I'd like to use a lifeline, Regis

Lifelines.  What exactly are they?  If you're on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" then they are a way of narrowing down the answer using different with help.  If you're drowning, its a flotation device thrown to you by a life guard.  But in knitting, what are they?  

Well the answer is this:  They are lengths of scrap yarn you run through the active loops on your knitting needles using a tapestry needle every 10-20 rows to give you a "safe zone" if you mess up so badly you need to rip your work in progress out, you don't mess up or drop stitches when picking them back up.  It is especially useful if you every try lace work and/or a shawl.  There is a  brand of knitting needles known as "Voldeknits", tho any brand of cheaply made cable needles can be considered "Voldeknits".  They are known for having their cables come unglued from the needles in the middle of a huge project such as shawls, in the process dropping (losing) all the stitches from the needles.  A prime example of where lifelines are useful in knitting.

This is true for any sized project, including socks.  I started a pair of socks for my Dad for Christmas.  I am still only 1" into them, because after starting the pattern did I discover either a) I can't count or b) I messed up the pattern right in the gates.  I think its B, but who's to say it wasn't A... Or both for that matter.  Regardless, I wish I would have used a lifeline after starting the ribbing.  It would have been so much easier to rip out.  I did try and add a lifeline with a tapestry needle, but when it came to ripping out, I was finding out how much I caught the yarn i was pulling out... such a pain in the patoot!

I also wish I had used a lifeline in the shawl I tried to knit, but wound up frogging a week ago so I could use the yarn for a hat instead.  I was knitting along, following the pattern when I discovered I messed the pattern up at some point, and couldn't read my knitting to figure out where it happened.  I had used a complete skein of yarn, and was half way through the shawl.  I wound up setting it down in the middle of the row and leaving it for 2+ months.  Until someone asked for a blue hat.  Thus, it is now becoming a hat.

Yes, lifelines are completely optional in knitting as it is in "WWTBAM", but they can be vital! 

Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house...

Guess it helps to actually WRITE in a blog, doesn't it.  I blame the early morning!

So, it is the Monday before Christmas.  Busy busy week!  I can't believe how fast the time has flown this month!  Knitting, cleaning, working, kids, rinse and repeat!  I have been overwhelmed with knitting recently.  Knitting some hats for Etsy, knitting Christmas gifts.  I finally had to tell my dad that the present I wanted to make him got tossed to the back burner, and he'll get it after New Years.  He seemed ok with that.  I hope LOL!  But I have 1.5 hats done for Etsy, hoping for another 1.5 before New years!  And I just need another inch or two on my mother's pair of socks!  My hands are starting to protest.

On a side note, the last two days I've had off (sat and sun) were spent cleaning, knitting, cleaning, knitting and wrapping presents. Granted, it only took about an hour to wrap them up, but I was also dividing the stocking candy stuffers into equal amounts and into cellophane bags.  That probably took the most time, because the kids are all about equality LOL!  "Mooooommmm he got more red kisses than i did!" etc, etc.  

And I've been (trying) to clean out a corner in our garage for our new freezer!  My parents bought us a freezer for a Christmas present!  Thats actually one item we were saving for this year too, so yay! So exciting!  But I never realized how much garbage type items get piled up in our garage over the course of a year.  Its amazing.  Like why in the world I was keeping my iHome box?! I don't know!  I tossed it of course.  But I uncovered a stash of shipping boxes that will be moved up into my closet for safe keeping.  And a stash of scraps from other sewing projects from years gone.  Going to sort thru those sometime after Christmas too.  Oh the items that can be made with scraps!


On other news fronts, the store I was temping for during the holiday season asked me to stay on.  Which is totally cool, but I would need to find a second job in order to get any sort of income worth living on.  Oh well.  Maybe gas station attendant? LOL!  Eventually I'll figure that one out.  Might have to go to the local yarn stores and start offering my sales assistance?... One can only hope!


Anyhoo, it is time for me to take off for work! Yay early AMs!  I am one of the few that work there that enjoy early morning shifts.  Everyone thinks i'm crazy, maybe I am, but the peace and quiet is so enjoyable!


If I dont make it on here prior to Sunday:


Feliz Navidad!  Merry Christmas!  Mele Kalikimaka! Aloha!

The Busiest Time of the Year!

It never fails.  Every year, the last month is the busiest time of the year.  Working long hours, cleaning the house, running errands, buying presents, everything is crammed into short hours of the day, as darkness falls at 3:30pm.  This month is busy busy busy.  Making gifts, making hats, making dice bags, making dinner, making time for family....

I am jealous of the people who seem so relaxed during this month.  Have they no family to suck all the hours out of the day?  Yesterday I felt guilty for sitting down for 2 hours to watch a movie.  So I attempted to cast on for a hat to make, and in the half dark I had to restart 3 or 4 times.  My bad, I know better.  I really do.  I just wanted to watch one movie with hubby and best friend.  I was able to get a good start on it today, while at niece's b-day party.  It was a swimming party, and well, I just hate bathing suits.  Means I have to shave places i don't want to shave.  So I opted to sit and knit.  But when we got home, it was nap time for the whole family except me.  So here I sit, every light in the house turned off while they all sleep on the couches.  I am so jealous, but if I go to sleep now, I'll be up all night.  And tomorrow starts the 4 am shifts.  Fun yet not at the same time.  They want us to be done with the truck shipments by the time the store opens at 8.  But if we finish by about 9, then I will have 2 extra hours to knit while waiting for T to get out of school, which works for me.

And here I feel like I've been ignoring my blog.  I know, its been a while, but such is life.  Well, to remedy the situation here I am blogging!

This week I've decided to try IndigoDragonfly's yarn.  They are a Canadian dyeing "company" who sell their items via their blog on Wordpress.  They are very... how you say... creative with the naming of their yarn.  They take a lot of inspiration from some very popular tv shows and movies and create colorways with them.  They make several kinds of yarn.  My favorite weight for the last while being sock yarn.  They have all sorts of blends using wool.  The standard merino wool/nylon blend, theres a blend of one with cashmere, as well as the straight up merino superwash yarn.  Superwash is wonderful if you are giving gifts to a person who may or may not want to (or know how) to hand wash a knitted item.  But they also have worsted weight yarn, lace weight yarns, and DK (double knit) weight.  I've heard them raved about on Ravelry a lot, so I decided it was time for me to try some.  Well, eventually.  After Christmas some time.

