worst, though? I was watching the video for this news article, and literally shuddered when i watched them do the nazi salute, and shout "seig heil." (forgive my spelling, i don't do german very well). they want america for white folk, and americans, and yet they give a german salute. what gives?

excuse me, i need to go wash my hands now. i feel filthy just typing about them, but i had to voice my outrage and disgust.

i'm pissed

mark & i were given a visa gift card as a wedding present last year, and we got it about 2 weeks before the wedding. however, we didn't get around to using it until now. when i tried to use it? it got denied, even though the amount was less than what i'd been told the gift card amount was for. apparently, in the small, tiny print on the back of the card, if you don't use it within six months of purchase, they take a $3 fee monthly. there's nothing left on the card! jackasses. so i've got a piece of plastic that i can't use. i know the giftor (is that even right?) had no awareness that these assmonkeys were going to pull this kind of shit, or they'd have given us something else. GGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

happy birthday, liam

happy birthday bud! (i was going to load a video of him in marching band, but it was taking 20 minutes with no end in sight, so i gave up. i'm going to have to investigate this stuff further).

I know this picture isn't the greatest, but it's better than it was. that lovely child who is about 1/2 pace in front of everyone else? liam. he was back in line by the time they got past us.

and they sounded GOOD.

the big problem? parade was slated to start at 1030. it was a 6 block march. however, this pic was taken around 1140. wanna know why? someone dropped the ball. the police were supposed to show up to block the street, and escort the beginning of the parade. i haven't heard all the pertinent details, but either the parade organizers forgot, the police forgot, or the people who issued the permit so they could have the parade forgot. either way, liam was looking a wee bit droopy by the time this picture was taken. thank god they were wearing light grey t-shirts! (although many of the kids were wearing their other t-shirts underneath, poor sots). just when parents (particularly band parents) were getting upset enough to take matters into their own hands (i saw several SUV's pulling up to block side streets, and mark was about to go fetch the van to help), the police showed up. i even saw one mother pull her daughter out of the line up (not the band, this was some sort of dance troupe; the poor kid looked like she was going to cry), because she had somewhere else she had to be. apparently, from overheard conversation (she was getting pretty loud, lol) she was promised t his would be done by 11, and that the noon appointment she had with whatever would be just fine.

the funny part? where we were standing there were NO CHILDREN on our side of the street except sean. he got PELTED with candy (and one ingenious church who wrapped crayons in big-bubble bubble wrap!). he loved it.

Liam had a ball. when i picked him up from the school, though, he was soaked through (two t-shirts on the sweat machine? not good), thirsty, hot, tired, and dirty. i would like to know how a kid who sat nowhere but my car (and i can vouch for my seats) and the bus got dirt on his backside. oy.

He enjoyed his presents that he got today, which included 3 bionicle toys and 2 star wars transformers (slave one transforms into boba fett and advanced tie fighter transforms into darth vadar. how cool is t hat!). what he doesn't know is that i actually FOUND a copy of Star Wars Bounty Hunter for PS2, but because we were under a time crunch to meet his grandparents for dinner, i couldn't go get it. he knows i'm looking, but doens't know i've found it. i'll pick it up monday, and surprise him with it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LIAM!

(someday i'll scan in a pic of my dad, and you'll see how much Liam is like him)

TTFN!

sp 11 contest

my hostess with the mostess, Robyn, is having a contest. we have to answer some questions, and who knows, maybe it will help my SP out!

1. What is the one knitting accessory you could not live without?

my tape measure. i can figure everything else out, but it's hard to measure without it!

2. If you're heading on vacation, do you take knitting with you? If so, how much and what type of project?

That's like asking if I take clothes. It's not a matter of do i take it, but more like, how much can i cram in my suitcase, and still have enough to suit every mood, to include startitis, and still have enough clothes (i've been known to use the kids' suitcases when they were smaller!). i guess that just answered the how much question, eh? as to what type? depends on what i'm working on! i usually don't take highly complicated things with, like shawls, but baby clothes, socks, hats, scarves, ponchos, the rest is all game, as long as i can fit the yarn and the pattern in. i also take yarn and patterns, and necessary needles to start new projects. (i have a bad, chronic case of startitis)

3. Where have you travelled to that you'd consider your favorite spot?

Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. I went 14 years ago, and am dying to go back. 2nd place would be depoe bay, oregon. i'm addicted to the ocean. (funny for a midwestern born-and-raised gal, eh?)

4. What is your favorite knitting book at the moment? Do you own it?

Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook. Yes, i do own it. I love it because it also combines another love of mine, spinning.

5. Do you listen to podcasts? Which is your favorite(s)? Yes, I do! However, I only listen to 2. I'd like to listen to more, but i'm an avid book tape listener, and there's only so many hours of the day i can be plugged in! My favorite is Lime & Violet (i am adminnie, actually, lol), but i do enjoy Cast On by Brenda Dayne (angels singing!)


6. If you could only knit with 1 color for the rest of your life, what color would that be?
A dusky royal blue. Not the eye searing type, but not navy, either. that has too much black in it. a true blue with a slight grey haze (like plum, only blue)

7. If you were far into a project and then noticed a mistake near the beginning what would you do?
It would depend on the error. If it was a huge, glaring thing that i just absolutely could not pass off as a design element, t hen i'd frog. however, if it wasn't, i just might pass it off as s uch. also depends on my frustration level with the project. if this is the first time? i might frog it. if not? the number of times i've already frogged is directly proportionate to the likelyhood of a refrogging.


8. Where is the most unsual spot you've ever knit?

In the dentist chair waiting to get numb (i've actually visualized myself knitting to get through some pretty stressful work on my back teeth (i have a small mouth (hush up, i heard that!))

Also, outside my car waiting for the tank to fill at the gas station. just run the yarn out the drivers' window and click away.


How's them apples?

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!

attention omaha knitters

for those of you who use the omaha public library system, i have apparently made a palace coup. I had been wanting to read several of EZ's books, but can't aways afford to purchase them myself, and the library didn't have any. NONE. so, the last time i went to the library, i asked how i could request the library purchase certain books. she showed me how, and i did so.

THEY HAVE THE BOOKS ON ORDER!

