Bad blogger - no cookie

Once again, I have committed a blogging fail. The 2010-11 winter season has been murder for the house and myself. Pneumonia twice, down with bronchitis right now (and it'd better stay that way). Mom was in and out of the hospital in February and they don't know why (again).


I've gotten 2 packages from my SP16 partner, Cricket, so far. Of course I've not managed to grab pictures of the mini skeins of sock yarn she sent me for the blanket I'm working on before they were knit into it but I do have a picture of the fingerless mitts Cricket made for my out of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino that she over dyed from a gold color to this beautiful coppery cinnamon color. Using black cherry koolade. I love them, they are super warm and I like to think I can feel the warm Athens sun in them. Cricket is in Athens Greece with the US embassy as a nurse right now, and has 2 adorable granddaughters. I'll admit to hunting her up on rav so I could tell a friend what pattern the mitts are. I've also received some amazing Tazo white tea with cucumber and a mug with adorable cozy and ooooo so nummy chocolate from Greece. Pretty stitch markers (one of which has been dubbed as for the blanket only, it's a skull) and the pattern for Fireside (rav link) which is a beautiful cabled cardi that I've lusted after. I will have that knit by next winter, and am thinking of spinning up Hopper for it. Hopper is a shetland fleece I picked up at the MI wool fest on 09. Currently having been pressed into use as a bolster pillow to keep me more upright than all the pillows I have can manage at night. She's been washed, it's all good.

 

This pic doesn't show the beautiful color that Cricket achieved, but does show off her stitch work. They fit me perfectly, not too long in the finger area (something I have problems with) and nice and sung on the thumb and finger area. I have small hands so usually go in the boys department for mitts and gloves. I love to have things that were made just for me, and these mitts will be treasured for years to come. 

Scott looking like his daddy, a few weeks ago. He's still with his grandparents, but J gets to have him for 3-4 days every few weeks. They are phasing Scott into J's house more and more, with hopes that Scott will be with him full time by the start of the school year, when he'll be in kindergarten.

The Dairy Queen up by the grandparents let Scott go behind the counter and fill his own cone. A perk of a small community. Seriously, the town the grandparents live in has less than 800 people. I think the entire county has only about 20,000.

He still loves playing pirates. That's been a constant with him since before he was 2. Also loves dinosaurs, and his favorite animal is a unicorn right now.

I meant this to be longer on him, but the little man decided to grow some. It is however supposed to have 3/4 length sleeves. Something I didn't notice in the pattern until I saw the picture. Knit from a bi-color blue twist yarn from Plymouth Encore. Scott told me he loves the hood, and both he and J said he didn't want to take it off. So I consider that a huge success. I made this for one of his Christmas presents. I'm just so happy he likes it.


On the knitting front for now, I'm slowly working on the Phatghan (the miter square blanket of DOOM) and mom's sweater (of doom) and have started a lace shawl KAL. I'm knitting In Dreams (rav link) by Susan Pandorf. I love Susan's patterns and am proud to say I'm still on track with the shawl, and on schedule. Of course I'm only on clue 3, but hey, that's on track. I'm not doing the full amount of beads because 5000 beads would be heavy for the person who's getting this one. I am beading the last clue as it calls for, because Susan was so sweet to leave a few clues unbeaded before the end so I can do it w/o having to figure it all out myself. I know Sally will love this, because it's one of Susan's LOTR patterns, and Sally is a huge LOTR fan.

The New Year

It seems only fitting that the first real post of the New Year comes as the folks all around me are still setting off their fireworks and yelling hurray! This year in some ways has been worse that '08 or '09 were, though they each have their highs and lows. but I'm not here to share the woes of the year, rather some highlights. No, Scott's still not with me, and he's not with J yet either. Soon, we both hope. But I did get to spend a good chunk of time on the phone the few days before Christmas and we had some fun. I knit a sweater for him and according to J he didn't want to take it off. Once again the midget needs new socks, so I'll work on some of those. Getting to play with him on the phone made me want to cry, yet I was so happy to get to talk to him it didn't matter. I love trying to tell him a story, because if you don't ask what the person's name is, and what animal they are, and what they're doing before hand he'll interrupt you and tell you that you're not telling the story right. He speaks so beautifully now, I can't get over it. I know he's growing up, just hard to remember that sometimes when you're away. I had the hardest time trying to find things for him for the holiday, as I didn't want to get just toys or clothes. I think I had a good mix going. A few books, stuffed dragon, couple of crafty toys. Yes, I'm a parent who gives educational and craft related toys. Some regular ones too, but what's the fun of that?

