Sunday, July 31, 2005

I hate PMS

I don't normally suffer from PMS. I'm always bitchy, so y'all can't blame it on PMS. :OP Right now I'm just totally a mess. I'm depressed and near tears almost all the time. I'm worried about my folk's home loan going though. They have everything packed and are ready to start moving to the new house, but right after their loan was approved almost 2 months ago my father lost his job. They had to reapply for the loan and they aren't sure that they will get it with only my mom's wages and my father's pension. My father has been drinking even more than normal since they found out about all of this. I swear I would so love to have a drink too. I can't do that while on my meds though. grrrr Well, I suppose one drink wouldn't do me any great harm, but I don't have any alcohol in my house. I haven't for over 2 years now. I sure could go for some Southern Comfort though. mmmmm

Anyways, I am making lots of progress on the doily. I've just about got the center part done. The outer area has a lot of chaining and then some thistles. The pattern is called Tiny Thistles btw. I just thought it was so pretty and didn't look all that hard. I'm not sure if it will fit on the end tables that Mom has. It may end up being a centerpiece for one of our kitchen tables. With size 40 thread, it is supposed to be 18 3/4 inches, but I'm using size 10. I've got way more size 10 than anything else. I do think I have a bit of size 20 in my stash, but I've got zounds of thread. Suprisingly, my hands haven't been getting sore from the thread crochet. My left thumb is sore, but that is from cracking it. It is a bad habit that I really need to break. I've got another habit of rubbing the bottom of my foot with my thumb when I'm sitting at my desk. By the time I go to bed, where the bones of my thumb continue into my hand hurts. I'm not sure how to describe it. It really isn't my thumb, per se, that hurts. It is the muscles and such of the palm of my hand where the thumb bones continue. Can you tell I've taken my nightly pills that make me tired? lol

I'm going to pick up one of the scarves/wraps that I was knitting a while ago to take to the knit together at Borders. Most of my other projects are kind of bulky or just kinda boring. hehe Although just doing stocking stitch around the foot of a bootie would be easy to do will chatting. I'm actually not very sure if anyone else from ICK is going to be there. I posted on the blog that I'll be hiding in the corner until I see some yarn. hehe I've never actually seen anyone else knit in person. I don't know anyone off line that knits or crochets. I crocheted with my grandma but she died 12 years ago now. I miss her yearly mad rush to get her crocheted angel ornaments done in time. :O)

Well time to start downloading some mail. I've got some reading to do before going to bed too.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

No clue for a title

Have you ever been so dang tired that you just can't freaking sleep? I've been like that for the last week or so. I already suffer from fatigue most days. This is just worse. At least I can normally sleep at night. Lately I'm lucky to get to sleep before 3 or 4 and then I'm up by 8 or so. Then I'm so tired all day I want to cry. I try laying down for a nap but I just toss and turn. One of my docs gave me a prescription for a sleeping pill. Can't say as it is helping though. sigh

At least I have the H. Potter books to read. I'm now half way into the 5th book. The reason I haven't read them before now is because I haven't bought any books in quite some time. Probably 2 years. I also live out in the boonies and I'm not sure where the county library is. I'm pretty dang sure that is must be pretty small to be in the town that I think it is in. I need to get a buddy that lives in town because that library is pretty cool. Of course I have a fine left from when my son's father was living with me. He was too freaking lazy to get off his ass and walk the books about 5 blocks away while I was at work. Hell I would have him drive me to work so that he could take the laundry to be washed and he would pick me up from work and the wash hadn't been done. Granted I am not working now, but what kind of 'man' sits on his ass at home and does nothing while his pregnant girlfriend works 40 hours a week and pays all the bills??? I'm sorry but he wasn't that cute or that good in bed for me to put up with it for very long. That was one of the reasons he left. I wouldn't agree to let him stay at home and take care of the kid. Ummmmmm hell no. I barely made enough money to pay the bills as it was. Like there was money to pay for the kid's stuff out of my check. Yes he did have a job when he moved in and we got engaged. I think about a month after he moved in he got fired because his whiney ass was sick too often to go to work.

