Misbehaving

No, not me. Never. It's this computer. It doesn't say charged unless it's plugged in and even then it's like working with those ancient bunny ears where you had to stand on your head and spit nickles while wearing some sort of homemade tin foil contraption around your ankles to make it work. I think some micro troll has moved in to reek havoc with shutting down programs with no warning and making funny noises at me periodically. It's all made work this week pretty interesting to say the least. But has made it impossible to share anything here with y'all. Downloading pics from last weekend and sock progress was also a no go... that is until this morning. I don't know how long this nicey-nice streak will last, so keep your fingers crossed that we can at least make it through this post.
First off to report is the Fall Fiber Festival in Orange VA last weekend. I was a little nervous about attending seeing that it's held just blocks down the road from the ex-in laws but meeting up with Sarah, Chan, and getting to meet Ann and (oh my, my mind is blank right now and I can't remember her name, sorry) made it worth it. It was good to get out and among the woolly fiberness. Although I was a little disappointed that not as many vendors came out to play as did last year. But that didn't stop me from finding a few beauties to take home with me.

From My Local Yarn Shop is this beautiful fall inspired Baby Alpaca yarn. There should be enough here to do a shawl of some sort but I don't have anything specific in mind just yet. But something tells me that I'm going to LOVE working with this yarn! I'm already in love with just holding it!

These two beauties are from Knitting Notions and are 100% superwash merino wool supersock. The colorways are deep and delicious. I'm sure they will be amazing knit up into an interesting sock pattern.

Then over at the Creatively Dyed Yarns booth I picked up this lovely skein with all it's fall glory. What a way to celebrate this glorious month!Here's a closer look at all the wonders included within this skein. What an amazing pair of socks these will be!!!

And speaking of socks.... what would Socktober be without socks on Friday...

SITMT pal meet up

On Saturday I had the opportunity to meet up with my downstream SITMT secret pal. She happen to be driving up to the area so we met for lunch at Panara's. She had commented on the sock blockers that I made and I promised that I would help her make her own pair. Here she is donning a pair of her very own.

After chatter for hours and getting very little knitting done, we decided to head over to World Market to pick up a few goodies for current swap pals. Iva had her Loopey Ewe with her so we did a sort of 'round the world photo shoot - Africa, India, China.

Thanks Iva for a wonderfully fun afternoon! I hope that we get to do it again sometime

Today Sarah and I were out and about picking up great deals. Got some great yarns for secret pals so I can't show them here... sorry.

The stitch that never ends...

"This is the knit that never ends...
yes it goes on and on my friend.
Some knitter started knitting it not knowing what it was...
and she'll continuing knitting it forever just because.... "(repeat)

After 35 rows of seed stitch to make up the bottom side walls of the BYOB bag I have to wonder what I was ever thinking taking on that my seed stitch. Who in their right mind would ever do that much seed stitch?! It's just insane!! But the good news is, I'm ready to change the pace a little with the stretchy middle part. Thank goodness, a break from seed stitch!

Tomorrow I'm off to meet up with Iva a.k.a. ScrappyHappy, my secret pal from the SITMT swap. I'm so excited to get the chance to meet her face to face. It's always nice to be able to thank your spoiler in person. I promise to take a few photos and post them.

I also still need to post about the events from last weekend. opps.

I went to DE for my cousin's wedding and then some of the family stayed at the beach for a few days. I got to spend lots of time with the little man!!! YUM!!! How adorable is he getting to be? I could just eat him up like candy! He really enjoyed it when the bridal party came in and everyone was clapping along with the music. Then at the beach house, mom made a little boo-boo and caught the kitchen on fire. Luckily little brother and I caught it pretty quickly and the damage was minimal. New roomie Sarah joined in on all the family fun and had a blast. I think she's become an official member of the family now since she rolled up her sleeves and pitched in to clean up the mess. Over all it was a fun weekend and one that was much needed. If the double fully arched rainbow we saw over the ocean is any indicator to the future, I'd be a happy woman!

