Misbehaving again.

Well, I've been trying not to spend money on yarn lately, and have failed miserably. First last sunday, it was on some yarn for my Sock Wars socks, and a hat for me, and DB Cashmerino Aran for Fetching for a gift. Then, my co-worker wanted me to go with her to Woolwinders to get yarn for a sweater that she wants to make her son. We got there, and 45 minutes later, we left and I had gotten a second skein for my Sock Wars socks (1 wasn't going to be enough), and a skein of Cherry Tree Hill that I've been wanting to try. The bad part comes in here: On my way out, I asked the owner if they would be getting a shipment of Schaefer in any time soon, because I've really wanted to try Anne. She said that it actually didn't sell well there, so she could order it for me, but they weren't carrying it. I thought about it through lunch and the car ride back to work. I then jumped to the Schaefer Yarn website, and chose 2 colorways that I liked, and e-mailed the owner to have her order it for me. The order is in, and I can't wait to receive it! I've been so bad lately. It's a good thing my hubby loves me so much!

Off to watch more of the World Series of Poker, Main Event. The suspense is killing me...who shall win??!

choices, choices!

Ok, so I've been really bumming about missing the BNL concert in November. Yesterday, my friend (who's wedding shower it is that I have to miss it for) e-mailed me, and asked if I wanted to join her and another mutual friend in Philly a few days before to see them there. After careful consideration, I declined. It would mean leaving for Philly right after work on a thursday, getting there and seeing them, and either 1) turning around and heading back for 1 day before heading up to Buffalo for the shower, or 2) leaving right from Philly for Buffalo. The issue with that one would be I'd completely miss Stitches East. I was excited about hitting the Market on friday, and then leaving for Buffalo that afternoon. OR if I didn't miss it, I'd be so exhausted that I wouldn't enjoy it. Ever since I had my daughter, the idea of driving 2 and a half hours for a concert in the middle of the week has just become impossible. Heck, going into DC for a concert mid-week hasnt' happened either (and both Guster and They Might Be Giants have been here but we missed them). I suppose if I had more time to think about it, I would have decided to go. But unfortunately, my friend was ordering the tickets yesterday, so it's too late. Thankfully I've seen them 12 times, so it's not the end of the world.

As for photo updates, I have tons of them! I just have to get them off my camera first. I have several FO's to show off! And several of my WIPs have been frogged, since they were either not touched in over a year, and the recipient has grown, or it was coming out too big and loose (Manos vest). I have started several more projects, but most have finished, or are almost done!

Just my luck!

So, I just found out that my absolute favorite band of all time (Barenaked Ladies is coming down to DC in November. They just released a new album (in stores today, and arrived on my doorstep from Canada yesterday!) and will be on tour. What day may I ask?? November 4th! The same day as one of my best friends wedding showers in Buffalo. The same shower I have to miss most of Stitches East for. And the sad part is that she lives in Fredericksburg, and is also a huge BNL fan. I need to see the rest of the US tour schedule and see if I can squeeze in another show. I cannot miss them!! I haven't seen them in 2 years, and they put on the BEST shows! ;(

Fantastic cabled sock pattern

Chrissy, over at Knittin Mom has put up a new sock pattern, it's really beautiful, and the best part is that the proceeds go to support the Walk for Diabetes that a friend of hers is doing. I think it's a fantastic idea, and everyone who knits socks should go support this cause, and get a great sock pattern in the process.

Check it out!!

finally!!!

Ok, I'm about to admit how pathetic I can be!

When I was in 6th grade, I had strep throat for a week. One of the big infomercials at the time was for the Food Saver, and I watched it over and over again the entire week. When Nathan and I decided to replace the freezer in the garage, one of the things we talked about was getting a Food Saver so we can buy meat and stuff in bulk to freeze. I have to tell you how excited I was to head over to Costco today and buy a Food Saver!! It's sitting here, in my living room and it's killing me not to tear it open and watch the DVD that came with it. But...alas, I have work to do and can't get to it now.

Silly how such things from your childhood make such an impression! ;)

Back from Buffalo

We drove up to Buffalo for Labor Day weekend! It was a fantastic time, filled with friends and family and food!

