super fast

Wow! This is some super fast knitting! I cast on this fetching at 4pm yesterday, and was finished by 10pm! My arm hurts from all that knitting. Or maybe it was the break that I took to play Wii Carnival Games???
UPDATE: Finished the mate for this fetching at 8:30pm tonight, I see many more pairs in my future, super quick and a great stash buster.

Here is son #2 with a belated Christmas gift, a real goalie mask for playing mini sticks in the basement! So help me! They have already broken a clock (must get new one) and put numerous dings and what-not in the walls.

Oh well, such is the life of a hockey mom/family.
Oh yea, son #1 is in a Christmas tournament, we have a game at 3 today, I'll update more later on that.

rush is over

Well, Christmas is over (we are taking down the tree soon) and the presents must be put away. Not much of anything is being accomplished on this vacation, knitting on the branching out scarf has increased to about 75% finished, if ( and that's a big IF) I do any knitting today, I could finish it, but the boys are hounding me to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks". And why all of this non-knitting you ask?? Why, that would be because of the Wii that Santa brought to our house!

UPDATE









Here is the finished (but unblocked) Branching Out scarf.
I was able to finish it, even with the following distractions:

Alvin & The Chipmunks movie
shopping
partial clean up of Christmas items
Wii playing
football watching

Branching out

Here is my branching out lace scarf (courtesy of ravelry and knitty.com). It is a very quick and easy knit (just cast on Saturday night and this is how much is done, about 1/2). I am using Rowan Felted Tweed and it looks gorgeous! I think I will make fetchings from the other skein; gotta love ravelry! Just search for yarn, then search for pattern and you can see what everyone is making.

Snow day yesterday, so kids are back to school today, not very happy about it, but they only have 4 more days of school, then Christmas vacation.

go figure.....they were right

We got LOTS of snow. Hubby and boys were out at 8am shoveling the drive, because, you know we have hockey today! Son #1 game at 10 (just called, they arrived safely) and son #2 practice at 11:15. Hubby says main roads are fine, it's getting there that is the problem; our sub is bad and I shouldn't even attempt to get out with the van (hubby has 4 wheel drive) so I am house-bound this morning.

Son #2 has hockey Christmas party this afternoon and I am in Target-withdrawl....must go shopping! Great day to stay home, do laundry and knit! I have nothing on the needles. I finished the clogs yesterday, they are drying. I had some socks on the needles, but frogged them last night. So, maybe a fancy scarf?? We'll have to see what happens!

weather.com

OH BOY!!! Weather.com says a big snowstorm is coming our way :) 12+ inches of snow?!?! I'll have to wait and see if it is true; I hope so, it would be so nice to have a white Christmas.

still secret, secret pal

Oh bother, here I've been in a tizzy for 2 weeks because my sp11 pal had emailed to say she sent my package and I NEVER EVER received it!! I've been running to the mailbox everyday checking, and nothing ever came for me; she has been waiting for me to post on the blog for 2 1/2 weeks!!

I finally received 5 emails this morning from her; there must have been a glitch with the wowway server, as I check everyday and there are a few emails, but this morning there were about 20, all dated Tues-Friday, where were they on those days?? HHHMMMM. Anyway, there were 4, yes 4, patterns to keep me happy until the replacement package arrives:

Gretel, which is a very cute beret
Malabrigo laofers, which I've seen all over Ravelry, I'll have to make these when I am finished with the Fiber Trends clogs
Beefields shawl, GORGEOUS!!!
XS firestarter socks, cannot wait to make these, they look very interesting.

Thank you so much, I look forward (again) to receiving a package :) how frustrating for both of us.

Oh My Golly!!!

Here is a package I received in the mail today from my GREAT friend BetteM! What could be inside?? Look at that cute knit tree, and her with a busted up hand and everything :)




First, yummy monster-type cookies and ooey-gooey caramel chocolate almond candy! I quickly ran out to the mailbox to offer some to the mailman. He is ever so patient with me and my constant "any packages for me today??" Today, he saw me outside, stopped the mail truck and delivered the package FIRST!! Then went to do all the other mail. What a guy.










