Prep Work

I'm up late prepping Declan for a procedure at the hospital tomorrow. It's exhausting. It's icky! It's no fun for me! It's less fun for him! We're tired! I just finished cleaning up the bathroom and scrubbing a carpet! I'm going to bed! However, I just can't lay my head down on the pillow unless I knit at least one row, even though I can barely keep my eyes open. Does this mean I have an addiction problem? Notice, I don't ask if I have issues. We already know I have those!

Yawn

This weekend has been insanely busy. It has involved the following:

Two Piano Recitals
Too many hours of ballet practice
Three Nutcracker Ballet Performances
144 mince pies and jam tarts made for Christmas Around the World Party at Church
One Cute Guy's Work Christmas Party
One special program at church for son moving out of Primary (Priesthood Preview)
One big ol' headache
One new addiction to a game my friends husband created (addiction formed in the wee hours when I should have been sleeping) - check it out, then we'll all form our own 12 step program together
Zero knitting, sewing, stitching, crafting!!!!
One tuckered out Mummy

and now..... I'm off to Bedfordshire to chill out, catch up on the DVR and knit a little (if I can keep my eyes open).

I would ....

be posting a very interesting post with lots of pictures but I'm busy baking these right now.

They are so stinking easy. I feel incredibly clever and talented making them. Why did I never make cinnamon rolls before?! Maybe it's because whenever I eat cinnamon I get a little bit of an itchy mouth. Do you think that ever stops me from eating cinnamon? No, that's why Benadryl was created, silly! A life without Cinnamon Rolls.... I don't even want to imagine!

p.s. trying to figure out how to make her frosting without Coffee. We don't drink coffee and so have none in the house. Do you think Pero would work?????

One is the loneliest number...

IMAG0075
Originally uploaded by KnittinBrit

I did promise an update on some of my projects, but then promptly forgot to charge the battery on my camera. Ooops!

In the meantime, here's one of the projects I've been working on (courtesty of smartphone camera - the picture does not do it justice). Twelve Christmas Tea Towels by Crabapple Hill. I've got to get stitching to get these done and mailed out in time for the holidays, but they're so fast that it shouldn't be a problem.

Now, if I could just finish up the many other UFO's that are dangling around. I think I really need to put together a list and see what's doable and what's not.

I have decided that there are a few projects that it is time to part with, either to the frog pond or elsewhere. My Mimbres Vest is one of them. It's probably 85 - 90% done and no matter how I try, I have absolutely no desire to finish it. I don't want the yarn for anything. I think we just have to say goodbye. I don't, however, want to throw it in the trash, so I'm mulling on it's fate at present.

Do you have any projects that you know you're done with? not ones that you think you might come back to, but projects that are similar to that boyfriend in college that you're over, it had it's time, but you've moved on and grown, and know you're no longer a fit?

Diagnosis: Pecan Pie-itis

I'm not sure if I've eaten too much turkey or stuffed myself on pecan pie, but I'm feeling a bit poorly. We've had family in town and I've been waiting on them the past few days. Sleep has been very limited and I it might be catching up with me, because I feel like I've been hit by a truck. My body aches and I have no energy. I might be sick or I might be craving some alone/me time.

I have had very little time to myself so project progress ground to a halt. I had done some knitting but a certain little puppy has decided that it should be his chew toy and snagged it off the couch and did some damage which I just finished fixing. It appears that he's a little confused and thinks he is a kitty, because balls of yarn fascinate him. Maybe he's getting back at me because he heard me talking to the vet about getting him neutered. (although who could blame him for that). Any tricks on how to train your puppy/dog not to eat your knitting?

I did get some sewing time in with Madison on Saturday for some doll blankets for her American Girl Doll bed. I was pretty impressed with her eye for design and how she told me what she wanted and went a very different direction than I had planned. It almost bought a tear to my eye.

Hopefully I'll find a minute tomorrow after company leaves to take some progress pics.

I'm tired and I need to head to Bedfordshire and relax.

Before I go:

The winner for the "Sweet" Sundara Giveaway is:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:2
Timestamp: 2009-11-30 03:31:22 UTC

Jessica from RoseKimKnits!

Sweet

In England we refer to Candy as Sweets. "Please Mummy, can I please go to the Sweet Shop?"

The holidays always gets my sweet tooth salivating. I spend quite a bit of money stocking up on some of my favorite British sweets (as well as American. When it comes to sweets/candy, I do not discriminate). Some of the holiday necessities include: Box of Maltezers, Box of Roses Chocolates, Chocolate Eclairs, Lots of Flakes, Cadbury Milk Tray, Twiglets (okay not a sweet, but still a snack must have for all Holly Jolly Brits!), Quality Street Chocolates, .... okay, the list could go on and on (good job, I'm married to a dentist).

In keeping with the "Sweet" theme of this post I dug in the stash to see what would tie in nicely for a Thanksgiving Giveaway.

How about some Sundara Sock Yarn in Creamy Toffee?! This yarn is delicious, just like the name implies. I love knitting with this yarn. You will too!

Want some Creamy Toffee?

Just leave a comment with what your favorite holiday sweet is and what you'd like to make with this sweet yarn.

Get a second entry if you link this on your blog (just leave a second comment leaving the link to your blog).

Winner will be picked on Sunday at 8pm central time and posted on the blog.

In the meantime, have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Whether you live in the USA or elsewhere in the world, take time to pause and be grateful for all you have.

.

I'm grateful to the Cute Guy, wonderful kids, true friends, a strong faith .... many other things not forgetting sweets, yarn, and something to be passionate about like knitting.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Watch Out

I'm super tired. The Cute Guy's family flew in tonight for Thanksgiving and I'm always a bit ridiculous about cleaning my house before company to the point of crazy cleaning. I reorganize every cupboard. Clean cabinets. Clean behind refrigerators and ovens (again, I know, no one will be looking there - but I'd know).

