Happy Halloween!

Welcome to the Halloween edition of AllThingsShea.com.

Have you been wondering what to dress your cat up as for Halloween? Well, the wonderful people at Cat Prin are here to help. For a couple a thousand yen, these too could be yours!

Here are a few samples from their site.

Anne of Green Gables - for those who want to seriously humiliate their kitteh!

OOOOO! Scary Leopard Kitty!

Frog Cat - I particularly like this one. My cat needs this.

Lovely Girly Blouse - doesn't she look happy?

Bunny Cat - confuse all the kids in the neighborhood! It's not Halloween, it's Easter!

Even more crazy cat costumes from their site are HERE.


More Links and Funny Safety Tips for Halloween:

• Here's a few Halloween Links for you:
  

The Worst Halloween Costumes of All Time from retroCRUSH

Ultimate Guide to Halloween Candies of 2007 over at I-Mockery

• These have been done elsewhere, but they're so funny I thought I'd repeat them. Here's some Important Halloween Safety Tips for you on this scariest of nights.

1. When it appears that you have killed the monster or murderer, NEVER check to see if it's really dead.

2. Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a joke.

3. Do not search the basement, especially if the power has gone out.

4. If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language which they should not know, shoot them immediately. It will save you a lot of grief in the long run. However, it will probably take several rounds to kill them, so be prepared. This also applies to kids who speak with somebody else's voice.

5. When you have the benefit of numbers, NEVER pair off and go alone.

6. As a general rule, don't solve puzzles that open portals to Hell.

7. Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt. This would apply to any other house of the dead as well.

8. If you're searching for something which caused a loud noise and find out that it's just the cat, GET THE HELL OUT!

9. If appliances start operating by themselves, do not check for short circuits; just get out.

10. Do not take ANYTHING from the dead.

11. If you find a town which looks deserted, there's probably a good reason for it. Don't stop and look around.

12. Don't fool with recombinant DNA technology unless you're sure you know what you're doing.

13. If you're running from the monster, expect to trip or fall down at least twice, more if you are female. Also note that, despite the fact that you are running and the monster is merely shambling along, it's still moving fast enough to catch up with you.

14. If your companions suddenly begin to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior such as hissing, fascination for blood, glowing eyes, increasing hairiness, and so on, kill them immediately.

15. Stay away from certain geographical locations, some of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, Crystal Lake, Salem, Nilbog (you're in trouble if you recognize this one), anywhere in Texas where chainsaws are sold, the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in Maine.

16. If your car runs out of gas at night on a lonely road, do not go to he nearby deserted-looking house to phone for help. If you think that it is strange you ran out of gas because you thought you had most of a tank, shoot yourself instead. You are going to die anyway, and most likely be eaten.

17. Beware of strangers bearing tools. For example: chainsaws, staple guns, hedge trimmers, electric carving knives, combines, lawnmowers, butane torches, soldering irons, band saws, or any devices made from deceased companions.

18. If you find that your house is built upon a cemetery, now is the time to move in with the in-laws. This also applies to houses that had previous inhabitants who went mad or committed suicide or died in some horrible fashion, or had inhabitants who performed satanic practices.

19. Dress appropriately. When investigating a noise downstairs in an old house, women should not wear a flimsy negligee. And carry a flashlight, not a candle.

20. Do not mention the names of demons around open flames, as these can flare suddenly. Be especially careful of fireplaces in this regard.

21. Do not go looking for witches in the Maryland countryside.

Scouts

Well, tonight was a big deal in the Cub Scout world. The Eldest earned his Bobcat badge and a ton of other stuff. He was so proud of himself.

I am not very involved in the Scouting world. Not because I don't want to be (except for camping. You'd have to pay me to do that and then supply power for my hair dryer and proper lighting for my makeup) but because I'm trying to let this be something that he and his father do together without my interference.

The Eldest has always been a "Mama's Boy" (which is fine with me since I won't have to marry him - let some other woman retrain him like I had to with his Dad) and this is the first time they've really done something together. Also, his Dad never got to do this growing up so he's living vicariously through the Eldest. So, basically, I stay back in the shadows and try to offer encouragement and a few "atta-boys" on the way. And this way, I don't have to go camping.

