imagine me and you

This blog is a day late. I guess it balances the other one that was a day early. I wanted to post a true anniversary blog yesterday but my husband was running a virus scan that took all day. Apparently when I go to the ritzpix page I have to type everything in backwards thanks to some secret virus stuff. I had to write out everything and then type it in backwards. I really only use them because I can get a matte finish on them.
Enough said. I started, or shall I say restarted a sweater for my youngest child. I had started one for him but I had to pay far too much attention to the pattern for me to realisiticaly finish it in time for him to still wear it. So, I picked a different pattern that still requires a little focus but not not as much. Its from the Winter Vogue 2006/07. I've liked the sweater for years. Or maybe I've just like the hunky guy IN the sweater.
Ok, so, enough of hunky guys in sweaters that are not my husband. My fave picture is the one with us on the top of Mt. Tam and I have a red sweater and a hat on and I look like a 6th grader standing next to my husband. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Happy Anniversary

Tomorrow is me and hubby's anniversary. I've been promising him a sweater for 4 years now and I was able to finally make good on the promise. I broke down and gave him the sweater a few days early so he could wear it for Thanksgiving. The yarn is lion brandy chunky (I love my husband dearly but knowing how hard he is on clothes I couldn't bring myself to buy some really expensive misti alpaca to do a sweater for him). The colorway is spice and it looks really good on him.
The sweater is my own design (well, I used the little cable fabric pattern but the construction came from my own little head) and turtlegirl was a big help in giving me some last minute input on how to get my garter stitch edging from rolling. We decided it was NOT going to be too girly to put a row of crochet crab stitch on it and it looks GREAT! Thanks, Christi! I would actually add a link to Christi's blog but I'm just not that technologically suave. I can never link properly when knitwitch has her contests either.
The far away picture posted was at hubby's request since he wanted to get a picture that showed our "tree face" in it. If you look near the top of the tree, it has two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. We bought the face at a local craft festival a few months ago.
Perhaps tomorrow on our actual anniversary I will post some pictures of when we actually got married, back when I was skinny and cute and didn't look like jabba the hut. Do you know how hard it is to get a sweater to look good on jabba the hut? Speaking of that..... I have on needles (for Jabba the Hut) the country weekender sweater from fiber arts. Of course, I'm going to give it my own version with the little cable fabric instead of stockinette stitch and I'm going to add a row of cables in a complimentary variegated yarn in the place of the contrast yarn three needle bind off. I never can just leave well enough alone, ya know. I'm also considering knitting Strawberry Hill by Nora Gaughan. It looks kind of fun and might not look too terrible on Jabba when all is said and done.

long time, no blog

I don't have any pictures to post. I know, I'm a bad blogger. I did recently finish and send off a pair of yoga socks to a friend in Boston but didn't get to take pictures first because I couldn't find the friggin camera at the time. Perhaps she'll take some pictures of them on her feet when she gets them and then I can post those.
I finished an anniversary scrapbook for my husband and have it wrapped and hidden away for our anniversary on Saturday. I have his sweater pieced together. I just need to figure out how to sneakily sew in the ends and put on some edging without him knowing what I'm doing. That's going to be really hard to pull off since I'm working tomorrow and then he's off work and will be all up in my business the rest of the week. Maybe I can pull myself out of bed at 4am Thanksgiving morning and work on it.

Trick or treat smell my feet give me something good to eat

Halloween has come and gone. My kids went trick or treating on the golf cart (as is tradition in PTC) with my husband while I stayed home to pass out candy. The only trick or treaters we got were BEFORE my kids left to go out. Absolutely not a soul came by while I was at home with the cats and the dog. It did give me some knitting time, though, so I can't complain too much.
Jonah was a voting booth. There were slots on the top of his box so that you could "vote" for your favorite candidate. There was some stuffing of the ballots via candy and it appears that McCain is the favorite in PTC.
Nathan went as Heath Ledger's version of the Joker. I thought he looked pretty bitchin'.

I am the eggman

I just felt like saying that since that song has been running through my head nonstop for about 3 days.
The F.O. is a sweater for a friend at work that's having a baby. Its from the Nashua handknits book and done in Rowan summer tweed. It makes a very pretty sweater and is soft to the touch, but the yarn is just a bitch to work with. I have some leftover that I may make a matching hat with, but after that...me and rowan summer tweed are breaking up. I got a lot of smart-ass comments at work when I took it in to show it off. People were saying, "My 4 year old could wear that." I purposefully did not make a wee baby sweater. Babies wear them like twice and then they outgrow them. Also, everybody gives you all this cutesie stuff for your newborn but then when they got older, nobody gives you cute shit. So, I figured I would make this sweater so that her little girl could wear it when she got a little older. I did, however, also knit some socks and booties in Lorna's laces to fit a newborn, lest I be accused of not meeting her newborn needs. Geesh.
Also featured are some pictures of my boys' room that we just finished laying bamboo flooring in. My husband has been driving me bonker-shit about furniture arrangement and I am not in agreement with the layout of the room, but it seems that I've been vetoed. Also, the man has a thing about wire shelving. My stepdaughter has some wire shelving in her room with big plastic bins on them in leu of a proper dresser. So, please note that the wire shelves that my husband is using as a "room divider" in the picture are not of my design ideas. I watch way too much Clean House, Dress My Nest, etc. to try to pull that one off legitimately.

fallout day

http://knitwitchblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/knit-witchs-haloweenie-contest.html

The above is the url for a contest that Brittany from Knitwitch is having. If I actually had a clue how to paste the little picture and make a link, I would. But I'm stupid that way.

