Whiskers On Wednesday

I've had to start Jessica's second fingerless mitt a few times so far. At least this time it wasn't all MY fault. Here's the proof:



It's not all Sasha's fault either I guess, because the stitches came off the needles sort of by accident the first time. I got them back on - barely- but by pulling it out a second time (and realizing my needle was "chomped" in two) I pulled them off again on one side. Oops. With all the cables and twists and such on teeny tiny needles, I finally just frogged the whole dang thing and started over... AGAIN. I'm starting to wonder if this pair was ever meant to be....

Sasha says:



"See how ADORABLE I am!!"

Life Lately & Some Knitting

Flu. Darn Flu. The kids. The Big Guy. Me.

Good news is we're on the flip side of it and getting better little by little. Honestly, we've been sicker with the flu in the past but I feel crummy most of the time anyway, and even though I didn't get it as bad as they did, I think it's holding onto me for some reason. Just that really worn out feeling. Dragging. AND, I did everything they said to do and then some: wash hands constantly, clean house (over and over), wash bedding etc. It. does. not. work. Just an FYI. If you're gonna get it, you're gonna get it. "Back to school" was the trigger it needed to just explode here where we live.

The Hello Kitty band-aids and neosporin are for my injured left pinky finger. I cut a nice slice into it over a week ago and it's still trying to heal up. You don't know how much you use that little digit until it hurts to anymore! Typing is now done with 9 fingers. I'm giving it another week, if it's still so tender I think I'll get it checked out. Just a gut feeling now that maybe I should've from the get go.

And miracle of miracles: I've actually gotten things done in the fiber world even though I've had many days of NOT picking up any needles or hooks lately. Twilight Zone moment here. Oh well, just glad some things are getting done.

Chelsea's Nalu Mitts.
Size 1 needles (I think) could be 1 1/2.
Malabrigo Sock - Tiziano Red.
(Sooooo soft to work with. Love Malabrigo Sock.)
Okay, I was pretty sick of all the twisted stitches but they did turn out pretty cool and she loves them. I have no clue when I got these done. Really. Not. A. Clue. I think it was sometime in August.

These are some very soft washcloths for my Mom. I hope she'll use them. Usually she puts them up on things like doilies! She's so funny! I saw this worked up at the new LYS I went by, bought the yarn there, and then later emailed her to ask about the pattern. They were using it for a class so that's why I didn't ask for it while I was there but I figured I bought the yarn there, what the heck right? What she emailed me was very kind, but it was a mess. In crochet, brackets, commas, etc are VERY important to the pattern and it was seriously lacking. I had already found something similar called Crochet Dandy Dishcloth and it worked up the same pretty much. I modified my own edging on the top one using a sc, then dc, then shell stitch border. I actually like my own a bit better! ;O)

Yarn: Jeannee
Size H hook
one ball of the green made both cloths.
After I washed them they got a little bit pilly but I'll fix that before I send them to Mom.

More mitts in the works right now, and a few small things for the holidays like The Big Guys Scarf and hopefully a pair of socks for him.

Happy Knitting! (or Crocheting!)
Ps. Got an Anniversary MAC laptop. Sweet Sweet Man of Mine!!

20 Years! Wow!

September 2, 1989
We were engaged 3 months after we met and married 6 months after that.
When your heart (and your cat) knows...., you know.

He's still taking care of me (bandaged my cut pinky finger today),

Still loving me (he's taking me on a special trip WITHOUT the kids soon!),
And still putting up with me. (always! -sigh!- I'm spoiled.)

Thank You Big Guy. You're my best friend,
the BEST Dad, and you still make my heart skip a beat when
I see you, hear your voice, or think of you.

I love you.

Our Song:

ETA: posted EST but apparently even though my settings are for EST, blogger still goes with PST!

Whiskers On Wednesday

Sophie Says: "This is MY spot, but I'll share".

Hospital Knitting

How many rows can you knit while waiting for your husband to get his Heart Catherization Procedure done?

About that much. I was just too nervous to keep going. I couldn't read, couldn't knit, and really didn't want to TALK much which is SO unlike me! (But I was VERY grateful my inlaws came to town to be with us!)

Our ordeal started a bit ago when I finally got The Big Guy to switch doctors. His new one takes his family history and his health VERY serious, I mean, we aren't spring chickens anymore. Things are going to happen. The Big Guy had been having some weird pains and rapid heart beating episodes, so the doctor ordered an EKG and x-ray. They were okay. But they still ordered the stress test and that showed slow blood flow in the front wall of his heart. So. There we were at the hospital for the Heart Cath. Along with many other people. Busy place. Too busy.

And He did fine. He has 40% blockage in one artery and 50% in another. They'll only do a stint if it's at least 70% blockage. They've adjusted his BP meds and will also look at getting his cholesterol numbers even lower to prevent any further increases in those percentages. All in all, we can handle this. And we were very blessed that this all was discovered before any scary episodes happened. We celebrated the next day with a small cake for his birthday. We're just glad he's around and he's going to be feeling better all the time. He better. I can't take this kind of excitement.

Ravelry has been my safety net lately. I've been spending my "worry" time looking at other people's completed projects and that can be a huge time suck. I haven't been doing much of anything lately. Everything I start, I put back down or rip out. So I just pretend I'm as efficient as they are and just browse all day.

I did manage to finish this. I have no idea when (the past few weeks are a big blur) and it took me a good bit to do since it's with cotton - cotton and me don't get along too well.