Besides, somebody's gotta watch the Youngest. Although camping would be more restful I think. Maybe I will take up camping... Can you knit well by firelight?

Early Halloween Fun

Yesterday, our church had our annual Halloween Tailgate Treat. This is loads of fun. Everyone decorates the back of their cars and hands out candy to all the trick or treaters. There are prizes for the best decorated tailgates and for the best costumes. I won the tailgate contest a few years ago, but wasn't feeling well enough to put the work into it this year. We did get the kids dressed up and off to trick or treat though.

It was like wrestling with a wild monkey to get the Youngest all dressed up. We tried to paint his face white, but did a lousy job of it. Maybe I should have said a large octopus instead of a wild monkey. Every time we moved a hand away so that we could decorate his face, another hand/arm appeared to block our efforts. We were exhausted before we ever got into our car to head to the church parking lot.

We decided to try and head the wild monkey off at the pass by putting him into his favorite wagon. It only worked for a while, but every second he was contained we considered to be a blessing. He's truly a hand full.

I got a couple of pics for you from it that cracked me up. The first has some skeleton boy who we didn't know, but who decided to get in on the picture taking action. You can tell my boys are related, they have the exact same "who the hell are you and why are you in our picture?" expression.



The other was taken right after we got back to the house. We were trying to get both of them to look at the camera at the same time. We made the mistake of saying peekaboo. He's covering his mouth to play peekaboo. He doesn't quite have the whole idea of covering your eyes to play it, but he's getting closer.




Last pic is knitting related. This is my second swatch for the Minimalist Cardigan and is also the correct one for gauge. The pattern calls for sevens, but I'm getting gauge with the sixes. So, guess that's what we'll use huh?

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, My birthday turned out to be an almost lovely day. My parents came over and took us out to dinner sans kids. We ate at a nice small italian restaurant. We all went to the In-Laws and picked up the kids and got my bday loot and had cake. Everything was very lovely. EXCEPT. I'm covered in sore/itchy/hivey type spots and I'm still achy.

See, a couple of weeks ago I was bitten by a tick. Totally gave me the heebie jeebies when I found it on me, on the back of my head! Ewwwww. Now, I've got spots. So, I had to race to the doctor to get drugs to combat whatever this may be. It's too early to know and I refuse to worry myself about whether I have lyme disease or some strange Alabamian middle of nowhere fungal plague from my parents place at the lake. Hi Mom!

I've gotten zero knitting done in 3 days. My parents stayed the night last night and we were too busy chatting and playing with kids. The look on the Youngest's face today as they were leaving was priceless. He could not have made them feel more guilty if he had tried. Absolutely pitiful. Boy loves his Nanny and PawPaw. He kept saying " N' Go!" and pretended not to see me as I tried to take him from his Nanny. Thus, fully engaging in the theory, "If I can't see you, you must not be there and therefore won't take me from the person I would rather be with so you should just make me happy and go away." I guess I know my place in the world huh?

Just because I wasn't knitting does not mean that I was not being crafty though. This morning was the Cub Scouts Space Derby. Eldest and his Dad made a rocket. Guess who got roped into painting it? Yep. Your's Truly.

I got the "Most Imaginitive" award for my trouble, er, effort! Well, the certificate said that the Eldest got it, but I'm claiming it anyway. Here's a pic with the rocket and the model used. Ever heard of Larry Boy from Veggie Tales? If you haven't you should fix that. These are a parody of batman and spiderman done by the Veggie Tales crowd and they are super funny. Adults find it funnier than the kids do because of all the pop culture references. Anyway, here's the results:

I Am That Hero!

I can has cheezburger?

This one just kills me. I can has cheezburger anyone? Last silly post of the day. I swear.

names

If I was a guy this comic would be so me. I am absolutely horrible with names. I'm lucky that I remember my name, much less anyone else's. When I teach children's classes, I always have to tell them about this so they don't get their feelings hurt when I forget their names. And I always do. It's embarrassing. Very. People expect you to remember their names. I would make a lousy salesperson. So, if you ever meet me, please be understanding when I nod and smile and say "hey you!" Please?

