Chris gone again, but Aimee is here.

Hello everyone.

I know it's been awhile. I can't blog for long, but I wanted to say happy blogiversary to me.

Mike and Dan have left and I am a putz

Mikey and Dan have left. A bit depressed over that. I tried to convince them that they could live in my pocket, but they wouldn't believe me. We do love those two so.

The baby was really starting to warm up to them toward the end as well. It was delightful to see. I have a photo album set up of their visit for those who want to her cuteness and the guys themselves.

In other news, I almost destroyed my computer with a knitting needle. I had started a sock on dpns and was picking up the free dpn to start the next round. It was late, and I fumbled, and the damn needle disappeared. We tore up the area around my computer to try to find it. No luck.

Just as I was planning another trip into Warner Robbins, site of the nearest mall. I hear Chris snicker. He points out to me my dpn sticking out of the one of the little holes that provide ventilation for my computer.

So I'm a putz. But I have been knitting socks, and that makes me a genius!

Wonderful weekend and sheep wrap tips

We have Mikey and Dan down for the weekend. Right now, Chris is showing them the farm while feeding cows. I have been assured that they will have a good time. In the mean time I've been trying to check my email while Freesia drives me nuts.

I did finish the Tawanda for Dan. It is a bright purple scarf/shawl called a sheep wrap. It is pretty easy with the right application of stitch markers. I placed a stitch marker on both sides of the center stitch then added one on either side every 25 stitches. It really helped the wrap go quicker because I wasn't constantly recounting.

Well, must go feed the monst... uhm, Freesia. Yeah, that's what I meant.

Weird and creepy

So on the Chris front, we compromised. What can I say he is a tribble. Then it turns out the people we were going to invite over couldn't make it. Go figure.

But today's post is about something else. Something I haven't really felt comfortable writing about until I saw this week's post on Raising Violet at babycenter.com. There are times I feel somewhat uncomfortable with how much I love Freesia.

Let me rephrase. There are times when I feel uncomfortably in love with Freesia, like romatically. I'll be holding her, and she'll kiss me and give me a hug. I'll return it in kind and snuggle her close, and realize that I'm breathing in her smell and it's making my heart beat a little harder. Then I feel kind of icky as I realize that it's the same thing I do when I hug Chris.

Violet's mom (can't remember her name) goes on to say she had heard about how the mother/child relationship can feel romantic before she gave birth but she never understood it. I had heard the some of the same, but never realized what it would mean.

So there are times that I really do feel slightly out of whack when I'm playing with Freesia and I do something that sparks those emotions. I would never harm her that way, but it's like the potential is there. Or rather, if I were a different person who had that tendency, I might be tempted. It does change how I feel about other's playing with Freesia. I'm always watching for something inappropriate. I can see why there was that push during the middle of the twentieth century for mother's not to hold their children.

Completely stupid, since children need to be held and played with, but I can see why men felt uncomfortable about it.

But that's an entirely different post. Thanks for listening.

Wow! I'm so steamed.

I love my husband, I really do, but sometimes he just says the wrong thing, and I just want to kill him. Today, he made a snarky comment when I told him I had planned on us doing some of the heavier cleaning that hadn't gotten done yet on Sunday. So I told him fine. He could do what he wanted, but I was cleaning that day. I didn't care what he was doing, and if he wanted to have people over, I would just clean around them tool.

Sometimes I just really want to kill something. Anything. I know that I make most of the plans around here, but that's because Chris lives in a house that doesn't have drawers.

Okay, let me explain. Chris can be unpacking a box, or cleaning off a surface, and he'll start to look at something. He'll spend twice the time it took him to unpack or pick up the piece of paper/book/magazine/plate/shiny thing looking at it, then he'll put it down on a shelf, back on the surface he found it on (like our dining room table), or back in the box because the place its going isn't ready yet.

We have guests coming people, and I really want to be able to eat at my dining room table. Freesia is getting too big for her high chair.

So I told him, he can do what he wants. I don't care. But I'll be cleaning. And if he thinks I'm going to just clean around him, then he's got another thing coming.

Just a FYI

My knitting web album is up, and I'll be adding some code to the site that hopefully will allow you to see the pictures at the bottom of the page, or the side bar, I haven't decided yet.

Oh, my goddess!

For a moment, blogger forgot I had switched over this blog. I fought for a good twenty minutes to get this blog back. Whew!

Anyway, things are moving apace here. We will be doing some X-mas shopping this evening, but I'm afraid that for the most part, not many people will be getting toys. I need to talk to Chris but we will probably be sending an email to the relevant people letting them know not to get us anything this year, since we won't be able to reciprocate.

Especially since I'm not doing the late X-mas gift thing this year. I do plan to knit some things for myself next year. I have my eyes on a shawl, and possibly a hat to match. As well as a wrap shirt from Big Girl Knits.

Well, that's all for now, cause Freesia is demanding I attend her :D.

A new format for a new year.

I finally let myself be talked into the new Blogger beta. I don't know if I like it, but I do like anything that will allow me to tag posts without all the coding. I hate coding.

In other news, I've started Tawanda--Mikey knows what I mean. There may eventually be pictures. And as for pictures, I finally found a way to upload pictures to the web without my dial up clunking out on me. Check out the side bar, or click here.

Anyway, just updating to let everyone know what's up. Expect a knitting album to show up there sometime soon.

So now the month is over

And I'm sure you have all been waiting with bated breath. Well, I didn't make it. My novella is 33,909 words. It is actually a complete story, but we did fall short by over 15k words. Still it's the longest thing I've ever written, and I think it's turned into a fairly solid horror novel. It still needs a lot of work, but I'm thinking after say two or three drafts, I might have something worth sending around.

In the knitting arena, I actually got around to knitting a couple of teddy bears. One went to Killian, my newest nephew, and the other will be going into the toys for tots program. And in other news my spinning table/wheel is almost done. It's a modified treadle sewing machine we found in one of the chicken houses they use for storage here on the farm. And speaking of the farm, I've got some pictures I'm giong to try uploading, but apparently this takes hours with a dial up connection. I'll try later tonight or this weekend.

Anyway, y'all take care.

Well still writing

I actually caught up a bit with myself. I did an extra day's work yesterday, so I'm only two days behind.

But enough about that. Can anyone say, "Woot, go Democrats?"

Bad writers don't get cookies

I didn't write last night. Not for any particular reason, just got distracted by several things. Also, I'm afraid to look at my word count calculator, since I'm now a total of three days behind.

I'm also really kind of disturbed by my novel. Can a writer get too grossed out by their own novel?

Reasurrances are welcome.

So still trucking along

So the word count is currently at around 5700 words for the NaNoWriMo. Originally, this novel was supposed to be a scifi novel, but I scrapped everything on the second day and started over. The idea is actually something that has been running around in my head for awhile, so I'm hoping that everyone who reads it will enjoy it, even though I haven't actually done a back story for it, and have no idea how long it's actually going to be. I'm giong to try to limit it at 50,000 since that is essentially what the process is about. I can always add in stuff later if I need to.

Well, I have to go. I've put myself on an internet diet so that I won't spend time I could be writing aimlessly wondering.

See ya later, kiddies.