The Opinionated Knitter

The Knitter's Almanac

Knitting Without Tears (ok, i own this one, but no library should be without a basic book on knitting like this!)

i'm thrilled to death! the funny part? on the request form, they say if a book's copyright is more than 2 years old, to look into interlibrary loan. i put all 3 in anyway ( the almanac is copyrighted 1995 for its latest edition), and they got FIVE copies of the almanac! oh happy day!

baaaaaaaaaaaaad joke

Two Old-timers, Larry and Dean, met in the park every day to feed the pigeons, watch the squirrels and discuss world problems. One day Larry didn't show up.Dean didn't think much about it and figured maybe he had a cold orsomething.But after Larry hadn't shown up for a week or so, Dean really got worried.

However, since the only time they ever got together was at the park Dean didn't know where Larry lived, so he was unable to find out what had happened to him.A month had passed, and Dean figured he had seen the last of Larry.But one day, Dean approached the park and -- lo and behold there satLarry!Dean was very excited and happy to see him and told him so.

Then he said, 'For crying out loud Larry, what in the world happened to you?'

Larry replied, 'I have been in jail.

''Jail?' cried Dean. 'What in the world for?'

'Well,' Larry said, 'you know Judy, that cute little waitress at the coffee shop where we sometimes go?'

'Yeah,' said Dean, 'I remember her. What about her?'

'Well, one day she filed rape charges against me and, at 63 years old, I was so proud that when I got into court, I pleaded guilty.And ...the Judge gave me 30 days for perjury.'

sp 11 questionairre

i know, i know, i'm a slacker. but here it is!

SP11 Questionnaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

i really don't have a preference. i do have one request, though. no acrylic. i don't mind blends, but i do a TON of charity knitting, and i have enough to float the titanic. i'm serious. i have reached SABLE with acrylic.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

Well, it's kind of weird. I have a 3-drawer cart at my house that i keep needles in. however, we're living in my husband's house, and my storage there is vases and a sewing box my MIL gave me for christmas a few years ago.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I've been knitting since i was 10, and i turned (mumbledy) one this spring, so that's 31 years. I've been crocheting for 36! i'm kind of an advanced intermediate, i suppose. i haven't steeked yet, although after reading the anniversary edition of vogue, i might try a v-neck. anything else is because i have chosen not to, not because i can't.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

yup! right here (you can skip the lego books, lol, those are for me to remember to get them for christmas for my legomaniacs)

5. What's your favorite scent?

i like sandalwood, vanilla, and anything sweetly floral, like jasmine. i do not like spice scents, as they make me sneeze ( i had bronchitis 10 years ago, and haven't been the same ever since)

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Duh! I like chocolate, and toffee, and butterscotch. anything rich & creamy. Dark chocolate is my fav, though. (and i'm a good girl and only eat 2 squares a night!)

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I spin & crochet regularly. I can also embroider, quilt, and sew, but these are not my drugs crafts of choice.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

i have an entirely eclectic collection. my computer/stereo can play mp3s.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

my favorite colors are rainbow colors. i veer towards blue & deep/dusky purples, but i love bright, vibrant colors. (i just ordered 2 skeins of lorna's laces daffodil, if that's any indication, lol)

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

i have 3 boys (ages 13, 15, and 43) and 2 cats. i also have 2 older daughters, one who lives in my house with her roommate and her dog (jack russel terror terrier) .

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

hats, scarves & mittens. however, i need an extra large hat, as i have VERY long hair, and have to stuff it in a hat to keep my ears warm. i'm actually contemplating making myself a caliometry from knitty, to help that situation (my hair gets matted up if the hat is too tight)

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

baby clothes. again with the charity knitting, lol. anything small. i do like socks, but i don't wear them much (i'm a hippy that was born 20 years too late). anything that is a "challenge." i'm doing MS3 right now (very slowly, mind you!), and enjoying it.

13. What are you knitting right now?

my sockpalooooza socks in a pattern i can't name as it's a test knit.
another test knit for shannon okey.
MS3
a baby sweater
bereavement baby booties.
a wool soaker (for charity)
charity mittens
panda cotton socks for my SIL (she's allergic to wool, so this yarn is perfect!)

that's it, make me accountable! (i had to check ravelry, lol)

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

i like to receive handmade gifts, as so little i knit i keep for myself.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

i actually like straights. i'm odd t hat way. someone just gave me a whole boatload of old style aluminum needles, and i adore them (i apparently type the way i speak. i can't say aluminum, and i had to retype it twice!) i do like wooden needles, as well (most of my sock needles are wood of some sort). i'm not a big fan of plastic needles, though.

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

i do own a swift, but not a yarn winder. i'm an odd duck. i like hand-winding yarn. i may even get myself a nostepinne (if you don't, lol!)

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

one that i'll go back to? my husband's sweater. he's 6'8" so it was a slog, but it's almost done. i just need to finish one sleeve, and sew it up. however, i was also making his mother a lapghan for her birthday, and he made me stop working on his sweater to finish it, and that was 3 years ago, sigh. (we weren't married yet at that point, either, lol. maybe that's why the curse didn't work, lol!)

one that i probably WON'T go back to? i crocheted an afghan for my younger daughter, and had to put it aside for a while. i started it 8 years ago. however, when i went back to work on it, it was full of holes. what the hell eats acrylic? i may just toss the whole shooting match out at this point, and get her to pick a different one.

18. What is your favorite holiday?

Halloween, by far. There's no pressure for gift giving, you get to be who ever you want, and you get to buy creepy stuff to scare people. (i'll have to take a pic of what i do this fall!)

19. Is there anything that you collect?

i collect dragons (imagine that!) and fairies. but not the cutesy type. real fairies and real dragons (yes, they are real, why do you ask?)

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

i have IK and Knit Simple (i'm going to let that one lapse, it's been lame since they changed it). I'd like Vogue Knitting, and InKnitters. It's hard to find InKnitters around here, but i love the technicality of it. i would love to have some Addi lace needles. i bought a set for the MS3, but they were too big (size 3), and since i coudln't afford to spend another $17 on needles, i had to take them back. i t hink i would just about adore any of Cookie's sock patterns, although twisted flowers turns my crank the most. (hush, E)

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

after knitting for 30+ years, there's not much i'd be interested in trying. there's so much info onthe internet, nowadays.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

yes, i am. i love getting socks, even if i dont' wear them much. i'm in sockpalooooza, lol. i wear a women's size 7 wide. my foot is 9" from heel to toe, and the ball of my foot measures 8". i like shorter socks, but not anklets ( i have fat calves, and taller socks just fall down, unless they're knee socks (and i'm not expecting anybody to knit me knee socks if i wont' knit them for myself!)