Clementine Shawlette is Finished!

Ha! I told you I'd have another FO today! Yes, the Clementine Shawlette is finally finito. It took long enough. I had a tough choice to make today: Nap during Youngest's nap time or I could work on the knitting. I am now very sleepy, but happy to have another Finished Object.

So, it's time for "what have I learned from this project."

1. Kitchener stitch is really not bad. I think I like doing this better than the mattress stitch. Reading many blog posts and comments in the forums had me worried that this part would look terrible on the shawlette, but I like it.
2. All acrylics are not created equal. This Lion Brand Micro Spun yarn is a dream. It's so soft and glides well on the needle.
3. It's definitely time for and un-lace project. This was fun, but I need a break from lace. I'm all laced out.
4. I learned how to read a chart! I think I prefer directions written out, but now I can do both.
   
5. I learned that it's real easy to make stupid math mistakes.
6. But! I can now rip out lace like it's nobody's business! This project caused me to get over the fear of frogging. So, I guess the stupid mistakes served their purpose.

Now, on to the pics:

Full length shot

The dreaded seam

Sideways Over the back of the chair shot

Close Up shot of the Chevrons!

Yeah Me!

Blah!

I finally confessed to the hubby that I spent some money. He's a little paranoid about the subject lately since there's not any coming in. I spent it in July. On The Police concert tickets. For those not in "the Know" that's The Police, a rock band, not the Barney Fife kind of pOh-lice that give out tickets to unsuspecting drivers. You won't find the band giving out free tickets. Oh no, not them. You pay up front for these and then receive a piece of paper, not the other way around.

So, I tried passing them off as an anniversary gift to him (the 19th was our 11th wedding anniv.) Sneaky huh? It totally didn't fool him for a sec. All he said was "these are really for you aren't they?" while grinning. Um, maybe. I do heart me some Sting. I don't care if he's old enough to be my dad. He can go tantric all over me any time he cares too. Older men are so sexy. How the hell did I end up married to a guy younger than me?



Other than that, My life has entered "the blah zone." I swear.

On one hand, I spend my day chasing a toddler and chauffeuring the Eldest to all his "appointments" - to school in the mornings, to school in the afternoons, etc.

On the other hand, the knitting is still plodding along. I'm hoping that within the next two days or so, I'll finish the Clementine Shawlette. Don't even ask me about Dad's socks. Those are not plodding. They've dug in their heels and have decided that if they go anywhere, it's because they've been drug there.

In between those two hands, I've been in a funk. I'm hoping that one of these days I'll snap out of it. Maybe it's because it's my birthday week? Does everyone do this before their birthday?

Halloween Meme

Okay, this is a makeup post since I missed two days last week. You know how you get in a funk and just can't bear to depress/bore everyone else with writing about how you're depressed? Yeah, I was in that kind of a mood. Please forgive!

So, here's something that started at Old Lady Pen Pal . I decided to jump in and join the fun.

1. Do you believe in ghosts?

Maybe. I know that there's supposed to be the ghost of my Grandmother that haunts my Mom and Uncle's house. She chain smoked like a fiend and every once in a while you can smell cigarette smoke in my Mom's house. No one smokes in my family now, so why would we smell smoke at the house unless it's her ghost checking up on us? I kind of like knowing she's watching over us. But she also used to cuss like a sailor. If I ever hear any of that though, I'm running!

2. Have you ever seen a ghost?

Nope, and I don't wanna.

3. Have you ever experienced something that is best described by the word “paranormal”?

Um, no other than the answer to question #1.

4. Do you watch any ghost or haunting themed shows?

No. I can't take any of these kinds of shows or horror movies. I freak out at even moderate tension. I can't even watch I love Lucy, much less a horror movie. The tension of knowing how much trouble Lucy is about to get into just kills me. (There's something not right about me isn't there?)

5. If so, do you sometimes sleep with the lights on or wake up your partner because the show scared you a whole lot and you can’t sleep and don’t want to be awake alone?

