Knit Happens

First Post in a Very Loooong time! Oh, its 2011!

2011-01-09T16:35:00.004-05:00

I think I forgot I had a blog! Wow! Last time I posted was summertime! Its now a new year with a lot of snow on the ground outside. The past few months have flown by and things have been going well. My niece is getting older. It seems like yesterday she was born! Well she was born in March and at the rate I post, it was yesterday! She will be a year in a couple of months! Lot's of exclamation points in this post.

In August my family and I went to the Restoring Honor Rally in DC on 8/28. It was fantastic! We spent a long weekend in Washington and showed the kids all of the different and amazing museums, monuments and history of our Capital. My husband and I took a few much needed days on LBI (Long Beach Island, NJ) after we went to the Freedom Concert at Six Flags Great Adventure. That was also great! It was a little too expensive so the next time we go somewhere for a few days it's going to be cheaper. My Mom and I did the AVON Walk for Breast Cancer in October. This past Thanksgiving and Christmas was the first in a really long time that my sister didn't start a major fight. I couldn't believe it but I won't question it. Now, let's hope it continues. Otherwise not much stuff I going on here. I think thats why I haven't posted in a really long time. So until next time, Beam me up Scotty.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot!

2010-07-19T17:15:00.002-04:00

It's sticky, hot and humid out and it has been that way for a few weeks now. You can call it a heat wave baby! I really don't like the summer time and this is the main reason, the heat and humidity, plus all the thunderstorms to boot really make it hell for me. It has also been a very busy summer for me because both my kids have been in different camps and activities and that means that they get out at different times and such. Sometimes I feel like a taxi!

My Oncologist visit went well (in June) and I don't have to go back until December. Good news is always good around here!

Now all I have to do is get some more time to do my knitting, crochet and jewelry and I will be a much happier person!

It's ALIVE

2010-06-06T15:20:00.002-04:00

Yes, I am alive but obviously not blogging. I don't know, I have just not been in the mood I guess. Sorry I havent been here. Lots going on and maybe that's the reason I havent been around. I know you all have heard a lot about my sister and that she was due to have her baby in March. She did and all is well. Our relationship has taken a complete 180 which is a very good thing. Christmas was OK and then her baby shower was OK too. Things changed a lot when she had the baby though. I have been a very devoted and doting aunt which is what I planned on being anyway. When I have time I I will post a picture of her. Her name is Alessa.

I also had some minor surgery in January. At the time they were not sure if what they were removing was benign or cancerous so I went out and chopped all the hair I had been growing out up until then. I never should have done that but I though the worst so thats why I did it. Turns out it was just a benign polyp and I am doing great. Next oncology appointment is supposed to be this month. I think I should make an appointment! lol

Knitting and crochet has been totally dedicated to the baby. Baby blankets, baby clothes, baby everything! I have to get back in gear and make stuff for other people too!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T09:52:00.004-05:00

I forgot to post this picture after I completed it. It's a Christmas gift for my sisters baby coming in March and I thought it would be nice to include a gift for the baby. The rest of the stuff I am making I will be giving her at the baby shower in February. Without further ado I present my Baby Starghan blanket:

I made alot of necklaces that have wire crocheted pendants almost like an amulet style. They are going to be for sale in my Etsy store sometime in the new year. The focus of my store is going to change toward crochet and woven pieces that are simple yet elegant in their style. I am so excited and I cant wait to show you all! After Christmas I will be posting pics of them. I dont want to do it now because they are gifts and that would mean ruining the surprise! Anyway, I have so much to do today and not enough time to do it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Not Enough Time in My Day for All this CRAP!!

2009-11-17T09:23:00.004-05:00

So much has happened since walking the AVON WALK in October. Turns out I forgot my camera when I left for the hotel the night before and my Mom didnt have her camera so no pictures from the walk. I was upset about that but overall I was more proud of the money we both raised and the great job we did walking all over NYC. It was a blast and so many people were out there to great us with inspirational signs and high fives. My Mom and I raised a total of almost $6,000 which I plan to beat next year by leaps and bounds.

The following week was the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival which was predicted to be rained out but we headed up on Saturday and the rain held out until after we left. I was able to get a few nice skeins of Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarns. I was saving up my money for STITCHES EAST which this year was held in Hartford and was happening just a week after Rhinebeck. My husband and I made a date of it and had a great time. He even won a door prize from Liza Souza yarns! I thought that was so funny. Afterwards we headed to Ruth's Chris Steak House for a belated anniversary dinner. We celebrated 11 years on 9/26 and never had a chance to go out and celebrate so better late then never.

I almost forgot that my son's 7th birthday came and went and I never mentioned it. He turned 7 on the 15th of October and we had a couple of celebrations for him since it fell in the middle of the week.

I am not sure if I mentioned this here or not but I cant really go into a long drawn out story. I will give a shortened version not to bore you all. My sister is pregnant due in March with a guy who is not only an illegal immigrant but 7 years younger than her. We all know what he really wants. She doesnt even know him 8 months, maybe less. She was pregnant over the summer and had a miscarriage at 6-7 weeks but immediately got pregnant while recouping from the miscarriage. We all thought they would take the proper steps when that happened and do the right thing like get a green card then get married then have a baby. Maybe get to know each other a little bit and see if you both want the same things in life. But no, not her. So she is due in March and they are to be married by a judge civilly the day after Christmas. Oh joy. I dont have a good feeling about this guy because whenever I see him he looks like a deer in the head lights. He's 25 and she is 32. There is no way he wants the same things that she does. I can say that he definitely sees her as his meal ticket because she has the job with the benefits and the health insurance, the co-op that he moved into and so on. I hope for the childs sake that I am wrong but I am usually right when it comes to reading people. Anyway, I am knitting as much stuff as I can for the baby before she is born.

In knitting news I made another baby item for my kids school principal who had a baby girl over the summer. I used Bon Bon yarn and Louisa Harding for the trim. It was a very quick knit and fun too.

Colorful and cute! I hope he and his wife like it. Now I have to start something for a patients 2 year old whom I have no idea what to make. There are so many things I could do but when you want to make them all its hard to make a decision! LOL

I am presently working on a Christening Blanket for my sister, half mittens for myself and a pair of socks that I have been working on forever! I still want to start something new, NOW! I am sure whatever I finish first will be posted here for all to see but who knows when that will be.

Over the past few months I havent been feeling well and have seen an ENT several times thinking it was a sinus infection of sorts. He told me that it was a deviated septum but was unsure that it could cause all the pain I was having and am still having. I am having more than pain now. I am dizzy and cant focus on anything for a long period without getting dizzy or nauseous. I have problems driving too which scares the heck out of me because my job entails driving and lots of it at times. So yet again I am headed to the Dr to check me out and see what the problem is. I am hoping I can get some answers and maybe feel better! I am praying that happens soon because I cant take much more of feeling this way.

It's HERE!!!!

2009-10-08T10:52:00.004-04:00

Yes, this weekend is the AVON WALK and I am ready as I will ever be. I will update you all as to what happens, of course! I am charging my camera battery at this very moment. To date I have raised $2175 which I am very proud of so the walking is just a bonus to me. As long as the money was raised thats what counts.

On the knitting front I completed another Boheme in a larger size for a patients niece born in July. I used Spud & Chloe's Sweater yarn in a beautiful turquoise color and followed the directions for the 18 month size. My gauge was off a bit but I figured so what if it was a little big. It came out to measure 25" around the chest which says should fit a 4-5 year old! I am not so sure about that. Maybe a 3-4 year old the way these kids get so big so fast these days! Here it is:

Don't you love the contrast of the buttons with the color of the sweater? I absolutely love it!

I have another baby to make something for now and I havent started yet! My kids school principal had a baby girl this summer and I didnt even know about it until the kids started school again last month. I am thinking of booties with a hat or something simple because I have a lot of baby knitting to do for my sister who is pregnant and due in March.

Things seem to be going well with her and I. I know there have been problems in the past but I am hoping thats where they will stay.

My husband seems to be doing well and healing from his surgery back 3 weeks ago. He is going to start PT in another couple of weeks and if all goes well will return to work early January.

October is one crazy month! Starting with the walk this weekend then my sons birthday next week, the NYS sheep and wool festival the following week and finally Stitches East the last weekend of October. WOW! Crazy right!

Gotta go. See you at the walk this weekend!!

Boheme Baby Sweater

2009-09-12T15:13:00.003-04:00

I finally completed this baby sweater for my friends niece that is celebrating her first birthday next month. Right on time with this 18 month size sweater. The pattern is BOHEME on ravelry and I used one skein of Blue Moon FIber Arts Socks that Rock Heavyweight in Rare Gems colorway. I like it so much I want to make one for myself. I think that I am addicted to making seamless sweaters now because they are so easy and fast.

On another note I reached my fundraising goal of $1800 for the AVON Walk for Breast Cancer. This doesnt mean that I cant go beyond my goal because I have a few checks that I sent in that havent been put towards the total yet.

The first week of school is over and so far so good. Both my kids like their teachers but I do have a few things I need to iron out with my sons teacher. When I bring them in to school Monday I will have a chat with the principal about my concerns.

Wonky II

2009-08-25T12:53:00.003-04:00

This little knit was such a quick and easy, fun knit that I had to make another. I am not sure who this is for or I should say that I do know who it's for but I don't want to mention it as to give the surprise away. This Wonky cowl from the latest Knitty is made with Sheep Shop Two yarn which now is no longer available (which is sad because its a great yarn).

I am in the process of working on a gift for my Mom's birthday, a baby sweater for my best friends niece, a couple of pairs of socks, and the finishing touches on a crocheted shawl. I can't figure out what type of crocheted embellishments are needed on it because I don't want it to look to overdone. I have a load of gorgeous crocheted leaves and flowers but I am saving them for another idea I have.

The summer is almost coming to an end and I can't wait! I had a nice summer but it was crazy. I am definitely not a hot weather person. I LOVE the Fall and cant wait for school to start. My husband is scheduled for major surgery the middle of September and am going to be working a lot more to make up for the 3 months of work he is going to miss. He's going to be getting workmans comp but we all know how its not your full salary. Its 75% of your salary and I really hope they dont dick him around when it comes to giving him what he is due. I can't work as much as he does but I will be filling in for him on his other job and picking up his regular patients. Then I have jury duty in November which is going to suck ass because there is no way I can serve on a jury. Even though I would love to do my civic duty and serve it would be a severe burden on the family at this time. No one to watch the kids, no one to take hubs to physical therapy, no one to work per diem. You get the point. Well, last time I went to serve for jury duty I drove though an ice storm to get to the court house and waited there for the lawyers to show for 3 hours. After waiting all that time with 100+ others in the same boat as me, they told us we all served for the next however many years (cant remember) and sent us home. Thats because the lawyers didnt show on account of the ice storm. So it was OK for US to risk our lives to get there but the lawyers no, God forbid! What a joke. I hope that doesnt happen again.

Good News! I am almost at my goal for my AVON WALK!! I am at $1625 and my goal is $1800. My friend is sending a check for $100 so once that registers I am at $1725 and only $75 away from my goal. If you are interested in donating to my walk please click on my link in the sidebar thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Time to work on my Mom's birthday gift...

Never a Dull Moment

2009-08-04T15:33:00.004-04:00

I should know already that there is never a dull moment in my life. A week before my daughters hand surgery which was the 28th of July, I had an episode with my blood pressure where I had to go to the ER.

I had a migraine for a few days and it just wasn't relenting. I started to have horrible dizzy spells and problems with my vision. My blood pressure (BP) usually runs extremely low and when I say extremely I mean VERY low like 90/50. When I took my BP it was 158/110. OK, don't panic, take it again, and again and again. Every time I took it the numbers were worse and worse. It got to 180/120. By that time my husband had come home from work and he had taken it and got worse then I was getting. I put in a call to my doctor who was on vacation for the week so he had an asshole filling in for him. She doesn't know me and she is a real jerk. I know my body well and I know when something isn't right. My doc listens when I talk because he always says, you turn your back on me for one second and the shit hits the fan with my health. Off to the ER we went and my husband drove while I popped one of the old BP pills I had left over from when I had issues with tachycardia from my Graves Disease (before I had my thyroid removed). I thought what harm could it do and at this point I thought I was having a stroke.

When we got to the ER they brought me right in when they heard what my symptoms were. They hooked me up to a monitor and my pressure was still high at 146/99 but much better than the last reading my husband got at home. The ER doc ordered a CAT Scan of my head to rule out a stroke and an EKG which was done within an hour of me being admitted to the ER. They started an IV to give me pain meds for my migraine and drew lots of blood for cardiac enzymes and other tests. All the tests were negative and my pressure was still hovering in the 150/90 something range. They were unsure if the Atenolol that I took before I left my house had anything to do with it going down. I definitely think it was lowering it. I almost forgot to mention that my Mom and Dad were away on vacation and my husband had no choice but to take the kids with us. You could imagine how much fun that was for them! They admitted me to the hospital and I stayed for a couple of days. They did a renal ultrasound to see if I had stenosis of the renal artery which would cause a hypertensive episode. There is also another condition of the kidneys that causes hypertensive episodes (complicated name that I can't remember) and the ultrasound ruled it out also. So after all that they couldn't find anything wrong which is comforting but aggravating also. I still don't feel right but they seem to think it might have been related to my thyroid levels being totally off.

A week later my daughter had her hand surgery. They initial thought it was an aneurysm of the artery or something vascular. When they got in there it wasn't vascular at all which turned out to be very good news. No reconstruction of the artery needed meaning no scary side effects and less healing time. Pathology hasn't come back yet but I am hopeful it's not serious.

The same day my daughter had her surgery I had my PET Scan which I go for every 4 months. Results were negative and I can breathe again.

During that time I knit a few rows on a couple of new socks and I COMPLETED the "Wonky" cowl from the Knitty Summer Issue. It was a very quick knit that was also very easy. I used Spud & Chloe yarn which was a dream to knit with. The first two pictures are pretty much true to color which is a natural brown color. I made it for my husband because he's not a scarf person. Here are some pics of the completed project.

I am planning on making a few more of these!

Only A Year in the Making

2009-07-14T10:15:00.003-04:00

I FINALLY finished another project that was lying around unfinished for a VERY long time. The Gumdrop Socks were the July 2008 shipment of the Blue Moon Rockin' Socks Club. Well, it only seems fitting that it's July 2009 and I have completed them! Here they are and right on time for the next shipment of the RSC due any day now. Now if I can only finish the tank top I started last spring! lol

Why I Walk-AVON Walk for Breast Cancer 2009

2009-07-07T16:45:00.002-04:00

I just completed my page on the AVON Walk for Breast Cancer website! You're probably thinking FINALLY! The walk is in October and I am just started my fundraising. The paragraph below is what I put on the site and the link is in my sidebar (AVON Walk for Breast Cancer 2009) if anyone would like to donate to my walk.

Most of you know that I am a breast cancer survivor. I was 34 years old when I received my diagnosis in February of 2006. I am walking for many reasons. The main one being that I would like to see a cure for breast cancer in my life time. I walk because I don't want my daughter to live in fear that breast cancer will do the same thing to her as it did to me. I walk for the women who can't walk. It took me 3 years to be able to wake up in the morning and not have the word 'cancer' cross my mind. I did not let cancer define me but it did change me, and the way I view every day life. I like to say, I may have had cancer, but cancer never had me. With your donations breast cancer can be a thing of the past. Please help me eradicate this terrible disease and give hope to those fighting it now. Thank you so much!  Jeanann

My Knitting Mojo is Back

2009-06-19T01:23:00.004-04:00

I finally finished the sweater I was making for my son's teachers new baby girl who was born in March. I made sure to make it a 12-18 month size so she can get a lot of use out of it when the weather gets colder. The yarn used is Great Adirondack Handspunlike cotton with a #6 needle. I absolutely love this pattern because it's a seamless kimono so no seaming when you are done! I made one for my cousins baby with the lion on it. Enough talking here it is:

I know that I have told everyone that I wanted my hair to grow so I can wear it long like I used to but I changed my mind. The other day I decided that I liked the way my curls looked when I had it in a bob. So I went to a curly girl salon to my usual curly girl stylist and she did a great job. I'll try and get a pic up soon, I promise. Jesse, the stylist says that it definitely looks better on me than the style I had before because it suits my curly personality which is so true. Crazy curls, crazy me.

I have been working a lot to make money to pay bills and all that jazz but I am sure everyone is trying to do as much as possible these days to pay their bills. I haven't had a chance to work on jewelry or knit but since I finished the baby sweater I can feel my knitting mojo coming back. I ordered a couple of books on Amigurumi so I can use the scrap yarn I have collected these past few years for something productive like a knitted pumpkin pie to be exact. I also got my hands on the Sookie Stackhouse series of books that the HBO series "True Blood" is modeled after. Barnes and Noble had a few of them but not the whole series so I bought books 1 and 2 at the book store and books 3-7 (or 8 I cant remember but it was just the paperbacks and not the newest hardcover) from Amazon.

School is out for the summer on Tuesday and my kids are not doing camp this year. God help me! My son is going to do a summer school program for the month of July which is only until 12:30pm M-F. My daughter is having hand surgery the first week of July so she wont be attending the Y this summer. We promised them that we would still do things so they will still have a nice summer break.

Beam Me Up... Karl?

2009-06-09T12:49:00.006-04:00

I know its been a while and I wont get into why I havent been around because its to complicated. Lets just say life gets in the way and takes precedence over my blogging, I guess. The other night my hubby and I went to the movies and anyone who knows me knows that I am a big Christian Bale fan so the obvious choice would be to go see the new Terminator movie. But wait a gosh darn minute there. I am also a HUGE, HUGE, Star Trek fan and I really wanted to see this movie so we did. Man am I glad I did because in the midst of the movie I realized that the actor playing Leonard "Bones" McCoy was none other than the kiwi actor Karl Urban from movies such as Lord of the Rings, The Bourne Supremacy and The Chronicles of Riddick, just to name a few. Wow is this guy awesome! Every scene that he was in stole the show. He made the perfect "Bones" McCoy, perfect. If you havent seen the movie then GO NOW! I want to see it again, and again. Its also in IMAX so if you can catch it on that BIG screen then go for it. I think I will have to move Mr. Urban to the top of my obsession list. That might mean right above Christian Bale and Damian Lewis! Hard to believe but not so hard when you check out this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ-5Kz7QIio
Its so funny because as a fan of the 1960's Star Trek show Dr. McCoy was my favorite character. I loved when he played that cantankerously funny country doc character off of Spock's always logical character.

In other news, knitting to be exact, I took a bit of a break due to my job and working alot. I would always fall asleep on it and never was getting anywhere with all my projects. I HAVE to finish a baby sweater that I am in the process of finishing up for my son's teacher who had a baby in March. Its a good thing I am making the 12 month size. A few projects I decided to frog instead of finish and just start over. I havent bought yarn, except for the sock clubs I am in and a few skeins I bought to make a tiny cardigan for myself. That is when I finish the tank top I started last spring and a pair of socks.

My YouTube addiction is quite evident with all the videos I have been posting here on my blog. That takes up some time too but most of the time I am on its really late at night and I fall asleep watching on my laptop.

The picture on the left is my 20 year high school reunion. I am last girl on the right side of the stairs with the black dress with flowers. It was such a great reunion and lots of girls came which made it even better. I havent seen most of them for 20 years! Everyones looked great especially their hair! Awesome hair! I hope we all look that good in another 20 years!

Amazing

2009-04-21T22:40:00.002-04:00

A patients husband told me about this amazing video today. You have to see it to believe it, thats all I have to say. Just watch it all the way through. This video has won many awards on YOU TUBE and they are all well deserved. Here it is:

Happy Blogoversary to Me!

2009-03-08T22:38:00.002-04:00

It's been 3 years since I started this blog and I can't believe it seems like yesterday. I started it to keep a record of my experiences and treatment when I was going through cancer. After I was finished with my treatments I didn't want it to be the focus of my blog anymore. I decided to continue to blog about my life in general but also about my many other passions which include knitting, crocheting, beading, jewelry design and all around crafting! So here I am! I am hoping to blog a bit more this year and hopefully I will be successful in this endeavor. LOL Wish me luck. Maybe the next post will have some Disney World vacation pics if I can actually get them into the computer. Its a busy week here because I am supposed to start my new job on Thursday. I am a little nervous and excited about it. Thats something else I can blog about! Yes! See you all soon!

WTF Blanket?

2009-03-07T19:56:00.002-05:00

I thought this was f-ing hilarious so I will share it with all of you:

Every time this was on TV I thought WTF is this? What idiot would buy this? I guess blankets are too difficult for most of the morons out there. LOL.

First Post of February

2009-02-06T00:03:00.003-05:00

Well, the first week of February is not yet over and here I am posting with a finished object to brag about! My cousins baby shower is at the end of the week and I finally finished the seamless baby kimono sweater. I used Zara Merino in white with a size 6 needle and I used a lot more yarn than the pattern called for. I made the 3-6 month size and it called for 200 yards and I used 340 yards. Thats not a small difference but a big one in my eyes. My gauge was fine so I am not sure what the problem was. I do think the sweater looks like it can fit a baby past 6 months but thats the amazing stretching power of knits! Its a good thing too because the more use a baby can get out of a handmade knit then the better it is. Who wants to put a baby in something they can only wear once or twice before they outgrow it? Not me. So enough talking here's my finished objects:

I am calling it the King of the Jungle Seamless Baby Kimono Sweater

To showcase my brand spankin' new sewing skills I made this little baby Panda pillow. Although, I don't know how much it looks like a panda because my daughter thought it looked like a raccoon. I am not to sure at the moment what it looks like but its cute none the less and I am sure a newborn baby won't care as long as its soft.

At the moment I have a few unfinished objects on my needles and I should be finishing them BUT I have to make another baby gift for my son's teacher who is having a baby girl in March. She is such a lovely woman who has had her share of heartache in 2008. She lost both her newborn baby girl and her husband within 8 months. She has a baby boy who will be 3 soon and soon a newborn to take care of. She is going to need all the help she can get. A local radio station granted a Christmas wish by paying off the two funerals she was struggling to pay. She is having a little girl so I am going to raid my stash to see what pretty yarn I am going to use to make her little one a sweater Until next time my pretty (insert cackling laugh here) LOL

The 4th One of the Month

2009-01-31T18:01:00.006-05:00

One of my many goals this year is to try to post at least 4 times a month to this blog (or more). Its hard to do that when you don't have anything to talk about that you think is worthy of sharing. Well, lets see, I think I have a couple of things to talk about.

Yesterday, I had an interview for a home care IV infusion therapy per diem nurse position. I was a little nervous about the interview since I haven't been on one since 1997. The office I was headed to was an hour away from here so my husband offered to drive me. He brought along his resume to drop off in the hopes he would be able to get something one day a week or so because they are cutting all his OT at work. When we arrived he gave his resume to the woman doing my interview and she asked us if we wouldn't mind being interviewed together? Wow, I never had an interview with another person before let alone my husband! I thought it was funny and it took a little of the nervousness away making the situation more casual for all of us. To make a long story short, at the end of the interview she told us both that she would love to have us join the team! We were both so excited about not one but 2 part time jobs! We wont be starting until after we return from our vacation at the end of February but that's right around the corner from now. There are lots of paperwork and orientation that comes with a new job but I don't mind.

After leaving the office we went to my favorite local yarn store, Knitting Central.
How else does a yarn addict/knitter celebrate? By buying yarn, thats how! It was either yarn or makeup and my husband wants another Half-Pipe Hat. It certainly was an easy knit and I need some mindless knitting for the long drive to Florida.

In other news my cousin's baby shower is next week so I need to be done with the Baby Kimono I've been working on forever. Its a seamless one and it's a lot of fun to do since there are no seams to close at the end. I am presently working on the sleeves and had to buy another skein of Zara Merino in white because I only had 2. The pattern called for the yardage of 2 skeins but I soon realized the sweater would have either short or 3/4 sleeves if I didn't purchase more yarn.

The first shipment of the BlueMoon Fiber Arts Notorious Sock Knitters (Rockin' Socks Club) for 2009 arrived on my doorstep the other day. It was missing a few items thanks to the 3-4 inch gash in the tyvek envelope. I e-mailed them and they are sending replacements to me ASAP which was very nice of them. The yarn and the pattern is GORGEOUS and I didn't get a pic of it (sorry). Its a Sivia Harding design that incorporated beads into the knitting. I have never done any beaded knitting but I have always done the first pattern from the club so why stop now. It has always introduced something new to my knitting whether it be toe up socks or short row heels and I have always completed it well. I plan on starting them as soon as I finish with the other socks (they are almost done). Beaded knitting is certainly not good for vacation knitting and driving in a car for long periods of time. Could you imagine if I dropped the beads? Oh no, not a good thing.

My Namaste Zuma Bag in the limited edition colorway eggplant finally came in the mail and I am in love with it! Its a lot smaller than my other Namaste Cali collection bag (cant remember the exact name). but it holds a lot of stuff none the less.

My daughter celebrated her 9th birthday this month! I cant believe she was born 9 years ago. Where does all the time go?

That's all the exciting news for January!

The Best of Friends

2009-01-16T18:24:00.001-05:00

If this story doesn't bring a tear to your eye then I don't know what will.

The First Finished Object of 2009

2009-01-15T16:06:00.005-05:00

This hat is Half-Pipe from Deb Stollers Stitch n Bitch book with all the men's patterns. After knitting it you insert a plastic mesh piece thats cut in the shape of a crescent and it becomes the brim of the hat. Its very easy to do and I actually stitched it in place while my husband had it on his head as to not make a mistake or have the brim fold the wrong way. He LOVES it! I used Tahki Tweedy Alpaca (1.5 skeins) and I fell in love with it. Its so soft and fluffy and feels so good to knit with it makes me want to go out and buy enough to make a sweater with. BUT it is a little pricey for me to make a sweater. There are only 81 yards in each skein so you would need a lot and at almost $9/each it would be more than $100 to make a sweater. Right now I am trying to use the yarns I have in my stash and save money for bills and our upcoming vacation next month.

