shadkitty Knitty

If Only

2011-10-16T14:11:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I'm a terrible blogger. Nobody really reads this anymore, actually there were only a few to begin with and Ravelry has pretty much sucked us all in. Now that I have an iPhone, my life is all on this stupid gadget. Yes, that's right, I'm blogging from my phone. Oh well. Such is life. If I was a better, more consistent blogger the things I'd say next would get more publicity and hopefully drive up anticipation.

Knitting has become much more than an outlet lately. When I'm not at school, sleeping or cleaning...yarn is rhythmically forming beautiful garments and accessories. I've even sold a few items here and there, though the prices are usually incredibly low. Can't seem to bring myself to squeeze every last penny from my friends and classmates. As the weather begins to grow colder and leaves fall from the trees, knitted sweaters, hats and scarves begin to dance through my mind. Seems I'm not the only one either.

Most of you know me as a fearless knitter, always ready to accept any challenge. Rarely knitting the same project twice, always looking for new ideas and techniques. Recently I challenged myself to create a knockoff of another knitter's design. It kinda makes me feel bad, like stealing...still I can't help it of I figured out how to construct it on my own. Just couldn't bring myself to pay for the pattern. Out of respect, I'm not offering my notes up. Don't want to offend anyone or get into trouble. Yet, I cannot help being proud of myself. So what if I'm a knockoff artist? An artist is an artist. Last night, a good friend of mine inquired if I had the ability to make a hooded cardigan. Such a small request and a few pictures inspired me. If this works out, it will be my first pattern available for purchase. There are very few people that I will knit for, however this particular friend would actually be perfect for this design as well as for handknits in general. Honestly, how many of you love to see a good looking man in a beautiful scarf? Me too. It's not a scarf, so you know. Just a hypothetical. That's all I'm really willing to say about it at the moment.

Boosted

2011-03-18T23:34:00.002-05:00

Today was a fabulous Friday at school! I made $22 in tips today between three clients. Beau says it was the skirt (yes, I wore a skirt), and it might have been. But I think that my skill helped. The last client of the day came in with a picture of a scene style haircut. Wish I could find the exact pic he brought in, but oh well. Another student was convinced that if anybody could achieve the desired look, it was me. Going into it, I was a little unsure. But really, only a very little. My instructor said that there was no way to explain or set up the cut, just to go in and do it. Having that kind of freedom really just releases all my creativity! This time there are pictures!

Before:

After:

What do you think?! He works at Hot Topic and says he'll send me loads of business, and that he'll take better pics of it later! Oh this was exciting for me! Everyone was so impressed. My instructor said she never knew I had it in me. Psht. ;) You all did. And here is a shot of my makeup for the day. "Look at the stars, look how they shine for you and everything you do. Yeah they were all yellow"

I don't really feel like doing a product list right now, kinda tired. Also, at the request of a couple of my friends, there will be a lot more of these posts, and maybe a few video tutorials. Apparently they are in need of some help!

Daydreaming

2011-03-16T00:35:00.005-05:00

Hm...actually it's 1:30 in the morning. Either way. Anyhow, how blasphemous would it be to start knitting wedding stuff when you aren't even engaged? Probably terrible. Jinx-worthy. Maybe like a whole new sweater curse?

See, lately I've been thinking that the next time I get married (and I do hope to one day) I would like to wear a mainly knitted wardrobe. There is a dress and everything. The thing is, I'd worry about not getting everything done in time. Couldn't I just get a head start? Then when the day comes around, everything will be prepared! Less to stress over. Haha. Maybe I should just go to bed, hm?

In knitting news, I have finished the Tinky Winky baby sweater for my friend's nephew...sorta. It needs to be blocked, buttons sewn on. That's all. Also, Kyrannosaurus Rex is done, save for the details. Can you tell that I'm really just needing something simple? Knitting has been very aggravating lately, I need a simple, cathartic pattern. Somehow it all ends up being more complicated than it should be. The money flow here has been really tight. Beau and I aren't working. This leads to excess stress for me, which causes my body to revolt (it reacts poorly to stressful situations), this in turn worsens the stress. It's a vicious cycle. Last week I finished spinning 2oz of merino top in one sitting. Beau said I was a spinnin' fool! Then I plied it Sunday. It turned out nicely, can't wait to use it for Diversify. That should be a simple, straightforward knit.

Let's Go Back

2011-03-12T00:08:00.006-05:00

I wanted to put my hair up today, get it out of my face. It's so short now though that it requires a bit of creativity on my part. So, I did a bouffant-type hairstyle with a few pincurls. Beau laughed at me, everyone else thought it was cute. My makeup is my take on this look. A list of products I used is below the pictures if you're interested. Everyone at school loved it. Also, there are more pics on Flickr (as always). Wish I could take super good shots of my makeup. These are good enough though.

Eyes
Urban Decay Primer Potion - Sin
Too Faced Neutral Eye Collection
- Velvet Revolver
- Sexpresso
Coastal Scents 56 palette - 2nd row from bottom, 1st in from right
LASplash Eyeshadow Sealer/Base
LASplash Crystallized Glitter - Bliss
Studio Gear gel liner - Onyx
NYX cake brow powder - Taupe/Ash

Lips
Bare Escentuals lipstick - Bread Pudding
Mary Kate & Ashley lipgloss - clear

Yarn and Eyeshadow

2011-03-06T22:55:00.003-05:00

I haven't given up on the picture-a-day thing. But don't really have a picture for the next "day". Lately I've been on a baby knitting spree. Maybe you noticed. It's that time of year. Everyone is either getting married or having babies. Thankfully, I am neither. To those of you who are, CONGRATS!!! Now I have reasons to knit small, adorable projects. For some reason, the most recent project I began, I chose to do stripes. Three different colors (all stash again!). On size 9 needles, this knits up fast. However, there are millions of ends to weave in and it is slowly becoming frustrating. Here is the pattern. Not very thorough, actually I think the entire reason I wanted to knit this was the adorable baby wearing the sweater. The other project I have going on right now is Dirty Deer hat for Beau. Colorwork...yay. My stranding sucks. It just does. Especially over large areas where I have to trap the yarn. This all leaves me yearning for something simple to knit. Pogona is done now, it's gorgeous! Such a beautiful and simple pattern. Maybe I'll do that Boneyard shawl.

School is going well, if you were curious. I really should get a small camera to take pictures for my portfolio. Anyways, I wanted to integrate some makeup stuff. While at Wal-mart making frivolous purchases, I picked up some lime green nail polish. The color was super exciting, after applying all I did was show off my nails. Being at school, everyone was very patronizing. It was so spectacular that it inspired an entire makeup look. Though I had to go out and hunt down a good matching eye shadow color. Well worth it. There were many compliments on this particular look. My client that day (who had to stare at me for 5-6 hours while I did her perm) absolutely loved it. Even though she said she didn't usually like solid color shadows. Which...it wasn't. Here is the look, and the polish. Wish I'd gotten a pic of them together.

If you're curious, here is a list of products for my "Wild Thing" look:

Face
Physician's Formula Gentle Coverage Concealer Soft Yellow
Bare Mineral's Prime Time
Bare Mineral's Foundation - 1N Fairly Light
Bare Mineral's Mineral Veil
Bare Mineral's Blush - Flowers

Eyes
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Cover Girl Eye Enhancers 3 shadows - Firecracker (green only)
Sephora eyeshadow - Picnic in the Park
Coastal Scents 56 palette - Black
NYX jumbo eyeshadow pencil - Milk
Studio Gear gel eyeliner - Onyx
Too Faced Natural Eye kit - Heaven
NYX eyebrow cake powder - Taupe/Ash

Lips
wetNwild lip liner - Brandy Wine
Some ridiculous cheap red lipstick
wetNwild lip gloss - Sweet Glaze

Nails
Pure Ice - Wild Thing

Day 09

2011-02-13T10:44:00.000-05:00

A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.

You guys are going to be so tired of seeing my mom. Really.

Because I feel like I am using her too often, I'll also post a picture of the person who is second on that list. Mom has a leg up on everyone else, she has known me my whole life. So, the person who has seen me through the second most (and this might come as a surprise to some of you) is Mr. Shad. Yes, I know. Just because it didn't work out, doesn't mean that he didn't look out for me. He still does too. I may not always like what he has to say, but he tells me things as he sees them. There have been some hard times in the last seven years, and he was always right there.

Day 08

2011-02-12T10:26:00.000-05:00

A picture that makes you laugh.

Day 07

2011-02-11T10:20:00.000-05:00

A picture that shows your true self.

This one was definitely hard. I really couldn't decide, even got input from my mom and she couldn't decide between these two either. So...it's both.

Day 06

2011-02-10T10:16:00.000-05:00

A picture of somewhere you've been.

Saratoga, CA

Day 05

2011-02-09T10:15:00.000-05:00

A picture of your favorite memory.

I thought this was going to be hard. My memory is excellent, so there are so many of wonderful moments filed away in my head. Honestly though, I thought of this first. This is our trip to Savannah, GA in 2008. It was before everything got really bad between Mr. Shad and I. Kids were still so tiny and squishy. Oh it was so great.

Day 04

2011-02-08T00:55:00.000-05:00

A picture of your night.

Getting my education :)

Day 03

2011-02-07T00:50:00.000-05:00

A picture of the cast from your favorite show.

Dexter. All time favorite show. Hands down.

Day 02

2011-02-06T00:46:00.001-05:00

A picture of you and the person you are closest with.

Yes, that's me. And my mama. I love this picture.

Picture A Day

2011-02-05T00:07:00.002-05:00

I doubt that I will actually do this every day. But oh well. It'll be on my Facebook too. So here is Day 01 - A picture of yourself with ten facts:

These will be things I hope you don't already know, as opposed to things like: I'm a girl. Duh.

I play a game called "Song of the Day" with a couple of friends. It's one of my favorite things to do
I collect socks
Not a morning person
I don't drink coffee, never have
Most members of my immediate family are artistic
Heather is the only one of my kids that doesn't have numerous nicknames
I put granulated sugar on my pancakes
I really miss a lot of the regular customers from the Berk C
I'm allergic to tree nuts, apples, and soy. But regularly eat all of these. Thank goodness for Benadryl.
I still like to color.

Pluggin' Away

2011-01-10T20:33:00.002-05:00

The room is chilly, and I wrap up in my snuggly cow-patterned blanket while the fire crackles. I wish I could finish that beautiful image off with a light dusting of snow...unfortunately we are snowed in here in Georgia. It's only about 4-5 inches, but they aren't really prepared for this weather here. The roads are iced over, making the situation worse. Travel is fairly dangerous right now. However, I did use this snow day to my advantage. All of my laundry has been washed, folded, and put away. My room has been tidied and vacuumed. These tasks are so quick to type, but definitely take much more time to perform. Since Georgia has all of 8 sand trucks to cover all of the Atlanta area, we'll be here tomorrow too. I've already got tomorrow's to-do list written up in my head. To Do: Bake bread (we're all out!), clean the bathroom, wash and fold towels, finish a small layette set for Ty's new nephew, and whatever else I can squeeze in.

Recently I've been on a big knitting kick. Though I'm trying to keep my WIPs to two knitting and one crochet at any given time. Kinda botched that with the layette set. But how long can a baby hat and some booties take me? The best part is that I've been using only stash yarn. :) Sweet! I did not take a stashbusting oath or resolution, that would be silly. I try to only make resolutions that I intend to keep. My stash doesn't really bother me. It may bother my family though. The hat is made of some Peaches n' Cream and Knit Picks...either Telemark or Merino Style. Also plan on making these adorably quick booties with the Peaches n' Cream.

What else am I knitting so that my 2-at-a-time rule has been broken, you ask? Well, Kyrannosaurus is still in progress. It's kinda stumped me, so I am hoping a bit of distraction will get my gears turning. Also, on the needles is Pogona. Have you seen this wrap? Or any of Stephen West's designs? This isn't the first time I've sung his praises, the man is a knitwear genius. I'm in love with the pattern and the yarn. There will definitely be another of these in my future. One thing at a time though. My queue keeps growing, and growing, and growing! No matter what I try to whittle it down, there are just so many gorgeous patterns available. Oh, and the first FO of the new year! My hobo wrap! Wasn't sure I wanted to share this with everyone. It's really not quite as nice as I would have liked. And also done with scraps. That would be the first picture you see up there.

...and a Happy New Year

2011-01-02T16:00:00.004-05:00

When we are small, it seems like everything takes eternity. Then, as we grow, time seems to gain speed like a ball rolling down a hill. This is all just perception...but it still feels that way, doesn't it? Even though most knit-bloggers have all but abandoned their blogs, I like to keep records. It helps me recall all sorts of small and large events in my life. It's been fun. There have been a few suggestions that I overhaul the blog and turn it into a makeup/fashion type blog. Maybe I will. For now this is still a knitting blog.

I did a bunch of last minute Christmas knitting. Apple cozies for the kids' teachers, a cute little cloche/beanie for Beau's niece, a lump of coal for Nolan, a "Kyrannosaurus Rex" for Kyran, and I believe you saw the crocheted necklaces in the last post. The patterns for the cloche and the Kyrannosaurus are both my own. There were several patterns I saw that were similar to what I wanted, but not exactly the way I wanted to accomplish them. I also knit a CashSilk Fern Scarf from that Drift handspun. It came out a bit short, but if I put some buttons on it it should be perfect.

In non-knitting life, we are slowly transitioning the kids back to their father. Mr. Shad that was is now stationed in Florida and is ready to welcome the kids home. It's sad for all of us, but really what is best for them. There are too many people crammed into this small house at the moment. Soon though, I will be on my feet and then they can come live with me again. Florida puts them an hour closer to me too. While the two oldest went back with daddy after Christmas, Nolan will be here for another month. We are trying to get a handle on some of the social issues he has been having, trying to asses if he maybe has ADHD. Yes, he is four. Yes, that is young. You'd have to meet Nolan to understand. Whatever is going on, we would like to know what to do to help him. He has already been suspended from preschool twice. Nolan isn't a bad kid, he is just having a hard time. Honestly, I'm enjoying the one on one time with him. And I think Beau is too. They bonded instantly, and it's easy for my formerly single, carefree boyfriend to deal with just one crazy kid as opposed to three. He has done really well overall, and I am grateful to have his help.

The best Christmas present we got this year...snow!! I was so happy to see it. While it was a bit late to play in it on Christmas day, we went out the next day and goofed off. Beau was pleased to have targets for snowballs, and Nolan talked him into making a snowman. It was so much fun, even if the boys were both a little sick. Poor Nolan got a snowball down the shirt though, and it was all over. For some reason I got Beau the new WoW expansion...silly me. Now I'm a WoW widow twice over, lol. He's been sweet as sugar since he got it though. Making me beignets and plenty of quality time. New Year's Eve was uneventful. We watched a movie, I fell asleep before midnight I think. That holiday was never really a big deal to me. It offers hope for change and happiness, but I am already very happy. Life is good. The only resolution I have is to get rid of all of my UFOs (isn't it always?) and destash. Cheers friends, I hope this post finds you in similar spirits.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2010-11-27T13:20:00.003-05:00

For all of those who have started their Christmas knitting, good on you. I've gotten a couple of gifts done. It's not feasible for me to be buying gifts this year. So I'm trying to put off the selfish things I've queued. Fortunately most of the gifts are small things. Mom wanted a minion from Despicable Me. When I finished hers, EVERYONE wanted one. *sigh* At least I already have the yarn. Right? My dad wants one that he can put potpourri in. He's strange.

I also did a few necklaces. One for my PIC at school, with stars on it. Which I have no picture of. And one for Beau's mama. This was a really quick thing to crochet, well once I got a good rhythm going. Believe it or not, I have never knit or crocheted with beads before. Well, that's not entirely true. I did make those earrings. Which was wire AND beads, that was really tough. Actually, I may try to make some earrings to go with the necklaces too. We'll see how I feel after making sure others are covered first. Gonna make the kids some cute little stuffies, Nolan gets a lump of coal. He's been so difficult this year, but he is still my sunshine. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure what he'd like to have. It's not like they have a free pattern for a knit Iron Man lol.

Thanksgiving was beautiful, and almost seamless. Mr. Shad showed up after saying he wouldn't be. Beau pretty much lives with us now, I guess they had to meet eventually. Though I doubt he was the problem. Mr. Shad's problem is with me. Oh well, the day was still great. It was all warm and fuzzy and full of family love. After dinner we watched the Saints play Dallas and went to Beau's parent's house. Good times. I also spent part of the day sitting with The Lady, the weather outside was just beautiful. Lately, I have been finding myself spinning more and more. Possibly due to my stress level. It really does help relax me.

Other things I have finished: Turn A Square hat and a couple more cowls and a cute little frivolity that I just fell in love with. The hat came out a bit big, so I haven't taken a finished photo. It was made with my Drift handspun, the top you saw prepped in the last post. Trying to use up the last of the Rumpelstiltskin, I did a pattern search on Ravelry and turned up the Amelia pattern. Wasn't really wild about it at first, but after blocking it's just beautiful and I love it!

Clever Post Title

2010-10-28T22:44:00.005-05:00

Does anyone still read these?

Well, in case you do, I have been trying to keep myself busy. I taught my daughter to crochet (she wanted to learn to knit, but didn't have the patience really) and crochet is a little simpler to teach. She was so excited, and she told me "Tomorrow I'm going to tell all of my friends I learned how to crochet!". It was really cute. However, she's still not too adept at it yet. When she's crocheting I have to stay right next to her to help her. It's kind of tiresome after awhile.

After finishing the trigger finger gloves for Beau (this is what I've decided to call the new boyfriend, til something better comes along anyways) I finished another pair of those handspun mitts. The merino top was from FatCat Knits and it was soooo gorgeous and fluffy-softness. Then I finished my purple Struan. It came out perfectly! I got a few compliments on it, even from non-knitters. When I finished the blue one for my friend (which was done without a brim) Mouse told me that it just wasn't my color. The purple definitely suits me better.

I floundered for a few days, played games on my mom's iTouch and didn't really knit much. Then, after mention aloud to my mother that I had 12 UFOs (only 4 of which were current WIPs)...I decided it was about time I quit stalling and finished up some of those projects. So I looked into my UFO bag and pulled out my Somewhat Cowl. Do you guys remember this? It's been TWO YEARS since I've done anything with it. Though there are a few UFOs that have been lingering longer than that, I figured finishing this one would boost my spirits. Many times, I get discouraged when something has to be started over from (practically) scratch. So, if I could turn this one around, maybe all of my projects have hope! All that was left was the sleeves and collar anyways. It's all done now, except the blocking. Still haven't made up my mind whether I love it or hate it though. What do you guys think?

The last time I knit this, it seemed like the collar stretched on forever. It's just six inches? Why will it never be done?! Today, I was at about 5 inches and holding for hours. To distract myself from the never ending ribbing, I decided to pull out The Lady. The kids had broken the drive band, which my dad fixed and it was time to test it out. I pulled out some BFL that I had purchased forever ago, prepped it and it looked good enough to eat! The join worked beautifully and I spun up one of the strips. Then...nature called. When I came back to the wheel That Baby was spinning it and had wrapped the drive band all around bearings. That ended that endeavor. The drive band is broken in two places. *sigh* We just can't have nice things! :) Tomorrow I am going to hang out with Mouse, and hopefully she has a fix for me. Otherwise it's just six dollars to get a new one. This gives me time to figure out how I want to ply it. Should I do two-ply or Navajo ply? Hmmmm

Trigger Happy

2010-10-16T10:34:00.005-05:00

Don't you love how I drop off the earth for months at a time now? In the time since I last posted I have: met a man, knit a few things, actually used my spinning wheel, gone back to school, cut people's hair, taken another LOA, had my four-year-old get suspended, watched my best friend get married, rescued my daughter from a motorcycle that fell on her, and generally just been insane. My hair is a normal color again. Those crazy colors fade very quickly. Actually, most people were impressed they stayed as long as they did. But I figured it would probably look a little off if I was a bridesmaid with pink and purple hair. Especially since the wedding colors were blue and orange. The wedding was quite beautiful, I did Jamie's makeup for her. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures for a portfolio. :(

Life is pretty great overall right now, if not hectic. That's the way it should be though. I made some Cigar Gloves for my boyfriend. Have to come up with a clever nickname for him. Made a few mods to them, finished all of the fingers except the pointer and middle of the right glove. He's going to use them for hunting, hunting season started today. I had to prove how skilled I am, finished the gloves in 5 days! In other knitting news, I have finished a cowl, some gloves (this is easily my new favorite pattern), and two hats. It's finally cooling down a bit here in Georgia. The weather has been lovely, and I'm just itching to sport all of my handknits. I've already had several people ask me to knit things for them!

The kids are all doing fairly well, except for maybe Nolan. He's already been suspended from preschool twice. He has to see a psychiatrist now, to pinpoint what exactly is going on with him. It's been really difficult to see all of this happening. I just wish he could show everyone the sweet, sunshiny, caring boy that's inside of him.

Leave of Absence

2010-07-12T13:34:00.004-05:00

My kids are all here for the summer now, so I took a Leave of Absence (LOA) from school. The added stress of having to cram three young kids into an already full house has really been getting to me. Hence I have been knitting up a storm. However, I am pretty excited! Knitters, we now have a new recruit! A friend of mine from school (for now we'll call her A, until I know how she feels about being on my blog) actually asked me to teach her to knit!! At first, I was a bit hesitant because my last few attempts at teaching didn't go so well. That was quickly overwhelmed by the idea of sharing my love of knitting with another. Fortunately, she also has some experience with crocheting and basic knitting. As in, she didn't know how to purl. :) This past Saturday I invited her over and we practiced the long-tail CO, knitting, and purling! A is a surprisingly fast learner and also very adventurous, my kind of knitter!! Now she is addicted and wants to find a knitting store, learn to knit in the round and has joined us on Ravelry. I am so proud!! Here is a picture of her practice scarf. She's afraid that the knitters will laugh her out, but I assured her we had all been there. That's her pink scarf.

