Ravelympics - The Thrill of Victory...

AND THE AGONY OF DEFEAT!!!!!!!!!

Yes that is right.... I did not make it across the finish line with my Vertigo scarf. If I had a month of Sundays I don't think I could have made it. This was most definitely a "What the hell were you thinking" project!

I did get to post it is the "Almost made it " thread. Hmmmm I wonder what Bobicus is going to give for the Booby Prize.

Here it is...still a long way from being finished. I think a worsted weight yarn would have been a much better choice.

Saturday was the Power Test for our PD. So I was up bright and early to be at work for this. Sgt Junior and I conducted the 1.5 mile run for the applicants. Usually it is the run and the sit up that knock people out of the running. We lost two people during sit-ups but every one of those prospectives were animals on the track! Most came in well above their allowed times. Several came in at just over 10 min. and one even ran it in 9.06. Amazing!! (they had 13.46 min to run it in.)

Thanks to all those quick runners, I was out of there by 10:30 and ready for a day at Stitches Midwest. Kelpy and I trucked our behinds to Schaumburg to the bright and shiny new
Renaissance Convention Center where we found these little goodies. Kel found this little gem for Brodie proofing my yarn. Pink of course to support Breast Cancer research, ( I do this always in loving memory of my mom). The Fibersphere comes in two sizes, they only had the 5 inch at the Market or I would have bought both.


Kelp and I both bought a kit from Philosophers Wool. I have been waiting for two years for them. Last year Fed Ex screwed up their shipment and sent it back to Canada instead of to Rosemont and when I made a beeline for their booth, it was very empty. I had spent some time talking to Eugene two years ago (he is an amazing knitter) and this year to Ann, who helped us choose our colorways. Kelpys kit has a huge shawl pattern as well as a crop top sweater.



We spent a good part of the evening winding the skeins from days purchases. Here is my future jacket and wrap from Philosophers Wool.

Kelpy found herself a GoKnit Pouch like mine, and we found they come in larger sizes now too.


And of course I had to buy some pretty yarn for no particular reason except that I liked it. That particular skein has 2500 yards of cobwebby lace yarn...it took forever to wind it. Not a clue what I am going to make with it.

I met ChelseasMom working a booth (don't ask me which one) and we talked some about the never ending Vertigo scarf. She reminded me that sleep is over-rated. But when it came right down to it, I just could not pick up that scarf again knowing there was no hope of finishing it time. She was the only one that identified herself as a Ravelry member that I met.

Kelpy and I were disappointed overall in the Market this year. On Saturday there were not as many demos going on and the quantity of goods seemed much smaller. There were a number of vendors that were not present this year. I don't know it had to do with transportation costs since that is much higher this year or what. People I had looked forward to seeing again were not there this year. We missed the book signing too from Debbie Macomber by just minutes according to the sign. Last year I spent $300 on goodies this year I didn't even spend $200. There just didn't seem as much exciting stuff to pick from. Last year was waaay more fun!

Ravelympics Day...OMG it's almost over!

I made it across the finish line with my Tribbles! Yea!! (hearing the crowd roar in my head)

And...Since the event sign up was re-opened, my orange ballband dish cloth counted as a Ravelympic F/O so I was allowed to post it on the finish line. ;)

Well folks... this is my progress on the Vertigo. Not so very damn far in the Scarf Stroke. I am thinking I may not make it since it needs to be posted by Sunday at 10:59 am. 

I worked on this beast until 2 am and I am guessing I am about half way there.  I knitted and watched SG1 last night until I could no longer focus. I think at this point I am probably making up my own pattern. Rows 5 and 7 have been my nemisis! Oh Yeea...I can see the difference. 

Oh well... Next time I pick a slip stich pattern I am going to actually look at the chart first to see if my mind can comprehend it.

Brodie as been an absolutely terrific mascot during this event!! Just look at how he has helped his momma out.
Pretty much all I have is today to work on my scarf. In between doing laundry  of course and walking Brodie the dozen times a day he insists upon. Right now the landscapers ( I and I use this term loosely- more like lawn mower man) are out side and Brodie seems to think he needs to supervise and is now working my nerve by running from window to window whining. 

Tomorrow my day starts before any normal human would get up, so I can be at work bright and early to assist with the Police Officer testing. After that it is off to Stitches Midwest for a fun filled day of yarn shopping and yarn oogling. 