Rumbly Tummy Bear
The pattern is on Ravelry and Sharman will email it to you. I made this for my Aunt Rene for Christmas because she's the biggest Pooh Fan Ever I think. And she loves to clean, so this will make her smile while she scrubs away! LOL!

One gift down. A few more to go. I'll never make it! Ack! I'm hoping to get to my Knitting meeting potluck this weekend. But if I'm eating....I can't be knitting....Oh well!!

Happy Knitting!

Birthdays Can Be AWESOME!

My wonderful Mom sent me some Happy medicine:

THEN, My bestest buddy Julie sent me these really cool stitch markers:

And this (mine, mine, mine!!)

And All of THIS!!:

A gorgeous bookmark she made for me (which I don't know how she knew I needed it so desperately), some Crazy Monkey Creations Gorilla Toes yarn in the Autumn Jewels colorway (should've got that closer, it's very "happy"! AND SOFT!!!! SOOO SOFT!!! ), two really pretty candle holders with some danglies on it, (I LUV shiny things), some lotion for my ever increasing dry hands, and the BAG. OMGosh, THE BAG. LOVE. IT! I want to go to my knitting meeting NOW to show it off! My projects will never want to come out!

Then today I got THIS from my Favoritest California Dawn!! (I know, I know, I'm just too darn lucky!)

Some of her Beautiful smelling Lavender Handmade soap, (Dawn's a seller on Etsy- check her out!) and a cloth to go with it, a cute cupcake magnet set, candle, and notepad, three really cool scarf patterns to decide what my GORGEOUS HANDSPUN YARN will grow up to be!!!! I am now the very proud owner of her Superwash Merino in the Layla Colorway! I just want to snuggle with it!! I've seen handspun on websites but never held any in my hot little hands before! What an awesome job you did spinning this Dawn. If you sell any in your etsy store with your other items, they'll go like hotcakes!

Yuummmmm! My stubborn camera does NOT want to pick up the beautiful varigations of the colors in this. I just can't describe it except it's like "jewelry" or something. Just absolutely gorgeous!

I'm so very blessed to have you girls in my life. You made me smile when I really felt like hiding under the covers today. I can't tell you how much you mean to me. Really. Truly.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((Biggest Hugs Ever)))))))))))))))))))))))))))

.....and I'm off to play with all my stuff......

Birthday Bonanza!!!

Another year, another cake. Always happy to have one of these around! (My BD is the 2nd)

There's only five candles because we only had five pink ones. Plus, The Big Guy suggested we put ALL of my candles on but then made a "remark" about how they weren't going to fit..... and we didn't have enough anyway..... yea, he's a riot. So, I don't feel so bad about my bounty this year. Guilt can work to my benefit yet again.

(ETA: These stash yarns were purchased over several paydays! LOL! I make my birth"day" sort of my birth YEAR around here.)

Socks That Rock MediumWeight in the Mustang Sally Colorway. I grabbed this off of the ISO/Destash board on Ravelry. That is one addictive place to hang out. It's very dangerous for someone like me. Upfront, this isn't my first purchase from there - and it's certainly not going to be my last! But I do try to avoid it as much as possible. I already have a skein of this that I haven't used yet but the price was too good to pass up. Yep. Dangerous.

I purchased these from a new yarn shop in my area. Well, I discovered it's quite aways away (about 45 minutes) but at least it was a nice drive! They just opened last month so I felt the need to show my support (and enhance my stash). I actually bought three of these Cherry Tree Hill Select Semi Solid's. I got the Azalea, Slate, and Lotus Colorways. (Lotus is already OTN's, hence no picture). I just LOVE the colors of these (which explains why I came home with 3 skeins- gulp!) I picked up a few cotton yarns as well because she had the prettiest washcloths crocheted up in Plymouth's Jean Nee that I just have to replicate somehow. They're pretty basic, but the Jean Nee is just so soft, squishy, and delicious in this type of project. When I saw them, I thought of my Mom and her delicate face from her cancer surgery 2 years ago. My Mom certainly deserves the best.

I think I ordered these from The Loopy Ewe last month. Malabrigo Sock in colorway #808-Violeta Africana (which looks way more purple in real life, my camera picks it up as blue). Add to that "Tiziano Red" which is also already in use for the girls fingerless mitts (pictures to come soon I hope). The purple Cascade Fixation just jumped into my online cart (honest! ) Not sure how that happened but I already have something in mind for my youngest using that.

My splurge. Fleece Artists Handmaiden Casbah in the Victoria colorway. Cause as you can see it matches my tablecloth. Seriously, those are my colors. If it reminds me of ROSES. It's mine.

Of course I couldn't help but visit KnitPicks for my Birthday! These are skeins of Stroll (handpainted sock yarn). Colors are Dolly (pink) and Make Believe (purple/blue). These are soooo pretty. I haven't decided what these will be yet. I picked up some extra Harmony tips (why do I always need the size that's already in use?) and the double ended crochet hooks for good measure (free shipping). I'm now eyeing those new Zephyr needles. There's no doubt I'll be trying them, I enjoy using my acrylic straights that I got from Joanne's a long time ago. I love that they're so lightweight (my wrist pain is an issue at times), and these are supposed to be a way better acrylic.

Thank You Thank You Thank You so much to all of my fantastic knitting blog friends, Ravelry friends, and all of my wonderful family who made my day so awesome. We're alone here in our town, but the phone calls and messages on Ravelry and here kept coming all day and it sure made me smile. It makes turning 39 (again) easier to bear!

Happy Knitting!