Waiting, finishing, waiting, finishing and more waiting!

Ok so it is Pictureless Thursday! :) Currently I am waiting for the 2nd Secret of the Stole Clue!! I am in charge of writing the chart out, so those who can't read charts can still participate. I am so looking forward to knitting the clue is the only problem. If I am charting I can't be knitting it!

So I cast on for a hat for my special sitter.......and I finished it the next day. The problem is, I blocked it, and it WILL NOT dry! It has been damp and rainy for 4 days now! BAH, I blocked the hat and the BSJ and man oh man do they look good!

Did I mention I am loving the SOS KAL and I am looking forward to clue #2!

I cast on yesterday for a felted moebius bowl and finshed it and it is felting now. After I finsihed that, I cast on a Trifold Knitters Bowl. Which is also a moebius but it has 3 crossings. It is interesting looking in progress. I will post pics eventually.

Oh yeah Hurry up midnight so I can get a look at clue #2!! :)

Ok I will not bore you with my tales any longer-

Secret of the Stole and BSJ!

So I finished Clue #1 of the Secret of the Stole.......the 3rd to the last row darn near killed me and made me throw in the towel! I had to frog it back 4 times before I FINALLY got it right.......it is full of YO, K2tog, SSK, and K3tog as well as a few S1K2togpassSover.....BAH. Anyhow I got it and am glad I didn't fudge it liek I contemplated! It will be well worth it in the end!



The pattern is interesting and I have never done a beaded piece but it has given me ideas for future projects. These pics don't show the beads at all as they match but add a bit of sparkle. the centers of the beads are silver so there is a glint they add






Just a close up of the 2nd point. Hey question for you......does anyone else read patterns from the right to left? I don't know why but I always have. It seems I am of a minority, although there are a few others, it seems that they are left handed and do it out of necessity rather just habit>>>> Anyone else a little off like me out there?













Look at this odd looking blob. As you are knitting Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket for the first time, you have NO idea what you are knitting.....could this be the sleeve? or is it the side edge? hmmmmm I wish I knew so that I knew where I was putting the stripes. I thought at the time it mattered. This thing came out soooo cute, and it doesn't matter one bit where you put the color changes.




Once you get it off the needles the ONLY seaming is from the cuff to the neck......everything else is done with increases and decreases. I have to say that this lady is GENIUS!!!! Oh my goodness she is a genious!








Add some buttons and VOILA! It is adorable! I have already planned to do a turqouise and brown one, and a pink and brown one! THey are awesomely easy and so interesting. A really quick knit too.








Here is a hot of the back. It is FINITO! And I am excited. Now I am working on a slouch hat for a babysitter. She bailed me out of a few binds and was happy with whatever she got paid. Which is abnormal here on the island. The going rate is $7.00 per child....which is $21.00 an hour for us, and I only make 10.55 an hour, hmmmmm math doesn't work right.....RIGHT. So she usually took $5.00 an hour for all 3 which usually was only 2 and was happy with it! She enjoys the kids and they enjoy her! It was beautiful, plus she is 20 and cleans up after the kids too! WOOHOOO! So I am creating a gothesque pink and black slouch hat with skulls on it! I thiink it will be cute if I can figure it out! :)

October Knit List

Hmmmm Ok I have seen this idea of keeping track of knitting goals on other blogs and I have attempted to do it before and I am going to attempt again!!

1. Finish Baby Surprise Jacket

2. Finish front of Aran.

3. Knit the first 3 clues of the Secret Stole (starts on the 5th woohoo)

4. Make a pair of mittens.....

5. Try Color work again (possible in the form of said #4's mittens??)

6. Finish the bobbin of lace weight and start on a second.

Let's se how that goes. I think it is accomplishable for sure. But the 3 kids and 50zillion jobs have a way of getting in the way.

Tuesday's Show Off day

I am doing the EZ knitter's almanac knit along, it was featured in the knit picks catalog, and the podcast as well as in several other places....only here's the thing I am sort of lurking as I don't really have the required yarn for the projects last month or this month but I am knitting EZ's Baby surprise jacket and I have to say this thing is REALLY wild.....I am still not sure how it will come together, but all the seaming you do is from the neck to the edge of the sleeve.......2 seams. I am amazed at how ODD it looks but am loving how quickly it is knitting up....it is teeny tiny.