23. When is your birthday?

April 1 (hush)

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
yup! dragonknitter (duh!)

and an additional thing for y'all; i'm allergic to banana and watermelon, and really don't care for mint anything.

there! done did my duty!

happy birthday sean

you, my youngest, my baby, are turning 13 today. it's official. you're a teen.


As you can see, he's thrilled (it might have something to do with modeling the hat for me, lol).

It's been a long hard haul, and at one time, i wasn't sure if we'd make it to 13. we've been through screaming fits, and destructive behavior, and all the ups and downs of a preadolescent, only cubed.

We've been through foster care, and foster parents, and tests of faith and love.

But you know what? You're incredibly smart, and funny, and have turns of thought that no 13 year old should have. You think about things like how to actually invent the crazy things you find on your video games. The scary part? I'm sure you'll do it! You, my child, are Leonardo DaVinci, Michaelangelo, and every video game inventor all rolled into one.

Happy birthday, kiddo. Here's to a ton more.

(by the way, the hat is cotton-ease crocheted with an F hook for father's house.)

randomness again

ok, now, i may be out of the loop, but isn't it odd that a medication for RLS (restless leg syndrome) has a warning that if you experience extreme urges to gamble or have sex, you need to contact your doctor? ummm, yeah. at this age, damned right i'm going to have sexual urges (oooo there goes my rating again! i said sex!). ummm, yeah.

go over to norma's. now. run, do not walk. go donate. the red scarf is on, and now they've got a scholarship fund. go.

and i've fallen off the fiber wagon. i ordered 2 bumps of ruby from lisa souza in superwash to spin up for my red scarf. they said to focus on quality, so i am.

i also ordered 1 1/2 POUNDS of handpainted fiber from deb. wheeeee!

all this because i sold ONE SKEIN of handspun over at eliza's site . feeling my oats, apparently.


i've been a bit dilatory about posting because i'm EXHAUSTED. liam's band camp was last week (july 30 - aug 3), and he was practicing for 3 1/2 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening for every morning, and 3 of the 5 evenings. and i've been driving him. that's 4 trips a day. and i thought i'd be driving LESS this summer. HAH! they cut thursday short because jazz on the green is next door at the joslyn museum (i can understand, but it doesn't make me any happier, since sean was at the library lock-in, and i was looking forward to staying longer at S&B, not shorter!), and friday night was the night to show off to the parents.

dude. this ain't my high school marching band, fer sure. the sound was wonderful. these kids play very well (if i could find a way to post the cd i got, i would!). and they have a kid who plays the fricking BAGPIPES! bagpipes, folks! the song? culloden. oh dear. and they don't just march onto the field and play, then march off. they were ALL OVER THE FIELD. and not just squares. diagonals! moving everywhere! and liam kept up! i'm so proud of that little shit. for those of you who don't know, liam has been playing trombone for ONE YEAR! one year. and he's keeping up with kids who have been playing since 5th grade. (gee, no proud mama here!).

and i am now a band mom. i volunteered to do drinks/snacks for away trips, and help with the bake sale table. big surprise there, lol. my one bit of irritation? mark was surprised when i told him i expected him to come to every home game that liam plays at. hello! this is our SON! i think i've straightened him out, though (i keep dragging him out of his hermit cave!)

the fiber of DOOOOOOOOOOOM is spun, & plied. i think deawn will like it. hear that, deawn? you better damned well like it!

so i started up on something else. beth (aka theknittingidiot on the L&V message board) came to visit miss vi, and since i'm the adminnie, she had little gifties for us. i got roving! i'm spinning it up now, and it's PURDY. nice job, beth! (i'd link her shop, but i don't know what it is, lol)

in other fibery news? (i almost typed that noose. freudian slip, anyone?). i've been working on a cottonease blanket to send to kenya, and blocks for a u.s. flag afghan that will go to balboa military hospital in san diego (each square is a state square (seen the state dishcloths that stephanie keeps getting? yeah, that pattern) and i did nebraska (duh!) and kansas). i need to wash them and toss them in the mail.

MS3 has seen a little action, but it's been kinda crazy hot here, and fuzzy alpaca yarn doesn't do well with sweaty fingers. however, i have finished chart A, and am well on my way in chart B (ok, ok, i'm on row 57. gimme a break, school's not back in yet)

16 days til school is back in! yes, i'm counting the days. liam gets to go on the 22nd because he's a freshman. happy butt dance here!

what i'm reading:
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (booktape in the car)
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hoseini (booktape in. . . well, where-ever i can find something to play in the house. mark took the cd player downstairs in an effort to kick his music in the rear (he's much happier when he's singing/playing. and much grumpier when he isn't), and the dvd player is missing the remote(again, mark used it for music, and left the remote at the last place he had it), and it's high tech enough that it doesn't have an ON button), so i use my cd player, but i just ate the batteries in it, sigh)
Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind
Unless by Carol Shields

now, i'm off, to try to finish piecing this damned blanket!

here we go again

apparently, somebody's got their heads up their asses.

another food recall.

this one is on french cut green beans. for us locals, that includes Kroger. the link will give you the list.

ok, now we have to have a mini-rant here.

We are supposed to have the safest food supply in the world. I suppose my question is this:

Is all this happening because people are getting careless?

Or is it that these people were always this careless, and they're catching more of them at it?

what do you think?

state of the union

ok, maybe not the union. how about tour de fleece?

i always do this. i sign up for something with a deadline, and while i'm not under that deadline, i go great guns. the minute i sign up? it falls to crap. here's all i got done for tour de fleece.

this is 640 yards of fingering/sportweight domestic wool, 2-ply. this had been spun up before the tour started, but i plied it for the tour. there was no name on this (i bought it at the ROOTS convention that the local spinners/weavers guild held in blair), so i'm naming it jazzy-bel. i hated how it looked when i spun it, but plying it was fun! and yes, it's hanging from my door knocker on my front door. when i took this pic, i'd waited too long, and the stoop was in f ull sunshine. this was as close to natural light as i could get. it's actually pretty accurate, except the purple is a little brighter.

then there's this:

this is blimey, from tara. i'm spinning this up for deawn. and yes, in case you can't tell, it's practically froghair! she wanted navajo plied sockweight, so i'm spinning this as finely as i can. i'm actually farther along than this shows, but i've been having a hard time getting it spun up. i have discovered that i'm not really good with monochromatic roving. it bores me to tears. this is superwash merino, and very nice stuff to work with, just driving me batty! and yes, that is ALL i got done during the tour.