I am in the process of finishing a seamless baby kimono that I was making for my friends brother's new baby girl. I realized however that its way to small to fit her since she's turning 3 months at the end of January. The pattern says its 3-6 month size but I dont think she is going to get much use out of it. I've decided to make something for a 12 month old and send it to her so she can have something to wear in the Fall when it gets cooler and she will be able to wear it and have it actually fit her.
There are also the Rockin' Sock Club Socks that I havent finished from the summer. The 2009 club starts sending out the first package the 3rd week of January so my goal is to finish them so I can start the 2009 clubs socks. I always get the first 3-4 pair knitted and then things get crazy around the holidays and I slack off. It happened last year also. It didnt help that last year I was in 3 sock clubs either. This year its just 2 clubs: The Rockin' Sock Club and Woolgirl's Sock Club. They both are awesome but I am really looking forward to Woolgirls this year. She is promising its going to be awesome!

My daughters 9th birthday is this weekend and we are going to see a movie of her choice. She wants to see HOTEL FOR DOGS. Everyone else wants to see BEDTIME STORIES. Hopefully HOTEL FOR DOGS wont be too bad.

Since its a new year I usually post goals for the year and now is as good a time as any. Here are some of my goals for 2009:

1) Reach my goal weight this year! I am slowly working my way there and have lost 27 lbs so far. I have about 20-25 lbs to go to reach where I want to be.

2) Exercise more whether I join a gym or do it on my own.

3) Become a faster knitter while still being a quality knitter. I know I knit slow and I do get distracted easily so I have to finish what I start. Either finish it or frog it. I joined a group on Ravelry dedicated to this purpose.

4) Get a part time or per diem job to bring some income into the home. Times are tough for everyone and I am trying to get a job as a RN in my town so I wouldnt have to drive far and I can work around my husband's and kid's schedules.

5) Take a romantic vacation alone with my husband after the family vacation.

6) Sell more jewelry on my Etsy shop.

7) Walk with my Mom in the 2009 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. This will be my first year doing it and my mothers 3rd. I have been unable in the past due to my leg issues but I am getting into shape and it should be OK by October.

I am sure there are some I forgot but I'll add them later.
Hope everyone has a great long weekend and stay warm!

A New Year

2009-01-08T09:17:00.008-05:00

WOW, its been a while since I posted but I do have some good excuses as to why I havent been here. There was the holidays and every one in my family excluding me was sick on a holiday. My son, as you know from a previous post was sick on Thanksgiving and in the hospital. My husband then was very sick before Christmas and I actually started an IV on him at home because the weather was so bad we couldnt get to the hospital. See there is a benefit from having two RN's in the house! After he had a chance to recover on Christmas Eve night my son starts to puke again and my husband has a relapse so we stayed home on Christmas Day. That was fine with me because my sister pulled some stupid stunt on Christmas Eve and I really didnt want her to ruin my Christmas. I cant just leave it at that now can I? OK, I will tell you what happened but I will make it fast because I have a lot to cover here. Here goes...

On Christmas Eve my family opens presents and those presents are all put under the tree. When it comes time to open them we all grab the ones with our names on it and bring them to the sunroom and open them up. My son grabbed the ones with his name on them and of course he was able to feel that one of them was a train. He is totally and completely obsessed with Thomas since he was 2 and thats OK with me. It can be much worse in my opinion. We dont own a Wii yet or an XBox so yes, it can be worse. Anyway my sister gets mad not once, not twice, not three times (you get the point) but at least 4 times and said to my son, "You're not opening THAT present tonight and if you dont put it down I am going to give it to another little boy who deserves it more than you." She then said to me, "I am going to teach your son a lesson and not give him that present because he isnt behaving." Now, if she said this once I would not be mad. Its Christmas and the kid can feel the toy is a train so whats the difference if you give it to him tonight or tomorrow? There is no difference and you shouldnt have put it under the tree if you didnt want to give it to him until tomorrow. She said these things with such malice and hatred that I truly felt bad for my son and he didnt deserve that said to him from his aunt who never calls him (on his birthday and when he was in the hospital on Thanksgiving) spends time with him or comes to visit him. She was treating both my kids like shit and it really made me mad. Who the hell is she to say that he didnt deserve his gift? Does she think that she deserves hers? NO she certainly does not. If you have a beef with me and want to treat me like crap thats fine. I am a big girl and I can deal with it but mess with my children and your going to pay the piper bitch. At this point my son was crying and howling like he was in pain. I couldnt calm him down and he was just getting more and more hysterical by the minute. I will be the first to say that I am a strict disciplinarian and I dont let my kids get away their way when they act out BUT my son has issues and there are certain ways to deal with him and this spiteful way wasnt one of them. She wouldnt know how he is or how to deal with him because she is never with him. She never even inquires about him or my daughter. Hell, she doesnt give a shit about anyone and its quite obvious. So now he's hysterical and I am mad as hell. I said just to give it to him and let it be the end of it. She she starts screaming at me in front of my family and I am standing there not saying a word. I was trying to say, "Why are you yelling? Give me a minute to spit out what I was going to say" I confronted her about what she said and she lied and said she never said that. I told her that my husband heard her and that she said it to my face. Finally, she walked away in a huff saying that she did say it BEFORE. OH, you DID say it then but since you said it before it doesnt count? Where is the logic in this? My Mom said to her, "but you did say it." Apparently that made her furious and she stomped up the stairs calling me a F*cking c*nt. My husband and daughter were standing there and later my daughter asked me what that word meant. This is how I found out she called me names. Throughout our whole discussion I never once lowered myself and called her anything. It wasnt about that it was about how she treated my son like shit. I wasnt going to make this long but I did and I apologize. It was the only way to explain it. So thats why I am very upset AGAIN with her. Nothing new. I was so happy she did this in front of the whole family because you should have seen their faces. CLASSIC. She looked like the ass that she is.

Whew, I am glad thats over...

Now, on New Years Day my daughter started to vomit. We were supposed to go to my cousins but couldnt. I was a little upset but what are you going to do? You cant control when someone is going to get sick. I for one know this VERY well! LOL
I did take some pics over the break.

Our Christmas Tree

A Deer in our yard

This is a sign I put on a beam in my kitchen to always remind me of the train ride called life

Christmas morning

In front of the RC Christmas Tree

RC Christmas Tree

Swarovski Crystal Tree in Radio City Music Hall

My almost 14 year old doxie, the best in the world

I havent been able to do much knitting so there are no finished projects to post. I have to get back into my knitting groove. I am almost done with that baby sweater I am making for my friends brothers daughter. I had to frog the first one because I made a HUGE mistake in it. As soon as I am finished I will post it here. Its going to be cute and I hope it fits too. The baby was born in October and I am making the 3-6 month size so thats why I am rushing to get it done!

Back to knitting!

Crash and Burn

2008-12-12T22:47:00.001-05:00

"Crash And Burn" by Savage Garden

When you feel all alone
And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please to tame your wild wild heart
I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you
It's hard to find relief and people can be so cold
When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you can't take anymore

Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone

When you feel all alone
And a loyal friend is hard to find
You're caught in a one way street
With the monsters in your head
When hopes and dreams are far away and
You feel like you can't face the day

Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone

'Cause there has always been heartache and pain
And when it's over you'll breathe again
You'll breath again

When you feel all alone
And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please
To tame your wild wild heart

Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone

Out of the Frog Pond a Finished Object Arises (and a mini-rant)

2008-11-30T16:25:00.012-05:00

I can't tell you how many times I started this scarf and then frogged it. This happened at least 5 times, at LEAST. It's not that I didn't like the yarn or the pattern but my interest in it waned. The yarn is Misti Baby Alpaca Grande Bulky in a pink and grey colorway. I had only one skein of this color so the Ribs and Ruffles pattern that Misti puts out specifically for the yarn was perfect. The scarf is not very long measuring in at 46" or so but perfect the wrap around my neck and keep it cozy warm. Baby Alpaca is as soft as cashmere and some say its even softer. I absolutely love alpaca and especially when its mixed with other fibers like merino wool and silk.

Notice my little wooly friend sneaking his little head there in the first picture? I think he is jealous because it's alpaca yarn and not wool that I used. Silly sheep! That Folkmanis Sheep Puppet came from the first NY Sheep and Wool Festival my family & I attended in October of 2006. My son wanted the big sheep puppet and my daughter got a lamb puppet. They play with them and pretend and have puppet shows all the time along with the other hundred stuffed animals in their rooms! LOL Ever since I was a little girl I have collected stuffed animals and love to play with them with my kids. I own a few Build a Bear stuffed animals that reside on my bed. I knit & crochet clothes for them all the time. The Build A Bear animals we have are: The Black Lab (the first one that came out, not the new one thats out now), The Beagle, Boxer, Border Collie, Pink Poodle, 2 Cheetahs, 2 Brown Bears, Rudolph & Clarice, The Groundhog, The Orange Cat, & the Pink Breast Cancer Bear. I think that's it but I could be missing some. The minute Build A Bear makes a dachshund I will be the first in line to buy one or two!

An update on my son: He was admitted on Wednesday to the hospital for severe dehydration due non-stop vomiting from a bad gastroenteritis infection (both viral and bacterial). The doctors said it was most likely one of the Norwalk Viruses that are highly contagious and hit you really fast. They usually last anywhere from 12-24 hours but the bad thing about them is that you do not feel better after you vomit like your typical stomach bug, but worse, and you continue to puke which is a vicious cycle. He is feeling much better and my Mom brought up Thanksgiving leftovers yesterday so we all had our fill of turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie.

The next few weeks leading up to Christmas and New Years are going to be crazy busy for me. I am hoping to blog as much as I can because there is going to be a lot to talk about. We are going to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in a couple of weeks. The kids have been begging us to go every time the commercials come on TV. They are at perfect ages to appreciate it now. I was in the 2nd grade when my school took us to see the show for a class trip. I went to Catholic School most of my life and that must have been a pricey trip even back then. If you want to see the show on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday the prices go through the roof but drop considerably if the show is on a weekday. Hey, its the same show whenever you go see it so it doesnt matter to me. Plus, I would much rather avoid the city and Rockefeller Center on a weekend! Talk about crowds in NYC, they are CRAZY during the holidays and especially after the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is lit! Speaking of the HUGE tree, we are going to see it after the show. My kids have only seen it when they have the special where they light it live on TV. That show used to be 30 minutes when I was little because back then it wasn't so commercialized with all these Hollywood movie stars, singers, reality show jerks and everyone who has already earned their 15 minutes of fame. Anyway, (sorry for that tangent), I cant wait to see their faces when they get a glimpse of this HUGE tree!

Christmas shopping this year should not be to difficult. I am planning on making gifts for my Mom, Dad (maybe, not sure yet) my Aunt, teachers at my kids school, the mailman, sanitation workers, and whomever else I am forgetting. People love handmade gifts because they mean so much when they come from the heart.

Here comes a rant which I have to get off my chest/
My sister is not getting a gift because she refuses to acknowledge the existence of my children, her godchildren. Now, whatever her beef with me is thats fine and dandy but by ignoring my children she has gone to far and her behavior is more than unacceptable, it atrocious and despicable. She never called my son on his birthday which was in October and never gave him his gift after she asked him what he wanted. He then obsessed over it and talked about it every day. With all the ways people can communicate these days (cell, regular phone, answering machines, voice mail, snail mail, e-mail, etc) there is no excuse for her not to contact my son. He is a little boy and its just not right to do that to him. Should I expect anything but this type of behavior from a person who actually said to me after my son was born on the same day that she was born, "Did you HAVE to have him on MY birthday??" She said this with an attitude and not only said it to me but to my parents and my Aunt who couldn't believe someone would actually say that. Number one, most people are honored when a child that they are related to is born on the same day they were. Its an honor to share your birthday with a child, in my opinion and most other NORMAL human beings opinions. My cousin is due with her first child in April and I would be honored if she had that little boy on the same day I was born. Notice I didn't call it MY birth DAY? Because (number two) millions of people share that birthday and not just my sister so get a life idiot. You are not the only person in the world who has that birthday. By the way, jerk for brains, I had no choice when my baby was coming out of my body just like most other women who have babies and give birth! My due date was originally 10/31 then it changed to the 20th. My doctor was going away on the 17th for 2 weeks and didn't want me to wait and go past my due date. By this point the baby was big enough, plus she wanted to deliver me and not have another doctor in the group do it. Sorry to make this a long story but I have held in my anger for quite some time and I have had it. The straw that broke the camels back (and believe me there was many of them but this was the last and final one) was when my son was in the hospital for Thanksgiving. My Dad and my great Aunt went to visit him at the hospital. He asked my Dad, "When is Aunt____ going to give me my birthday present?" My Dad didn't have an answer for him but he told my sister when he got home that my son was asking for his birthday present. She didn't say anything to him but according to my Mom she has it and she is waiting to see him. The same thing happened last year and she didn't give him his birthday present until January!! That is totally uncalled for and not right at all. I could care less if I ever get a gift from her but I can say with 100% of certainty that she will never get another gift from me EVER again. Once you mess with my family and ignore the existence of my children you are nothing but the scum of the earth in my book. God forbid she pick up the phone and call my son at the hospital! No, she rather leave the family, just like she left my dying Nana when she was on hospice to go and be with her boyfriend and his dad, who was ill at the time but not on his deathbed like my Nana. Totally disrespectful and an immature little prick who is such a narcissist that I will never understand her and why she treats people like shit. Well, I have news for her. When I go to my parents on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, she will be there. I told my Mom that if she says one thing out of order I will not hesitate to embarrass her in front of people and make her feel 2 inches tall. My kids right now are very forgiving and whenever they see her they always are excited and happy and want to spend time with her. She, on the other hand, cant wait to get out of the house and away from them as quickly as possible. Friends of mine that have nieces and nephews usually dont mind spending time with them or even offering to watch them a few hours while the parents go out to dinner and a movie. This is something that has never happened to me and never will. She wants nothing to do with me, my kids or anyone in the family and its not right at all because we (the family) have been nothing but good to her all her life. If anything she is a spoiled brat and needs to grow up. Let's see where her friends will be when she really needs them because I can almost guarantee they wont be anywhere to be found. /end of rant-thanks for listening The holidays are usually difficult because I am forced to remember how much she hates me and it hurts. It really hurts. :(

Happy stuff: I am working on an baby sweater for my friends brother who just had a baby girl last month. Lots of babies coming so there will be lots of baby knits and crocheted stuff to show off (keep your fingers crossed, LOL). I am finishing a silk scarf/wrap which I was supposed to be done with Thanksgiving but obviously not, also a crocheted shawl which I am embellishing but not in a rush to finish. A tank top I never finished last summer for when we go to Florida, lots of socks that are always in the works and a sweater which I keep trying to start but havent yet. Hopefully I will have pics in the near future of some of these FO's.

Quote of the Day (I just felt like adding this): Stand for something or you will fall for anything.

Beam me up Scotty.

The Most Important Thing in this World

2008-11-26T16:01:00.004-05:00

Last night I was up most of the night with my son who was vomiting his guts up. The minute he finished vomiting he would feel a little better, fall asleep for a half hour or an hour then wake up and vomit again. This started at one in the morning and my husband and I didn't get much sleep. I felt so bad for my son because he couldn't stop even with the anti-nausea medications I was giving him.

He last vomited this morning at around 6 am and of course stayed home from school. We were giving him little sips of Coke and Gatorade to keep him hydrated and he was actually able to hold down some Tylenol to get his temp down. Then at 1pm he vomited everything up that he had taken in from this morning. He was so lethargic he couldn't even move off the couch if he wanted to and if anyone knows my son he is extremely active and NEVER sits still unless something is really wrong.

After he puked at 1pm I put a call into the doctors office which was closed for the holiday weekend. I had the Dr. paged and she called me back within a half an hour. I told her what was happening and she told me to bring him in to the office right away. My husband took him and called me just a little while ago with an update. They are going to admit him to the hospital due to extreme dehydration. They did a finger stick to see what his hemoglobin (O2 in the blood) & hematocrit (the ratio of the volume of red blood cells in the blood) was. Normal hematocit for his age is anywhere from 35% to 45% and his measured in at 65% which means he is very dehydrated and needs fluids immediately. As soon as they admit him they will start and IV to get him hydrated and will continue to monitor and hydrate him throughout the night. In the morning they will see if he is able to hold down any liquids and then go from there.

We were supposed to go to my Mom's for Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow but it looks like thats not going to happen. I am more upset that my son is in the hospital then not being able to attend Thanksgiving dinner. I have always said that the most important thing in this world is your health. No matter how much money you have, how many cars, TV's, computers, phones, gadgets, toys, whatever, THEY DONT MATTER. I am thankful that my son is getting the medical treatment he needs right now, I am thankfull that I am alive and able to be a wife and mother to my family and I am thankful that God has shown me the things that really matter in this life and how everything else is not really as important as I thought it was.

Its a shame that there are people who don't know what these important things are and are always bitching, complaining or unhappy at something that's wrong in their life. There are always going to be others in this world that have it much worse than you, that are suffering more than you, that are in more pain that you are. We all need to remember these things and be thankful for all that we have and no matter how difficult we think it is, it could be a lot worse.

Have a Healthy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Better Late Than Never

2008-11-21T13:21:00.005-05:00

I know posts in these parts have been scarce but I haven't really had to much to talk about and have been busy with the everyday goings on of life. Well, I do have stuff to talk about but don't want to share them at the moment for fear of furthering my acid reflux into a full blown bleeding ulcer. So, lets move on to something that makes every knitter happy, a FINISHED PROJECT!! Can I hear a Woohooo!!! This should have been completed by the end of the October but better late than never! It is my Breast Cancer Awareness Beret made with Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Heavyweight that I bought at the New York Sheep and Wool Festival (Rhinebeck). The color is absolutely fabulous and is called Hot Flash. Its an assortment of pinks that range from pale to BRIGHT hot pink. Pink is my favorite color so I love it and its something I will definitely wear and actually wore it today to take the kids to school. So without further ado:

That's my daughter modeling for me. I have a small noggin so it fits us similarly and its kind of hard to get a picture of it on my head!

On another subject I reached a goal with my weight loss! A few weeks ago I received my 10% weight loss goal award and I am so happy! Back when I joined WW in July I couldn't even think of reaching this goal. I set my goals small and slowly but surely I reached them one by one and there it was! Another great side effect of the weight loss was dropping my cholesterol and triglycerides to a normal level. High cholesterol runs in my family on both sides so I have to be very careful. My triglycerides were at dangerously high levels. Levels high enough to double a persons risk of stroke. My risk is even higher then a normal persons because I am a woman, I suffer from migraines and I have had cancer. When I started WW in July I was a size 14 and now I am wearing a size 10!! Can I get a Whoohoo!!! The size 10 is actually loose on me so thats even better! Thanksgiving is around the corner and I told my Mom I am making a healthy dessert. The dessert is called Black Bean Brownies and I got it out of one of my WW meetings. All you have to do is mix one package of brownie mix with a can of black beans that have been pureed in a blender. Follow the directions on the box of brownies and watch them. They will take a bit longer to cook but they are fabulous! I fooled my family and even my Dad. Lets see if I can fool them all on Thanksgiving!

One last super exciting thing I have to mention is that we booked a vacation to DisneyWorld!!! Our family has not been on a vacation since 2004 when we last went to DisneyWorld. My daughter was 4 and my son was only 18 months so its going to be a whole new and exciting experience for both of them. When I was going through chemotherapy for breast cancer 2 years ago my Mom had said that when I was all better she wanted to take the whole family on vacation. At that moment I couldn't even think of what it would be like to go away on a vacation because I wasn't sure what the future was going to bring. I told her when I was ready to go I would let her know. Well, we desperately need a vacation. Especially after all we have been through. Not only me but my husband and our 2 kids deserve to go away and have fun. Our Christmas present from my parents is the trip to Disney. We couldn't be happier or more thankful. We're going to DisneyWorld!!

Check out my updated Etsy Shop

Just "Froggin'" Around on a Friday Night

2008-10-25T22:43:00.002-04:00

FINALLY!! I finished these socks! These were the sock kit from WOOLGIRL for the month of June. I didnt use the pattern that came with the kit and decided to stick to an easy K3, P1 pattern with a twisted rib cuff. The yarn is Dancing Dachs Sport Weight in Tree Froggin' colorway.

One pic is in natural light and the other is with a flash. This is a very loud, bright colorway and I received a lot of compliments on it when I was working on it at the past two Weight Watcher meetings. I found it funny because a couple of people who attend are actually knitters and they had said they never had seen a yarn with such beautiful, bright colors in it. I cant imagine my life without handpainted yarn in it!

Flora in Fall

2008-10-22T22:28:00.004-04:00

OK, OK, I know I am being a very bad blogger but there are so many things going on right now, you have to cut me some slack. I do have a finished object to show off! I made this for my Mom's birthday last month and I just finished it a few days ago. The pattern is from FLORA from Knitty.com I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran held together with Rowan Kidsilk Night. The flower is Cashmerino Aran with a strand of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Silkie Socks that Rock in Tidepool. I want to make myself one of these in the future.

I also received my October Sock Kit from Woolgirl

How fabulous is that kit! I dont think any other sock club can top Jen at Woolgirl.com
Go over there and check out all the gorgeous indie dyers she carries.

I forgot to mention that my Mom completed the AVON WALK FOR BREAST CANCER the first week of October. I didnt get many pics worthy of posting but I brought my daughter down with me and my Dad to pick up my Mom. She raised a lot of money for a good cause. Next year I will walk the 40 miles with my Mom for the first time.

Weight Watchers is going great and I am down a total of 23 pounds!! (14.6 lbs on Weight Watchers and 8.4 lbs on my own before joining WW) I am only 1.4 lbs away from reaching my 10% weight loss goal. I am hoping that next week I will be there!

My sewing skills have been limited to practicing hemming my daughters pants. I bought some fabric to make her American Girl doll pajamas. I am hoping I can do that without getting frustrated to much! LOL

This past weekend we all went to Rhinebeck to attend the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival. The kids were so well behaved I was pleasantly surprised. My daughter, who completed her first scarflet for my Mom, (with a little help by me) was extremely excited to pick out some yarn of her very own. She certainly has great taste because she picked out Araucania Aysen which is 70% merino wool, 20% alpaca and 10% silk. Its perfect for her because it calls for a size 9 US needle and its 191 yards, enough for a scarf. Maybe she will make me one next? I also picked up the book by Melanie Falick on Kids Knitting to help her out a bit but I think I am going to get her a lesson at Knitting Central for her birthday. Even though I can teach her I think it would be better for her to have a formal lesson or two. The only thing I worry about is if there is enough room in this house for 2 yarn stashes??? Oh NO!

My Etsy shop has been picking up business! Yay! The holidays are right around the corner and I have lots of stuff to add to the store. Right now I have 61 items for sale so go on over and take a peek, you might find something you like!

Ten Years

2008-10-02T15:58:00.005-04:00

Its been a while since I posted to my blog with good reason. There have been family issues that have taken up lots of time and causing lots of stress. I haven't been sleeping well and its causing more grey hair to grow on my head! Knitting and crocheting time has almost been nonexistent but I am working on changing that. In order for me to de-stress I need to make time to do some fiber related therapy.

Now we are into the month of October and I am late with my anniversary entry. My husband and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary on September 26th 2008. We also had a wedding to go to the following day which gave us reason to have this picture taken looking so nice. Notice my husband is wearing a tux! LOL I am not sure when thats going to happen again so thats why I made sure to take these pictures.

My husband got me a beautiful Pandora bracelet with charms representing our 2 kids, our anniversary, breast cancer awareness, and a tiny cross. I absolutely love these charms! They are so cute and I cant wait to add more to my bracelet. I bought my husband a watch because thats what he wanted. He's very happy with it and I told him not to be afraid to wear it.

I also got a sewing machine! Its the Audrey by Baby Lock. So far I hemmed a few pairs of jeans for my daughter, made a Thomas the Tank Engine pillowcase for my son and a storage bag for my knitting. I am in the learning phase right now so give it some time before a finished object is photographed on this blog. I figured it would bore you to death to see some hemmed pants here! LOL. My husband is having more fun than I am planning what I am going to make next! There are so many things to make and not enough time in the day.

Hopefully this entry will get me back on the blogging track!

CurlyBrunette's Creations is OPEN for business!

2008-09-01T17:44:00.005-04:00

For the past few weeks I have been hard at work doing my research to open up an Etsy store of my own. I wanted a place where everyone can go to buy my jewelry and creations. Not everyone has the time to have a party due to work, kids, school and just hectic schedules of life. I am so excited over this and I am hoping lots of people come and browse and even buy some of my wares. The web address can be reached by clicking on the CurlyBrunette's Creations Etsy button below my picture on the sidebar or you can just click here: CurlyBrunette's Creations
Please be patient with me as I add more items daily. I am hoping to get as many different designs out there for the holiday shoppers because they are coming! Right now there are necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and sets up but I am planning on adding more categories that involve other crafts. I don't want to say what they are going to be just yet because I am still planning. Keep your eyes open for some really neat stuff! So, head on over to Etsy, they have lots of beautiful handmade stuff that you can browse for hours. Have fun and thanks for looking!

I also took the "Buy Handmade Pledge" which is the link below my Etsy button on the right. I would love if you all would take that pledge along with me. Handmade has heart unlike all the mass produced crap that comes from countries I wont mention, but you get the picture. Go ahead and take the pledge!

(U)FO's and Aliens Sighted on the First Day of School

2008-09-01T08:52:00.005-04:00

Here is the UFO (unfinished object) that really is a Finished Object:

I have had those two skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca's Bulky Hand Dyes for 2 years and finally have made something with them! I bought them when I first started knitting and I thought I could make something with 45 yards of bulky yarn. Well, I did try to make a baby hat but it was way to uncomfortable for me to use size 17 DPN's (this is before I learned how to use the magic loop). Then I tried to make a neckwrap with it in stockingette and the edges curled it up into a tube so that was a no go. So there it sat in my stash waiting for the perfect project. Its definitely a very colorful and artsy scarf but I like it a lot. The big pink ribbon in it is just for decoration.

