In Over My Head

This past week I have started on so many new knitting projects, I think I may be in over my head. I have three sweaters on needles, rarely do I ever knit sweaters. I don't know for sure how many socks...

This is the start of the Gathered Pullover in the Winter 2007 Interweave Knits.

The first of a pair of 9-5 socks for the Loopy Ewe sock KAL- at least one is totally finished!
A start on a Plain Vanilla Pullover (from Knit Picks) Not sure why I picked that light of a color...
I cast on Mr. Greenjeans from Knitty.com yesterday. I'm doing it for the Loopy Ewe Dream in Color sweater KAL. I think if it's a KAL I'll actually have motivation to finish the sweater- it has to be done by June 1st! I love the yarn, but I have yet to meet a skein of Dream in Color that I didn't like. I'm in real trouble now that Sheri stocks more than sock yarn at the Loopy Ewe. Sock yarn from indie dyers was a big enough addiction, now indie yarn for sweaters too- drool!
Two pattern repeats done on Cookie A.'s Monkey socks- also from Knitty.com. These are for a swap so I actually have to finish them in a reasonable amount of time.
Finally another pair of Jaywalkers. I got some Paca Peds- superwash alpaca sock yarn!!! The Loopy Ewe strikes again. I love alpaca. Anyway, I had to try it out as soon as it came, it's alpaca for crying out loud how could I just let it sit and wait to be knit with??? I liked the Jaywalkers I knit before so I decided on that pattern since I already knew what to expect.

Holy links Batman! I sure put a lot of them in there:)

That's six projects that I started recently. That doesn't even include what I already had going, plus I have to rip out and re knit a pair of gloves for a customer since we had a tiny miscommunication about ribbing...

Told ya, way over my head.

To top it all off today is my daughters 11th birthday and she has her very first dance tonight. Makes me feel old.

I Am So Spoiled!

A great big giant thanks to my Hot Cocoa Swap partner Kathy! My package came on Saturday and it's all wonderful. I had so much fun opening it all up. She spoiled me a lot! It was a great surprise on a cold, snowy, windy day.



Told you Kathy spoiled me! Look at all of the wonderful, thoughtful things she put in my package. Two different kinds of hot chocolate, two different kinds of marshmallows- all fancy and gourmet. A fun card and dice game to play with my kids, a hot cocoa pot holder and towel set with really cute stitch markers pinned to it. An entire package of dark Dove chocolates (I won't have to share them since no one else at my house likes dark chocolate- good thinking Kathy) Dove is one of my favorite chocolates, the only better ones seem to be hard to find in this country... There's also a great mug to drink my hot cocoa in, some knitting goodies, alpaca yarn, and my Winter Blah Buster Buddy- a really cute and cuddly hand knit cat.

Here's the cocoa/non-knitting stuff. Dark chocolates, peppermint hot cocoa, more hot cocoa, two kinds of gourmet marshmallows, card game, cocoa pot holder set (with the stitch markers) and a really cool mug. Kathy had a bit of a heart theme happening with the package- chocolates, marshmallows, and stitch markers. The mug is the perfect size, and the ribbed design at the bottom reminds me of knitting, the ribbing at the cuffs of a sweater or a sock. I tried the peppermint cocoa yesterday- yum! I'm drinking the other kind (the fancy kind where you melt little chocolate shavings in warm milk) right now in my new mug with vanilla marshmallows in it. I was nice and shared my heart marshmallows with my kids. Between my leaving them out while I made a trip to the bathroom and the three hungry monsters, they're all gone! But they sure were good.
The knitting stuff. The rather sneaky and quite thoughtful Kathy read on my blog about my disappearing then reappearing broken knitting needle gauge. Now I have a new one! The little sock point protectors are so cute and no knitter can ever have too many tape measures. I can never seem to find one when I need one! Look at that yummy yarn. Baby Alpaca DK, two skeins in a really great purple. It's so soft, and once again being sneaky Kathy figured out that I have a love affair with alpaca. Now to decide what to knit with it. A nice pair of gloves for myself maybe, a hat, who knows? Right now I'm just going to squeeze it and love it.
Here's my Blah Buster Buddy. Isn't she sweet? I love the soft tweedy yarn she's made of and she has a great embroidered face. Plus she came wearing a cool tag that looks like knitting on one side and says it's knitted by Kathy for me on the other side. She's hanging out with the new mug and some yummy cocoa. I think she wants a cup of cocoa, but chocolate isn't good for kitties, is it? I'll find her a nice bowl of milk. Oh, Kathy left it up to me to decide if she was a boy or a girl and what her name is. I guess she was shy and didn't want to tell Kathy. Well, she told me that she's a girl and that she likes to be called Purl. You can tell she was made by a knitter for a knitter. My daughter says she should be called Rose, so she has a middle name too. Purl Rose the girl kitty. I think she'll be happy at my house because it's very kitty friendly. So far she is a little bit shy, I hope Chloe and Mushu don't teach her their naughty tricks! Maybe I'll take her to work with me tonight since Lesley has given us all a little bit of homework to do with our buddies.

