Happy Holidays!

I can't believe that Christmas has come and gone already! This year has just flown by way too fast!!

Celia had a fantastic Christmas, was completely spoiled (but not too much!), and had a blast! She got a bike from Santa, and a scooter from her uncle Dave and aunt Heather (my bro and sil), both of which she LOVES!! She got on the scooter pretty much right away, and played outside for quite a while. One of the major perks of living in MD is that it was about 45 degrees outside and sunny. Great weather for Xmas! I did miss the snow a little, but I can get over that pretty quickly.

Santa brought me a few great things! A speaker system to plug my ipod in so I can listen to it anywhere, some Fleece Artist seawool from The Loopy Ewe (I got a $25 frequent shopper gc so I picked something out and when it arrived I had Nathan put it under the tree for me), AND some of the Harmony tips for my Knitpicks Options set. And 2 more sets of dpns for sock knitting. My inlaws also got us a gift certificate to the Melting Pot- YUMMY!!! We're hoping to use it before the baby comes!

So far the pregnancy is going well. I definitely have gestational diabetes again (though we knew that at week 10), so I"m having fun trying to come up with new ways to eat eggs for breakfast. I'm only allowed to have protein in the morning. NO carbs. Blech. My next try will be a sausage and cheese quiche that is crustless. Maybe tomorrow? I'm enjoying this week. While I do have to work (I only have 40 hours of vacation time saved up and kind of need that for maternity leave), I'm able to do so from the comfort of my couch. I'm doing some writing this week which I can do much better at home anyways, so talk about perfect timing. Plus my whole team took the week (or most of the week) off, so I'd be pretty lonely if I went in. So I get to be comfortable, in my PJs all day, and have my feet up. AND my daughter is at school and husband is at work. I have the whole house to myself!! And right now, my cleaning ladies are here doing their thing. So the house will be clean, and I didn't have to lift a finger. Talk about heaven!

Knitting hasn't been happening much lately. My attention span is absolutely shot, and I'm exhausted! I've been plugging away bit by bit on my Hogwarts swap 2 pals's socks (I haven't forgotten about you!!), and I'm about 3/4 of the way down the cuff, so I'm hoping to start the heel in the next day or two. I'm averaging about 10 rows a day before my hands get tired. I'm just glad I got the first sock done and I'm on to the second! I really am loving the way they're coming out though. My daughter wants me to make her a hat/gloves/scarf too. I started the hat, but have only gotten the ribbing done. When we had snow a few weeks ago she bundled up in my hat, scarf, and her baby gloves, so I gave up and bought her a set at the Children's Place. Just easier, and faster. And I want to get the socks for my pal done before I touch anything else. I initially had a goal to make 2 pairs of socks for myself for the hospital, but that's SO not going to happen. I'll just wear ones I've already knit instead. Unless I get a burst of energy, which I doubt will happen, since I've only got about 10 weeks to go!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! And that you all have a Happy New Year!!

thanks!

Thanks for all of the comments! We're all so excited to be having a healthy baby boy!

Our Thanksgiving was lovely, and it was really good to spend some time in Buffalo. The more I'm there, the more I want to move there. At least we made some steps towards making that happen!

Other things are going pretty well. Except for the last 2 days. I've had a stomach bug which really hasn't been any fun at all. We've also had a bit of snow, which has been nice. About 3 inches today! I slept a lot, ate a little, and relaxed. Got a little work done, but mostly took it easy. Thankfully I'm feeling better tonight.

It's official!!

We're having a boy!! We had an ultrasound yesterday, and everything is perfect, and there is no doubt about it being a boy! Now we have to come up with names. And now, the knitting can truly begin!!

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!

KTS4 package received!!

Wow! I came home Friday to a wonderful package from my KTS4 pal, Jo! Inside, were some amazing teas- River Shannon breakfast blend, Scottish breakfast blend and Earl Grey, all from Upton Teas, some cookies- chocolate tangerine and lime sugar, a Red Sox world series T-shrit for Celia, and a Red Sox world series bib for baby, some beautiful yarn from Cabin Cove- so soft!!!, and some lavendar. I was spoiled rotten! I have to say, the breakfast tea is really amazing, especially when paired with the lime sugar cookies. SO good! The chocolate tangerine cookies are really amazing too. Thanks for a fantastic package!! Yours is going in the mail tomorrow!

Auction!!!

Here's the info for the Damascus Y-Women annual auction! I'll definitley be there!!

Damascus Y-Women’s
Annual Rockin’ Fifties
Gift & Craft Auction


LIVE AUCTION
SILENT AUCTION

FREE DOOR PRIZES
FREE REFRESHMENTS

Tuesday, November 13, 2007
6PM
Preview at 5:30PM

First Time at NIGHT!!!

At

Damascus American Legion
10201 Lewis Drive
Damascus, MD
(turn at the CVS on Rt. 27)

Any Questions?
Call 240-723-0473 Or Visit www.damascusywomen.com

I've mentioned before on this blog, that this time, getting pregnant for me was much more challenging. As part of the Infertility community, I'm posting my story below. It's National Infertility Awareness Week, and I'm doing my part here to spread the word.

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Here's my story for Blogatavism, for the My Story Project.

