She's Baaaack!

I thoroughly enjoyed my time alone last night. (although if I had known how Road to Perdition was going to end I probably would not have watched it) I've finished about 8 inches of Sitcom Chic. I'm hoping this will be my first finished wearable garment. (other than a bunch of One Skein Wonders for other people)
Truth be told, I missed my girl!! So I was happy to have her come home today. I think she missed me too because she hasn't left my side yet!

I'm gonna have to break the yarn diet and purchase some yarn! Only one skein though. Doug, (the guy who had brain surgery) has requested another hat. This time he wants dark blue, and I don't have any in my stash. Besides I need 5 and 8 DPN's to finish the sleeves on Sitcom Chic. I just hope I can resist temptation while at my LYS.

This just makes me smile. Today was Art Project Day here at Chez Noey.

Alone, at last

Yes, I am alone. ALONE! I can't even remember the last time I was alone, just me, all by myself. Noey is having a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's, and Joe is at work.

So after I cleaned up a bit, read the newspaper, and did 3 loads of laundry, I sat down to work on Sitcom Chic while watching The Pelican Brief.
I'm making pretty good progress. So far so good. It seems to be a pretty easy knit. I'm going to watch The Road to Perdition tonight so hopefully I'll get a lot more done. Two movies in one day! I haven't watched this much TV in years!

I'm Bored

with my knitting. None of my current WIP's excite me anymore. I finished the front (or back?) of Klaralund some time ago, but I don't think I want to finish it, so I will frog it soon. I have another project in mind for the 10 skeins of Silk Garden.

The Stripey Scarf has been traveling around in my knitting bag, but hasn't seen the light of day for a while. Too bad because it's almost finished.

Clapotis is about half finished and hiding at the bottom of the basket in my living room. I don't know when it might reappear.

About the only thing I've been working on lately is the YesterKnits Vintage Bolero. Man, is it tedious! I still don't get how it will go together. I keep hoping it'll come to me once it's finished.....if it indeed gets finished! Everytime I pick it up I think of how one of Noey's friends mom asked me "Why did you choose THAT color?" Well, the color actually chose me because it was in my stash, but really....it's not all that bad, is it? I have gray pants to wear with it. It could be cute!

So.....since I can't purchase any new yarn.......

I started a new project. I had completely forgotten about my Cotton Ease stash stored in my shoe closet!! I got some out for Shannon a couple of weeks ago and found a treasure trove! I need more PINK in my life, and fortunately I found enough Bubblegum for Sitcom Chic. I swatched last night, and cast on today. Lynda made one a while back, and it turned out really cute, so I thought I'd give it a try.
Speaking of my good friend, Shannon.....she tagged me the other day with the "5 Most Unusual Habits" meme. Darned if I can't come up with 5! I have been racking my brain....it's not that I'm all that normal, (just ask Joe!) it's that my mind is not all there anymore! So as soon as I come up with 4 more I will post it!!

And in Stash Busting news, I've joined Lauren's Project Spectrum. For March we are knitting something red and pink......good thing I found that Cotton Ease stash.....I found both red and pink! Now I just need to come up with something fun to knit.

My own personal Stashalong

I missed the deadline for the official Stashalong so I'm starting my own "unofficial" one! My yarn hording has gotten completely out of control, and I am broke!! The old man doesn't know this.....I have lead him to believe that I have not purchased yarn beyond my means! It has gotten so bad that I had to spend my Target gift card that I got for my birthday on groceries! Now that's bad! Everytime I see a new project on another blog I want to knit it, so I go ahead and purchase all the supplies without thinking about what I already have.

So.....I will only knit from my stash for the next......I don't know how many months! I'm going to try to keep up with the real Stashalonger's.....that would be April!
This is my organized yarn stash which occupies a nice little corner in my dining room. It is all nicely arranged by yarn type and/or project. I think this is enough yarn to last me a while!

This is the semi-organized section of my stash. I have one little corner of the couch and living room floor where I keep WIP's and soon to be WIP's.

In keeping with my new way of life, I am working on some hats from the leftover acrylic for Noey and friends' hats. I plan to donate a few to Head Huggers, but Noey has already claimed one for herself. How many hats does this kid need? (actually I will donate them all, once it's gone she will have forgotten about it.....or I'll just whip up another one)

another year older!

I had a very nice birthday! Thank you all for your birthday wishes!
Noey and I spent the day together "playing" and we made cinnamon rolls.....I thought they were for my birthday breakfast, but she decided we had to take them all over to Grandma and Grandpa's house! Then we all went out to dinner at the Soup Plantation.

We have a long tradition of giving handmade gifts in our family. (well, at least the women do!) My mom made this lovely quilted wall hanging with my initial on it. The pic is a little dark, but the green border matches my bedroom wall perfectly.
I have always loved things with my initial on them! Maybe I got it from my Grandma Leona. She had the initial "L" on everything, including the lense of her glasses! Fortunately my last name starts with "L" so I can use a lot of her "L's"!

and Noey kept up the tradition by making me this beautiful flower pot! She glued little squares of fabric on to the pot in a patchwork design. The little sign says "I love you Mommy!"

I finished another hat! I think I'm addicted to hats now. Funny, because I'm not a hat person! But I really like knitting them. This one is for a guy that works for my husband. He just had brain surgery and has a bald head now, but he's doing well and is back at work.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

to ME! Yes, today is my birthday. One of my favorite days of the year! It used to be that today was my all time favorite day, but now March 16 is my favorite. (Can you guess who's birthday that is?)

