is this the end of the shitstorm? please?

Knitting....hmm...I think I remember what that is. I seem to remember enjoying it once upon a time. Oh, that's right, I still love to knit, but a nasty little thing called life has been getting in my way. UGH. I think/hope that things will get back to a more normal pace soon.

In my last real update, I mentioned that I had an Uncle who was dying of cancer. On 11/06 at 11:06pm, he passed. It's okay, the family seems to be doing fine. I am worried about my Aunt Debbie, though. I just think that for someone who just lost her husband of 39 years, she's remarkably calm. We have a big, strong (completely messed up and crazy) family, and she knows we're all here for her when/if she needs us. The funeral was nice, I just have issue with the fact that when my Aunt and Cousin got up to talk about Uncle Paul, instead of talking about what kind of man he was, they went on a tirade of 'if you don't believe in the god we believe in, how we believe in him, then you will BURN IN HELL FOR ALL ETERNITY'...ugh. I know the service was in a church, so some of this was to be expected, but when I heard that I rolled my eyes and then noticed the pastor saw me doing so. I have more respect for people than to make waves at a funeral so I just avoided the pastor. Being the only Atheist in a family of Baptists is fun...oh yeah.

btw- do any of you guys watch True Blood? I was greatly entertained by the fact that the Pastor of the church my Aunt goes to looks a lot and sounds a lot like Steve Newlin...LMFAO

In that last post I also mentioned my Mother was in the Hospital. She was only in for a few days, and the Dr's never did figure out exactly what was causing her problems. They were all very thorough and all the scans/cultures/tests came back normal. They ended up giving her some meds to help her symptoms and released her. She was fine for a few days, but I found out yesterday that her symptoms are back. She's got an appointment for a specialist soon. I only hope they can get to the root of this because I want my Mom healthy again.

And, in ever more exciting news, I get to have some oral surgery done. woohoo. I've been having some pain and upon inspection, I have some teeth that are fully formed under my gums that refuse to come through (3 of my 12-yr molars and 2 wisdom teeth) and are causing me some issues so they need to go in and remove those teeth. I also have 2 cracked/damaged molars that need removed, so I'll be having a total of 7 extractions done. 6 surgically. They're going to put me under general anesthesia for this and give me a prescription for some good pain meds (lortab...YAY!) I called and scheduled the procedure earlier, and I'm going in for this on January 7th.

And all of the above is why I started a new journal and titled it 'My Choo-Choo Jumped the Track'...LOL

Anyone Else But You

Yes, I know, I don't normally do meme's here, but I'm in a strange mood tonight, so I'm going to do this one. Don't like it? Tough shit. Like it? Comment. What the hell, comment either way.

1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player,Ipod etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You must write that song name down no matter how silly it sounds.
4. Title this with the song from the last question.

If someone says 'are you okay' you say?
~The Static Age- Green Day

How would you describe yourself?
~White & Nerdy - Weird Al

What do you like in a guy/girl?
~If I were A Carpenter - Bobby Darin

How do you feel today?
~Dream Lover- Bobby Darin

What is your life's purpose?
~Lump- The Presidents of the United States of America

What's your motto?
~O, Death- Ralph Stanley

What do your friends think of you?
~Jenny Says- Cowboy Mouth

What do your parents think of you?
~Baby Love -The Supremes

What do you think about very often?
~You're No Good - Betty Everett

What is 2 + 2?
~Libiamo- La Traviata

What do you think of your best friend?
~Walkin' After Midnight - Patsy Cline

What is your life story?
~She Wolf - Shakira

What do you want to be when you grow up?
~Angel of the Morning - Merrilee Rush

What do you think when you see the person you like?
~Cell Block Tango - from the 'Chicago' soundtrack

What will you dance to at your wedding?
~Holding out for a Hero - Bonnie Tyler

What is your hobby/interest??
~The Sound of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel

Whats your biggest fear?
~Bad Things - Jace Everett

What is your biggest secret?
~My Freeze Ray -Dr. Horrible's sing along blog

What do you want right now?
~21 Guns - Green Day

What do you think of your friends?
~Ain't no Sunshine - Bill Withers

What will you post this as?
~ Anyone Else but You - The Moldy Peaches

Hectic Days...