Speaking of Christmas I'm so excited!  I know at least 2 of my presents!  My mother talked with me about buying the family a chest freezer!  Something I've been bugging my husband about for almost a year now.  I want one so we can buy meat when its on sale and store it, as well as all the goodies from my garden, and my brother's garden.  I will have to clean out the corner of the garage, but who cares!  A freezer!  Whoopee!  The second one is my husband was sweet, saw me oogling a nice digital camera when we went Christmas shopping with his yearly bonus money (Thank goodness for bonus money!)  He bought that for me so now I will have a nice camera to a) take family pictures with and b) better pictures for my Etsy account.  I am so excited to play with it.  And the fact it was on uber sale makes it even better.  It has something like a 15x's zoom on it.  Something ridiculously wonderful I'm sure.

So this blog post is a bit more up beat than my last.  Its amazing what a decent Christmas bonus will do for an attitude.  That and the fact that the kids will now not be quite so disappointed with lack of boxes under the tree.  Just this year there is nothing BIG under the tree.  Like when T was 2, he had a whole wooden track set under there.  But this year will have to do with character jammies, movies, and a few posters of his favorite characters/movies.  Same for K, minus the jammies.  She has 100 sets already, I think she has enough, but she's getting a robe, movies, under garments (*cry* she cant be this big yet!) and posters.  Oh how they grow!  As well as they are each getting a hand knit item.  Such as socks or a hat.  Which reminds me, I should be getting back to knitting.  Happy crafting, and happy holidays everyone!

Let the Grabby Hands commence!

Tis The Season for Grabby Hands and the I Wantsies!

Welcome to the Christmas Season.... It is the perpetual Grabby Hand and I Wantsies season for children and adults everywhere!  Beginning Friday, the feeding frenzy of crazed shoppers begins for the next entire MONTH!!  Greed is everywhere like salmon during spawning time!  You can't walk 5 feet without a pair of grabby hands and i wants uttered out of mouths of babes and adults alike!  And I get to work the midnight shift on Friday.  Hear the exuberance in my voice?  Yeah, me neither LOL.


This year is the first year that I am gladly announcing... I am NOT participating in the greedy shopping frenzy.  We are so broke it's not even funny.  We are getting a "family gift" of Mario Kart (dont tell the kids) and ONE wheel for the Wii.  Each child shall have a pair of socks, made by me, and each child will get a movie that I purchased before Borders went out of business!  We won't have a tree, we won't have many presents, but hopefully my family will come to appreciate the little things of the celebration instead.  

Like having hot chocolate on a snowy night, with nothing but the Christmas lights and radio on while watching the snow fall.  Like taking a family walk around the neighborhood all bundled up to the nines to look at the neighborhood Christmas lights and decorations.  Like having a family snowball fight just because.


Growing up I don't really remember having lean Christmases.  I remember Barbies and model horses galore.  And lots of clothes.  But this year grandparents can make up the rest of that balance.


This is not saying I do not have grabby hands and "I want"sies.  In fact I do, now more than ever since we can not afford anything beyond food.  I long for a spinning wheel (Sequoia Spinning wheel or Kromski Fantasia), and some wool to spin.  Or a drop spindle to learn on.  I long for a fancy set of knitting needles.  Dyakcraft.com specifically.  I want a bunch of their needles!  Most of all I want my children to be happy.  I don't want them to realize how dire the situation for their Christmas is.  At least with K I can regift some of the yarn I'm not using, but with T, its a lot harder to explain that we can't afford all the presents he wants.


Sometimes being a grown up sucks.  Making ends meet is so much harder than I could have imagined.  And its not a fun road to travel down.

Socky Goodness!

MMMmmmm its time for some socky goodness!

Finally finished D's socks on the 16th.  Yay!  They look good, I like the pattern a lot, after being so unsure starting out.  And now I shall post pictures!  D already knows what the look like, he insisted on wearing them yesterday!  So... I guess it is a Christmas present in November.  Either that, or i'm going to snag them back and wrap them up LOL.  

Both socks done!

Close up view of the pattern

So onwards to another pair of socks!  This time for my mother!  I have this cute hand painted sock yarn that I bought online called "Evil Stepmother".  Its a variegated colorway that goes from a dark purple all the way to a light red-purple shade.  Don't know why, but that color just shouted "MOM" to me... Maybe its because I remember her wearing a lot of purple while I was growing up.  Either way, she's getting a pair of socks out of the whole deal.  If i can finish 1 pair of socks every 2 weeks, I might have Christmas gifts for 4 people!  Yay!  We're so broke right now, that no one is getting bought gifts.  Including the kids, which really stinks for them.  This year I did a horrible job of clearance sale shopping for Christmas.  Oh well.  They should be thankful for a roof over their head and food in their belly.  Which is helping me bust my stash of yarn thankfully.

Alright, of to a parent teacher conference for the kindergartener! 

Discontinued!

No no no, my blog is not discontinued despite what the title claims!

This post is about how all my favorite yarn lines are being discontinued at the same time!  I understand how yarn is related to style, which fluctuates quite often, but I will tell you this, trying to get my hands on some of the colors I have not previously had in certain yarn lines is putting a strain on my budget.  I am now officially on a yarn diet.  I will not be buying any more! I have plenty to work with, now I just need to sell some stuff on Etsy LOL!

A picture of the Imagination sock, and 4 skeins of Stroll sock on top

I have just discovered the yarn line on knit picks of "Imagination Hand Painted Sock" yarn (especially "Fairy Princess, second from left on bottom rows in photo).  It is my inner child's fantasy.  It has such color lines as "Mermaid Lagoon" and "Evil Stepmother" which are absolutely stunning!  My inner child squealed when we received the box of new yarn a few weeks ago.  They are so pretty and soft, and the verigations of color are beautiful!  Only to log on to Ravelry two days ago to discover they are discontinuing a whole lot of the colors I wanted, both in this line and their other hand painted sock "Stroll".  It frustrates me to no end, because it feels like they are doing this on purpose.  Granted, not just for me, but for other customers too.  I haven't been to big on the heavier yarns as of late.  For whatever reason, my hands prefer the smaller gauge yarns, and don't feel so worn out after knitting with sock yarn, as when I am knitting with K on her regular worsted weight yarn, my hands feel tired!  Maybe its also because I use huge aluminum needles that are more slippery than my wooden ones... But they're discontinuing whole lines of worsted weight yarns that I haven't even had the chance of trying!  I can't afford all of this!