I am pretty sure I will be toast come evening, but I am going to stay up and work on that scarf until my eyes bleed... and hopefully cross the finish line with it.

Here is Mr. Crazy Ma nwith his favorite baby...next to his favorite bed (that he no longer fits in but insists on using.)

Usually pictures of Brodie turn out like this! I need a really high tech camera to keep up with him.
Note to self: Follow the Sheltie Diet for effective weight loss... Grab one piece of food... Run from kitchen to living room and eat. Run around livingroom, pounce on a toy and shake it to death... Run back to kitchen and grab another piece of food. Repeat until dish is 3/4 empty. 

Ravelympics Day 8

Eight days into the Ravelympics and I feel like I am nearly there. I still have a long way to go on my Vertigo scarf but I think I have made some good progress on it. The fine gauge of the yarn makes the progress slow, and reading the chart makes my eyes bleed after awhile. When I looked at this picture, it kinda looks like I messed up my repeats right in the middle. I think I'm gonna call that a design feature! I am starting to get the hang of the chart and it is starting to flow a little better.

I had to start another dishcloth to give my eyes and fingers a break from the Vertigo. I still had some yarn left from my torched Paintbox kit so I decided to use it up on another Ballband. This is not part of the Ravelympics but I enjoyed the pattern and it was east to memorize. I really like the feel of this yarn and the colors are so vibrant, it is almost a shame to waste it on something I am going to wash dishes with. I think I am going to look for some yarn like it when I go to Stitches next weekend.

I have three Tribbles down and two more to go. These really are mindless and take no time at all. I can do these when I am half asleep with no worries.

I made some really good headway while I was off those four days. Actually- really we can count only three days off because yesterday was a total bust as far as knitting is concerned.To start with I took Brodie to the vet, and since it is walk in vet (no appointments) you have to get there by 8 am to get on the list for when they open at 9 am and if your lucky you might be out of there by 10:30. I was so I considered my self lucky...LOL
He now has had the rest of his baby dog shots and is good to go and all nice and legal. Usually I would knit while I waited outside with Bingo ( he yowls so I could never take him in and wait-too embarrassing and annoying). But with Brodie I did not bring my knitting, I sat inside with him and we concentrated on being a quiet and well behaved doggie in a room full of other doggies that he wanted to play with. I think he did very well, only barked out twice and was fairly patient. He had some difficulty sitting still as it was all very exciting to him. But all in all he did very well!

After I dropped him off at home, I ended up grocery shopping (ugh). It is actually getting easier to shop for just myself. Other than fresh veggies, I should not have to make that trip for at least two months now...LOL
Not my favorite type of shopping, as you can guess. By the time I got done running around it was late and I was hungry. Culver's here I come!!! 1-Baconburger deluxe basket with a root beer float please.......errrkkkk Ok let's scratch root beer float off my list of things I can have. I am really not happy about it but, that along with the carbs and fat from a fast food burger (even though they are really really good ) was a not so good combo for my glucose levels, and then I passed out for the rest of the day. I consider sleeping a waste of time, and I always figure I can sleep when I am dead, but the body is weak and thinks otherwise.

Here are the current stats on Team TARDIS

233 members

600 projects
with 95 completed
It looks like we may have lost someone from our team because I was for sure the member count was 235... I will have to go back and have a look-see.

Ravelympic Stats:
16098 projects from 5619 Ravelers

Check out Ravelympics on YouTube!

Time to go update my side bar with some more medals. ;)



Knit on!

Ravelympic Progress

What did I do on my day off??? Made my big butt bigger, that's what!! Two more dishcloths to pass the finish line. The first one was the Ballband dishcloth I really liked this pattern. It makes good use of those little partial skeins of yarn. I have some yellow and orange that is left over from my Paintbox kit that got torched that I plan on using up with this pattern. I like it has nubbies too. Nubbies make great face scrubbers too.
It turned out to be good training for my Vertigo Scarf, even though this pattern did not have a chart.

