Knitting Kneedles

Moving out

2006-04-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

So, for those who still read my boring mostly pictureless blog, I'd like to ask you if you can change your site for me to http://knittingkneedles.typepad.com/romiettah/ as I have moved to typepad. I sitll want you to read it though! I promise, once I'm no longer pregnancy-ridden and what not :)

Dream about Isela

2006-03-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

Isela, I had a dream about you and your kids last night. I dreamt that we were finally meeting up. However, of all the places I had to go to meet you, this is the last place I thought I'd ever find you ;) You were in jail! I have no idea what you were in jail for, but they let you have your kids with you, and they were older. You told me the jail said you could bring anything you wanted from home to make your cell homier looking, and you had brought oak framed pictures of knitted things, lots of things to knit, and for some reason a live sheep. And you didn't have to wear the ugly jail clothes, you were wearing a floral print dress. I woke up thinking that was quite an odd dream and just wanted to share :)

In knitting news, you'll not be shocked that yet again I have no pictures. But this time it is because I am at work and have no camera :) I'm knitting another baby sweater and I'm messing around with knitting a pair of socks that I'm not following any real pattern to. We'll see how they turn out. I'm not sure who they are going to fit, either a large girl or a small footed thin calfed adult, or maybe somewhere in between. I'm using a feather and fan pattern and they are cuff down. And on size 1 needles, so it's taking me even longer than my normal slow knitting :) But the yarn they are in is really pretty :)

Anyway, that's all for now. Have a great day everyone :)

Congratulations!!!

2006-03-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

I must say congratulations to a friend, Isela on a job well done! If you're not familiar with her knitting blog, go check out her exciting news :) I've decided she's definitely a great role model :)

Ultrasound! Baby Update!

2006-03-20T11:59:00.000-08:00

I've decided not to knit anything for this baby. The sweater in progress will remain that way or go to someone else. The reason for this? I don't want to knit him a cute little something or other, then have it be too tiny. Because apparently tiny is not currently in his vocabulary. I've been telling people that if they want to see baby pics of my Matthew, they better just see these ultrasound pictures now, because he'll be a full on toddler when he emerges. I'm at 32 weeks currently, and he's already estimated to be 6 pounds 3 ounces. They said "But don't worry, that's plus or minus a pound or so" I said "Can't it be plus or minus a week or two?" They told me no, that they won't change my due date. LOL At least I tried :) And plus or minus a pound or tow? Let's hope if that's the case, they are over estimating, in wich case, at 32 weeks even 5 pounds is still quite big. Especially for my history of having smaller babes. Jessie was 7 pounds 3.5 ounces and Niff was 6 pounds even. I think Jessie was about 19 inches long, maybe 20? Niff was 18 inches long. Not sure how long this one is, I'm sure that's difficult to measure when one is curled up in a ball :) At any rate... YIKES! It's an estimate of 1/2 a pound a week that they are to gain from about here on out, so if that's true, that means three more pounds, that means about a 9 pounds baby. This does make me thankful that I am having the c-section. Pushing out something that big is rather a scary thought. Plus, he's breech, and being as big as he is, I'm quite sure he won't flip on his own to the head down position. The tech that did the ultrasound put the doppler on his head, and I said "Wow, his head is so big" and then she measured it and asked if I have gestational diabetes. I told her no, and asked her if she wanted to know because he's big. She said no, that her doctor who is reading the scans always asks that. I know that not to be true though, because this is my umpteenth scan, and I've had scans with my other babies before, and never have they asked me about gestational diabetes. I just kept that to myself though. No sense arguing about my being right, right? :)

At any rate, just thought I'd share that with you. I'm not sure why I'm so upset about the possibility of a ginormous baby. Any of you who read this and have had babies, how big were they, if I may ask? If they were big, did it bother you? Let me know :)

The Penny

2006-03-10T15:35:00.000-08:00

I got this in an email from my hubster, and thought I'd share it here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)

The Penny

You always hear the usual stories of pennies on the sidewalk being good luck, gifts from angels, etc.

This is the first time I've ever heard this twist on the story. Gives you something to think about.

Several years ago, a friend of mine and her husband were invited to spend the weekend at the husband's employer's home. My friend, Arlene, was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on the waterway, and cars costing more than her house.

The first day and evening went well, and Arlene was delighted to have this rare glimpse into how the very wealthy live.The husband's employer was quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest restaurants. Arlene knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of extravagance again, so was enjoying herself immensely.

As the three of them were about to enter an exclusive restaurant that evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of Arlene and her husband.

He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment.

Arlene wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the ground except a single darkened penny that someone had dropped, and a few cigarette butts Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny.

He held it up and smiled, then put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure. How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny? Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up?

Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her. Finally, she could stand it no longer. She casually mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.

A smile crept across the man's face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. She had seen many pennies before! What was the point of this?

"Look at it." He said. "Read what it says."

She read the words, "United States of
America."

"No, not that; read further."
"One cent?" "No, keep reading."
"In God we Trust?"
"Yes!"
"And?"
"And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin. Whenever I find a coin I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him? Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray, I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!"

When I was out shopping today, I found a penny on the sidewalk. I stopped and picked it up, and realized that I had been worrying and fretting in my mind about things I cannot change. I read the words, "In God We Trust," and had to laugh. Yes, God, I get the message.

It seems that I have been finding an inordinate number of pennies in the last few months, but then, pennies are plentiful! And, God is patient...
The best mathematical equation I have ever seen:
1 cross
+ 3 nails
--------
4 given

That's the whole gospel message simply stated. Take 60 seconds give this a shot! Let's just see if Satan stops this one.

All you do is -

1. Simply say a small prayer for the person who sent you this, (Father God bless this person in whatever it is that you know he or she may be needing this day.)

2. Then send it on to five other people. Within hours five people have prayed for you, and you caused a multitude of people to pray to God for other people.

2006-03-09T16:57:00.000-08:00

Hey there! Yep, I'm still alive. In case anyone was concerned ;)

We're all feeling much better in the house of illnesses past, and hopefully can remain feeling that way, at least for 8 more weeks.

Yes! 8 MORE WEEKS!!! As of tomorrow anyway. I'll be having my Cinco de Mayo baby and will be recovering from that. I'll be celebrating Cinco de Mayo on May 9th, however, since I can't eat anything post c-section. Not until I "pass gas." Hee hee, the way they say that always makes me laugh. Like the doctors, who deal with disgusting things constantly, are afraid to say "fart" or something. I realize they are just being professional, but it cracks me up, especially since my doctor is my friend LOL. So, liquid diet for me until I "pass gas" and then whatever I can talk my husband into bringing up since I've never been all that fond of a lot of the meals that patients get. Breakfast is ok, but the rest... blech. Then, home on May 7th or 8th, preferably the 7th if I can talk em into it. Then the 9th, my BIRTHDAY!!! will be mexican food mexican food mexican food. Not that I can't eat it now too, but it just gives me something to look really forward to while recovering from surgery :) Well, something to look forward to besides bonding with my new Matthew that is :)

On the knitting front, you'll not be shocked that I have no photos. Not only have I neglected to purchase batteries for the camera, but now I don't even know where the camera is. I do have a finished baby sweater for my cousin Sharon, who just recently found out she is having a girl. And thank goodness for that because I started knitting the sweater for her, in girl colors, before I had any idea what sex it was. Now I am nearly done with a lime green one for a friend at work who is having a baby. Her shower is tomorrow. Hopefully I can finish off that sweater tonight. I think I can. I only have the sleeves to do, which are in the round, so it goes much quicker I think than back and forth stockinette. Oh, and I think I have one or two more rows on the bottom band. Then sew on the buttons. When I finished Sharons', at this point in the sweater I think it took me about an hour and a half, maybe two hours. I can do it! :) I'm making this sweater: http://knitting.about.com/library/blbabyswe8.htm and I really like how they turn out. I also really like how there is the minutest amount of finishing. Sew up the seams under the arms, and sew on the buttons. That's it :) The first one I made in some Moda Dea Sassy Stripes that I had here, I think the color was "Crush" but I could be wrong. The label is long since gone. It turned out great though, and everyone loves the way it does the self striping bit. The one I'm doing now is TLC Essentials in the lime green color. While I'm not a huge acrylic fan, this was soft enough for what I want it for, and washable, which is important for bambino clothing.

Oh, and guess what! ONLY 8 MORE WEEKS!! ;)

Olympic update

2006-02-22T09:24:00.000-08:00

Sadly, my Olympic Knitting update hasn't changed from my last post....Niff got sick, then I got sick now Jessie and daddy are sick. We belong in the sick house. Thankfully I had Monday off for the holiday, so I'm only missing two days of work so far. But ew. I hate being sick. And I REALLY hate being sick while I'm pregnant because that just seems to make everything worse. I've been taking Nyquil, by orders of my doctor who states that it's fine because the alcohol content isn't enough to make a difference. I think it made me have a weird dream last night. I had a dream that my baby had died and that I had to have surgery to get him taken out, only it wasn't a c-section. I'm not sure what it was. And I had to have it done at Primary Children's Medical Center. The reason the baby had died was some chromosome issue they said. It was very disturbing. I woke up and laid there (I was on the couch, which is where I sleep while pregnant...it's not as hot in the living room as it is in my room LOL) and made sure that he was still moving around. He was, so I knew all was well. But ew. I hate those kind of dreams.

So at any rate, I have three hats done. And 7 more to do. And I can't even remember when the last day is. I'm still going to do as many hats as I can, and hope I get to my goal, but if I don't get it done in time for the Olympics to be done, I'll just have to be late. I'm such a big loser!!

Well, I've been up now about 45 minutes and am completely worn out. I shall go take another restypoo on the couch again.

Holy snow Batman!

2006-02-16T11:23:00.000-08:00

I love the snow when it first falls. It looks so pretty. I don't mind driving in it all that much either. I just hate having to share the roads with other people who drive in it :) But looking at it, it just makes everything look so clean and pure. Granted 12 inches is a bit much in one day, but I won't complain. It's pretty! :)

Last night I got out my little plastic drawer thingy that holds all my beads and string and clasps and such. Years ago I bought all this stuff to make bracelettes, keychains, necklaces, etc. Looking at the beads, you'd think I was an 8 year old who picked them out LOL. They are all these bright kid colors, so my girls just loved them. We had lots of fun making bracelettes and necklaces. Jessica wants to make a toe ring, so I'm going to have to figure that one out. She has a dolphin charm she wants to put on it. I'm thinking if I can find that really thin wire stuff I can work something out of it. Unless someone else has another suggestion?
I made myself a new lancet for my name badge. It's got red white and blue beads. I meant to make it longer, but started running out of the white beads, so I had to call it good at just long enough to fit over my head. I like it though. I also made myself two pairs of earrings. A red white and blue pair, and a black and silver pair. Nothing to jump over joy about, but it was fun. If the roads are ok tonight, the girls and I are going to go to Michael's and check out their bead supply, maybe see if they have something I can manuever a ring out of for Jessie, and some better stuff to make braceletts with. Does anyone else like to make jewelry with beads? Any fun ideas for little ones to do?

The results are in...

2006-02-13T14:33:00.000-08:00

And they were NORMAL!!!!!! I did learn that had I taken the 1 hour test, I would have failed, so I'm glad I went ahead and did the 3 hour instead. And while I am considerably SHOCKED that it was normal, I am THRILLED! I can still eat all the yummy junk foods! :)

Remember when

2006-02-13T08:37:00.000-08:00

You were pregnant? And you had to drink the nasty glucola drink? And it was nasty? Did I mention how nasty it is? I had to do that this morning. Blech! With Jessie and with Niff, I failed the 1 hour glucola test both times and had to take the 3 hour. This time, I skipped the 1 hour and went straight to the 3 hour. The 3 hour glucose tolerance test means you have to fast. Which is really hard. So I'm not reading Chef Messy's blog until after I'm done with all the blood draws, because she just makes me hungry LOL! Then you go in, get your blood drawn for the fasting draw, then guzzle the drink, of which mine was lemon lime today. Then at 10:00, 11:00 and 12:00, precisely on the dot, I'm to wander back into the lab for my blood draws. All this is to check for gestational diabetes. I will actually be quite surprised if I DON'T have it, since I failed it both times before, and now I have other factors involved, like having significant insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and when I was last tested for diabetes (before being pregnant) I was borderline. So, like I said, I'm pretty sure I'll have it. But let's hope for the best anyway! I'll note later how the test goes. I should have the results back this afternoon.

Olympics update

2006-02-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

I have three hats down on my Olympic Knitting Challenge! I have been using Ken's Dulaan Hat pattern, as for now that's the only thing I have the needles for, out of the hat patterns I've picked that I like. Actually, I don't really have the needles for that one for the adult size. It calls for a size 12mm and I could only find a 10mm, so mine are turning out to be more infant/little head hats, which is fine. I figure there are all shapes of heads that can use the hats. The camera needs batteries, so no pics because I'm too lazy to change them.

We had an issue with our hermit crabs tonight. Well, only with one of them. Niff has finally gotten the courage to hold them and has been holding them quite a bit lately. Sure enough, the one named America because it was in a shell painted like an American flag (but she/he has since moved out and taken residence in a green seashell) was happily sitting in her hand when all of the sudden it pinched and held on for dear life. Niff said "Mom, she's pinching me, she's stuck." Then all of the sudden she was getting hysterical, so I tried to pull America off, to no avail. If anything I think that made her hold on tighter because Niff really started screaming after that. So I said to lay her hand flat on the floor, maybe we could get America to crawl off. That didn't work, and poor Niff....her whole body was just shaking. So we ran to the bathroom, plugged the sink and put water in it. I had her submerge her hand, crab and all, into the water, where the shell fills with water and the crab starts to come out (that's also how you can "bathe" them, if you're curious) and Niff pulled her hand out, Jessie returned the culprit to the "crabitat" tank and we doctored Niff's hand. She had little marks that looked like when someone bites you and leaves indents. No skin broken though, but we did put a bandaid on it, because, as you all who have little ones clearly know, bandaids make EVERYTHING better. Now the indents are gone and there's just a little red mark. Niff has declared she is never holding America again, but that she does still love her. From now on, she only wants to hold "Buggy" (who came in a shell painted like a lady bug) and "Squidward" (who isn't painted like Squidward from Spongebob, but it's just a cool name). So, needless to say, it was an interesting little event. I myself have chosen to not hold the little critters, even though I am the one that wanted them. I'm not so much worried about the pinching because most of the time they only pinch if they feel threatened (not sure what happened with Niff and America...) but mostly I just can't handle the feeling of something spiderlike crawling on my body. It makes me shudder to just think about it!!!

Hope you all are enjoying your knitting, Olympically challenged, or otherwise :)

Kablooie!

2006-02-09T07:53:00.000-08:00

That's what my tire did today. While I was using it. On the freeway. Making it go 60 mph. Kablooie! Here's what happened.... I'm driving along, singing to the radio and all of the sudden it feels as though I'm driving a helecopter. What the heck? What's going on? I look in the rearview mirror and my car is shaking like crazy and the noise...holy cow! So I pull over to the far right shoulder, as I was in the far left lane. I was so freaked out that I didn't even bother to make sure the freeway was clear. Stupid, I know. But I had to get over and out of the way. Thankfully the freeway was clear enough for me to do that. I get out and look at the tire. The driver's side rear tire is completely shredded. Not even just a flat, but shredded like someone had put it through a grinder. There's rubber things hanging off the side, and I'm standing there, no coat (because I don't wear one...being pregnant and wearing a coat with me just don't work well together) trying to stand sideways so that people can see that a pregnant lady is stuck on the side of the road. Anyone stop? No. So I wait a few more minutes, still no one stopped. I thought I'd try to get in the car and just drive it to the nearest exit, which was just about 200 feet away, to get it off the freeway and find a phone, because of course I forgot mine on the couch as I walked out the door this morning. I got about 50 feet before I realized that wasn't happening. Pulled back over, got back out, stood there in pregnant position again. THREE HIGHWAY PATROL CARS PASSED ME AND NEVER STOPPED TO HELP! Not that it's their problem that I'm stuck on the side of the road, but they didn't have their lights on, they were going with the speed of the rest of the traffic and that made me figure they didn't have anywhere to get to in a hurry and they should have stopped. What if I caused an accident or something? Anyway, that frustrated me. I don't feel as if they were really "patroling" the highway. So finally this truck pulls up behind me and a guy gets out. He goes right to work helping me out, and seems to think nothing of it. I was so impressed. Now, I don't want you all to think that I hold it to the responsibility of the public to take care of me. I'm not like that at all. I just don't know how to change a tire. I plan to learn, that's for sure, but I just happen not to know right now, and had to depend on the kindness of someone else to stop and help me. This guy told me he saw me as he drove past before, but he was going to fast to stop so he got off the freeway, turned around and got back on to come help me. If that's not a good samaritan, I don't know what is. What a great man. His name is Jason and he never once made me feel like a stupid girl for not knowing how to change a tire. He was very polite and considerate that I had no idea what to do. He did the change, and as he was getting ready to swap tires, a highway patrolman finally stopped to see that we were okay. I believe this was a different one than the ones that had passed because as I looked in the windows of the other cars, the UHP drivers were all big guys (or seemingly so) and this was a little guy. He helped get us finished up, and stayed until Jason was just about finished, with his lights flashing so that people would know to be cautious. I appreciated that :) He was also a pleasant guy, and told me he hoped I have a better day.

So I called my husband when I got to work and told him what happened and said I'd be late coming home because I have to get a new tire. Blech. After thinking about it, I realize how lucky I am that I didn't lose control of the car and cause a huge accident. I've heard stories of how tires go out like that, the driver loses control and at 60 mph, that could have been me. Is it because I'm a good driver that nothing happened to anyone or to myself? I doubt that. I think I have an exceptional guardian angel.