Christmas Eve I went with some newish friends to another friends house for dinner. By dinner I mean we got there around 12:30 and didn't leave until 10:30 that night. There was duck involved, you know I was all ready for that. I just feel bad because I dozed about 4 hours of the day. Didn't sleep very well the night before, haven't slept well in weeks. The big day our landlord/neighbor drove us to gamma's early in the morning. Mainly cause out car is deader than dead. Not sure if it's the engine or transmission. Doubt it's worth fixing the car, not with its age. But spent the day at gamma's house with a roasty toasty fire going. I'm the firekeeper at her house, had a very nice bed of coals going by 10, so I took a nap for an hour. Than I made dinner. Just being there with her, whom I hadn't seen since early November, made the tight holiday here in the house worth it. I got jammies and everyone knows that xmas jammies from a grandma are the best type.

Than Monday night I checked my email and there was 2 emails from Amazon, each with gift card codes of $98, for a total of $196. From a Rybecka Johnstone. I have no idea who this woman is, and I just want to wish her a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart. Honestly and truly, I started crying when i say those in my email. I checked with amazon and the codes are legit, so Wednesday found me laying in wait for the UPS man, who was bringing me a Wifi Kindle. I also got books for Scott (sent straight to J so there's books for him at his daddy's place) and a light box setup so maybe the pictures I take for work will look decent.

The kindle couldn't have come at a better time. All day I've been laid up in bed shaking like a newborn foal, and coughing. I'm hoping that this is just an upper respiratory infection and not pneumonia rearing it's nasty head again. Just got over that thanks, don't want it again.

Anyway, that's my Year end review. I will be trying to blog more often this year, now that I have a decent computer and all that jazz.

Le sigh

What's that saying about best laid plans? I had hoped to blog more, and then the craptop died and I got viral pneumonia. But now I have a shiny new laptop (thanks mommy and Sally!!) that was a b-day present and I'm all human again.

On the crafting front, I knit Scott a sweater for x-mas, pictures will come in the next few days. it's hooded and looks so cute. I'm also planning to knit little sock puppet type things for him, just not sure if they'll all get knit in time for the holiday. Mom and Sally threw a metric crap ton of yarn at me when they got their school grants. Mom wants a sweater and Sally has no idea what she wanted. Gee, thanks sis. At least I have plenty to knit and play with. I even got a few skeins of yarn for myself out of it. I love going to yarn and fabric stores with them when they have spare cash, I just stick a few thing sin the basket for me and they call it my knitting fee. I need to bust out the new sewing machine Sally got and play with it. She got an computerized embroidery machine *drool*.

Scott is just getting over bacterial pneumonia (like mother like son, no?) and I'm so thankful they got him to the dr as soon as he started to have problems, because his temp spiked to 105, according to Diana. He's still with the former in-laws. J finally has both a job and an apartment so I hope that Scott will start to be phased into his house again. 

I haven't died, honest

I've just been quietly sitting here and playing with Scott is all. Yes, playing with my little lad since St. Pat's day back in March. 7 weeks and 5 days of wonderful wonderful fun time. He's visiting his other grandparents up in MN for a few weeks, since his Papa Carl is having to undergo 2 operations to fix a disc in his neck. Scott will be here for his birthday, and pretty much until further notice. J and I worked out a 50/50 custody split, but the reason Scott's here is because J still doesn't have a job, or a place to stay. He's crashing at HIS grandparents place in CA, and that's gonna have to end soon. Then he'll most likely be out here in MI too.

In the craft world, I've been spinning. LOTS. Right now it's a blend of Ashland Bay's Merino top in a beautiful green color with stripes of browns and such, all carded together (cause I'm odd like that) with about an ounce of Pomeranian fur for my great-gran's dog Teddy. I plan on knitting something out of the yarn for her.

I'm also working on samples for the Phat Fiber Box again, for the month of July. July is the non wool month, so I'm doing a blend of natural colored cottons, mohair, angora, and soy silk. All in natural colors. The longer fibers spin up so nicely, and the cotton gives it an almost wooly feel, by core-spinning around the other fibers. Those as well as samples of my Isis yarn in an organic naturally brown cotton will be there in July.

Also for Jessie at Phat Fiber I'm working on shawl kits for her to have in her shop. A custom design by me, paired with the Twilight Dawn colorway of Isis. Approx 1200 yards of yarn are there, more than enough for the shawl.

