and they said it wouldn't last...

Today is our 16th anniversary! Here we are 16 long years ago in all our young and naive glory. Well, at least I was young and naive. DH is 18 years older than me so he was old when I met him! Sixteen years! Whew! Where did the time go?

On a somber note - we are keeping our family and friends in the South in our prayers. My niece and nephew are okay in Miami, but having a rough time. My brother and his wife are out of the country, so Sean and Megan are coping on their own. They've been without power since last Thursday, the house has flooded twice, and they're out of food and money. A tree was struck by lightning and fell in their backyard taking a power line with it. We've wired them money, but there isn't much else we can do to help them. I just wish we weren't so far away!

Please donate if you can - Red Cross.

Thank You Karen!!

Noey's Daddy walked through the door holding this package. Normally I try to beat him to the mailbox so he doesn't discover packages.....but this one was from my Secret Pal......Karen of Pink Acrylique fame! I have read her blog, even have it saved to my favorites....but never guessed she was my wonderful Secret Pal! Look at all this cool stuff!!

and this is what was inside - Children's Tea (organic and caffiene free!); a cool little book - Knitting - History, Fashion, and Great Knitting Yarns; English Scones mix - which we can't wait to try; 2 pairs of cute socks; a cute little notebook; handmade soap; and beautiful hand painted yarn.

and here's a closeup of the beautiful hand painted Kid Mohair yarn. It's just gorgeous! I've been wanting some pretty lace weight yarn to make myself either Branching Out or the Airy Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

Thank you again Karen, for such a wonderful experience. It has been so fun receiving surprises in the mail these past 3 months. Thank you for taking the time to spoil me and make me feel special!! I truly appreciate it!!

A little meme

10 years ago - DH and I were living in our new condo. We were celebrating our 6th anniversary. I was working as the Director of Materiel Management at Midway Hospital in West LA, and commuting 2 hours a day. I carried 2 beepers, 2 cell phones, and a briefcase, and thought I was very important.

5 years ago - Noey was 5 months old. I walked every morning up and down the hills of our neighborhood with Noey in the stroller. We were getting ready for Noey's baptism. We joined a Mommy and Me class. I found out what was really important in life.

1 year ago - I was getting ready for the new school year to start at Jefferson Elementary School in Redondo Beach where I worked. Noey was getting ready for her last year of preschool at Ascension Lutheran Preschool in Rancho Palos Verdes. We just finished remodeling the condo (what a nightmare!)

Yesterday - Noey and I went to my parents house in Torrance. We washed our car, and then Noey swam in her little pool while I watched and knit her tank top. Then we went to the grocery store.

Today - is our stay at home day. We'll play a little, I'll get to knit a little if I'm lucky, and later we're going to make cookies!

Tomorrow - We'll go to church in the morning. We're working in the nursery so we'll be there from 8:15 to 11:45. After that we'll probably come home and play. Later in the afternoon DH will come home and maybe we'll all go out to dinner.

5 snacks - Chocolate, Yogurt with cereal, strawberries, poptarts, bagel with cream cheese and strawberry jam

5 songs I know all the words to - The Waiting by Tom Petty, Hella Good by No Doubt, Dirty Laundry by Don Henley, Slow Dog by Belly, Beautiful Day by U2

5 things I would do with a million dollars - Buy a big house with a big yard on a tree lined street, buy a house for my parents nearby, buy all the yarn, stix, and knitting patterns & books I've ever coveted, take a trip to Europe with Noey, send DH to race car school

5 places to runaway to - Maui, Sorrento Italy, Big Sky Montana, Australia, Naples Florida

5 favorite TV shows - Judging Amy, Gilmore Girls, Crossing Jordan, NCIS, Nature

5 biggest joys - Noey, DH, my parents, my knitting, park days

Okay, so now I'm tagging Shar and Stacey.....your turn to share a little meme!

Road Trip

We headed out to Ontario Mills Mall today. Mr. Noey's Daddy took the day off to go with us. It's about a hour and a half drive so I had plenty of knitting time. We ate lunch at The Rainforest Cafe - how fun! We'd been there once about 3 years ago, but Noey didn't remember. After a little shopping, Noey spotted the Build a Bear store and talked Daddy into letting her get one.

I worked on this in the car. It's going to be a tank top for Noey. I'm calling it the French Market Tank because it is very loosely based on the beginnings of the French Market Bag I finished earlier this month. I'm using Cotton Ease in Orangeade....Noey's choice. It's pretty much my own design, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works.