Yuck. Yuck yuck yuck!

2006-02-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

I have this issue with my teeth. I tend to grind them in my sleep. Apparently during one of these grinding sessions I caused a tooth to crack. Not just a little one, but one that really hurt and you could see it when you looked in the mirror, and it goes through quite deeply. The dentist filed it down to see if that would help. It didn't. I still had extreme cold sensitivity. So I called to get an appointment for a filling and six weeks later I was able to get my tooth looked at again. I got it filled. She said "This is probably only going to be temporary, I think you'll eventually need a crown." I'm thinking "If you thought that to begin with they why not just do a crown?" But I said Ok and went on my merry way. Two or three days later the cold sensitivity was back, only much worse. And it would hurt sometimes even when there was no cold items or air or liquids touching the tooth. So I talked with a coworker and she recommended I go see her son in law, who is a dentist. I called them, and 9 days later was able to get a new patient appointment, and they gave me extra time. They basically booked the entire morning for me, since he's the only DDS in his practice. I thought that was pretty exceptional, since I was new and they don't know me from Eve. So I went in, eplained the situation, that the last dentist I went to recommended a crown, all the stuff I'd gone through, all the appointments. So he proceeds to check my teeth out. He started tapping them with the end of his knitting tool (tee hee hee, ok so it's a dental pick to him, but a knitting tool to those of us who really know better) and asking about pain, tenderness, etc. It started out ok, but as he worked his way towards the painful tooth, there were two before it that it just gradually started to hurt a little more. He said that indicated that there is nerve damage spreading and that while yes, a crown is eventually going to be necessary, a root canal was needed as well. He told me I could get the crown now and wait and see, but it would most likely need to be done, and then another crown, or something like that, or we could just do the root canal now and come back in a few weeks for the crown. Let me just say... I never wish a root canal on my worstest enemy. It was so awful. He had to keep numbing me because I could still feel it. I got sick while he was rooting around in my mouth, and had to mumble something about throwing up. But they were quick to aide and got me a garbage can, clean towels, paper towels and a fan. I told him how much I actually appreciated the garbage can instead of that little kidney basin that people normally give you and you try as hard as you can to make it hold everything LOL. Anyway, once all the novacaine and whatnot that he used to numb the area wore off, son of a monkey that pain was IN FREAKING TENSE! And I am the very first to admit that I am a huge baby when it comes to pain. Bring on the c-sections any day, I'd much rather deal with that pain. At least I can eat with those. LOL

So I just wanted to say, I hate root canals. I took Lortabl all night to help with the throbbing pain, so I was all doped up and got zilcho done in the knitting department. But being all doped up I guess I didn't care. :)

2006-02-01T13:35:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago my OB gave me some Tylenol 3 to take when my c-section incision hurts from braxton hicks contractions. It doesn't hurt with every one of them, but I do get a few that make the incision burn. So I took one the other night, and it didn't do anything. Didn't make me tired, didn't help with the pain, I might as well have had a tic tac. So I talked with our Nurse Practioner who said to try two at a time. So last night I tried two. It didn't make me sleepy, but it did help a little with the pain. However, I woke up this morning with my face looking like a caveman LOL. It was so puffy and swollen that my lips were ginormous and my husband thought I had a tooth infection or something. While I am having an issue with my tooth, it isn't infected as far as a I know, and it wasn't and currently isn't hurting. No foul odors coming from the tooth, no yucky tastes like I'd expect. So I thought and thought and thought about everything I ate yesterday, and I didn't try anything new. Except the Tylenol 3's. I asked our NP this morning if when I took one it wasn't a strong enough dose to cause a reaction, but what if I took two, could it then? She said that while what happened to me isn't a common allergic reaction to that medicine, that it most likely was that and not to take it anymore. So I looked in the mirror just now because my coworker said I had a bit of a red blotchy face. Sure enough, along with the still tingly feeling in my lips. I've taken my allergy meds, and I am able to take more tonight around 9, because it's only every 12 hours.

At any rate, I thought of taking a picture this morning so I could show you all how freakin hilarious I looked, but then decided against it. You'll just have to imagine it now :)

Stupid question?

2006-01-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

I'm knitting these cute little baby sweaters from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies. It's the Chunky Knit Cardigan. I'm working on the right front. It says to purl 2 stitches together through the back loop. I've never seen this, and I'm not sure how to do it. I went to www.knittinghelp.com which is always so helpful for me, but I just couldn't figure this one out. Anyone know how to help me with it?

Thanks a ton!!

Chemo caps

2006-01-27T12:32:00.000-08:00

So as I'm driving to work this morning, I'm listening to my favorite radio station, and they are doing a fund rasier for Huntsman Cancer Institute. People call in, make donations, they take the info and send the money to HCI. While I don't really have the funds right now, I do want to do something, so I've decided that after my Olympic/Dulaan challenge, I'm going to give myself a new challenge of trying to get together -X- amount of chemo caps to donate. This is where I need to enlist the help of anyone who'd like to help me out :) I'd like to be able to have a certain amount of hats, either knitted, sewn, crocheted, loomed, whatever, by the end of June, to donate. But first I wanted to see if anyone wants to help, and if so, how many hats/caps would you as an individual be willing to donate? Do have you any friends that might want to help out? Am I just being ridiculous? :)

Anyway, let me know if anyone wants to help me on my quest here, I'd love all I can get!

Yuck

2006-01-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

I had this post about how my day is going and all the details, but when it all sums up mostly I just want to say this day just really sucks.

Knitting Olympics

2006-01-25T07:44:00.000-08:00

I wasn't planning to join up with the rest of those in the 2006 Knitting Olympics but upon reading Isela's blog this morning, I have decided to join in her quest to be there for other people and work on the Dulaan Project (which for some reason I can't link to) for my Olympic Challenge. While Isela has chosen to do 16 items to loom or needle knit, I have chosen to do 10. The challenge in this for me is actually finishing 10 items in 16 days. I'm an INCREDIBLY slow knitter and the thought of this actually makes me wonder if I can really do it. So that's how I know it's a fitting challenge. If it turns out that I complete my 10 items before the deadline, I will just continue on and make more.

Thanks Isela for the great idea!

2006-01-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

I had another ultrasound today. I'm in this study called PROMISSE that one of the docs in our office is doing. I can't remember what they are looking for, something I think to do with preterm labor. I'm one of the "healthy controls" meaning they really aren't worried about me but want to compare my stuff with the "unhealthy controls" or whatever they lable those gals as. In this study I get to have 3 ultrasounds at their cost (WOO HOO!) and lots of blood draws (no WOO HOO there though). So today, I had my 2nd ultrasound with that, and let's just say, Matthew is definitely not a modest little guy LOL! She put the doppler on my tummy and my friend Donna said "Oh, what's that?" The sonographer said "Well, that's the baby's butt, and it's definitely still a boy." My first question was "How magnified is that!?!?!" She told me it was close to actual size. Not that the baby was hung like a horse (sorry for the crassness there) or anything, but I was surprised that it was so much bigger this time than last time LOL. Clearly I have no experience with boys, so I think that played in there as well. All went well, and it looks like there is no concern anymore for a Placent Accreta anymore. The last 2 ultrasounds I had, there was some concern about this, which really freaked me out because of the thought of being put under general anesthesia. For some reason having a hysterectomy, possible blood transfusions, bladder repair, other girl parts repaired, etc didn't bother me one iota. But putting me under? Ay ay ay! I'll pass on that thankyouverymuch. I have another ultrasound in 2 weeks and that should hopefully confirm that they don't need to worry about that anymore, and I'll rest assured knowing I most likely won't be unconsious for the delivery.

On the knitting front, I've changed my mind about how to finish off the hat. I think I'm just going to seam the top closed and put tassles on the corners. The thought of making an icord with sock yarn just wasn't all that appealing to me. It would take me 9238769234 gabillion years, I just know it.

Anyone else here an American Idol fan? I watched it last night and was just appalled at some of the people auditioning. What makes these people think they can sing? Even more, why do parents and grandparents encourage those who can't sing to do something like that? I guess that's easier than saying "Son/daughter, you really have a lousy voice and should just hide out for the rest of your life." :) Not that *I* would say that, but I couldn't be dishonest with my kid if I thought they weren't very good at something. Encourage them to keep at it if they loved it, sure, but set them up for total humiliation? I just couldn't do that.
And the one girl... I can't remember her name, but she was just awful, and she wore more make up on her face than I wear in an entire year. And they showed her putting on more as she was getting ready to audition. Then she came out and wasn't even paying attention to Simon asking her questions about her tan, and she went on about her name and her song. THREE TIMES! Then they brought her mom out and oi! Like mother like daughter... interesting outfits, that's all I kept thinking.

So I'm done being critical of the show for now. We'll see how tonight's episode goes :) I'm glad it's a new season, I love this show :)

****EDIT****
Apparently all the links I have found don't help, in regards to that placenta accreta information. What it is is when your placenta, instead of just attaching to the uterus, basically grows into it. There are three different levels, each one being more severe than the other. It can even go past the uterus and into the bladder. Most often lots of blood is lost, because you cannot just manually remove the placenta by taking it out in this situation, or the mother might bleed profusely, or to death. Transfusions are often necessary, and quite often, a hysterectomy is necessary to save the mother's life. The baby isn't in harms way because he/she still gets what he/she needs from the placenta, it's still giving off the right stuff for the babe. And it's only a problem at delivery, as far as I know.
And when it grows through like the bladder, vaginal walls, etc, then it becomes necessary for a gyn-oncologist to come in and help repair things, assisting the OB who is doing the c-section. Oh yeah, and a c-section is necessary as well, in these situations. What causes an accreta to occur? When a woman has scar tissue on her uterus, that's where the placenta might attach and just keep growing through that tissue, rather than just minding it's own business and staying put where it's planted, so to speak. If you have no scar tissue on your uterus, you're in the clear. Having had 2 c-sections in the past put me into that category, and because of the way the placenta was so close to my bladder, they were a little concerned about it. Not much, just a little. I, of course, freaked out, for no good reason so far though, thank goodness. Anyway, that's my shpiel on placental issues for today. Sorry if that was boring for any of ya'll. :)

2006-01-16T11:23:00.000-08:00

So last night, after getting bored working on only one project at a time (it truly did last from Jan 1 to Jan 15...that's a record for me LOL) I broke down and started a hat for my baby, Matthew. I got the great idea to use sock yarn for it. Looking back, I think I should have chosen something else, but my goal this year is to finish every project I start, regardless of how tedious it might be to knit a baby hat with sock yarn on size 2 needles. LOL Anyway, I realize that a hat is a nothing project, but I've never made one without having used a pattern before. I figured that since hats are easier for me, it would be a good way to start making up my own things. So I'm using this yarn called Fortissima Colori in a two color blue colorway. It's a dark blue, and a little lighter of a blue. I thought it would stripe, but instead it's looking really cool, with the colors staying all together, so it's a two toned looking hat. I got to thinking about when I have to start decreasing at the top, and came to the realization that it's possible that I could lose that two toned color that is going on right now, and it might start striping or blobbing. So I thought, what if I just knit it as a small tube, with no decreases, then do an i-cord and weave it through about three inches from the top of the hat, and then tie it and bunch the top up? I realize others have done this, I'm sure, but I'm thinking this up on my own, and am very proud of myself :)

Tell me if you think that would work?

Here's what it looks like so far:

I've been tagged :)

2006-01-15T16:09:00.000-08:00

Karen has tagged me with a fun little meme :)

4 Jobs You Have Had In Your Life:

Cherry sorter in a fruit shed
Swing manager at McDonald's
Nanny
Admin Assitant for OBGYN docs

4 movies you could watch over and over

The Changelling
Fast and the Furious
Home Fries
ET

4 Places You Have Lived:

Tujunga, California
Wenatchee, Washington
Moses Lake, Washington
Salt Lake City, Utah

4 TV Shows You Love To Watch:

House, M.D.
Bones
Little House On The Prairie
American Idol (that starts Tuesday! WOO HOO!!!!)

4 Places You Have Been On Vacation:

Los Angeles, California
Halsey, Oregon
Seattle, Washington
Las Vegas, Nevada

4 Websites You Visit Daily:

www.cnn.com
www.sltrib.com
www.babycenter.com
www.livejournal.com

4 Of Your Favorite Foods:

Chocolate
Any fruit
Mashed Potatoes
Enchiladas

4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now:

Disneyland
Hawaii
The Black Sheep Wool Co :)
Sleeping

4 Bloggers You Are Tagging:

Isela
Valerie
Miriam
I'm only doing 3.

2006-01-14T15:12:00.000-08:00

It's been pointed out that I haven't blogged in a few days *grin* Nothing exciting has been going on. I've been knitting socks. I found a link for instructions on knitting 2 socks on 2 circs, so I'm giving that a shot, and rather enjoying it. I did keep messing up at first, so I decided to use just some cotton ease to start out with until I get it all figured out. That way I'm not knitting/frogging over and over and shredding my nice yarn.

I've discovered that my children's feet grow faster than weeds. We had to buy new shoes today, and apparently I missed a whole size for poor Jessie. She was a size 10 when we measured her this past summer. Now she's a 12. The sales lady measured her at an 11, so we tried on the 11 1/2, and Jessie said they hurt her feet and were too tight. So much for the lady measuring. She got some cute little black loafers that have a little chain on the front with hello kitty charms. Niff got some fake uggs that are pink and have those little lights that blink when you walk. I wanted to get boots for Jessie too, but PayLess didn't have any, so I figured it would have to wait until next pay day. I got new shoes too :) They are Airwalk Clogs and really comfy. Please note, the only picture I could find online was in a toddler's size. I got a women's size :) I've decided they are the perfect pregnant shoe for me, since I get so hot, and am always wanting to kick my shoes off. And they have the little airholes in them at the top, so I won't get such sweaty feet. And they are squishy, like foam, so I have all that comfort when I walk.

So you see, there's nothing exciting going on in my life lately. Just the humdrum moldings of everyday life. :)

Irritation with photohosting

2006-01-04T21:01:00.000-08:00

So I had a picture for you all of my most recent FO. It's a cute pair of socks, from Mim's baby sock pattern. For some reason, the photo hosting site I use, photobucket.com, isn't resizing them correctly like I'm commanding it to. It turns out smaller than a dime size so you can't see it, or so large that my blog doesn't republish with my sidebar links available. It's so irritating. Is there anyway I can just create my own tags rather than use a photo hosting site? Anyone know how I can do that to just link the pictures in on my own? Or am I lost and S.O.L.?

2006-01-01T17:43:00.000-08:00

I am reading a book right now that's really hitting home with me. It's called "A Million Little Pieces" written by James Frey. Mr. Frey wrote this book about himself. The reason that it hits me so close is that it helps me see a lot of what my own father went through with his own addictions. In this book, James is 23 years old, addicted to alcohol and crack. He's been drinking since he was 10 years old. Hard to believe, I know, but it's true. One night, he woke up and found himself on an airplane, and had no idea how he got there, or where the plane was going. His face was bleeding, he smelled of body fluids, and was a disgrace to himself basically. He asked the flight attnedant where the plane was going, and it was going to Chicago. Apparently his parents were there to meet him, unbeknownst to him. Two people and a doctor had dropped him off at the airport and a friend had called his parents letting them know he needed serious help. They take him to a treatment facility in Chicago and the things that James is going through are incredibly awful. He realizes that he's done all of these things to himself, he doesn't seem to be blaming anyone but himself, but oh how he struggles with detoxification.

My own father struggled with one of the same things as James Frey. I don't know at what age he started to drink, but my entire life, until I was 16, he'd always been a drinker. Most nights, I seem to remember him drinking to the point of passing out on the couch or the floor or whereever he happened to be at the time. We just sort of got used to it. There were times when he'd go to a rehab center to try and quit. Sometimes worked longer than others. There was one center in Washington state, which is where I grew up, that had the best recovery rate in the state, and he went there. To no avail. It was the last center he went to. I think I was 14 or 15 or so at that time. He tried AA meetings, support groups of other types, religion, counsling, etc. He knew he had the problem, and I believe that he really wanted to get rid of it. But sometimes what you want and what you can fight off are no match for each other. One always wins. Sometimes it's not the one we want. Sometimes it is. My dad was awesome. He was great when he was sober, and even when he was drunk, he was still my dad. He never hit us (unless it was a well deserved spanking, and I only remember 1 or 2 of those really) and he did not verbally abuse us or molest us or anything like that. I think he drank to get "rid of himself" so to speak. So that he didn't feel, the same way James does in this book. There were times when my dad had consumed so much alcohol, and his body was so resistant to certain amounts I guess that once or twice when he was in the hospital (for breaking an arm after stumbling and falling or something) that the doctors were literally shocked that he was alive, that the amount of alcohol in his body was beyond that of someone who should still be alive. I guess that's what years of drinking can do to a person.