before the tour? i was spinning like a loon!

same for the L&V Sock Marathon. I'd been making socks left & right (mostly for charity), and then they announced this, and i fell flat on my face. my goal for SIX MONTHS? 2 miles. what i got done? 1735 yards. 25 yards short of ONE mile. sigh.

and the MS3? i have to admit, i did start over, because the needle i had was too big. remind me to investigate addi lace turbos again, they're very nice. i just coudln't afford to buy ANOTHER set of needles, so i took them back, and replaced them with addi turbos (they didn't have any in the size i wanted in lace needles ) in size 1. however, i'm still barely into chart B! i'm on row 53, at this point. i figure i'll finish clue 1 about the time everybody else is finished, lol. no matter. as long as it's done in time for christmas, i'm in like flynn. i'm making this for my SIL. this is being made with the alpaca laceweight i bought in conjunction with Laurie 2 years ago (she found a good deal, and they would split the cone onto smaller cones. i bought 4 oz, and according to her, i'm the first to do anything with it, lol!). the beads i bought are bigger than what they'd asked for in the pattern, but i like how they're settling in, so i'm leaving them. they're a pinky/red in size 6/0. the pattern had called for 8/0. however, since when have y'all known me to stick strictly to a pattern?

ok, one more bit, and then i have to go pick up liam from band (again!)

i was driving home, and at an intersection near my house, they were painting the crosswalks. the bimbo in front of me sat through TWO stoplight cycles, waiting for the guys, even though they'd gotten out of the way both times. she finally decided to drive AROUND them, through the next red light! there was a couple at the light in the opposite direction, and they honked (i had too, but this was beyond that!) and the male passenger yelled "yo, bitch! get out the way, ho!" oh yeah, classy. makes me real hopeful for future generations, sigh.

OH MY GOD

this woman is abso-frigging-lutely amazing! i think i'd go blind!

holy crap, indeed!

this is fucking amazing. go see. (thanks, rabbitch, this was really cool!

product recall

there's a product recall from castleberry, a food processor in Georgia (it's that georgia thing, again! the peanut butter was from georgia!)

here's the brands recalled


apparently there's a botulism scare. oy!

thought y'all would want to know.

i has questionz!

Fillyjonk ran across this thing where a friend asked her 5 questions, and she had to answer them on her blog. then she said she'd ask 5 questions for anyone who requested them, so here they are, with the answers.

1. I know you have culinary training. What was the most fun and what was the least fun part of it?
The most fun? The Garde Manger & Buffet service class. We got to do a food sculpture, as well as ice sculpture, and set up display platters for 3 different buffets we did. That and being able to work with ingredients i'll never have in my own home (like truffles!).

The least fun? The absolute worst was Quality Control class. It was exclusively a classroom class, no hands on, and the note taking consisted of filling out pre-printed worksheets. On top of that, it was right after lunch service (that was an actual class; we'd prepare lunch, then serve it to the college students), and the teacher had a very monotonous voice. Needless to say, people did fall asleep in the class (one poor guy even snored!).

2. If you were going to open a restaurant (money is no object), what type of food would you serve and what would the restaurant be like?
I think i'd open a sandwich/coffee shop, with an adjoining yarn shop. I used to have all kinds of high flown ideas when i was younger, but as i've gotten older, my priorities have changed a bit. Now, they wouldn't be ordinary sandwiches (i've not gotten THAT boring), but fun stuff like oriental fusion chicken salad wrap, or chipotle grilled tuna pita pocket with field greens. drooling yet?

3. What is your favorite fiber type to spin or knit with?
i love spinning merino. i learned with merino, and i just adore it, still. to knit? alpaca. it's sooooooooo soft!

4. Describe one particularly kind or touching thing Mark has done for you.
ok, grab the hankie. Mark took my boys into his heart, no questions asked. Even though he's never had children of his own, and had actually been living on his own for 3 or 4 years, and had been single for 8 years, when we started dating (he'd had roommates for a while after his first wife left), he never hesitated. NEVER. Sean can be difficult, and for those who remember, has had some rough going. last summer was extremely tough. still, no hesitation. he will tell you "those are my boys." the only reason why he hasn't adopted them yet, is because they're attached to their last name (it's unique). at least that's what the boys say. But if they ever say "Dad, i want you to adopt me" we'll be calling a lawyer that day.

5. What's your favorite movie?
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (imagine that, today of all days!)
however, the kitschy sneaky part of my heart says A Walk in the Clouds, with Keanu Reeves. what can i say, i'm a sucker for dark hair and gorgeous eyes.

And now i'll open it up for anyone else who is interested! Who wants questionz?

a few things i've noticed

*there must be little quality package control over at sunmaid raisins. i just opened a box of golden raisins, and there was one squished in the seal!



*recycling is easier than i thought. at least in the summer. if i empty something that i know is recyclable, i just give it to a boy, and they carry it out to the bin. in fact, until i emptied the door on the freezer (it got left ajar last week, and everything in the door spoiled, so i had to throw it all away, except the flours), we only had one trash can. rare for us. i'm reducing our carbon footprint (i almost typed that foodprint, lol!)



*despite everything i've done on my end, the cable is running abyssmally slow. sigh.



*liam is absolutely burning through the sword of truth series. i started him on it at the beginning of the summer, and he's finished #7. there are 11 in the series. and they're not tiny books. at least 500 pages a piece! not to mention everything else he's been reading! reminds me of me at that age, when i had nothing to do but read in the summer (i would hide out in my room, and listen to my radio and read till all hours of the night.



*i missed spinning on the 15th, but since the 16th was a rest day, it worked out, and i just spun on the 16th! wouldn't you know it, i am on a major spinning jag, sign up for this thing, and all of a sudden, MS3 and squares of cotton ease mean more. sigh.



*i missed my L&V marathon goal. i had put in for 2 miles, and was 25 yards short of one mile. oh well. they were all for charity.

summer rite

this is something we do EVERY year, even if i have to buy fresh tomatoes at the farmer's market (last year comes to mind, we didn't have a garden).

