RAVELRY,
BEE FIELDS KAL,
YARN PR*N,
OH MY!!

Dear Ravelry,

I'm really not feeling the LOVE from you yet. So many promises of wonderful things to come. Teasing, really. TEMPTING much!!

If you're feeling like Ravelry is some high school clique that you weren't invited to...don't despair!! Do what I did and find out where you are in line - because you ARE in line (if you signed up) but it's just taking a really long, long, LONG time!! Patience is not a virtue - of mine! But here is my good news to share -

patiently awaiting your invite?
If you've added your name to the invite request list on our front page then you can use this form to check your place in line.
Email address look me up!
Found you!
You signed up on July 14, 2007
You are #16387 on the list.
9142 people are ahead of you in line.
4806 people are behind you in line.

SIXTEEN THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY SEVEN, SIXTEEN THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY SEVEN, SIXTEEN THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY SEVEN!! Ok - so, this is where the patience will have to kick in...

In the meantime...
Bee Fields Shawl KAL - check
yarn/pattern kit in Tupelo Gold - check check
ebony & pink ivory knitting needles - check check check

Now all I need is to wind my yarn and I'll be off. That is, just as soon as I find my courage...I know I left it around here somewhere! Courage? Here, Courage! Come here, Courage - that's a nice little baby!!

Aw shucks - who am I fooling? I've tried to make Icarus THREE times already and just can't get past the first dozen rows or so. Is there a "Lace Knitting for Dummies" book out there? I know how to make decreases and yarn overs - look, see previous posts!! I'm thinking that the gal that started the KAL is expecting a LOT of dummies like me - so I'll probably BEE in good company - heh, heh!! I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. More practicing first!

And puleeeeze, all you yarn push, ummm I mean, en-able-ers - quit, will ya?!! Sheesh!! Seriously though, I do have to give a SHOUTOUT to Sheri at the loopyewe. I placed an order on Wednesday and it was here waiting for me today when I got home!! I can't wait to be a Loopy Groupie though, but I have to spread the love around a little, ya know! And since HWFRCA doesn't need to know EVERYTHING...you're likely NOT going to see me showing off the booty (as in treasures - not the "dairy air")!! You indie dyers out there are seriously eating into my discretionary fund - you and the Vietnamese nail lady "oooo - you like eyebrow wax with those nails and pedicure - I take good care of you - make you real pretty!!"

Well, that's all I've got. It's late. I'm tired. And no pictures this time. Sorry - I know all you COMMENTERS out there are really disappointed...just kidding. I'm just a little lonely............

"Happy Belated Blogiversary to Me"
Life Happens...
and some Monkey Business going on!

HA! My blogiversary came and went without nary a mention from me. In case anyone cares - it was July 5.

You know, sometimes life just hands you too much. July has been on of those life months. Actually, it started back in June. I became a grandma for the 2nd time to a beautiful little girl, Isabella Faith on June 14 - a Flag Day baby! She's beautiful - of course!

Unfortunately, they live in Arizona and I'm in California. The only photos I have of her are on my telephone so I can't even show her off to you. Her mom and dad (my son) haven't sent out their baby announcements yet. Hopefully, they will be sending me video soon since I have it on good authority that a new video camera is due on their doorstep on August 1. Heh, heh...

I haven't been able to visit them because of the "life" situation about which I referred. You see, my almost 93 year old mom fell and fractured her right arm at the shoulder and cracked her right hip bone in June. It was just last year in April that she fell and broke her right hip, requiring surgery and much rehab. This time the recovery and rehab was much slower and we weren't sure she had the will to pull out of it. It's sad that the older we get, the longer our bodies respond. She's an amazing woman though and has finally started her "come back".

But life still gets in the way. My oldest brother, single and retired, lives with her and is her caregiver. He's been a smoker most of his life. Listen folks out there - please stop if you can!! And especially to 2 of my sons and one DIL - PLEASE?!! Anyway, so my brother. While mom was in the hospital he had episodes of coughing up blood. He finally got in to see a doctor and tomorrow he goes in for a lung biopsy. You see, he has a mass in his left lung about 4.5x2.5 cm. Not good. But we are optimistic. His doctor says that if it is cancer that the meds used today are very aggressive and are very effective. But he also tells us not to jump to conclusions because it could be any number of things instead of cancer. Valley Fever is prevalent here. It could be that.

Life. I work full time. My other brother works full time. Older brother has to be cared for by oldest daughter for 24 hours and can't drive. So brother #2 and I will take time off from work to stay with mom. He takes the 'early shift' and I get the late one. Which takes me one vacation day further away from seeing my new grand baby. It can't be helped. And they will understand but it doesn't lessen the pang of not being able to see her sooner.

