NOT IN KANSAS

Bringing down the Casa

2010-03-07T08:11:00.001-05:00

In the effort to break the routine of Friday night pizza or Chinese buffet, my husband and I decided to treat my in laws to a night out at one of our favorite restaurants.

If you have ever been to Casa Mariachi, you know that their food is awesome. If you haven't sampled their yummy menu, I only have this to ask: what on earth are you waiting for?

My father in law decided he wanted to treat me to a new point and shoot camera. It might have something to do with the fact that he accidentally broke mine last August! But suffice it to say that I am very happy with my new Powershot.

We ordered food as if we would never see food again! Wanna see? Good because I took pictures! (I had to test out my gift!)

Complimentary Tortilla Chips

Pollo Yucatan

Vegetable Enchillada

Beef Burrito

Beef with Red Mole Sauce

And of course I forced everyone to pose for pics.

Mom B

Dad B

Me & my love

The evening wouldn't be complete if we didn't indulge in some dessert!

Fried ice cream
Granted this alone was 5 trillion calories but it was soooooo worth it! And does it look like my mother in law cares about said calories as she polishes off the last bite of her meal?

I don't THINK so!

~T

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Posting from the pod

2010-03-06T01:55:00.001-05:00

So I am lying here finally trying to use the IPod Touch my husband got me for Valentine's day to it's fullest capabilities. I have to say that I was a bit wary about whether or not I would get the hang of this little hand held device that seemed to have "make Tasha look stupid" on it's agenda. Needless to say, I let my computer genius of a husband put all of my songs and knitting applications on my new toy. I just don't have the patience.

I smelled spring in the air the other day and I finally feel like
New England is open to negotiations with warmer weather. I can't remember being happier. It's refreshing to wake up to a new day of fun, wonderful friends and adventure.

On that note, I am off to bed to dream............

~T

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

CAMPING AGAIN

2009-08-22T03:33:00.003-04:00

Holy God.......it's Saturday, August 22, and it's 3 something in the morning. What am I doing up at such a ridiculous hour? Knitting of course........and watching a super long episode of Columbo. If you really know me, you must know that I am in seventh heaven right now. What a perfect combination!

In reality I thought I would be up packing up my gear for our camping trip which begins tomorrow. The last time I went camping (which also happened to be my first time camping) I was very nervous and apprehensive because I had this strange notion that I was going to be sleeping in the midst of hungry bears who skillfully hid themselves amongst the foliage and bushes like nasty ninjas waiting to snack on my ample body. It turns out that we spent three lovely days at a cozy campsite that was located ten minutes from our home, which I might add had wonderfully clean bathrooms and no frikken bears. Surprise, surprise!

So, I'm super excited this time around. Jeff is taking his first vacation of the year so I actually get to spend some quality time with him, and I have been smiling at the thought for at least four days (although I can't guarantee how many people are going to be smiling when they see me jiggling around in my bathing suit all week long). We will be spending the week with a group of friends by a gorgeous lake and hopefully we can expect a few nice days so that Jeff and I can try out the new kayak his parents got him for his birthday. Oh yeah........hehehehe.......the man is finally thirty! The glee of it all!

This camping trip sparked my interest in writing my blog again, since it was the main reason I had started one in the first place; and as I am typing I realize how much has happened in my life in such a short span of time. It's weird. Where does the time go?? Seriously.

I suppose to commemorate my camping excursion part deux, I will tote my laptop with me and try to bring my blog up to date...........but in Reader's Digest fashion. I would probably bore myself to tears if I wrote EVERYTHING out!

OK....so off to bed. Big day tomorrow.

~T

READY TO GO!

2009-03-26T00:15:00.006-04:00

As I hibernated all winter, I was able to compile a list of a few things that I would like to have once spring was upon us. Looking around my yard, I realized that it would be really nice if Jeff and I put a nice pond in the back with beautiful fish,

And even though we already have some nice iron lawn furniture, I thought it would be nice if we had a lovely bench to put near the pond so that I could watch the fish and listen to the water as I knit.

And I have flipped through enough home and garden magazines to know that a garden ornament always adds a nice touch.