Currently I am working on two projects myself. And plotting a third. The third is a secret type project. Although one or two of you may know about it. Boneyard is finished, after that I began work on the Purl Ridge Scarf. Another westknits design. I am really excited by the pattern booklet he is putting out in the fall. Now if only I had an attractive man to adorn with my beautiful handknits.... Also, in the midst of this I started another murloc. This one is a baby and is being made for A. She did my hair for me at school. It's pretty much amazing and required 3-4 hours of work! So I totally owed it to her. Unfortunately I seem to have lost one of my size US 3 dpns!! Guess it's time to look in the couch cushions. Murkie is pretty awesome so far, it has purple/black/pink tailfin and spines. I found this little bit of variegated yarn in my "yard sale" bag. Which is mostly acrylics. I believe it is some yarn gifted to me by a friend who dyed it herself. Anyways, it was perfect! Murkie is a total BAMF (for those of you who have no idea what that means, it's probably best you don't know). So, that's that. Currently I'm toying with the idea of taking a picture of the swatches for my secret project. The best part is I've been doing some serious stashbusting. The economy is hard on many of us. That's secretly why knitters stash. We're like squirrels! Maybe we don't need this yarn now. But it could come in handy later!!

And now I leave you with a shot of my new 'do.

Just Bones

2010-07-01T10:28:00.004-05:00

Short post. I plan on casting on for Boneyard immediately after completing this, so I will make it quick. My fingers have been itching to cast on any of the Westknits designs since Mouse introduced me to them last night. It's that desire I used to get when I first began to knit, the kind that keeps me up at night dreaming about the beautiful possibilities. Unfortunately, I am limited due to my lack of funds. This will be (like many other projects right now) a stashbusting adventure. Though I would love to knit this project with some Malabrigo or Araucania, something with a subtle color shift. I suppose that's all I have to say. Maybe there was more...but I really think I should go find my needles and get to knitting.

And Then....

2010-06-27T18:23:00.002-05:00

Yeah, still here. Although it seems like most of the (knit)blog world has evaporated. Largely due to the invention of Ravelry, I assume. We can see everything that everyone else is doing in one place now, whyever blog?

Been rather stressed out lately. Nolan, my youngest son, has come to live with me. He was kicked out of daycare, I swear he is a good kid. He just has a lot of energy. This caused me to switch to night classes for my schooling. I just don't feel like I am learning as much at night, so I am going to take a leave from school. Just for the summer. It's a bummer though, I have just made some friends. At least one really good one. And now, middle son is coming to live with us too! The house is packed, really not enough room for all of us here as it is. Not that I'm not happy to have them here with me. I have missed the hell outta them!!! To make matters worse...it looks like the man formerly known as Mr. Shad is moving to Texas. :( That will take the kids so far away!!

There has been a little knitting, though not much photography. My only camera is my phone. Lame! I worked on a little something for my friend. And there is always the selfish knitting. I completed another Lelah. According to the ex, it makes me look fat. :( But I think it's really pretty. Also, very, VERY comfortable. In case you have never made one, this is a really quick knit. You can modify it with straps in any manner you like. I took a poll and all the men I asked said halter style. Came out rather nice I think. Oh, and of course...useless knitting for babies I don't have. Baby sweaters are also simple, satisfying knits. With school and my personal life becoming so overwhelming I really have not been wanting to knit anything too complex. What do you think of the buttons for the blue BSJ? First, second, or third? Haven't been able to make up my mind.

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Broadcast...

2010-06-01T20:19:00.002-05:00

Sorry folks. My days have gotten a bit busier. Really though, I find myself almost loathing getting on my computer. Now I will go 2-3 weeks without even touching it. Rarely checking my mail or even Ravelry! Things are still getting done. Just haven't felt the need to update everyone. I've finished a Lelah, although I still need to sew the elastic in and crochet the straps. Also, a beautiful blue BSJ - that needs buttons. Both have already been blocked, ends woven. Truthfully though, school has been eating up most of my time. When I am not at school, I'm studying or going to the gym, going grocery shopping or making dinner. I've been out a few times but haven't made many new friends or really spent time with anyone I'm not related to. Makes a girl stir crazy, however, productive.

Sometimes They Drop By

2010-04-12T20:18:00.003-05:00

These were posted all over my children's daycare. I love these. This one was definitely my favorite though. Really starting to miss my kids now though. :(

Tomorrow I have an appointment to start my admissions process. Wish me luck all! My dad is going to build me a hanging bed of sorts. The new room is kind of small and I needed to find a way to fit all (or even some) of my things into this room. Originally I had planned on making a loft bed, which is like a bunk bed without the bottom bunk. While I was searching the internet, I ran across this picture and thought, well isn't that neat! Can't wait to see how it turns out, there will be pictures. Also, none of my things can really be brought into the room until we have that bit figured out. Don't wanna be moving things all over.

Oh, I forgot. Or almost. Lately there has been some crocheting. It looks pretty good. Right?

We All Gotta Grow Up

2010-04-07T10:59:00.002-05:00

I type this as I lay on the floor of my bedroom in my parents' house. It occurs to me that growing up is not only hard to do (harder now with the economy, I hear), that it is also different for each of us. Six years ago I got married, moved out of the house, started a little family. That was what I thought growing up was about. Looks like I may have been wrong. Somewhere in that jumble of time the strong, witty and talented girl that I was became lost. She was replaced by someone I didn't recognize, but I just closed my eyes to the things I didn't like instead of doing something about it. I just finished reading Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair by Crazy Aunt Purl and it enlightened me. Maybe...I am not so bad off. Now I start the journey to rediscover myself, armed with a battalion of friends, knitting needles, books, and that everlasting sense of humor my parents groomed...I might just make it outta here. For those of you who have been keeping tabs on me, my home is now in Georgia. Not my favorite place in the world, admittedly, but it's warm and my family is here. Though I have only slept in my room maybe twice in the last week that I have been here, it feels like mine again. The last three days were spent painting it. Personalizing things always makes them feel more like they belong. Like I belong.

Not much knitting has been going on though. My yarn is mostly boxed up, along with a billion other things. Yard sale time? I think so. Come on, roll up your sleeves, paint on a smile, and dig in! There's plenty of work ahead.

Back So Soon?

2010-02-22T07:26:00.003-05:00

Yes, I know! Another post in less than six months? I'm on a roll. Right now I am busy as a bee. Today I need to go finish packing up my apartment. Tomorrow I turn in the key. Though I still have 27 days until I am out of North Carolina. This move has me on a constant roller coaster of emotion. My body has been happy to let everyone know it too. Nothing like being betrayed by your own body. haha Since I haven't been blogging regularly, Ms. Rose is now 7, Ky Boo is 5 and That Baby...well he's 3. They are all soooo big now. No, they are not coming with me when I leave. Part of the reason I am so stressed about moving is because of that. I will visit them (and vice-versa) all of the time though.

There are so many people here that I will miss. My LYS is going to be hard to leave. The owner essentially taught me to love knitting. My 4 year knitversary is coming up here soon, I'll still be here for that. Oh, and irony of inronies, I seem to have discovered some sort of knitting group at a cafe nearby my apartment last week. Didn't have time to ambush them as I was dragging the crazies to Domino's to pick up pizza. Seriously though? How annoying is that?

I feel like so much has happened! I just don't know where to begin! There has actually been a good amount of knitting. It always comes in handy when the stress is on. I finished the Hemlock Ring Blanket, a Murloc for my work buddy Stacey, the "Magical Scarf Charlie!" out of my own handspun, and a hat for a friend (which Boo promptly tried to steal). The only thing still on my needles is the test knit. Now, a word on the hat I made. The pattern is the South American Chullo. Apparently this hat is some sort of phenomenon. I had seen that several knitters had made multiple versions. Sometimes for themselves or others, one knitter had made three! Looks like the bug has bitten chez Kitty too! The hat I have finished is for a friend. We'll call him Mr. Bond. So, Mr. Bond requested a hat with ear flaps. When this pattern turned up on a search, it seemed perfect. Went out and bought the yarn (originally intended to make it from leftovers but packed all of my yarn away!), and got to knittin! While knitting and admiring the softness of the yarn and simple beauty of the fair-isle, I came to the conclusion that I must have one too! Once finished my children grudgingly modelled it for me. Boo seemed to change his mind though, after protesting and throwing it off I later discovered him wearing it while watching tv. Then while snuggling me. He said "Mommy this hat is just so soft that I'd like to sleep with it". And he did. Looks like he might need a hat as well.

Epic Fail

2009-12-18T20:08:00.004-05:00

I'm not sure how many of you are still out there. It's been months...again. I just got internet put in, so maybe I'll be around now. Knitting has been really good for me. Getting back into touch with my favorite bloggers/knitters would be better. I need some shoulders to cry on. Some friends to lean on.

My 25th birthday passed, it was good. Not great. Still, a lot of good things happened and I'm trying to focus on that. Mr. Shad bought me a cake and sent me pictures of the kids with cute little signs. The work day was rather rough, but that night was great. I just hung out with those three little crazies. They are my everything right now. That weekend Mr. Shad took me to see Daniel Tosh. Be forewarned that his sense of humor isn't for everyone. Only click that link if you are ready for some twisted laughs!

Don't be fooled though friends, just because he was doing all of these nice things doesn't change the status of our relationship. We are due to be divorced very soon. It kind of breaks my heart a little. Apparently we're failures at marriage. Who knew? So I'm trying to focus on the positive things in my life, the things I can control. After looking at my Ravelry...I realize that when things were at their worst, I took a break from knitting. From about March til August or September there wasn't much knitting happening. Probably due partially to not having my own place to live. Right now I am living in my own apartment, it feels really good to know that I am taking care of myself.

The next step is to get a career. Not a job, anyone can get a job. I need a career. Something that makes me happy and fills my time. At this point I am very tired of men. Though there have been several in my life. Some important, some not. Recently, I re-taught one of them to knit!! How do you feel about that? He wasn't even that bad. Though, I am not sure that he is on the "important" list. Actually, I know he isn't. That list is very, very short. I can count it's members on one hand. I've also made some close friends. There is going to be a little more heartbreak when I leave than I had originally intended. Yes, I plan on leaving North Carolina. Time to hit the road, stick out my thumb and close this chapter of my life.

Speaking of knitting, by the way, some time last month I had a "blonde moment" and cut the hell out of my thumb with...staples. Yes, I said staples. But it was those big industrial type staples!! Stop laughing! Okay, it was a little funny. What wasn't funny is that I had to get three stitches and couldn't knit for a few weeks. That was sad! Especially because I was trying to finish the Hemlock Ring Blanket for Mr. Shad's grandmother, which I had intended to be her Christmas present. I sent some of the earrings I had made earlier in the year instead. Apparently they were a big hit and everyone was impressed I had made them. Which confused me because I had been sure that my MIL had seen them before. I mean, Heather did get some for her birthday. (Oh dear...that is coming up again soon, isn't it?) So...back to the knitting. I did finish the blanket. Yesterday. :) I also finished a shawl. Which is absolutely beautiful. Right now I have no camera, so all my pictures are from my cellphone. SORRY! The limelight scarf is finished also.

Right now on the needles I have a Morning Surf Scarf from my own handspun! This is the perfect pattern for handspun. Of course, that's what everyone says. Sometimes I work on this at work. Early on Sunday mornings, and it gets so many compliments. I love that I have been working at this store for a year and people are STILL amazed that I knit. REALLY? You haven't seen the huge tattoo?? Wow...sorry, got sidetracked. The only other thing OTN is a pair of fingerless mitts that I am test-knitting for Krystofer.

Been So Long

2009-08-27T20:25:00.002-05:00

Hey guys. I know, I know. It's been MONTHS. Sorry about that.

In April of this year Mr. Shad and I separated. Since then I've been bouncing around, living with different friends. Working hard. Trying to see my kids, and find time for knitting. Also, I haven't really had internet. Not much knitting has gotten done. So nothing new to show off there. I guess maybe my lime green scarf sized Clapotis.

My personal life is off the wall right now. Tomorrow I have to be at work by 5:30am.

Where Would I Hide, 1980?

2009-03-23T08:58:00.004-05:00

This is not a knitting post. Sorry. If you love makeup, the 80s, or bright colors then you may find this post fun (if not interesting). Otherwise keep scrolling through your blog reader. I should be working today, but apparently my kids STAY sick. Moving on....

After buying some gel liner I REALLY wanted to try out some dramatic/ridiculous makeup so that I could test it. At first I was stumped as to what to do, staring at my face in the mirror and an open palette of makeup, I felt like I'd done it all. Then it struck me! The shirt I was wearing involved loads of bright colors and designs. It's not the sort of thing I normally wear, honestly, but I bought it to match some jeans with bright purple stitching and belt. So why not match my makeup to my shirt? I went with a pink/purple combo. When that was done I tested my new liner, which worked fabulously! Actually, I felt that making the wings was 10 times easier with the angled brush. Then it still felt a little incomplete...so I added checkers! This was a bit more difficult than I had anticipated because my liner brush was a little frazzled. All I did was wet the brush with water and dip it into the color I wanted. Anyways, here are the pictures, I'll list the products used at the bottom. Enjoy!

Products:

Urban Decay Primer Potion
Mineral Magic in Micah on lid
Coastal Scents 56 palette (used column 6 row 2 in crease, column 3 row 4 for the checkers, and column 1 row 3 on brow bone, column 2 row 5 on lower lid)
Studio Gear Invincible liner in Onyx
Urban Decay 24/7 eye pencil in Yeyo (tear duct and outer corner under wing)
Wet N' Wild Kohl pencil on waterline
Urban Decay lipstick sample in Gash

I use Bare Minerals for my foundation and blush...so that's that. Micah has become a fast favorite of mine. I bought it on Etsy, but just recently rediscovered the seller and plan on buying more from her. If they are as amazing as Micah then it is worth every penny. The UDPP is worth it too. Sort of. There is apparently a way to hack into the goofy shaped bottle to get more out. Which I plan on doing. It definitely works though. I'll do my eyeshadow the night before I go to work and it lasts through the whole day! The Coastal Scents palette is probably worth MORE than the money. I love having the colorful variety to choose from, it allows me to (re)create looks I couldn't previously. Although I really want to be the 88 palette and the Shimmer 88 palette.

It Sneaks By

2009-03-16T14:30:00.004-05:00

Time, that is. I know that one day I will look around and realize my children are all grown. But for now I cradle them close. I also enjoy anniversaries and birthdays. These days are meant to celebrate another year with someone you love, that's how I look at it anyways. Today I celebrate another year with something I love. Yarn. Yep, that's right, another knitversary!

Understand that I use "celebrate" loosely. So loose that it's almost as if I'm not celebrating at all. Because, well, I'm not. That Baby is sicker than a dog, he had an appointment with a doctor today, who can only tell me that it's not the flu. She prescribed three medications for him. *sigh* There has been tons of knitting lately though. At least in comparison to the last few months. When I first started I was a knitting powerhouse, turning out project after project. So far I've logged 127 projects into Ravelry. This actually is excluding several projects, as there are a few I don't have photos of...or just don't remember making honestly. It also includes my WIPs, my UFOs, and items I've frogged. Either way, that's about a project a week. Lately I've noticed my crafting energy has died out a bit. Maybe I hit the gas too hard and too fast? Or maybe it's due to the stressful environment Chez Shad recently. First we were moving to California, now we're not. Oh, what, I didn't mention that? No, of course not. That's because part of me knew what happened would. Actually, I don't much feel like talking about it now. It's rather upsetting.

How about some knitting? The BSJ is complete! Blocked and buttons and all! I wanted to trim it up with some crocheted edges in a contrasting color...but that didn't work out very well. So, I made some booties. Now I'm thinking I might make a hat too. There is still some yarn left after all, why not? Apparently I haven't done a real update in over a month. Whoops. Originally I wanted to start updating every (other) week on my day off. That just didn't work though. On my day off I usually just want to sit around and do nothing. At any rate, I've made another MCCS Corporate Zombie (and finished the first one). The hair is done with some wool or another from Ashford, the color is Marigold though. I know that. Also, I just started another hoodie for Nolan. You all remember the first one, don't you? God, I love that sweater so much. Yes, present tense. It is still in great condition, although it needs washing. Unfortunately it is too small. This one should size up to be about a 4T when I'm done, at least that's the intent. I'm too cheap to buy the same pattern in a different size. If you already have the basics, all you need to do is crunch a few numbers. That's my philosophy anyway. The yarn I'm using is Plymouth Yarn Encore that I got in Wilmington for my birthday. Which I just realized I never posted about. :-/ There was a lot going on then.

Dirty Mouth?

2009-02-25T10:07:00.003-05:00

Yeah, I finally did the pattern for the penis chapstick cozy. I received a surprising amount of requests for it. I'm going to copy and paste it into here. Also...I did manage to make a PDF somehow. I think. But really, I'm not sure how that works exactly. So...it's not online. If you want it, just email me.

Phallic Chapstick Cozy
by Shadkitty

Need a little protection? Grab your penis and put it on your mouth, er, your chapstick that is. This cozy has no functional use whatsoever, but it's HILARIOUS and you'll enjoy it. And, unlike real life, one size fits all!!

MATERIALS
Caron Simply Soft [100% acrylic; 315yd/288m per 170g skein]; color: Pink; all you really need are some scraps

1 set(s) US #4/3.5mm double-point needles

Tapestry needle
Fluff
Key ring (optional)

GAUGE
Useless. Just make it work for you.

PATTERN NOTES
You can attach a keyring if you want to hang this from your keys. Or whatever. Just crochet a chain long enough to meet your standards and attach it to the cozy and the keyring. Use your own smarts for that.

PATTERN

SHAFT
CO 12, leaving a longish tail. Join in round, making sure stitches aren't twisted, yada yada.
Do some k2, p2 ribbing for awhile. Periodically slip the work over chapstick tube. When work reaches from the bottom of the cap to the bottom of the tube:
K 2 rounds plain
Next rnd: *k1, k2tog*

Cut yarn and thread through stitches. Pull shut tight – weave end in on side facing you!! Then turn inside out.

HEAD
CO 18. Join in round, blah blah blah. You know the drill.
Round 1: k9 sts together with tail from CO, k9 remaining sts together with tail from body CO. Make sure you leave a little bit of yarn between the body and head. This is the little piece of yarn that connects the two. If you make them too close together you won't be able to get the head off and on easily!
Round 2: knit around
Round 3: k9, inc, k9, inc
Round 4 & 5: knit around
Round 6: *k3, k2tog* to end
Round 7: knit

Rep rounds 6 & 7 until 8sts remain.
Next Round: k2tog around

Cut yarn and pull through remaining sts.

BALLS
(make 2)
CO 8.
Round 1: *k1, kfb* around
Round 2: knit

Rep these 2 rounds once more (16sts). Work St st for 3 rounds.
Next Round: *k1, k2tog* around
Next Round: knit
Next Round: *k1, k2tog* around
Stuff with fluff!

Cut yarn and pull through remaining sts. Attach to body using your good judgement and general knowledge of a man's tool. You are now a penii warrior! Battle the forces of chapped lips!

FINISHING
Ha. I kinda gave most of the finishing details in the pattern instructions. You don't need to really weave in the ends that you knitted together. Just trim them. Weave in any remaining ends. Then pop in your tube of chapstick.

ABOUT THE DESIGNER
Ms. Kitty is completely bonkers. She lives in a constant state of chaos with her man servant and 3 little critters...amongst piles of yarn and laundry. A menial gas station employee by day, and a fiendish knitting powerhouse by night, there is no knitting challenge too great!

I'm getting carried away, go show off your knitted penis.

Cut My Heart Out

2009-02-04T21:31:00.005-05:00

I'm struggling with how to begin this post. I don't want it to be the same thing as always, or boring. It should be snappy and attention getting because I know that this is the first thing you will read in your bloglines. This is how you will decide whether or not you will bother reading the whole post or if you'll just skim it for good pictures. Unfortunately my thoughts are unintelligible. They're simmering on the back burner as I'm writing this while watching Life. Instead I just thought I'd insert a gratuitous yarn photo, this is Kauni Effektgarn in colorway ET.

Valentine's Day is one of my least favorite holidays. It really doesn't mean anything to me. Less now than ever. Things are strained between Mr. Shad and I at the moment, but I don't need a glittery card and a heart shaped box on some commercial holiday to define my love. Oh, and I DEFINITELY do not need a piece of jewelry that I'm not gonna wear. Love is constant, which means that February 14th is just another day. However, making V-Day cards when I was little was one of my favorite things. Because I've always loved crafts, and well...I do like glitter. And chocolate, but that's beside the point. After seeing this post, I was inspired and reinvested a small glimmer of glee in the crafting that this holiday calls for.

Crafting something by hand is the best way to show you care, if you want my opinion. To show some of my coworkers how much I appreciate them, I decided to craft them a little something. That's right, MCCS Corporate Zombies! Arghhhh Brainssss! First up is one for my favorite male cashier! He also happens to be the only male cashier we have, he's got great work ethic and seems kinda down sometimes that he works so hard and everyone else slacks off. Right now, he has no hair because I just couldn't figure out how to make it look right. Guess I'll needle felt him some hair. Actually, I like most of the people I'm working with right now. You'll be able to tell who I like when you see all of the zombies. Because, let's face it, I'm not going to waste time on anyone I don't like.

Somehow, I'm trying to roll into this next paragraph/project. I wanted it to be smooth, but it just isn't coming. Even though it really should have been easy, what with all of this talk about caring, crafting and zombies. Oh well. Just recently I ordered the BSJ pattern from Schoolhouse Press for $3! Come on, you all know how expensive The Opinionated Knitter is, when I found out they were selling this pattern by itself for three dollars, I had to get it. Which meant, I had to cast on! So far it's been pretty easy knitting. We'll see how it goes, I've read through the pattern a couple of times and still feel confused. Then again, that's happened before, sometimes the pattern doesn't make sense until you're knitting it. Then you have that big "OH!" moment. My tattoo artist and his girlfriend just recently had twins, so I figured that would be a perfect opportunity to try out this time tested favorite. But...what about the buttons? I'd have to find something really cute. Or maybe...maybe I could make something really cute! Since I bought a bunch of polymer clay to make eyes and embellishments for all of the Creepy, Cute Crochet critters I could make buttons. Here is the first batch, what do you guys think?

Light Flurries (now with pictures!)