Inside the wrapping paper...this great roomy GREEN knitting bag...she had mentioned earlier "don't forget to check ALL the pockets!"







Here is a peak inside the bag...look at all the great stuff hiding inside...








And here, finally, is all the great stuff!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH BETTE!!! This made my day and everything is wonderful.

Finished!

Here is our decorated tree.....










....and here is the finished felted fair isle bag. Should have handles soon.

All the loose ends

Here is the fair isle tote! It has been felt (felted?) and is drying. One wash was not enought, two was too many :( oh well, it is smaller than I would like, but it is gorgeous!! I will need get to the LYS this week to purchase leather handles.



Here is the first felted clog (unfelted; it is HUGE) kids want to know who it is for. Will get the mate made this week. I am using the leftover yarn from the fair isle tote. You can't really see the hot pink/green inner sole, or the orange in the gray cuff, but they are there. This one is really periwinkle in color, the mate will be ORANGE!



And here are my potato latkes!!! YUMMMMMM My friend's husband brought them over tonight, still warm from dinner!! I had one, but am saving the rest for tomorrow, I like them COLD with sour cream!

Home stretch

I am in the home stretch! The felted fair isle tote will be finished SOON!!! I have 1 more row to knit, then bind off, then make the 4 loops, felt it and purchase (NO MORE I-CORD for me) 2 purse handles and it is finished :) yea!!!! Then on to bigger and better things...maybe those felted clogs? as the socks I cast on last week have not progressed at all.

SP11 has been over and done for a week now; yet I am still waiting on a final package. I have gotten all worked up everyday this week, thinking "Today is the day", only to be disappointed everytime the mailman drives off and leaves nothing for me :( only bills and junk mail (a few Christmas cards).

Portable knitting

The felted fair isle tote does not travel well.

I have resolved to finish the tote before starting any other project; I took the tote to tennis yesterday. UUUGGGHHH it is so big and bulky and hard to manage all the colors while sitting in a straight back chair. Today I have 2 hours of hockey practice and cannot deal with that stress & mess!

Oh well, I guess I'll have to cast on for a pair of socks (just to keep my sanity).

monkey 2

Well, I have a finished pair of monkeys!! They don't match, but I am calling them a pair. They were made "no purl"; the sock on the top, size 2 dpn's.. too big and loose, sock on the bottom was made with 2 circs; size 1 PERFECT FIT!! So now, I need to make a 3rd sock so I have an actual pair :) which will not be a problem as I have TONS of yarn left; Tofutsies. Don't know when I'll make it though, I must concentrate and finish the felted fair isle tote. Then off to make more socks, I received some yarn wayyyyyyy back in January, going to make some chevron socks (hopefully).

On the swap front; I have sent my final SP11 package to Jen. She emailed to say she received it, just waiting for pictures on her blog (as I forgot to take any!)

Now, if only I would hear from my sp11 pal........last day of this round is Friday and I haven't heard from her lately............

Christmas tree

Today we went to get our Christmas tree. We've gone the past 3 years with our friends, I love it; I grew up having real trees, my hubby and kids hate it...they love the artificial tree; thankfully, it is safe in the basement for another year :)
If you look really carefully, you can see the 6 boys running and playing.

Here is our 2007 Christmas tree. It is currently "defrosting" in the garage, lots of snow and ice on the other side. It will be welcomed into our home next weekend.

Let the Christmas rush begin.............

Monkey one

Here is the no-purl monkey sock. You cannot see the pattern due to the colors in the yarn (but I LOVE the black and pink combo) No-purls is making the sock rather loose, so I am going to make the mate on size 1's and then probably have to frog this and re-make. I would make them on size 2's...but my order from Knit Picks is taking FOREVER to arrive, where do they ship from? It is quite the joke as to how long I've been waiting; the product was instock.

Felted fair-isle tote is just sitting next to the couch looking lonely...but pre-holiday stress has kicked in and I'm in no mood to knit.

SP11 is wrapping up, I have all the goodies for the last package, just need to get to the post office, get the box and then mail it out. I think this is my last swap for awhile.