Nanowrimo and other things

Well, I haven't posted in awhile I know, but I did want to wait until I got a picture of the person I gave the sheep wrap I knitted too. But it looks like that is hit or miss, so I thought I would talk about Nanowrimo instead.

I had a perfectly good idea. Solid sci fi story complete with back story that I completely ditched on day 2. So I have 38oo words of a horror story going, and at least I'm not far behind, don't ya know.

Well, it's late, I'm about to go to bed as soon as Return of the King is over.

Take care out there in web land.

Arrgggh! Where is the yarn?

So the front room actually looks like a living room now. No boxes, and everything squared away. However, after a couple of days of neglect, the kitchen is a war zone. It won't take long to get it squared away, however.

Now I just need to find the yarn. I can't believe I haven't unpacked it yet. With temperatures dropping, I was going to knit Freesia some leg warmers so she could still wear her dresses along with some felted booties for to wear in the morning to keep her feet warm.

I also have some socks I was going to knit for my dad, and a few other things, but now I can't find my yarn. It is somewhere in the depths of the walk in closet that we have yet to excavate. I know my wool is there--it's driving me crazy. Especially since I found a pattern for a teletubby doll, and Freesia loves the teletubbies.

Oh, goddess, what am I going to do when the only project that is accessable to me is done? I'm going to go into knitting overload, or unpacking overload. One or the other.

So let us try this again, or Wavy Scarf pattern take two

I've tried once today to post this pattern to Blogger, but there was some sort of snafu. Well, we'll just try again, yah?

This is a pattern for what I call Wavy Scarf. I knitted it for my dad last Christmas, but I don't think I posted the pattern here. Basically, by using two different weights of yarn, you creat a three dimensional fabric that has waves in it. I will warn you that selvage stitch (slipping the first stitch in every row) does not do anything to control the curling.

Materials:
2 skeins of bulky weight yarn A(I used Lamb's Pride bulky in one of their shades of blue)
2 skeins of worsted weight yarn B(I used Lamb's Pride worsted in gray)
Size 11 needles, or needles to give you the gauge you like for a scarf

Cast on holding yarn A and yarn B together. Next purl a row holding the two yarns together. Then follow the following pattern:

(Rows 1 and 2) Knit one row with A; purl one row with A.
(Rows 3 and 4) Knit one row with B; purl one row with B.
(Rows 5 and 6) Knit one row with A and B together; purl one row with A and B together.

Continue those six rows until the scarf is as long as you want it to be, twisting the yarn strands around each other up one side (this will not be noticeable unless inspected by a fellow knitter) to carry the excess yarn up to the appropriate row. I found it easier to bind off on 5 instead of 6, but that just depends on what edge you want to leave.

Add fringe in the usual way if you wish.

I'm so about to get into trouble

If you read bloggingbaby.com, you may have seen a blurb about Brown University's decision that they need to "atone" for the part it played in the slave trade many many years ago. Uhm, I don't get it.

No one at that university was even alive before the Civil War. What do they have to "atone" for? Do they feel bad because part of the money that built it came from trading slaves? Well, that's fine, but "atonement" only means anything when the people directly involved repent.

So really this is just a publicity stunt by some people who don't even realize how transparent they are. In the words of Mr. Dennis Leary, "www.what-the-fuck.com?"

Drive by crossbowshooting? and other things

At Letters to Myself, Jon reported on an article about a Little Rock, AK, man who in the middle of a road rage used a crossbow to try and kill a fellow motorist. BTW, he's being charged with a terrorist act instead of assault with a deadly weapon. I would love to be a fly on the wall of that courtroom.

Jon also brought up carseats. Jeeze, those things are such a racket. We bought a conversional car seat for less than $100 that will last until Freesia is approximately 3 years old. For those not in the know, a conversional car seat can be set up with a baby facing the back of the vehicle or with the toddler facing forward. Of course, you can't take it out of your car to carry your kid around in, so a lot of people get the click in/out kid carry thingies that only last for maybe eight to twelve monthes. Then you are stuck buying another car seat.

I got to go, dinner is waiting to be cooked.

Well, what do ya know?

I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year. And I have three ideas I'm going to backstory for 11/1.

In other news, the baby is teething, or just going through the terrible twos or both. I'm not sure anymore. I do know that I have to start getting more sleep if I'm going to be able to drive in the mornings. Which I'm going to have to be able to do, since the baby's nap is in the afternoon, and she needs her vaccinations this month.

Oh, and Chris got a ticket for our tag being out of date. I can't believe I forgot. It must be because of the move and everything. So now we have to pay for our tag and the ticket. Well, that will just have to be at the end of the month, since we have several bills to pay already.

I wish I knew when it ends, ya know? On, the upside, we should be caught up with all of our regular bills next month. A little woohoo for us, ya?

But money aside, I think we are finally finding our rural legs, as the saying goes. The seed cleaner is finally kind of slowing down, and our lives are finally starting to fall into a routine. Hopefully, it is one we can keep when the seed cleaner starts up again. As much as I hate eating without Chris, it's not fair to the baby to make her wait.

And that's another habit we are trying to break. We want to start calling Freesia by her name or by "little girl" so that when we do have our next child, she won't have that whole "but I'm the baby" thing going on.

Well, Chris's lunch hour is almost over with, and I need to start getting Freesia down for her nap.

Take care, everyone!

A new look!

I'm sure you've noticed the new look. Well, I'm horrible at that ABC along, and I couldn't keep up with my charity challenge this year. So, I decided use a new template and start from scratch.

Especially since I finally got my computer reformatted again. Of course, then I spent several hours downloading things for my computer since I have a dial up connection. However, our computer is running so much better, I can hardly believe it.

Chris has been really impressed with how the computer has been doing. He can finally read his comics in the morning without all those annoying pop ups and mal ware in the background.

Well, I'm off to bed. Take care everyone.

Back in web land!!!!

Hurrah!!! We are internet capable again. We are moved in, and we are now officially getting used to the good life.

It's great. Chris walks to work every morning, comes home for lunch, and Freesia has a front yard to play in. I finally have time to read and work on my writing as much as I like.

Of course, housework is still something of an issue, but hey, no life is perfect.

Packing!!!!!!!!!!!

So, no money, but lots of packing. We are stretched to the limit, and as you know, I hate that. Also, I hate packing. Hubby loves it. He loves to find stuff that he thought he lost.

So far the only thing I'm losing is my hair. Oh, and I'm developing a nervous twitch of scratching my scalp til it bleeds.

In other news, the Linux machine that I got for my time at Free ITAthens is working pretty good. I think it'll make a nice little work horse.

I'm sorry everything is so disjointed. I don't know where I am really--my head I mean. Physically, for the next two weeks we will be dividing our time between here and the farm. Mentally, I need some time to decompress. Which is what I'm doing, I guess. Anyway, take care out there. It will probably be another month until you hear from us on our clunky dial up.

Did I just say dial up? Oh, goddess, this might not be such a good idea.

So it's been awhile

And it is very late. The baby is finally sleeping--she is teething like it's her job or something. This is just a quick update to let you know I live, the baby is fine, hubby is still a tribble, and that we are moving in three monthes.