Gah....I know, it's been a month since I've updated my blog. I am sorry for that, but life has been absolutely crazy recently and the blog was put on the back burner. Long story really short: I have an Uncle who is dying from cancer, another uncle recently diagnosed with skin cancer, and my Mother is currently in the hospital. She'll be fine but the Doctors can't figure out what's causing her problems.

Oh, and sorry, no pics in this post (only links to pics), I don't have any recent knitting pics saved on this computer. They're all on my netbook and the power cord died so now I can't use my netbook until I can get another power cord. I also don't know how to insert pics from my flickr into my posts.

Okay, so let's move on to more pleasant things. Knitting! Yes, I have gotten some knitting done this past month. In my last post I mentioned a sweater I was knitting for my Cousin's daughter, Grace. Well, I finished the sweater the morning of her birthday party :) I used a cotton/acrylic yarn, and cotton is really hard on my hands, but I still had fun knitting the sweater. I used this pattern from DROPS, and Knitpicks Comfy Sport yarn for this adorable sweater. Here's a link to see the finished sweater .

I also knit up a quick project for my sister, Dawn. She asked me to knit some simple fingerless mits for her, so I did. I had her buy the yarn and she chose Naturally Caron Country (or something like that, I don't have the label anymore) in a charcoal grey color. They were really basic, and only took a few hours to whip up the pair. Click here to see the Mits I knit for Dawn.

I still have several WIP's and UFO's laying around. I've done a few more rows on sock #2 in the Ellington pair, I pick up Vivian and do a few stitches every now and then, and I've also started working on a mesh grocery bag. I want to get enough of them made so I can use only them for bagging my groceries at the store. I haven't really been working on any of these a lot, just here and there whenever I get the whim to do so. I'm trying to get back into it though. Knitting is very meditative and relaxing for me, and I need that right now.

Like sock yarn, leftover birthday cupcakes don't count.

Monday the 28th, my oldest turned ten years old. I still can't believe it. Part of me feels like it's about damn time, and yet another part of me is weeping because my first baby is now in double digits. Plus, I'm a bit sad because before long, that little booger is going to be taller than me. Now, I'm barely 5'2", so becoming taller than me is no major feat for most, but when your oldest kid is up to your chin, you can't help but to look over at him and wonder "when the fuck did you get so damn tall?!?" He'll begin to hit puberty soon, and I can't help but to watch in amazement and think I'm too young for this shit. At least, I get to eat the leftover birthday cupcakes. They're Devils Food....yum


Also, I thought I should share a picture of the finished Ellington Sock (pattern now available on CookieA.com)
I followed some of the instructions written in the pattern for altering the sock to make the leg 12 rows shorter, and I also started the sock using one needle size up from gauge to make the top ribbing looser, because I had some issues with the twisted ribbing being a bit too tight on my massive calves of DOOM. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this sock. I know I say that all the time, but hey, that's the norm for sock addicts. I'm completely obsessed with Cookie A's patterns. I want to lick her mind (and if you can guess the show that quote is from(though it's 'your' not 'her' in the quote), I'll love you forever and send you virtual smooches). I have the second sock for the Ellington pair started, but it's been moved to the back burner so I can concentrate my efforts on working on a very special sweater for a very special little girl.

That special little sweater, is this DROPS pattern, and I'm making it for my Cousin's little girl who is turning one in a few weeks. I'm making it with different colors, and I'm using Knitpicks Comfy sport yarn. I'll share some pics of it when I get further along.