In my mind, the conversation between the leaders at KP goes something like this:  

"Look Bob!  We had a big run on Imagination this week"  
"Great Darcy, lets discontinue it so they all scramble to spend a crap ton of money this week!  Who cares how the consumers feel."   
"But Bob, if we do that, then the customers might rebel against us!"  
"Yes, I see your point Darcy.  Lets discontinue some other brands or colors as well.  Maybe they won't think we're out for their money if we say its to bring in new colors and brands for more money!"  
"Gee Bob, you're so smart.  Charge them more for new lines of yarn that are the exact same as the old lines, and convince them the new lines are more 'designer'.  I like how you think Bob... We're going to get huge raises this year!"

*None of the above conversation happened, was over heard, or anything other than an act of my imagination to reason as why they're doing this.

I wound up breaking down and buying MORE yarn because I want those colors!  I like "Frog Prince" and "Pirate King".  I think a whole lot of people (or just me) will be getting lots of socks in the future!  Thank goodness for the Rav group "Sock Knitters Anonymous"... They have a monthly sock knitting challenge.  Maybe I'll challenge myself this year to make 6 pairs of socks...

This act by KP has definitely made me wary of their ways. I think Andrea @ CDA Yarn and Fiber will be getting more of my money soon.  Maybe after I use up a bit of my stash!  This out of control yarn habit I have better get under control soon!  I know in the near future, I will not have so much time to knit as I have in the last few months.  Mostly because the week of Black Friday, I'll be working tons of hours.  (Yay? I think not!)  And the night of Thanksgiving is going to be the roughest I'll ever have had.  I have to be at work at 11:45.  We open at midnight.  I'll be there until 8:15 am.  UUUuuuuuggghhh.  This is when I miss Borders the most.  Because even though we were open at 6 am, we were slow until afternoon.  Everyone was at places like Walmart and Target and Best Buy to get the best deals they could.  Now I work at one of those retailers, and I will have to deal with everyone wanting my help right now! And do I know where xxx product is? NO, I don't work that area of the store! I've only worked on the clothing!  Go find someone in that area to help you!  Bah humbug!


Ok, so my inner scrooge is coming out early.  Sorry about the sneak peek.  May my zen return before I rip a Black Friday shoppers throat out!


And on that positive note, just wanted to say D's socks are about half way done.  Just finishing up the gusset increases/heel flap. Once the heel is turned then its 4-6" for a leg, and I'm done.  Let me tell you what a trial it has been getting to the half way point!  Everything is so busy for me right now!  The kids are all signed up for 4H, our first meeting is in Dec with a group in Dalton Gardens (about 20 min from where we live now, but all the groups around our area didn't have the things K wanted to be involved in.  Better to have a group with 3/4ths the things she wanted to sign up for and be in a satellite group for 1 thing than be in a group with 1 thing she wants, and have to satellite out for 3 others...


Speaking of K and 4H... She signed up for knitting and cat this year, she wants to do crochet, sewing, non-horse, gardening, and something else, but for her 1st year, I figured it was better to under-work her rather than overwork her and her get frustrated.  T was signed up for Cloverbuds too, even tho he said he didn't want to LOL.  Too bad, Mommy makes the decisions here!  Ok, off to take care of the herd!  Everyone have a great weekend!
.

Sock it to me!

I have been working hard, or hardly working depending on the stance you're looking from.  I started a new job, just a temporary holiday help, and supposedly only 9 hours a week, but this week I've racked up almost 11, and I have Saturday too!  So I'll be getting almost 15 hours if i get another 4 hours on Saturday.  Putting up Christmas stuff is getting me into the Christmas mood already!

After getting home from work today, I was exhausted!  If I was asked a question, I couldn't answer because I was so tired.  I just became a zombie for a bit.

But that is not why you're Socking it to me!  This is why:

I finished K's pair of socks, with enough yarn to make a second pair!  This is the same pair in different lights.  The one on the cement is outdoors in bright sun, bottom one is sunlight in the house thru a window LOL!  Having finished that pair of socks has allowed me to start a new pair for D for Christmas.  And lucky for him, it is "M(an)(N)ovember" in one of the groups on Ravelry.com Movember.  Man sock November.  Whatever you want to call it.   I have started them yesterday.  Only yesterday?!?! Its hard to believe, but yes, only yesterday, I am working on a pair of toe-up two-at-a-time pair for him.  On Saturday I went to CDA Yarn & Fiber with T and visited Andrea and the pugs Chester and Bugsy to choose out the yarn to use on this project.  I tried to get T's input on the yarn, but he was so busy petting Chester and sitting with him he was no help at all.  He did what his father does "Yes" and "That is good" with out really looking at the choices.  Way to be taught early!

But in the end we took home a couple hanks of Cascade Heritage Sock yarn in the color "Moss".

.That is in the early Sunday morning sun.  As of this very moment, I only have 2 more increase rows before I'm done with the toes and moving on to the foot!  And if I finish this in the next week or two, I may have to start a pair for myself!  OR there is an option to make a second pair for D if there is enough yarn left (which there should be if the legs aren't too long).  Once I finish, I will say what pattern they are, but may not post a picture of the finished product, because this is a present.  Granted K's socks are presents too, but she's not online!  Its great having control over stuff like that.


Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween, and brought in lots of candy!  I know we did.  Optimus prime was a hit!  And to wrap up this blog post, I will post some Optimus pictures!

Haunted nights! Boring days!

One word for the nights agenda:  Scarywood!

Our local theme park, Silverwood, has created for the last 2 years a wonderous scary theme park for the halloween season.  Every piece of horror film freak outs have been included.  All the way down to the murderous clowns.  Obviously they're not really murderous but they are scary!  There is a mutated maze (mutated things jump out at you from the shadows), blood bayou (FREAKY haunted house, which is even worse this year i hear), and people who follow you around and sniff you!  That in itself was creepy... This is an adult only evening, no one under 13 is allowed in the park when its Scarywood.  Thank goodness.  This is a birthday thing for my friend H.  We have been friends 4 years, and really this is only the second year we really celebrated her birthday with her.  That, and I wanted to go to Scarywood LOL


But that is not all i have been doing.  Just two days ago (Wed) Husband has mentioned to me that he needs a hat for tonight.  That he didn't have one.  I KNOW I bought him a hat 3 or so years ago when he was working the winter season as an ATM repair man.  He had a huge heavy coat, gloves and hat and scarf that i bought him so he wouldn't freeze.  But where the hat, scarf, gloves went we have no clue.  They are not in our closets, they are not in the cars, they are not in the garage unless they are flattened to the ground underneath the shelving units.  So I made the decision at 9 am to make him a hat.  I hopped online, to Ravelry.com my favorite pattern and public knitting site, and searched away for a hat that would match my idea.  I had to wing it.  Make my own pattern if you will.  So far so good, its a little large and a little too long, but thats what he asked for.  I will post pictures after I finish it.  But I will attempt to describe it here.