Kathy even tucked a reciped for cocoa pancakes in the note she wrote me. On a cool knitting themed note card, of course. Even the box had a knitting stamp decorating it. Everything came wrapped in tissue paper and was ties with all kinds of cool ribbons and ric-rac, very cheery and fun. I have to thank Kathy bunches for sending me such a nice, thoughtful swap package. It was far above and beyond the "requirements" of the swap. Everything inside is wonderful and I love it all. I hope everyone else was lucky enough to get a partner as great as she was.

Thank you Kathy!!!

My Hot Cocoa Swap partner Sandy had this up on her blog when I checked it today. Evidently someone out there has decided that if you have seen more than 85 movies you have no life. Interesting. I have some issues with this. Whoever came up with the list, presumably the person who decided 85 films were too many, has to have seen many, many movies to know this many to list. Who the heck are they to decide who has no life? Lasty but not least, while the list doesn't seem to have a very particular order, anyone who knows anything about Star Wars would not list episodes 1-3 before the original three movies- duh! It's nearly offensive. In the interest of curriosity, I'll mark the movies I've seen on the list. The idea is that you copy this list to your blog and do the same. It's a big list.

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x)Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
(x) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
( ) Blazing Saddles
( ) Airplane
(x) The Princess Bride
( ) AnchorMan
( )Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
(x) Saw
(x) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
(x) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
( ) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
( ) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x)American Pie 2
( )American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
( ) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
(x) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
( ) Signs
(x) The Grinch
(x) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
(x) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
(x) Butterfly Effect
( ) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
(x) Robots
( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(x) Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
( ) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
( ) KING KONG
(x) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
(x) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( )Final Destination 3
(x) Halloween
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
(x) Flubber
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
( ) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
(x) From Hell
(x) Hellboy
(x)Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards
(x) The Whole Ten Yards
(x) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
(x) Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
(x) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
( ) The Mask
( )Son Of The Mask
(x) Bad Boys
(x) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Sleven
(x) Ocean’s Eleven
( ) Ocean’s Twelve
( ) Bourne Identity
( Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
(x) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
(x) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(x) Curious George
(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
( ) Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds
( ) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She’s All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
( ) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
( ) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
( ) The Terminator
( ) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
( ) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday
(x) Reign of Fire
(x) The Skulls
( ) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf’s Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(x) The 40-year-old Virgin
(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
( ) Baseketball
(x) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
(x) House of 1000 Corpses
(x) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
( ) Highlander
(x) Mothman Prophecies
(x) American History X
( ) Three
( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
( ) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
( ) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
(x) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
( ) Hook
( ) Chronicles Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
() Phantasm
(x) Waterworld
( ) Kill Bill vol 1
( ) Kill Bill vol 2
(x) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
(x) Kingdom of Heaven
(x) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
() Army of Darkness
(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
(x) The Matrix
( ) The Matrix Reloaded
( ) The Matrix Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
(x) Hannibal

Well, if I can count I've seen 83 of the above mentioned movies. If I miscounted- tough. This doesn't even scratch the surface of the movies that I've seen. I think the list is a little lacking. War movies- where's Platoon or Apocalypse Now??? No foreign films? (I mean films not Monty Python) What's a list of movies without the action all stars- Die Hard- Lethal Weapon... I think the list might be a little old too- no Harry Potter 5- the Harry Potter movies have names besides 1,2,3,4...go look at a DVD or find the online for crying out loud!!!
The movies on the list that I have seen tell me a few things. I have kids and often watch their movies with them- and I like them. I have a few DVD's on my shelf I have yet to watch- like Narnia. I have watched a LOT of horror films with my husband. Lastly, I do have a life, 85 movies or not. Most of the time major network TV is crap. I live in the middle of nowhere and sometimes there's not much else to do besides watch a movie.

I have more to write about later. Gotta charge the camrea batteries first.

A Valentine!

I got the best present for Valentines Day! A new niece. She was born at 4:04 in the morning after keeping her mommy up since Monday morning with contractions. She was 6#11oz and was 19.5" long and has bright red hair just like my sister. Her name is Alayah Corrin. Don't know where that came from... I haven't even seen pictures yet, and I'm feeling a bit impatient about that... I was supposed to go for the delivery, but naturally it was snowing and by the time she called I probably wouldn't have made it since it's at least a three hour drive. I only had one hour left of my shift at work (couldn't leave early since the ER was slammed) so I would have been lucky not to fall asleep driving too. We were planning on going to visit this weekend, but both of my boys have the stomach flu (there's a rather nasty strain of it in town right now we've seen tons in the ER) I don't really want to chance getting my sister or the baby sick, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

My other sister is scheduled to have a c-section on Monday. She doesn't know what she's having. Maybe it will be a boy. The balance of grandchildren is a little heavy on the girl side. The only boys are my twins, there are three girls now. My poor dad, first three daughters and no sons, then a bunch of girls for grandchildren. He loves Christmas shopping for my boys!