My Mini Poncho is blocked and seamed, and I even finished the crochet edge, just need to weave in the ends and then I can post pics. It is really pretty, and exactly what I wanted.

KnitPicks has Wrap Style......so I ordered it! I love that KnitPicks lets you look at various pages/projects from the book. Really cute stuff. I had to meet the $30.00 minimum for free shipping so I just had to order a couple of other things as well! I finally decided to knit Clapotis after I saw that Shar is going to knit it! I'm also going to try my hand at Kool Aid dyeing after seeing how well my Secret Pal, Stacey, does with it.

An Almost Finished Object

I'm just about done with my Mini Poncho from IK Fall 2005. It's a really easy knit, took about a week of sporadic knitting. I learned a new stitch - the Purse Stitch - really pretty. I just need to seam her up and crochet a couple of flowers and she is finito.

I have so many things in the queue that I want to knit: The Airy Scarf and Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, Ribbed Bolero/Vintage Bolero, Wrist Warmers, Wild Fiber Shrug.....I just don't know what to start next. I promised my niece Megan I'd make her a Tank.....she picked out a pretty turquoise in Classic Elite Provence, so I ordered it from Webs and I guess I'll start that when it arrives.

Thanks Stephanie and Shar for your words of wisdom. I am starting to feel better about the whole Kindergarten scene. We went out today and bought a bunch of uniforms for Noey.....and of course she looks adorable in them!!

I start my new job next Thursday, and while I am looking forward to having some money, I have really enjoyed the Stay at Home Mom gig. The job is great - the hours fit perfectly with Noey's school hours, I can take a month off in the summer if I want, I can take days off if Noey has something going on at school....what more could I ask for?!

Wow! The wonders of blocking (correctly). With some advice from the Yarn Harlot's blog and my research, and after soaking her in Eucalon for about 15 minutes, she easily stretched out to the appropriate size.

Calling all Moms!

I need your help, guidance, advice, suggestions, reassurance......whatever you can offer!

My beautiful, smart, loving, kind Noey is starting Kindergarten two weeks from today! She is ready and can't wait.....I am a nervous wreck!! First of all it's a long day - 6 1/2 hours. But mainly she is such a kind and loving little soul, who is thoughtful, patient, takes turns, shares, and is full of self esteem. I'm just afraid that some other little people will hurt her feelings, walk all over her, break her spirit. (yes! I'm overly sensitive and dramatic at the moment!)

Yarn -a-palooza!

It was yarn in the morning, yarn in the evening, yarn all day long!!

First stop was The Fabulous Fiber Fest 2005 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. While is was nice enough, I wouldn't say it was fabulous. There were about 35 or so booths and at least two thirds were quilting/fabric, which actually was nice because my mom was along and she's a quilter. Most of the vendors were from out of state, so it was nice to see a different variety of stuff.

These caught my eye first .......love those vibrant colors! I could've bought tons of them. They are 100% soy silk chenille......more washcloths I think. They're made by Conjoined Creations.

This is an acrylic from Turkey - incredibly soft - another shrug for Noey. They were only a dollar a piece, so I couldn't pass them up.

This is Habu Textiles cork chenille and kasumi for a triangle scarf for moi. It's hard to see in the pic but the one on the left has flecks of blue, brown, and yellow.

The highlight of our day was a visit to Wild Fiber, also in Santa Monica. What a great store!! I could've stayed there for hours and spent thousands, but I had the 5 year old with me!! My mom actually bought me this yarn - Madil Kid Seta and Zara Plus, both for a cute Shrug pattern they gave me. I also found the mini circs there, as well as some Euculan. (and they had the Noro Silk Garden I want for Klaralund......gotta wait till I start my new job!)

I fell in love with this store and only wish it was closer. (although it's really not that far away) It just felt good to be in there. They had every kind of yarn imaginable, all arranged so beautifully. They had a nice big table where a bunch of ladies were sitting around knitting. They knew people by name when they walked in the door. They were so helpful and nice!!

And the highlight of Wild Fiber was I finally met a fellow knitting blogger, Shar. I recognized her from a picture on her blog. She is so cute and nice!!

One of my mom's friends gave her a bag of yarn for me, so we picked it up on the way home. I don't know what any of it is, but I think it's mostly synthetic.

