Starting a new week!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day or celebrated with your mom. I had a nice morning yesterday. We had a breakfast for my mom, grandmother and sister. We had about 13 family members over. It was a nice time. The weather was gorgeous. I wish I had some beautiful pictures to show but there never is time to take pictures of the food, family, etc. I was too busy in the kitchen to even think about it. I did however take a few pictures of the table and flowers the night before because I know it never works out for the photo thing the next day. Too too much going on.

I probably should've ironed the table cloth but I don't think anyone else noticed or cared but me. I didn't lay out the flatware or napkins until the next morning because I knew it would be difficult enough to keep the 2-year old away from the table. Even in the morning she decided to run off with a few of the utensils. They were quickly recovered though.

Saturday was a busy day at our house for my hubby. He spent most of the day working with our neighbor putting up 11 sections of fence. It looks really great. I was informed by hubby this would be my mother's day gift. Well yay! Now our dog won't wander into our neighbor's backyard and I don't have to worry about the two little ones escaping through the fence or finding rusted nails with their bare feet attached to a fence pickets.

In the mail on Saturday I received a package from The Magnolia Society Yarn Club by Madeline Tosh. It's quite a lovely skein of yarn and I look forward to receiving more in the future!

I have a feeling that these will be another pair of socks. :) Hmmm. Guess I better start looking at more socks patterns and figure out who's stinking feet will be wearing them.

A couple of posts behind.

I wanted to post to my blog every two weeks but I have already failed. :) It's been a busy couple of months but really no excuse for not posting here. All I can do is try to do better.

I've been busy knitting on my sock. Yes it is still a sock not a pair quite yet. Here's a photo of the progress.



I'm doing a diagonal type thing for the cuff. I still have a ways to go on it but eventually it will be completed.

I've been busy doing some sewing. My niece's birthday is coming soon and my sister wants her to have a pettiskirt. So I've been busy working on it. The first one I made was for my eldest daughter. I wanted to make sure I didn't have any problems with it. This is what it looks like.



I'll be making two or three more of these (maybe more). I've got a silver, turquoise, purple and pink ones ready to be made. I just have to do the tedious task of cutting all the tulle and satin. OH FUN! :)

Today, I spent the day making 60 something cupcakes for the Father/Daughter Dance that hubby and Frey went to tonight. They have another dance they will be attending on Sunday as well. I was in too big of a rush trying to get all their stuff together to take to the dance that I forgot to take their photo. Hopefully some pictures of cupcakes will do.



Miss V checking out the cupcakes. They were moved just in time.



Ahhh, I love cupcakes. I'm glad I don't have any left at the house.

Last but not least, I would love to recommend the purchase of a Magic Bullet. It is a blender type contraption. It works great! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo much better than any blender I have ever owned. I bought it last night to grind my coffee beans. But I've made margaritas two nights in a row. Last night I made regular margaritas. Tonight I made strawberry margaritas (fresh strawberries of course). They were delicious. This morning after I ground my coffee beans. I made my cup of coffee. Then frothed milk in the Magic Bullet. I put the milk in the microwave for 45 seconds. I poured the milk in the coffee with some french vanilla and sugar. OMG! It was the best Latte that I've made in my home. Anyway, the user's manual had a ton of other crazy recipes like muffin batters, drinks, etc. So I'll be busy experimenting with it. Come on over and I'll make you a delicious beverage either alcoholic or non-alcoholic. ;)

After I do some quick swatching, I'll be off to bed to prepare myself for Hat Attack! Wish me luck. I think I'm toast.

It's hard to be patient

At least it is for me. :) I'm the type that can't wait to give someone the perfect gift and give it to them early if my patience wears thin. I have to open boxes when they arrive from UPS/FEDex/USPS. They can't wait. It doesn't matter what it is, it doesn't have to be for me. So it should come as no surprise that I couldn't wait to use some yarn I received at Christmas from my sister. It's a hand-painted yarn from Noelle's Noodles. I really wasn't expecting to receive any yarn for Christmas. Therefore I wasn't prepared with needles and a proper pattern ready to go for the yarn.

One of the wonderful women from the knitting group was placing an order with knitpicks so I placed an ordered for a set of needles to use to make my first pair of socks. So I've been waiting and waiting. I think it's been a whole week or so now. LOL! It's been a little longer than that, I'm not that bad. Knitpicks isn't really known for their speedy shipping but they do have excellent yarn, needles and other accessories. Anyway, it should come as no surprise that I had to find something to do with the yarn just sitting there waiting for needles. So this is what I decided to do with it last night. It doesn't require a lot of yarn and keeps my hands busy.