Ok, enough ranting on the ex-pos. Anyways, the reason I'm now able to read the books is because someone lent the set to me. When I'm done, I'm sending them on to another friend. Maybe some day I'll buy my own copies. Oh, well. I would much rather spend money on yarn. And no, I haven't bought any yarn since the first of this month. I don't think I've even been on eBay in like 2 weeks to oogle the yarn.

As far as the knitting goes, Branching Out is almost finished. I only work on it at my folk's house. Last night I really tried to start knitting a small doily for my mom. I can't even count the number of times I ripped the damn thing out. I was using regular bedspread weight thread and size 5 dpns. Well that just wasn't working for me. So I figured I would go with real small needles and the only aluminum dpns I had free were size 0. Well after a couple rip outs I thought I was doing great. I was flying through the pattern. It is a kind of pinwheel design. The thing that stopped me cold is that the number of stitches was decreasing by 27 stitches per round. Ummmm I want a doily that is going to lay flat not a damn bowl. Then I realized that I was only doing the odd number rows. My dumbass didn't notice the row numbers and the note at the beginning that the even rows were all knit. groan I ripped it out and put the needles away. After searching for a few mins I found a really cool crocheted doily pattern from the August '96 Magic Crochet. There was a time when I got about 10 or more crochet and cross stitch magazines a month. That was when I was working full time and living at home with my folks and had no bills to pay other than car insurance. sigh Those were the days. hehehe

Ok, enough yabbering. I need to finish my mail and try to get some sleep. We need to go grocery shopping in the morning. I'm about out of Pepsi. Can't live without the Pepsi. My mom swears I have Pepsi running through my veins. hehe Nite y'all.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Bad blogger baaaad blogger

Sorry I've AWOL since my little slide into weirdness on Thursday. Ya see I've got a terrible addiction. It has pretty much taken over my life. I used to sit and play solitaire while waiting for web pages to load. I only connect at 28.2k you see. So I have plenty of time while I'm online reading mail and blogs and surfing for yarn and patterns. I have hardly played solitaire at all this last week. I can't help it. All I want to do is feed my addiction.

About a week ago, a kind sole gave me the entire Harry Potter collection. I've been sucked into the world of magic and witches. Last week, I was laughing about all the people who had read book six by Monday morning. I'm not laughing any more. You see, I've just finished book 3. I can not believe I've read 3 books in under a week. roflmao I so loved the ending of the 3rd book. It was so dang funny. I sorely wish they had put it in the movie. I've only actually seen the 3rd movie like 2 times. I own the first one on tape and DVD and the second one on DVD. I just hadn't gone ahead and bought the 3rd. Guess I'm going to have to now. hehehe

It has been a couple months since I've actually read more than news stories or magazines. Heck I bought a copy of Talisman about a month ago and haven't touched it. I'm a total Stephen King fanatic and I haven't even cracked the cover yet. hehe I've got nearly every one of his books either in paperback or hard cover. I've actually got a couple in both.

I'm sick I tell ya when it comes to books. If you were to look at my book collection (when it isn't stacked on the shelf in my closet), you would swear they were brand new. Covers in perfect condition. No folded corners or smudges on the pages. At an early age, my son realized, you do NOT touch mommy's books. Yes I do eat and drink while I read, but not one drop touches my books. I take the dust jackets off when I read them so they don't get bent. OK, I know I have one cover bent up. The thing is, I keep shifting the darn book and the cover separately. Do you think I would have the sense to put the cover back on the next time I move things around and put it away??? Noooooo It has been floating around the house for like a year now. I'm seriously fighting to not go look for it right now as I need to get to bed. hehe

I have been knitting some though don't worry. I've finished the ribbing on the bottom of my sweater. I realized though that I was using size 10US when I thought I was using 10.5. sigh Well the dpns that I started making are just a bit larger than 10s. I've got to sand them and put some wax on them yet. I haven't cut the second dowel yet and I'm thinking I'll buy another one and make them even longer. I'm seriously nervous about doing the neck and sleeves. hehe Never done them before in knitting.

