uh .. . . .

So I watched a few more episodes of Big Love today . . . . and rear-ended some lady in the parking lot at Wal-Mart. Karma.

I'm Being Punished . . .

For totally vegging out and having a Big Love Marathon for two days in a row. The water has stopped coming out of the faucets and my husband won't answer the phone! I know it's bad karma, but I just couldn't resist the season 3 episodes of Big Love on On Demand.

Really I should have some good karma, I literally washed almost all the clothes in the house yesterday, and we all know how I hate the laundry. And the roast is in the oven getting ready for dinner tonight.

I'm such a girl, I don't have any idea what to do! I need to learn.

3rd Level

Everyone in my family has been sick. And now it looks like we are going for round 2. My littlest one (not so little really, she's 11) has a sore throat and fever. Kind of like what she had a week or so ago, only more sore, not as hot. What?!? I am the mother of 3, I kind of thought I had this whole sickness thing down. Sore throat, fever that doesn't wane = strep. But I don't know what to do with this whole coming and going fever thing. And the one thing I hate about up here, is that there are no pediatricians. And the clinic we go to only has walk in hours for sick people. So I get to take my 11 yr. old, unvaccinated against the flu daughter and go sit in a waiting room full of coughing, sneezing, germy people and wait for someone to look at her. I know because I did it last week with my other daughter. Fortunately child #1 has asthma and has been vaccinated against h1n1. Fun.

I found my camera. I just need to look for the cord, I know where it is, I've just not had time to look for it. But I took a picture of my latest spinning. I love it! It's merino/tencel - it's sooooo soft, and it's turquoise/grey and a weensy bit of brown. I'm plying-on-the-fly and I think it's about fingering weight, so I think it will become a special pair of socks, for me.

I also ditched the Pinko the Wave. It's back in the closet. I started the fountain pen shawl from the fall Interweave knits. It's turning out ok, but I'm using a variegated yarn and I really don't like variegated for lace. I wish I had known this before I bought a bunch of it.

Also going to start working on hats and cowls for 3rd Level Alpena. It's a group that works with homeless teens, hopefully to find them food and shelter, especially for the winter. It's sad what's happening up here, around the whole state I'm sure. But what's going on up here is that people who have lost their jobs downstate, are coming back to live with their families, many of whom have probably lost jobs themselves. We have one shelter up here, it has nine families in it right now and I'm not sure how many single adults. There are 100 homeless kids in the public schools, some living out of their cars. I'm going through my closests today, I know I have coats and such to donate. I complain about my kids getting sick, but I am so fortunate that my family has a warm place to live, food, insurance. I really think these things should be a right for everyone, not a luxury.

Why Do I Keep Knitting It?

I pulled my Print o' the Wave stole out from the back of my closet. You remember, the one the ZPDK's were doing as a KAL oh, about a year ago? The one that as far as I can remember only Jaxypants and Spinny actually finished? Well mine was well under way. I was finished with the border and was knitting the never-ending-edging. (Ask Spinny and Jax.) I'm actually on the fourth side, when I put it down for a snuggle with the pups. It's cold up here and those dogs produce a lot of heat! I looked down, under my tiny little eight pound pup sitting snuggled up to my leg and just about had a coronary. Underneath the little shit, I saw my stole, all the border stitches on one needle of the circs, and where the 18 edging stitches were supposed to be on the other needle? Nothing. 18 little tiny loops of stitches sitting underneath a raspy dog paw. I moved him as gently as I could (not worried about him, worried about the stitches) but it was no use. Those suckers were dropping faster than anything I've ever seen in my life. I picked up what I thought might have been the 18 stitches, but turned out not to be. I dropped a few and found a few more, knitted the next nine rows of edging and what resulted is something I'm glad I don't have a camera to take a picture of.

Now I'm torn. I put a lot of work into this thing. I absolutely refuse to frog it. Refuse. Won't be happening. But now I wonder, should I shove it back in the closet for another year, since looking at it makes me want to cry? Or should I suck it up and finish and go back and try to make the crappy dropped stitch part look acceptable? Let me add, there are already many, many mistakes in this thing, but mistakes that a non knitter might not notice. This is not one of those mistakes.

What's a knitter to do? Anyone?

Really?

It's been a month since I posted? Woah. That's bad. I think it's mostly because I have no camera, but blogs aren't just about pictures. It's about the words man. The words!

Words are awesome. Words in English are especially awesome. Thinking about writing 30 pages worth of words in French is boggling my mind. Thinking about reading all the words in French that will enable me to spit out 30 pages en francais is even more mind boggling. I'm into avoidance at this point and that means staying away from the computer, where most of my communication with Kalamazoo happens. I must push forward . . . .

Knitting? I'm stuck here. I'm suffering from a major bout of SSS. I've got two complicated socks half done and I just want to knit stockinette. It's all the television that is on. What with House, Heroes, America's Next Top Model, Survivor, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Project Runway, Flash Forward, and The Amazing Race I just can't look away from the tv to make sure I'm following a pattern!

Right now I'm working on a turban for my mil. The dreaded "C" word has struck my family again. She will be undergoing chemo and I thought she needed something snazzy yet comfortable to keep her head warm this winter. I plan on co-opting my daughter's camera (she lost the cable that connects it to the computer, so I figure if I buy one she'll have to let me use it) and posting pics soon of my knits, although as you may have deduced, the knits might be a little on the boring side in picture form.

Gotta jet, Heroes is waiting for me on the dvr!

Reference Desk at the Alpena Co. Library, Can You Help Me Find an Accredited Online University?