Yes, we are going quality of life and moving back to hubby's family's farm to take part in the family business. And there will be gardens of veggies, grass for the baby, and maybe I can convince my father in law to raise a few sheep, ya know just for the look of the thing :D.

Oh, and my hubby's "honey-do" list keeps getting longer and longer. And the upshot--I'll be a real stay at home mom, no more of this part time crap.

I'm going to sleep now. See ya again soon.

So you thought I was gone?

Hah! Never. I am never gone, only small. Sorry, feeling a bit existential today. I'm also like completely like boggled over the fact that I had enough time to blog. Must send husband and daughter out to get the oil changed more often.

So updates--everyone has to drop by Letters to Myself (check list on the side). Jon and his wife just had an adorable little boy, and after some small complications, I think everyone is home. Oh, and by the way, Jon, yes, children really do put out sleep waves.

Also, for those who may be wondering why there are no pictures of the baba lately--I give you two reasons--teething and work.

I have to make this short. But you may want to check back here often, things could be changing pretty quickly.

Post at DotMoms

I've been told that the post at DotMoms is not immediately evident, and after going to the site, it isn't. The link is http://roughdraft.typepad.com/dotmoms/2006/06/readers_write_a.html.

Have fun!

So, I was a bit maudlin

And send out an all call for our beloved Alexandra. Which lead a commenter to ask about her. Well, she was the type of person who would give you the shirt off her back if she had one. She was no saint, but then again she could act saintly. She was a fabulous mom.

I'm assuming that she is still all of those things, but a year can change you. C'est la vie.

On another topic, a piece of mine got published at DotMom.com (June 9th). It generated a lot of comment. I'd link to it, but it's late and I'm lazy.

I'm also very tired. I'm having problems with insomnia again. Send sleep waves my way, o.k.?

Dear Alex

How are you? How is the weather out in LaLa Land? At least, that's where I think you are. I haven't heard from you in a year. I pray every day that you are safe, my Alexandria Rose. Even now, Chris, Aimee, or I say at least once a week, if Alex were here... or what would Alex think/do.... And what would you do, my darling?

I miss you so much. I haven't gotten an answer from your yahoo account in almost eight months. I no longer have your phone number, because we had to change batteries in our cordless, and it wiped the memory.

We are still here, same bat time, same bat channel. I'm working part time and mothering full time. Chris has changed over to a third shift schedule so he had have a better change of sleeping without the baby interrupting him. Aimee is still trying to get a teaching job, and if she can't get one through TAPS, she is going to go back to school next spring.

I tried to google one of your online alias, but I couldn't find anything under axykatt that was current. Every entry is months old.

I worry for you. You are my heart's sister. And while I love Aimee just the same, there were two, now there is one. And Aimee is not you. She is wonderful, but not you. She is lovely and beautiful, but not you. She is all that you are, but from another angle and viewpoint. She is beloved, but she is not you.

In another lifetime, you and I would not be so distant. Instead of Christopher's name beside mine, it would have been yours. But I wasn't what you needed. Chris and I together weren't what you needed. And when you left, I smiled and waved goodbye, then took to my bed for a day.

I never thought I would loose track of you the way I did the rest of my childhood and adolescence.

I love you.
I miss you.

I would feed you canned peaches and cottage cheese, even though it disgusts me.
I worry for you.
There are few who know how to take care of an axykatt.

Please, if you know where she is, or have seen her, let her know there is a turtle trying to catch up.

With all my love,
A'tuin aka Brandy aka Turtle aka Turtlish

Wow...

... Just intimate I might be in danger and suddenly everyone comments. Not that I am in danger. We live in a pretty safe part of town. I'm more likely to be disturbed by a party than by anything else, even during the May break.

We're doing okay here. I'm still getting used to being the only one who can soothe the baby at night, but I think things are going alright.

Money is still a problem, but it will be until gas prices go down, or Chris's raise comes through, or both. We won't know until after this week's paycheck.

But hey, we're alright, ya know? We are getting used to our new schedule, and we think that we may be able to get the oldsmobile fixed--the one with the transmission problem. But more on that later.

On the knitting front, I'm working on several gifts right now. Charity knitting is taking a back seat right now.

Pictures are coming soon, I promise :D. I just need to find the time. But for right now, there is a munchkin that needs to be tickled.

Take care, everyone!

The stuff ...

... and the thing, as my hubby says. It has been jumping here at chez A'tuin. My husband is moving to the night shift, so I've dug out the old baseball bat and machete and placed them at strategic places within the apartment. Not that we actually have anything to rob, but it makes me feel better.

Also, lots of knitting being done, but not the gift knitting--sock knitting. Socks keep ambushing me at every turn. I'll cast on for a pair and an a couple of hours later, I'll be like, whafuck is going on, man? How did I get to a heel flap? I was knitting my mom's bag wasn't I?

My green project for Project Spectrum is coming along, and I really do have lots of photos to post, just no time to upload. I promise, as soon as the sky stops falling and the baby stops teething, I'll catch up on pics and -alongs.

BTW, a word to the any would be jokesters or thieves who read this blog. Yes, I really do have a machete, and yes, I do know how to use it.

In laws ride to the rescue and yarn harlotry by yours truly

So my mother in law has ridden to the rescue over the fuel pump issue our van is having. She says that we should save our favors from other relatives and let her take care of this.

This proves that my mother in law is really a great person, despite the character flaw of being a morning person with a snore you can hear through a building. And I can prove it too you.

A friend of her, or my sister in law--not sure which, was moving to Singapore and wanted to give me her yarn stash. My mother in law shipped it to me herself, instead of my having to pay to have it shipped. She also shipped it as a surprise.

So we eventually get this box that used to hold several reams of paper, that she has told us to be on the look out for but didn't tell us what was inside. And inside was several skeins of Red Heart acrylic nestled in with so many skeins of Lion's Brand Molinare (in several different scrumptious colors) that my heart almost exploded. For those that don't know, Molinare was an acrylic mohair from like the eighties. I almost couldn't touch the stuff.

You know what this glorious super fuzzy three ply said to me as I petted it and sighed as my husband called to thank my mother in law. It said linings. It said hat linings, and mitten linings. It tried to whisper to me of sock linings, but I managed to get the lid back on the box.

I currently cast on an experiment for the hat linings tonight, because I couldn't sleep.

It's silly, but I was too happy to sleep. I've been so depressed over that stupid van that all I've wanted to do was sleep, and after staring at the ceiling for about four seconds, I just had to do something for someone else, so I cast on this hat. Even if the lining doesn't work for this pattern, I'll still have a finished hat out of it for Dulaan. And I have like three other patterns that I think will do.

All the proof you need that she is a wonderful woman. Oh, and aside from sending me yarn, she is paying to have our van fixed.

Even when I think it can't get worse...

... I am reminded. We have some problems. I'm not sure if we'll be able to pay our rent. I don't know when our van will be fixed. But it isn't this. My life isn't being lived in a war zone.

I want to thank everyone who sent us well wishes (all one of you, but I get them psychically, ok), but what I really want you to do, what would make me feel better, is if everyone who reads this entry, follows the link to that blog and leaves a comment.

She and her people need all our well wishes, and to be honest, I feel a bit petty for bellyaching over our problems when Lailaumyousef is having problems buying bread for her son because of the "diet" that Israel is imposing.