My mother gave me a bag on Friday. It had a couple balls of crochet thread in it and a pattern book for some really goofy looking stuffed animals made in crochet. Then she tells me that at the garage sale there had been tons of yarn!!!!!!! I told her I work with yarn a heck of a lot more than thread, but she says I have too much yarn as it is. ummmm If only she knew how much thread was stashed in bags in my closet. roflmao Anyway, next Monday they take possession of their new house and my mom wants new doilies for her end tables and such. Oh yippy, thread crochet with tiny hooks and my hands that get sore real quick doing it. whhhaaaaa I know I have some knitted doilie patterns somewhere on a disk or on my hard drive. I think I'll give one a shot and see if it is easier on my hands.

sigh I really should get my butt to bed. I really really want to actually start sewing up a bag with the sheep fabric. I dug my sewing machine out of the closet and I've got the thread and lining fabric. I just have to pull up a pattern and get started. I have to get my kitchen cleaned first though. I just about died when I went out there earlier. Today, ok technically yesterday, I did most of the dishes and wiped down the counters. Well I went out to get a lil cup of ice cream and some chocolate and found lil bitty ants all over the counter and the stove. I'm not talking a couple, I'm talking at least 50 or more. shiver I got out the spray and sprayed everything down and let it sit for a bit. Then I wiped the counters down again. God forbid the kid goes to make toast and gets ants and spray on his toast. ewwww When I get up, I'm gonna take everything off the counters and use some Mr. Clean or something one it all. I used the last of the bleach the other day, so that will have to do. Ok ok g'nite.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

I'm blushing

hehehe I guess I didn't realize just how out of it I was this morning. After I got Jon's note I went back and read it. I sat here and giggled. It made no sense what so ever. LOL

No, I was not drunk. I haven't had a drink in probably almost 3 years now that I really think about it. I've never been a heavy drinker, so it is hard to remember the last time that I had anything. I'm thinking that it was when I was still with the moron. We split up about 2 years ago and I know it was at least 6 months before that. He always had a fit when I had a drink. I mean come on. I would have 1 glass of Southern Comfort and lots of ice and Pepsi. Yeah I would get a lil buzz but not drunk. The last time I was actually drunk was back in 98 about a month before I found out I was pregnant. Yeah, there is a good possibility that was the night that the kid was conceived. hehehe Was one hell of a night. 'Nuff said on that one. :P

I also wasn't high. Well not from illegal drugs anyway. I had one brief experimentation with pot back in 97 I think. Did it once, didn't think it did much. So I never bothered to try it again. I hate ciggerette smoke, so I'm not about to smoke something myself, ya know. I've never taken pills that I didn't get from a drug store or pharmacy. And I take those for their stated purposes. Doctors are good at coming up with novel reasons to take a certain drug even though that isn't the drugs main purpose it was made for.

What happened was, the night before last, I didn't get much sleep. I got up way to early yesterday. I though I had taken my morning meds and went about my day. I felt just fine until I got out of the truck when I got home last night. I was feeling quite dizzy. I went about getting stuff put away and getting the kid in bed and I just kept feeling more light headed. Finally I sat down at my desk and realized what the problem was. I, in fact, had not taken my morning meds. My doctors have said that you can't feel withdrawal symptoms after missing only one dose. I'm here to say BULL SHIT. It had only been about 14 hours since I should have taken them. I was dizzy, kind of incoherent and quite confused. It was too late to take the missed doses, so I took my night time pills.

I was thinking that I was going to the doctor again this morning early, so I took a sleeping pill the doc had just given me. That made things worse. I was so loopy that I literally didn't have the sense to get my butt in to bed and go to sleep. I'm sure I would have passed out. Sheri was giving me such shit and was so worried, she had me eating crackers cause she thought it was my blood sugar going wacky. I had eaten a big supper and then a chocolate cupcake with way too much frosting on it. Sheri kept yelling at me to take the missed meds. TY dear but not a good idea. Well after the girls had all gone to bed I sat reading Harry Potter, the first book cause I'm so uncool. LOL Well it was so late and I was worried I wouldn't get to sleep right away and wasn't thinking straight. I took another sleeping pill. NOT my brightest moment.

When the alarm went off this morning, I was just as confused and dizzy as the night before. You would have sworn I was drunk with the way I was weaving around and leaning to the side. That is when I realized that today is Wednesday and my appointment isn't until tomorrow. groan Then I got the bright idea to write a blog entry before passing out again after taking my morning meds. After I hit publish I went back to bed for awhile.