Well, I've moved up. It is definitely a busier place and a tad more interesting than circulation. I'm doing more of what I used to do back in Clawson. But dudes, I still miss Clawson. The library, the city, the people, everything. So does Joe I think. I think we are what you might call homesick. The "glamour" (?!?) of Alpena has worn off, and it's just not feeling like home yet. I'm not giving up on it, and I've made some nice friends who go out of their way to make me feel welcome. I don't know.

On the flip side of that negativity, Kalamazoo College says all I have to do is take a few upper level French courses from an accredited university, take a few gym classes and attend a few lectures and shazzam! - they will award me with a degree! Now I just have to find an online university because as you know, an actual brick and mortar place doesn't really exist within reasonable driving distance of my fair city, and come up with some cold hard cash. It's doable.

My camera still eludes me. I want a new one, for I fear mine must have met it's maker in the move. But that would require me telling Joe that I lost a $200 camera and want a new one. That's a little scary. He gets mad at the kids when they do stuff like that, I can't imagine how he might react to it coming from me! Just jokes, he's a pretty mellow dude. But I've finished a pair of socks, have two SSS's (single sock sydrome socks) hibernating (although one of them's other half has been cast on) and am almost finished with my Rivulet scarf. I need documentation or people will quit believing that I'm actually knitting!

Things Are Looking Up

I've been promoted! I'm movin' on up, literally! I'm going to work at the reference desk at the library, which is on the second floor (I work on the first floor at circ right now) - I forget the title, I think it's something like "Assistant Information Services Librarian", even though I'm not a librarian - yet! I'll take the title. It's more hours, more work that involves some thought, and I believe it will provide me with some interesting conversational fodder. We'll see.;)

Also, today I am going to meet with the Director of Northwood University, the only bachelor's degree program in Alpena. I'm going to finish my degree! I've been accepted and the director wants to discuss my transcripts. Fun. My degree will be in some sort of management, versus French (quite the leap!) but I'll have the piece of paper that apparently is like some kind of magic parchment that opens many doors.

Someone I work with said she had read in some paper or something, that people should stop getting bachelor's degrees, because it makes it harder for them to get jobs! What?!? It was funny because the director was in on this conversation and promptly said no and quoted a statistic - something like 90 percent of bachelor's degree holders obtain employment - I don't know the numbers but I was happy he said that. Life for me, would have been a fair bit easier had I finished college within the normal four year span. For my children, not getting a bachelor's degree isn't even something we talk about. When we talk about school, it's 16 years and then you can decide what you want to do, not 12. I've seen people do it differently and it's an easy out for a not so motivated kid. Sure some kids will pursue higher education no matter what, but not all of them. Some need a bit of a prod. I'm prodding mine.

On the down side, poor Sophie returned from camp with a sore throat. I'm hoping she wakes up feeling better. If not, we'll be spending the day at the doctor's office. Send good thoughts!

OMG

I've turned into one of those people who never blogs.

I have many excuses. My camera is still missing. I live an essentially boring life. I wrote a really long blog entry dissing one of my daughter's friend's mother's but am afraid to post it, even though I didn't mention names because Alpena is one of those towns where if you say something about someone, someone else will see it and figure out who you are talking about. Really. Doctor's can't even share interesting case histories with anonymous names because someone will know. It takes some getting used to. I've stuck my foot in my mouth countless times so far.

I've been reading and knitting. It's hot. We are moved into our house, the garage is still full of crap. (My camera is probably out there somewhere, along with four missing library books and my college transcripts but the thought of searching through the hot garagae makes me hotter than I already am.)

So really, it's summer and I've not done anything worth writing about. School starts soon. When it cools off I'll look for the camera.

Shell

Everything is out of our old house. We turned in the keys and passed a final inspection. Yay! Now all the assloads of stuff in the old house are resting peacefully in the garage. I don't like to look in there. Although I suppose I will have to get serious when the weather people start talking snow.

I'm back to work and knitting. I finished the back half of a shell, called Martina. It's pretty. Of course I can't show you because I still can't find the camera. I know it's in this house (or garage *eep*) because I saw it here, I know I did. But I can't remember where. And I'm too busy knitting to do an all out search.

I am also spinning and plying on the fly! I love it. I went to the Castle Farms Fiber Fest in East Jordan Michigan and bought some awesome roving. I'll give you the deets later, but when I got home I plunked down in front of the computer, googled me some ply on the fly lessons and taught myself a new trick! Instant yarn! It's nifty.

Well, that pretty celery green caron country yarn of which the shell is made is calling my name so I gotta go.

I'm Back

I still haven't found the camera cord. I fear it is buried in the depths of the twisted mess that is being called "the box with electronic stuff". I don't even want to walk near it yet.

Moving blows. It would be fine if we could just stop now. We have all of our furniture and clothes here and unpacked, most of the kitchen and all of the electronics. Essentially everything I need to live. Oh, wait, some of the yarn but most of it is still over there, so let me amend that. MOST of what I need to survive.

But there are still assloads of stuff in the old house. Assloads, really. And this is after the great purge of 2008, when we moved up here! Let me tell you, I am ruthless. If it's a sock without a mate? It's going in the trash. Stray makeup? Trash. Old blow dryer? Trash. Sheets that don't fit beds? Trash. Now you may say this isn't ruthless, it's just normal. Well, not when you are married to a pack rat.

He comes from a long, distinguished line of pack rats. For instance, his grandmother saved everything. Everything. So much stuff they had to rent a dumpster to clean out her house when she passed away.

His mother? She buys things and sticks them in closets for Christmas's future. (She also regifts out of that closet, but that's another story) Her basement is full of stuff. When she decides to get rid of stuff, she can't throw it away, she must give it away and be sure of its use in it's new home.