Everyone loves the monkeys I received in the swap (I do too), so I keep wearing them and washing them!!

It's a sickness

I finished these monkeys...............








and immediatly cast on another pair!!
These are going to be no-purl monkeys :)




Felted fair isle tote....what felted fair isle tote???

Monkey's received

Here is the great monkey sock swap package I received today!! Contents: Monkey socks in green Koigu (oh boy, they fit like a dream and they are so soft), sock monkey ornament, barrel of monkeys, ink drawing, Cookie A pattern and delicious yellow Louet yarn (I've never knit Louet before, I think I'm in for a treat)!! Thank you so much to Emma A. for being a great pal!




Here is a close-up of the socks ;)

BetteM yarn

Here is the yarn I bought from my friend BetteM. IT IS SO GORGEOUS!!!

Finally a minute

To upload some photos.
This is what I received from my "NEW" sp11 pal :). 2 great knitting books, 1 for socks and 1 for answers to all those questions, good luck stitch markers and a great notepad. Thanks so much!











Here is son #2, Mr. Bling for halloween.










And, here is son #1, some scary zombie skeleton type person.

Busy day today, kids are off, but I still have to work, they are going to a friends house for the afternoon. Then SISTER is coming into town, we are going SCRAPBOOKING this weekend!! Well, tomorrow, from 8am-12 midnight. Hubby wants to know what I will be doing, as I have not taken any pictures :). I will find something to occupy the scrappin time. Must clean house and get everything together for tomorrow and start packing for son #1, he is going to camp Mon-Wed next week.

New place for yarn :)

Ok, my friend BetteM has just opened her very own on-line store! She specializes in handpainted and dyed yarn. Check it out!

I bought the yummy green one (wonder why). So much for not buying any yarn; but I have been really good lately, only knitting from the stash. Ok, so I bought yarn in Holland last weekend, and this today, but that is the first since, I don't know when. We'll blame it on BetteM for having such a great colorway!

Knitting news:
Socktober ends today, and I have not finished my monkey socks. No time to knit lately, but hopefully things will slow down and I can finish. I should be receiving my monkey sock swap socks soon....as that swaps ends tomorrow.
The Fair Isle bag is coming along nicely too; LOVE the KP needles.

Nutshell

Sat. am - flu shots, hop in car, drive 3 hours to Holland
Sat. pm - watch nerve racking game (tied) meet hubby's college roommate and family for late lunch, go to cool yarn store, buy sock yarn, go to very nice (NON SMOKING) bar, drink, back to hotel.
kids swim, parent's party, lights out for kids 9:30, parent's continue to party
Sun am (early) - up and get to the rink for semi finals, win nail biter, have 3 hours downtime until final game.
Sun pm - eat lunch, final game, lose, son #2 gets medal and t-shirt (all is well), drive 3 hours home, laundry awaits etc etc etc.

no knitting to report.
SP11 package received :)

Cruisin' along

No pictures, but the Fair Isle Bag is coming along quite nicely, it is very EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY!! The only thing is keeping all the yarn straight, so I have been cutting the yarn if it is not going to be used within 5 rows; then I have been weaving them in as I go. I finally received my KP order, the needles are very cool! I may have to buy more.

The 2nd monkey sock has been cast on, and will be traveling this weekend to Holland, MI, son #2 is in a hockey tournament, 3 hour car ride, lots of down time between games, then 3 hours back.

I'm also going to take my TOFUtsies and start another pair. OH NO, they are so addicting to knit! Is is bad to have all your hand-knitted socks in the same pattern?? :) They will all be different colors. Hey monkey pal.....how are them socks coming?? :)

Happy Anniversary

Hubby and I have been married 13 wonderful years today :)
Have a great day xo

In other news.........

Here is my monkey sock! It looks so great in this colorway from BetteM!! Off to cast on the mate later today.





Here is what I've accomplished on the fair isle tote. I hope it all works out, the pattern calls for size 9 dpn's to start the project, I only had size 8....but I've stopped for now, as it is time to start the "pattern" and I want that part to be correct (this is just the bottom of the bag); so I'll wait for my needles to arrive in the mail.

new project and it's not socks!