The last time I saw my dad was when I was 16. He had been sober for about 3 weeks. He was driving me to my aunt's house in a nearby city and I was going to stay with her for the summer and work where she did to make some money for myself. Things were great, and had been for those three weeks. He dropped me off, I told him good bye, I can't remember if I told him I loved him, but I'd like to think I did. Two or three weeks later, my aunt and I were getting ready for work. The phone rang, and my aunt NEVER answers the phone in the morning, as she has her time all perfectly planned out, and phone calls didn't fit into the schedule. But for some reason that morning, she answered the phone. She sent me to work with the nieghbor (work was just across the street at the apple/cherry shed where we'd sort the icky ones from the good ones, weigh them, pack them, etc...crappy job, but good money for a 16 year old kid). I figured that it was something to do with her daughter, who had just had a baby about 2 days before. Then, an hour or so after we were working, the supervisor approached me and said someone was coming to pick me up to take me to the hospital. I asked if the baby was ok, and I'm sure she thought I was nuts. She said 'Maybe your aunt just needs some emotional support.' So I waited for my ride, thinking it would be my cousin's fiance Carlos. It wasn't. It was an old family friend. I questioned him endlessly about the baby, still convinced that it was Miranda (the baby) who was at the hospital with problems. He was quiet most of the drive and said we'd just have to find out, he didn't know what was going on. We got to the hospital and there was his wife, who grabbed my hand and held it tight. It was then that I knew it wasn't anything to do with Miranda. I asked what was going on and she said my mom would tell me. What? My mom's here? Then my mom came around the corner, and told me that my dad was there, that he had tried to commit suicide and it didn't look very good. My dad had tried more than once, twice, three times to commit suicide, so I was shocked that they'd actually taken him to the city where I was, which had a larger hospital than the one we actually lived in at the time. I remember hoping that they didn't airlift him there because my dad didn't like to fly. Later I found out they didn't, they took him there via ambulance. Apparently, right after my dad dropped me off, he went on a drinking binge that lasted from then until he wound up in jail. He ended up getting in a huge fight with my mom, of which I don't know the details, and really don't want to at this point. My mom took my little sister and went to a hotel to stay at, had a restraining order against him placed, then later for some reason or other had it lifted. The proper paperwork wasn't done in having the RO lifted, and the police were called over an argument my dad had with a neighbor. They arrested him thinking the RO was still in place, and in their custody he attempted to take his life. He had a splint on his arm wrapped with an ace bandage, and he used the bandage to try and hang himself. They saw him on the monitor, then took the bandage away. They didn't put him on a suicide watch, just left him. Sometime later, they saw him on a monitor again, and he had attempted again, with the collar of his shirt and the waisteband of his undergarments. He was successful in that attempt, had been without oxygen to his brain for several minutes and they revived him to a comatose state, then transported him to the hospital where I had met with my mom and everyone else in the world, or so it seemed. He never awoke from the coma, he was in it for about 30 hours I think. My mom and everyone else kept asking me if I wanted to go into his room and see him, say anything to him. I never did. I have no regrets in not going in to see him. The last time I saw my dad, things were great and he was sober and happy, we all were happy. That's the last memory I wanted of my dad. Not him hooked up to every machine around to live for him. He had no brain activity, a machine was breathing for him, and his lungs were filling with fluid. Death was setting in even before it completely took over. I had no desire to change my memory of him. My sister, bless her heart, needed to say good bye. I am so glad I didn't witness that. She was only 8 at the time, and dad was her best friend in the entire world. I know that it was hard on my mom to take her in there to say goodbye to her daddy, who it seemed like she was just barely getting to know.

So anyway, back to this book. I think I am understanding a little more about my dad. Not in anyway excusing his behavior, but maybe getting an understanding of why people with addictions such as these do what they do. And how sick they really are, and how these things can eventually turn them into something that makes them not want to live, not have the will to live. I now have somewhat of an idea of what my dad went through during his times at the treatment centers he was at. I know that those people in those centers truly cared about my dad. That they sincerely wanted to help him and see him still alive today. I will never forget his AA friends at his funeral saying the Serenity prayer, and showing that they loved my dad and cared for him profusely.

I'm sorry for going on about this, I hope no one minds. I guess this book just really brought out a lot of emotions I thought were hidden inside. I am greatful, ever so greatful, to have been able to know my dad for the 16 years that I did. I learned a lot from him. I miss him a lot, and I really wish that my own children had the chance to know him besides me just talking about him.

Addi Turbos

2005-12-22T21:41:00.000-08:00

How have I been knitting for over a year without ever having used these???? I bought some today with a gift certificate for my favorite LYS, The Black Sheep Wool Co, in Salt Lake City. I got them in a US 1, 42 inches, because I'm using them to magic loop my socks. I imagine that if you knitted with a piece of heaven, this is what it would be like. I love the joins the most. The yarn just slides right on through to the metal part of the needle off of the cable. I don't know that I can ever use anything else now LOL!

I also got a new book a week or so ago called Cool Socks Warm Feet by Lucy Neatby. It's a great book so far. I'm knitting one sock at a time using the magic loop because I haven't quite figured out how to cast on for two socks at one time. But I do seem to knit faster using the ML method, as well as the 2 circs method. My stitches are tighter with DPN's though, and I like that. I guess they each have their own goodies about them.

Talked to my mom tonight. She is going to start buying little boy things. I'm excited :) I told her I want lots of blue. :) I also bought some yarn to practice with, Frog Tree or something like that, to see if I like it to make my baby a sweater for next fall. I bought one skein of a dark green, and one of a seafoam type of color, to make hats to see if I like the way it works up. Then I'll buy the amount needed for a sweater that I have a baby pattern for :)

Hope none of you get sick of hearing about my baby babble :)

Merry Christmas to ME!

2005-12-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

I must say congrats to Isela belatedly. Not belatedly on purpose, mind you, but because I found out that I WAS WRONG! I had my little "What is the sexy of my baby" contest, and EVERYONE guessed that it was a boy when really I thought it was a girl, and even the doctor thought it was a girl. Well, after yesterday's ultrasound, it is CLEARLY not a girl! So, Isela, congrats! You win some yarn! I have a new favorite sock yarn that I'm prizing you with, but you most likely won't get it until after Christmas. And it might not really be "new" as in new to the whole world, but it's a newer one to me, as I've never used it :) I hope you like it as much as I do.

Here is Matthew Asa :)

****EDIT**** I can't seem to make the picture bigger so you can see :( If anyone knows how, I'd be much abliged!

drool

2005-12-19T07:58:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting at my desk at work, and this lady comes in looking for one of our physicians. She has a bag of something to give him. His secretary isn't in, so I offer to give it to him when he comes in. I look at it... it's roving! For his wife. I said, "She's gonna spin this up isn't she?" I opened the bag (she told me to) and felt it and holy hannah banana.... I'd like my skin to be made of this stuff! That's how I like to rate my yarn. :) I told her that eventually I'd love to learn to spin and she said "Great, we'll start you out with a drop spindle so you can get the hang of it." Then she told me about some place in town on Redwood Road and 7800 South (???) that caters to spinners. I'll look into it to see if they have some classes to offer for people with no clue like myself :) Any ideas on how much a good drop spindle costs? I'm excited :)

Delivery method stuff...mostly complaining, be forewarned! :)

2005-12-10T15:45:00.000-08:00

I had to choose a new day for the baby to be born. That's the only good thing, in my opinion, about having c-sections. I get to be in control of the day, if she hasn't come by then that is :) I was wanting May 3, but my doctor is out of town until that day, so I decided on....Cinco de Mayo! :) I thought that would be fun, so many people celebrating my Robyn's birthday :)

I do wish that c-sections weren't a party of my delivery plan, but, such is life. I had an emergency c-section with Jessica, after an induction for pre eclampsia. Her heart rate was dropping to the 60's, when it's not supposed to go below 120. It went up, but didn't really stabilized, so they crash sectioned me. I was awake, though so drugged that I remember I just wanted to sleep. Then, with Niff, my cervix wasn't ever changing towards the end. At 38 weeks, it was still closed, thick and high, meaning that diddly squat was happening. So I said "Let's just schedule it." To this day, I regret that decision. Niff was so tiny I am sure I could have delivered her vaginally. She was only 6 pounds and 18 inches long. But, that is the decision I made. I talked with my OB about having a VBA2C, which is a vaginal birth after 2 cesareans. She was very supportive of it, if that is what I wanted to do. I researched the holy heck out of it, read lots of stuff on the internet, good and bad, and read lots of stuff at work, in our OBGYN office, like some articles from journals, ACOG (American College of OBGYN), and talked with 3 different OBGYN doctors who were all supportive of it as long as it was what I wanted. I stressed about it for about a year, and it was definitely the most difficult decision I have ever made in my life. The scariest risk, to me, of the VBA2C is a uterine rupture, which could also happen with just a VBAC. But with the VBA2C, the risk is slightly higher. I couldn't deal with that, so in the end, I just decided that a repeat c-section, while it also has risks, is the better decision for me. While I'm still not thrilled with that decision, I do know it's the right one. That's the only thing about this pregnancy that I dread. And I'm not sure what the reason is that I hate the sections so much. I should be greatful that my babies are healthy. And I am, completely. Just makes me disappointed that I have to let someone else birth my babies I guess.

Whew... guess I just needed to get that out! Sorry about that :)

I'm making enchiladas and spanish rice and beans for dinner tonight. I'm looking forward to it. I love mexican food!

2005-12-10T15:44:00.000-08:00

Christmas Elf Name

My Christmas Elf Name is

Get your Christmas Elf Name at JokesUnlimited.com

Seaming question

2005-12-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

I found this great mitten pattern for kids mittens. Well, I like it anyway, because it's so quick and easy. The only problem is, my seams on the side (they are 2 needle mittens) looks awful. There's a ginormous ridge where the sides are seamed together, and I want to eliminate that. Can someone point me in a direction where I might find some directions on making that better?

Here is the link for the mittens if anyone is interested:
http://www.geocities.com/bbcrafty_17/patterns.html?976597832370

I'll try to post pics tonight when I get home of the 2 pairs I have done :)

Update on the spider

2005-12-05T07:13:00.000-08:00

It's dead. I didn't do it. I called a neighbor, who wasn't able to help. So I went across the street to the other neighbor's house and he came over and helped. And giggled at me of course, but it's all good and the creepy crawly is gone. I'm no longer trembling as I was last night. :)

EW EW EW

2005-12-04T17:39:00.000-08:00

You should all know this about me. I HATE SPIDERS. And there is one on the wall above the computer. And I am so terrified of the darn things that I can't even kill it. I HATE THEM I HATE THEM I HATE THEM. And hubby is at his bowling league, then work (he works graveyard shifts) and my kids clearly can't reach it if *I* can't even reach it, and I'm too scared to even kill it..... SOMEONE COME HELP ME.

On a happier unspidery not (ACK IT'S GETTING CLOSER) I started knitting mittens yesterday. I got two pairs done and am working on the third. One each for my girls and one for my niece. Will post pics later, when there are no unwanted creepy crawlies on my house.

Happy Sunday!

2005-11-27T17:29:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We painted our kitchen. Well, I shouldn't say *we* as in me helping, because my mom and her husband did it. They're helping us fix up our townhouse to sell it before we move after we have the baby.
It looks nice so far. We only have one wall left to paint, and for that we had to borrow a friend's sprayer thingamajigger because it's brick, and would just be easier with the sprayer thingamajigger :) Then they are coming back to help put in pergot-type floors in the downstairs area, which includes the living room, kitchen, bathroom and laundry room. They also are going to help us put new counter tops in the kitchen. I think it will look great.

I worked on socks during my 4 days off from work. I got most of an adult one finished, for a coworker for Christmas. Then I got antsy with new yarn that I bought from a LYS here in Salt Lake called The Wool Cabin. It's just an acrylic/nylon blend, but I really like the way it worked up. I am making more baby socks from Mim's pattern from it. The nylon in it makes it rather stretchy, I think. The little one I am giving it to has the perfect size foot. I was at her family's house last night and finished the first one, had her try it on, and it was the perfect fit. Hopefully by Christmas her feet won't have grown 2 sizes larger LOL! I'm size 0 dpns because the yarn is thicker yarn, actually recommends a size 6 needle. As soon as I'm done with number two, which will hopefully be tonight, or tomorrow, I shall share photos with you :) Then it's back to work on the adult sock. I'm using the lion brand magic stripes yarn and their pattern. I'll also post pics of those when they are done. I don't like the colors in that sock, but the girl I'm giving it to says she likes it, so I guess that's what matters most.

Also, I got some yummies from my secret pal!!!!!!! There is a gaboodle of purple yarn! *drool* OH how I LOVE purple :) And a book called Treasure Forest that looks great, and something heaven sent... body wash in one of my most favorite scents... warm vanilla sugar *drool* It makes me want to bathe continually! I haven't had a chance to photograph these things, but when I do, I'll post it :) I did have a chance to ball up one of the hanks of purple :) SP, did you spin this yourself? If so, it's awesome, I LOVE IT!!! If not, it's still awesome and I still love it :)

Well, I'm off to work more on that sockie :)

The baby socks are done

2005-11-21T20:47:00.000-08:00

I think they look "ok." The first sock, I messed up on the toe. The second sock I tried ot match to the first sock when it came to the toe, but that didn't happen. LOL I figured that's just too bad, my friend is getting them anyway. Here are some pics :)

This is the first sock, wet and blocking on my favorite winnie the pooh towel.

Here is the second sock doing the same thing as the first. You might notice that toes aren't twinlike.

Here they are together, blocking it up.

And here is the first one, freshly finished.

The last photo is my favorite of the two socks.

Thanks again for this pattern :) Even though I boofed the toes, I know my friend won't care, and she'll love em anyway :) Plus, I know where I messed up and how to fix it, I just didn't want to frog the first one to fix it because I'd already seamed it and don't know how from that point, so figured botching the second toe the same way would work... LOL

Anyway, it was fun, and I look forward to many more baby socks!

EDIT:
The socks really are the same size, I don't know why they are different sizes in the picture.

Another ultrasound! And a contest!!!

2005-11-19T09:05:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I had a little spotting. I talked to my doctor, which was easy since I'm also her admin assistant. She said we should order an ultrasound to check and see if the baby is ok, so that we could all sleep better this weekend. So down I went for my ultrasound nervous as heck. The last time I had spotting was 5 1/2 years ago and I miscarried. And working in an OBGYN office, of course all I could think of was the worst. However, everything went well. I told them before hand that they might see I have a full bladder because I was scared to go to the bathroom for fear of seeing more blood. I know that sounds ridiculous, but that was my fear yesterday. Sure enough, they laughed at how full my bladder was. LOL!

So as they are scanning around I catch a glimpse of something I hadn't decided if I wanted to find out yet. There was, to me, a great "down under" shot, as my friend who went with me called it. The tech doing the scan only said "Well, it's too early to try and tell what it is, being only 15 weeks, so when we do your routine scan we can tell better." In my head I thought "Yeah, right. I know EXACTLY what it is!" So as my friend and I were walking down the hall, we both decided on the same thing. Then I told Jennie, my OB, what we thought we saw. A few minutes after I talked to Jennie she called back and said that the doctor who read the scan just called her to tell her everything was great, no sign of cause for the bleeding. Then Jennie said "And I grilled her about the sex. She said it's still early but she really thinks it's a *insert sex here.*

So. Whoever guesses the sex of the baby first and correctly wins a prize! Email me at romiettah at comcast dot net with your guess and if you're right, I'll let you know so I can get your address and send you the prize. Not sure yet what the prize will be, because I just barely thought of doing this, my first contest. But it will be yarn related :) Also, only one guess per person please :) No fair emailing twince since there's only two options to choose from!

It's done :)

2005-11-16T22:40:00.000-08:00

It's not perfect, but it's done, and I'm quite pleased with myself. I even went to take a picture of this wee little sock to share with you, and just as I was about to clicky the camera.... the batteries died! So, the picture will have to wait.

There was a bit of a mistake. Somehow I got the needles messed up and I did the toe in the wrong spot. But I think you could only tell if you 1) Knew what you were looking for and 2) Made up the pattern :) As long as I do the other toe the same way, everything's all good. And it actually doesn't look too bad. The decrease marks are just on the top and bottom instead of on each side of the toe LOL. Oh well. Live and learn. And the kitchener stitch is something I've not yet mastered. I know how to do it, thank goodness, but hopefully it will just improve with time. :)

Thanks Mim, can't wait to show ya the finished product :)

Good night!

The sock

2005-11-16T09:24:00.000-08:00

So, I have restarted the sock. I worked on it last night during Tuesday Tv, which is of course, Bones and House. I started out with 5 needles, but lost one *cry* I guess it's ok because they are crystal palace DPN's and for some reason, I just have never really liked those brand. So I'm knitting with 4 instead, which actually seems to me to go faster. I have just picked up the stitches and started my decreasing rounds to get ready for the toe. I'm hoping I can finish it tonight, but darn it there's nothing good on TV tonight. Guess I'll have to pop in a video :) Anyway, I'm excited that this sock seems to be going so much quicker than the frogged one. The baby they are for was just barely born, and I'm doing them on the size one, which is the infant size rather than the newborn size, so I'm thinking they'll get to her next week when I mail them and still fit :) Thanks Miriam for the awesome pattern :)

Mim, this one's for you if you read this

2005-11-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

Or if anyone else can help, that works too :)

I ended up starting over on my baby sock found at Mim's Basic Baby Sock because I just didn't like the way it was turning out, plus I dropped a stitch a kazillion rows back and it just was easier. Anyway, it was the toes that I wasn't liking, because apparently I don't know how to do a wedge toe, yet I thought I did. Can you help me figure that one out?

Thanks! :) By the way, I REALLY love this sock. I'm doing it in Lorna's Laces in a colorway I am unsure of because I left the wrapper at the yarn store when I was using their ball winder and swift :( It's very pretty though, with peach, pink, and purple :) I have fallen in love with Lorna's Laces. I plan to make lots of these baby socks for my own little munchkin because I love the way they turn out (even though I only got to the toe on the first one before ripping it out LOL). I like that the cuff is tight enough to keep the sock on, but that the foot is fat enough fore a baby foot. :)

Exciting news

2005-11-14T13:32:00.000-08:00

Well, it's exciting for me anyway :)

I CAN FEEL MY BABY MOVE!!!!