So, we finally decided that the easiest way to get all of these great things to happen, I would need one of these first:

And that is my new car! YAY for me, YAY for Volvos, YAY for my hubby who loves me and bought it for me, YAY for everything!! Jeff and I practically danced in happy little circles today from sheer excitement! You know, for a long time I kept saying that it didn't matter what kind of car I got, as long as it got me from point A to point B. But now that I have it, it is exactly the car I wanted! I can already see all of my knitting and beading and camping gear and instruments all stuffed in the back. I can't wait!!!!!

~T

QUIET AND CHILLY

2009-03-25T01:40:00.003-04:00

Today was an extremely quiet day, but I figured I would write anyway. Things don't always have to be exciting to warrant a blog entry, right? I found myself really wanting to go out and do something outdoors, but temperature wise, spring is holding out on us a little bit. I'm kind of glad now that I have been knitting a lot of socks, because my usually bare feet have been really cold and they are sighing in relief now that they are dressed in some nice warm wool.

I started working on the little baby blanket last night, and then upon inspecting my work this morning, I realized that I was constructing a twin sized afghan. The thing about me is that I tend to go large for everything. If I am cooking for a group of four, by the time I'm finished, I can feed my entire neighborhood. And I think if I didn't have so many ideas for this baby basket, I would probably just continue making the larger afghan. After all, children grow. Regardless, I ripped it out and started all over again.

I have an extreme fondness for the Food Network. I say I watch so that I can get some good ideas for new recipes to try in my kitchen. I think I really watch it so that I can feel sorry for myself that I don't have these great cooks in my kitchen making me these fab meals. So now I am watching the show "Chopped" where these poor chefs are given these mystery baskets of weird ingredients and are told to make some culinary extravaganza ithat can be served in a high end restaurant in a ridiculously short amount of time. The reward for this frenzy of cooking is ten thousand dollars.

It's so easy as a viewer to say, "What are ya, nuts?!! You should have done, this, this, and this!" But in reality, would I know how to make a cohesive meal using Cocoa Puffs, chocolate chips, marshmallow fluff and dehydrated strawberries? Probably not.

Anyhoo, I have some exciting news, which I will most likely write about tomorrow. And noooooooooo, ahead of time to my crazy lunatic friends, I am not having a baby, so don't go thinking crazy thoughts.

Good night for now.

~T

ONE MORE FOR THE BABY BASKET

2009-03-23T22:54:00.005-04:00

Well, another Monday night has passed, which means another night of really bad bowling has passed as well! Hehe. It's funny how in my head, I know exactly how I should bowl, but somehow it doesn't always work out the way the movie in my head thinks it should. Although, I didn't do terribly.......just not the perfect 300 game I was hoping for. Yeah, right!

So, my mother in law received an award For having the most original cheesecake. I think she was trying for the tastiest cheesecake, but I say an award is an award, right? And I think as long as the word "interesting" wasn't used, it was a win!

I spent the day finishing up another little gift to put in my friend's baby gift basket. I'm still working on the cabled sweater, but I whipped up this simple summer top, considering that the wee one will be born in July.....that is if he chooses to prove the doctors right and come out on cue.

.
All I have to do now is run to my LYS and pick out some cute little buttons to embellish the front, and this will be complete! Yay for cute little baby clothes. They are so gratifying to make because they are so quick and tiny.

Next on my list is a traditional ripple baby afghan which I am most likely going to start tonight because what else does one do at 11 o clock in the evening? Hey, I never claimed to be normal.

~T

IF YOU'VE GOTTA, USE RICOTTA

2009-03-22T22:07:00.005-04:00

It's hard to believe that another weekend has come and gone. With the hectic nature of the week, Jeff and I gleefully look forward to sleeping in and lounging on Saturdays and Sundays, only to find that we always have something to do......and with our internal clocks set fairly early, sleeping in never works out for us anyway. But we always find something fun to do, so that's a good thing.

Today, I kept my mother in law company as she baked her first cheese cake. There was much trepidation, since she was baking it for the "Grand Cheesecake Bakeoff" that her job is holding tomorrow. I give her a lot of credit, considering that I probably wouldn't have the guts to enter a competition for something I have never done before. Lasagna, maybe. Chocolate toffee macademia nut cookies? Deinitely. Cheesecake......not on your life! But her peering at her recipe and carefully measuring and mixing as I sat on the sideline knitting and cheering her on, she made out just fine.

