last day of the year

My phone rang this morning at 0445. It was work. The charge nurse said that we had too many people scheduled and nobody wanted to take call and did I want to? I practically screamed "Yes!". Hubby and I just got back from our week long alone camping trip last night I was glad to have the day off to settle in, unpack, and just hang out around the house. We went to Hot Springs, NC. Its about an hour north of Asheville. We hung out, made fires, watched movies, went hiking, took a couple of trips into Asheville (and you KNOW I checked out the two yarn stores they have there and scored me some yarn!) and had some conjugal activities. We picked up all our kids on the way home in addition to picking up my neice from my ex mother-in-law's house and taking her home as well. Nemo was glad to be home to play with his kitties and TingTing isn't even mad at me. I finished one of a pair of toe-up socks on circular needles that I did while we were camping. Surprisingly, I didn't do the mass of knitting I was expecting to, but I did finish a book (The Memory Keeper's Daughter) and am over halfway through The Subtle Knife that my kids got me for Christmas. So, I've got some pictures to post. Let's see, there's our camper, the picture of across the river to the Appalachian trail (which you could see from our campsite), Steven, Nemo, our little fire ring, my red dwarf toe up sock, TingTing when I woke her up, and Zoe the Princess of Graynosia looking very annoyed.
Happy New Year to everyone. Have a good time and be safe and don't let your dog drink your blueberry martini!

Today is our solstice celebration (aka our Christmas celebration). The kids got nintendo ds lites and as you can see they were all camped out in the living room engrossed in playing. Also featured is my stepdaughter in the calorimetry I made for her out of patons grace and some hobby lobby yarn. Nathan is posing in his patriotic peace shirt. Also is my mother-in-law in her finished button shawl done in filatura di crosa sesamo. Hope everybody has a wonderful solstice! NAMASTE

twas the night before solstice

Twas the night before solstice..... or at least it is in our house. I finally got all the presents wrapped and they are under the tree to tantalize the youngsters. Instead of making them from "santa" or "mom" or "dad" I made them from "harry potter", "lucy pevensie", "ashely tidsdale", etc. They each have one from Albus Dumbledore that contains a clue to where there present is hidden. (The presents were to big to wrap so I came up with a sort of treasure hunt.) When they find the next clue, they have to do a crossword type thing to find out where the present actually is. Between my Christmas songs and coming up with this, I need to seek professional help.
I took Nathan to Knitch yesterday to spend his birthday gift card. They were so nice to him and so helpful.... especially Nell. She even let him wind his own yarn... and mine! She was so patient with him with all his questions. He walked out of there with some new yarn and some dpns. I, on the other hand bought some blue sky alpaca and some Rowan calmer.
Maybe tomorrow I'll have some pictures for posting..... after our little family solstice/present celebration.

off 'til New Year's

I survived a 12 hour shift at work yesterday. A coworker came in a little early so that I could bust my tail and make it to my son's chorus concert in time. But now I am off until New Year's eve. Yaaaay! We're doing our family celebration on the 22nd (solstice) and then Steven and I are going out of town for some alone time, camping in NC. Nothing but reading, sleeping, knitting, and conjugal activities.
I made a trip down to Knitch the day before yesterday. I was going for some addi turbos and the new Noro sock yarn, but the manos del uruguay called to me as it was fluffily hung over the railing as you go upstairs. A particular colorway caught my eye (autumn) and before you know it I was asking Stephanie to wind two skeins for me. I'm not real sure what I'm going to do with this yarn, mind you. I thought about some socks, but being that washing and caring for Steven's anniversary socks (done in malabrigo) are kind of a pain in the ass to deal with, albeit very beautiful, I don't know that I want to hand wash socks all the time. Nathan's (who just turned 10 yesterday.... happy birthday Nathan!) hat is done partly in manos and looks great, but I'm not personally a hat person (yes, this yarn is for me. Its my Christmas present to myself.... along with they barefoot yarn I ordered to make the gloves out the Interweave Knits holiday edition and the wick yarn I ordered to make myself some socks with.)
Today I get to wrap the rest of the Christmas presents. I need to sew a button on the caliometry (or however you spell it) that I decided to give my stepdaughter. I also need to do some cleaning, but I'm hoping to get some knitting in as well. I started over with a new pattern for Nathan's sock so maybe I'll work on that. I also have a sweater for Steven that's been hibernating while I finish all these other projects so if I feel real ambitious perhaps I'll dig it out as well.