I'm knitting socks again. I never did get past the first little armor one I made for Scott. But the main hostess for the Secret Pal swaps was a sweetheart and got me an angel package for SP12 (since my partner vanished off the face of the Earth) and sent me some amazing things. 4 oz of alpaca roving in a colorway called Crocus Crochet. Blues and purples. Reminds me a lot of my Twilight Dawn colors, and I LOVE it! Also, a skein of Mmmmmmmalabrigo Sock in Botticelli Red, which is this brick/tomato red kettle dyed color. I have been petting it like made lately. And some Addi's to knit socks on (right now they have mitts on them, couldn't get gauge with them for socks) and a nifty little keyring that had a small crochet hook on it, to help pick up stitches. That's come in handy already, trust me. There's also a beautiful pattern for bamboo patterned socks, that I may convert to toe up. I have odd feet (really high arches) so I like toe up construction.

My first socks WILL be done for whenever Harry Potter 6 comes to the big screen. I'm calling them my Griffenclaw socks. They couldn't sort me into just one house at work, when book 6 came out, but instead said I should be in both Griffendor and Ravenclaw. So I will be having socks with gray toes, heels, and cuffs (Knitpicks Bare I dyed myself) and a semisolid red body from a yarn I totally forgot what it is. I remember it was $18 a skein though, does that count?

Off to rest and make more samples. I've been having a fibro flare lately, which is why I haven't posted in a while. That and adjusting to a new psych med. Which causes cluster headaches whenever they up the dosage. I foresee a new medication soon. I don't like going to the ER to get an injection to make it stop.

Back to the land of the living.

I know, I haven't posted for a little while. But I really do have a good reason. As I mentioned, I was sicker than sick, and about the time I could get out of bed to get back online, I started having jaw problems. I have TMJ (to go with everything else) so figured that's what it was. Spent a few days in bed with heating packs on the joint. Well, not I'm stuck on antibiotics due to an abscess. I'm not sure what's going to happen with it. That's the problem with no insurance, I can't just go into the DR to have it drained. Hopefully the antibiotics will do some good, and soon, or I have to head back to the ER to have it done there. *le sigh* I hate medical crud.

On a good medical note, all those medical bills I had from the concussions and whatnot, from April to late September, are gone. FINALLY!!! Seems the state got off it's fat duff and decided I met the requirments to get coverage. Which is nice, since we're talking over 30 thousand dollars of bills here. CT scans, 5 day visits to the hospital, nueroligical workups, all those aren't cheap. That is a load off my mind.

Scott is doing well out in CA. We talk on the phone almost every night, except for those nights "I don wanna talk to mommy." Everytime I hear it my heart breaks a little. I know he loves me, but I'm doing the best I can to show him I care. I can't be there for him like I want. He is just getting over some sort of viral infection himself, and I can't be there to care for him. He's in pre-school now, and loves it. Or so I'm told.

I'm knitting on a baby blanket for a good and close friend of mine. We've been friends since we were in 6th grade, or 13 years. He and his wife are expecting their first, and I wanted to make some special things for them. Right now the blanket is still small, and I'm making up the pattern as I go. But it's pretty. I'm using a cotton yarn from Hobby Lobby and OMG, it's so dang soft. I *heart* this yarn. Oh yeah, blanket is a dark chocolate brown, and will have pink satin blanket binding. Neither of them really like pink, so it's just a small touch.

It seems my downstream secret pal partner is a smart woman, she found out who I am by doing a rav search using my email. I'm the ditz who forgot that I can be searched for by that. Gotta remember that for the next rounf.

In the Audit news, J's company sent out a letter stating that it was all a big screw up on their part, so we're hoping that the IRS will actually pay attention to it, and call off the audit. Which would be nice. *crosses fingers*

Vacation

I'm going to be away from my blog for a little while, going on vacation with a friend to an exotic mystery destination. Ok, maybe not totally exotic, but it is a mystery. I should be back in a week or so, and will have lots of pictures to show everyone.

Of course I'm taking along knitting. We're driving, and since I'm just the navigator (wait, where are we going again) I get to knit all day. *Insert Big Chocolate Eating Grin Here* I hope I'll be taking enough with me. I've got my secret knitting project with me, which is for a friend. I will be taking along the lovely ball of Ultra Alpaca I got from my SP13 swap partner (if I can find the ball, it ran away). it won't become socks though, but this Fern Lace Pattern. I know I was hinted to make it into socks, but the second I saw the pattern, I knew it had to be this. I love ferns, but I can't keep them alive.

