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!