We got there around 11pm on thursday, which wasn't too bad! We usually leave later and get there after 1am, so this was a nice change. Friday I did some shopping with my mom, over at the Elmwood Yarn Shop, which I hadn't been to before. They had a great selection, which I took full advantage of! I ended up with a skein of Mountain Colors bearfoot, some Jawool, and some wildfoote. All of which I hadn't seen in person before, so it was a justified purchase. ;) Then I met up with an old friend from the lab where I worked during my undergrad/grad and post-grad time. It was great to catch up with her!! So much going on, but some things are still the same. After lunch, we went home and rested a bit. Dinner was one of the best parts of the trip! Nathan and I decided to head up to the Old Orchard Inn, where we got married/had our reception. I asked my mom and step father to come with us, and since my brother was in town he came too! It was a blast, the food was just as good as I remember it, and Celia had fun (even if it was just checking out the potty and eating the cinnamon rolls). After Celia was in bed, we headed out to a wine bar and had a glass. I was so tired, that I drank down my glass and begged to go home and put on jammies, so we did! And watched some old episodes of Cheers that my mom has been getting on netflix. I forgot how much I love Cheers!

Saturday I went shopping with my mom and step father, and Nathan took our daughter out to meet his parents for lunch. I had a dress shopping date for one of the upcoming weddings I'm in. Since I left a little early, I stopped for lunch, at Mighty Taco!!!! I had 2 beef and cheese tacos on a hard shell, with hot sauce and sour cream, and they were absolutely amazing! They were so much better than I remembered!! All I can say is wow! Then I headed to Davids Bridal. The dress is absolutely lovely, and we bought it then and there. I even bought it 2 sizes too big, in case I happen to end up pregnant between now and then. I'd hate to have to buy another dress just because I'm pregnant. Thankfully they strapped on the baby belly, and it worked perfectly.

Then, it was home for my uncles' birthday dinner. The kids had a blast, there are 3 total with my daughter and two cousins. They had way too much fun, it was cute to see them all running around.

Sunday was spent partly with my dad, partly relaxing and getting ready for the drive. We had breakfast with my dad, and at lunch time headed over to Teds Hot Dogs and had a foot long with cheese and Ketchup and fries with vinegar...LOTS of vinegar. It was SO incredible. THEN, dinner ended up being pizza and wings. REAL pizza and REAL wings... I think I put on all I've lost in the last 2 weeks...but it was SO worth it!!

The other great party about Saturday, was that I finished my green/purple jaywalkers!! I absolutely love them, and will post a pic soon. Now I must work!! So much to do in so little time!

On another note, Sign-ups for SP9 started last week, and go through the end of the month. Should be a blast!!! Check it out!!

yet one more swap...

I also joined the Knitters Tea Swap 2 yesterday. This will be one fun filled Fall!!

feeling swappy lately

So I went and joined another swap! This one is set up by Patty, one of my co-hostesses for SP8! It's a Mittens Swap, and it should be a lot of fun! Check it out!!

And, I decided to join Sock Wars too. We'll see how it goes! Sounds like fun!

Hot Socks swap

I saw this on some SP8 co-hostesses blogs, and just had to join!!!

1)What do you prefer - solid, variegated or self striping? Variegated.

2)Favourite colours? Blues, purples, and greens.

3)Are you a beginner, intermediate or experienced sock knitter? intermediate.

4)Tea, Coffee, or hot chocolate - what's your favourite? If coffee, what do you use to make it? I usually prefer black teas, but drink all 3 frequently.

5)Do you have a fibre preference? (i.e. Are you a yarn snob like me?) I really do prefer natural fibers

Rhinebeck

Well, plans are in the works!! I'm definitely going, and am SO excited! Now, what to buy!!

great mail week!

Wow! So far this week has been fantastic with the USPS! Yesterday, when I got home there was no mail at all, which is unusual for us. We usually get junk mail saying we've been pre-approved for 10 credit cards. After dinner, we were going to go outside to go to the playground at the elementary school next to us, and I notice a Priority Mail box on the mailbox! I should have taken a picture of it, it looked kind of funny sitting there, at the street on the post. Anyway, I get it and see that it's from Simply Socks Yarn company. I tear it open, and open the card- it's the prize I won from Kerry's SP8 contest. Inside the package was an incredible skein of Fleece Artist merino in Amethyst colorway! I will take a pic soon...unfortunately it's in the room upstairs right next to my daughters, and she's asleep. If I go in, I'll wake her. It's amazing, so soft, and the colors are incredible. I can't wait to use it! Thanks Kerry!!