Ellington, Vivian, and 9 to 5

I'm test knitting again! This time, I'm testing the Ellington Pattern by Cookie A, and I'm going to play it safe and just show a progress picture of what I have so far, and not say anything about the pattern other than that I LOVE it :) I'll share more when the pattern is released, I know how you people love your details :p





I thought I'd also give you an update on some of my other WIP's I was working on before I started the test knit. Here's a pic of where I am on the Vivian sweater. I started this several months ago, but during the summer months I couldn't bring myself to work on it in that heat. Now seasons are changing and working on Vivian again just feels right. I have the body done and the left sleeve done. Next I have to knit the right sleeve, then connect all the pieces and knit the yoke and the hood, then sew in a zipper. I am still really enjoying the pattern and the yarn, and it's another one that makes me very happy that I know how to cable without a cable needle.


And, here we have yet another sock! I know, shocker, right? But anyway, the pattern for this one is 9 to 5. I'm shortening the leg of the sock significantly because I generally prefer shorter sock legs. The yarn for this one is Knitpicks Gloss Sock yarn in Cosmos.

In which, I bitch....

In other words, this is a 'Fuck You' post....feel free to add your current 'fuck you's in the comments.

I know a lot of what I'm feeling right now could , at least in part, be blamed on PMS. I freely admit I'm in the midst of hormonal mood swings that turn me into a bitch unlike which has ever before been seen, but also can reduce me to a puddle of tears in less than a heartbeat. Mood swings like that are exhausting.

First off....FUCK YOU cancer!!!! I just got word yesterday that my Uncle Paul's cancer has returned. Doctors think it may have spread to his brain this time. I kind of fazed out when my Mom got into telling me the details, but things don't look good. Best case, He'll have another year with us, but if it is in his brain, it's more like 3 months. This just SUCKS. I'm not even close to that part of the family, but they're still family, I still love them, I'm still crying for them. I've already lost too many family members to cancer. Granted, it hasn't been many, but even one is way too many. It's really fucking hard to watch someone die of cancer. FUCK YOU CANCER!

Secondly.....FUCK YOU NEWS! This morning some woman died of the H1N1 virus. Yes, death is sad, but it happens and that's not what I'm pissed about. The News kept saying "A pregnant woman has died of the H1N1 virus"....then a few minutes later they said the woman delivered the baby several days ago. Hey, assholes, a pregnant woman DID NOT DIE. A woman who recently gave birth died. Saying "A pregnant woman has died of the H1N1 virus" implies that she was pregnant at the moment of death and that the baby died with her. I was on the verge of tears thinking about that baby's death. I don't deal well with infant death, and I certainly don't need any more emotional roller coasters right now, so FUCK YOU NEWS!

Third....FUCK YOU to my cold!!! More specifically, FUCK YOU to the parents who sent their sick kid to school last week. That kid gave it's cold to my kid, and my kid ever so generously shared that cold with everyone else in the house. Fucking lovely. Now I'm sitting here with absolutely zero energy, emotionally drained, snot dripping from my nose, and clogged up sinuses. Pretty picture, huh?

Can I crawl in bed now and ignore the world for a few days?

Hey, Guess What?

I've been KNITTING!!! WOOHOO!!!!! It's about damn time I had the urge to knit. I missed it. I even started knitting a new pair of socks! I do have two FO's to share with you though.

Here is a little cabled cover for my netbook. I used Knitpicks Essential Kettle Dyed sock yarn in Bordeaux. Using the yarn held double and size 7 16” circs, I CO 90 stitches. (K2, P2, K4, P2) around. I did a cable twist every 7 rows in the K4 panel. When it was long enough to fit my netbook, I flipped it inside out and did a 3-needle BO to close one end.

And, here's a Chevron Scarf I knit. I used Schaefer Nichole sock yarn in the color 'grapes on the vine'. I'm in LOVE with the yarn, and will definitely be buying more soon.