2009-01-20T16:49:00.003-05:00

So, I'm not going to lie, I just forget to post here some days. When I'm off work, I just want to be lazy. Yesterday was my day off, instead of posting or anything, I went to the store with Mr. Shad, played some WoW (yeah, that's returned), and did some knitting/crocheting. Today I had work at 0530...but last night the county school system sent out an automated call to let us know that schools would be closed today. Well, crap. That means the daycare will be closed too. My job is about 40 minutes away, nobody wants to drive 40 minutes to find out that they're closed. Especially in bad weather. So, I hunt down the phone number that is supposed to let us know if we're reporting to work in the event of inclement weather (hurricane area, remember? we're prepped for this). It's a recording, oh well. Call it in the morning and hear that all non-emergency/non-essential personnel need not come in to work. How am I essential? A cashier. Psht, back to sleep. Get a call at 0540, oh, we ARE open. Whatever. After being cranky and doing things I'm not getting paid for, they finally call around 0930 and say everyone in my area should get home! Sweet!

There was no real snow at the time, but we've got it now! The snow is even sticking. It's so awesome. I know some of you have already seen your fair share of snow, but this is the first time I've seen it really snow down here in NC. Also, this is the first time my boys have seen snow. Ever. At all. The last snow that I saw was in Maryland when I was pregnant with Ky Boo. Of course we went outside to play in it. Too bad that we don't own any sleds. I mean...why would we? You don't see snow in 3 years and you get kind of jaded. Honestly, I didn't think it'd snow at all today. :)

Oh, I have pictures too by the way. I just can't find the USB cable for my camera. Right now I'm still steady working on instant gratification projects. Finished the Grim Reaper and a few pairs of the Bijouterie earrings. This is really difficult/awkward, knitting with wire. Not to mention that the wire I bought is absolute crap. I'm considering ordering this Artistic Wire stuff off the internet. Yes, by the way, I've completely bypassed my resolutions. Haven't frogged anything. Though I did work on re-organizing my queue. So...kudos to me on that. lol Deleted a few things I never plan on making, or that my interest in has waned. Currently I have 6 WIPs though; one I mean to frog, two that could be finished if I'd just sit down and do it already, and one instant gratification project. Well, Mr. Shad is home. I'm going to see if he knows where the cable is. I'll finish this later.

And my favorite picture from the day:

He's hiding from the snow. :)

I Quit This Life

2009-01-07T18:29:00.003-05:00

No really, I'm sick of my job. And I've only been working there for a a little more than a month. We're not even going to discuss it. Anymore.

My New Year's Resolutions...the ones I made anyways, are

Of course, not to start any new projects until I finish (or otherwise take care of) all my UFOs
When I start new projects I will maintain only three WIPs at a time, one pair of plain socks to carry around, a gift for someone else (starting my Christmas knitting early this year), and something selfish.
Blog more. Like once a week...or even a month.
Check my bloglines more, also once a week.
Try not to overreact when my husband upsets me.
Actually, try not to overreact when anything upsets me.

We'll see how long any of these last. I've got a gift certificate to the LYS, brand new yarn from my birthday that's itching to be cast-on, and loads of stress that needs to be soothed by the feel of new and yummy yarns between my fingers. Oh...and I really want to make those Bijouterie from Knitty, it couldn't take that long. Generally I find that maintaining resolutions is to make short term goals, and plans on how I am going to achieve these things. So far all I've got are: Inventory my UFOs (thank you Ravelry!) and frog anything I won't finish, then make a priority list. How long has that been sitting? Really, a year? Ugh...guess I should do that first. Prioritize/reorganize my Rav queue. That may not be so easy. I'm thinking I'll write them all down on a sheet of paper (or two), cut it into strips and reorganize it there first. May actually be easier.

Customer Service Report

2008-12-11T15:49:00.002-05:00

Recently I started working, as I think I mentioned. My main job is working as a cashier in what is, let's face it, a gas station. It's on base, so they call it a "C-Store" (convenience store), but it's a gas station. Briefly I worked as a waitress in a poolhall, and that is also a customer service job. At any rate, I now notice things I didn't before about other cashiers and people in similar job positions. It's easy to notice when someone isn't doing their job very well, or has an attitude. But can I just say one thing, to all of you customers? Did you ever consider that our attitude is a reciprocation of yours? It's a very tough, thankless job. So let me give you a few pointers, some tips, just little things to remember the next time you're in line at the checkout at your local grocery store, Wal-Mart, Sears, or any line in any store. We are ALL people, with feelings, just trying to get through one more day. Without further ado, my list of things that aggravate me:

TALKING ON THE PHONE! Folks please, put the phone down, ask your mother/sister/friend/boyfriend/cousin to HOLD ON. Aside from being rude this also breaks down communication and we cannot do our jobs well. You're talking to someone else, not to us, the person who is trying to assist you. We don't know what you are saying to whom. Just...don't do it.
Reaching across the counter to grab your bag. We'll hand it to you, we promise. We know you're in a hurry. There is usually a reason that it's not been moved toward you. Also, you're coming into my personal space when you do this.
Try to have your ID ready/easily accessible if you are buying something you know you'll be carded for or using a credit card. You will probably be asked for it, if not, oh well, at least now you don't have to fumble for it. (Part B of this...put your ID in the same place and stop cursing and looking through your purse/wallet for it as if you don't know why we asked you to show it.)
Smile. We do this for you, despite having bad days. Well, some of us do. If you see a cashier smile, just return it. Everyone has a rough time, doesn't it feel better to smile than frown?
Yes, you have to wait in line. It doesn't matter who you are, what you are buying, how many things you are buying or where you need to be in 10 minutes. Everyone else is waiting in line, common courtesy dictates that you wait too.

This last one is particularly aggravating when it comes to the gas. People assume they can just pay for their gas and leave, or just throw some money at me and I can prepay the pump. That's not how it works. Oh, and take your receipt if you prepay. Just in case you don't fill up your tank and there is money leftover. Also...we don't turn on the pump. Seriously. We can prepay, we can approve, but we don't turn it on. Sorry.

I think that's it for my rant right now. Clearly it hasn't been a marvelous day today. But I will be back tomorrow, smiling. Life is too short to be unkind to other human beings. Just remember that. Good day.

Vote For Me!

2008-12-03T09:53:00.002-05:00

Hey guys!! Support your favorite knitting badass! Go to BadKnitGirls.com and vote for me! Every little vote helps and I would love to be December BKG '08 for my birthday. :)

All Wrapped Up

2008-11-20T15:41:00.002-05:00

Sorry I haven't been around. Feels like I've been saying that a lot. Especially here. *shrugs*

Anyways, lots of things have been happening. Most of them personal/non-knitting related things. I'm not going into the details, the people I wanted to tell already know. There was some knitting stuffs happening before shit hit the fan. Or whatever other metaphor you want to use to represent rough times.

I made the Ruched Camisole from Knitting Lingerie Style. It was pretty simple and quick. The worst part has been the finishing up. I still have to attach the straps to the back. Otherwise it's finished. Not like I have anywhere to wear it or anything. Either way, I feel accomplished because I finally sucked it up and used the yarn. Which at first I thought would be WAY too fiddly for me to ever concentrate on.

Somewhat Cowl is still...languishing, if you will. But I started a scarf and the Motorcycle Chica Gloves. You all know how I am with scarves, this one ended up on hiatus about two weeks after I started it. And the gloves, well I got SGS (second glove syndrome). It may have been because the thumb doesn't fit quite right. Things like that bother me. Then I have to make the decision to frog and fix or just...dwell. Lately I've been in a dwelling mood, I don't have the energy to even think about the flawed gloves. The funny thing is that I've been in a pretty decent mood the past few days. Tuesday was an amazing day, I was totally on top of the world. It snowed! First time I've seen that happen while I've been here. Snow is magical and I've missed it.

I've finished a few things. I'm not completely crazy. Maybe I am. Anyways, I made some Kolenya fingerless mitts. Then my brother gave me this book with cute little crochet critters in it. I was thrilled and started making Cthulhu immediately. He's super cute and I love him. Then I made the devil for my brother. Oh, there will be more...an entire army! BWAHAHAHAHA!

...*cough* Got carried away.

Gauntlets and Dragons

2008-09-09T17:27:00.004-05:00

Ok, so they aren't gauntlets, they're fingerless gloves. I've been in love with the Dashing pattern forever. When Sunne sent me some beautiful Olive colored cashmere in the PRGE awhile back, I knew that it'd be perfect for that pattern. The yarn was put aside for later, and I added Dashing to my Ravelry queue. Now...if you clicked on that link to my post about this, you may have noticed that I received this yarn over a year ago. That was back before I even had a "to use soon bag"; which is, by the way, now a box. Still, I kept the cashmere close, knowing I'd use it soon. So, when I finished the handspun bag and the tam and I was left with nothing to knit, I knew that it was time. I started them on Friday with TS Hanna looking over my shoulder. Having something soft and soothing to knit really helped me out that night. They came in really useful as therapy (despite the fact that I kept making stupid mistakes and having to rip back) again when I made Mr. Shad take Nolan to the hospital Sunday night. I finished the second glove while waiting for them to return home. Don't worry, he just has croup. It's the first time I've dealt with that and it really freaked me out. He was struggling to breathe and having intercostal retractions. Which, if you've never seen that before, can be frightening for a mother. He's running around like a madman today and trying to break everything though.

Somewhere in the midst of that, I started a dragon...a CROCHETED dragon! I love the amigurumi, they're adorable and even though I suck at crocheting, they still end up on my queue. Well, while perusing I saw a dragon. Very cute, but kinda expensive for a pattern I'll use once. Too bad Kyran saw it too, he insisted I make him a dragon. After a quick Rav pattern search, I found this! Super adorable and FREE! Must make. The only problem was I didn't have a whole lot of random green acrylic yarn. Tons of green wool yarn, but not acrylic. Went to my bag of random acrylics and found several colors, I asked Kyran which one he wanted and he said "I want black with red feet". Uh...sure, I can do that. At first I was cursing his color choice (stupid black yarn, can't see what I'm doing, hard to photograph *insert mumbling under breath*), but when I went to sew it all together I was really glad. Because you can't see the random stitches either. Also, it came in handy for the spine, which is actually knitted. Didn't really like the big fat spines, plus Tinky (that's what Kyran named him) is a rather smallish dragon. So I made like I was doing the starting triangles for entrelac, but bound off each triangle as I went. They get progressively smaller too. Because I can do that. The wings were modded slightly from this dragon pattern. Which kinda looks like eeyore with wings, you can thank Mouse for that astute insight. She's right though, it does.... Go to my Ravelry page on Tinky if you want to know what I did for the wings. They are a little different than the ones in that pattern. Really, a very little. I think that's all really. Oh, I positioned Tinky with his thumb in his mouth, I thought it was kinda funny considering Ky is a thumb sucker.

Mr. Shad was right, he does look kind of like a dinosaur.

Hated It

2008-09-04T13:25:00.005-05:00

First, sorry about the pictures. Apparently some ignorant person decided to steal pictures off either Flickr or Myspace and masquerade as me on some adult sex site. So I put all of my pictures on private. Then I realized that they couldn't be seen here or on Ravelry. Which defeats pretty much the WHOLE point of having Flickr. Doesn't it? I switched everything back but the blog didn't get the memo. I also had to go and update ALL of my pictures on Ravelry. Just click on any picture that's not showing up and you'll be linked to it on Flickr. Oh, and did I mention that we've got that stupid hurricane this weekend? We're in the process of getting ready to evacuate if the need arises. Whatever.

Anyways, let's focus on something good, shall we? Recently I've been knitting lots of smaller projects. Maybe it's the stress I've been dealing with, maybe it's because my daughter has been home, maybe I'm just sick of what my current WIPs...whatever the reason I can't seem to commit to anything more than hats and silly toys. If you have been watching me on Ravelry you've seen what I've been up to. Yeah, I'm talking about the Peens. lol Also that felted bag I did with some of my own handspun. Which I was really proud of, even though I don't do felting or purses. hehe I even crocheted a snood this past weekend. Not that I have enough hair to actually use one. That and it turned out horribly.

My most recent project has been something that I kinda forgot about for awhile. When reading one of the blogs I frequent, I stumbled across this. It's one of those things where you could kick yourself for not thinking of it, but you're happy someone did! She said she was going to write up the pattern, I said let me know, and promptly forgot about it all. Then I was looking in my Ravelry favorites, saw the hat and thought to myself, "Hm, I wonder if she ever got around to making that pattern". Sure enough, the pattern had JUST been posted. Pure (and perfect) coincidence. The yarn used was a DK weight and I also happened to have a random ball lying around for something else. Kismet I tell you. Can I take a moment to tell you how amazing the yarn that I used is? Bollicine Dolly, if you've never tried, buy a ball. Knit this hat, really I don't care what you make with it but you really should try it. Back to the pattern/hat. It's pretty straightforward, there aren't any errors I could see...although I'd knit it a bit longer before doing the decreases if I did it again. I think. Although, since it's supposed to be a tam and all it might turn out fine. Right now it's blocking. Doing the lace is kind of a pain in the ass (especially when you're trying to focus on your 2yo) it's worth it though. I'm completely in love with this hat and I'm thinking of maybe making another one as I plan on giving one to my husband's aunt for Christmas. Oh...for those of you reading this blog who might know who I'm talking about, don't spoil the surprise. ;)

Here There Be Knitting

2008-08-18T09:35:00.003-05:00

Yes, I actually have been knitting. A little. For some reason I am just not feeling any of my current WIPs. I'm in this blah sort of phase. So, although I haven't officially "hibernated" any of them, my WIPs are more or less just sitting around. According to Ravelry, I have 3 WIPs (Digitessa, Somewhat Cowl, and the crocheted halter) and 4 hibernating (Skating Sweater, Charade socks, those Harley Quinn socks, and the grey raglan). You probably don't remember some of those. Seriously, it's a little depressing. I think that I'm getting SSS now. Digitessa is a beautiful pattern, but I don't have the time or energy. Somewhat Cowl...well, after the last incident I admit to being a bit afraid and daunted. Also, I'm just not good at crocheting. There, I said it. Crocheting makes NO sense to me and even though I love some of the patterns. I can't figure them out. After a bit of an unintentional hiatus, I decided I needed the feel of yarn between my fingers. So, I started a scarf sized Clapotis. It's not really a pattern, just kind of guidelines that use the Clapotis pattern as a jumping point.

First, let me tell you I never really wanted to knit the Clapotis. Just wasn't all that fond of how it looks. That, and soooo many people seemed to have trouble with it. Mouse knit the scarf sized pattern out of some of her handspun and I decided I really kind of liked the way it looked as a scarf. However, I don't wear scarves that often. Still, she talked me into buying some gorgeous Araucania for it pretty easily. Who really needs to be convinced to buy yarn though? With that encouragement the yarn sat in my "to be used soon" box in the closet...until recently. When I finally decided to cast on for it. I finished it rather quickly, though I took a few days to get around to blocking it. Saturday Mr. Shad had duty so I used that opportunity to stretch it out on the bed. With 20 repeats (instead of the recommended 8) of Section 3, it's a great long scarf. Easily 5ft long, possibly even 6. I haven't measured it. Though it reached from the head of the bed to the foot. All in all, it's beautiful and I can't wait for winter to wear it! I pranced all over the house with my fully blocked Half-otis wrapped around my neck, forcing Mr. Shad to ogle and pet it. He actually said it was really soft...but I think he's hallucinatory. It's about as soft as Cascade 220. Which is to say that it's no Malabrigo, you know?

Garden of Eden

2008-08-12T20:15:00.005-05:00

I've been promising this pattern for awhile. Only two of the sizes have been tested (sorry), so let me know how the large size works for those of you who make it. Also, if you make, or model these pasties and don't mind me posting a picture, please email me!

Garden of Eden
by Shadkitty

Silky leaf shaped pasties in three sizes.

SIZE
S [M, L] (shown in size S)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Width: 2 [2.5, 3] inches

MATERIALS
Cascade Pima Silk [Cotton, Silk ; 109yd/100m per 50g skein]; color: 5144; 1 [1, 1] skein

1 set(s) US size 4/3.5mm straight needles

notions required
Tapestry needle
Stitch markers
Lining fabric in matching color (optional)

GAUGE
24 sts/32 rows = 4" in stockinette stitch

PATTERN NOTES
Use long tail cast on.
PM – place marker (slip all markers as you come to them)
SM – slip marker
SL – slip purlwise

PATTERN
Make 2

CO 3[5, 5] sts. Place stitch markers on either side of middle stitch.
Row 1 and all odd numbered rows (ws): Purl
Row 2 (rs): K to first marker, YO, SM, K1, SM, YO, K to end.
Rep for a total of 3 times (3 rows with eyelets). (9, 11, 11 sts)

SMALL AND MEDIUM
Row 8: K to first marker, M1, SM, K1, SM, M1, K to end (11, 13 sts)

LARGE ONLY
Row 8: K1, M1, K3, M1, K1, M1, K3, M1, K1 (15 sts)

BOTH SIZES
Repeat Row 8 2[3, 4] times more for a total of 15[19, 23] sts

From this point, on all right side rows slip stitch between markers. Purl as usual on wrong side rows.

Next row: K to marker, SM, SL1, SM, K to end
Next row: *SSK, K to marker, SM, SL1, SM, K to the last two stitches, K2tog *
Rep from * to * until 3 sts remain. Remove all markers.
Slip 2 together as if to knit, K1, pass both slipped stitches over knitted stitch. Pull yarn through.

FINISHING
Weave in all ends and block to size. Sew on lining if desired, or let your nips play peek-a-boo! Embellish if desired.

Down and Out

2008-08-12T18:23:00.002-05:00

Sorry to be AWOL, things are completely crazy. Not even just a little bit. I missed my update for Nolan's birthday. He's 2 now! Can you believe it? I can't. The party was insanely large for such a little guy. Got to see a band that I've been trying to see for like two years now (RA). Oh, we have a house guest too. I'm trying to find a job. Ugh...let's not go over the list, huh?

Apparently, my anxiety level is a bit tweaked lately.

Anyways, my Nermal socks are definitely finished now. You remember those right? Started them AGES ago. Finally ran out of yarn. TA DA!

It's been such a long time. I'm sorry this isn't a better update. With more words and pictures. I definitely have enough of them to fill pages and pages of this electronic diary. Just not so sure that it's really appropriate, or that important honestly. Check my flickr out for more pictures to see what I've been up to. Or, you know, hit me up on Rav or by email. Seriously, I try to get back to everyone as soon as my schedule allows. Most of you already know what I'm up to, what's going on. Oh, Mouse, you're the one I wanna talk to right now, I'll have to email you or something. Just so you know, I started the halfotis. This is more of a personal/technical thing I think that you'll be able to help with.

Random picture!

Talking to Myself

2008-06-28T08:00:00.006-05:00

I know, I haven't been around. Most of you probably assume I fell off the face of the earth. Or just decided to stop blogging. Which isn't (really) true. I've been on Ravelry. Really, I just haven't been in the mood to knit much lately. The only thing I've been working on is the Nermal socks. Which I love, but still...not motivated. It's really just more something to pass the time until I find another book to read. I did buy some yarn. If you come here for the yarn/knitty type stuff, this is pretty much the end of it. Well, no, that's kind of a lie. There is one more thing that's sort of related to the knitting stuff. Plenty of people have already seen and know what I'm talking about. Still, for those of you who don't you'll see in just a second. Really, it's probably already visible so why am I still talking? Yep, I got another tattoo! It's beautiful. Or I think it is. My artist did a wonderful job on it too. He wanted to shade it so I didn't walk around looking half finished, you know? Which I think is great. The only problem is it sort of looks done already. And I'm tempted to keep it grayscale. Though I'd really love to add some color. Of the 5 tattoos I have now, only one has any color.

The tattoo has gotten a lot of love so far. Honestly, I expect people to forget me. Don't ask why, it's just the way I think. But I had one of the other artists approach me in the mall to see how the tattoo looked. Maybe I'm not as forgettable as I thought? My artist, Nik at Bombs Away for those interested, will probably have a hard time forgetting me. When I think he does, I just mention the knitting. hehe No, actually, we finally got to hang out with him and his girl in a non-work environment this past week. It was a lot of fun to get out of the house. Sometimes I forget that I'm 23, not 32. Anyways, we got to see Rancid live! Even though we had to leave early, it was AWESOME! I only got to see Tim Armstrong's hat really, but it was a nice hat. Getting to be a little free, and wild was a blast. Plus, we got to chill with some really awesome people.

In other news, Heather has graduated from preschool! Do you believe it? Of course you do. haha Still, I look at her, and I remember thinking she was soooo tiny. Now she is growing and I can't stop her. She is so much like me in so many ways. I know it's just a matter of time before I turn around and she's graduating high school. *sigh* Ugh. I have so much more that I need to squeeze in here. Pictures, stories. Wow. I really ought to update more. So here is a quick run-down of the rest of the stuff along with another one of those nice little picture mosaics.

Kyran got stuck in a chair.
Mr. Shad added a Mr. to his Shad tat :)
As well as getting an MJ tattoo
I've been spinning...a little
Got some more pasties in but they were promptly broken
Heard from an ex, which is awkward
Mr. Shad is in MD for the weekend picking up his dad's motorcycle

A little note on that last bit. I don't know if he realizes it. Maybe he does...probably he doesn't though. He's not really as aware as I am. Anyways...the 26th was the one year anniversary of his father's passing. On Father's Day, my husband called my father. It made me want to cry for him. Mr. Shad isn't very emotional, but doesn't he still have to be hurting a little? I'm sort of wondering if this trip is more symbolic than it seems. Or maybe it's coincidence and I am (as usual) reading more into it.

Checking In

2008-06-05T16:28:00.005-05:00

A few of you have sent me emails. Which is awesome because it means you care that I haven't posted in like a month. But it also clearly outlines the fact that I have neglected my bloggerly duties. Sorry folks! Between returning hubby and busy babies I have forgotten to let you all in on what's happening!

Mostly there will just be pictures, but I'll type a bit too. We went to Savannah on vacation for a week. It was really lovely. We were actually on Tybee Island, but that's alright. There was a little beach, and a pond full of turtles! They were funny little critters. My brother was even there for a few days! Unusual for him with his "busy" life!

