Come visit me at my new blogger home!

... cast on, cast off ...

I found my camera!  So, here are some of the pictures that I wanted to show you yesterday ...

ONE:


A postcard from Emily in Texas, the Longhorn Diva!  Thanks so much, Emily! I love it!  I think that the stitch markers are the best, too!

(Check out what I sent her here!)

TWO:


Another postcard from RheLynn in Paris, TN (I love that), the KnitOwl!  I think it's such a great card -- just beautiful!  Click here for a view of the back.  (And check out -- that's my first pop-up window ever.:)  Thanks, RheLynn!

(Check out what I sent her here!)

THREE:


A scrumpti-licious skein of green yarn from Scout, my May Project Spectrum Yarn Swap partner, who has been dyeing up an enormous storm herself lately. I can see why there is a large demand for her yarns ... go check out her brand-new store if you need some for yourself.   :)   Thanks, Scout!

(Check out what I sent her here!)

Phew.  I love nice mail days! Thanks, ladies!

Oh, last but not least, picture number FOUR:


Can you see my left ankle bone starting to peek out?  (This is the question I've been asking all my friends, and the Big Sweetie, daily here ... I just thought it'd be worth asking you as well.)

A list of things that I need to share ...

One ... In the blogging department ...

I've had it!  I'm about to move my blog!  Keep your eyes peeled ... I'm making progress on moving my photos to flickr (why have I waited so long to get into flickr??) ... I'm making progress on moving my "bloggy" things to the new blog ... and I'm really pretty tired of blogdrive, and tired of paying to be tired of blogdrive.  I'll admit, the whole 'shaving-down-the-budget-a-little-more' thing is definitely one reason behind the move, but I really think it's time to switch from blogdrive.  And, I'm not moving to  typepad after all.  I feel like blogger has everything to offer that I need, so keep your eyes peeled -- my blogdrive account expires shortly, and I hope to make the move before that happens.  (That would be nice, right?) 

However, no agonizing about what to re-name the blog like I did last year ... I'm keeping the name.

ALSO -- has anybody else seen that Kristin Nicholas has started blogging?  I'm so excited to peek into her world.

Two ... In the yarn department ...

When I make the move, I'm going to make a slew of posts about dyeing!  What you need, how to dye single-colors, how to dye double-colors, how to dye many colors, and all the little tips and techniques I can think of that I've learned over the last several months of my non-blogged-about-dyeing.  In short, it's been great fun!  So, you can look forward to that soon.

Also, I'm about to post some kids' clothing on eBay.  Next up:  the yarn!  I'll be sure to announce it here. 

Three ... In the Interweave-obsessed department ...

Did you know that you can take a sneak peek at what they've posted in 2005 and 2006?   Am I completely out of it, or have people already been blogging about the Fall 2006 KnitScene projects? 

Four ... In the local yarn shop department ...

Guess what I just visited today?  The grand opening of Mew Mew's yarn shop, right here in my little ol' town!  Details to follow in a separate entry,  as it deserves an entry unto itself. 

Five ... In the post office department ...

I got THREE packages in the mail today ... so an early thanks goes out to Emily, RheLynn, and to Scout ... but I seem to have lost my camera!!  So, I will definitely be posting adorable pictures of knitting-related yumminess as soon as I find it. 

Five ... in the health department:

My ankle bone has emerged from the swelling, and I actually feel like I might be able to walk normally again!  This silly old muscle strain hasn't completely devastated me as much as it's just been so darn inconvenient ... but I'm starting to feel like two weeks into this, I just might be able to ride my bike in about another week or two, and then maybe start running a few weeks after that. 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that we had some other dramas here in my house last week.  Read on if you're interested ...

The Big Sweetie has sort of had some health issues lately, some of them centered on his absolute lack of sleep (and his sleep disorders which I've always told him to get checked out ...); some of them because of "terrible allergies" this season, which he generally doesn't get, and a really terrible persistent cough;  and some of them because of the general stress that we have in our household right now.  (Tight budget, car issues, both of us finding new jobs ...)

So, he woke up last week and had "chest pains".  Yes, so you know what that means ... he called his doctor who told him to go in to the emergency room.  Well -- you'll never believe this! -- guess what he was diagnosed with?? Pertussis.  Yes, the whooping cough.  What, isn't that practically eradicated in this country?  Well, there's been an outbreak at his high school, which would explain where he got it.  His chest pains?  He's been coughing so violently that he pulled a muscle in his chest. 

And ... the little boy in the house has been coughing for the last few weeks, so I took him in to get tested as well. (Results aren't back from the state yet.)

But wait!  There's more!  The Big Sweetie (remember, he's the washed-up former rugby college team captain, super active and always pushing himself physically) decided to go for some celebratory mountain bike rides last weekend.  (Celebrating his strong health, that is.)  On Saturday, he came home just fine.  On Sunday, I got a phone call -- he crashed, broke part of his bike (luckily, easily fixed), and needed me to pick him up ... and we went straight to the Urgent Care room, where dirt and grass were picked out of his leg and arm wounds.  After seeing some other photos of road rash online, his isn't quite that bad ... but it's still like something out of a second-rate horror movie. 

