Knitting Crimes & Other Craft Adventures

My fat little toddler is now a skinny 8 year old….

Let’s give you all the crafting update first, shall we?

1.  I finished Sock #1:

Perhaps it’s hard to see, but I did the kitchener stitch wrong and the top of my sock is in front and in the back of my toes instead of side to side:

Yes, yes, I know….live and learn…it’s the part you stuff into your shoe…

2.  I started a new project:

Moderne Log Cabin Blanket from MasonDixon Knitting.  The yarn is in the colors are of our old living room (that will teach me to wait years before I knit up stash!).

3.  I posted new markers into the shop:

I just love these!  They’re so…shiny!

Now onto other news:  early this Saturday morning (and not Friday night because Cole has a baseball game), we are heading out on vacation!  The Swafford’s wait to drive 14 hours until gas is well over $4.00/gallon ’cause that’s the way we roll, yo.  I tried suggesting Michigan (close).  Didn’t go over.  Then I suggested Nebraska (yes, really I did!  C’mon, there’s got to be something to see in Nebraska!!!).  Also didn’t go over.  So, it’s off to Colorado we go.  We’re going to go somewhere north west of Denver and I think we’re going to do lots of things, though I haven’t checked the excel spread sheet lately (again - yes, really, that’s my husband!).  I think one day we may do a tour of the Coors factory or of the Celestial Seasons tea factory (now, before you get all cynical - Cole likes to see how things work, we have no intention of drinking that crappy beer).  We’ll be gone for over a week.  We’ve never taken a “real” (i.e. expensive) family vacation, so this should be fun.  I am looking forward to getting away. 

Now I must drag my children away from SpongeBob SquarePants and get them into the tub.  See you guys when we get back!

Tomorrow I am taking the day off from work!  Whoo hoo!   And I’m going with my friend, Trixy, (who is the owner of Weasel McPuppy, who you will see is listed on my sidebar as an awesome blog to read) to The Fold in Marengo to check out their summer solstice sale!  I’m hoping for good bargains and lovely yarn!  My boss at work told me I was such a nerd….but who cares!

No new knitting to show you, though I am contemplating possibly knitting a modern log cabin afghan from the MasonDixon knitting book.  For those of you who are familiar with the Yarn Exchange’s Ohio yarn - the yarn in this project calls for size 6 knitting needles.  I’m sure the Ohio yarn is thicker than that.  Can I get away with an 8, do you think?  How drastically will it change the size?

Markers to hit the shop soon:

These markers are a softer in color but in an effort to use my editing program, they came out like this.  I think I may have to mess with them some more.

When trying to photograph stitch markers for the shop, I often end up in the dining area of our house because it is has sliding glass doors and the best light in the house.  Of course my little sidekick wants to be a part of the action.

She demanded that her picture be taken (and you don’t mess with a 4 year old because they’ll repeat themselves over and over until your sanity has washed away and you are left in the fetal position)

But she kept on making all these faces.

Doesn’t everyone keep a child size pool in their kitchen?  And yes, I had to keep stepping in it to get past while clearing the table after dinner.  Those suckers are slippery!!!

And by the way, my pictures turned out much better tonight.  Out of the 70 I took there were only a handful that had to be deleted to fuzziness.  Look for more markers soon!

Out of 52 photos taken on Sunday, this was the best of the lot.  Can you even see the tiny copper butterflies at the top of the flowers? (rhetorical question, I know you can’t)  I’m thankful that all I have to do is erase and start over!  And I’m very thankful for rechargeable batteries.

I hope all of you knitters out there enjoyed WWKIP day (Worldwide Knit in Public day) - my husband totally rolled his eyes, but our local snb got together at the park and knit while the kids played.  It was a gorgeous day!

So, I’ve been thinking about starting a third project. It always seems that, when I have the time to think about a new project or the sky is the limit, I can’t decide what to do.  So, I hit the stash and decided to go the route of “Small Time Commitment” and make…

coasters!  I bought this yarn off the cone at The Yarn Exchange.  It is a thick cotton (thicker than Sugar ‘n Cream cotton yarn) and cheap!  I think I will have just enough to knit a 4th.

I started this book today.  It’s about a guy in Akron, OH who purchased a basically condemned house and his adventures in fixing it up.  The author is a young and engaging writer.  I love old houses.  When I lived in Denison, Texas (7th and 8th grade), I used to bike around town looking at all of the run down but still beautiful old homes.  I always wanted to buy them and fix them up.  I still do. 

I also made some new stitch markers and need to get them into the shop!  Look for it (hopefully) tomorrow.  And after some serious deliberation, I think I’m going to lower the price of my stitch markers. 

I turned a very figurative corner with my sock!

Ooh, don’t look at my big toe.  I had an unfortunate accident with Archie’s crate.

The side view.  Not real exciting.  Do you see the green plastic bb’s in the cracks of the deck?

Kristin, I did the heel all by myself!  My very first one!!!

The only bad spot in the sock.  Do you think I can weave some yarn in to cover this up?  I really don’t want to rip back and re-knit.