Then when we got home I found my KnitPicks order crammed into our mailbox. The green Andean Silk and pink is for an IK poncho....although I'm not calling it that, more like a pon-shawl? I'm not sure what I'm doing with the Andean Twist, and the natural merino wool is for Kool Aid dying.

A Finished Object, The Fiber Fest and Secret Pal

The French Market Bag is finished! It is so cute and a fast knit. I finished it just in time for the Fiber Fest tomorrow! I'm hoping I'll be able to fill it with all kinds of goodies! After some quality time at the Fiber Fest we're heading over to Wild Fiber for more fiber fun!! I can't wait!

As you may have read I sent my final package of surprises to my Secret Pal and revealed my true identity! The whole SP experience has been so much fun! I enjoyed spoiling Stacey as much if not more than being spoiled myself!! My SP has been great too.....although I still don't know who she is!! Oh yeah, and I signed up for SP6!

BTW....have you seen the alligator in the news lately? Umm, well it's less than a mile from my house!!

and here's the FMB in use easily holding 4 skeins of Brown Sheep Bulky.

Hi Stacey!

Yes it's me....your Secret Pal!

Noey was in need of a little park action today, so we went to Friendship Park. Noey met a nice little girl and they pretended to be horses for hours and hours. (remember those days?) It was just beautiful today, the sky was so blue, and it wasn't too hot. So I started a new project. It's a French Market Bag. It's a pretty easy pattern and I've finished about 5 repeats now. I found the pattern here. I'm using Lily Sugar & Cream in Hot Green. I seem to be in a bag phase.

I didn't start the Gioia Scarf last night as I intended because there are a couple of things I don't understand and I wasn't up to trying to figure them out. I couldn't start the Girlfriend Swingcoat Sweater either because my printer is out of commission (long story), so I sent the pattern to my parents house, they printed it out for me, but I haven't made it over there yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Lotsa Links

First up, another finished object. This is a Cell Phone Case that I found here. I used my leftover Noro Kureyon. Another fast knit, this one took about one day total.

I have been using my Kureyon Sophie bag the last couple of days....finally a finished object I can wear out in public....other than a scarf!

This is just the cutest thing ever! I still have a little Kureyon left so I may make another one.

I finally found a pattern for the Rowan Cork my Secret Pal sent me. It's the Gioia Scarf that I found on Wendy's blog. I think it will be perfect.

While at Wendy's blog check out her Girlfriend Swingcoat Sweater. I purchased the pattern from her, and now can't decide which one to cast on!

Alone at last

The sleepover was successful and I was alone all night! (DH was working all night....hospitals never close!) So I spent the first couple of hours cleaning.....I mean really cleaning. We're talking taking the stove apart cleaning, down on your hands and knees floor cleaning. Then I basked in the cleanliness for awhile. It was surprisingly satisfying knowing the house would stay clean for more than 5 minutes! After that I once again organized the stash, re-evaluated patterns and yarn choices, and sat down to finish the Kerchief Scarf.

Well, I did finish it last night, but I'm not crazy about it for me. It turned out nice enough, I just don't think I'm a kerchief sort of person. So it has become a shawl for Noey. The pattern would make a nice adult size shawl as well, though it would be a pretty boring knit.

I call it a shawl, Noey calls it Red Riding Hood's cape!

Another WIP

I'm working on this Kerchief Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.....I love this book! (doesn't this woman look like Frida Kahlo?) I'm using LB Wool Ease in Denim Twist from my stash. It is such a simple knit and really pretty. You can't see it in my pic but the edge has an eyelet look - really cute.

I found the 8" mini circs online from WorldKnit, but they're backordered! So in a couple of weeks I'll be able to start on the wrist warmers. Like I really need them now anyway!!

Noey has requested to spend the night at Grandma & Grandpa's tomorrow night.....we'll see if it actually works this time! I am going to get my projects lined up to work on, but.......I'm not holding my breath. I will be expecting the phone to ring all night!

I finished another Sophie. This time in Noro Kureyon. I love this yarn! The striping effect is so cool. This was a quick and satisfying knit for me.

I got Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson yesterday and did my swatch last night for the Hourglass Sweater. I'm using KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Fern from my stash. Hopefully today I will find the time to cast on. There are so many cute things in this book. I need to find 8" circular needles to make the wrist warmers, and Noey wants me to make her the bunny, bear, and the elephant.