Sleep? I don't get good sleep on a good night. I have kids remember? One of them has nightmares and walks in his sleep and the other is only 22 mos. What's sleep?

6. Have you ever been to a supposedly haunted place? If so, did you experience anything spooky?

My Mom's house? I've also visited castles in Europe that were supposedly haunted.

7. How much do you love Halloween?

I love, love, love it! I had a decorating fit a couple of weeks ago where I bought some stuff and made some and my house is so cheery now! I also got two bales of hay and put them outside in the front of our house. I put a scarecrow with it. We also put spiderwebs all in the front too.

Only happy scarecrows allowed!

Ravelry

I finally got my Ravelry invite. It took about three months to get it. I spent way too much time last night uploading pictures and info. into it. You can get to my page on there (if you are already a member) by scrolling down and clicking on the button to the right on my blog. It's a pretty cool knitting/crochet resource. I can't wait to spend more time exploring on there. If you haven't joined Ravelry, you can join in with the rest of us knitaholics by requesting an invite. Please do, it's fun!

Injuries and Marketing Gimmicks

Sometimes the dumbest things lead to injuries. Yesterday, doing the "grab the basics" thing at the grocery store, I managed to somehow lift a bag of groceries wrong. It wasn't even "that" heavy, just heavy enough to do damage to my shoulder. All day today, I've had pain at the oddest moments. It doesn't happen every time I move, just sometimes and I can't figure out why. I really hope it's not a rotator cuff injury. I really don't feel like getting an operation. I'm crossing my fingers that it's only going to be a pulled/strained muscle. I'm actually scared to try to knit or spin tonight. I don't want any repetitive motion stuff to make it worse. I'll skip tonight and see how things feel tomorrow.

Anyhoo, I was reading a blog today (Unusual Business Ideas That Work) that mentions a business that falls into the "why didn't I think of that?" category. This company gets these little old ladies to knit socks for people on demand. Now anyone can knit socks on demand (as a matter of fact, send me money and I'll knit you a pair), but not everyone can just come up with a cute gimmick like this one. The Grannies are shown on the site and you can read up on each one too. You pick out the yarn colors, tell them your size, send them money and it's off to the races. What a great marketing idea. Here's the site: Your Grandma's Socks

Spinning and Fiber!

I was a spinnin' fool this weekend. I couldn't put it down!

Here's the results of my spinning so far:

The skein in the middle is the first thing that I ever spun and it is by far the most consistent and best quality of all of them. The one with orange was done next and was intended to be a novelty yarn. My teacher had to make me do thick and thin and add little bits of stuff into it. It really went against the grain to do this too. The others have all been practice.

I haven't been able to equal the success of the first one. I'm having trouble drawing as I spin. I can draw first and then spin, but I can't seem to do both at the same time yet. I'll get there, I know, but I want to be there now! Patience is not my strong suit.

I only made it through about 1o rows on the shawlette. Too busy gossiping and chasing the 22 mo. old.

I did get to go to a real live country fair this weekend. There were a whole 20 booths (including food), Terrier races (of all things) and there was a sheep show. I went up and asked one of the owners what he did with all the wool from his sheep. You won't believe what he answered, "I just throw it all in the trash." Fiber fanatics pay good money for this stuff and he just throws it in the trash!

Well, we passed a sheep farm on the way there and back, but didn't stop. My dad went today and got two big bags of fleece for me. I'll have to clean and card it, but it'll be free! He asked the owners what they did with their show sheep's wool and their answer? We just throw it in the gully. ?!!! What's with these people? Don't they know about this industry? They're missing out on a money making opportunity! Not to mention, loads of fun. Jeez!

My first Spinning Class

Wow, was my first spinning class fun! I had the best time. The venue was great too. The class was at The Whole Nine Yarns in Woodstock, GA. My lys closed and so I had to travel to Woodstock, but it was so worth it. It turns out that I was the only one in the class which actually worked in my favor. I love private tutoring. I learned how to use a drop spindle and I learned how to card wool (this was kind of a bonus.) Fun! I plan on spending my whole weekend spinning yarn. Or, at least some of the weekend. I do have to be a responsible Mom at least some of the time.