My man's hat is a double knit* hat.  It is a combination of green and midnight heather colors.  Midnight heather is a navy-black blend with blue/green tones in it.  Very pretty.  It is knit in the round, and has stripes on it.    I am currently decreasing the crown, and the pattern I've been loosely following has been decreasing every other round, however I find that this is making for a VERY long hat, so i stopped doing that a few rows in, and have been decreasing every round.  If I ever make this hat again, I will modify it so the stripes are more uniform rather than a random "I'll change colors here" type thing.  But I like it so far... I'm about to switch to double pointed needles because there are too few stitches to make knitting in the round a good option.  The cable needles are getting more in the way than they are helpful. 


So my Rough pattern:
Using 24" cable needles size 7 or 8
2 colors Fingering or Sport yarn


CO 110 stitches (118 for larger head) using both colors, long tail method.  Make sure colors are alternating during CO (this is what took the longest).


The first color stitch on your needle will be your Main Color (MC), the second stitch is your Contrast Color (CC).  Knit all MC, Purl all CC.  I discovered that to get the two sided type of hat, you need to carry both color yarns over to each side as you knit and purl.  You're only going to be picking up one of the yarns as you work, but the other color will be along the correct side when you're not working with it to give it a solid appearance, as well as double sided. 


Knit 6 rows with MC on the front side, CC on back side.
Row 7, Knit with CC, Purl with MC for 2 rows.
Row 9, Knit with MC, Purl with CC for 6 rows.
Row 15, Knit with CC, Purl with MC for 7 rows
Row 21, Knit with MC, Purl with CC for 2 rows
Row 23 Knit with CC Purl with MC for 7 rows
Row 30: Begin Decreases. Go back to Knitting with MC, purling with CC and  Work 11 pairs of stitches Knitting MC, Purling CC.  On 12th pair, slip MC to right hand needle, take CC onto a cable needle to the back, slip next MC to right hand needle.  Take CC on cable needle, slip back to left hand needle, slip both MC to left hand needle, k2MCtog, p2CCtog.  Place stitch marker.  Work 11 pairs of stitches, do the slipping MC/CC again, but with MC,  slip 1 knit wise, knit 1, pass slip stitch over, and purl both CC again.  Work in this pattern until you come to the beginning of the work.  Once you have worked 8-9 rows of the MC, swap again, and you can finish out with the CC, or work a small stripe and swap back to the MC.


Now, if you want a super long hat, feel free to knit 1 row in between decreases.  However, if the head you're fitting is not that long, feel free to decrease on every round.  Or you can do what I've been doing, and decrease/knit half of it, then just straight decrease the rest of it.  Now when you get down to the last bits, and its hard to knit on a cable needle, you will need to switch to double pointed needles.  Continuing the MC knit/CC purl.  I have always ALWAYS done the kitchener stitch (grafting) for the tops of hats.  The pattern I was modeling this after just cuts a long end, and threads it thru the stitches a few times and draws it tight.  What ever way you like, works.  I will let you know how the kitchener stitch works for the double sided hat.  Along with pictures.


That has been my 36 hours in a nutshell.

Edited to include pictures.

*double knit: Lovely thick knit to create a reversible pattern.

Unemployment makes time fly!

I swear, I try to come here more than once a week to post, but I somehow get lost along the way by either cleaning things, making things, or just doing things.  I will try to do better, I promise!  So what have I been doing this last week?  Helping my daughter with her reading.  She is now reading to me when I knit.  Like my very own live audio book!  Pretty cool, and its also helping her comprehension when she reads.  When she reads silently I couldn't ask her any questions about what happened, because "I don't know" became the standard answer.  So we started her reading out loud to me.  Now when she is asked what happened, she can tell you, and make a paragraph of what she read!

This last week was not as hectic as I make it sound.  Yes, I cleaned the house in 2 days, but other than that it was knitting and making a hat (or two) in a weeks time.  Also, listed on my Etsy shop are both those hats.  Hoping for good vibes to sell those items.  Hubby asks that I make 40k a year with my Etsy business.  I thought $15 in a month was awesome!  Guess he has higher expectations. 

Now off to do my first colorwork hat!  (Aka fair isle without the Scottish influence.)  I am working on a project for myself again.  First one was my neck warmer to go with my glovettes.  Now, its a Mickey Mouse hat!  Its really cute, and I might be able to make a scarf out of the pattern too... maybe.  Mind you this is only my second time doing stranded color work.  First time was a sweater for a child that didn't exist yet.  It got me a 2nd overall in the fair when I was 16.... I was so super duper proud of that!

 What a beautiful little model of that sweater!  This sweater is 12 years old and lives in my closet because the children in question are now too big for it.  Disappointing.  The Mickey Mouse hat is black/red/cream color, and today is measuring about 1 inch long.  I am so excited to see it take shape.  Of course my husband is not as thrilled about it as I am.  He'd prefer me to make other things.  I will let your imagination take shape with that phrase, I am sure you'll do just fine with filling in the blanks.    


One of my new favorite blogs, just from a knitting point of view is TECHknitting, who has some awesome tips, techniques, and illustrations on making things like color splicing, blocking, technical stuff about knitting easier to understand.  Quite awesome, and a lot of help!

Ok blogger world, I am off to knit some more, clean some more, and as a general rule, stay out of trouble... We all can dream can't we?

Rainy day Star Wars a thon!

