Rhinebeck Review & Some Crazy Sh*t Goin' On

Well first the good stuff. We all like to hear the good stuff. They suspended that kid at my daughters school that attacked her and threatened her. It was only for one day but at least they told me his parents are taking this seriously and are going to get help for him. Lets hope he doesnt do this to any one again because if he does it to my daughter I will press charges and get an order of protection. Then this kid will have a juvenille record and I dont think that his father, who is a cop, will like that one little bit. Right now my only concern is my daughter and her safety.

Second good thing is we all went to Rhinebeck and had a great time this past weekend and I have a few pics to prove it. I almost bought a wheel but decided to wait on it because I havent tried enough to know whats comfortable for me. I also came to the conclusion that I wont be happy with a drop spindle but I did buy the book TEACH YOURSELF VISUALLY HANDSPINNING.

Here are some awesome pics from Sunday:
This guy was standing with one leg on each horse and balancing while they trotted around the field:



The featured breed of this years festival the Bluefaced Leicester:

Another cute sheep:


More good things...
I finally got to meet Stephanie Pearl-McPhee!! After traveling up to WEBS and not being able to stand in line (due to the little leg issue I had) and then I missed her when she came to CT. I thought I wouldnt meet her, ever. But here we are and she is such a nice person and told me that I should have gone to the head of the line at WEBS when they announced anyone who couldnt wait long in line could do that. I didnt want to do that because on the outside I looked fine and I didnt want people to judge me and say, "Whats wrong with her, she looks fine to me."

My husband called me from the authors tent and told me to make my way over there because it was EMPTY! I ran across the fairgrounds and couldnt believe that I got to meet the Yarn Harlot, Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne of Mason-Dixon fame, Judith Durant whos books I love and StitchyMcYarnpants. Carol Cypher was also there but I didnt get a chance to talk to her because there were a bunch of people waiting for her to sign their books. I own her wonderful book, MASTERING BEADWORK, A GUIDE TO OFF LOOM TECHNIQUES.

Yesterday I had my appointment with the surgeon to see if we could set up a day for my surgery. He examined me and agreed that the only 2 choices I have are: live with the pain or have the surgery. He also made me feel better telling me that there have been several studies that showed there was no marked difference noted in women who had surgical procedures on a limb with lymphedema. Thats amazing news! It also makes me feel a lot better knowing that these were controlled studies and not just written with no facts or basis to back it up. My surgery will be in a month, the week after Thanksgiving to be exact and he told me that the restrictions that I have to follow will be the same as the last time I had carpal tunnel surgery in my right hand in 1999.

As you can see yesterday was a busy day for me as not only did I have 2 doctors appointments, a hair appointment and then finally the jewelry party in the evening. Here is a picture of my set up at my Mom's house:


I am so happy that everyone who came liked my stuff and bought a lot of it! I did really well for my first party. Actually, very well and I have several people that want to have their own jewelry parties in their homes. Sweet! Now all I have to do is get this damn hand fixed and I'll be in business.


When I got home late last night I found my Rockin' Socks Club October Colorway~Lenore


Here are the 2 socks I started on 1 circular using the magic loop method. I am anxiously awaiting the book about this subject coming out 12/1 by Melissa Morgan-Oakes. I might have to put these aside for a while due to my carpal tunnel surgery as I have been doing with most of my WIP's.


Yup, all nice things going on then today my husband comes home and he scared me to death. He narrowly escaped getting killed on the highway coming home from work. The guy in front of him hit a HUGE buck and the deer came flying over the car and headed straight into my husbands car. He swerved out of the way onto the median of the road where he destroyed the two left wheels and most likely the axels or frame on the car. He had to hold the steering wheel at a 90 degree angle to hold the car straight. I filed the claim with my insurance company and the tow truck is going to come tomorrow to pick it up and take it to the body shop. Then my husband and I have to go to rent a car because he needs a way to get to work and with the hours he works and the times the kids have to be at school taking the train would be a pain in the ass. I am hoping the cost will be covered by the insurance company because we have a huge deductable (Ugh!!). Why do all these things happen at once? I was planning to go to Sock Camp with the Blue Moon Rockin' Sock Club Gang but who knows whats going to happen with the car and my sock camp plans.