First day of school for my kids was on Thursday so my husband and I brought them in with their HUGE boxes of supplies. I went with our son and my husband went with our daughter. Her classroom is all the way on the opposite end of the school so we had to split it up. Later on we caught up with a few friends for a cup of coffee in the school cafeteria where it was so noisy you couldn't hear yourself think. It was crazy and this week is Open House. I have never been to Open House at my kids school but this year I think I should go to meet both their teachers. I met my sons teacher on the first day but I haven't met my daughters yet. Here they are on the first day of school and don't let those smiles fool you:

I bought this awesome dessert cookbook last week at Barnes and Noble called HELLO, CUPCAKE. The kids were dying to have me make some of the really cool ones in there and let me just say there are some really artistic and funny cupcakes in this book. I highly recommend it. What I like is that the materials you need to decorate are in your grocery store and they are simple to get a hold of. My daughter picked out the ALIEN cupcakes so thats what I made. The only thing I didn't have were the chocolate dipped sunflower seeds for the eyes so I used chocolate chips instead. I also omitted the antennae made from red string licorice. They kind of look like green ghosts without them but hey, thats OK. No one has ever really seen an alien, right? Well, we will just leave it at that. Here are the aliens:

"Beam me up Scotty"

A Trip to the Bronx

2008-08-26T15:19:00.005-04:00

After two months of working on this baby polo for a co-worker of my husband, I finally finished it!! The pattern was from Debbie Bliss' Baby Cashmerino 3 and easy to follow. I think if I make this again I would probably try to do it in the round. I absolutely HATE seaming. I do however love the finished product and I hope the mom does also. I had different buttons planned but these caught my eye at JoAnn's and they looked great with the color which is a slate blue.

We took the kids to the Bronx Zoo with my Dad at the beginning of the week. We all had a great time except for my legs and feet which hurt like hell from all the walking. Here we are in the Children's Zoo (where I used to work many years ago) in the Blue Heron exhibit.

Pretending to be Prairie Dogs

What a great shot of this tiger! Except for the clarity of the picture that is. If the glass window wasn't between us it would have been a much better picture but then again I might have been on his lunch menu that day if that were the case!

I love Polar Bears and when we walked up to the exhibit the Polar Bear was sleeping and just below the rocks. When he started to stretch and chew on a tree branch I started snapping away and this is what I got. I had planned to take my other camera with the telephoto lens but I didn't want to have to lug all that stuff AND the kids stuff on my back. Hindsight is 20-20 and I would have had some awesome shots!

I could see him thinking, "What's going on over there?"

My son wanted to ride the Skyfari and we were unable to all go together due to the 4 person limit. My Dad took the 2 kids and my husband and I had 5 minutes of alone time 150 ft in the sky. I was just a tad nervous because a few weeks ago the Skyfari got stuck and the people on it were up in the air for a few hours until it was fixed. That would not have been fun if it happened to us. You can see my Dad and my son in the cab that was in front of ours.

A picture of the Irawaddy River (aka The Bronx River) as we rode the Bengali Express Monorail to Wild Asia

Bactrian Camels

This is something I am designing for my Aunt to wear to her son's wedding (my cousin) in September. I am calling it "The Keystone Project" because I am using Swarovski Keystone crystals which are absolutely gorgeous, as you can see. The colors here are burgundy crystals with Swarovski Glass Pearls in the same color and Crystal AB clear crystals and Swarovski silver component spacers. I am making a necklace, earrings and bracelet for her. I will post pics of the whole set when I am done with it which should be in a couple of weeks.

On the weight loss front I am still losing weight, slowly. I am hoping to step it up a notch when school starts later this week. After I drop the kids off at school I am planning to either walk with my friends and/or do my exercises at home that I used to do when I went to physical therapy.

In other news I am finally going to set up an ETSY shop to sell my jewelry and other wares!! I am excited about it and gathering all the information on how to go about doing things the right way. Expect to see me over at ETSY in a few weeks!!

Sad News

2008-08-16T22:22:00.003-04:00

When my daughter first started her religious education at our new parish last year she was assigned to a wonderful 19 year old boy named Robbie. He was a wonderful young man, full of life, funny with a great sense of humor and great with the kids. After a few weeks of teaching we found out he was feeling sick and later diagnosed with leukemia. He fought bravely and courageously for almost a year but he lost his battle on Thursday August 14, 2008. When he was going through his treatment during the winter I made him a hat to keep his head warm. I wanted to do something and I thought through my knitting I could make him feel a little better. His parents and sister shouldn't have to be going through this now, no one should lose a child. I cant say how upset I am over this because words cant really describe how I feel. As a cancer survivor it hurts even more because it makes you realize that not everyone, though brave and strong in their fight, survives. It makes me mad, mad as hell, because its not fair and it makes no sense. I am mad that his Mom, Dad and sister have lost their 20 year old son and brother. He wont be there to hug or talk to or just hang out with. I don't want this to happen to any more families. I want a cure for this damn disease. My daughter heard me crying a few minutes ago and got out of bed to see if I was OK and asked me why I was crying. I couldn't tell her just yet. I didn't want her to be up all night upset. I will tell her tomorrow and I know it will upset her.
God Bless you Robbie. I know there is another angel in heaven watching over us tonight.

Give that Monkey a Gumdrop and Something for an Ass Kicking Headache

2008-08-02T10:14:00.005-04:00

I sitting here in bed with an ass kicking headache so bear with the type O's and other grammatical errors because I cant focus. There is good news though. I received my July Rockin' Socks Club shipment and here it is:

I absolutely LOVE the colorway and the patternS that came with it. I chose to do the harder of the two which is called Gumdrop Socks, because I didn't do the pattern for the last kit as many in the club didn't and for different reasons ranging from dislike to difficulty level. I felt a little of both these reasons. The colorway, as you can see, is a pastel and the first time that the Sock Club has made one. The colorway looks fantastic with the pattern is knit up. That's from what I can see of the 2 inches I managed to knit last night. I love to watch as the pattern grows before your eyes with all the beautiful colors of "Goody Goody".

These are the comleted NO PEARL MONKEYS made from May's Rockin' Sock Club Kit colorway called "The Incredible Shrinking Violet" The other pattern looked nice but it was way to difficult (after reading how others were fairing on the Ravelry forums and the RSC Blog). I usually like Yarnissima's patterns but this one just didn't go well (in my opinion) with the colorway. As you can see these are almost knee socks, well almost. They are MUCH higher than any of the other socks I have made in the past for myself. I had about 5 yds of yarn left over! Nothing like cutting it close right! I was thinking that I was going to have to dip into my emergency sock yarn but thank goodness I didn't have to do that.

They fit like a dream and I love the way the colors came out even though there was some major pooling issues going on. Most of the RSC yarns I knit up seem to pool on me. At first I didn't like it but I have grown to love the pooling. I even joined the "Pooled Knits" group on Ravelry! Its good to know that I am not the only one who has this happen to them.

I finished these in just under a month also which happens to be record time for me. I was also working on a bunch of other projects to so this IS record time for me. I started them on July 1st and finished July 31st. Not lightning fast granted but fast for me. I am trying to build up my stock of hand knitted socks for the colder months.

A few days ago I received my last package for my LYS, Knitting Central's Sock Club. It was a design by one of the lovely ladies that work there and the yarn that she chose was Alchemy's Temple Sock Yarn which happens to be a sport weight yarn that knits up real quick. I was going to cast on for these also but realized that I don't have my Addi size 3's available. They are currently in another sock in progress so they will have to wait. Its OK because I don't think I am going to re-join the sock club if they offer it again. Its not that I didn't like it because I did. There are a few reasons why. One is that money is extremely tight. I haven't even made any yarn purchases or used my Woolgirl or BMFA discount coupons yet because of this. Second reason is that when I get the kits I don't knit them up right away and I usually let them wait. Knitting Central makes the pattern available for everyone else outside the club 3 months after the sock club gets it. I can certainly wait 3 months for the pattern since I have so many other kits from Woolgirl that I haven't even started yet. Last reason is I rather chose my own yarn and colorway then have it picked for me. Don't get me wrong, the colors were all really beautiful and I was happy with all of them but like I said, if I can save my money then later pick and choose when the pattern is made available then that's a better option for me.

In Weight Watcher news last week's weigh in wasn't the best. I had a 1 lb weight gain. I was a bit upset with myself but my leader spoke to me and I think I had to much salt in my diet the night before which made me retain water. I went over my journal with a fine tooth comb and that was the only thing that would cause me to gain. I also had an almost 3 lb loss the week before which they consider a big loss (they like to see anywhere from 1.5-2 lbs a week loss). She told me that when there is a large loss the week before you can see a slight gain in the following week. Another thing she said to everyone that made me feel a lot better and made perfect sense to me. She said that if you come to meetings thinking that every time you are going to see a weight loss then you are going to be sadly disappointed because the losses come with the gains and vice-versa. Thats the way it is. Your body has a way of leveling itself out and its OK if you have a slight gain just learn from it and get back on track for next week.

I am hoping that my weigh in on Tuesday will show a nice loss and maybe I will get another 5 lb star! I never mentioned that I received my first 5 lb star 2 meetings ago. Recap of the stats:
Before starting WW: 176 lbs
Starting WW weight: 167.6 lbs
Current weight: 161.8 lbs
Total loss to date: 5.8 lbs

If you look at the whole picture I lost 14.2 lbs total but I dont look at it that way or I should say WW doesn't look at it that way. They take the weight you are at when you weigh in at your first weigh in which for me was 167.6 lbs.

Another thing I wanted to mention. I spoke about my Mom's Avon walk in my last post and I would like to ask everyone who hasn't donated to please read the post and donate to my Mom's walk. Its a good cause and I have some great prizes I would love to give away. If you are interested in donating please click on the link in my sidebar and it will take you there. Also, if you donate please e-mail me with the amount and your info so I can put you in the raffle for some prizes. Remember for every $10 you donate one ticket goes into the raffle hat. Twenty dollars is 2 tickets, $30=3 tickets and so on. So far there is no one in the raffle so if you are reading this you have a very BIG chance of winning something if there are only a few people in it. Its not the way I would like it but at this point I will take what I can get to have my Mom reach her goal. Please donate to a great cause so we can save women's lives. Thanks!

I Can't Think of a Title for this Post

2008-07-21T16:55:00.003-04:00

Its been a while since I posted. So much going on so I will try to catch you up on what's been happening the last few weeks.
I finally made it to the ear, nose and throat Dr and he took a look at my vocal cords with a camera scope. It goes up your nose and down your throat and is uncomfortable at best. Yup, its annoying but at least the numbing spray really helps ease the discomfort. He told me that I had some nodules on my vocal cords and I need to see a Speech Therapist. He said that the nodules can occur for many different reasons and one is vocal abuse. Now, all of you out there will automatically think that it comes from yelling to much and yes that can be ONE of the reasons. I found out however that whispering puts more stress on the vocal cords than yelling. I never knew this. Also, since I had throat surgery a few years ago (thyroidectomy), my voice changed and was never the same. It was upsetting to me at the time because I have been a singer since age 6 and I was actually going to continue on to music school with my singing. I decided that even though I loved to sing more than anything, not to go to music school for fear that if anything happened to my voice I would be out of a job. Seems I made the right choice! The Dr also said that the area behind my cords were very red and inflamed from severe acid reflux. I say severe because I already take a medication for my acid reflex and its supposed to be a 24 hour medication. He suggested I go see my gastroenterologist and get an endoscopy. I am due for a colonoscopy also so I might as well get them both done at the same time to spare the torture of going in twice. Originally I was supposed to go into have a colonoscopy when I turned 35 because colon cancer is on both sides of my family and the Dr seems to think that we (my parents, me and my sister) might carry the gene for colon cancer. This is the reason he wanted me to have my first colonoscopy at 35. I had a few other things happen that delayed my colonoscopy but I promised that I would get one in the coming Fall/Winter.

Speaking of Dr's appointments, my next PET Scan is coming up due next month. Can't wait.

My Mom is doing the AVON WALK FOR BREAST CANCER for the third year in a row. Its a 40 mile race in NYC thats done over a period of 2 days. I was going to do it with her until my leg surgery in 2007 threw a monkey wrench in my plans. I can do a 5K walk, maybe even 10K but there is no way in hell at this moment in my life that I can do 40 miles even if its over a 2 day period. If I do to much walking now I get severe charlie horses in my thigh under the incision site. It sucks. Hopefully with me being on Weight Watchers and losing weight, I will be able to do the walk with my Mom someday. If anyone would like to donate to her walk, you can click on the link in my sidebar and it will take you directly to the AVON Website and my Mom's page where you can donate. She hasn't reached her goal yet but she has a few months to go. I am hoping that she raises more than her goal like the first year she walked. Last year I made up this whole plan on how I was going to get more donations for my Mom but it didn't work the way I had planned. This year I have a special offer for readers of my blog. I know that there are not that many out there but there are some. In no way am I as famous as the 'Yarn Harlot' or Ann and Kay of 'Mason-Dixon Knitting'. If I was I would have a hell of a lot of money raised!

This is what I am proposing. Anyone who reads my blog and donates to my Mom's walk can e-mail me with your name and amount donated. For every $10 you donate you get a raffle ticket put into my magic hat. After my Mom's walk I will have a few prizes raffled off using all the names in my magic hat. The more people donate, the more prizes there will be. Since most readers of my blog are knitters I think yarn and knitting related prizes will be part of the raffle. Maybe even some of CurlyBrunette's Creations Stitch Markers and Jewelry designs will be a part of the prizes. I am hoping this will help my Mom reach or even surpass her goal. This raffle is only for readers of this blog who donate and then send me their info via e-mail. My e-mail link is on my profile page. I know times are tough right now with everything being so expensive and all but I want you all to know that any amount is greatly appreciated and its going to a wonderful cause. Someday soon we will eradicate this horrible disease.

This is Knit Picks Bare DK weight Superwash Wool that I dyed with some Kool Aid and extra food coloring. Not bad for a first time dyeing experience hey? I gave it to my neighbor so she could crochet something with it. I knew she would love the color and she needed some cheering up. She was so surprised to hear that the color came from Kool Aid! I cant wait to see what she makes.

I finally finished my Garden Anklet socks from my LYS-Knitting Central's Sock Club! These were made with Colinette Jitterbug in the Florentine colorway. I also had some leftovers which surprised me since the yardage with Jitterbug is skimpy at best. I LOVE this yarn and how it knits up and I will definitely be using more of it in the near future.

Here are my No Pearl Monkeys made with Blue Moon Fiber Arts-Incredible Shrinking Violet colorway. I decided not to use the pattern that came with the yarn. The pattern was Cleopatra's Stockings by Yarnissima. After all the chatter about it being a little of a challenge I decided to use a different pattern. I will probably knit it in the future but I wanted to make sure I was finished with these by the time the next ones came along. The new kit is due to arrive soon since its the 3rd week in July already. I am hoping this next color is one we havent yet received such as PINK, which happens to be my favorite color. Whatever it is I am sure I will love it.

Another thing I hate to admit since I said I wasnt going to do something that I did. Well, I wanted to get my hair cut the way I used to-the Curly Girl Method invented by the head Curly herself, Lorraine Massey. Up until I discovered Devachan in NYC (thats her salon) I was abusing my curls and straightening all the time. I bought her book, The Curly Girl Handbook in 2002 and within a week I had an appointment with Carlos, one of her top stylists that trained under her wing. He was AWESOME and FABULOUS and I never loved my hair more. I let it grow to my waist and I only needed it cut every 6-8 months. Then it became harder for me to go to the city so I changed over to a stylist up here in CT where I live. SInce my hair was all one length at the time it was easy to trim. This guy I started to go to was fabulous but after chemo I didnt need to see him for a LONG time. After my hair grew back I got attached to another stylist who is also great but sometimes can be a bit scissor happy. He is still great none the less. Anyway, I wanted to go for a Curly Cut last week but no one had anything available so I caved in and went to the guy who used to cut my all one-waist-length hair. He didnt do a good job and cut my bangs so short that when they attempt to curl up they look really bad. I am so pissed at myself I could spit especially since I have a wedding to go to in September. I hate when I get impatient with myself and act upon my impulses. This is why I need to be patient and let it grow. Sometimes a bad cut can turn good once an inch or two grows in. After it grows in I think I need to either return to Carlos, Devachan, or another Deva trained stylist. I will not make the same mistake twice.

Joe Cool

2008-07-16T17:47:00.004-04:00

I am so excited that everyone is starting to get their Joe Cool Sock Kit from Woolgirl! I am sure all who have received it have realized that I made the stitch markers in the kit. I dont have an Etsy shop at the moment but probably will in the future. Most of my creations are jewelry as you can see in my older posts but I do love me some stitch markers once in a while. The stitch markers represent the colors of Mr. Joe Cool himself, Snoopy. Happy knitting to all!

This is a very short (and boring because there are no pictures, sorry) post and its been a while since I posted last. I have a few WIP's that I am in the process of completing. My next post will definitely be more interesting, I promise.

Independence Day 2008

2008-07-04T18:11:00.002-04:00

"Freedom's a thing that has no ending, it needs to be cared for, it needs defending."
"A great long job for many hands, carrying freedom 'cross the lands."

Happy 4th of July and remember to thank the veterans for the gift of freedom they have given you.
Never forget that freedom is not free.

I (Finally) Did It!

2008-07-02T08:24:00.005-04:00

Yup, I finally did it. At first I was nervous about doing it and put it off thinking that I could do it on my own without help. Things got worse and I grew unhappier by the day so I finally decided it was time. I got my friend Theresa (who has also wanted to do it for the longest time), and we did it together. What in the blazes am I speaking of you ask? Well, we joined Weight Watchers last night! I am sick and tired of looking and feeling sick and tired! I want to be a healthy weight for my height and I am overweight. I may not be considered obese but I certainly feel it especially when I went to buy clothes, which at the moment is extremely depressing. Nothing would fit right and it was a never ending battle finding something nice to wear for special occasions.

I drew the final straw when I went to my GYN for my yearly exam and I got on the scale. I want you to know that I debated whether or not to put my weight down here but I decided that I wasnt going to be ashamed to do it. It will only motivate me to get to my goal weight so here I go. When I went to my GYN and got on the scale I weighed 176 lbs!! My height is 5 ft and a half and inch so I round it off to 5'1". Thats overweight. Since I found out what my weight was I started to watch what I ate and cut out a lot of things that I was doing like having more than one ice pop at night while watching TV and having smaller portions. So for about the last 3-4 weeks I have been doing well. I knew when I got on the scale at my first meeting last night there would be a lower number than the one I saw at my GYN's office. My starting WW weight, at last nights meeting (July 1st, 2008) was 167.6 pounds. I am off to a good start before I even started the program with an 8.4 pound weight loss! I am psyched!

Weight watchers has a couple of different programs. The last time I did it was 10 years ago and the points program was what worked for me. It worked for me the last time so I decided that I would do that one again. This time it looks like it will be a lot easier because they have what's called FLEX points that you get for the week in addition the the regular points you start every day with. They didn't have that 10 years ago. Meetings are once a week and I am hoping that by the time my cousins wedding rolls around (September 27th) I will be looking svelte. Plus our 10th Wedding Anniversary is the 26th of September so I want to be looking good for that. What I really want is to be healthy. I definitely DO NOT want to be super skinny and boney looking. I have always had curves and I intend to keep them. A healthy body weight for me from what I read of all the literature they handed out is anywhere between 102-128 lbs. Thats a huge gap but they are taking into consideration if you have a large, medium or small frame and also everyone is not the same shape. There are all those different shapes like apple and pear. I dont know which fruit I am, maybe a banana! LOL. I will keep you all posted on my weight loss journey. Now on to some knitting content!

I have been working on this scarf since December of 2007. It got put on the back burner for a while because I was busy with other projects. I finished it yesterday and I decided to add a flower with leaves on one end. I then embellished it with some gorgeous Swarovski crystals around the petals and center of the flower. Isn't it pretty?

Flower Adorned Scarf~Coming up Roses from Vogue Knitting's Crocheted Scarves Two
Rowan Wool Cotton in Off White, Citron and Petal
Size H crochet hook

This is a wire crocheted creation of mine that I made 2 days ago. I used Sterling Silver 28G wire, an H hook and some glass and quartz chip beads to make the necklace and earrings. At 16-17" it's meant to be a choker and is very comfortable, even for someone like me who doesn't like to wear necklaces to tight

Lucky Birthday Celebration

2008-06-25T12:07:00.003-04:00

Today is my oldest dachshunds 13th birthday! Happy Birthday Old Man! Here is a birthday tribute in pictures:

Ernie wanted to pop in and wish his best friend a happy birthday from the Rainbow Bridge:

My Dachshund book says that 13 years is like 68-70 in doggie years. I am not sure how they figure it out but when I was little it was 7 years for every year. That would make him 91 years old! WOW! The book says that its not 7 years for every year because it would make them way to old. After they hit a certain age its less then 7 years for each year. It makes sense to me.

Today also is the 12th anniversary of my husband's and my first date. It was Frank's 1st birthday so of course he came on the date with us. It was Frank's first time on a sailboat!

Back in March I received my Rockin' Socks Club Kit for the LEAFLING pattern in LUCKY colorway. I FINALLY finished them yesterday! I started them two at a time on one circular. It worked up until I had to do that funky heel and I needed a couple of spare DPN's to hold the stitches. I had to take them off and work one at a time. It turned out great because when I finished with one sock, half the other one was done so there was no sign of the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome. If I concentrated on just one project at a time I would finish a lot faster but my whole thing is that my knitting has to be QUALITY and if its crappy workmanship it pisses me off. I rather take my time then put out crap. I envy all those other knitters who can work fast and still put out quality workmanship. Tonight I plan on CO for Cleopatras Stockings which is the May Kit for the RSC. It's a toe up pattern by Yarnissima that starts with a crocheted provisional cast on. Judy's Magic Cast On seems like a better way to do it for me. Not that I don't like short row toes/heels because I do. I just want to get these going and I am not sure if I want to do two at a time or just one because the pattern looks complicated. Well, when I first looked at the LEAFLING pattern I thought the same thing but after working it and actually doing it I realized they were not that complicated at all. So without further ado I present my LUCKY LEAFLINGS:

By the way, I am so glad I made these in small and not medium like I was initially going to do. I have a size 7-7.5 foot with an 8.5" circumference and I usually make a medium. You can see in the picture that there is a little extra room in the heel area but its OK with me. As long as the toe and foot aren't baggy because that would annoy me.

Last night I CO for a baby sweater for a co-worker of my husband who just had her first baby, a boy. I was so hoping that it would be a girl because I have so many cute patterns for girls. Pinafore dress patterns and other cute little skirts that I am dying to make. I cant complain to much because my friend has a baby girl that I just made the cute little pink cardigan in a previous post. Looks like she is going to have some more cute knitted stuff made for her. It's a Debbie Bliss pattern for a Polo Shirt using Baby Cashmerino in a pale blue that almost looks slate. The only negative about the pattern is that it uses size 2 and 3 needles! Ughh! Time consuming but worth it, I think. Lately, I have been using Blue Sky Cotton or Organic Cotton to make my baby clothes so it was time for something different. I also thought that since this baby was just born he won't be wearing the sweater any time soon. I decided to make it in the 6-9 month size so he will be able to wear it all Fall, Winter and Early Spring. I believe that when you make something for a baby they should be able to get the most wear out of it possible. Baby Cashmerino was the best choice because its a combination of merino, microfiber and cashmere yarn, perfect for the cold weather. Thats another reason I didn't want to use the Blue Sky Cotton.

FO's & Froggin'

2008-06-21T23:54:00.002-04:00

I know I am a bit late on posting these pictures but I hate to ruin the surprise for other members of the club that haven't received their kit yet. So here it is:

Woolgirl Sock Club Kit~June 2008

I absolutely LOVE this kit! I cant wait to start these socks. However, I am waiting to finish my LEAFLING socks from the Rockin' Socks Club which I am almost finished with, then I will start these babies. I was in this sock knitting funk and I finally got my mojo back. I dont know why but now I am in the sock knitting mood so I am not only going to finish the LEAFLING's but start the next kit for Blue Moon, complete the Garden Anklets for my LYS's Sock Club AND start these beauties. The colorway is called FROGGIN'.

I finished the baby cardigan I was working on for my friends baby. Its the pattern from the Knitters Book of Yarn which I highly recommend. I used Blue Sky Cotton which happens to be my favorite yarn. The size for 12 months calls for 3 skeins and I only used 1.75 skeins. Yes, I am on gauge, both row and stitch. I heard all you thinking that out there! I read all the reviews on RAVELRY before making this and most people used at least one skein to a half a skein less than what was called for in the pattern. The only problem I had with this is that I used the size buttons that was called for but somehow the way the pattern has you make the buttonholes makes them a lot larger than the buttons. I went out today and bought these larger buttons and in my opinion, are a much better fit.

Its been 2 years since my hair started growing back from its loss to chemotherapy. I have been keeping pictures of its journey to where it is now. I have had MANY haircuts along the way because if I didn't it would be past my shoulders by now and maybe even bra strap length. Its OK because I have enjoyed the journey here but I do want my hair long again. I am not sure how long at the moment but long enough to put in a pony tail or a clip. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer my hair was 32" long and past my waist. Everyone asks me if I am going to grow it that long again and I just don't know right now. Like I said, I am just enjoying the journey.