Tee Tiny Raglan Sweater Ornament
You can get the free pattern here
Noelle's Noodles Superwash Merino
Size US1 dpns

I have also started making my oldest daughter a pair of Fetching fingerless gloves. She had requested some shortly after I made the ones for our mail lady. I let my daughter pick out the yarn at Joann's I tried to steer her towards some wool yarns but she wanted the darn acrylics. Yes I said acrylic. So that's what I started knitting. Then a couple of days ago, I was reading the Yarn Harlot. She had a big ol' lengthy post about the benefits of wool over acrylic. It seriously made me feel like a bad parent for letting my daughter buy acrylic yarn. Not only that but had me freaking about all the afghans and baby blankets my grandmother had crocheted over the years with acrylic yarn of course. ;)



Fetching by Cheryl Niamath
Pattern can be found here
I don't remember the name of the acrylic yarn. It knit up fine not my fav.
US4 dpns

I really wish we had a decent yarn store close by with hours for (not) normal people. I know the vast majority are independently owned but the hours of 10am-5pm don't work for me. Then Saturday comes and we have about 20 million things to do and the very last thing on the list is to visit a yarn store. Unfortunately for me if you read my previous post, I don't have a decent LYS near me that I'm willing to give money to. Most are 15-50 miles away and with gas prices they way they are it's not feasible to drive in an SUV to visit these stores. So if I do get yarn from someplace it's usually online and that's not very often. If someone would only buy the lys so I can have a great place to shop that would be wonderful and would solve my lack of patience and give me some instant gratification. It would also save me from buying acrylic yarn.

Talk around town

The talk in my local knitting community is about the unexpected announcement of the LYS (local yarn store) being put up for sale. If you listened carefully you could hear the roar of hallelujahs and applause. We are all anxiously waiting to see who will be the lucky buyer and if it will be someone that we want to spend hard-earned money with.

So I thought, HEY! I don't have anything else better to do than post my thoughts about it. Please understand these are my thoughts and they aren't entirely nice or polite but they are truthful. So if you are seriously considering purchasing this store listen up because I have some tips for you. It won't be hard for you to get knitters to come back to shop there unless you are just like the previous owner or you are the previous owner.

1. Have her clear out the inventory of all the old crap prior to buying. More is only more it's not necessarily good or better. Buy a variety of colors of beautiful yarns and not only colors or brands you consider good.

2. Please no animals in the store. The first time I visited there it stank and I attribute that stink to the dog that was running around. I understand that there is a lot of animal based material but please we don't need a petting zoo associated with the materials. I love my dog but she stays at home.

3. Please no rules posted prior to entering the store unless the only rule is to smile. If you are afraid of people stealing yarn or other materials from you, invest in a security camera system or a security guard. Most knitters do not like to be hassled while they are trying to shop and spend money in YOUR store. And no they don't want to hear about the latest tricks your animals do or the names of your new rabbits.

4. Offer classes people want to take. I'm sure her classes were great and all BUT the baby surprise sweater has been around for awhile. She told me about it like WOW have you seen this? Uh, yeah duh! How about finding a new pattern designer or other knitting teacher to come and talk about a book and teach a class? You can actually make some money doing that. NOT a ton but you'll probably have repeat business if you follow all the suggestions given here.

5. I know it's number 5 but it's really important. BE NICE and have great customer service. Don't bad talk other customers in front of customers in your store or on the phone. Don't belittle your employees. Empower your employees to give your customers great service and help them at any opportunity.

6. Get rid of all the skanky furniture that came from a garage sale including the sad looking sectional and the old worn out "toy" section. If you want to have a child friendly area, invest in a great area for kids to sit and spend their time. Also not placing the child section at the front of the store near the door would be great too. Parents tend to like to make sure their children are safe. Keep the toys clean and safe.

7. Invest in some great shelving. I know someone got a kick ass awesome deal at the dollar store on those stacking bins. If your plans include charging full price for skeins of yarn, don't throw them in a bargain bin. It was sad to see beautiful beautiful cashmere skeins tossed in a sad circus colored bin with a full price to go along with them.