In knitting type news, I started the Icarus shawl with some really lovely purpley-blue lace. Oh and you all missed the BKG Pastie Swap over on Rav! That was loads of fun! Actually, it still is fun. Pasties are a hoot! Quick and effective. Besides, I learned how to twirl the tassels! How great is that? lol There will be some pastie patterns going up soon. Both on here and on Ravelry. Unfortunately I'm kind of stalled out on everything else. I've got a Fidget on the needles for a gift. Icarus and Somewhat Cowl are both kind of on hold. With the SCowl's history, I'm kinda loathe to knit it in 90+ degree weather. As for Icarus...I found a stupid mistake about 12 rows down! So I am trying to gather the strength to not only rip back (ha, it's below the lifeline, go figure) but also to try to determine what row of the pattern it's on.

Tomorrow I have a tattoo appointment that I am VERY excited about!! It will be a knitting related tat. :) The only problem is I'm going to get it on my arm so I probably won't be able to knit while getting it. And it will probably be my largest one to date. So I'm going to get kinda bored I think. We'll see.

That picture links to more racy ones ;) These are the pasties I received from one of my partners. They are done with Knitpicks Shine Worsted and it is ohhhh so soft!

Lift Me Up

2008-04-30T13:07:00.004-05:00

Thank you, everyone, for all of your kind words. I haven't yet had time to update all of you on my husband's return. That I haven't makes me feel awful, because I am convinced that it was the positive thoughts and energy which guided him home to me so safely, and so soon. Midnight after my last post, I received a call from Mr. Shad. In my half-awake/half-asleep state, I hardly remembered what he had said. Only that I was sure he had called and that he'd said "Kuwait". Also, that he was coming home. What I thought I remembered, also, was that he meant to be arriving on Sunday. Again, my dream addled brain heard this, so my recollection wasn't to be trusted. Still, I awoke at 6:30 the next morning (Saturday) to make sure my MIL didn't leave. Just in case.

After a whirlwind of cleaning, sleeplessness, and much confusion...my guy is home again. He came in Sunday at about 2 in the morning. While it has been wonderful, it has also been stressful, awkward, and we are still settling. There hasn't been much knitting to speak of, and what has been happening knit-wise (hehe knit-wise) has all been mostly boring. Things like plain ribbed socks, or miles of stockinette on the Somewhat Cowl. There was a bit of stash acquisition and I even won a contest. Though, I have to admit those things happened right before (I think) Mr. Shad's return.

We look forward to the return of our "normal" lives.

Indefinitely.

2008-04-18T07:59:00.003-05:00

Indefinitely. One word, a word that makes my heart break. I can't wrap my mind around it. I know that it wasn't meant the way it sounded. Generally people assume that it represents some vast expanse of time. All that was meant is that they can't give us an actual date. They are unsure and don't want to get our hopes up again.

What am I talking about, you ask. Here is what I saw in my email inbox at around 8:30 this morning:

"It is with a very heavy heart that I have to report that due to inclement weather, our Thunder Chicken return has been postponed indefinitely."

See that word? Indefinitely. It still feels thick on my tongue. There have been rumors that "indefinitely" will be about a week and a half. I'm not much sure how to feel, except for cheated. My husband was supposed to be in the advance party, they've been back since mid-March. He gave his spot to one of his fellow Marines whose wife is pregnant. I tried to tell myself I held no grudge against any of them, he did the right thing. And he did. Somehow, my heart right now can't accept that. I'm glad I don't have to see this wife and her husband, because I would say things I'd later regret. I realize I'm not the only one suffering in this situation, that doesn't make it any easier. That's really all I can say now.

Huh. A title might help

2008-04-15T11:43:00.003-05:00

67 words

Speedtest

Everything is a little hectic right now. And I am...well a little down. Knowing that it's not much longer now doesn't really help honestly. Just part of the way things are. I have a new haircut/style. I participated in a Dexter based swap. And I ripped and restarted Somewhat Cowl. It was really worth it. In the picture it looks like I'm pulling on it, but I'm not. I'm really just holding it out because, of course, the neckline is all stockinette right now and was rolling.

Now I'm gonna go surf Ravelry or something. Heather is on spring break and I kinda wanna scream.

Two Posts in One Week!

2008-04-03T17:14:00.003-05:00

OMG! It's insane! lol Actually, my life is. Sick children, preparing for the return of Mr. Shad, house cleaning, etc. But I was tagged by KnitKat. So we'll talk about that first.

Rules
1) Link to the person who tagged you.--> Kat
2) Post the rules. (done)
3) Share six non-important things / habits / quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least three people.
5) Be sure the people you tagged KNOW you tagged them by commenting what you did.

I am mildly OCD, I have to eat Oreo cookies from left to right out of the package. All of the "rows" have to be the same. My husband enjoys rearranging the cookies to piss me off, I will fix even out the rows if they aren't right.
I tap the top of soda cans before I open them. Dunno why.
My husband and I got married after about two months. We met in early November, and married in late December.
My hair wasn't cut (other than an inch here and there for maintenance purposes), colored, or styled really until I was 15. Clearly...now I change it semi-annually.
I totally hate my real name, but love my married surname.
The reason that there are so many pictures of me isn't so much that I'm a camera whore as it is that I love to take pictures. Of anything. Have you looked at my Ravelry projects? There are so many pictures. My Flickr has over 2,000 pictures.

I'm not tagging anyone. Don't feel like it. If you like, steal this and do it for yourself.

So, I've spent my week cleaning up vomit. How's that for starters? Nolan has been sick since Sunday. Today we haven't had any upchuck...but it's not even seven yet. Oh, I finished Somewhat Cowl...but it looked terrible. The sleeves were too big. Actually, the raglan measurement was too long. I knew it when I did it (10 inches?! You've gotta be kidding me) but I thought, hey, she's the designer...she knows what she's doing. Right? When I took my measurement for a raglan sweater awhile ago, it was 6.5", which I thought was way too small. I measured my Tree Jacket's raglan "seam" because that fit PERFECTLY...it was 6.5 inches. Go figure. FROG. It's all gone. Except that 6.5 inches. I was really depressed over it last night. The collar looked so beautiful, I had slip-stitched it into place and it had felted slightly. Oh well. It's better than never wearing the sweater.

Other than that, I've been helping a friend from Ravelry out. She is in Virginia, so I might have to visit her soon. Plus...they rollerskate!!! OMG! Have I ever told you how much I love rollerskating?

April Fools!

2008-04-01T19:48:00.001-05:00

Happy April Fools Day!

I hope you all are enjoying yours. Because I feel like I'm the punchline today. *sigh*

I Win

2008-03-25T11:27:00.003-05:00

My babies are cute, Boston is off to a good start, hubby is due home (still about 3 weeks, but that's better than 3 months), and I have chocolate. That's all.

Very Merry UnBlog-day!

2008-03-18T17:41:00.003-05:00

To me! Okay, so my first blog post is the 18th, but last year's knit/blog-versary post was on the 16th. So...split the difference? Either way. I made brownies for myself to celebrate (two years!), and I'm enjoying one now. They're just out of the box, Pillsbury brownies, nothing too special. Still taste good though. I also made a trip to the LYS, of course. Didn't walk away with too much, actually, I think I should have bought more. Maybe should have gone with something in mind. The only things I could think of that I wanted were a new sock yarn and something to make a Buggerloo for Brandy. That's J.L. Yarns Salvia, isn't it amazing?! I promise there were more subdued colors, but I've been trying to buy things to expand my color palate. Here, check out the Mama Blue Sea Merino I bought in Boudoir. This one is really not something I'd normally buy. With the soft pastels, shades of peach and pink. It's really a bit girly for my taste. Hey, it was called Boudoir and it's so soft that I could care less WHAT color it is. Just squeeze it! Really, I recommend it.

Also, I have a FO to show off...too bad it's not Somewhat Cowl, that would actually make sense wouldn't it? No, I abandoned it for about four days to make Mosey. Which was really the only pattern I was interested in when the latest Knitty came out. I queued a few other patterns, but probably won't actually make them. When I saw Mosey though, I knew I had to have them! So much so, that I ran out to Michael's the very next morning and bought the yarn. Most people seem to be making them in the same color as the originals, but I chose a "dark grey mix". It looks more brown than grey most times though. They went pretty quickly, the worst of it was that nine inches of 2x2 ribbing on each legwarmer. I also still hate making pom poms...they are kind of cute though. Anyways, apologies for the dark-ish pictures. The sun hasn't been cooperating with me lately. You all know how it is. That, and I tend to finish most projects at night. Somewhat Cowl is kind of sitting around, waiting for a left sleeve and the cowl-ish part. After Mosey I had every intention of picking it back up, instead I ended up starting on Digitessa again. I think...I might have actually been a bit afraid for awhile. To knit on Digitessa, I mean. Afraid that I might make a mistake or ruin the pattern. This is really one of the most beautiful patterns I've ever seen. Never have I regretted the money spent on it.

Still, for awhile after hearing from Yarnissima about my dilemma, I left poor Digitessa sitting. Waiting. She's not a difficult sock, though she requires a bit more concentration. She is more than lovely, absolutely stunning, always catching my eye when I would pass. Yet, I let her linger, focusing on simple sweaters, accessories, and knits promised to others. Now I have the first sock nearly finished! I am only working from one chart now and really there isn't much use for it anymore. :) I think that concludes my knitversary post, no contest or exciting thing this year. Really, I am too tired for that. There is so much to do before Mr. Shad gets home and I would really rather be knitting.

The Routine

2008-03-11T16:12:00.004-05:00

Sorry guys, didn't mean to disappear...again. I got sick. Really sick. An upper respiratory infection. Luckily, my mom was already here for a visit. She helped me out BIG with my kids.

Sometimes, I write these posts up in my head beforehand. I know exactly what I want to type. The words just flow, and the post is good. Lately things have been crazy, and so have the posts. I can't channel my inner writer, she's on vacation or something. Maybe she had to quit to make room for all of the new things I have to remember. Where did I put that stack of bills? Is it trash day? What time does the gym open? WHEN IS MY HUSBAND COMING HOME?! UGH! I know you are all tired of hearing how much I miss him, I'm tired of saying it. We still have five weeks (give or take, there is no set date yet), and I am so over this whole thing. I hate playing single mom. Having my mother here to help me out was wonderful, and it made me realize just how much I actually do. How often I am just going and going. Even blogging has begun to become just part of "the routine".

I like routine, I'm a very habitual person. However, we all need a break from our routines, actually, that is part of the reason I married Mr. Shad. He's spontaneous, and fun. Folks, I am not a lot of fun. It seems like it, but I would probably not go out and do most of those things if I didn't have friends who invited me out. I would (and do) sit on my couch and knit. Mr. Shad has brought me out of myself over the past few years (as have you all). Not having him around is like putting your shoe on the wrong foot, it feels awkward and you know it's just not right. You take all of the little things of relationships/marriages for granted when it's in constant supply. Things like, you cook, he does dishes, having someone to ~~snore~~ sleep next to in bed, not driving everywhere yourself, having someone to talk to when you wander around a store, showing your knitting accomplishments to him. Even if he doesn't care, he pretends to. Ladies (and gentlemen), do you fully understand what that means? It means that, while he's not interested in the least that your gussets don't have huge gaping holes, he loves you enough to look at it. He will listen to you babble and he will smile in all of the appropriate places. When you're done he'll give you a hug or pat on the back...and congratulate you. Which is all you really wanted, you know it. Oh, we do not give them credit where it is due most days. Most of us have men who bravely sit and listen while we complain about how our gauge is off, who have secretly been storing tidbits of information so that they can try to understand and actually participate from time to time. They do it because they love us. That's all. And I really would just like to go back to having mine play video games on the couch while I knit.

I have a whole other speech about how wonderful mothers are too. But I think that will wait for another time now. Lately I've been sewing more than knitting, though the body and one sleeve of Somewhat Cowl are finished. No pictures of that, how awkward looking would that be? Anyways, awhile back I bought a vintage pattern, I mean, a real vintage pattern. Not a reproduction. You know me though, I can't just follow the pattern. Gotta make little adjustments, tweak it here and there. So far, I have decided that the dress should be a halter top (it's the red one on the right), then I realized I'd need bust darts to make up for the fact that mine is well, smallish and there was lots of extra fabric, THEN the back needed to be taken in. My latest idea is that the fabric I'm using is too thin, it really should be lined. lol Now I need to plan modifications which will allow me to create a lined bodice the way I'd like. Some day, I might just follow a pattern exactly as it was written.... Oh yeah, the above picture is my fabric, I didn't really know where to put it. It's purple and brown. Admittedly, I should have chosen a lighter shade of brown, maybe a fawn, but I like chocolate brown.

Distant Dreams

2008-03-04T10:11:00.000-05:00

So, lately, I have been spending most of my time thinking about what I'll do once Mr. Shad is home and all of the crazies are out of the house. This is like...a year away at best. Still, after talking to a fellow Raveller (Raveler? either way) I am really beginning to feel excited and motivated. There is one thing that I have been dying to do, yet I couldn't because of my responsibilities to my family. Now my chance is getting closer and becoming more plausible. Oh, in case you are wondering, my dream is to become a makeup artist.

On to the crafty content! Alright, I finished the Knitter Project/Serpentine Mitts. I also finally finished spinning the Cerelia yarn. It's gorgeous. OMG it's beautiful. To be honest...I've completely lost track of what I meant to post about. I started this post about two days ago or something. Mr. Shad is due home "mid-April", which means any time in or around April. We're creeping up on his birthday, my knitversary, and St. Patty's Day. Which is one of my fav holidays. In light of the impending holiday, here is Cerelia. Tell me you don't want it.

Next up on the wheel is that stuff I got from Mouse when I visited her. We've been trying to come up with delightfully twisted titles for it based on the fact that the colors make it look like a My Little Pony mane. I think her best one was "My Little Pony in a Blender". *snicker* It's really rather pretty though. I've never spun from a batt before, so I asked my LYS owner for her recommendations. She said I could A) peel off wool from the side a little at a time or B) split it down the middle and then predraft it. I chose 'B' since I had wanted the colors to be more blended (would have gone to the shop and used the drum carder but really...don't have time). Had I chosen 'A' I could have navajo-plied and ended up with a nice self-striping yarn. Not sure that is what I really wanted though. Too late now. :)

And um...here have a mug shot.

That's it. I think. Oh wait, so, Brandy wanted to change her hair, she decided it didn't match her eyebrows. Of course, I come up with the brilliant idea that she should do a dark brown with some redlights (which are red highlights duh). We decide to do it Friday after our regular Chik-Fil-A night. While at Wal-Mart debating over the different colors she admired the haircut/style of one of the girls on the front of the box. I'm not completely sure that sentence makes sense. Just go with me. Anyways, I tell her that I don't see why she couldn't pull off that style. So...we're up til 4am doing her hair, and then she goes to the salon to get it cut today. hahaha

...Apparently I keep hitting the "save now" button instead of the one that says "publish post". lol

Here is a quick look at how Somewhat Cowl is doing:

I'm totally wearing a push-up bra in those pictures. I wish my bosoms looked that good. lol Also, got a really kickass wpi tool. It's from Karatstix. She is really amazing, she made it using a couple of pictures that I gave her of my tattoos AND it was only $8 (WITH s&h!!). So, if you are a spinner, go. Now. If you're not, she also sells needle and hook gauges. Trust me, it's worth a look. I even got a little keychain square out of the deal. (It's the small thing in the picture.)

You Just Wanna Rip It Out

2008-02-22T11:25:00.005-05:00

Your mistakes I mean, not your hair. At first, I wasn't going to rip back to fix this one, it seemed silly. Then I realized I had made the increases too soon anyways. What you are seeing are two sides of the Somewhat Cowl, one that I did correctly, and the other (on the right side) where I made a mistake. Just increased a stitch before I should have. Ugh. Good thing I had to frog it, it would have bothered me later. So, I ripped back using a lifeline, and have to knit like 5 inches of boooooring stockinette. Actually, I think I only have like 3 left. And although I am loving this sweater, I suddenly feel the urge to toss it aside! Because I just got in the most SCRUMPTIOUS yarn ever! Actually, I just bought three sweaters worth of yarn, some Knit One Crochet Too Angora Soft (10 balls for $12.50!) and 7 balls of Lang Yarns Venezia from Webs. I had a gift certificate.

What I am talking about though, is some destash yarn I got from Mouse. OMG. It is yummy. It's Filatura Di Crosa Luna, 10 whole balls. I just want to cast it on right now. After squeezing it, and smelling it, I had to swatch it. Then I did some math, I am going to make the Buttony Sweater, which is hardly a pattern to begin with. There is no gauge, no real measurements or stitch counts. I used one of my favorite shirts as a guide, taking the tip from Knitting Daily. As a bonus, it has raglan style sleeves.

Anyways, here are some fun pictures of a sock bag I bought and the other yarns.

Something Like That

2008-02-17T14:29:00.005-05:00

Go here, just do it, don't ask questions. Okay fine, a few questions. It's totally work safe, that link will take you to the homepage for our dear friend Krystofer who is participating in the Aids LifeCycle this year. He needs our help in the form of donations. Anything you can give will be appreciated. Also, I know he is going to put names into a drawing for every FIVE dollars you donate (seriously? can you tell me you can't spare $5?_. There will be lots of lovely handknit goodies to win! That is, if you feel you need a reason to donate to such an outstanding cause. :)

I don't even know what I talked about in my last post. The Somewhat Cowl is making some serious progress, which you all know is unusual for me. Normally, stockinette sends me into a boredom induced coma. The second Serpentine Mitt has been cast on...I got about two inches into it. Actually, Brandy was confused and impressed when I was knitting on it Friday evening. When she asked me about it (Is that knitting??), I got started on a whole thing where I showed her different projects. She also asked about the tags, so I showed her the Buggerloo hat for Heather and she just thought it was great. It's always fun to show off all of the things one can do with knitting. People really do seem to think it's all about frumpy sweaters and baby blankets.

Valentine's Day was boring, I don't really want to talk about it, so don't ask. Kyran's birthday was not as much fun as I would have liked, we went to Chuck E. Cheese. Oh well, the kids enjoyed themselves. Ky is really digging his new three year-old class.

Have any of you seen that Suave commercial? The "89% of moms admit they've let themselves go" one? I hate that commercial. What about dads? Don't any of them notice that they look awful? Really...? Sorry. Momentary rant. I am seriously stressed right now. There are only a few more months to go. Then I get to readjust to living with my husband again, and right about the time when I get comfortable, he'll probably have to go somewhere else. Ugh.

I have four WIPs right now, and 5 UFOs. The question is what to do to get that all finished up. Yarnissima contacted me about my problems with La Digitessa, so I know how to fix that. Two of my UFOs are very near completion...I really just need to finish them. The baby hat in the Amazonas might just end up being frogged. What do you guys think? I mean, clearly I'm not concerned with finishing it.

Not Dead Yet

2008-02-09T11:28:00.000-05:00

Yeah. No. My computer's AC adapter broke, and since my battery is basically useless...I was without the internet briefly. If nearly three weeks can be considered brief. Actually, can I admit to somewhat enjoying it? It was nice to get in some actual knitting time as opposed to just reading about it on Ravelry! Not that I don't love Ravelry, it really would have come in handy when I realized that somehow my Digitessa and the charts/pattern were not syncing up. :( More about that in a second. Basic life update first. In the time I was gone, I've been going to the gym three days a week, knitting, and getting together with my friend Brandy every Friday night. It's really helpful to have a friend who truly understands what I am going through. Heather is five now, I missed doing a birthday post for her since the computer was out of commission. Kyran will be three on Monday. Expect one for him. And Nolan got his very first haircut! He looks older, or so everyone says. He still looks like little Nolie Bird to me. This is gonna be a long post guys. So, settle in.

Before and After shots of Nolan:

Alright, what else is there to tell? Well, let's get to the knitting stuff first. I finished one of the Serpentine Mitts, and finally finished Tree Jacket. Come on, you guys knew I'd be knitting in my "time off" from the internet. When Tree Jacket was finished, I thought my Denise needles looked bored, so I cast on for the Somewhat Cowl. The Berroco Ultra Alpaca is really nice to work with. It doesn't feel as soft against my face as it does on my hands though. Which is strange. I'm really thinking I will like this sweater a lot. Tree Jacket is great, it fits perfectly, and my best friend said it makes my boobs look big. lol That's always a plus. Right now most of my projects are simple, mindless TV type projects. Unfortunately, those are the type of projects I tend to stall on. However, I needed something either simple, or that I had a pattern for once my computer died. As I didn't have a lot of patterns printed out. Oh, and I had a slight problem with my one complex and interesting pattern.

La Digitessa and I are not in agreement right now. I should probably take a picture, but for now let me try to explain. Chart 6 has the cable pattern on the front of the leg as starting (row 33) on what would be row 10 of Chart 4. However, my sock has row 33 of Chart 6 being comparable to row 2 of Chart 4. Anyone? Should I just go about knitting using Chart 4 and trying to incorporate it into Chart 6 somehow? I posted about my dilemma on the Yarnissima group on Ravelry, nobody has given me any ideas yet. So, I might just start privately messaging people on Ravelry who have completed the socks. I am just concerned I did something wrong, and wouldn't even know how to begin to fix it! Argh. As soon as I can, I will get a picture to kind of show where I am at on the sock. It's just so aggravating. Anyways, after that, I started a modified version of the Charade socks. All I did was change the knit stitches in between the "slip, YO, k1, psso" type part into purls. Which my stitch dictionary calls a "rolled rib". Whatever, it is just something to do. Probably going to take them to the gym with me.

And now a meme, as I don't feel like posting anymore:

Rules and whatnot

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. (which I don't feel like doing, so I won't)
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

These are the facts:

1. I was diagnosed with Bipolar 2 about...4 years ago. I refuse to take medication for it, and I don't have the time to see a therapist/counselor. Though it is free. Instead, I track my "symptoms" and try to adjust accordingly. Luckily, it's not as bad as it once was. Some days are still worse than others. (this might explain some things about me)

2. I still can't decided if I hate doing dishes or laundry more. It's always the putting away/folding/loading parts of these chores I have the hardest time with.

3. Driving still scares me. After rolling our Explorer several years back, I can only drive about 2 solid hours at a time. Anything after that, I start white-knuckling it!

4. Feet are gross. I don't like them, except baby feet. I have an absurd fondness for baby feet. The reason I love socks so much is because they cover up my totally abnormal looking feet. I hate pedicures.