ch-ch-ch-changes

Being that several months ago my life turned completely upside down and it's been like trying to climb a mountain by your fingernails ever since, I decided that my life was in need of some changes. The look of this blog is just the tip of the iceberg. Sarah over at Blanche Knits in DC has taken on the adventure of moving in and being my new roommate (since the old bastard one left, sorry) and we're starting to get things going around the house. It's so wonderful to have life, energy and happiness in the house again. I've even spent the past few nights knitting! And Sarah started knitting again too. I can't even begin to tell you how good that feels! I also decided the other day to change my looks a little and went to my favorite Hair Cuttery and told her I didn't care what she did, just do something. Wow, what a something! She took off about 6 or 7 inches and I already feel lighter and less weighted down by my problems. I haven't taken any pictures yet but I'm sure one will be coming soon. Today I'm going to get my nails and tootsies done in preparation for my cousin's wedding this weekend. Speaking of the wedding, I'll be without my 'pooter from like Friday till Tuesday or Wednesday so don't be alarmed if you are trying to get a hold of me and I appear to be ignoring you. I promise to report back here when I return. Another change I'm hoping to make is loosing this weight again. I don't like that I've put on all the weight that I originally lost before having to go through all this crap. The meds are now all starting to come into alignment with each other and I'm beginning to feel myself again so it's time to start looking the way I want to look. I've lost 2 lbs this past week and I'm hoping to keep going. Only like 20 more to go. Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. Check back here on the progress of these changes and see what the next round of changes will be. Oh, and wish me luck!

Lifetime Award and Payment for Dinner

It's been a few days since you all have heard from me around here... and for good reason. Maybe I'll go into all that in another post in a little while. Right now I'm just interested in posting a few FOs and then going to lay down for a little while. First up is an over due knit for a dear friend from WW who earned her Lifetime Goal a while ago. I promised I would knit her something but never quite figured out what it would be. I finally decided on a great pair of felted clogs but then took like forever to get the yarn and cast on. But I'm pleased to report that they are now ready to be awarded to a very deserving lady. Here's Chris's Lifetime Award Slippers... These are of course Fiber Trends Felted Clogs done up in some Patons wool in a bright blue (although not as bright as this photo is showing) and a chocolate brown. She's got small feet so I'm going to have her try them on to see if they need to be felted down a little more before adding some skid-free stuff to the bottoms.

Another lovely lady from WW made a sweet deal with me last week and 'traded' me a few home cooked dinners for a knit scarf. Sarah just happened to have some, brace yourself, acrylic yarn in a colorway my friend loved and Sarah was looking to off load. And so I present what I'm calling Ora's 'Salt 'n' Peppa'... I'm linking both of these FOs to their Ravelry reports for further details if you're interested.

In other news Sarah is celebrating her quarter of a century... Happy Birthday Sarah!!! Here's a quick pic of her and a friend who flew in for the special event. Love that smile!!! And as a final note (cause I'm starting to get stiff and the pain is coming back again and I must. lay. down.) a little something I had sent to myself this past week from The Loopy Ewe. Gotta love your dpns something special right???

Spring break round up

This year's spring break was all about resting and relaxing as much as possible. I spent most of the week catching up on some much needed sleep. I'm still not sleeping continually throughout the night but the naps throughout the day are helping with that and I'm feeling much better. My hair is shiny, thicker and healthier from not using any product and only washing it every other day this week. Sarah and I spent a little time on Monday pampering our little tootsies and I've been prancing around in flip flops ever since.

I decided to round out the week with a road trip home to spend a little time with the kin folk and the little man. Sarah tagged along for the fun which made the 4 hour drive a hoot and a half. Together we are tag knitting some hats for chemo patients for a fellow blogger and Sarah finished off two of the hats while on the road (with the help of a camping lantern when the sun went down :) ). Before family came over on Saturday we 'kidnapped' the little man for a little tour of the local's finest - chocolate and yarn! Our first stop was Sarris' Candies where we splurged on chocolate covered pretzels, a peanut butter melt away egg, and some fun BeanBoozled jelly beans to have a little fun with the relatives later that day. The little man was dazed and fascinated by all the bright lights and sights to see there.

Then it was off to check out the local yarn ware. A quick stop in The Knit Shoppe landed Sarah with a great bargain on some Cascade 220. I restrained myself and entertained the little man as he began to get a little cranky with these two strange women.

When we ventured to my new local favorite, Bloomin' Yarns, I could restrain myself no longer. Look what called out to me to find it a new home...

By this point the little man's crankiness was in full bloom so we cut the yarn fondling short and headed home for some home cooked goodness and family fun. Sarah had a blast getting each member to try the BeanBoozles. Dad got Skunk Spray and Booger and Brother Mark got Booger and Vomit!!! What fun!!! The only 'bad' one I got was Black Pepper which wasn't so bad by comparison.

