Summer Fun

I need to get my truck fixed and since I am starting school in the fall, I also need cash for books. So I have purged the yarn stash and decided what goes and what stays. The items below didn't make the cut, sadly. These yarns play well with others and would be a great addition to your family. :) Prices do not include shipping, I charge actual cost.


Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino - 3 sk color 340505 $12










Elsebeth Lavold
Chunky Al- 1 sk and about half of another in Poppy $6 for both








Jo Sharp Rare Comfort Infusion Kid Mohair- 3 sk color 613, also full skein that was partially knitted then frogged. $20 for all 4








Thirteen Mile Yarn- 205 yds worsted weight wool in a light grey, natural color. Retails $16.50, asking $10









Crystal Palace Panda Wool- 2sk Red Cinnamon $10
PENDING









Mystery Sock yarn- no tags, looks to be wool and either tencel or bamboo, heavy fingering to sport weight. 88g $7.50









Sweet Georgia Speed Demon- 1 sk Afterglow, no tags. $15










Sunshine Yarns Soft Sock Yarn- 1 sk Blacksmith $19












Mountain Colors Bearfoot- 1 sk Red Willow $18










Cascade 220 $5/sk

Color 7830, lot 7212- 1 sk.










Color 8505, lot 7188- 4 sk, one missing its tag. No pic but it is very slightly off white color.





Knit Picks Wool of the Andes $1.50 ea
Winter Night- 1 sk










Red- 1 sk













Knit Picks Telemark- 1 sk Deep Navy (so dark, its almost black) Yours for cost of shipping.










Valley Yarns Amherst- 1 sk navy $3










Lion Brand Fun Fur- approx 1 sk each of brown, red and blue. Please, just take this off my hands. You can have it for the cost of postage.










Spritely Goods Sidhe Fat Fingering- 1 sk Inca Dove $16

The blahs...

My weekends go by waaaay too quickly. Seems like I get off work on Friday night and BAM!! It's Monday. I do miss working part time but love the pay I get with full time. Since I work nights, I was able to get up and do a few things before needing to be at work at 4pm. I got outta there at 10pm and still had time to bugger around the house before going off to bed. Now I work 215pm to 11pm and want to crash before I even make it in the door. There's also the freaking mandatory overtime that seems to bee relentless. In fact, I don't think there has been a week since I started there that we didn't have mandatory OT. I'm not talking a couple of hours a week either. It's along the lines of 1.5-2 hours A DAY. That's just nuts. I work in a call center so if the call volume is that high, HIRE MORE PEOPLE!! Makes sense to me. But here's the really stupid part... The OT isn't based off of call volume. Nope. It's based off of hours worked per location. So if our location is supposed to work X hours per month and we miss that goal then we have to work overtime. Why are we coming up short on hours? Because the freaks there keep calling off. The turnover there is higher than a Amsterdam whorehouse. Seriously.

Last night I couldn't sleep. Went to bed around 9 and laid there until about 1230. I think I may have caught an hour of sleep. Just too much crap going on in my mind. After not being able to sleep, I came out in the living room to read Twilight. The boys were kind enough to get me the whole set, in hard back, for Christmas. I have the best kids EVAH. So I got 4 chapters into that and decided to try laying down again around 3am. No dice. So I grabbed my pillow and tried a different venue: the couch. I woke up around 5am to a kiss and my hunny asking me if I was ok. I told him I couldn't sleep, too much crap rolling around in my head. We went and laid down in bed and ever dang time I fell asleep, I would jump and wake myself up in the process. He noticed and decided he was awake for the day anyway and gave me a back massage to ease the tension away and that's pretty much all I remember until I woke around 1045 this morning.

Youngest was telling me tonight how an elephant goes. He makes me laugh. He calls it an "ephant". I love this age. He is a stubborn lil man (gets that from his Dad) but he is smart as a whip. He sponges up everything around him and learns very quickly, quite a contrast from his brother. Oldest never counted to 10 in increments. Nope. He waited until he knew all numbers from 1-10 before he would say his numbers for me. Youngest is a bit different, willing to learn bits here and there. Amazing how each child learns differently.

Oldest had two decent days at school last week. He had previously been coming home with 5-6 red dots for his behavior during the daily activities at school. If memory serves me, there are about 12 activities for the day, like lunch, bathroom break, naptime, etc. Thursday he only had one red dot for hitting a little girl with a box and on Friday he had 3 because he wouldn't listen and yelled at the teacher. His dad and I are trying a new strategy with him and telling him what he CAN do and focusing less on what he CAN'T do and what he did poorly. So we are making a huge deal over the 1 and 3 dot days and put emphasis on all green dot days instead of telling him no red dots. I think his dad even put the one red dot day on the fridge as a commendation of good deeds.