5. My best friend is my polar opposite. She loves feet, pedicures, water, swimming, the beach. When my hair was long, hers was short, now that mine is short...hers is long. Her favorite colors are pink, green, and white. Mine are purple, blue, and black. Seriously? The plus side is: we've never been attracted to the same guy at the same time, can't even conceive of it. We balance each other.

6. The penguin thing, if I haven't already explained it, came about rather simply. Whenever I was pregnant, Mr. Shad would tease me about the way I waddled. He said I looked like a penguin. And the nickname stuck. I am still his penguin. Penguins are fascinating, and cute. So, why not?

7. I want to learn how to do some pole tricks. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you probably don't want to. I love to dance, and I think it's just a neat thing to be able to do. Eh, what do you want? I'm weird. :)

Much To Say

2008-01-15T12:48:00.002-05:00

I've got a lot to talk about. Actual knitting content this time. No silly pictures of my personal life to distract so the UFOs can slip by unnoticed. Of course, I don't much feel like talking, I have to clean up the house. lol Quick personal update, Kyran started daycare Monday. It's crazy. Just me and the little Bird now. To help fill up my day, I joined a gym. That's really all that's going on. Oh yeah, check this cute lil' penguin gal out! Isn't she adorable?! She needs a name though. Got any suggestions? Now, onto the knitting. Oh, she came from Teenybeak.

Digitessa is coming along beautifully, when I work on her. You know me, the sizzle of a new project always dies a bit fast. I've already started and finished several quick projects since the new year. Despite my deal with myself. It's okay though, I've only got myself to answer to. No knitting police. :) Tree Jacket and Serpentine Mitts have both hit a kind of plateau.

There has been some finishing though. Don't you worry. I finished that scarf for my friend, I should be sending it off tomorrow. Today was the first good day for taking pictures. It's not exactly exciting. Just a simple black scarf, but he seems really happy with it. And I actually blocked it. *giggle* Yeah, I'm one of those people who says "Well...it looks fine, it doesn't need to be blocked, right?" Since it's a gift however, and needed to be washed for softness sake, I did the right thing. lol

For myself, there was The Fidget and a book strap. The book strap was my own design. Something quick and simple, a bookmark that will actually STAY! For goodness sake. Fidget was done with some of the leftovers from the Unoriginal Hat. Oh, can I just tell you how much I love my Fidget though? It's soft, and it stays right where I want it. I hate scarves, don't wear them. Probably why I hardly knit them. They don't want to behave themselves. When I was done with the photoshoot for The Fidget though, I didn't want to take it off!! Definitely making more. Although, I did make this with worsted weight yarn instead of bulky, which is recommended by the pattern. I wanted it to be thinner, it's perfect. P-E-R-F-E-C-T!

Now for the little blurb about the book strap. And the "pattern", if you can call it that. I don't. It's more like...guidelines really. ;)

Ever shoved a book into your purse or backpack, only to discover later that the paper bookmark slipped out? Dunno about you, but my children like to steal my bookmarks, it’s like a sport. This super awesome bookmark STAYS where you put it! And as an added bonus only takes about 10 minutes tops.

Here it is: Leave a 12” tail, crochet a chain twice the length of the spine, and then some. Make a small loop by sl st through the chain somewhere. No real instructions…no counting. Just guess people! Sew on a button ABOVE the loop.

To use: Pull long tail through loop, then bring up through book and around the outside (round the outside….). Wrap tail around button. When you want to read, simply slide off. Works best with paperbacks.

My Flickr and Ravelry both offer more pictures of the book strap that should help clear up the instructions for use. I hope. Just click the picture of it to go to Flickr, or you can sign into Ravelry. It's in my FOs, but you'll have to scroll down a bit to find it.

No Resolution

2008-01-08T23:43:00.000-05:00

I decided I'm not doing resolutions this year. Why make a list of all of the things I hate about myself, only to still be just me? Maybe I improve one little thing, like taking over the finances, or doing laundry more often. In the long run...it's really not helpful to me. When something becomes a problem, I fix it. I like things that way and don't need to point out all of my faults, then stress about how I'm not keeping my resolutions. The closest thing I have, is that I refuse to cast on any new projects till all of my UFOs are either frogged or FO'ed. Which is actually more of a goal than a resolution. I just want to enjoy this year, last year really seemed to be tough, there were definite good things that happened. Ups and downs like every other year.

This year was definitely a good year knitting-wise. Though, I haven't been knitting for very long. Participated in some swaps, met up with awesome knitters, finished a lot of projects. Tried a few new things. Look at those finished objects! It makes me feel rather productive. But was I a fearless knitter? I'm sure some of you read the Knitting Daily.

How about you? Did you Knit Fearlessly?
I like to think I did, the knitters at my LYS say I'm a challenge oriented knitter, and are always impressed by the way I jump into projects.

What would you knit in 2008 if you were really the knitter you've always dreamed of being?
A shawl. Actually, several shawls, some lightweight lacy ones, maybe a simple worsted one. Functional knits. Things that I would wear more than look at. More gifts.

Here's some things to think about:

• Is there something you haven't tried because it seems Too Scary?
Hm. Not really. No shawls, not because they are "too scary", but because of my fear of becoming bored and abandoning them. So, a fear of commitment?

• Is there a technique you want to learn, or learn to do more skillfully?
Color-work. I'm not 100% pleased with the way my stranding looks.Beading? I guess. Seaming.

• Is there something that stumps you?
Um...nope. I've always been able to figure things out, even if I need help to do it.

• Is there something that you are dying to try, in your secret knitter's heart, but haven't dared because you think you're not a good enough knitter?
I guess I am a fearless knitter, I've never shied away from a pattern or project because I didn't think I could do it. However, spinning on the other hand...I want to spin enough balanced/consistent yarn to knit a sweater.

• Are you always knitting The Same Old Things, and you'd like to try something new?
For awhile it was socks, socks, socks. However, I think I've really expanded my repertoire, as it were. Even learned to crochet a bit!

• Do you always knit for others, and never for yourself? Or perhaps you only knit yourself accessories, but never a lovely cardigan or pullover to wear?
Actually, I'm a selfish knitter. Occasionally I knit for others.... I'm not sure that makes me a fearless knitter. It might be indicative of the opposite. I'm afraid that the beloved knitting will end up at the bottom of someone else's closet and go unappreciated.

So, I think I might be a fearless knitter...but my confidence in other areas is lacking. Note to self: work on being a fearless crocheter and spinner. :) I've posted random pictures of my weekend and all throughout.

Quick, Fast, and In a Hurry

2008-01-03T12:04:00.000-05:00

Real quick post. Lots of pictures again. I need to clean up, my best friend should be on her way down here as ~~we speak~~ I type. Not that she would care if my place was a disaster, but I do. Anyways, I took some pictures the other night, which should be obvious since I changed that display pic on my blog (and my avatar on Ravelry, but some of you might not be on there yet).

Let's see, there are some knitting piccies, baby piccies, and a LOT of my new dress! Yes, the really awesomely cute one Mr. Shad bought for me. You really are going to want to click on some of these pictures so that you can see the larger sizes. That first one for example, I am actually knitting in it, but it's not super obvious until you see the larger version.

So here is the dress:

Here is my streaker son (I don't know why he was wearing shoes but not pants....I asked Heather but she just said "He took his pants off"):

And the scarf I'm knitting in the pictures. It's the Harlot's One Row scarf, in black Wool Pak 14-ply for my friend Helios. Helios is on MSG duty (those guys who get to stand around at the embassies and whatnot) and he asked me for a scarf. :) Let's hope he likes it! It's a little scratchy, I'm hoping a nice wool wash (I still have that Soak) will soften it up. Opinions?

ETA: Some delicious Dexter based stash enhancement

The Aftermath

2007-12-26T20:14:00.000-05:00

Christmas was lovely. But that is not all that has transpired. No sir, no. I have a new WIP, as well as a FO. My fourth anniversary has passed by, and there was a night out with some friends. Lots and lots of presents as well. :)

Where shall I start? How about we start with that night out. Thursday, Tyler's girlfriend came back from Iraq (yes, I know, all the goods ones are taken and suchwhat). To celebrate we went out to the bar. Someone was kind enough to watch my children for me on a school night. :P It was funny to get out on a weeknight. The celebration was really rather small, four people including myself. Still, it was a blast. The next morning I took the boys out to Cracker Barrel for some breakfast. I was very tired, so we went back to the house and napped after that. lol

Saturday, my parents arrived. Saturday was also my fourth anniversary. It's hard to believe, some days, that it has been so long. We've worked through so many troubles, and I find myself loving him more every day. The deployment had me really afraid, doubting our relationship even...those just proved to be unfounded fears. Things are actually a bit better between us now, which is wonderful. I do not regret saying "I do", or any of the decisions we have made. For each has led us to where we are now. This is a nice place, though, of course, I'd rather have him here with me right now. Alright, enough of that, I'll have you all crying again. My parents and I went out to Target to finish up our Christmas shopping. It was amazing that the place wasn't packed. Everyone was probably at Wal-Mart. We got dinner and shopped in about two hours. That's a record I believe.

Sunday, my mother-in-law, and her mother (grandma-in-law?) got in. Also, my dad was running around the house fixing things left and right. It's his way. He really isn't able to sit still. I believe we made cookies. Or something to that effect. On Christmas Eve day, my mother and I went to see Sweeney Todd!! It was fantastic! Visually stunning! Johnny was amazing, as always, he even had a rather good singing voice. Oh, it's also excessively gory, just so you know. After the crazies were tucked into their beds, we set to wrapping gifts. Santa brought quite a haul! Christmas morning was a blast, I got a fantabulous dress that my dear Mr. Shad picked out himself. It's perfect!! There will be pictures of that soon, you bet. Oh, and there was a teary moment when my MIL opened her present from my hubby. He had gone out of his way to reserve/buy a black and tan Cocker Spaniel puppy for her, from a very nice breeder in VA (who, btw, is a quilter). Her reaction was priceless.

Now, onto the knitting! I know that is what you've been waiting for. First, thank you to Ms Lesley D for the knitastic birthday/Christmas gifts!! They are awesome! Some lovely handknit mitts, and a cute t-shirt. It says "Will Knit for Tattoos", ain't that the truth?! As for my own knitting, I have a FO to share. It took me all of maybe two days. Gee, I forgot how instantly gratifying a bulky weight hat on large needles can be! It's a worsted weight, double stranded and knit on size 13 needles. The hat is a gift for a Firefly fan/friend of mine, Joel. Yes, he's been mentioned on here before. I told him we demand a picture of him wearing the hat after he receives it. For now, you'll have to deal with me. The WIP is my favorite. It's been MONTHS since the Amazonas ~~disaster~~ mishap. And I still intend to restart and knit those socks. I am wary now, though. There are other things to knit, right? Well, here we have it folks! More Wollmeise (Gewitterhimmel, a lovely semi-solid blue), and a lovely toe-up sock from Yarnissima. La Digitessa is racing along. I started her on/about Friday night, and I am past the heel and zooming up the leg. This one gave me a bit of trouble in the beginning, soooo many charts (at least 6 different ones)!! She is worth it though, I've hardly been able to put her down. Ever since seeing this sock on Flickr, I knew I had to have it. Bellissima!!

Here, random video of Nolan enjoying his Christmas gifts.

I Must Have Missed Thanksgiving

2007-12-17T23:01:00.001-05:00

I really don't know why I'm posting right now. Everything is a little fuzzy. There are hundreds of things I should be doing. The Lady is sitting in my living room, I'm working on that Cerelia from Spincerely still. Gotta pay bills. Fold laundry. Bake cookies. Finish a gift. *sigh* I haven't read blogs in ages (sorry guys!).Obviously, I posted that hat pattern. Glad that went over so well, I hope to see a few people knitting it on Ravelry. :)

Anyways, that's not what this post is about. Since my husband left, I haven't really had time to miss him. Right up until December. December is my favorite month. Yes, it's my birth month, but it's more than that. I love the Christmas season. There are fudge, cookies, lights, Christmas music and specials...it's a loving and warm time of the year. My husband and I met in November of 2003, we married three days before Christmas. Of that same year. Yep. I know. There were times we thought we wouldn't make it, and I wasn't really sure I'd miss him that much when he was gone. Sure, I'd hate being alone. But miss him so badly? Nah. Saturday will be our fourth anniversary, and I miss him more than ever right now. The littlest things will make me tear up. Over the weekend I got my order from The Loopy Ewe and discovered I'd made it! I was a Loopy Groupie!! Now, I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but Sheri is doing a thing supporting Random Acts of Kindness this month. Go check out her blog if you haven't heard of it yet. Anyways, a few weeks ago Sheri emailed me to let me know that someone had donated a $25 Loopy credit as a RAK, and asked Sheri to find someone. Sheri had chosen me! That made me cry, I come from a small place, and live in a town where everyone is pretty much the same (all Marines and Marine wives). For most people here, your husband being deployed doesn't make you special at all. Civilians don't usually grasp the concept, and until you experience deployment...it's difficult to relate. He's far away from us, we can't call him, I can't ask him to come home, and war is scary.

Right now, we are financially sound. We don't have a lot of money, but we have enough to pay our bills. However, I don't have that many friends in my area. People here are difficult to rely on. And, of course, I try to choose my friends carefully. Mostly, I am depending on the kindness of knitters to help get me through all of this. Even though they cannot be here with me, just having someone to talk to helps. Thank you to all of you who are there for me during this difficult time. Even when I disappear for a bit, I'm still knitting, and still thinking about all of you. *hugs* Where would I be without knitters?

Buggerloo

2007-12-16T01:26:00.002-05:00

This simple cabbie (or newsboy) style hat was created on a whim for my middle son, who I decided needed a hat just like this. However, I couldn't find a pattern that I liked. Then, my daughter wanted one. Now I want one too. They are too cute, and too quick. Short-rows help create a nice round, clean shape to the brim, while the hat is a simple slouchy style hat. Modeled after the latest trends and my favorite hats.

Buggerloo just happens to be one of a ton of variant nicknames I have for my son. This hat fits him perfectly...now only if I could get him to wear it!

SIZE
Small (toddler), Large (child, small adult)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
18" (20")

MATERIALS
(Small hat) Lion Brand Vanna's Choice (100% acrylic; 170yds/155m per 100g skein]; color 174: Olive; 1 skein
(Large hat) Ella Rae Amity (75% acrylic, 25% wool; 200yds/183m per 100g skein]; color 45; 1 skein

16" length-inch US 7/4.5mm circular needle
16" length-inch US 9/5.5mm circular needle
1 set US 9/5.5mm double-point needles

crafting plastic
tapestry needle
stitch markers/waste yarn

GAUGE
18 sts/24 rows = 4" in stockinette stitch (on larger needles)

PATTERN NOTES
w&t: wrap and turn, bring yarn to front of work between needles, slip next st to right-hand needle, bring yarn around this st to back of work, slip st back to left-hand needle, turn work to begin working back in the other direction.

For the brim, I purchased uncut craft painting stencil sheets. These can be found at Wal-Mart and chain craft stores.
If you would like a looser hat, knit longer before beginning decreases.

PATTERN
Hat
Using smaller needles, CO 72 (90) sts. Join in round, being careful not to twist, place marker to indicate beginning of round. Work 1x1 rib for 1 inch.

Switch to larger needles, *k2 (3), M1*; rep from * to * til end of round. [108, 120 sts]
Work in St st until piece measures 4 (5) inches from cast-on edge.

Next Rnd: *k18 (20), place marker*, rep from * to * 5 more times
Dec Rnd 1: *k2tog, knit to 2 sts before marker, ssk, slip marker*, rep from * to * 5 more times
Dec Rnd 2: knit around

Repeat dec rnds 1 and 2 until 24 sts remain (switching to DPNs when necessary), then work rnd 1 once more [12 sts]. K2tog around [6 sts], break yarn and thread through sts. Pull tight.

Brim
Locate join on cast-on edge, using larger needles pick up 12 (15) sts on each side of the join. [24, 30 sts total]

Small Only
Row 1 (WS): Purl across
Row 2 (RS): K 22, w&t
Row 3: P 20, w&t
Row 4: K 19, w&t
Row 5: P 18, w&t
Row 6: K 17, w&t
Row 7: P 16, w&t
Row 8: K 15, w&t
Row 9: P 14, w&t
Row 12: K 13, w&t
Row 11: P 12, w&t

Large Only
Row 1 (WS): Purl across
Row 2 (RS): K 28, w&t
Row 3: P 26, w&t
Row 4: K 25, w&t
Row 5: P 24, w&t
Row 6: K 23, w&t
Row 7: P 22, w&t
Row 8: K 21, w&t
Row 9: P 20, w&t
Row 10: K19, w&t
Row 11: P18, w&t
Row 12: K17, w&t
Row 13: P16, w&t
Row 14: K15, w&t
Row 15: P14, w&t
Row 16: K13, w&t
Row 17: P12, w&t

Both Sizes
Next Row: Knit across, picking up next 4 (7) wraps and knitting them together with wrapped stitches as you go. For last wrapped stitch, pick up wrapped stitch, then slip wrap, wrapped stitch, and last stitch - knit through back loops.
Next Row: Purl across, purling next 4 (7) wraps with their wrapped stitches when you come to them. For last wrapped stitch, pick up wrapped stitch and p3tog (wrap, wrapped stitch, and last stitch)

FINISHING
Cut plastic to fit into brim (keep in mind that the stitches have a bit of stretch). Weave ends (from cast on and brim join) into brim. Place plastic and graft live stitches to cast-on edge, making sure to keep plastic in place. Weave in remaining ends.

Oh Snap!! Now you have a super rockin hat, go pimp it and see how many people ask you where you bought it!

Happy Birthday Post

2007-12-11T22:48:00.000-05:00

First, thank you to everyone for your birthday wishes, and all of the wonderful things that have been happening lately. It really feels as if, for once, things are looking up. From here on out this is a totally self-indulgent post. But don't worry! There is knitting content!

I spent most of the weekend cleaning. Friday, Emily came over and helped me to clean. In between bouts of cleaning, we watched Pirates of the Caribbean 3!! You know how I love my Johnny. Anybody else really looking forward to Sweeney Todd? Just gotta find someone willing to sit on the kids on Christmas! lol Saturday, more cleaning. Then Brandy came over with a cake, a balloon, and some cards. She videotaped it for my hubby. Let's hope that he's the only one to see it, my hair was insane! We hung out for awhile, more cleaning, then after Kyle and Emily got there we went out to eat. Nowhere spectacular, still haven't been to the new Olive Garden. Sunday, my mom came up to see me. She took me out to get my hair cut and then she took the kiddos to the mall while I went to Bombs Away. Yeah, I have another tattoo. This one is much smaller than the penguin. Okay wait, let me tell this story really quick.

I go in to the shop, it's about 3pm. They close at six, and I feel kinda bad about coming in so late but it's a small tattoo. So, I bring in the picture, chat with my guy, and take a seat. He's got two tattoos to do before mine, and he's already started the first one. Out comes the knitting, and I get comfy. Waiting...waiting. The movie that was on when I first came in is over, not a big deal, it wasn't far from the end anyways. It's about 4:30...Nik (my artist) takes a smoke break and tells me he'll be awhile yet. *sigh* At around 5ish, he comes to me, still hasn't finished up with this other girl. Do I mind if his buddy Josh does the tattoo?? Um...well, in the interest of getting everyone out of this shop by six, and since it is such a small tattoo...why not? Okay, Josh comes over, we talk about the design, he pumps out a sketch for me, and then (are you with me?) tells me he has to wait for the piercer to get out of his station!!! *rolls eyes* Fine. How can a couple of piercings take longer than a couple tattoos? Yes? No. Nik actually gets finished before Josh is ready for me. However, since he already sketched my design and stuff, I am still waiting on Josh. It's all good though. Nik came and talked to me while I got the tattoo done. Really, it's a lot about the compatibility too, not just the skill. Both are important, I like to talk. In case you hadn't noticed. Process-wise, the tattoo was not at all gratifying. It was too small for that. However, it's super cute, and exactly what I wanted.

Whew. Okay. I got home at about 7, and called Ty to let him know that he could come over whenever. As I sat down with my gross McDonald's chicken strips that I really did NOT want to put in my mouth...I realized I should have asked him to make me dinner. So, I call him back and ask if he's up for that. :D He was broke, so we decided dinner could be his present to me. Which is cool with me, I love food. We all dance around the kitchen and hang out. Ty finally gets to meet my mom. After that, we went to the bar. When I got done wasting money on drinks, we went to meet some friends of his. Good times.

I'm done. Now the knitting stuff. Somewhere in between all of that, I was working on a hat for Kyran. Just grabbed some green acrylic from Michael's, and started a basic-ish slouchy hat. Only, I planned to put a brim on it. Kinda like the newsboy hat in the SnB book, except, I don't have the book. lol I mean, it can't be that hard, right? Too bad I didn't write any of it down.... Whatever, he's super cute. Okay, so, update. I wrote down what I remembered doing. It might not be exactly the same. But almost. If you would like to see it, let me know.

Wait...What?

2007-12-07T20:28:00.000-05:00

Geez, I keep disappearing. Blame Ravelry and my ridiculous life. A lot of drama went down last weekend. Nothing I really want to go over again. So, I'll be showing you a bazillion pictures in hopes of distracting you. Oh, and for my fellow NC knitters (especially those in the Wilmington area) my friend Tyler is totally hot, he cooks, wears handknits, he's funny, likes kids, and is single. :D hahahahaha He told me I could ~~sell~~ ~~advertise~~ talk about him on my blog.

Between the drama and the migraines, I have been knitting a little. I started the Serpentine Mitts for myself, and a hat for Kyran. The mitts are also my project for the Knitter Project that Elizabeth is doing. Sign-ups are closed, but you should really check it out. It's pretty awesome. I seriously think it's one of the coolest things I've ever heard of. Besides, she knows about the FBU. She's gotta be cool.

In other news, my birthday is Sunday. You know, in case you hadn't seen the countdown thinger. Yeah, I love those things. I'm ridiculous. lol Going out with friends tomorrow evening. Sunday, my mom will be getting here, we'll go shopping. Then Tyler will take me out to do something wild and crazy. Should be a good weekend. Or, I hope so. I really need the break right now.