Joe went through the girls bathroom and packed shampoo bottles with less than half and inch of shampoo in them (I will admit the girls should have gotten the little bit out and threw the dang bottles away!) And sheets in sizes we don't need anymore. His rationale? They cost money and we might be able to use them someday. NO! No, I say. No more. This house is smaller, we need less stuff. And I want to be able to buy more yarn! So purge we shall.

But right now I'm going to go knit.

Off the Grid

Well, we are making the move. We had to, the cable got switched over today and you all know I can't live without my tv! But since this is "the country" apparently cable companies which provide internet,cable and phone service need three separate installment appointments, because one would be "too long". So, I shall have no phone till Saturday and no internet till next week.

On the Tour De Fleece front, Meg gifted me a beautiful leader shirt yellow and sparkly spindle! Even though I lead in nothing trust me. She also gave me some soft fluff to spin with, softer than anything my rookie hands have ever been on! Fun! I spun some in the new house.

On the plus side, while moving I'm bound to find the camera cord, so next time I post there will be pictures! Fleece, knitting, spindles and house!

See ya on the flip side!

Carpet Shopping

Don't do it at a chain store that sells tools and lights and appliances and paint and carpet. I won't name the store because that wouldn't be nice, but . . . .

All we wanted to do was price out some carpet.

First they told us about the whole 12 feet issue. Carpet apparently either comes in widths of 12 feet or some come in widths of 12 or 15 (the ugly ones!) Well we need 13 so guess what I was looking at?

Oh, and then we were limited by what was in stock, my selection became even smaller.

Then we decided to have someone come measure for us, before we made a final decision. We also wanted to take home the sample card.

It then took the clerk about half an hour to get enough information from us for us to be able to leave the store with a freaking sample card of carpet and an appointment for the 10th (the only date available for months-and by the way they have to measure before they will even sell you the shit)and then we were supposed to go somewhere else to pay for said appointment.

I told Joe we would go to the local furniture store and price carpet there because it couldn't be worse service wise than the place we were at. And I'd pay a few more dollars to know that someone who could work a keyboard was placing my order for me.

Tour De Fleece

I'm spinning! No, that is not a picture of what I'm spinning right now. Still can't find the camera cord, so just looked in the archives for an old picture. I am using that spindle, but I'm spinning the blue stuff.

I had plied a skein of the blue, a small skein, but I think I'm going to leave the rest unplied, skein it up and call it lace! It's pretty much even, kind of in between lace and fingering so it should work for a shawl. I don't have the right tools for plying. Of course I can always use the pop bottle method, which I've perfected in the past, but it makes me nervous. This will be better.

Oh, I hope I find the camera cord. I just took an uber cute picture of my spinning with Kibbles in the background. He's awesome. He started off as this crazy tasmanian devil like dog, who wouldn't even let you pet him and he's turned into a snuggler. Love him.

Back to spinning for the Tour De Fleece - Zombie Prom Date Knitters Represent! Woot!

They Worked

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know, your good thoughts worked.

We are trying to buy a house, and we were getting the runaround from the mortgage company we were working with. First our rep got fired and no one told us. We only found out because after we hadn't heard anything for 10 days, we called him. No one had even looked at his files so our file had lain on his desk doing nothing for two weeks.

Then the lady who took over his file didn't make it a priority. I don't know, but if you are a manager and you fire someone, don't you think it should be a priority to take over that persons workload? We would call her on the daily only to hear "I don't know anything yet, and I don't know when I will, and oh, could you send us this paper that you said you already sent?" I thought Joe was going to stroke out.

Then we found out that our first house which we had a VA loan on, and sold 15 YEARS ago, is still listed as having an outstanding VA loan. We thought we were toast. This was Tuesday and we were supposed to close yesterday. Joe called the lady and told her this was bullshit, the agent had had his VA certificate from day one and should have known this was a problem. He told her we are facing the possiblility of being homeless because the person we are buying the house from now wants out of the deal. The lady did nothing. Nothing.

So we went to a bank here, and within 24 hours, were approved for an FHA loan. That was the result of all your good thoughts. We won't be homeless. In about two weeks we will be moving to our new house. Thank you all so much.

Good Thoughts

If anyone is out there, you don't have to post a comment or anything. And just so you know, everyone in our family is fine, but we are facing a crisis here, and I really believe in the power of good thoughts. So if you are reading this and are inclined to, please send some good thoughts our way. Thank you.

Same Old Story

I can not find the cord that hooks the camera up to the computer! I have pictures people! Of finished objects, like socks and sweaters and the beginnings of a mitten. Somehow in the craziness of making the house "show ready" the cord, which previously stayed attached to the computer, has disappeared. I know someone thought that having that cord attached to the computer would make prospective buyers uninterested in this house. I just wish the someone who thought that and moved it would tell me where they put it!

rip

Everyone my age is in shock today. Children of the 80's have lost two icons.

Every little girl in my neighborhood played Charlie's Angels. I never got to be Farrah, I was the plain little brunette girl, so I was Sabrina. I wanted to be Farrah though. I let my mom cut my hair so it would look like Farrah's when I was in fourth grade. Disastrous.

And Michael Jackson? Wow. Thriller was the album in high school. By college we used it to irritate the crap out of our neighbor boys. We would put Beat It on the stereo, turn the volume up to 11 and open all the doors and windows. We'd hear boys slamming doors from every end of the dorm! Even with all the incendiary things written and said about him that no one will ever really know are true or not, you have to respect the music.

Rest in peace.

Ornament

I am now officially throwing my hat in the ring for the ornament position at the Bedford house.

You know, ornament. One of those wives whose husband makes all the money. The one's whose job description entails such things as shopping, volunteerism (the kind where you ask people for money, not the kind where you actually physically have to DO anything) and golf.

I don't know how to golf though, so I'm going to suggest that knitting take its place.