Am I the only one who does this? Should I call my therapist?

Now, they're here I've got some serious baking to do tomorrow.

However, watch this space! In the spirit of being Thankful, I want to share some of my over abundance of stash with you.

Check back tomorrow for giveaway details!!!!

Amnesia

I forgot!

I forgot that kids would still need to be ready and on the bus by 6:50am.

I forgot that another child would need to be driven to their school for an early morning meeting.

I forgot that I still had a preschooler to care for, drive to school, and have a play date.

I forgot that less than three hours of sleep is pushing it, even for me and my insomniac self. (3 is my minimum, 4 hours and I can function well)

I forgot that it's a bad idea when you're tired, the mountain of cola that you've pumped into your system so that you'd keep being pre-holiday productive would eventually wear off and you'd not be thinking very clearly.

I forgot that it's probably a bad idea to grab a few rushed minutes to cut out backing for the "place mats" (in case you were wondering what they were) as I ended up with cutting them too small.

I forgot that after 9pm on the night that you got less than three hours of sleep would be a bad time to decide to quilt place mats.

I forgot that I'd have shaky hands.

I forgot that I was trying not to swear anymore.

I forgot to immediately fix my mistakes.

I forgot to go to bed early so that I wouldn't make bad judgement calls.

But.....

I just remembered. I'm off to "Bedfordshire" and will try to remember tomorrow.

Midnight

I had planned on putting a better post together today, but time got the better of me. From kids ballet, to listening to Caleb's solo and first time as First Chair in Orchestra, it just didn't happen.

I'd post something really cool right now, but...

I'm heading out to go have late/early breakfast with the girls and then off to watch the midnight showing of New Moon.

Pathetic? Maybe.

Excited? Absolutely!

Mature? Possibly not! But that's no surprise.

Enjoy your zzzz's.

And it begins!

Holiday crafting and gift making has officially begun here today. Besides the usual mountain of chores, today I got to work on some holiday projects.

I'm about half way there on this project.

Can you guess what it is?

Time changes everything

Growing up in England, whenever we had a friend visiting the states I would beg them to bring me home some Suzy Q's. They were my favorite treat.

Yesterday while doing some grocery shopping I spotted a box of Suzy Q's who literally begged me to take them home. I'm such a softie and couldn't resist their oh so sweet plea's.

As soon as I got home and had given Ethan his lunch, (and after snapping a picture of the box for blogging purposes) I ripped open the box and pulled one out to devour. I think angels were singing, and possibly there were fireworks, I can't be sure. Then, I took a bite..... "Hmmmm, that's not how I remember it." So, I took another bite, and then another. I finished it off, but with a lot less enthusiasm than I had started with.

It was so ordinary and I felt so let down.

Some things are just better in our memories.

Has this ever happened to you?

Moving on....

Finally fixed a little problem with the sewing machine and finished up the two blocks for my Tethered Threads Block Party.

Wednesday, I plan on getting lots of sewing done on a gift project for a friend. I really should be getting my house ready for Thanksgiving and starting all of the baking I need to do. We have family coming into town and I'm nowhere need ready. Still, procrastination isn't just my middle name....

Now what was it you were all waiting for???

Oh yeah! Now I remember! You were all so excited to see my new Socktober Mystery Socks pictures. Made in Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in the Carabus Colorway on size 1 needles. (smallest size, although I wonder if I should have done the larger size)

This yarn is truly to die for. It knits like Butter! I definitely plan on getting some more of this. I actually bought some more and had gotten two skeins of Mystery Bugga. One of the skeins was the Carabus colorway again. I'm debating what to do with it. We'll see....

I loved knitting these socks. The pattern was interesting, but not so complicated that you couldn't easily memorize the lace patterns and knit away on them. In fact, I watched some Netflix DVD's with the first season of Lie To Me while knitting these. (such a great show)

Today, the Cute Guy and I had our monthly mum and dad/kid "Catch Up's" with the kids. Having four kids (plus lovely puppy Sir Winston) keeps us so busy that if we don't schedule to sit down individually and chat with the kids about everything from school to church to friends to chores, that important information can be missed. Don't think that we don't take special time for them other than once a month, it's just that I've found that our kids like the formality of scheduling a time to sit down one on one with us and have as long as they need to chat, just about them.

We've been concerned lately that something has been bothering our oldest son. He really is the perfect kid. I'm probably jinxing myself by saying that, but he's just been so easy to raise (so far). He really made it easy for us to want more kids. I think he's been 40 since age 5. For example, for his 5th birthday he asked for a suit and a robe. Why? Because he wanted to be like James Bond. Please note: we are unsure where he ever learned anything at age five about James Bond - still trying to figure that one out. However, he's just seemed a little off lately. After talking with him, we've found out he's fine. Just normal teenage stuff, but just to be sure, I informed him during his meeting with us that I could read his facial features and decipher whether he was lying to me and what each facial expression he made meant. Of course, it was complete trollop, but still... I had him going for a while there. I think I may use it on the younger kids, they're much more likely to buy it. (insert evil laugh here)

Anyway.... I know why you're all here today. Although my new socks are lovely, you want to know who won the Wollmeise.

Insert Drumroll here.....

The winner is (by random number generator - care of Random.org)

Number 49 - Philigry

I just spent the past hour reading through each comment and reading their blogs if linked. It was so much fun. Some of the comments made me laugh; a couple made me tear up. I loved discovering more blogs to add to my list to read.

I think I'm going to have to do this again. Maybe with that lovely Carabus skein. Hmmm, maybe this next week.

Philigry please email me at knittinbrit at charter dot net to claim your prize. I'm looking forward to seeing what you think.

For everybody who participated, thank you. It was fun!