Well here we are now. I'm still tired, a little on the clumsy wobbly side, but I'm at least mostly here. I think my spelling has improved quite a bit. LOL I won't run spell check this time either. Most errors are prolly ones I make all the time anyway but just hide by using spell check.

Ok, I'm eatin my lunch now and trying to get some mail done. Will let y'all know when I feel normal. Then again, I can't remember EVER feeling normal. So it may be a few years. LOL

What not to do

Don't use a calendar to keep appointments. Instead put the info on piece of paper and thow it on your desk. Ohhhh btw, this post may not make sense. I can't consentrate hard enough to go back and edit

I took a sleeping pill last night because i was sure that I had yet another doctors appointment this morning. Well I was still up and reading HP until after 2,I took another sleeping pill to make super sure I got to sleep I set the alarm for 7 and got in bed and i think i was to sleep right away.

Alarm goes off this am but sound strange. I got up and was dizzy and confused. I'm thinking I still have tobe athe doctor's. I look at a few emails and realize that it is the day before my appointment.

So here I set trying to rifht this note while my eyes are closed vecause my vision is all swirly. I can't seem to sit very still. I tend to wobblw back and forth in m

Ok, I just about fell asleep here. I have no sens of what is real and what is a dream at hepoint.
since I don't have to be any where and the kid is asleep. I'm gonna go grab some sleep. Hioefuly be more coherent later. Dan't promise I wll actually be more with if

Will post again later sanse the drug

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Banging my head on the wall

Why oh why did I think it would be a good idea to try and teach my son how to read???? Granted his pre-k teacher was quite impressed at how much he could already read but geeesh. Things started out so great. He loves to read and he was picking up words really easy. The last few days he has been driving me crazy though. He just can't seem to remember It and Is. They are like the easiest freaking words to read. When he sees It, he says The. When he sees Is he just makes an S sound. It doesn't matter if there are 5 sentences in a row that have It and Is in them he still asks me what it is. I just about blew my stack last night. I just don't understand how he can remember the word Something but can't remember It or Is. sigh

In craftier news, check out Wild Ginger Software. They have a free program called Wild Things that you can use to design bags and hats for sewing. I haven't played with it yet, but hopefully it will help me make my own bags. Their programs for designing clothes are a bit pricey but look like they would be way cool to use. I'm tempted to get one of their Click&Sew patterns. I hate shopping for clothes, so maybe I can just make my own and call it a day. LOL The Click&Sew patterns are only $25. I just have to find a retailer. There of course aren't any brick and mortar stores here in Iowa. God forbid something useful is sold in Iowa. LOL

Ok off to try and finish mail. Wish me luck in not killing my son. He hasn't been able to shut his mouth in the last hour. He is just making nonsense noises and talking to the damn TV. I wonder how painful it would be to install a zipper on his mouth. hehehe j/k

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Bored in Iowa

I couldn't think of a title for this post. Am not really all that bored, but I don't have much to report. I've been having trouble sleeping so I've been even more tired than usual. I lost the delivery confirmation number for the package I sent my secret pal. I have no idea if she got it or not. She is on a bit of a blog vacation because of having a very very busy July planned. She hasn't written me back either. sigh I know she has a lot going on right now with 2 very large projects going. I just wish I knew if she liked what I sent her.

Yarn diets suck!! I have to stick to my yarn diet at least for this month because I'm broke. roflmao Damn near drove me nuts the other day. I found an online place that was having a 30% off sale and they have all the colors of Cascade 220. whaaaaa It is so hard to pass up a great deal. I've stayed away from eBay pretty much. I only bid on one auction because the price was ridiculously low. I figured I wouldn't win but at least I could run the price up a little bit for the seller. hehehe I've sold quite a bit on eBay and I know the frustration that goes with having something go for a really low price. Of course I've been a buyer who has gloated about getting a ridiculous deal. hehehe

A word to the wise. Never ever buy a 4 lb hank of yarn unless you have a swift. OMG it is a mess. I've got the darn thing on the floor wrapped in a sheet so I can put it up on my bed if I want without it falling apart more. If I wasn't so set on having large balls of yarn so I don't have to weave a lot of end, I would have cut the damn yarn many times over. hehehe Right now It kind of looks like a huge donut stuck in a nylon stocking, only the stocking is the outside layer of yarn. It goes in streaks of being easy to wind off and then being one big tangle that I have to sit and screw with. I go into a trance when I start messing with winding this yarn. Good for the mind but I'm killing my back sitting on the bed working on it.