Let's Get Serious

This post is going to be a serious one and one I never thought I would have to write about. It can happen to anyone out there so listen up, we're talking serious now. We moved to the town where we live in CT because of the great schools that are here. We wanted to be able to send our children to the public schools to get a great education and to be safe. Remember I said the word safe.

Yesterday, at 2pm, I received a call from the school psychologist and immediately upon seeing the number on my caller ID panicked. I'm no stranger lately to phone calls from the school nurse telling me that one of the kids is sick or hurt. I guess that goes with the territory. When I picked up the phone she assured me that none of the kids were hurt or in trouble but she was informing me of an incident that involved my daughter and another boy in her class. She wasnt allowed to tell me who the boy was on the phone but did tell me what happened. My daughter was basically attacked by this boy (she was on line with her class and he grabbed her leg to knock her down and then proceeded to kick her and then grab her leg again and refuse to let go with all his might, the teacher saw it happen thank God) and then while this boy and my daughter were sitting in the psycholologists office he said some very scary things to her that a child should never say to anyone let alone another child. He said, "I'm going to kill you", "you never shut up" and several other things. I was shocked that he actually had the balls to say this in front of an adult! She assured me that they were doing everything in their power to deal with this situation and they had said they were reassuring my daughter that she did nothing wrong and that she was safe and no one was going to hurt her again. I dont know why she would believe them when all these incidents occured virtually in front of an adult!! So how are they protecting her? There is only so much we can do for our kids and then they walk through the school doors and its out of our control. We then turn our childrens care over to the school and I dont want to eat my liver from 9am-3:30pm every day, its not fair to me.

I went to pick up my daughter and son at the usual time and my husband who was headed home from a half day of work met me at the school. I wanted to hear the story from her and see what happened then go in and talk to the principal about it.
When my daugher got in the car I remained silent because I didnt want to influence what she was going to say. She proceeded to tell me exactly what the psychologist said and then some. She told me that this kid (she identified him to me) has done this to her many times where the teachers havent seen and also that he "spies" on her. I asked her what that meant and she said that he asks other students to see what she is doing and report back to him. Nice, we have a stalker in the second freakin' grade now! When she told me who this boy was red flags went up in my head and my husbands because we immediately looked at each other and he said to me, "You know his father is a cop?" I said, "No, really? Then there are guns in the house?" My husband replied, "You better get in there and talk to that principal". During the telling of what happened my daughter would not stop crying and saying, "Mommy, Daddy, he said he's going to kill me and he said he would do it many times before too". I cant tell you how mad I was at this moment but I knew my anger was going to help me if I kept it in control and would be no help to me if I lost it. Thats why I went into the school and not my husband.

When I finally was sitting in the principals office with the vice-principal, school psychologist, my daughters teacher and the principal himself I told them my concerns. My first concern was that my daughter who loves school is now out in my car crying her eyes out scared to come to school because this boy has a vendetta against her for no reason whatsoever. They assured me that they were taking all the steps to resolve the problem but because of confidentiality reasons that couldnt say what the punishment would be. What bullshit that is. Like I wouldnt find out anyway. All this confidentiality crap, what a joke. It does more harm than good. I told them that my Dad was a teacher in the Bronx, NY for over 20 years and dealt with kids like this all the time and back then they used corporal punishment and there was no violence like we see in the news today of school shootings and stuff. I told them my concern that there was guns in the home of this boy and for not only my daughters saftey but theirs that something needs to be done about this NOW. I told them I wanted this kid suspended and possibly expelled. How many times does he have to hurt my daughter and threaten her? Do I have to get a phone call that she's dead then something will be done? This is scaring me more than you know and I told them that I dont need this in my life right now with all that I have been through and have to still go through with my possible upcoming surgery. I also filled them in on how much my 2 kids have gone through and that the word "kill" and "death" are not taken lightly in my home.