The Aran I have been working on is coming along......I love it but needed a break so I started the EZ BSJ. But as you can see in comparison to the last pic of it, it has come along way. See the chair....we got it from the transfer station. I love it, it rocks, it swivels and it is sooooooo comfy for knitting in....I need to find a new cushion for it, as this one I belive is just an old lawn chair cushion someone improvised with.




Oh my goodness isn't this kid a goof!?! Bret is such an entertainer. He was showing his little friend his tool bench. SHowing her the ropes....he would jibber jabber and look at her and nod and then push a button and she would smile and then he would tell her a bit about the saw......I love the tool bench the boys have a blast at it.






An FO for me of the non knitting kind. The boys now have all 3 kids now have John Deere Fleece PJ's. They are alot of fun to make in reality. They make a royal mess of the sewing maching with all the fuzz!! But the kids love them. And I have to say they are so soft and squishy all I want to do when they are in them is cuddle them up!





Bret was soooo over tired, and Shy was not impressed with having her pictures taken PERIOD that it was a struggle to get these ones!!! And Bud, look at him, he looks like he is in pain.......but truley he is saying CHEEEEEEEEEEESE. The poor boy, whenever you break out a camera he gets all over dramatic. Honestly he is adorable, but EVERY picture I have of the little bugger his face is all squished and contorted!!! :) Gotta love him!



Figured I would preface my knitting bit with the source of all of our yarny goodness!

These were part of our apple picking, cider pressing field trip that I will talk more about in a future issue of this blog.







He looks like he is poseing! Just stood there begging for a single shot!











That is Bud with his girlfriends little sister in the back ground and in the foreground is his girlfriend and another little girl. He loved the sheep and the chickens and the apples and all the kids......it was fun to watch him interact!















This is what I have been spinning forever now! It is a silk and merino blend in a beautiful aqua color. I am spinning it thin and thinking about 2 plying it, but also the thought of a 3 ply is calling to me.......I really want it a lace weight though and I think a 3 ply will make it to thick!...

No picture Thursday!! Is there such a club?? I think there should be. You see I have pictures, they are just still in the camera. I have wonderful pictures, but I am lacking the gumption to get off my arse, march through the dinning room and into the kitchen, grab the camera and then go on the hunt for the dang cord. So this is Pictureless Wednesday and I think I will make a point to keep that up. I have things to say but no pics to go with them, so I will save all that stuff for Thursday!

I am thinking (can you smell me?) about a few different projects, and I would love love love your input. I wish I could do a contest but I still have not mailed out the last prize......(I have NOT forgotten you, really I have not, it is just the situation at the moment!) but perhaps things will change and I will be able to do something. I do not forget these things so pass this post on I want lots of input and it isn't just knitting stuff!

Projects I need help with!

1) Dyeing!!!! You know that kauni rainbow yarn.......man it is purdy. It is also expensive and I happen to have a few bare skeins of knit picks that I was going to try Wilton Cake Dyeing. I have done the whole Kool-Aid dyeing which is fun and I loved the results but was told the cake icing paste results in more intense colors. I want to immulate the kauni yarn in that I will do a rainbow dealie. Questions I have are. How long (as in inches, yards whatever) are the kauni repeats? And some successful techniques from those who have done it...... any tips, tricks or things to watch for.

2) I would like to do some canning with my kids but know NOTHING and I mean NOTHING at all about canning. I would like to take some of the apples and pears I am seeing ripen on the trees and makes some jellys or jams. Applesauce perhaps and do them up for christmas. Do I need a pressure cooker, and really good basic websites that I should turn to and any personal advice would be good too.

3) I am thinking about asking for a raise at one of my jobs.......now this is a position that I work from home, use my internet, but I really don't put in all that many hours........so I feel kind of odd asking about a raise...........I think I am going to talk with the vice president who WAS the president until Aug about it. She knows what is going on and Perhaps she will take this under her wings. I don't need help but I just sort of guess I need some prodding. I also have my name in on another on island at home job. We shall see!

Oh dear goodness

So I have not been blogging much lately. I try to pop in and out....and as excited as I am about Ravelry, I just can't seem to find the time to get in there. All in all I am not all that excited by anything. I am a good fake, I paste a smile on and pretend all is well, when in reality things pretty much suck.