Not sure what else to take. I'm kinda sure that if I run out of yarn I can stop and get more, but still, you can never take too much yarn.

I have to weave in the ends on my one Row Handspun scarf I made for my friend. I"ll make sure to get pictures of it with it's new owner as well.

Off to pack. :)

I'm still here, Promise

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. I've been busting me butt to make sure I got Scott's Stocking done in time to mail. And I seemed to have managed it. I can't embroider worth a damn, but it's done, and would make a killer knee sock for me. Scott's only requirements were "It be green right?" and "It be LONG!" Yes, he's that cute. So, his long green stocking, with mommy's crummy dot matrix printing on it.
Since I couldn't just let him have a stocking from Mommy (due to our ex roommate I'm cash strapped until his mangy butt moves out of the apartment and gets the deposit back for me) I also made him his own little Loch Ness Monster. Isn't Nessie the cutest? Best yet (in my yarn needs) she matches his stocking, so I know the wee laddie will like it. J has assured me that Scott will like Nessie, but I have worries. I know they are grounds less worries. You may notice my Nessie doesn't have the horn things that the pattern suggests, but I feel that she didn't need them.

Growing up we had this little lucite block with a LNM in it, and she didn't have horns. We still have that one in the curio cabinet, and I still love to look at her.


So, now that I'm not cranking out the presents for Scott what am I doing? Well, I'm making presents for other family members, but since they don't have to be mailed to the West Coast I can take a little more time on them. I've also started a little "selfish" knitting. I'm working on the Elfin Bride sweater pattern from DomiKNITrix. This is a mega uber involved pattern, and she only shows pictures in her book, cause it's 19 pages of regular paper to print it off. And to think I call this my "relaxation" knitting. I wrote about 2 years ago that I was gonna knit this, and now I finally have gotten around to it. Wheeeeeee!

When I'm out and about, knitting in public I can usually be found at a little coffee shop in Portage called Water Street. My knitting group meets up there, the Zombie Prom Date Knitters. A more awesome bunch of crazies you'd be hard to find. We're cool, you should come visit if you're in town.

Why I should leave the house more often

Well, I get great mail, that's for sure. On Wednesday I was off to Gamma's house (that's the Great Gran on mom's side) so that I could make the turkey the next morning. Gamma doesn't really cook anymore, and her daughter isn't a cook at all. We weren't sure if the other kids would be coming up for the holiday, and didn't want to risk someone not having it made. As we were pulling out of the driveway the mail woman was just getting to our box, and I wanted to stop, since I was expecting a package. But alas, the BOC wouldn't stop for 3 seconds. *sigh* Typical to my life, the package was there. 8 ounces of beautiful 80/20 Merino Tencel roving hand-dyed by the wonderful Jessica of Zarzuela's Fibers. Check out her Etsy Shop. I won this in a contest she held in her blog at the beginning of the month. It's her Seascape colorway, and is so amazingly soft. I'm hoping to get a heavy 2-ply laceweight yarn out of it, and make something uber wonderful.

Here we have 1/2 of the fiber, in all it's beautiful colors. I decided I was going to halve it, than stip it lengthwise 4 times in one half, and draft it. For the other half I plan on drafting it as is. So one ply will have shorter color sections, and the second ply will have nice long ones.

Here we have a small section of the pre-drafted strips of the first half. I love the pure white silky strands of the Tencel that are all shiney. I think it'll look amazing once it's spun.

And here's proof it'll look amazing as it's spun, a fine single of the pre-drafted fiber. So yummy.



Than today I decided I was going to take advantage of the Black Friday Sales and hit Jo-Ann's for cotton dyes. They had the tie-dye kits on sale for $5 (that's 50% off) and I had a coupon for 20% off the entire purchase, if I got there before noon. So I actually got out of bed when I woke up, instead of trying to fall back asleep. I managed to get 5 kits, for a total of 15 more bottles of dyes, in the basic colors. I have enough empty bottles now that I can mix new colors up as needed. I also was able to pick up a new cable for my digital camera, since the one I had been using went to CA with J and Scott. I've been using a basic camera for now, and missed the loverly pictures this one takes. When I don't smudge the lens.


