Never A Dull Moment

Remember all those things I had listed yesterday that I had to do?? Well I ditched that TO DO list and instead after work I came home, pulled out my cross stitch, and stitched the afternoon away!! OMG was it wonderful!!! I had no energy to go anywhere or do anything other than sit on the couch and stitch. It was JUST what I needed! And I got some things done as well!!

The first question, what to stitch? I wasn't in the mood for Maggie since there are lots of color changes where I am right now and I didn't want to search for something to start so I went to the back of the closet and pulled out a couple of UFOs. The winner?? Bag Ladies!! This was another one of those that I started back in 2001 just before Baby Girl was born. I had a rotation going with a few big projects, but then a LOT of stuff happened over time (Baby Girl born, the Insane One being laid off from Sprint then his health started going bad, had to go back to work p/t, etc) and other projects that had to be worked…

I *finally* had some time last night to knit and I jumped on the chance. Yes there were dishes and laundry (oh the laundry) and a ton of others things calling but the only one I answered was the call of the yarn. I didnt want to work on the CIC sock. I figure I'm at a point where its the foot part and I can do that on our drive to NY. I pulled out Baby Girl's poncho and did a few rows of that while watching a taped Knitty Gritty. Then I pulled out my sweater with the patterns to it. I only do a row or two of it since every row is different and I dont have the quiet time I need to really make sure I dont mess it up. I havent posted a picture of it yet so here it is.

Its got a viney pattern right now, 5 more rows I'll be on the flower. I started this in December of '05 and this is as far as I've gotten. I wanted to get it done by this winter but it may be the winter of 2007 instead.

Then the kids wanted to sit next to me while we watched tv so out came the new sock for…

Here is the sock for CIC.

This sock has given me more problems than any other sock I've done!! I'm thinking its the pattern, but not sure. Either case, I won't be using this pattern again. It's a good thing that I've knit socks before because that is the only reason why its still on the needles.

Also, I'm using the leftover yarn from my felted bag. I HATED knitting with it!! I think its the mohair in it since I can work with regular wool without any problems, but this stuff makes my eyes and throat itch BAD. Either way, I dont see a second sock happening with this yarn. Its going to be hard enough to finish this sock as it is. I'm on the gusset part so it wont take me very long to finish the sock. I *could* rip it out and just send the yarn, but I'm a bit stubborn and want to at least finish this one sock. I will send it along with the rest of this yarn and the purple I have as well and donate the sock and the yarn for more socks to be made by somebody wh…

So what ever happened to the LAZY, hazy days of summer?!?!!?! I'm just getting the crazy part and I'm starting to feel jipped. I want the lazy part. I NEED the lazy part! I havent stopped since last Sunday and I'm really getting tired.

What have I been doing?? I really dont know to tell you the truth.......it's just been really busy. My sisters came to visit on Thursday which required a cleaning of the kids' bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen. Done. On Friday when I have the day off from work, my sisters went looking at condominiums in the area and the rest of us went to run errands, get haircuts for the boys, and pick up our wood laminate that we ordered for our floors. Everything was going well until we get there......guess what? The price they (verbally) quoted us was wrong. The ACTUAL price is like $600 MORE than we originally planned.....YIKES!!! We are NOT happy and the more we talk abt it the more we realize that we dont want to go with this company. (they later …

I've got nothing (that I want to do) on the needles so it's time to start something new. I've decided that I want to start another pair of socks that will be MINE! I bought this Berroco Europa on eBay and I cant wait to use it. Its been discontinued but I've heard some really good things about it.



I also just joined the yahoo group for CIC and they are having a KAL for socks for these kids. I have some left over Lambs Pride wool



from this felted bag that I'm going to use.



AND Number One Son really needs another quilt for his bed. The one he chooses to use is the bug quilt I made for him a couple of years ago.



Its too small for a bed quilt so it looks like I'm going to be pulling out the novelty and kid fabric as well. I've already gotten a bunch of squares cut out so now I just need to start putting it together.



Of course Baby Girl wants a quilt now too, but I told her she would have to wait until Number One Son's quilt was finished. We won't even get in…

Even with all the help from the IO and Dee, I still have a mental block with all this computer blog lingo needed for making it all look pretty. However you WILL notice that I have added a button on the side of my blog along with a heading for future things to come. The brain matter just doesn't seem to want to wrap around this info. And its not like its BRAIN surgery!! Well I am a stubborn one and will NOT let it kick my butt. I will keep plodding away on the side and will probably have it where I want it by my one year anniversary.

As promised here are the pictures of the finished socks.




I washed them in the sink with some shampoo from the shower and let them air dry. WOW are they soft!!! I wasn't so sure how they would feel because they weren't that soft as I knit them but they washed up well and look great now that they are dry.

Specifics, socks are made with Lionbrand Magic Stripes Jelly Bean on size 2 dpns. I cast on 56 stitches and worked in a K1P1 rib for almost an inc…

How much fun did I have tonight!!! An internet friend of mine was visiting from TX and her and her friend and I met up at Rainforest Cafe for a girls night out. We had Lightning Lemonades in glasses that lit up and sparkled (got to keep the glass too!) and pretty much closed the place down (it was only 10:30 though, its the Cafe by Animal Kingdom and they close early).


Pam, me and Tiffany

I get to the car, call the Insane One to make sure everybody is ok and that I'm on my way home. Start driving on the 429, crank up the radio for the Saturday night dance party music and Sammy Haggar is telling me that he can't drive 55. Suddenly I'm transported back to the 80s, driving my '84 Honda Prelude and cruising the highway with my friends and my lead foot.