Don't get me wrong things COULD be worse. John got a job at the school as the maintenance man. It is part time 10-20 hours a week. It is a start. There is rumor that the people who have been doing UPS on island are getting done, so he called about that, he may have gotten some wee little jobs for an older lady who lives on the mainland but has a house here. Things aren't AS grim as they were. But here we sit with a thousand a month mortgage amoung the other normal bills, and I am scared $h!tl&$$! The next month will tell.

Meanwhile life goes on. The people who have the job now and thier family talk to us as though they did nothing wrong, when as it turns out they knew 2 weeks before we did they were going to can John.

OH FREAKING WELL. See this is why I haven't been blogging lately. BAH!!

On craft news. I have been kniting, but I hav also been sewing!! These are jammies I am making for the boys. I am getting a pair for both Bud and Bret out of each fabric! They are too cute!




I had forgotten how much I liked sewing! I really enjoy the whole process. I just have no place to leave it set up......sewing machines and curious little fingers are bad news!









Bret is slowly discovering that temper tantrums get him NO WHERE! In fact I find them quite funny!! John captured this one. He shut the gate between the kitchen and the dining room and Bret got his nose QUITE out of joint!








And he just kept on a crying!












Look at those eyes......this is the "hey wait a second I have an audience.....better put the pleadingly cute face on" still didn't magically open the gate for him!

Beam me up Scotty

I am (not so) patiently awaiting the SOS KAL to start. I absolutely love knitting lace and this will be the first knit along I have ever done, it will also be the first knitting that I have ever done with beads. I am excited for something new.

I have no pictures today.....did get some cute ones of thelittle guy and a little girl I have been watching. They are too cute, she is 9 months old and the same size comparitively to the wee one. She is a big baby! Wicked cute though. I do not publish pics of other peoples children on my blog.

I have been puttering away at the cabled aran fron firsherman's aran by Alice Starmore. I like the pattern but have to rely heavily on the book for the center cable as it is quite complicated.

On the non-knitting front, I have been sewing up a storm. I used to enjoy sewing, I custom made some very pretty clothes for myself that actually fit WELL! This go round I have been maiking adjustable WARM jammies for the kids. Shyanne got pink camo John Deere jammies, Bud got John deere field scene jammies, and Bret got teddy bears and puppies on a blue background. The best thing about the boys, was unbeknownst to me I bought enough to get a pair of each for each of the boys. SO now I have a pair of John Deere jams cut out for Bret and teddy and puppy's cut out for Bud.

On the work front.....I dunno.......no news is supposed to be good news right? Bah, it certainly is scary! And "those" people hired a couple who just had a baby 8 weeks early, he has been caught growing illegals on public property and the whole island knows he doesn't last all that long in jobs............but he will work out great cause his mommy and auntie are in "those" people's back pocket's. Now we know for sure that this was one of those cases where they were in the back door before we were out the front door completely. BITTER?????? Nah, not much.

Coveted tools

Oh how I love Knit picks, I love their yarn, I love their options needles, and man oh man dare I say I love the looks of these needles!! They are wood too and so unique. I am secretly coveting them. I so want to be rich right now, and I am rich, in love and friendship, but I mean MOOLAH. ot that these needles are expensive, because that is the best part about them......they are sooooooo reasonable. and I do already have the cables.....so all I need is the tips! BUT......you see, there is the spend $45 and get free shipping thing that gets me every time..........and with DH not working that would certainly be a frivolous expenditure. So for right now I will just post the picture to my blog and drool!!!

Things are the same here....still no sign of work. Ads posted in our newspaper and in the neighboring islands newspaper. I will have ulcers before this is all over. I am a financial worrier (as I think most women are ) and to know that there is only 1 more paycheck, and the bills will continue to come in is scaring the crap out of me to say the least!

My child is a genius! :)