Oh Gee

2007-11-27T13:59:00.000-05:00

Wow. Where do I begin?! Normally, I'd say "at the beginning", but I am not even sure where that is. Let us work backwards then, shall we?

Crap. I just somehow managed to delete my entire post about Thanksgiving. And I didn't really feel like writing this in the first place. So just...enjoy the mosiac.

I'll give you some details about my Mouse encounter and the Harlot's Unoriginal Hat (which I revamped ever so slightly to work with a worsted weight yarn instead of bulky). Oh, and of course, as always, lots of pictures.

Whilst in Georgia with my family, I visited with Mouse! Not even sure I mentioned I'd be doing that on here. If you don't already read her blog, she is totally awesome. We talk pretty regularly and I am convinced we share a brain. lol Really, it's a little scary sometimes. Our first attempt to get together was thwarted by a freak illness! The little Ky bug got a horrible fever the day before I was to meet up with Mouse. We just rescheduled though. So, I went to the House of Mouse (sorry, I had to) and we hung out. She showed me all her super amazing soaps, and scented oils, and jewelry...and I think I almost died. She gave me some super cute stitch markers that I apparently forgot to *gasp* photograph! A Converse sneaker and a little devil ducky! SQUEE! Then we went to a yarn shop, oh, it was so much fun. Too bad the Crazies were shopping as well. And wanted all of the expensive stuff. I might have walked out with some things. Malabrigo may have hopped into my basket. Possibly. I can't be sure. It hopped onto the needles so fast that I am still not sure. That whole bottom row on the pictures is Malabrigo pics.

You may (or may not) have noticed that the Unoriginal Hat is what I decided to use my Malabrigo for. Actually, it was what I picked the yarn out for. Except...the hat is written for bulky weight, and this is a worsted weight. After toying with the idea of leaving it in the skein and using the skein as a scarf (I wore it like that almost the entire time I was at Mouse's), no, I decided I must actually knit with the famed yarn. After swatching, and doing some maths I CO using size 9 needles. Then...about 5 rows into the pattern, I realized that the cables weren't looking at ALL the way I wanted them to. Nope, nope. So I did what any ~~crazy~~ good knitter would do. I re-charted the cable. That's what you would do, right? Right?! lol Even though I had to do a lot of tinking (yeah...at first I just re-charted in my head, then I realized I might actually need to write it down), I love the finished product. Here is the low-down:

Pattern: Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Loro Barranquero
Needles: Size 9US/5.5mm
Gauge: 16sts over 4" in cable pattern
Notes: There are a lot of these, bear with me.

I loved this hat. I might do it again with the proper yarn weight. Anyways, I decided originally to add in a few purl stitches and add an extra repeat of the cable.

16sts x 5 reps = 80

So I CO the 80sts and got to work. Then I realized that the one cable wasn't opening up as wide as it did in The Harlot's hat, which is what I had wanted. That was really my favorite part. Tink back, twist a stitch here, one there, ah, much better. Knit a few rows...and now the other cable isn't looking quite the way I'd like. *sigh* At this point I decide to print out some graph paper and chart what is going on in my head. It's very late at this point. I had just gotten back from Mouse's, then hand wound the yarn (singles can be tricky, they don't like ball-winders), and I had dinner of course. By the time I re-chart the pattern, it's far past 1AM. Off to bed I go, but I have a plan now and that hat will be gettin it, oh yeah. As you can see, the chart worked beautifully. If you would like...I can write down the chart row by row...or maybe I'll find a scanner and scan it in. Really, all I did was add in 4 extra rows, and 2 extra stitches.

When I got home there was plenty of mail. To include two skeins of STR, the new Raven Clan...like I was going to be able to resist it. They are Rook-y and Corbie. I am really happy with Rook-y, which is good, because I had been eyeing it for awhile.

Get Me OUT of Here!!!

2007-11-16T18:34:00.000-05:00

Oh effing hell. Do you know how badly I cannot wait to get out of this house/city/state?! My brother comes tomorrow to help us drive back down. I wanted to take him to Wilmington to party, but the way I am feeling...I just want to leave. Like, pick him up and turn around and GO!

My house is a disaster. Despite spending hours cleaning. Cingular is charging us $42 to reserve a phone number. Seriously. Oh, and I am not actually getting any service right now. The kids are crazy, not like that is unusual. We are out of food. Which, I mean, I was trying to do.

But at least I have my beta shirt!!

And no knitting to show you. So...I'm out. Peace.

Bad Blogger, Bad

2007-11-12T22:55:00.002-05:00

Eh, I guess I should post, huh? It's only been almost a week. There couldn't possibly be that much to talk about, right? Oh...wait. There is. Agh. I have two finished objects, and a really crazy weekend to talk about. Guess I should begin where I left off.

The pedicure socks are finally done. I don't know why I waited so long. Of course...I still haven't sent them. Speaking of, if I said I was going to send you something...expect it after I get back from Georgia around the 27th. lol Maybe I will try to get them out this week, before I leave. Anyways, a friend I hadn't talked to in ages called me up to see if I could alter his wife's ball gown. Sure. I don't see why not. The sewing machine was still out from Nolan's costume. Oh, in case you don't remember this from last year, or I didn't mention it, every year the Marine Corps has a huge formal event to celebrate the Marine Corps' birthday. It's a blast. Even when your Marine is deployed, they still throw ya a party. It's just...smaller. I'll get to that. I meant to take pictures of this gown after I altered it, but forgot. Gonna assume it fit since she never called me to fix it again.

That was...Monday, Tuesday? Sure, why not. On Thursday-ish, my friend/date for the deployed spouses ball, Brandy came over so that we could decide which dresses to wear. Ha, I told her what I planned on wearing and she said, "You know it's tomorrow right?". Um. Duh, of course I can alter a gown in one day. Who can't? lol Anyways, it was a simple alteration. Cut the top half of the gown off, toss it, sew some elastic into the bottom half, ta da! A skirt. I also used a bit of the straps from the top half to make little loops next to the zipper, which I pulled some purple ribbon through. Actually, I have to credit Mouse with that idea. Oh, now you are all going...wait...what are you wearing as a top? A corset baby. Hellz yeah. I was hawwwtttt. But you don't have to take my word for it. :)

Friday, I actually did the gown alterations. Got ready...and went to the ball. It was a blast. Even if the DJ was trying to make us all cry. After the ball (er...as soon as possible), Brandy and I went back to her place so that we could change. I pimped Goddess. :D Then we headed out to this RIDICULOUS, redneck karaoke bar. Oh man, we've been before, and I really dislike this bar. Makes me feel really out of place. Clubs baby, I want a club. So, I order my first drink and ~~call~~ text Tyler, who makes any bar more fun. He played pool, I got drunk, everyone had fun! Really, it was an okay time after the third drink. lol Hey, who can argue with Cristal singing Du Hast. She did a good job too. Scared me anyways! At some point we decided to leave and go to Cristal's. Once there we played Cranium...sorta. I was way more interested in playing catch with this one guy, Joe. No idea how I was even catching those balls either. :D Everyone crashed at her house, at around 5am. Too bad her twins woke up at 8! Ugh. We left around nine-ish, and Tyler took me back to my house, where we made breakfast. The kitchen was trashed though. :( I was a little upset with Kyle and Emily (who watched the kids), but...they did watch my kids overnight for me. Oh, btw, apparently Tyler loves to cook, and misses it. Which works out wonderfully for me because I hate cooking. I told him to come use my kitchen ANY time. Seriously.

Ummmm...I basically did nothing the rest of the weekend. Well, I finished Swell. What? I didn't mention that? Oh. Right. Probably because I started it around that same Tuesday. Or maybe Wednesday. Either way. Anyways, it was supposed to be a Christmas gift for Tyler, but apparently he hates Christmas. So, I just gave it to him when I finished it. Actually, there were some gauge issues, and I was afraid that it may not fit. To make sure, I had him come over and try on the hat. It still needed the ends woven in and blocking...but he didn't want to leave without it. He has to go to the field this week and wanted the hat to keep him warm. Guess I should be flattered that he loved it so much!! How adorable is that picture by the way? Even if I did have to lean over all awkward to get it. My couches are ridiculously comfy, and nobody ever wants to get off of them. lol There is enough yarn to make another hat, I'm thinking of either doing it in reverse or making a beanie with a brim/bill on it. Like the one in the picture of me above (at the bar). As always, click any picture to see it bigger.

Magical Trevor

2007-11-06T11:20:00.001-05:00

I don't know why that song is stuck in my head. But it's a much better title than "I'm a lazy bum and don't want to do anything, including update my blog". Right?

We are going back to mostly pictures again. Sorry. There hasn't been much knitting. Even the second pedicure sock isn't done. Still 12 rounds from finishing. Actually, I did turn the heel on the Nermal socks. No pictures of that though. I did take a picture of Kyle and Emily, figured that I talk about them so much, might as well get a picture, right? See Heather there? That was before we went on a hair cutting rampage. Yes. Everyone has short hair now, except Nolan, who didn't have much to start with. So we left him alone. Kyran looks so much like my brother now that it's a little disturbing. I even called him Daniel once last night. Heather looks SO adorable! Not that she wasn't cute before, just that she looks much better now. You can see her adorable little face.

Now, for the best part of my day. Er. Yester-day. lol First, actually, a bit of background on how that day went. Heather had been up and down all night, we didn't get to sleep until 3am, and she didn't wake up until nearly 11 btw. I spent the morning paying bills and balancing the checkbook. Always fun. Not to mention I was missing Mr. Shad particularly badly. *sigh* Anyways, I was in a mood. Enter Super Pal! AKA Dawn. She is really a great pal, and this box couldn't have been more perfect unless she had found a way to put my hubby in there! It made me so happy that I teared up, actually. Anyone who knows me will know just how fitting these gifts were for me. Oh, and Dawn, it's okay you couldn't find the Turquoise Jeans. I love the Ingrid's Blues, the Claudia Handpainted is so soft and squooshy! Had to resist temptation to cast on! Must finish current projects! Here, have lots of delicious pictures. I didn't want to make a mosiac because then you couldn't see anything.

What you are seeing here is: a skein of Universal Deluxe Chunky Tweed in Ocean, some yummy-licious sounding hot cocoa mix (Green & Black's Maya Gold), a mug/cup in which to put that cocoa, a PotC loofah/squirter, a journal (ps, have I ever described my affinity for journals on here? I'll go find some of the ones I have...just you wait), a cheshire cat keychain (CUTE!), Claudia Handpainted in Ingrid's Blues, there was a cute little bag thing that mug was cozied into it is adorable, some iron-on patches, and temporary tattoos. I assume those last are for the crazies. If not, it's too late, I already said they could have them. :) Seriously Dawn, you rock. Thank you SOOOOOOO much!

A Little Less Sixteen Candles....

2007-11-03T09:57:00.001-05:00

Actually, there should be more talking and less pictures this time. Or at least more talking. Sorry to be so out of it, the kids and live have kept me pretty busy. I think today is the first day I've really been able to pull myself together enough to actually post. You're going to have to scroll down for knitting content though. :D

Halloween was great, even if Nolan didn't get to wear his ice cream cone costume! He fell asleep before we went trick-or-treating and I didn't want to wake him. It had been a long day already. We went to the mall to buy Kyran (p.s. He is Cry-Baby, not The Fonz) some new shoes, and then just to kill time. You know how it is. Kyle and Emily are finally back, I don't know if I mentioned that. It has been GREAT to have them here. Finally I have someone to hang out with during the day. Emily and I have been hanging out most of the week. Monday she came over so that I could take her to a doctor's appointment. Wednesday (Halloween) we did the mall and hung out until her husband got off of work. Then he and I took the kids around the neighborhood.

Then, of course, we got paid on Thursday. Emily really wanted to get some grocery shopping done (they had basically nothing in their house, since they had been gone for some time), and I needed to do fall wardrobe shopping for the kiddos. Where else to go but Wal-Mart?! First we stopped in at Fantastic Sams so that I could tame my mane! Actually, I have been wanting to cut my hair again for awhile. Really tried growing it out there for a bit. Still, I could not resist the temptation of short(er) hair when Elizabeth cut hers! The whole experience was fantastic, when you get a haircut, a good one, it should make you feel like a ROCKSTAR! You should start peeking over your shoulder for paparazzi! lol So, I go in there with an image in my head, a magazine, and a vague description. The magazine didn't have exactly what I wanted, instead I had to kind of combine two different pictures. The girl who had originally been my stylist was slightly unsure of her ability, and called in a more senior stylist. She was ECSTATIC by the idea that they would get the chance to really have fun and do something new! That made me very happy, I have found that conservative stylists are more apt to mess up my hair. Mostly because they are too afraid to take a chance with it. The cost of the cut was only $15 in the end, so I gave a 100% tip (technically it was 50/50 because the two of them split it as they both worked on my hair). I had budgeted for $40, and they really did an outstanding job! From there we went to Wal-Mart where I blew $300 on food and clothes. Still in budget, btw. Thank goodness for the separation pay! Heather and Kyran badly needed new wardrobes, Heather still needs new shoes. Kyran's pants all were 2-3 inches above his ankles, and Heather was wearing socks with her sandals because none of her real shoes fit her anymore. Nolan has loads of hand-me-downs, so he wasn't an issue. Though he became really attached to this red shirt I picked out for Heather....

Whew, we are now up to Friday, yesterday. I dyed my hair black to cover the faded purple and give me a uniform base to work with. Besides, I kinda like it black. Especially when it is short, gives a sharper contrast. Anyways, I was really just killing time. Then plan was to meet up with Kyle, Emily's husband at a new tattoo shop. Actually, it was an expansion of the shop that I went to for my phoenix, and my tattoo artist was made the manager of this new shop!! So, I had to go pay my respects, as well as getting a much longed for tattoo (hey, I budgeted for that too, I'm not completely insane). Well, I ran late, as usual, and Emily decided that she really wanted to bring the babies to the shop. Or, she wanted to be there. She is feeling that "have fun while I still can!" vibe right now. I told her that was really up to her, that it would probably be easier to keep an eye on them at home, but if she had her heart set on going out that I didn't think Nik would mind. We drove off to Bombs Away 2 with crazies in tow.

Now we get to the knitting part. Remember, I knit while getting tattooed, it keeps my mind off of the pain. Really, I have a low tolerance for pain and I know if I'm knitting and focusing on the simple in, around, out, off motions I will be fine. Nik loves it because he says it keeps me still, which makes it easier for him to do his job. Also, with my last tattoo he said that he has seen full grown men complain more than I do! Which made me feel rockin. Okay...I lied. Here are all of the pictures. Trust me, this isn't even half of them. Kyle took LOADS of progress shots. You can literally see the tattoo develop. One of my favorite shots was an accidental one, he meant to photograph the tattoo, and instead got Nik's hands in there. lol But I think that is kinda cool. Oh, those are the Nermal socks I am working on there.

Anybody Still Out There?

2007-10-29T19:09:00.000-05:00

Sorry about basically disappearing for the last week. Or so. I am totally spacing right now. My brain isn't working to full capacity. So this will be another picture-full post with few words.

Lately, I haven't been reading many blogs. Sorry about that folks! I'll be more energetic soon, I think. Anyways, I intend to join a gym soon, that should give me a bit more energy.

Ravelry has become a HUGE part of my life. I'm on it almost all of the time. My friends Kyle and Emily finally got back into town. Remind me to get pics with them soon. Made Nolan's Halloween costume this weekend, it's kinda weak and homemade looking. Still, he's cute, so it works. My parents came over, and my dad made chili!! It's one of my favorite dishes. Started (and am almost finished with) Pedicure Socks for my BFF, as a belated Birthday present. Crocheted a bookmark for a Read-Along I started on Ravelry, separated the sleeves for Tree Jacket, and started a hat out of the yarn I frogged. You know, the Mad Color Weave sock?

Yay pictures. I'm tired now.

One and Only (picture heavy)

2007-10-20T17:27:00.000-05:00

So...I haven't been very active in the blogging world lately. I love to post, but haven't really felt like it. Instead of actually reading posts, I skim them. It's not that I don't love you all. Just hitting a plateau I think. Mr. Shad has been gone for about 5 weeks (I am rounding here, and guessing, I actually haven't been keeping track), we still haven't seen any of that "extra income", and there was an error in budgeting that has left us...well more than a little tight. Again. *sigh* Next month will be better. Man am I tired of saying that.

Lots has happened in the last four days, yeah, I know. Four days? What can happen in four days, you ask. Let me 'splain...no, there is too much, let me sum up. (If you get that I love you) I crocheted a ton of those little mice and plan to sell them at a craft fair, Kyran burned his hand (minor burn!), I finally made the "Bird" shirt for Nolan, I frogged the ill-fitting Amazonas sock, got some roving in, finished the hat for my brother, and cast-on for the Tree Jacket. Whew. Now, if you can, and you go to my Ravelry, you'll notice that I have *gasp!* only one WIP. Yep, Tree Jacket is the only thing on the needles. How? Well, I hibernated the Skating Sweater, just looking at it made me sweat (hehe, sweat, sweater). Frogged the Amazonas sock, so that's not even a UFO, it's gone. My brother's hat is done...so that's an FO now. Seriously, I have like five UFOs, things that are hibernating until the weather cools down a bit, or the holidays are over.

Now I am just going to bombard you with pictures. Then we will go into details. I didn't feel like trying to put the pictures all in order and stuff this time. lol

Right, that is done. You can see from the pictures that the decision to frog (officially) the Amazonas sock was one of the heart. lol I used the LOVEPAPER given to me by my PRGE pal Dawn! It came in really handy. I had been very back and forth about it, in the end, I knew that the sock had to come out, but it was so beautiful!! It's okay, I intend to come back to it after the holidays, and knit the right size this time, along with a few other minor tweaks to make the pattern better suit my foot and desires. Motivation to finish the hat was the Tree Jacket, I needed the size 8 needles for swatching. lol

Kyran's hand. Ah, so here is the story:
Imagine if you will, you are cooking dinner, and suddenly the kitchen is full of children!! You know that no amount of urging and pushing out the door will get them to go, so you try to balance cooking and keeping kids out of trouble. Heather is doing her homework on the counter to my right. Kyran is standing by my left leg, trying to trip me I think. Nolan is getting into cabinets and pulling out a number of tupperware containers. After putting back the containers, and removing the pot from the burner, Heather needs me. I turn to look at her and hear a scream. No. A squeal, really, of pain. Thinking it was Nolan, I turned to the cabinet...nope crawling around happily. If not a little confused. Then I realized it had been Ky, he must have put his hand on the stove where the pot had just been. "Buhn-ed," he said, "muh han' IS buhned!" We ran it under cold water and bandaged him. He was smart enough to pull his hand back quickly I think, it was really not bad at ALL.

On Lesley, The "C" word, and Lmnoq (LONG post)

2007-10-16T08:47:00.000-05:00

I meant to post this yesterday, but I am lazy.

This weekend was fantastic!!! Lesley and her daughter came to visit with us! If you don't already, go read her blog. She's totally awesome and I am impressed by her strength of character. Seriously. Anyways, she got here early Friday morning (like 6am!), the both of us got a total of four hours of sleep between Thursday morning and Friday night. lol Still, we didn't let that stop us from having a blast! (Sorry about the exclamation points, but it rocked) Friday I let Heather stay home from school to hang out with Sym, and we went out to get some food and pick up some cleaning supplies that I needed. When we got to Wal-mart Heather decided to prove me right, see, I had been telling Lesley how clumsy and accident prone my daughter is. First thing Heather does is run to the stand of flowers in the front. She just wanted to smell them!! Instead she tripped over a carpet that was probably only a half an inch off the floor, and faceplanted on the stand holding the flowers! The employees were quick to come to our aid (can't risk being sued, right?), Heather's nose was bloody and swelling. Poor girl! She will be alright, it got the tip where all that cartilage is, but right now she looks like someone beat her about the face. It even extended to her eye, she doesn't even notice it much anymore.

After that adventure we decided to go home, with a stop by the LYS on the way. Unfortunately it was closed, so we walked around the corner to the Luna Cafe, a cute little ice cream/coffee shop. The kids played a bit and Lesley and I ate some delicious brownies! Nolan found a chair that was just his size, and climbed right in! It was too cute. Then he decided he would have more fun pushing it around, he's really close to walking now. I'll have to buy him one of those little walking toys. Of course, as I was talking about how Ty and I never actually call each other, we just text, he texts me! What did he want? For me to bring him food. Peanut butter sandwiches. Just peanut butter, no jelly. I knew there was a reason I liked this kid! I don't like jelly either. lol So I make a few sandwiches, we throw the kids in the car and drive out there. Now, just so you know, he works on LeJeune, which is further away than the Air Station (Mr. Shad's duty station). It's only about 10-20 minutes extra, still that makes a 30-40 min trip each way. But we had nothing else planned really, we were just gonna hang out. I've NEVER seen anyone have so much fun in an empty barracks room! Too much! The kids played catch with Ty, while Nolan flirted with his own reflection, and Lesley and I tried to keep Heather from falling and hurting herself even more. lol

Clicky click!

Whew. We left way too late, it was like 10-ish. The girls didn't go to sleep until well after midnight, after Sym cleaned Heather's room! lol Lesley and I didn't stay up much longer than they did, we were tiredddddd. The next morning we woke up at a decent time and mostly just relaxed for awhile, knitting. At around noon we decided that we were hungry and it was time to venture out. I was in a Sonic mood, so it was off to Sonic! Lunch was great, the kids managed to play without being hurt or getting sand in their eyes. Since we didn't have any real plan, we went to the mall to walk off some of that food/energy. Mostly we just walked around aimlessly, looking at everything, buying nothing. lol On the way back I realized that we had an hour left before The Tail Spinner closed, and we just had to pop in, even if just for a bit. Plus, I knew that most people would be gone for the day and the kids wouldn't be in the way as much. I bought a lot of yarn. Well, for me it was. Even though most of it will become gifts for others. We hung, knit, watched tv, and had a good time. That night we decided to celebrate/say goodbye with a couple of drinks. Maybe a couple too many. lol Still, it was great!! Being able to talk to anyone over the age of five, especially another female was just fantastic! I really had the best time ever.