I have to pics to share today. The camera is already packed up with the Boy Scout equipment. As I am leaving for the lake tomorrow around mid-day, this will be the last post of the week. Have a great weekend! I'll have a report for you on Monday on how the spinning went and whether I was able to accomplish much while trying to keep a 22 month old precocious boy and a hyper puppy out of the wool.

Productivity! Knitting and Otherwise

It's amazing how much more productive I am when I'm home by myself (Hubby usually works from home, but not on Wednesdays.) I got so much done today, both knitting and otherwise. I did have the Youngest, but he took a three and a half hour nap, so I'm counting that as being by myself. Hmmm, I could kick them all out on the street, or I could just pack up and move to Tahiti by myself. Either choice sounds delicious, without the three guys there'd be a lot less testosterone poisoning in my life!

The Eldest is going on a camping trip this weekend with the Boy Scouts and his Dad is going along (Um, Mom doesn't do camping, recreational vehicle-ing, or any sort of roughing it - just in case you didn't know.) I got all their supplies and the Eldest's clothing packed. I did about five loads of laundry (yes, welcome to clothes mountain) and did the regular chores too.

And if you think that I'm going to stay home by myself couped up with a 22 month old without anyone to buffer the two of us for two and a half days, you've got another think coming! The two of us are heading for my parents' place at the lake. That way I can hand him off any time he gets on my nerves (wow that would mean, like, two and a half days practically baby free!) I'm sure my parents will be so thrilled. really.

As for knitting productivity:

1. I've started on the second part of the Clementine Shawlette and it's flying now that I've gotten the main lace repeat memorized. I'm still on the increases right now, but I'm not too far away from the repeats.

Meet Shawlette and Mini-me Shawlette

I'm also getting fairly good at frogging lace. The stupid mistakes that I have made have done wonders for my ripping skills and for my confidence.

It takes a load of confidence to pull your needles out of the project and start tugging on the lace. Well, not the tugging part, that part's easy. The hard part is the part where you hold your breath, and before you turn this horrid shade of magenta/purple/blue then pass out, you get the needle back through all the loops and yarn overs without losing any. Then you fall over and exhale/inhale at the same time. Whew!

2. I also finally began the boot socks for my Dad. This one is not an enjoyable project for the following reasons:

• I hate the feel of the tweed yarn. Way too rough and stiff. Will be super warm in his boots, but yuck! on my hands.
• I tried the two socks on two circs thing. Didn't work out for me. Way too confusing, too many dangly things at once. So, back to one sock on two circs. much better.
• And last, working with this yarn really makes my hands ACHE! It doesn't glide well. I'm also using worsted weight yarn on size 2 needles and it's tighter than I am used to. ouch.

Toe pocket!

Anyway, hopefully this project will go much faster than normal since this is bulkier yarn than I normally work with on socks. My reward for all this suffering will be starting on the Minimalist Cardigan with that incredibly soft Colrain yarn. I can't wait. Major incentive to knit really fast!

Stuff on my Cat

My cat made it into StuffOnMyCat.com! How cool! Check it out HERE!

Halloween Crafts

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday, but I got so depressed on Saturday. I was digging through the meager Halloween decorations and had to throw some of them out. Too much wear and tear on the homemade stuff. So, I grabbed my purse and headed out to replenish the decorations. I got a ton of stuff at Joann's (40% everything Halloween) and at the Dollar Tree (surprisingly good stuff.)

But the best part of Saturday afternoon and evening was spent making Halloween Clay Pot people! These are so freakin' easy and fun to make. More time consuming than anything. You can google for directions on how to make them. There is a ton of how-tos on the internet for making clay pot people for all seasons.

Here's how I did it:

I used 1.5" clay pots for the bodies and 1 1/4" wooden beads for the heads. Before painting, wipe your pots down with a damp cloth to remove any dust that will keep the paint from sticking. Next, choose what characters you will be making so that you can get your colors ready. I chose Dracula, a cat, a spider, a ghost, Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein.