I had planned to sleep in today, but Noey woke me up bright and early today by saying "It's your birthday today, Mama!" Who can resist that?!

My mom sent us an invitation inviting us all to the Soup Plantation tonight to celebrate. (one of the few places we can all enjoy....Noey is picky, I'm on a diet, Joe is a vegetarian)
Megan sent me these pictures in my birthday card. She is quite the photographer. She's actually using my old Pentax camera, and she develops and prints the pictures in a lab on the UCSD campus. She won several photography awards last year when she was in high school.

Noey showing us how old she is......five and a half!

I've been tagged!

For the first time ever!

shizzknits tagged me with this little meme: (thank you!)

4 Jobs You Have Had In Your Life:

Ice cream scooper at Swenson's

Business Office Manager

Director, Materiel Management

Teacher

4 Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:

Yours, Mine, and Ours (the old version)

Out of Africa

North by Northwest

To Catch a Thief

4 Places You Have Lived:

Denver, Colorado

Slidell, Louisiana

Eugene, Oregon

PVP, California

4 TV Shows You Love To Watch:

CSI; Miami

Law & Order; Criminal Intent

Crossing Jordan

Nature

4 Places You Have Been On Vacation:

London

Paris

Rome

Sydney (my favorite!)

4 Websites You Visit Daily:

Bloglines (this will have to count as 4 as it's the only site I go to every day!)

4 Of Your Favorite Foods:

Chicken

Yogurt

Apples

Chocolate

4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now:

Snorkeling in Hawaii

San Diego

London

Sorrento, Italy

4 Bloggers You Are Tagging:

Tracey

Shar

Lynda

Karen

Noey likes to sneak into my pictures. Here she is with her bear with one of the chairs I finished. We bought a set of six of these chairs unfinished 2 years ago. (yes TWO years ago!) At the time I thought it would be a fun little do-it-yourself project to stain them myself, I wanted to match our dining table. Well, let me tell you.....we sat on them for 2 years unfinished!! I could never muster up the courage or the time to finish them. So over the Christmas break I took them all over to my parent's house and my dad helped me finish them. I have to say they turned out pretty good!
Just a couple more things to finish and I'll officially call the remodel OVER!!

Okay...this is CUTE!

It's hard to get a good shot of this little cutie, but it turned out really nice. I used Koigu KPPPM, one skein, in colorway P143. It's called the Celebration Baby Hat by Knitting at Knoon. Pretty easy, but tedious. I'll mail if off to Isabella tomorrow.

Are baby's heads really that small?

Gosh, I hope it fits! It looks so little! It's 14 inches around the bottom.....if I really stretch it I can get it on Noey's head! So that should fit a baby, right?
It has an eyelet row around the top, and an I-cord will be drawn through it to pull up the top. (this picture is actually an upside down view) It took a lot longer than I thought. After I whipped out all those hats for Noey's friends, I figured this would be a breeze! Tiny needles (size 3) and fingering weight yarn make for a long process!

Here's another view with my china hutch in the background. I just thought it was a cool shot. I collect FiestaWare and vintage pottery. My dad made the hutch for me after I saw one in a magazine.
My grandmother bought a lot of FiestaWare in the 40's as her everyday dishes. She left it to me when she passed in 1993 at the age of 93. I use the plates and bowls as my everyday dishes, some of the other pieces (like the yellow pitcher) are just for show!! and I think of my grandmother every day!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We started the New Year out by watching the Rose Parade in the cozy comfort of our living room. It has been wet, wet, wet here the last couple of days, but today is bright and sunny! You can read all about us Californians not being able to cope with the rain on Wendy's and Lynda's blogs. It's true! We can't deal with fashion or driving when it rains! Which is actually quite strange, since it rains quite a bit here!

Noey and I are off until January 9, and it has been a whirlwind of activity around here the last 2 weeks. I've managed to finish a couple of items (see below) and have gotten back to a few WIP's. I've been diligently working on the Vintage Bolero, and the Stripey Scarf. I am resolved to finish up all my WIP's before I start anything new! and believe me I have a ton of new projects in the wings! Although as soon as my latest order comes in I will drop what I'm doing and start on a hat for baby Isabella! My friend Michael (the one I made the baby blanket for) and his wife had Isabella in early December. I ordered some Koigu in a pretty pink colorway as soon as I heard the news, but I guess with the holidays, shipping has been delayed. My package (including a couple of goodies for moi!) should arrive today or tomorrow.

The other project taking up my time these days is our house. Two years ago we did a major remodel, and although the "big stuff" was complete over a year ago, the "small stuff" just never got done. So I've been working like a fiend to get it done before my vacation is over. I've been painting, cleaning, painting, packing, painting, shopping, and painting.

Thank you all for your kind comments about My Family! Some day I will have to tell you more of the Story of Noey! You know you won't have to twist my arm......I could talk about that child all day!

I just love this little purse! I made it using the Rowan Cork my first Secret Pal gave me. (thanks Karen!) I only used one and a half the three skeins she gave me, so I could make another one, or something else! I used the Stitch n Bitch Chinese Charm Purse pattern, and the flower is from Handknit Holidays.

I've been wanting fingerless mitts, so I made a pair using LB's Moonlight Mohair. The pattern itself is fine, but I guess the yarn makes them a little bulky. I tried to shrink them a little but that didn't help either. I found a beautiful carmel colored crochet sweater at Robinson's May while out en masse the day after Christmas, and I wanted these mitts to go with it.

This is what I had in mind for my two ornament exchanges.....but I couldn't get the hang of the sequins in time!! I finally figured it out....who knew sequins could stump me? I gave one to my parents and kept the other.