My kids have seen 3 of their great-grandparents die and have gone to the wake and funerals. I have never kept death hidden from them. My daughter knows what cancer is because of my breast cancer and the fact that my husband is an oncology nurse so she knows what death is. Even though I reasured her about me not dying she knew that there was a possibility I could. She asked me a few times and I told her, no, I wasnt going to leave her. I said this to them because the psychologist told me that she didnt think that this kid understands the meaning behind what he said. Now with some kids I agree with that but not with my kids because of what I said above. Even if they dont understand what they said and then they carry it out its still done, you cant get someones life back because the kid says, "We'll I didnt mean I was going to kill him, just hurt him". Well now he's dead asshole so what are we going to do about this? Are we going to wait for another Columbine? Is that whats going to happen? NO WAY. NO ONE IS GOING TO HURT MY CHILDREN, NO ONE. Maybe this kid is seeing to much of what his father does (as a cop) and thinks that its OK to say crap like this and to stalk another 7.5 year old. He sits right next to her in class and under his breath is always threatening her to shut up and keep quiet so now this little sociopath is going to interfere with my daughters education? NOT GONNA HAPPEN. I will not however do anything on my own, like go to their home or call them. I dont want to add any fuel to the fire. The psychologist told me that the mother of the boy came in to pick him up because he was so out of control that he couldnt return to the classroom and she was shocked and very sorry that this happened and wanted to know if it was OK to call me and I told her to say NO. I dont want her to call me and she should feel bad and I hope it ruins her weekend because her son sure as hell ruined mine and my families. You should have raised your son not to act like an animal toward others and say things like that.I know if I EVER said or did anything like he did my parents would have made me swallow my teeth and then some. My parents wouldnt tolerate that type of behaviour, NEVER, not even between me and my sister. There is never a reason to hurt someone or say something like that. The only time I gave my children permission to hurt someone is if they are in a situation where there is no parent or teacher around and they are in danger then its OK to push the aggressor away and get help.

The principal is calling me on Sunday night to reasure my daughter and talk with me about this and I am going to tell him that, number one I dont think this kid should come to school for a while (suspend this little prick), second, move his seat away from my daughter and maybe just move him the hell out of the class, thirdly, IF he gets to stay at this school (which after all the crap hes done I dont think he should be allowed to stay) and another incident occurs then he is EXPELLED and never allowed back. Some times we have to just sweep the shit right out of the room so the room can be clean again. My husband is going to take off work on Monday so we can speak with the principal if need be and I would like to see what they are doing about this situation. I hope they have the balls to do whats right otherwise they will have to deal with the wrath of me, my husband, and my parents and believe me, it wont be pretty.

I apologize for this downer of a story but I think we all need to know these things can happen to our kids in our schools even if we think they wont. My daugher never had an enemy and she is friendly with everyone. She is the opposite of me when I was her age. I was never popular at all. I was the kid (braces, glasses and short) the bullies picked on all the time until my grandfather went over the one of these boys homes and threatend them. Thats when it slowed down a lot and I think it might have even stopped. By the way, the bully that used to torture me all the time has spent time in and out of prison and might still be in prison right now. What a shocker!

This weekend we are headed to Rhinebeck to the NY Sheep & Wool Festival which my kids loved last year. We are going to have a great time and I wish I can get my parents to go but they arent interested in that kind of stuff.
Here is a picture from my son's birthday to put a smile on your face:


Hopefully next time I post I will have some great pictures from Rhinebeck of my spoils and the beautiful festival. I am hoping I can get a drop spindel and some roving to spin up my own handspun. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a cheap spinning wheel.

Sick & Socks

No, that title doesnt say SICK OF SOCKS, no way. I dont think that can ever happen! I am sick as a dog today and was unable to do anything I had planned including going to see the surgeon about my carpal tunnel and having my first jewelry party. I couldnt even make it to the parent-teacher conferences this morning which I really wanted to go to so I could hear how both kids are doing in school. I attempted to get up and get dressed and in the process thought I was going to pass out from coughing so much. I feel like I have pneumonia and I do have a fever with chest pain so I am hoping it gets better and not worse. My son also came home from school sick and my daughter has been having issues with chest congestion and her asthma. We had to call the pediatric specialist the other night because she could not stop coughing.