Knitting...I'll probably start on some baby stuff. I can't help it. I'm working on 9-5 socks for the Loopy Ewe KAL. I'm almost finished with the first one and I'm hoping I don't run out of yarn. There's still time to get in on the KAL. If you're on Ravelry search for it in groups and join us! I'm thinking about starting an afghan too. If I can get it done by the 26th... A really good traveling nurse at work is having to leave before her contract is up she has to leave due to a terribly ill mother in law. She's awesome and we'll miss her. She's hoping to be able to come back again, but I still want to do something for her. She's been incredibly kind and caring to everyone the entire time she's been with us, and she's always in a good mood and is tons of fun to work with.

What else am I knitting... I started on a Gathered Pullover from Interweave Knits and a Plain Vanilla Pullover from Knit Picks. Both for myself. I rarely knit anything other than socks for myself, so the sweaters will be a change. I have about two inches of the body done on each of them, I'll probably be knitting them next winter still.

My Loopy Swap partner Ellen got her package yesterday. She loves her Mingus socks and they fit her! I'm always so relieved when my swap partners get their packages and say they like them.

Time to go and do sick kid laundry and hang out the the poor little guys. My daughter doesn't have school today so she's home too- at least she isn't sick yet!

Bit of a Rough Weekend- and FO's

FO's:

A custom pair of alpaca fingerless gloves for my Etsy shop. My customer wanted them longer and with no cables, so there they are. I like the color a lot. Plus alpaca is probably my favorite fiber, if you can have a favorite.
More fingerless gloves. I knit these out of some of my handspun and made the pattern up as I went. They're in my Etsy shop too. So we'll see if anyone else likes them!

The rough part. Our dog died on Sunday morning. He was getting older, but it was kind of a surprise. My daughter is heartbroken. He was her first pet and we have had him since she was a baby. Her first experience with losing a pet too. I felt so bad for her! She's been asking for a dog for her birthday- later this month- we told her no. Now who knows. My husband doesn't want another dog, but he always caves when it comes to her. She has him wrapped around her little finger. So I wouldn't be entirely surprised to have another dog sometime soon...

I'm going to pack up the package for my Loopy Ewe swap partner and mail it today after school. I hope she likes everything!

Cute Boys and Socks

I don't really post pics of my kids, but this is too cute. They fell asleep like that. Do you think they're close?

My Twins. Chase in red and Aiden in blue. Too bad they're not that sweet when they're awake!

Mingus socks, pattern by Cookie A. Knit in Numma Numma Toasty- Red Raspberry Jam.
A close up of the pattern, for some strange reason it's hard to see.
Without the flash. Doesn't help much.
9-5 socks in Claudia Handpaints- Chocolate Cherry. The detail is hard to see again. I really like this yarn. The Numma Numma and Claudia both came from The Loopy Ewe. Where else would I get it???
Last but not least Knight Bus socks. Just a plain old sock patern in some pretty cool yarn. It's from an indie dyer- Shelby B. I have a rather large collection of her yarn, I think I have all Harry Potter themed colors, but she does other lovely colors as well.

See? I really am trying to get some projects done!

Yay Giants, and A Few FO's

I didn't want to but I watched the Super Bowl yesterday. I love football, the only reason why I didn't want to watch was the Patriots. I hate the Patriots!!! I'm so sick of hearing about them, their coach is a jerk and their quarterback isn't far behind him. So I was rooting for the Giants big time. Thank you Giants for showing the world that the Patriots aren't perfect. You beat them even with the challenge (that shouldn't have been allowed because the next play had already happened) they won to get a free set of downs. Thank you for putting Tom Brady on his ass repeatedly! I'm thrilled the Giants won, even though they beat my Packers for the chance!

I feel better now...

Knitting. I have five pairs of socks on needles right now. I need to knit socks, bad. Here are two FO's to show you. They have both been done for a while, one I couldn't show you because it's for a swap, the other I just hadn't gotten to yet. Now my Hot Cocoa Swap partner Sandy has her package, so her project doesn't need to be a surprise anymore.

This is Moe, my version of Mr. Dangly. The pattern is free and can be found here. I didn't get gauge, use the recomended yarn or anything like that, but she still turned out pretty good. She's supposed to make you smile and be a little silly. I think she meets those requirements. Sandy did think she was a horse, so she was happy that I told her Moe is a monkey. Sandy likes her anyway...
Another view. Moe was born to be a model. She's soft and floppy and snuggly.
The baby blanket I finished for my youngest sisters baby. It has been done for a while, but I'm slow with the pictures.

Now, I've got some socks to finish. Of course I have socks to start too for Hogwarts Sock Swap 3. Not to be confused with HSKS4. Same theme, two different swaps. I'm a Harry Potter dork, I can't help it. I did a few Harry Potter quizzes over the weekend. I found out that my Patronus is an otter- just like Hermione, and that my HP alter ego is Harry. I didn't think it would be Harry, I figured Hermione or Ginny or something. Imagine that.

Gotta knit...