The day also brought with it a visit from my favorite neighbor, Mrs. J. She took pictures of us each year on our first day of school in our new school outfits. Being a knitter and crocheter herself, she always has some little project going on which she shares with everyone she sees. Look what she brought with her on this visit...

They're sink scrubbies made from netting. Mom says they are great for scrubbing pots. Apparently they're also good for exfoliating in the shower.

Before I left I wound some of my favorite Jitterbug in two lovely colorways and finally cast on for the Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

It's amazing how the colors are knitting up! I'm so in love that it's taking me forever to knit because I stop every few rows to admire the colors. I can't stop admiring and smiling.

Today is my last day of laying around watching TNT Prime Time in the Day Time. It's back to the grind tomorrow.

Letter to Grace.

Oh Grace!!! I can't believe it!!!
After a restless night last night where I think someone tried to come in through my front door after I went upstairs to bed, I was a little reluctant about coming home tonight. When I got there, there was an unexpected package waiting for me. I hesitated just a moment, remembering the sounds of the door jostling from the night before and wondering what my late night visitor might have left me. I didn't remember ordering anything on line and wasn't expecting any packages so I was a little confused. And then I opened it! WOW!!! I can't even begin to tell you the impact your loving gift made on my night! I started crying.. but for the first time in a long while the tears were good tears. I couldn't believe that someone who doesn't know me would do something so caring and wonderful for me. I absolutely love it! I'm thinking of sleeping with it tonight as a sort of cloak of comfort, or as my friend Ruth (who I immediately called) called it, my very own invisibility cloak, now nothing can hurt me. I like that thought.
I don't know how I can ever thank you enough.
Wendy

Great Friends, Good deeds, and Fun Knits

I'm such a lucky gal. My life might have fallen to pieces around me and I may be still in a state of confusion and looking for direction, but I have some of the most fabulicious women in my life that I just don't know what I would do without them. I must say that when I moved away from my friends and my work to move in with Honey, I kind of let a lot of friendships fall by the wayside. I haven't given the attention and haven't been the best of a friend for so many for a while now. I have felt guilty about it which has added to my poor self image I've been so carefully creating for myself. But these amazing women, all with issues of their own, have stepped up to the plate to allow me to lean on them and to begin to rebuild again. Their strength and love is amazing and I really don't know what I would do without them. It's going to be a long hard road to recovery, but my road crew is strong and appears to know what I need right now more than I do. Every night since Honey left I've been met with outings, phone calls, dinners out, knittings in, Cakelove cupcakes, group hugs, shoulders to cry on, ears to just listen, comforting advice... you name it they've come through.

Some of the best advice I've been given so far was to seek professional help as well as seek out ways that I can be helpful. So this weekend I've drowned myself in good deeds to do. First off, Ruth helped me to deliver a trunk full of scarves, hats, mittens, gloves, and other winter weather goodies that I had my ADK group collect, to a local shelter that was very thankful for the donation. I attempted to donate them at several other locations and was turned down. Bummer that most of them won't take donates of that type due to space restrictions. But this one was great. We even met a man who was very grateful to accept one of the sleeping bags we had on hand. What a great feeling that gave me to make someone else's day when I'm feeling like shit. But the good deeds didn't end there. Sarah has to move out of her DC townhouse so we spent the day loading up the cars and moving like a billion items to a storage unit and to the house she's going to temporarily live in. And to boot, she's going to help me look for a new place and is thinking of moving in with me. Good times with that gal. Through the move, one of the the women she's temporarily moving in with has so graciously given me a car full of office supply stuff and books to take into the schools that I'll work in next week. I know the teachers there will be delighted with the goodies I'll have to offer them. Giving back the love I so desperately need right now feels good, even if it's only a temporary fix in between crying sessions. In the long run, I think it's going to be these good times with these ladies (and others that I haven't mentioned here but are just as important right now) that's going to pull me through this mess.

The time I do have alone at home has been spent drowning my tears in knitting. No FOs just yet, but a few WIP that someone around here might find interesting. Or at least it's a good distraction from the depression I call life right now.

First up is another Booga Bag. The body is all knit up now and I only have the straps to do before felting. I used JoAnn's Sensations wool yarn line and really enjoyed how smooshy it felt as it knit up. I'll admit, a little odd for wool, but also very comforting right now in an odd sort of way. We'll see how it felts up before giving a final verdict.