The recipe she tried apparently uses fresh ricotta cheese as opposed to the traditional cream cheese which one would find in a New York Style cheesecake. And there is just a very small amount of graham cracker crust along the edges to give your palate just a hint of crunchy goodness. Catastrophe almost hit when she discovered that not only had she forgotten to put sugar in the mix, she had not a granule of sugar in the sugar jar. I offered to make a quick run to the store but not before we scoured every cabinet in the house. She found a bag of pure cane sugar and decided that it would work just as well. So that is what she used.

Since we've never made a cheesecake before, I think we were both a little surprised to see that it would take 2 and a half hours to bake this calorie packed delicacy.....and even MORE surprised when she had to leave it in for another half an hour because her oven wasn't cooking it as fast as the recipe book thought it should.

Three hours later, joy to the cheese loving world, the cheesecake was done!
It doesn't look half bad, if I do say so myself.

She had to let it cool before she removed the spring pan, and then I think she is going to drizzle a homemade raspberry sauce over the top. Yum. I am really proud of her, whether she wins the bake off or not. Either way, I hope she has leftovers.

~T

FLINGING DISCS

2009-03-16T12:41:00.011-04:00

I've been hopeful......and FINALLY I can say with conviction that SPRING IS HERE!!!! I can feel it in my bones, people! IN MY BONES!! Hehehehe.....

I opened my eyes to a magnificent Sunday, and I knew immediately that my butt needed to be outside, And not in my usual way, which is me dragging my patio furniture out and knitting while watching passers by. I needed to be active......and being such a couch lover, I needed to call on some friends to help me remember what "outdoor activities" are. ;p

We decided to go frisbee golfing, or as it is better known in my neck of the woods, "disc" golf. And I would love to explain this in a fashion that makes this sound extravagant and la di da.......but essentially, it's just like a golf game, but you're throwing a frisbee, instead of hitting a ball, and you're trying to get it in a chain basket in the fewest amount of throws. And instead of nicely groomed fairways and things of that nature, you are hiking through about three acres of woods. It's a nice way to enjoy nature and still be active and slightly competetive.

So, Sarah and I took off to the West Thompson Lake and met up with our friends Heather and Chris. Here is
what the lake looked like on this glorious morning:

Even though the ice is doing its best to hold on, it is clear that Mother Nature has smugly informed it that resistance is futile!

It's moments like this that I wish that Jeff and I had really looked into buying a house where this view would be the first thing we saw when we looked out our windows. But unfortunately, that's dicated more by what's in one's wallet as opposed what one truly wants.

No matter.......I guess I'm just going to have to do a lot more camping!

Chris and Heather finally showed up, and to commemorate our first offical disc golf excusrsion of the year, I had them pose for a picture. Chris thought it was important to hold the discs up so that in the future when I look back at my scrap books and photo memoirs, I will always know we were on our way to play.

But I already know that everytime I look at this photo, I'm going to wonder why I didn't ask him to hold the actual frisbees in a diferent place. Oh brother!

So now you've seen the frisbees, and just in case you're curious, this is what the baskets look like. Golf = 18 holes. Disc Golf = 18 baskets. (Or nine if you are on a smaller course.

The park was fairly crowded. A lot of people woke up thinking it was a good time to enjoy the fresh outdoors. However, I almost made one of these poor people regret getting out of bed, when I almost pinged him in the head with my very misguided frisbee.

In my defense, how was I supposed to know that I had to look out for teenagers sitting IN a tree?!! I apologized profusely and then in pure classless fashion, asked them if I could take their picture. Hehehe....they happily obliged, saying they were flattered. Ahh.....silly boys.

So after traipsing over most of the course, we decided that our hunger pains were stronger than our will to finish out the game, so we walked all the way back to our vehicles and drove home where Heather fed us this really fabulous seafood/pasta/cheese/sauce yumminess.

I am looking forward to more days like this.