Phew.  How do I ever manage to get knitting squeezed in between the little dramas in my house? 

Tomorrow: the visit to Mew Mew's. 

(And I'm off to go find that camera ...)

FO Report: Fiery Bolero (or, in my case,  the "Rosy" Bolero)
Designers:  Debbie Bliss
Pattern Source: IWK Summer 05
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cathay, about 5.5 balls for size 35"
Needle Size:  US 5, 3
Date Completed: May 2006

After writing that list of must-knit-summer items, I gained some focus and decided to attack a bag of Debbie Bliss Cathay that was sitting in my closet.  I started this on a Thursday, and finished it on Tuesday -- it was an unbeievably fast knit!  I started to lose momentum on Sunday -- especially when I hit the shawl collar -- but I stuck to it, and I'm so glad I did.  I looove this knit!  I think that this will be the perfect little cover-up over tank tops and t-shirts this summer, and I can even envision wearing it all year long here in our mild Colorado winters. 

Two minor caveats: 
I'm now left with 4.5 balls of Cathay, or about 500 yards of DK-weight yarn, and I'm agonizing over what sort of a little lacey camisole that I could make with this much yarn.  Perhaps the Acorn Camisole?  Perhaps the **?  Perhaps a similar little number of my own design?  We'll see ...

Also, I was sitting and working on this during my little girl's ballet class when another mom asked me what I was working on.  I said, "Oh, a little bolero cover-up type of sweater" ... and she responded, "Like the one you're wearing right now?"  Yes, I was wearing my little pink Elspeth at the time, and I didn't even realize the similarity!  Oh, well, I guess that means that I like this type of sweater and it'll see its share of use ...

more dorky photos ...


Hmm ... now, what to attack next? 

I feel like I've started every other blog entry with "Sorry I'm such a lame blogger ...", so I guess that I should say -- Sorry I'm such a lame blogger for doing that! 

However, I attended a wonderful and wooly fiber fest hosted by Emily a few weeks ago (weeks, already??).  Emily planned her get-together as a yarn swap -- and she did a great job!

I know that there have been threats in the local SnB and our local Guild group for quite some time to have a yarn swap.  Emily put out an email stating the guidelines that everybody could come with any yarn to bring, and leave with the same amount or less of yarn, with the leftovers going to either charity purposes or to next fall's Knit-Out, which our guild hosts.    I thought that those were great guidelines! 

When I arrived at her place, I loved seeing the sign of where to go:


And I of course spotted her door immediately:


Emily had lots of baskets with fiber-content signs made up, and people simply sorted their yarns into the baskets.  Brilliant!


And here is the lovely Emily herself, enjoying  some of the yummy munchies that were there:


I literally did a drop-off-and-pick-up, arriving with more yarn than I left with, but I'll admit that I pretty much just brought all  my old crap yarn, whereas most other people brought really nice quality-fiber yarn.  So, though I left with less yarn, I really felt like I was leaving with some really nice stuff!  I was in a rush because later that hour my son was scheduled for some soccer time:


He had a lot of fun with soccer this spring, and after several years of pee-wee soccer the whole game has really clicked for him.  He even scored a goal!
(I'm also a lame mother - I didn't get a photo of that.)

In other happenings, my daughter is getting ready for her "ballet recital" -- though she's just in the "tiny tots" class!


I can't get enough of these outfits.  They're so darn cute!  Check out the little ballerinas here:


In other happenings, I hurt my ankle recently -- I actually have a "muscle strain", which is different than an ankle sprain, but I will say that I've had a pretty painful limp over the ten days.  Yuck!  I'm having to take a minimum of 3 weeks off of running ... and possibly more ... thank goodness for my mountain bike, I guess.  (It is mountain bike weather, after all ...)

And in other happenings, the class that I was scheduled to teach (for the salary that we were depending on for grocery money) was cancelled due to low enrollment ... so that means that I'll sort of be thinking of what I can do for some groceries now ... which means that you can keep your eyes peeled on my dyeing progress, as I think I'll actually be posting about that now!  (Keep your eyes peeled, also, because I'm really seriously contemplating selling off the stash ... )

And, in yet more news, I've just found a job for the next school year -- teaching Spanish in a 50% (part-time) capacity in a really, really interesting and challenging position -- I'll possibly divulge more details on that later (though I always get a little nervous talking about my professional life in a public blog...) -- but let me just say that it involves establishing a curriculum in an alternative school -- very exciting!  I'm really looking forward to this as a tremendous professional opportunity, in which I think I'll really push myself beyond my comfort zone.   And, I'll be able to both drop off and pick up my son in school, a huge bonus for me.  (And I'm trying to not think about the fact that I'll be paying more in childcare each month than I'll actually be taking home ...)

So, that's it for today .... just an update of the happenings.  FO Report to come soon (okay, I'll just tell you already -- I made the Fiery Bolero from last summer's IWK).  Keep your eyes peeled!