Anyone who reads this - I would appreciate your prayers for my brother.
**Update. Sadly, we just heard on Friday that the tumor is malignant. It is also larger than first thought. At least 7 cm. The tumor has a hole in it and is bleeding. He goes in next Wednesday for an MRI. Then we will find out what course of action is prescribed. His oldest daughter says that she saw the CAT Scan and said she saw "feelers" coming out from it and so it really doesn't sound good. He's trying to be optimistic but ultimately feels (as we all do) that it is in God's hands. We want His Will but don't want to be losing him this soon though. (He's 12 years older than me). Now we will have to start thinking about Plan B for mom. My other brother and I both have jobs. Mom's "baby" sister is in a nursing home near my home and although I don't like nursing homes in general - this may be the best solution for her. She would have her sister as a constant companion and possibly even share the same room. Prayers, please for now!! Thanks!

So knitting. I've been knitting. I finished my Peppermint Mocha socks from The Loope Ewe - plain old stockinette.

And I started a Chevron scarf - probably only one of 3 knitters left on the planet to hop on the bandwagon - as usual, I'm always late to the party. I'm using BMFA Pebble Beach and Rare Gems. Pebble Beach has been added to the lineup but maybe you can ask about Rare Gems. It's a blend of chocolate, chestnut, forest and purple.

Then I started making some "monkey business" and jumped on the Monkey bandwagon. What a fun pattern!! Thanks Cookie A! The yarn is from Sophie's Toes etsy shop in Tulips & Daffodils (I think that's the name). I'm currently turning the heel on the 2nd one.

Life. It sometimes gets in the way of "living". I'm ready for a really LONG vacation. Now...where did I put that Lottery ticket?

SISTERS...

How quickly they grow up!

jOsIe & sAdIe

It just seems like yesterday they were tiny pups -

snuggling together on their own...

getting their first bath...

still snuggling as "teenagers"








finding creative uses for exercise equipment.

What I won't show you are all the ways they've helped us in our remodeling projects - like removing the kitchen linoleum, ridding us of unneccessary shoes (who needs more than a pair or 2 or socks for that matter?!!), using the sofa to re-skein my yarn (how is it they are still breathing?!!), making it snow in our backyard in late spring (who needed THAT pillow?), chewing a HUGE hole in our screen outside the sliding doors so that it's ever so much cooler when we open it and making it so much easier for them to circle through the house, or the ever helpful digging of holes in the backyard - checking for gophers!!

All that aside they bring such pleasure to our lives, keep me company when HWFRCA is on the night shift and lick the pizza delivery person to death!! We love our girls even though we swear they are our last! We hope that soon they will outgrow the need to chew up everything they can find. They run and play with each other and have loads of fun trying to eat the water from the sprinkler. Being sisters - they chew and bite each other, drag the other one by the tail and Josie snaps away and barks like some strange doggy language, while Sadie will guard the inside of the doggie door - keeping Josie at bay - outside!! Suffice to say - it's never a dull moment!

On the human front - we have BABY NEWS!! Grandchild #2 recently born last week to Son #2 in AZ. As soon we get photos from them I will share - in the meantime, here's where the baby's been hanging out for the past nine months!

Me with the happy parents-to-be on a recent trip to the BABY SHOWER!

All the baby's grandmas meeting for the first time.

PSSSSST - Her name is Isabella, 6 lbs., 14 oz., 22". She was born on Flag Day, June 14. They've sent pictures of her to my phone but you'll just have to wait until they email the pics so YOU can see! She's another BEAUTY!!

Socks and Stash Enhancement

I know - my photography skillz leave something to be desired - in fact, they are sadly non-existant. I digress.

I finally purchased some sock blockers - mainly for "sock modeling" as you'll see. I got them from Sheri at the loopy ewe, she's great! She puts lots of goodies in the package. Not pictured are 2 yarn card samples and a couple of sock cards that you list the info about your sock recipients sizes, likes/dislikes, etc. She takes very good care of her customers!

Back to the sock blockers...yes, they are GINORMOUS because I have BIG FEET!! To the the left of the blockers is some gorgeous Fleece Artist seawool yarn in the Parrot colorway and to the right is Claudia's Hand Painted "short sport" in the Peppermint Mocha colorway. It is a Louet base and is sooooo yummy!

Beware though!! I didn't read the whole description about this yarn, specifically, how many skeins were needed for a pair of socks. Turns out that 3 skeins are needed for GIANT feet like mine and I only purchased 2. Instead of trying to get another skein I decided to just make a simple stockinette sock. I used wendyknits! basic toe-up pattern and just made the leg shorter. I ended up with a few yards left over and could've ripped it out and knit a few more rows but I'm satisfied with the way this first one turned out. I just need to cast on for its mate! This yarn is a sport weight - just in case you didn't catch that right away. I'm loving the Louet!

These other 2 lovelies are on the left, Lorna's Laces in either mint chocolate or chocolate mint. They came from a since-forgotten ebayer who has it custom dyed for her. This was my first attempt with wendyknits! pattern. It was about that time (a few months ago) that I realized that my growing sock yarn stash was becoming completely overwhelming for me. I mean, how many complicated sock patterns can I knit in my lifetime?!! Since I'm not overly fast - I decided to just take some of my yarn and just do something simple. After I made that pair I tried Wendy's feather and fan pattern. That is one of my all-time favorite stitch patterns. I used Lisa Souza's Violet's Pink Ribbon from the Lime & Violet podcast fame.

