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.

I got it!

I received my invite today for Ravelry! What perfect timing. Today we spent the large majority of the day at home after a early morning visit to IKEA. When we got back, I checked my email and it was waiting there for me. I put Miss V down for a nap (as it was nap time), Freya was busy playing in her room and on the computer and Rob was busy reading HP DH. That provided me with a little free time to check out Ravelry. I managed to get a few of my projects posted. I will have to do the rest as I figure out what yarns I used and what their info is. If I had known that anything like Ravelry was going to come into existence I would've saved this precious info. :) What a wonderful community!

The rain today was absolutely wonderful and needed again. We haven't turned on our sprinkler system this year and it has really helped with our water bill $$$$.

Well I'm going to go work on Miss V's dress so that I can have it as a finished project and move on to other wonderful things.

Only a matter of time now

I guess I won't have to wait much longer for my much anticipated invitation to Ravelry. According to the email look up, well hell you can see it here:

Found you!
You signed up on June 5, 2007

You are #7021 on the list.
149 people are ahead of you in line.
13806 people are behind you in line.
32% of the list has been invited so far

I have set up a Flickr account but haven't proceeded with posting any images since my laptop is still acting crappy at times. I may have to use another computer to get the required images uploaded.

I really look forward to joining the community!

In knitting news, I am still working on the first clue for MS1. How sad is that? I guess it's not to big of surprise since it's my first time doing lace. I thought I was making good progress last night but I lost a stitch somewhere and after gazing at it for awhile I just put it away for the night. I guess I'll be pulling back to the lifeline and starting from that point on. I am determined to finish it though.

I'm still working on Miss V's sundress. Hopefully I'll get it done soon.

My last WIP is a purse that I need to finish and start working on another one. I'm making a bunch for a sale at my hubby's work. They have a craft sale at the end of October this year. I think my purses would sell well. I may even venture into other items to knit. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes.

Now if only my a/c was working. It's been out since Tuesday morning. It really needs to be replaced but the $8000 price tag is going to kill me. So we are doing a repair for now until it can be done later this fall or early winter. I think we've been lucky the weather here in Texas has been as mild as it has been. We are usually about to die from heat stroke with 105 degree weather.

Well back to life! :)

Farmer's Market Feast

Today I spent the day with my family doing something I enjoy. We were celebrating my husband's and my birthdays.

Each year the girls (my mom, sister, sil, me and Frey) head to the Farmer's Market early in the morning. We buy everything we need to make lunch for the family. We head back to the house and labor away making an awesome feast. This year was no different. We used to have an annual barbecue with all our family and friends but with dh's work it made it difficult to plan each year. We switched to the Farmer's Market lunch and have been enjoying it for 3-4 years now.

Today, Frey and I got up, dressed and ready to go. My mom and Amanda (sil) showed up to the house and then we headed off for a quick breakfast at IHOP. Unfortunately, this year my sister wasn't able to join us because her hubby had an early morning appt and she had to watch baby muffin at home. Anyway, we had our breakfast and then headed off to Dallas. We did our usual walk around the main barn looking at all the available fruit and produce.

What a beautiful sight (minus the pigeons and other misc crap)! I think we arrived earlier than normal since most of the vendors and farmers were still putting out the day's offerings. It wasn't long before I started to pick out the stuff I was needing/wanting. I started with some beautiful blackberries and Rainer Cherries. (my favs) Then I bought some fresh corn and grape tomatoes. Freya picked up some pretty red grapes, a water and a huge pixie stix (oh so healthy). I found the most beautiful and fresh baby asparagus. My mom picked up lemons (I made the most spectacular lemonade today), green tomatoes, okra, green beans, vidalia onions, new/red potatoes, cantaloupe, honeydew and red tomatoes. Amanda bought the most ginormous avocados, tomatoes, limes, bing cherries and fresh corn. Our shopping was completed. Now the work would begin.

We drove back to the normal part of DFW and my mom dropped me off at the house so I could pick up some things I need to bring over. Amanda had to pick up her cute car as well to drive it over to my parent's house. I get inside the house and have to get miss V ready to leave and Rob had to hop in the shower to get ready for the day. We packed up and headed down to my parent's house. I got inside and immediately got to work. I started warming up the black-eyed peas which I had cooked the night before since they are so much better the next day. I started boiling water for corn. Then I began the task of squeezing 16 small lemons for the lemonade. I made the simple syrup as well.

My mom, Amanda and I stayed busy in the kitchen washing, cutting, prepping, cooking, cleaning etc. My mom makes the most awesome fried green tomatoes. The batter she makes is so thin and crispy good. It's hard not to eat them all when they are draining on the paper. :) She also made the most tasty fried chicken okra as well!

I am so thankful for my family and the love we all share. It is truly a blessing. All our hardwork today was thoroughly enjoyed, swimming commenced after the eating of the Coconut Cake (what I prefer) and Freshly picked (she has a peach tree) peach cobbler my sister made with Vanilla Ice Cream of course. It was awesome.

Wish the photo could've been better but I was too anxious to eat after all our hard work!

Miss V eating her corn after swimming.

Let's try try again

I did attempt at one time to post on my blog regularly but as you can see it wasn't succesful. I see the last lame post I made was about James Frey's book. Which I would later find out to be a bunch of crapola. How sad for him and all of the people that read his book(s).

I hope to liven this place up a little and redo the template stuff to fit more of my style. I have taken up a new hobby in addition to the other craft crap I like to do. So maybe I'll start showing off my various projects that I'm working on.

It's late so I better close this for now. Keep your fingers crossed that I can make this work and post more than one item in a year. :) Here's wishing.

Good Night!