Sunday we got ready to say goodbye. The kids were not happy about it at all. Around 11 or maybe 12, I got a call from a couple of friends who were out of town. Their car had broken and down, could I break into their house and get something for them? lol Well, I didn't always have such good taste in men, and one of my previous boyfriends had been of questionable caliber. At leat he taught me how to break into a house! :) It came in pretty handy, after probably 5-6 minutes of fiddling with the door, I popped the lock. And with minimal damage. I thought my filing system was a mess! Just a box of papers, which also contained broken glass, Sully, you're weird. What an interesting thing to do on your last day on vacation, right Lesley? After a few more hours of procrastinating, Lesley and Sym packed their things into the car. Kyran cried, he wanted to go too, poor guy. Sym cried, she wanted to stay, just one more day? Heather kept asking if Sym could come back tomorrow. I think Lesley and I wanted to cry too, we are both on our own for the time being and it was just too much fun havinig a friend around. Lesley gave me a gift, a little can for needles, notions, or whatever I want, that she decorated just for me!! We added a little memento from our time together, it's kind of like an inside joke. hehe What a great way to spend the weekend. The rest of the day I just kind of moped around the house. But at least Dexter was on, so I had something to look forward to.

Yesterday I probably should have posted. This post wouldn't be as long. Can't help it. I think it was all the excitement from the weekend, I couldn't sleep well Sunday night. Most of yesterday was spent on the couch. The rest of it I was putzing about Ravelry and trying to learn to crochet. I didn't really want to knit anything I was supposed to be knitting. Instead, I wasted time making a granny square. There was no need to, just felt like it. At some point I need to learn to crochet, every time I see something cute that is crocheted I curse. Then Mouse made this. If you remember correctly, my learning to knit was spurred by just one handknit hat that I fell in love with. That's all it takes to motivate me. There are a few crochet hooks I've picked up for making chains and picking up stitches (though I hardly use them for the latter), so I figured sure why not. I'll start out slow. The night Lesley was driving, I was practicing single crochet. After that I figured, well, I should make something. But...what? A granny square, sure. That's like a scarf, only a heck of a lot smaller. It's totally wonky, but that's okay. I tried.

Then...Heather asked me to knit her a mouse. It was totally random, but she usually is. I think, well, there has to be a crochet mouse pattern somewhere, she won't know the difference and I need to practice. Yay Ravelry! I found a simple pattern (I verified that with Mouse) and grabbed my hook and some black yarn. Heather then makes it clear that her mouse should be pink. Pink? Yes, pink. Do I have any pink yarn, I wonder? It's not exactly my favorite color, so I buy it very rarely. But yes, I do have some, it was purchased to make baby booties that I never made. It's acrylic too, so not a big waste of my money. Perfect. Of course, I have to put the project in Ravelry. Can't neglect that, I mean, I did find the pattern there. Project name...well gee, she'll probably name her mouse.

Me: "What are you going to name the mouse?"
Heather (this is phoentic): "My-oh-knee-oh".
Myonio, I picture the word in my head. Whatever reason I had for asking a four-year-old this next question, it was definitely the start of something interesting.
Me: "How do you spell that"
Heather: "L-M-N-O-Q"

Right. Of course it is. Silly me. So, I introduce to you Lmnoq, whom I call Myonio - spelled LMNOQ. Or Lmnoq - pronounced My-oh-knee-oh.

Baby Blue

2007-10-11T13:57:00.000-05:00

As all of you know, Nolan is kind of an odd duck, lookswise, in our family. His blonde hair, pale skin, and soft blue eyes make him stand out. I was never really fond of blonde hair and blue eyes, but I can't get enough of his. Especially those eyes. They pretty much enchant me. His Irish eyes are always smiling, which is probably what I love so much. :)

At 4:30 this morning I got up and scrambled the kids together. They were dropped off while Nolan and I waded through traffic to get to base. After wearily finding my way to the APU, we were checked in, and sat back to relax a bit. The gentleman who helped us was really very sweet, I wish I had snapped a picture! His name was Matt, and he complimented Nolan on his name and demeanor. I love the people at the naval hospital, they are really great. Not weird and disassociated like I have experienced at other hospitals. Anyhow, we waited around rather patiently (for people who had woken up early and not eaten) for them to call us to the ORT. He got a little ancy in the ORT, but didn't take long to bond with the anesthesiologist. Then they were whisking my baby off and I had to find the waiting room. I think I was in there for all of 10 minutes.

He was pretty mad at first, very hungry and confused. When the nurses back in the APU got some juice for him, he calmed right down. Even when he was crying people couldn't help but comment on how adorable he is. After hanging out in the APU/recovery room, drinkin some juice, and knitting, it was finally time to go home. And by finally, I mean it was 10:30. lol Matt had the hook up in the pharmacy (his wife) and saved us from waiting another half an hour to an hour for Nolan's eyedrops. He took us all the way to my van (it really wasn't that far), and we headed off to pick up Heather and Kyran.

Now Nolan's piercing blue eyes can really shine through. No more cleaning goopy eyes, and having to explain that he is not sick. Just, overpowering, pleasant, and joyful blue eyes. That's all.

P.S. I knit him the eye patch as a joke (it was Elizabeth 's idea!), yesterday while waiting to call and find out his arrival time for surgery

Sleepless

2007-10-09T09:21:00.000-05:00

I don't sleep well anyways, but somehow without Mr. Shad here, it is actually worse. I fell asleep on the couch at 9pm this past Saturday...and it was very strange. So, I've finally decided to write/post my list of things to look forward to.

My bed is now all mine, which means I can use his side for blocking. :)
Nobody to eat up all my sweets. Except me.
I can watch whatever I want on TV. Without interruption
Nobody complains when I don't do the dishes for 3 days in a row.
I can balance the checkbook without worrying about Mr. Shad's impulsive buying habits.
The couch is all mine!
More time to knit.
Lesley is coming to visit! Okay, she probably could have if Mr. Shad was here. But it will be less crowded this way.
I get to decorate for Christmas without Mr. ~~Scrooge~~ Shad whining about it.
Less laundry.
If I can't find the camera, it's my fault.
No scrambling to clean the house at 5 o'clock.
We're going to my parents' for Thanksgiving, which is my favorite family holiday.
Nolan is going to be an ice-cream cone for Halloween, and there is nothing anybody can say to change my mind.
Nolan will be walking soon. And talking.
No more Netflix that I don't wanna watch.
I get to buy my own Birthday, Anniversary, and Christmas presents.

Nolan has a pre-op appointment today. I think I have neglected to mention the surgery altogether on here. Makes it easier for me to ignore, and therefore not be nervous. It's not horribly invasive or anything, and will most likely just be routine. But I am a mother, which means I worry. Besides all of that, it's his eye, those things are sensitive. Also, one of the fastest healing parts of our bodies. Anyways, he's had a blocked tear duct since he was born. It happens to all babies, but it usually goes away. When it did not, the doctor said, "Well, it should clear up by the time he is one." He's one...and it's still not. So, doctor gave us a referral. It will be nice not to have people recoil from my baby when they see his eye. Really, Nolan is such a sweetie. Oh, and Lesley, I forgot to tell you, but I scheduled his appointment for Thursday. Hopefully it will not interfere too much with our plans. He's a trooper and at the very worst it will just mean that we can't go out. :)

Over the weekend, I finished almost 3 projects. The sleeves for the Skating sweater (seen in above photo) were blocked (for procrastination reasons mostly) and are awaiting seaming. When I am good and ready. Also, Goddess and MSCS 2 are officially off the needles. Both need a good blocking. But I did take a few pictures of Goddess. It fits like a dream. Too bad there is a "seam" where the EOR was. >.< D'oh! Hopefully nobody will notice it. I'll take a picture for you guys at a later date, but for now just wanted good pictures. Showing off my mad skillz. Yo. lol Alright, that's it for now. Must go take Nolan to his appointment.

Even God

2007-10-04T21:21:00.000-05:00

Couldn't create the world in one day. Or so the saying goes. But he could probably knit a sweater in one! lol Sorry if I offended anyone with that, I am very lighthearted with my faith.

Anyways, I am definitely not God, but super bulky yarn makes even sweaters go by fast. I started the Skating Sweater on Tuesday, and finished the body today. All that is left are the sleeves, and I am almost finished with one. The super large straight needles are tough on my wrists though. So I am spinning right now. Took a quick break to change the channel. lol Oh, and I forgot to tell you about my winding adventures. I took the yarn to the LYS because there was no way my pitiful ball winder could handle all of that Magnum. And the owner wasn't there, and the lady who was didn't know how to work the "big" ball winder. Of course, neither did I. After a couple of tries, and some fiddling, my boys were wandering around naked (okay, just pantsless) so I gave up and went home. Now for a lesson in "How we be windin' in da ghetto!" lol, sorry, I had to. I mean, I bought the needles which you know meant I was dying to start. Even though Goddess is about 12 rounds from completion.

My new favorites for roving are Spincerely and Yarn Wench. How I lust after those Yarn Wench colors.... The Spincerely though, oh I bought some and it spins like a dream. It is just so beautiful.

(I keep doing this thing where I think I've posted but really I just clicked "Save As Draft" Does anyone else have this problem?)

It's Here!

2007-10-01T13:12:00.000-05:00

My first PRGE package arrived today!! This is going to be a long post. So hold on!

This box reminded me of Rennfest. It was so bittersweet, I probably won't get to Rennfest this year. Anyways, I opened it and the smell floated up and sent me into a momentary flashback. I had to recover quickly though because my boys were desperate to get a peek into the box! The first discovery was a super cute card. My pal turned out to be Dawn of Wild Yarn!! She is really stellar! The package was so me.

Next I found the source of the lovely smell! A cute little purple bag (with feathers!) full of purple candles and some scented oil!!! Oh yeah, did I mention that the package had a purple theme to it? Oops. lol It does. On with the show. The candles were just perfect. Candles are a...guilty pleasure of mine. Because of the kids I can't usually burn them. My room is full of candles though, and I love them! I love going to stores and smelling them all, trying to find the best ever scent. When I was pregnant with Nolan (I don't remember if I ever posted about this) I set up a mirrored candle display over my bed. It's really pretty, and I just recently burned the last of my tea lights. I immediately set all of these up for ~~myself~~ you guys.

You can see my (husband's) Ramone's t-shirt in the mirror! Next up there is some yummy purple Cascade 220! I *heart* Cascade 220. Who doesn't? It is for the Wavy scarf from Knitty. But I might use it for something else. Only because I don't seem to actually wear scarves. Even when I have them. The color is gorgeous though.

We also have a copy of Rowan: Beach Cool. Okay, the patterns in here are super cute. And my LYS has lots of yarn that I think would work beautifully in them. The Family Fun has cute homemade costume ideas. One is an ice cream cone, which is what I am gonna make Nolan!! Except a little different. His hair always has a little curl on the top which makes him look like a Dairy Queen ice cream, so I will just get some white hair gel and slick it up. Plus lots of other cool stuff that I can look through and that will come in handy since the buget is so tight right now.

I'm almost done now. :) Though I am far from ogling and touching everything in the box. So, last up we have some LOVEPAPER and a super cute notions type bag!! Okay, so the LOVEPAPER is super cute!! You use it to make decisions "of the heart". Each side represents a choice. You tear the paper in half, et voila! The bigger piece is the winner. :) Too cute, n'est pas? How about that bag? Isn't it me? I love purple and chocolate brown together. I want to make a cute chocolate brown skirt to go with my Skating Sweater. (tangent) As I was saying, the bag is just adorable and I think it would nicely for my socks in progress. Since I usually use DPNs, they would fit right in there. Don't you think?

Up To?

2007-09-27T15:24:00.000-05:00

Sorry. I'm here. I've been knitting. Babies are all sickies. And I am sooo tired because I have to be up with them when they wake up in the middle of the night crying.

This is a short post with lots of pics cuz my head hurts.

FO: Moss Stitch Beret

FO: Twin Booties

Spun:
This is Serendipity Fibers in Beaten. I donated it to the PRGE for pal prizes and stuffs. Navajo-plied, I got two skeins at about 110 yds each, with approximately 10wpi. Being handspun though, it's not perfect. And the second skein is a bit finer in places than the first. Actually, I was pretty proud of it, and almost tempted to keep it for myself. It should stripe pretty nicely, maybe make a cute felted bowl, or some gauntlets.

Day in the life of a bored girl with knitting needles and make-up:

Dear PRGE Pal

2007-09-24T11:12:00.000-05:00

I can't stop seeing things online that I would just LOVE to have. They are beautiful knitting (and non-knitting) related things. I'm also going to bookmark this and email it to my friends and family for Christmas. But just to give you an (even better) idea of what I like. Here is my current list of loves:

Weeones (penguins or cats)
Penguins! (I haven't yet decided if I want a knitting one or a Cheshire Cat one. I'm insane.
Loop Fiber
STR Calico
STR Mystic Kelp
STR Backstabber
Claudia Hand Painted Turquoise Jeans I'd prefer the silk lace but the sock yarn might be more practical
Fratello (warning! Ravelry link!) Available by contacting Yarnissima
GeeYouKnit (I miss Appliance. Elizabeth, make some more of that!)
Tree Jacket

Um, I think that is all for now. But I am probably going to update this from time to time, seeing as how I will be emailing it out later. Thanks for listening!

♥ Shadkitty

What's a Girl To Do?

2007-09-21T08:13:00.001-05:00

When everything is hectic, and your life feels like it is falling apart....it's time for retail and craft therapy! Yes, even though my finances are ridiculous (oh, we're not even going there), I have been indulging a bit.

Actually, before I really knew how bad the situation was, I purchased some Cascade Magnum from a fellow Raveler (who seems to have no blog but is cool nonetheless). My eyes were on the Skating Sweater from Big City Knits, and she had exactly the number of skeins I would need in exactly the color I love. It was meant to be. That, and she was offering it for an incredible price. Trust me, I priced many alternatives from different sources and this was the best one. Especially considering it is marked as $26 on the tag! But I won't tell you what I ~~stole~~ bought it for. Don't you love how honkin huge this thing is?! When I got it I was pleased and amused. Those are some serious skeins...no wonder they call it Magnum. :D

The catalyst to my discovery that we are broke was a birthday present. A friend of mine's twins will be one tomorrow. She invited me to the birthday pary, and I had no gift. Any good crafty chick will immediately consider what she can make! Of course some Converse booties would be great. But that is just not enough. (Even though my mom said I didn't have to give them anything, heck they didn't even come to Nolan's birthday.) So off I went to Michael's, we had enough money in the account to spare 5-10 bucks. Or so I thought. Turns out we didn't. Still, I had money in my personal account and purchased the neccessities, including another skein of Bernat Alpaca to finish a hat that I started. Yes, that's right, I'm procrastinating. Big surprise. Looks like you won't see Goddess until October. Right about the time when it gets too cold to wear something without sleeves. Where was I? Right, presents. So, I picked up some fabric paint, these rockin (literally) stencils, and dug around in the boys' closet. I found some old onesies that looked clean (or never worn, that seems to happen) and set to work. Really, it was only about $5, probably less because I already had some fabric paints from the time I painted my jeans. What do you all think?

It was horribly overcast all day yesterday. Sorry about the pictures. The blue is actually more of a teal. I want to make one for Nolan too, but with a different stencil (it was a 4-pack). But what cool thing can I put on there for his name? His nickname is Bird...and I think Mr. Shad might kill me if I put that on there. lol But what about Bird of Prey or something? That might be cool? Geez, how is a girl supposed to double check her craftiness without a husband there to tell her that it's a bad idea?

Whatever. Look at my dinner. Yum it was so good. My mom is coming to visit for the weekend. So I can have a bit of a break. I am really looking forward to it.

Dawdle

2007-09-18T09:30:00.000-05:00

So, Mr. Shad ended up not leaving until yesterday morning. First the boat broke, then his plane. It was nice to spend all day Saturday with him. Especially since Friday night was kind of rotten. I will admit, I'm scared. Not just because he is going to be in a warzone, but also because I have no control over this situation and we have never been apart for more than a month or two. You guys will all be part of my support network. There are people here for me to rely on, but I have found the knit-blogging community to be FABULOUS at providing comfort and cheer in bleak times.

There will be a list of things to look forward to. But I am going to put that on my LiveJournal (link later), so that I can update it and look at it whenever I want without overloading all of your bloglines. The most important ones are a visit from Lesley! And SAFF! Both in October, and I am so excited! Lesley and I have been blog buddies forever. I ought to make a list of blog folks I wanna meet. :)

The Mad Amazonas Weave sock is done, and I am feeling a case of SSS. Maybe because I kitchenered it on Saturday in the midst of all of that stuff with Mr. Shad, so I never CO for the second one. Which I normally do right away. Also, the heel flap and cuff are a bit short for my liking, making the whole sock overall a bit short I think. It should fit better after a bit of blocking, as that always seems to relax the yarn a bit.

On Sunday, I needed a quick soothing knit, something to just get done. Somehow the feeling of all of the anxiety with Mr. Shad's departure and all of my lingering UFOs was making me feel despondent. A chunky, quick knit was needed to soothe my soul. So, I snagged my Twinkle book, the Thick & Quick from Mom's knitting experiment, and my largest DPNs. The Flying Gloves would work beautifully. There were a few problems though. The needles I had (Size 15US) were too small! I swatched and knit a sample glove following the pattern (which was knit flat). Since it was such a fast knit (about 45 mins), I frogged the glove and started again in the round. I would provide my info, but am worried about infringing on copyrights, because really it's not that hard and if I told you I'd basically have to give you the whole pattern. The whole glove is only a total of about...14 rounds I think. The ones from the book around 12.

Also, Nolan discovered socks today. I think he likes them as much as I do. Although I don't think he really understands them. ;)

Here Elem, this will make you feel better:

SUPPOSEDLY if you've seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog, paste this as a note. Then, put x's next to the films you've seen, add them up.Have fun!

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
(x) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
(x) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
( ) Airplane
Total: 9

(x) The Princess Bride
( ) AnchorMan
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
(x) Saw
( ) Saw II
(x) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
(x) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
(x) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 18

(x) Scream
(x) Scream 2
(x) Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
(x) Scary Movie 2
(x) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x) American Pie 2
(x) American Wedding
(x) American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 28

(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
(x) Little Black Book
(x) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 36

(x) Finding Nemo
(x) Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
(x) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
(x) Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
(x) Robots
Total so far: 44

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(x) Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
(x) Eight Crazy Nights
(x) Joe Dirt
( ) KING KONG
Total so far: 53

(x) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
(x) Dumber & Dumberer
(x) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
(x) Halloween
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
(x) Flubber
Total so far: 60

(x) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
(x) From Hell
(x) Hellboy
(x)Secret Window
(x) I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards
(x) The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 69

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
(x) Just Married
(x) Gothika
(x) Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
(x) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 78

(x) Bad Boys
(x) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
(x) Lucky Number Sleven
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
(x) Bedazzled
(x) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
(x) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(x) Curious George
Total so far: 90

(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
(x) A Bronx Tale
(x) Darkness Falls
(x) Christine
(x) ET
(x) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds (the original and not the crappy remake with Tom Cruise)
(x) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 99

( ) Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She's All That
(x) Calendar Girls
(x) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 109

(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
(x) Spider-Man 3
( ) Sky High
(x) Jeepers Creepers
(x) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday
(x) Reign of Fire
(x) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
(x) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 126

(x) Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
(x) Old School
(x) The Notebook
(x) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf's Tribe
(x) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(x) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 133

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 139

(x) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
(x) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
(x) Highlander
(x) Mothman Prophecies
(x) American History X
( ) Three
Total so Far: 145

(x) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
Total so far: 150

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
(x) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld
Total so far: 154

( ) Kill Bill vol 1
( ) Kill Bill vol 2
(x) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
Total so far: 155

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
( ) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
( ) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 159

(x) The Matrix
( ) The Matrix Reloaded
( ) The Matrix Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
(x) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
(x) Hannibal
Total: 163

The Long Goodbye

2007-09-14T09:10:00.000-05:00

This, my friends, is going to be a long post. So long in fact, that I am going to post all of the non-knitting related stuff elsewhere. Mr. Shad leaves tomorrow. :( And I am going to miss him, but that is all I will say here. If you really want to you can go read the other post.

In knitting news, I did start Mad Color Weave with Amazonas. Actually, I started them later that evening. There were several "false starts", I couldn't decide which size to do, then I couldn't wrap my head around the pattern. It's funny because it's such a simple pattern. Could have something to do with using 3 needles instead of 4, ya think? All that is left now is the toe, then I can start the second sock. They are a little snug, but that can actually be a good thing. Thelonious has a tendency to sag a bit, and I hate that.

Even though we are still in full on summer swing (weather-wise) down here, my mind has already started to turn to sweaters, Christmas gifts, and other fall knits. Mr. Shad helped me choose between knitting the Luna Dress or the Somewhat Cowl. He said that the Luna Dress was too frumpy. :/ Whatever. Anyways, I'm okay with the Somewhat Cowl, actually the more I look at it the more I like it. I even ordered yarn for it, which Mr. Shad also picked out. He would pick olive drab. lol The color is called Fern, but it's actually much nicer in person than it looked online. I was having second thoughts at first. The original appears to be green as well, for some reason I kept thinking it was brown. Then again, certain shades of green and brown look almost the same. If you don't believe me, come over some time and I will show you my living room walls.

Okay, I must admit to something, I hate knitting those stupid Converse Booties. I started another pair for a friend's baby, and nearly threw the yarn across the room. Why on earth did I make the toe so complicated and ridiculous?! Oh yeah, because it looks good. >.< Anyways, I ended up modifying the pattern so it could be done in the round. When I am through with all of my posting I will go add those alterations to the little pattern so that it can be done either way. Still a lot of ends to weave in, but at least there is no seaming. Finishing the second booty is part of my goal for today. Which includes: finishing the booties, finishing the first Amazonas sock, swatching for the Somewhat Cowl, and knitting at least 1 rep of the pattern on Goddess.