Rust

I was teaching a class tonight at the Black Purl and one of the students asked about a problem she had with her blocking. She didn't have any blocking pins on hand so had used regular pins which then rusted leaving small rust marks on her white baby sweater.

Any tips on how to get them out?????

Don't forget to enter for the giveaway.

Wollmeise Pay It Forward Giveaway

Last December I posted about my frustrations of not being able to get my greedy little mitts on some Wollmeise. No sooner did I have my little vent, the lovely Tonia paid it forward and so generously sent me a package of some delicious yarns including... Wollmeise. Knitters really are such a generous bunch - I'm still a little shocked at that. (unless of course, you are at an amazing yarn sale - then they'll gouge your eyes out with their knitting needles so that they can get the last of the Socks That Rock bargain skeins).

As mentioned earlier this month, I've been on a bit of a shopping spree lately.

Notice that the yarns on either end are the same. Wollmeise Twin yarn in the colorway Kurbis. It felt a bit greedy to have two of the same colorway when I only need one. So it's time I followed Tonia's example and paid it forward.

To enter for the drawing, leave a comment stating why you're thankful for yarn (let's go with a nice thanksgiving theme - now isn't that special!) and check back on Sunday evening around 9pm ct for the winner to be announced.

You can get an extra entry if you link this giveaway/pay it forward on your blog. Just post another comment with your blog addy.

Can't get ruddy easier than that, can you?!

I must dash now as I've misplaced (please do not say "lost") a cord for my Addi Clicks. I hate it when I can't find things, so although it's after midnight and everybody else is asleep, I'm going to be digging around my house until I find the darn thing. If I make a lot of noise, accidentally on purpose, and wake up the Cute Guy, I'm going to make him search with me so that he can have the pleasure of helping his sweetie. I'm a giver that way!

Dear Cute Guy

Dear Cute Guy,

If you happen to be reading our blog (which you had better be doing on a regular basis) I thought I'd make life a little easier for you this Christmas and put together a grouping of items I'm loving and maybe you could pick one (or two, or ten) for my Christmas gift. I should probably warn you that if you ignore such very obvious hints that I will be forced to utilize your credit card on your behalf. I know how much you like to make me happy and I can assure you that any of the items on my wish list would make me happy, very happy, almost as happy as your H2 makes you happy. Remember the car I bought for you (okay, purchased with your credit and then handed you the payment book - which I still consider one of my greatest scams yet).

You've told me before that you'd give me the world if you could, but luckily for you, I don't want the world - I've never really been fond of Ohio, Arkansas or France, so I'd settle for a nice new coat or lovely new pair of boots and purse instead. A bargain at half the price!

Thank you in advance for the wonderful life we life together with our four lively kids and the cutest puppy in the whole world (who secretly I know you love, even if you continue to call him Little Turd when you think I'm not in earshot). I look forward to many more happy years with you.

love and hugs,

Your Kimmy

Kimmy's Christmas List 2009 by knittinbrit featuring Burberry bags

Items in this set:
Joe's Jeans jeans, $235
GUESS? outerwear, $198
Maruione.jp coat, $188
Toast.co.uk cardigan, 155 GBP
Joe's Jeans jeans, $139

P.S. This may or may not be a test!!!! Ignore at your possible peril!

Full Bellies

With everything crazy that went on this last month I probably could have gotten away with not feeding the family very nutritious meals and hitting the take out lines regularly. Luckily, I had discovered this wonderful website and book that I cooked from on almost a daily basis.

Think Julie & Julia type blog, but using the slow cooker every day for one year. It's amazing what she came up with.



Not only are the slow cooker recipes in this book, not the usual casserole, soup, pot roast type recipes, but they are so fast and Stephanie O'Dea also shows how they can be made Gluten Free. It almost brings a tear to my eye. Fast and Gluten Free - who knew that the two went together. I think we should also add that the recipes are VERY tasty. Definitely not a word that comes easily to a GF menu.

Declan, who has been known to ask if I'm feeding him poop before (yes, he did get to see how tasty a bar of soap was for that rude comment) literally jumps up and down with excitement when he sees that I'm cooking something in the Crock Pot.

The Beef Bourguignon was delicious! As was the Pasta Fagioli Soup. I've made everything from Indian to Asian cuisine in the crock pot lately.

I love a good food blog. Others that I have been using a lot lately are Karina's Kitchen, Tasty Kitchen, and Bakerella. I'm always looking for good suggestions. What are your favorite food blogs?

Arrived

After reviewing the patterns I was contemplating for the Lustra, I arrived at a decision. I'm going with my original plan - Seneca.

Today, I was a little busy with taking a sick puppy to the animal hospital at 7am this morning. He's still there - should be home tomorrow - sniff, sniff.

A day spent Up North doing this....

And in between all the ups and downs of the day, I swatched for Seneca. Started with a 8 - what was I thinking. I'm a very loose knitter. Then switched to a 6 - perfection! (fun centered increase and decrease - it's the small things that make me happy!)

Now, I have to be strong and not go any further until I sew up Claudia. Unfortunately, I have no willpower. zippo. It's why I spend my life desperately trying to work off a few pounds - diets just aren't my thing. Again, it's that willpower thing.

Character flaws... I have many. What's yours?

Remembering

Per Carrie K.'s suggestion, I spent some time today going through my faves and queue on Ravelry to see if I could find whatever pattern I'd originally had in mind for the Lustra. Perseverance won.

I'd originally planned on knitting Seneca by Jared Flood from the Made in Brooklyn Booklet.