I got married in 2002, and was immediately ready to start having kids. My husband preferred to wait a while, considering we had just gotten married, he just got his Masters, we both started new jobs, and moved 2 states (and 8 hours) away from our families. This made absolute sense to me, so we decided to wait about a year and a few months. The first month we tried to get pregnant, it worked! I had a great pregnancy (minus the gestational diabetes), and gave birth to an amazing little girl (Celia), on February 26, 2004. Just 5 days before our 2 year wedding anniversary. After Celia was about 1 year old, we decided to wait until she was closer to 18 months to get pregnant again, assuming it would be just as fast as last time. We decided to start in October, since we'd be going on a cruise that month, so why not make it memorable? The morning of the cruise, I ovulated, and was SO excited with the timing. 2 weeks later I got my first BFN. And it proceeded to be like that until February. At my 6 month checkup with my OB/GYN, he asked how things were going, and since I was ovulating somewhat irregulary, somewhere between 6 and 8 weeks, he wanted to try me on clo.mid to see if it would help regulate me some. My first clomid cycle lasted 13 weeks...and no, I was not pregnant. I was devistated. At around 9 weeks, I called my OB/GYN's office, and was in a bit of a panic. He immediately said that this was NOT a normal reaction to clo.mid, and he wanted to send me for some more testing, at a Super Giant fertility clinic.

My first appointment with my RE was great! He was so optimistic, considering I had one successful pregnancy already. So we did all of the tests, and went back for another consult. He told me that I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (explains the irregular ovulating, and tendancy to gain weight easily but not be able to lose it). The next step was to test the hubby, which given his age and health shouldn't be an issue, and then we'd jump into IUIs as soon as we were ready. Since our insurance policy covered IUIs at 50%, we needed to save some cash, and wait until the following year so we could set aside some flexible spending dollars to help compensate. And that's when we got the letter in the mail- my new primary insurance needed a statement from the RE regarding my husband's sperm count, and the likelihood of it working with IUI. That's when my nurse called, asking us to come in for a consult. We had never talked about his semen analysis, so we assumed all was good. Little did we know, it was very, very bad. Extremely low (at 0.6x10^6, or 600,000) with very poor morphology. Not good news. He wanted to repeat the analysis and send hubby to a urologist to see why this was happening. We saw the Urologist, and there was nothing there that would cause such a low count. Now the question comes in- was it this low when we got pregnant with Celia? What changed in the last 4 years? NO IDEA! Anyway, it was on to IVF with ICSI- do not pass go, do not collect $200, without any other optinos.

On the plus side here, IVF was covered by BOTH of our insurance policies at 100%. This made that much easier to swallow, but emotionally, we knew it would be hard. In May 2007, we started our first cycle, only to have it postponed because of cysts. After my next cycle started, things were clear to start. We got a total of 10 eggs (only 3 of which were mature), and we got 5 little embryos out of it. Two of which didn't make it to transfer, and we did a 3 day transfer of 2 of our little embryos. Both took, but a week later, one had clearly stopped growing, leaving 1 healthy baby growing. I'm at nearly 22 weeks now, and without any complications, I should be giving birth, via C- section, in about 16-17 weeks.

Having insurance coverage made this whole experience a lot easier to swallow. When IUI was going to be covered at 50%, we helped fix it with adding a second policy which hopefully would have helped somewhat with the difference. IVF was covered at 100%, as were most of the meds (minus Crinone, which I paid out of pocket for). It helped me to focus on myself, and my husband and daughter throughout treatment. I didn't have to worry about her not being able to continue with gymnastics classes because of money. Or worry about buying her new clothes, or shoes when she needed them. We took a vacation this summer. All things we never would have been able to manage had we had to pay out of pocket. Most importantly, we're going to be giving her the brother or sister she's been asking for for the last year and a half. When we told her about the baby, she was SO excited. Any time we go to a store, she keeps talking about the things she needs to get for "my baby". It's not mine, it's hers. And none of this would have been possible without our insurance coverage. We are so lucky to have our policies, and I wish that everyone else was that lucky. IVF really took it's toll on me, physically and mentally. But I didn't have to worry about money at all, which made that part of it so much easier. I hope that things change some day, and IVF and other infertility treatments get more coverage, so that everyone else has the option to persue treatements without worrying about paying bills, or putting food on the table.

That's my story. I know how lucky I was, and am. I know how different Secondary Infertility is from primary infertility. But it still hurts, and changes you forever.

Recap

Wow, I can't believe it's been over 2 weeks since I posted! Sorry about that!

Things have been crazy over here! I've been completely exhausted, and have had no energy whatsoever. My trip to San Francisco went well! The conference was great, and at an amazing place, and the food was incredible too! Gotta love a place that has desert for lunch AND dinner!

Here's the rundown of what we did in San Francisco-
Got in around 3, headed straight to Ghiradelli Square. Bought loads of chocolate, went to Cellar360 and did a wine tasting flight, and then had ice cream at the Ghiradelli soda shop. YUMMY!!! The wine tasting was absolutely incredible. For $25, we tried 5 different California Cab sauv., all of which had a retail price between $65 and $115 per bottle. The most amazing wines I've had in a very long time, and I even came home with one. Just so good! Then we went over to the cable cars and rode them up and back, headed to the hotel where we went to a restaurant across the street, that had absolutely amazing pizza. Some of the best I've ever had! Second day we went on a walking tour of Little Italy and North Beach. Had loads of different pastries, foccacia, coffee, truffles, and other things. It was great! Then, was one of my favorite parts- a trip to Artfibers. I was relatively well behaved, and spent a little, but not too much. The varieties of yarn were just incredible! I picked up 3 different silks, one of which is for my KTS4 pal. Then we went shopping in Chinatown, and had a late lunch. After that, we went back to the hotel, relaxed a little, and found a restaurant in the area for dinner (tapas!). Everything was great! I had a wonderful time, and was wishing I had more time there. Definitely have to go back again! And this time, with my hubby. But I'll definitely stay at the same hotel again- it was really nice, inexpensive, and in a great location!

10 more days!