Today was Star Wars-a-thon in our house.  Our precious T stayed home from kindergarten sick for the first time this school year!   T couldn't figure out why I was sad that he was staying home, because he was so excited!  Thankfully daddy had today off, so he stayed home with us.   T has a cough that is taking a lot out of him.  In the rush to get K ready for picture day at school, she forgot her lunch on the kitchen counter, so SuperMom saved the day by taking it to her at school and the snap decision of running errands while being out.  So while hubby stayed home with T, I went and got him medicine, as well as getting my grocery shopping done.  Nothing like having a rainy day to stay home to knit and watch gobs and gobs of Star Wars.   *twitch*

Today I finished a hat that I started on Monday after shipping out the hat that sold on Etsy.  I like this one.  Its also of lacy pattern origin, but its in this gorgeous wine-y purple color.  And its soooo squishingly soft.  Yes, I do happen to make up words to describe it.  I have made a last quarter of the year vow not to buy any more yarn.  I have tons of it now, I have to use it up before I get more!  Or so I keep saying to myself.  We all know how addictions can be.  Speaking of addictions, I stopped by JoAnn's fabric store last Saturday to pick up some thread and... well... more fabric.  That remnant fabric bin is dangerous!  I bought two things of Spiderman cloth, two pink fabrics, and one flannel fabric!  With the thread, the total came to $10 something.  I still had a gift card left over from one of my last birthdays with a whole $7 left on it, so after the gift card I wound up paying just a little over $2 for over 2 yards of fabric and some thread.  Great day after all!

As far as those mini-pumpkin pies I made for the party: They were a smashing success!  I love my little mini-muffin pan.  It is so versatile.  I never ever buy from people who push those Pampered Chef products, but I bought this from one of my former coworkers many many years back, and have only been using them for the occasional mini-banana chocolate chip muffin cravings I have.  Then last Thanksgiving, I made Paula Deen's pumpkin pie recipe, and out of ONE batch, had a full 2 pies from it, and LOTS of leftover batter.  So my brain cooked up those mini-pies/tartlet whatever you want to call them, and hubby and I pigged out on those all night before Thanksgiving.  Apparently I now have a following for those too!  It made me laugh because one of my (former) coworkers from Borders made a comment about how he hates making homemade pie crust, because it is too much work.  Mind you, he is an amazing chef.  He would bake us all sorts of goodies during holidays.  For him to make that comment just boggled my mind.  I taught myself how to do the pie crust.  And I don't think its too much work.   I am pretty sure I made one of these faces:  O.o   <--- Yup, I'm certain I did that face.  

T is also (finally) letting us read him bedtime stories.  In years prior, between the ages of 2.5 and 5.0, we have been told in no uncertain terms by him that he "hates our voice" when we try to read to him.  I don't know exactly what happened, but last night I invited him to sit between me and daddy so daddy could read the Star Wars Clone Wars book staring the Domino Squad and Captain Rex.  His most favorite characters EVER.  Daddy read the first chapter while I knitted, and somewhere in the last few paragraphs, T fell asleep.  It was adorable!  Tonight, they read two more chapters, and he stayed awake for them both.  He said I need to make him a Star Wars blankie to go with his Pooh blankie and Spongebob blankie.  Boy, that child has a lot of blankies.  I'm glad I have a blankie baby.  I always loved Linus in Peanuts.  T even had a few days this last month about wanting to take blankie with him to school.  He has even tried to sneak it into his back pack once.  Poor kid.

But first, I will make him an R2D2 hat.  Then I'll try and find a blankie for him.  Whether its just the taggy style blankie he already has (you know, 2 pieces of fleece cut and tied together) or actually sew one.  Tough decisions.  But R2D2 headwear first!

Goodnight crafties!  I must go and get some beauty rest sometime.  One of my friends pointed out today that knitters must never sleep.  Some nights I think thats true.  Till next time!

Oh the excitement!

Why the excitement you ask?

BECAUSE!!! I sold my first item on Etsy today!  So excited!  I sold my lacy hat that was part of my first posts!  I washed it today, it is laying out drying as we speak, and Monday I get to package it up and send it out!  Oh I'm so excited!  I was doing the happy dance all morning long.  And if you know me, you know its not a pretty sight LOL!


K is soaring along on her knitting.  We brought our knitting with us to T's swimming lesson this morning, and she worked on it for about half the lesson.  She even showed cousin A what she could do! Cousin A and her are only 1 month apart.  Cousin A asked if I could teach her too.  Rather exciting morning really!

I really should have updated last night as well as today.  My current project that took most of the day yesterday was making my own interchangeable/double pointed needle case.  The first one is a bit large for both sets of needles tho, and a little too short for regular needle :(  So I'm making a second one.  I think I'll "make" some needles for K.  AKA: get some longer DPN, Fimo clay, and "make" ends on the DPN.  Thanks to the designer Frankie Brown, without whom I'd not have that type of inspiration!  That, and I think that a lot of her patterns will be K's Christmas presents this year to various family members!  The needle inspiration came from the pattern for the needle roll.  She explains the "colorful needles" and how she makes them.

So with all that said and done, here's the pics of the finished roll:

Not bad all in all, just not finished as nice as I'd like.  I am going to make a second one, a little shorter in the white as the main color, blue as the binding/tie.  It works nicely for my circular needles and the stitch gauge.  But the DPN/ Interchangeables disappear in the pocket :(

Oh well.  Will be a nice present for K for Christmas? Maybe birthday?  Her birthday is in 2 weeks! Geez!  Ok, maybe Christmas.

Anyhow, everyone have a great day!  I need to finish making my goodies for the Borders employee party.  Mini Pumpkin Pies.  Can't beat them!

Nothing like a little more homework!

Yet another Monday has slipped by.  My daughter apparently ran home from the bus stop, she was almost 10 minutes early, absolutely demanding that we sit down and knit right away!  The thought had slipped my mind!  I honestly forgot about her wanting to learn to knit.  Today was more busy for me than it has been in a long time!  Tomorrow is shaping up to be just as busy too!  But she insisted that she wanted me to teach her to knit.

So I had to dig around in my memory bank and remember how my mother taught me about knitting.  I came up with nothing, its like knitting has always been a part of me.  I turned to the computer instead.  I grabbed a pair of size 9 needles, some of my cheapy acrylic yarn, Red Heart of course!  And we set off.  I did cast on and do the first 2 or 3 rows for her.  I am teaching her the throw and wrap, aka English style, because that is what i remember learning first.  I apparently now knit Continental style, which is also known as European or even German style, which is also known as left-handed!  I have always been quite ambidextrous, with the exception of writing.  But for about 2 months my 3rd or 4th grade year I got to experience handwriting with my left hand.  It became quite legible too! Yay for horseback riding accidents!  Ok, not really a "yay" moment.

K did happen to ask me why I don't knit the way I was teaching her, why I knit left handed.  I told her in all honesty, "I don't know why, it is something my knitting teacher taught me to do, and have done since I was 14 or 16." I think it may come in quite handy when T wants to learn to knit, like he insisted today, then didn't want to participate.  I love how he witnesses his sister want to do something so badly that he wants to do it too, then realizes "Oh, this is no fun." and scampers off to play. 


