A little harsh...

This is boring life stuff, no knitting stuff. Forewarned is forearmed.

"I kinda hope she doesn't call back."

I typed that. Yesterday. And here is why.

In January of 2003 my divorce was final. A couple of months later a group of work-friends in Ohio had a girls only divorce party for me at my house. The ex-friend was the "ringleader". I started dating. The EF cheered me on. On Saturday, December 6th, I spent the day at EF's house scrapbooking. The man, who had watched the boys all day, picked me up, drove us downtown to the ginormous Christmas tree, and proposed. The EF was happy for me.

In the next month or so the friendship fell apart. I was in an extremely stressful position at work, and planning a wedding. All of the sudden I realized that I wasn't wanted in the group. I probably had missed it for awhile. I was totally overwhelmed. But when I called EF on it, the explanation I received was vague. The only part I remember is something about me complaining about my work when everyone on my project was getting all sorts of perks. Perks like pizza when you had to work til midnight for no OT. Like I said it was strange and vague. Some of it was about the man and the fact that I wasn't around anymore. But mostly I wasn't around because I was working in a separate building and never got to take lunch. And lunch was the biggest part of when we spent time together as a group.

The man and I got married. Only one in the group offered congratulations. Not the EF. Come April the man got the job offer here in Florida. About a week before we left I stopped in and talked the EF. We didn't speak of whatever had happened. I'd been close to the EF since 1998 when she threw my baby shower. So we had a final lunch and said goodbye on semi good terms. Since we moved here I've called every couple of months. She would always talk and chat, but never called me. I was lonely for such a long time here that I never noticed that.

When we went to OH in November of last year I called her beforehand. We were gonna do lunch. When I arrived in OH I called again and suddenly she had no time to see me. I offered a couple of days, but she was "busy". I understand busy. But no time I offered was good, and she made no effort to suggest a time. We went to the office, saw her in passing. The boys hugged her but she just looked at me like I was a stranger. I finally got the message.

So yesterday she calls. Nearly 4 months later. And this is why "I kinda hope she doesn't call back."

And the beat goes on...

I think I might be getting sick. But for the love of all that is holy, I hope not. I have a cold sore and I'm losing my voice. I've missed nearly three weeks of classes. I'm still not sure how that will all pan out. Calculus I'm auditing, so I'll just catch up as fast as I can. Programming I'm golden so far, even though I've missed three weeks of lectures, I've gotten 100's on my last three programming assignments. But then there are the histories... Art & American. Art I might be able to still squeak out an A with extra credit. Vigorous extra credit. But I think I'm pretty well screwed in American History. It's so not my strong point, and I've already missed so many points. *sigh* I might have to drop it. But life goes on and so must I.

In other news, March seems to be "out of the woodwork" month. My ex-SIL who I used to be best friends with, but lost touch with for reasons other than divorcing her brother sent us her wedding announcement. And called. And then another ex-friend called today. The last I saw her was in Ohio when she didn't have time to even hug me hello. I wasn't home for the ex-friend. Which is good. I kinda hope she doesn't call back.

I must share that the women at my LYS are my lifelines lately. Whenever life is kicking my ass, all I have to do is pop in there to feel welcome and happy. And they are all so vibrant and happy and funny - oh man, it is one funny group of girls. The very worst part about considering this move to TX/NM is the fact that I would lose these people. It takes me so long to make friends. Oh well. Such is life.

February Lemonaide

Life has been handing me lemons. Broken arms, 105 (!!!!!) degree temperatures, flus, coughs, colds.... Lemme just tell you, the OTC cold and pain medicine folks are making a fortune off of me. Fastman is getting a motrin/tylenol rotation every three fricking hours to stave off the fever. I'm missing classes at an alarming rate. But life goes on.

Fortunately, there is some sugar. My secret pal has been spoiling me rotten. Two wonderful packages already and a steady stream of e-cards. Such a nice respite from the hell that has been February.

Despite the fact that my boys have been sick and broken, they are always joys. Right now strongman is digging out supplies to dress up like Zorro. And at the emergency room this morning, Fastman snuggled up and patted my arm like I was the one who was sick.

But that doesn't mean that I'm not counting the days til March comes.

Fellers and idiots...

A very cute and very British man arrived at my door today. But instead of getting all worked up about the UPS guy, let's see what he brought!!!!

Time for reinforcements. My professional present openers. And yes, they will open your presents for you as well. Of course this is fastman with the huge red cast. "Mommy! Your favorite! Yarn!"

Next we see zombie eyed strongman. Fighting off the flu and a fever. With a book I've been dying to read. Thank you SP!