I'm feeling better...

...sort of. I wish my mom didn't try to solve my problems for me. Her point of view is drastically different from mine. I understand her worry comes from a place of love, but her expression of that worry has all the tact of a raging hippo.

That out of the way--I finished a sock. That actually did wonders for my self esteem after my mother's lecture on how I should be using my education without actually using those words. Is it my fault I didn't realize that I didn't actually want to be an engineer until I tried to get an actual job as one.

No one told me I would have to sign off at least three years of my life for most consulting firms. I'm sorry I can't live like that.

Sorry, I honestly didn't mean to blog about this. I meant to blog about the sock. It's purple and its for Freesia. It has the cutest lace pattern in the cuff, and when I post the picture, I'll post the link to the pattern. The only problem is I'm using metal needles size two, and the yarn is from Brown Sheep, Cotton Fine. Very splippery and I really do need bamboo for this yarn, but I've decided to forge ahead with the aluminum.

And to those who might want to make a donation to the Hunt-Smith poor fund, leave a comment, and I will get back to you :D.

So, I'm mostly caught up. Now what?

Well, the van broke down today. That means that one vehicle is running but needs $2000 worth of work. The van is capute, unless Chris can get it running. That means that we are twice as dependent on a vehicle that may go belly up at any moment. Anyone out there willing to dump $2000 in my pay pal account?

LATE: Project Spectrum: March

These were actually finished on time, I have just been lazy about blogging. What do you think of these cute cherry beauties?

G is for Georgia

I am a Georgia native. That seems to mean two things to most people--peach trees and tractors, so viola! That tractor is actually a mail box, and if you knew how far I had to go to get those photos, I think you might be very surprised.

Needless to say these pictures where taken in south Georgia, which is more rural, than north Georgia, where we reside. I actually do have some pictures from around here, but I'm saving them for my H post.

I am a terrible blogger.

I realize that. I know this and yet I still commit to stuff like abc a longs and stuff like Project Spectrum. In other news, the baby is a year old now and thinks that having the car seat turned around is too cool for words if she did speak in a recognizable language.

In other other news, we are finally mostly healthy. The pollen count seems to be falling, and the baby is less snotty than usual. Our collective bowels are finally getting over the GI virus the baby passed along to us.

Be prepared for lots of pictures coming up this weekend. They are already picasa'ed and ready for uploading.

Knitting Update, Part One

Hello all,

This is going to be an update on the knitting I'm doing for myself and other people in my life--not charity. That's the next part. Sorry the next couple of posts are going to be really picture intensive.


This fine looking gentleman to the right is my dad, and he's wearing the scarf I knit him for X-mas. This is the one I'm currently trying to get the pattern posted at the knitting vault. As soon as I do, I up date on that and provide a link.

The picture below is my darling girl in her very harlot poncho. This is a design by the Yarn Harlot that is available on her website. It's super easy, and I have to say very fun to knit.

Of course, there will be more knitting pictures later. See ya then.

As babily possible?

This has become my life in a lot of ways. I no longer do things as fast as humanly possible--it's babily possible now. The baby dictates all. I don't think my mom, and other who are too numerous to name, really realize that.

I know some think that babies should be on this really rigorous schedule, but I've never been able to manage it with Freesia. As she has grown older and napped less, schedules have become more rigid and more important, but still a lot of things are still done on her schedule.

I don't wake the baby from a nap because it's bad luck. It sort of guarantees that the rest of the day is a wash. She hates it. I hate it. It is badong for those in the know.

Anyway, thought I would explain the new addition to my vocabulary.

I am so behind...

... on my blogging! Yes, my project spectrum pieces are finished, and I'm about to cast on for the next piece in hazard orange fingering weight. There are pictures that were supposed to go out last week and didn't.

First, work explodes, then the baby is teething, now the baby is not teething and work goes from overwhelming to just right. So I should be doing a major knitting update before the end of the week.

In other news, no one wants to take me on about my previous posts. Which is probably good. I was PMSing when I wrote them. However, I stand by my point.

More thoughts on MIM

Sorry, I just got through going through all the comments that MIM has gotten in the last few days. And I have to say two things.

1. Anonymous and obviously fake email address and websites are the lowest of the low. If bloggers are honest enough to let it all hang out, then trolls should at least leave us a forum to comment back to them. That being said--I will find a way around troll comments--maybe Dan the computer god will help. Hmmmm....
2. If the people who responded to MIM's posts can be construed as a fair sample of the technically literate in this country, then I know why it's been so hot in this handbasket. My goddess, people, do you really think that one simple post about appearance and its effect on relationships is worth so much drama? The very attention paid to it shows how important it seems to be. If you didn't care, you wouldn't feel the need to comment.

What is so damn wrong in this country? Three monthes ago, I stumped my new family doctor. He said that my blood pressure is fine, my glucose was back to fine after the birth of the baby, and there is nothing wrong with my glands. Aside from a trick knee from a car accident in my youth, a slightly increased heart rate (not much, I can still donate blood), and a touch of IBS, I am in perfect health. Here is the kicker, I weigh about 330 lbs. And before anyone busts a gut, I've weighed that since before my husband married me.

There is no medical reason for my obesity. I eat what my husband does (180 lbs), and when I'm working (my work is seasonal), I lose about ten to twenty lbs. No more, no less. I can't seem to break the 300 lbs barrier.

So if I'm healthy, and my regular exercise keeps my weight steady, why is it such a big deal? It shouldn't be. The only people it is a big deal to is my doctor and my mother.

And now possibly you. So can you tell me why it matters? Why does it matter to anyone out there that I have a loving husband, and wonderful child, and I am overweight?

The MIM issue, or will you please clean out your ears!

I don't know about you, but I read until the end of a post. I read every word in a post. I construct them into to sentences and paragraphs, and there fore understand what the writer is conveying.

Apparently, I am a rare bird in the blogosphere. Evidence is provided by the Morphing into Momma blog. MIM posted a piece about a class she was taking. Basically, the debate was about what being comfortable in a relationship means to different people. Her point in this debate was that a spouse should consult their partner before making drastic changes to their appearance. That a spouse's likes and dislikes should be taken into account after marriage as well as before.

Somehow weight became the thing that her fellow students glommed onto to pick apart her argument. Their point being that no man should tell his wife to lose weight. MIM agreed and rebutted by saying she didn't say it was about weight gain or about husband/wife roles. She further pointed out that drastic changes in appearance can be an indication of depression/stress/etc., but she also tried to pull it back to basic premise--attractiveness is based on image. And one should consult with one's life partner before changing that image.

MIM also backpedaled to explain that weight gain due to illness/age was not what she was talking about. She was talking about changes to personal appearance that were controllable.

I don't know about anyone else, but when someone I love radically changes their appearance, I become concerned. Mostly because in my experience, this is a control issue. When my husband shaved his head, after growing his hair out for two years, at midnight, I asked him if he was okay. He said that he was and that he was going to load the dishwasher. I told him that he was taking the next day off and to call in before going to bed. Our baby was 1 1/2 months old and was refusing to sleep. I sat down with her and finally got her to sleep while Chris called in sick and we slept in the next morning. He went off to the rpg game store and hung out there for awhile and returned much better.