Ok, so a bit of clarification.  Continental style looks like this:

 Yarn is held in the Left hand, while the right and left are working together to bring the stitches through.


English style, or throw and wrap looks like this:

Its a little tougher because you are completely letting go of the needle to throw/wrap the yarn around the needle.  

K was having some difficulty because she has such skinny legs i can't get her to prop the needle up on her leg.  So she modified my instructions to make them work for her.  In 30 min in her room alone, she worked 4 or 5 rows of knitting with only a couple of missed stitches.  No dropped stitches at all!  Amazing!  What do I mean when i say "missed stitches"?  Just that, she tried to knit, and the wrap either came off before she finished the stitch, and she didn't notice, and kept the old stitch on the needles, or she got confused/frusterated and just let it stay. I was so proud of her! She wants to do more tomorrow, but we used almost all of her homework time tonight to work on knitting.  I may have to bribe her to do her homework with knitting.  Maybe in the next day or two I can teach her the purl stitch!


Proud mommy signing out!

What to do now?

Its been a while.  I have been having the roughest week ever!  Filed for unemployment Monday, started getting the sniffles Tuesday, Wed was the nauseated day (cuz i mixed dayquil with my allergy meds, not a fun experience), was generally lost Thursday and Friday.  Saturday was my Farmers Market day, and with that I went on  a side trip to CDA Yarn and Fiber!  Oh what a fun time that was!


So, battling a headache all day long, I went to see what was at CDA Yarn and Fiber.  It is a small location, on the north side of East Sherman Ave, right beside Burts Music and Sound (another one of my "stay away" shops, or I will come home with a complete stringed instrument collection!).  Its a small cozy shop JAM PACKED with yarn!  OMG, it was yarntastic heaven!  I spent an hour and a half just wandering back and forth feeling yarn, looking at the yarn, playing with the display models she (Andrea the owner) knitted up.  MY GOD!  If i had a million dollars, i'd have a home that looked like her shop.  It was so funny, there were regulars in there the whole time chatting me up about how they love the shop.  That made me love the shop too.  Andrea told me about the knitting circles that happen Wed mornings 11:30-1, and Tuesday evenings 5-7, and was encouraging me to come.  I did say how its hard for me, with T in Kindergarten getting out of school at 11:40 daily and then both kids by my lonesome until 6 that it just wasn't feasible for me to come hang out for 30 min :(  It made me sad.  BUT if anyone should volunteer to come watch the kids Tuesday evenings for an hour... (HINT HINT LOL!)


It was so hard for me to walk out of there without buying anything, so I bought something!  I only bought ONE skein, so its not like i was breaking the bank, but my gosh its pretty, and i think K will enjoy a pair of socks from it greatly!

Isn't she pretty?  Its a brand called "happy" by a company called "Wendy", and she is 75% Bamboo, 25% Nylon sock yarn.  I think K will LOVE the socks, don't you?  It is soooo soft, and decently priced, I couldn't pass her up!  This is the astrology line (don't know why), and this is the Virgo color.  It was either this one, or Pisces, which was a verigated blue color.   I have enough blue at home, i don't  need more.  But i don't have much pink.  This will make a lovely pair of socks someday.


Speaking of K:  Also on the upcoming front:  K wants to learn to knit! ZOMG I am so happy!  My little girl wants to do something!  Makes me super happy that I borrowed a whole bunch of knitting needles from my mother.  Apparently I have a thing for the middle sizes.  I had size 5-8 (but only a single needle of the 5, and a single needle of the 8 and i know the reason.  He's short, blonde and adorable when he play's swords)  So my mom let me borrow some smaller sizes, and the 8-10's.  She has triplicate of the needles anyway.  But its ok, I love her, and she lets me borrow the needles.  I think thats where I got my crafty pack rattiness from.  She did warn me on Saturday that its going to be messy, dropped stitches and random increases everywhere!  Thank goodness for Ravelry.com and its group of knitting teachers (K is for Knit) and their really helpful advice and first project tips.  Maybe we can do a few pot holders, maybe some coffee mug sweaters for Christmas... I have patterns saved up from there for ideas for her and I to make for Christmas.  I am so super excited she wants to share in the crafty experience too!  Reminds me of me!  I like it when she reminds me of me and not her dad... grrrr...   Ok, well then, I have rambled quite thoroughly, it is time for me to ramble off and do other things, like work on my shawl, or work on my socks, etc.  Till next time!

Halfling Socks and such

So, its been a heck of a catch up week.  I've just about caught up on my house cleaning, and generally have been enjoying being home.  Its been nice to be able to meet my son every day after school, and hear how he's been having fun with his new friends.


That, and with all the cleaning I have been doing of my home, the motivation to do anything craft related has been low.  I had to force myself to get off my duff and finish my halfling socks (practice socks from 2 @ a time toe up).  I kinda skipped out early on the leg part and just bound it off.  I call them halfling socks because they are short and wide.  I just left my halfling socks on the back of the couch last night, not thinking a wit about it.  Trevor found them while watching "Thor"* with daddy last night, and asked what they were.  I said they were Halfling socks, and that his feet were too big for them.  He proceeded to put them on despite my protesting, just to prove that they fit him.  He then refused to take them off again for the whole night.  Even wore them to bed, which he NEVER does.  He even wanted to wear them to school this morning, but I had to convince him that the halfling socks would not fit into his shoes, and he had to wear regular socks in order to go to school.  We almost had a refusal to go to school today.  


So, my son is now thinking he's a halfling (has the socks back on, if a little wide), and is insisting that I need to make him another pair.  Which, in reality, I am super excited to do.  But, I need my new cable needles to come in!  They should be here either Saturday or Monday in the mail.  Darn that online ordering!  For my quiet time last night, I thought starting a shawl would be awesome, for i have given up on the last hat i was making.  I just got too frusterated with it.  The shawl is easy enough to start, but I had to read the instructions a few times in order to translate it.  Sheesh, one would think that saying something like "follow chart A rows 1-15 once, chart b rows 1-13 once, chart a rows 17-25 eight times, chart b rows 15-21 five times" rather than chart a rows 1-15 once, rows 17-25 eight, ...."  Because they are combining chart a and b to make the whole row so it looks like  
<Chart A><<<Chart B>>><Chart A>.    So confusing!  But now that I figured it out, it should** be easy enough to handle.