Apparently, this is all I'm qualified to do anyway. I suck at housework, so I figure we can just hire someone to do that for us. And I don't have an official bachelor's degree (even though I went to a prestigious university for four years) since I didn't student teach and finish, and God knows that a stupid piece of paper means more than the experience of going to the school for four years and living twenty years of life raising kids could possibly ever mean.

So my husband has a good job right? All those years being a stay at home mom with no pay (although he insists the food and shelter should have been pay enough), I figure I've earned a few years as "ornament".

wwkip

I went to our Alpena Library WWKIP. I couldn't stay long enough for all the fun, because Sophie had softball. But that's ok. I knitted. A little. I tried to spin on a bottom whorl drop spindle. I did not succeed. (I actually thought it was a messed up top whorl spindle without a hook) I took pictures, I just need to unload them.

Meg went, I hope she took pictures. She was there when all the fun was going on. I wonder if they used the ginormous knitting needles Wanda brought? I'm sure she showed everyone how to properly spin with a bottom whorl spindle.

Joe went to Traverse City for three days. I couldn't go because I have to work. It's the Summer Book Club at the library and they won't let you leave unless you are in the hospital, dying. So I'm stuck here while he's over there golfing. I could be shopping people. Do you know how much I miss shopping?

Anyway, I don't work tomorrow or today, so I plan to knit. And watch tv. Maybe some housework, but it is low on the priority scale.

Last Day of School

I am now the parent of a senior in high school. This my friends should be impossible. The child was born yesterday! I swear, it seems like yesterday and sometimes he does things like lose his cell phone down the passenger seat of his car and not be able to find it, that make him look like he was born yesterday.

And today, his father decided it was ok for him to drive downstate - a four hour trip - by himself! Ok, his dad is driving in front of him for about three hours, but still, what's a mother to do? Luckily Sophie has softball tonight, so I will distract myself until I hear that he has made it. How am I ever going to let him leave for college?

This is the face of the winner of the 5th grade spelling bee! She beat the smartest boy in fifth grade!I have a terrible case of startitis. Started - sock two of the martian sunshines; started - sock one of hypnosis (from awesome Eclectic Sole book); started - Sitcom Chic - I had to start this one because I bought the yarn from my friend Meg who had terrible stash tossing trauma selling me her wonderful $1.00/skein buy of six skeins of Cotton Ease. Seriously, she looked ill. But she did it, and I've got three rows of red sweater cranked out. I've got to find something to make her feel better though. Gonna go toss my own stash!

Where Tracy Gets Her Groove Back

That whole travelling sock escapade had me down. I felt guilty and hurt, I so didn't want to knit those socks, but I felt bad knitting anything else. Well, I'm done feeling that way. Here's my Argosy Blankie, my first Finished Project post the socks.Knit for a baby being born this summer. This blanket was so fun to knit. I used Vanna's Choice - gasp - I know it's acrylic. But it was fun to use, it's soft. And since I can't go to my lys anymore, I'm sure I'm banned and I wouldn't want to give them my money anyway, I've been forced to shop for yarn at Wal-Mart. Or the internet! And you can get anything on the internet! And the ladies at Loopy Ewe are not mean to you. It's a bonus.

I joined a Cookie KAL on Ravelry. Here's the June pattern from her new book. It's called Sunshine. I'm calling mine Martian Sunshine - you know, because of the little green men from Mars, and my yarn is green!These are for me. I will appreciate them even if they turn out ugly(which will never happen because it's a Cookie Pattern and I love everything Cookie!). I would never tell myself they were ugly. I would simply be appreciative for their warmth throughout the crazy winter, fall and spring in Alpena, which neccesitate a person wearing woolens.

I don't think the intended recipient of the blankie will be unappreciative either. While I don't expect her to vocalize her appreciation I'm sure she will be feeling it while snuggled up in her new Argosy!

It is so nice to knit for people who appreciate your stuff!

Restless Saturday

I have great plans for today. Finish my Argosy blanket, maybe spin and start an Argosy scarf with the spun yarn (can you tell I really dig this pattern?) Plug in the camera battery charger so I can take pictures, take a road trip to Petoskey to check out the cool book store that's supposed to be there.

Unfortunately I probably won't do any of those things. My house is dirty. Or rather, the house I live in, which people get to tromp through and judge on 24 hours or less notice, is dirty. And I signed some damn piece of paper which says I will keep it clean or someone will get litigious with me.

Someone complained about the yard not looking spiffy. Well. When we moved in there WAS NO YARD. There is a small triangle of dirt in the back, which changes with the seasons. Fall, it's rotting leaves, winter is snow, spring and summer are alternately mud, weeds, and dry dirt. Sometimes we'll hack down the weeds, but honestly it looks better with the weeds. We hacked them down yesterday. If no one buys this house, it will not be because of our not taking care of the yard, as I mentioned, there is NO YARD.

Someone also mentioned that the carpet is dirty. It's cream. Someone put it in, someone who only had a small baby and a wife living on the carpet. I have 3 children, in varying sizes, with varying degrees of dirt on them at all times. Cream (white) carpet is bound to get dirty. Not trashed mind you, just a little dull.

So we clean the carpet. No biggie. Just a time sucker. But did I mention where I live it is only Spring and Summer for an infinitesmiley (however you spell it) small amount of time? It's spring now, and I'm stuck inside cleaning. I can't even get over to my new house to plant or mow or weed the garden which also has a devestatingly short lifespan, because I don't technically own it yet!

