Bouncing back (picture heavy post)

I think I am finally back. After what seemed like an endless string of illnesses, and (on Christmas eve, of all days) I developed an abcessed tooth. After a week of antibiotics, I had to have oral surgery to have it removed. And as my luck would have it, it involved 2 of my 3 worst fears, a dentist and needles. The third fear is spiders, just incase you're wondering. In the mean time, I have been able to do some knitting beyond my Christmas knitting. Here is what I have gotten done since then:

First up is my Holiday Candy Cane socks:


Specs:
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss
Pattern: Knit Picks Holiday Pattern
Started: Dec. 17th, 2007
Finished: Dec. 31st, 2007
Made for: Me

I love this yarn. Must. Order. More.

Up next is a pair of ribby socks made for Annie:

Specs:
Yarn: Regia Stretch
Pattern: my own
Started: Jan. 4th, 2008
Finished: Jan. 6th, 2008

I started these just before going in for my oral surgery, and worked on the first sock while in the chair, waiting for my mouth to become numb. The dentist was absolutely enthralled with them. He asked me tons of questions, called all the dental assistants over to look at it, and check to see how far I had gotten each time he came over to inject me with more pain killer. I just surprised I was able to knit about half of the sock, including turning the heel, while I was shaking so bad. And, as he worked on me, he told me that he has an elderly neighbor that knits socks for him all the time, and how much he loves them. And thanked me for bringing mine with me to work on.

Up next is one of many forth coming instant gratification projects:

My best friend PJ is expecting a baby at the end of May. This is such a joyous event. It took her over two years to get pregnant with her child, and he is now 10. She tried for so many years after, and had finally resigned herself to not having any more. Now she is so happy! She goes for her ultrasound next week, and they are going to see if they tell what she is having. She really wants a girl. She really needs a girl to spoil, since she has been spoiling my girls over the past 13 years. And I really want her to have a girl, because, let's face it, there is only so much that I can knit for a boy. lol. So, until she can find out, I'll satisfy myself with knitting bibs and burb rags from Mason-Dixon Knitting, in neutral baby colors. The one above is the first one. The second one that I am working on is below.

Such cute colors, huh?

Here are a few pics from Christmas morning:

Annie, opening more gifts.

Here is Katie opening one that she really wanted:

You can't really see what has caused the excited expression, but it's a skate board. Like mother, like daughter.

Here is some of the things I knitted for Christmas gifts:


A pair of cabled fingerless gloves for my niece, Jo, in Knit Picks Essentials Meteor Twist.


A pair of cabled fingerless gloves for my cousin, Josie, in Knit Picks Essentials Navy.


A pair of cabled fingerless gloves for my cousin, Savannah, in Knit Picks Essentials Petunia.


And last, but not least, a pair of Jaywalkers for my niece, Sydney, in Knit Picks Felici Atmosphere.

Even though we aren't Jewish, we still light the menorah, as we have for the past 4 years, after being given one my an old friend. Here is a pic from this past year.

Here is what I made my mom for her birthday, which was Dec. 21st:

A pair of cabled fingerless gloves in Regia.

Next up is a little stash enhancement:

Lorna's Laces in Red Rover.


For the last of today's pics, Katie wanted her hair cut, and to dye it red (she has been begging to dye her hair red for several years, I finally gave in):



It turned out really cute. She wanted something short and different. So, I thought back to some of the old girly-skater hair cuts that some of my friends and I used to have, and suggested this one. She really likes it. My mom protested, but I see it the same way I saw it back then, it's just hair, it will grow back, and it makes her happy.

Ok, I'm starting to wear down, still on the pain meds the dentist gave me. I think I'll go knit some more on that baby bib, and plan a cake to back for Annie tomorrow, since it's her birthday. She'll be 7. WOW! Where did the time go?

What have I done this week?

That's a good question. Well, let me recall.

Monday I finished my Harvest Sock Swap pal's sock, and casted on an Embossed Leaves sock for myself, in the same color way of Trekking as I used for my pal.

Tuesday I developed a soar throat. Stopped at the store for soup after picking up the girls. Went home, made said soup, and waited for my Auntie Elaine to drop off some yarn for knitting I promised to do for the family Charity auction. No knitting accomplished.

Wednesday, my throat wasn't soar, but I felt like shite! Went home, made a quick one dish oven meal, and sacked out to watch Ghost Hunters all evening with Mr. S. No knitting accomplished.

Thursday, felt a little better, voice was a little horse. Didn't feel like cooking dinner, hit Rally's, and went home to watch Grease & Grease 2 with the girls. Knitting accomplished, finished the first sock of my Embossed Leaves.