I am really a Curly Brunette! LOL

School's Out For Summer, School's Out Forever! (well its half true)

2008-06-17T13:14:00.000-04:00

I am finally starting to feel better after my last day on the new antibiotic. My throat is still red and sore but the Dr seems to think that I have a virus and bacterial infection so thats why the antibiotic cant fix me 100%. My Mom came up on Saturday to take my son to a bowling birthday party because there was no way I could have done it. I felt like I was zapped of all my energy and standing up was making me extremely dizzy. My daughter and I watched cartoons in my room while I worked on the heel for my LEAFLING socks from March's Rockin' Sock Club kit. The directions were not as clear as they could have been so I was a little pissed and ended up frogging the heel twice. I was all ready to throw in the towel and make a traditional heel flap but I knit on and finished it. Its a very nice fitting sock and thats because its based on a Cat Bordhi design from her NEW PATHWAYS FOR SOCK KNITTERS book. However, the sizing was a bit wonky and I made myself the small. I usually make a medium in socks because my foot measurement is 8.5" but with the negative ease I have with LEAFLING tells me to make my socks with a measurement of 7.5"-8" to get the fit I like. The directions got me so confused I had to take the socks (I was doing 2 at a time on on circ) off the circular and work with DPN's to complete the heel. Pain in the you know what I tell ya! At least when I am done with sock number one I will have 30% of sock number two completed. I love how fast I can make socks with them both on one needle but truth be told its not easy for me when I am out and about to pull out the two socks and the two balls of yarn that go with them (LOL) and then proceed to knit. Either I have to try harder or just work them at the same time on seperate needles,

I am also working on the GARDEN ANKLET SOCKS from my LYS-Knitting Central and am about to turn the heel on sock number one! How fast is that pattern! Awesome! The baby cardigan I am making for my friends baby is almost done. I seamed up the shoulders and one arm. I have to do the other arm, both sides and the buttons. Then I will be finished. The funny thing about this pattern is that I made the 12 month size and it calls for 3 skeins of Blue Sky Cotton and I only used 1.5. I have a whole skein and a half left. A matching hat might also be in this little girls future! I am just so excited to give it to her I don't want to wait to finish a hat.

After SEARS canceling the appointment I had on Wednesday to fix my dryer and me fighting on the phone with them for over an hour as to why they couldn't send someone sooner then the following Wednesday, I won. They came yesterday (Friday) and fixed my dryer. Say goodbye to scratchy air dried underwear and hello to Downy soft dryer dried clothes again! I never realized how much I rely on my dryer. It is an energy star approved appliance so I am saving energy using it but I bet I saved a few pennies not using it for a whole 10 days. It was to humid to dry clothes out on the clothesline the first half of the week so they were all over the house as you had previously seen in a post from a few days ago. The technician that came was the same one that serviced it a month ago and he was so nice. He literally took 15-20 minutes to take the circuit board out, run to his truck to get the part and pop it into the circuit board. Like magic the dryer was working again! Yippy! I asked him how much it would have cost if we didn't have the service agreement on it. He said that the part alone would be $100 and then labor is $132/hr so at least $200. In my humble opinion I think it's worth it to have it because if you remember about a month ago I had to replace the rubber sealer part on my front loading Kenmore He Washing Machine and that would have cost at least $300 to fix. All of these little 'repairs' add up I tell ya!

My Woolgirl Sock Club Kit came a few days ago and I LOVE it!! The colors are fabulous and Jen is so generous with all the goodies in the kit. WOW is all I could say when I opened it. The theme is FROGGING and the yarn is dyed the all the colors of a tree frog. I am not sure if I want to do the pattern that came with the kit though. I'll decide after I knit a few rounds and see how it looks.

Here is a meme that I found on a blog I read all the time. I have never done one before so here it goes.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? 

10 years ago I was 27 years old and it was the summer of 1998. I was preparing for my wedding which was to take place on September 26, 1998. I had just had my surprise bridal shower on the 12th of June that year and wow was I surprised! It was so much fun and there were so many people there, it seems like yesterday. The day of my bridal shower it was raining cats and dogs and I thought I was going to a graduation party. My husband kept the secret to and thats surprising because its hard to surprise me. So at this time 10 years ago my future husband and I were crammed into a one bedroom apartment right outside NYC. All of our bridal shower gifts stacked high to the ceiling. We had been living there since the Spring of 1997 when we decided to live together or 'in sin' as the priest who married us called it. Agh, the Catholic church, so hypocritical! I wont even go there.

2. 5 things on my to-do list today? 

Phone calls, laundry, pick up the kids early (last day of school), seam up the baby sweater, finish one LEAFLING sock and turn heel on the second, work on Garden Anklet sock.

3. Snacks I enjoy: 

Minute Maid Frozen Lemon-aide, Wheat Thins Basil & Parm crackers, fruit (nectarines, peaches, bananas, strawberries, pineapple, cherries-I really LOVE all fruits and fruit smoothies, Ice Cream, Oreos, Chocolate Chip cookies, chocolate, lets put it this way, I love all snacks and beef jerky is another snack that I hate to admit I like (no carbs!).

4. Places I’ve lived:

New York, Connecticut 

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Own a yarn shop (yes, I know its more than just being surrounded by yarn and knitting all day but I still want to!), give to my favorite charities, buy a Porsche 911 Turbo, have a HERD of dachshunds, travel, buy another house somewhere out west. I loved Montana, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming near Yellowstone and would love having a log cabin out there. Maybe its just being surrounded by nature anywhere would be a good place for a log cabin. Plus I absolutely LOVE the modern log cabins with all the huge glass windows that let the natural light in. There are so many things I would do if I was a Billionaire I could go on forever.

I cant believe today is the last day of school!
When does camp start?

101

2008-06-09T15:36:00.003-04:00

My kids got out of school early today because its so hot. The thermometer on my weather station is reading 101 degrees if you can believe it. We don't have central air and our huge air conditioner that was cooling the kitchen, great room and dining room areas broke. The only air conditioners are in the bedrooms and the one that was in the computer room we now have in place of the one that broke. The only problem(s) is a) its not big enough to really cool it off to a suitable temperature, b) it only has one setting and if changed the compressor shuts completely off c) its %^*$@%*!% HOT!!!

I was really sick a little over a week ago with what my son had which came with a fever for 4 days, really sore throat, wheezing, coughing and lots of mucus clogging my lungs (sorry, TMI). I took antibiotics and they did nothing because I relapsed this weekend. The night before last I started feeling like shit again and my throat started hurting. When I took my temperature it was over 100 again. I immediately called the Dr and he gave me a stronger antibiotic-Avalox, which will kill anything I am told. I wasn't feeling better at all and today my husband called out of work to take me to the Dr. While I was waiting in the office (long wait because I didn't call) my cell phone rang and it was one of my girl friends calling to let me know the schools were being let out early due to the heat in the classrooms reaching 110 degrees. The school is basically not air conditioned and the windows don't all open. There are a couple of classrooms that are air conditioned but they are not my kids classes.
Due to the heat wave the school is letting the kids out early tomorrow again. My son is having his end of the year celebration in school tomorrow and I signed up to go and I am not sure if I should since I feel like crap and, like I said, the school is like a sauna. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in any minute now.

At the Dr's office he did an exam and told me that I have a major ear infection on top of the one in my throat and lungs. Even with being on the antibiotics my white blood cell count was elevated! OK, the Dr knows I am not a complainer either and he knows when I complain about not feeling well that its something real and not just me whining. So I have to continue for 10 days on the antibiotic and call if there is no improvement. I was so glad I took my knitting with me because I waited an hour and a half to see the Dr. There are a few WIP's that I am working on at the moment and I made sure to take 3 of them with me. You never know where you might get stuck and you need your knitting.

I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago of this animal that I think is a groundhog or a badger. My husband thought it was a prairie dog but they are a lot smaller and are not found in this part of the country unless one escaped from the zoo! I haven't seen it since these pictures were taken.

Blue Moon's Rockin' Sock Club for May, Woolgirl's Sock Club's 1st Kit and my LYS Knitting Central's Kit for May-Jitterbug by Colinette in Florentine

Do you think they all conspired to get such similar choices for their clubs? Its a good thing I like purple. I don't have that much purple in my stash even though I like it. They are all beautiful additions to my stash and I couldn't resist and had to cast on for the Garden Sock pattern with the Jitterbug

My Emergency Sock Yarn Collection from Blue Moon Rockin' Socks Club 2007 and 2008

Garden Socks in progress

This is such a great pattern and it really knits up fast. I also LOVE the color and the feel of the yarn which is Colinette Jitterbug. The only thing I don't like about the yarn is that they skimp on the yardage. I can't understand why Colinette came to the conclusion that its enough. If I made my husband socks with this yarn I would need to do the cuffs, heels and toes in another color.

On the way home I made a pit stop at Knitting Central to get some more of my favorite cotton by Blue Sky and some buttons to make my husband's co-worker new baby boy a sweater. Yeah, I know, you're thinking, "She makes all these babies sweaters, what's in the water where he works?" Well, I do make lots of babies clothes and I love doing it since I am not having any more children of my own. I also picked up Cables, Mittens, Hats & Scarves -on the go! There are some awesome patterns in this book. I also got No Needle Knits Loom Knitting Pattern Book

I have a bunch of those looms in all different sizes and I thought this might be fun to do something different. Maybe I can get my daughter into it. I didnt realize you can make so many different things on a loom! Socks, sweaters, hats, gloves, you name it.

Buttons for one of my baby sweaters

Our clothes dryer has been inoperable for the past week and this is how we have been drying the clothes along with using the clothesline thats off our back deck. We have a very energy efficient large capacity dryer and it just wont stay on when I press the start button. I have an extended warranty on it which will cover anything that happens (until 2013) and it will even replace it if it cant be fixed. In a way I almost hope its something that cant be fixed so we can get a brand new dryer but I also would like to have my dryer back as soon as possible because I do laundry almost every day. All our appliances are top of the line Kenmore because they are the best (in my opinion) and we always buy them at SEARS. I used to think those warranties were stupid but they are totally worth it. The smallest repair can cost $200. We had a similar incident with the dryer occur a couple of years ago and SEARS came and fixed it right away. I am hoping that its something the repairman can fix when he comes instead of having to order a part that takes another week to get in. I already waited a week and I cant tell you how I am trying to avoid getting clothes dirty! LOL Its close to impossible to do this when the temperatures are in the high 90's to over 100 degrees.

Catch Up

2008-05-29T17:39:00.007-04:00

I am trying to play catch up with all that was going on when I wasnt blogging due to the 'Great Gelato Incident'. At least my computer is working (knock on wood). Here is a picture from the Heel Options class I took at my LYS, Knitting Central, with Charlene Church.

My husbands birthday was on Memorial Day so I decided to make him a cake. I was writing his name on the cake then realized that I wanted to write "Daddy" instead of his name. So it came out kind of funny with his name and "daddy" after it. We all had a laugh at his expense over it.

Fooling around with my little Canon Elph camera getting some candid shots of my daughter.

The Old Man & My Old Man

Thats my oldest doxie Frank with my husband. I thought the title was funnier than saying that though. Funny story: I was at fancy gourmet chocolate store near my home and bought some chocolate covered malt balls along with some peanut butter carob dipped dog biscuits and when I went to pay for them I said, "My Old Man is going to love these!" The man ringing me up at the register politely said, "Miss, those biscuits are meant for dogs not for people". I laughed because when I said that I didnt realize that people dont know that I refer to my oldest doxie as 'my Old Man' as a term of endearment. I explained this to the guy and he couldnt stop laughing. I guess you had to be there but it was really funny. Speaking of my Old Man Frank, I found a very hard lump right near his hip bone and I am inclined to think that its not a good thing. He has so many lumps and bumps all over his body there is really nothing the vet can do at his age. He's to old to be put under anesthesia due to his mild Cushing's Disease and I dont want to do anything to stress him out if he's eating, drinking and happy. I do think he really misses his buddy, Ernie, because he hasnt been the same since he died. Remember, he was with him almost his entire life and I guess he doesnt know what its like to be without him. Having Duncan and Sampson, the puppy, makes it bearable for him but you can see he misses his friend. Frank will be turning 13 years old on June 25th which happens to be the anniversary of my husbands and my first date. I can still remember that evening we went out on my husbands boat and I didnt want to leave my puppy alone on his first birthday! He proceeded to pee on one of the cushions on the boat! My husband wasnt to happy about it but I guess he didnt want to yell at his girlfriends dog at the time for fear I would not want to date him! I thought it was cute and well deserved because my husband made a comment that small dogs were not "real" dogs. He doesnt think that anymore!

Sampson & Son

How cute is this picture! I know there's some peanut butter in there (lick, lick). The puppy is now 7lbs and getting big at 5 months old. Soon it will be neutering time. I am sure he's counting down the days, NOT.

My new Namaste bag and gorgeous sock yarns from www.woolgirl.com

There's various sock yarns from Zen Yarn Garden, Unique Sheep, Family Pendragon, Malabrigo lace (which is sooooo soft and yummy!), and my all time favorite Ms. Babs Yummy Sport Weight sock yarn in Van Gogh, Bluegrass and Cleopatra. I need to get busy and knit faster so I can make these socks! If anyone out there is awaiting the "Joe Cool Kit" that Jen over at Woolgirl is putting together keep an eye out for the stitch marker in there because I made them. I have a biased opinion of course but I think they are very Joe COOL! I hope you all like them!

I received my Rockin' Socks Club shippment for May and I LOVE the color! I am hoping that I can pull off the pattern though. Its absolutely beautiful but I am not sure if I will have problems with it. I am not going to sweat it. If I feel its not making me happy I will just use another pattern, no worries. I dont have a picture because my battery died and its being charged at the moment. I was taking pictures of this gopher like animal in my yard when the battery light went on and then died. My husband heard barking like sounds coming from a bush in the front yard and then this creature came out. I really dont know what it is but I am inclined to think its either a gopher or groundhog. I think they are basically the same animal from all the pictures that came up when I Googled them both. I'll ask my neighbor what he thinks because he knows about all those things especially if they like to eat stuff in his garden!

Better Late then Never

2008-05-23T14:11:00.007-04:00

So I finally was able to get my pictures on the computer but my photo printer isnt working right. I tried to fix it and clean the nozzle on the heads and so on and nothing is working. I have to see if maybe the ink is bad. I bought a bunch of ink cartridges and had them in the closet for about 8 months, maybe a little more. What I didnt realize was the expiration dates on them. Who thought they had expiration dates? Not me. Well, I think I have to buy them when I need them and not ahead of time.

I am going to tackle each topic thats been going on that I havent blogged about one at a time. First, what made me crazy in the first place was preparing for my daughters communion which was the same weekend as Mother's Day and the same day as our cousins First Communion. We celebrated on Saturday and Sunday and I think I slept for 24 hours straight after it was all over. Here are some pics of my daughter that day:

This is my Dad the night of my cousin's Communion party taking pictures which he loves to do. The Mardi Gras mask makes the picture. We were all wearing them to surprise my Great Aunt who turned 90 that day.

During the last few weeks we were having big time transmission trouble with our 2002 Honda Mini-Van. We had it in the shop a few times and found out that it would cost $3,000 to fix with no guarantees. We researched different options and weighed getting a smaller car but realized that with the two kids we cant get into a smaller car at the moment. We do get good mileage on the van so we wound up leasing a 2008 Honda Odyssey. I love the Odyssey and since its a 3 year lease everything is under warranty. If something goes wrong we dont have to worry about it. I also highly recommend Courtney Honda in Milford, CT. We were treated with kindness and respect by a salesman named Robert Martin. If you go there ask for him and tell him I sent you.

My husband finally had his tonsils out last week and he's home from work for a few weeks. He's in a lot of pain but doing much better. He had to stay overnight in the hospital because his oxygen level dropped from the high 90's to somewhere in the 70's. He was given so much pain meds that it made him stop breathing for longer than a few seconds which caused the drop in his O2 levels. During his surgery I went to get my haircut around the corner from the hospital where the salon I frequent is located. I needed a general shaping so he didnt take any length off. He wanted to chop the back so badly and I didnt let him. I was getting the angled cut for awhile but I want to grow it and be able to put it in a ponytail or a clip for the summer.

A few days after my husband came home from having his surgery we went to Circuit City and bought the Garmin Nuvi GPS which is so cool! I was sick of going on MapQuest and getting directions. I also purchased a smaller pocket Canon digital camera with an awesome zoom and very cool features. I have the big Canon Rebel XT which I love but there are times when I dont want to lug all the camera equipment along with me. Its heavy and can be cumbersome in certain situations. I bought this camera for a steal! My Mom couldnt even believe what I paid for it. I cant even believe what I paid for it! LOL.

Right after I bought the camera I spilled something on my laptop and it stopped working. I bought my husband gelato since his surgery wouldnt let him eat normal foods. I decided to eat the remaining gelato in bed while I was on my computer and fell asleep causing a spillage to occur. Its fixed now with a new keyboard and a good cleaning of the insides. The tech told me that the spillage might cause problems to occur in the future but right now I cant afford a new computer. Hopefully this one with continue to work well. In the time being I need to learn how to back up info which I dont know how to do. Yeah, I know, pretty irresponsible of me.

I finished my Mom's scarf for Mother's Day. Here she is modeling it:

This past weekend I took a "Heel Options" class given by my LYS-Knitting Central and taught by the famous sock designer, Charlene Schurch. I learned a lot but it was an all day class and I was exhausted after it was over.

My son has been home sick since Tuesday with a killer viral/bacterial infection. We brought him to the Dr yesterday and got antibiotics. We started them yesterday after he spiked 105 fever. When my kids are sick they really dont fool around!

The puppy is still crazy and I will have some 'grown up' pics of him in the near future. He doesnt sit still enough to get a picture!

Anxiety Attack Avoided

2008-05-23T04:21:00.005-04:00

I was able to be reunited with my computer yesterday evening and I am soooo happy I cant even put into words. I have a lot to write about including my daughters communion, Mother's Day, our new car, my husbands tonsillectomy, my latest haircut, my knitting class with Charlene Schurch, my newest camera (which I LOVE!), my son being sick as a dog and home from school the past 3 days and of course some finished knitting to show you. I was so lost without my laptop! I am sure many of you can totally relate. The tech that fixed it told me that I was extremely lucky with the spill that had occurred. They cleaned up what they could and then replaced my keyboard which at the time was totally F-ing up. The F keys wouldnt work and the numbers lock was glued shut. My husband said the gelato that spilled into the computer was the most expensive one we had ever had! LOL. He's to much. The tech didnt even know what gelato was when I told him what had spilled. He asked me what EXACTLY spilled and I had to be specific. He looked at me funny and in all seriousness said, " What the heck is Gelato??" Ugh, its a sherbert type of ice cream. So its like an Italian Ice but creamier. My computers favorite flavor is Limada ot Limade. It was spelled the Italian way so I cant remember what it was called exactly. I vowed never to eat or drink things that can harm the computer in the future. This was my first and last time I will do something so stupid. I wonder how common it is for this to happen to NORMAL people?

Hopefully I will be able to get some pics up within the next day or two. I have lots of stuff to do around the house and errands to run since my husband cant drive so please dont hold me to it. I will certainly try my best.

Computer Problems

2008-05-17T20:43:00.002-04:00

I havent been able to blog due to an incident with my laptop that is totally due to my own stupidity. I fell asleep eating Gelato and it melted into my keyboard on my laptop. Oh boy! I am going to get it fixed as soon as possible but the guy at the computer repair place said it could take a while if the mother board needs to be replaced. They have to then mail it out to APPLE and get it done because they dont do that in the store. This can take a while according to what he said on the phone. Its amazing how dependant we have become on our computers. I am blogging now from our main computer which is not as fast as my laptop and of course not as easily accessible but I am glad none the less that we have another one. Its almost impossible to surf RAVELRY because its so slow loading the pages. Well, that leaves me more time to knit and make some jewelry! Until next time, whenever that may be.

The Whole World IS Crazy, It's Confirmed

2008-05-05T21:45:00.003-04:00

I was going to make the title of this post, "Is the whole world crazy or is it just me?" BUT I had already had that as a title before and I cant have a repeat title! So the title is confirmed because I know that the whole world IS crazy and its not just me! Here is the story:

My daughter is receiving First Communion this weekend. My sister is her Godmother and we dont really speak or have a relationship but thats not the issue. The issue is my daughters Godfather, who happens to be that my Dad's Brother's Son (my Uncle's Son), is not going to be at the celebration for my daughter. Even though I told him at the beginning of the year that this is the year she receives communion and its very important that he be there because she only sees him 2 times a year, I reminded him at her birthday in January and in February when she received her First Reconciliation Sacrament we told him that it would be either the 10th or the 11th depending on which day her class chose to receive. He told my Mom that he would put it in his calendar and that was the end of that. I figured I told him more than 3 times, there is no way he can screw it up. I was wrong. He spends more time with his fiances sisters kids then his own God daughter. He JUST responded to the invite (the last day to RSVP was 5/3 and they were sent out 3 weeks ago & today by the calendar that I go by says that today is the 5th of May) that he cant come because he is going to a wedding out of state. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? So to sum it up: He knew about his Goddaughters Communion since December. Lets give him the benefit of the doubt and say he didn't know the day until February. February was 3 months ago. He got the wedding invite a couple of months ago so when he did shouldn't a light bulb have gone off in his head and said, Wait a minute, my Goddaughters communion is that same weekend! Then instead of calling me a while back when he received the communion invite he waits until 2 days after the RSVP is due and then calls. I wish I could play the message he left on my machine because you can tell he's lying through his teeth when he is telling me why he cant make it and that he thought he told us why. Yeah, right. Very responsible for a 34 year old man.

I called his mother and told her that I was disappointed in his decision and that if it was such a hard decision to make between the wedding and the communion then why is he calling 5 days before the communion and not sooner to explain this to me? I would have had more respect for him if he did that. I was so upset that I told her that it's what he signed up for when he became her Godfather. He is SUPPOSED to be there. If a Godfather cant come to a God Childs communion then when can he be around? A communion comes once in a lifetime and as it is my sister is not an active presence in my daughters life so who else does she have? I feel bad for her because its not fair and he has done things like this in the past and I havent said a thing but I cant keep quiet now, I just cant. I have been upset all day and you wont even believe what this b*tch and a half said to me as I was telling her that he should be there. She had the balls to say, "How active are you in your faith, how often do you go to church?" I was taken aback by this and was astounded because that has nothing to do with doing the right thing and keeping the family together. I didnt bring up the fact that my daughters Godfather is marrying outside his religion because I dont think it matters (it doesn't matter to me and I don't want my readers to think I am prejudiced in any way. I am just making a point) but if she wants to play hardball then maybe I should have said something like that. I didnt. I always do the right thing. My parents taught me that family always comes first but they (his family) dont seem to think so. The three times my Dad has tried to get together with them when they come into town they have blown him off. My father is a bit upset over this. His own brother has lost his sense of what family means and they are the ones that preach it all the time!! They always choose their friends over the family and its something that my Dad is also fed up with not just me. After she said that to me I hung up on her because I was crying. I don't broadcast to anyone when or how often I go to church because I am not like that. They are the ones that always preach and send me religious crap and stuff. I dont brag about how I went to church on Sunday and heard what the priest said and so on. I hate those type of people. Practice what you preach and he without sin should cast the first stone. Also he who lives in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. They follow the rules that only apply to them and then conveniently use them against others when it suits them. Thats whats called a HYPOCRITE. A picture of my Uncle, Aunt and their son are all next to that picture in the dictionary. The other 2 brothers live far away and one is actually coming with his girlfriend and I am very happy about that.

After all I have been through in my life I have more appreciation for life than anyone I know. I have had so many surgeries (in the double digits), been through cancer and treatment, had numerous deaths in my family and so on and you never hear me preach or yet bitch about it. So I called my Dad and Mom and they calmed me down and told me what to do. My Aunt called me back right after I hung up with my Dad and I was calm. She made it out like I was attacking her when I was the calm one all along until she came at me with a vengeance and said that nasty things about my religious practices. I told her that she knew what the right thing to do was and that I was going to call her son and give him a piece of my mind in a nice way of course. If the Godfather cant be present for the communion when the hell can he be?? Its funny because he is always babysitting his fiances sisters kids and he never asks to babysit mine. He always talks about how cute they are and what they did together and so on whenever he is around me and my family which is not that often so you can see why I get mad. I am so stressed now and its not healthy for me because I am breaking out in hives all over my hands and arms. My husband who has a temper is livid and wants to explode. Who can blame him but he's not being rational when he's like this so I have to be the one to do the talking. He will talk from anger and thats not how to get someone to listen to you. I am going to be calm and collected and just say what my Dad told me to. If he wants to make that choice and not be with my daughter on her special day then maybe I have to rethink how important he is to my family and if I should even go to his wedding (which he asked me to do a reading at). We will see.

Well, I called my cousin and told him the same thing I told his Mom. I said that I was extremely disappointed that he is not coming and that the choice he made wasn't the right one. He got all defensive and started saying that I wasn't being fair asking him to choose between his wife's family (he ain't married yet, I reminded him) and me. I said the choice is not between me and his fiances family its between whats the right thing to do and whats the wrong thing to do. I then went on to remind him that he spends all his time with her family and his fiances sisters kids who he is not God Father to mind you. His priorities are screwed up. Its a common sense decision to be made and anyone can see it. He then says to me that when you are in a marriage you have to compromise and be able to give and take in certain situations. OK, this guy who is as immature as an 18 year old and not even married is telling me, who is married 10 years with 2 children and a lot more life experience under my belt than this schmuck. I told him that he better not ever try to tell me what married life is like because he is not even married yet! That takes balls. Several other nasty things were said including a statement about the reason he spends more time with his fiances sisters kids is because they are 1/2 hour away from him on the train. I reminded him that we are only an hour away from him on the train and we are only 20 minutes away from his place of work. So there. I hate excused and I hate stupid excuses even more. Then he says that maybe we need to spend more time together and that maybe I should invite him here more because I don't do so according to him. I can tell you that thats a load of crap because I invite him all the time and he's the one that always has other plans. For my daughters birthday party he rather attend a Super Bowl Party one year then go to his God Daughters birthday. This happened two years in a row. My Mom always invites him to special occasion dinners and Sunday family gatherings. My Dad happens to be his God Father and has even taken him on a trip to Las Vegas as a gift. I don't remember what it was for but I guess my cousin forgets these things. My father is the one that gives him all the advice he needs on investing and stocks. If it wasn't for my Dad he would not have made the great stock trades he has over the past few years. This kid must be smoking crack to say these things to me.

After I calmed down and I could see that he wasn't going to change his mind I said, "Well, what goes around comes around." He got all offended at that and said that I was the one who was damaging our relationship. ME? I said, "You already succeeded in doing that. He also said that I put a good guilt trip on him. I replied that I didn't put it on him, he did. I said that if he made the right decision then he wouldn't be feeling guilty end of story. He has to live with himself and right now I am so mad at him I can't even express into words how I feel. I am leaving out some stuff that was said but it wont make that much of a difference. I mentioned all the important things that were said but I still am confused as to whose wedding this is because first my Aunt said it was the fiances family then she said in the second phone call that it was her family and then my cousin said it was the fiances family again. Talk about confusing! I'll let you all know what comes of all of this. I do know my daughter is going to have a beautiful communion and we are going to have a great time. My best friend who I have known since 3rd grade is coming and I am so happy that she is. My other best friend might also be coming to.