I'm still pretty sure that's what I'm going to knit with it, but during the search I came up with a couple of other ideas for it too. Now, I'm dithering on which to knit.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/novak-2

Novak from Twist Collective Fall 2009

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/beryl

Beryl by Bonnie Marie Burns of Chic Knits

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mondo-cable-pulli

Mondo Cable Pullover by Bonnie Marie Burns of Chic Knits

Decisions, decisions, decisions! I wish I possessed the gift of Decisiveness, I'm so flippy-floppy! What virtue do you wish you possessed and why?

Evidence

Evidence that the yarn acquisitioning may have gotten a little out of control....

Around a month ago, I purchased a sweaters worth of this yarn.

It's Lustra by Berroco in Auburgine. Beautiful, eh?!

When I purchased this yarn, I had a plan. I remember making sure I had the right yardage and had Beth wind it for me to start asap. Only problem, I have NO idea what that project was for. I've searched high and low for a pattern and can't figure out why I bought it. Maybe a sign that the purchasing was getting a little out of control.

Any ideas what this yarn wants me to make it into?

Note: gauge is 4.5 sts to the inch.

More is More, or is it Less is More?

I still need to get you all caught up on my October going-ons!

As mentioned yesterday, there were some acquisitions - Wollmeise in Kurbis Colorway. It's a bit darker than this in person.

Wollmeise again, in Arlene.

Claudie hat. Whipped up while on a road trip in Shepherds wool. It's a little pointy on top, but fits my big ol' head just fine. I purchased the yarn and pattern at the Blazing Needles in Salt Lake City when I was there in February and promptly set it aside until road trip knitting was required. I've overlooked this yarn before, but it's beautiful and would definitely like to knit with it again.

When Jessica was here for Knitting Camp she really encouraged me (read: strong armed me) into finishing some of those UFO's that have been hovering around. This is one. It's called Claudia, by Black Purl (it's strange that both knitted items I'm showing you today have very similar names - purely coincidence). It's knit in Organik, which is definitely not my favorite yarn - won't be knitting with it again - too splitty. It felt like the black hole of knitting projects but really didn't take that long in actual knitting time. I've just got to sew it together (this could cause major stalling for a few months if I didn't think that Jessica would hunt me down and beat me silly with alpaca). I'm a little worried about it fitting. I knew my gauge was a little off, but felt like blocking would fix it. However, I've gained a few pounds and am nervous the "Hi June" arms might not fit in the armholes. More to come....

Finally, we end with a quick glimpse of how the wrong yarn can really suck the joy out of a project. This is the Socktober Mystery sock which I started in this Trekking yarn. Yuck, it looked terrible. The color variation hid the pattern and I just wasn't having any fun. I set it aside to decide whether to plug on and see if it grew on me, but then my Bugga arrived and the naughty little skein just begged me to be the Mystery Sock. I'm a sucker to a begging bugga yarn, so cast on I did and it was Love, pure love. Too tired to take pics of those socks tonight, will get them posted soon.

Do you ever feel guilty about yarn acquisitions? Do you get caught up in the fun of snagging a wanted yarn and then fret later over whether you really need to have piles of sock yarns stashed around your house? or are you a frugal franny and only buy exactly what you need for that moment? How do you keep your yarn wants and needs balanced?

Catching up

October was a truly crazy month. It involved the following:

Clusterous Migraines (I'm new to these and don't want any more- she says stamping foot)
Football injuries
Preschooler falling out of bed and cutting his head open
A car wreck (poor black beauty - I miss you - hurry home to me)
1 suspected case of Pertussis
1 case of Flu
80's Murder Mystery Halloween party
One hosting of a baby shower
Trip to Madison to see Caleb perform in the Wisconsin Mid Level State Honors Choir - it was truly amazing - professional quality
Luckily, less puppy accidents than last month
Finishing of some knitting - woo hoo - still need to seem together one sweater that for some strange reason appeared to be the black hole of sweaters
Many friends families completely hit with Swine Flu - so many meals delivered to sick families
One funeral
New addiction to Sanguine Gryphon yarn - me likey's alot!!!

It's been crazy at times but certainly not boring. Now we're heading into the Holiday season and I've got a mountain of projects I want to work on.

Blog posting was set on a back burner for a few months really, but I'm feeling motivated to post again and get back in the saddle.

I have one quick question: I was at the gym today and the trainer had me doing lots of jump-roping to warm up. Which part of "I have four kids" seemed like this was a good thing to have me do. Having given birth to four kids and jump roping definitely do not go together. What strange thing did you have to give up after having kids?

While you mull over this, enjoy some pics from this past month. Bugga in Carabus - used this for my Soctober Mystery Sock. This stuff knits up like Butter. More Sanguine Gryphon! Someone stop me. The children's college funds may be at risk!!!!

Finally, he has a name - Sir Winston Humvee the First - seriously, it took us a month to come up with this. He normally goes by Winston. He's my baby and I love him.

My outfit for the 80's Halloween Murder Mystery party. My character was Polly Abdool. Winston is in the picture for cuteness factor. Adorable, isn't he?

Here's the one showing off the Queen t-shirt I scored at TJMaxx. I'll be honest, I love this. It will not just be for the benefit of the costume party.

Black Beauty in the shop. All I got to show for it was a bump on the head, a bloody nose, a miniscule cut on my finger and a major bruise to my ego.

Okay, maybe I didn't mention the Wollmeise addiction that got under way too.

Ouch!!!! Still he felt the need to tell his mum how he loved her all the way to space and back again while we were waiting for stitches.

His stitches before they took them out. This kid is sooo brave. I love him more everyday.

Annual Halloween Video

Our families Annual Halloween Video including all my babies: Caleb, Declan, Madison, Ethan and Winston the Puppy (although Sherlock is being debated as a name at the moment - think about it.... "No S*&# Sherlock!")

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Want to come over for a Block Party

Marty at http://aseemlylife.com/ is having a block party. She has one just started and has extra quilters so is going to do a second block party. She still needs to fill some spots, anyone up for it? Come to the Block Party with us? If you're interested check out Marty's blog and comment that you're interested.