When I got home I had this bouncy 6 yo niece telling me I had a package. Now, I hadn't ordered anything, and had no idea what it could be. More so when I saw the city it was mailed from. Mailed from right here in MI. It's from my secret pal.
This loverly yarn here is Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine, is a beautiful teal color. It's not as dim as the picture would suggest. For those willing to go hunt the site to see the true color, it's #1294. I think my SP is trying to pass on a hint, to get making socks again. Now I can, because I was also gifted some size1 bamboo DPN's. I swear to make sure these don't meet the same fate. And behind everything else, there's that pattern. Which pattern is it, you might be asking yourself. Well, it's the Leaf Lace Sock by Fiber Trends of course.
On the Scotty front, tonight when talking to him, I asked if he'd like socks. "Nooooo" A Scarf? "Noo" A highland cow (been making one for him) "Yesh". A Christmas stocking? "Yesh". He wanted a gree one, so I'll be makign an olive green with grey details, and maybe some red. He doesn't seem big on the reds lately, so I'll most likely leave that out. If I have enough yarn I'l supposed to make one for J too. Soctty said.

He's doing well, and on Thanksgiving helped a friend's son decorate the Chirstmas tree they have. 2 kids under 5 decorated the tree, and I have video proof. He's going to have his half birthday in December. Growing up so fast.

Mondo massive Blog post

I'm sure you're all waiting with baited breath to learn who answered all the questions properly. There were 2 who got them all right, and something fun happened with that. But first, the questions.

1) In August of '08 I fell and sprained what? My Knee
2) My son's name, and birthday? Scott and June 9th, 2006
3) What life changing events have happened to me this year (there's 2 answers) I lost 3 years of memory due to concussions, and got divorced.
4) My favorite color Blues, deep reds, greens, and grays (yes, more than one, so that was a toss up)
5) I made something for my MIL, what was it? A shawl. A lot of you said scarf, which never got made. At least no one said doily!
6) What to name my wheel (no wrong answer) Arduwynne (which has already been shortened to Win when I'm in a hurry)

Ok, so the whole reason I really picked 2 winners was the name one submitted scarded me. I am *terrified* of spiders, and while Arachnae is a beautiful name, it could never be. So I went with 2 winners. Oh yeah, should maybe tell you's all who they is. The first is the beautiful, talented and mother of 2 beautiful little lads, AMY, also known as ArtemisOrange on plurk. And the second is another beautiful woman, soon to be in the LSG (Lazy Stupid and Godless) calender as an unknown month. The talented Cadence , known in plurk fame as GirlMeetsNeedle. BTW, if you readers aren't on plurk, get yourselves up there. It's fun.

Prize packages are being decided as a surprise for my 2 winners. I'm sure they will involve some baked item, some handspun yarns, and other treats.

On the spinning front, I just finished spinning up 349 yards of a heavy lace/light fingering weight yarn, in beautiful purples and blues. Mom has named it Lake Michigan Twilight (since she's who picked what to spin)

As Arduwynne's "christening" project, I'm going to spin for a real project!!! Ok, pick yourselves up off the floor, weirder things have been known to happen. I know that I usually just spin and horde, or have no real plan with what I should do with the yarns. But I want to knit a Hemlock Ring Blanket and so I am going to spin some of the massive bag o' fleace that I got a year and a bit ago. It's t his beautiful black-ish brown and sure to spin up all pretty. I'll also be spinning things up for sale some more, so I can get items posted. I'm also doing some testing of ideas/items to see what everyone thinks of them.

It's a lot easier to see what I have for sale since I got the fibers and yarns all sorted. Ok, the fibers are, but I need to rig up a "closeline" type thing so I can hang the yarns from that, and see at a glance. Than there's the idea of getting a lot of priority mail boxed from USPS and using them as storage. That caused some laughs, but I'm good for now.

Scott is thriving in CA it seems. He just got a pet, his first. It's a beta fish named Ulric (I know, weird right?). Today he's at the Disney parks with his Great Uncle Jeff (he works for Disney and gets them in free) and I'm going to assume his uncle Caleb, who just graduated from Marine Boot Camp and will spend the next 6 months of his life in Butt-f'ing-nowhere. Also known as 29 Palms. I hope he enjoys having to travel at least 20 miles for anything. Sally was born out there on base, and they prob still haven't forgotten the story of that. I had the decent sense to be born in Barstow, in town. That's where mom and Robert were stationed at that time. Congrats to Caleb for finishing.

I'm off to Plurk, attempt eating (got the stoopid tummy bug going around) and knit some. I swore that I wouldn't start to knit another item until everything but the beaded lace shawl was off the needles. I finished the Jaxy Cowl last night (pictures soon) and will be frogging the lace shawl, cause I've screwed up several times. So that takes care of everything. I think I'll knit a few scarves. One in my Malabrigio Lace, and one in a silk yarn I recovered from a tank top. I know I blogged about that one. Maybe something with leaves, since it's green.