Not on the outside yet, just on the inside. I love it! It's one of the things I missed the most after my pregnancies with Jessie and with Niff. Looking forward to when I feel it more :)

A painful experience

2005-11-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine recently had a baby, so I'm knitting here
Mim's Basic Baby Sock in the infant size, so I'm using size two size 1 16 inch circs. This is my first time knitting with size 1's and I'm glad it's a baby sock, because they are tiny, and I think it would take me forever to make myself a sock in these bitty little things LOL! This wasn't a planned gift. Well, it was, but it was a sooner one than I expected to make. While knitting happily along on the cuff, all of the sudden I felt excruciating pain in my left thumb. Why you ask? Apparently the size 1 needles fit rather tightly in between your thumb and the thumb nail! OW!!! I jabbed it in there pretty good, it is still pretty tender today. It didn't stop me from knitting of course *gring* I plan to buy some size 1 dpn's today so I can start on the heel and do the rest. I'm not good at doing heels on 2 circs.

Anyway, just thought I'd share that :)

IT. IS. FINALLY. DONE!!!!!DONE!!!!!DONE!!!!!

2005-11-09T21:04:00.000-08:00

So I finally finished it. It's done. DONE. DONE DONE DONE!

A close up of the letters:

To make those letters, I did reverse stockinette. It was more confusing to me at first than anything, but once I got it figured out, it actually went pretty smoothly.
I used the personalized baby blanket pattern from Simple Knits For Cherished Babies. I think the author is Erika Knight, but I loaned the book out, so I'm not 100% sure on that. The yarn was blue Cotton Ease. The needle size was 3.75. Time it took was about 7 months, but mostly because I just didn't work on it diligently enough.

Niff has mentioned what she would like to name our baby. Currently she is obsessed with Batman, so that's what she wants to name it. It's out of the question of course, so she came up with her own way of making herself happy:

She went upstairs for a few minutes, then came back down and informed me that she has a baby in her tummy. I giggled my face off, then had her grab the camera so I could snap a shot or two :) She had stuffed her doggy in her tummy. Then she pulled the stuffed animal out and said "It's my baby! It's Batman!" I thought it was adorably cute :)

SP, I have an apology. In my previous post, I mentioned feeling old while knitting. However, it wasn't the knitting that made me feel old. It was that we were sitting around not going out somewhere that made me feel old. Like a boring old home body or something. Not that we normally go out on the town, but for some reason last night, waiting for my shows to come on, I felt..."settled" I guess. I hope nobody took my post as knitters being old people, because that's certainly not how I view it. Quite the contrary. The only knitters I know are young people!

Well, my next project to finish is my branching out scarf, which is for one of the docs I work for for her late birthday/Christmas present. Hopefully it doesn't take me 7 months to finish that.

Good night!

JAK*E

2005-11-09T07:38:00.000-08:00

I was nearly throwing a party last night as I finished row 96 on this blanket! Finishing row 96 meant that I WAS DONE with the body and could start the 10 row garter border. YES! I'm on row two of the garter, so am on the finishing track tonight! What helped me get this far was that Tuesday is my TV watching night. I can't miss Bones and House. So I plopped down on the couch after dinner and got the blanket out. I was on row 85 by the stitch counter, ready to start 86. Little House on the Prairie was just about over, and 15 minutes to my shows. I made a joke about being like old people with nothing to do to my husband. He was sitting there reading a book, I was sitting there knitting. LOL So my slow knitting got me through those rows and half way through House I put it down and hubby and I pulled out the hide a bed to finish watching the rest of it. Then we just ended up sleeping downstairs on the hide a bed LOL.

So anyway, I just had to share my excitement about nearing completion on this never ending (or seemingly never ending) project!

Does anyone know if Cotton Ease blocks well? That's what I made the blanket from and if it doesn't block well, I don't want to waste the time blocking it. Thanks in advance if you know!

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!!!!

2005-10-31T12:11:00.000-08:00

I'm having a blast at work today :)

"Blob" update

2005-10-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

So I had an OB check up this week. I'm about 12 weeks now by the last two ultrasounds that I had, so we were thinking we could check for heart tones. We tried, but to no avail. My doc and I weren't worried though because I'm still quite sick. But we ordered an ultrasound anyway :) Would you all like to know that I have a ginormous baby already? It is apparently measuring greater than the 95th percentile! I have a history of teeny babies at full term, so this somewhat shocked me. So I am convinced that they should never have changed my due date by 2 weeks like they did at that first ultrasound because this ultrasound that I just had measures concordantly with the first day of my last period. I guess we'll see what happens at the next on, which is December 20. I still haven't decided if I'm finding out whether or not this baby is Matthew or Robynne.

I'd also like to share something else with the two of you that read this (LOL). When I am pregnant, I am a huge crying machine. Look at me funny, I'll cry my eyeballs out. It's even WORSE with this pregnancy. I cry over everything, quite literally. Happy? I'll cry about it? Sad? I'll definitly cry about it. So this morning, I'm actually feeling quite calm and not crying about anything for a few minutes. I get in the car and turn on the radio. Now, I'm a country music gal, and I was glad that the song was an upbeat one, got me in a good funky mood, things were going well. Then, it all came crashing down when the song Help Pour Out the Rain (by Buddy Jewell) came on (Lyrics found here http://www.geocities.com/islandlyrics/buddyjewell/jewell01.txt) and I just opened up the water works and sobbed part of the way to work. Then the DJ's came back on, and all was well again for a few minutes. I thought for sure they couldn't play another cry my eyeballs out song (contrary to popular belief, not all country songs are sadness.... with new country there are a lot of fun upbeat, happy ones) but nope. They played a song called Skin by Rascal Flatts. They got out the first two words, which are Sara Beth.... and that's all it took, since I know the song. It's about a girl named Sara Beth who gets diagnosed with cancer. Of course, this in itself is a sad enough song, but with my friend Jeff's passing of cancer last week, it's like putting salt in an open wound. I am literally sobbing my head off. And hungry to boot. So I'm in the drive thru at McDonald's (the baby was DEMANDING a sausage egg and cheese mcmuffin with a coke... what could I say to that demand? hee hee) trying to order what the baby wanted and couldn't even hardly talk to the guy because I was sobbing so much. Then I was embarassed that the guy heard me crying. Then I was crying even more because the song was still on. Why not turn off the radio you ask? Well, the answer to that is easy. I'm a sucker for emotions apparently. I can't NOT turn off the radio, because what if I miss out on something good? I've always been that way (like why go to bed early? What if I miss out on something? My friend used to tell me "If you're asleep what could you possibly miss out on?" "I responded with "I don't know, but you'll miss it and I won't, whatever it is.")

So anyway, that's my blubbering for the day. I've decided that I'm not going to listen to my launchcast account at work for fear of someone singing something that makes me cry while I'm on the phone to a patient, thus making the patient think I'm insanely nuts or something. LOL

In knitting news, I've put away the socks for myself. I haven't taken them apart, it's just that it's getting too close to Christmas for me to work on things for me right now, being the slow knitter that I am. I'm still making my branching out scarf for one of the docs I work for, socks for a coworker/friend, and a pair of mittens for each of my girls. Those are my knitted Christmas presents. Since I'm so slow, I don't think I'll have time for anything else. Oh, and I still have to finish that dreaded baby blanket. It's no longer the Happy JAKE blanket.

So anyway, that's my update :)

How do you deal with death?

2005-10-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

I got a phone call tonight from my mom. She was letting me know that a friend of mine had died, but she didn't realize when she was telling me how much I cared about this person. We dated a couple of times after his mission but nothing really came of it but we did maintain a friendship. His name was Jeff. He was going to be 29 in November. He died of cancer, I'm not sure what kind. Even though we've not been in touch in several years, it still hurts very much. I don't know how to deal very well with death except cry a lot and be depressed for a long time. His funeral is tomorrow, I wish I could go. I need the closure.

I hate the flu

2005-10-20T18:47:00.000-07:00

I came home from work Tuesday night feeling like utter poo poo. Like I'd been run over by a truck, then the truck backed up over me. I woke up Wednesday morning to get ready for work. Not a chance. Called in, and felt like the truck victim again. Nothing stayed down, so I was afraid to eat anything. Thought it would just be a quick 24 hour thing, but woke up this morning and was even worse. 4 in the a.m. had me in a meeting with the porcelain people and calling in sick shortly after that. Today, still having the truck victim feeling, and now my vision is blurry and I have zero energy. I tried to knit, but that just made me feel sicker. How sad :( I do have the best hubby though. I asked him to go get me some chicken noodle soup and ginger ale, and he immediately put on his shoes and a few minutes later was out the door. When he got home, he made me some right away, and guess what! It stayed where it was supposed to. And the ginger ale is complete heaven. I'm hoping to be at work tomorrow.

My poor sock

2005-10-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

I lost. But it was my fault. I got to the very end of the sock, bound off, and was so proud of myself. Gleaming with pride and joy at my accomplishment.

I went to put it on.

I bound off too tightly.

I tried to fix that by undoing the bind off, but ended up taking a few rows out and thought "no big deal, I'll just put them back on the needles." That proved to be more frustrating to me than anything because my hands tonight are very shaky. Shakier than normal for some reason. In the end, I gave it all up and now have to little wound up balls of what once was my sock.

The good news is, I don't feel as though I let myself down or anything because 1) I learned to do a toe up sock and 2) I learned to do short rows. We'll just chalk it up to experience. I don't know that I'm all that fond of those short rows. I do like the toe ups, because I could make it to fit my foot, or whoever's foot. But I seem to not have as much problem when doing a cuff down sock. Maybe I'll just stick with that for now. I'm using the same yarn to cast on for another sock tonight. Will be searching around online for a pattern.

I have good news! Niff has only had one accident today! Thankfully, it was only pee and not the poo poo accident. She turned 3 in August, and with a third baby due in May, I'm just not thrilled with the idea of having to buy all those diapers. So we're working on it now, and hopefully she will have been potty trained long enough by the time this baby is born that she won't have a relapse. She does really well through the night, and 9 nights out of 10 she will have a dry diaper. Jessie on the other hand, which is my 4 year old, is a completely sound sleeper, and just can't make it through the night. Any tips? We don't drink anything after 7 if we can help it, and we potty before we go to bed. What else can I do? I am hoping it's not a bladder problem. Poor kid, that would be hard on her when she starts having sleepovers and stuff with her friends. Anyway, if anyone has any advice on that, I'd appreciate it.

I'm proud to say I have FINALLY hit that 10 week mark in my pregnancy. I don't know why I was waiting specifically for that 10 week mark, but I was, and it seemed like a hurdle to go over or something. Weird.

Ok, now I'm off to find a fun sock pattern :) Hopefully all will go well with this one :) And I very much appreciate everyone's help with all of the questions I had.

Toe up and gussett question

2005-10-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know if you can do toe up socks with the gusset? If so, can you point me in the direction of a pattern? I'd really love you!

The Yarn vs. Me Part II

2005-10-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

I WON!

Well, with lots of help from Susan I won :) I shall post photos for you all to see :)

This is my nasty dry leg with the foot/heel part of the sock. I'm now working on the cuff. Also, as you can see, it's clearly going to be a little big when I'm done, but I figured eh... maybe it will shrink when I wash it.

This is the best photo I could get of part of the short row heels, short of cutting off my foot for a better view. I opted not to go that route :)

This shows my biggest nasty of the sock. See that little hole near the ankle part? I'm not to worried because I figure those holes will eventually not show up once I do more socks and short rows. And I figured I could just put a stitch or two in there to help hide it when the sock is all done :)

Also, I got my order from KnitPixie from my gift certificate from my SP :) I had ordered Lorna's Laces, but they emailed me shortly after to let me know that the colorway I had requested was not in stock, and that I could have Vesper for the same price. So I ordered Vesper in Meteor. Here is a picture of it, after I balled it up from the hank. The hank, by the way, was lovely!

So now I'm rewarding myself with this yarn. I have to finish at least one project before I can start using it. I'm thinking sockies for my girlies :) I think I could maybe squeak out two pairs of the footie socks for them. They have kid feet. (We call those anklet socks "footies" in case someone wasn't sure what a footie sock was.)

I haven't decided which method of sock knitting I like best, the short rows or the gusset. Right now, I think I prefer the gusset, because the picking up stitches is cake for me. I'm hoping that the more short rows I do the better they will look and the better I will get at it. Also, I think I should have used smaller needles. I'm using a 3.5 I think (the numbers have worn off of the wood and I think that's what I remember the little measurer saying they were) and I wish I'd have used a 2 because the yarn I'm using is too fine for a 3.5. At least, for my liking.

Well, that's it for now. Susan, thank you tons for helping me last night! It was a ton of fun going to Stitch n Bitch and I plan to come hang out and knit with you all more, if that's ok :)

The Yarn vs Tracey

2005-10-10T21:23:00.000-07:00

The story starts out lovely. I am the star, of course, and am knitting along happily on my sock, proud of myself that I mastered a toe up. Looking forward to the "ease" of short row heels. I have no tinked and frogged and tinked and frogged until I want to singe this yarn so that it no longer is recognizable to it's yarn sisters and brothers. It's not really the yarn's fault, I realize that, but who else is there to blame? The needles? They are just the innocent little guys stuck in the middle.

Me: I HATE YOU YARN! YOU WON'T DO WHAT I WANT!
Yarn: MUWAHAHAHAHA! WE'VE GOT HER FRUSTRATED! KEEP IT UP!
Me: Why won't you just cooperate?
Yarn: Let's work in cahoots with the short row heel instructions and really screw her up!
Me: I give up. You've won round one. Round two is tomorrow and I plan to be better prepared.

I just don't understand these short rows. Well, part of them anyway. I am using Wendy's Generic Toe-up pattern here http://wendyjohnson.net/blog/sockpattern.htm and have gotten to the part where you have to start increasing the short rows AND IT JUST IS NOT FREAKIN WORKING. I'm a terrible learn-by-reading person, and learn much better with hands on, someone showing me how to do it. Tried the video at www.knittinghelp.com but she doesn't do all that I feel that I need here. I'm pondering going to Stitch n Bitch for the first time tomorrow, have actually been wanting to go for a long time. I wonder if someone might be able to help me. But I don't want them to think I'm just there for the help. If someone has an easy way to make me understand short rows, I'd love you for ever and ever *bats eyelashes*

That's all on my rant for now. I had to put the sock down for tonight for fear that I'd frog the entire thing, and it's not the entire thing that's having issues.

Too many UFOs?

2005-10-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

Can one really have too many UFO's lying around the house? Currently I am working on the braided cable scarf, out of some lovely knit picks yarn my SP5 sent me, the Branching Out scarf from knitty, out of the misti alpaca my SP6 gave me, a toe up sock out of some denim something or other that I had in my stash, the never ending Jake blanket (that I have only three weeks to finish...I only have about 25-30 more rows, but stockinette stitch is boring the jeebers out of me, hence why it's not finished...anyone wanna finish it for me? I'd prize you with ... something LOL) out of the blue cotton ease I got on clearance, and a baby hat out of something I had in my stash that I can't find the label to. I like to have one or two projects going at a time, but I've gotten myself in a deep UFO hole here LOL. Of course, I intend to finish all of them, but how on earth did I get myself into this? Do others have a gabillion UFO's lying around? If so, what's your limit, if there is one. Or do you just prefer to have one project going at a time. I'd love to hear what you have to say about it :)

So I've been keeping tabs on my weight, since with my last two pregnancies I lost some in the first and second trimester. With Jessie, I lost about 8-10 pounds, and only gained back so that I was about 3 or 4 pounds above pre-pregnancy. With Jennie I lost about 15 and only gained back so that I was a half a pound above pre-pregnancy. With this little one, I'm currently at about 10 weeks (why O WHY did they have to move that due date?) and am down about 4 pounds from when I started. Any guesses on what the final weight gain might be? I am hoping that when I deliver, nursing the baby will help me lose weight. It didn't in the past, but this time I intend to eat better and healthier.

My husband and I have been blechy this weekend. We both slept off and on through out the day, and thank goodness I have such good kids. They actually let us do that. For me, it was more of a one eye open type of sleep so I could still wake up if they needed me, but how wonderful they are to not get into things. They just played Barbies and watched a movie. I'm greatful for them for being so good :) Today I'm still feeling somewhat blechy, but better than yesterday. I think it's my body trying to fight off a bug. My body is achy and I have no energy. Kenny felt that way, and had a migraine to boot.

Well, back to work some more on one of those projects...I am thinking it's a sock day :) It's a toe up sock that I'm rather "winging" since I've never done one. I want to do a k2 p2 rib into it once I get done with the toe increases. Only on the top part though, not on the bottom/heel part. Also, it's going to be a short row heel sock. I'm looking forward to not picking up stitchs hehehehe.

Have a great day everyone!

Interesting little thing....

2005-10-03T12:24:00.000-07:00

So my tooth/gum on the right bottom side of my mouth has been swollen and irritated. I thought at first a week or two ago that it had popcorn kernals in it, but haven't eaten popcorn, so thought it had been there a while if that's what it was. I flossed the crap out of that gum, and eventually I was just flossing through the gum tissue and bleeding all over that area. So today I thought 1) I'm getting an absess or 2) the filling is coming out. So I called the dentist, they squeezed me in. It was neither of those issues, thank goodness. At first they thought it was an absess, then after further hot/cold testing on the three teeth involved in the swollen area, they discovered that it is a Pyogenic Granuloma. Also known as a pregnancy tumor. Not that that might help, I'd never heard of either one of those things before. Here's the definition:

What are "pregnancy tumors?" Pregnancy tumors (pyogenic granuloma) are rare, usually painless lesions that may develop on your gums in response to plaque. Although they are not cancerous, they should be treated. Pregnancy tumors usually subside shortly after childbirth.