I need to update my Ravelry profile with new yarns and projects but the things I am focusing on now is encasing my mp3 player ear buds in i-cord to reduce tangling, a hat for my new guy (been working on that one for almost a year), and a fair isle yoke cardi for myself. There is a cotton cardi for the Youngest that needs partial frogging and re-knitting and a sweater for me that needs lengthened. Oh and yeah, a baby sweater for the new guy's sister who is almost 20 weeks preggo. *sigh* A knitter's work is never done. :)

Welcome 2009

2008 was a year of change, big changes. Huge. I went from being a stay at home mom to a working part time mom after staying home with the boys for 3 years. I went from being married for 10 years to being single again. From having someone to depend on to learning self-reliance. From being miserably married to miserably alone to happily dating. From having my children close by to their dad moving them across the state (more on that later).

This year is my year. I'm not making resolutions or any of that crap, making them just makes you feel even worse for not doing what you set out to do so why bother? I am just going to live my life one day at a time and bend to whatever life throws my way... Which at the moment happens to be a wonderful guy that I met last year. He is a wonderful man that I had the pleasure of meeting back in 2007 as a friend and as the weight of my divorce came upon me and with having my life turned upside down, he was there for me. Keeping me sane, keeping me on track and keeping me from feeling like a horrible person for getting a divorce and splitting up my family. I'll get a picture of him up on here soon. He has met the boys once, last summer, and enjoyed the time with them. Son the Oldest asks about him, wanting to talk to him or wanting to know where he is. Son the Youngest still has a healthy Stranger Beware thing going so will only go over to him on his terms, keeping me in sight at all times.

Speaking of Son the Youngest, that's him up top there with his fuzzy monster slippers on. He and his brother got a pair for Christmas, his being blue and the Oldest's being red. The Oldest told me they were too scary for him to wear after I took pics of them wearing their new slippers. Go fig. lol I sent them home when they went back with their dad and I am sure he will coax him into wearing them. If not I guess I will have to make a more mundane pair of slippers.

So as I think I have told you, the boys are living with their dad in Cleveland with his girlfriend. They met while we were divorcing and he moved them in with her this summer. NOT happy about that and could have done more about it but at the time I was naive to my legal standing. Anyhoo, the boys went in to daycare in August and Oldest was booted out about 3 weeks later. They brought in a school to evaluate him, etc. and he has some learning and communication issues. The psychologists at the school have suggested that we have him screen for autism, which I had contemplated for a long time anyway. Oldest has been different from other children, even at birth. The eval shows he has no mastery of a set of skills beyond the age of two and now that Youngest is two, I can see that. The more Youngest learns, the more I see how far behind Oldest is. Youngest just turned two in September and is already pointing out letters, shapes, numbers, and saying his ABC's, something Oldest didn't do until well into his 3's and I don't even know if Oldest can say his ABC's. Needless to say, Youngest is blowing me away with his smarts. :) Oldest is doing very well at his new school, teaching him in a way I never could.

I have been doing a metric ton of knitting, as usual. Recently I finished up another Tam, another Wicked (for me this time), slippers for me and the boys, sweater for the Oldest and several other FO's and WIPs. The new man's sister is pregnant so I will be working up another Trellis. I know I swore off knitting another but that is such a damned impressive sweater! I have knitted enough baby socks in the last few weeks that I would really rather not do those, esp since we haven't found out the sex of the baby yet, nor do we know if she is finding out.

I caught a cold over Christmas. I thought it came from the Youngest as he was pretty snotty when I picked him up Christmas morning but it seems like I had picked it up before then. I am now on day 3 of no voice, just whispers. If I could scream, I would. So tired of having to repeat myself so people can hear me.

I'm hoping to start blogging more. I have been so out of the loop for the last year, not even keeping up on my Bloglines. I need to get back into the swing of some things. :) I hope 2009 brings all of you endless happiness and much health.

Finally Got A Pic

Finally got a pic of Toddling in the sweater I made for him that had the edgings knit then extended and re-knit. lol He has on a polo shirt under the sweater so it looks a bit lumpy but it fits him very well. I cannot believe how big he is getting. Not having him in my house on a daily basis, he seems like he has grown two feet every time I have him for my visitation.