Today I went and found 2 awesome outfits at Lord & Taylor with my husbands help. He did a great job helping me out and telling me what looked good and bad on me. I also found the most beautiful silver shoes that go with both dresses! It has taken me so long to find something to wear to my daughters communion. Now I just have to decide which one to wear to my daughters party and which one to wear to my cousins little girls communion party. Choices, choices!

The best thing happened to me after all this stress of today. My husband came home from taking our daughter to communion practice and gave me this beautiful gift bag from the church. When I opened it I was so surprised that I started to cry. Not because I was upset but because there are good and caring people in this world. It was a Prayer Shawl made specifically for me. It was made and prayed over for me by the lovely ladies in the Prayer Shawl Ministry that my church has. Here are some pictures.

Isn't it gorgeous!!! I love the colors and how they look like a rainbow. I have it wrapped around me right now. You know what, it works.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2008-05-04T12:21:00.004-04:00

Its raining again. Who am I to complain though because we had a good run of nice weather without rain so this is our April showers a few days late, or I should say a month late. I cant believe its May already. Its true when they say time goes by faster as you get older.

I didn't post to much in April for reasons mentioned in the previous posts. I am hoping to post a little more this month but I feel I shouldn't post if I don't have anything to say or if I don't have any finished knitting or jewelry to show. My next jewelry party is in June so I am working now on some new stuff to sell. Its hard because I have to be in a creative mood to make jewelry so whenever the mood strikes I get busy. My daughter's communion is quickly approaching so I am not sure how much progress I am going to make on the knitting and jewelry fronts.

I did finally finish my gastroenterologists daughters sweater last night. It's the same as the one I did in the KERMIE colorway a few months ago. The only modification made was that I did the sleeves in the round as to avoid the seaming. The less seaming the better! It came out great (I think). I hope it fits her. She will be a year in September and its supposed to be sized for up to 12 months. The yarn has an elasticity to it so I think it will be fine. The yarn is Elaine by Schaefer in the LITTLE MERMAID colorway. These colorways are specifically made for kids and I love them.

I am presently working on the Rockin' Sock Club's March kit, LEAFLING. Its a little bit of a challenge for me coming to the gusset increases. I think its the way the pattern is written up. I have made socks from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways book and this pattern is based on them. I cant find anything in the Rockin' Socks Blog about it and I know there has to be others who are confused. That blog is a bit of a pain in the butt to navigate even though it got a little bit easier when people started to just reply in the comments and not start a new topic. I even looked in the Ravelry forums for anyone with problems and I cant find my specific problem. Oh well, if I have to do some other type of heel then I will. I have both socks on one circular and I think I have to take them off and reposition them before doing the heel.

Oh, I almost forgot. To answer a question posed to me in the comments on what sock yarns I bought at WEBS.
~Flat Feet by Conjoined Creations
~Misti Alpaca Sock Yarn
~Shibui Sock Yarn

I didnt get to much because I was on a budget. Thank God there was a 25% off sale!

Off to take my daughter to a birthday party.

FInally

2008-04-28T22:26:00.004-04:00

Yes, finally there will be some pics in this post and I am not lying. I havent been in the mood to really blog either with so much happening around here. My birthday came and went and we had a small cake the day we went out to eat and then we had another on my birthday.

I received a few phone calls on my birthday and a lot of e-mails from people whom I have become friendly with over the years. Its nice to be remembered by friends. However, it is extremely upsetting to not get a phone call from my one and only infamous sister. We all know the back story on her and I promise not to rehash it again. From what my Mom told me I am not the only one that she has been treating like shit. Well, I can guarantee that I am HER ONLY sister and I did have cancer and she did treat ME in an extremely bad manner. My parents cant say that and they dont know what it feels like to be sick and in need of help and not get it from your one and only sister whom DID promise to help me when I found out my diagnosis. Anyway, I didnt expect her to call because she didnt call me when Ernie died.

Sampson has also been getting bigger every day and he is actually looking more and more like a dachshund. His muzzle is elongating and his body is also elongating. He is still crazy with energy and is a riot to watch, especially when he runs at full speed into a wall or a piece of furniture. Here is the pain in the butt at 4 months old.

My husband and I were supposed to go see the Yarn Harlot together but our plans fell through because our son got sick and we felt better about him staying home with him. Sometimes when he gets a cough he has problems breathing and needs nebulizer treatments so I was nervous about leaving him with my Mom. I did go see Stephanie and she was a hoot! I got to WEBS just as 1,000 knitters were all purchasing their spoils of war at the same time. I started walking to the Calvin Theater and left my car in the WEBS parking lot which was the best idea ever because I made it back to WEBS in time to be the second person in line to have Stephanie sign my book. There were literally 1,000 knitters there and I had time to shop because they were all in line. Well, not all of them but it gave me time to shop and I was very good and didnt spend more than $100, if you can believe it. There was a 25% off sale on all sock yarn for the event so I had to get some of that. I bought the Giselle pattern by Marnie MacLean which I absolutely love and I cant wait to make it (who knows when that will be). I also bought some of my favorite Bue Sky Cotton in a gorgeous aqua blue appropriate enough for a boy or a girls Presto Chango.
Here is the famous Yarn Harlot at WEBS

I finally made some jewelry if you can believe it.

I'm Still Here

2008-04-18T15:40:00.006-04:00

Its been a long time since I paid attention to my blog. There's a lot happening around here and I've neglected it, plain and simple. My daughter is receiving Communion in a few weeks so we are preparing for that. My dog just died and we got a new pup who demands a lot of attention. The weather has finally been warmer and we've been enjoying it. There are a million reasons why I haven't been here.

The kids have had the past week off for spring break and my husband has been using them to help fix things around the house and in the garden. I came home the other day to find my 5 year old son using the leaf blower. Good thing its an electric and not a gas powered one. My hair dryer is probably more powerful, LOL. Funny but true. Then the following day they fixed one of the steps that lead up to our house from the drive way. They got to help their Dad to mix the cement and make a mold for the step. It looks pretty good now and by doing it themselves and not having someone do it for us saved us a bunch of money. Even though the bag of cement wasn't cheap it probably still was cheaper. It pays to have a handy husband!

While they have been keeping busy with my husband and playing with the puppy I have been attempting to finish up the stitch markers that I am making for Woolgirl's Joe Cool Kit due to go out in May. She asked me if I would like to design a stitch marker for the club and I told her it would be an honor to do so. She sells some of my stitch markers in her online yarn shop. I cant wait to see how people like them. No secrets will be revealed here!

Speaking of Woolgirl, I received the first sock club shipment a couple of days ago and its fabulous! (Sorry no pics) She runs a fabulous sock club and the extras that she puts in the kits are awesome. Her sock club is right up there with Blue Moon's Rockin' Sock Club in my opinion, maybe even better because of all the little extras she puts in there. I haven't started the sock yet because I am currently working on the Rockin' Sock Club's March Kit, LEAFLING along with my LYS, Knitting Centrals January kit. I know I am a bit behind with the other clubs, even last years RSC but I promised myself that while trying to catch up with last years kits I will finish this years RSC kits first, before other clubs kits. Even though my LYS runs a fabulous sock club I dont think I am going to be joining again next year because its to much work to keep up and I do want to use up the sock yarn I have been accumulating over the past 2 years. I don't think I can ever use up all the sock yarn I have. Yup, there is a lot but I do think there are a lot of people who surpass me in that department. Plus, sock yarn doesn't count as stash. My Knit Picks order arrived the other day and I am in love with their Harmony Circs. I ordered the 2.25mm 40" and the 2.75mm 40" circs because Addi only makes 2.50mm and 3.00mm 40". Along with the circs I also got some yarn to dye with Kool Aid and some Felici which I started making a toe up sock with. Its very soft for a yarn with nylon in it. I am going to have to get more of that stuff (as soon as I use up what I bought). My Mom's Mother's Day gift is coming along but I cant really talk about it to much here.

I finally signed up for one of the classes my LYS is offering with Charlene Schurch. She is coming for two days to teach classes on sock design one day and heel design the next. I decided to take the heel one because I always change up the heels that are in a pattern. Knitting Central has been waiting over two years for her to come to teach a class. Charlene Schurch's books are my bibles for figuring the proper numbers and such to make a perfect sock.

One of the main reasons I haven't been around to write in my blog has been because of fear. I had my scheduled PET Scan a few days ago and am awaiting the results. The reason I am afraid of the results are because I have had a serious case of laryngitis the past 4-5 weeks. At first I though that maybe I was yelling to much and that was the reason for the loss of voice. Even with resting it and taking it easy my voice hasn't improved and every time I talk on the phone or to anyone they ask me if I have a cold or if I am sick. No, I am not sick and I don't have a cold. I wish it was that easy but I am afraid nothing is ever easy when it comes to my health. I think ultimately I have to see an ear, nose and throat surgeon. I happen to have a great one who has done surgery twice on me already. He removed my tonsils the first time and my thyroid the second. I think that maybe he is in a competition with my plastic surgeon to see who can do the most surgical procedures on me. No matter the winner would probably be my anesthesiologist. We are on a first name basis, even worse I call him by his nickname which is a shortened version of his last name. Yup, thats when you know you've had to many operations.

Pictures of something next time, I promise.

Serendipity

2008-04-07T23:40:00.003-04:00

I finally finished my Rockin' Sock Club Kit from January. Here they are in all their Dragon Dance glory:

Specs: January's Rockin' Sock Club Kit, Color: Dragon Dance, Pattern: Serendipity, Needles: Addi Lace Size 1 (2.50mm) 47", Two at a time on one circular.

The only complaint I have about these socks is that I should have made the heels a little wider and not made them so narrow. I dont have pointy heels and I havent met many people who do so I am not sure who this pattern was made for. They do fit well so its not a big complaint. I also wish that I would get less pooling and more striping. When I look at others finished socks I see beautiful striping and all mine has is pooling. Pooling can be pretty too so again its not a major complaint.

Today I frogged the second Presto Chango I was making for a friend of my husbands who had a baby last fall. I wasnt liking the yarn (Cotton Ease by Lion Brand) and how it was coming out in the pattern. I have a million baby patterns and I have to get going on choosing something else to make her. I think I am going to go with something easy like a hat or booties because my list of stuff to make for other babies is way to long.

I received the Yarn Harlot's new book in the mail this weekend from WEBS. I cant believe how fast they delivered it! I called to reserve a copy for the event that they are having with her up there to sign books at the end of the month. I thought I would pick it up then but they mailed it to me instead. Those WEBS people sure are nice. That makes me want to buy more yarn from them! LOL

A New Member of Our Family

2008-04-02T22:50:00.006-04:00

It's only been a few days since my beloved doxie, Ernie, crossed over the Rainbow Bridge but my two doxies that were left behind missed him a great deal. They were constantly roaming around the house looking for their friend. Every time they heard a noise they ran to the front door to see if Ernie was coming in. When they realized he wasn't coming home they sulked on their dog beds and slept. They didn't want to play, eat or even go outside for a walk. My husband and I were not thinking of getting another dog because we thought Frank and Duncan would be there for each other and keep each other company. The only problem was that Ernie was both Frank and Duncan's best friend. Even though Frank and Duncan like each other they were not best friends like Frank/Ernie and Duncan/Ernie were.

The dynamics of a dog pack are hard to understand but Frank has always been the alpha dog because he is the oldest and was here before the other dogs came into the picture. When my husband and I started to date we brought Ernie into the picture as a friend for Frank when we both went to work. They became the best of buddies and it was 4 years before Duncan became a part of our family in 2001. When Duncan came he was automatically the dog at the bottom of the pack, the submissive one to both Frank and Ernie. Ernie was second in command and kept the peace between Duncan and Frank because in his old age Frank was not that into puppies. Ernie was the protector and would always make sure Frank and Duncan were OK. Up until his death he dragged himself out of his crate to go around the house to make sure all was well. It was so sad to watch him do this and when my Mom came up to say good bye the night before he did this several times.

Since animals grieve and mourn like we do and it was obvious that both Frank and Duncan were extremely depressed we had decided to get another dog. We both wanted a dachshund because they are our favorite and it also made sense that since Frank is 13 years old a bigger breed dog might hurt him even if he was just playing with him due to his size.

A few days ago we welcomed Sampson into our home and everyone loves him. In no way does he replace Ernie and we all know that. No dog can ever replace him. He was a unique doxie and I probably wont have another like him again. Sampson sure does remind me of when Ernie was a puppy though!

Duncan with Frank in the backround

Everyone is getting along well and especially Duncan and the puppy. I think thats because Duncan is the youngest and still acts like a puppy. Frank has been extremely tolerant of the puppy and has even let him jump on his back and pull his ears like a grandfather would!

In the middle of all the chaos with Ernie, I received my March sock kit from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Its beautiful and I love the pattern. The color is LUCKY and the pattern by JC Briar is called Leafling. Now all I have to do is finish January's Kit and I can start this one.

I know that I am totally behind with all my sock club kits but I'll catch up (eventually).

Rainbow Bridge

2008-03-27T15:22:00.004-04:00

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together…
– Author Unknown

Sir Ernest Hemingway "Ernie"
Born Nov. 22, 1996-Died Mar. 27, 2008
Until we meet again on Rainbow Bridge

And a Hat to Match

2008-03-19T08:55:00.004-04:00

Children's Cotton Hat from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Size 7 Addi Turbo 40" Circular Needles
Blue Sky Organic Cotton Color #81-Sand

Presto Chango

2008-03-18T09:33:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I took Old Man #2 to the vet to see what was going on with him because after a few weeks on medication he was just getting worse. They took blood and did a thorough exam confirming his back issue that I spoke about a few posts ago. The vet said that she wanted to try a different med along with pain medication. He was so nervous in the exam room that he pooped everywhere. I felt so bad for him because there was no calming him down no matter what I said or did. I was covered with a ton of dog hair not to mention some doggie body fluids which I think I already mentioned. When we got home I immediately gave him a dose of the medication along with the pain medication. I think it helped him a little but he's still not acting right. We will have to wait and see. The blood work will be back tomorrow and that will tell us more about what's going on with his kidneys and liver functions. The Dr. said that he really didn't need blood work but in order for us to get the whole picture of what's going on with him she agreed with me that it was a good idea. My husband and I need to make an informed decision about his healthcare and what our course of action will be if the medication doesn't work. Believe me it's the last thing I want to do at the moment and I don't want to even think about it but if his quality of life is not good and if he is in pain then it's the best decision. Like the title of this post I wish I could wave a magic wand, "Presto Chango" you're all better doggie. Sadly, it doesn't work that way.

Presto Chango happens to be the name of the baby sweater I just finished for a co-worker of my husband who just had a baby boy on March 2nd. I had a lot of left over yarn so I am making the baby hat from LAST MINUTE KNITTED GIFTS. The Grumpy Bear I made a few weeks ago is also going to this baby boy. I used my all time favorite cotton yarn, Blue Sky Organic Cotton in color number 81-Sand. The picture is pretty true to color.

The buttons were purchased at my LYS-Knitting Central. They remind me of my husband with the little hairs sticking up on his head. Oh, I am not being mean, I am being cute! He even laughed when I pointed this out to him. Now I am working on a gift for another baby that was born to another co-worker of his in the fall of 2007 when I had my hand surgery. I never made anything for this baby so I am working on doing so now. I enjoyed knitting the Presto Chango so much that I am contemplating making another one. Since this baby is going to be 6 months soon I am planning on making a 12-18 month size for him so he can wear it through the fall and winter.

I also have a secret project that I can't show a picture of because its for Mother's Day. The other day when I was at my LYS I discovered this gorgeous yarn made by Artyarns and I had to buy it with my Mom in mind. I've been holding myself back from posting a picture because my Mom reads my blog and it would totally ruin it for her. Well, now she knows I am going to make her something but I think she already knew that!

Time (heals all) Wounds?

2008-03-15T12:31:00.007-04:00

WARNING: RANT AHEAD
Time is supposed to heal all wounds, or so they say. It's been a long time since my sister pissed me off and I haven't written about it here because I didn't want my blog to be poisoned by her. This is eating away at me and since no one else in my family, mainly my parents, care how she treats me and my family then I have to vent it here. So I apologize to those who don't want to hear but I promise a FO later in this post.

Last weekend we went to my parents house for my Dad's birthday. I didn't finish his birthday socks but I had some other gifts for him. My Great Aunts were there along with a couple of cousins. When we arrived (a little late) everyone was eating their pasta and my sister was not yet down from her bedroom. We all said hello, sat down and started to eat. My sister walked into the sun room, where my husband, kids, Aunts and my cousins wife were sitting at the table with us eating dinner. My parents were in the kitchen eating with my cousins husband and later my sister sat in there with them. But anyway to get back to what she did, or didn't do. She made sure to say hello to my 2 kids, my 2 Aunts and my cousin and totally ignored my husband and I. My Aunt was talking to her about something and while she was speaking to her she handed me her dish and said, "You can put some pasta in there for me too." I was in the process of making dishes for my kids and husband and was dishing out the pasta. I was appalled by this behavior as were my 2 Aunts who whispered their dismay between themselves except it wasn't to much of a whisper. My Aunt and I had already spoken a few days prior and she had asked me how things were with my sister. I told her that things were the same as she only speaks to me when she wants something like when I have my jewelry parties and I give her free jewelry because I always do the right thing as to avoid trouble. My Aunt voiced her dismay to me at my sisters behavior saying what a shame it was since she is my only sister. I unfortunately know all this already as I have tried everything to make things better but to no avail. I have said several times in this blog that all she had to do was approach me after my Nana died and apologized for all the crap she put me through when I was sick but she didn't. She didn't even call me to see how I was after my carpal tunnel surgery in November AFTER the jewelry party I had in October where I gave her A TON of stuff not only because it was her birthday but because I'm a nice person. It took her almost 4 months for her to give my son (her Godson) his birthday present which turns out was just a gift card so heaven knows why she couldn't just put it in an envelope with a birthday card for him and drop it in the mail. I don't get it. For the rest of the day after dinner she disappeared to her room and didn't show her face until we had the cake for my Dad. So for 3 hours she ignored my kids and all the company that was there to be alone in her bedroom. Her boyfriend, whom my Mom says she hasn't seen in a while, wasn't there. He's another asshole that's disrespectful to me and my kids and all we have ever done (both my husband and I) is go out of our way to help him in certain situations where he needed help. For instance: He was injured and had a big gash in his upper thigh and no insurance to pay the bill. My husband did him the favor of removing the sutures from his leg instead of him going to the doctor who was going to charge him to do it. Yeah, you're welcome prick. I can go on and on with a TON of stuff we have done for my sister and her boyfriend but it would take forever and like I said I don't want to bore anyone. What has she done for me? Not and F-ing thing, thats what.

What's more confusing to me is my parents behavior regarding her. They don't react anymore and continue to allow her to live in their house rent free. I spoke to my Mom yesterday because I couldn't hold in my anger anymore over the whole situation and she says to me, "I can't tell people how to live their lives." Oh, really? You had no problem telling me how to live my life when I was dating someone you didn't like, did you? I guess its a double standard for me then? Oh, and by the way, you may not be able to tell someone how to live their life but when that person is living in YOUR home and eating YOUR food and polluting YOUR air with her cigarette smoke and NOT PAYING A DIME FOR IT then I think you can say something to them. I almost forgot this person not only does the above mentioned things but has also treated your other daughter, who has been ill for the past 9 years of her life, worse than a piece of shit along with treating her kids this way who happen to be her GODCHILDREN.

I told my Mom that my sister was conning her when she told my Mom that she was going to apologize to me and make things right. My sister had the balls to do this when my Nana was on her deathbed. I also must remind my Mom that she wasn't there for most of the time my Nana was dying. She was off with her boyfriends Dad who was dying at the time also. By the way he lingered quite a while after my Nana's death and her boyfriend should have had the brains to say to my sister, "Go be with your Nana because she doesn't have much time left." But that didn't happen. My husband and I made sure we were there to be with my Nana as much as we could with the two kids and even when the kids were in school my husband took off work to be there.

This whole situation is so frustrating and I can go on forever about it because no matter how much time goes by it still hurts me. My Mom is an only child and she says to me, "I don't know why you can't let it go already." Is she kidding me? I was the one who was sick and had so many surgeries I can't count plus wasn't I the one who had cancer and a sister that ignored me and didn't call me once to see how I was? She doesn't know how that feels. To be shunned at a time in your life where you have just been given a cancer diagnosis when you need your family the most. I can't tell you how much it hurts. It pains me to type this and I am crying doing so. If the roles were reversed and my sister was the one that was sick and I did what she did to me just let me say there would have been hell to pay. My parents would have handed me my ass on a platter. They would have in no uncertain terms let me have it and definitely know what they were thinking about 'how I was living my life'. My Mom keeps telling me how she has tried to talk to my sister in the past and has gotten no where. Well all I can say to that is that she hasn't tried hard enough. I would have thrown her out of my house and told her that her behavior was unacceptable and that she has had adequate time to make things right and hasn't. How many chances can one person get? Alcoholics have people around them that make it easy for them to drink and behave a certain way called enablers, well, thats what my parents are to my sisters narcissistic, self-centered, egomaniacal behavior and I am SICK OF IT. They are the biggest enablers I have ever met. Now my Mom says that my sister is going to move out soon. I can't tell you how many times I have heard this crap. I can't wait for that day to come because then my sister will only know my parents when she needs something. She won't come to visit, she won't be around at all. Maybe THEN they will WAKE UP??? I don't know what else needs to happen for them to wake up.
END OF RANT

Now for some knitting content. I finally finished my Dad's birthday socks knit in the Thuja pattern from Knitty.com . I used Miss Babs Yummy 3-ply Sport Weight Sock Yarn in Winebarrel. I thought it appropriate that I use that colorway since my Dad likes wine. I didn't have enough yarn to make the entire sock so I used Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino for the toes and heels.

For the first time I did an afterthought or peasant heel and I think it came out great (for the first time doing it). I also used the 3 needle bind off to bind off the heel instead of the kitchner stich like the toe. My Dad is not going to wear these socks in shoes anyway so I wasn't to worried about making it a seamless cast off. Now all I have to do it finish my Dragon Dance socks for the Rockin Sock Club before the next kit arrives at the end of the month and I am set.

It's My Blogoversary and I'll Cry if I Want Too!

2008-03-08T16:06:00.006-05:00

OK, it's my 2 year anniversary of starting this blog and I am very happy about that. I added this neat countdown to my next blogoversary so I can NEVER forget. I always thought that it was spelled blogIversary but apparently I am wrong. The crying part has to do with today being my Dad's birthday and me not having his birthday socks finished! I have until tomorrow to finish them but I am going to try and get them done tonight. I have such a migraine that I can't see straight so I don't know how I am going to do it but I sure as hell am going to give it a try.

Two years have gone by in a flash and it seems like yesterday that I said to myself, self, lets start keeping a record of what's happening with you in a blog. I NEVER in a million years had any idea I would start a blog but looking back its one of the best things I could have done. Initially I started it to keep a record of what I was going through at the time. When I started it on March 8th, 2006 I had just been diagnosed with breast cancer 13 days earlier and a million crazy thoughts about a million things were running through my mind. A blog was the best place to put my story. While going through my surgeries and treatment I discovered the wonderful art of knitting and made the decision to change the name of my blog from "CurlyBrunette's Story of Survival" to "Knit Happens". It opened my eyes to the thousands of knitting and crafting blogs that are out there and to the wonderful people who write them.

I always say to people, I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have knitting in my life. It's very hard for the non-knitter to understand and I don't really expect them to understand it. It's a passion and a HUGE part of who I am and that's how I describe it. It's the best thing that cancer has ever brought to me.

My LYS-Knitting Central is offering 2 classes with one of my favorite sock designer/knitters, Charlene Schurch! The classes are in May and one is on sock design which from the description I think is more for the beginner sock knitter. The other class is on doing different heels and bringing sock design down into the heel instead of just doing your typical heel flap. If I were to pick a class it would be the heel one. I am contemplating whether or not to take them but I have to decide soon before the classes fill up!

Gotta go knit my Dad's socks!

Grumpy Old Bear & A Grumpy Old Dachshund

2008-03-04T17:55:00.003-05:00

You probably already realized that I've been making lots of baby stuff lately. Last night I finished making the Grumpy Old Bear from ITTY-BITTY NURSERY by Susan B. Anderson

I am not sure who the recipient of this little bear will be yet. I asked my husband who at his job was having a baby or who had a baby that I didn't make anything for yet. He gave me a list of ladies that were having babies within the next few months and a couple that had babies when I wasn't able to make them anything (after my surgery). There will be lots of baby stuff I will be showing off in the coming months.

For the past few weeks one of my older doxies (11 years old this last Nov.) has been feeling under the weather. About 4-5 years ago he was completely paralyzed and it was so bad at the time that we considered putting him down. I had even went ahead to make the appointment with the vet. I know there are lots of dogs that live a good life and are paralyzed but he was in so much pain that he wouldn't stop whimpering and crying. The night before the scheduled appointment I couldn't sleep and made the decision to not put him to sleep and try high dose steroids and cage rest for 12 weeks. The vet had told me not to expect a miracle because there was no deep feeling in his back legs meaning that when the vet squeezed his toes with a hemastat he didn't flinch or feel any pain. As the days went by the pain subsided and he sat quietly in his cage. I took him out to do his business (which he was able to do on his own) every 3 hours. I even ordered a custom made wheelchair from a wonderful man who makes them for animals. When the wheelchair arrived we put him in it 2 times a day for 20 minutes at a time. The lady whom I talked to on the phone regarding the wheelchair said that the exercise would help the dog and maybe even improve his status. I didn't think to much of this statement as the vet had told me not to expect miracles. Being a veterinary tech for so many years I had seen my share of amazing stories and hoped for the best with my doggie. At around the 8th week I was sitting in the rocking chair next to the dogs crate and watched as he attempted to scratch his ear with his back leg. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! He was moving his leg! I immediately called the vet and he told me to continue doing what I was doing and not bring him in because the risk that he might get stressed and hurt himself again was a possibility. As the days passed he got better and better and after 4 months from the date that he became paralyzed he was walking again. Not perfectly mind you but walking without the help of his wheelchair. So now he has residual problems resulting from his intervertebral disc disease. The vet gives us dexamethasone (corticosteroids) when he starts to show the beginnings of having back issues and it resolves itself with lots of rest and medicine. Thats whats happening now and the heart murmur he has is not making him feel any better. I am hoping he feels better soon.