I am really getting excited about my upcoming trip to California! I'll flying in and out of San Francisco, direct flights (yeah!), and did decide to extend my stay by 2 nights! So I'll be in San Jose at the conference for 3 nights, and San Francisco for 2. And, it worked out really well, because my boss is going to be able to stay in San Francisco for the first night too, so we'll get to check out the city together. Makes it much easier, and more fun because she's been there before. I definitely am going to check out Artfibers, which I can't wait to see. And the rest we'll play by ear. I can't believe I get 5 whole days that are husband and child free!

Recap of Stitches East

I had a blast! A neighbor, who I met on Ravelry, picked up up around 8:30, and we headed over to Baltimore. We got there right at 10, which was perfect because it wasn't all that crowded. Yeah! I think we looked at most of the booths, and ended up buying loads of stuff! And, I even spent $50 less than I planned on!! I can't believe I walked out of there with cash!!

Here are some pics of my purchases!

First, we have a skein of STR in a fab colorway that I hadn't seen before!

Then we have some silk Lotus from Interlacements, which is such an intense blue in person. I bought a great pattern (below) to make with this.

Then we have some buttons for a lavendar/periwinkle sweater I'm making for Celia. I am using these as incentive to finish it by the holidays.

And here are the 2 patterns I picked up. The one on white paper is the one I'm using the Lotus for. It's just so lovely!!

And here, is some Lisa Souza, which I fell in love with.

And, since I was wearing my Koigu socks, I had to get some more. I just loved this colorway the second I saw it.

Then, The Ernst's had a booth for their beautiful glass needles. I've been thinking about buying some forever, and after I tried them, I had to have some! Again, with the blue. It would have been purple, but they didn't have any in a solid purple, other than the LimeNViolet ones, which I loved, but they didn't have any with longer cords.

Then, we have some Brooks Farm, which is a booth I can never go into without buying something. This was no different- though I did only get one. I had gotten 4 at MSW which I haven't touched yet, so I felt good about restraining myself here. It's their Fourplay, and it's absolutely stunning!

And last, but certainly not least, we have some Colinette Jitterbug, in a beautiful colorway. I had resisted, until I saw from another blog, that the name of this colorway is "Jay". And for those of you who don't know, Jay was my maiden name. So I had no choice in this purchase whatsoever. It was coming home with me.


Well, there you have it!! My Stitches East purchases! I was very well behaved this year. I didn't go overboard. And, I had a lot of fun! This year, I was there an additional hour, for a grand total of 3 hours. Being pregnant, it was absolutely perfect. Any more time and I would have collapsed! I was so exhausted! And it was fun going with my neighbor! Neat that you find people right around the corner, with several common interests (wine and yarn!!), on Ravelry. I always love seeing what others have gotten, and it always inspires me to look at different things.

Anyone going??

I'm going to Stitches East on Friday!!! Anyone else going??

And the winners are...

Kerry- has won a skein of my handpainted yarn!

Annemarie- has also won a skein of my handpainted yarn!

Mary- has won a set of stitch markers!

Stacey- has also won a set of stitch markers!

I'll be e-mailing you to ask the specifics of what you'd like!

Updates

Well, the Walk was great, and I raised $455 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!! I'm so excited about that- thanks so much for all of your contributions!! I'll do the drawing tonight!

I had my next ultrasound this morning, and.... it's an IT! As with Celia, this child was stubborn and decided not to show us the gender. It's all good though! I'm still excited, and am looking forward to the next US in 6 more weeks. We did take Celia with us, and she really had a blast watching the images on the screen. Very exciting!

3 more days!!

Thank you so much to those of you who have donated to my Light The Night walk. I really appreciate it, and between you and family members, I have more than doubled my initial goal!! You rock!!

Here's your last chance to donate!! I have a total of 4 prizes, 2 skeins of yarn, in winner's choice of colorways, and 2 sets of stitch markers, again in winners choice of colors. If you donate before 6pm on Saturday, October 6th, you'll get your name in the drawing!!

Thanks again everyone!!

Phew.

Ok, I figured out where the comment came from, or at least why I was picked on. I guess being an SP hostess has it's hazzards. The blog owner who the commenter was talking about actually wrote and apologized for it. No one knows who the commenter was, but it was really nice to get an apology. Thanks!

Not much else going on over in my neck of the woods. Busy as always. Lots of things may be changing, but we'll see what happens. I spent some time doing a few custom orders last night, which was fun. They're drying, and will hopefully be ready to go soon!!

so confused!!

I just saw this comment...and I have no idea what its from! I never leave anonymous comments. Never. WTF?

And this person is rude enough to yell at me about leaving an anonymous comment, which I DIDN'T, yet they left this one as anonymous.

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If you're the one who left the "anonymous" comment on "Yet Another Knitting Blog," you're a piece of trash. Rules are rules, but there's no need to be rude. You also could have had the guts to leave your name, or -- how's this -- send a private email to the blogger. So here's an "anonymous" comment of your own to wonder about.

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And fun was had!

Celia had a blast camping! Here's a pic that Nathan took- she apparently was pretending that the stick was a lawnmower, and kept going around the tent with it.

And here is what I did yesterday!

Perfect weekend.