*Anyone else with children obsessed with super heroes finding they are watching "Thor" 105 times a day?... This should prove useful to my knitting AND to my house cleaning.  Gah.  I love the movie, have since watching it in the theater, however 105 times a day is a little much. Ok, maybe I'm over dramatizing it.  More like 10 times a day.  Granted while he's in class i do get a little bit of my own movie time.


**I am speaking in theoretics at this point in time.  Future posts may prove me wrong.


Well, off to clean and knit a bit while "Thor" is playing yet again on our television.

September 11th

Its apparently just a day for death and destruction all around.  Today was our last day at Borders.  Today just astounded me.  First it was just complete numbness while at work.  Kinda like 10 years ago.  Numbness to all the destruction.  No feelings as far as the desecration of our beloved book store.  Maybe because it no longer LOOKED like a book store.  We had a whole 4 or 5 carts of product at the beginning of the day.  By 2:30 we had 4 shelves of a 6 shelf cart (and they weren't even FULL).  I am both relieved and upset that the end of my fun job as a book seller are at an end.  I LOVED working with books, i LOVED my coworkers, I LOVED going into work, even when it was frusterating and irritating at the same time.  Its been a fabulous 5 year run guys, and I'll never forget it!


And yet, even today, I was asked 5 billion times, "what are you gonna do now? got a job lined up?"   I look these people in the eye and say, "No, I dont have a job.  I get to go to the unemployment office tomorrow and file for unemployment.  I am going to stay home with the kids."  And they look at me, like I'm an alien from another planet because for ONCE I want to stay home with my kids.  Be there for them, cook, clean, craft and be HOME.  That has been my dream job since I was little, and saw what my mom could do with knitting needles, sewing needles, crochet hooks, and well, an oven.  I wanted to be the stay at home mom, dinner is on the table, "look at what I did today honey" person.  I want to help my children with their homework, bake them cookies for after school snacks and BE THERE for them.  I missed the first 5 years of my sons life, the first 10 of my daughters, and when she gets her first monthly I want to BE THERE to answer her questions.  Is that just too much to ask?


Instead I'm being "recruited" by a Walmart manager who "needs experienced retail associates" like me.  AKA not one to buckle under the Christmas shopper pressure.  I just wanted to tell her "can you guarantee me a part time overnight shift? No? Well then, tough luck buster."  But, I didn't.  I said I'd hop online and "look into it."  But do I really want to work for a soulless corporation again?  Its a tough call.  But today did bring much awesomeness in a box.  We were brought Texas Roadhouse burgers for lunch.  YUM.  And there were "broken" e-readers for $1.  I bought the demo of the old kobo for a buck.  How awesome is that?  Charging it now as we speak!


I don't know.  Perhaps I am just tired, burned out, exhausted, depressed, or all of the above.  Maybe I just want a BREAK.  Is that too much to ask?  Everyone who needed a job right away found one.  Those of us that don't didn't.  So don't feel bad, don't look at us like we're in the wrong.  Maybe we are all just TIRED. This was one job in a million that I wouldn't have traded in the world.  And to replace that with one that I hate immediately? No, not going to happen right away at least.


So, what have I been doing with my crafty time?  I made a practice pair of socks the other day.  Anyone know any halflings that need socks?  They are short and wide and make me giggle.  One pink sock, one white sock (to get used to the 2 @ a time).  I really liked working on them.  It was awesome to be able to watch a movie with my husband and work on some halfling socks.  Makes me want to make more socks, but I need the right sized needles first!  And of course i had to order them!  Have I told you that I am utterly in love with knitpicks.com?  Well I am! I like them! Maybe one day I should work for them!  Are they  hiring?


And I finally listed stuff on my Etsy.com storefront.  Popped my e-listing cherry so to speak.  Had to get over my giant fear of rejection and do it.  Still feeling kind of rejected tho.  No one is "following" my blog openly (sniffles!), and no one has bought anything yet.  Of course I only listed 3 items.  But still! Its the principle of the thing!


So, that is the looooong update for the last few days.  Everyone have a good night and keep crafting!

We survived "Mommy Cry Day"! And got a dice bag from it...

Today was dubbed "Mommy Cry Day" by my boss.  Humorous guy... The start of Kindergarten for T, and 5th grade for K.  Got those two signed up for library cards (have to dig mine out... bah), and over all celebrated with pizza and a family walk.  We included the dog for good measure!


And at the end of it all, I finished my sparkly blue-green dice bag!  I love how quick and easy they are, and how nicely they turn out.  They also help me practice my kitchener stitch!  Gorgeous little beauties they are!

Ahh! the blurriness of a horrible camera!

Turned out rather well i think.  I enjoy the mild bling on the bag.  The green and blue beads really make the green and blue highlights stand out!

Suppose now i should move on to another project.  It is a quarter to 10 here, so off to bed i go so in the morning I can be up at a reasonable time LOL.

Night interwebs world!  Only one more week to go! Do you think i can make it?

Comfort food amongst change

So, it is the night before school and all through the house, every creature was stirring, even a mouse!  Ok, not really a mouse, but I'm sure if there could have been one, there would have been one.


Happy Labor Day America!  Where we celebrate the slaving masses of people who are in debt!  I labored today, did you?


Today at work we got a phone call from our liquidator, who is an all around nice guy.  Couldn't have had a better end of book world person.  He has been nice, kind, and over all considerate of all us employees who are losing our incomes.  The phone call, however, was not so good.  Looks like our sister-store across the state line will be closing on Saturday the 10th, NOT the 12th like his boss originally said.  He wasn't sure what that means for us (who only have roughly 200k worth of product left), but he said he'd give us a call when he finds out for sure.  Said we might be closing the 11th rather than the 13th.  I have poured my heart, soul, blood, sweat and now tears in this store.  Closing 2 extra days early means an extra $100 I am out of for bills and groceries.  (And to think this is a crafty blog!... Sorry, I have to get these thoughts out somewhere)


So tonight, I headed to the grocery store to get milk.  And right beside the Dairy section is the Frozen Foods section.  My go-to comfort food for any crisis is tater-tots.  Always has been.  When I'm happy: Tater-tot casserole.  When I'm sad:  Tater-tots with cheese, salsa, sour cream.  When I'm hungry and nothing else sounds good: Tater-tots and chicken nuggets.   Heck, even just tater-tots sprinkled with seasoning salt.  Tonight was a combination night.  It was tater-tots with seasoning salt and a psuedo tater-tot casserole (aka: green bean casserole w/o the fried onions I made last night topped with fresh baked tots).  I'm  upset about the store, my baby is starting kindergarten tonight, and my oldest is going into 5th grade, and I am trying to work up the courage to list my stuff on Etsy.com.  If there has ever been a pile up of emotions, today is the day.  Now I wonder when the overload of emotions is going to happen where I break down and cry.