a little tune

Over the weekend, I came up with a plethora of little tunes to pertain to nursing that are sung to the music of popular Christmas tunes. It had started to become an obsession with me. Then, as I was driving today, I came up with a little ditty for all of us knitters out there. It is to be sung to the tune of Carol of the Bells. Hope you enjoy.
Knit one more inch
don't whine
and bitch
yes, this is wool
likely to itch
do a knit row
now do a purl
slip the edge stitch
or it will curl
Oh no, I'll have to frog this
I'll have to frog this
And there's no time that's left
Got to find another Christmas present
Got to find another Christmas present

Hey, where's that hat?
I'll finish that
Where is my yarn?
Can't find it, darn.
My needles's lost
What will it cost
I need it now
Time won't allow
What ever was I thinking?
I was drinking
Now I'm left in a bind
Got to find another Christmas present
Got to find another Christmas present

kittens love shawls

Oh, who am I kidding? Kittens love yarn. Period. I finally weaved in all the ends and sewed on the buttons to the shawl I am giving my mother in law for Christmas. There is a buttonhold on the other side so that the shawl can be fastened and adjusted to the discerning taste of the wearer. When I spread the shawl out on the floor, my cat Zoe felt compelled to pose with the shawl. I believe she was under the impression that I was taking pictures of her and that the shawl was just a background to bring out her loveliness. The yarn is done in Trendsetter's sesamo and its really a lovely yarn even though you cannot tell it from the pictures. Remember, Amy (www.finerskeinsinlife.blogspot.com) is the photographer, not me. She is, however, not much of a blogger. We love her anyway.
I'm attempting to have a bit of a low-key day. I work the weekend and my hat-wearing son has his piano recital tonight. When I went to pick him up from his father's house yesterday, my ex-husband's wife decided to verbally attack me about a bug she has up her butt in front of my children. I told her that I did not want to discuss things in front of the kids, but she persisted, and my humanness got the best of me after a bit and I had a few words to say to her as well. This just provoked her rage even more and at one point she was literally in my face, her nose touching mine, screaming at me call me everything but a child of God. Needless to say, it was a rather exhausting experience that gave me a headache from out of this world and managed to raise my bp to an unhealthy level. I did not get much sleep last night due to the headache, despite the percocet, so I'm rather tired today. I think that after a nice warm bath I'm going to retire to the couch with some dpns and some chick flick until its time to go to Nathan's recital. If you read in the paper tomorrow that a south Atlanta woman was stabbed to death with her own knitting needles, it will most likely be me as the victim from yet another tyrade.

guarding the tree

This is my beloved Ting Ting guarding the Christmas tree. She takes her job very seriously, that is when she's not sprawled out on her back, laying on the futon in the meditation room. I guess that after a day of stressful tree-guarding, she needs to go do some zen meditation.
I finished one of a pair of socks for my youngest son (the cap modeler). It didn't fit. Bugger. I had bastardized a couple of patterns to come up with what it was that he was wanting and it didn't turn out. It was a highly discouraging experience. It made me feel like my 12 years of knitting experience is little more than random acts of knitting. I mean, c'mon, after knitting for this long you would think I knit a sock to fit a kid, but Nooooooooooooo. so, its back to the drawing board on the socks. In the meantime, I'm frantickly trying to finish up some "fetching" gloves for Christmas presents and trying to maintain a normal blood pressure while doing so.