Now the Awareness Ribbon pattern was charted and spelled out, so in a sense - I cheated. I followed the spelled pattern instead of the chart.
Kellie came over and while I worked on my dishcloth, she worked on her multi-directional diagonal scarf. No she did not join Ravelympics...claimed she did not have time...what-ever!! I think I was the one with the 24 hours of overtime during the last two weeks!
I can't really say anything because she has been busy, her boss just had a baby and she crocheted a blanket for her, and Kel (Kelpy on Ravelry) has a brand new grandson that she has been trying to finish up a blanket for too. And yes I know there isn't a damn thing on her blog yet, that is because I have been trying to reel her into Bloggerland and she just is not quite there yet.



You can see where I discovered a boo boo and I had to ladder down several rows to turn three purls into knits. That's what I get for having a gab fest.

I think it turned out really well. The yarn is part of a left over cone of Lily cotton from when I made the bath mat. I had made that double stranded so I have two cones that are about half full to use up. That is alot of dishcloths!

I have my post it note marking the spot on my Vertigo pattern so I don't loose my place, and since Brodie is having a snooze, now might be a good time to work on it.

I have been doing a bit of blog-keeping. You might have noticed some of the changes, Dawn hooked me up with the code for the cool F/O slide show. I was being Wee Todd Did about the whole thing and had to ask for help. I added my Ravelympic Medals to the side bar too. ( No help needed for that one...LOL) Blogger has a new blog roll widget, very cool! It lets you know when the last updates are so it makes it easier for me to keep up with the news.

Oh and I played with this cool toy last night. This is a word cloud I made from my blog...ok I did not actually have to type all those words, I just RRS'd it and wtched it fill in. Go here and play for yourselves.

I do not expect to have another project finished by tomorrow, but I am now 4 down now with 3 more to go. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

RAVELYMPICS 2008 Continued

Not that I expect to beable to finish a project a day, it would be nice but I am a basicly realistic person. I know your all thinkin' Yah Right! Hey...I do not have as many projects planned as some out there for the Ravelympics. 

I do have a four dayer coming up starting tomorrow so that should help out. 

Here is my second project across the finish line!! Chinese Waves Dishcloth. Not a great feat but a useful one.  Anyone who has ever owned a cotton hand made dishcloth knows they are the best thing since sliced bread!  This was a very quickie pattern, a simple slip and knit. Definitely one I will make again.

A nice way to finish off a cone too. I had just enough to make this one from a leftover cone of cotton (Sugar n Cream). This is turning out to be a great stash burner.

Less guilt for when I am "replenishing" at Stitches on the 23rd.

I was able to cast on my Vertigo Scarf again, and again. Brodie did me a favor by making such a mess of the first ball of yarn. I set that one aside to deal with later and started with the second ball. I got up to the 4 row of the chart and took a good look at what I had done. I think I am getting the hang of this chart reading thing. This scarf called for 66 stitches in sock yarn. Waaay too wide for me!!! So I made an adjustment and I am making this a reasonable sized 42 stitch scarf. Pattern wise it is working out perfect.

Not to mention, it will go a hell of a lot quicker!

You can't really see much of it in this picture. but I was pretty pleased with my results so far. I should probably mention, the biggest challenge so far is trying to keep Brodie off of my needles while I am trying to knit!

I will have about an hour to do some more knitting before work. One more night of work and maybe I will be able to get some sleep. Talk about burning the candle at both ends.

Ravelympics 2008 Commenced!

Clearly I am belonging to Team TARDIS!! For those of you who are not Doctor Who Junkies (Which just seems crazy to me)... TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space.

Here are some Team TARDIS stats for you:
Members:235

Projects: 602

Completed as of this post: 34

That is absolutely AMAZING!! Who would have ever guessed that so many people could fit into one little blue Police Box!!!  I believe we are the Largest Team in the Ravelympics!

If your on Ravelry- this is me during the Ravelympics!

I did rise early for the start of the even.. I was going to start on my biggest project the Vertigo Scarf. As per usual... Nothing I ever plan goes the way I think it will....

Here I sit in my comfy recliner with woman's best friend lying peacefully (for a change) and my feet. I can feel his sweet puppy fur on my bare feet as I concentrate on my never before tried slip stitch pattern... When all of a sudden my mommy radar kicked in!

I should have known better!!! My little man had somehow gotten a hold of my nicely wound ball of yarn and was trying to rip it to shreds right at my very feet!  WTF!!!

"What Mom.... I don't know what your talking about."  How innocent he tries to look.