On our day off on Monday I took my friend Heather (the wonderful woman mentioned above who donated all the stuff for me to take to the schools) to two LYS to make her first "real" yarn purchases. I happened to pick up some interesting looking Cameo, Wool in the Woods in Citrus on sale and began knitting up Wisp last night. I'm in love. (The colors here are dark and dreary... what more can I say about this weather right now. Hopefully better photos will come later.)

I'm calling it Spring Whispers because of it's light spring colors. The drape on it so far is lovely. What a fabulous feel good knit.

A day of lounging around town

I must take a moment this morning before I get to all the cleaning and other stuff that needs to be done before tonight's game to shout out about the wonderful day I had yesterday. Honey's parents are in a very l-o-n-g process of building a house in the beautiful mountains of VA. Ground was broke early two summers ago (2006) and the crew had high hopes of having the family moved in by Christmas '07. Being that the 'crew' consisted of Honey's parents, Honey's sister and brother-in-law, and the two of us, things trucked along nicely in the beginning. I know nothing about woodworking equiptment let alone building a house. But I was willing, able, and learning a lot!

(photos taken Octoer '06)

Somewhere around this time Honey's sister and brother-in-law dropped out of the crew claiming they were sick or had to take care of the 2-year old. When the weather turned cold I dropped out for the winter months because my I get awful headaches being out in the cold for lenghts of time. Things seem to pick up again breifly over the summer of '07 even though the sister's family never retruned to the crew. And now Christmas has come and gone and this is where the house stands now:

Looks pretty good huh? But take a peak inside...

It's no where near the moving in stage!!! They've been working on pipes, wiring, and duct work for months now. Moral is low and progress feels almost non-existant. To make matters worse, there are leaks in the roof that they can't figure out where they're coming from. So far the foundation and the roof are the only two parts of the house that were contracted out to do. The insulation and the dry wall will be contracted out too, but the leaks must be found and fixed before that can happen. 6 months after the leaks have reared their ugly heads, and no solution yet. This is a longer haul that any of us signed on for!

Usually with it being a winter month and all, I wouldn't have gone down with Honey this weekend unless there is something special going on. And boy was I in for a treat this weekend! See, my blogging buddy Chan lives close enough to that neck of the woods to call for a knitters gathering. (After you read my version of the day you may want to head on over to hear Chan's delightful rendition of the events.) We made plans to meet in person for lunch and a tour of the LYS. We met for lunch at a delicious place where we sat and chatted for hours. I haven't had a long chatty lunch with a friend in ages. We talked about so many things and it truely felt like talking to an old friend. We were instantly comforted by each other's presence. (Well, at least I was, being that I had just left the construction site and was down hearted over the progress and the promise of dinner later that night.)

And boy was I plesantly surprised and delighted when Chan presented me with a gift bag. She made me this beautiful shaw as my PIF gift!!! (She's got more close up photos of the pattern on her blog.) It's perfect!! I adore the colorway... it's made from Tofutsies... I've been wanting a handknit shaw... I have yet to master lace (other than the Branching Out scarf)... and it was handknit by a termendous knitter, person, and friend! Who could ask for more?!?!? To boot, the bag also included some yummy tea (which I'm enjoying this morning) and some chocolates which we induldged in after lunch. You are amazing Chan!

We then proceeded on to meander through some local farm land in search of wooly wonders. The shop we intended to visit wasn't open as the woman on Chan's phone promised but we did meet a very nice woman at the farm just past there that I would love to go back and visit her yarn shop. (I hear another road trip calling.)

We then delighted ourselves with the brick layed outdoor mall area of Charolettesville and popped into an eye candy of a yarn store. I must have touched each skein of yarn 4 or 5 times while we were in there! I picked up a skein of Jitterbug (love that Jitterbug) to go better with another skein I reciently aquired and have plans for a Cheveron scarf. The man at the shop also tried (very hard) to sell me some amazing two stranded yarn that was screaming my name. Just ask Chan. She took one glance at it and claimed that nothing could describe me better. But the metalic and the fuzziness parts of it just made it difficult to imagine working with. Don't get me wrong, I was truely in love with the colorway, but I just couldn't give in to the disappointment of not liking knitting with it. (I'm currently having this problem with recycled silk so I'm in a hesitant mood.)

The 3rd LYS was closed by the time we got there so window shopping (drooling) was about all we got out of that one so we headed back to the parking lot where we chatted for an hour or so.