mad hatter

Finally, a post with pictures. I whipped this hat up and my youngest son, who turns 10 in a couple of weeks, claimed it for himself. I found the pattern on ravelry. The yarns used are manos del uruguay and lamb's pride worsted. The lamb's pride has a mock cable twist and the rest of the hat was done in a 2x2 rib.
Obviously, my picture skills do not rival Amy's (www.finerskeinsinlife.blogspot.com) but at least I have proof of an FO.
The hat actually worked up really quickly on some circular addi turbos.
Nathan is my only prodigy knitter kid. He's also a budding pianist! Classical music fills the house as he practices obsessively every moment he has a chance.
I've got a wrap that I'm working on in Trendsetter's sesamo for my mother-in-law for Christmas but I don't know if its going to get done in time or not. It has now reached the status of "bane of my existance" as some projects become as we try feverently to finish them and the never seem to get to the end.
Steven liked his anniversary socks and promptly put them on his feet.
I've been trying to do some online Christmas shopping this morning. We had virtually gotten NADA. I picked up a few small items the other day, but the major stuff has yet to be done.
Oh.... and in the holiday spirit of things, I've come up with a new random act of kindness...... random acts of bagging! Steven and I got groceries the other day and I was teasing him about his bagging skills (the checkout girl didn't have a bagger so he took it upon himself to bag our stuff). I told him he was so good at it that he should do it for the next person in line. He deferred the task to me, so in an effort to spread some positive energy into the universe, I bagged the man's groceries. I think the checkout lady and the man himself thought I was a little weird, but I think overall they appreciated the attempt at a good deed.

Happy Anniversary

Tomorrow I'll be giving the finished anniversary socks to my husband since its our anniversary. I went to take a picture of the FO, but I keep running across nothing but dead batteries.

So, happy anniversary to my hubby! I love you very much and wouldn't trade you for anything else in the world (not even Johnny Depp or Mark Ruffalo).
Reasons why I love my hubby:

He puts forth great effort to see the positive, beautiful things in people

He's very generous with friends and strangers alike, not just in a material way, but with his time as well.

He's very laid back and counterbalances my neuroses.

He's gentle and loving, but can be aggressive and chivalristic when the moment calls for it.

He believes in me.

He loves my cats

He doesn't yell at me when I mess up.

He tolerates the ever exploding mounds of yarn that seem to multiply.

He give the most awesome foot rubs on the planet.

We like the same movies and he'll even go see chick flicks with me...... and like them!

We like the same books and will read to me or let me read to him.

We like a lot of the same music and when we first started dating he went out and got an Indigo Girls Cd so I would have music to listen to when I came over to his house.

He's creative

He proudly wears the socks I make him.

He doesn't erase my many episodes of Knitty Gritty.

He takes care of me when I'm sick.

He walks the same spiritual path that I do.

I think he's cute.

I think he's sexy.

I like his voice.

I like his kisses.

And there's a lot more, but I'm afraid it would be x-rated!

the road to wellville

Its been a rather wicked three weeks. After months of pretty much daily headaches that seemed to subside with the help of excedrin migraine, I got a doozy of a headache that lasted about 2 weeks. The first doctor I went to proclaimed it to be migraines and sent me home with migraine medication...............all of which made my headache worse. After several calls to the office to tell them that the headaches weren't getting any better, the best they could come up with was scheduling me with a neurologist in a week. So, I jumped ship so to speak and went to a different family care provider who was not too pleased that the first practice had given me an Imitrex in the office and then promptly sent me on my way in my own personal vehicle. My BP was elevated and it had been, but the first doc was trying to say that the bp was up because of the headache. Now mind you, I've never been diagnosed with migraines before. The second doctor gave me some blood pressure medication in the office and then kept me there for 45 minutes closely monitoring my BP. Its been a week now and I've had an appointment with a neurologist and and MRI this morning but it looks like I've joined the ranks of the hypertensive.
I did accomplish some knitting during my illness. One can get some interesting knitting done when on percocet and fioricet. I don't have any pictures to post at the moment of these works done under the influence. But I am back among the living............................finally.

my favorite heel

This is a closeup of the heel of the anniversary socks for my husband. Its the slip 1, knit one then purl the next row then knit 1, slip 1 heel pattern. I was going to take a picture of the calorimetry I just finished (aside from weaving in the ends and placing the button) but the batteries appear to be dead in the camera. Oh well. I've been fooling with some yarn and some needles trying to get gauge to make fetching from knitty.com, but its just not happening. Dammit. I was trying to use a lavender patons grace with a moda dea held together. I even tried it on size 3 needles, but it was just looking way too big so I let it go for now. I've been having chronic headaches lately and after having to leave work early on Friday because of a headache that just wouldn't go away, I've finally gotten an appointment with a doctor tomorrow. I've never seen this doc before so I'm apprehensive about that, but she's the doc of my nurse manager and she seems to like her. I went to a doc last year for some other issues and did not care for him at all. Considering that I'm getting bitchier by the moment because my headache has not given me much of a repreive since last Wednesday I need to go see somebody about this.
So I am off to snuggle into bed with the anniversary socks and knit around and around and around in monotony. At least I won't have to do any knitting math that would further torture my head.