So I want out. I want out of Alpena. Not forever, just for a few days! Heck I would take a few hours, but it takes a few hours to get ANYWHERE from here! I am a city girl! I miss the mall! I miss bookstores! I miss restaurants! I miss cars going by! I miss kids playing pick up ball outside my house! I miss the mail man walking by! (He drives by in a regular car here!) I miss my family who almost all still live in the city like normal city raised people do! I miss my neighbors and going down to visit them and gossiping about all the people I've known for 12 years because that's how long I lived in my home. I miss going to my kids school and finidng someone to talk to before a program starts.

I know some of that isn't only found in the city. I guess what I really miss is home. This isn't my home. I don't know if it will ever be. I miss home.

I'm sorry for being maudlin. I'm going to go plug in my camera right now, then go enjoy the sunshine, I don't care if I get sued for not doing my laundry!

American Idol

I know everyone out there who watches is probably all bummed that Adam didn't win, but look, I think things worked out well for all involved.

Yes, Adam is a more versatile and powerful vocalist. That's why it's good he lost. If he had won, he would be stuck to American Idol forever, doing their kind of music, which isn't what suits him best. This way he's free to be the artist he wants to be and feed off of American Idol press. I can't wait to see what he does.

Kris needed American Idol. He's more low key, and while not a particularly powerful singer can do cool things with his voice. He reminds me of Elliot Yamin, who was one of my favorite idols ever. I can't wait to see what Kris does either. I just wish he didn't have to sing that cheesy "No Boundaries" song. Haven't the powers that be at AI figured out that no one likes that?

Anyway, I found my camera and I'm charging it this afternoon. Pictures of knitting forthcoming. This is my WIP list :

1. Pinko the Wave (haven't come up with a more suitable name yet!)
2. Sock of my own "design" (really I cobbled together some other people's designs)
3. Another sock, that's been frogged at least twice and now isn't really a sock but a ball of yarn
4. An Argosy baby blanket (this is my favorite right now!)

I am also doing some quilting, applique roosters to frame and put in my new house. I used to quilt all the time but knitting dragged me away.

New House

houses

We made an offer on a house. It's nothing special, but it meets our needs and it isn't butt ugly. Because trust me, while it may be a buyers market elsewhere, the pickings in Alpena are slim.

This house is literally the only one that doesn't need major work that we've looked at. It still needs to have ugly wall paper torn off of two bedrooms, but the kitchen cabinets are cute and have been remodeled in the past decade or so. Most kitchens we've looked at are straight out of the seventies. You know, avacado appliances and plastic brown cabinets. The height of fashion in 1975 perhaps, not so much now.

There is one more house, complete with said kitchen and shag neon green and red carpet that fits the bill size wize. It's actually in a nicer area, but I spent 12 years living in a fixer upper that never got completely fixed up. I'd prefer not to do it again.

The pink blob is still blobish, but making it's way to becoming a stole. I started another pair of Kai-Mei's, love them! I'd take pictures but the camera is mia. I think someone in this house might know where it is, I need to ask!

Ode to a Pink Blob

That big pink blob? That is my Pinko The Wave, getting it's edging! Celebrate good times, come on! Although I hear it takes a while, I'm enjoying knitting the short repeat and connecting the stitches. It's good tv knitting. And it's good "avoid gettting your house "show ready" knitting.

We think we are going to be able to move from this house to another. It's a bittersweet sort of blessing I guess. I love this house, it's why I agreed to move to Alpena, but times being what they are, our house downstate hasn't sold and we can no longer afford this house. I am a lucky woman, there are a few houses here that totally meet our families needs, if not being everything we want. We won't be homeless, and really, I'll have more money for yarn, so it's a good thing, right?

As well as Pinko - which I'm thinking of renaming to something to do with cherry blossoms (the yarn reminds me of cherry blossoms!) I'm cranking out a pair of Pomatomusus, or Pomatomii as I like to refer to them. Out of Berroco Comfort Sox, which, while splitty is uncomparable for it's cheapness and comfort factor. Wash it a few times and the socks are more comfortable and better looking.

Clawson's library millage passed! Go BML! I'm so happy for them, but I must admit I am a bit jealous. I would give my eye teeth to still be working there. I miss the library and everyone in it so much. I can't wait to see the new children's area!

Everything's Coming Up Socks and Lace

So, I wussed on the socks and am using some very ugly variegated yarn that in no way "flows" or "matches" that of the other participants in the travelling sock . . . that means the "ladies" should be happy!

But to make up for the fact that I am a wuss, I've been working on the travelling socks only in the car. I have plenty of other stuff to do!

I got my new Cookie A. book the other day. It is awesome. Full of awesomey awesomeness!
And a couple of days later I got my Harmony circs! I love them! Love, Love, Love them. I also got Harmoy dpns. I haven't so much used them yet. I'm saving them for a craptastic day when I need uplifting.

But look what I made! That is the right sock of a Kai-Mei from Cookie's book. Isn't it lovely? I love it. I've cast on for the left one and am knitting the miles of ribbing while I watch the finale of Heroes online. Hey did anyone see Chuck last night? OMG, I love Zachary Levi.

And Pinko the Wave? All the repeats are finished! I almost had to kill the cable guy for ringing the doorbell, because he made me drop five stitches in the last freaking row! But I saved them. Now I've got to see how those other ZPDK girls figured out how to spread out the stitches you have to pick up for the border. I messed it up once. I'm not leaving it to my math challenged self to figure out!

Nervousness

I'm nervous. Today I am going to go meet my "student". I signed up to tutor for the READ program here, a program to help adults learn to read. My student is supposed to be a very high functioning reader and I'm wondering how I can help. The ladies that run the read program seem to have more faith in me than I have in myself . . . I'll see if I can live up to that.

But that's not until 1:00 p.m. Right now I'm cranking out Pinko and watching the last three episodes of Lost that I missed. Holy crap! Sayid shot Ben! Jack won't save him! I'm on Hurley's page, why aren't they all disappearing? You can't mess with the space time continuum! One more episode to go.

