New Shoes for ME!!

Happy Birthday to Me!
Happy Birthday to Me!
Happy Birthday to Meeee!
Happy Birthday to Me!

So I was actually in the mood to do some shopping for myself at Kohl's with the gift certificate that my Wonderful MIL gave to me for my birthday... back in April... It's so much easier to shop for Hubby and LJ but oh so hard to shop for myself. So many times in the past I've bought something (even after trying it on) only to take it home and washing it - to never wear it because it shrank! UGH!!! So anymore when I find things in stores that I even kinda like I just don't know if I should get it or not because I'm so afraid of it shrinking on me... even if I take charge of the situation and buy one bigger size thinking that it WILL shrink... AND IT DOESN'T!!!! So now I have something that is even baggier on me than I normally like to wear. UGH!!! So what is a girl to do???

BUY SHOES OF COURSE!!!!

I got one pair of black and one pair of brown Mary Jane's.

Now why in the world would I buy Mary Jane's you ask???

To show off my knitted socks of course!!!!!


That is if I ever get to finish one!!!!

New Deck Furniture!

We've been living in this house now for 4 years. We have a really great deck out back that we never use except to walk across from the door to the driveway and a place to store our trash cans. Well this weekend we finally broke down and bought a table & 6 chairs for our deck! Woo Hoo!We got them at Lowe's after looking at 4 other stores. The best part...

THEY WERE ON SALE!!!!

We've all ready broken them in. My Brian and Kayln came up on Saturday night to hang out... and that's what we did, on our deck, around our NEW table in our new comfy CHAIRS! That is until it got dark and the bugs came out - gotta get some citronella candles or something.

Onwards.. and Upwards...

So... I'm going to get on with my life... without my sock... my first knitted sock... EVER... and get back to updating you on all that is going on with me :) because most of it is happy happy!

On Thursday I got my Knit Picks order! Whee!!! Lots and Lots of stuff for MEEEEEEE!

I took advantage of the sale Knit Picks was having on books (until Aug. 8th in case anyone was interested) and got a few that I've had my eye on for quite some time. Just in case you can't tell what they are... The first one on the left is the "Knitting Workshop" by Elizabeth Zimmerman - what good knitter would be without one of these??? I had to wait for it to become available (which also held up my order with KP) but I just knew it's going to be WELL worth the wait. When ever I'm talking to Muggles (as I've heard someone call non-knitters) and I tell them about Elizabeth Zimmerman I call her "THE Grand Mum of Knitting". I think that she would be one of the 3 people I would want at my dinner table (dead or alive) if I ever got the chance. You know that hypothetical question that some people like to ponder. Although right now I don't feel worthy enough since I am such a beginner... but then again... who better to learn from right?

The next book is the "Sweater Workshop" by Jacqueline Fee. I've also heard lots and lots and lots of good things about this book as well. Kelley Petkun talks about it often in her podcast. At this point in time I'm a little intimidated about knitting a garment for myself or anyone else for that matter. When I first started thinking about knitting it was SOCKS that I wanted to knit the most. But from what I've heard about this book that this is THE book to learn how to knit a sweater from. If I follow it from beginning to end I'll be a pro and know all there is to know about knitting/designing/tailoring a sweater.

The next book is called "I Can't Believe I'm Knitting Socks" from Leisure Arts. I'm not sure where I heard about this book - it could have been Kelley Petkun or it could have been Lime & Violet or both... but it looks good to me. I think it was Lime & Violet that raved about the basic sock pattern in this book because the instructions have you make each part of the sock in a different color so that you'll really really be able to visualize the different parts that make up a knitted sock. Very cool!

The last book on the right is called "The Magic Loop" by Bev Galeskas and based on Sarah Hauschka's Magical Unvention. I'll admit it looks strange but anyone I've talked to about it LOVES knitting socks this way. I don't know if I'm quite ready for it but I got the book on sale for a really great price so even if it sits around for a while who cares right? It was on Sale!!!

Now for my goodies! Of course after getting "The Magic Loop" book I had to have some longer cable needles to do it with right??? So that's what you see on top of my books - All 3 are size 1 needles in 32" length, 40" length and 47 " length. Oh, and you can't tell in the picture but they are made out of Knit Pick's Harmony wood which is absolutely beautiful. They truly are pointy pieces of art!

Now what kind of knitter would I be if I didn't get YARN too???? Duh!!! I am trying to keep my stash down - as I can become quite a hoarder when it comes to a new craft. Let's just leave it at that shall we??? So I only bought what was on clearance because: A. IT WAS ON SALE!!! and B. it was most likely going to be discontinued right??? I got 2 skeins of Essential Sock Yarn in colorway Dune Twist - I thought this would make a nice pair of brown socks. I also got 2 skeins of Shine Sport in colorway Sky and 3 skeins of Shine Sport in colorway River. Now to be perfectly honest... I'm not sure why I ordered the Shine Sport yarns. I vaguely remember looking through the site and coming across a book with a pattern to make a knitted puppy... out of these two colors. But I didn't' buy the book that went with it... hmmmmm..... yup that's what it was... I meant to buy "Knitted Toys" and make the Floppy Dog pattern out of this yarn... maybe FAB all ready has this book... hmmmmm...

So that was ONE of my exciting moments on Thursday. When I take pictures of the other one I'll post it.

WAAAAAAAAA!!!! I WANT TO CRY!!!!

Before anyone feels the need to tell me how stupid I was and that I should have known better... I KNOW!!!! But it still doesn't make me feel any better.