Here are my Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt from IK Winter 2005 (and I understand it's also in their new Favorite Socks book). I used Sophie's Toes

in her Tapestry colorway. It also is a Louet base.

This yarn is YUMMY (much like the Claudia's above only it is fingering weight). The picture came out dark but maybe you can get a better view if you click on it. It was maybe too dark a color for lace but I think they turned out lovely!! I was very tired of the pattern as I got close to the end of the 2nd sock. All in all though, they were very enjoyable to knit and I would knit another lace sock pattern again. Problem is that most of my sock stash is hand-dyed, variegated yarn that doesn't always show the pattern to its best advantage but I sooooo love the handdyes!!

HWFRCA exclaimed to me the other day "So are you a SOCK knitter now?" I guess it's looking that way, however that's not the only thing I'm knitting these days. The lavender heather sweater up there in the corner is still on the needles. It's vacationing on Sleeve Island right now but will hopefully be finished before this fall. And there are other (read - too many) UFO's in the wings crying "pick me, pick me!!!" just waiting to be finished. For me, it's never been about the destination - it's always about the journey.

Woes of Blogging

Sheesh, I had no clue when I started blogging how TIME-CONSUMING it would be for me!! So, because there is a serious lack of bloggage going on around here (but VERY serious amounts - for me - of actual knitting going on) - I give you this until I have time to blog about the knitting and the lack of sewing! (Spooky how right on this was about me!)

What does your birthdate mean?

Your Birthdate: December 3

You are more than a big ball of energy - you are a big ball of hyper. You are always on the go, but you don't have a type a personality. Instead of channeling your energy into work, you instead go for fun and adventure. Witty and verbal, you can have an interesting conversation with anyone. Your strength: Your larger than life imagination Your weakness: You tend to be pretty scattered Your power color: Lime Your power symbol: Lightening bolt Your power month: March

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Puppy Breath

Anyone who's held a puppy knows what I'm talking about. It is one of those things you can't get enough of. Like kissing the bum of your just bathed and lotioned baby - mom's, you KNOW you've done that! Or hugging your toddler - you just can't get enough - it's where the statement "I could just eat you up!" came from.

A little over a year ago HWFRCA and I were leaving for a night out. Our beloved 9 year old Border Collie/Chow mix, Coco, just didn't want us to leave her. But stay she must. When we got home that evening our gate was knocked down and Coco was nowhere to be found. The hubby scoured the neighborhood. We both cried ourselves to sleep that night, cried in the shower and cried throughout the day...for many days, weeks and months.

That we were devastated was an understatment. She was very comfortable being in the front yard without running off and knew where her boundaries were. We were often lax at having her wear her collar. As fate would have it. She was not wearing her collar that night. We put ads in the paper, visited the SPCA as well did my in-laws and we put posters up all around our neighborhood. Our next door neighbors told us their kids saw her out on the front yard.

Because she was a wonderful, gentle girl we surmised that someone came along in their car and coaxed her in. Dog-knapped, she was. Devastated. Heartbroken, we were. Never to love again. N.E.V.E.R. Period.

Never say never.

Meet Sadie & Josie. They came to live with us two weeks ago tomorrow evening. They are Border Collie/Kelpie mix. That is Sadie to the left. She looks like a little holstien cow. She has the sweetest little black nose that looks ever so like a heart. Josie is the cutie on the right with skillions of black and tan freckles all over. She has a brown stripe on one forepaw and another one on the opposing rear paw. We.Are.In.Love.

Don't let the "awwww" factor fool you. While the sibling love was a total photo op, when they are awake they romp, play, pee & poop (everywhere), tear up everything their tiny razor sharp teeth can find. And they terrorize each other!! They are now about 9 weeks old. And like active toddlers - must be watched EVERY second!!

Understandably, there hasn't been much knitting going on. But THAT'S another story....

2007 is gonna be O-Kaaaaaaaay!

I just noticed that many of my posts start with "Ok,..."
In an effort to try to be a little more interesting - I will try in the future to not start my sentences with Ok.

That said, I decided to change the look of my blog. Now mind you, I'm still not so good at the whole blogging thing - especially the formatting. I put up a couple of new pics. The first one symbolizes what my blogname means - that is I sew and I knit. I also crochet - but that's another topic! That photo contains my current knitting project. It is to be a cardigan when it "grows up". Here are the specs:
Yarn
Cascade 220 #2422, a heathery lavander
Pattern:
Hollow Oak Cardigan by Tara Jon Manning (Unfortunately, it is a pattern leaflet that may no longer be available).
It mostly consists of an Irish Moss stitch (seed stitch) with an Aran pattern (Hollow Oak) running down the middle of the right and left. The back is solid Irish Moss. It is long-sleeved and the cuffs as well as the bottom edge of the sweater will be bordered with a lace pattern. The round, collarless neck will have a simple, but sweet crocheted picot edge trim. It will button down the front with crochet loops and crochet buttons. The next photo is one of me as a toddler, with the caption below it "Gerber Baby". Now, I'm not the original baby of that fame, but I was often told growing up that I resembled her. Ughhhh - I give up! Blogger is being testy and not letting me do carriage returns right now to separate my paragraphs!! More later...