Anyway the socks are slow in coming along due to my carpal tunnel but I manage a few relaxing stitches here and there and I did finish one of the Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks from the New Pathways book. It really looks fantastic in the Space Dust colorway of BMFA. I also completed the first Solstice Slip Sock that I have been working on since June! There is another kit from Blue Moon coming soon and Woolgirl's second sock kit shippment goes out November 14th. I really wish this damn hand of mine felt better. Heck, at this point I wish I felt all over better. I'll post pictures when I feel better.

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer 2007

Saturday and Sunday were the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in NYC. My Mom raised $4,370.00 this year. She did a great job and I would like to thank all those out there who made a donation. I was a little disappointed we didnt surpass last years huge amount raised of $8,000.00. I thought that giving the incentive of jewelry and prizes would attract more donations than the prevoius year but I dont think my blog gets the traffic that other, more famous bloggers do. I am not quite as famous as the Yarn Harlot or others out there. Dont worry, there is time for me yet! For a relatively new blogger/knitter/beader I have a nice fan base (waving to the readers out there!). You can all laugh, I am TRYING to be funny but failing miserably.

The pictures above were taken by me. My Mom snuck me into the crowd of walkers and I had a front and center view of what was happening. I was also wearing a Survivor shirt and they gave all the survivors pink and white pom-poms to wave so I fit right in. Another breast cancer survivor that was walking with my Mom gave me an extra shirt that she was able to obtain which was very nice of her to do. All in all this was the best walk that they have ever had in their history raising over 10 million dollars with money still coming in at the time of the walk. I will be walking in the 2008 walk with my Mom as the Pink Panthers.

In other health related news, I have been going to (OT) Occupational Therapy for my lymphedema and the pain I'm experiencing in my left hand. At first my OT thought that it was related to the lymphedema but now realizes that its my carpal tunnel coming back. In Sept 1999 I had carpal tunnel release surgery in my right hand. At the time I was almost 6 months pregnant with my daughter and frightened more for her than me. Now its so difficult because I cant do anything that involves my left hand which includes knitting and beading. I am trying not to get depressed over this because I know from the past experience with the surgery I had immediate relief (except for the surgical pain). The surgeon that did the surgery in 1999 has privilages at the hospital I use so I am even more hopeful that it will be a successful surgery. The only obstacle is my lymphedema and it scares me to think about it but there really is no choice if I want to use my hand again. My plans also include attending Camp Cockamamie in the Spring with the rest of the Blue Moon FIber Arts Rockin' Sock Club members.
My first jewelry party is next week and I hope I have a little relief by then. I also have a make up class for the Starry Night Shawl which I have been putting off for a very long time. The first class I took was sometime in the Spring. I am not in a rusht to finish it but I dont want to make it difficult for my LYS. They keep accomadating me and I cant thank them enough for that. There is always some reason or another that I keep putting off the class and the years almost over! Its not looking good for me in regards to finishing the Starry Night Shawl.

Even though I have limited use of my hand I have been able to do a little beading and knitting here and there. There are lots of rest periods in between the beads and stitches believe me! Its the two things that bring me joy and even though I am in pain I cant stop doing them. One day at a time, one stitch at a time, one bead at a time. On that note here are some pieces I have completed in the past week or so.