Before Painting

Paint your pots and beads the appropriate colors. I used acrylic paint, but any craft paint will do. Use what you have.

After Painting.

Next, glue the beads to the pots. I used a hot glue gun, but something like E6000 would work fine.

Heads attached

Now, I painted on the faces. Using a sharpie marker on the faces is also allowed. I used mine to sharpen up the edges around the eyes and for making dracula's teeth. Basically, anywhere where you need fine detail. I don't have a paint brush that is fine enough for this, therefore, the sharpie. Next, seal your paint with an acrylic sealer.

Every one of these guys has either fun foam or chenille pipe cleaners hot glued on for accessories.

Frankie's Bride - had some hair issues, but I got through those after making a prototype. I used 4 black pipe cleaners and one white. I coiled the black ones and hot glued them together and then made a zigzag out of the white and then glued it in place with the end going into the top of the black coils. She also has pipe cleaner arms. I also added a purse, because every styling bride needs a fashionable purse.

The spider - I took four pipe cleaners and cut them in half then glued four legs onto both sides.

Frankie - pipe cleaner arms glued on. The color is a bit off in the photos of him, his body is a dark purple, not blue.

Dracula - fun foam bat wings hot glued onto both sides. Again, color is a bit off, his face is a pale purple.

Ghost - fun foam arms in white glued onto both sides.

Cat - Fun foam black ears (the pink was painted on) and part of a black pipe cleaner glued to the inside and brought up and curved slightly for the tail.

The Halloween Gang

The Bride's closeup.

All set up for Halloween!

Roving!

20 more rows of Clementine have been completed. I think I noticed a mistake though about 4 rows back. And, since I have become newly emboldened with ripping lace, not to mention that the mistake is quite noticeable, those 4 rows will have to go. Ah well.

Next week, Thursday to be exact, I take my first spinning class! I am very excited. It's a drop spindle class, not wheel though. Drop spindles are much cheaper. I want to see if I like it first before I invest in a wheel.

A while back I had ordered a drop spindle kit. It came with a small amount of roving, but it was Blue Suffolk. I wanted something a little bit softer. I ordered some white roving from The Sheep Shed Studio. They've got really good prices and boy was the customer service great. They sent my order (in two days), and with it was some Yellow and Brown superwash roving as a thank you. How cool is that? I can't remember the last time I ordered something, received it that fast and got a freebie with it. Now, I can't guarantee they'll do that every time an order is placed with them, but they definitely earned a return customer today. And to top it off, the roving is sooooooo soft!

mmmmm, soft!

knitting video

I don't have a lot to show for my knitting today. I've been tending a kid with a tummy virus for the past two days while keeping the other one from tearing the house down around my ears.

But!

Have you ever seen Stephanie McPhee knit? Have you seen how fast this woman is with the needles? Here's a link to a video that a lady took while at the Bluegrass Festival of Books in Lexington, KY, April 21, 2007. She makes it look like I knit in slow motion.

Young Preying Mantis

Hanging by a thread

I found this little guy hanging around in the side windows around our front door tonight. I know the neighbors are now convinced that I am batshiat crazy for trying over and over and over with and without flash to get these shots. Thought I'd share the ones I liked with you. Click on them to enlarge them.

Preying Mantis Helps Decorate for Upcoming Holiday

Before you ask, Yes, I have a lot of spider webs in these windows (on the outside, trust me.) I try not to look at it like I'm lazy with cleaning or anything. I prefer to look at it like I'm decorating for Halloween early.

Shot with my hand reflected in background. He looks like he's glowing.

From Inside

From Outside

Tasers and Knitting

Well. He did it again. More gray hair for me. Only This time though, he wasn't using a knife.

This afternoon the Eldest came home from school with a sinus migraine (and threw up in the car on too as a bonus and had a bloody nose) and needed Mom's full attention. I thought Dad was paying attention to the Youngest. Dad thought I was watching him. Meanwhile, Youngest was being extra quiet. Always a bad sign.

Anyway, I got the Eldest settled and went back downstairs to find the little twerp standing in my office chair (which spins by the way and is on rollers), leaning on my desk, and this time he was playing around with and trying to chew on one of my knitting needles. Now what if he had fallen with that needle in his mouth?