We had a fun weekend celebrating Taters birthday a couple of weekends ago. He turned two and we celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese. I had never been there. The place was a madhouse with kids. Will have to re-think that option again. Tater is going to be like his Daddy when he gets older. He is already 30lbs, wears a size 7 shoe and wears 2T-3T shirts. Gotta love that blonde hair he gets from his Mama tho. :)

I've been knitting!

With all of the changes occurring in my life, seems my knitting is one thing that has remained the constant. Luckily, it's portable and can be stuffed into small places and brought out in cases of boredom or fidgety-ness. I just completed a pair of toe up Monkey socks in a gorgeous Koigu PPPM color, P315. I just wound up some ShiBui yarn to cast on for another pair of socks but I haven't settled on a pattern just yet. Silly me even forgot to take the yarn's photograph for my stash over at Ravelry. I have so many other yarn's to add to my stash anyway so not all is lost.


A friend had a little baby girl in May so I cast on for EZ's February sweater in a periwinkle color of Rowan Wool Cotton. Three little pewter heart buttons finished it off perfectly. The baby was born a few weeks early and is now finally up to 9lbs at two months. I think she will be able to wear the sweater this fall and if not, definitely this summer in the cool summer night air of southeast Idaho.

I had to re-knit some parts of the grey and red sweater I knitted for Toddling (who isn't so toddling any more at 4.5 years old). It needed a bit more length in the arms and the cuffs, neck and hem all needed re-knit with smaller needles to keep it from flipping up or out. I had to do ribbing then a roll neck to allow for a sewn bind off to allow for enough stretch to get it over his noggin. I haven't wrestled him down yet to see if it will fit over his bean but, luckily, if not, Tater can wear it. Pics to come.

Also have been on a dishcloth kick lately. I have gotten two ballband dishcloths done for the apartment and also one Grrr completed and another on the needles. Those are for the boys. I also picked up some red and blue cotton to knit up wash cloths for them with fun boy themes on them. Stay tuned to see what crops up.

Have any of you seen this? I haven't knitted a lick of lace but I really would like to try my hand at this one. So gorgeous! I wouldn't care if I had to knit one row a day until it was completed, I'd do it just to have that gorgeous piece under my belt. I don't look all that fab in yellow but the yellow with topaz beads is calling my name. I shall have you some day!!!

Anyway, sorry I have been gone for so long. Right now I am going to keep my personal life under wraps and keep this strictly knitting for now. I am still in transition but each passing day is brighter and fuller than the day before.

Darn you, Hoji!!!

*sigh* Hoji sucked me into a meme. Dammit if I don't have a Get Out of Memes Free card. I suppose I'll play along... if I must. :)

So here's da rulz:

1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Okay, six random things that you all could probably care less about:

1. The four letter C-word that rhymes with punt makes my skin crawl. Repeated use of this word in the same sentence will result in me removing myself from the convo by either leaving the room or plain ol' going off the damn handle and freaking out.

2. I don't watch reality shows, for the most part. ZOMG! I DON'T WATCH REALITY SHOWS!! Yes, people, I am one of the few red-blooded Americans that have resisted the lure of these types of shows.

3. I love music of most types. Classical to metal to pop and just about everything in between, well except for rap and gangsta rap. The music that I tend to listen to over and over again are the ones that move me on what could be referred to as a spiritual level. Something inside of me sparks and a flood of emotion rolls forth. Don Henley still gets me to this very day, especially End of the Innocence.

4. I'm addicted to Chipotle. I swear those damned burritos are laced with cocaine or something. Oh and I also have a weakness for carmel flavored iced coffees, like a Carmel frap from Starbucks or an IC carmel from Panera. Such a damned sucker.

5. I watch the boys' cartoons even when they are at their Dad's house. They have become part of my daily repertoire that watching anything else during the day just seems... odd. I'm going to get The Muppet Show on DVD for my boys. Nothing would make me happier than for them to totally dig on some good, classic shows that I watched when I was their age. "Bork, bork bork!"

6. I have huge self-image issues. I have lost a bit of weight in the last year but I still feel like a whale. My appendectomy scar from when I was 13 and the lovely stretch marks from growing two lil ones has left me with a belly that I really hate. Let's not even get started with the junk in the trunk. Shit, I got junk in my junk.

Who am I tagging? No one, really. I've never abided by the rules so why start now? Feel free to tag yourself if you wanna and leave me a message if you do play along.