Lots of knitting has been taking place on my Rebecca cardigan, but it seems like a black hole of knitting for some strange reason. Maybe because I was sat there with a book in front of me every time I sat down to knit. Finished the 2nd book in the Hunger Games series and then devoured The Lost Symbol. Loved it, although I think the end was rather self indulgent on Dan Brown's part. He got a little carried away. Almost done listening to the Time Travelers Wife. I only listen when I'm on longer road trips, so it's taking a while.

Have been doing a little sewing, but am geared up to get hustling on a pile of projects that I've been prepping.

Last night I was watching my oldest son playing football against a team that their smallest player was as big as our biggest. I'm pretty sure that they've been giving the kids on that team the cow hormone, (can never remember the name B-something). They were huge and mean, and quite frankly played dirty. I've never watched a game this year with the 8th graders that had that many fouls. I'll be honest, I was expecting someone to get hurt and thought it would be bad. I actually thought it was likely to be Hubbub as he was up against the biggest guy on their team and had been doing a fairly good job, but this punk kept taking some late hits (and getting fouled for it, but that doesn't stop it from causing an injury). Luckily, he survived the game. I wandered off the field because the mama bear in me wanted to kick their coach's butt for such poor sportsmanship when one of the players came running over and told me that Dec (my 2nd son who was practicing on another field) was badly hurt.

It's amazing how fast you can run in heeled boots across a football field when the mood strikes. Dec was laid flat out with some EMS' checking out his foot. Apparently he'd heard a pop and he'd try to continue to playing. The second time it popped, he went down hard and couldn't get up. They had me take him right to the ER where it was checked out, xrayed, you know the usual good stuff. He luckily didn't break it, but had apparently bruised the tendon and had a bad sprain. They splinted it up, drugged him up and came home.

Now, I admit, I was almost excited when I awoke this morning that I would have to cancel all appointments and stay home and take care of Declan. Okay, I'll be honest, I was planning on having an excuse to stay home and sew and knit all day. Didn't work out. Around 9:30 he had his medicine as it was starting to hurt. By 10:30am, very uncharacteristically for Declan he was crying out which eventually turned to screaming and begging for the pain to stop. It completely freaked me out and Steve when he heard him. Seriously, this is not Dec's style. He was white knuckled for a few hours. The Ortho Surgeon decided he wanted to see him that afternoon as the pain wasn't letting up. They finally determined that he may have shifted his growth plate and because of all the swelling and trauma to that foot his leg was spasming and the splint was restricting him for moving his foot to ease the cramp, which ended up being a 3 hour charlie horse. Anyone who has had these remember how miserable they are. They took the splint off and gave him a boot and he's doing much better. Of course, that's after he stopped reacting to the Codeine they gave him.

So, an entire day has passed and I managed to knit 4 rows and only glance at the sewing machine. I have big hopes for tomorrow. He's supposed to be home still, but I'm trying not to jinx myself by dreaming of all that I'll get to do. Fingers crossed.

Just in case I actually get to play a little tomorrow, this is a list of some of what I'd like to work on:

1. Finish left front of Rebecca cardi and make progress on right side.
2. Sew apron for Madz
3. Sew some holiday place mats
4. Find next book to read and read a good chunk of it.
5. Bake something yummy - will need to be Gluten Free to make Dec's smile return
6. Bake something in the Crock Pot for dinner so I can play more
7. Make list of ufo's to finish by year end
8. Take pics for blog
9. Card for mum and dad's birthdays
10. Post on blog

I actually think it's a fairly manageable list if only I could get some free time. But then there is that matter of my four year old best friend who wanders around my house wanting me to play with him and the puppy who whines for me to play with him. Hmmmmmm, maybe I should revise my expectations....

So, what's on your list??

I found my new Twilight

Okay, maybe it's not Twilight, but I've found a new series of books that I can't put down. It's another Teen Fiction series (like Twilight) and I started reading it yesterday while I was at the hospital waiting for them to take me in for surgery and I've had a hard time putting it down since. Don't you just love a good book that sucks you in right away. So, what is it about Teen Fiction? I loved The Book Thief and then the Twiling Series. What's next Judy Blume for the second time around... I don't think so!

Everything went well with the surgery, but will have to wait a little bit for the lab results. They gave me the drug that Michael Jackson had, Propofol as the surgery was so short. I wasn't worried at all, until they said just before they took me back "You may find yourself feeling some of the surgery or being aware of what's going on.. it will probably make you move and then we'll know to give you more of the drug." Not exactly the most encouraging words to give a patient before surgery. Don't you think???

I promise I have knitting to post later this week. This puppy thing is kicking my butt. I get to take him to the vets tomorrow for the first time. To be honest, I'm nervous. Not sure if I mentioned that I'm actually afraid of dogs and am nervous of the other dogs at the vets. Pathetic, I know!

Clarification

Okay, I've heard that I was a little too vague on the last post, so here are some details.

The dog is a Male Cockapoo that turned 10 weeks on Sunday. We picked him up on Saturday. We got him from a breeder because we needed to be sure of the parentage as our reason for getting that type of dog is we have three people with dog allergies in this house. We never thought we'd be able to get a dog because of them and we are thrilled to have him. Unfortunately, Madison has been having some problems this weekend that we are still trying to determine if they are dog allergy related or something else. She was having problems with her asthma due to season allergies earlier in the week. We're all worried that if it's dog allergies then we will have to return the wee one, but we all understand and agree that as cute as he is, it's not worth risking Madison's ability to breathe. Seeing as the Cute Guy and Caleb are doing fine with the dog and they normally have pretty bad dog allergies, the doctor is not suspecting that to be her problem. The pollen count has been in red alert in our area this past weekend and that may be the problem. Say a prayer, cross your fingers, meditate postive energy our way or whatever you may do, as we love this little pup already and would hate for Madison to feel bad about our having to return the dog.