~T

SATISFYING SATURDAYS

2009-03-15T00:13:00.012-04:00

I enjoy Saturdays. It's a glorious feeling to wake up and know that the whole day is just a blank canvas. There's something gratifying about not actually having any plans. Last Saturday I went to go spend the day with Julie, who is a friend I met during one my knitting swaps. The day was spent giggling at the antics of her three year old twins, eating yummy food, watching Battlestar Galactica (which her husband had to kind of fill us in on the background story since I haven't watched the series), and of course, knitting. I taught her how to do cables, and by doing this, we came to the conclusion that the book she was using needed a new editor, because the instructions were unclear.

This Saturday, my hubby took me out to breakfast where we sat for an hour and talked over omelets and home fries and piping hot coffee. Following breakfast, we drove out to my local bead shop and I rummaged through all the great beads that reside there. Usually I go in there just to play. This time, my goal was to get an array of beads and findings to begin making the jewelry that my sister and my mother want for their birthdays. I made some earrings about a month ago, and then I couldn't wait, so I gave them to my youngest sister early. So.......more beads for me!

At this point, I have become really comfortable with the whole twisting and crimping involved with jewelry making, so it doesn't take me that long to make a pair of earrings anymore. SO, I got a little carried away. I ended up making matching bracelets to go with the earrings. I want to make a couple more sets.....one for every work day.

After making the earrings, I went back to work on the baby booties that I was inspired to make by a very talented young knitter. I can see myself making a large assortment of these cute little booties. I have already started making a large pair to give to some special family member for this coming Christmas. Never too early to start making gifts. They are ADORABLE!

For the evening, Jeff went to see Gordon Bok perform for a benefit for the Connecticut Audobon Society and because I wasn't up for the long haul, my friend Sarah and I decided to go to the movies to watch He's Just Not Into You.

If you're the type of person who loves chickie flickie movies that point out all of the slightly psycho, quasi stupid things people do concerning love and relationships, this is a good movie to watch. It wasn't a mind boggling movie, the plot line kind of slaps you in the forehead over and over and over again, but I enjoyed it. And because I have a strange mind and I guess easily distracted, I couldn't help but notice during the movie that my now completed Flat Feet sock were oh so comfy on my toes......

and that I need to go to my LYS and get a few more to throw in my sock stash........even though I JUST bought six skeins.........yeah, whatever! No one has convinced me yet that yarn addiction is a bad thing!

Now, I am going to settle in bed, and happily finish the second baby bootie.

I love, love, LOVE Saturdays. :)

~T

INTERPRETATION OF THE DANCING LADY

2009-03-05T01:13:00.009-05:00

When Jeff and I first moved in with each other, our love for each other was abundant (still is) but our bank accounts were a completely different story. Let's just say that our house decorating capabilities were limited to who was able to give us what, and how much we were able to fit into the apartment. Needless to say, it was a mish mash of stuff, but we were comfortable. Come to think of it, everything we own is still a mish mash of stuff, and we're still comfortable.....I guess we're mish mash kind of people..........anyhoo!

The first piece of artwork we purchased together was a poster that we found at Kathy John's. It was ten dollars, and it was the first thing that was affordable that we both agreed was something we should have. And I guess it is something we both still agree on because she has moved with us ever since. This is the poster:

I always wanted to reproduce this image in a textured way. There's so much movement in the dress and the woman's body, every time I looked at it, I wondered if I could make it pop off the page. I didn't want to repaint it because the original artist did a fine job. I just wanted to interpret it. Tonight I tried.

I set myself up in my living room, got comfy and started painting a background for my dancer.

Then I got out all of the paper that I have collected over the years and just started tearing them, applying them to the canvas with some decoupage glue. I started with the lower part of her dress and just kept layering. I free form cut her legs, arms and head with scissors.

And this is my interpretation of The Dancing Lady, using ripped paper.

I painted a rough mouth and eyes; I didn't really want her face to be the focus of the whole piece. I think for a first try, I did OK. I'll probably wake up tomorrow and be overly critical of it, but for now, I think she's pretty neat. I now have to find a place for her on our wall. Looks like we'll be packing up two dancing ladies if we ever move again! :)

~T

THANKFUL T'WAS ONLY SCORCHED GLASS

2009-03-04T01:23:00.005-05:00

Today I can say that I epitomized the word "stupid" to the fullest extent of its definition. I've always loved candles. I think that they give my house a warm and inviting vibe, and I always feel much cozier if I can curl up on the couch and knit by the soothing glow.