I had a really really really bad day at work yesterday. To make a very long story short the straw that broke the camel's back for me happened at about shift change and I ended up literally crying my contacts out. I was boohooing and when I settled down I realized that I couldn't see. So, Steven, bless his heart, had to bring me my glasses all the way from Peacthree City to Rockdale so I could see to drive home since I'm legally blind without corrective vision.
What a day. Damn.

Puss and boots

I've actually cranked out some knitting lately. I suppose I should have been working on some more painting of the boys' room but having all three kids by myself is worse than herding cats. Today I was trying to round up the children to go see a movie. I told them that once they were ready they needed to go get in the van. They couldn't understand why they had to go sit in the van once they were ready. I was thinking to myself, "If they were kittens I could just find one, put it in a big box and then go find another kitten and put it in the box and so forth and so on until I had all my kittens." *sigh*
Anyway, the picture is of the moc-a-soc pattern found on Ravelry and my own little hat pattern that I made for a pregnant co-worker. Its done in Patons Grace and some lightweight fuzzy yarn from Hobby Lobby that makes things sooo soft when you knit it with another yarn.
Also pictured is my cat TingTing with the booties. What she was doing with a copy of The Hobbit and some cotton balls, I have no idea and I'm just too afraid to ask.

before and after

Ok, the after shots came before the "before". Posted are pictures of my stepdaughter's newly redecorated room. She got some new paint, new bed, new bedspread and new flooring. Actually, the bed was my old bed back from when I was a single girl. My darling hubby installed the flooring all by his not-so-little self. Its bamboo so its eco-friendly and you know that makes me happy. We got rid of a crap-load of things that were in the pit of hell formerly known as her room. Neecy Nash would have had a field day but I don't think we did too bad ourselves. Mostly, my hubby and I took everything out of her room and put it in bins, no matter what it was. After we got her room done, she had a week to put the things up that she wanted to keep... after that the rest was going in the trash or for a yard sale (we have yet to have the yard sale since we have yet to have a weekend that we are all home at one time). I have to admit that I've succumbed to making her bed and doing some picking up. I just can't live with the thought of it looking like it did before so for now I guess I'll be the one keeping up after it. Apparently my mother-in-law never trained my husband in making one's bed upon rising so I guess she's just following suit. We stripped the carpet up in the boys' room and I painted the baseboards the other day. Maybe I'll get it painted in between soccer games this weekend. We'll see.

Saving the planet

Those who know me, know that I'm a "no-plastic-bags" person and always saying, "save the planet."
I found this website and have emailed it to my friends whose email addies I could remember off the top of my head.
For anybody else who might read my blog, but didn't get an email from me, please check out this:



Global warming is an urgent, but solvable problem. That’s why I’ve joined the We Campaign, a powerful nonpartisan movement of concerned citizens that was founded by Nobel Prize Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. We're already a million strong -- and growing each day.

Will you join, too? Visit this site to learn more and add your voice: http://www.wecansolveit.org/

new toy

So, Walmart had the ipod Nano 3rd generation on sale this weekend and I broke down and bought me a blue one. I've been kind of wanting one but have been trying to hold out until Christmas. With it on sale at a good price, though, I broke down. Now, I normally keep myself quite entertained with all my knitting toys. I'm not a techno geek at all. Its a wonder I can figure out how to get on here and blog. But I have to say that I have been having a blast with my new ipod since my son showed me how to work it. I made myself a playlist (I intend to make a few more). I've entitled it Stay Awake and it has some Nirvana and Faith No More and Pearl Jam in it and it is designed for me to listen to on the way to work in the mornings and keep me awake. The older I get, the harder that hour drive to work is at 5:30 in the a.m. I love it because I can go and buy a single song without having to go find and buy a whole album. I've even downloaded me some Psychadelic Furs, Modern English, and The Cure. I know, I'm showing my 80s roots but there was a little bit of cool music in amongst Culture Club and The Thompson Twins.
On another note, I'm battling some lingering upper respiratory infection. I've taken a z-pack and managed to get rid of the rainbow-snot spewing forth from my head, but I've still got a cough and a tickle thing going on deep inside my ear.... you know, the one where you have to swallow and swallow to try to scratch it. I told my husband that it feels like tiny furry kittens are running around my eustachian tube. Meow. I just hope that the tiny kittens don't start using my ear as a litter box.