Sunday afternoon

I've finished one of my husband's anniversary socks (aside from weaving in the ends). I started on the other one last night. We (the kids and I, hubby is in D.C. right now) were watching Evan Almighty and I needed a knitting project that didn't require a lot of concentration. I had started on some fingerless gloves for my stepneice earlier in the day but I kept getting interrupted so I put them aside for a time when I'm alone.
Also, I've posted a picture of my son's mitten project that he has started. He's learning to do increases now. Isn't his progress great?! He said he wanted a gift card to Knitch for his birthday. At last a confirmation that he possesses some of my DNA!!!
The boys go back to their dad's this afternoon and if my stepdaughter gets her room cleaned up, she'll be going to a church thing with the neighbors then perhaps I will have some peace.

of shoes and ships and sealing wax

How can one resist reciting The Walrus and the Carpenter when working with Malabrigo sealing wax?
Today my husband and I had an appointment with our shaman as we do about once a month. Gotta check and make sure everything's okey dokey and that we are doing our best to do right by our own individual spiritual paths and each other's as well. Being that the shaman was the one who actually did our wedding ceremony, I think he has a bit more of a vested interest.
After our appointment I brought my crimson-wave-riding-ass back home, donned a depends, and my fave pair of stretchy jammy pants (sometimes we wear stretchy pants. Is for fun.), some dpns, and my husband's anniversary socks. I turned on the tube to watch some teevoe'd episodes of Knitty Gritty and got comfy.
I've also managed to print out two different copies of some knitting instructions I'm proofreading for Brittany and I'll cozy into the couch with highlighter, pencil, and reading glasses to read over it shortly.
So, this is where I am currently on the anniversary socks. I'm trying really hard to get these finished before casting on any more yarn on any more projects.
Oh. And for some reason, I am unable to find my Knitting Over the Edge book. I have looked high and low and cannot find the blasted thing. Dammit. Its driving me nuts. I might not know where a lot of my stuff is, but I know where my knitting books are, dammit. But this one is being elusive.

the knitch experience

It turned out to be not too bad of a "transition day" for me. I stopped to get gas and lo and behold, the gas station actually carried diet grapico. Its a rarity. So, obtaining a bottle of it was like gold to me. Then I drove up to Knitch and actually got a parking spot............ in the front. Go figure. They didn't have any more malabrigo sealing wax so I'm having to order some online. I don't think one skein is going to cut it for the anniversary socks.
I also got this really cool sock book while there. It is like the coolest sock book ever.
Its called Socks, Socks, Socks. I tried to copy and paste it , but it just didn't work out. There's a pair of leaf socks in it that I'm jonesing to try.
I do have to say that Knitch does have one employee there that I've just found to be a real friendly person. She acts annoyed if you ask her to do anything and she seemed really put out when I asked her to wind my 5 skeins of yarn that I bought today. Everybody else seems really nice, though.
http://www.amazon.com/Socks-Winning-Patterns-Knitters-Magazine/dp/0964639157

what to do with the malabrigo

I have finally comitted my malabrigo in sealing wax to an actual project. I decided to make some socks for my husband for our anniversary next month. Its a simple pattern that I found on knitty.com and should knit up fairly quickly, unlike my socks I am knitting for my son out of the
Cat Bordhi book. Its not that the socks are hard, per se, its just a different line of sock knitting that is making me think outside my little sock knitting world. I'm sure I'll pick it up and deal with it at some point today. Today is my "transition day". I get one day off after working 12 hour shifts during the weekend before I have to go back again. I usually like to make this day my "do as little as possible day" (aside from knitting of course) although Knitch just seems to be calling to me. I have some dpns I have to take back and I'll most likely need another skein of malabrigo for the socks. (The dpn return has to do with an order that I placed back in June that just now came in and that I had completely forgotten about until the yarn fairy showed up at my door. I've long since found the needles elsewhere and I can use more yarn more than another set of 1.5dpns.