Alright... As I Was!.. I don't have time for this today, go I grab a ball of cotton and start on my petal dishcloth. Since work demands and early (and very long) day. I was only able to get about half done before I had to hoof it.

Brodie set the precedence for the day. I was busy at work from start to well past finished. One cluster case after another. 10-50 (that is a vehicle accident for you laymen), suspicious auto, suspicious person, oh yes, and lets not forget the man with a gun call at Chase Bank! Boy That was an adrenaline pumper!! Thankfully that turned out to be a man with a silver cell phone.  Follow that up with  woman with five children ages 2 1/5 through 6 that were homeless. 

Needless to say I did not get home on time. Nor did I get to watch any part of the Beijing Opening Ceremonies.

I did sit down to watch several SG 1 episodes that I had recorded and finished one project, all but the binding off at 0300 hours (again- that is 3 am for you laymen  ;).

Whoot!!!! First project across the finish line!!

Now...off to work again I go.

How's that lace coming Dawn??

Being Green

Dawn is right- my knitting mojo is off so I thought take a break from knitting this week and rest up for the Ravelympics and I would bring up the hottest topic of the net. Going Green... really, it is all about living free.

My parents were farmers from Tennessee so I was raised "green" so to speak. They wasted nothing. Workbasket and Pack O' Fun magazines were a staple in our house. My mother recycled everything!! We had tons of those Styrofoam trays mom reused for everything from bake sale trays to Christmas decorations. Nothing was ever thrown away (do you remember having a silver spray painted Christmas tree made from and old telephone book in your house?)

We grew our own vegetables , froze and canned them. There were never any instant dinner boxes in the cabinet and Chicken Pot Pie was Friday night's Creature Feature treat. The best is the homemade ice cream ( and snow cream too).

I can remember watching my brother's crank the ice cream maker for hours, and I would sit and watch...like it was going to freeze faster or something if I stared at it long enough. My brother still makes ice cream- albeit in an electric maker, and it still tastes better than Breyers. I don't think northern people really appreciate homemade ice cream like those of us with southern roots.

When my kids were growing up, the food dehydrator was in constant use. I made everything from beef jerky to trail mix. And "Homemade baby food" wasn't a fad in my house, it just made more sense.

I can remember when I was small, my middle brother Gary was already very conscious of the environment, even back then, and would only buy recycled stationary ( that was back in the days when people still hand wrote paper letters.) He was actually kind of a snob about it, infact he was a snob about a lot of things.

My mother knew things about household items that the net is all a-buzz about right now. Such as white vinegar... cleans everything, from windows to floors to toilets, how it deodorizes your laundry (great for stinky towels), and it rinses your hair squeaky clean and makes it shiny.

And how baking soda puts out fires, removes caked on burnt stuff on pans, freshens the fridge as well as the drain, and cleans your teeth.

(and for us fair skinned people, I always keep Apple Cider vinegar and aloe on hand for sunburns)

Doesn't it seem like the older we get the more we try to get back to our roots? And isn't it funny how now all the things our grandmothers did are no longer the old fashioned way, but the Green Way. The things I was scoffed at for (at home) and called hillbilly for, are now all the rage. Now I find that very ironic indeed.

I did buy some green cleaners when I moved, but unlike my usual self I did not do the research before I bought. So I am not really confident in the "green" quality yet. It is pet safe and that is the most important. Clorox is making a line called Green Works... kinda seems like an oxymoron doesn't it? Clorox / Green? sounds silly.

It does work pretty good, but I am not impressed with the smell. I would expect it to have a fresher cleaner smell and it doesn't smell like that to me. The cleaning power of the concentrate is pretty amazing. I have to watch that I don't get too much soap in the bucket, a little bit really goes a long way.

And ...I do have my own tote bags for groceries. This is becoming quite the vogue around here so I rarely get "the look" anymore when I tell clerks I have my own bags.

Now being a knitter/crocheter/sewer, one would think I would have made my own bags, but no... I was extravagant and bought the Flip n Tumble bags. Yes they were kinda pricey, but they are great!!! I love being able to wad it up into a little ball, and they do hold a ton of stuff!

I am pretty sure my very frugal mother would have kicked my butt for such an extravagance ...but well, that's just me ;) and I can be frugal somewhere else.