Yes, it's a bag (back to those). I finally had a chance to read the Interweave Knits Felted special issue and I just MUST make this bag. It gives me a chance to try something new. And if I got tired of it, I can always fall back on a pair of socks (because you know, I will have a pair on the needles.




These are the colors I am going to use (because my LYS did not have the colors used in the magazine) The ones in the picture of the bag are more muted tones, I went with the brighter tones :)
And, can you believe, NOBODY on Ravelry has anything posted about this bag. I may be the first. Wish me luck.

Thank you Jane!

How cool is this?? :)
My downstream pal(from the monkey sock swap) Jane, sent me a thank you package today!!
I received some hand dyed alpaca yarn (from Peru) in a gorgeous green/brown shade :), cute frog markers, wood dpns, a needle and a gauge checker.
Thank you so much Jane.
Now, what to make with the yarn?? :)

Home with sick child

Well, he's not sick anymore. Yesterday got a phone call at preschool (2:30, class is over at 3) come and get son #1, he is in the clinic with temperature of 100.4...I tell the teacher (her 1st day back from vacation) son #1 in clinic, have to go, they won't keep him until the end of school. Run around like mad trying to clean up, explain to working parents all that needs to be done...run out the door.
Get to school, he looks awful, tummy hurts, head hurts etc. Pull son #2 out of class (why wait 20 more minutes and let him finish the day, I don't know, wasn't thinking clearly) get home.
Son #1 DOES NOT like to take medicine GGGRRRR. Finally he asks for some (oh my) 10 minutes later, throws up; sleeps for an hour. Tries to eat toast, 10 minutes later, throws up; sleeps for an hour (get the picture?) 7:00, he says, "I feel better", drinks some gatorade (you guessed it, 10 minutes later throws up etc etc) Finally put him to bed at 8:30 and he sleeps through the night UNTIL 5:30AM when he comes in and wakes us up to announce "I feel better today" great, go back to bed!
Now, this is the child that I must drag out of bed kicking and screaming every school day. Today, he is dressed, eats breakfast and is ready to go at 7:20! Oh no, the school has a policy, must be fever free for 24 hours, so we have spent the day at home. Me: knitting up a storm on mother's socks and doing laundry and baking (ok, break and bake cookies) Him: watching Scooby Doo and playing with his plastic guys.

So, here are mother's finished socks, done 3 days early thanks to sick child :)

Now I can work on my monkey's :)

UUGGHHH computers!

What does it mean when your 5 year old computer makes an annoying buzzing sound? It is making me nuts, so much so, that I don't want to be anywhere near it!
I have opened the case and cleaned out 5 years worth of dust! (Disgusting and thankfully everything still seems to work) But still the buzzing! Could it be the fan? I don't know, but I have to go now, I have a headache.

EDIT: I FIXED IT! It was the floppy drive (3 1/2) which I've been told are ancient and no computers have them anymore. I took it out, all is quiet. One problem, my christmas card list is on a 3 1/2 floppy, how do I get it out of there??

Socks and Socks

Here is my monkey sock and mother's sock. I turned the heel on both of them. The monkey sock with short heel (so it is ready for zooming down the foot) and mother's with heel flap and heel turn; I still need to do the gusset decrease, so mother's sock will get most, if not all, of the attention today and the rest of the week. My goal is to have her sock finished by next Saturday, I think it is do-able.

Busy day today; hockey, grocery shopping, pumpkin getting and mother visit!

EDIT: Well, since the socks are not for sister, I guess the color doesn't matter much, now does it?? :)

Why my hands hurt

Has nothing to do with knitting mother's socks and monkey socks, but those darned webkinz! Yes, I started playing with the pug again (about the same time as the turbo knitting) and it is the mouse action playing the games that make them hurt!

Other sad news, my original sp11 pal had to drop out due to personal reasons :( so sorry I never got to know her. But I've been given a new pal, and so far she sounds great! Howdy to you :)

Today I did not have to teach preschool, we had a fieldtrip, so I was just the mother hen at the back of the bus making sure we didn't lose anyone! The day started out gray and raining, but by the end of the hayride, the sun was out (and my pants were soaked from the wet hay) and the temperature was 60.
Here is our tour guide, Farmer Nate.