Just thought I'd share, because I found this interesting. I hope I don't go through this the entire pregnancy, because it's one of those irritations that is irritating

Thank you SP6!

2005-10-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

So I got home from work the other day, exhausted and ready to just sleep for 12 days. There was a box at the door. I bend over, pick it up, see it's from my Secret Pal and all of the sudden I'm wide awake now! LOL I fumble to get the key in the door because I'm so excited, finally do, and Kenny says "Whatchya got?" I said "A present!!!" So I open it, and in it I find this:

There are actually two skeins of that yarn, but the other is already in use. It's so soft and nummy that I couldn't help myself. I have a list of things I want my skin to be made of, and this Misti Alpaca is right there at the top. And it's a beautiful Plum color. Also, she sent me this wonderful vitamin e lotion bar. It's called Naked Skin. It's carved into a beautiful little flower, so I'm afraid to use it and mess up the flower LOL. It smells nummy though. THANK YOU SECRET PAL!!!!
I am now knitting myself a lace scarf from a pattern I fell in love with months ago but never had the perfect yarn for. Thanks to you, I have it all now :)

On the baby note...I had a dream last night that my c-section date had approached and I had an ultrasound and they said "Well, it will actually be six more weeks. The baby's too small." And my doctor accidentally told me the sex of the baby, which I still don't want to know while pregnant. She told me it's a girl. I also was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in my dream. Blech, I hope THAT part of it does NOT come true, although the idea of it concerns me, because I was borderline in my last two pregnancies, so I know it's a possibility. I'm also overweight, which doesn't help, and have a metabolic issue, which might not help. But maybe everything will be on my side and I'll be fine :) I guess we'll see when that 28 week mark rolls around in February :)

Also, thanks to those of you who are putting up with my baby blabbering. I hope it's not boring you or anything. :)

Ultrasound follow up!

2005-09-25T16:22:00.000-07:00

Isela reminded me that I forgot to post about my ultrasound that I had a little over a week ago. If you'll remember, my first one only showed the yolk sac with no fetus or cardiac activity, which made me quite sad. I thought for sure I was going to miscarry at any moment. A week and a half later, there was my little Cashew with a beating heart, just ticking away. They did move my due date, so now it is May 11. According to my last menstrual period, which I finally figured out, I should have been due April 25 (I originally thought it was May 5.) I find this quite interesting. Here's why. Sperm can live inside of the female for up to 72 hours. According to the time we had intercourse the month I conceived, the sperm would have had to live for an entire week. So I figured, it was all in God's hands and I'm just going to chalk it up to my big miracle :) I haven't figured out how to scan things with our new scanner yet, so I won't be able to show off the picture, but that's ok, because honestly it just looks like a 1 cm blob. Hopefully the following ultrasounds are more revealing :)

Pictures!

2005-09-24T18:03:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it!? A post from me, WITH PICTURES!

This first one is of Niff with her new Halloween costume. She is going to be the "Wicket" Witch. That's how she says "wicked." I think she looks adorable. We're going to paint her face green and spray her hair black and make it all scraggly looking.

This one is of Jessie in her costume. She is going to be a Southern Belle. She has no idea what one is, but she fell in love with the dress the moment she set eyes on it. There was absolutely nothing else she could even look at besides this dress. And I have to admit, it is adorable. She was prancing around the house humming as if she were the belle of the ball. And really, she is. As you can see...

Here they are together in their costumes

This is a picture of Niff while we were in Oregon at the aquarium in Newport Beach.

This is a picture of Jessie in Oregon at my aunt's house, posing with the flower tiara.

No knitting pictures right now. I'm sure that's not a shock though. I wonder if I'm just afraid to show people online my stuff for fear of it being too ugly or something. Or maybe I'm just lazy. I'm going with the latter, since I normally don't care what everyone else thinks of my knitting projects :)

Secret Pal 6

2005-09-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

Dear Secret Pal,

I have lost your email address, so I am thanking you here in the hopes that you will read this! I got your knitpixie gift certificate and was just tickled pink! This is the best week for it, as it's been a busy crazy week, and something just for me will be nice :) I ordered some of the Lorna's Lace Shephard Sock in the 504 Lakeview colorway. I have never used that yarn before and am looking forward to getting it in the mail :)

Thanks a ton! You're the best! :)

The things you forget.

2005-09-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

With each pregnancy, I've gotten really sick. The first one, I miscarried, but I was still suck up until then. With Jessica, every single day until delivery and with Niff, every day until about 24 weeks. I was hoping this time would be different. Or maybe I just forgot what it feels like to be sick all day long LOL. Not that I am complaining, because I really wanted this. Well, not the sick part, but the part that comes with it :) I sort of am relieved that I am sick, because it means that I'm still pregnant. My doctor asks me all the time if I'm still sick, and I say yes, and she says "That's great!" and it makes me crack up. But really it is. (And yes, this is somewhat trying to convince myself LOL).

I don't have any pics up yet from my vacation. I've been too tired and nauseated to do much but lay around and sleep. And lay around some more. I did get a burial gown done on my vacation. Well, I guess I can't say it's done. I got down to the last row and the bind off and ran out of yarn, so it's "nearly" done. I don't have any pics up for it yet though, because I want to wait till I put the buttons and ribbon before I show it. I also restarted the cable scarf at Mim's Knitting Frenzy. I got a new cable needle, the kind that looks more like a U shape than a bent up needle. This is working much better for me. And the yarn I am using was from my secret pal. Knit Picks Elegance in Lilac. *drool* Can I put in a request for my skin to be made of this? Thanks. I have nearly finished three repeats and have only made one obvious mistake. I'm not taking it out though, I think it will give it character. Oh, and it's MINE. I always give everything away. Not this. It's mine mine mine.

I also did my first kool aid dyeing! My secret pal sent me some color it yourself merino wool from knit picks and some kool aid with which to dye it :) I now have some reddish-pink yarn that's been balled up and is nice and cozy on the couch, and some really bright berry blue yarn that's still hanging over the kitchen sink, just about dry. For the reddish pink i believe I used cherry, two packs. For the blue one, I found more kool aid in the cupboard, and I think I used six packs so it would be brighter. I like how it's not really even throughout...some of the yarn turns out lighter, some darker, but not really obviously, more of a sublte look. Can't wait to knit it up into something fun :) I was thinking mittens for my kiddos for this winter, but we'll see. I have one more big ole hank of the merino to color, and am thinking I'll do different colors on it. I'm excited at how easy it was to color it! Water, kool aid, yarn. That's it. :) Oh, and the hanger, so it can dry :)

I had a dream last night that I was having the ultrasound to tell the gender of the baby, and I was with this girl from work and we both said OH! IT'S A BOY! And I was so excited because that's what I'm really hoping for (a girl is ok too though) and the tech kept saying "No, that's the part of the girl that just hangs out. It's really a girl" And I was just completely confused in the dream because of her telling me that girls have parts that hang out. Then she got this diagram and showed me and I was even more confused, because *I* certainly don't have anything that was shown on that diagram. I woke up and thought of what a weird dream it was. I still haven't decided if I'm going to find out or wait until he/she is born. Guess time will tell :)

Sorry for all the text only posts. I hope I don't bore my two readers to death!

T

Secret Pal Six :)

2005-09-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? I've become more of a yarn snob these days. I'll still use the cheapos if I need to make mass quantities of baby hats and such to donate, but my preference is the nice yummy stuff.

2. Do you spin? Crochet? Crochet.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)No.

4. How long have you been knitting? Just over a year now.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? No.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) Lavender, coconut

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Not really. I have a salt tooth. Especially now that I'm pregnant, it's even more so a salt tooth.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Ceramic painting, tole painting.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) Country, 80's, showtunes.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? Purple! Colors I can't stand... can't think of any.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Married, two girls, age 4 and 3, one on the way in May :)

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) To become a Certified Nurse Midwife and work with women and teens.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? It changes daily. Right now, I'm in love with Alpaca.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I haven't run into any hateful yarns yet.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? Socks, baby items.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Baby items

17. What are you knitting right now? Socks (two pairs), baby blanket, raspberry baby hat, and a burial gown. Obviously I like to keep up on 2 thousand projects at once.

18. What do you think about ponchos? Not for me.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Depends on what I am knitting. But usually circs.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Depends on what I'm using them for.

21. Are you a sock knitter? Yes.

22. How did you learn to knit? Friend at work.

23. How old is your oldest UFO? About 4 months.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? Frogs.

25. What is your favorite holiday? Not reall a favorite holiday...more of a favorite season. I love Winter.

26. Is there anything that you collect? Pens.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? None

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on? Barbie knitting book (but not the one with the matching kids clothes LOL)

29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another?? The wool soaker pants at turtleknits

Here is a direct link for those wishing to donate...

2005-09-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

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Katrina

2005-09-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

So I've been watching the news a lot this week, as I am sure everyone has. I was griping this morning about how awful it is that gas is going up. Then I thought "Hey, at least we have a gas station that I don't have to line up 10 miles to get to..." "At least I still have my dry car" "At least I have my home." "At least I know where my family is and how they are doing." Paying more for gas seems so small in the scheme of those things. And everything will work out in that aspect. And there is always public transportation which we should all be taking advantage of anyway.

So I'm perusing blogland and saw that Margene and Susan have set up a donation fund to help out those who need it the most. If you read this, and you have the extra money, or can give up something this week to make sure you have the extra money, someone will be so blessed from it. Maybe even you yourself. Think about it. Put yourself in their shoes. Would I be someone that I would want to help? I would hope so. Anyway, just wanted to pass this along, as every little bit helps out! Also, if you enjoy loom knitting, then Isela has some auctions up for some of her company's looms, and all of the proceeds will be donated to the relief fund. Or, if there is some other way you can help out, like sending clothing, toiletries, etc to the Red Cross or another fund that is helping them, maybe you could do that too. :)

Thanks for taking the time to think of others in their time of need. God blesses you for it :)

Tracey

2005-08-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

I am still working on the Jake Blanket. I don't think it's ever going to get done. I have vowed to never knit another blanket like this as long as I live. I only have about 40 rows left now. *sigh* It's too big to be my carry around project, so I have to say it doesn't get worked on as much now. My new carry around project are the strawberry cotton ease socks for Jessie. I am doing them toe up with the figure of 8 cast on. I am doing 2 socks on 2 circs and love how easy it is. I'm also making a pair for my (just turned) 3 year old, Jennie (aka Niff). Hers are purple wool ease. I think I enjoy the toe ups because I can make them as big or as little as I need to. After Jennie's are done, I'd like to make some for my new little bean.

Speaking of the new little bean... Jessica has been such a great big sister. We were at the library the other day. The Salt Lake library, downtown, in the children's section has a HUGE love sac in the far back corner, so all I could think was how I wanted to go lay on it. I was so tired. So we trodded on back there, in the hopes no one else was already there, and to my relief, we had the huge love sac to ourselves. So I plopped on it, Jessie plopped on it, and Niff said "I wanna lay too!" Jessie said "Ok, but not on the baby!" Hehehe it was so cute. Then she goes "Mommy you should lay on your tummy because this is soft. The baby likes it when it's soft" ROFL! I thought that was classic. And now she'll say things like "Mom does the baby like what you're eating?" "Is the baby thirsty mom?" Different things like that. She wants a girl, and Niff sometimes wants a girl and sometimes wants a boy. I want a boy. My mom said a boy would be nice, my sister said the same. My mom's husband wants a boy, and my FIL wants a boy. Kenny said he doesn't care, he's just excited.

So I've noticed something with this pregnancy already that I don't recall having this soon in the other three I have had (one resulted in a miscarriage). I am STARVING. All the time. Last week I just thought it was because I was eating differently, this week I am not quite as convinced. I also think the reason that I wasn't losing weight as rapidly as I wanted to was because I am sharing this body with the new little bean. I talked with one of my docs I work with about that, and she agreed that could have been the issue. So, I'm no longer focusing on losing weight, obvously, however, I am still watching the calories that I take in. Upon talking to that same doctor she said that I only need to increase my caloric intake by about 300. So I'm just going to have to eat lots of frutis and veggies :) Which is good, I like those :) And the dang fatigue.... sheesh! With Jessie, I was tired like this, but with Niff, I wasn't very tired at all. Yesterday I was exhausted, and nauseated. I took some anti nausea meds which made me even more tired LOL So we went to some friends house after work, where I fell asleep, got up because they made us dinner, then I went back to sleep. Then when we got home, we popped a DVD in, and I fell asleep. LOL I don't want anyone to think I am complaining, because I'm really not. I actually welcome these symptoms because it means things are going well. I just wanted to point out how different pregnancies can be.

I have an ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday morning. Hopefully I'll get to see the little bean and get a picture to bring home and scan for you all to see. :)

I also need to get started on my Christmas knitting. I'm not doing any "major" projects. The girls in the family will get felted coin purses and socks or felted slippers or something for the adult women. The men? They'll probably get something either storebought or a scarf, even though I hate knitting scarves.

Well, have a great day :)

T

Shhh...it's a SECRET!

2005-08-27T21:28:00.000-07:00

I figure since none of you know my family or my husband's family, I can let you in on our little secret. As of yesterday, I am five weeks pregnant :) I am FREAKIN SHAKING because I am so excited. I've been trying for nearly a year, and finally it's happened!!!!!!! *jumps up and down* I was going to wait until Monday to pee on the stick, but just couldn't. So I broke down and bought some tests and took one tonight, even though it obviously wasn't my first morning pee. Now, I must tell you, in the last year or so, I have had three false positive pee tests, however, those were different than this. With those, the line was so faint you could barely even see it, and they didn't show up until after a couple of minutes. With this one, it showed up at the same time as the control line showed up. And it was dark. So I called my doctor, who is also my friend and who is also my boss. She knows about the fake positive tests in the past, so I told her about this one, and she said this one sounds VERY promising, but to be sure, take another in the morning, and do a quant (which is where they test you to find out what your levels are) on Monday when I get to work. Then I asked if I could get an ultrasound in a couple of weeks (normally nothing shows up on ultrasound until at least 6 weeks, so I figure at 7 I should be safe) to verify. Since most insurances don't pay for more than one ultrasound unless medically necessary, I think I can get away with this one, since I have had a miscarriage in the past. Besides, I mostly just want to know it's for real. :) If all is as I think it is, I will be due May 5, 2006. However, I am a c-section mamma, so I'm thinking of either April 26 or May 1. If I do April 26, that would be a Wednesday and Jessie and Jennie were both born on Wednesdays. But I would really like to have a May baby, so I might just spring for May 1. But who knows, maybe I'll go into labor before those and get my c-section before I expect it. At any rate, I'm so excited that my entire body is shaking all over. Not as much now as it was 30 minutes ago, but a lot still :) :) :) :) :) :) And now, I knit! So I can knit lovely little baby things! I only crocheted before with my other pregnancies, but never really found anything I wanted to make my girls. So with this one...WOO HOO! I love knitting so much more than crocheting :)

Anyway... just thought I'd let you all in :) But SHHH! Remember, it's a SECRET!

T

My new toy!

2005-08-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

I got a new toy last night! I'm SO excited about it!!! It's a pink iPod mini! Of course, the minute I got home, I had to play with it, so I installed all the software, uploaded some music to the computer and along with music I had already had on it, I have lots of songs on my little Spodi (which is what I have named my iPod. Spodi = ipods upside down and backwards.) I'm looking forward to taking it to the gym with me to have some good music to listen to while working out. My favorite music types are 70's, 80's, new country (not that old wangy twangy stuff) and show tunes. LOVE the show tunes! And now I can listen to them all :)

Now to knit the ever popular iPod cozy for little Spodi. I'm thinking something purple... I have some purple wool ease at home. I wonder if I could use that? Or maybe it would be too scratchy and hurt Spodi's screen. Guess I'll hafta look into it and see.

Happy Tuesday TO ME!

2005-08-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

So I'm getting ready to head out the door this morning for work, and there's a package and some magazines sitting inside, by the bookshelf, near the door. Of course my heart skips a beat. The magazines are the Ensign and The Friend. Interesting story. TWICE I have ordered these magazines from the Church. TWICE I have NEVER received them. I gave up and decided it just wasn't meant to be for me to have them. Now all of the sudden I have a subscription for them for 2 years. I believe my best friend JD has ordered this for me this time. I'm excited :)

Now to the box. *drool* SECRET PAL PRESENTS! I have a wonderful secret pal who took my love for the color purple seriously and I was DELIGHTED! Everything was wrapped in pretty purple tissue paper! I was giddy, as if I were a kid on Christmas!! She sent me one of those adorable sheep tape measurers, some straberry candie (I believe that's what they are, I didn't get to open them since I had to go to work shortly), some home made stitch markers, with purple pretties on them, some REALLY YUMMY knitpicks yarn... Elegance. It's 70% Alpaca and 30% Silk and a complete dream. I have decided I want my skin made out of this stuff! Also she sent me a beautiful pattern for a mobius scarf that I cannot WAIT to knit! And some KnitPicks Merino wool TO DYE MYSELF with kool aid that she sent me as well! I'm REALLY looking forward to that. And some Burt's Bees hand salf and lemon butter cuticle cream. This has made my day. Secret Pal you rock the socks girl! (Or boy??)
Thank you very much, I was so excited to get that, and it means a lot to me that you took the time to find things specifically for me. I apprepciate you :)

Last night JD and I went to Seagull Book and Tape and I got a new set of scriptures and a Book of Mormon religion manual. I have decided that I want to really study it over the course of the next year or so, and really learn about it. Who knows, maybe it will even make me want to go full swing back to church. My scriptures are blue, and indexed. :)

I have also decided that mosquitos have a thing for my blood. I believe they just like A positive blood. I have gotten no less than 98237987234 bajillion mosquito bites this summer. My kids have gotten maybe on or two. My husband hasn't gotten a single one. But me? I've got them all over. Currently I have three on my left hand, 2 on my left thigh, one on my right thigh just above my knee, one healing on my lower left arm and one healing on my upper left arm, one or two healing on my upper right arm, and one on my left leg by my ankle. I HAVE HAD IT WITH THE STUPID MOSQUITOS. I don't wear lotion at night, so I don't think they are attracted to my lotion. I don't know what it is, but they sure love me. The feelings are NOT reciprocated. I'm on my second tube of hydrocortisone cream to help stop the itching. If anyone has any ideas about how to get them to leave me alone (without using deet because I hate that stuff) then I'd be much appreciative!