Ok so a few posts (probably 12 or so) ago I ranted about, among other things how Big B flunked his pre-school screening. You can read the details if you like, but long story short, the tests are for 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 year olds and (Ok so who cares if I use his real name!) Bud just turned 3 in August. He got a 10 and if a 3 and a half year old got a 12 they would retest. So one tester lady said eh, no biggie he is still a little guy, and the other woman said no he needs to be retested.....she threw words like learning disabilities, special services, and even autism around, very casually. I am sorry but I don't take these things casually. I have been around a variety of children in my 31 years, and in fact one of my first kids ( you know I took care of these twins since they were teeny tiny and now they are 16) were twin preemies who had a very rough start, the girl has no real lasting affects but the boy has autism, mild cp, as well as a mirad of other disabilities. I love love love love love these kids. I tool care of them like they were mine. This all leads to the fact, that I truly hope that if my child had a disability such as one of those, I would be able to recognize it. I studied autism in college for a few papers because "my kid" intirigued me sooo much and in fact I was part of the pushing factor for tracing his autism to aspergers syndrome. You have never met a more loving, SUPER SUPER intelligent in your life, but socially inept with kids his age. Adults? No problem. ANYHOW these screeners as well as some other people around me throw these words around like they are nothing............while I know they are not life ending, I certainly think they are something. And I never considered for once that he may have any of these things. BUT when you are sent for more testing, it does (or so I realized when I burst into tears after the finish of the testing) eat at you, and cause some doubt. So Thursday we went to the testing center and we spent an hour playing...........Buddy did awesome!! The ladies said they stopped when he reached the 4 to the 4 1/2 age level, even though he was still going strong. He did fine across the board. The one thing the speech lady did see was that he has a slight problem with s's, z's and sch sounds. She had him stick his tongue out..........he couldn't.......she said you know what? Has anyone ever told you he is tongue tied? to which I replied, HUH? His tongue is attached to his bottom jaw all the way to the very tip.........she says she is sending us some fun excercises and silly sounds to se if we can improve through that. She says he physically may not be able to make those sounds. and we may have to have that thing clipped a bit which she assures me is no big thing. But she couldn't believe what people were putting us through, and said I want to see you in 6 months JUST to review his speech.........just for those sounds, at which point I suspect I may recommend he get clipped, but I never want to see you in this office for a rescreening ever again. Your son is an extrememly bright exceptional child. Meanwhile he had charmed the other lady into helping him make his choo choo......he had her attach two pop up tunnels and then had taken disks that had one hole in them and threaded them onto a "noodle" and put them under the tunnels..........they had never had a child do that before, much less con them into "helping" He looked at the woman and said pwease pick up the choo choo, so I can stick these under? You can never fully realize how relieved I was, it wasn't until it was all over that I realized how worried I was.

Huh.......imagine that Bud is exceptional. Tell me something I didn't know people!!! I love my kids!

Ok here they are in no particular order

The baby blanket of doom!! Do you see that wee little bit of blue sticking out? Well belive it or not.....there is a full sized towel under that baby, and that is all you can see, you wanna know why that is all you can see? Cause the stitching has come undone and that is part of the fold. This blankie is as wide as a full size bath towel is long, and it is a little bit longer than a bath towel is wide. Now is anyone else on the same page? Is this not the wrongest dimensions for a baby blankie???


I like the pattern, but if there is a next time there will be fewer repeats and it wil be longer. Yhe hearts came out purdy though. Now this a sage green, I think it is actually Dusty Sage. It is cotton Fleece, which is put out by Brown Sheep. There are 7 skeins in that puppy!














This is my SOS Kal swatch. The swatch has beads in it but was not required to have them in it. I have never knit with beads so I wanted to play a bit. Now I thought I would use the matte beads on the top cause they are matte and varying shades that compliment the yarn color. BUT the bottom beads are the same shade as the yarn but the inside is silver so it picks up the shine nicely. I am baffled, I have no idea which to go with! HELP!!!



We had our first round of Monarchs. I think we had 8 of them and when we set them free they lingered a while. Last year right around this time we had a beloved member of our island family lose her life way to early and the monarchs were astonishing, she was always taken with monarchs and said if she couldn't come back as a mermaid than she would be a butterfly. So Monarchs have new meaning for me.




My wee one looking manly in hus "spenders"

He has become quite the ham. His lip is slightly fat still from his face plant on his pacifier last week that split the inside. This is the second time he has done it......pacifiers are gone except in his bed!!!






Here are the before shots....... My curly boy.....oh so uncontrollable. He came to me today and said. Momma.....I wan haia (no r's on the end we are from Maine people) like my daddy's pwease.

To which I replied very tentively, are you sure honey?

Yes mamma I dooooooooo pwease mamma.

Ok, are you going to be scared of the buzz clippers?

Nope mamma I won. I pwomise mamma.