I also have some pretty damn neat news to share with you. If you follow me on Twitter, Plurk or facebook, you already know this. But you remember a few months ago I posted about knitting a mystery project? well, actually there were 2, but here I'm talking about the first one. I was doing some sample knitting for Cookie A's next book. Knit.Sock.Love. is the book, and by the preview it looks AMAZING! It'll be available in February 2010. Oh, btw- the socks I knit for the book? yeah.....well..... The purple socks on the cover, I knit those!!!

My Kids are nuts...and funny....and wonderful

So, I was bored and looking through some of the things I've plurked about my kids over the past year. I was ROTFLMAO so I decided to share some of those things with you. When these started, the kids were 8, 6, and 3. They're now 9, 8, and 4.


-Andrew just came to me and started a sentence with "when I'm an adult and if you're still alive...." jeez kid....thanks…

- While watching the Simpsons movie with the kids, and Alex asks "what's Otto blowing bubbles into?"...um... I told him it was just a funny shaped glass…I think age 6 is just too young for me to explain a bong…

-I think it's funny that every time the oven timer goes off, Hannah says "Mommy, the oven's calling your name".

-I just asked Andrew where he left something. He said "it's in my room, you know, where the walls are..." OMG kid, that does not help.

-Alex keeps singing "saying be careful means I love you", I replied "nope, it means I don't want to have to take your butt to the hospital". Hey, it got him to stop singing..lol

-I just asked Andrew what planet he was from, because he's acting goofy. His reply: "I haven't figured that out yet, I'll let you know"

-I need to work with Hannah (3 y/o) on her pronunciation of the word 'Bear'. It sounded like she said "I love my big beer. He's good beer. I love beer".

-Alex just told Andrew "Everything you do makes me MAD!" Then Hannah ran back to them and told them "stop fighting and clean your room NOW!!” Well…her being Little Miss Bossy made my life easier….at least in that incident.


-I just told Andrew "well, then quit putting Gorillas in your shirt"...It’s just one of those sentences that one never thinks they’ll need to say.

-Alex just asked me if the Wizard of Oz was a new movie when I was a kid, OMG kid!! I got a piece of paper out and showed him the math. Wizard of Oz was released in 1939, Mommy was born in 1982. *Sigh*

-Hannah is walking around the house repeating "fuzzy wuzzy had no hair" over and over again. I fear for her stuffed bears.

--Word of Caution: When engaging in roughhousing with children, make sure nobody is holding an etch-a-sketch... fucking oww…

--Hannah just climbed in to her father’s lap for a snuggle and said "I love you…Monkey Licker!”

- hehehe…I know I'm raising my kids right because Andrew just said "I wish I had a Tardis" Alex agreed. A few nights ago, the 8 y/o told DH "The Tardis could kick the Millennium Falcon's big old butt!" Geek kids are great.

- A conversation I had with Alex: "Mommy, you should run away." "I would love to, but I can't." "why not?" "Because you kids drove me so insane that I now want to stay"..lmao

- I think there is nothing funnier than watching a 3 y/o running down the hallway trying to run & pick a wedgie at the same time.

- Hannah thinks it's the funniest thing in the world to run up to me, fart, and run away laughing. It doesn't help that as she runs away, I laugh…

- WTF? the 8 y/o just smelled the wall. when he saw me giving him the WTF look, he just said 'What?' like I'm the crazy one. At least he didn’t lick it and say "the schnazberries taste like schnazberries"…though that would be funny..lol

- 3 y/o just brought me one of her purses. I found the contents funny: 1 knit cotton baby sock,1 foam block,1 empty altoid tin & 1 barbie head.

--the 3 y/o came up to me and said "do you want to know a secret?" I said "sure." She climbed up into my lap, got close to my ear and said... "this is the secret" and then she licked my cheek.

- DD just said "I'm a doggy...woof woof...I eat birdies...MEOW..."

- the 3 y/o just said to me "I get cranky when I'm sleepy....and it's ALL YOUR FAULT!! Mommy, can I have some candy?"