New patterns!!!

2005-08-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

So I went to my LYS, The Black Sheep Wool, Co. yesterday to see if they had that Barbie clothes book yet. They didn't, but they are getting more in. Apparently, one of the ladies who works there is really pushing the book because she's doing a class this fall! WOO HOO! Call me there already! So I reserved a book for when they come in and I can't wait!

While there, of course I couldn't NOT peruse the lovely things! I looked through some of the binders that they have and found two baby hat patterns that I bought! I got this Berry Cute Hat as well as Patrick's Pumpkin. I have started on the Berry Cute Hat and so far, so good. It's actually quite simple, I think. I am making it for my best friend's brand new neice! :)

I would also like to announce that I can now do toe-up socks! I tried and tried to do a provisional cast-on, but with no luck. It was just too difficult for my poor fingers to get involved with. Then I found the figure of 8 cast-on and watch out sock world, cuz here I come! See, while I absolutely LOVE knitting socks, it was those darn toes holding me back. Picking up stitches? Not a problem. Turning the heel? As long as I have a pattern, not a problem. Kitchener stitch? Get me some Adivan because I gets me all wound up and frustrated. So, thanks to whoever invented the figure of 8 cast-on method. I love you. Really, I'm not just saying that. I love you!

Yesterday was such a busy day for me. I got up at the unthoughtofonaSaturday hour of 7:15 to get ready to go to work. On a Saturday. Blech. My hours are M-F, 8-5. But our file room is in such a behind state right now, they have so many loose labs, Pap smears, ultrasound reports, etc to file in the paper charts. So I asked if I could come in and help them get caught up a little bit. A few of us also did this last Saturday. Yesterday it dwindled down to just two of us. At any rate, since we're going on vacation soon, I could really use the over time, even if it is just a few hours. Then, when I was done, I went to the LYS (see beginning paragraph!) and then home. When I got home we all dove right in to cleaning the dickens out of the house. Well part of the house anyway. Scrubbed down the kitchen, including the counters, floor, sink, etc. Most of the dishes are clean. I think today we have a couple cereal bowls, a big bowl, and ice cube trays. For us, that's a clean kitchen hehehe. Cleaned the downstairs living room and cleaned the middle floor family room. Also cleaned most of the girls' bedroom. All that's left in there is to pick up a few more things off the floor and vaccuum. And empty their laundry baskets, but they can do that on their own, I think. Then we made out party invitations for Niff's birthday party on Saturday, and delivered those all over town. We are going to go miniature golfing, then back to our house for cake and ice cream. I have decided to order a Barbie cake for her. Not the kind that looks like a barbie dress with the upper torso of Barbie sticking out. Just a flat one, from Smith's or Walmart or somewhere, that has Barbie decorations on it. I asked her if she wanted chocolate or white. Kenny said he wanted Spice, and Niff took that as him saying he wanted spiders. So she wants a spider flavored cake. Pass, thanks. We settled on chocolate with raspberry filling in the center *drool*

So now, today I have a nice clean kitchen. There's something about a clean kitchen that makes me feel like I need to bake and make yummy things. So I am marinating chicken in some sauce that I mixed with BBQ sauce and whatever else I felt like throwing in. And I am rising some Rhodes white bread to bake that in another few hours, rising some Rhodes cinnamon rolls to bake in a few hours, and my bread machine just got done with a loaf of country white. All things I can eat? Probably not, but it was fun to do. As you can see, my idea of baking means making things that I don't really have much to do with. Throw a frozen loaf in a pan, some mix in a machine, call it baking for me LOL. But the end result is nummy in the tummy!!

While reading the address on the Fiber Trends patterns that I bought, I saw that the address is an East Wenatchee, Washington address and my heart skipped a beat. I grew up in Wenatchee, Washington, which is just on the other side of the Columbia River from E. Wenatchee. Like, 2 minutes away. I got all excited! Hehehe..

OOOH! I have a HUGE awesome accomplishment to share with whoever cares! I LOST 2 POUNDS! I was so excited, jumping around and acting like a four year old who got a new toy on Christmas. It's all been worth something now, just for those two pounds :) I haven't been journaling everything I've eaten over the weekend, because really I haven't had time. But by counting the cals in my head, I have still stayed in the boundaries that I should. I even turned down free pizza. Can you believe it? Me + free pizza = droolfest. But I did not succomb to the droolfest. NOSIRREE! I gathered my wits and said that we couldn't stay for dinner, we had to go, but thanks just the same. :)

Well, that's about it for now.

T

My weight loss ticker

2005-08-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd test this out here....

Insert good topic here

2005-08-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

I am *still* working on that darned J*A*K*E blanket. I don't feel like I will ever finish it LOL. I have also printed out some patterns to have my go at toe up socks. I've never made those before, and the toe is the part I hate the most (even though I don't hate it, really) so I figured what better way to get past it than to start with it. We'll see how it goes :)

Today is day #10 of my life change. I haven't lost a single pound, which I'm told is ok. WITH WHO? NOT ME! Apparently it's ok with everyone else though. But one pound would have been nice. *sigh* I'm still sticking with it and making sure I eat right, healthy, and take care of myself. I figure, 30 days to form a habit, so I have 20 more to go before my body is in the habit of eating the right things rather than hamburgers, french fries, tacos (oh, the tacos...can't they be made with something besides tortillas but that tastes exactly like a tortilla???)...etc. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll notice something though.

Well, off to spend the evening with the kiddos :)

Weight Loss

2005-08-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking of rewarding myself with something I've been wanting for a while... I have been eyeballing the Lorna's Laces yarn at my LYS for some time now. I have decided that that shall be my reward for losing weight. Well, for my 10% goal anyway. I'm doing about 1500 cals a day (or trying to anyway) and have been doing so for three days. It's really hard for me, since I am used to snacking on whatever I please, but I'd really like to be healthier and be able to fit into smaller sized clothing. So the LL's yarn will be my treat. I cannot buy it until I have reached the 10% of my weight goal. I wonder how long I'll have to wait.....

Sorry for the mass posts today :)

-T-

Thank you!

2005-08-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say thank you to Isela for taking the time to help me learn how to link. I know it seems a simple thing to most people, but I'm not most people *grin*

The JA*KE Blanket

2005-08-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

So I am over the halfway point on the JAKE blanket. My friend has had her baby, and it's not ready yet. I figured it's no big deal though, since it's a blanket and not something that "won't fit" or anything like that. I got all the letters done, and thought about taking a picture, but then decided against it. I don't want to photograph it until I am all done with it and it's blocked. I think it will look better that way. :) I'm excited about it though. Those letters and all that reverse stockinette and everything were quite the challenge to me for some reason. Mostly just confusing about which stitch I should be on. At any rate, now i'm just back to regular old stockinette stitch for 70 more rows :)

I'm also knitting a pair of footlet socks on some size 2's out of cotton ease. I have decided that while I don't mind smaller needles, I don't think I care for the brand I am using. I am using the magic loop method, which I love (as well as the socks on circs method) but the needles are metal and poky and seem as though they are starting to chip up at the tips. Not pleased with that. Oh well, it's all in fun though, and the footlets are for me, and I think the needles should make it through the knitting of the footies :)

I'm also going to start knitting Barbie clothes for Christmas for the girls. I've decided I'd like a "Barbie" themed Christmas for them. I want to make furniture, if I can find the right sources for ideas (anyone know of any?) and there's a book that I saw someone knitting from on the Barbie clothes that I'm planning to get. There are two actually, one is something like Barbie and Me, and it's knits for the little girl and her Barbie. That is not the one I want. I want the one that is strictly Barbie clothes. In the meantime, I'm going to wing it and make some skirts and stuff out of some yarns that Jessie picked out. She got some Flash Cotton (cheapo three fifty a skein, I have yet to knit with it, but I seem to keep buying it LOL) and some cashcotton that is sort of a bright pinkish that she HAD TO HAVE. I caved. It's too soft NOT to cave :) Besides, maybe she'll forget that we have it in the stash now and I can use it for something else *grin* I think we got some Dale Stork too, in a self striping blue/green/yellow thing. Looking forward to it all :) Both of my girls are huge Barbie freaks, and both also young enough that they don't have a lot of Barbie stuff, and I never kept all mine *sob* Anyway, I'm excited about it.

So, I went to church Sunday (I am LDS if anyone is interested) and actually went to the entire block. Sacrament, Sunday School and Relief Society. Lately, I haven't really been having much of a desire to be at church. Not sure why, I guess I just don't care maybe? But my friend wanted to go to the entire thing, so I went with her. Normally, I only go on the days that I have to play the piano in Relief Society, and then only just Relief Society. But it was nice to go for the whole thing for a change. Who knows, maybe I'll change and start going to the whole thing all the time. Jessie sure would like that. She loves going to Primary and singing all the songs. Niff on the other hand is not all that fond of Nursery. She's doing better, maybe if her mom took her more than once in a blue moon of cheese, she'd be better at liking it.

I'm going to be going on vacation to the Oregon Coast to visit my mom in a few weeks and I am SO excited!! She's lived there for a year or two now and really loves it. We're planning to hopefully move up there as well in the next year or so. We're playing it by ear for now to see how things pan out for us here in Salt Lake City. Anyway, I'm looking forward to venturing to yarn stores and what not :)

Well, must get my hiney back to work.

-T-

Don't let the sadness of the swamp get to you.....

2005-07-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

That title is what I tend to say a lot when I get down about something. Not big things, and mostly just to be silly about it.

Right now, my swamp needs to not have the sadness getting to me. Why? Well, because I'm saddened that I was working along happily on my baby blanket for my friend Natalie, when all of the sudden I look at the edge. It's done in stockinette and then knit the first/last five stitches on each row for the edging. In the center, in reverse stockinette is her baby's name. The edge was messed up... I'd done regular stockinette stitch on it for a few rows, but only on one edge. I thought "Ew, that's four rows back... I don't want to rip out four rows.... I could just say that's my personal mark making it "my own" thing or something. I was actually happy with that. Until I realized I had been knitting where I was to be purling and vice versa on the letters. *sob* That's when the sadness filled my swamp and got to me. Like Atrayu, I was sinking. I had to frog 6 rows. So, rather than un-knitting it, I just took the needles out and ripped away, then put the needles back in. I hate that, it's such a let down. There are 32 rows for all the letters, and I was almost half way done with them, which, to me, is a huge accomplishment, since I feel as though I am the slowest knitter on the planet. *sigh* I even had it all worked out... If I did 9 rows a day on weekdays and 20 on Saturday and Sunday, I could finish this blanket by the day she has her baby. Now I'll have to do more rows each day. I like knitting the blanket, I hate frogging the darn thing.

Does anyone know where I got the phrase "Don't let the sadness of the swamp get to you" and who "Atrayu" is? I have no prizes for you if you do, I'm just curious. :)

Cables

2005-07-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

Let it be known throughout blogland (or to whoever reads this and really gives two shoots) that I HAVE LEARNED CABLES!!! I am quite excited about this. I was nosing around on a favored blog (http://mimknits.blogspot.com/) and saw that she has a pattern for a beautiful Braided Cable Scarf. So I print it out and find some yarn that I like and.... I'm only 4 or 5 rows into it, and with some help from a kind lady on pointing one or two things out to me, I AM DOIN IT! I am quite excited because I absolutely LOVE the look that cables give. To me, they are so elegant and lovely looking, and I can't wait to finish this and show it off. I'm not giving this scarf away. It's mine to keep *grin* I'm only making it as a short one though, and in a yarn that I think I could just wear for a pretty rather than to keep warm or anything. I AM SO EXCITED! So, Mim, if you ever happen upon my blog, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!

T

Happy Thursday! :)

2005-07-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

So obviously I'm not posting as often as I would like to :( I will have to work harder on that!

I have no FO pictures to show right now, as I am at work and the camera is at home, as are the FO's. And no pictures are on said camera LOL. *note to self: GET REAR IN GEAR!*

My newest FO is one of the burial gowns I'm making. I have to admit it is not a *complete* FO as I still have to buy the buttons to sew on it, but as for the rest, it is complete. I'm not sure yet what type of buttons to put on it yet.

Currently I am still working on the baby blanket from Erika Knight's "Smiple Knits for Cherished Babies." I was going to knit Jake's name into it, but I just don't have the time, so there will just be a "J" in the center and that will have to do. I have to get this done by August 5. I think I can do it :)

I have had to go through my stash and get rid of a lot of yarn. I didn't realize just how much I actually had. When I was just crocheting, I thought Walmart's yarn section was just to die for and the only thing I knew about was acrylic. I had no idea there were such beautiful and yummy yarns out there for me to drool over... that is, until I picked up knitting and HOLY CAMOLY! So of course, my stash increased tenfold and I no longer care much about my acrylic yarns. I will admit, I do still use the verigated ones for baby hats and booties because I love the way the colors turn out and many hats and booties can be made from just a few skeins. Howevever, I just couldn't use all that acrylic, no matter how many hats and booties I made. There was just too much. So I brought it in to work and shared it with several of the ladies I work with. Some of them our in our little knitting club, others just wanted it to take home and work with. So be it, have fun with it, it's yours. Then I realized, I still have a couple more boxes of yarn up in the storage closet/attic area of my condo. Will have to sift through that and bring in more yarn. I'm glad to have someone to give it to, and that I know it'll get put to good use. Some of the people are using it to make our hats for our little knitting club. My husband asked why I didn't just use up the yarn I have then buy more when it's gone. I just looked at him sadly and he said "Is it because you don't like that kind anymore?" LOL I love my husband, he can read me like an open book.

I bought a new sock book! It's the Vogue Knitting one. I can't remember the exact name, but I love their tiny little books because they have great patterns in them, yet the books don't take up much space :) I also have one of their baby pattern books. I just now need to stock up on my circs and have two of each as I have decided that is my favorite method of knitting in the round for socks and what not...the 2 circ method.

My sister in law asked me to knit her a booga bag. I told her that I would love to, so we went to The Black Sheep and she bought the yarn she wanted and I'm just about half way into the second skein :) She picked a great colorway with lots of earthy tones in it. I can't wait to see how it looks after it is felted. I am hoping there is enough left over that I can knit her a little ocin purse to go with it. If not, I'll just go buy another skein and make one for her. I love to have people to actually knit for, and it really makes me feel good about my skills when they approach me to actually knit something for them :)

My last two WIPS are a hat (I think those will just be ongoing... I always have a hat on the needles these days, to the point where I don't even count it as a current WIP anymore, if that makes sense) and a purple sock for Niff.

Before I go back to work, I want to say holy cow to Isela at A Stitch In Time (I still have yet to learn to link a name rather than the entire website *sob*) on how many hats she has made for her Toasty Hats/Toasty Toes project! Way to go to all those who have donated for her! What a great cause!!!

Well, back to work for me :)
T

The long weekend

2005-07-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

So on Saturday, the girls and I went swimming to the community pool in our area. We had a great time... once Niff got used to the water. She had a bit of a struggle, and was still a little leary, but tried to be brave about it. We got a bit of sun, I had a couple of pinkish (but not painful) shoulders. Then we went back on Monday, since I had the day off (with pay WOO HOO!). The girls, again, had fun, but Niff, again, was leary. After she gets used ot it I think she'll have more fun. You just have to let her be and not force her. We were having fun, playing and all that when they called everyone out of the pool. What for? Get your barf bags ready.... POOP CHECK! I of course immediately begin looking all over for any signs of poop nearby us. I saw it. It was far away from where we were. They got it out with this big butterfly net looking thing and then put in gaboodles of chemicals. Then we had to wait about an hour to go back in. Gladly, thanks. I figured it was safe to go back in since they did treat that entire section, and then some and the water was VERY chlorinated. However, we managed to keep to ourselves... I didn't want to get close to the pooping culprite whoever that was. Fortunately, my girls are good in the water, Jessie has always informed me that she has to go potty. Niff wears a swim diaper, but still stries to let me know so we can make the mad dash to the potty. Anyway, EW. How can someone DO THAT?

When we got home, I realized that the front of me is fine, got some sun, but just tan. I put sunblock on the front. My back, however.... well, my arms don't bend backwards, so my back is bright red, with my white bathing suit stripe down the middle. Jessie tried to put the sunscreen on for me, but being only 4, well... let's just say it wasn't as good of a job as I would have liked, however I do apprecitae her trying to help me out. :)

While we were waiting to get back in the pool I knitted some on the baby blanket I am making for my friend Natalie. She's having a boy, and going to name him Jake. So the blanket I am knitting is one from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies (I think...book's at home so I can't remember exact title) and it has a "B" in the exact center of it, done in stockinette with a garter border all around. It's a perfect square (or should be... we'll see what I do to it) and instead of having the "B" in the center, I've had a friend help me figure out the math to put J A K E in the center of it. I think it will look really good. I'm doing it in cotton-ese, the color that I bought to make my shirt/sweater/whatevertypeoftop but then decided that I'd rather use it for this, since it's not only soft, but washable. I'm not going to be done by her shower this Saturday, but that's ok. I am notorious for giving the gift that has to be returned before it can be given back because it's not done :)

I am also knitting a burial gown to donate with my hats. It's coming out nicely, and I will post pictures of it when it's done.