I'm tellin' ya, this child may be the death of me.

My Mom came up with a suggestion. Wouldn't it be great if we could come up with a child taser? You know, one that wouldn't do permanent damage, but would only feel like it does when you bump your funnybone?

I would like to add to that thought. That idea is fine and all, but maybe while it's doing it's thing with the funnybone feeling, it would dose me with one shot of valium in one arm and one shot of margarita on the rocks with salt in the other arm. We could make millions by marketing this to all the Moms out there with hellions like mine.

Knitting Progress Report:

I have been knitting some. Not a lot, but I am making progress. I put in a lifeline (since I got a little tired of frogging) and finished about 40 rows of the Clementine Shawlette.

Pic taken in Shea's Big Comfy Leather Rocker that she won't share with the hubby.

Sideways Crazy Action Shot - Just to get you excited about the knit.

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

It's a Happy Birthday Shout Out! To Jennifer! She's now officially 25 days older (ahem, that would be the big Three-Eight.) than me! Yeah!

It just makes me feel good to point that little statistic out.

Since I don't have a recent pic of her, here's a pic of her dog (also not recent, but whatever.)

Knitting and Gray Hair

The classic stereotype of knitters is that we are all grannies and that we must have gray hair in order to knit. Well, it's partially true. I am not a granny yet, but I am getting a huge amount of gray hair. Not caused by knitting, no. But by this Lil' Guy, the Youngest:

Can you see what he's doing? Right, reaching for stuff on the counter.
Now, picture a different day, different outfit on this deceptively adorable child. Got it in your mind? I cut up some peaches for him the other morning. The peeling and the knife were on a paper towel right where I left them, safe way up on the counter. Or, rather, where I thought they were safe.

So, I put him in front of Blues Clues (can you tell he likes Blues Clues? Properly pronouced "Bwues Cwues") and went to sit in my desk chair and proceeded to check out my favorite morning sites. I hear him behind me. I look over. And just about KEEL OVER. He had the steak knife (with a serrated edged no less). He wasn't just holding it, OHHHH no. The pointy end was in his mouth, serrated edge up and he was CHEWING on it!!!

You know how when you get so scared you can't move and your stomach drops down to somewhere below your knees? Yeah, that's what I felt. I couldn't yell or scream for fear of him cutting himself. I froze for a second before leaping out of the chair to grab the knife.

He's fine, not one little knick or cut. I, on the other hand, now have 50% more gray hair than I did.

Trust me, this pic is much cuter than the real thing. It's not running, climbing, yelling "no", trying to hit people, chewing knives or giving his mother gray hair.

I found time this morning to knit a small swatch of the yarn that I will be using to make my Dad some Hunting/Boot Socks. This will be part of his Christmas Present. It's a beautiful worsted Deep Olive Tweed from Patons Classic Wool Merino. It has some lovely bits of orange, yellow, pumpkin and bright orange in it.

When I make myself socks, I don't usually swatch since I do them toe up and try on as I go. But my Dad's feet are not here and I don't have exact measurements. So, I have to go on a formula and that means I need to swatch and measure. I've swatched, washed and blocked, but it's not dry enough for measuring yet.


I loved the way this looked on the yarn swift. Look at all those little bits of color!

Oh! my Colrain Yarn came in late yesterday. Yeah! I actually made my bed so that I would have a place to take a pic of it for you. Of course, I didn't make it the way my Mom or Hubby would. They spend way too much time making it perfect. In my opinion, the proper way to make a bed is to leave the sheets all wadded up, then take a thick comforter and cover the mess up. This won't really work with a thin comforter, you can see the lumps beneath it. Big, thick and fluffy is the way to go. Pull it up and Presto! Bed is made.

P.S. - Don't tell Mom! She really did try her best to teach me the "right" way to make a bed, bless her little heart.

A very stressful couple of days

I find that I must continue with my theme that there are some days that it just doesn't pay to pick up the knitting. I put down my current project, The Clementine Shawlette from IK Spring 2007, after I had to frog approx. 15 rows, for a few days. I was hoping that the break would be a good thing.