The pigs ate his shoelace.

eye-carumba!!

What a headache I had last night! I had to teach preschool yesterday, my teacher's husband retired at the beginning of the month, and they celebrated (rightly so) by going on a vacation. Usually I do not have to teach the class until later in the year (March) and the kids are used to the routine, etc etc. All in all, it went fine (that's what everyone told me) but by 7:00 last night, I had the WORST tension headache, the entire right side of my head. But today it is fine :)

Progress is being made on mother's socks AND my monkey socks. In order to rationalize making myself socks, but not at the expense of mother, I have to knit an equal amount on both socks. I did really well on Sun and Mon, but yesterday with the headache and my fingers hurting (from all that knitting) nother (what is nother??) nothing was done. I have 3 rounds of the monkey completed and 4 1/2 (of the 5 1/2) rounds of mother's sock completed!

Mother's socks

Here is the first of mother's socks, it was completed yesterday. The mate has been cast on. Now, today it is going to be 85 (again! is this not October?) The a/c is cranking and I'm going to cast on my monkey's.
I am having so much fun checking out everything on Ravelry! Have you signed up yet? I think there is still room.


As I was coming downstairs to download pictures, who did I see?? None other than Darth Vader (son #2) playing goalie! cute.

so much fun

Here is the monkey box I sent out to Jane, she loved them and they fit! It was very nerve-racking making socks for someone else! But I did it and I learned how to make a short-row heel.

And what can I say about Ravelry! I have ignored my blog, and I apologize. There is just so much interesting stuff to do! I have upload all the stash and the 2 (yes, only 2) WIP's that I have going. Then you have to do all that surfing to find friends and projects and yarn stash to acquire :)

Well, I am just about done with sock #1 for mother. She was here today and I have the correct lenght, so I will begin the toe decrease. Then quick cast on the mate, then I can get to making me some socks!

I cannot wait to cast on the yarn sent by BetteM to make my own pair of Monkey's! My pal says she is working on mine and they should be coming soon.

I've not heard a peep from my upstream sp11 pal, I hope you are ok...please let me know, I've been very worried about you!

Well, off to the hockeyrink, thank goodness, as it is 88 degrees! Yes, it is October, what is going on with the weather. And, of course, next week, fieldtrip to the farm with preschool, 60's and rain.

Updates!

OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY!!
The Ravelry invite came at 9:19am!! I had to work all day, so I did not get it until 4:13pm :)
My user name is LeslieJ (go figure). I'll be playing around on the site for a while! It looks like so much fun!

Here is some GORGEOUS yarn that my friend BetteM sent me last week. I think I will make some Monkey socks!

Ravelry - could be today? or tomorrow??

Found you!
You signed up on July 28, 2007
You are #21351 on the list.
827 people are ahead of you in line.
16402 people are behind you in line.
54% of the list has been invited so far

update 3:51pm : I have moved up to 497
update 7:00pm : now at 335

YIKES!! I cannot stand the wait any longer.

Monkey pal in receipt of package

My downstream Monkey pal Jane received her package today!
I am so glad that they fit her.
Hey Monkey Pal! How are mine coming along???

No knitting, just book reading

I did not make any progress on mother's socks, I read
this book yesterday!

I started it during the 15 minutes I had to wait for the preschool building to open. Then I came home from school and read from 4-6 (took a break for dinner) and then finished it up from 7-9. It was AWESOME!!! I loved the first book in the series, and now I have to wait FOR-EVER for the last one.

WIP's

I finished the Monkey socks (no photo in case my pal happens along) and started the socks for mother.





I also got a new hair cut this week; in the few hours between dropping them off at school and going back to work at lunchtime (you know, pushing all those buttons) This prompted ANOTHER great conversation with my kids:
son #1: why did you get your head shaved?