there may be hope yet

This morning I got my drop spindle out and started messing around with it. I've watched video clips on how its supposed to be done, I've read things about how its supposed to be done and I just haven't been able to make it work. I have found this highly frustrating since I am a self taught knitter. I have learned everything I know about knitting from reading books and practice and trial and error. So, trying to work this drop spindle thing has just been irritating. This morning, however, I got it out and just started doing my own damn thing with it. Instead of worrying about spinning something clockwise or counterclockwise or upside down or whatever, I just played with the damn thing until I started catching on. I was having a big dickens of a time trying to add on more fiber, but quite by accident I figured it out. (I also had a big wad of new spun fiber added in a chunk on the strand since I was whirlying my spindle about while it was grabbing hold of the wad of alpaca roving I had in my other hand). My strand is still uneven and chunky, but I've managed to spin like at least a yard of it. So, maybe with some patience and diligence, and lots of practice roving, I can figure this thing out.

terrible tuesday

Or at least that's what we call it at work. For some reason, known only by cosmic forces, pregnant women feel compelled to give birth on Tuesdays. Add to this a mysterious force that causes ob/gyn's to schedule inductions and an inordinate amount of c-sections on Tuesdays. Further more, add on top of those two factors a nursing shortage and not enough nurses to take care of the droves of women who are attempting to bring forth life on Tuesdays. Thus........terrible Tuesdays. I, however, am not enjoying the challenges of terrible Tuesday today. Today I am working slowly, but dilligently on my glove, surfing Ravelry for more glove patterns, trying to learn how to knit a flat circle and design my own version of the circular shrug as is shown in the latest issue of Vogue Knitting, and doing some laundry. I keep playing with my one skein of Malabrigo that I bought last week, but have not yet committed it to a project. I'm thinking possible of a shrug (not the in-the-round shrug. I do have some designs on some Malabrigo for that but I was thinking of the brown and gold variegated with some other brown yarn I bought at Knitch and topping it off with this nifty off white eyelash yarn with flecks of gold in it that I bought from Hobby Lobby.) or maybe some more socks for the hubby guy. I made him some hugs and kisses socks out of some yummy bamboo yarn, but even though they look great, they're just not practical for wearing a lot. I'm waiting for the yarn fairy to come bring me a skein of specially ordered Malabrigo in an obscure dye lot to do some more gloves with. I know, I know, I seem to have a Malabrigo problem here. Perhaps Malabrigo would make a good name if I get another cat someday.
Oh. and I've also last night and today been surfing the net for a fan and feather sock pattern that is done from the cuff down and is cast on with something around the mid 50s range and not the 72ish range. If anybody can find such an animal, I would be grateful. My brain already hurts from trying to figure out the knitting a circle thing. I did figure it out after I bastardized it to my own liking. Everything I could find had you starting out knitting straight and then joining and working in the round. This results in having to work in a little flap like thing at the end to cover up the hole. Something about the flap thing wasn't working for me, so I f&*%$d with it until I got it to my satisfaction. I included a picture of the tortured sealing wax Malabrigo experiment.

I am not an animal

I have started a "real" glove, meaning one that actually has fingers to it and not the fingerless kind. I found a pattern online that is actually a fingerless pattern, but has the little individual stubby things for the fingers so I am doing my usual improvisation and finishing the fingers. I'm using artyarns. I think the colorway is called India. The pattern I am using has been really easy to use. Very direct and understandable and I highly recommend it for anybody interested in taking on some gloves for the first time. The cuff is a bit long so if I do it again, I'll leave off some cuff length. I know that the w.i.p. kind of looks like it would be more fitting for a deformed canine of some sort, but its actually coming together fairly easy. The thumb gussett was a breeze. For any interested party, this is the link.
http://www.interweave.com/knit/interweave_knits/pdf_files/fingerless_gloves.pdf
I used #3 needles since I have very small hands, but used all the numbers that it lists except for length of cuff.

i got it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got my ravelry invite today!!!!!!!!
Unfortunately, my head has been in the toilet most of the day and I am planning to retire to my bed in just a moment, so I'm not really up to playing right now.
But as soon as I get better...............................

an exercise in thumb gussets (aka when good knitters do dumb stuff)