--I mentioned to the 9 y/o that I had a slight nose bleed earlier today, and what does he do? He says "HA HA" (in his best Nelson voice)

- the 9 y/o was playing outside and I saw him poking the ground with a big stick. I asked him what he was doing and he replied "hm...good question, Mom" and then he turned back and kept doing it

- if I only had 1/4 of the amount of energy that the 3 y/o has, my house would be spotless in 2 minutes. she's running in circles around the living room, laughing hysterically the whole time, every few minutes she stops and drops her pants, pulls them back up and starts running again.

- my kids were asking me how big my cousin's new baby is, So I pulled out my measuring tape and was showing them. The 3 y/o said " that's as big as my head". So, I wrapped it around her head and she was right!

- I told DD that the apple she's eating looks yummy, and she put in her shirt and scowled at me "It's for me...not YOU!"

- 7 y/o asked for another cookie, I said no. 7 y/o said "you just don't want me to be happy." Kid, nice try on the guilt trip, it didn't work.

- I should know by now to not trust the 3 y/o when she says she has a surprise for me. The last 'surprise' she gave me (just a few minutes ago) was to sit on my lap and fart.

- I was dancing while sweeping and the 3 y/o gives me a 'WTF?' look and said "don't be a dork, Mommy."

--OMG...DH bought a new leaf blower and was telling the boys how it works, and the 7 y/o says "I want to feel the air.BLOW ME, BLOW ME!"

- the 3 y/o just got mad at the 7 y/o and said to him "you're a HUGE piece of cat poop!!!"

- 9y/o was getting a cup of juice,& he finished what was in the bottle. He started yelling "MOOoooOOM! We're out of juice!" Then the 3y/o looked at him and says "chill, big butt, there's more in the cabinet"..

- a conversation just overheard between the 9 y/o & 7 y/o: 9y/o- "If you don't stop that you're going to drive mommy crazy." 7 y/o replied "maybe I *like* driving Mommy crazy"

- DD is pissed at oldest DS because he wont let her put a belt on him and lead him around like a puppy. She just looked at me and said "I'm getting tired of his stuff"...LMAO

- I said 'eat shit and die' to my computer, and the 3 y/o heard that and said "yeah....eat poop....ON A STICK!"

- DD is sitting next to me eating some raisins. I asked her "Good Raisins?" she shook her head no and kept eating. I then asked her "do you like eating raisins?" and she shook her head no. I just asked her "are you eating raisins?" and she said "no...I'm trapping them".

--I was just lightly whacking the 9y/o on the leg with a pillow. 3 y/o sees this and yells "MOMMY! NO! Stop! You might hurt my pillow!"

- out of nowhere, the 7 year old just stopped playing, said "I like farts" and then went back to playing.

- HAHA...DD was repeating every single word I was saying, so I looked at her and said "antidisestablishmentarianism". She tilted her head and she said "you're a booger" and she ran off to play.

- I was joking around with DS & I purposefully said "I didn't do nothing!" DD(4y/o) looked at me and said "anything. you didn't do anything"...

- my overly dramatic 4 year old told me she is going to STARVE to DEATH if she doesn't get a cookie NOW. I laughed & here I still sit. she's standing right beside me whining/fake crying "pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaase? I LOVE you! Mommy....I NEED a cookie..." I’m thinking ‘yeah, well, honey, Mommy needs booze....’

-I love the way my 4 yr old's mind works. she was just looking at a pic of the little mermaid and she asks me "where does Aerial's pee come out? Does she pee inside her tail?"

- my 9 y/o was goofing off, so I looked at him and said "you're weird". He replies "I know. I like it that way"

- I didn't hear the whole conversation, but my 4 yr old just told my 9 yr old "I'm going to go buy a dog and make him pee on you!!!"

- 4 yr old is making a big pile of shoes. I asked her what she's doing, she says "oh, I'm just being weird." and went back to her pile.