Today? Well, as soon as I get off of work, I have to pick up Mr. S at my house. Then it's off the pick up the girls and Taylor. Once all the kidlings have been loaded into my dark green easter egg of a car (a Kia Rio Cinco wagon), we are off to Dayton. Katie and Taylor are staying in Dayton for the weekend for my niece's b-day. And, at lunch, I splurged a little and bought 4 balls of Regia 4 fadig in natural, to make a pair of Over the Knee socks from Handknit Holidays. I have been waiting to make these socks for a long while. I just had to make up my mind of what yarn and in what color. I figured that natural is the best choice, as we like to dress up in costume for festivals, balls and such, and it would go with a lot of my period costumes and not look out of place.

Tomorrow, for as craptastic as I feel, we are going shopping, over most of the city. There is a book that I want that details how to make period costumes, so I'm off to see if the Book Loft in German Village has a copy (if not, I'll order from Amazon); Mr. S wants to go to Polaris mall (all I can think of is Rocky Mountian Chocolate factory and the giant caramel apples, yummmy!); and then various other locations that I'm sure we'll find time to get into.

So, that was my week, in a nutshell. How was your week?

Saturday shopping fun

Saturday, we got up bright and early and headed off to Dayton. It took us about an hour and twenty minutes to get there in the bad weather. And about an half an hour after getting there, we headed off to Fiberworks to pick up my wheel. We spent an hour and a half there! Wow! We had such a great time, we didn't realize how much time we spent there. There was so much to look at. All the different types and colors of roving. I was in heaven. My SIL went with me, along with Annie and my niece F. All the older girls stayed at the house. I'll show you below in pics all the neat stuff that I got. And let me say, I did set a budget for myself and I stayed under it by $10 and some change.

When we got back, I started lunch, cheesy potato soup. And Angie (my SIL) made Italian grilled cheese sandwiches. Yum! And while we cooked, we whipped up a few cocktails, pineapple rum with orange-pineapple-strawberry juice. Again, Yum! Then, we let the kids go play in the snow. Don't worry, they had on multiple layers. And when they came in, we put them in jammies, and tossed all the wet stuff in the dryer. Here's a few pics:


Here's Katie and niece S trying to go down the hill in a box.

Here's Annie, after she hit the bottom of the hill.

But, on to the goodies.

Here's my wheel, still in the box.

Here is what it looked like when I opened the box. Inside of that folder is the assembly instructions, sand paper, a catalog of their other products and a little slip of paper that tells you who packed the box, with their picture on it.

Here is half of the parts, laid out on my bedroom floor.

Here is the other half of the parts.

And here it is, a couple of hours later, all put together. I am so proud of myself. Now for all the goodies that I got.

Arlene (the shop owner) gave me the white roving as a gift to practice on. The lovely dark mauve and rose roving I bought. I'm not touching those beauties until I get the hang of it.

I picked up the Handspinner's Handbook and WPI tool.

Here is some beautiful lace yarn that I fell in love with. It's Jojoland Harmony, colorway C05. And under it is a pattern for a Lace Flower shawl.

Here is some Jojoland Melody, fingering weight, in colorway Y45. These will become a lovely pair of socks.

Here is a lovely Lendrum Maple Niddy Noddy, that's adjustable to 1 or 2 yds. Now, I just need a Nostepinne. I have tried to use my wheel. I understand the basics, I just need to get the hang of it. I can get started, but it gets too twisty on my, really quick. But I am determined. I will learn to spin. And, finally I leave you with a pic of Mr. Vinny, sniffing my roving, which I have tied closed in a bag. Granted, he has great taste, but he would rather roll in it and make a mess.

An FO in February

I finished my sock in Lorna's Laces Irving Park. Wanna see?

Here they are, and I'm wearing my great find. I found these heels on the 50% off rack at The Shoe Dept. They are M.U.D., and I couldn't pass then up at only $10.00. That's what happens when I have to buy new cross trainers.


And here is another shot showing how I had left over. I didn't have to join the 2nd skein until after the 8th round of 24 rounds of the toe decrease on the 2nd sock.

The Specs:
Yarn: Lorna's Lace
Colorway: Irving Parking
Needles: Crystal Palace US1 DPN's
Pattern: Plain Ol' Vanilla sock pattern
Started: Jan. 13, 2007
Finished: Feb. 15, 2007

I know. I never take that long to finish socks, but I have good reason to lag on these. I have been working on the afghans for Cousin Becky.