We do not have a name decided on yet. I'm not sure if that's partly our way to not get too attached to the puppy in case we have to return him, but that hasn't seemed to stop us from repeatedly telling him how much we love him and snuggling him lots too. The majority of the kids like Humvee for a name (predictable, aren't we?!) but I love the name Winston (the british part is coming out - and yes, I know he's not a british bulldog). Other names that have been thrown around are ORVie (after Off-Road Vehicle - again predictable), Churchill, Sir Licksalot and calling him Slick for short, snooker and many Austin Powers and Harry Potter characters names. I had wanted a brown cockapoo but those were all gone, and then i was going to call it Cadbury, no questions asked. oh well! Any ideas?

As for the surgery, it's just a minor surgery to remove some growths, biopsy them and do a couple of other things. The idea is that I will be home the same day. Unfortunately I have low blood pressure (about dead type low blood pressure - the kind the nurse double and triple checks when they take it) and I don't seem to wake up from anesthesia and react a little bad to the drugs, so have normally ended up staying in the hospital longer after surgery. This time the surgery is very short and I think it shouldn't be a problem. Only thing really working against me is that it's late in the day 4:30pm so that gives me less time to get feeling better before they decide to keep me in. For the record, I am not worried about this surgery or it's outcome at all. I have a good feeling about this one.

Can you see the resemblance of the puppy and my hair do when I was a teenager? (Could be worse, I could have the mall bangs my friend has in the photo)

One more reason to "Just Keep Knitting"

Wow! That was one very busy summer, but full of fun. I will post about the knitting that was accomplished, but maybe later this week. Have been very busy with kids returning to school this week and getting a new puppy that Madison may or may not be having allergic reactions to. The next couple of days look equally busy with staining the deck tomorrow and surgery on Tuesday.

In the meantime, found this interesting article that gives us yet another reason (like we needed one) to keep knitting:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7896441.stm

Bugging Out

Okay, this finishing up thing is starting to drive me crazy. I'm desperate to start something new and have the worst beginning case of Start-itis that wants to rear its ugly head, but I'm holding true to the faith of honorable finishing of projects. Not sure I'm liking it. I'm almost done on my second sock of Glynis, which is a nice somewhat entertaining sock, but I have about 20 projects I want to start so it's sucking the joy out Glynis.

I'm using Smooshy and its okay yarn - don't love it, don't hate it. Where has Jessica's hands are turning blue from her yarn, mine are red/pink from mine.

EB says "This is what happens if you keep denying yourself from starting a new project - your eyes bug out!"

No Apologies, No Regrets, Just Busy with Summer!

I'm sure I should feel guilty about posting, but I'm really not that much. This summer has been so crazy busy. So busy that we had planned on taking a family vacation to Washington DC this August and when we gave the kids a choice of DC or going to our favorite vacation island in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula of Michigan), the kids chose a week at a cabin in the UP. We'll boat, swim (although Lake Huron is not the warmest lake), watch the sunset from the deck on the private beach, read, knit, ride ATVs, kayak, fish, and throw in some off-road exploring to Fossil Ledges and Marblehead. I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing time.

I have got some knitting done this summer (four times a week), but not as much as usual because the kids soccer games got way more interesting this year and I'm British, so soccer (although us Brits have it named correctly with Football) requires me jumping up and down, cheering, and yelling (possibly occasionally yelling at the Ref's and I may or may not have been asked to shut up or leave by a ref or two, but I'm not going on the record on that). After finding I was throwing my knitting to the floor one too many times, I stopped taking it with me.

I've been on a big finishing kick thanks to Jessica and lots of sock knitting as I was trying to make myself feel better about not going to Sock Summit and being quite jealous in the process.

Camp was so much fun and I was lucky enough to have Jess at our house a day before camp as every year she has hit terrible delays and missed the first few hours of camp or more, so this year she thought she'd be smart and beat the weather by leaving a day early. So Mother Nature laughed and invited Murphy over to prank Jess with perfect non-delaying weather this year of camp.

We seemed to forget that we were grown women at camp and acted like silly fifteen year old girls. We fell in love with these purses (there was a whole collect of them) that one lady had knit. They are stunning. Jessica and I were tempted to take off with this one while the knitter was watching show and tell.

I fell in love again with the Lloie Cardigan this year at camp, so Jess helped me pick out some yarn. First it started with me and Jess playing with the Satakelli.

We then decided to shift yarns to the Shetland. Schoolhouse had a new system this year for previewing the Shetland yarns with eight or so balls of yarn on a string... necklace maybe! Here I am trying out my colors to see if they work with my skin tone per Jess' direction.

The final selection!!!

It was a wonderful time and we met, as usual, some great knitters. Jessica had her usual camp fling - this year with Ann. But, we really missed Denise but were so excited for her to be playing with her new little baby instead. Miss you, Denise.

These are my Kai-Mei socks in yummy Sundara yarn.

Plain old garden variety socks in Plucky knitters sock yarn.

Another plain pair of socks in Chewy Spaghetti.

And the WIP, my Glynis socks from Sock Innovation in Smooshy.

While I was packing for camp I mentioned to Jessica about my insane pile of UFO's. She was having none of that and insisted that I get cracking on finishing up my many 95% finished projects. So while at camp I finished my Claudie Cardigan, kitchenered two pair of socks, and knit start to finish a Butterfly Vest. Quite a productive time. Since returning from camp I have completed another pair of socks from Sock Innovation and am 75% done with another pair. Also have been sewing together Madison's Libby Cardigan which has sat since March just needing sewing together and a neck band. Pathetic, I know! Also I've been pulling out an old project or two to work on rather than starting lots of new ones. Although that may change with today's fun package that arrived in the mail....