Well, I found the opportune time today to knit during the youngest's naptime. No go. I ended up frogging everything that I had done and then a few more rows. This has been exceedingly frustrating. Especially since I know this is an easy knit lace project.

What this has turned into though, is a great lesson on how to frog lace (not fun) and not drop any stitches (not easy) and still be able to find your place in your pattern project (very tricksy.) Notice the yarn barf all over my knitting bag and floor:

The current state of the project:

I have received several great compliments on my Hot Wheels Wreath from a couple of different forums and just wanted to say thank you to those who have been so nice!


Yesterday was a very stressful day.

1. We had a parent/teacher conference at school to discuss the Eldest's progress.
   
2. We then proceeded to the Boy Scout store to get the Eldest's brand spankin' new Cub Scout uniform. During the outing, trying to hold the Youngest was like trying to hold a hybrid Octopus/Wild Monkey. He decided to have a temper tantrum there as well. The people that worked there, instead of looking for little old ladies to help across the street, looked very ready to assist us out of the store due to the little hellion that I spawned.
3. Had to rush to grocery store for bare basics.
4. Had to more than rush to get dinner on the table.
5. Had a fight with the hubby (which led to getting zero knitting done since I don't knit well when angry).
6. Had to rush Eldest into his uniform and off to scouts.
7. I then, threw youngest in his bed, and proceeded to have a nice alcoholic beverage and felt very much better.
   

Here's the very proud product of the stressful day:

Hot Wheels Wreath

Last night was not my night to knit or try to change the contents of my Ipod Nano. Neither project went according to plan.

As I was working on the shawl, I looked down and realized that I had made a mistake. Just a small mistake. 15 ROWS BACK! So I frogged it and put the project down. Knitting while frustrated and ticked is not a Martha Stewart "Good Thing" moment.

So I wanted to add some podcasts to the Nano. Found out for some strange reason that I had run out of disk space. Gee, it could be that there were about 30 songs on there twice! Took forever to fix it too. Itunes is not the most intuitive program. Wish they'd at least emulate Windows Explorer or something for moving stuff around on the damn thing.

But today things turned around. Not with the above projects though.

When I became a room mom (read this as "got volunteered and still don't know how to say no to teachers") for my son's first grade class, who knew that my mad crafty skillz would be needed so often? There is a Fall Festival on Thursday and there is a themed wreath competition between all the classes. Guess who got to decorate and come up with a theme on just a couple of days notice?

So, this afternoon I got busy. I figured that this is after all a fundraiser and that parents try and win these things by buying more raffle tickets. I also kept in mind the pressure that little boys can exert on unsuspecting parents. I decided on a Hot Wheels theme cause every boy I ever met - young and old, goes crazy for cars.

I had one grapevine wreath to work with that the school provided. I bought 10 cars, 1 bandana with flames (for the background), 1 bag of stickers, 1 small monster truck, 1 hot wheels candy dispenser, 2 rolls of yellow satin ribbon, and two rolls of this shiny garland stuff with stars in red and blue. Oh, and one $10.00 gift card to Toys R' Us.

Here is the result of a couple of hours of labor on it (done during youngest's nap time of course and only burning myself once with the hot glue gun.): Click on photos to enlarge.

Here with too much light from flash that makes the cards too shiny to read.

Here with not enough flash so that it's a touch blurry.

I defy anyone to say that if they were a little boy they wouldn't be squealing for this! Personally, I know this to be true since Eldest already got himself into mucho trouble over this project. Whining about how he can't have even one car and kicking the carpet on the floor over it is not the way to win and influence mommies. Just sayin'.

Close up of the ribbon on the wreath.

Close up of the center of the wreath.

You can't see it, but there is the coolest bandana as the background in the center.

Close up of the baby who not 10 minutes ago was in full on temper tantrum "I'm damn mad cause I was told no and want the world to know it" mode and wasn't nearly so happy after he took a swat at Mommy and she swatted him back. I'm glad to say that while he wasn't smiling, Mommy was smiling just fine.