Done!

Honey is out of surgery and the boy is drugged.  We started our day at 5:30 AM.  He was out of surgery at 10:30 AM, but almost had to buy his way out of the recovery room.  He didn’t think it was necessary to breathe. The surgeon said his bicep muscle was rolled up in a little ball.  It’s now reattached and honey will have to keep his elbow bent for 4 weeks so the muscle can heal.

It’s now 6 PM and I’m taking a little break at the hotel, and then I’m going back to tuck him in.  This is what I worked on for 12 stinkin’ long hours today!  (I don’t know how people sit and wait like that without knitting.  I would have run screaming down the hall!)

Actually, this photo is from January of this year.  It’s about 4 times longer now.  I may finish the back yet tonight.  Actually, I probably won’t because my eyes don’t want to stay open.

More later.  Must go tuck Honey in.

I Love Saturday!

Do you want to know why I have so much time to knit?  Because I have staff.  These two mow my lawn.

I have the most handsome lawn guys in the neighborhood.  And they do a fabulous job.  They even clean their bedroom occasionally!

While they were mowing the lawn today, I worked on a test knit for Susan.  This is Pumpkin Patch, named after the little pumpkin shapes the cables make.  I’m calling mine Sangria Twist.

The yarn is HandMaiden Casbah, colorway Sangria, purchased at Knitty Noddy.  The yarn is heaven and the deep saturated color is amazing.  Evelyn ships extremely quickly and she has something else that you may want.  She’s taking preorders for Addi Turbo interchangeable needles!!!  Why yes, I do have them on order.

It may be a little quiet around this blog next week.  Don’t worry!  It’s not serious, but Honey and I are heading for Mayo Clinic tomorrow night.  (We only live 3 hours from there, so why not head for the best!!!)  Honey ripped a bicep muscle this summer and he’s having it reattached.  I’d show you a photo but he objected.  When he holds his arm out, the muscle rolls up like a window shade.  It’s really nasty and has been quite painful for him. Please keep him in your prayers on Tuesday.  His arm has to be kept immobilized for 4 weeks and my guy is right handed and guess which arm he hurt?  Yep!

I’m sure I’ll have lots of knitting to show you next week.  It’s going to be lots of sitting and waiting for me.

Oh, and say a prayer for Nana too.  She gets to homeschool a 4th grader!?!

Sanity Has Returned

My knitting is finally cooperating.  Look what showed up yesterday.  (Well, actually at 1:38 this morning.)

Yesterday was piano lesson day.  I sit for 30 minutes with the first kid, and later 45 minutes with another.  At the end of the second lesson, I had the heel flap finished.  Last night I kinda watched the Twins game, but mostly knit.  And I kitchener stitched the toe for the first time.  Usually I just do a three needle bind off.  The yarn is Socks that Rock Heavyweight, color Oregon Red Clover Honey.  The pattern is Brigid by Goddess Knits.  And it’s a free pattern!  It’s amazing how quickly a sock goes with Heavyweight yarn.

The reason I pulled out the sock yarn was because I wanted to see the colorway knit up.  I’m still looking for yarn for Anne Hanson’s Autumn Arbor Stole.  And I have some Laci in the same colorway.

I’ll be honest.  When I first got this yarn, I wasn’t impressed with the colorway at all!!!  Yesterday, when I wound the sock yarn, I still wasn’t thrilled.  Then I started knitting.  I absolutely love the color.  So, this morning while the homeschool kid was acing her math test, I wound 1,750 yards of gorgeous gold laceweight.

Too bad I can’t start the stole until I finish the other sock.  I need the needles.

Swear??? Who, me?

It has been brought to my attention by my stupid &!* moron beloved brother that my use of punctuation instead of words may be construed as swearing.  For the record I almost never swear.  Actually, there was a word that was ringing in my head, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the one ringing through my lovely brother’s!

For the record:  That you-know-what shawl has been put in a time out.  And so has the project I worked on today.  Here’s the pattern I purchased this morning.  Isn’t it fabulous?

And isn’t this yarn fabulous?  It’s Sundara Yarn, colorway Pine over Gold.  It’s 100% silk.  I’ve been looking forward to knitting this forever.  But it’s not fun.  It’s slippery, and I need stressless knitting right now.  I love the pattern and I love the yarn.  Just not now.  I’m going to find some yarn that sticks to itself and try that.  I love that pattern!

And now I’m going to bed and I’m going to dream sweet dreams about my little brother and how I used to change his diapers!  (He’s about 6′4″ now!)

No, I Guess I Didn’t Win!