I don't know about you but I recognized the signs of an impending wiggin from my hubby and nipped it in the bud.

I hope that this clears up some of the absolute stupidity going on out there over this post. Yeah, that's right I called everyone who made such a big deal out of post they probably only skimmed through, if that, stupid. Oh, and I hope you do comment. Unlike MIM, I love to fight, and for every ugly comment I get, I'll give one right back.

I think it's horrible that she has had to turn off the comment feature on her blog. I think that everyone who didn't really read what she said and then commented like the half assed baboons they are should have their keyboards taken away.

BRING IT ON, ASSHOLES! COMMENT AWAY!!!!!

In transition

I know I have a lot of knitting blogging to catch up on, which I'm in the process of taking the pictures for as we speak.

But I have to make something known. A realization that I had.

Nothing is infinite.
Everyone is in transition from one state to another.
We began dying from the moment we stopped maturing.

Stop reading this and take a walk. It is spring time for goddess sake.

Rejection from Far Sector SFFH

So after many days, Far Sector finally got in touch with me to say thanks but no thanks. I think they sent a form letter, but I'm not sure. There is this:

"While readers here appreciate what’s strong about your work, we feel the work is
not a match for our current editorial needs. That in no way is a critique of your
work’s quality, and we hope you don’t feel too let down."

So, is that something they added, or do they say that to everyone? Am I insane to obsess about it? Does it mean that 235 Hark Lane needs another, tighter rewrite before it goes back into the cold cold world?

Can someone please explain the world to me?

But we don't give up, no matter what the world says. Someone out there will like this story. We sends it out again, precious.

How nerdy are you?

I'm nerdier than She Who Reads!

So its been awhile, redux

Yeah, so now that I'm caught up on the ABC along blogging, now I need to get caught up on the charity knitting blogging, and the just usual blogging.

I have a lot of catching up to do, so expect some changes soon. I promise.

Oh, in other news, I have an essay up at Associatedcontent.com. So please, click the link to my content producer page and rate it. I would appreciate it.

F is for ...

Freesia! My darling flower child. Be careful this is going to be a picture intensive post.



Isn't she the most beautiful baby in the entire world? The last year of my life has been all about her, and I can't think of anything else better to be about.

E is for ....

EATING! I am a big girl and I love to eat. However, rather than posting a picture about me, I thought I would post a picture of the baby eating.


Look at her go at it. I am so self conscious when I eat, that I usually eat very fast, which isn't good for you. I have a multitude of food issues that span eating in public to eating in front of family to eating in from of in laws, that I'm not going to go into at the moment.

I just want to look at this picture and realize that my daughter is healthy, if a little greedy. You may not be able to see, but she has a piece of pork chop in each hand. Why she also saw the need to root in her plate like a little pig is beyond me.

But it also reminds me that the last thing she needs is to feel self conscious about her eating, so when she does things like this, I giggle a bit with my husband, then I ignore it. She will figure it out sooner than later, I'm sure.

PS. That is my elbow and plate in the corner.

So I finally saw the new Harry Potter movie.

And who is that absolutely delicious man playing Viktor Krum, and the Weasley twins? OH, my goddess, I just about fainted.

And you thought this would be an update on real life stuff. That some later, when I have the time to update.

Busy busy busy.

Does someone hear a frog?

Its official. I'm going to have to rip back (ribbet, ribbet) the afghan square I did for WOLE for the yarn. I need it to make sure my current mittens (now in the WIP pile) have the right color stripe. However, other things have changed.

I have joined Project Spectrum. Check out link in the side bar. Its late, I'm lazy, and that's why its there. Which is nice since some of my current knitting will satisfy the month of March stuff.

I'm doing a knitting project review in the hopes of getting me revved for the next week. So the list of projects in the queue:

1. Belated Xmas--Mikey is finished just needs to be delivered (two more projects to go)
2. Freesia's cotton tank top (wip)
3. Felted bag for Mom (Mother's Day)
4. Ties for dad and dad in law (Father's Day)
5. Newborn hat (afA)(wip)
6. Baby cardie (WOLE) (wip)
7. Mittens (DP)(wip)
8. Preemie hat (St. M)(wip)
9. Baby blanket (not sure where yet)(wip)
10. Freesia's leg warmers (yarn still needs to be dyed--getting late in the year for those--may have to be scrapped)
11. Freesia's tube socks (still waiting for the right needles)
12. Afghans squares for Grandma B (none so far, need at least four by the end of the month)

OH, I didn't mention--I've committed to doing four to six afghan squares (knitted thank you ever so) a month. I haven't even started one this month.

I may have to pare this list down. I had originally planned to do at least two matching newborn hat/tube sock combos for the minidrive that afghans for Afghans is having. And there was the original commitment of 25 items for the Dulaan Project.

I think I'm going to go ahead and scrap Freesia's legwarmers. The wool can wait until later. I'll go ahead and dye it and some more roving to go with it, and I'll start that project in August. Maybe it will become matching leg warmers and shrug.

I think the same thing will happen to Freesia's tube socks. The yarn I put aside for that has too much wool content for summer, and if I wait until August I can tinker with the sizing to make sure she can wear them most of the winter.

Two problems solved. Now, the minidrive is over on April 28 for those newborn things, so I think the WOLE project and baby blanket can also be sidelined. Items three and four haven't been cast on yet and can wait another month. Dulaan Project also has a due date, so anything not cast on yet, will, eventually. So the August stuff can go back on the roster then.

Okay, just two more decisions, so let's go ahead and admit that Xmas has come and gone. Those two projects will make great B-day/Xmas gifts for this year, so let's go head and get rid of that for now.

And for right now, let's go ahead and hold back on the Dulaan Project knitting. I can come back to it after the knitting for afghans for Afghans is over. So that leaves four projects, that if I work on them a little each day, I should be able to knock them out this month.

Freesia's tank top won't take any time at all. Once that is over, Mother's Day and Father's Day knitting can join the queue. Knitting for Saint Mary's never ends, but once the afghans for Afghans minidrive is over, Dulaan Project comes back up. Once that is over, then I will start knitting for WOLE again. Once the Father's Day knitting ends, I will start the Xmas knitting.

And I may take a hiatus from afghan squares in August to do some Winter knitting for Freesia.

Well, thanks for letting me talk that all out. I actually feel a lot better, and not so frantic.

One problem, I have no paying work scheduled yet for the next two weeks. This is bad, very bad. Eating into what little savings we have bad.

Any suggestions? Will work for yarn :D.

Decency in knitting

So Franklin at The Panopticon (see side bar for link, I'm lazy) managed to piss off the left wing liberals and the right wing conservatives of the knitting world with one image. The only thing to say to that is

Hooray, Franklin!

I would have left a comment, but I've been having issues with blogger all day long.

Can you believe the nerve of some people? I suppose its a good thing more people don't read this blog. There might have been a debate about my own nude blogging and knitting.

Humph! If ya gotta problem with it, go read something else!

Thankfully this is still a mostly free country. And besides, its not like you really know who I am.

I suppose that's the rub here--people presuming to know something about Franklin. I guess they don't read his blog on a regular basis. If they did, they would have known that the King of Etiquette wasn't going to dignify them with a real response. Franklin made the right choice to meet absurdity with absurdity.