Toods for now my darlins!

Great Acheivment and Great Loss

The last few days have been good to me. I've spun up 230 yards of 3 ply sport/worsted weight yarn. A beautiful heathered gray color, made of a blend of white and gray merino, gray alpaca, and black Border Collie fluff. Yes, that's a dog. I'd say a 75/15/10 blend of the 3 fibers.

Than I did a first for me. I made a sock. For Scott, so it's not big. It's worked in sport weight on size 2's so it'll wear very well as a sipper too. The mate will soon follow, once I recover from losing a few friends of mine.

Yes, today a few friends of mine were resting on the couch, and suddenly a big foot came and stepped on them. Ok, I admit, it was my foot. 4 size 2 vintage rosewood DPN's have passed on to the great woodpile in the sky. The lone survivor was off on the table, cause he's not the shrpest needle in the bunch. Thankfully I have circs in size 2, and can make the other sock.
The lone survior over there, laughing at them. Little does he know that now he's a shawl pin.

On plurk and other things

Ya know, sometimes I forget that just because I'm on Plurk doesn't mean the rest of y'all are. See, I talk about my days and what I'm working on over there, and forget about this here.

I've been spinning a lot lately. I can do this because as a b-day present Mommy got me an electric motor attachment for my Wheel (Wheel needs a name, I'm sensing a contest soon). Yesterday I spun and plyed 4 oz of Merino/silk top into a 3 ply heavy worsted yarn. This is to go with the 2 oz of this top already spun up. It's destined to become something for Scott. Not sure what yet, maybe a scarf.

Today I'm spinning a Merino/alpaca/Border Collie blend. I know it's somewhere around here in my archives. Look for early August, I saw it there. The Merino/alpaca blend is a lovely slate gray, and there is also white merino blended in with the black Border Collie. It's making for this beautiful heathered gray that I'm loving. I'm spinning it fine and hope to make it a 3-ply heavy lace. I'd love for enough to knit a cowl or scarf for me.

I've been bitten by the cowl bug. Right now I'm working on one inspired by a hat a friend in knit group was knitting. It's a mobius cowl worked with an applied cable edging. The cable it's self is reversible (turned on both sides, and worked in a 1-1 ribbing) so it flows with the who mobius idea. Yes, the mobius is worked from the center out, using Cat's method.

I'm also going to knit Scott a sweater, and promised Sally one too. Both are in the planning process. I"m also going to finally attempt socks. Someday. Maybe start with Scott sized ones. Makes me wonder what size he wears anyway.

I'm trying to prep yarns for work, and on the topic of work, the name has been changed. It seems there was a Tangled Web Fibers out there on the interwebs so the name was changed. Besides, not it's Punny. Sheeps of Egyptian Cotton. When I was growing up my half sister Kathy (ask some day, maybe I"ll tell you fun stories about her) told me the clouds being relfected on the ocean were sheep. And me, being the smart wee child, asked how they didn't felt. So she said they were sheeps of Cotton, and that's where Cotton came from. A few years later I got proof she was being silly, but than it wasn't too late to tell her. So, in homage of Kathy and my sillyness, Sheeps of Egyptian Cotton has been born. Shop blog and Etsy Storefront are at those links. Store is empty, but only for now.

I don't know how to tell people this, but due to a hail strike on the head, I've lost 3 years. I know most of you are saying "What, again??!!?" Yeah, it sucks. I have a lot to adjust to. I'm still here though, plugging along.

Knitting away even. And enjoying myself while doing it. Pictures of projects will be posted, soon.

I can't give a Scott update, like I seem to. All I know is he's happily back in California again. I'm waiting to get to know him.

Mall Saga

Ok, I really don't like the mall people. Went down Tuesday to try and get insurance info and accident report, no go. "The Hospitals and Dr's offices will have to call us for that themselves" in the case of insurance. So I let the hospital and Orthopedist's office know that. Come Thursday morning, right before my appt I get a call from the Ortho office and "They won't give us their insurance info, they say it has to go through your insurance". Now for those fellow readers who know me, y'all know I have no insurance right now. So I had to schedule an appt with my Primary Dr out here and borrow the $50 they want as a "down payment" for this.