This is the entire amazing loot. A subscription to Vegetarian Times. Um, how did my SP know I let my subscription lapse? The Tenth Circle. Some anti-bacterial handsoap (presumably to keep away the flu germies!). Trekking XXL. An adorable little notebook purse. A purple argyle (!!!) journal. And a chibi. Oh wait. The idiot part of my title. Hanging off the book is a gorgeous handmade bookmark that I couldn't get a pic of because it's dark and the flash reflected off of it. I thought it was a necklace. And spent 15 minutes trying to figure it out. Then I read the note. So glad you referenced the bookmark. Otherwise... well the idiot would still be chasing her tail.

Trekking up close and personal....

The bigman had his own idiot moment last week. After making a big deal about V-day and after I bought him stuff, I got only stuff from the boys. But look... pretty peach roses last night!

And then we have fellers. As in fellers cakes. Cakes that no woman can aid in the creation of. For the Cub Scout blue & gold banquet. Bigman & fastman made this beach scene complete with fruit rollup surfboards. (Everything has to be edible!)

Bigman and strongman made these tiki heads carved out of poundcake, iced and flocked with graham cracker crumbs. They won judges choice.

This weekend it's off to the Northeast Florida Highland Games. That is, if strongman gets better. Otherwise just bigman (dh) and fastman will go. Send healing vibes our way!

What makes the world go round?

Well, I got an awesome little package from my SP with nummy treats for me and Rufus. I took pictures, but they all turned out *really* bad. And that's saying something, because most of my pics are sub-par!


This is Rufus, complete with happy tail-wagging action because he's about to get an SP treat. That is the ONLY pic that is even viable. Oh well.

In other news, fastman broke his arm again. Actually he didn't break it, a girl in his class broke it for him. But this mama bear is trying to practice forgiveness. Um, yeah. Fortunately it looks like he won't need surgery this time around. We see the orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday morning to confirm.

Tonight is the blue & gold banquet for cub scouts. Hopefully the pics of the boys with their feller cakes will turn out. Basically they make cakes for a contest with no mama help. My kitchen may never recover. DH helped fastman make a beach scene complete with surfboards, and strongman made a set of tiki heads. It's hard for me not to help because I used to make cakes semi-professionally and sell them. But they really did a very good job. Oh, did I mention the banquet has a luau theme? Yep, should be fun.

Valentine's Day was a bit of a letdown. The man made a big point of asking what I wanted. Said he wanted to celebrate this and our anniversary (leapday) big this year. Ok. So I bought him some Glenlivet, among other things. He took the boys shopping and got me some Scooby candy. ????? I mean I love Scooby, but this was not quite what I expected. I didn't even get a card. And this is a man who usually is crazy happy with the cards. *sigh* Maybe we're just settling in. Thank goodness I bought myself a Michael Buble CD - gotta love that man.

In knitting knews, I have yarn to knit up a sample for the yarn shop.

Artyarns Regal Silk and Crystal Palace Kid Merino - only one skein each. Now this tank may never grace my figure but it looks fun to knit!

The UFO's are invading...

I swear, I had really good intentions for there to be pictures today. But life intervened! And life is more important than good lighting or getting my nails done. And my nails are a big fat mess.

So I joined UFO Resurrection. And we all know I have a lot of them. And so many things I'm dying to knit. Note to designers - stop. Stop for five minutes so I can catch up without having to be distracted by all the pretties. Everytime I turn around, there is a new pretty demanding my attention.

So my UFO that I've been working on in January is... the Sandy Cardigan. And it will be the 1st finished object of February. Really. It's so freaking cold here right now. Well cold is relative. And yes, this born and bred buckeye is freezing her patooter off in 42 degree weather. I'm such a wuss. So I need to finish this puppy up. It's lovely, it's warm, it's the envy of all my knitting friends.

Saturday night is midnight knitting, so I will take it and work on it. Like crazy woah work on it. Really. I will. I'll try. Really.

In other news if you can spare a prayer or a thought... some friends of ours just had a baby girl. Quite prematurely. She's only 1 pound 2 ounces? Is that even possible? I'm hoping that was a typo in the e-mail I received. I remember how tiny the boys seemed when they were born. And they were 9-1 and 8-8. I can't even imagine a baby that tiny. At dinner strongman remarked that the carton of sour cream weighed a pound. So unbelievable.

The perils of dieting...

So I went to the grocery on Sunday. Basically we were out of everything. So I stocked up. 3 bottles of the organic ketchup (no hfcs!) instead of one; double of all the basic ingredients like dried beans, etc. 100% whole wheat tortillas, pitas, breads, all the good, healthy food I need to follow our plan (YOU on a diet).