I know, Sammy! I can't drive 55 either! Then Rick Springfield started telling me he's having an Affair of the Heart while Gloria Gainer will survive. Yep it was Sammy, Rick, Gloria and I just jamming to the tunes on the…

Not only will you be seeing an update of Maggie, but also of yours truly! Met the girls at Needle Orts in between tropical storm bands on Tuesday and OH What Fun It Was!!!! However can I tell you how I forgot my camera?!? I saw it sitting on my table and thought oh I better grab that to bring with me today and immediately forgot it!

UGH.

Stop by Dee's Blog. She has pictures of our adventures including my sock being modeled. Here is a picture of Maggie and Me.



Like I said, we had a great time. I always love meeting up with those girls. And every single one of them I met thru AOL. Yep on line friends that became IRL friends. Dee was fantastic in giving me some help with my blog, now to find the time to put it to good use!! Well actually that active link to her blog is some of her help! And she lessened her stash load on me! YEAH!! Got some more Moda Dea (like the yarn for Baby Girl's poncho) and some Lionbrand Woolease AND a skein of Knit Picks sock yarn!! I will figure out a way t…

The good news, we've had abt 12 hours of good soaking rain. My plants and my water bill greatly appreciate it. However the bad news (and the cause of the heart attack) is that apparently some in the animal kingdom thought our house was an ark and they decided to climb aboard! As I was closing the slider in my bedroom I noticed something behind the curtain and thought it was a lizard. ~BUZZ~ WRONG! It was a tree frog!! I quickly get the Insane One (that would be dh) to come capture it. He grabs it and IT JUMPS ON ME!!!!! O-M-G!!!! I scream and it jumps on the bed. The Insane One quickly grabs it and starts to laugh. Well needless to say he got hit with my knitting bag! We put it in this little cage like thing we have to put bugs and small creatures in but the IO pulls it out so I can get a picture of it. Its not the best or the clearest, but remember, I'm still recovering from my heart attack!



Once captured, he's kind of cute in a froggy sort of a way and was probably lookin…

It always amazes me how many people flock to Florida. Yes we do have nice beaches and we have great weather in the winter, but we also have alligators and sharks and mosquitoes. And the hanging chad. And hurricanes. We are day 10 into the season and there is already a storm a'brewin'.

The grey line goes DIRECTLY over my house.

Honestly I'm not really worried. By the time it hits us it will most likely be Tropical Storm Alberto. A lot of wind and rain. I'm up high so I don't worry about flooding and with brush fires (did I mention 1/2 the state is under brush fire warnings?) popping up here and there (you could see the smoke of one while in the Disney parks) we could use a good soaking rain to dampen the soil a bit and fill up our water resources. I'll take 10 of these back to back than an Andrew or Katrina or Rita any day. And before any of you feel like I"m being flippant and not concerned about hurricanes, I've been thru enough of them (one of them bei…

Ok so maybe it wasnt *that* bad but it was HOT today!!! You'd think living in Florida my entire life (less 5 years living on Long Island) would make me used to the heat. NOPE! And we havent even hit the peak of summer yet! This is why I knit socks!

Speaking of socks, I'm still plugging away on the magic stripes pair.

Not the way I wanted to post this picture, but you get the idea. And since I'm a total dork with the workings of this blog, you'll have to bear with me. I've also been pulling out Maggie the past few nights as well. I'm beginning to feel my desire to work on this project beginning to wane, I'm getting into areas that have alot of color changes and Im not getting the mindless stitching time that I crave. Here is a pic of Maggie when I first pulled her out last week. I havent touched her since Sept and boy was she happy to see me!! See how content she is??? She purrs everytime I work on her. Now I will go back to ignoring the huge stack of paperwo…

Blogging isn't as easy as it looks. I really like the idea of writing down what's going on in life and sharing my love of fiberly crafts with others who enjoy it, too. But trying to make my blog look good is extremely confusing to me. How do I add the links on the side? Those cute KAL buttons? Or linking to my other blogs? I emailed the blogger people to see if there was a blogging for dummies somewhere. You know, those who aren't real computer savvy, who don't understand programming, who just want to point and click.

But alas, I digress too much. What is being worked on here? Some socks for a friend. I got her foot measurements and everything and worked the sock according to the directions. They look great. Wait. They look......BIG! So I try them on. Perfect! This is bad because my foot is 2 sizes bigger than hers! They will still fit but not snuggly like I'd like. I will add a pic of the finished sock tomorrow along with the progress of its mate.

Also being worked …

I knew I'd cave. Talk about peer pressure! I wanted to join in with the crowd. Jump off the bridge because everybody else was doing it. Where's my mother when I need her??

Well its partially her fault. She is the one who taught me to knit so SHE's the reason I love to feel the fibers slip thru my fingers and SHE's the reason I love all those beautiful patterns and shiny needles. My grandfather taught me how to shop for a bargain so HE's the reason I cant pass up a good sale on yarn or fabric (I like to quilt and cross stitch as well......). AND my great grandfather was a tailor so HE's the reason I cant walk past a fabric store. So its genetic!! I can't help it. I'm pre-wired that way.......

I'm in need of therapy but that would blow the craft budget so instead I'll start this blog and keep the money for stash. I've found knitting to be great therapy, saving my sanity MANY a time. (just holding up a pointy needle makes offending, stressful peo…