Meanwhile I am thinking that I have nvere cut curly little boy hair, and am not quite sure where to start. I am more than a little bit afraid of the buzz clippers in my middle babes hair myself. I like his blonde curls, even when they are at thier "fro-iest"

What will he look like with no unruly waves hovering, halo-esque on top of his beautiful face? I am not sure I want to see that.

"Hey Big B, are you sure you want mommy to cut your hair?"

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS Mamma, CUT IT NOW PWEASE!!!




Ok so he is still very handsome, and the curl certainly has not left, there is plenty of wave left in those locks! Sorry for the blur he movedin closer as I was snapping the picture. Man he looks adorable!








He now looks like a boy in control of his locks, instead of a boy controlled by his locks!!! I have 3 beautiful offspring! They certainly do give me something to get up for in the morning!

This Blog Post says it all+

Honestly....This is one of the blogs I read regularly, and I think the blogess and I share the same............psychosis, if you will! I plan to post later today with pictures of my finished objects...they are blocking right now. I am not happy with them..........

The baby blanket..........now pardon me, I am of the mind that a blankie should be longer than it is wide...or posibly even square....but wider than long UMMMMMM NO. But indeed it is.......it is in the pattern measurements too......grrrrrr why didn't I loo at that? Possibly because I was in love with the (neatly folded so you could not see that that size is ALLLLLLLL freaking wrong!!) picture and didn't figure anyone would be screwing with the laws of baby blankets!! Now why didn't I notice that the blanket was off?? Good question but one I can certainly explain........2 reasons actually, I knit this on a too small circular.......20 inches to be exactly SIZE 2's BAHHHHHH, so it was all scrunched up at the top and squished in general............and 2 I was too dang dumb to look at the freaking deminsions!!!! GRRR freaking grr.....but it is a gift and generally speaking it does not look like cat puke sooooooo she is getting it and she will cover her bay with and and she wil like it!

The other item is my secret stole swatch. I have never knitted with beads, thereore I have never bought beads to knit with. Generally speaking this whole project is going out on a limb for me! I swatched ad I threw in 2 different kinds of beads, thinking it would help me clarify my decision on which beads to go with.....ummmmmm NO in fact the beads I was pretty sure I would use I am not un-in love with and the other beads I am sort of EH aboout! So be ready to help me make up my mind...........please.

Hump Day

What a title huh? I am not feeling imaginative, or creative, or anything else for that matter. I am in a funk. My kids have been sick, and they brought it home to me so as I started a 5 day stint working for the state I also began a miserable sinus infection that was accompanied by its friend the chest cold. This is the kind of thing that takes you out at the knees......you can't breathe, because there is an elephant on your chest and your eyes feel like they are goingt oexplode.....oh yeah what a joyful time I had! WOOHOO and the humidty for the past week has been horrendous.

Dear hubby has not found work, we have not heard about the caretaking job and are losing hope. He has applied for a very part time job at the school as a maintenance man type thing, but we haven't heard anything there either! It is extremely disheartening. Dear Hubby did get our 2nd car running and now we just have to get a title for it so we can make it legal beagle.

I will soon have pics of a finished baby blanket thank god! It is beautiful but I will never knit another one!

Things that make you go hmmmm

Ok so I work at my local yarn shop, and as most of you know my hubby has been "let go" from his job, and we are somewhat mystified and a whole lot peeved......anyway.......I am greeting people as they come in and a large group comes in and I am in themiddle of my welcome blah blah blah and there is an art gallery upstairs blah blah when the last person comes in and is looking in the opposite direction...hears my voice and sort of turns her head, makes semi- eye contact and then her whole body follows her head clear around and right back out the same door she had JUST stepped in through and down over the stairs she went........any ideas who she was??????





Yeppers, the head poopster! I laughed inside, cause I just kept smiling and talking very nicely with the other customers.......she can't face me, and I think it is rather telling...........if my hubby truley deserved to be fired, she shoudl be holding her head up high.....but she can't face me!


On a better note....hubster got hired for a small....very very very small caretaking job, actually it is a key holding job......the money isn't much but the man is a sweet heart and as things come up hubb ubb can bill hourly for work. He has his name in on another and I sent the "Big" job a note just thanking them for sitting down with the hub and apologizing for not being able to get there with him, and it reitterated that we living in the house is a NON issue. I am pondering what to send next week if we still have not heard anything.........I have read and people have told me to make sure you express your interest once a week, so they can't forget your name! Keeping crossing your fingers for us PLEASE!!!!