I really couldn't have planned an more perfect lounging outing or have spent it with a more lovely person.

...still catching my breath

I've already posted about Sunday and Monday of this week as well as the SITMT package I recieved on Tuesday... so we're on to Wedneday. Work was busy and was delighted to come home to a package from Amazon. I earned a $25 gift certificate for using my credit card and so I decided to treat myself a little. I picked up a few books - a little learning and understanding, a little relaxing and rejunivating. I've heard wonderful things about the Passages book and how it explains the crisises we go through throughout our adult lives. I can't wait to get some insight into my current life crisises!

On Thursday another package arrived on my doorstep. This one from the hands of The Loopy Ewe. Two colorways of Jitterbug and 2 skeins of Cherry Tree Hill. Love that Jitterbug! And don't you just adore The Loopy Ewe stitch marker inclosed?!(Actually I think I got those two days mixed up. The Loopy Ewe package come on Wednesday and the books came on Thursday. It's been a long week.)

But before I had a chance to come home on Thursday to find such goodies in my mail, Sarah presented me with this lovely stitch markers she made especially for me!!!
She's such a terrific gal! Sarah, if these are a bribe to use the ball winder and swift again... it worked! You're welcome any time.

As for today's news... it's actually a set up for tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm planning on taking a little road trip on down Chan's direction to meet her for lunch and knitting. How exciting is it to meet some new blogger friends face to face!!! I'm exhausted at the moment and plan to go to bed early so that I'll have plenty of energy and liveliness for tomorrow's adventure. Maybe I'll also make an attempt to update on Ravelry. If you're hangin' around, swing on by Knitknucklehead and say hello.

Busy week

This week has been tremendously busy. I've been in more classrooms and had more meetings this week than I really thought possible. And amazingly enough, most of them worked out just fine. Usually when it looks to be a busy week things get all mucked up and the schedule doesn't work out how I planned which makes the following week awkward trying to catch up and deal with that week's happenings as well. But this week, well this week went smoothly. Busy but smooth. Which is more than I can hope for.

Honey went alone to build today but he'll be back tonight for a poker game with the boys. It' good to see him have a little boy time fun every now and then. I might drag him out to the Sugerloaf Festival tomorrow so boys night tonight should put him in a better mood for craft day tomorrow. Right now I'm enjoying laying around on the couch, watching movies, and doing some light knitting. The busy week left for little knitting time so I feel like I have some catching up to do. But just sitting slouching here doing nothing as a certain appeal to it as well.

For those of you who left comments on my day of beauty, I present to you Chocolate Caramel.... I think I kind of like this coloring better than the Chocolate Peanutbutter, which was a little redder than this. Frankly, either coloring isn't all that different than my own brunette hue, but it does add a little shine and body. Who doesn't love that. As for the cut, it's really the same as usual, but she did cut off about 4 inches from the bottom. At least it's not knotting up so much in the back from the static formed from coats and scarves and such.

I mentioned that very little knitting progress was made this week, but I do have a few progresses to report. First up is my SITMT swap sock. I'm now officially 1 down, 1 to go. It's actually going quite quickly... when I have the time to work on it that is. Since my swap pal is a secret, I can give you a little peaky-peaky.

It's coming out beautifully I think. I'm starting to think that I have this sock thing down, baby!!! Wo-hoo!!! The bigger thrill is going to be if they actually fit! Ha! I'm also hoping to make her some sock blockers to go along with them. The finally package doesn't go out until the end of February or beginning of March... really should check on that to be sure. But I'm thinking of putting together a little something to send in the meantime. Sorry, but I can't give any more information than that in case she's lurking around.

In other knitting news, I have an FO to report. This woman that I worked with last year really took me under her wing to show me some of the ins and outs of this position. Come to realize we are both gag-gag over tea. So every time we were able to get together we were exchanging samples of different teas we came across. Just after the holidays, we were able to get together for a little Thai (also a shared favorite) and she presented me with this -

an adorable little travel pouch to hold my teas in my work bag. Before, I carried a stash of teas with me in a plastic baggie. After a few weeks the baggie would start to look like someone got hungry and started to chew on it. This little tea stash pouch is perfect for the tea lover on the go! Thanks Pam!

As for my FO, to thank Pam, I made her these adorable little mug cozies in a very delicious variegated blue from Lamb's Pride. I got the pattern in Interweaves Holiday issue 07.

EWW... mailman's here... gotta go........