Crazy Neighbor story time!

I know this is supposed to be a knitting blog, but I haven't been knitting much lately. I couldn't let this blog just sit here doing nothing, so I decided to share a childhood memory.

I was five when we moved into the house on Amana Ct. We soon learned that our next door neighbor, Jaralyn, was bat-shit crazy. She had a HUGE crush on my Dad. She would make up excuses to talk to him, She flirted with him shamelessly. The whole neighborhood thought it was hilarious. My Mom used to try to rescue my Dad whenever she noticed Jaralyn trying to corner my Dad while he was out doing yard work. Jaralyn would just give my Mom dirty looks and the cold shoulder before muttering obscenities under her breath and slinking back into her house to play with her dogs.

Oh, god! I felt horrible for her dogs. I'm not sure exactly how many she had, but it was at least 4. Jaralyn treated them like babies. Literally. She would constantly have one of them swaddled in her arms, talking to it. I remember seeing her try to feed a few of them from baby bottles. When she put the dogs outside (in her fenced in yard), she would put them in playpens. Not fenced in dog runs, but honest to goodness playpens meant for human infants. She also always had at least one of her dogs on her lap while driving.

All the neighborhood kids were scared of Jaralyn. She would scream at us from her front door whenever we would walk past her house on the sidewalk. She was also one of those people who left her Christmas lights up on her house and outside trees year-round. One Summer, my friends and I made a game of sneaking into her yard and unscrewing and stealing the colored bulbs from her strands of Christmas lights in her trees. I never did get caught.

Okay, so maybe Jaralyn wasn't completely bat-shit crazy, but she definitely wasn't all there. She certainly made our life on Amana Ct. a little bit more interesting, though. I don't know what happened to Jaralyn, but I do wonder about her every now and then. She was still there when we moved away, but she wasn't still on Amana Ct. a few years later when we moved back.

I think I've lost it....

no, not my mind. *That's* been lost for a long while now....lol! This time, what I've lost is my knitting mojo. I have projects that in my mind I want to work on, but I just can't find the passion for it right now. I want to say I miss knitting, but at the moment, I don't. Maybe I just need some new inspiration. Usually, I'd find inspiration while yarn shopping, but I don't even really want to do that right now. My stash is being neglected. Maybe re-organizing it will help? I want to say it's the warmer weather causing this, but that's never been a problem before, yet there *is* a first time for everything, right? Oh well, it's not that big of a deal right now. I have no knitting deadlines and no birthday presents to knit.

If you happen see my knitting mojo wandering around out there somewhere, please send it's lazy ass home. I miss it.

Second Mystery, or, May 1st came Early

So, I guess I'll come right out and say what the second Mystery Project was/is. I was test knitting again!


The pattern I was test knitting this time is Nebula (Rav link). We test knitters were originally given May 1st as it's release date, but we were just told that Nebula was a pattern for the Loopy Ewe Spring Fling! Cookie A mentioned that she'll be getting this pattern available online in May. While I don't have both socks completed as of now, I do have the Right sock finished and I'm a couple inches into the Left sock. This pattern is a lot of fun to knit, but it made me VERY, VERY happy that I know how to cable without a cable needle.

I have another mystery....

...however, this one I'll be able to tell you about on May 1st. If you LOVE knitting socks, I promise, you are going to LOVE this :) What I can go ahead and tell you about? Well, I can tell you about the yarn I choose to use for it. A few months ago, I bought some Dragon Feet yarn from Cables & Lace in the Goth Girl Violet colorway, and OMG I fucking LOVE it. It is *the* perfect shade of purple for me, and the silk content adds that sheen I love and drool worthy softness. Yum yum yum yum yum :)

Mystery Finished!

The Mystery sample knitting project is FINISHED!!!! I still can't tell more about that project, but I had a lot of fun knitting it. I'll be shipping it off to the designer tomorrow (Monday).