A Knitting Funny

2008-02-27T17:48:00.001-05:00

2 in 1

2008-02-27T16:20:00.004-05:00

Yup, I couldn't believe that it would happen either but I actually finished another finished object to show you and its in the same week as the sweater I made! Well, I am not sure it counts because the kimono can be knitted in my sleep at this point. I have made so many of them since I started knitting I cant remember how many exactly. There are a few that I made that are not listed on my Ravelry notebook because I never took pictures of them before giving them away. Here is my Minty Baby Kimono for someones baby. I'm not sure who that is yet.

I am not completely happy with this knit because I had meant to have the closure made out of ribbon as customary with my kimonos but it wasnt working for me. I decided to put a magnetic snap closure on and cover the back with the green flowers. My husband likes it but I intended it to be gender neutral and now its not. Oh, well, back to the drawing board.

The other day I bought three great books at my LYS with awesome baby patterns (I think I mentioned this before, I cant remember and maybe have lost my mind here-don't). I went to another LYS, The Yarn Barn, thats a few towns over with my husband yesterday. He helped me pick out some pretty yarns to make more baby sweaters. I bought some gorgeous Manos Cotton Stria in purple, pistachio and white. Then some Debbie Bliss Chunky Cashmerino Aran, Astrakhan, Rowan All Seasons Cotton and even some Panda Wool sock yarn for my husband. I was overwhelmed by all the yarn they have there but the problem is that they are very unorganized and there is literally yarn and patterns all over the place, strewn all over the floor in the way of patrons walking in the store. I am not sure if the owners of this place realize or care that the place is a mess and that if they organized it a little they could probably do better with sales. There is a table in the front of the shop thats used for teaching and it was covered with yarn, pattern books, and junk. You couldn't fine something if you wanted to. My husband was the one that dug through the yarns to find matching lot and dye numbers for me! LOL. He's good like that. I asked one of the ladies, who were very nice and helpful, if they had a certain yarn and she immediately said, "we can order that for you." Well, thats all well and good but why would I have them order it if I can get it myself online or from my other LYS? They are very nice and I will probably go back to use my 25% off coupon they gave me but in my opinion they cant compare to my favorite place Knitting Central. I think its because as I have mentioned once before its not how big a place is or how much yarn they have but the people that work there and are the real heart of the store. On a funny note here, I was first at this yarn store when I first started knitting and bought some cute multicolored baby yarn. I mistakenly bought only 200 yards and not enough to make what I wanted. While I was there I picked up another skein of the yarn that I needed in the same color which just happened to have the SAME LOT NUMBER! I couldn't believe that I was lucky enough to find the same lot and dye number but it is believable because they have so much yarn that doesn't sell.

On April 27th the Yarn Harlot is going to be returning to WEBS in Northhampton, Mass. I went to see her last May when she came and had a great time. This year I plan on corrupting my husband and bringing him along. I cant wait to see his face when he walks into WEBS! Its the largest yarn shop I have EVER seen. I am not sure if its the largest in the country but I would say it is. We have NEVER been away from the kids or on a vacation alone together and this will be nice to get away for one day with him. We don't have to much time because we have to get back for my daughters first communion practice the following night. My Mom is going to be watching the kids overnight and taking care of my pets too. Since 2 of my 3 dogs are getting to be old men and having health issues I feel bad leaving them alone for a long time or at a kennel. I rather leave them with a family member like my Mom so I know they are being well cared for.

My 2nd Cancerversary~February 23, 2008

2008-02-23T20:41:00.003-05:00

It was 2 years ago today that my breast surgeon called me with the results of my biopsy to tell me that I had cancer. It was the worst day of my life and I never will forget how frightened I was just thinking about what was going to happen to me in the coming months. I quickly learned that the less internet reading I did on the subject and the more praying and positive thinking that went on were much better for my sanity than anything else. Anyway, I just wanted to mention this today because it is an important day for me. My Mom and Dad sent me 12 pink roses yesterday which arrived in the snowstorm and almost didn't make it inside the house. The idiot that delivered them put the box with the flowers in it by the garage door next to the garbage pails in the snow! Yup, pretty dumb. My husband found them just as he was about to use the snow blower in the driveway.

On another happy note I finished a friends baby's sweater. I used Schaefer Elaine in one of the special colorways they make for kids called Kermie (I guess its after Kermit the frog). The pattern is for the Rolled Neck Sweater for babies 0-12mos in the book 101 Designer One Skein Wonders.

I wasn't going to post it until she received it and I think that she probably received it by now since I mailed it a few days ago by priority mail. She was so kind to me when I was sick and sent me books and get well cards so I thought it would be nice to knit her baby something. The baby boy was born in November but at that time I wasn't able to do much knitting due to my carpal tunnel syndrome. I made her a promise that I would make something when my hand healed and she was very understanding of the situation. I hope she likes it.

I forgot to mention that I went to my LYS, Knitting Central to buy some books with baby patterns since I really dont have that many baby patterns in my collection. I bought ITTY-BITTY by Susan B, Anderson, Last Minute Knitted Gifts and Essential Baby by Debbie Bliss. All of these books have a plethora of wonderful patterns for babies. I cant wait to dive into them. I do wish I was a knitter when my children were babies. I guess that I just have to find babies to make them for! I also bought a few skeins of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.

This Little Piggy Went Bowling & This Little Piggy Stayed Home

2008-02-17T15:06:00.004-05:00

I'm here, just to busy to blog. Its been a crazy week with no school (winter break) coming up next week. My husband came home sicker than a dog with the flu on Friday. He called from work and left a message on the machine that I couldn't understand. When I came home and called his job they couldn't tell me what was happening. After an extended time on hold they transfered me to the emergency department and I found out what was going on. He told me that he went into the break room because he didn't feel good then started to throw up and double over in pain. One of the doctors came in and saw what was happening and got him to the emergency room. They thought that he was having a gall bladder attack or that his appendix burst. After running a blood tests they did a CAT Scan that showed an inflamed appendix that was still there and the gall bladder was also inflamed but not what they first thought. I was worried that he was going to need surgery and he is still recovering from his anemia due to the GI Bleed he had a month ago. Thats all he would need is a surgery where he would lose more blood! I thanked God that it wasn't that.

After getting 3 liters of fluids he came home. He insisted on driving home himself (typical man) and got into bed to pass out. He literally didn't move for 24 hours. I was his nurse, bringing him Tylenol, Motrin, Gatorade and Ginger Ale. His temp didn't drop past 103 until after he took the Motrin. He was afraid to take it because of the stomach bleed he was being treated for and didn't want to make it worse. Of course it was the only thing that made him feel better so he needed to take it.

Yesterday was my daughters bowling party and my husband was supposed to be there to help with the kids. Unfortunately, he was unable to do this because he was sick. My parents came up to help and thank God they did. My Mom bought the cake, balloons, plates, and utensils so I didn't have to waste time and do that. When my parents arrived I went to the party store with my Mom and bought stuff to make the favor bags for the kids. We originally invited a total of 21 kids which included mine. After getting the RSVP's back (which only 3 people called me out of all those mentioned and I had to call them!) only 13 kids were coming. Most of the kids who didn't come were either on vacation, doing something else or sick. My daughter was disappointed but I told her she would probably have a better time with less kids coming.

Turns out we all had a great time. One little girl who said she was coming didn't show so I bowled in her place. I won't even embarrass myself and mention my number bowled but I will tell you that my 8 year old daughter bowled 125! Even though they had the bumpers up for the kids I still think she did a fabulous job. She didn't really hit the bumpers that much either. I almost forgot to mention that she got 4 Strikes!!!. I couldn't believe it either. Well, thats how she got 125 I guess. Some of the other kids also bowled well getting in the 100's, 90's and high 80's. They were all well behaved and I was very impressed. I had invited the parents to stay and have pizza and cake so a couple of them stayed. It gave my parents something to do also so they chatted with them and had a few beers. Beer at a children's party you say?? God forbid! Get a grip they had A beer and chatted and the kids were oblivious in their bowling frenzy. My son stayed home with my husband because he wasn't behaving all morning and I warned him that if he didn't behave then he wasn't going to bowl. So when he didn't behave I made the decision that he wasn't going. He was pissed beyond belief but what kind of discipline would it be if I gave in to his tantrum? Not good discipline I would say. I think he learned a lesson because when we got home from the party he said that he had been listening to my husband since we left. I reminded him that he has to act that way all the time and not just when he's punished.

Next week the kids are off from school and we are figuring out what we can do with the kids. We are thinking about going to the Aquarium, Ice Skating, Museums, or even Bowling again. Hopefully my husband will feel better so we can do these things. Sorry I don't have pictures this time but I have been knitting a few gifts for people and I don't want to post pictures of them for fear they might see them. My Dad's birthday is actually the same day as my Blogiversary (which is kind of weird) and I decided to make him the same thing I made him last year. What else but SOCKS! He loved the ones I made last year which were made from Artyarns Supermerino in the Thuja pattern from Knitty. This year I am using Ms. Babs Yummy Sport Weight Sock Yarn in the Winebarrel colorway. I fell in love with this yarn when the Woolgirl Sock Club started off their 2007 club year with it as the first yarn to come with the "Waterfalls" kit. He already knows I am making him socks but as long as he doesn't see them its OK for him to read this. He's not really a reader of my blog so I am not worried.

A Stove, Groundhog & Hat

2008-02-09T11:41:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that its almost the middle of February and we haven't had any snow since December! Where has the winter gone? I really do like the snow even though I hate to drive in it. It's nice to look at while you're inside knitting away without a care in the world. As I am typing this it is snowing outside my window. It looks like the type of snow that might accumulate but I am not quite sure its going to do that. I guess I should check the weather channel.
I am not sure I even mentioned the fact that I haven't had an oven for the past few months but I havent and it stinks not to be able to bake and broil things. The range/oven was a Christmas gift from my parents and I love it. Its my first new one ever!

So far I have baked a cake and made a few dishes in it and it cooks perfectly!

My husband gave me my Valentine's present early (yesterday). He had heard that I wanted the groundhog from Build a Bear which happens to be a limited edition collect a bear. My kids have so many of these I lost count but to give you an idea we have 2 cheetahs, Rudolph and Clarice, the beagle, boxer, orange tabby cat, the limited edition breast cancer bear, several brown bears, the black lab, the black and white sheep dog, the pink poodle and a few others I cant remember at this moment. I am waiting for them to come out with a dachshund which I am sure they will eventually. By the way I was very original when I named my groundhog Shadow.

I finished the hat for Robbie a couple of days ago. I am not sure if we will be hand delivering it to him or mailing it to him. I am going to e-mail him to see if he is well enough to have visitors in the hospital. The last I heard he was going through intense chemotherapy and they didn't want him to be exposed to any germs for fear of him getting a cold or something he couldn't fight off.

I am in the process of finishing my WIPs off one at a time and then I will begin a few things I have been meaning to make for a while. I have several baby items I need to make for babies who have been born and one that will be born in March. Last night we went to a dinner where I sat with 2 of my doctors and their wives. They thanked me for the gifts I gave them when their babies were born and I was very happy they liked them. I also told my internists wife that I will make her youngest (6 months now) something soon. I am not sure what but I have a feeling its going to be a pair of little socks made with some wonderful sock yarn I have left over from one of my sock clubs.

My Aunts birthday is at the end of the month and her scarf is almost done. Its long but I want it to be really long so I started the second ball of yarn. Its a drop stitch scarf that knits up quick but boring as hell to knit. My Dad's birthday is next month and I haven't started his gift yet. I made him socks last year and I wanted to make him another pair since he liked the first pair so much. He wears the socks around the house and to bed since he said he cant get his shoes on with them due to their thickness. I used Artyarns Supermerino which suggests a needle size of 7 and its considered a worsted weight yarn. Maybe he's right about them being a "thick" sock. I'm so used to wearing my clogs which enable me to wear thicker socks. My Dad is not a clog or sandal type of guy and he also says his feet get to hot with them if he did wear them in a shoe. The idea of making him felted slipper socks came to mind but I have never felted anything (on purpose) yet so I dont want to run out of time with his gift by experimenting. My Mom suggested the Alligator scarf that I am making for my husband but I got a little bored with it and put it down and I cant imagine starting another one at the moment. So its either going to be handmade socks OR I will go out and buy his something.

I have been itching to make my Mom a lace scarf or light wrap for Mother's Day. I bought 2 hanks of Artyarns Royal Silk last year with the intention of making her something for her birthday or Christmas. Every time I think of starting something for her I get sidetracked with something else. Those 2 hanks of beautiful puple-pink silk will eventually be hers, unless some other beautiful yarn screams her name out to me. There is a big possibility that can happen because it happens a lot to me. Yes, I am admitting that yarn speaks to me as it does to many knitters. I believe thats why there are projects that we start that end up being frogged over and over again. The yarn then gets put back in the closet/drawer to wait for the project that it wants to become. I cant tell you how many times I have done this as I am sure many, many other knitters have done so I am reassured that I am not crazy, LOL.

Band of Brothers is on the History Channel right now! Time to go.

The Most Amazing Upset Ever!

2008-02-04T05:29:00.000-05:00

The New York Giants have WON the 42nd Super Bowl!
I know that I live in what some people call NEW ENGLAND which means I should be a Patriots fan BUT I am a native New Yorker and always will side with a New York team. So hate me all you want neighbors!
(lots if people who live around here are Giants fans so I have some company, LOL)
Go Eli, Go Eli, Go Eli...

Year of the (hand knit) Sock

2008-01-30T23:20:00.000-05:00

Just like the Chinese New Year has its representative, this year will be represented for me by the sock. I do knit other things but my most favorite thing to knit in the whole world are socks. When I 1st started to teach myself to knit the thought of knitting socks never crossed my mind. I bought a few books on knitting socks and then after many unsuccessful attempts at casting onto DPN's I did it. I then signed up for a magic loop class and I have been hooked ever since. Now my technique has changed a bit due to my severe SSS (Second Sock Syndrome). I have mastered the 2 at a time socks on one circular method by Melissa Morgan Oakes. I love her method but I have a different way of casting on than she does. Hey, if you get there the same way whats the difference? Here are my husbands finished socks. These are the first pair I did on one circular. I used a size 47" Addi Turbo Lace Size 2 with Knitcol Adriafil Yarn. I didnt have enough to do the toe so I substituted Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.

Knitting Central Sock Club Kit for February

These colors are just beautiful plus the yarn is so soft and smooshy. Its Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Gold Rush. I love it and I have never used it before. I cast on for these right away last night. I have lots of socks in the works and if this 2 at a time things goes as planned I will be swimming in a sea of socks in no time! LOL.

The Knit is Actually Happening!

2008-01-27T16:46:00.001-05:00

Lots of stuff going on at Chez CurlyBrunette or I should say Chez Knit Happens. Knit is actually happening! Just after a few words from our birthday girl sponsor...

My daughter turned 8 years old on the 17th and I cant believe how big she is getting!

She wants an American Girl doll for her birthday so I promised her we would go to the American Girl doll store in NYC next month. I am actually looking forward to going there and seeing what I have heard so much about.

The new year has begun for the Rockin' Sock's Club and the 1st kit arrived this weekend!

I immediately started it last night. This picture doesnt do the color justice. Its so bright and vivid sometimes I wonder how Tina at Blue Moon gets such amazing colors. She is truly an artist. I LOVE the colorway (Dragon Dance) and I LOVE the pattern (Serendipity). Its surprising because I am not a fan of the lacey sock pattern but I think I am beginning to change my opinion about them. I know, I know, you are saying to yourself, why on earth is she starting this sock when she hasnt even finished other socks from her other sock clubs and even socks from last years Rockin' Sock Club. Well, I am a firm believer that you have to be in the mood to knit something otherwise I am just not into it and I dont put my all into it. Right now I am really excited about this pattern and I really want to knit it. I also have a feeling that knitting them 2 at a time (which is my new way of doing socks) is going to make me finish things up faster. I am looking forward to getting more things done in the coming year.

My Aunts birthday is coming up in 3 weeks and I am making her a drop stitch scarf out of some Angel Boucle from JoAnn's.

Last year I made her an outdoor scarf so this year its more of an accessory scarf to brighten up her outfits.

I have been working a little at a time on this Alligator Scarf for my husband. He saw it when we were at Rhinebeck and thought it was cute. When I asked him if he would wear it he said he would so I bought the kit to make for him. Now he wants me to make one for my Oncologist! Good idea for when I have to give him a gift.

My daughter is receiving 2 sacraments this year and next weekend she is receiving 1st Penance or Reconciliation. When my husband took her to religious ed the other day he found out that her teacher was just diagnosed as having AML Leukemia and in the hospitals ICU. He's only a 19-20 year old kid in college! I was shocked and very upset over the whole situation and at first I didnt know what to say to my daughter. She was told by the other substitute teacher that he was sick and in the hospital but not that he has cancer and what that means. I decided to tell her the truth about him that night. I told her that he has cancer and has to go through the treatment where he is going to lose his hair and get sick in order to get well. I didnt want to tell her the statistics and other details of the disease to frighten her. I dont think it hit her because she hasnt seen him sick yet. I told her that I am making him a hat to keep his head warm when he loses his hair and that seemed to make her happy for the moment.

I am a very positive person and I definitely believe in miracles so I hate to mention the stats here on AML Leukemia. Its a HORRIBLE Leukemia and I have seen it kill my Aunt (who was in her 60's) in 3 months. I also met a wonderful woman in the ACS Look Good Feel Better Program when I was going through chemo that just lost her battle with it. When my husband told me she died I couldnt believe it because she looked fabulous but as we all know that doesnt reflect whats going on on the inside. AML Leukemia is a constant battle that has to be fought off even when in remission. Thats what makes it the most horrible leukemia with the worst survival rates even with all the right treatment. Here's the hat I am making with Wool Ease Chunky Yarn by Lion Brand.

Christmas Socks Complete!

2008-01-19T16:43:00.000-05:00

I originally was going to use this colorway to make myself a pair of socks but changed my mind and decided to make my husband a pair for Christmas. The colorway is Christmas Balls by BMFA in mediumweight. I used my basic stockingette sock recipe with a traditional heel flap and a star toe.

I am working on another pair of socks for him (2 at a time on one cable-magic loop) at the moment and about to work on the heel flaps. I know that its quality not quantity for me because I am a process knitter but I do want to be faster so I can actually be a little productive. So far this year I think I am moving faster than previously due to my left hand having no pain from carpal tunnel syndrome.
On the weight front, I went to see my Dr. because I wasnt feeling right and found out my thyroid levels are totally messed up and its the main reason I cant lose weight. He put me on a high dose of Synthroid and wants to check me in a month. Hopefully by then I will have lost some weight and lowered my cholesterol. I hate feeling this way.

Back in Action!

2008-01-14T21:28:00.000-05:00

There hasnt been much beading since before Christmas but today I got a chance to make a few things. I am planning on having another jewelry party before Valentine's Day at my parents house. I have received a lot of requests from previous buyers that they want to do some shopping. Hooray! Because I need to pay the bills and I also need to do a big wholesale order with FireMountain Gems. Unfortunately I have to wait for my tax return to do any of that. Here are some beautiful things I made in the past week but mostly today.

Pink Crystal necklace

Moonstone Leaf Necklace

Blown Glass & Swarovski Crystal Necklace

Cobalt Blue Glass & Crystal Necklace

Lampwork beads wiith Swarovski Crystal Bracelet

Blown Glass, Glass Beads & Swarovski Crystal Necklace

I also got around to finishing these cute mittens for my son. They were so easy that I probably could have made them with my eyes closed. Well, except for the seaming at the end. The hardest part of making them were putting the felt in and sewing it up with regular sewing thread. He proudly told his teacher this morning that his Mommy made him Shark Mittens and she now wants a pair! Maybe I will surprise her with an adult pair of Shark Mitts at the end of the year. I have to find nice thick felt like the kind that came with the Morehouse Merino kit. Maybe I will just order it from them. I am in love with the Dragon Scarf they have. Right now I am in the process of making my husband the Alligator Scarf from the kit they sell. I bought all these kits when I was at Rhinebeck and they were my all time favorite purchase. The Rat Race Scarf is really cute to. These are going to make awesome gifts for Christmas next year. They are fun, fast and easy which qualifies them as good gift givers.

Shark Mittens by Morehouse Merino

I dont know why the picture is off center here. Maybe it has something to do with Flickr? It does that sometimes and its annoying because I dont have issues like that with Photobucket. The thing is, I have to have a Flickr account for my Ravelry account. Oh well.

I broke one of my rules that I set for myself already and we are not even halfway into January! I had to go to see my Oncologist for my 3 month check up. He ran all kinds of blood tests which were all normal (yay!) and he wants me to go for a PET Scan in April since my last one was the end of September. Normally I would go for a CAT Scan but when you do a PET Scan it gives you a baseline CAT Scan so there is no need to expose oneself to the extra radiation of the scan. Anyway, back to why I went for a trim. The salon around the corner from the Dr's office and I called while I was waiting for him to see if they had an appointment open. So of course when they said they did I booked it. He took a tiny bit off my ends and also evened out the back so it can grow evenly. He knows I am in the process of growing it and I told him my goal at this point is to get my hair to my shoulders. Now, I do have to wait a while to give it a chance to grow but it always looks good for a few months after he shapes it up anyway. My daughter is receiving 2 sacraments this year and the first is Penance/Reconciliation in February. My hair will look perfect for that and also in my opinion it will look even better when it gets a little longer in May when she receives Communion.

1/2008

2008-01-05T22:44:00.000-05:00

I know its a little late but this picture was taken on Christmas Day before we left for my parents house. I love my tripod. It comes in handy in times such as this. I need to start using it more often so I can be in more pics. See, I am really a CurlyBrunette.

The other night I was making strawberries for the kids and I came across this baby. I have come across many "twins" as I call them when 2 berries form together. This one seems to be 3 berries fused together or as I have been calling it a "mutant" strawberry. I put it next to a normal looking berry for comparison.

Nicky, our female kitten is 8 months this month and she still is a petite little lady. I have not owned female cats in a long time but from what I remember they are a bit smaller in size than the males. Tell me she isnt the prettiest kitty you've ever seen. OK, I am a little biased.

OK, I am warning every reader that this next picture was something I came across when I went food shopping at my local Stop & Shop. I took the picture with my cell phone which explains the low picture quality. Yes, its funny and my husband asked me why I didnt buy any! Why? I just dont get it.

Unoriginal Hat in Fuschia that I finished for my daughter. After trying it on her it was a little small so I crocheted a border around the bottom and added a ribbon through it so now it looks like a cloche from the 20's. It fits her much better and she is happy about that. My son put in a request for one now but I am taking a break with this hat because I have to make something for my Aunts birthday in February and my Dad's in March. I am contemplating bed socks or slippers for my Aunt and Thuja's for my Dad. I already made him a pair of Thuja's for his birthday last year. He liked them a lot so I thought another pair would make him happy.

Socks in BMFA in Christmas Balls colorway for hubby

Spruce Sprigs Socks/Woolgirl Dec. Kit

The Year in Review & Goals for 2008

2007-12-31T22:15:00.000-05:00

I first wanted to comment on how Christmas went at my parents house. No major fights broke out with my sister but she did snub my husband and ignored him most of the night. Her boyfriend was with us on Christmas Eve and he blatantly snubbed both me my husband and the kids the entire evening. I wished him a Merry Christmas because he wasnt speaking to me and I wanted to be the better person. He didnt really respond. My husband went to shake his hand and he turned and walked away from him. Nice guy hey? Her boyfriend also was supposed to come over on Christmas night and called in the middle of dinner to tell her that he wasnt coming. My sister was obviously upset with him and left the room to talk with him on her cell phone. She later told my Mom that she didnt know what his problem was. I have an opinion about what I think is happening and allow me a moment to explain. My sister has been with him for almost 9.5 years and he is younger than her (he was born in Jan 1980 and she in Oct 1977). When my son was born in 2002 they were together and I thought they were going to be getting married and I chose them to be his Godparents when he was baptized. I talked to my sister before I did this to make sure they were serious about marriage otherwise I wouldnt have chosen him to be his Godfather. Now for the past few years all I have been hearing from my sister is how she doesnt want to get married or have kids. I thought the reason for this was because her boyfriends Dad was terminally ill and dying of prostate cancer. He recently died a few months ago and things have gotten worse between them. My theory is that he doesnt want to marry her because she is a narcissistic controlling person incapable of caring for anyone other than herself and he really got a chance to see her true colors when I was sick and what she did to me. Maybe he is saying to himself, "Do I want a wife who is going to treat people this way, the way she treated her own sister when she was going through cancer treatment, surgery and chemo?" Maybe my sister feels sorry for him that he has no parents anymore and is basically alone. I cant figure them out. They have had a strange relationship from the very beginning. What makes me mad is my Dad is always making fun of how my husband can love me and makes sarcastic comments on it all the time. For some reason he thinks that my husband is "whipped" which he most certainly is not. If anyone is whipped and needs to be made fun of its my sister and her "whipped" boyfriend. Why cant he make fun of them? I've been with my husband since 1996 and we got married in 1998. He has been through hell with me and we have had our share of challenges and bumps in our marriage but we got through them. Right now we are in a great place and I cant be happier. Well, if I had a nice vacation alone with him a few days then I could be a little bit happier! Anyway, I dont know whats up with my sister and her boyfriend but she should be thinking of how much she sacrificed to care for her boyfriends Dad when I needed her to help me (and she did offer to help because she was out of work at the time and continued to be out of work the entire summer I was going through chemo and had my surgeries) and how that is time not only wasted but in the process she destroyed our relationship for someone she isnt even going to marry? Yup, its a bit confusing to say the least but on to my review of 2007.