No t-ball for the kid tonight. It is just too dang hot and humid. I just know he would get sick again. Plus, Dad took his lawn chair out of my truck. I am NOT sitting on the ground. LOL My legs go to sleep so easy when I'm sitting on the ground. I really can do without the bug bites too. If the kid wouldn't have been having so much fun with t-ball, I would have quit going right away. I know that it is for his benefit but it is no fun for me to sit there and be totally ignored by the other parents while they sit and chat with each other. They go out of their way to not sit near me. Big deal that I don't go to their church. I can't deal with sitting through a long church service. Not just because of the boredom. Because of my being tired all the time, I would sit there and yawn through the whole darn thing.

Well, I better get going. Once again, I haven't eaten a dang thing today. Maybe if I eat, I will wake up a bit. Then I'm going to work on either my sweater or the kid's blanket.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Holding back the tears

Once again I'm up to late. At the moment I'm too upset to sleep. I know I will end up having bad dreams if I try to sleep right now. When I'm up late, I like to go through the various sections of Yahoo News. I also watch the local NBC news. I try to keep up with at least some of what is going on in the world. I don't however read the local paper very often. I only read it at the folk's house. I'm too cheap to pay the 50 cents a copy except on special occasion. :OP

Anyways, I just came across this story: Remains identified as Missing Idaho Boy. I passed the story along to my 3 best friends. I included a rant about how I so wish I could get my hands on the beast who did this. I can't call him a man. He doesn't deserve that respect. I wish public executions were still allowed. He should be taken to a public square and tied spread eagle to the ground. Then the public should be allowed to beat the son of a bitch to death. I would give anything to stomp on his head.

I had so hoped that they would find Dylan Groene alive. I had hoped that Duncan had a partner and that he had Dylan. But it seams that the beast worked alone. I don't understand the mentality of someone who would literally wipe out a family. I don't even want to imagine what he did to those poor children. I am sure that Shasta will be in therapy for a very very long time. I do so pray that at some point she comes to peace with all of this. Her father is going to have a rough road in raising her without her feeling guilt at surviving.

All of this makes me just wish to stay in my home with my kid and not deal with the world. And then I remember that they were in their home when this all started. The idea of loosing my son or leaving him just scares me to death. It hurts just to think of it. My folks have worried that I would do something stupid and try to kill myself. I could never do that to my son. The emotional damage of loosing a parent that way would be devastating. He is going to have enough of a complex wondering why his father isn't around. I dread having to explain it all to him. I have never hidden from his dad. I'm in the phone book. I've had the same number for the full 5 years that I've lived in this house. I've also had the same post office box that I had when he left. He has never tried to contact me. All he has done is hide and deny. he actually insisted on a paternity test. We were living together when I got pregnant. The only time I wasn't with him was when I was at work. And I do NOT cheat. If only I could have shoved those result papers down his throat. sigh

Man I've wandered way the hell off topic here. I tend to do that when I'm upset. Just imagining the loss that Shasta must be feeling is bringing up so many emotions. Every feeling of loss that I've had. There have been so many of them.

No I'm not PMSing. Yes I've been taking my medication. Yes, Sheri, I've been using my pill minder so I don't miss a dose. Granted I've noticed too many times that I've taken my morning pills quite late. Yesterday it was at 5pm. duhhhhh

Ok, time to go blow my nose and wash my face and try to sleep. Tomorrow, or should I say today, I plan on taking bottles to the redemption center and then getting my hair cut. I think we may visit the Dollar Tree and the Dollar Store again. I would like to have project scissors in each of my project bags. I tend to misplace mine often.