For those of you who are wondering

I am still ill. Not as ill as yesterday, but I can't hear out of my left ear because of fluid build up. I am a plague monkey.

The baby is no longer a plague monkey and is recovering well. And as for Chris....

He is disgustingly healthy.

I would hate him if I didn't love him so much.

So the plague monkey has landed

We are very ill people, and unusually so. It started with the demon spawn. Unlike her last cold, this one was very mucusy and snotty. And she hates to have her nose wiped.

Now, I am also very snotty. Chris has not evidenced this body betrayal.

The baby doesn't sleep well because she is sick and seems to have nightmares.

I'm going slowly insane.

Until next time.

An open letter ...

Dear Mr. Stephen King,

I just finished your new novel, Cell, and I must once more commend you on finding the horror in the innocuousness of a cellular phone and scaring me out of my ever loving mind. I really hate cell phones but had been considering that eventually I may actually need one. However, I doubt I could even borrow one at the moment.

Ordinarily, I would simply marvel at your genius and go on knowing that the acclaim you will receive from the public should be enough without my extra clamor. However, once small facet of one of your main characters cries out for comment. The character of Tom McCourt is gay.

Simple, isn't it? You didn't make him the butt of any joke, he wasn't inappropriately used as comedic relief, and the rest of the characters didn't keep explaining his gayness away. Instead, Tom McCourt was portrayed as a level headed young man who did not giggle with the girls and who did not simper at his larger, stronger, straighter male compatriots.

Thank you so much for not giving McCourt more than his due; thank you for not beating us over the head with his gayness, and thank you for writing something that I loved.

Sincerely,
A'tuin
(who sacrificed sleep to finished your book in one sitting)

D is for...

desk.

Yes, this is the desk where it happens at. Very messy I know, but at least there is no yarn festooning the screen. I had to clean the yarn away, because the colors weren't coming out right.

Yes, for those who wonder, I do knit at the computer. And for those who may not make the connection, this does mean I sometimes knit in the newwde.

Crafting challenge stuff

I had had so many ideas for the yarn I was going to buy with the money from the income tax refund. Then I started paying off bills this morning. There were a lot of bills, and because of this, the yarn stash will not be increasing at the same rate I'm knitting.

So I finally have to go begging for yarn donations. Not happy, but things could be worse. I could have had a knitting needle shoved in my eye. I guess I'll start faxing on Monday, but I'm going to start mailing letters today. I'm also going to check out freecycle group. Maybe someone has some acrylic yarn they would like to give up.

I've decided that acrylic yarn is no longer the anti-yarn that so many people say it is. It's just yarn, ya know? Some of its smoother than others, but I've heard washing the item a couple of times will take the scratchiness out of the acrylic.

Can one say the same for wool? But please, don't get me wrong. I prefer wool for most of the stuff I'm knitting because it is going to some of the coldest places in the world, but for myself and my family, I can't see using 100% wool.

Its just impractical here in Georgia. Unless its felted, like clogs or a bag, 100% wool items are only going to get worn maybe a week out of the year. That's why I adore blends. Except when I'm spinning that is.

I really like to spin wool. I'm actually going to be trying soy silk soon, but I'm going to be plying it with a lovely varigated wool I'm currently spinning. I don't think I'm going to be able to get the same effect as they are getting in Japan, but I'm willing to try and wear the consequence.

But back to the original statement. I prefer to wear cotton and polyester almost all year round, and so does almost everyone else I know. We save wool for things like hats, scarves, and slippers.

However, for the stuff that's going to Mongolia and South Dakota, I'm hoping to eventually have some wool to knit with. Currently, I'm using acrylic, which is actually pretty warm, because I'm knitting with small needles to make it as dense as I can. But I'm hoping to include some thrummed socks and mittens at the very least for Mongolia (Project Dulaan). And at least a few baby sweaters made out of wool for South Dakota (WOLE).

I guess that's enough of my yammering. Back to the needles while the baby sleeps.

And then there was ...

... an income tax refund! And what a refund it was. Coming soon to a blog near you--more pictures of the new and improved yarn stash.

In other news, we think the baby may have climbed up on the couch by herself. Or she used hubby for a ladder. Chris said no comment, because he was out of it and in vidiot land. I was playing a video game.

Hey he had the bal ... baby. I am so close to just not going to work today, you just don't know.

Playing catch up

Things here have been ... interesting. We've been really busy, and the baby has been keeping us up nights. She has also been going to a baby sitter so I can work some mornings. As you can see, she is starting to walk, and she is a handfull. Also see the the overalls? Aren't they the cutest ever. I'm going to start buying her just overalls, at least until summer.

I think that a big part of it is all the knitting projects I'm working on seem to be soaking up my creativity. Not that its a bad thing, per se, its just that finding stuff to keep the baby happy and occupied takes up the rest of my creativitity, and so not much writing gets done.

I do have some knitting pics to upload so here goes.

Here I am kntting a sock. That pair is finished, but I don't have a good picture of the finished pair.

I've worked out what I'm knitting for who at the point and am currently working on several projects at once. Once I have every currently planned project on needles, I'll upload a picture.






This is a pair of mittens for Dulaan, and a fair isle turtle that needs to be felted for my daughter. I have also finished several starfish for her, and once everything is felted, I'll post another picture.

C is for...

Christopher, or as he is known as in the online gaming community--Mad King Christopher. This is my most wonderful and adorable husband. He is without a doubt the most wonderful man in the world. He's a great daddy, and he's the love of my life.

He has to have his own letter, because he's too important to be blogged about elsewhere.

So a lot of stuff happening

Baby is teething, I'm knitting, working, or baby stuff, and Chris is taking up the slack. I promise to catch up on my blogging sometime between now and Sunday. In other news, I've updated the side bar. Take a gander, and check out some of the new links. More about some of these this weekend. Promise!

Isn't been awhile?

Yes, it has, and we have been very busy. I just wanted to let everyone know that we are doing fine, we are alive, and I'll be doing a big update, hopefully, over the next few days.

Peace.

So, it has been a while.

But I'm still trucking. I've just finished another sock--women size medium, and I'm about to knit another starfish. Using double points, and then circs, to knit a sock is no where near using single points. The way the fabric actually forms into a three dimensional object as you work is quite amazing, especially since they are seamless.

Anyway, I'm going to be putting up pictures soon, so keep checking back.

In baby news, the day care problem may have been taken care of.

Naked blogging?

For those who don't know me personally, I am an inside nudist. There, I've said it. I've come out of the closet about my inside nudity. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, let me explain. If I am home, and there are no guests, then I have on a pair of panties and nothing else. Unless it's cold, and then pants or a dress get put on. I don't like to put on a shirt because I'm still breastfeeding my daughter. I don't generally spread this nudity outside, even at the once in a blue moon festivals we go to. I just don't feel that comfortable being nude outside. It's bright, and sunburned nipples and other placed that have never seen sun are incredibly tender.

So what does all that mean really? Right now, as I type this, I am wearing nothing but a pair of panties. And now suddenly I want to make a reference to Pump Up The Volume, but there is no way I can wear a cock ring. If that bothers you, well, pretend I didn't make the post.