8. Look into moving to a better location. I love going to Tuesday Morning as much as the next person. I have gone to that shopping center for MANY MANY years but that doesn't mean that it's convenient or a nice shopping strip. Make it a little more upscale and move to a better area. Customize the area to fit your needs as a new Yarn Store owner with style. (this doesn't necessarily need to be done right away but it does need to be done!)

9. Did I mention be nice? I can't believe how many knitters I've spoken to with just as bad experiences as me in the LYS. Bad word of mouth = bad business.

10. Have fun and be happy because life is way too short not to. That's why hardly anyone shops at the lys because it sucks the life out of you when you walk through the door. Knitting is supposed to be fun and enjoyable.

I think that's all for now. :)

Happy New Year!

I thought I'd freak out my hubby by making another post! WoW! Awesome. What do you think Rob? Are you impressed?

We had a great time last night. We had friends and family over for New Year's Eve. I think everyone had a nice time. We played some Guitar Hero, had dinner, had drinks and great company.

It's so much easier for me to read blogs than it is for me to express anything interesting in mine. LOL! The blogs I have been reading are discussing plans for the new year. A topic that has been at the very front of my mind. I look forward to the new year and all it's newness. I hope that it will be a great year for all and hopefully one of peace in the world. I can dream anyway.

My life plans are to get healthier by exercising and eating right. I think the eating right part will be the more difficult of those two. I need to start meal planning and having things done before everyone is starving to death waiting for a meal to be ready.

I would also like to simplify things in my life and get organized. My dream would be to have an art studio for all my various pursuits. Maybe we'll clear the garage or maybe I'll start renting a warehouse space. I dunno just more dreaming I guess. My mom bought a kiln for us (my mother and I) to start glass fusing and I plan on taking a class in a couple of weeks on the subject. We've got to figure out a location for the kiln and all the other supplies associated with it.

One of my knitting goals this year is to start knitting socks. An order has been placed for some appropriately sized needles. The very lovely ladies in the knitting group I attend will be assisting in this pursuit. I have a couple of skeins of sock yarn to begin on. I just need to figure out a good beginner pattern. Any suggestions?

I would also like to start knitting a Christmas gift each month and store it away till December. It's amazing how fast December sneaks up even when you are anticipating it. I felt very rushed to get things done and as crazy as the holidays are, it was just difficult. I heard someone talking about a group (I believe on Ravelry) that is doing this. I think it's brilliant and probably the only way I'll get everything that I have in my head that I want to do done.

My mom's birthday is coming up in March and I'm determined to finish a shawl for her. I started the Swallowtail Shawl for her but keep running into issues (drop stitches, or forgetting a YO and I have a hard time reading my work) and end up ripping it all out only to start it again. So I should probably get started on it AGAIN!

Well those are only a few of the many life and knitting plans for this year. I would write more but I think I've covered the important stuff. :) I wish you all a very Happy New Year of knitting!

I just finished my New Year's cards (they were supposed to be Christmas). I pick up photos for them tomorrow and hopefully they will be in the mail by Thursday at the latest! WOO-hoo!

Are you glad Christmas craziness is over?

Well I thought I'd go ahead and post something since it's been another million years since my last one. I thought I'd show some of the items that I made for Christmas gifts.

Here they are...


This first one is for our mail lady Shawn. She does an awesome job every year for us and is such a nice person. I hope these will help keep her wrists and a good part of her hands warm while she is delivering mail each day. She's also getting a bottle of Champagne and some votive and candles. The pattern is Fetching by Cheryl Niamath. The yarn is Debbie Mumm's Traditions. I didn't really care for the yarn it was a little too squirrely and high maintenance for me. I hope that it will wash and wear well for Shawn. I would hate to stop getting my mail.

Here is a photo of my mom's purse I made prior to felting it. I forgot to take a finished photo but it is most definitely finished and happily being used by my mom. I'd like to sew in a lining and do some other things to it but I think my mom is enjoying using it. She chose the color. It wasn't my choice. The pattern is Winter Berries by Noni. The patterns are very easy to follow and the purses knit up fairly quickly. I used Cascade 220 double stranded. I ended up using 6 skeins.

Here is Amanda's ruffly scarf prior to felting it. I again forgot to take a finished photo of it. I wasn't as thrilled with the way it turned out. I was hoping for a little more ruffle and sass. I'll have to make sure there is more gathers in the scarf if I ever attempt this again. I left the burgundy part unruffled so that it would be easier to wear but after it came out, I think it it would've been fine with a ruffle. Amanda seemed to like it well or else she was just trying to make me feel better about it. :) This is my "pattern". I use that word loosely since it wasn't a pattern, I just cast on and knit knit knit, purl, purl, purl until you get an extremely long piece of stockinette. The yarn is a Navajo Wool that I purchase from Jennings Street Yarn in FTW.