BLT's. my family are bacon freaks. we buy bacon by the 10# box, so it's cheaper (i paid 9.90 for the last box), and eat it like mad. and it's not just mark, the boys, and I. steph adores bacon, and so does my baby brother. in fact, one year, i home-cured & smoked sidepork, and made bacon for bob for christmas. he adored it!

anyway, i don't have any tomatoes beyond the grape ones i keep getting. the rest just keep getting bigger & bigger. even the plum tomatoes! (the ones in the stores are going to look like babies!) mark's folks' garden patch gets more sun than ours does, so they actually had a few ripe ones. they had BLT's for lunch saturday, so they gave us the rest of t heir tomatoes.

guess what we had for lunch. i ALWAYS use french bread, mayonnaise (blech! miracle whip stinks!), and any leafy green. i've even used spinach, but green leaf or romaine is the best. we used romaine this time.

the toll? we had 14 sandwiches (the french bread loaf was small in diameter). we ate the whole loaf of bread, a pound of bacon, and 1 big-boy tomato, 2 smaller round tomatoes, and 2 pear tomatoes! that was for 3 of us! i can't wait for our tomatoes to get ripe! the boys & i may have BLT's for the rest of the summer! (mark dislikes raw tomatoes to the point he won't eat BLT's. i'll eat them in certain things, like BLT's)

there goes my pg-13 rating!

SON OF A BITCH FISH.

The parish priest went on a fishing trip.On the last day of his trip he hooked a monster fish and proceededto reel it in.The guide, holding a net, yelled, "Look at the size of that Son ofa Bitch!""Son, I'm a priest. Your language is uncalled for!""No, Father, that's what kind of fish it is - a Son of a Bitch fish!""Really? Well then, help me land this Son of a Bitch!"Once in the boat, they marveled at the size of the monster."Father, that's the biggest Son of a Bitch I've ever seen""Yes, it is a big Son of a Bitch. What should I do with it?""Why, eat it! Of course. You've never tasted anything as good asSon of a Bitch!"Elated, the priest headed home to the rectory.

While unloading his gear and his prize catch, Sister Mary inquired about his trip."Take a look at this big Son of a Bitch I caught!"Sister Mary gasped and clutched her rosary, "Father!""It's OK, Sister. That's what kind of fish it is, a Son of a Bitch fish!""Oh, well then, what are you going to do with that big Son of a Bitch?"Sister Mary informed the priest that the new Bishop was scheduledto visit in a few days and that they should fix the Son of a Bitch for hisdinner."I'll even clean the Son of a Bitch", she said.As she was cleaning the huge fish, the Friar walked in."What are you doing Sister?""Father wants me to clean this big Son of a Bitch for the newBishop's Dinner""Sister! I'll clean it if you're so upset! Please watch your language!""No, no, no, it's called a Son of a Bitch Fish.""Really? Well, in that case, I'll fix up a great meal to go withit, and that Son of a Bitch can be the main course!Let me know when you've finished cleaning that Son of a Bitch."

On the night of the new Bishop's visit, everything was perfect.The Friar had prepared an excellent meal.The wine was fine, and the fish was excellent.The new Bishop said, "This is great fish, where did you get it?""I caught that Son of a Bitch!" proclaimed the proud priest."And I cleaned the Son of a Bitch!" exclaimed the Sister.The Friar added, "And I prepared the Son of a Bitch, using aspecial recipe!The new Bishop looked around at each of them.A big smile crept across his face as he said,"You fuckers are my kind of people!

this was quoted to me as an oldie

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes." The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table And poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the Empty space between the sand. The students laughed. "Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things - God, family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions -- things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else -- the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. So... Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. "Take care of the golf balls first -- the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand." One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled."I'm glad you asked". It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

always room.

woohoo, titles!

i know, i know, really original.

hmmmmm. what do you want to know? i know!

my afternoon with miss vi & the knitting idiot aka beth. my god, i had fun! beth arrived while i was packing orders, and i continued with thank yous while they chitchatted. i just sat there and laughed, lol. then i took sean to the library to do a "make your own clock" class (i love these "teen" classes they've offered this year! they did a "mystery dinner" last month that both boys went to, and thoroughly enjoyed (the menu? tacos & nachos, lol!)), and the games began! we were originally going to go to the farmer's market, but discovered the downtown one no longer operates on wednesdays any more (hey, vi! mark told me it's been relocated to boystown! more investigation is needed, i see!)

so, we decided to convene at personal threads. god, i love that place. i never used to like it, but there's been a few changes, and i heartily approve. as miss vi needed some coffee first, beth asked if we could stop @ a craft store so she could pick up a few needed things. would you believe they don't carry the toggles on sweatshirts? the lady in the fabric department agreed that they really do need to carry them. so she only ended up getting ribbon (and the poor guy who checked her out? i think he primarily works in the back, because he almost forgot her discount (the ribbon was on sale!)). then, because the line had been so long, we decided to skip hancock fabrics (she knew THEY carried the toggles she needed), since we didn't want to strand miss vi at personal threads alone (god knows what damage she would have done to her credit card without us to restrain her (we won't discuss the yummy skeins i kept finding, and tempting her with (tibet silk, and cashmere laceweight!))) (there goes my infamous parenthetical love!), we hustled our fannies down there, to find she hadn't arrived yet.

for those of you who have been to personal threads in person, you know they put a 40% off bucket/shelf in the doorway. le sigh. i resisted temptation. i was there as back-up. beth was after sweater yarn. then i saw the austerman sock yarn with the aloe in it. and such tasty colors! i still stood firm. then miss vi appeared, and i started having fun distracting her with tasty skeins. and joe. omg! he is so funny! and so helpful! and such an ENABLER! he's the one who put the cashmere laceweight in my hands originally.

and then i fell. boom. admittedly, i haven't been buying much yarn this year. like i need to! i ran across the koigu basket. i know y'all have heard of the koigu wall. well, this basket is located near there, full of lonely singles & doubles, and discontinued colors. i normally only wear red on football saturdays (when i remember, lol). i've been told it's a good color for me (particularly since i quit dyeing my hair), but i'm just not a red person. however, several bright red skeins of KPM leapt out at me. that's when joe stepped in (almost literally!). i had 3 in my hands, and he took one and set it aside, as its color didn't match the other two as well (variations in the same dyelot, i believe). i looked down at the remainders, heard him say "those two go together much better," and then heard hosannahs sung on high. MINE! i clutched them to my chest, and did not release them until i paid forthem. then there was the sockotta perched so cunningly above aforementioned koigu basket. we were admiring all the interesting colors, and joe said "this does its own fair isle." however, the skein that sung to me? reminded me of tropical birds and citrus drinks. SNATCH! this one huddled in with the koigu, and got comfy. at that point, i said "no more!" and turned to the saleslady and paid for it quickly! i have found that this is a good antidote to further purchases. i really didn't do too bad. i only spent about $30. but still. thud. right off the wagon. i'm thinking fawkes for the red (if it's the right weight, i have to look at the pattern), and monkey socks for the sockotta.

