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!

a million little pieces

I picked up this book last week and consumed it in a couple of days. I was moved by the powerful writing of James Frey. It was amazing to me to read all the details of his experience in rehab. He has suffered a lot in his life both physically and mentally. Most of it done by choices he made but after rehab it was interesting to read how he continued (probably continues to be) tormented. I was so taken with "a million little pieces", I went to the library yesterday and picked up his second book "My Friend Leonard". I finished it earlier this afternoon around 1pm. It left me sobbing at the end. Very beautifully written. I think it takes a very strong person to write about their life in such detail. I'm very thankful for the gift of his life and the strength it has taken him to get where he is at.

If you get the opportunity, you should take the time to read a million little pieces. If it moves you then you should definitely get the second book My Friend Leonard. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Why is it taking so long?

As each day goes by that little is being done in LA & MS it tears me apart. It hurts to watch people in our own country suffering so with little to no support being given. I don't understand why it's been so difficult to get these people water, food, etc. I don't want to hear about snipers being the problem. They should take that risk in order to provide the large amount of people with the things they need instead of the few causing the problems. I hope that today is the day we will actually see some progress.

In the DFW, we have a lot of LA folk here. Some are staying with their families and others have been brought to shelters. On the news they stated they will be opening the Dallas Convention Center after they fill Reunion Arena.

There is so much to be done and so much suffering. I just don't see why it was necessary. Why couldn't more be done faster? How many more people have to die to make them realize that something has to be done and it should've been done on TUESDAY! Today has to be the day it is done.

I better get on the ball!

Rob found out about blogs and has decided to start his own. He has put a link to my blog that hasn't had anything posted to it since I started it at the beginning of this year! LOL!

I'm sure I'll have interesting news to post soon enough! :)

Ahhh, It's Monday

It's a new day! Today my plans include going to the Y to work out. Last week, I went 4x and I hope to continue. I would like to lose 30 pounds by May for Wade & Amanda's Wedding. That is my GOAL! We are trying to change the way we are eating. I need to do more meal planning to assist with the change.

Later this evening, I will be attending a meeting regarding the bridal show that I will be in this coming Sunday. It is a planning meeting and we'll see how it goes. I still have many things that I need and would like to do to prepare for the show.