Yesterday morning, I kissed my hubby and daughter goodbye, got in the car and got a few last minute things for their camping trip, while they went to gymnastics. I grabbed a starbucks on the way out, and decided that breakfast was a must as well, so I hit the McD's drivethru and grabbed an Egg and cheese biscuit and hashbrowns, and headed home. I watched TV while I had my breakfast, and then...went for my massage! I had my first prenatal massage of this pregnancy, and it won't be my last, let me tell you!! It was amazing. By the time I got home, my husband and daughter had just gotten to the campground and were working on the tent. So I spent a few hours in front of the TV relaxing, made some Mac N Cheese, and then did some dyeing. 13 skeins, almost all new colorways. Half of them are in a worsted weight alpaca blend- yummy. Then I thought of ordering dinner (from Waiter on the way, but decided that I couldn't justify the $10 delivery fee for just myself, so I made a cheese quesadilla and had some chips and salsa instead. It was pretty good too! After that, I watched more TV (reruns of Americas Next Top Model were on the DVR), and relaxed some more. Bed by 10, on clean sheets, and I had a great night sleep. The only down fall was waking up at 5 to a horrible smell. Turns out wet alpaca doesn't smell very good, and our bedroom is next to the laundry room. So after I sprayed my room, and closed the door, it was back to sleep til nearly 8. It was perfect. And now, in about 20 minutes, I'm heading out to meet up with the DC Metro Get Together with the ladies I've met who are all dealing with infertility in one way or another. They have been such a great support system over the last few months, and I can't wait to see them again!!!

Guess what?

My etsy shop was featured on the Lime N Violet Daily chum blog!

hmm...

This could be interesting.

DealDotCom.com. Check it out!!

edited: fixed the link. Sorry!!

Light The Night, 2007

Hi everyone! On Saturday, Oct 6th, I'm going to be walking in the Light The Night Walk to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Last year, one of my best friend's lost her 14 year old sister-in-law to Leukemia, and I'm walking in her honor. Please help me make my goal of $200!

I'll be holding a contest, for anyone who donates. What are the prizes you may ask?? Well, first off- I'll be raffeling off several skeins of handpainted yarn from my shop, in the winner's choice of colorways! Plus a few sets of stitch markers, and a few other items. Everyone who donates will be entered into the contest! So head on over to my donation page to support this great organization!

Thanks for your support!!

quick post

Here's the pic of my baby's first skein of handpainted yarn. I'm just so proud!!

in training...

This is a sweet pic of my Celia from last week. I was winding one of the yarns I had dyed so I could reskein it, and she just had to help! I'm going to be in big trouble once she starts knitting.

another weekend update

Sad! I can't seem to find time during the week to post, other than right after weekends. I really need to work on that! And maybe include some pics of what I've been up to!

My weekend was ok...not so much fun though. Celia had the first gymnastics class of the fall session on Saturday, and she had an absolute blast! She was so adorable, did everything her teacher wanted her to, and was such a star! After class, we were heading to IHOP. We are almost there, and she tells me her tummy hurts, and she had to go poo poo, so as soon as we get there, before we even get a table, we head back to the bathroom. After 30 minutes of her trying, I finally convince her to get off and try again later. She didn't look so hot, so I told her we'd order the food to go, and go home. We were washing our hands, and all of a sudden she looked really funny, and I rushed her to the toilet in time for her to throw up. Poor thing was so upset. She really felt awful, but didn't want to leave without her breakfast. I promised her to take her there as soon as she was feeling better, so we went straight home. She got sick on and off all morning and part of the afternoon until she just passed out and slept for a few hours. This is really not like her- she hates naps. Anyway, she woke up feeling alot better. I just felt awful because we had to cancel her slot at the library Discovery room, and bail out of a birthday party she really wanted to go to. She was really upset, but at the same time, she really seemed to understand.

Sunday, we finally ended up at IHOP for our breakfast, only this time, hubby came too. I try to do something special with Celia once a week, and it's usually breakfast, but we did something different instead, since she was sick Saturday. I ran to the mall, ran to a few other stores, and went home. I decided it was a good time to dye up some more yarn (and man was I creative yesterday!!), so I got that stuff together. I just went nuts, and made lots of new colorways. Not many are named yet, and I need to think about a few. I had one thing in mind for one of them, but it doesn't seem right now that it's drying. WEll see though!! Celia had helped me wind one of the skeins one night last week, so I tagged it and kept it aside so she could help me dye it. After I was done, I took that skein out, and we dyed it together! She picked the colors, and got the lengths of color established, and I just filled it in so it was completely dyed. She did great, and I love the skein she came up with! I would have taken pics if she wasn't standing there in her Dora undies- she was way too cute. She asked me to make her some new legwarmers with it, so I think I shall! Her old ones are probably too small now.

That was the end of it! I did spend a little time knitting my Hogwarts Sock pal"s socks. I had a few inches of the first cuff done, but then ripped the whole thing out. I wasn't happy with how they were looking, so it was back to the drawing board. I picked a different pattern, and think I'm happy with them now. I hope so! I really need to get knitting!!! They shall not be late though...thankfully I still have loads of time.

What a weekend.

This weekend was busy, and crazy, and fun! Saturday, we had planned on a low key day at home. Until, at 2:30 or so, the power went out. Not sure if it was the heat, it was over 98, or weather, or a fluke. But we were out of power, and it was getting HOT in the house. So off to the mall we went! We had fun, walked around a bit, got a few things from Old Navy's maternity section, then went out for dinner. I hadn't been to Chili's in ages, and it was SO good. I could have just gotten the Skillet Queso and been happy. After dinner, we headed up to Buy Buy Baby, which is a massive store, filled with baby stuff, on 2 floors! One floor is furniture and nursery things, the other floor is all the other things you need with a baby. We picked up some bed rails for Celia, because my mom is bringing up my old bed (an antique), for Celia to have, so we needed rails for a full/double bed. While we were there, we told Celia she could pick out a little present for her baby brother or sister. She was SO excited, and kept running around, saying that her baby needed towels, and bibs, and bottles, and clothes, and toys. She wanted to get one of everything for her baby. It was way too cute, and I was nearly in tears as we're walking around. We let her pick a cotton one piece outfit, and a hoodie towel. She's so convinced that we're having a boy, that the outfit she picked is yellow, green, blue and orange, and has animals over it, and the towel is blue with a crocadile on it. Oh yeah, she's sure. And insistent. She's just so adorable about the whole thing. Then on the way home she was talking about how she was going to be the one to change diapers, not me or daddy. And she wanted to feed the baby, and give baby a bath, and all these other things. It really made me happy to see her already getting excited about her brother or sister.