My hubby just went off to fish with a buddy of his, my stepdaughter is at the neighbors, and my kids just left to go to their dad's. So, its me and my blog (and the 4 cats and one dog). I bought some malabrigo (sealing wax) at Knitch last week and was determined to make some gloves I saw online that were entitled "malabrigo gloves". I started them but wasn't too keen on how the thumb was happening so I did some online research about some gloves and found a cute fingerless glove pattern with a thumb gusset. Plus it has tiny twisty cables and I'm just a sucker for tiny twisty cables. I started the glove yesterday and worked in a row or two here and there among the tidying up of what will soon be our meditation room, helping kids with various projects, and doing laundry. I managed to complete the glove today while we were in the car. Its one of those fingerless gloves that has an open space for all the fingers, not one where there is a part knit for each finger. I figured I would tackle the concept of thumb gussets first and the move on to full fingered gloves. I did the glove in Patons SWS. I decided to save the malabrigo for when I figured out how to actually make this all work. Anyway, here are some pictures of the work in progress and the finished glove (without the ends weaved in). I messed up on my knitting math and the the two long lines of tiny twisty cables ended up being closer to the thumb gusset than they were supposed to be. It also ended up being a bit on the big side for me since I have hands the size of a 9 year old (no, really, I do. My 12 year old stepdaughter has bigger hand than me. Its like the only thing on me that is in proportion to my height. My rear end should be on somebody about 6'4 as well as other parts of me, but my hands and feet are tiny.)
Also, I made some more stitch markers and one is featured on one of the glove pictures.

works in progress

I've taken some pictures of a few of my works in progress (there's more, but it was just too frightening of a concept to go around taking pictures of ALL of them. I realize some of them are not knitting, but that's just the way it goes.
the blue and gray sock is actually for me. I'm doing it in flaming wave pattern from the Favorite Socks book. The orange and brown sock is for my son Jonah. Its the "sock-over" I'm doing since the other one didn't fit him. One of my coworkers had big fun frogging the ill-fitting sock at work yesterday. Jonah's sock is a pattern from Cat Bordhi's new book. There is a small taupe panel of my own doing that I plan on incorporating in a baby sweater that I hope to then go on to make a big person sweater (but since it IS my own doing I figured I'd do a baby sweater prototype first). The shawl is for my mother in law for Christmas. Its done in Trendsetter sesamo and that picture does not do the fabulous colors justice. Perhaps Amy can take a picture of it when its finished. I've also taken a picture of the kitty bling I made for TingTing and there is a goddess necklace which my stepdaughter and I (mostly I since she got bored with the project after the first set of 17 tiny sliver beads) made for her mother's birthday. We found the goddess pendant at a rock show and also found a loose opal (her mom's birthstone) to put in the circle that the goddess is holding. I then got some matte opal swarovski crystals and strugn them with some itty bitty tiny silver beads. I just finished it this morning so it will most likely be going in the mail tomorrow.
So, now that I have blogged, I'm taking my plethora of sock projects and heading back to bed with my motrin and my heating pad. I may even eat chocolate!!!

a blog before bed

Amy and I had a great time seeing The Yarn Harlot Wednesday night. We did, however, decided we were too tired to do The Varsity afterwards and pretty much came straight on home.
I took my boys to Knitch yesterday. Thus far, their yarn exposure has been limited to Michael's, JoAnn's, and Hobby Lobby. When I took them upstairs to see the cascade 220 and the malabrigo they were in culture shock. Both of my boys crochet and I am trying to convert them into knitters. They were also bummed that they didn't get to see Steph on Wednesday night. When I told them I was going to see a person who writes knitting humor, my youngest son said, "you mean like At Knits End for people who knit too much?" I was pretty stunned that my 9 year old had been paying that much attention to my knitting books lying around!
The field trip to Knitch provided a skein of malabrigo for each of them and my oldest son has gone felting mad. When he takes off to the bathroom (the kid scrubs the wool in the sink and then throws it in the dryer. don't knock it............ it works!) he calls it "The Felting Factory" and has let me know that he is there for all my felting needs. Perhaps there is a bit of entrepreneur in him there somewhere.
I've been working on some sock patterns lately and after knitting one whole sock in artyarns chocolate/orange for my oldest son, I came to find out that it barely fits him. So, I just cannot live with that and intend to frog the whole damn thing and am going to be brave and delve into some patterns from Cat Bordhi's latest sock book for a "sock-over".
My two hour drive to Taccoa today (to drop them off with their Nana) gave me plenty of thinking time and I've got an idea for a shrug pattern running around in my head......... and now, thanks to the boys, I'm itching to do it in........................... Malabrigo!
My sweet husband has been kind enough to cut me out some sock blockers from some wood (Ramone was kind enough to trace her sock blockers for me) and now I am in the process of painting them.
Anyway, here are some pictures of my works in progress............. note that they are done in Knitch colors!