Oh, and lots of laundry. Laundry out my ass. If one more person in this house shows me an article of dirty clothing, I will not be held responsible for what happens.

Wisteria and Pinko

Here's my completed Wisteria. My pictures suck. I think I might take it outside and have a photo shoot with it. What is crazy is that the sweater fits me, but my skinny almost thirteen year old can wear it and it fits her, in a different way of course, but still looks nice!
And here is Pinko, nine or ten repeats in, I can't really tell. But coming along swimmingly.

Froggage

I had to frog my Pinko The Wave. I made another mistake and had 81 stitches and couldn't figure out how to fix it! That is the bummer about lace for me anyway. I can not fix a mistake. Sometimes, I stress sometimes, I can tink, but when you start tinking the knit3tog's, it's too much for me to handle. I absolutely can not do that thing where you tink back to your mistake area, and drop the stitches and reknit up. That sh*%'s crazy.

But I started over, and am about six repeats in and on a roll. I think I've got the pattern mostly memorized, so that helps. I will finish this knit. I. Will. Finish. This. Knit. If I say it with enough emphasis, it's got to help, right?

In between I knitted a Embossed Leaves sock from Louet Gems Fingering Weight, in red. I've got to take pictures. I have my camera, I just need to find the charger.

I'll leave you with some Washington D.C. picks. I loved the WWII Memorial. My dad was in the Navy during WWII, in the Pacific. I wanted him to go with us, but he insists he doesn't want to remember the war, but he enjoyed the pictures! Hope you do.

Spring

This is what Spring is supposed to look like.
It doesn't look like that here.

Those are the cherry blossoms in Washington D.C.

This is my new obsession.

It's the Darkside Cowl. It's teal, my daughter Savannah requested this color. This is my daughter Sophie, modeling. Isn't she gorgeous? Hers is on the needles in purple. It took about six hours to knit, no sh*%! I'm knitting these for everyone for Christmas.

Is Print o' the Wave Cursed?

Spinny had to frog because she forgot the invisible cast on, Holly frogged because she just wanted to, and I've run into a slight problem. On repeat nine or so, I noticed that about two repeats back, my little zig zag pattern didn't zag, it just kept zigging for a repeat. Oops. I'm not sure how to fix it, short of just ripping back, but I can never pick up lace stitches. Pinko the wave . . . meet time out.

So I'm spinning, spinning, spinning the blue stuff. I'm thinking of making a cowl. A cowl is a nice portable project for our trip to D.C. Yep, we are leaving Friday. I've got to charge the camera, get a memory card for it, since it only holds about 15 pictures, and pack some clothes and stuff.

Better go.

Pinko the Wave

Happy St. Patricks Day! I'm wearing no green, unless turquosish counts (these are my pretty blue monkeys all finished) but I'm working on my Print o' The Wave Stole for the ZPDK knitalong so I'm all good. I like to call my Print o' the Wave, Pink o' the Wave, because it's pink, and isn't a pinko like a socialist or something? The way stuff is going now I'm leaning towards the socialists. I mean we aren't hearing how the executives in France and Canada are taking million dollar bonuses from the taxpayers are we? But I digress. Here's Pinko the Wave!
I started early, I did not knit all of that today. I needed a head start because I'm slow. And I was in between projects that I wanted to work on so I just started it. There was an article in Interweave Knits about how I don't have to justify starting stuff, so I won't! :)

This is the Biological Clock sock from Eclectic Sole. Did I mention how kick ass that book is? It took FOREVER to knit the plain old stockinette foot from the toe up and I was so excited to start knitting cables that I skipped the first two charts and started on chart three. Ooops. Last night at knit night at the library I pulled it out and started on chart one. It's gonna look cool, although due to my inept photography you can't tell yet.Some other random pictures? This is from the laundry catastrophe I think I mentioned a while ago. The jug sprung a leak. Yikes.And this is my baby boy's basketball team. They went undefeated until the last game which they lost by 3 points in overtime. See number 11? He's a senior. Here's a good story. He's a good kid, no trouble, good grades and at lunch one day, because he's a teenager, he decides to take the bet that he won't be able to drink an entire gallon of milk at lunch. I know, not bright, but harmful to no one other than potentially himself. So he's chugging away at the milk, the entire cafeteria is cheering him on, the lunch ladies catch wind of it, stop him and get this . . . . . .the authorities that be, suspend him. Ridiculous. My husband the coach, gave him the "Golden Milk Jug" award at the last game in honor of his supberb milk drinking effort. The kid said he almost finished it, about an inch left in the bottom of the jug and he was sure he would've made it because he was past the puking stage. You gotta love teenage boys! Number 4 is my boy. And the guy with no number is the husband.

Really, I Swear I Still Knit

I am knitting, I swear. I've almost finished those pretty blue monkeys, I've started the Biological Clock socks from Eclectic Sole (which by the way, is the coolest sock book EVER) and am up to the chart on the first one - they are toe up! I'm working on Traveling Socks for my lys, and spinning the pretty blue yarn still. I'm looking at my Wisteria sweater. I've lugged the bag with it in it around with me a few times. And I've pondered the last row of the jacked up Adamas shawl that I need to finish by June and that I put away back in, oh I don't know, October? It makes me sad. One row away and the stitch count is waaaaay off. What to do, what to do?

I've got pictures and I've got my camera, unfortunately, I'm missing the cord that hooks the camera to the computer.

Oh, and the kidney kozy is still on the table.

I just can't finish anything!

house stress

We have to move, we haven't sold our house in Clawson and we can't afford to stay here without doing that. Alpena sucks. There are no houses around here that I would want to live in. I spend all day on freakin realtor.com and forsalebyowner.com and I can find nothing. Nothing! I want to cry.