Well, tonight I went over to my friend's house for dinner and I had this nagging feeling that I had left one of the candles in the bathroom lit. Somehow, I talked myself out of worrying about it. My mental process went something like this:

'I think I left the candle lit in the bathroom'

'No......I'm pretty sure I blew it out the last time I walked past it.'

'Well, even if it is still lit, the bathroom door is shut so the cat can't knock it over, and it's in a jar, so it will smother itself and we will be fine'

'But regardless, I think I blew it out. Stop worrying.'

Here's what I found when I got home:

Not only did I leave it lit, the candle did not smother itself....it actually burned THROUGH the glass, cracking the bottom, oozing out all of the melted wax onto the counter. How could I be so careless?!!

It took me a long time to settle my nerves because all I could do was think about what might have happened if circumstances had been different. What if it was in the living room and the cat knocked it over onto the wood floors? Never mind the house burning down....all of my pets are in the house.....I don't even want to go there. I'm so grateful that everything was fine, but I have to admit that I am still a little flustered.

As I was pacing about, I noticed that my oldest cat Ivory was looking at me with her usual look of "I'm not sure why you think you're the smarter species......I think you're pretty dumb".

I'm inclined to agree with her.

~T

AN ODD SPREAD

2009-03-02T23:09:00.005-05:00

So tonight I had a very interesting culinary experience. My friend has an Australian penpal (and by pen pal, I mean chat partner....everything is done via internet these days) and he sent her a small care package that contained a tube of Vegemite.

The only time I have ever heard of this mysterious Vegemite was when I would happen to be listening to the eighties band "Men At Work" who composed the very strange song "I Come From A Land Down Under", where the main character in the song apparently partakes in a Vegemite sandwich with a lady friend.

I come from a family where my parents told me to try things at least twice, once to experience it, and the second time to make sure I really loved it or hated it. So, I tried it. Um.....it's a bit strange. First of all, it's description on the actual tube says that it's a yeast extract. That didn't really sound all that appetizing to me. But again, I'm game for just about anything, especially if it's food. It's a very thick, dark, dark brown substance, a bit sticky, supposedly chock full of vitamin B, incredibly salty (reminded me of a bouillon cube), and actually not all that bad on a Ritz cracker if used in moderation. Jeff wouldn't touch it. I wasn't surprised.

I finally buckled down today and started knitting the first of the many baby sweaters I will probably be making in the next few months. The thing that I have noticed is that I can make plans on what to knit. I love looking through books and patterns, and I have purchased several cute patterns in the last week. But for some reason, once I get started, I just find myself changing the pattern. What is wrong with me?! I think that I get a bit irritated having to look at a pattern maybe, or I just get restless and start to wonder what would happen if I did it this way instead of how it was written. I haven't figured it out. But that is indeed what happened today. I started a Debbie Bliss pattern, realized that I didn't want to do it that way, and ripped it out and started my own design. Let's hope it works out.

I've opted to work with Dreambaby DK, which is very reasonably well priced, acrylic/nylon blend. Since I know that I'm making a full basket of knitted goodies, I didn't find it necessary to spend fifty dollars on a baby sweater. Here's what I have come up with so far. I apologize.....the pictures are atrocious and the color is nowhere near the actual pretty blue I'm using, but I'm still posting them. I'll take better pictures when the sweater is completed.

I love cables, but I get bored doing the same cable over and over again. But I also wanted to do something easy. So I I alternated the length of the cables to give the sweater a little interest. I like the effect so far.

This will be the front of the sweater because it seems to be the part of every garment that I don't enjoy making. So I figured I would just get it out of the way. Isn't that weird? Anyhoo, I can't wait to see how the rest of it comes out. I have a few more ideas that I am going to try to incorporate. I'm sure there will be a lot of ripping back......but that comes with the craft, right?

~T

THE BEARS AND THE SEA AND THE MOUSE AT CHUCK E CHEESE

2009-02-27T23:47:00.009-05:00

Tonight was the grand unveiling of my niece Aubrianna's artwork at the Lutz Children's Museum. I guess several months ago her teacher had entered a few of her students' artwork to be reviewed, and her's was one of the pieces chosen to go on display. I'm not her mother, but I don't think I could be much prouder! The silly part about this whole thing was that my niece was completely oblivious to the fact that her teacher had entered it. So when I asked her what it was that I was going to see.....she informed me that she wasn't quite sure. Hehehe.