In the last post I told you I thought I’d won on the Firmament Lace Shawl.  You know the one that I ripped out three times?  I didn’t win.  In fact, I got smacked down!  I ripped the $#*&! thing out for the fourth time.  In case you haven’t gotten a glimpse of my personality through reading this crazy blog, let me just tell you that I am a serious bullhead.  I just can’t let a stupid impossible simple lace chart beat me.

I am, however, going to choose a different lace pattern for this segment.  I still don’t know what I’m doing wrong on chart B, but when I got to chart C, I had the wrong number of stitches.  So, therefore, I will quietly and gracefully move on.

Do you know what the prerequisite for absorbing a history lesson is?

It’s a puppy to snuggle, of course!  The puppy sleeps and her little brain goes a mile a minute!

I’d also like to give you a progress report on being an adult,  On Monday, the guest room was cleaned.  The laundry room was shoveled out on Tuesday.  Wednesday will be the kitchen.  I’m starting to feel better about the demolition control around here.

And now, I’m going to bed.  It’s either that or start a bonfire with that &$%!# shawl.

Keeping It Real

I won…I think.  You know the Firmament Lace Shawl I started a few weeks ago.  Yeah, the one I ripped out 3 times?  I finished Chart B and I think it’s right, but I’m not sure.

I keep looking at it, and it looks like a pile of holes.  The stupid thing!  I was planning to just pick a different lace pattern for this section, but I’m a bullhead and I. Will. Not. Be. Beat.  Especially by a dumb lace chart.  If it’s wrong, I’ll know it when I block it and then it will be too late.  So life is not always rosy with my knitting projects.

There has been a lot of whining in our house in the last week and it’s getting on my nerves.  The problem is…it’s me.  Homeschooling is going really well.  I’ve been making meals.  That’s the good part.  The bad part is demolition control.  My house is just messy, and I’ve been complaining about keeping up.

Then, on Thursday, one of the kids, who shall remain nameless, got probation notices (yes, two!) for his/her grades.  I blew a gasket.  I yelled.  I threatened.  I didn’t throw things because I was driving.

Fast forward to Saturday night.  I was sitting in my bed in the motorhome.  And, yes, I was knitting.   Hubby and one kid had gone home with their itchy eyes and snotty noses.  Allergy season!  Two kids were in the front of the bus watching a movie.  All of a sudden, it hit me that I couldn’t very well chew on that kid for doing a lousy job on school work, when I was doing the same thing with my job.  Ouch!  I believe God asked me to give Kid 4 a year of my time and homeschool her.  As a mom and wife, part of my job is maintaining my home.  God doesn’t call people to do things without equipping them for those tasks.

So what does that mean?  I’m fully capable of doing my job.  Whether I feel like it or not is immaterial.  That also means that the kid that is getting the lousy grades is capable of doing schoolwork.  It doesn’t matter if that kid feels like it or not.  But I’m older.  The kids are watching me.  They hear what I say, but they do what I do.

So, this morning, laundry is sorted and being done.  We’re finishing up school, and then I’m going to go clean stuff.  Because my kids are watching me.

Oh, I did get a treat in the mail this morning.

It’s Handmaiden Casbah, and the colorway is Sangria.  I’m test knitting another project for Susan!  I can’t wait to start it.  This yarn is heavenly!

It kind of looks like our fire on Friday night.

I’m off to be an adult!  Oh, and don’t tell the kid that’s in trouble about this post. I hate admitting it when I’m wrong!

Things That Make Me Happy

I’m not promising to make this a regular thing, but I’m going to do an occasional “Things that make me happy” post.  Life is busy, messy, and not always much fun.  But I don’t have anything (except a messy house, and who’s fault is that?) to complain about.  And I don’t mean “things” in a material sense either.

Today I’m starting with this:

That’s enough to make me smile!  I love the shawl.  I love my jean jacket.  And I love the fact that the hat on the manequin matches the outfit.  I may never undress this thing.  It may just decorate my house, at least until it gets cold here in Minnesota.  That may be tomorrow.  Who knows?!?

I used 3 skeins of Silk Garden Sock yarn, color 252,  on size 6 needles.  The pattern is called Langsgalid Barur by Sigridur Halldorsdottir.  The book is available from Schoolhouse Press.

This is going to work great with my black pants or a pair of jeans added to the ensemble.  I really should find a cute green hat to go with it.  (Not!)

You know what else makes me happy?  I don’t have to go to a laundromat.  Bye!!!