Ok, that little pity party is over. My new obsession is Facebook. Word Twist and Pathwords are where I waste a great deal of time when I should be doing house work. But housework sucks and I'm improving my language skills. Important, no?

I'm also spinning away and watching American Idol and Survivor. And Heroes, Friday Night Lights and House. And I hear America's Next Top Model is starting soon, although I fear Tyra may have jumped the shark. We'll see, I'm loyal and I'll give her one more chance.

Off to play word games and charge up the battery on the camera. I'll take pictures of the crap houses for you!

Pretty Blue Yarn

Here are some pictures of my pretty blue yarn. I made it! It still suffers slightly from the whole thick/thin thing. I have a problem when I'm pulling the yarn down into the spin, I think I grab too much too hard. I think you are probably just supposed to gently guide the stuff down.I also need to learn how to do better lighting for my pictures! I need a camera class. But guess what? No camera classes today, no any classes today! Why? Snow day! Saturday night, no shit, it snowed 15 inches! No snow when we went to bed on Saturday, more than a foot on Sunday morning! It was surreal. The only joy I got out of it was watching the dogs slide down the hill that the steps on the back deck had become. Quite amusing! Well, the kids are still quiet so I think I will take this opportunity to spin some more pretty blue yarn.

Spinning Catastrophe

Today I had a near spinning disaster.
Look at that, that is fluff, spun up all nice and wound onto a makeshift bobbin (let's just call it what it is, a 20oz pop bottle) which has all of a sudden plyed little parts on the top and the bottom onto itself! Yikes!

I took a 2 liter "Mountain Holler" (I love that knock off name!) and carefully unwound until the bottom mess was all taken care of. I think I can fix the top part later. Disaster narrowly averted. To reward myself, I spun some different fluff. Pretty aqua fluff which I will photograph at a later date.

Before the disaster, I was watching Heroes online and knitting a Monkey. Monkey is a feel good sock. It knits up so fast (I'm almost finished with one leg) and it's such a pretty pattern! I needed this, since I just finished my Rivendells! They are awesome and they weren't hard at all, but I wouldn't call them quick. But definitely worth the work. I'll take pictures of those later, too.
Tonight, since I'm all caught up with Heroes, I plan to have a marathon knitting session on the pink kidney kozy while watching House and Heroes. Maybe I can finish it up!

Running Around Like A Mad Woman

I hate those days where I'm so busy I barely have time to sit down. Work five hours instead of four because someone called in sick, leave work to pick up smallest child from school, run home to get purse which left at home because it was hidden under a blanket, leave home to pick up middle child and friend from after school activity. Drive friend home, drive home, hop in shower, figure out what to give kids for dinner because hubby and I must go to some fancy (business casual) shindig for dinner (Yay, I don't have to cook!) roll home who knows when (hopefully before all the good tv comes on tonight) sleep for some undetermined amount of time since I've developed insomnia, wake up in the morning, run small child to school, run nephew to school, run to work and be there for 8 hours, come home to hopefully someone already having made dinner.

Thursdays and Fridays are a little whack chez Bedford, but what I do notice is that being this busy generally means I don't have any panic attacks, and that's a good thing.

Have a nice weekend everyone and try to squeeze in a little knitting!

I can't knit. I'm restless. I can spin, but the fluff keeps breaking and only pissing me off. I have too many projects started and I don't want to work on any of them. I'm on my last episode of Lost, which means I can watch the real time show tonight. That's good.

I've decided to go on a diet. It's not going well. So far today I ate eggs with feta for breakfast with ice water. That was good. So was the half a turkey sandwich with dijon mustard and a pinch of mayo, if you don't count the sourdough bread. The not good part? I ate five pieces of Dove chocolate and not the healthy dark chocolate kind. And I really, really, want another turkey sandwich. I also don't want to be fat anymore. (See the double chin? And that's with me holding my neck up to camoflauge it!)
Conundrum.I think I need to be busier. As much as I love my knitting/watching old tv on the internet lifestyle, I think I need to be out of the house more. So I'm going to tutor adults who can't read. I'm actually pretty jazzed about it. I went to the first four hour training session yesterday and thought it was fascinating. I think I can do it.

Tomorrow we are going to the chamber of commerce dinner. Another dinner where I have no clue how to dress or act. Business casual. To me, that is an oxymoron. Business is suits and casual is sweats. I have sweats, jeans and one dress that doesn't scream business really. And I can't go shopping because my nephew has the car.

Anyone watching American Idol? I absolutely love the guy, Danny I think, whose wife passed away. Love him. Love him like I loved Chris Daughtry and Eliot Yamin. Neither of whom won, but both of whom produced records. This guy has a story though so maybe America will keep voting for him.

Gotta go finish watching Lost. That island is just so mysterious, right Holly? And what the heck happened to Claire?

It's That Time Again

Holly, over at knitwithsnotforyou put out the word that she needs prayer shawls for the Hope Lodge, just like last year. Perfect timing, because I was tired of knitting round and round on sleeves (plus, being almost done I would have had to go on a search for dpn's to finish the cables at the cuff) so I dug up some dk pepto pink yarn that I thought I would make a baby sweater out of, and cast on for a snowdrop shawl. It's going smashingly. The color isn't really my style, but I figure somewhere out there, someone will absolutely love this color and I'm thinking really good thoughts while I knit, interlaced with some "Oh my God, Sawyer is so freakin' hot!" thoughts because you know I'm still watching Lost.