Then, today, I went to the mailbox on the way to get Celia from daycare (I was home, waiting for an exterminator who didn't show up... grumble, grumble!) and inside was my final package from my SP8! I showed great composure and waited to get home with Celia before tearing into it. It came at the perfect time, I had a lousy day with my 3 hour glucose tolerance test and having to have 5 blood draws in 3 hours, then having an exterminator no-show. And it was well worth the little wait...the package was even more awesome than I would have imagined! First, the One Skein book, which I've been wanting to pick up for a while, along with a lovely skein of Noro Blossom. The colors are perfect! My pal suggested using it for the spiral purse, which I'll do! There was also a lovely sheet of handmade paper, and a set of stationary that is handmade as well. The texture is amazing, and I can't wait to use it!!


She also made a little draw string bag, that held some sheep buttons (too cute!!), and pins from the UK. I can't wait to add them to my travel hat! And there were also some embellishments, and some orange candies which I can't wait to try!

There was also a little something for Celia, in the shape of a purple purse, with a poodle inside!! She grabbed it almost instantly, as you can see here- she loves it!! She also sent 2 post cards with the reveal! I now know who my SP8 is, it's Andrea! You have been a truly great pal, and I'm so excited to finally really know who you are! I am looking forward to getting to know you a little now that SP8 is ending. I can only hope that you've also had a great SP8 experience!! Thanks so much!!

now for my WIPs

I requested that my SP8 participants post a list of their works in progress...so I figured it was only fair to show mine too. This is really sad...I had no idea it was this bad!


Here is the "streakers shrug" from IK spring 2006. I'm using the Tess Designer Yarns Cultivated Silk Wool, and absolutely love it! It's just a lot of stitches since I'm at the sleeves, so I've put this one aside for now.

This is a wash cloth for my friend Rachel, who absolutely LOVES Canada. We are from Buffalo, NY, so Niagara Falls/Toronto are like second homes to us. We spent a lot of time up that way in college. Ah, the memories!

Here is my Clapotis. Haven't touched it in a while...

And here is a Cardigan for my daughter, it will have a hood on it, it's the Knitty pattern, Child Hood or something like that. Cascade Superwash.

Branching Out, using some handpainted from my SP7 Kelly. I love it, but really have to concentrate on this one.

Here is the Embossed Leaves Sock from IK winter 2005. Needless to say I've barely started it. This is Koigu KPPPM.

Random Sock...Trekking

Scatter, out of Brown Sheep cotton fleece.

Oat Coutoure vest out of Manos

Fingerless gloves, Kipparoo Farms yarn

crochet blanket. Haven't touched this one in a very long time...

Poncho, which I haven't touched in a year. It's out of some yarn I picked up at Sheep and Wool in 2005.

Cardigan from Stitch and Bitch book, out of purple Silky Wool.

another crochet blanket. Started winter 2004/2005.

3 random started sweaters. Purple one is a baby cardigan out of knit picks shine, red is a tank out of manos cotton, blue is orangina out of Knit Picks shine..


So those are my indescretions. I actually finished 2 projects tonight, felted mittens and a felted purse, both started within the last 2 weeks. The one thing I don't have a pic of yet is my RPM socks (from Knitty), out of Socks That Rock. I seriously need to finish some projects before starting anything else!!

great week.

I had a very craft-busy week! Wednesday I went over to Lisa's place to do some stamping, chatting and wine drinking. ;) Between the two of us we polished off a large bottle of Yellow Tail Cab. Sauv. It was awesome! Needless to say, I had to wait a while to drive home, so I stayed until Midnight. I got a few good cards started, and picked up my The Angel Company(TAC) stamp order. Mostly paper, card stock, ink and a few little stamps.

Then last night, I had a blast too! I went to another sit and knit at a place in Columbia. It's called The Lakeside, where I met up with Jody and her group. It was so much fun to meet everyone, and they welcomed me warmly! It was fun to see what everyone is workong on, and I'm definitely inspired to use some of the dish cloth cotton I bought a while back to make some dish cloths for charity!

I ended up getting home around 8:45, which was perfect! I sat, watched an old episode of Gilmore Girls, and worked on my vest some more while Nathan worked on the SP9 sign up form! No more e-mail signups for SP9, we'll have a special form, data base and the works! He's getting close to being done, which is perfect, since he starts a contract job next week. ;)

Not much else going on. I'm REALLY looking forward to the weekend! I can't wait to spend some good quality time with my girl, and just have some good old-fashioned fun!

check this out!!

One of my friends just opened up an Etsy shop selling some of her handspun yarn, as well as some unique plants she's grown. Her yarn is really beautiful, go check it out!! Sapphire Child.