The cabinets are overflowing, the refrigerator is stuffed to the gills, and it makes me very happy. When I was single, I was freqently faced with a very empty kitchen. I did the best I could and fed my boys *way* better than I fed myself. But now, thanks to the man, there is always food in the house. Good, healthy food.

So why is it that all I want right now is a block of Ritter Sport? Target has them. For $1.89. And even though it's freezing (for Florida standards) I am so tempted to drive out there and get myself one.

What I really need to do is get over it and figure out what's for dinner tomorrow night and do some straightening. Ugh. Why is it so fricking hard?

Happy Feet

And happy inspiration. I have this oh so lovely sweet tart sock yarn (Trekking XXL 134) and it needed the perfect pattern...


The toe is the "easy toe" from Sensational Knitted Socks. The heel will probably be from there as well. The pattern is modified from the lace pattern used on Magknits happy socks. Hers was a strange repeat (11 sts) and not carried on the foot. I have Mary Janes to show off cute foot patterning. In general, I've not loved self-striping or self-fair-isling yarn, but this is turning entirely too sweet. The trekking is not super soft though. Maybe it will wear like iron?

The post with no title.

I finally got some semi-decent shots of my parents' extremely late Christmas presents. So here you go...

And a picture with some detail...

The Irish Hiking Scarf, in Lamb's Pride Worsted, 2 skeins on size 8 addi turbos. This made a scarf just a bit longer than 6 feet. And the Embossed Leaves Socks from Winter '05 IK in Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Sierra. This yarn is delicious by the way.

I *think* I'm usually more eloquent in my posts but right now every fiber of my being hurts. My grandfather passed away. He was nearly 88. And I can't go home for the funeral. So yeah. That's about it.

Happier things later.

My hair is strong.

I know this because I just spent some very unpleasant time getting it out of my vaccuum cleaner. Untangling and other grossness. I hate this particular task. But until we can afford a new vac, I have to do this. Otherwise my vac has no suck-power.

I have to start blogging again. I joined the newest Knitty SP and with no blog, my spoiler will have nowhere to stalk. So I blog.

In the good news department, I finally finished my parents' Christmas presents. Now I just need to block them and mail them. Yes, I am a horrible daughter.

In the other good news department I got a very part time job at my most beloved lys. The 1st and 3rd friday of each month. I start this Friday. I'm pretty psyched.

And for the 3rd good news item, I found the perfect sweater for my Jaeger Shetland Aran yarn. Perfect! I swatched last night and it is beyond gorgeous. Just perfect. The Vogue Cabled Cardigan #19 from the Fall 2006 VK. What is it with me and #19?

Pictures coming soon. I swear!

A pre-emptive resolution...

I will blog more often. I have an el-jay which is very, very angsty. And this poor neglected place in the interwebs. So this will be my lifeblog. Knitting, and college, and happy stuff, and a few sad things.

I cleaned the office today. And I found a lot of wips. I even *gasp* threw some wips in the trash. Like I cut them off the attached yarn and trashed them. It felt good.

The number one (and two) wips are presents for my mom & step-dad. Which of course are gonna be late. But I'm about 75% done on an irish hiking scarf for him and some embossed leaves socks for her. Once those are done I can tackle the wip pile.

3. Ball-band dishrag
4. The revived dead bride (VK Fall '05 #19 Lace Shawl)
5. Icarus
6. Via Diagonale
7. Splash Scarf
8. Sandy Cardigan
9. Fuzzy Feet for the man
10. Cozy

See? I pared it down. Mostly by frogging and tossing though. I've finished a few pretties and I will post pictures of all in the next couple of days.

So in the wise words of Kermit the Frog, I bid you happy holidays...

"I don't know if you believe in Christmas. Or if you have presents underneath a Christmas tree. But if you believe in love, that will be more than enough, for you to come and celebrate with me."

Four is the new three...

And that makes it a magic number! Um, yeah. I don't post so much. I read a lot, and chances are I'm reading you, but I just. don't. post.

I *am* knitting. Right now I am on the 1st sleeve of my Sandy Cardigan. And I restarted the dead bride. Also, for something that's just yummy and easy, I'm making the Misti Chunky Ribs & Ruffles scarf in this quite lovely color. Ahh... the pleasure of mindless knitting with obscenely soft yarn. *sigh*

But we were talking about four. So here you go.