How cute are these!!! I am stylish when I shop and I am saving at least one dinosaur per shopping trip now I am thinking ;)

But see, I make it up by using knitted cloths for cleaning. That boy always said that knitted dish cloths was like washing dishes with an afghan (and would throw them out). Scandalous!! Well guess what dick moe.... I am using afghans to clean my dishes again!

I do use Bio-Degradable poopy bags (because I really don't want a poopy bucket by my patio.) And all of my light bulbs are cork screws!

Is that green enough do you think?? Pretty much, I have always tried to live life by the example my mom and brothers set before me. For me, they were the first "Green" people I ever knew. Since I had a hippy brother and step brother, some things just kinda come natural.

Not too long ago my niece asked " since when do you care about the environment?" and I answered "always", but then I realized that I had become a person of convinces, and it was time to get back to basics.

Of course this post would not be complete without a Brodie shot. The little terrorist has been trying to kill his bed for weeks and had moved his cage out of the corner. Think he was trying to tell me something?? He is graduating to being gated in the kitchen now. I had his Uncle Twiggy move him in there last night while I was at work, and he did very well.


Two more days and it will be the start of Ravelympics and back to knitting. My yarn is wound and patterns ready!

I must have a loose screw!

OK- here I go again on the Girlfriend's Best Sock. I had to borrow Kelpy's 0's because I couldn't find mine (which of course I now have located). I have frogged and frogged and frogged this sock so damn many times this week. Every time I get to the pretty diamond pattern and find I am off a stitch, or I just had a brain fart when I cast on and miss counted. It has been one thing or another with this one. So this is as far as I have gotten with it.

That is after I botched the Koolhaas! I think I zigged when I should have zagged, so yet another project to go into the frog pond for later review.

I have probably over-committed myself for the Ravelympics 2008!!! What the hell was I thinking???? Ravelympics starts at the beginning of the Bejing Games, and the point is to knit something that is a challenge for your and complete it by the end of the Summer Olympics.

To start with, I want to make a Vertigo scarf, so I entered the Scarf Stroke Event. This scarf is so pretty and I want it. I was all set to order some new yarn when I took a good look at my stash. It calls for sock yarn, and OH Boy do I have sock yarn. Not that I have a sock yarn that is rainbow flavored but I picked out this Lorna's Laces and I think it will turn out pretty cool.

I will have to order another 2 skeins of white, one more for the scarf and one for the project I earmarked for this skein.

And since my ego is clearly way too big....

I also decided enter the Home Stuff Hammer Throw Event. (This is where I decided I must be out of my ever-flippin' mind!) Four different dishcloth patterns and five Tribbles!! Tribbles, no big deal, but the dishcloths? I am not so swift with a graph and I have to work from a graph for three of them.

Again, I was going to buy more yarn (remember I am trying to Stash Down this year). I have two partial cones of cotton sitting idle and I also have this!!!

This was a great little project I picked up a couple of years ago at Stitches. Too cute of a hooded scarf that I was about a third finished with (cast on of 400 stitches), when I laid it down to yell and somebody else's dog that was taking a pee on my office door, when low and behold the smoke alarm went off... And guess what? It is not flame retardant! Yup, that's right, I accidentally set my knitting on fire!! Tip: Do not burn candles at the same table your knitting at!

Anyway- this very pretty yarn is a mercerized cotton so it should work well for all those dish cloths I plan to make. Why buy more yarn when I have all this to use up! Besides, I am saving my pennies for the 23rd when I go to Stitches!!

Brodie just turned 4 months old the other day!!! He is getting to be such a big boy! We are starting to come to an agreement about Momma's knitting time! He is no longer continuously trying to eat it while I knit, just part of the time, so I feel we are making progress.

I am positive he is going to grow up to be just as beautiful as these two little boys. the one in the frame is Kashmir (Kaz) and the other one is Eros (Kaz's daddy). They are both over the rainbow now :(
I hope I get all my stupidity out of my system before the games begin, because I am going to be doing some marathon knitting.

Contest at Diary of an Eccentric

Just a quickie post!!
I just wanted to give a shout out for Anna's Contest (at Diary of an Eccentric) for the book Mrs Lieutenant by Phyllis Zimbler Miller.
I certainly don't have the flair of the written word that Anna has, so make sure you check out her interview with Phyllis on her blog!
Anna has a fabulous interview with Phyllis on her blog, and makes the book (which is about Army Wives during the Vietman War) sound very intriguing. I personally don't know if I can wait for the contest results to read it. (Oh I hope I win- I hope I win -I hope I win).