Karma? Fate? hmm one wonders!

So a quick satisfying, funny post. No knitting though!

Ok so My Dad has been a painter (of houses, rooms etc, amoung his other famous skills) he started when he was a teenager, working for his grandfather. Bottom line he knows his chit! He stopped advertising about 3 and a half years ago cause he had enough to last him his life time and mine too :)

Phone Rings at my parents house this morning

Mom- Hello
Person on phone- Hi is M.C. (will not use names sorry) there?
Mom-Yes may I ask who is calling?
Person on phone- This is "the poopy head that your daughter's husband worked for)
Mom- Covers phone tells dad it is "poopy head that SIL worked for"
Dad-Hello.....
Poopy head- Hi, I have some painting I'd like you to do, could you come down and take a lookat it?
Dad- After the way you treated J.W. (my dear hubby) who is my son in law, I wouldn't do anything for you! CLICK
Poopy Head- *This is what happened in my imagined play* Whhhhhhat was that...holy chit man what the hellhave we done?

You see We knew the first person on thier list too, who happens to be someone my hubby worked for way back and is still very good friends with and he talked to him too, and he decided he didn't want anything to do with the job either.....hmmmm karma, or revenge? Either way it is pretty sweet. I am very proud of my dear papa ( I did not say OLD either MOM!!)

Other ways this could have played out...

Dad - sure I will come down and look at it.
Dad goes down and walks it with them and says to poopy head..gosh someone has already started the painting and they have done a darn good job......who was it?
Poopy Head-Oh J.W....our old caretakes
Dad-Oh wait you are the poopy heads who hired him? Oh in that case, go take a suck pill.........

Dad- Oh Poopy head? hmm Oh right I know who you are......you are a know it all know nothing, worthless peice of chit. I'd rather have dog doo on my shoe than talk to you, go get a colonic you poopy head!

Ok so maybe the last scenario is a bit far fetched.....but man...oh there is also one with a bit of blood and gore too! No I don't wish anything ill on them (well maybe a couple bouts of the stomach flu, or a chronic sinus infection, reoccuring hiccups accompanied by an uncontrollabel eye twitch maybe???) umm anyway where was I? Yeah right nothing ill happening to them.....uh huh I don't really I don't! Stop looking at me like that I don't!!! I am not like that! All I want at this point is for the powers that be to sort it all out. These people kick a good family when they are down. And they know what it is lie to be down.....the "head" has leukemia for putts sake. We spent more time worrying about her well being than our own apparently. Anyway That's it for now!

Life goes on.........

.......even though right now life is a shit sandwich and every day is a bigger bite, the world still spins, and everyone contiues to live life around us.

I have finished the Rasta Hat, and I think it came out pretty cute. Miss S was less than impressed to model it. Big B was much more compliant.

Big B went to his preschool screening, and just when we think he is catching up......they want him to go to a speech and occupational therapist. Hmmm, Ok so the tests were built for 4 year olds and HE JUST turned 3 Aug. 3rd.....and he has only REALLY been talking for like 9 months, and now it comes out in long sentences...Momma I wanna jump on the twampoline with sissy. Ummmmm hello, this is the kid who wouldn't say juice please 6 months ago.......and he wouldn't stand on one foot without hanging on to something..........Ohhhhhhhhh man, I just wanted to sob.......I know he lingers back on the relaxed side, and is in no rush to compete with kids his age.....but in 10 minutes they decide he has problems that need to be firther investigated...but they are probably nothing. Don't get me wrong.....if there is something we can do to help him out I do want to know...but why now? Why on top of everything else do we have to wait for an appointemnt to open up and the spend time (and money) on the mainland to get him tested......why now...why not 6 months ago, when "how the bills are going to get paid" wasn't an issue.......
The Blaket grows......quite quickly now because I have to stay busy. I am a stress knitter. So LimenViolet keeps me smiling and knitting keeps me sane. And in times like these I need a whole lot of both! Overall I like the pattern and it is beautiful! BUT OMG poke me in the eye with KP Options (for those of you non knitters, they are VERY sharp metal knitting needles, I am in love with em")

So Big B is Very serious about potty training.....can you tell? He was showing off for his brother.










And at the end of the day the sun still sets. This is the biggest reason I do not want to leave The rock I live on......where else on the planet can you find beauty like this?