Four jobs I've had:

Cashier at a chinese take out joint
Front Desk Manager at a fancy hotel
Technical Trainer for a publishing firm
Domestic Engineer - oh yeah, I'm a SAHM

Four movies I can watch over and over:

She's All That
The Princess Bride
Anything Harry Potter
Anything Scooby Doo - the Scooby Doo is a little frightening. I own 80% of anything Scooby Doo, animated and live action. And I go out on the specific Tuesday when they release the new animated films. I got quite snippy with the Blockbuster dude about a month ago on a Tuesday when he tried to tell me that Scooby Doo: Pirates Ahoy! was not being released that day. And then I sent the man to Best Buy to pick it up.

Four places I have lived:

Milford, Ohio
Omaha, Nebraska - just don't do it. Trust me.
Dayton, Ohio
Jacksonville, Florida

Four places I have been on vacation:

Cumberland Falls, Kentucky
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Orlando - as a kid and with my own boys
Toronto, Canada

Four of my favorite dishes:

Chili's black bean burger
My own blueberry cobbler
My mom's barbecue - which I gave up to be a veghead
My mom's buckeyes - and no, I won't share.

Four websites I visit daily:

Bloglines
Knitty Coffeeshop
My bank account
Yahoo Mail & Groups

Four places I would rather be right now:

At the beach
At home with my mom
Sleeping
Getting a pedicure

Four bloggers I am tagging...

Eh, I am the anti-tag. But this was fun, so swipe if you wanna!

No, you're not imagining things...

It's an update! With pictures! And lots of exclamation points!!!!

When life hands you lemons... I buy yarn!


I've been fondling this for a couple of weeks at my LYS. And I thought it would be perfect for ChicKnit's Cece. So Saturday I swatched. And I was right. Even though it's technically worsted, I got a gorgeous on-gauge fabric on size 6 needles. And it's so very soft. And the silk gives it a gleam. It's not a color I would normally buy, but for some reason the soft color of terracotta that it is looked really nice with my skin. So there you go.

Oh wait. I'm not done yet.


I've also fondled this many times. It's kind of a periwinkle mix, or a purple, depending upon what light you're in. But it's pretty. And it's like knitting with clouds, or non-sticky cotton candy, or something else dreamy. Anyhoo... I'm making the matador bolero out of the fall Knitscene with it.

And progress on something I did NOT buy on Saturday *snicker*.


This is of course the Sandy Cardigan from Big Girl Knits. One of two sweaters I plan to use as pseudo winter coats when I head home to Ohio for Thanksgiving. The other of course will be my Rogue cardigan. I'm midway through the first shaped side panel. After I do both of those all I have is the sleeves and the edging. But I want to make sure this is done and ready to go!

So after all of these exciting updates, I now must tend to more mundane tasks. Just a word to the wise. If you take your boys to Steak & Shake after Scouts on a Friday night, and one of them makes wierd "whoa" noises... check the car before you haul everyone upstairs to bed. Otherwise you will miss the fact that Mr. Whoa has spilled a precious few ounces of his shake in the backseat. And you won't know about it until you go to drive to the library on a hot and humid Sunday afternoon. Oh but then, then you'll know.

Right now it's sitting outside with all the windows open, with the suspected spot scrubbed within an inch of its life, and the rest of the car sprinkled with baking soda. Next up, the car wash and the free vacuum. Pray it works. I can't afford a new car.

Don't knit with scissors.

No really. Don't get the scissors out until you are done knitting. Until you need to trim the ends you've so carefully weaved in. Because you might think that you can use the scissors to cut your unfroggable mohair lace project back to a point where you can pick up the stitches. You would be wrong. And if you've had the week I've had, you might attack your poor knitting. And your lace, which looks like a serial killer attacked a bride with the gardening shears, will be sitting in the trash on top of the broken jar of barbecue sauce. And the dark red stains will add to the image of a bride snuffed out on her wedding day. It's a sad, somewhat disturbing picture.

So don't knit with scissors.

In other news, VK #19 from the Fall '05 issue is now officially off the WIP list. Officially, even.

The mystery that is SpongeBob...

So presumably SpongeBob lives underwater, right? So how come he fills a bathtub with water to bathe Gary? Wouldn't all the water just meld together? It's like they show them as underwater when it suits them, but as if they are in air on other occasions (such as when they use a campfire). I know, I know, it's a cartoon. But the absurdity of it struck me this morning.

Can you tell I've had too little sleep?

Last night was a 6-midnight knit-in at my LYS. I had a great time and made some terrific progress on my Sandy Cardigan from Big Girl Knits. I have great plans to upload some pictures and soon.

But before I can knit or take pictures, or any of that, I've really got to clean up this house.

Gratify yourself.