Have a great day!
T

Happy Fourth of July

2005-07-01T18:38:00.000-07:00

This Fourth of July means something different for me.

I have a few cousins in the military currently, but only one of them am I really close to. The other two I haven't seen in years, and it doesn't bother me that they are in the military, most likely because we were never really that close.

But my cousin Robb is like my little brother. At least, that's how I think of him. He joined the Marines last year and when I asked him why, he said "Because I want to give something back." Plain and simple. What could I say? I had no way to respond to that. My biggest fear with him being in the military is not the military itself. I think it's great that he is doing it. My biggest fear is that some schmuck in an enemy country that shall remain nameless will cause him harm.

So this year, as we celebrate our Independence, I am realizing that it is because of people like my cousin, and so many others, who have given their time, and often times their lives, so that we may celebrate this freedom we have.

Robb, if you ever happen to read this, just know that I love you and the respect that I have for you would be too much to fill all the oceans.

Sugar n Cream cotton

2005-07-01T18:25:00.000-07:00

Can I just say how much I dread knitting with sugar n cream cotton? It makes me want to break my arms off and grow new ones to just even think about it. Yet I have promised both my kids tanks in what they want and they both chose this type of yarn. I figure I can sacrifice just this once for them.... :)

Finally found the digital camera. Here are some pictures....

This is my progress on tank number one.... still a long hand-aching ways to go :)

Booga bag posing by herself. Yeah, this ones a girl :)

Niff posing with Booga.

Jessie posing with Booga.

I did not pose with Booga. But I did pose with my posers...

That's it for now. :)

Holy cow!

2005-07-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

Myself and the girls went to dinner tonight at the Cracker Barrel. We're eating and talking and having a nice time. Kenny's home asleep.

Then our waitress comes up and says "Oh, about your ticket? It's taken care of. There was a guy who wanted to take care of that for you, as well as the tip." *BLINK* WHAT?!?!?!?!?! So I ask her 700 thousand bajillion questions. Was he alone? What'd he look like? Was he cute? Apparently he'd already left. And was cute. Her face lit up when I asked her that. So I'm all "Hrm.. a cute guy, who was alone, and tall, apparently about 6 feet, paid for MY dinner while I was out with my kids???? Then I started thinking what if it were a rapist? What if he put a tracking device on my car and was going to follow me around or something? Then I thought that was a bit much, so I put that out of my mind...well, the tracking device part anyway LOL. I did watch out when I went to my car, and watched to make sure no one followed me home. No one did. I called my mom while we were still eating and told her. Her words? "Be careful going to your car." Apparently that must be where I get that thinking from. Anyway... how sweet is that that some stranger paid for our dinner??? I wonder if he's into ugly fat chics with kids, or just some nice guy. :)

Un-knitting related.

2005-06-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

I absolutely HATE fighting with people. Hate hate hate it. But more so, I hate it when I get into an argument with someone and they make me feel like I'm wrong for having my opinion of something or for not letting me voice my opinion.

I got into an argument tonight with my best friend and said something to him that I do regret. However, I'm very hurt that he accused me of 1) needing to take my Celexa because I was trying to explain why I felt the way I did about something and 2) talked about our conversation with someone else, then repeated to me what that other person said, which was hurtful to me. If someone is going to talk about me, so be it. Whatever. Just don't tell me about it, and for the love of all that is holy, I definitely don't want to hear what they said. I take things way too personally and get hurt VERY easily. I'd just rather never know.

I've apologized for saying the thing I regret saying. However, I don't know where this will leave us in our relationship.

Happy Friday!

2005-06-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Whew! Made it to Friday. For some reason, this was just a humdrum of a week. It wasn't that it was so slow, necessarily. I just felt as if it were boring.

I've ashamed myself in not making as many hats as my friend and coworker Faye who already has six or seven. I have 2. However, I do have 2 on the needles, currently. I feel better about that. I also have a preemie burial gown that I'm working on in Cotton-ese white.

I bought out all of this pretty blue (#107) in the Cotton-ese because I want to make a sweater or something for myself. I figured I better just buy it all so that way I will be sure to have enough. I think there 6 or 7 balls. Hopefully that will be enough. If not, I'll make myself a knitted t-shirt that I found a pattern for.

At work, I've been told I have a billion pens. You see, I am a HUGEe pen freak. Whenever one of the docs I work for, or a coworker, goes on a trip, I request a pen from the city that they are going to. I love them. They don't even have to write nice if they look really cool because chances are, I won't use the cool ones. I have pens from several states, and quite a few from Europe, one from Australia. I used to have on from Egypt with these cool symbols on it but I lost that one *sob* And I'm always buying new pens at the office supply stores or in the stationary department at other stores. If it is a new type of pen, I MUST HAVE IT. If it's a particular favorite, I MUST HAVE IT. I have no idea why I have this love of owning every pen on the planet, but own them I must and own them I will :)

I would also like to point out to whoever is interested that MY HAIR IS DRIVING ME C R A Z Y ! ! ! ! ! ! I am in the process of growing it out. And it's at that stage where you'd rather just shave it bald bald bald. It's not quite long enough for one of those tiny pony tails, yet it's long enough to get in my face. So tomorrow I'm treating myself to getting it colored and a few layers put in it and definitely thin it. My hair is incredibly thick! The other day I was trying to put one of those little half pony tails (you know, the kind where you just put the top half of your hair in it?) in my hair. Not to make it look good, because it definitely didn't. But to get it out of my face. I was about to wrap the pony tail holder around my hair for the second wrap and SNAP! It broke. It wasn't even one of the little ones, it was a normal sized one. And it wasn't even all of my hair, only part of it. *sigh* So for today I have purchased a billion of those little claw-clips (I don't know what else to call them) and have a few of those in my hair, pulling it back out of my face, and the left over hair at the bottom/in the back is pulled into a little tiny pony tail that keeps falling out. But, it's out of my face, and this is what matters. Anyway, definitely getting something done with it tomorrow. I can't wait until I get past this nasty growingitout stage.

Well, that was quite the babble about hair :)

Cotton-ese

2005-06-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

How sad that I have just now discovered that I love this yarn, this soft pretty Cotton-ese by Lion Brand. How sad because they have discontinued it. I went to Joann's yesterday to get some needles and saw that they had some Cotton-ese that was on clearance (3.00 a ball, not sure what the normal price is/was). I've read on LiveJournal about how LB has already discontinued this, something about not having enough vendors to sell it maybe? Anyway, I bought some red, white, and blue to make 4th of July baby/preemie hats. IT IS SO FREAKING SOFT! So if anyone knows of some other type of cotton yarn out there that I can use in it's place that's NOT discontinued, share :) This stuff is great for these baby hats I have decided because it stretches, unlike what cotton you'd use to make dishcloths, and it's SO INCREDIBLY SOFT! Anyway, I had to share that little bit there :)

I still can't find my camera :( I have a few FO's and WIPS I wanted to post, but that will have to wait until I can find that darn camera. Maybe Kenny (my husband) will know where it is.

So, what type of person/thing do you all enjoy knitting for the most? My favorite is babies. I think because there are so many cute baby things and so many cute babies. Hats, socks, sweaters, burp cloths, you name it, I love to make them. I'd love to hear what others love in that aspect, and why :)

So far, on my charity project, I feel like I haven't done anything. There are five of us in the group now, me, Chris (sometimes, when she isn't working in the clinic), Faye, Kathleen, and Lani. We just taught Lani to knit a little over a week ago, and already she's finished 1 hat and started on another. We've been going for about 3 or 4 weeks now, and Faye has 3 or 4 hats, Kathleen I'm not sure because her daughter just had a baby and she hasn't been there, and Chris has made a ton of hats on her loom. Me? I haven't finished ANY until this past Friday. Now I have two hats done and am working on a third. I guess that's not bad for having started on Thursday night. They are preemie hats that I am knitting in the round using the magic loop method. I got the pattern from http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/premiehat1.html and altered it just a little. I casted on the 48, as it called, and worked the decreases as it called. I am using a size 5 needle for the current hat (used a size 6 for the other) and when I get to the top, instead of weaving the yarn through, I ended with six stitches left, three on each needle. I put one set of three sts on a stitch holder and with the other three sts I started an i-cord. I made it about 2-3 inches long, then bound it off, and went to the other sts on the st holder and did the same thing. Then, to close the gap in the top of the hat, I tied off the two icords. They look adorable, and I hope that whoever gets them thinks they look cute too :) So now this is what I'm obsessing with, this exact hat LOL. When I find another cute one, I'll make a gabillion of those too. And right now, all the hats I make are only going to be red, white, and blue, so that I can donate them for the babies born on or around the 4th of July. I love theme hats and think they'd be great. For Halloween, I think I'll make pumpkin hats, and at Christmas time, I'd like to do little Santa-type hats? What do you all think? Now, if I can stock up on enough of the Cotton-ese before it's all gone, that would be wonderful LOL. I plan to go back to Joann's tomorrow, and also to check out the LB website to see if I can order some from them.

Anyway, that's it for now. Sorry for the babble about the Cotton-ese :)

T

Niffie Knits

2005-06-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

So my little Niffie was washing the chocolate from all over her hands and face, and she fell off the little stool. We snuggied and soothed and then I said 'Did you want to knit a hat?' Of course she complied, so I got out the blue Knifty Knitter and a skein of brightly colored cotton and sat her down. I looked all over for my digital camera so I could show you, but I can't find where it is *sob*
Right now she is busy unraveling the ball of cotton, which I think she is doing because that's what I do first, then wrap it up in a center pull ball. Then she'll make a mess of trying to wrap it on the hooks, and will have a ton of fun doing it. I love that my girls want to knit. Jessie now has a ball of yarn (Moda Dea Sassy Stripes) that she got from my stash and wants to make something. She has those lion brand kids knitting needles that she likes to play with. They will be great knitters one day, and much better than I because they will have learned at a childhood age rather than at 28 years old. :) I love thinking about the beautiful things they'll be making when they learn. Jessie can make things on the looms with a little bit of help. She loves those, and made a little soap bag once, with only a little help from me. I'd help her wrap the pegs and she would flip it.

On the knitting from mom front, I am still doing my hand at lace knitting. I got mad at my project so it's been on hold a couple days while we get back on better terms with each other, but that's by no means me giving up on it. I will conquer and I will win! So in the mean time I have been crocheting a little hat for my project. I haven't crocheted in months, so I was worried I'd lost it, but it came back to me as if I'd never stopped. *whew*

Well, I'll hunt down that camera and share pictures at some point. Sorry for the boring all text posts :(

Lace Knitting

2005-06-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

I've begun.

I attempted Branching Out from www.knitty.com, but have halted it. Because I found another pattern that I think will be more suitable for who I am giving it to. They are both quite similar, both leafy looking projects, but one just seems to ... I don't know... "fit" better, in my opinion. If that makes sense. It's from the Spring/Summer 2005 issue of Vogue Knitting and is the Lace Leaf Scarf. Only I am not making it for a scarf, but for a decorative table runner. The pattern calls for some type of silk, but my LYS didn't have that in their store, and since I'm making it more for decorative, she suggested I use cotton and pointed me to where a suitable cotton was. I bought three skeins of Stork in a pretty yellow color. You can find it here: http://www.spinblessing.com/stork.htm and it is color 3. The photo is actually quite accurate with the color. And it is SO soft. So I'm hoping that the giftee likes it. It is a wedding present for her. Her shower is next week... not sure that it will be done by then, but I will do my best. If not, I'll just bring it in as is in a nice gift bag, then say "But I'm not done, so I need it back before you can have it." However, I will try my darnedest to get it done.

I joined a new yahoo group that Wendy Johnson from www.wendyknits.net started called summeroflace. I'm thinking I could really get in with this lace knitting because it is so pretty, and there are so many gorgeous patterns out there. I'm wanting to make my mom and her twin sister identical lace somethings if I can find something suitable, for their birthday, which is the end of this summer. For me, that means I have to get started rather quickly. I tend to have to tink and frog a LOT with lace knitting, causing me to knit VERY slowly so that I learn not to make a mistake.

As soon as I get some progress going on my current lace project, I'll post a picture. I'm at work right now, so I can't post anything pic wisee :(

OH! I was so excited on Monday to hear from my Secret Pal! YAY! :) :) :) I'm glad I joined up with this, I think it will be a ton of fun :)

T

Boredom

2005-06-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

This day is D-R-A-G-G-I-N-G like no other. *sigh* I wish I'd have brought something to work on, like the socks I'm currently making. But, I did not. Oh well. One of the doctors that I work for (I work for two female OBGYNS) is in Russia right now on vacation. She said "I bet it will be boring since I'll be gone and Y. is still on maternity leave (Y. is the other OBGYN that I work for). I told her "Nah, it'll still be busy." What made me think that is beyond me. My phone hasn't rang in over two hours, the minutes are crawling by and I've looked at all the knitting blogs and journals that I normally looked at. Twice. Anyway, J. and I were joking and she said "You should just knit in my office when it gets boring." LOL!

I finished my mother in law's socks the other night. The girls instantly put them on their own feet to check them out. Tonight I'm going to give them a nice little bath in the sink, then lay them out on a towel to dry and hopefully take shape. Right now they are all stretched out from being tried on by myself to see if I was doing it correctly, and by my girls, who think everything I knit is for them, regardless of the fact that the sock is 10 times too big for them! If they are dry by tomorrow morning, I will take them with me to the family reunion (my husband's mom's side of the family) and give them to her there. If not, then I will give them to her tomorrow night after we get home.

I started another pair of socks. These are for me. So far all I have is a few rows of k2, p2 ribbing. Not sure if I will venture out into something different, like some eyelet socks or what yet. Guess we'll see how it goes. I believe the yarn is Jelly Beans from Lion Brand Magic Stripes. Or something like that anyway. It's cute, it's bright. Not normally something I'd wear to work or anything, but maybe I'll change :) After all, it's homemade socks. And homemade socks are like homemade bread... who can resist?

The pink/white sock that I posted about a few days ago has been unsocked. I decided that I like the cotton that I knitted it with, but not for socks. Niff will just have to learn to understand that cotton is not meant for socks... at least not that cotton. She did ok with the taking apart of it, and grabbed some bright purple acrylic I have and said "Then I want this." I laughed and said "No way jose" She's still going through my stash of yarn drawers to try to figure out what she wants that I will agree too. There are a few sock yarns in there that she's iffy about.

Well, I have rambled on quite enough. I hate being bored at work. This is what happens... long boring posts about socks :)

T

2005-06-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

SP5 Questionnaire

2005-06-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?

It really depends on what I am making. I do LOVE the lovely wools and stuff at my favorite LYS, but if I am making a gaboodle of things to donate to charity or a favorite cause, then I often use acrylics, so that I can get a lot for a little money, and make a lot. :)
2. Do you spin? Crochet?

I don't spin...not sure if I want to go that route, as my budget is tight enough with knitting :) I do crochet though, and I love that :)

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)

No allergies.

4. How long have you been knitting?

It will be a year in August.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

As of right now, I don't, but I plan to start one soon.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

Lavender...*drool*

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?

Most definitely. Chocolate is one of my life staples. I also have a salt tooth. If that's what it's called.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?

I enjoy making my own stitch markers, and I ventured in to making earrings recently, which was a lot of fun! I also occasionally scrapbook, but am not as gung ho about that. And I love to paint ceramics and tole paint :)

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

Country music is my favorite, but I'll listen to pretty much anything if the mood suits me. My computer plays MP3's, as does my DVD player and my MP3 player.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?

Purple. Definitely purple. My favorite season is wintertime... it's just so beautiful. I can't think of any colors that I can't stand.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I am married and have 2 little girls, ages 2 and 4. We have no pets right now.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)

I'm looking forward to going back to college, obtaining my nursing degree, and after working as a labor and delivery nurse for a few years, I'd like to go get my masters and be a Certified Nurse Midwife.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

It really depends on what I am making.... One of my most favorites that I have worked with in the past is Noro Kureyon. I love the way it knits up and how sometimes it's thick, then thin, then thick. I don't know why that pleases me but it does. I also like the self striping yarns for socks and what not :)

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

Ugh...CHENILLE. I love the way it feels and looks post project, but I HATE HATE HATE working with it.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?

Socks, most definitely!

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

Baby items!!!!

17. What are you knitting right now?

Right now I have a preemie hat on the needles, and 2 baby sweaters. I'm getting ready to start another pair of socks :)

18. What do you think about ponchos?

They aren't for me, but my 4 year old wants a shawl... is that close enough?

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?

Circs, definitely.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

Aluminum.

21. Are you a sock knitter?

As of a few weeks ago, yes! WOO HOO!

22. How did you learn to knit?

My friend Faye at work taught me. I'd actually tried two or three times before, but for some reason just couldn't grasp it. I think the teacher makes the difference.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?

About 3 months.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?

My favorite animated character is Pooh Bear. My favorite just regular animal ... not sure...I love most of them :)
25. What is your favorite holiday?

I have a favorite "holiday time" but not necessarily "holiday." I love Christmastime because the decorations are so pretty, people are nice to each other, the snow makes things beautiful. So really, the whole season is my favorite, not just December 25.

26. Is there anything that you collect?

Not really. Unless yarn counts :) Actually, I do like frogs, but I don't have many.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

None.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
At Knit's End : Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much

Charity

2005-05-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

If anyone who reads my blog would like to send hats to me for my project, as a couple people have indicated they'd like to, I would LOVE that! I will email those who are interested my address and will be sure those hats (or blankets or whatever you want to donate) get to the maternity ward where I work, which is the University of Utah Hospital.

Thanks to those who have already indicated, you have such great hearts!!!!!