2007 for me started out OK. The anniversary or first Cancerversary as I call it, of my breast cancer diagnosis came on February 23rd along with leg pain that was bothering me near my sciatic nerve in my left leg. I didnt think to much of it because my pain specialist seems to think I have fibromialgia and I attribute a lot of my aches and pains to that. I had my nipple reconstruction in March that went really well and I couldnt be happier with the results, especially after the nipple tatoos were done. In May I had a PET Scan that showed I had a tumor growing on my sciatic nerve. I got the run around from a Dr that I was referred to who specialized in what I had. I later found out that he never did this type of surgery before and I had a blow up with him on the phone. He was an egotistical asshole that had a horrendous bedside manner and seemed to only care about the almighty dollar. After I found a well qualified Dr who had experience with these types of tumors and removing them I was pleased and set up a surgery day (why couldnt this asshole Dr tell me that there was another Dr in the SAME PRACTICE that did this surgery before???) for June. He told me that there were no guarantees when he removed the tumor and that it might be cancer. They wouldnt know until the biopsy and path reports after the tumor was removed. I was more than nervous but my knitting and beading were there to calm and center me. What I would have done if I didnt have it I dont know. I would definitely lose my mind to say the least if I wasnt able to knit or bead.

I had the surgery in June and the tumor removed wasnt what they thought. It was a tino-synovial giant cell tumor which is not normally found on a nerve. The best news was that it was benign and not cancerous. I was so happy about that but recovery from the surgery which severed my sciatic nerve in a few places was painful and difficult to say the least. I still have issues with spasming of the muscles around the incsision area and it has just been recently controlled with a new pain medication which makes it easier for me to get up in the morning and do activities of daily living.

After that surgery I continued to go to occupational therapy for my lymphedema. The lymphedema was under control but my hand and the pain I was experiencing was getting worse every day. There were times I was unable to knit or bead and would force myself because its how I kept sane. Finally, after months of pain and different treatments I went to see an orthopedic surgeon who told me that it was carpal tunnel (which I already knew since I had it in my right hand in 1999) and that he would do the surgery after Thanksgiving. I was so happy and never looked forward to a surgery as I looked forward to this one because it would give me the use of my hand back and I could do the things I loved again. I cried after leaving the surgeons out of pure happiness that it was going to get better.

After Thanksgiving I had my carpal tunnel release surgery and I knew right away that the surgery worked. I was able to feel my fingers when the anesthesia wore off and it was feeling without pins and needles! I started to crochet first because it was easier to do with a cast on and then I knitted. It was very difficult to get gauge because I was unable to hold adequate tension on the yarn but I was knitting without pain and thats all that mattered to me!

LAST YEARS GOALS

1) Start going to the gym again and losing the weight I gained during chemo. I DIDNT DO THIS BECAUSE OF MY LEG AND THE PAIN I WAS HAVING. AFTER MY SURGERY IT WAS DIFFICULT TO GO TO THE GYM. I AM NOT MAKING EXCUSES FOR MYSELF AND I DO INTEND TO HAVE A GOAL PERTAINING TO THIS IN THE GOALS FOR 2008.
 2) Get a tatoo commemorating my journey through breast cancer this past year. I am still trying to decide what kind I want and find someone who will do it where I want it. I CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT THE TATOO THING. I THINK ITS A FAD AND NOW EVERYONE HAS THEM. THE MORE I THINK ABOUT GETTING ONE THE MORE I DONT WANT TO GET ONE. I DONT WANT TO MARK UP MY BODY. MY SCARS ARE MY TATOOS
 3) Take more knitting classes to expand my knowledge and skills in knitting. Starting in January I am taking a Dog Cabled Sweater class and I am so excited about it! I TOOK SOME CLASSES WHERE I LEARNED SOME NEW TECHNIQUES BUT I REALIZE THAT I LEARN WELL FROM VIDEOS AND BOOK INSTRUCTION JUST AS WELL AS A CLASS. THE CLASSES ARE GOOD BUT I THINK UNLESS ITS CAT BORDHI OR LUCY NEATBY TEACHING IT THEN I DONT NEED TO TAKE THE CLASS.
 4) Go to the STITCHES EAST 2007 knitting conference with my knitting buddies. I DECIDED TO SAVE MY MONEY AND NOT GO. I HEARD FROM A FEW PEOPLE THAT ITS NOT WORTH IT AND TO SAVE MY MONEY TO SPEND ON YARN!
 5) Join the BLUEMOON FIBER ARTS SOCK CLUB (which I am pre-registered for) and actually knit the sock patterns they send me even if they are challenging. If I get stuck I can go to my LYS and ask my sock guru (Sally) to help me out. Complete at least one pair a month, at least I said. I JOINED NOT ONLY BMFA BUT WOOLGIRLS SOCK CLUB AND MY LYS'S CLUB WHICH ARE ALL MAKING ME STEP UP MY SOCK KNITITNG. I LOVE TO KNIT SOCKS AND ITS NOT GOING TO CHANGE, EVER! I KNIT ABOUT 10 PAIRS IN 2007. I HAVE A FEW UNFINISHED SINGLES WHICH DONT COUNT BUT I WILL FINISH THEM SOON.
 6) Learn to knit a sock toe-up I DID THIS ONE MANY TIMES THANKS TO BLUE MOON AND THE ROCKIN SOCK CLUB
 7) Learn short rows in sock knitting. I ALSO DID THIS LEARNING HOW TO DO A SHORT ROW HEEL
 8) Make a sweater for my husband and myself I DIDNT DO THIS (YET)
 9) Be a kinder and more compassionate person. I ALWAYS TRY TO DO THIS
 10) Still try to get a job at a yarn store no matter how many times they say, "we dont need anyone right now." STILL TRYING
 11) Go to the dentist (havent been in over 2 years) I FINALLY DID THIS AND I AM SO HAPPY I DID. NO CAVITIES!
 12) Garden more. I DIDNT GET TO DO THIS BECAUSE WHATEVER TIME I HAVE FREE I KNIT AND BEAD. MAYBE I AM NOT MEANT TO BE A HARDCORE GARDENER LIKE MY NEIGHBOR.
 13) Try to pay bills ontime (this one is a losing battle) THIS HAS GOTTEN BETTER AND I AM DOING WELL WITH THIS
 14) I am sure there are more but I cant think right now and I didnt want to end on #13, call me suspicious.

GOALS FOR 2008

1) GET IN SHAPE AND LOSE WEIGHT WITH A HEALTHY DIET AND LIFESTYLE.
2) MAKE A SWEATER FOR BOTH MY HUSBAND, MYSELF AND MY KIDS.
3) MAKE AS MANY SOCKS AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE OR AT LEAST BEAT 10 PAIR WHICH I DID IN 2007
4) HAVE MORE JEWELRY SHOWS AND SELL, SELL, SELL!
5) GO TO CHURCH AND BE A MORE SPIRITUAL PERSON (I KNOW CHURCH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING A SPIRITUAL PERSON BUT I WOULD LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH BOTH.
6) GO ON VACATION WITH MY FAMILY AND ALONE WITH MY HUSBAND. WE HAVENT BEEN ON ONE SINCE 2004 WHEN WE ALL WENT TO DISNEYWORLD WITH THE KIDS. WE HAVENT BEEN ON AN "ALONE" VACATION SINCE OUR HONEYMOON. SAD, I KNOW.
7) DATE NIGHT AT LEAST 2 TIMES A MONTH WITH MY HUSBAND.
8) I STILL WANT A JOB AT MY LYS AND I AM NOT GIVING UP ON THAT ONE!
9) WALK WITH MY MOM IN THE AVON WALK FOR BREAST CANCER IN OCT 2008 IN NYC AND RAISE MORE MONEY THAN THE YEARS BEFORE.
10) BE MORE INVOLVED WITH MY CHILDRENS SCHOOL ACTIVITIES AND VOLUNTEERING
11) LETTING MY HAIR GROW LONG AGAIN (NOT SURE HOW LONG). IT LOOKS BETTER LONG, I CAN DO MORE WITH IT AND I MISS IT.

I think the main reason I had first decided to keep it short was because of a deep rooted fear I had that I would grow it out to the length I had it when I lost it (32"~yup, it was down to my waist) and I would lose it again. I still have this crazy yet real fear but I cant let that stop me from having my hair in the style I want. I need to be patient and allow it to do its thing. So limited haircuts just to trim the ends and thats it. Last haircut was around October 24th so I already have a jump on it. My daughter is receiving 2 sacraments this year (2008) and I have a couple of weddings to go to so grow hair, grow! Grow so you can cover my big ass! LOL

I'm sure I have more that I cant remember but I wanted to get them down before the end of this year. Sorry there are no pics but I am almost done with a WIP and I promise a few nice pics when I post again.

Not Enough Time in the Day

2007-12-23T12:24:00.000-05:00

There is definitely not enough time in the day to do all the things I need to get done before Christmas. I have to still make a few more pieces of jewelry and wrap all the gifts. Yesterday I spent all afternoon working on jewelry gifts. By the time I finished my brain was all out of ideas. I am going to make a few more tonight and tomorrow. Nothing like cutting it close! I cant post any pictures here because certain people read my blog and I dont want to give away any surprises.

In knitting news I am almost done with my second Unoriginal Hat in Fuschia. My daughter is begging me for this hat and it was going to be mine. If she really wants it then I will surprise her with it. I have another 2 skeins of Torino Bulky in a variegated pink/red colorway that I could make another hat with for myself but I am not sure yet what I am going to do. I started another pair of socks with Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock yarn in Christmas Balls after frogging the Monkeys I started in the Irish Dreams colorway from Woolgirl's Sock Club. I am not sure what happened but somewhere I messed up the pattern and I wasnt in the mood to fix it so I frogged it. Yup, thats me. If I was further along then I would have just attempted to fix it but I wasnt that into it anyway and wanted more of a Christmassy (if that's a word) project since I finished my Jingle Bell Rock Socks. The other day I wore them and man were my feet nice and toasty! I washed them by hand after reading how the colors can bleed and fade with the BM yarn and it did a little bit but otherwise the yarn softened up a bit and looks great. I am planning on wearing them on Christmas Day.

On Wednesday my husband and I were walking out of the house and to my surprise there was a package from BM on the ground at my feet! I TOTALLY forgot that there was one last shippment in December for the Rockin' Sock Club and boy was I surprised! I was even more surprised when I opened the package and discovered a gorgeous colorway with a Cat Bordhi pattern. It looks challenging but I like a challenge and especially if its based on her New Pathways socks. Who knows when I will get around to doing it but at least I have completed a few pairs from the 2007 club. There are some people in the club who havent even knitted one pair of socks! I cant imagine spending all that money and not even knitting a pair. I shouldnt talk because I havent knit any socks from my Knitting Central Sock Club yet but thats because I have 2 other sock clubs I AM knitting for! I completed one pair from Woolgirl's Club and am working on another called SPRUCE SPRIGS in honor of Christmas Trees.

Tomorrow and Christmas Day we spend at my parents house and I must admit I am a little nervous about it. If you read any of my past entries from last Christmas then you already know why. My sister causes quite the problems last year and I am worried there is going to be a repeat performance this year. I told my Mom what I thought and she says there wont be a problem but for every time she has said that in regard to my sisters behavior she has been wrong. I warned her that I wont say anything or start any problems unless something is done or said to me first. I will defend myself if necessary. My Mom mentioned on the phone that my sister bought me something expensive and all that jazz. Then she says (as she always does in her defense) that she (my sister) is trying in her own way to make things right with me. Uh, no she's not. I havent even spoken to her since October and I had surgery the end of November. She never even called me after my surgery. If she was trying at all then she would have picked up the phone. I guess thats to hard to do. You have no idea how sick I am of my Mother defending my sisters actions, its hypocritical and I told her that. If it were me behaving this way there is no way in hell my Mother would let ME get away with it. My Mother would certainly have put me in my place by now. I am so sick of the double standard that exsists. I am sure many of you out there with younger siblings reading this know what I mean. You laid the path for them and were the one who got in trouble all the time and then they do the same thing that you would have had your teeth knocked out for and they get away with it. Its bullshit is what it is.

I remember one night my parents were away. I was in college at the time and over my boyfriends house. My sister decided to invite 100 of her closest friends over for a party. I arrived home early and found the house alarm going off and hundreds of teenagers running out of the house in a million different directions with 3 police cars blocking the driveway (the alarm alerts the police when it goes off). I helped my sister clean up the house before my parents came home and found out what happened. I wasnt a tattle tale and didnt say a word to my parents. My great uncle, who lives a few houses down from my parents came over the house a couple of days later asking what happend the other night the alarm went off and what the cops were doing there. Who knows what he thought was happening. My parents had no knowledge of this and were very surprised to say the least at the information my uncle had given them. My sister got into big trouble (grounded for a month-big deal) and I had no part of getting her into trouble which I was very happy about. I never did anything that stupid because I am not stupid enough to have a party on a night my parents just go out to eat and not go away on vacation. Pretty dumb move right but thats my sister, immature as the day she got busted for that party.

This month I was supposed to go see the Oncologist for tests. I am holding off until January because I didnt want any bad news before the holidays. After Christmas I am going to call and set up my appointment for the tests and to see the Dr. You cant blame me for not wanting to go right? I am surprised the Dr didnt just say that he wanted to see me in January instead of December. I went for a PET Scan in October (I think it was October or late September but I can be sure) and I due for a CAT Scan and an MRI. My leg, where I has my tumor removed in June, was bothering me a while back and the pain specialist decided to put me on a daily low dose of a different pain medication and it worked! My leg is feeling much better now. I didnt want to take another medication but I was getting horrible spasms in my thigh muscle every night that would wake me up. The spasms were so bad that it took a few days for the pain to disperse so I had to do something.

Its also almost that time of the year to go over the goals I set for 2007 and the ones I intend to meet for 2008. Thats going to be in my next post along with my Christmas review. Hopefully its a good one boys and girls.

This is a Knitting Blog, right?

2007-12-16T12:04:00.000-05:00

This is the magic hand. Its healing well and I am finishing some UFO's. I cant believe I am making progress with my knitting! All I need is the time to knit because right now I am going crazy trying to get some jewelry done for Christmas gifts.

This is our Christmas Tree. It looks real doesnt it? Its not! My Mom gave it to me last year when she bought a new tree that already has lights on it. I need one of those because putting the lights on is the hardest part. My Mom was over the house the day we put the tree up so she put the lights on. The tree can be a bit scratchy so you get cut up quite a bit when putting the lights on.

Rudolph & Clarice Ornament

Every year we seem to collect more and more ornaments. I remember when we put up our first tree together in 1997 and there were hardly any ornaments on it at all. My Nana at that time gave me some money and said, "Go and buy some ornaments for your tree." Thank God she did that because the poor tree that year would have been totally naked!

Now, on to some knitting. This is a knitting blog right? It hasnt seemed like one lately so here are some FO's

Here is the Unoriginal Hat by the Yarn Harlot that I made for my hubby in Torino Bulky. I had to put in an extra repeat because he has a large head and now it fits nicely. I cast on 70 sts instead of 56 sts. Everyone at work asked where he bought it and he told them his wife made it. They couldnt believe it and they all wanted one. One thing I could never do is sell my knitting. Its never going to be a money making thing for me, its not about that. I am not fast enough first of all and I dont want to sell my stuff. If someone wants something bad enough, I'll make it for them. I enjoy making things for people.

Woolgirl's December Sock Club Kit came the other day and I am in love with it! I am going to cast on as soon as possible. I also am signing up for next years club because its such a wonderful sock club. Jen (Woolgirl) gives us so many freebies & surprises you cant believe it. Its up there with the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock CLub and sometimes I think its even better.

Jingle Bell Rock Sock

There is a story behind these socks and here it is. I started these socks last year and finished only one. The one with the nice stripes is the one thats been waiting for its mate for a year. I started the other one last month and just finsished it last night. There are some distinct differences between the two. One has nice stripes and the other has pooling of the colors. The gauge is a lot looser in the one I just finished because I worked on it with my cast on and wasnt able to apply the tight tension that I usually do with my knitting. I am a tight knitter so when you look at the two together you can see the difference . I dont mind that they are fraternal twins, thats what makes variegated yarn interesting. You cant expect it to behave the way you want.

I am presently working on a few things right now. One of them being another Unoriginal Hat in the same Torino Bulky yarn in a beautiful Fuschia colorway. I am not sure if its going to be for me or my daughter. She keeps saying its hers! LOL.
Then I have Woolgirl's last sock kit "Irish Dreams" that I am making Monkeys out of. I have my husbands two socks in Adriafil yarn on one circular and I am waiting for the book to come out (2 Socks at a Time on one circluar by Melissa Morgan Oakes) to finish them. I pre-ordered it with Borders and I am hoping it comes in soon. I am actually waiting on starting certain socks so I can use this method with them. I havent even started making the socks from the Knitting Central Sock Club. I feel bad about it but I'll get around to it. I think I have to many sock clubs on my plate! Time to catch up.
My favorite Christmas cartoon/special is on right now-Nestor the Christmas Donkey. Its such a cute show and I always cry when I watch it.

Good News

2007-12-11T16:43:00.000-05:00

The gastroenterologist called today with all of my husbands results including the biopsies he took the other day. We knew immediately after the 2 tests that he had a severe bleeding ulcer which caused his drop in hematacrit and hemoglobin. Believe me, I saw the pictures the Dr took and I dont know how my husband wasnt in pain. The ulcer I had a few years ago practically had my doubled over in agony and it wasnt even half the size of his. The Dr said because of the location of the ulcer is what made him unable to feel it.

I am so relieved I can even say. I had horrible thoughts of what it was while he was having the tests done. Thoughts of what I went through when they told me that the 2 tumors in my breast was cancer were stuck in my head. When the Dr came out and told me what was going on I felt so relieved. The last thing this family needs is more medical issues!

After reading my post from yesterday and laughing his ass off, my husband reminded me that he was a redhead when he was a kid. Good thing he has a sense of humor.

Obsessed with Life

2007-12-10T17:54:00.001-05:00

I havent been obsessed with an TV show in a very long time (since LOST aired last) and I think I can say I am officially obsessed with a TV show. I guess I am more enamoured with an actor and surprise, surprise its not Christian Bale. We already know I am in love with him. The actor I am referring to is Damian Lewis of the NBC show LIFE. He is better known for his role in BAND OF BROTHERS. Everyone who knows me knows I have a thing for red headed, blue eyed men so it was just a matter of time before the official obsession began. I even dated a few redheads in college. Who couldnt love this Ginger haired Steve McQueen esque hunk of (meat) man. Excuse my slip of the tongue there but take a look yourself and you tell me I am wrong. Go ahead, I'll be waiting right here.

Would you like a towel for that drool on your chin?
I wonder if he can knit?
Did I mention he's exactly the same age as me?
Hi honey! (me waving to my husband who reads my blog all the time) I stil have a thing for hazel eyed balding men to so dont you worry. LOL

Hand me that Knitting! (and those beads)

2007-12-06T14:10:00.000-05:00

I am officially suture free and able to knit!! I am wearing my brace at times that I need to protect my hand in public or when doing things where I feel I might hurt myself by inadvertently putting weight on it. The Dr said I can do anything that I feel comfortable doing with it except putting weight on my palm. I was able to crochet with the original cast on so thats what I did.

I started a couple of crochet projects. One is a rippleghan that I am making for my living room. The other is a scarf for myself. My husband took me to the yarn store yesterday and picked out yarn to make the Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat. He picked Torino Bulky in Grey for himself and I picked out a variagated pink/red colorway. Everyone who is making them on Ravelry (like 300+ people are making them) say they are a fast knit. I wonder if I can make it using the Magic Loop method? I am not sure about that though.

Finally, there are some pictures for me to post:

My Daughter on Thanksgiving

My Old Man1

My Old Man 2

These are some pieces that I made today and a few that were made before my surgery.

This are two Cloisonne & Crystal Necklaces:

Green Star Necklace and Pink Glass and Crystal Necklace

Green Blown Glass Leaf Necklace

Leopardskin Jasper Fan Necklace

BMFA Mediumweght Yarn: Mesa, Christmas Balls & Count Cluckula

I would love to start a new project with one of these yarns but before I do I have to finish a few.

The other day my husband came with me to my regular Dr. While he was there he checked him out and drew some bloodwork. He was complaining that he wasnt feeling well and was falling asleep while standing up. Believe me, he is falling asleep all the time, even when there is a parents meeting for my daughters religious ed. I thought at first it was just him being overtired and not getting enough rest. He's been working a lot of overtime and his hours are crazy. The Dr called with the results a few days ago and I couldnt believe what he told me. His hematacrit level, which is red blood cell count, was 24 when normal values for a man are around 44. His hemaglobin was also dangerously low. These things mean that hes severely anemic. Anemic enough to warrant a transfusion but thats a last resort because they generally dont like to do that unless its totally necessary. He is scheduled for an upper endoscopy and a colonoscopy tomorrow to see where the bleeding is coming from. The Dr and gastroenterologist seem to think that its a bleeding ulcer. My mind is running through all the bad things it can be because God knows they always happen to us! Enough is enough already. My family deserves a break and I think that if God is testing me in some sort of way that I think I have passed the test by now. Please say a prayer that all goes well for him tomorrow. I will post news as soon as I get it.

Single Handed

2007-11-29T19:17:00.000-05:00

My hand surgery went well on Monday and I am feeling better. The pain is intense when I put my hand into positions it doesnt want to be in. Its in cast with my fingers free to move but not use. Instead of having them use a local anesthetic with sedation we (the anesthesiologist, surgeon and myself) all decided that with my lymphedema the most important thing to do was to decrease turniquet time. The general anesthesia route offered the least amount of turniquet time at 5 minutes so I chose it. It took me longer to wake up but thats OK. The surgery itself lasted about 45 minutes (total time in the OR not operating time which was 20-25 minutes). My hand was totally numb when I awoke so it was impossible for me to tell if the surgery worked like the last time I had the surgery. So far from what I can tell, thr surgery worked because I dont have the numbness & tingling I did before. My thumb however is having issues but from what I hear its normal so soon after surgery. I think I am expecting to much to soon but I dont have any patience when it comes to something getting in my way of knitting, crocheting and beading.

I did attempt to crochet a washcloth in simple single crochet yesterday. I did a couple of rows then it started to hurt so I stopped. Some OT's actually make their patients do it for theraputic reasons. I am not sure if I have to go to therapy specifically for my hand but I do know I have to go back for my lymphedema drainage.

Tomorrow I am headed out with my Mom Christmas shopping. I hope it wont take all day because I dont have the energy for it.

While recouperating I read a book by Mark Levin called RESCUING SPRITE. I highly recommend it for any animal lover out there. Get the Kleenex ready though, its a tear jerker.

I am off to try and do something with my hair if thats at all possible with one hand, a blowdryer and a brush.

Talk to the Hand

2007-11-26T01:45:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving day went better than expected but for the reason that my sister cancelled the last minute. Her excuse was that her boyfrind, who just lost his father, didnt want to be around people. Hey, he never wants to be around people so I dont know what his problem is. I did have a less stressful day not worrying about if she was going to say something to me or not.

In less than 12 hours I will be having my surgery for carpal tunnel release. I am very nervous over the whole thing. Who wouldnt be right? But some think that because I have had so many surgeries that I should be used to this routine by now. Let me just say that you never get used to it and the best thing about the surgery is that I will be able to knit and bead without pain. My hand has been totally numb for the past month but over these last few days it has gotten progressively worse and I cant do a darn thing with it.

I am going to update the blog when I can and depending on how I feel.

A Tantalizing Post

2007-11-21T15:46:00.000-05:00

Its been almost 2 weeks since I posted and I've been so busy that I couldnt even think about posting to my blog. To many things happening at the same time and its Thanksgiving tomorrow, I cant believe it! In the last I posted I mentioned what was happening with my sister and all that. Still no apology and I am sure you readers are fed up with hearing about her. The truth is this blog and my husband are the only two outlets I have to vent about stuff like that so you have to bear with me, I'm sorry. My Mother, who is an only child is always saying to me, "Why cant you just let it go?" She doesnt get it. She has also said that she is not going to do anything else to help with the situation. Thanks for nothing. She will never know what its like to be in a situation where your own sister could do the things that my sister did to me. So I cant say that I hope one day she never knows what its like to have cancer at such a young age with 2 young children and have a sister who COULD have been there (just a little) and chose not to do a damn thing.

In order for me to let it go then I dont want anything to do with my sister. I dont want to see her at holidays, I dont want to have to exchange pleasantries, I dont want to have to buy any type of gifts for birthdays or presents for Christmas. I want to be able to make choices for myself that will make me happy, not make my parents happy or make my mother happy. I dont want to have to be the one who always does the right thing. After all I have been through in my life I should be able to make these choices, the ones that are best for me and not anyone else. My parents should understand this and not even question it. I know that parents dont like to take sides with their children but this situation is not like others and they should take mine, no matter what.

Think about it, one of your children has been medically ill since they were a teenager. Your other daugher has had one incidence where she broke her leg and this sister cut classes (college) to stay with her in the hospital. Which is more than my sister EVER did for me but she seemed to forget about that. Since I was 15 I was in and out of the hospital and had a few surgeries under my belt when I was just 16. I also have never talked about another situation that happened when I was 17 because I dont like to use it and make people think its an excuse or anything but I am mentioning it here just to tell you all the things that I have been through in my short life. The situation involved my great uncle and he attempted to kidnap me and throw me in his car and then 2 other times he assaulted me in an attempted rape which I averted, pressed charges, brought him to family court and got an order of protection. It was a very scary time for me and I usually dont even think about it anymore because I have put it behind me. Then you already know about all my surgeries and hospital stays over the past 8-9 years and then my huge back surgery in 2003 with 18 months of PT and my breast cancer diagnosis in Feb 2006.