then we absconded out to miss vi's, and sat around and shot the shit til i had to go pick liam up at the library (mark was a lovely husband, and picked up sean from his class, and dropped liam off for his volunteer duty, hence freeing me up for this afternoon of fun & frivolity!)

what a lovely day! and, apparently, another lady from the L&V message board is coming july 24th! (she'll actually be here on the23rd, but that is zoo day, lol). another excuse to go into the shadow of the valey of yarn!

i shall fear no evil, for thou art knitted with me.
thy needles & thy bodkin, they comfort me

i better stop, now, before i offend someone!

but i may continue again later!

oh, and a bodkin? here

go see!

dig this


wheeeeee!

call the men in the white coats

call the men in white coats (and the shift+tab thingie didn'twork!) edit: the titles areworking again, now if only my space barwould behave!

on several accounts!

1) i went & weeded my garden sunday night. at 10 pm. yes it was dark. but not so dark i couldn't differentiate tomato plants from weeds. i got 6 grape tomatoes earlier in the day, which the boys sucked down like they didn't exist (granted, these things were the size of my pinky!) i've also got buttloads of plum tomatoes (roma), and other tomatoes, but not a ripening one in the bunch. i did get 2 more grape tomatoes today, though (sean hoovered those). i've also got pepperage going. the eggplants were in the shade for part of the summer (i'd show you my garden, but then the city might see, and then i'd REALLY have to clean things up), so they're just now getting some growth to them. hopefully, we'll see some blooms, soon. (the one thing i didn't get? mosquito bites. for some reason, they just don't like me this year. really bothers me, let me tell ya!)

2) i signed up for the MS3. in my defense, i've had a cone of 1500 yds of medium grey laceweight alpaca that i got from laurie, for 2 years. she'd found a deal on a pound of this stuff, and they agreed to recone it in 4 oz helpings, so i agreed to help her out. i've been hunting for a pattern for it. sooooooooo, off i went to hobby lobby, and found some beads on sale (lovely reddish/pinkish beads that go so well with it (i was initally looking for something a little less . . . garish, but they were out of most of the bigger beads, and these aren't too bad. i'll take photos when i get a chance (or think of it, lol). believe it or not, my hobby lobby also carried the dangerous crochet hooks, so between my beads & hook, itcost me under $5! my downfall were the addi lace turbos i bought at personal threads. still, i only spent an additional $23 total. i'm thinking i'll gift this to my SIL, since she's allergic to wool, and she cried over the last shawl i made for her.

3) i was sorely tempted to go to the opening of HP5 tonight. i hadn't realized it was opening midweek, until i saw carin was going to meet a coworker at the only theater that is having a midnight showing tonight. one small problem. the movie is over 2 hours long (i looked it up!) and i have to be at my mom's at 10 tomorrow morning for her pacemaker check (i love that they can do it over the phone!). midnight showing + over 2 hours of movie + needing to get up eearly = cranky minnie. that and the fact that the boys are STILL AWAKE (it's 1040 pm right now) (i just heard sean yelling at liam, i may just go to the damned movie by myself on thursday!), and i really don't feel comfortable leaving for that long while they're still up and terrorizing each other.

4) i joined tour de fleece. well dammit, i was going to show you a pic of the roving i'd just finished plying, but apparently, my camera card was too full, and i didn't see it, so i've got nuttin'! anyway, this isn't nearly so much a stretch as i'm always spinning anyway. in fact, right now i'm spinning up some of tara's roving for deawn. not quite sure what i'm getting out of it, other than hilarious stories about recent funerals for notorious deaths in the city (you knew she worked at a funeral home when she's here in the states, didn't you?)(and go check this out, i about DIED when i saw it! i think i may just have to make one for myself!)

anybody wanna hear waht i've been reading? and yes, i've been reading, i've just been lax about talking about it.

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (book cd in the house. this one is going slow, as i've discovered the joys of a DVR, and am trying to catch up on a backlog of shows (creative juice, i love you, but you may just have to go))

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (book cd in the car) i ended up listening to these out of order because there was a huge queue for this one. funny, it still came before OOTP. i better hurry if i want to hear all of them before the new one comes out (egad, 10 days!)

The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan. i actually had to check this book out twice, because someone requested it before i had finished, and there was no way i'd get it done before i'd get a fine. i'm actually enjoying it this time around. it's book 3 of the wheel of time series. (i've got 4& 5 on book cd, which will happen after HP4 & HP5)

Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits, by Robin McKinley. this is a YA book, but it's 6 short stories, and very good. i don't mind the YA label at all!

and on that note, imust fly. my spacebar is hosed (hush, eliza!), and i'mtired of pounding on it to make it work. sigh.

Rocking Girl Blogger!

i'm a rockstar! thanks to itgirl, she nominated me a rockin' girl blogger.





apparently, i'm supposed to nominate 5 more. here we go!

Miss Vi (who is a rockstar in her own right!)
Carin
Tara
Deawn
Erin

ok, ladies, do your thing!

(and look, 2 posts this week! woohoo!)