(It used to be all one length, remember the stitch and pitch photo? It is now a stacked bob, short in the back, angled to the front with a few bangs)

son #2: you look like the old you, I like the new you better
me: are you saying I look OLD? or I look YOUNG?
son #2: you look young, but the old you had short hair, the new you had long hair, I like the new you with long hair better.

hubby: who are you and what happened to my wife?

Brother, it is just hair, as my MIL used to say, "It'll grow back"
I happen to like it; very sassy and all the kids at preschool still knew I was their teacher, not some imposter.

SP11 & Monkey Pal's

Hello to you! I would like to change the email address you have for me. I am getting to much nasty spam at the address you have. Could you please change it to the following:
the first part is the same (that long confusing stuff) just change the last part to @hotmail dot com.
thanks so much. I don't want to miss your emails, but I will not be checking that other one!
Now, how do I contact the people at ravelry to change the address for my invite?? hhmmmm.
Not much knitting, I cut my thumb pretty bad at preschool yesterday, so it makes it hard with a band-aid on. I am on the toe decrease for the monkey's, then I can start on some socks for mother.

Entry #2 - KIDS!!!

Ok, so my kids have no clue as to what I do all day long. Here is the conversation we had today after I picked them up from school:

son #1: I am so tired.
me: I am tired too.
son #2: Why are you so tired? All you do is sit and push buttons in the lunchroom!
me: WHAT!? Do you know what I did today?
son #2: What? You just sat and pushed buttons.
me: I stripped 3 beds, put 1 load in washer, drove you to school (early as he is a safety), went to the gym (walked 2.5 miles), came home, put load in dryer, took shower, took load out of dryer, put sheets on bed, went to work (2.5 hours where I pushed all those buttons), came home, put another load in the washer, went to dentist, ran errands, came home, dropped of the purchases, put load in dryer, drove back to school to pick you up. Then when we get home: finish putting sheets on beds, get dinner ready, fight with you and your brother to do homework, make dinner, clean up dinner, drop you off at Papa's, go back to school for 2 hours for curriculum night, pick you up, have you take showers (tomorrow is picture day) put you to bed, get ready for tomorrow (make sure everything is packed) and then I'll be ready for bed.
son #2: well, I know how you can make it easier;
DON'T MAKE US TAKE SHOWERS.
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH :)

An entire week??

Yes, I am bad, I have NEVER gone an entire week without a posting! (except while on vacation) and believe me, I was not on vacation last week.

The time just slipped away. It was the first full week of school and work, hockey started and I had some sinus issue going on, so I was exhausted by the end of the day, I didn't even do any knitting!! What is going on?? I finally picked up the monkey socks yesterday and turned the heel, so those are just about complete and ready to send off to my pal.

Stitch N Pitch at Comerica Park

Yesterday was Stitch N Pitch at Comerica Park. The Tigers lost, but everyone had a GREAT TIME! That is me on the right, my SIL is on the left. Please note color of official t-shirt. :)




I worked on my monkey sock and was able to finish 2 rounds of the pattern. When I knit at home, I just listen to the game, so I had a hard time following the game at the stadium. I would have to take a break every once and while to watch the game. As the Tigers started losing, I spent most of the time knitting and got the play-by-play from SIL. We received a great bag FILLED with all types of knitting goodies, can't wait to sit down and go through everything. We did get a shout-out on the local FSN station, but I don't know if anyone saw me. There was a gentleman taking pictures (he took 3 of me knitting my sock), I hope he was "official".

Oregon Downs Michigan 39-7

For all the details, go here !
Oh, and MSU won again :)

Well, she told me

This post is for sister :) enjoy the snacks while I type away.

There is not much to report; school (work) started on Tuesday. I have been so tired, I have not been able to knit (until today). I finished 1 Monkey sock, and cast on for its mate a few hours ago.

The boys seem happy to be back in school, I, on the other hand, could do with a few more weeks of vacation :) The weather has been very nice, so it makes it hard to go to work. I worked the first lunch of the year, processed $4000.00 (lunch money) and had the meet & greet at preschool, then had to babysit for the board meeting. PHEW. Any wonder why I had no energy to knit?? This week should be better.
And the best news??? U of M LOST AGAIN!!! oh yea, and MSU won.