Sawyer would be on my list. You know, the list of five people you could make out with even though you are married. It's not a real list, because really, it's never gonna happen and if I were lucky enough to meet the five people on my list, I would vomit all over them in excitement, so I don't think they would be kissing me. Here's my list :

1. Bono
2. Sawyer from Lost
3. Jack from Lost
4. Sayid from Lost
5. Chuck from Chuck

Yeah, I've been watching a little to much tv. The list is subject to change. The only person whose been on my list and never been off since college would be Bono. He'll never leave the list and he will always be first. Who's on your list?

New Obsession

I've found a new obsession. Lost. Did you know that ABC has recently placed every single episode online? So I do laundry and watch Lost. I'm almost through season one. And I can't figure out why I never watched it before! It's like a parade of eye candy! I can't pick my favorite!

There is of course, Jack (who I've thought was hot since he played Charlie on Party of Five)
And Sawyer, oh my, those eyes and that whole bad boy thing!
And Sayeed? I don't even have words. I think he's my favorite right now. He's a touch kick ass Iraqi with a sensitive side. Yikes.
And I love Charlie, he's cute too, I just don't have time to cut and paste anymore pictures - I've got to get back to my obsession!

Knitting Math for Dummies

I finished the body of Wisteria last night! It's totally wearable. Now the only chance I have of screwing it up is the sleeves. Much less of a percentage than the whole sweater, and I plan on upping my odds, but having my friend Terry show me how to do two sleeves at the same time on two circs! I'm super hyped about the whole thing.


Also still cranking away on the second Rivendell sock, although I will admit I've taken a break of sorts. I was sucked in by all the spring color on the cover of Creative Knitting. My friend Bonnie is getting married and I thought I could whip up a spring afghan in a couple of weeks with big needles and big yarn right? A couple of problems . . .
1st, once I started knitting? Not so much the spring colors I was going for, more like baby colors. Oh well, I figured they would be good colors for baby Jack, Spinny's grandchild to be, so I continued on.

Next, the f"in pattern sucks. I'm sure it contains mistakes. I also read part of it wrong, but it still has mistakes. Like in one part it says "*k1, inc, repeat from star to end, k1 (202 stitches)". Here's the problem, you start with 135 stitches, if you increase after every stitch, don't you end up with more than 202? I did! Now watch, one of you math whizzes out there will show me up and tell me somehow that works out. But I don't think so.

So I've resorted to spinning to quiet the nervous breakdown this almost caused me. This batch of fluff is never ending. It's spinning up pretty, but it's essentially the same fluff I've spun up before and this pretty blue fluff is waiting for me underneath the white fluff. But I only have one spindle, therefore I must finish the white fluff first.

Well we are soon going to cruise around the greater North East Michigan area, looking for houses. It's what we do for fun on the weekend. Really, what I want to do is see Slumdog Millionaire and Milk but alas, these films are not showing in Alpena. Instead my options include My Bloody Valentine and Bride Wars. Mmm, not so much. I think I'll take my knitting with me in the car.

I'm Being Interviewed!

Linda over at Fat Cat Crochet, got interviewed by one of her blog friends, who requested that she interview people and I said cool, interview me! Here's what she asked :

Has your camera grown legs? Where does it go missing all the time?

I can't see the legs, so I'm assuming that little people make off with it all the time, and on occasion I've been known to put it somewhere so I'll remember where it is, and then promptly forget where that might be!

What made you decide to blog?

My friend Kristin of Kristinknits blogs and I thought it was so cool! I love to write, I love to knit and even if absolutely no one read what I wrote, I still would love doing this! The fact that 2 or 3 people actually read my stuff? Amazing! And, those two or three people have made this move to Alpena bearable for me - thank you cyber friends!

You’ve been knitting and crocheting a long time. What has been your most favorite project? Why?

That's a tough one. Whenever I start a project it becomes my most favorite, or sometimes, the one I hate the most! I'll say right now, one of my favorite patterns is Monkey for socks. It goes quick so is very rewarding.

Worst knitting disaster?

I've had many. The worst? Well, the unfixable balls of knotted up yarn that my dogs get ahold of would probably be the worst, because they mean I can't even try to use the yarn!

If you could do anything, go anywhere, no holds barred, (kids, hubby, pets taken care of, no worries!) What would you do?

Ok, if I could do anything it would be this - instantaneously finish the last three classes of my bachelors degree, and then get a master's in library science. I know that sounds lame, I'm sure lots of people pick sunny vacations and such, but really that's my dream. Oh and I found the camera!

Rivendell!

Oh Joyous Day!

George's last day in office. Barack is moving in! Yay! I'm so excited, I almost cry when I see coverage on tv. How crazy is that? I don't care. I'm full of hope. I know stuff won't be fixed right away, but I believe in this man, that he is a good, honest, wise man and that he has the best interests of the people of the United States in his heart.

I'll be at work when he is giving his speech, I'm gonna try and bring it up on the internet, library voices be damned. Patrons should be able to watch too!

And after all that, American Idol is on tonight! Woo hoo!

Better go finish my first Rivendell, I'm gonna find my camera and take pictures soon!

Back Up North

And I bet you can guess what it's doing? That's right my friends. Snow. But it's actually very pretty. I didn't even mind snowblowing the driveway after my car wouldn't make it up the hill.

It's probably a bad thing that the computer is so close to the laundry room in my house, because I really should be folding the massive pile of laundry that accumulated in front of the dryer while I was gone. Seriously, people do their laundry and then leave the pile of clean clothes directly in front of the dryer. I don't understand it.

I knitted downstate. I finished one of those Noro/Jared Flood/stripey scarves. Very pretty. Documentation forthcoming. Now I've got to do laundry.

Granny Katherine

My mom passed away last night. We are headed downstate for the funeral. I'm so glad she came up here this summer and so glad I got to see her at Christmas.