My hubby took this picture 3 nights ago from the ferry dock, it overlooks the casino......I think he may have sed the flash which is why there is a light spot in the casino window.....man it is breath taking!

20 things I am thankful for.

SO it is decided. While things seem bleak right now I have lots to be thankful for.

1. My husband, he truely is my other half. Without him I am not whole. He is my rock, and the bright spot in my every day. J, I love you, and you are an amazing man.

2. Miss S. a strong, know what I want beautiful young girl to butt heads with. You keep me on my toes for certain. I find myself struggling to stay one step ahead of you.

3. Big B man you changed my world. Laid back little guy, but you have found your voice and are becoming quite assertive!

4. Little B what can I say. You are my entertainer. Keep dancing, miracle boy so we can all keep smiling.

5. My health.

6. The ability to work.

7. My mom. She has beaten the odds more times than I care to count, and she fights for every day. I am thankful for every day.

8. My Dad, again he has beaten the odds, and will continue to do so.

9. My talents and craftiness. Without them I don't think I would make it through the trying times. (God help me if I run out of yarn in the next few weeks)

10. My home. I do have a roof over my head, it may be old, but it is mine and it doesn't leak.

11. The beautiful sunrise that greets me in the morning.

12. The incredible sunsets that ends each day with storybook charm.

13. This island with all it's beauty and peacefullness.

14. My cousin A. who is about the only family member who gives a rats a$$. (oops I will try not to be bitter)

15. For finding my voice and being able to stand up for what I believe in.

16. The the troops who have and continue to fight for our freedom and all our rights that go along with that freedom.

17. Wonderful Internet Friends to lift me up with cyber hugs.

18. My MIL who helps when and where she can.

19. The air that I breathe, clean ocean air.

20. Life.

Things have got to get better. J interviewed for a job this morning. He worked for the guy when we first got together and had for quite some time, he was a caretakers assistant. The caretaker got sick and they hired a new younger guy and John got a new regular job. If he were to get this job, we would have to move into thier house....which is 5 bedrooms 3 bathrooms and beautiful! It would mean slightly higher pay.....possibly renting our home....although not sure how that works with insurance and such....., it would mean a 2 car garage with a full apartment over the top of it.......a huge yard, not being right in town on the roads........I am trying not to think about it because there were many other candidates.......and we were one of the late comers...........if you believe in the power of postive thought or prayer.....we could use all the help we can get..........I feel like I have an elephant on my chest.........we should have an answer in the next few weeks.

Warning: Explosive Rant!

I have to be careful because certain muggles have this blog address, so no names will be mentioned! My dear husband was "let go" today from a job he has had since Miss S was 2, so 5 years. He has given his heart and his soul to try and return the property to what it was when the late owners were alive. Unfortunately the previous caretaker left the place in complete disarray, and had been using thier equipment to do business of his own and really overworked it all! The houses were in bad need of paint and had leaks everywhere. They always had a contractor come in and do carpentry and painting but when my hubby took over it all became his responsibility, along with keeping everything mowed (60 acres) and cut back and all that good stuff. And then there was no one really in charge. His second year they gave him a check list of things that needed to be done every spring and fall. And then said that windows needed to get done,,,,well this past winter he had windows out and would have had themm all done were it not for the wife of one of sons telling him that the electric bill was too high and that needed to stop. This is how it always goes down there........There is one "head" and she is aging and of mildy ill health, and so she passed the buck on to her son, who hasn't even been here for 2 years, her other daughter comes and goes and actually did some work on the house with her boyfriend and his crew. But she has not been around for a while. The sons wife tho,,,,,,,,let me tell you, she is good at causing hate and discontent. She told us this winter she was taking over the finances......sooooo we sent her recipts that we were originally sending to the "head" as originally requested. Well all of a sudden we were getting not so nice e-mails about missing recipts and bouncing checks........(well the missing reciepts were for a grand total of like $60.00, and at the time of that deduction the account had a balance of a 5 digit figure NOT INCLUDING THE CHANGE!) So we thought we had that straightened out but I now have a sneaking suspicion that she has been stabbing us in the back since the beginning and that time it just got a bit bigger than she intended. I am sure they all think we were lieing.....but WHY would we keep the reciepts?????? HMMMMMMMMMM no maka no sense to me???? HOWZ BOUT YOU?