Edit: it's easy. save the button to your computer (because hotlinking is a baaaaaaaad thing), then post it, and nominate 5 more! share the love!

oops

it's been pointed out to me by certain, ahem, people, that i haven't posted in 2 weeks. sorry!

i've thought about it. honest i have. i've just been. . . lackluster, i spose. i have been spinning like a madwoman. i got both nightshade & tulip from spunky eclectic as a part of her fiber club. i donated the nightshade to claudia, for the MS ride prize basket.
i wasn't terribly impressed with this colorway, until i got it in the sun. then all the colors just glowed! the fiber was coopworth, which i've never spun before, but it was a pleasurable spin. i almost decided to keep it, and then decided it would do more good for claudia. let's hope sh e got #1 for next year! considering she set a new goal of $30K and blew right past it to over $40K? i think so. we knitters rock!
then there's this little lovely:
This little lovely is tulip. In roving form, it most definitely made me think of tulips. however, spun up? it's a little different. thanks to miss vi for taking this picture. didn't it turn out just lovely? it's BFL, which i've never spun before, but it's niiiiiiiiiiiice. i'm keeping this one!

i've also done some knitting & crocheting.these socks, according to carin, are at least a size 11, lol. i hope there are mongolians who have big feet. these were knit almost exclusively in the car (stop lights are good for 3 or 4 stitches!), and while waiting for the kids. they're shortrowed toes & heels, done toe up. i had always thought i preferred top down until i found this. i'm a convert! i'll still do top down where appropriate, but i likee!

let's just move on, shall we? i don't know quite what went wrong with this sweater, but it's wearable, so off to mongolia it went.
this hat went to mongolia as well. it's redheart jumbo in bright yellow, and some handspun i got in a secret pal exchange. the handspun was very nice to work with. i had originally started this as single crochet, but it was coming up weird, and funky, and would not lay right, so i switched to half double. and this little beauty popped up. took me one night at S&B, plus a little more time in the morning, and it just FLEW off my hook! good thing, as i needed to mail it in 2 days!

this hat was some mystery blue fuzzy stuff from my charity stash in bulky weight, along with oceanos malabrigo. this hat is tasty. i almost kept it for myself, but the call for adult clothing wore me down, and off to mongolia it went. this one is single crochet, but i think it worked better than the above hat because it was done on a size N hook, while the above was done on an I. i was going to switch to an N, but it went awol on me. sigh.

ok, i'm getting worn out with all this posting, so i'll just vanish for now. i promise i'll be back.

EDIT: i don't know why, but blogger insists on putting a huge space at the end of this post. who knows!

let 'em know

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/leisure/your.picks/index.html

they are doing a poll on what you like to do. it took me a minute, but if you put your arrow over the pictures (they're tiny!) a caption at the top tells you what it is. they've got knitting! go, make knitting #1!

i'll be back later

thinking

i've been doing a lot of that, lately.

thinking about how crazy people can be. prime example. liam is in band camp (and no, he's not playing ANYTHING that would go near that whole line.), so while he's there for 2 hours every morning, sean and i go entertain ourselves. we've been going to a nearby park, and borders, and walmart. yesterday, we were running behind, so i was taking a short cut. i was waiting at a stop light, when i heard a tap on my passenger window. an older woman (maybe in her 50's (god, that's not so far away!)) with bright orange, wildly cut hair, a blue tooth thingie in her ear, and enough jewelry to make Mr. T jealous (if you don't know, you're not old enough.), asked me if i could give her a ride to shopko just down the street? WTF? ride the bus, lady! put on sensible shoes (i didn't actually SEE her footwear, but the rest of the outfit made me think mules with maribou on them), and walk! weird, i'll tell ya.

thinking about where this whole fiber journey is taking me. i won't say i've lost my knitting/spinning/crocheting mojo, but i'm less motivated t han i was. dulaan deadline is coming up, and i want to finish all my projects by friday (god, that's two days away!) so i can wash them, and have them dry over the weekend, so i can pack them up and mail them early next week. the deadline is july 1. i've got 3 hats (one just needs ends woven in), 1 pair of socks, and a sweater to do. i wonder sometimes if i overcommit myself. i've got 3 pairs of socks going, and only one going easily and well (the simple socks i work on in the car. they're worsted weight, and going swimmingly). the other two? well, one i just kinda lost interest, but want to do, since it's for my sockpalooooza pal, and the other is for my SIL. i want to do some diaper bags for this month's AC4C project, like i did in march, but can't find the motivation to get them started. i also saw that the camp that the Pettys sponsor (if you know NASCAR, you know the Pettys) likes to send afghans/blankets home with their kids (i think they're cancer survivors/sufferers? someone correct me if i'm wrong?), and want to make blankets for that, but. . . . everything is meh.

thinking about wishing that we could settle into some sort of summer routine around here. working for miss vi is great, and now that liam can stay home, much easier. she's a saint for putting up with sean, i'll tell ya! i don't feel comfortable leaving him with liam in charge, cuz i'm su re they'd KILL each other. it just doesn't work well right now. sean and i had a talk last night, while we were walking (we walk to the gas station and back, which makes it about a mile, and try to do it 3 times a week), about how he's almost 13, and needs to work on trying to be his age, and not someone much younger. i know that is hard for him, but considering how far he's come since last summer (remember THAT insanity?), i know he can do it. he agrees. so i just remind him once in a while. he's doing pretty good. he really wants to be able to stay home if he wants, instead of getting dragged from pillar & post.

the unsettled part is this whole band camp thing. it's going for another week after this, and this week is kind of trying. my mother has a doctor's appointment at the same time he's supposed to be at the school tomorrow, so he'll have to get dropped off earlier. this means that we have to get up earlier, which means i need to go to bed earlier. i haven't been to bed before 1130 since school got out, so it's hard. friday, mark is having minor outpatient surgery, so i have to take mark to the surgery, then go get liam from my mother's (we decided since mark had to be there so early, it would be easier to have my mother watch the kids overnight), take him to band, then scram back to the hospital until either mark is ready to go, or liam is done. oy. now, liam is enjoying the hell out of this band thing, because he gets to try a new instrument (trumpet) and he LOVES it. we had told him in the beginning that we would buy only one instrument, so he's torn between saving up for a car and (believe it or not!) a trumpet. oy! mark loves it, cuz if he ever gets playing again (he hasn't touched his bass in months, sigh. nothing he's looked at interests him (yellow, red or black only, indeed!), so he's drifting right now), he wants liam to lay down some horn tracks for some of his music.

but until band is over, no sleeping in. ugh.

thinking about the loved ones i miss. my dad's passing happened 6 years ago on june 4th. i actually got through the day ok (it gets easier every year, is that bad?). a few friends have recently had losses of their own, and i can empathize. i actually helped one, because of medical issues. it still pisses me off that the doctor & nurses kept saying "oh, he'll be alright, he'll be fine, he's doing well" when he was anything but. first indication that things weren't going very well was the day he died. the social worker from the hospital called me, and we were trying to figure out where to put him. he wasn't doing well enough to be on the rehab floor in the hospital (yes, carin, yours), but because they'd had him in restraints to keep him from pulling out things like his feeding tube out of his stomach, or the ball catheter (yes, he pulled that out. even as a woman, it makes me want to cross my legs), and most nursing homes wouldn't take someone who had been in restraints. then i got the call 3 hours later that he was gone, and that when he'd pulled his tubes again that same morning, when they tried to put them back in, he told them he wanted to die. (ok, hang on, i need a tissue). THEN, after he was gone, the doctor (whom i had never met) called and spoke to me, and told me that 75% of people who have his kind of stroke never recover. i was in shock. and the death certificate said he died from diabetic complications. apparently, what they were feeding him in that tube had such a high sugar content that it put his body into a diabetic state. but they couldn't treat that because they were dealing with the stroke issues. FUCK.