And yes, it's definitely, without a doubt, just one. I had another ultrasound this morning, at 11 weeks 3 days, and there is one baby in there. The other sac is still present, but empty. Which is good, it means that the other embryo was absorbed, and the sac will hopefully soon follow. It was so much fun to see this particular sonogram this morning. It was the first trimester screening, and they checked for markers for Downs Syndrome and stuff like that. It was just so detailed. I could see the nasal bone, and loads of other things. No sex organs yet though...but next time we should be able to see. I go back in 6 weeks. ;)

Yesterday was busy with usual errands. Grocery shopping was oh, so much fun. I forgot that the first day of school is today in our area, so it was a mob scene. Thankfully I got in and out relatively quickly. Then I spent the afternoon dyeing. I got my new toy- a skeinwinder- in last week, so I played with it a bit the day I got it, and some more yesterday. SO much faster!! So I dyed up 9 skeins (one is already spoken for). But I have two Fawkes, a Lord Voldemort, a Crookshanks, a Ron Weasley, and several new colorways that will be uploaded as soon as they're dry. I had so much fun, and while I was working away yesterday, I had loads more ideas for different colorways, but they'll have to wait for next time.

Prize pics!

Here's what I came home to on Thursday! What a fantastic surprise! I didn't expect so many beautiful yarns, and all ones I haven't tried yet!! Thank you SO much Sheri!!!


We have: All Things Heather, laceweight alpaca in a really pretty green, Urban Gypzy, twisted, in fun fall colors, and my personal favorite- Yarn Pirate, in pink, purple, yellow, white...just so pretty!! I can't wait to cast on.

But first...comes my Hogwarts Sock Swap 2 pal's socks. I need to work on those first!! Here's a pic of the yarn I dyed up a few weeks ago. I love how it came out, both the burgandy and gold are done with different concentrations of similar/the same colors. I'm trying a pattern that I haven't used before, and am going to do gold for the cuff ribbing, heel and toe. Fun!

Holy cow!

I was just checking Sheri's blog over at The Loopy Ewe, and I was a winner in her Anniversary contest!! I'm SO excited!!

To stay or not to stay...

I am going to a conference for work, in October. I'm really excited, because it's in San Jose, CA, and I've never been to California before!! Now, before I got pregnant, I was planning on either going a day early or staying a day or two late. Now, I'm not so sure!! I know San Jose is like an hour to San Francisco (and the only reason I know that is from looking at flights), and I'm dyeing to get to Artfibers after seeing and hearing so many great things about their stuff. But the idea of travelling alone, in a big city like San Francisco, kind of freaks me out. Is it worth it?? Or are there any neat yarn shops in/near San Jose? I really know NOTHING about California, it's terrible! Any advice would be awesome.

Sockapalooza 4 package

Yesterday, I finished my Sockapalooza 4 socks! Here they are!

They immediately went into a woolwash bath, and they're drying as I type! I'm hoping they're dry by tomorrow morning. My fingers are crossed!!

I also received the socks from my pal yesterday!! I have to say, she went way above and beyond- they are absolutely gorgeous!! Here's a pic of the package she sent:



The socks are truly stunning. Made of Cherry Tree Hill, and SO soft! The lacy pattern is the hanauma bay sock pattern, and I absolutely love it. The other gifts in the package include Claudia Handpaint in Toast, hand soap, a Loopy Ewe sock book, a row counter/bracelet that is just awesome (and made by my pal, Moonlight Knitter), a fun ornament that's from her home town- a pig for the hog capital of the world, a notepad, a keychain, and a beautiful handmade bag- which has sheep on the outside and piggies on the inside. I love it!! Thanks so much Stacey- you completely spoiled me ROTTEN!! I love it all!!

Gifs!

A few weeks back, I was asked to be an angel for a SP10 participant who didn't receive anything from her pal. I gladly put a package together, and sent it off. 2 weeks ago, I came home to a fabulous box! Apparently her pal did come thru, and she sent me a fun package in exchange for the one I sent her. I finally found the cord for my camera, and the battery charger, and I got a great shot of everything. Here it is!

Some beautiful hand dyed yarn and roving, beautiful wooden sticks, a fun pez dispencer, and some chocolate. YUM! I love it all. The colors are awesome! Thanks so much Michelle!

Thank you!

Thank you all for your kind words! Thankfully I'm doing really well. I know that twins would have been a huge challenge, and a long and risky pregnancy for me and both babies. I'm thrilled that we're having 1 healthy baby!! My daughter is so excited, we told her about it on monday. She keeps running around telling me there's a baby in my belly and its' her brother. Of course it's way too early to know the sex, but she's convinced it's going to be a boy. If not, we'll be in some trouble!!

I've been working away on my Sockapalooza 4 pals socks. I love how they're coming out. I'm about halfway done with the second sock, so I have some major work to do tonight!! I hope I finish them in time! They're supposed to go in the mail tomorrow!! I'm guessing they'll make it in on Friday or Saturday, but I'll more than make up for it in the package. I bought a few extra goodies for her, knowing that they might be a day or 2 late.

Secret Pal 11sign-ups are done! I will start working on sorting the names into groups as soon as they're all verified! I'm looking forward to another round! Though this time I won't be participating, just hostessing. I'm afraid to commit to a pal with the pregnancy, I won't have the time and energy to really put into it. I'd hate for a pal to feel neglected.