Oh yeah, that. That's right, I haven't posted about Goddess in forever have I? Eh. Everything is pretty much done except the 5.5" of pattern at the end. Let me tell you how much I loathe it. It is only 4 rows, and I'm lucky if I get half a rep done. I'm trying to do at least one a day, I should need about 13 total. Right now there are about 4 of them...so only 9 to go! If you don't see a FO post about Goddess in two weeks, start complaining. Apparently when I put things into hibernating they go in there for several months. Currently in hibernation (thanks for reminding me constantly Ravlery), I have the Uber-crop Raglan, Butterfly Headwrap, Harley Quinn, and the Martha/Nermal socks. I guess 4 out of 57 isn't bad, right? That leaves 47 things I have finished (4 in progress, and 2 frogged), including mom's top. If I can finish that I can finish anything. Once the cold starts to hit, I'll probably pull Harley Quinn back out, they are actually almost finished. Just gotta do the entrelac cuff on the second sock. Okay, now I am just rambling!

Last up on the dockett today (I think), Flint Knits swapped me her copy of Twinkle's Big City Knits for a skein of CTH Supersock in Yellow. I think I got the better end of that deal. :) This is why I love knitters though, we were just pondering sweaters together and I mention thinking about buying the book. She says, "Ah, I have that and can't use it! Would you like to swap?" Would I ever?! Oh, but what do I have to offer? A quick look over the stash ~~tempted her~~ gave her an idea of what she wanted. I would have given her my leftover Wollmeise Poison Nr. 5, but feel kind of badly about it only being half the skein (literally, it's 76g). Probably should have sent both. :D The Skating Sweater (see above links) is really calling to me. So much so that I have been looking into yarn for it, and actually agreed to buy some Cascade Magnum off of a fellow Raveler.

In other news, this kind of upsets me. It's cool they mention knitting...but I don't want them encouraging others to fake it. :/ Okay, I am just ridiuclous.

Dilemma

2007-09-08T09:34:00.000-05:00

The biggest problem with Wollmeise (aside from it's addictive qualities) is that it is so beautiful that very few patterns are perfect for it. Not the free ones anyways.

Yesterday, my Amazonas dark arrived, it will have to hold me over until October. The shop is temporarily closed. Which is fine, that gives me time to save up money. Next go round I'll be buying yarn for Rhiannon. That's another story though. Well, the yarn was so gorgeous that I (immediately after pictures) wound it into a ball and hunted through my Ravelry queue for the perfect pattern. I looked through Cookie's patterns...and then my bank account. :( Damn, I would have to find the perfect free pattern. Which is a lot harder than I thought. This is alright, but I am just not sure if it is perfect. How about Charade? Or Mad Color Weave? Seriously folks, I started two patterns already and ripped them back. Help!

Do the Math

2007-09-07T09:23:00.000-05:00

I went to sleep at 4am. Ouch. And got up at 8. Blehhhhh. So this is just a quick post. First, I forgot to post my rockin girl blogger thingy. Chicks with Sticks named me so...uh here it is.

My five Rockin gals are:
1. Lesley
2. Elizabeth
3. Mouse
4. O'Kitten
5. Pam

That sucked. Why choose just five? And girls? You all rock. If I read your blog then it is because you rock. If you have been tagged already, don't feel like you have to play again, unless you want to. I'm okay with that. Here have some scarf.

Knitting Fairy

2007-09-04T09:44:00.000-05:00

Either I've taken up knitting in my sleep, or the knitting fairies are working overtime here at chez Shad. The second Fancy Silk Sock was finished on Saturday morning. However, I decided there was really no need to go put both socks on for pictures and all, since it's basically like the other picture I took, only with two socks. lol Actually, this weekend didn't have much knitting because my family came into town*. They had to pick up a car for my brother and wanted to say goodbye to Mr. Shad, since he is leaving in a couple of weeks. In my head I've been making a list of things to look forward to while he is gone, it's not really long but any little thing to distract me from how much I'll actually miss him.

That was mildly depressing. Anyways, I decided to teach my mom to knit while she was visiting, actually I was excited to have the chance. I think everyone should learn to knit, but I'm biased. She was doing pretty well right up until I decided to teach her to purl. After that she must have gotten all confused because she threw it at me and said "I'm done!". lol I saved her progress though. In case she wants to try again. While I was getting yarn for her to practice with (from Michael's) I picked up the new Bernat with Alpaca in it. Interesting. So far it seems decent, though I haven't actually knit with it. What I think I will do is swatch it to see if it would be a good substitute for the Black Forest Naturwolle for the Luna Dress from the Fall IK. It's so pretty, but somehow I doubt I could afford 9 balls of it. I should probably concentrate on my current WIPs though. Shouldn't I? Goddess is about halfway done, I just didn't feel like going through the routine of putting it on waste yarn to try it on again. Did that twice yesterday.

What else? Oh yeah, I was going to start that half-clapotis pattern...but realized that Wollmeise Merino-Lammdochtwolle probably was not the best idea in a pattern where I needed to drop stitches. So I will just do another My So Called Scarf. Really, any soft-spun single ply yarn will felt on itself very easily from being knit, and hates to be tinked. Could you imagine purposely trying to drop stitches without creating a fuzzy mess? What a shame. The colors would have been scrumptious in the half-clap pattern. I'll find something else to use for that pattern.

I baked bread. Didn't I tell you I love freshly baked bread? Seriously, it makes me happy. I'm already down to half a loaf and they were just baked yesterday. If you gave me a choice between the bread and chocolate, I'd pick the bread. It's the best snack ever. And only slightly more healthy.

* I just wanted to note that Mr. Shad really does always look that cranky. He's weird.

Knitting is Hot, and He's Got the Burn Marks To Prove It!

2007-08-30T11:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry! I can't help it! This was supposed to be posted yesterday, while I was still in a good mood. And that was when I came up with the title. Since then, I've started my girl time and had to sit up really late with Heather as she had some sort of coughing fit. So, I'm a little tired.

Anyways, let's move on. My friend Tyler came home Tuesday night! It's very exciting for me, every time a friend comes back from deployment, it makes me feel a little better. So, I used my knitting night to go out with him and some friends for a welcome home. And, I used that chance to prove to him that knitting was definitely a cool thing to do. When he first learned that I knit, of course he teased me. I got several compliments on Coachella that night, but mostly from Ty himself. You'll have to excuse the pics, I was dead tired and he was drunk. Hey, I told you it was his first night home. :) Oh, and does anyone else notice he was wearing a thermal shirt in August??

In other news, I now have one and a half Fancy Silk Socks. I put the sock on outside for pictures, wow was that a silly idea. It was so hot out there, and even putting on one sock for pictures was too much. Now I remember why I don't wear socks in the summer. I'm already starting to think about what socks I should knit next. lol Elizabeth keeps raving about the Charade socks, so I'm thinking those in the Fleece Artist I got a little bit ago.

Goddess is progressing really quickly. I can hardly put it down! There was a brief problem with the pattern, I think it was just a typo though. After doing a lot of crazy math, checking and re-checking...I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing. The Stitch Diva people have been contacted, they said they would get back to me by the end of the week, but we all know that I can't wait that long to knit! It's really coming along beautifully, as soon as I get the back done I can join it to the front. This might actually be finished before the summer is over. Well, that depends on where you are. Down here, summer (meaning the heat) lasts a lot than just August. It's still not even getting cold at night yet. Which means that the fall, or at least cooler weather is not around the corner. *sigh* Maybe that's a good thing? Maybe not. If it's still pretty warm when I finish Goddess I'll get a chance to wear t, but also I'll have to change what I planned to knit next. Which was going to be Tubey. Also gotta cast-on for some Christmas presents, probably a Montego Bay scarf, or maybe a mini-clapotis? Whatever, they are basically both scarves. lol I'm also thinking of adding fringe to that butterfly headwrap and calling it a thin scarf. According to my scale, I'm a little less than halfway through the ball.

Here is Eiffel, all finished. I'll probably take more pics, but for now this will do. It's a bit faded, which is kinda sad, but still pretty.

Finishing

2007-08-23T09:28:00.000-05:00

It seems like I've been on a finishing kick for the past few days. I decided to skip the last 3 decreases on Eiffel (hey, I tried it on first), because I was running out of yarn. So I bound off on that Tuesday, then washed and blocked it yesterday. It's still wet, I was hoping putting it in the garage would make it dry faster. That thing is like an oven. When I was dyeing last summer I would hang the skeins in the garage and they'd be dry by that evening. Of course, Eiffel is bigger than a skein. Anyways, here's a picture of me trying Eiffel on, at that point it was still 2 inches from the bind off point. And night, keep that in mind.

You remember Baccarat Player was finally completed. I mailed it off on Monday, and my mom got it yesterday! Now we have pictures of the FO on it's model, I admit that I like it a lot better now that it's on my mom instead of my needles. For something so fiddly to knit, it looks gorgeous. The Fancy Silk Sock has a heel and gusset now, there are pictures but really no reason to post them. It's not much different than the last couple of times I posted pictures. My camera has me all excited. not to mention Ravelry. I'm ALWAYS on there. Updating EVERYTHING. *sigh* Oh, and checking up on you guys. :D Man, I don't know who has more projects in their queue, Lana or Mouse. Every time I turn around Lana has queued a new project (a lot of them make me go Oooo! I want to knit that too!). Eventually I will update my bloglines to reflect my friends on Ravelry, I've got like...30 some friends or something. :)

Also on the finishing table were the green baby booties. All I really had left was to sew on the buttons. I love the little green buttons, they make me happy. These ones were done in the round. My LYS owner had also done some in the round, and come up with a way to eliminate that little indent from the Turkish CO. Mine is still there but it's on the inside. These are also slightly larger than the first two pairs, they fit one of Heather's larger doll babies, but still not any of my actual babies.

Just for fun, I changed my hair again. I've had some purple hair dye in my bathroom since like, May. lol But just got around to bleaching it on Sunday. Tuesday I got it cut and then put the purple in. In case you are curious, it's Raw color, Purple Passion. Fair warning it smells like grape candy. Which, for me, was great! The smell of hair dye doesn't really bother me, but grape candy smells way better. Yummy smelling hair products are always a plus. There aren't any good pictures of the back of my hair after I put the purple in, so you'll have to deal with one of the pre-dyed ones. It was right after I had gotten my hair cut. The girl who did it did really well considering I could only give her a vague description of what I wanted, and that Nolan was on my lap being all cranky.

PRGE Questionnaire

2007-08-20T12:11:00.000-05:00

Is it questionairre? Or questionnaire? Nvm. That's what spellcheck is for.

1. Why are you punk?

What? Who told you that? lol Um, I don't know. I like punk and rock music. So, logically, I would be interested in things that are associated with them. Like...being totally weird. Knitting. Dyeing my hair fun colors. Wearing interesting clothes. And so on. Plus, like everyone else, my favorite colors include purple and black. (but not red, I skipped that cliche)

2. What are your five favorite things? (these don't have to be knit related)

Oh, I love lists.

Cats, especially of the Cheshire variety
Books, especially scary ones, or thrilling ones
Vintage items: clothes, movies, books, buttons -- you name it
Socks
DPNs (told you I was weird)

3. What are your three favorite things that you have made with knitting/crochet?

You want me to choose?

Thelonious socks
Wicked
Endpaper Mitts

4. What five things would you love to see in a swap box someday?

Yarn. Seriously, I want a swap box full of yarn. lol
Cool knitting swag. Stuff that proclaims my knitterly awesomeness.
One of those little Chibi things for your tapestry needles.
CDs, Okay, I know it's a knitting swap. But isn't it about the music too?
Patterns. There are lots I want. My printer is totally worthless. :(

5. What are your three favorite yarns? What are your three least favorite yarns?

Love

Wollmeise!
SWTC Bamboo
Cascade 220

Hate

Berroco Gem
Acrylics
Lopi

6. What are your five favorite delicacies?

Oh, I love lists.

Ferrero Rocher (er, I think that's how you spell it. They are gooddddd)
Chocolate chip cookies
Reese's Pieces
Bread, freshly baked mmmm
Hot chocolate

7. What are your three favorite guilty pleasures?

Dexter. It's on Showtime. Seriously.
Anime, especially ones featuring people with kitty ears. :D
Hats. I love them and collect them, but hardly wear them.

8. What are the five things you look forward to every week?

Friday nights. The weekend has arrive and Mr. Shad and I watch Psych.
Going to the knitting shop.
Nap time.
Dinner, I love to eat, especially with the family.
Phone calls from my mom.

9. What do you collect?

Cows, cheshire cat stuff, DPNs, sock yarn, buttons, and blank cards

10. When is your birthday?

December 9th

11. Do you have any wishlists?

Um...sure. I've got one on Amazon.com, search my first and last name, I'll link it later. Also on Etsy.

12. What would you like your pal to know that is not covered here?

I really hope to create a friendship from this swap. Also, I am really random and weird. I appreciate a good sense of humor. Um, if you ask, I will tell you. If you've been reading my blog you know I have 3 ~~critters~~ kids. I don't wear jewelry. And...have fun!

Baccarat Bind-off Bash

2007-08-19T21:08:00.000-05:00

Yep, I like alliteration. It's fun! Anyways, Baccarat Player is finished, seamed, and even has a crocheted edging. I packaged it up and will mail it out tomorrow. I am so excited! And very proud of my seam job. It's the first time I've ever used the mattress stitch thing...you know, the way you are supposed to seam. I don't even know why it was so hard for me to figure out! Not only was it simple, but every time I cinched the stitches tight, it was like magic! Seriously, I made Mr. Shad pause his video game to watch me do it. lol Oh, if you want to see the picture closer up you'll have to click it. Not sure it will be any clearer though.

There are lots of pictures of this. My new book (Vogue Knitting: Quick Reference), showed me all sorts of tricks and I used it to put a crab stitch (backward crochet) edging on the neck, armhole, and bottom of Mom's top. Not sure exactly how I feel about it, although I really like the way it made my slip stitch edge around the armhole into eyelets.

Of course, all knitters know, the hardest part comes next. What should I knit next? None of us have any lack of projects waiting in the wings, but sometimes it is so hard to choose between deserving patterns and yarns. Goddes has really been calling to me, but I feel like it has been forever since I had a sock on the needles. Recently there has been a lot of other garments I'm cranking out. Summer is good for fast knitting. :) I realize that I enjoy all knitting, but socks are still my true love. So, following Mr. Shad's advice, I cast-on the Fancy Silk Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks. Goddess will have to wait until I finish Eiffel.

The pattern is fun and simple. Gorgeous to watch in progress. I'm already halfway through the leg of the first sock. Much further that the pictures here show. Can I just say, I truly love this yarn? It's soft and buttery. Plus, the colors are gorgeous. Ranging in color from raspberry champagne, to merlot, to blackberry wine. (All in Project Spectrum range) Simply delicious. It's a stark contrast to knitting with the hemp.

Eiffel is a pretty easy pattern and all. But knitting with the hemp is like...well knitting with twine. lol It doesn't feel good on my hands, which means it's hard for me to really enjoy the process. I did get the sleeves joined, plus an inch. Next I start decreasing for the yoke. Hopefully I will have enough yarn. I think that I will, but there is always that chance. Right? I'm itching to swatch for Goddess now, so I will probably be finished with Eiffel before I know it.

And to leave you all with some more good stuff, I made cookies Friday night. I used the recipe from Sheri's (Loopy Ewe) blog. It uses shortening instead of butter, so they are not so sweet. HOWEVER, they did stay nice and soft for days. Well...for the few days they lasted anyways. Homebaked cookies are the best. Random fact: A guy at the mall asked me to knit him socks. I have no idea if he is seriuos or not. But I was amused.

[EDT Monday, Aug. 20, 2007 2:17EST]
P.S. Mom I know you are ~~stalking me~~ reading this. You better leave a comment! Oh, and I sent this off for you today.

Bootie-licious

2007-08-17T12:35:00.000-05:00

Hey, it was either that or Ms. New Bootie. I figured the latter might induce your gag reflex.

So, Eiffel is about an inch away from the sleeve join, and Baccarat Player only needs to be seamed. Both of these would be further along if not for some small distractions. About...3 inches to be exact.

Is it just me, or are these things RIDICULOUSLY cute? I kept seeing them over on Hello Yarn's blog. So, I found the pattern on Ravelry, and CO. How long can it take to knit a pair of booties anyways? Um, about 6 hours total. Including the finishing and sewing on buttons. After I made the first pair, I realized that...I didn't have anyone to give them to!!! No problem, I took them to the LYS with me and found someone. Unfortunately, Mr. Shad was paying attention when I mentioned wanting to give them to someone, and asked around at work. His Gunny gladly accepted the offer. Which meant, I had one pair of booties, and two takers. lol That's okay, I just whipped up another pair! Then, I saw that Hello Yarn had knit a pair in the round...hey I can do that. Right? Yep, so I bought some sport weight cotton (aiming for a slightly larger bootie) and using a Turkish CO, started a third pair. Being the genius that I am, I purled all of the stitches (except the first) to create a garter ridge on the bottom. More closely matching the original design. Not sure if it is worth all of the hassle though. Besides I just got the Vogue Knitting Quick Reference. A great technique book with pictures and illustrations.

Um...So yeah. Here are the pictures of Eiffel and the Baccarat Player. Enjoy! I am going to finish that other baby bootie. Then work on Eiffel some more. Oh yeah, sorry about the cruddy pics, it's overcast, and on top of that Mr. Shad has absconded with the camera again.

Hot Hot Heat

2007-08-12T14:27:00.000-05:00

Damn it's hot out there. Makes me want to sit in my living room with the air conditioning and a glass of ice water. And knit. So, that's basically what I've been trying to do. Except life keeps interrupting me. This past week was not great. Really, I don't want to think about it. Mostly just a lot of little things. Like the fact that only one couple showed up to Nolan's birthday party yesterday. He still had fun and all, it just hurts to know that I've got lots of fake friends. Mr. Shad is deploying soon and I'm not sure I have many people to count on. Anyways, here are some shots from Nolan's party. Plenty of messy faces.

He ate like three cupcakes, and those things were sugar overload. At about 10:30 or something he woke up on a sugar high, puked, and then played for a bit. It was like watching a little drunk person. lol

Aside from the craziness of life, I've been knitting. While in Maryland last weekend I did finish the Twisted Flowers socks, but forgot to take pictures. I ended up giving them to my brother's girlfriend, she is a little tiny thing and has size 6 feet. Seemed to fit her perfectly. Also, I think I gave her a whole new view of knitting when I showed her my Ravelry queue and projects. Once that was finished I wanted to dive into Eiffel, but uh...forgot the needles. lol Instead I just worked on Mom's top for a bit. And read some comic books that Mr. Shad picked up for me. Did I mention I am a huge Stephen King fan? Especially The Dark Tower series. Specifically, Wizard and Glass. Awhile back, Marvel mentioned they were co-oping with Stephen King to create a comic series based on that book! Woot! Mr. Shad saw them at the comic book store he likes to visit while in Maryland, and bought all of them for me. Oh, and my brand new IK arrived the day before we left, so I perused that as well. Eunny's long awaited (for me anyways) Tangled Yoke Cardigan is in it!! My LYS owner got me all hyped to spin my own yarn for this...we'll see how that goes. Maybe use some of that Alpaca I got for Mother's Day?

On my doorstep when we got home were these LOVELY balls of SWTC Bamboo in Electric Blue. Let me tell you, when I saw this on Kpixie, I had to have it. I was afraid at first, because the swatch pictured on SWTC's website was darker than the yarn pictured at Kpixie. Still, I figured it would be worth the risk, besides, if it really was as bright as it was on the Kpixie site then it would be a perfect match for Goddess. Oh, they really are that gorgeous. Castonitis hit me hard when I opened the box to see the bamboo (my fav fiber!) calling to me, and the pattern...just begging to be swatced for. Grrr! No. I had already swatched Eiffel, plus made a deal with myself to knit an inch a day on Mom's top. Still, it calls to me, sitting in my little bag of yarn in my bedroom. Oh yeah, it's next in my queue for sure!

Eiffel is coming along nicely. The lace pattern is very simple and kinda flies by. The yarn...well, I am not so in love with it. The color is awesome, and I love that it can be machine washed. However, it's kinda tough and unforgiving. I don't hate it, but it is certainly not my favorite. Of course, that's why I like to try new and different yarns, it gives me a chance to experience everything. My LYS just got in some nettle, that ought to be interesting! I really only want some because of some movie I used to love as a kid. Baccarat Player is about 4 inches away from completion. Then I can weave in ends (which I have been trying to do as I go along for the front), and *gulp* seam. Linda has already been warned that I am bringing it in for her assistance when I finish it. Generally...I suck at seaming, and I want this to be well done, besides, the yarn is so slippery and fiddly! My number of FOs is really growing, and I am very happy about that. The pair of socks a month thing, and the sweater every two months... well that was shot a long time ago. It's okay, because I am still making things, getting things done and all. Ew...Christmas is coming up soon. Alright, I'm going back to my water and needles.

The Last First

2007-08-09T13:36:00.000-05:00

It was fun to post birthday blogs for Heather and Kyran, many of their pictures hadn't been seen before. Nolan has been a part of this blog from day one though. Some of you may even remember his first debut! Even though you have probably seen these pictures, I still want to share them again. It is my very last first birthday.

Nolan doesn't have Heather's charisma, or Kyran's lovability, but then, he has things they don't. Nolan has the most contagious smile I have ever seen, and he uses it constantly. Just today he was laughing because he was sitting in a shopping cart. He is very independent for such a little baby, quietly playing by himself for hours. It can be easy to forget that he's not napping. Kyran is quiet and moody, Heather is loud and crazy, Nolan is my sanity. The quiet in the dinh. If Nolan had been any different, I am not sure of how well I would be handling my situation as of now. Sometimes I get into lengthy conversations with my mom about how good he is. Simply amazing, isn't it?

Anybody who has kids will understand. Nolan hardly cries, when he does it is out of neccesity. You can entertain him just by smiling at him, and he will take naps without a fight. Of course, the constant smiles make him an instant favorite for my camera. lol I'm sure, if you have been keeping up with my blog on a semi-regular basis, you know the constant trouble Heather and Kyran cause. When I became pregnant for a third time, I felt worn out and frazzled at the idea of THREE! I am glad to know and care for him though, he is an angel. If it were not for his mellow and happy attitude, things might be different. :)

So, Happy Birthday Nolan! It has been a crazy year, full of many experiences for us all. You have taught me that compassion and love really know no bounds, and that a smile really is all it takes to brighten a room.