I got out one of my old purses to put my knitting in. It was a knock-off " Kate Spade" silver case-like purse. I guess it would resemble a cross between a pilots case and a metal lunch box. It wasn't too big, actually it wasn't big enough for everything that I'd need to put in a purse but it was so darned cute I didn't dare get rid of it. I got it out because it would fit one skein of yarn and my double pointed needles (DPNs) which my first sock was being worked on and it all would be protected.

So tonight we went shopping with my MIL to look for patio furniture (her and us) and LJ wanted to carry something (DUH I know!) so I thought giving him my knitting case to carry around would be less damaging than if I had given him my purse (also small) with my digital camera, ipod and cell phone in case he dropped it. I was keeping a pretty good eye on him and actually piked it up a few times but when we got to dinner it hit me. WHERE WAS MY KNITTING CASE????? I got up and went back through the store (the pizzareia we were in is attached to the store we went to) - I looked everywhere - asked everyone I saw... no one had seen it... went back to the table... Hubby asked me if I checked one spot - I said no, I didn't - so he went to check for me and also did a sweep of the areas we were in - still didn't find it. After we ate my MIL, LJ and I all went back through a third time looking for it and checking with the staff and still no one had found it. I even went outside and looked around in all the shopping carts but still... no purse.

I figure that someone thought it might be a REAL Kate Spade and took it. We even looked around the parking lot thinking someone may have dumped the knitting (YIKES!!!) and just taken the purse but no... that didn't happen either. I did leave my name and number and description of the purse with the check out girl. Then as we were leaving after one more sweep I saw one of the ladies I was talking to about it and told her that it wasn't the purse that I cared about it was the knitting inside.

I'm not getting my hopes up - it's gone... it's my own fault.

On the brighter side I get to cast on a new sock! And I think I'll treat myself to a new skein of yarn to boot!

Update Info July 2008 - in no particular order

OMG I have so much to update this blog on... so I just made the decision to blog about one thing at a time... so it may take me a couple of posts to get it all out but that's just going to have to do. And this will be my first!

This is only one of the things I am so excited about...

First some backstory...

When my FAB was here visiting last month she told me about podcasts. I had heard about them before but honestly I don't think I really "got it" as to what they are all about and how FANTASTIC they can be. Of course the one's that she told me about were knitting ones and they are so much fun to listen to. Thing is a lot of them have been podcasting for at least 2 years (or more!) and that is a lot to catch up on... but I'm trying! So basically I download the podcasts from itunes into my ipod and listen away. Every spare chance I get I'm listening to one... well except for in the morning while I'm in the shower because my brain is just not awake enough to comprehend what is being said... but any other time I'm listening away... even at work! I do a lot of typing and can listen and type at the same time - that being said I'm almost caught up on one podcast.

I've been wanting an additional ipod just for my podcasts so that I don't have to keep taking the one that I have with everywhere. I have a docking station for it in my bathroom so that I can listen to MY music while I'm in the shower and getting ready in the morning instead of listening to the same old same old on the radio. Since I've been listening to my podcasts wherever I go I usually leave my ipod somewhere where it isn't where I need it to be when I want to listen to it. ie: it's upstairs next to my bed and I'm downstairs ready (I'll leave it at that) to get in the shower - UGH! I've been watching woot! (if you don't know who or what that is check it out at WOOT! - it is awesome) for a refurbished ipod/mp3 player for a relatively low price. A few weeks ago there was a woot-off! and I had thought that I had gotten an 8G ipod shuffle... still dunno what happened but I didn't get it. Bummer! But YESTERDAY they had a 30G ipod 5th Generation and I wooted it and this time I'm sure that I got it!!! So sometime next week I'll get my new ipod and I can't wait!!!!

This way I can leave my regular ipod at home in the bathroom with ALL of my music on it to listen to while I'm in there and load just about everything else I own onto my new ipod that I'll take WITH me where ever I go.

Monkey see... Monkey do....

You know the old saying. "Monkey see... Monkey do"?

LJ wanted to knit/crochet like Mommy does...

While watching TV of course!

I am very sad today...

I am very sad today because I have just received some very very very sad news. But first... a bit of background information...

When I was pregnant with LJ I had joined two yahoo groups - one for babies that were going to be born in the month of March and one for babies that were going to be born in April because my due date was April 1st. Through our pregnancy we all got to know one another. We would all post stories, worries, concerns, questions and of course pictures. One by one as we each had our babies we would post our birth stories - the good, the bad, and of course the beautiful.

Then after our babies were born our relationships stayed strong as some struggled with breastfeeding... others struggled with lactose intolerance... then teething issues... and of course diaper rash... you know, regular baby stuff. Each member was ready to lend a remedy or story with "what I did when my baby did that was ____". And did I mention the pictures?

As our babies got older and older the posts to our group got smaller and smaller but it was still alive. I would say there were 3 main Mommies that kept our group strong while the rest of us would lurk.

One of those Mommies was Niki. After 5 years of "trying" she was blessed with Cate. After Cate turned about 1ish she and her husband decided that if it was going to take another 5 years to get pregnant again that they better start trying... well their prayers were answered and they became pregnant within 6 months and baby Maxx was born this past February. I hung on to getting the daily posts from this group to find out about Niki and her new baby and then I turned off the daily posts and would just check in here and there on the internet.

This morning when I logged in to Yahoo I saw that I had a lot of messages in my inbox. Funny... I don't use that email address for anything... so curiously I clicked on it and there were about 7 messages from my Mommies group... so I figured that yahoo had done some messing around and I'd have go go back into my membership and re-check that I didn't want to receive individual messages when I happened to see Maxx's name... Baby Maxx had passed away on Saturday. SIDS.

I can't even begin to imagine Niki's pain or what she and her family is going through right now. So, please... if you are reading this say a little prayer for Maxx, Niki and her family.