Still need to get a damn lawyer to call me back, the only one I'd gotten a hold of said She'd contact her partner in the Twin Cities (why a lawyer out of the area called me is beyond me) and find out if he had space in his books for me, or something like that. No call back, from her or otherwise. *grr*

Seriously NO knitting done this week, because it's too hard to concentrate on what I'm doing. For future reference, Sprains really hurt, and when the Dr you see in the ER gives you just enough pain meds to get through the 3 days before the holiday is up and not much else you've got yo actually figure out how many you can take, so you'll still have some for the rest of the time. I was taking 1 most days, and on a few a whopping 1.5 pills. He only gave me 12 in the first place. I'm hoping I can get something from my PC, because this freaking hurts. And hobbling around on crutches just screw up my other calf, major knots in it. Gotta ask him about that as well.
Figure if I'm there might as well ask all the things I've been needing to.

A day at the Mall

Usually when you go to the mall you have a good time, not wind up with a sprained knee. Not so for me today.

I was walking along with Scott on my shoulders in our local mall and slipped on a puddle of water, which even security there said they couldn't see right above it. So now I have an immobilizer on, and have to go back there on Monday to get their insurance info, and get them to cover all the damn bills. Scott is fine, I'm just the hurt one, so I don't mine uber much.

Finished knitting the Veil of Isis Shawl, will block and photograph it this week. I didn't knit the edging, cause I decided I didn't like it enough to do. :-P It's pretty but this will be a baby blanket, and it's easier to block a square than a square with pointed edging.

Off to the Ren Faire tomorrow, and will have fun with that. Walking around with a cane, and can't wear the skirt I made yesterday for it. :(

Government bans Knitting!

Federal Government Bans Knitting in Public Buildings

WASHINGTON, DC (AP) -- Citing the rapid rise in the number of new knitters over the past 12 months, the United States Congress and Senate have both taken unprecedented measures in passing a bill banning knitting inside any public building, according to documents released Thursday.

Under the terms of the new law, knitters are required to take their knitting at least 10 yards from any public building. Although they are allowed to carry knitting inside, anybody caught engaging in the act of knitting may be subject to a $10,000 fine or 10 years imprisonment.

According to recent studies, the mere sight of a knitter actively knitting increases a person's odds of becoming a knitter by 200 percent. The dangers of second-hand knitting have long been a concern for Federal worker Irene Schlamp, who is happy to see the bill pass. "It's been a big problem in my department, where people often take four, five, or even six knitting breaks a day. Those of us who want to do our work can't because we're so distracted by the clacking of those damned needles."

But not everybody is happy about the news. "This is so unfair!" says Betty Schnoodle, a worker at a U.S. Postal Service processing plant in Louisiana. "Why should we be forced to huddle outside in the cold when we want to take a knitting break? We're not hurting anybody."

Human rights group AmKnitty International has already filed a suit claiming the new law is unconstitutional and violates the civil rights of knitters everywhere.

Yes, it's a joke folks. Could you see this really happening?

I'm plugging away on my Veil of Isis shawl, just started knitting the edging charts today. Already on row 7 of 31! Considering row 7 will have 504 stitches in it, that's a feat in itself. I just started knitting them today.

I'm still in MN visiting with Scott. Because of the Army screwing over the roommate who was to loan me the money for my trip back to MI I'm still here. I'd complain, but I get to spend time with Scott. Yeah, ouch, twist my arm why don't ya?

No spinning, cause the wheel is in MI.

I'll be sending out a big box to my SP12 partner once I actually have money. I may add the VOI to it, since I want to knit other ones. :) Just need a reason.

Grrrrr

No, no more spinning on the sweater silk has been done. Sad to say I had to quit one of my meds for a few weeks, because i couldn't get it (it's pricey) but that'll be changed manana. So right now there's lots of pain.

On a knitting note, I just finished a commission to knit an Owl backpack. This link was the inspiration for the lady. Here's a link to pictures of the finished item. Ok, bad pictures, but still.

I'm to go and see Scott next week, for 2 WHOLE WEEKS!!!!!! Yeah, had to say it like that. I still think I"m getting the shaft time wise but it's better than before, I got it upped to 2 weeks every 2 months, instead of 1. 1 week every 2 months was called reasonable parenting time. Excuse me, 12% of the year? 6 weeks a year was reasonable???? What planet does the law live in? 12 weeks isn't much better, but it's almost a quarter of the year, and I have it in writing from J that once we're both in CA (planning by New Years) that it'll be changed. I know, it's something small to pin my hopes on, but I'll take what I can get.