Now, I have to figure out what I want to work on next. Maybe something in one of these:

The one skein of Liberty that I found, or the Gray's Corner.

Oh, we had a celebrity in the neighborhood today. Elvis Lives!

As I took this pic, I heard him say, "Thankya, Thankya vera much!" (I either have talented, or bored, neighbors.)

And I'll leave you with a parting shot from the ride home. Please pardon the dirty windshield.

Bad weather blues!

What a crazy, past couple of days. When I got up Tuesday, I was prepared for the snow. Got the kids off to mom's, and made it to work about an hour late. Then, during the day, it dropped around 4" of snow. The snow gave way to sleet. The sleet gave way to rain, that froze. Our office manager went out to her car and came back in and asked who wanted to go home. Both of my hands shot up. She said that she would let 3 of us go home. That was around 2, I normally leave at 5. I made somewhat-good time to mom's to get the girls, and I got stuck in the drive way. Since I am used to driving small cars in this weather, I started to rock the car out when mom's neighbor came over to help me. A couple of good rocks, and he helped push my little Kia right out. I got the girls loaded up, and we headed straight home, with a stop at Micky D's for Annie, as Amy was bring Chipotle home for Katie and me.

Wednesday morning dawned dark and ugly. I rolled over at 5am and turned on the local news, just to find out that they had cancelled school (for the 2nd day) and we were at a level 2 snow emergency. I called mom, and sure enough, the roads out her way were not cleared. And it looked like they weren't going to make it out that far till the afternoon. So, I was forced to call off. We sat around all day. I worked a little on cousin Becky's afghan and started my 2nd sock in my Lorna's Laces in Irving Park. I made it past the heel. For most of the evening, we watched Mythbusters. Let me tell you. That is a dream job. I would love to destroy things all day and get paid for it.

Today, it took my almost 45 minutes to clear my windshield of the 1" thick ice on it. I was about 30 minutes late for work because everyone wanted to do 10 mph on the highway. Then, I almost got stuck in the parking lot. But, I had retail therapy at lunch. Amy and I went to Knitter's Mercantile and I found 1 skein in Liberty and 2 skeings in Gray's Corner (which I didn't see on their web site, but it's pink & gray). And I got this. With the patterns in it, it was well worth the money.

Tomorrow, I am hopeing will be a normal day. Then on Saturday, I will be making a trip to Dayton. Why, you might ask? Well, let me tell you. I am going to purchase a lovely Ashford Traveler. Yes, I am taking the plunge. I am buying a wheel, and will learn how to spin. So, Saturday morning, the girls and I will be packing up and going to my SIL's house in Dayton. Then we are going to Fiberworks to get my wheel, and then back to my SIL's house for lunch and cocktails. I can't wait, I am so excited! I can't believe it's finally time to get my wheel.

Almost time to go home. Happy Knitting!

ETA: I just called the store to make sure they had my wheel in, and it wasn't on back order or anything. She said that she hoped that I would call, 'cause normally she's closed on Saturday's, but she would open just for me to get my wheel. So, we set it up to be there at 11 am. Yippee!

Weekend fun!

Saturday was Katie's 12th birthday. We went to the local DQ and picked out her cake on Thursday. and here is what we picked out:

What else but Harry Potter!!!! It was a cool ice cream cake. Her best friend, Taylor, came over. After we had cake, we dropped Annie off with Auntie PJ to go shopping, and Katie, Taylor and I went to see the Epic Movie. If you like the overly silly movies that make fun of other movies, then this is your movie. I found it hilarious. No body was off limits, they cracked on everyone. And we hit a couple of yarn shops, Bath & Body Works and Barnes & Nobel. From there, we dropped Taylor off at home and went to PJ's. At PJ's, we made dinner of BBQ ribs, hot buffalo wings and mashed potatoes. We watch The Illusionist. I really like that one. I may have to go buy it. Anyway, here is my haul from yarn shopping:



I got a couple of skeins of Lorna's Laces in Mixed Berries, some Trekking XXL in color #'s 126 & 105, and 1 skein of Swizzle color #4009. I've never seen Swizzle before, so I can't wait to see how it knits up. And at Barnes & Nobles, I got a couple of books by MJD, and they were Under Cover and the 4th book in the Undead series, Undead and Unreturnable. At Bath & Body, I found the kids soaps on sale, and got some lip gloss, 3 for $15.

On Sunday, I sorta vegged and read the latest LKH book in the Merry Gentry series, Mistral's Kiss. It was good, but short. I finished it in about 9 hours. And that was about all I did.

Ok, gotta go, I'm getting distracted by Hoodwinked. Happy Knitting!