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!!!!