Metal and Satin Necklace


Kazuri Bead & Czech Crystal Necklace


Red Shell Necklace, Bracelet and Earrings Set


Blown Glass Flower Necklace


Red Crystal Necklace


Black & Gold Angel Necklace


Dichroic Glass & Swarovski Necklace


Czech Crystal & Shell Necklace


Rose Quartz Fan Choker


Lime Hearts Necklace


Black Diamond & Pearls Bracelet


Butterfly Trinity Necklace


In other knitting news I as surprised to find out that one of my LYS is going out of business! Its not my beloved Knitting Central, thank God! Its Knotty Girl Knit and Yarn Club. It is the first store I went to when I wanted to learn how to knit. I also tried to get a job there once which I wrote about in this blog. I found out about their closing when I went to their website to see what was happening in their store for the fall season. According to the owner, they werent making money. In my opinion, the owner was not a very good business woman and I predicted this a while ago to my husband who agreed with me. They couldnt hold a candle to Knitting Central and I am not just saying that because a few lovely ladies who work there read this blog. The owner of the store thats closing proved it when she recommended the closest yarn store to patronize in their place. She suggested the knitting community travel 35 minutes to a yarn store 4+ towns away instead of taking a 10 minute ride down the main road to Knitting Central! What nerve! I was in the store the other day to see if they had anything worth purchasing and actually heard the owner say this to a couple of shoppers in the store!! I had to hold myself back from going up to these people and telling them to take a ride over to Westport and see the best knitting store in the state. It WAS rated the Best of the Gold Coast so I am not BS-ing you here. When I got out to the car where my husband was waiting, I told him what I had just witnessed and he said that she probably wasnt recommending Knititng Central because it was her competition and probably the reason she went out of business. OK, he might be right but she is GOING OUT OF BUSINESS so why should she care at this point?? Pretty stupid right? I think so. Knitting Central is not the reason she went out of business, SHE IS THE REASON she went out of business. SHE has no one else to blame but herself and her lack of expertise in the business world. I can tell you that because I directly witnessed her laissez-faire attitude about her business. She didnt believe I was a good knitter because I wasnt knitting long enough to qualify in her book as a good knitter. She had said that to me when I wanted to work there. Can you tell I didnt really like her? LOL. I have certainly seen knitters who have knitted less than a year be better knitters than someone who has knitted 20. Enough said.

Sock it to me

I already mentioned about a hundred times that its SOCKTOBER and I am not only trying to complete as many socks as possible but learning new techniques for knitting socks. The other day I bought a book called KNITTING CIRCLES AROUND SOCKS by Anje Gillingham. It demonstrates how to knit two socks on two needles. All I know is that yesterday when I was attempting to do this, there was a tangled mess of needles and yarn everywhere. I couldnt get it no matter how I tried and thats not like me at all. I usually see something and learn quickly so I just put it aside and decided to do it my way. I proceeded to teach myself how to knit two socks on one needle using the magic loop technique. There is a book cominig out in December by Melissa Morgan-Oakes about how to do this and I cant wait to buy it so I can see if I am doing it correctly.

The second new technique or several ones are being learned from the master sock knitter, Cat Bordhi and her New Pathways Book. I already completed the Little Sky Learning Sock and now I am working on the Bartholomew's Sock which uses the same Sky Sock Architecture. There are some pictures posted after the jewelry ones.

Silver Heart Necklace


Blue Moon & Stars


Rhodonite Fan Necklace


Mother of Pearl Flower


Millifiori Heart


Blue Antiqued Ceramic Necklace


Millifiori & Colored Squares Bracelets


Black and Orange Blown Glass Necklace


The Most Beautiful Flower Necklace


Blue Moon Fiber Arts Yarn all in Mediumweight~My Favorite!

Red Rock Canyon, Chanticleer, Blarney Stone & Space Dust

Solstice Slip Socks in Progress


Bartholomew's Tantalizing Sock Pattern from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Socknitters Book in Space Dust Colorway

Socktoberfest's First

Yesterday I mentioned that October is known as Socktober in the knitting community or with the sock knitting obsessed community. I finished my first pair and I am going to count it as a Socktober pair.





They are from Woolgirls Sock Club and it was the first kit I received on 9/15 and completed 9/30. Pretty quick for me even though I know some of you out there can finish socks in a few days or less! If my hand felt better I could do a lot of things and I am planning on seeing the OT soon to see what she can do to alleviate the pain and maybe I to can complete a pair in a week. I worked on my Solstice Slip last night and I am up to the heel so far. I decided to cast on for a new pathways sock from Cat Bordhi's new book. Its called BARTHOLOMEW'S TANTALIZING SOCKS. It uses the SKY ARCHITECTURE that I used in the baby socks I knit for my Dr's baby. I love the look of the sock and the linen stitch makes it look fabulous especially the Blue Moon Rockin' Sock yarn I am using. I also have to cast on for Knitting Centrals Sock Club sock which I posted a picture of yesterday. The reason I am holding off on starting it is that its cables and I love cables, dont get me wrong but the Solstice Slip Socks are cabled also and I can only deal with so many cables at once! The cabled tank top I havent finished is also cabled as the name implies. So you see I have lots of cables in my life right now. Well, if I want to knit some socks I better stop chit chatting and get to work!