2005-05-30T09:41:00.000-07:00

I must say I LOVE KNITTING SOCKS! I don't know if it's the instant gratification, or the way the self striping or verigated yarns turn out, but there's definitely some seduction going on there. And who can turn away good seduction? :)

I've been working on my mother in law's socks, STILL. I had to do some frogging because I miscounted (even with my ka-cha clicker counter!) the rows. That threw me back a day and then I got so mad about it that I didn't even want to look at it for fear I would mess up again. But alas, I did pick it up again the next day and continued on, but slowly, for fear of another mishap. No pics of that one because I was too lazy to go upstairs and get it. However, I am also working on a sock for Niff, and it is just way too cute. Granted, it's not yarn that *I* would pick for socks, but what can you tell a two year old who wants pink and white socks and THIS YARN MOM! So we're making it of Sugar n Cream cotton. LOL! It actually knits up very pretty, I think, but the pattern I am using won't be of much help. It might be too small, in which case I will give them to my cutie patootie niece Vanessa, and knit Niff another pair, using a larger pattern. I do have a picture of that :)

I have now learned the magic loop, which I've mentioned before I think. I'm not sure which I like more, the socks on 2 circs or the magic loop. Both of them are quite comfortable and easy for me, and both of them are MUCH preferred over the dpns, that's for dang sure. I guess the 2 circs would be most convenient for me since I'm not all that fond of the Addi's for some reason and they seem to be the only brand I can find in needles long enough to do the magic loop. Oh well, no biggie :)

I am also working on a baby hat for my charity project that we're doing at work. More people seem interested as they walk past us and see what we're doing. I hope that means they want to join us and not just say "hey that's cool will you teach me?"

In other news I signed up for SP5. Haven't heard back yet about my pal, but I'm not too worried, since she said it would be until just after the first that people could receive their info. I'm really excited about sending neat things to another person :) For some reason, I am more excited about that than actually receiving something hehehe. I love to shop for people and to find out what they like, and to be secretive about it just makes it even better!

The weather today is rotten. It was supposed to be 80 degrees outside, but IT'S FREAKING RAINING! Oh well. My bestest bud is here from Denver and we're going to go to his hotel and go swimming rather than swim outside. The kids have been really wanting to go swimming. So much so that they have been wearing their new bathing suits around like it's a second skin or something! LOL

Well, I'm off for now! Hope everyone has a great day and Happy Hollyday :)

Magic Loop

2005-05-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

YAY! I learned it! AND ALL ON MY OWN! Well, for the most part anyway. Several months ago, I tried to do the magic loop following some instructions I had printed from the internet. Nothing was coming of it but many tears and much frustration. So I dubbed myself one "never able to do it." Then I learned to knit socks on 2 circs and then, yesterday, I was rethinking the whole magic loop system, which is knitting in the round on one, yes ONE, long circular needle. In my head, it was basically the same idea as doing it on 2 circs, so I transferred the idea from my head to my hands and IT WORKED! Too bad it worked too late. LOL. I went out and bought 3 new sets (meaning three sizes, two of each size) in circs. Now I have all these extra ones and I am going to see if I can either sell them to a friend who might want them, maybe keep them so I can use them for more than one project at a time (you can never have too many WIPS you know) or take them back if I can and exchange them for different sizes or something.

I finished Jessie's socks. They are adorable. The only problem? It's hotter than heck out now and there is NO WAY IN HADES that I am making the poor kid wear them just for my satisfaction. And the rate that she's growing, she'll never get to. So it looks like I'll just have to knit her another pair. Darn! *snaps fingers* My 2 year old is in the process of having new socks now too :) I have one on the needles, the same cuff down pattern I used for Jessie. I'm doing it in one of the Moda Dea Sassy Stripes yarns, but I don't have the label with me, so I can't say what the name of the exact yarn I am using is. It's very pretty though, and VERY girly, so I think Niffie (aka Jennifer if you're needing to know where Niffie/Niff came from) will really like them.

I had to put the MIL sock on hold because it made me mad. I miscounted on the gussett, got everything all messed up and forgot to put a stitch marker in where it called for. WHAT WAS I DRINKING??? So I had to take it out to the heel and put it aside for a little while so I don't curse the darn thing. I was hoping to have it done by today to drop it off to her tonight, but no luck. Maybe by Wednesday as I am hoping to pick it up again tonight.

I have also decided that I don't care all that much for bamboo needles anymore. I know some people love them and don't want to use anything else, but they just don't "click" in my hands. They aren't smooth enough for me, like the metal needles are. I don't know that I'll buy bamboo anymore. I'll just stick with the metal ones.

I have a gripe. I hate it when people think they always have to be right, and half the time they aren't, yet when they realize they aren't they get all miffy about it and just can't accept that sometimes THEY ARE WRONG.

I can't wait until I get my camera back so I can post pictures of my new socks :)

Another sock!

2005-05-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well, ALMOST another sock :) I just have to graft the toe. But I don't know 1) what grafting is yet and 2) how to do it. I figure when I get home from work I will figure it out and finish it :) Now the question. Do the socks match each other? Nope. The first sock I made goes to Jessica, my 4 year old. The 2nd sock I made is for my mother in law, who had a birthday this Monday. I'm always a day (or 10... or 20) late (and several dollars short). So anyway... I have a 4 year old sock and a not-4-year-old sock. When I was first knitting the MIL sock, I thought "Holy cow...this is huge!" I've been calling it the Hobbit Sock, since hobbits have huge feetsies. So I got to a "trying on" point and concluded that it is not a hobbit sock, but that it just looks big compared to the other one, which is small. I'm sad to give it away because I've fallen in love with it. I'll still call it the hobbit sock, because I think that's cute. Who cares that it's Lion Brand's pattern :)

Ok, enough babbling about the sock. I found another pattern today that I am looking forward to trying out. It's http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/loomed-diaper-cover.html and looks really fun! I haven't used my looms in a while.. pretty much since I picked up needle knitting, so something new will be refreshing.

Tomorrow I start my new charity knitting group. Not sure how many of us there will be, I only know of myself and two others for sure. Hopefully it will grow as we do it more :) Baby hats, here we come! :)

T

New techniques!!

2005-05-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

So I've been frustrated with my new sock knitting. I hate the little "stretch marks" that I get where the needles join at each end. Most often these are referred to as "ladders" and I HATE THEM. So I was thinking that for making an adult sock, if I could get a 12" circ that I could make them that way, and then switch to the dpn's later on by the foot part... past the heel and what not. So I called around to the LYS's in Salt Lake and no one had them. Until I reached The Unraveled Sheep. Char, who owns the place, said she had them. I explained to her what I wanted to do with them and she said she had a better idea. She told me to come in any time and she would show me how to knit socks on TWO 24" CIRCS! So of course, the next day being Saturday, I was there at 10, the minute it opened, and said "Hi, I'm the one you talked to yesterday about knitting on two circs." She let me try out some needles, said if I didn't like them, we could put them back and get something else. WOW! I ended up liking them... they were bamboo clovers. YUMMY!!! So anyway, now I have most of a lovely sock on the needles and am in love with the new way I learned to knit them. There's a book out ... I can't recall the name right now... something like Socks Soar on 2 Circs or some such title... I would LOVE to get that! I'll have to post a picture of the socks later though. We loaned our digital camera to a friend for a trip he is taking. *sob* Oh well.

T

Traded Knitting Book

2005-05-11T08:27:00.000-07:00

I went to Barnes and Noble to exchange the Knitting Handbook for something else. I ended up with Knit One, Felt Two and I LOVE IT! There's a "lunch bag" in it that I am really looking forward to making soon! I could use a new lunch bag, and this one seems perfect for holding more than just a sandwich or something :) I think I'll even go with the same colors that are used in the book, a bright lime green and a bright pink. You'll have to forgive me that I don't know the actual colors for now, the book is at home. I discovered that after getting the book, Isela from Adventures in Knitting and Looming (I don't know how to link yet, I apologize Isela!!!) commented that she'd recently gotten that book as well. I love felted projects :)

On the knitting front, I FINISHED MY FIRST SOCK!!! I even started on the second one. I was somewhat worried that I would peter out and never start the second sock, but I DID and IT WILL BE FINISHED! The only thing I don't like was how the directions had me do the toe. It's sort of a rounded out toe, and I don't care for that. Socks shouldn't come to the little pointy at the toe. They should be nice. This one has you knit and decrease until there are only 8 stitches, then just use your darning needle and run the yarn through the stitchees and pull it tight. I'd rather do a sock that has the flat looking seam... not sure what that type of seam is.... But it looks like there's a line across the toes at the seam. That's what I want. Anyone have any ideas on how to help me with that? *flutters eyelashes*

Well, I must work.

Signing out,
T

Birthday knitting

2005-05-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

I got to work today and was presented with a nummyummy gift!! I got a book called Knitting Handbook from one of the docs I work for, who also knits, and who has also helped me to learn some of the stitches and easier way to hold the yarn, etc. As my friend and I are thumbing through each page (they were glued togeter at the spiral binding so we had to unstick them) one of the other women I work with came up to give me a present and said WHERE DID YOU GET THAT BOOK? I told her, and then she looked at her present and walked away sadly. I followed her to make sure she was ok. She was just bummed because apparently she'd purchased the same book to give me for my birthday! LOL. She still had a receipt and told me she got it at Barnes and Noble, so I'm stopping there on my way home from work to see if I can just trade it for something else. How exciting though...TWO KNITTING BOOKS!! I seem to be building up quite the collection of these books lately. I think you can never have enough knitting books ... just the same as you can never have enough yarn *grin* Jennie, the doc who gave me the first Knitting Handbook, said she also wants to get me a gift certificate for Michaels. I told her not to, that she didn't have to do that, but she said she wants to. My husband will be thrilled to death at the idea of more yarn, which is what I am sure I will spend it on :) I'd like to also get some of those plastic (maybe tupperware makes them?) storage dresser type storage units... the kind that stand upright and have drawers. That way I could start storing my yarn in my bedroom closet and out of the way. Right now it's in a big purple tupperware tote, overflowing. Then there's also a pile of yarn and books behind my recliner in the family room. It's out of the way, but it's a huge ass mess.

On the knitting side of things, I am almost done with Jessie's sock! :) I'm using Moda Dea self striping yarn. I don't remember the colorway's name, but it's just green and white and has different blurbs of each color through out, then big huge sections of either green or white. It's quite pretty. I think Jessie will like them. And I'm loving that it's starting to look like a sock! It's a cuff down sock and I am past the hell *whew* and working on the instep. I'm hoping to finish this tonight and I will take a picture of it to post up here :)

Calluses

2005-05-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

Lately I have noticed... I have a nice little callus on my left forefinger. It's from pushing the points of my needles through my yarn as I knit. It makes me giggle. It also makes me think there's something stuck to my finger LOL

Past FO's

2005-05-02T18:59:00.000-07:00

Hopefully I have figured out how to post pictures! *hi five!*

These are just a couple that I have made for people I love.

That is my very first Booga Bag to be given to my friend Lyssie for Christmas last year. And yes, I still have yet to give it to her. I'm a pathetic friend *sob* People like me are why the term "It's the thought that counts" was created. Because I've thought about sending it. A lot. But then I forget to actually do it. *hugs* Lyssie you know I love you.

That is the very first "real" project that I did. I meandered into Black Sheep Wool in Salt Lake City, Utah and wandered around checking things out. Someone had knitted that same sweater and had it on display, so I asked one of the very helpful women that work there if that was an easy project for someone who only knows how to knit and purl, and not very well. She told me the whole project was knit, purl and increase and decrease. I managed to learn those things and the sweater came out just fine. I gave it to my wonderful friend Sara who had a baby last November. He's a cutie :)

This is obviously one of my greatest WIPS :) This is my beautiful 4 year old Jessica. She had longer hair last week. This last Thursday she felt the need to become a beautician and chopped her hair to pieces. We had to cut it VERY short all over so it would blend better. I was crushed. I couldn't even bring myself to take pictures of it until after we had it "fixed."

This is my 2 year old WIP. Her name is Jennifer, but she yells at you if you call her that. She prefers either Niff or Niffie. She fell victim to her older sister and lost all of her beautiful locks. Her hair cascaded down her back and was quite long and pretty. Now it's shorter than short :( Thankfully it's hair and will grow back. But still, I would have preferred not to find out the hard way that children like to play beauty parlor. And that they think they look wonderful when they're done.

On the knitting front, I've done nothing today. I'll work some more later tonight on the dishclothes.

Signing out,

T

Current WIPS

2005-05-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Holy cow, over a month since my last post. Really, I've been knitting. I guess I'm just better at making sure I knit than I am at making sure I post.

My current WIPS are:

Dischcloths for a gift for someone. I bought a book that has 10 patterns in it, and I plan to make one of each for Mother's day presents, five for my mom, five for Kenny's mom. They are in Peaches and Cream cotton that I got in a 1 pound cone. Not my favorite yarn to knit with, because I'm not fond of knitting with cotton yet, it isn't ... stretchy enough for my liking, but I'm getting more used to it. And the colors are pretty. I grabbed a veriegated puprle to white cone.

Feather and Fan lace baby blanket (for who knows... just making it because it's pretty)

Simple Garter Stitch Baby Sweater from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight, done in blue color me somethingorother wool yarn, superwash

Another of the same sweater in some cheap acrylic red heart yarn in a veriegated baby yarn, that's actually turning out to be quite pretty

Socks for Jessica. This is my first ACTUAL pair of socks. I'm doing them in ... Moda Dea? It's green and white and self striping. I tried to make some socks with very thin yarn (not sure what it was called since I don't have the label right in front of me) but it turned out that the needles I was using were way too big and I had to frog the whole thing. All's well, though, because it was GREAT practice on the sockfront :)

And constantly in motion are the Umbilical cord hats from Stitch n Bitch and matching booties using the Classic Cashmere Bootie pattern, also from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies. To me, they match perfectly if you use the same yarns on each set, because on the hat, the brim rolls, and on the booties, the tops roll. And I'm just using whatever yarn I have in my stash that's enough for both things, because I am making them to give out as gifts since I seem to know lots of women having babies (that's what you get working in an OB office) and also to donate to a charity project that I enjoy donating to.

As soon as I take the time to figure out how to post pictures, I shall do that. For now, whoever reads this (all one of you!) will have to make do with the boring text only posts.

Signing out,
T

Editing

2005-03-20T19:51:00.000-08:00

I have been messing around with this blog tonight, learning about how to use the templates and such. Lots of cussing and swearing, however not out loud. The only audience that got the brunt of this was my dear friend Lyssa. I can't say those words out loud for fear that my parrots ... er.... children will hear them and repeat them.

Anyway, I got it somewhat figured out and played around with it a little. I was able to post my picture for my profile and figured out how to remove the stupid "edit me" links that showed up on the side bar. So nothing mind blowing or anything, just that :)

I didn't finish any of my projects this weekend. I did try to start a new one though. I bought a sock pattern for women's socks, and some really pretty purple sock yarn. I played with it a while, then frogged it all and went back to making Yvette's baby's pants. Right now her baby has no name, so we call her Noname, which is pronounced No-nah-mee. :)

Cold needles

2005-03-16T13:46:00.000-08:00

My needles haven't been picked up in a few days. So really, I have nothing new to write about. Just the fact that I haven't knitted. And I'm still working on the same projects. I vow to finish one by the time this weekend is over. We'll see which one it is.

I also found out that a friend that I work with is having a baby boy. I knew she was expecting, just wasn't sure what the little one was yet, and now that I know, I'm excited. I haven't knitted any little boy things yet, and I have some cute patterns in some of my books!

I've been reading other people's blogs and checking them out. They are much more clever looking than mine, so I'm looking forward to learning how to spruce mine up :)

TTFN

WIPS

2005-03-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

I decided I didn't like the set up of my previous knitting blog, so I shall make a go at this one :)

Currently, I am knitting a pair of cute baby pants, part of the Bubblegum Baby Trio in Knitting for Babies and Toddlers. I already knit the hat, which is just a big rectangle that you seam at the top and side, and put tassles on each corner. It was my first fair isle project, and my first attempt at reading a chart. It was a great first project for fair isle, as it wasn't a hugely overwhelming thing to knit. The pants, however, are not fair isle, just done in a striping pattern, the stripes being different sizes, but done in the same colors as the hat. I have the band of one leg done and am working on the second stripe. I just started that last night, so I imagine it will be a while before it's done.

I am also working on a shawl for Jessica done in Noro Kureyon, colorway I cannot remember. It has some of her favorite colors in it, orange (her very favorite), yellow/gold, pink, green, and more. I started that out as a big long piece and am decreasing as I go. It's done in St. st and I am decreasing on the purl rows.

I am also knitting a scarf for Niff, that's been on hold for a couple weeks because it's not really "scarf weather" anymore. It's this fancy fur stuff with little... bally things in it and I'm also using red heart black to go with it. Normally I hate knitting with Red Heart since I have become somewhat of a yarn snob, but it's mostly to fill in the gaps on the fancy fur stuff, and it's for a 2 year old... she won't care :)

And finally, one last WIP. I am knitting my first lace project, which is going to end up being a baby afghan. It's done in this white yarn that has pink and blue specks through out. I think it is bernat baby or baby soft yarn or something like that. I picked it up at Robert's. It's actually soft for acrylic. That is taking me some time, and I had to do a LOT of frogging initially. Then someone at the knitting community at www.livejournal.com recommended to use a "lifeline" every so many rows. I weaved dental floss threw my current stitches on the needles, and that way if i had to rip out, then i only had to rip out to the dental floss. It was a great recommendation! I also decided that safetey pins work great for stitch markers and marking the beginning row of the feathers and fan pattern.