So Jeff and I hustled our rears to get to the museum in time, and it was pouring by the time we got there, which was a total bummer. The parking for that place is atrocious, so we had to park way out in the next solar system and walk through deep, fat puddles. I wouldn't have minded so much if my shoes weren't open toed and I wasn't wearing stockings. But moving on.

I want someone to explain something to me. If you're walking into a children's museum, wouldn't you want to see something a little more inviting than this?

Seriously, though?!! SERIOUSLY! And then there's a sign next to it that says "Please don't touch me. My fur will fall off"" Why would I touch that? It's a huge, dead, stuffed bear, for the love of Peter, Paul, and Mary!!!! But I sure didn't get the "Come on in, kids!" vibe. It's a frikken bear!

Again, moving on........

The place was PACKED. Being claustrophobic, this was not an ideal situation for me to be in, especially since there were like 100 children running in every which direction and screaming at the top of their lungs. The hallway is quite narrow, and I found it super amusing (?) that mothers thought that they could just plow through the crowd with their strollers. I wanted to say, "You could try slamming that stroller through the wall too, and I'm pretty sure that won't budge either." It was like they weren't even aware that they had BABIES in these strollers who probably weren't thrilled that they were being jostled into strangers who wanted to get out of the way, but couldn't.

My poor neice looked mortified. FIrst of all, we were making a big to-do about it, because we wanted her to know that we're proud of her accomplishments, even if she doesn't remember what they are....and she's not great with a ton of attention. Secondly, she didn't remember what she made, so we had no idea what we were looking for. And then EUREKA!!!, we spotted her name, and her beautiful seashell collage.

Maybe it's because I'm her aunt, but I think this is really awesome. I love her use of color and texture. There was a lot of oohing and ahhing and many hugs. I am very proud of her.

After we found the picture, Brie Brie loosened up a little bit and started exploring the rest of the museum with her brother. To stay true to the theme of the ocean, she ended up posing for this picture:

Now, if there was a picture of THIS at the entrance, I would feel like I had entered a kids' museum!

After the festivities and the ceremony, we treated the budding artist to a night out at Chuck E. Cheese. I have never been to this place. All I knew is that this was the place to be as far as my niece and nephew were concerned.

The minute I got out of the car, and saw this beaming face of this mouse that looks like he's totally up to no good, I knew that I was one hundred percent screwed! Children, children, children, EVERYWHERE! Running, jumping, screaming, kicking,......oh, brother! I like kids, but not when they appear to have lost their ever loving minds!

But I could understand the excitement. There were games everywhere. Chuck E. Cheese is a mecca of lights and sounds, games and toys. A child's dream come true. And Aubrianna was very comfortable, weaving through the colonies of children to get to her favorite games. An hour and a half later, the really yucky pizza was just about gone, every token had been played, and we were ready to go. I breathed a sigh of relief as I exited the doors of Hades.....I mean....Chuck E. Cheese, and headed home.

Now I'm in bed, popping another antibiotic for my tooth infection. Other than that, it's been a great day. I'm a happy auntie. :)

~T

FORGETFULNESS BEGETS SEEDS & CABLES

2009-02-27T00:39:00.010-05:00

People who knit, crochet, quilt, paint, draw, whatever, have the tendency of having several projects going at the same time. It's this bizarre insanity that seems to come over us eventually. My reasons for starting projects vary. I usually have a project going where I know that I have to think about just about every stitch in order for it to come out right, and these are what I call my challenging projects. Then I have those projects where I can just knit away as I talk to friends, watch TV or listen to an audio book. These are my mindless projects.

Tonight, I went to my knitting group with the intention of finishing the second sock. If you've made a ton of socks like I have, it's safe to call it fairly mindless knitting. I had my lace scarf tucked into one of the bags, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to focus on the chart and still be an active participant. So, the sock was a sure bet. I got to my knitting destination, sat down and got settled, and realized I forgot the stupid sock at home. Hmmph.