So here we sit 3 kids and I am already working more jobs than I can keep tract of and was thinking about eleminating one or 2 in th next few weeks.......guess not. I am sure it will all even out, but for right now, I am in charge of picking up the pieces that were up until this afternoon, my husband. He is devastated and feels like he has let us down, them down, and himself down. I don't know how to tell him, that it is not him..........they are a bunch of.......of.............of.............well hmm.................POOPY HEADS to quote my 3 year old son and I hae to say that is a lot nicer than I want to be!

Now I am sorry this seems inapropriate and it certainly is not crafty, but I too, just like my husband am shattered. We certainly have been waiting for the other shoe to drop, but NOT like this.

MMMMM GOOD!! FO's and hand spun -------> See it?? Over there ----------->

I up loaded a flicker thingy to my page, woohoooooo. I love love love love love the way the space dyed merino pencil rovings turned out......see why I am itching to get things finished so I can knit me up some socks...........it is delisheeeeosoo! Yumm yummm




This is a baby blanket I am knitting out of Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece. It is a very sagey color and feels sooooo nice. It is going to be warm and washer friendly!










The pattern at this point is kind of boring but I can still manage to forget if it is k2tbl or just a k2tog row........












This is the hat I cast on, on Saturday. I plan on closing it up today weaving in the ends washing and blocking it....but we shall see. Then the focus will be on the blankie, and the other hat I cast on weeks ago......









Remember these ladies? You saw them in pieces a few posts back. I think it was one of the contest posts. I asked if you knew what they were.........they were the starched drying pieces of these 2 beautiful girls. Does anyone know where you can get miniture things from? I would love to have one of them holding a baby but they are only 3.5 inches tall!!!!! But look at the one on the right doesn't she look like she is gazing adoringly into a abaies eyes???? LOL Perhaps it is just me??????? The other one looks like she is destined to be holding a skein of yarn for someone! That is an easy one!

Pictureless Post

OH my goodness! I have a case of startitis. I need the cure for that, and then will someone give me a case of finishitis? I was taking stock of what I currently have on the needles and thinking that I needed to get things done, so what do I do????? I cast on yet another project.... BLAH!!!!

Currently I have on the needles:
* A pair of toe up jaywalkers done 2 at once on circs.
* A lovely sage baby blanket done on SIZE 3's!!!!!
* A beautiful aran done in cashmerino
* A Rasta style baggy beret
* my angel ornaments
* a scrap yarn blanket which is always on the needles as I just add leftover yarn to it as it comes.

Now I know this doesn't sound like much BUT I also have
* Fiber that needs to be spun (just finished this AWESOME space dyed limey violetey turquise yummy merino stuff) That I have set and drying and I CAN NOT WAIT to knit it up into some yummmmmmmmo socks! I also have the fuschia all skeined up for miss S's winter hat.
* A hooked rug idea......u wait. I have the beautiful sunset pic as my profile pic on ravelry (i am craftymomma if you care to add me) and I want to blow it up and match the oranges and blacks and do a 3x6 area rug. I have the monks cloth I just need to get the yarns. I plan to sell it, and then make myself one.....they are expensive to make but we sell them at the LYS and there are 3x5's that are selling for $890.00 YOWSERS!!!!!!!!!!!
* and don't forget about the jobs.....remember those, that is where you actually make money, but it interferes with the knitting and crafting time (DANG it all to heck!!)
* oh yeah and last but certainly not least the kids..... and there are 3 of them, they have ways of interfering with craft time too!!!! Drooling little curtain climbers they are. But dang it they are cute........me thinks god makes em' that way so we don't eat them at birth! :)
* Oh yeah and then there are the PILES of pictures waiting for spare moments to put in scarpbooks! HMMMMMMMMMMM FOCUS FOCUS!!!


So for right now I am going ot focus on

1) The blanket, friend is due in OCtober and these are size 1 needles. PAttern right now is afairly simple on as I am past the scalloped lacey bottom edge........so for 23 1/2 inches it is seed stitch 5 stitches, k4, *yo k2tog, k7* repeat till last 9 stitches k 4, seed st. 5. P 1 row then the pattern is the same except it is k2tbl, yo. That be it.....pretty boring right now.
2) The hat cause there are too many naked heads in the shop right now and they wierd me out!!! PLus it should end fairly quickly as it it is an easy knit!

Them are my priorities....oh and the kids, can't foget the kids can I???!?!!!