Throughout all these illnesses, surgeries and whatnot my sister didnt offer help of any sort and when she did she didnt keep her promise but thats nothing new because she lied to my mother when she said she was going to apologize to me. All her life she has been allowed to get away with murder and I am sick of it. BUT if I decide whats best for me and my family is to not be around her my parents would ask me what my problem was and why I was making things difficult. Its like a one way street that I am stuck on and cant get off. Are they that stupid that they cant realize what happened last Christmas when the kids practically begged my sister to play and she stayed in her room the entire night? Why should I have to put my kids through that again. Dont I deserve a nice holiday after what I've been through? I dont want to hear that I am the older one and I should know better and that I am expected to DO THE RIGHT THING. Why cant she be expected to do the right thing? What the hell has to happen to me for my damn sister to realize that I have been there for her, I have been a good sister to her and I even took her to parties and on dates when I was in college so what else does she want from me? I dont think she is ever going to change and when my Mom had mentioned this after my Nana's funeral that she thought my sister turned over a new leaf, I almost puked. My mother is truely naive to base this 'leaf turning' behavior on nothing. Usually someone does something remarkable and out of character for someone else to mention that this person has turned over a new leaf but my sister hadnt even apologized to me and my mother made this observation!!

Meanwhile my husband who has watched me go through hell for years called my sister a name and they jumped on him like a lioness to her prey. They should be ashamed of their behavior especially since he has done more for them then anyone including their own daughter! He also did the right thing and called my sister to apologize which is something she STILL HASNT DONE YET. So when she said she was going to apologize to me SHE LIED TO MY MOM. They should have jumped on her like a dog and said, "He's (my husband) is right to say what he said for the way you have treated his wife, YOUR SISTER and since he had to take off work on the days you offered on mothers day 2006 to help her, they lost a lot of money and are in debt now so he has every right to be angry and mad at you". See, no one gave my husband credit for all he did for me. He went to work and dealt with cancer and then came home and dealt with cancer so there was no escape for him. He watched me throw up my guts and turn every shade of green known to man so yes, he has some anger. Thats what pisses me off about my father when he says that he doesnt know why I get mad or have anger. Gee, do you think that I've had a lot of time stolen from me? from my husband? and children? I wasnt able to do things with my son when he was a baby because of my back surgery and I have a lot of guilt about that. We seriously need a vacation after all we have gone through and I am not sure its going to happen any time soon. Do I really have to answer this assinine question that my father posed to my husband? Its a joke and my mother doesnt even back me up. Its hurtful and frustrating especially when he took my sister to Vegas on a vacation. He also has said that I caused my cancer through stress and also made comments on other family members being 'better' mothers than me because they have patience with their kids and dont yell. Tell me none of you would not be hurt by these things and you're lying.

Where is all this coming from when I just dedicated 2 other previous posts to this ranting? Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we are going to my cousins house. I am nervous that my sister is going to be there and I rather not be around her because she makes me sick. I want to have a nice time tomorrow and when she is around I want to say all the things I have written in my blog but thats impossible. She doesnt go to family functions because she choses to spend them with her boyfriends family (whose father just died so I am not sure where she is going to be) or friends. The funny thing is that she even spent Mothers Day with his family and his mother is not even alive! My Mom had to be pissed at that! I mean, how can you, in good conscience, not be with your mother on mothers day when there is no real excuse for any other action? It would make me really mad if she, all of a sudden, decided to spend time with the family because we are second or third choice to her. It also makes me mad that if I chose to stay home with my family for any holiday they would be mad at me meanwhile my sister has been avoiding the family for years with no repurcussions. Go figure.

There is a double standard and my mother even said it once. She said that she knew I was a stronger person than my sister because of all the things I had been through and also because of the person I had always been even before my illnesses. She said because I was a stronger person that she knew I would always make the right choices unlike my sister. Ok, even if she is right about all of that then she is giving my sister a pass to be an ass with her logic! Thats not fair either. This whole situation sucks and I dont even have a working phone right now! Ugh! Please dont let her be there tomorrow.

In knitting news I did finish Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks for Socktoberfest so that makes 2 pair done officially. I know I am a bit late with the Socktoberfest news but I kept forgetting about posting it.

One sock came out a lot bigger than the other one but if they are on my feet its hard to tell. Its very noticable when they are off my feet. My husband said that since one fits him and the other fits me I should make another sock in a complimentary color to the Space Dust colorway and we can wear them like people who wear one half of those 2 part hearts. I thought it was cute but I dont want to knit 2 other socks in the same pattern again. I was a little upset with myself for allowing this size difference to happen but it was the first time that I made this sock architecture so I have to cut myself some slack.

My Woolgirl Sock Kit for November arrived the other day. This is Irish Dreams by Spunky Eclectic Yarns. Its so unusual a color that I love it! I am not sure about the pattern though because they have these little 'knots' on the foot which might make it hard to wear in a shoe.

This is the Jingle Bell Rock Sock in the Nancy Bush's Ringwood pattern (from Knitting Vintage Socks) that I didnt complete last year at Christmas time. I completed one and put it away. I thought it was time to take it out and try and finish it up for Christmas.

I'm a little backed up with the sock clubs but thats OK with me. There is bound to be a pattern that I dont like and thats where I can use one to my liking. So far that only happened once with the Knee High to a Grasshopper sock from the April Kit at BMFA otherwise I have made all the patterns that came with the kit. I am dying to make Cookie A's Monkey sock. I think thats going to be my next sock pattern. I am almost done with the Solstice Slip but its one hell of a pattern thats driving my hand crazy. Its because I cant cable without a cable needle. I am hoping that after I am healed from my carpal tunnel surgery I will be able to complete projects a little bit faster. Just a little.

Me Against the World

2007-11-09T17:17:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I feel this way, I really do. I can certainly say this about the recent events of the past 2 weeks or so. Who am I kidding? How about the past few YEARS. Some I spoke about in detail and some I've kept to myself. Its been a neverending series of shit that had gone on with our car being close to totalled by my husband avoiding a flying deer (came over the guys car in front of him headed straight for the windshield). Another surgery for me which by now you would think I have my own operating room named in my honor. The nurse that books surgeries for the orthopedic surgeon thats doing my hand surgery said the operating room nurse in charge of scheduling surgeries knew who I was when she called to schedule my carpal tunnel release. You can look at it as a good thing or as a bad thing I guess.

After Sunday's private hell (mine) I thought this week would be a nice one but of course it wasnt! My son was home on Monday with a bad chest cold and it has spred and morphed into a stomach virus/chest cold involving my daughter. She stayed home from school today and we had to make an emergency visit to the pediatric pulmonologist when she had an asthma attack which wasnt getting better with the usual medications. It was extremely stressful tring to get her to his office which is 35 minutes away and getting my son out of school early so I could take him with me. My Dad offered to come up to my house or meet us at the office but I was already running late and printing directions off of MapQuest so I didnt have time to give my Dad the directions and all that because it was getting later by the minute. We made it on time and I wasnt feeling so hot either so I hoped the exam would be a fast one.

Good news is that my daughters lungs were not as bad as I thought but the Dr said she has a very bad cold and maybe even the flu. I tend to agree with him about the flu because when she came home she proceeded to throw her guts up and also had a fever of 103.5. The pulmonologist wasnt so happy to see me either. He seemed to be a bit perturbed to be there seeing patients or maybe just my daughter. It was the first time I met him as my husband brought my daughter the first time she went to see him and also was the one to speak to him on the phone when she was having trouble breathing one night. Maybe it has something to do with me being a woman? I dont know. When he returned my call to get the story on what was happening with my daughter he asked what I did to treat her symptoms. I had done everything that he had written down in the asthma care plan and then some. He then decided to tell me that I was supposed to see him as a follow up to the initial visit which was a month ago and I hadnt done that (well then this is all my fault as usual!! I should have known!) I admitted to him I was wrong and apologized for not making the follow up appointment and that I was having issues with my health. I wasnt sure if my husband had told him what was going on with me medically so I went ahead and told him that I was a breast cancer survivor going through another surgery in a few weeks. I apologized again for not making the appointment but I also told him that she was doing well with the maintainance that he had her on initially and that I doubt he would have changed anything so we would still be in this situation whether or not I went for the follow up. On the way out I made a follow up for January. Sometimes I feel I spend all my time at Dr's offices whether or not they are my Dr's or the kids.

My Mom is coming up tomorrow to watch the kids while I attend my Starry Night Shawl Class. I wont be able to participate in the class but I will be able to learn how to finish the shawl. Jane Elliot is a wonderful teacher and funny too. They also have an all day class on Fair Isling with Nicky Epstein which I am sure would be an awesome class also if I had more days in the week! LOL. Then if my husband isnt to tired from working all day we are planning on seeing a movie. I want to see GONE BABY GONE or BEE MOVIE. The kids want to see BEE MOVIE so we cant really go without them. I am not sure what other movies are still playing now so I have to check out the schedule for the weekend movie line up.

Now, enough talking and time for some pictures!

My son in his schools Halloween Parade

My daughter as the Little Mermaid

The infamous birthday cake I spoke about in the previous post

Leaves & Stars Necklaces

Earth Flower Porcelain and Crystal Necklace

Oblong Topaz Crystal Necklace

Blue Stone Pendant Necklace (18Kt white Gold plated bail)

Stone and Swarovski Necklace

Seeing Red

Flowers Climbing a Vine of Crystal Necklace

Blown Glass and Swarovski Necklace

Amethyst, Colorado Topaz & Tanzanite Swarovski Crystal Necklace

Green and Crystal Necklace

Sodalite and Rose Quartz & Topaz Square Crystal Necklaces

Lampwork Glass with Fuscia Swarovski Crystals

I havent posted my handcrafted jewelry in such a long time but you can see that I have been busy. I try to make at least one thing a day but I havent been able to stick to that rule due to the pain I've been having in my hand. A little here and there and it adds up. Most of there pieces were actually made before the party I had at the end of October and I wasnt able to post them.

I am awaiting another sock club kit from WOOLGIRLS SOCK CLUB around the 14th of November and KNITTING CENTRAL'S SOCK CLUB at the end of this month. Who knows when I will catch up with all these socks I have to knit.

I was actually thinking about when I will be able to knit again after my surgery. The Dr had said I will be in a hard splint with my 4 fingers and thumb able to move. That doesnt help me with the answer to my question though. I do think that I will be able to crochet because it doesnt involve the 2 hands as much as knitting does. I am prepared with my crochet patterns (dishcloths & scarves) to maybe get some Christmas gifts made. In the time between now and my surgery I hope that I can stay healthy with all this illness around me. I had a chest cold a few weeks ago and had to take a Z-pack (Zithromax) just to clear up my lungs. I havent felt well for the past 4 days but I think its just a cold with a post nasal drip.

I almost forgot to talk about my favorite new products in the whole world. When I had waist length hair I used a product called OJON RESTORATIVE HAIR TREATMENT. I first heard about it on QVC and then of course ordered it from them. I LOVED THIS STUFF. It made my hair soft, shiny and the curls were incredible. I even gave some to my Mom to try and she also loved it. I used it up until the time I lost all of my hair to chemo and then put away the remaining half of a jar that I had left. I didnt even remember that I had it until a few weeks ago and I started using it again. Yesterday I stopped at Sephora to pick up some more because Iiterally had a drop of this stuff left which is definitelty not enough! To my surprise I found a bunch of new products being made by my beloved OJON. They have this stuff called ELASTIK and its used on all types of hair to relax it and take the frizz out. The great thing is that the main ingredient that does all this wonderful stuff comes from the rubber tree (I think) and they use all natural stuff to make hair healthier and there is even some OJON oil in it. They also have a new product called TAWAKA Ancient Tribal Rejuvenating Creme which is a part of their RARE HARVEST collection. You can use it all over your body including your hair. Last night I used both the OJON RT and the TAWAKA mixed together to coat my hair (as they suggest for a deep treatment) and all I have to say is WOW, WOW, WOW! Fabulous shine and softness beyond belief. I also blowdried it straight using the ELASTIK and not only did it get it straight a lot easier and quicker then I normally get it done but I was out in the drizzly rain today and ITS STILL STRAIGHT WITHOUT FRIZZ!! This stuff is fabulous and I even used it on my face last night and this morning under my make-up. I love it! You can read about it on:
www.ojon.com

Crap, crap and more Crap

2007-11-05T17:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had my son's birthday celebration over my parents house. My sister had to act like a 2 year old and insisted (to my Mom) that we have a cake for her too. I dont know why all of a sudden she cares about having a cake for herself because whenever we have a celebration for anyone else she never shows up. My Mom seems to forget that and thinks that my sister just wants what everyone else has. I know better. I know my sister wants gifts ($$) from the people who come to her party.

I know I did say that I wasnt going to bring up this issue unless my Mom brought it up and in a way I have no choice because at my jewelry party my sister had heard my Mom and I speaking about setting a date to have my son's cake. We had already agreed on this Sunday about 3 weeks ago because of the Sheep and Wool Festival, the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer and the fact that my husband worked on the other weekends and couldnt do it then. My sister opened her big mouth and said, "Oh, you are going to just pass over my birthday and forget about me??" Just like a true narcissist to think of others! NOT. I couldnt believe all of a sudden she cared about having a cake for herself but like I said it was obvious the attention has to be on her and no one else. How dare my 5 year old son want to have a birthday party and she the 30 year old loser who still lives at home suddenly cares? I tell you she has not come to ONE OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS BIRTHDAY PARTY in I cant tell you how long.

My Mom suddenly comes to her defense on the phone today when I was talking about this and other complaints I'll bring up in just a minute. She says, "I dont think thats true, she's come to other family members birthdays." NO SHE HAS NOT. She was not at mine, nor my daughters or my son's last year or my Mom's or ANYONES!! I have no idea why my mother feels the need to defend her. Yesterday my husband also tried several times to speak to her and say hello and she ignored him. My Mom didnt believe me when I told her. My sister also disappeared for a good long time to her room. Yes, she did come out of her room but she spent most of her time in it. Thats no surprise to me. My Mom has decided to not get in the middle of my sister and I anymore and thats what I call taking the easy way out. I think that as a parent she has an obligation to because she had said to my sister (the night the big fight broke out and my husband apologized for name calling) that "this thing with your sister is going to end right, you're going to sit down with US 3, me, your sister and you, and all talk, right? She's the only sister you have (insert crying and sobs here) and you two have got to make it work (more crying here)" At that moment my sister LIED TO MY MOM AND SAID SHE WAS GOING TO APOLOGIZE TO ME. My husband took less than an hour to call her up and apologize because it was the right thing to do. BUT I WAS DIAGNOSES IN 2/06 and where has my apology been????? Yeah I thought my Mom forgot about that conversation so maybe this will refresh her memory.

When we arrived at my parents house yesterday my sister didnt even say hi to me! Lets not forget she has NEVER apologized to me for what she did to me when I was ill with cancer going through diagnosis, treatment and all my surgeries during this time and the surgeries I have had in the 8 years prior to my cancer diagnosis. But lets remember I am supposed to be the better person and forget all the nasty things that she has dont to me and "let it go" as my Mom says. My Mother is also an only child and has no idea what it feels like to have a sister who's chosen strangers over her own sister. My Dad is another one who doesnt understand because he's never been sick or spent time in the hospital for anything. My Nana was the only one who was always sick her whole life and she knew what it was like to be in the positions I've been in. Maybe thats why my Dad had so much empathy for her when she was alive (insert sarcasm here).

My Mom made a cake because my oven is broken and the first thing I noticed is that there was no decorations on it like a train or something, no writing and only two candle numbers were on it. A #3 and a #0 were on it. No #5 for my son mind you. I was livid that the 30 year old got her way over my Mom's grandson and it pissed me off immensely. My Mom admitted she was wrong for that. OK, maybe I shouldnt have said anything until it was time to sing happy birthday and my son would have exploded with anger at the fact that there was no #5 on the cake.

I am so upset at so many things and thats one of the reasons I havent really written in my blog. I didnt want to make it a complaint fest but this is my blog and its how I feel better. By talking about things I can work them out in my head and it makes me feel better.

Another thing I have to mention is that I am not going to be going to Camp Crows Feet (unless by some miracle of God happens). I decided that the small amount of money we can save from our tax return should go to a family vacation. Maybe a few days with my husband alone and then the rest with the kids. When I was going through chemo my Mom told anyone that would listen that she was taking us all on a cruise and you see how thats happend right? She wants to go away with all of us including my sister and I would rather get chemo again then go away with that bitch. Well, not exactly get chemo again but you get the point. No way in hell am I going on a vacation with her. Are my parents intending on giving her another vacation for free? I thought the trip that my Dad took her on to Vegas was a 'mistake' as my parents later admitted when I hit the roof that they rewarded her treatment of me with a free trip (because it was 'promised' to her for graduating and shit.) Give me a break. If my son or daughter did what she did to me when I was sick I would give them shit on a sitck and let me tell you they wouldnt even deserve that! So anyway, no way in God's good earth are they taking her anywhere with me and my family and gifting her with another vacation, no way its happening while I am alive.

All I want is to spend 1-2 nights a MONTH going out with my husband on a date, thats it. We dont even get to do that. Its sad it really is and I think I have discussed it before and I really dont want to go into it again. What brings this up is that my cousin has 20 sum odd tickets that a friend of hers gave her to give out for the Bon Jovi concert on Wed night. She invited me and my husband to go with her and her husband. The only person who is responsible enough to watch the kids (because my son is sick and my daugher has CCD on Wed nights) is my Mom. My Mom told me she couldnt do it because she is being audited this week at her job and if it was any other week she could. I didnt know you get audited at night. She didnt even ask me to find out the details of the concert and let her know and maybe she could work something out she immediately replied NO she wouldnt be able to do it. She keeps saying how she wants me to hang out with my cousin when I mention that we are trying to make plans together and then she cant watch the kids. My neighbors kids cant watch them because my daughters CCD class and they are not medically well and my son is sick. Their father doesnt want to risk them getting sick because they are all very fragile diabetics. They cant be around sick kids because of their medical issues plus even if they could its a school night and they only watched my son ONCE WITH THE MOTHER HERE. The girl that did watch my son one time wasnt even alone when she watched him. She was 11 years old at the time and her mother came with her. When I came home from the birthday party that I took my daughter to I cant even tell you the disaray the house was in after only 2 hours of me being out of it. I cant even imagine giving the responsibility of 2 children who need to be put to bed and have homework done to this girl and her mom. Dont get me wrong, they are wonderful people and I really like them all. They are always nice to me and my kids and their dad is always helping my husband out with the yard and advice on plants and such. I dont have the luxury of having my parents and my husbands parents at my beck and call like my parents did when I was little. I grew up with all 4 grandparents watching me all the time. Heck, we lived with my Mom's parents and I used to sleep over my Dad's parents all the time. This made it easy for my parents to establish a great relationship and marriage because they were allowed that valuable time together. My husband and I are lucky if we get a cup of coffee together on a school day when my son doesnt get out early. But who the heck can have a romantic dinner or a movie NIGHT in the daytime when the food shopping and everyday errands need to be run. When my husband is home from work he is working on the lawn, car mantainance, house chores and a million other things and I am also doing the things I cant get done when the kids are both home. Its not very romantic believe me.

My Mother doesnt realize that my kids also need someone they are going to listen to and another kid aint going to cut it. I bet if someone called her with Paul Anka or Barry Manilow tickets she would find a way to go and thats what bothers me. I get a little jealous of my cousins parents who take their grandkids EVERYWHERE with them. My Mom says well so and so doesnt work so they can do that. No thats not the point. My cousin and her husband always take vacations alone and her parents or his parents or his sister or her brother watch the kids. They have a million and one options for who can watch the kids. They even have friends that have taken on babysitting duty for them! I dont have any of those options. This has gone on since the kids were babies so they are used to it. My husband and I havent taken a vacation alone since our honeymoon 9 years ago. I think after all we have been through with my illnessed and such that we deserve that. We not only deserve it, we desperately need it. You hear about people who go through medical crisis and dont stay together because of the high stress it puts on the marriage. Well, my husband and I and even the kids have all gone through the same or more stresses than many of those families that are not together today. Do my parents realize this? I dont mean to sound like I am feeling sorry for myself but at this point I think I have the right to complain. All I want is to have some alone time with my husband and do some stuff alone together for my sanity and my husbands sanity and even my kids sanity. Most of my doctors say that I have had more medical problems then 10 of their patients put together and they cant believe the great attitude I have maintained throughout it all. Maybe some of them should talk to my father because you would think all I had was a bad cold to him and he cant understand why I am "so angry". Gee I dont know maybe its because for the past 8 years of my life have been spent in the operating room? Yet my sister gets the benefit of the doubt. I also try not to think of what can happen in the next 20 years because if I did it would destroy me. When things like this happen though I think "what do I have to look forward to?" If I had some private time with my husband to look forward to maybe it wouldnt look so bleak to me. My parents seem to forget that I had an extremly aggressive cancer that has a high probability of returning or metastasizing to another part of my body. Thats just a fact not a prediction by me mind you. If I knew this about one of my kids I wouldnt give them crap about their sister treating them like shit. I would treat that sister (who would be my daugher in this hypothetical situation) the way they have treated my child and see how they would like it. How would they feel going through the chemo and surgeries and the endless tests knowing that your own sister could care less if you lived or died? My parents dont realize the ONLY reason my sister and I ran into each other was because my Nana died and there was no other choice for my sister. She had to be there when I was there. She did avoid it as much as possible though and purposely avoided me at the hospital when my Nana was there and even mentioned it to a cousin of my Mom's that she didnt have to visit her own grandmother who was dying because me and my husband were with her. Nice, right? My Mother seems to forget that my sister not only treats me badly but she treated my Nana badly when she was dying. Even though I have 2 children and a husband thats working as many hours as possible to pay the bills we went to see her. I took the kids with me and my husband even called out from work so we could be with my Nana which is a thousand more things than my sister did to be with her. She wasnt in school yet (she's a teacher) and she could have been there but she chose (yet again) to be with her boyfriends father who was 'dying' at the time and she had to be there. By the way he is still 'dying' and my Nana died on Sept 1st. No offense to the man who is very sick and actually dying here but my sister also chose him over me when I was sick so its a sore point in my book. The 2 times I asked her for help she used the excuse that she had to help him instead and the other excuse was that she had a life to live and wasnt able to do that because she was 'stuck' helping my Nana (my parents were away at the time) and she NEVER can do anything. Did she realize who she was saying that to? Ok, enough, next topic to talk/bitch about. Sorry.

My Dad came up on Halloween to take us out to eat and I thought it was nice until he constantly complained about the food we ordered and then took the kids out trick or treating and couldnt wait to go back home after 15 minutes. Its either all or nothing and my kids want to spend time with them and they also want to know why my sister doesnt want to spend time with them. My daughter always asks why my parents dont spend more time with her. When I was little no one spent more time with me than my both sets of Grandparents. I was very lucky to have 4 grandparents. My kids only have my parents because my husbands are not in the picture.

With all these situations, I give up. I dont know what else to do. No one is on my side that can help and my husband is the only one that understands how I feel. Thank God for him.

Now my next surgery is in less than a month and my husband is taking time off (that he doesnt have) and helping me. I wont be able to use my left hand for at least a couple of weeks. My Mom has only 2 days left of her vacation time so thats why my husband has to take off. We are relying on his overtime to pay the bills and when he takes time off to help me he loses the overtime. You can see how this situation further stresses me out. Plus I wont be able to knit or bead to relieve stress so thats even worse. I am hoping that I can crochet though because it takes less to crochet than it does to knit and I can probably do it with one and a half hands! LOL.

This whole thing (with my sister) has me stressed again for the holidays because we are at my Mom's and she is there. Last year was the worst Christmas I have ever had and one would think that after having gone through medical hell someone would have guaranteed me a nice holiday but no such luck. My sister pulled a tantrum when my Mom tried to send me home with a tray of food. If you want to read the whole story its 2006's Christmas time entries and they are pathetic but my Mom forgets about the crap my sister pulled that day too. I guess no apology will ever come for that horrid treatment either. It was not only me either but my kids who practically begged and pleaded with my sister to come out of her room to play with them. Yup, you can take a guess and you'd be right in thinking that she didnt.

Another thing that I almost forgot was that my sister still hasnt given my 5 year old son his birthday present so he keeps asking me when we are going to Toys R Us to get him the new Thomas toys that he wants. How rude is that crap? Please dont keep telling him that you are going to get him his gift and then you dont! His birthday was Oct 15, the same day as hers and I made sure to mail her a card that she got before her birthday with a note in it that told her she could pick out whatever jewelry she wanted at the party I had. How much time does it take to get a kid a gift card? Heck, if you are going to give him a gift card why not just write him a check and call it a day. This is another thing that my parents look beyond and dont see a problem but let me tell you if I forgot to give her a birthday present they would want to know why I was "starting something with my sister by not giving her a gift" or something along the lines of that statement. Even last year when all the crap was happening with my surgery and stuff and she was ignoring me and didnt even come to see me or call me, I sent her a gift that I HAND MADE. We all know that she deserves nothing but as usual I do the right thing and it just comes back to bite me in the ass.

Here's some good news. I realized the curly haircut I got (after I washed it) was totally uneven and I went back to get it cut from the guy who usually cuts it to see if he could fix the mess created by this woman who claims to cut hair. I should have not strayed in the first place. He fixed it and it looks great. It looks like the May 2007 pics I posted of the first haircut he gave me and I wanted it like that again. It was difficult because the other woman really screwed it up so he did the best he could. My goal is to grow the sides long and keep the back short almost like a Victoria Beckham cut but not as severe.

In other good news my cousin wants to have a jewelry pary and hopefully I can do it before my surgery or even if its after my surgery someone can help me set up and I'll be fine.

I also made a promise to go to church once a week after I drop the kids off at school. Even though I dont agree with a lot of what the Catholic Church says it doesnt mean I cant go to mass. When my husband is off he is going to go with me.

Maybe next time we will get back to some knitting and jewelry conversation and pictures too. I had enough of this crap with my sister.

Rhinebeck Review & Some Crazy Sh*t Goin' On

2007-10-25T21:01:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-20T12:54:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-17T18:28:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-11T16:15:00.000-04:00

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.