G'nite/G'morning everyone. Go hug a kid. Be it your own or a friends. Or just hug a friend. I hear the kid coughing. Gonna give him his puffer and a big ole hug.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

yawn

It's currently 2:15am. I should be sound asleep. Or at least yawning and ready to get to bed. But I'm not even slightly tired. I just figured out part of the problem. Some dumbass forgot to take her nightly pills. I'm so pissed. It usually takes about an hour for the pills to kick in and make me tired if I'm not already tired when I take them. I have no urge to stay up til 4am yet again. It drives me completely batshit. I have trouble staying awake most days. I end up having to take at least an hours nap. And then I have nights where I can't freakin GET tired enough to sleep. I'm not what is worse, being tired all the time, not being able to sleep or switching between the two. uuugggghhhhhhh

Usually when I stay up too late I get hungry repeatedly. I haven't eaten since about 8. I had a couple burgers from the place across the street. Hell I haven't even touched the kid's cookies that are in my filing cabinet. Part of me is tempted, but I'm really not feeling interested in eating cookies. Now if the kid was awake, I know he would be after them. Half hour later he would be wanting another one. If he didn't get one, he would be calling me a brat or saying I didn't like him. Why are boys such pains in the ass? This afternoon he decided that he wanted to ride his bike after months of not wanting to. I had a bad headache and told him that I didn't want to go out. Then I hear the door to the garage bang a couple times. I go out in the living room and he has his bike in the house to take it out the front door. He is standing there with his sandals on, a t-shirt and his boxer shorts. To make matters worse, his shorts were twisted and he was practically exposing his lil willy to the wind. It didn't register to him that he didn't have pants on. The kid is WEIRD!!!!!

I trekked to the post office to see if the rest of my yarn had arrived yet. sigh Nope, not yet. :O( I wound up the twinkletoes sock yarn last night. I've changed my mind about it. It is actually softer than my first impression of it. It was super easy to wind up. I simply hung the hank off of my knee and used a cardboard container to wind the yarn around. It only got tangled a couple times. It is shades of red, orange, yellow and green. Looks pretty funky wound up, but it looked great in the hank so I'm sure it will look great knitted up. I just have too many projects going to start another pair of socks.

Oh and btw Jon you are such a brat. :OP While I may have trolled around eBay looking at the yarn I am NOT bidding on any. Telling me that you have some up for auction was just so mean. hehe I've got boxes and bags of yarn here in my room whining at me to turn it into the projects that they were purchased for. I've got at least 3 sweaters in the plans for myself. One for the kid in shades of gray. I want to make at least one felted bag yet. I should have enough wool here and in the mail on it's way to me to make at least one more too. I've got socks for myself and my mother on the needles right now. I've also got Branching out staring at me to start the second skein of yarn. Not to mention the green boucle sweater. I did manage to work on that tonight. I've also started on making the dpns to knit the sleeves with. Lots of sanding to do yet though.

I spent most of tonight reading the archives on an interesting blog. The Adventures of a Snowball in Hell. She tells some very funny stories and reminds me of why I'm glad as hell that the kid's father is not in the picture. If he ever acted even half as annoying as Mr. X, I think I would be in jail for murder. I think I might be able to convince the jury it was self defense though. She is another one of the bloggers that makes me wish I had a pet of some sort. I so miss having a dog. Hell I'm at the point of even wishing I had a cat. hehehe They make my poor nose itch like no tomorrow though. Someday I'm going to get the kid a guinea pig. They are small enough to not take much room but big enough to actually play with.

Ok, enough rambling. Sorry I couldn't come up with anything interesting or even halfway entertaining. I have a boring life. It's bad when the highlight of my day is driving 2 blocks to the post office and back again.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

So far so good

I haven't bought any more yarn in the last week. In fact, I'm not even watching any eBay auctions. I've been trying very hard to just stay completely away from eBay. hehehe Not easy. I love to look at the yarn and see how much it sells for. I think it helps that I've gotten lots of yarn in the mail lately. :O)

On Tuesday I got 3 packages of yarn in the mail. From A Swell Yarn Shop I got 3 skeins of Cascade 220. I love the way the 3 shades of green go so well together. The owner put in a note that she really liked my color choices and included a really cool magnet of her business card. I'll be using the yarn along with a gray skein I already have to make a felted bag.