I also joined the Hogwarts Sock Swap 2, hosted by our lovely headmistress, Rebecca. The second years (which I am!), get to send yarn in their package with the socks, so I decided to give all participants a 10% discount on their yarn purchases from my shop. The Hogwarts series of colorways have gone so well, it's amazing! I have more to put up (as soon as I finish my sockapalooza pal's socks), including a few new colorways- Ravenclaw (which incorporates both book and movie colors), Prophecy, and one skein of Night Bus. I LOVE how Prophecy came out. I may keep 1 of the skeins for myself (I loved how the first one came out before the colors were even set, and I made a second). So much fun!!!

Good news and bad news.

Today we had another ultrasound. It looks like we're only having 1 baby! Not sure how I feel about this yet, a little sad yet relieved. But the one baby measured 7 weeks and 1 day and had a very strong heartbeat, and the other measured 6 weeks 2 days, with no heartbeat. Looks like the second one won't make it. It should just reabsorb, and the other baby will be fine. Thank goodness! I'm just glad that it looks for now, like everything will be just fine. ;)

Dyeing

To my Sockapalooza 4 pal- I got your comment. I can easily re-create the Ronald Weasley colorway. I take notes on most of my Hogwarts colorways (with the exception of the first few since I didn't know how well they'd sell at all). I have 2 different superwash merino bases, and a BFL base in either fingering or sport weight. And someone asked me to do something in the merino/silk blend, so I'm going to be ordering more of that. Let me know which you'd like, and I'll try to get it done next weekend. My pregnancy will not interfere with my dyeing, until I'm too big to bed over. ;) And even then, I have a butcher block table that will be brought down to assist me.

I just spent a few hours dyeing again. I have a few new colorways coming. Plus I dyed the yarn for my Gryffindor pal's socks for the Hogwarts Sock Swap. I LOVE how it turned out, and I can't wait to see how they knit up. I decided on 2 different skeins, one in various golds, and one in burgandys. Soo pretty!
PLUS, my Knitters Treat Exchange swap pal Katie, and my Hogwarts Sock Swap pal Lacey sent me some undyed yarn, so I finally did 2 skeins for myself. I did 1 in Night Bus, since I love the colorway so much. I decided to let go of the one in my base that I've been hanging on to, so I could make one specifically for myself. Then I used some pinks, blues and silver to create a new colorway for myself. To do something special for my daughter, and I LOVE IT. Not sure if I'll repeat it again, or if it's just for her yet.

Contest time!!

There's a great contest going on over at 5 Minutes for Mom for a fabulous TV, sponsored by Best Buy! Go enter!!

cleaning house.

With the news of the twins (it's still really wierd to say/write that!), I've decided that we really need to organize our house and make it super kid friendly. Thankfully, we just moved last year, into a much bigger house than we had before, so some of the rooms are really in good shape. Then there's the office, which is a disaster zone. We use it as an office for both of our businesses. My hubby is a consultant (writes software), and I do my jewelry/stitch markers/cards/yarn dyeing. Since we moved in, the office has been the "catch all" for random things. No one sleeps there, so out of sight, out of mind. I started going through things last night, and got rid of a bunch of random boxes that have been sitting in there collecting dust. I have to organzie my yarn stash. And beads/cardmaking/scrapbooking supplies. I do have a wonderful neighbor who is an avid scrapbooker. And she had this fantastic travel paper carrier (it's HUGE). She hardly used it, and it was sitting collecting dust, so she offered it to me for $45. So I gladly accepted, and brought it home Wednesday. This weekend I plan on organizing all of my paper stash, and putting away the stuff I don't use all the time. Which really is most of it. And figure out what to do with my fabric stash. I have loads for quilting, but haven't in a while. I think the twins will help get me out of that rut. I made a quilt for Celia (or quilt TOP I should say), but never actually put it together. The top, batting and backing have been sitting in a box for over 3 years now! Sad!!

Anyway, I seem to be in the mood to clean and organize. We'll see how much I get done this weekend. Hopefully loads! And some dyeing too- some of my Harry Potter yarns have really flown off the "shelves!". I'm so psyched!

Oh my.

I think I'm still in shock. I had my first ultrasound appointment yesterday, and everything looked good for 6 weeks. No heartbeats yet, but that should come next week. Wait- did I say heartbeatS? Yes, I did. Apparently, there are 2 sacs there, so it looks like we're going to be having twins! I'm excited, and terrified at the same time. A LOT is going to change. But I'm excited. And this will be good! It's just going to take some getting used to the idea.

At least this explains why I've been so incredibly exhausted, and why my jeans are already tight.

Double Thank You!!

SP10 has been awesome! I love these exchanges, because I love buying gifts for others, and trying to figure out what they'd like based on their blog. I had the pleasure of spoiling Fairy GodKnitter, Joan. She was great to spoil, she's a wonderful lady, and has gone through a lot the last few years! She also lives in my hometown, so hopefully I'll even get to meet her when I'm home next!

Later last week, I came home to yet another package from my pal! I opened it up to find two incredible skeins of Scout's swag. Beautiful, beautiful colors- I love them! I'll post a pic later- the theme this time was "S is for Shelby...S is for Scout!". I can't wait to cast on another pair of socks for myself!!