Twisted Stitch Knitting arrived from Schoolhouse - hot off the press! I preordered it while at camp and am so excited to play with it. I have a project or two in mind using twisted stitch, which I really enjoyed last year at camp.

I'm trying to be strong, Jessica, honest, I am!!!!

Tick Tock

Seriously time flies! This summer has been insanely busy. Mum and Dad flew across the pond to visit, a couple of vacations so far, plus one long one for the Cute Guy and the two oldest. The Cute Guy unfortunately returned with Shingles and is suffering very quietly. I offered to stay and not run off to Knitting Camp (with toes, fingers, eyelashes and everything else crossed that he wouldn't accept, but I would if he needed me to - I promise). Luckily for me, he assured me that I should go and have fun. Pick Jess up at the airport tomorrow so that she doesn't have to miss the first day of camp (a chronic problem with air transportation and storms that materialize mid-July every year) and then Thursday we hit the thriving metropolis of Marshfield, Wisconsin for Knitting Camp with Meg and the gang.

I have nothing put together yet to take and still need to prep oldest boy for Scout Camp (he leaves while I'm gone). The Little Princess had four of her teeth pulled today by her daddy dentist so that she can get impressions at the Orthodontist tomorrow for braces. I have a silly amount of things to accomplish tomorrow and all I can think of is what to take to camp and can I squeeze in some time to work on a quilt and get in as much snuggle time with the munchkins as possible.

Oh well, tick tock! times flying!

Seeing as I will be kidless at camp, I think I have a better chance of actually getting some posts on here in the next few days.

But, don't count on it.

In the meantime, to quote the lovely Meg, "Knit Onwards"!

Destash Time!!!!!

I'm tired of all the stuff in my house. I can't find what I want for what I have. So, a little Spring cleaning.

Handpaint Country Book - $15
Isager Highland Wool - 6 skeins - $45 incl shipping
The Best of Knitters Book - $10
Moroccan Days Kit - $50 incl shipping
Tess Petite Silk - $8 incl shipping per skein (have a total of nine different skeins - check Ravelry for my stash)
GGH Bali - 6 skeins - $25 incl shipping
Elsebeth Lavold Cotton Patine - 7 skeins (some were used for swatching) - $20 incl shipping
Interlacements Oregon Worsted Stripe - 1 skein - $7 incl shipping
Araucania Ranco - 4 skeins - $8 each incl shipping
GGH Sportino - 10 balls - $40 incl shipping
Unspun Icelandic - 3 skeins - $15 incl shipping ($5 each)
Tess Designer Superwash Merino - 1 skein - $15 incl shipping
14 skeins of jamiesons Shetland Spindrift - Col 187 Sunrise - Lot #7309 - $65 incl shipping

Knitters Magazines
Issue 84 Fall 2006; Issue 68 Fall 2002; Issue 76 Fall 2004; Issue 79 Summer 2005; Issue 75 Summer 2004; Issue 78 Spring 2005; Issue 80 Fall 2005; Issue 81 Winter 2005; Issue 69 Winter 2002; Issue 82 Spring 2006; Issue 73 winter 2003; Issue 83 Summer 2006; Issue 72 Fall 2003
Selling for $2 per magazine or $24 for the lot!!!


More will be coming.

If interested, email me at knittinbrit at charter dot net or send me a message on Ravelry - my id is knittinbrit

Feeling left out

I'm trying to be a grown-up and not stamp my feet and have a tantrum that I'm not going to the Sock Summit, but I'm not sure I'm succeeding. I'm moping around, sighing, wishing that I could figure a way for it to work this year and hoping that there will be a next.

I will just have to live vicariously through Jessica who is going. Wish I was rooming with her there. Oh well, I'll just have to enjoy my time with her at camp. (I know, I really shouldn't be complaining, but still.......)

Sigh!

Grumble!

Where the heck is the chocolate? Maybe that will cheer me up.

Oooh look who's having a Giveaway/Drawing!

Check out Skeins Her Way's blog, where she has some of the wonderful new yarn from Spud & Chloe that she's giving away. It's Blue Sky Alpaca's new yarn line and it looks wonderful! Hmmm, I think I'm going to have to get me some of that.

Wings

Yesterday I spent the day (well, the majority of the day) at my friend Deb's house working on a quilt for one of the teachers at the Elementary School who is retiring. The teacher has taught three of my four children, and no matter how I beg won't stick around to teach EB in second grade in three years time (how rude of her).

She loves Red Cardinals, so we took one of the art class slots and had the kids work on drawing Cardinals with Oil Pastels. We then scanned them and printed them on Electric Quilting Companies Fabric Sheets (got the tips from Erin when she made some class quilts - thank you, Erin). We have 22 kids in the class, so to make things even, I embroidered two blocks. One with a quote and the other with the name of the quilt "You gave us wings!". On the name block we made sure to use the teacher's signature where she uses a sun for the last part of her name. I had to be a bit sneaky for that and ask her to write it down for Madison's scrapbook.

We have to get it to the quilter today, so I'm off to finish the borders, which has a cardinal print and four more of the kids birds set in the corners. It's such as easy quilt to make and has been so much fun. Will post finished pictures when I have them. In the meantime, here's a glimpse of it in progress.

Pantry Challenge

Every so often I feel like the pantry is getting overloaded and out of control, so to clean it out we have "Pantry Challenge Week". Basically, I don't go to the store for anything other than the necessities such as milk, bread (although often I'll even make that and use up some of the baking goods in the pantry), and some fresh produce as needed (although I really try to use up what produce is lanquishing in the vegetable basket).