Off to find more patterns for things. And look at my wheel wishing I had an electric attachment for it, or the cash to get one. Soon.

I'm here

Got into MI today, after a Loooonnnnggggggg trip by bus with me mum and niece. We're all uber tired and sore (well, not the kid) from toting 4 suitcases that each weigh 50 pounds. Of course only one was a suitcase, the other 3 were trunks, which means a little tiny handle and no wheels. Major suckage.

Just resting for now, wanting to go take a nap but won't because I'll not sleep well tonight. It's not the first time I've gone 2 days on just a few hours sleep, not even the first time this week. Actually going on 8 hours for the last 3 days.

I did manage to get some knitting done on the bus, and even some spinning. I found my supported spindle about an hour before we left for the bus depot and grabbed that and some cotton to spin. It's fun to use. Most my yarns and fiber collection are in the 2 trunks that are my stuff, and the box my spinning wheel was packed into. I think there's about 2 pounds wool roving in there with the wheel. I'm knitting something for my secret pal partner person, but can't tell y'all what it is.

I wish I was with Scott, though I love my family. To read my more depressing thoughts right now I'm on Live Journal username Vxb222.

Knitting fun

Right now, when I'm not spinning up yarns for sale, I'm knitting a lace shawl for a friend. I'm using the pattern from Fiddlesticks Knitting, The Peacock Feather's Shawl. It's just being done in the leftover lace weight that I dyed up for my MIL's shawl 2 years ago. I decided that I didn't need to hoard the rest of it, and since I had ordered 2,400 yards of it and only used less than 800, I had plenty of it left. I'll be dying it to a darker blend of greens and blues, with maybe some specks of purple. I'm trying to decide if I should put in some beads and if so, what color? Maybe gold, to replicate the color in the feathers of said bird. But I have a while to go on that, since I'm only on row 50 of around 250. So you could say I'm 20% of the way done, but the rows get much longer than they are now. :-P

More to be posted later when I'm ripping my hair out at the pattern.

Lol, what a day

My poor dear hubby has a really bad case of hives and is trying to scratch himself in his sleep. I mean really bad here people. All over his ENTIRE body, front and back. It's so funny, though I'm sure not to him.

I'm waiting for my soaps to cool so I can turn them out of the mold and cut and get them curing. They're melt and pour cause I'm lazy right now, but they are for Christmas presents. I scented them with Vanilla and Sandalwood and put apricot seeds (ground) as well, to exfoliate the skin. And they'll moisturize because they are Shea butter soaps. i figure give them with the wash cloths and I'm covered.

While I wait I'm knitting a purse that I'll be felting to give to my Cousin-in-law's daughter. Yeah, weird huh? But the cousins will be at Grandma's house and while the parents may get a bar of soap and a washcloth the kids will get something special. I was always raised to give a gift to the kids in a family I was visiting for the holidays, even if I brought nothing for the parents. Plus, I can honestly say that between both of the kids I only spent $25. Though I never had any idea it was so hard to get toys for a 5 year old boy. I finally went with the typical thing, and got him toy cars, from Cars too. My in-laws are big Disney fans, the whole family, cause one of the uncles actually works for Disney Studios out in CA. And yes, we take shameful advantage of it, and get in free to the parks. So nice. The daughter is getting a little purse/makeup bag and a few things of tasteful makeup. I say tasteful because yes, while she's 8 and using it for play, I'd rather give real makeup to play with (cheaper and cleans up easier, not to mention lasts a hell of a lot longer) and I don't believe that even in play those icky colors should be used, and they should be something that she might one day wear in public. It's just how I was raised. So there's 2 nail polishes, a set of mini nail files, a manicure block (for smoothing the nails and such), a lipstick, a quad of eyeshadow, and a little bottle of lotion. I know when I was her age the nail polish would have sent me over the moon. I used to take the stuff and paint EVERYTHING with it. Works really well on foil and metal, in case you were wondering. But I figured that she needed a bag to hold it in, so I'm knitting a little purse and I'll be felting it. Its in shades of pinks and browns, which I think is nice, cause all the makeup is pinks and roses. I'm thinking of going and getting some of the nail polish for myself actually, it was a really nice color. And they are all real makeup, so it may help her feel like a grownup.

Scott gives Eskimo kisses now. He started doing it when I was kissing him goodnight. It was so cute. I think he was saving it until I tried to put him down, to distract me from bedtime for another few minutes.

I'm gonna go check my soap and see if I can get some sleep soon. Happy Holidays Everyone!!!