I needed some relatively instant gratification and I gots it. I halfheartedly cast on for this on Sunday - 11 whole stitches - and then promptly ignored it. But UFO August is helping me change my ways!

Pattern: Flower Petal Washcloth from Weekend Knitting

Yarn: Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille - less than one skein

Needles: Size six dpns from Lantern Moon

I picked this back up last night at Knit-In and then spent two episodes of Angel with it after I got home. One more episode of Angel this morning and it's finito! Very soft, very cute. The picture is natural sunlight, but it's really more of a plum color. I suck at the pictures. Yes, I do.

Kicking it up a notch!

At the end of a long day, after my kids have gone to bed, and my husband is watching insipid television, nothing is more relaxing than a nice bubble bath.

Wait a minute. Scratch that thought.

Nothing is more relaxing than kicking back with my knitting.

Oh shoot. I can't decide.

I've heard tales. Of bubble bathing AND knitting. I'd even seen artfully arranged photo shoots of such activities. But would it really work?

Well, I'm here to tell you brothers and sisters. Yes, yes, it does work.

I figured starting with a warshcloth was a safe way to go. And I knitted in my bath. My scalding hot, my skin's still red when I get out, but it makes me happy bubble bath.

A few notes for the extreme relaxers out there:

1. The bowl is plastic, I just figured clear made a prettier photo op. I think glass would be more likely to tip.

2. It's probably better to stick with single stranded knitting. The resting yarn tended to get slack and wanna go swimming.

3. Wet kitchen cotton is really stubborn.

4. I highly recommend investing in one of those five dollar blow up pillows. Makes all the difference.

Now go! Relax! Right now!

I should have loved it.

I love many things with the word Mystery in them. Mystery! the PBS tradition. I mean who doesn't love Miss Marples? She knits for goodness sakes. Mystery, Inc. is the company name of my favorite meddling kids. Mystery books are among my favorites. I even love a good surprise.

But the Mystery Stole? Well... I don't know. It's just not my style. Or something. Basically I'm bored out of my gourd with it. Having to pre-count all those little stockinette squares is time-consuming and sucks the fun out of the chart. And the fact that the last three charts have been basically the same motif over and over??? It's an easy quick knit and I imagine I will finish it, but right now it's just not making me happy. I may just buy Leda's Dream and do that one instead, because this one is just not doing it for me.

So I've returned to Icarus where fortunately, I'm just in time to start working on the actual lace. So I've been doing that and it's making me happy. Have I mentioned how dreamy the Misti Alpaca is? Dreamy.

I got my hands on the new IK and there were a few things I'm a-wanting. But one thing at a time, methinks. And that one thing right now is cutting down on the WIP list.

97, 98, 99....

Ok, well not that many. But it's time to count the wips.

Wips I've touched recently...

1. Perdita in size #8 silver perle cotton, size 0000 needles, and pearl colored #11 seed beads.

2. Ball-band dishrag in sugar & creme.


3. Mystery Stole #2 in cashwool 100% merino on size 3 needles.

4. Icarus in Misti Alpaca on size 3 needles.


Um, other wips, that just aren't feeling the love...

5. Cozy in Iris Garden Shepherd Sport on size 8 needles.

6. Fuzzy feet for the man in royal blue Cascade 220.

7. Chicknits Cece in sugarplum cotton ease. Not the right yarn at all. Must find something different.

8. Via Diagonale in black & pink elann connemara cotton. Really a winter style purse due to the colors, so on the back burner.

9. Sitcom chic in bubblegum cotton ease. Um, next.

10. Vogue #19 Lace Shawl in Kid Merino. Ahh... the beauty project. Intended for my husband's holiday party. Which I have sworn not to attend. But that's another story for another day.

11. Airy Scarf - Wasn't this supposed to be a Christmas teacher gift. Not sure what to do about this.

12. Splash Scarf - Yes, a fun fur scarf. I really should finish it and find someone who might actually wear it. Meaning not me.

13. Flower Basket Shawl in Knitpicks Oregon Coast shadow. I'm not sure this is the right yarn for this one.

14. Baby Kimono in sugar & creme ecru cotton. Needs seaming. Needs a knitter with an attention span.

Um, wow. This is worse than I thought. Must start finishing things. Now.

Well that just sucks.

Um, well, my other knitblog? Gone-dee. Goodbye. You can't have it anymore. Had a little issue and it wasn't resolved to my satisfaction. So now I can't even get my entries. Oh well, such is my life.

Anyhow, if anyone is still reading, I'll be back later. And yeah, I've been knitting. I haven't finished anything, but I've been knitting.