Then I dig in the pantry and freezers (we have three, but that's another story) and make our meals from what can be found. Sometimes this leads to adapting recipes to suit the ingredients we have rather than those called for in the recipe. Usually we discover some great new favorite recipes to use on a more regular basis.

So far this week our we have had the following for dinner:

Monday: Spanish Rice with Beef (this is a much meatier version of spanish rice) with salsa and corn tortillas.
Tuesday: Grilled Salmon with a Lime-Chilli Rub, butter rolls, Corn on the Cob and potatoes.
Wednesday: Sweet Asian Glazed Pork Loin Cutlet with brown rice and mixed vegetables.

I love the feature on Allrecipes.com where you can type in what ingredients you have and what you don't and find recipes to suit. I hardly ever make a recipe exactly as written and am usually playing around with different ingredients and trying to change them up a little.

We have quite a large food storage (remind me to post about that one) which helps out when faced with a recipe like Monday's that calls for Tomato Sauce and I seem to have only a pantry full of diced and stewed tomatoes and tomato paste, but no tomato sauce. I headed to our food storage and found the Tomato Powder and threw some together with some herbs from our Pasta Sauce garden (again, another thing I need to blog about). Of course, I also have to adapt the recipes to work for a Gluten Free Diet for Declan. It can get tricky, but actually makes deciding what dinner is and making it a lot less tedious and more of a game.

I'm always amazed how usually I can spend over a $150 a week at least on groceries and reduce that to $30 or less and feed a family of six for a week, and this family likes it's food.

Why not give it a try and see how you survive the Pantry Challenge?!

To Do

Things to do in the crafting and reading arena this week.

1. Finish knitting neckbands for Claudie
2. Finish weaving first project on new Ashford Knitters Loom
3. Warp and start Noro Sock Yarn scarf on Loom.
4. Embroider two blocks for teachers retirement quilt
5. Finish sewing quilt top for teachers retirement quilt (top to go to quilters on Friday - argh!)
6. Cast on Seed Stitch Jacket
7. Finish reading Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton and return to library
8. Block Claudie and finish.
9. Finish Libby Sweater (has been sat 90% completed for a couple months now - pathetic)
10. Do a destash - I feel like I'm drowning in so much stash that I can't appreciate what I do have.
11. Need to decide what show and tell project will be for camp and then get moving on it
12. Embroider one block for Madison's quilt
13. Sew a new sleep eye mask for Madison - (she became hooked on these when we went to England - I'm tired of the Virgin Atlantic ones she keeps wearing and am going to make her something cuter)


I am such a dreamer, but I love lists. It's how I accomplish things. I just love the crossing off part.

What's on your to-do lists this week?

Seeking your Support

Here's a message from my son, Declan : (he is such a motivated kid who really wants to make a difference. He is the Student Council President at his elementary school and is walking along with his Student Council member team mates.)

This year in my community, I have committed to participate in the Relay For Life.

I have learned that this year, hundreds of thousands of people will hear the words "You have cancer”. I know that some of those people could be people that I care about. Instead of being afraid of that, I have chosen to do something to fight back against this disease and I’m asking for your help.

Will you make a donation to my Relay For Life efforts? To donate online now, click the link below to visit my personal page.

I am walking in honor of my Grandma who is a cancer survivor and our family friend, Whiz Beck, who is currently battling cancer. They are an inspiration to me.

By making healthy lifestyle choices such as eating right, exercising and not smoking we can reduce the chances of getting cancer by as much as 50%! As someone I care about, I’m asking you to take up this challenge to fight back against cancer by making healthy lifestyle choices and supporting my fundraising efforts.

Thank you in advance for your support. Together, we will celebrate, remember, and fight back!
Eliminate it!

Click here to visit my personal page.If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09MW?px=11062115&pg=personal&fr_id=16190&fl=en_US&et=kVloIGsBpA0sozsZ9-hLFw..&s_tafId=276850

Click here to view the team page for Stettin Council CatsIf the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09MW?team_id=501427&pg=team&fr_id=16190&fl=en_US&et=PldTse0LE-X6vfZUPxiWUA..&s_tafId=276850

Picture Day

Completed Sam socks in Sundara Sock Yarn in Deadly Nightshade. They are delicious to wear and the pattern was very pleasant to knit.

It's interesting how I'm more prone to make mistakes on the second sock than the first. It's probably because I get cocky and think I've memorized the 24 row pattern with multiple jogs - yeah right! The second sock took a little longer than the first due to distraction with family, weather, classes and multiple ripping back which is not the easiest to do with slick-ish yarn and multitudes of cables.

I know it's a pathetic picture. I snapped it really fast after the attempts of a certain four year to take pictures miserably failed. New hair cut, new color with new bangs. I decided that bangs were cheaper than Botox as it appears that with each child I have developed a deep furrow on my brow (four to be exact). Some appearing so deep that I've considered planting potatoes in them. Hopefully the bangs will help.

Do you recognize any of these socks? Yes, they are the ones from Cat Bordhi's book - New Pathways.

Here's a very poor picture of Cat and I with one of THE socks at a class I took with her on Saturday. Her class was wonderful. I love teachers that don't hold anything back. They love teaching and sharing all they can with their students. I have had classes with some teachers who seem very guarded that they are giving too much away. Cat is a very generous teacher and loves to empower her students to take what she has given them and improve upon it.

I would highly recommend taking a class with her if you ever get the chance.

Now, what should I knit on next? I think I have an idea of what I'd like to cast on, but I have those pesky UFO's who keep calling out to me - they're so rude. Can't they tell I'm trying to ignore them?!

Also, am strongly considering taking up weaving. Spinning just doesn't have the appeal to me, but weaving is definitely on my mind lately and I have been doing some research. I don't think going to the Leigh Yawkey Museum and seeing Chiluly's collection of Trade Blankets helped tame the weaving bug from trying to take hold. Any suggestions for starting?