Now I get to work on Vivian again. :) Plus, I'm planning on knitting a small case for my laptop. Any ideas or favorite pattern suggestions? Anything goes :D

Mystery Knitting

The mystery project has begun! I CO late Wednesday evening, and have knit until my fingers have begun feeling sore. I'm being careful and taking proper breaks so I continue making good progress on the project, but still giving my fingers the rest they need so they don't get painful. I am really enjoying the pattern. It's a fun knit that looks MUCH more complicated than it really is. The yarn....ooooohhhh....the yarn is very pretty, with beautiful stitch definition, and it feels like velvet sliding through my fingers.....yummmmmmm. I will definitely be buying some for myself soon. 

As for Vivian, I worked hard on it before I started the mystery project. I have the body of the sweater set aside and made it to about the half way point of the first sleeve before I had to put it away to concentrate on the mystery project. I'm looking forward to getting back to Vivian after the mystery project is finished.

Have you ever wanted to write something, but when it comes time to get it on paper (or the screen, in this case), you find that you can't translate it from thoughts into words? I've been experiencing that for a while now, it's quite frustrating. My brain has turned to mush...lol.

As far as knitting goes, I'm going to be starting a mystery project soon. So, while that's going on, there probably wont be many blog updates. As soon as I can get started on that, it will be my only project until it's finished, and I can't really blog about it. I'm going to be monogamous for a few weeks, what a novel notion for me...lol. When I can blog about it, you can bet your ass I will. I'm really excited about this project, and I can't wait until I can start on it.

Since my last blog update, I have finished the knitting for Egeblad. It still needs a good blocking (my favorite part of knitting lace), but it's still pretty. It's the size of a large doily, and I'm going to put it aside until my Mom's birthday and give it to her.

I have also been working on Vivian. I'm about 11 inches into it now and loving every stitch. I love the pattern and I am in love with the yarn I'm using. I'm using Cascade eco + and it's just YUMMY, and it has fantastic stitch definition, too. I am going to try to get as much of Vivian finished as I can before I start my mystery project.

I'm still alive!....lol

Sorry it's been over a month since I've updated my blog. I've been both busy and slacking off.

Since my last update, I finished my Leyburn socks. I love the way they turned out, but they have re-reinforced to me the fact that short row heels just don't fit me right. I've known this little bit of information for a while now, but every now and then I'll make another pair of socks with short row heels hoping that this time it'll be different. Eternal optimist. yeah. that's me.

Details on the socks. The pattern is : Leyburn Socks by MintyFresh. Yarn: I used BMFA STR lightweight in the color Socktopus. I'm pretty sure that color has been discontinued.

I've also cast-on some new projects. I've started Vivian with some mauve Cascade Eco +, and I've been working on Egeblad with some white size 10 crochet thread. I'm only about 5 inches into Vivian, and I am LOVING the cables. The pattern is not only beautiful, but is also very well written. Egeblad is perfect for a quick and easy lace project. I have about 5 rows left to knit, and it's looking great. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with Egeblad when it's finished, but I saw the pattern and just wanted to knit it. I might just put it in a box and wait and give it to my Mom for her birthday in October.

okay. Now back to the slacking off. :p

Staying warm

So far, it's been a rather snow & ice covered winter here in Ohio. The freezing temperatures have made me want to make some useful cold weather knits. So, that means that I have 2 new FO's to show off :) (Those of you who follow me on Plurk have already seen these.)


First up, we have a Birds Nest Smoke Ring. I had a lot of fun knitting this. The pattern is well written , it held my attention well, and was still simple enough to knit while watching movies. I used Knitpicks Essential Sock yarn in the color Lantana.




And here we have my new mittens. I fell in love with the Evangeline fingerless glove pattern, but I wanted mittens, so I added some length to the hand and decreased/BO similar to as I would for the toe of a sock. These worked up extremely quickly, I made this pair in 5 days. I don't know what yarn this is, I found it in my stash bin and it was missing it's label. It's worsted weight, though.