Next week is the Fiber Fest in Santa Monica. Noey, my mom, and I are going on Saturday. I can't wait!! We're also going to try to go to a cool yarn shop called Wildfiber while we're in the area.

Noey likes to model my finished objects. She asked if I was going to put this on my "blob"!

and here she is after felting. She needs a shave, but she turned out so nice!

The hat is finished

and here it is in use. Noey wore it to the grocery store today.....in the 95 degree heat!!

So much for working on it this week while Noey swims!! I started it yesterday morning and finished last night. I really didn't need a project to work on today.....Noey had a rough time at swimming lessons. She's never really been in a big pool and she was scared. I was glued to the fence (they don't let parents on the pool deck). She tried to climb out of the pool once or twice but the cute young college boy teacher grabbed her and pulled her back in. She was crying and so was I! It was rather traumatic for both of us. When we got home she crawled in bed under the covers and just laid there for a while! But the good news is she wants to go again tomorrow!

I needed another portable project, so I started another Sophie bag this afternoon. (Noey was too traumatized from swimming to go to ballet.....can you tell we're very sensitive and emotional types?!). I'm using Noro Kureyon this time and it is so pretty. I'm loving the colors and the self striping.

Finally

After too many false starts to count, I finally got the hang of DPN's. It still feels awkward to hold so many needles, but at least I'm making some progress. Although it looks like a huge sock, it's actually a hat for Noey! This yarn magically appeared in my cart while we were at JoAnn's last week. Seems Noey fell in love with it and decided she needed a hat.......made of wool......in Southern California.....in the middle of summer!! It is a really nice, soft yarn, easy to work with. It's JoAnn's Angel Hair.

So this is my new portable project. For now. I worked on it a bit at the church nursery this morning (no kids at first service) and hopefully I can work on it while Noey is at swimming lessons this week.

So if I can do this I can do socks, right? I'm hoping so because I really want to make some socks!!

Here's the latest

Another Potato Chip Scarf. This one made from JoAnn Rainbow Boucle leftover from my Feather and Fan Shawl. I cast on 100 instead of 90 stitches and I like that length better. I love the varigation of the yarn. It's so pretty! I originally thought this would be a Christmas present......I still have a ton of yarn leftover so I could make another one or two.

My Knit Round Throw is coming along nicely. I'm up to round 63. It's no longer portable, so I am in need of some smaller projects. I've got some extra knitting time coming up.....we're working the nursery at church again tomorrow, then Noey has swimming lessons everyday for the next 2 weeks! Woo Hoo! That's a lot of knitting. Guess I'll have to go through the stash of yarn and patterns and find something I can tote around with me.

I started a Buttonhole Bag at the park last Thursday, but didn't like my increases so I ripped it out. Maybe I'll start that again.

Mabel modeling the scarf for me. Everything looks good on her!

Sophie

I don't know why I haven't posted pics of Sophie before now, I finished her about 2 weeks ago. Here she is pre-felting. Love the yarn, love the color.

Felted and finished Sophie. I think it turned out good, but a little small.

My first design

I've been needing a little purse or something to carry my cell phone in at the park. I don't like taking my purse and just leaving it on the blanket when I go off to push Noey on the swings. So......I made this!

It really was a quick knit....about 3 hours total. I started last night at 10:30 and finished this afternoon at 3:30. Of course I slept, shopped, and took Noey to Grandma and Grandpa's in between.

I used Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool in 4 different colors. Pre felting it was 4.5"wide and 7.5"long with a 62" I-cord strap.

The finished bag. It's now 3.5" wide and 4.5"long. The strap is now 48" long. I ran it through the wash cycle twice.

and here's Mabel modeling it for me.

My beautiful 18 year old niece, Megan, in the OSW. Megan lives in Florida so we only see her once or twice a year, but......she will be going to UCSD!!!!! So we will (hopefully) get to see her more often. She'll be less than 2 hours away from us!! Plus she'll be near the San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, Sea World, Legoland, etc.....so we will have plenty of excuses to go see her.

Doesn't anyone knit around here?

Seriously, I have never come upon another knitter! I take my knitting pretty much everywhere I go, and if the opportunity arises, I knit. Today we went to the park in the morning, and I knit. Then we went to ballet this afternoon, and I knit. Everyone looks at me as if I'm an alien from outerspace! (or maybe it's my stunning beauty??!!) I'm starting to feel self-conscious.

I just had to post another picture of my Knit Circle Throw. (Noey calls it a "rug") It is so pretty!