And the winner is.... Heather!! Thanks to all who read my ramblings!! I've had such a great time getting to know you all, in person and in cyberspace!

9 pm???

I went to my SnB last night, which was great! Half way through, Lisa came in which was great! We chatted a bit, but after we left we realized that we really didn't get to talk very much. We called our respective husbands and asked if we could stay out and play longer! There was a starbucks in teh plaza, so we decided to walk over there...except that it was closed! At 9pm!! So we tried to think of another place to go for coffee, but couldn't. I finally remembered another area just down the road with restaurants, so we ended up at Dogfish Head! Booze is much better than coffee! She had a white chocolate martini and a sour apple-tini (both made with their own vodka), and I had two glasses of Fat Bastard Shiraz (one of my absolute favorites!!). We stayed out until about 11, and it was SO much fun! I'm a little tired today, but it was really worth it! I never get to go out to bars anymore (at least when it's not just for a quick happy hour)!

Happy Blog-a-versary!

I completely missed my first Blog-a-versary! I was so wrapped up in getting my tests done, that I let it slip my mind! Aug 8th was the day!

I am going to do a drawing! If you read my blog regularly or on occaision, please leave me a comment!! I will put all commenters names in a hat and draw a name, and a gift will be on it's way to the winner!!

Thanks everyone for your support and fun over the last year!! Let's hope the next one is even better!!

I'll draw a name Sunday evening!!!

Come join in!

So I've been wanting (and needing) to lose a few pounds for a while now! Kerry has decided to start a Chub Club!. You pay $30, and over the course of 3 months the person to lose the most BMI gets the pool of money!

I'm hoping that losing some weight will help in our efforts to get pregnant again. If I can just drop 10%, my doctor said it might be enough to get me ovulating normally again. On my own. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

And if you are wanting to lose a few pounds, please join the Chub-Club! It's a chance to win a nice pot of money for doing something really good for yourself!

blah

Yesterday was a very bad day. I have this HSG on wednesday, and they want you taking antibiotics before and after to make sure you don't get an infection. My husband and I both started them sunday, and monday morning I woke up with a horrible headache. I haven't had a headache like that for as long as I can remember- and I've had migranes a lot the last 8 years! I made it in to work, and by 10:30 I was feeling really horrible and a little out of it. After calling the doctor to see if it was due to the antibiotic (they said probably since my eyes were puffy/itchy too), I decided that I wasn't good being at work, so I went home and crashed. I slept from 11 til 3, and woke up feeling a little better. At least well enough to eat some mac n cheese, and get a little work done from home. I'm still a little tired, and my head hurts a little bit, but it's that residual hurt. I'll definitely be at work today, thankfully!

This weekend was good, Nathan had a dentist appt, and we took Celia so she could see what it was like. She insisted on it being her turn after Nathan was done, and thankfully the hygenist had a cancellation, so Celia got her teeth cleaned! It was so cute, she sat on my lap and did such a great job! What a big girl...I can't believe she's getting so big!

Funny knitting content on TV sighting: Celia has been watching Caillou non-stop for weeks now! I was sitting watching with her this morning, and Caillou went to a sheep farm with his grandma. They showed yarn, a spinning wheel, and even how to spin it! I was impressed....maybe the show isn't so terrible/annoying afterall!

Fantastic monday!

The words fantastic and monday rarely belong in the same sentence together for me! Yesterday was a perfect exception!

Work was good, I got a lot accomplished. And I went to an impromtu lunch with some co-workers to On The Border for Mexcian. YUMMY!!!

For my birthday, my husband and daughter got me a gift certificate for a massage, which I turned in yesterday! I was early, and managed to resist popping into Woolwinders beforehand. I was proud! I stopped for an iced vanilla latte before my massage, and boy was it good!

I got home around 6:30, and Nathan had made Dinner (chicken nuggets, canned green beans and canned peaches) and fed Celia. I walked in the door and he tossed a few more nuggets in the oven for me.

I spotted a box and a soft envelope on the counter, with my name on it!! The box was my Amazon.com order of books, I got Socks Soar on 2 circs, Spin-it, and Knitting on the Road. All 3 look great, I can't wait to sit down and really look through them. The second package, was my STR!! I was SO excited to open this one. I have to say it is SO soft, and the color is incredible. I can't wait to play with it this week.

Last night my hubby and I got Celia to bed together, on time! We relaxed and watched some TV, while I spun some of the alpaca that I got at MS&W. It's so soft, pretty and just easy to spin.

In bed by 9:30!!

The PERFECT monday!!