DH has started knitting again. He goes in spurts and only knits every now and then. He can't find the convertible mits he made for himself a few years ago, so He's cast on for another pair :) He keeps asking me to work on them for him because I'm a faster knitter than he is, and I almost feel guilty saying no. But then I remember the differences in our tension (I'm a tight knitter and he's an even tighter knitter) and feel less guilty about it. I also have the feeling of he is capable and can do it his own damn self ...lol.

Zombies are REAL!!!

Even to those of you who read this who are not knitters, this is entertaining shit. I am not very good at putting all this drama into the snarky words it deserves, so I will just link you to someone who does a *MUCH* better job than I could. Read: Snake Oil and Cybercide.

Anyway, since I'm not above naming names, and I think this shitfucker should be named, The Zombie is MommaMonkey/Monkey Toes. She's the designer who brought us several beautiful patterns such as the Belatrix, Fawkes, and Carolina Socks.

First Kisses

Shockingly, there is no knitting content in this post.

Earlier, I came upon a thread in LSG (Ravelry link)about first kisses. I posted about mine and then started thinking that it might make for an interesting blog post.

When I was 5 there was a boy in my kindergarten class named Jake, and I had the biggest crush on him. So, one day I decided I was going to kiss him. The next day, I sat next to him on the bus to school. After a few minutes of sitting there beside him, I just leaned over and quickly gave him a kiss on the lips. He looked shocked and we sat there not talking or looking at each other for the rest of the ride to school.

My first ZOMG-butterflies in the stomach-boyfriend kiss was in 8th grade. His Name was Ryan (Ryan the first, as I had a series of Ryans a few years later on). He was in 7th (but we were the same age), he was dumb but pretty (and the only boy I’ve ever dated who was shorter than me (which is an achievement as I'm only 5'2"). All the rest were at least 6 inches taller). He had dark brown hair and amazing blue eyes. (I was then and still am a complete sucker for pretty blue eyes, every single one of my past boyfriends and my DH have blue eyes.) He and I had been ‘going out’ for about 3 weeks, and one day after school as we were saying goodbye in the hallway, we got all sappy and romantic. We were staring into each others eyes and we kissed (I leaned in first). He’s the only boyfriend I've had that I still remember what his lips tasted like. A few weeks later I decided that even though he was fun to kiss, he was too stupid for me so I dumped him for a moody goth boy in my grade named Graham. Graham and I never ‘dated’ but we fooled around a lot and he introduced me to pot.

The stories about Jake and Ryan were what I posted in LSG. After I posted it though, I started thinking about all the boys I've dated, and about my first kiss with each of them. Out of all the boys, there's only one first kiss I can't remember, and of those that I can remember, there's only one first kiss that I didn't initiate (and I married that guy). So, tell me about your first kisses. I like reading those stories :)

Nope

I didn't finish that last pair of mittens before Christmas. In fact, they're still not done, and it's January 3rd. I think I *might* be burnt out on the mitten knitting for now. So, it looks like I will have to force myself to finish them.



However, Since Christmas I have been knitting. In the short time since Christmas, I've knit a Bubby Bear and a little cardigan for him. I'm not 100% sure of the yarn I used to knit Bubby with. It was a partial ball of yarn laying in my stash without any labels. I think, though, that it might be Knitpicks Swish Superwash worsted in Coast Grey. His Cardigan I knit with leftover sock yarn that I really don't remember what it is.




I also started a new pair of socks. The pattern is Leyburn Socks (Ravelry Link) by MintyFresh. The pattern is really simple and is working up pretty quickly. I CO this morning and already worked through the toe and 2 pattern repeats. The yarn I'm using is BMFA STR lightweight in Socktopus. I really love this yarn. It's soft, has a wonderful twist, the colors are beautiful and it's just yummy.