bad bad me

I know, I know. I'm posting without pictures. I should be ashamed. And I haven't posted in over a week. Even worse!!!
So, today is when the yarn harlot comes to town. I'll be heading down the Va Highlands way a bit later. I'm looking for Brittany (aka knitwitch) and her hubby. I told my husband this feels like I'm going on a match.com date where I've been emailing with somebody for a while but haven't actually met them yet, but tonight I am. I've not even had a phone conversation with Brittany although from our emailings she seems very nice and my kind of knitting buddy! The last time I emailed with somebody and never actually talked to them until the day I met them.............. I married him! However, I'm not looking for romance this evening. Just wanting to hook up with my fellow knitters so we can take over the world! Ok, not really take over the world, but perhaps infuse a bit more peace and love and tolerance in the world through our knitting endeavors.
So, to my fellow harlot fans, I'll be seeing you tonight! Knit on!

the poor and the tired

I went to the Yellow Daisy festival today with my three youngsters in tow. My husband is currently working at the Rome film festival. Personally, I'm thinking there's a lot of knitting to be done when all you're doing all day is running Indie films for the eclectic of Rome. Anyway, after my recent trip on Friday to Knitch in which I had 15 minutes to get what I came for and get out before the restaurant across the street towed my car and my purchase at Kati Russel's booth, I am poor. And having spent the day in the heat I am tired. Therefore, I am both poor and tired. I can't say enough about Kati's paintings though. She's really the only vendor I gave a flip about seeing while I was there. Sure, I did check out some jewelry vendors' wares and feel fairly confident about my own beading and jewelry making skills, but it was Kati I went to see. I encourage anybody who likes abstract angel art or metaphysical art to check her out. My friend Zoie told me about her last year and I've gone to her website on occasion to look at her work. Her orginals up close and personal were amazing. http://www.katirussell.com/order.html
I apologize for no pictures today. I am loving my kaalund silk strands yarn that I bought on Friday and am using to make myself a pair of socks. Go figure. A pair of socks for myself. What a novel idea!!
Oh.... on another sock note......my husband took his hugs and kisses socks with him to the Rome film festival and informed me that he was wearing them today. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!

things to do in Atlanta when your depressed

For some reason, I started a new project with some yarn that I bought at Knitch to "play" with. I had only bought one skein and had to wait until the yarn spoke to me and told me what it was to be. So, the yarn spoke, and I cast on and did about 10 rows on a cast on of 95 when I realized that this was way too big. I know that frogging is in my future. Normally, I frog it with reckless abandon and knit until I get it at least as far as I did when I had to frog. Unfortunately though, its not been a stellar week for me as I have had issues with the father of my children (my ex, not my current wonderful hubby Steven) and I've just been a bit down in the dumps. I know I'm not supposed to give him my energy, blah, blah, blah, but sometimes we just have to realize we're going to have human emotions in this human experience of ours. So. Rather than frog the damn thing, I decided to do some beading. I needed the immediate gratification. I took a few pictures, but as I have said before, I am not the greatest at taking pictures. I'll post the pictures that turned out. They all have some swarovski crystals in them, although you can't tell it from the pictures. The necklace with the heart stone actually has pearl seed beads and brown and dark teal beads. In the pictures it keeps looking like red and turquoise beads.

a little blue, a little brown

I liked the look of this variegated yarn (Lion brand wool) and decided to make some socks out of it. For some reason I ended up making a pair of socks that would fit a two year old and managed to think up a two year old I know that I can give them to.
I like the blue and brown and green and it was easy to work with. I'm not sure how they would work on the practicality scale, though since this is the yarn thats pretty much made for felting.