babies, babies, babies

Seems like everybody at work is having a baby. Geez. I've got some socks and a hat completed (cat bordhi sky socks and a cabled hat from a pattern on ravelry). I'm working on sock number two of another set and have one sock done on a third pair. In addition to all this, I've got the front and back of my hubby's anniversary sweater done and am waiting on him to get home so I can double check sleeve length. I've also got a sweater for my youngest son on needles right now and have the front of a toddler sweater that I'm designing finished.
Dang..... Just reading that made me tired.
On top of all that, we're redoing our upstairs flooring and repainting bedrooms. We're laying bamboo flooring because its pretty AND its eco friendly. So far, we've gotten my stepdaughter's bedroom repainted and my hubby had started on the floor before he had to go out of town. He'll be back late tonight and will resume flooring next weekend.
TingTing has become addicted to kitty treats and she will follow you around meowing like the friggin house is on fire or like one of the kids has fallen into a deep well somewhere until you give her some treats. The dog has decided that he also likes these treats (even though he has his own) and I had to purchase a dog-proof container for the kitty treats.
Posted are some pictures of TingTing and Zooey being snuggle kittens and TingTing getting her daily workout to work off those kitty treats!

My own Mr. Tumnus

I finished the 'my so called scarf'. Its been a project reserved for doctor's offices and short drives in the car so I didn't feel any pressing need to hurry up and get it finished. Its done in Lorna's laces bulky in Tuscany. As you can see, Steven is the recipient of the project. I think he has a certain "Mr Tumnus" about him with his scarf on. Personally, I think Mr. Tumnus aka James McAvoy is pretty hot. So, its a win/win situation. Steven gets a scarf and I get to fantasize about hot Narnia characters.
I'm still working on Steven's sweater and have a sweater for Nathan on needles. Not much to show on the latter so I'll wait until its got a bit more to it.

close call

Right after I finished my Williamsro sweater, I started in on making a sweater of my own design (with the help of sweater wizard) for my hubby. I had bought the yarn a while back after much deliberation. I chose Lion Brand chunky in spice. My hubby looks very good in that spicy-orangy color. I waited until I finished the Williamsro until I got going on the hubby's sweater. I finished the back last week and started on the front while I still had my sweater-knitting mojo. I got about 19 rows done and realized that the shade of spice that I was using for the front did not match the back. Of course, my hubby couldn't tell the difference, but I could and I knew I couldn't live with the difference in the shades. I had two skeins in the darker spice colorway and the rest were what I knit the back with. I guess I didn't realize I had two shades when I was stockpiling the yarn into my basket.
So, today I loaded up myself, my crutches, and my stepdaughter as my minion into the car and we headed to Fayetteville to search for yarn that might possibly match the back of the sweater. there was absolutely no Lion Brand chunky at our local Michael's but we did manage to find 4 more skeins that would work between Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's. *whew*. I was like seriously stressing over that. Now I can sleep at night once again.
My horrible picture taking does not do the colorway or the pattern definition justice. We all know I can't take pictures worth crap.

new blog on Monday

Time to move on with a new blog. As much as I love my hubby and am glad he was born, its time to end the birthday tribute and move on to knitting.
I've got enough projects going right now to make my head spin and I'm trying not to turn into Linda Blair because of it. I have 3 different pairs of socks on needles right now. One of them is just outright boring, one of them is pleasant but for some reason just isn't bonding with me right now and one is of my own design and is toe-up so it takes a great deal of energy and uninterruptedness to work on those. For no-brainer knitting in the car I am working on my-so-called-scarf. I also have a sweater for Steven of my own design, a sweater for me from an old creative knitting that I've been jonesing to knit for like 2 years now, and I've taken up a new sweater pattern (for me) from the latest Knitscene (the ahlstrom bodice sweater). The latter of these is a little tricky and I took it down to two yarns since I was getting ridiculously tangled. The pattern isn't that difficult but for some reason my brain can't wrap itself around how this all comes together to be a sweater. So I'd say that right now that project is the source of most of my frustration. Why I do this to myself I'll never know.
I manage to reorganize my downstairs stash of yarn (yes, there is an upstairs closet-full stash as well. Its just that the downstairs stash was taking over the living room like a bunch of tribbles and I was afraid that DH would finally lose his mind if I didn't do something soon). I also took my sons to the library. Our local quilting guild had many beautiful quilts hung all over the place. There was even one up for a raffle (of which I bought a ticket). One in particular that caught my eye was a dreamcatcher quilt. My pictures do not even come close to doing it justice. I wish I could remember the name of the lady who quilted it, but it escapes me at the moment.

Happy Birthday!

Today is the big 5-0 for my hubby. He's a sweet, handsome, supportive hubby who never says anything when we are just about covered in yarn.
A very happy birthday to my sweetie! And take a look at that baby face!!!!