I’m glad to say that it’s Thursday night.  It’s overcast, warm, and windy here.  We’ve not had any of the rains that have been rolling through Iowa.  I went to the dentist today and found out that I have a “fractured molar”, which means “a new crown”, next Thursday.   I only have 2 knitting projects going right now and keep thinking about starting a 3rd one (3 is my limit).  But I can’t decide what to knit!!!

One of my friends, Connie, is a featured seller on Etsy!  I am so excited for her and her shop:  ReFabulous.  She’s sold just a ton of stuff since the feature hit the front page and has gotten hundreds of new “hearts”….I have two of her totes, one set of lavender dryer sachets, a vintage needle cover and one kick ass card holder.  Check her out!!!

Hey, you guys….have a great weekend. 

I saw this test over on KathyMarie’s blog and just had to take it. What were my results?

68 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!

Ha! I knew I was born in the wrong era!

Bea, over at Baa Baa Blacksheep, tagged me for my first meme ever!  Since I don’t have much in the way of new knitting or crafting to show you, I thought I would participate in this.  Here we go:

1.  What was I doing 10 years ago?  Hmmm….1998. I was living on 4th Street (in our first home), working in a trust department 40 minutes away as a Land Trust administrator.  Probably cherishing my life with no children.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (in no particular order):  okay, it’s 10:30 p.m., so we’ll have to say what do I have planned on my to-do list for tomorrow: 

-Go to work, try to remember to get party favors (or some such nonsense) for Cole’s last day school party on Thursday, try to remember to move laundry from the washer to the dryer before it smells moldy and I have to wash it again, work on stitch markers perhaps and walk Archie (sounds good, but will I get it all done?  That’s debatable).

3.  Snacks I enjoy:  I’m a salty and sweet gal…so I like popcorn, crackers, pretzels (but the bagel chip kind), cherry sours, m&m’s (sugar!) (do you see why I named the etsy shop Stitch Candy?)…when I’m eating healthy I like to have yogurt or a banana or a granny smith apple.  I think the question should be more:  what am I hopelessly addicted to?  Sugary Coke or Dr. Pepper.  I have it every day - it is the scourge of my life.

4.  Things I would do if I was a billionaire: (get ready, this list is long)

• Pay off my mortgage
• Set up an irrevocable trust for my mother and fund it with a lot of money, so she could live in comfort
• Pay off my mother-in-law’s mortgage and her car
• Set up a charitable foundation so that I could have the fun task of giving away money to charities and get a tax deduction!
• Buy up old houses in my town and either renovate them or tear them down and rebuild.  I’d seriously try to beautify this town.  If I tore something down and didn’t rebuild, I’d make the lot a mini-park and hire someone to go and water all of my gardens across town.
• I’d love to do unexpected nice things for people anonymously.  Like give the older lady on a fixed income new siding for her house.  Send major bucks to my favorite town as a kid to help beautify or enhance their library.  Give my local public library a boat load of money to buy new books and replace the street lights outside of the library and give their gardener a fat raise and more money to buy flowers - it’s beautiful now, so I can only imagine how much more beautiful it would be if he had a huge budget!
• I’d probably quit my job and maybe have a 3rd kid, if I could convince Craig. And try to spend more time knitting and crafting.

But really, Craig said we’d get the hell out of DeKalb!

5.  Places I have lived: (I have to do this chronologically through my life, otherwise I’d never remember it all)

• Stillwater, OK (where I was born)
• Weatherford, OK
• Bethlehem, PA
• Mechanicsburg, PA
• Wichita Falls, TX
• Denison, TX
• Weatherford, TX (yes, that’s right, I lived in the samed named town in 2 different states)
• Bartlesville, OK
• Naperville, IL
• DeKalb, IL
• St. Charles, IL
• DeKalb, IL

6.  Jobs I have had:

• High School:  I worked at Waldenbooks
• College:  I worked at B. Dalton Booksellers, American Eagle Outfitters (horrible job, not my style of clothing at all, and I still stayed for over 2 years!), Sears (in their credit central dept. as a person who approved increases in credit limits for Sears cards), Rose Records, Illinois Council on Economic Education
• After College:  I worked for a filing service in downtown Chicago for about a year (filing pages in law and tax libraries, my whole day was timed!), at a temp service (when I could no longer take the Chicago job), then as a waitress (when the temp thing slowed down), then in the trust dept. at a Bank in St. Charles, IL.  After that job was eliminated almost 8 years later, I went to another Bank in Geneva IL.  Then to a local Bank for 4 years and at my current Bank for a year and a half.  Banks, banks, banks!  Or I should say:  trust departments! 

7.  People to know about:  there’s lots, but I feel bad about tagging anyone.  So, sorry, Bea…but I’m going to end it here.  I never have luck with these things, anyway.  Thanks for tagging me, though, what a compliment!

I started this scarf back in March, 2007.  It is made of a gray cotton chenille cone yarn (purchased on clearance for $5.00 at the Yarn Exchange) and green Skacel Amica fuzzy yarn (also on clearance from the Yarn Exchange).  It looks…creepy (in certain lighting).  But ugliness doesn’t stop me!  So, I present to you:

Archibald, modeling his favorite new “look” of the summer.

I do look dapper, don’t I?

Aren’t I handsome, even from behind?

And finally…

Are you done torturing me yet?  Please??