Hand cramps!

It isn't often that I knit or spin myself into a hand cramp. I still say that it was putting the flippers on that little turtle, but just to be safe, I took a 24 hour break from all fiber arts and typing. So that break is almost over, and I couldn't stand it any more.

I had to blog.

It's strange. I don't know what I did with at least fifteen minutes of my time a day before I started blogging. That would have been at least three cigarettes before I became pregnant, which is when I started blogging, so maybe that's it. For those not in the know, I quit cold turkey when my pregnancy test came back positive.

Which brings me to another topic I feel I have to talk about. Friends. Aimee, of She Who Reads, was there when I took my pregnancy test. She was there when I smoked my last cigarette. She was there when I got married. She was a friend of mine when I got together with my husband. She has been one of my best friends for years.

Aimee, I just wanted to let everyone know how wonderful you are, sister of my heart. And a shout out to Alexandra, the other sister of my heart, if you are reading this--Email me, call me, something! We don't have your phone number anymore. The baby sort of demolished our number list.

So, anyway, back to trying to compile those lost phone numbers again.

Stuff and babies

So stuff is that there is a pair of mittens and an afghan square to report. 35 more squares and I'll have an afghan. From what I've seen, each square counts toward the charity challenge, but I'll have to do a little investigating when I update my totals there.

In other news, I think the baby is either back to teething or is trying to do away with her morning nap. Is is horrible of me to want it to be the former and not the later?

It's not that I have to have that blessed two hour nap/knitting time, but I certainly desire it. Here follows a funny picture of my demon in blessings guise.

Stash cleaning and charity.

This is the entire stash.

That cream and brown thing off to the side is something that was given to me by my mum, as well as the rest of the acrylic in the charity bin (far right, top). The center top is for wool, and that fingering weight is going over to the charity side, probably, at least that hazard orange.

The fiber is in the bags, and center and center right bins are acrylic or cotton that is being saved for other projects.



Better picture of the charity yarn.

I made a decision that all of the yarn that I don't want, mostly acrylic, would go to charity, and for those paying attention to the ticker at the top, you may have the idea that I have lost my mind and decided to join a charity challenge.

I have. I am going to knit 100 projects for charity, and at least 25 of those will be going to the Dulaan project. I did want to talk just a moment about the Dulaan project. I think its very sad that cashmere comes from a place where poor people have to live in heating tunnels under cities.

This is the first pair of socks knit for the Dulaan project.
















Fiber stash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

B is for

This is a ball winder. The very one that one of the ladies at Main Street Yarn and Fiber in Watkinsville, GA gave to me. It doesn't look like much, but this has saved me from a wrist injury because of the yearly cleaning of the yarn stash. That is a separate posting because of other discussions.

Changes

Time to face some changes. I've started using Blogroller, and if you will look to your right, you will see a whole list of my favorite blogs. And for those paying attention, you will see an addition.

Mossy Cottage Knits is not only a rockin' blog, but also the home of the Dulaan Project. This is a charity for sending warm knits to Mongolia. There is a lot more info on their site, so CLICK the link.

A little bit later today, I'll be updating with pictures of the STASH. However, I am officially ending AKE day. Instead, Friday will be known as Picture Day hence forth.

Socks!!!

Yes, I'm knitting socks. On two needles, but socks none the less. I'll also be blogging the socks along with the yarn stashes and fiber stash of doom. All of this will be tomorrow, more than 15 minutes, though.

Body sabotage

I know that I need to loose weight. I'm not sure where I'm going to leave it, but I suppose that isn't important. I try to eat well, then my body rebels and says I need a sandwich or I'm going to throw up.

Why?

CONVERT TO FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTERISM!

Yes, a flying spaghetti monster did it! He created everything.

On a more serious note, the reasons for conversion are as follows:
-Flimsy moral standards.
-Every friday is a relgious holiday. If your work/school objects to that, demand your religious beliefs are respected and threaten to call the ACLU.
-Our heaven is WAY better. We've got a Stripper Factory AND a Beer Volcano.

This is a lovely website, which can be found here. Actually, its a great spoof on ID vs. creationism debate with the whole pirates vs. global temperature trends debate as well.

Blonde joke

My friend, Aimee, has found a really good blonde joke. It's at this link.

Knitting ...

... the other clog. Also, finishing my turtle, soon to be blogged here as well. I'm planning on making a big huge felted mobile to put in the car for the baby. As soon as its done, I'll blog that as well.

Also, major spinning being done. As soon as I finish this white wool I was given, I'm switching over to some blue wool that Ruth over at the yarn shop gave me.

Which brings me to the BALL WINDER. Ruth gave me a BALL WINDER this weekend just because I mention that I needed one and she had one that was on its way to ball winder heaven. It hasn't worn out yet, but it is on its way--the dreaded clicking noise has started.

In writing news, I've given up on my writer's block and I'm editing my novella from Nanowrimo. More news as that shapes up.

Hmm....fiber....

... ... Oh, I'm sorry, I kind of forgot. Yes, blogging. All right then. So the washer and dryer are ... ... arriving on ... fiber ... spinning ... Monday. Sorry, I just have to spin right now. I'll be posting my pictures of my new fiber stash soon along with my yarn stash.

Oh, and I just had this really great idea. One I'm sure that ... fiber ... no, must communicate! I'm going to go through my yarn stash and pick out the yarn that I have no idea why I have it, and I'm going to knit things for charity, like Project Linus, or one of the other ... must spin. Sorry, I have to go while I can still use a mouse.

Use a mouse? Hee hee hee.

Yarn Harlot Friday

Ah, you thought I would show my true harlotry ways by not blogging anything about AKE, well you are wrong.

Now settle with me as we open the holy writ. Ya RIGHT! Today's completely random nugget of wisdom is:

"If I am foolish enough to be arrogant about my knitting, I will
understands when it spontaneously bursts into flames."

Hmmm, yes she is wise. Uhm, so I taught myself fair isle this week. It is not really hard but fiddly. I don't know if I would do it again. No, I take that back it is completely fiddly and there is something in my engineering brain that cries out for it. But this is definitely the type of thing requires respect. I will respect the knitting of others more after this experience, and I will learn from it and not be so arrogant about my own. If I had done that maybe I wouldn't have had to rip the whole turtle shell out and start over.

Picture Friday

These are pictures of the shawl that I made Chris's grandmother. It is lovely, yes? The yarn is called Highland Thistle and is marketed under the Yarn Bee brand. Which you can only get at Hobby Lobby. The stuff is magnificent, because it is a two ply acrylic with a strand of eyelash plyed with it. My friend Aimee was kind enough to model for me.






These three things are things I've been working on in the last week. The starfish is going to be felted and stuffed. The fair isle circle thingy is the shell top of a turtle, which will also be felted when completed and stuffed.

And the last item is the hat. This is the less than 24 hour hat that is destined for Mikey, or for hubby's dad, I haven't decided yet. It might not go to anyone, because I think the cast on is too tight. But aren't the colors great?

In other news, Ruth, the proprietor of Main Street Yarn and Fiber in Watkinsville, was cleaning out some of their storage and found a lot of old fiber, stuff that's been discontinued. And she gave it too ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't just have stash, I have STASH. I love the kindness of strangers. Of course that didn't stop me from buying a couple of ounces of both soy silk and ingeo.