I started a new project.  Shocking, isn’t it?  I placed a lovely order with Blue Moon Fiber Arts for some Socks that Rock yarn.  I’m knitting a sweater with Socks that Rock Heavyweight on size 3 needles.  I’m not exactly a size 6 or even a 10 either.  Does that mean I’m crazy?  Ok, I am, but look at this gorgeous yarn!

It’s actually knitting up at 5.5 stitches per inch.  That’s not too bad.  I chose the Drops Camelia pattern after I saw this cable.

The colorway is Nyame.  It’s a bit more aqua than my photos.

I did finish a project!!!  My Langsjalid Barur is finished, but not blocked.  I was going to block it last night, but there was an 8 year old birthday boy sleeping in my bed. (I usually block beside the bed on the floor.)  He got stung by a bee after school and was pretty sad.  Not a very nice birthday.

Oh, and there’s another project, but I don’t have to apologize for this one.  It’s another test knit for Susan.  I do have to apologize for the photos though.  This is so much prettier in person!

Susan designed Leaves of Grass to be a simpler pattern, without all the beads.  She used a fingering weight yarn.  I chose Noro Aurora, a much heavier yarn.  It’s going to be a large, rectangular shawl.  I’m calling mine Autumn Leaves.

It’s not showing up very well, but there’s lots of metallic mixed in this yarn.  I’m thinking this will be a great shawl to wear for fall (of 2009)!  Susan will have the pattern available on her site in the next two or three or four weeks.  I’m not committing her to anything.  She’s a busy lady, putting out a huge variety of gorgeous patterns!

I’ve had a few people ask how homeschooling is going.  It’s going really well, thank you.  There are moments, because we’re both bullheads, but we’re both enjoying it.  Yesterday we worked from 8:30 until 2:00.  That means we can take it easy today and maybe take tomorrow off.

How does my house look?  It’s a disaster.  I’m just not in the mood to buckle down and clean stuff.  I really have to force myself to be an adult.  I decided to lay (or is it lie) down with Kid 5 last night, and almost decided to stay in bed at 8:30.  I told him that if I didn’t get up, the messes wouldn’t be cleaned up.  He looked at me so seriously and said, “Does it really matter”?  He’s a pretty smart little kid!

We’re off to learn some new vocabulary words!  And then we’re going to the park with friends.  I can clean tomorrow, right?  After all, does it really matter?

Sisters

There are treasured girlfriends, and then there are sisters.  A sister trumps everyone else!  She knows everything about you and she loves you anyway.  And I got to spend a weekend with her!!!

She’s one of those disgustingly talented people that can piece a quilt once in five years and it looks perfect, even though she’s sewing off-set diamonds together.  We sewed, and sewed, and sewed.  In between, we ate and slept a bit.  Here’s her king size quilt, minus the borders.  Oh, and the photo above is quite deceiving.  It rained most of the weekend.  So we sat in the motorhome and…….sewed.  Today was sunny for the photo shoot!

Before we left home, she laid out the diamonds and pinned the rows.  Honey walked by and his comment was that it looked like diamond hell.  He’s right.  There are 120 four patch diamonds and then all the background ones.  I had the diamonds pieced before, so my sis had the “fun” of sewing them all together.  We still have to come up with borders.  The fabric is Kashmir by Moda.

I spent a lot of my time working on my two color quilt.  Nicole came up with the idea early this summer.  It was supposed to be completed in August.  Oh, well…  (I also made Nicole’s Jalapeno Dip.  Try it!!!)  Anyway, the rows of the quilt are all sewn together.  I just need to sew the rows to each other.  It was a lot of taupe and white for a girl that loves color.  I think I’m going to love it though.

I did complete one little project.  When Kid #3 was just 7 years old, he made all the blocks for a baseball quilt.  I grabbed the project tote on the way out the door.  When I took it out to work on it, I found out that he’d even sewn some of the rows together.  He’s quite a perfectionist, so his blocks looked great!

I think I finished this project in less than two hours.  The fabric is vintage baseball stuff by Alexander Henry.  Kid #3 is now 13 and declined my invitation to have his photo taken with his quilt.  I love him anyway.

And in knitting news, there is a project that’s almost done.

And one that’s just begun.

And yes, I had noticed that they’re both Noro.  More soon!

P.S.  The reason there are no photos of the sisters is that we never got out of our pajamas, and we didn’t look very pretty!!!

Bye, Again!

I’m alive.

My sister is here from Texas.  (Great time to get out of there, huh?)

We’re taking the motorhome and going quilting (and eating).

See you later!!!

I’m apologizing in advance for this, but I thought it was hilarious!

Sorry, but I can’t do a post without a photo, even if it’s a tacky one!!!