While working on my new sparkly dice bag, I decided that I want to try to knit a pair of socks with this lovely Marine Heather Palette Yarn (From Knit Picks).  So I broke out my 2 at a time, toe up sock book to paruse it over a bit.  I will need to practice making socks *cringe*.  Looks fun though!  I have also decided I want to try another one of Knit Picks' needles: the Options Nickel Plated Circular needles.  I like their wood DPNs, but am very worried that if i get the circular needles in the wood option, that I will break it.  I don't know why I'm worried about it, there's just an underlying fear about it.  But first things first, I have some dice bags and some hats to finish before i give into the sock craze!  I am having so much fun with the beading craze that these bags have started.  They make the bags feminine enough, but I can make the bags without beads and they look more masculine.  Oh the options!


Anyhow, I need to go eat more tater-tots, they are calling my name!

We're in the last 8 days!

At work, we are finally in our last 8 days of being open to public.  This moment is so very bitter sweet.  It is a relief that all the cranky people who came in to scavenge the carcass of our store will be gone, purged from my daily grind (that is unless they come back to haunt me in my future calling).  It is most defenitely scary thoughts as to what will become of me, of my family, of our household without some massive changes in our spending.  Yes, we have done better, but not good enough!  I am scared to death right now.  School is starting in 2 days, I will be applying for reduced meals for the kids.  I will be popping by the unemployment office as of Tuesday the 13th (maybe the 14th).  I will be stopping by Idaho dept of Health and Welfare to apply for food stamps.  Good gracious this STINKS.  I hate all the stress this is bringing me.  Yay insomnia!  Yay no urge to read! Yay no urge to eat!  What a healthy way to go! (/sarcasm end).  Granted, a pair of pants that was not fitting a month ago now fits, but its not the way i wanted to lose the weight.  I think not having a mocha every day before work really cut down on the excess calories.  Which is great.  And with my garden, we have been very blessed to have fresh, delicious vegetables more often than not this summer.  I do hope the community garden continues next year as well.

But it has also taken a toll on my crafty shenanigans.  I have finished 2 more "dice" bags, and am about half way through a third one.  Did I take pictures? No... haven't had time.  But they're cute!  One is the red of the last one with beads to make it sparkly.  The second one was made for a friend in this blue/green twist (see: Marine Heather Palette yarn) It's a pretty little yarn, and so soft too!  The one I am half way finished with is also all beady.  I am also interested in the Tidepool Heather which is more heavy in the greens rather than the blues.  Will have to wait a while for that one unfortunately.  Too broke at the moment. 

Speaking of broke, I have noticed lately that websites encourage you to spend lots of money because you have to reach a certain "minimum" to attain free shipping.  I always felt that was a rip off, and now more than ever.  To avoid a $6 shipping charge, we spend a good $20 to $30 more.  Crafting websites are no exception.  Really? Does it really cost that much to ship out a 1 or 2 lb box of YARN??  It weighs nothing!  Through the post office, they usually charge by weight.  For 4 skeins of yarn, it shouldn't cost more than $2 to $3 to ship in the United States.  If we were shipping to/from overseas, I can understand the higher shipping charges.  But an extra 6?  Way to pad the pockets!  We are so gullible.  Or thats the way I feel.

With these new colors, I have also purchased Knit Pick's Harmony laminated birchwood DPN (double pointed needles, guess what I used to make my free shiping!).  I LOVE them for the basic bag.  However I did notice while using them with a beaded bag, the beads are heavy enough that it has a tendancy to pull the stitches off the needles, and I have to go back and pick them back up and fix the boo boos that are created.  Don't know why exactly thats happening, but it sure is frusterating!  I have started a hat as well on my cable needles, but I've been having so much fun creating the dice bags that the hat has been set aside for now.  Man's views on the dice bags:  Need to sew more with more manly stuff on them, like flames, and skulls, and motorcycles, and women.  Ok, well when i find some flannel fabric with women, or skulls, or motorcycles on them he'll be the first to know.  Flames should be easy to find.  It also makes me giggle thinking that my husband is requesting such fabric, but wont come with me to find it.  Typical.

I do hope to be able to stop by Joann's tomorrow and check out their remnants.  See if any pretty remnants catch my eye.  Maybe one of these days I can make everything my heart says I should.  There just seems to be so little time in the day anymore.  Eh, eventually I shall get around to it.  Just hope its sooner than later.

That was a lot to catch up on!  I will catch up more after tomorrow.  Most likely day for update is Tuesday, because it will be "Mommy cry day".  My daughter starts the 5th grade, my son starts Kindergarten.  Where does the time go?!  Oh the horror!  Everyone have a good Monday Labor Day! 

For the love of baggies!

So, I've been avoiding blogging for about a week now.  I know, I know, it shows how weak I truly am.  I can't do 12 things at once, and i'm ashamed!  I tried to do that headband thingy I mentioned in my last blog, but its too blasted complicated for me in this time of high stress.  So instead I am making little bags out of the left over skeins.  I think it would make a fab dice bag for those of us geeky sorts.  It holds a solid 2.3 sets of D20 dice.  I have 2 full sets plus a couple extras bought singly, and it holds them fine.  My husband is requesting i make a larger one for him LOL!  Man I love him.  Also had a request from a coworker for a larger one too!  I think i'm on to something!


Here are the empty photos:

The one taken right after I finished threading the chord

I wish I had a set of dice handy to show how it looks full!


So now, my new project is a sparkly bag (one with beads on it), and a hat!  Two projects at once! Who's the crazy person here? I am!  But we all knew that.


Also on the new front: I set up my store on Etsy, I just haven't listed anything, and I need some graphic design help!  I am utterly helpless at making anything neat on the computer, especially banners or the like for a page.  Anyone know a person willing to barter for hand knit items? LOL!


My husband's 31st birthday is this Friday, and I bought him a flat panel monitor for his computer.  But I was way too excited to wait for Friday to give it to him, so he got a week early.  I must say its nice to type up my blog and surf the net without a psychedelic monitor that blinks, changes color, and fritzes out every few minutes.  We were long over due for a new one, and I think I made a good choice!  Much crisper and, well, not so seizure inducing as the last one...  Off to go knit the rest of my beady bag! And maybe a little bit of the hat as well!