More later.

A correction is needed. Ruth gave me FIBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! While it would have been nice if she had given me yarn, I think I prefer the gift of fiber.

Oh, my goddess, I think we are townies!

Hubby and I are both out of towners, coming to Athens, GA for college. Then we sort of stayed, but we weren't townies 'cause we hung out with college students then graduate school students. Now we have the baby, and as I was just emailing Dutch in answer to his question in his comment, we don't get to the same places at the same times anymore. In fact, one could say that we go to our old hangouts when the townies are there.

I've lived in Athens, GA since 1994 and never once considered myself a townie. Not that being a townie is wrong, just this is a self image evaluation. Compounded by the fact that hubby just stands there nodding his head knowingly.

Starfish and fair isle turtles...

... are next. One starfish is done, but I want to do one more, and then there is the fair isle turtle that I'm knitting on dpnts. Goddess save me, cause I can't knit those and do anything else. Same with the starfish if I wanted to start those. I suppose I could do another hat. They are really easy.

In other news, the baby is certifiable. She won't stick to any one sleeping schedule.

Mikey Hat done!

The hat is done, and it finished beautifully. There was a little tightness at the end, because I really need to finish this thing on dpnts, but all I have are short circs. And I was really suprised at the yarn, which is Jiffy Thick and Quick from Lions Brand. This stuff is acrylic, but it doesn't hurt my hands or make them feel scratched. The yarn is quite soft. I'll definitely be using it to make more hats, but probably not scarves--its not quite that soft.

Knitting forecast

Wow, I started on Mikey's hat last night, and I have to say that I love super bulky yarn. I have about eighteen rows, and I'm at about 6 1/2 inches from cast on. Just another inch and a half, and I'll be doing the hat shaping then the i cord piece de resistance. And I may have enough yarn left in the skein to do another hat. Woot!

In other news, the baby seems to be in a teething lull and is catching up on her sleep. Praise all the gods and goddesses.

Hats!!

So I've started a hat for my friend Mikey. I hope to finish it by the weekend. It is a quick hat. Sorry, but I'm busy writing, so I've got to go. Be back with pictures soon.

Oh, and Freesia has decided that I really am Mama instead of the floor, or her walker, or the computer. Yeah! I beat dada.

Podcast crazy, and Happy De-Lurking day

I finally broke down and learned how to use iTunes and went crazy. I have several podcasts that I'm listening to now, and there will eventually be a podcast link section.

In other news, I found out that today has been declared Annual De-Lurking Day, so:
Now, I know that I probably don't have a lot of people coming in and out. I don't know that for sure, and I don't want to know exactly how many people read my blog. If I did, I would put in a web counter.

That sort of thing reminds me more of my old blog, and I got a little obsessed. No more. However, if you would like to boost my ego, please leave a comment. Or even better, check out some of my articles at Associated Content and rate me there.

But that is just an ego boost that I don't need, so don't think I'm begging for feedback. I really don't like to read that kind of blog, and this isn't going to be that kind of blog.

So, the weekend.

Went well, I thought. The shawl was well recieved, and I'm going to be buying more yarn for hats this coming week. However, the highlight of the weekend was our Xmas pressie.

A washing machine and dryer!

It is a combined present from several of the Smith family members and much needed. I love my in laws! Shawl pictures later.

ABC along and Friday things

Friday means three things. The ABC along, pictures of knitting(I can only be bothered to down load once a week), and AKE quotes.

ABC Along first.

A is for Atuin. Atuin is me.

I don't really like to take pictures of myself, but I thought I would try. This is me, or at least me taking my picture in a dirty mirror (blame the baby--she likes to lick her image). I don't have the best self image in the world, and I don't like to advertise what I look like. I will however explain the nick name.

A'tuin is the world turtle from Terry Pratchett's novels about the Discworld. My spirit animal is a turtle and I definitely qualify as taking the worries of the world on my shoulders. Some of my friends accused me of having a mommy complex before I even became a mother.

Next is a knitting picture. This is that poor lonely clog whose mate needs more yarn. It's huge isn't it?



I am assured that the thing just needs to be felted. We can only hope.

Now, for the Yarn Harlot portion of the post. Today's quotation from AKE is:

"I will resist the urge to hoard my favorite yarns forever, constantly
trying to determine whether the projects they are intended for are
'worthy.'"

I sort of have the opposite problem. People keep giving me acrylic yarn from that old afghan they never finished in the seventies. We are talking not pretty stuff. I'm thinking about making it up into an afghan or a lap rug for my mom. She likes that kind of stuff.

In other news, I have shown my own yarn harlotry this week. With a starfish. A felted starfish with these cute little short rows. So much better than the monstrosity that is the almost finished shawl for hubby's grandmother. That thing is getting blogged as soon as I'm done, so there should be another post tonight before we go running off to see hubby's folks.

Stuff and the thing

A lot of my posts are probably going to be titled that way. I just don't have a lot to post about. The baby is fine, but her sleeping schedule is swinging wildly and still hasn't settled down. I may have to start getting her up in the morning, and I'm not looking forward to it. But are what are ya supposed to do?

In other news, I did some drop spindling at our knitting group. Since this was very much in public at a Panera Bread, I thought I would get a lot more comment. I did get an older lady who was interested, but there wasn't a lot of people there, I guess. Ya, I know. I can be an secret attention whore.

Oh, I've almost finished the knitting project for hubby's grandma, which is good since we'll be seeing her this weekend.

O.K., here is where things get dicey. I have major writer's block at the moment. I feel completely... congested. Its all up there, but nothing is moving. I think I'm going to start the edit on my nanowrimo novella early, so that I can get that out of the way. I think that's why I'm blocked. I had planned to start it on 1/15, so of course I don't want to be involved in a huge project at the time.

So, that about it, not in a nut shell but close. How about you?

So a new year

So what? Groceries still had to be bought, house still has to be cleaned, and I'm still waiting for my supervisor to get back to me about work tomorrow.

On the upside, hubby has an interview with Walmart distribution in about two weeks. Cross you fingers and toes everyone.

Wow, why didn't I think of that?

So there is this news item over at bloggingbaby.com today over some a--hole who thought that biting a child would make her go to bed. You know that is right up there with shit for brains o.k. That's right up there with shaking a baby to make it go to sleep or slapping a baby to make it shut up. All three generally don't work.

Or maybe they do. Maybe that's why I didn't get to bed until 4 am this morning. I have to be spoiling my child to want to rock her and soothe her while she is in teething hell.

Do you ever have days when it feels like the average IQ of the planet just shed twenty points?

God, please help your children, before Goddess realizes what's going on. I don't want another flood.

A new year

So this is the new year. Well, I hope that the old wives tale about doing what you want to do at midnight ensures you will do more of that in the upcoming year is and is not true. I spent the evening nursing a teething baby and talking to my very good friend Aimee, aka She Who Reads. One I want to do, one I don't want to do.

As far as New Year's resolutions, I have managed not to follow behind my husband too much to today, and hope to do better in the future. Remember, I will trust my husband more. NO MATTER WHAT.