From Wool 2 Dye 4 I got a cone of Henry's Attic Pony 2-ply. It is sooo soft. The owner sent along a sample sheet of all the Henry's Attic yarn that they keep in stock and a sample of Eucalan. It is so helpful to see and feel the different yarns. I will definitely be ordering from them in the future. I'll be dyeing this yarn and making a shawl with it. I've got a copy of Folk Shawls and a bunch of patterns off the net. I just have to settle on which one I want to make. hehe

I also got a big skein of Twinkletoes sock yarn off of eBay. The colors are just beautiful. It isn't as soft as I had hoped, but I'm sure that once the socks are washed they will soften up a bit. I'll have to go through my tons of sock patterns and find something nice.

On the knitting front, I've finished one skein of yarn on Branching Out and am going to have to add in another one. It just isn't long enough. I don't think I even managed to get 20 repeats out of the one skein. I've got one of mom's booties almost done. I think I've got 3 or 4 more rows and then sewing up the toe. I totally messed with the pattern though. :P It was supposed to be knit back and forth but when I got to the body of the sock I knit it in the round. I just didn't like the idea of a seam across the top of the foot. I'm trucking along with the sweater. I've decided that the bottom edge should be loose. I've got the front edge done and have started the back. I can't seem to find the right size dpns to do the sleeves, so I've bought two 1/4" dowels. I will be making 2 sets of 7" dpns. They will end up being somewhere between a US10 and a US10.5. This way I'll be able to work both sleeves at the same time. Lord knows is the only way that they will be close to the same.

I made the greatest find at the Dollar Tree. They have some canvas messenger bags there. I've got 2 green and 2 natural canvas ones now for myself. They don't have pockets in them, but they are great for keeping my wips together. I also bought an extra natural one to send to my Secret Pal. They are really nice bags for only $1. I originally had only gotten one green one but yesterday I went back and got 4 more. There were more there but I felt weird buying 4 at once as it was. hehe

Well, I'm off to give the kid a haircut and a dunk in the tub. He has t-ball tonight and I don't want him sweating to death under all that hair.

Saturday, July 02, 2005

My mommy loves me

The folks went garage saleing this morning and my mom remembered me in her searching. She found a bag that had a couple books in it and a pair of knitting needles and snagged it for me.

The first book is a 1970s copy of The Complete Book Of Knitting and Crocheting by Marguerite Maddox. Some of the pages are loose, but none are missing. The other is Learn to Tat Coats & Clark's Book no. 240 from 1974. I have no clue how to tat. The only thing I know about it is that it takes a long time to finish even a small doily or bookmark.

There was also a pair of 14" aluminum US5 needles. I'm thinking that I don't already have a pair in my stash anywhere. There was a tape measure and a spool of thread with a needle also. That's a spool of sewing thread. hehehe I have a sewing machine, but I've rarely used it. Mostly because I don't have any sewing thread. LOL I need to pick some up so I can make my knitting bag and needle roll out of the sheep fabric.

Well, the race is going to be starting here in a couple minutes. FINALLY!!!! It was supposed to start at like 630 I think and it is almost 10. Crappin rain. Anyways, I'm going to finish up with mail and watch the race. I might work on Branching Out some more. I got quite a bit done at my folk's house today. Is so nice to knit without the kid having to pester me every few minutes. He is staying over night at their house tonight. *VBG*

Friday, July 01, 2005

I'm done

I've made my last yarn purchase for July. sniff sniff Well, if I somehow, miraculously, win the lottery, I'll buy myself a shit load of yarn, but otherwise, I have to use what is in my huge stash.

You should check out A Swell Yarn Shop. Until July 4th, they are having a 20% off sale. You have to visit the blog to get the code for the sale though. Just scroll down to the June 21st entry. I picked up 3 skeins of Cascade 220 for about $21 with shipping. I got one skein each of Forrest, Sage and Heather Sage. They are destined to become a felted bag. Possibly Suki or the French Market bag. Maybe one of the other 50 or so bag patterns I have. hehe I really just want a big knitting bag. Who knows what I may do. :OP

Ok, I need a nap. I didn't sleep for nothin last night. groan