Since my puedo daughter Lori, who is waaay out in Seattle, is sitting at home waiting for her own husband to come back from Iraq, I am strongly urging her to pick up this novel and read it since it is about women such as herself allbeit in a different era.

Thank you Dawn for reminding me thatI have lots of reading to catch up on.

Wax On - Wax Off

WHOOT! I made it to the final eight (16) last night. You can get a lot of knitting done when listening to an audio book til 2 am. Of course, I realized my brain was too fuzzy to comprehend anything I might try to read, so I left the dreaded Kitchener stitch until today. Hmmm I wonder why it is called that...

Anyway, since my little man likes to get up with the birds- I really need to stop staying up so late- I decided to just stay up instead of trying to convince him to go bad to sleep.
What else is one to do at 6am?? Well knit of course!

I must have had the ah ha moment during my sleep because when I picked up the my loopy for grafting the toe, I left my handy dandy Knitters Handbook on the shelf and heard the little voice in my head saying, wax on- wax off -wax on -wax off.... okay, then it said purl purl knit knit...HOLY CRAP... IT FINALLY STUCK IN MY OVERSTUFFED BRAIN!!! That probably means something important fell out of it, but I will deal with that later.
That pesky grafting business is firmly in there!!



Ta Da! Has a bit of an elfin quality to them doesn't it. Probably why I like this pattern so much. And TOFUtsie.. is comfy on the feet. Must be tasty too since Brodie likes to grab and run with them.


Now what the heck am I supposed to do with the left overs?? Always a dilemma for me. I guess for now, it goes to the elephant graveyard.


Oh look, a baby fox on my sofa! I will have to dig out the baby pictures of my other two boys to see if their ears were that perked as puppies. Both of them grew up with the typical Sheltie flop to them, Brodie's used to be floppy but now he always seems to be in the high alert mode.

I did spend a little time on my blog the other day- my only day off during my vacation- what with one thing and another, and Raine visiting of course. I tried to do a little house keeping and spruce it up some. I keep meaning to have a go at Iweb and try to design something fresh, but it is too daunting of a task for me right now. There is so much on a Mac that I have yet to learn, hence the reason why all of my photos are uploaded in mega files.

Much as I loved having Raine visit, I am exhausted, and was happy to turn her over to Auntie Pam this week. Children are definitely for the young... Visits to Mimi's are a must, but in small doses...plus the child hogs the whole damn bed!


Now to figure out where the heck I left off in the Koohaas pattern. I am hoping I had the sense to stop with the last round of the pattern set, since I did not have the sense to mark my spot.
In the back of mind I am considering my shopping list for Stitches next month. Since I have enough sock yarn to choke a small horse, I don't plan on buying any more of that, I am thinking it may be a year of kits.

Chicago Skyline

I have never seen the Chicago skyline from the water before! It was pretty darn cool!!

Not exactly how I planned to spend my vacation, but my niece, nephew, sister in law, Raine and myself all went to Navy Pier for the day. Oh my how exhausting! And Expensive!!

We took a boat tour up the Chicago River. Very interesting. I might even consider doing that again, with a full camera battery. We no sooner got to the locks and my battery died along with my nieces battery. Still, we got some cool pictures and then I used my Iphone for the rest of the trip.

On our way home, we stopped by my place to pick up Brodie so he could play with my brothers dog Charlie, while we ate my brothers homemade ice cream. YUM YUM.

Here is how I spend a good portion of my vaca. Putting together a book shelf and attempting to find a place for all of the bazillion books that I own. Actually, by library standards, it really isn't that many books. I just don't seem to have room for everything.

The biggest cluster is the stacks of paperwork, some of which are actual work work, and some of it patterns, supposed important papers. Now I wonder what I thought was important when I packed this crap.

A few bins of Christmas crap yet to be gone through. But at least it is more manageable now.

I would rather spend my time doing this! Raine is practicing her knitting and it seems Brodie is trying to help, or rather undo.

The little darling has a fetish for jewelry and knitting! I no longer wear jewelry, I am waiting for him to get past the need for yanking earrings out of my ears. And my knitting? Well that seems to be a battle of wills. He seems to feel it is a challenge to see how quickly he can yank it from my hands and see how far he can run with it before I catch him.