Then yesterday when I opened up the mailbox, it was STUFFED! completely stuffed with a huge package. I pulled it out and ran inside to open it. Inside, was the final, reveal package.
It contained a pattern for an adorable sweater for Celia, called the bow wow sweater, and the yarn to make it- Cascade 220 in a fabulous light purple. She squeeled when she saw the color, it was so cute! Then there was the soap- from one of my favorite soap companies- Alchemic Dragon in a yummy red clover tea scent. Then there was the reveal card. I open it, slowly, because I"m dyeing to find out who it is, yet am trying to figure it out at the same time. I had no good guesses, so I opened it. My SP10 was Kerry!!. I had absolutely NO idea it was her! I was a little suspicious that it had to be someone who "knew" me, either from a different exchange, or my hostessing her, but boy was I shocked! I spoiled Kerry in SP9, and had so much fun with it!! I guess she wanted to have a turn with me, and I'm so honored that she did! She's such an amazing lady, and I've had such a fun time getting to know her over the last few years of SP hostessing. Thank you Kerry, you really went above and beyond, and spoiled me completely rotten! I can't thank you enough!

I'll post pics of the last 2 sp10 packages Kerry sent tonight. I'm still blown away!!

Hogwarts Sock Swap Questionnaire- Second Years

1.What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into?
Ravenclaw

2.Shoe size? Foot length? Foot circumference?
US 10 wide. 10.5 inches long, 9.5 inches circumference

3.List your three favorite sock yarns.
a. Fleece Artist
b. Socks that Rock
c. Koigu

4. Would you like to try a new brand of sock yarn? If so, which brand?
Anything you love! I really love great colors, so I'm happy with everything!

5.Do you prefer variegated or solid sock yarn?
I love both varigated and solids equally

6.What colors would you like to add to your sock yarn stash?
any colors. Except orange and yellow- not really a fan of those colors.

7.What kind of sock patterns do you gravitate toward? Lace? Ribbed? Fair Isle?
lace

8.Do you have any allergies? (smoke, animals, etc.)
Really dislike smoke- it gives me migranes, and makes me nauseaus (I'm pregnant).

9. Will your socks be exposed to cigarette smoke or animals as you knit them?
I have 2 cats, so stray hairs are a given. I'll wash in woolwash before sending though.

10.Are you willing to have an international Hogwarts Sock Pal?
Sure, why not.

Big News!

I have some big news. I've been sitting on it for 2 weeks now, and probably should for 1 more, but I just can't wait!

It's been a crazy couple of months, and we finally got to give IVF a shot last month. After what seemed like forever, we finally got to try. And...it worked!!! I had my beta last wednesday (and a repeat on friday and this morning), and everything so far looks completely normal! A little high, but that just may be that this kiddo is robust. Or it may be that the 2 embryos they put in took. We'll find out how many babies there are next week!! It's so early, so I was a little hesitant to stay anything, but I just couldn't help myself! I'm excited!!

But, I'm just over 5 weeks pregnant now, and I feel fantastic. Sore, tired, queasy, and it feels great! I had my embryo transfer on "day 3" on June 26th, and I took my first home test 8 days later. I've been trying to believe it ever since then! If all goes well, we'll be giving Celia a brother or a sister at the end of February/beginning of March!!

Another Thank You!

Yesterday when I got home, I found another package from my SP10! I figured it was my final package, so I opened it and expected to find out who she was. But she's so sneaky! She sent me yet another "S is for..." package, and here it is! The theme this time was "S is for Stole", and it has the most beautiful shades of Schaefer Anne, and a beautiful pattern. I'm in love!!


Thank you so much pal! She told me she had 2 more packages coming- one earlier this week, and one later. She's just spoiled me so rotten!! You're amazing!!

Thank you Lacey!!

My owl arrived over my vacation, and kindly waited for me to arrive before leaving for his next task. This is what he brought me!

We have the Charmed Knits book, some great yarn in Gryffindor colors, some Knitpicks bare yarn, a great bookmark, a personalized journal, some Bertie Bots every flavor beans AND...

The best Ravenclaw socks ever!! I love them! And they fit perfectly!! Here are a few angles. My pal was Lacey, and she did an amazing job spoiling me. I'm such a lucky Ravenclaw!! I can't thank you enough!!

Vacation!!

Last week, we were on VACATION! We headed up to the Finger Lakes in NY after my friend's wedding. My uncle has a house on Canandaigua lake, so we stayed there, relaxed, and had loads of fun! I was in another wedding first, which was awesome! I was matron of honor, so I was busy, but I really enjoyed it! The only problem was that we were outside for pictures, and I got scorched on my shoulders/arms/neck. I coudn't enjoy being in the sun for the rest of the week! ;(

When we got back, I was surprsed by my package from my Hogwarts sock pal! I'll do a proper post tonight, and a proper post for my SP10, who sent me yet another amazing package! You guys just ROCK!

Dyeing again!

Since my Hogwarts series yarns at my etsy shop have done so well, I've created a few more colorways over the last week! Here are a few shots of them. They aren't re-skeined yet, and as soon as they are, they'll be uploaded to my Etsy shop. Let me know if you are interested in any of them, and I'll work on those first! I'll be out of town from 6/28 thru 7/9, so if you want them before them, let me know!

We have:

The Night Bus, Rubeus Hagrid, Ronald Weasley

Basilisk, Albus Dumbledore, Crookshanks

Dementor

SP strikes again!!

Thursday, I arrived home from work, to find another package from my Secret Knitting pal! She completely blew me away with her generosity, and her ability to choose things that I absolutely love! This package also had a theme: S is for Shelby, S is for Socks! Absolutely me!

It included: Some beautiful stitch markers, the perfect size for socks, from Hide and Sheep, ChiaoGoo bamboo needles in size 1, a Cookie A pattern, and yarn. Oh my, the yarn! First is some Socks that Rock lightweight in Tanzenite, Fleece Artist Sea Wool in amethyst, and Crystal Palace Panda Cotton in the blueberry-grapes colorway. I absolutely love it all!! Thanks so much pal!!!

Fun meme!!

With my birthday in a few days, I had to giggle when one of my SP10 ladies tagged me for this meme!