i miss my grandma. i'll have to see if i can find a pic i can scan, and maybe you'll understand a little more. she was a class act. she was known in her church as the little lady in the black hat. she ALWAYS wore a hat. when i was a child, she had some precancerous spots on her face frozen, and the doctor told her she couldn' t go out without a hat anymore, and she took him seriously. if only a baseball cap, that lady wore a hat. in fact, when we cleaned out her house, we donated the black hats to the county museum, because she was so well known for them. the rest of the hats came home with me, and they decorate my kitchen.

she was a pioneer. she and her family moved to wyoming when she was 13 years old. this was 1917. i'm sure it wasn't easy. we found pieces of wood, where, during WWII, they didn't have paper, but she insisted on journaling anyway, and she wrote on those. we donated those as well. why is it NOW that i realize i got my yen for writing from her? i got SO much from her. my face shape is similar to hers. my hair is graying as hers did. a fierce love for my family. (what kind of love can you have, that you do the unimaginable, and put your 6 year old on a train, because you know you can't educate her there, and the best place for her is 700 miles away?*) she wrote to my mother EVERY WEEK. rain or shine. illness or health. every wednesday, she'd put a letter in the mail, and we'd get one every monday. my mother would put her letter in the mail every friday. my mother would even make notes, so she could remember what to tell my grandmother. i miss those letters.

thinking about music that i've gotten away from, even though i loved it so fiercely. Queen. I've been gaga for them since the 5th grade. that's when i first heard "we will rock you/ we are the champions." i've been sitting here listening (and watching) videos of queen on youtube. i so sincerely wish i could have seen them live. we miss you, freddy.

thinking i am so going to have to kick steph's ass. i don't know what she did, but my computer is fucked. it's 7 months old! she's been in my house for 2 weeks! damn! of course, i found out she was trying to upload software so she could use her webcam. the one some guy sent her. huh? i think i may have to have a d iscussion with her. on top of that, i don't think they've done the dishes since they moved in, and while i do need to get my stuff out of the bedroom, stacking it on the front porch is not kosher. hell. to include the box of good china i got when my great aunt passed away so long ago (my grandmother's sister). and, of course, trying to get the cable t urned back on has been a trial and a half. they claim that it's active, but nothing we do gets it back on. i think it's soemthing in the switch that they flipped to turn it off last fall.

thinking i need to blog more! i didn't realize it had been almost 2 weeks until i logged on. i've had no gumption for that, either.

thinking that i wish the boys wouldn't fight me so much on some stuff. i got their grades, and liam passed the 8th grade by the skin of his teeth. and i think part of it may have been that the language arts teacher felt a wee bit sorry for him. she had told me that if he could pull a D for 4th quarter, she'd give him a D for the second semester. well, apparently, he pulled it off. I got sean's grades today (he'd lost a book just before the end of school, and we had to turn it in before we could get his grades) and the only class he didn't pass was language arts. soooooooooo. this summer is a writing summer. every time they ask me to dvr soemthing, i'm requiring a paper out of them, when they watch it. the first one was Dogfights/ Guadalcanal, on the history channel. neither one of them was happy about writing, but they did it. liam got a full page, but it was kind of incoherent. sean could only get 4 sentences. definitely something that needs work. and now liam is mad at me because i told him that once band camp is over, i'm requiring that he write one page about the experience. mark had a talk with them about it this afternoon, and they said "yes, dad." why can't i get those kinds of responses. i get 'MOOOOOOOOOOOOM! that is so unfair! this is summer! i'm supposed to be having fun!" then stomp, stomp, stomp up the stiars, to pout, and read, and fall asleep, so that he cant' sleep at night when i need him to. ugh.

thinking about how my arthritis is affecting my life at this point. it's inherited. my mother has it (she takes celebrex). my grandmother had it. i had to take my mother to the dentist yesterday for a check up, and since this is the dentist who doesn't have a signing hygenist, i had to tag along to interpret (i go anyway, as she doesn't drive, but still). as she sat in the chair, gripping the ends of the arms, i looked at her hands. as different as her hands were from my grandmother's (my grandmother had, at one time, relatively graceful hands, while my mother has. . . work hands. only way to describe them, lol. for such a small woman (she's 4'8", and was never over 5', even in her heyday), she has large hands. her wedding ring was a size 8 1/2. my wedding ring is a 5 1/2)), i could see my grandmother's hands in hers. the enlarging of the knuckels in just such a certain way. the shortness of the nails (i can't grow mine to save my life, and apparently, iv'e passed it on to steph).

i've been listening to queen videos, and i just played "it's a kind of magic." there is a bit at the very beginning where freddy snaps. i coudln't snap. it hurt. i can type alright, and knitting doesn't bother at all. spinning gives me fits if the fiber i'm working with is particularly slippery, but usually is ok. but right now, at the end of the day, when i should be doing relatively well (i always have the lowest hand strength when i get up in the morning, makes it interesting), i cant make a fist tight enought o make nail marks in my palms.

ok, i've worn myself out with all this thinking.

see ya.

i'm in shock

ok, for those of you who intend on reading the book, or watching the movie for the first time:

the book is "The Friday Night Knitting Club" (anybody know the html to put in underlines?)

SPOILER ALERT

it was a good book. a nice book. a book about a tough woman who made a life for herself and her daughter, despite what life handed her.

she gets ovarian cancer.

as i read the book, after her diagnosis, i kept thinking, she'll be ok. she'll be fine. she can't die. she just re-discovered the love of her life. she has a 13 year old daughter who needs her, and looks up to her.

she didn't make it. she died.

ovarian cancer is a nasty, evil thing. it's so very hard to get a diagnosis, because its symptoms are so general. here's a good resource with a list of symptoms to watch for. the bad part is that so many women are diagnosed in the later stages, where the survival rates are much lower.

please, take care of yourself. get regular check-ups. know your own body.