Terrible picture of my sock and foot, but only a couple more inches left and I can start the toe. That is, if I can keep it away from the puppy.

Dawn has really put me to shame with all her knitting she has accomplished! I feel like a complete knitting slug! Especially since the only thing I have knit in the last two months has been one single solitary sock! I will get my groove back on. I promise. Stitches is coming up next month and I want to have my four WIP's finished before then so I can feel like I started fresh for this fiscal year. I think Raine may go with this year, she seems to have a tad bit more interest in knitting than previously. Here's hoping.

Civil War Days

Brodie and I are settling in very nicely!! Most everything unpacked and now all I am working on is putting together my office/craft room. That is the biggest challenge. A new desk, more suitable for my Macbook than the old monstrous corner desk that I used to have. I am waiting for the eagle to crap so I can buy the file cabinet and book shelf that match my new desk. Then I should be able to finish unpacking this room. 

Wall decor will take  a little longer, but I am in no big hurry. My sofa and recliner are so darn comfy that it has all become very much home to me even without the trimmings. 

This weekend was the Civil War Days that were held at the Forest Preserve. I love these events! Raine was more impressed with the colossal sized sno cones that were on the menu than she was the civil war battle re-enactment.

Of course, having been running late, having to walk damn near a mile to get to the battle, I had one crabby child with me until I managed to appease her with this treat. 

It was so packed with spectators that we had to sit at the end of the battle field. Unfortunately I did not remember my camera and only had the one on my phone.  Another duh moment on my part. And of course, - I missed taking a photo of the deserter that ran straight towards us. Then there were the rebel solders that starting shooting at us once the battle was over.  For me it was a fun time, Raine? Not so much, she was not so interested until we started walking through the shops.

I finally cast on that other loopy sock. Over and over and over again. 

Brodie has learned to jump up on the sofa, running at mach 7. And so quick he is that I would be sitting there knitting, when suddenly Brodie would come flying into my lap, grab my knitting and take off with out barely a blink of an eye. I must have re-cast on a half dozen times this week end because he managed to remove my needles as he ran with my sock. Clearly he is still too young to sit by my side while I knit because he is completely fascinated with it. He is either grabbing at the yarn or sitting on my chest licking my face. Personally I think that is just a ruse on his part to distract me so he can grab my yarn. It took me all week end to get only this far. 

And here is me, trying to get Brodie to sit still so I can take his picture. My little man is always in his momma's face during his waking hours, the little corker.

Sweeeet Independence Day!

Never has our Independence Day ever meant so much! It was my very first day as a completely Independent Woman!! Waaahooo- my very first full day in my new home. Mine and Brodie's that is. I shall miss Bingo terribly, but that is all I shall miss.

Moving day was accomplished with the help of wonderful family. Mine and that crab ass' family. Even tho he decided to park himself at the kitchen table and watch, like he thought I was going to take his 400 pound paperweight safe or something. And he did try to make my leaving difficult by locking the trailer so I could not use it. Until his sister got him to relinquish the key that is.
Still, all in all I managed to make my escape before the day was gone. And not a word was spoken ;)

Fortuately I had my brandy new furniture delivered to the new place. I really did not think I had that much crap! I don't think I could have lifted another box! Today (ok yesterday since it is officially after midnight) I ached so bad after sitting all night at work that I could barely stand. My muscles are screaming!!

The Uverse dude is coming first thing in the AM. I am borrowing wifi from my good friends (formally spousal type's family) who live next door. His dictatorship canceled my email, so if anyone was trying to email me, I will have a new one tomorrow (today).


Welcome to my humble abode!
Isn't that a comfy looking chair for knitting?? I can't wait to be unpacked to I can start my new relaxing life. I can leave my yarn any darn place I want to (out of Brodies reach of course). It was so nice getting up this morning and finding my laptop exactly where I put it last night, and my purse exactly where I left it. And most of all, not hearing a police scanner all flippin night!!

And as you can see, Brodie has made himself quite at home. No adjustment period for him, he walked in like he had always lived here. I am sure he misses big dog too and the great big yard to run around in but he has adjusted very well, so far. He has been consoling himself with a new basket of toys.

Hark ! I think I hear my big girl bed calling me!