I made 4 work aprons for my mother-in-law. She was needing some new ones since she had worn out the other 2 that she had. She began stapling the finishing trim to the main apron so it was more than time for some new ones. I think I'll end up making another one or two aprons in addition to these four and possibly repair the two that she gave to work a pattern from.

Ok here is the final thing. I gave my hubby's cousin an engagement session before Christmas. She and her fiance have been together for two years and hadn't had any formal photos taken. I surprised her on Christmas day with this framed & matted photo along with some 4x6 proofs. I gave her mom & dad (Rob's aunt & uncle) a 5x5 print in a matted frame.

So there it is a finished blog post by me! WOW! That didn't take long maybe I'll actually try to do it more often. Oh hell, let's make a New Year's Resolution to make a blog post at least once every two weeks. I would say once a week but let's be real people, I haven't been able to post more than once every 6 months or so. I think bi-weekly may just work and if not I can always fall back on once a month. I think I can I think I can I think I can.......

Bag o' Crap

I was working on the pinwheel sweater last night and ran into a little problem. I don't understand what the hell the pattern is telling me to do. It makes no sense to me. It's quite frustrating since this is the first time I've had an issue with a written pattern. I know it can't be that difficult and I don't understand why I'm not grasping the concept. I know how to do a provisional cast on but the directions of the pattern in my opinion are not good. I love the design. I guess you get what you pay for on free patterns. Here is the part that is giving me fits, the pattern says:

knit the first set of 18 stitches and the yo from the round before, place
the second set of 18 stitches on a holder, join a new ball of yarn and cast on
18 stitches using a provisional cast on - see below for provisional cast on
instructions (this will be the sleeve later),

Provisional cast on:Using a crochet hook, a knitting needle, and a
contrasting colour yarn, make a slip knot.Put the crochet hook through the slip
knot and hold in front of needle.Bring yarn around the needle, from left over
top of needle behind the needle then over the hook and make a stitch (the yarn
around the needle is the stitch).Repeat this until 18 stitches on the
needle.Slip these stitches onto the stitch holder.These stitches will become the
stitches for the other half of the armhole when needed.

Yes I knit the first 18 stitches. (Am I supposed to create a yo?) I put the second set of 18 stitches on a holder. I created a provisional cast on with a contrasting yarn. What am I supposed to do with the provisional cast on? It says to join yarn. What yarn? the contrasting yarn? the original yarn? Am I supposed to knit stitches on the provisional cast on or just slip them like the pattern suggests? I did a search and others have had issues with this particular part of the pattern. One blog went and gave her work around. I think I'm so frustrated I'm having a hard time figure out her work around. Right now I think I'll put it away until my blood pressure goes. LOL!

In other news, Woot.com was having a woot off. My mom was kind enough to give me a call to let me know. I was so close to getting a bag of crap. I had it in my cart and everything. Unfortunately, I had to create an acct since it was my first time buying from them and their servers crashed. SUCK-0! I really wanted a bag o'crap. Like I don't have enough bags of crap around here. I told Rob I should start my own bag of crap. I would just go around the house and fill the bag with random stuff and mail it off. Rob suggested our site could be toot.com. I don't think we'll actually do it though. :)

We had a butter incident today. I heard my niece wake up from her nap and went to get her. In the time I was gone, Miss V managed to grab a small bowl of butter that Rob put on the counter today. She quickly (had to be quickly since I was gone maybe 1-2 minutes at the most) ate and spread the butter all over the slipcover of the sofa. The sofa is slipcovered for a reason. It has seen it's better days and has been abused by too many other children. I have washed the slipcover and can only hope that all the butter stains are out of it.


We had parent's night at school tonight to find out all the fun things that our dd will be looking forward to learning and experiencing in her first grade class. I really like her teacher and think dd is in for a great year. I'm very thankful that Oma came over tonight to take care of the girls while we were gone.


And finally our a/c is leaking. We were hoping our temporary fix of the condenser unit would last till the fall but it does't seem to be the case. We are looking at having to shell out quite a chunk of change to get it all changed out. Please keep us in your thought. I think a part-time job is in my future.