The rules: Go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday month and day only. Then post 3 events, 2 births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday, then tag 5 friends. Tsuki added the reasons she picked the items, so I did, too.

My birthday is June 25th!

Events:
1788 - Virginia becomes the 10th state to ratify the United States Constitution. (this is for my friend Rachel, who lives in VA)
1905 - Cullinan Diamond, the largest rough gem-quality diamond known, is discovered by Frederick Wells. (I heart diamonds!)
1981 - Microsoft Inc. is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington. (this is for my hubby, who is not a fan of Microsoft)

Births:
1911 - William Howard Stein, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1980) (One of many nobel laureates...Hmmm...Maybe I should get that PhD afterall!!- NOT)
1963 - George Michael, British singer (I used to LOVE him!!)

Holiday:
National Catfish Day (ew!!)

Tag: Anyone in my SP10 group- leave a comment telling me that you posted, and you'll be entered in a drawing!! I love my birthday!

Fiberswap!

I received my package from the fiberswap a few days ago! My pal was Chelsea, and she spoiled me rotton!! Here's a pic of my package!

brown alpaca, that is SO soft!!
the purple, pink and brown one is a coopworth/alpaca blend
the purple, pink, green and blue is a blend that Chelsea made for me on her drum carder!! It's a blend of polypay wool, angora and soysilk! I'm in awe!!
then, there's some sari silk waste to use in blending, which is totally new for me. I can't wait to try spinning this stuff up!
There's also some stitch markers that you can resize to your needles, and a counter. So beautiful!

Thanks so much Chelsea! I really had fun!

Knitters Tea Swap 3

Yesterday, I received my package from my KTS3 pal Susan, and wow!! I was completely blown away! First, some Claudia's Handpaint, in Passion Fruit colorway- it's so beautiful! I am excited to finally have some of my own! Then the teas- PGtips, an Barry's tea (Irish blend) and an organic english breakfast tea. Then the treats- Orange Pims, and some yummy biscotti, and two chocolate bars! I am so going to have one of those tonight. YUM!! Thank you SO much Susan! I've been so spoiled! Your package is on it's way, and I hope you like what I sent for you as much as I loved my package!

YEAH!!

I finally got my Ravelry invite! I'm SO excited!! My username is shelbyknits.

Thanks pal!!

The last 2 days have brought great surprises in my mail box from my SP10! Wednesday, here is what arrived:

The paper with it said...S is for Shelby, S is for Soft! And boy is she right! 2 yummy skeins of crystal palace cotton chenille, with a dish cloth pattern, AND 2 skeins of Malabrigo! Absolutely fantastic colors, super soft, and I'm so excited to start using them. Feeds my cast-on-itis!

Then yesterday, I walked in after a long day of work (my hubby stayed with Celia so I could go to some meetings I couldn't miss), and saw another package on my counter. I was totally confused, and excited! I opened up to find another piece of paper, with "S is for Shelby, S is for Spinning!"!

The first one is some lovely roving from Perchance to Knit in "pink is the NEW pink!" colorway. Then, came another roving from Blue Moon Fiber Arts that in Serendipity, which is just amazing in person. I can't wait to start spinning these up. Thankfully I got more bobbins at MS&W, so I can start one tonight!

Thanks so much pal! I can't wait to find out who you are, so I can get to know you! She's really done an amazing job at finding things I absolutely love. Thanks!!

Yeah!

The summer Knitty is up!! I'm already seeing a few things I must make. ;)

Off the wagon.

Well, my goal not to buy any yarn until Stitches East has failed. I just impulsively bought some yarn from The Loopy Ewe. I'm a bad girl! But it was inspired by the new sock yarn by Cherry Tree Hill that they have up at an introductory price! I couldn't help myself!! I must try it!

And a few others that I havne't tried before...

project spectrum

I took these a week and a half ago when we went Strawberry Picking!

At the field:


The success!:


The aftermath (and reason for the new stove in the post below):


I froze a ton of them, and need to go back this weekend for more. I really love strawberry season!!

New stove!

Yesterday, our New stove was delivered! How do I love thee?? I really wanted stainless, but couldn't justify the increase inprice. Especially when I want to replace the refridgerator, and the stainless is over 300 more in the model I want. Not happening!! Not when the 500$ difference would mean a new washer or dryer! Or a mini-vacation!

Thanks!

Laura, one of the ladies in my SP10 group (and she was in my SP9 group too), sent me a lovely package! It contained the check to pay for some of the Hogwarts sock yarn she ordered, from my Shop, and a few gifts for me and Celia! Her son sent Celia a book, "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile", which she's already insisted on reading twice. Then there was the surprises for me- a great Blue Moon tube sock kit, and a kit to make felted cat toys! I'm SO excited about both! Her note was so sweet too- she thanked me for being a great hostess (I blushed!), and for being so brave in going through IVF. I have to say I was in tears when I read the note. Thanks for helping to make yesterday such a fantastic day Laura!

Hogwarts sock swap progress

This is my partner's sock! She's in Hufflepuff, and I'm doing a plain sock, to show off the yarn. I love how it is coming out! I really hope she likes it. This is the first sock. I hope to finish it this weekend, and then I can start the second one. The yarn is from Sugar Bunny Blvd- it's 70% merino, 30% silk and it's fabulous!

More Hogwarts Yarn!

Sunday, I took another 2 hours of time to spend dyeing. I'm really in trouble now... I am having WAY too much fun with this! The color just really makes me happy! Here is what I came up with this time:


Albus Dumbledore, The Night Bus, Fawkes, Salazar Slytherin, and The Half Blood Prince!
I just uploaded 2 of them (The Night Bus and Fawkes) to my Etsy shop, and the rest will go up after the weekend. Hopefully next week I'll get a chance to do another batch!