Digging through my two bags, I had to then decide what I was going to knit. My friend laughed at me because she said that no matter where I went, every time she saw me, I always had a huge stash of yarn to knit with. Well, thank goodness, because I needed SOMETHING. I finally settled on working with the rest of the Sublime Extrafine Merino Wool that I had used to make the baby sweater with. I cast on 30 stitches, started knitting, and by row three of seed stitch, decided I needed to throw in a very basic cable and make myself a scarf.

I am using size five Harmony needles, and even though I wasn't planning on making another scarf anytime soon, I am enjoying it. I love stashes. That's all I've got to say about that.

I must have been talking about my experience of Fiddler on the Roof quite a bit, because my hubby came home from a visit with his parents bearing a gift. His mother just happened to be browsing (which means she was purposefully shopping for me) and she came across something she thought would make me very happy. Now, I have owned a copy of this movie pretty much as long as I can remember. I owned it on video cassette (it was on two tapes because it was too long to fit on one), I owned the DVD full screen, the DVD wide screen, the DVD with an hours worth of extra footage.....but I've never owned one with this particular cover. So JACKPOT!! Hehehe. That was very nice of her. I guess it's no mystery what I will be watching before I go to bed, huh?

Speaking of bed.................

~T

ARRIVING IN ESTONIA

2009-02-26T00:16:00.003-05:00

I have my book! Yay! Knitted Lace of Estonia was recommended to me by a fellow knitter, and once I got my hands on it, it just seemed like the obvious, natural progression from Arctic Lace. I think what attracted me to these two books is the beautiful way in which they are written. It's almost not about the patterns.....it's more about the story behind the pattern. The history of lace in these regions and the people, as well as the tradition of how these particular lace patterns were made. So I am learning a lot, and have a heightened sense of respect for these amazing knitters.

There's just something about knitting with very fine yarn that makes me happy. Lace, for me, regardless of what state of mind I'm in, is a process where I am relishing every stitch, every motion, every row. I'm not concerned about speed. As a matter of fact, the scarf I am working on is probably one of the most relaxing projects I've ever made. It's not about speed and when will I get to the end. But I'm not going to lie. I love looking at each row, watching the star take shape. According to the pattern, I have three more stars to go. I might make it a little longer.

OK, so now that I know that one of my friend's is expecting a boy, I've been building a small fortress of yarn and potential patterns. You can never have too much, right? Hehehe.. Well, you know how it is. It's very hard to just make one thing. I'm going to design a little sweater for the wee one, but I also think I'm going to make the EZ Baby Surprise Sweater. I've helped a few people make them, but I myself have never made one. I have a super cute pattern for baby booties, using a fingering weight yarn, which I have plenty of. And there's a very pretty cabled baby hat in the Debbie Bliss book which I would love him to have.

Now to choose which one to make first.

~T

LUMPY AND BUMPY

2009-02-23T23:23:00.004-05:00

There was a bit of excitement tonight at the bowling alley. A member of our league bowled a perfect 300 hundred game. It wasn't me.......surprise, surprise! Hehe. My strategy is a combination of semi-skill and talking to my bowling ball, hoping that coaxing it will help it's journey down the lane. Sometimes it works...other times it shows me a certain arrogance which only convinces me that it belongs in the gutter.

As always, Jeff had his camera handy and to be nice, he took a picture of the screen so that the perfect bowler could have a nice piece of memorabilia to place on her fireplace mantle, or wherever it is that people place their bowling moments.

And I finally hunkered down today and took a few pictures of my inspired ridged hat. After making the scarf, (which I happily wore to see Topol.....I'm still not over meeting him), my friend Sarah was devastated that I had blocked out all of the bumps that had manifested themselves in the scarf due to the short rowing. She begged me to leave it bumpy, and I said that as odd as I can be at times, I wasn't quite in the mood to don a bumpy scarf. So I blocked it. And she pouted.

Now, I was not about to make another scarf. As fun as it was, I had other things to knit. But I decided to put a little smile on Sarah's face, and I surprised her with this design:
And I left it bumpy! Not only did I get smiles, I got hugs, and she jumped around and wore it ALL DAY for four days straight! When she likes something, she really, really likes it.

I started it off in the round, but because of the short rowing at the beginning of the round, it was a very weird transition. For the first few ridges, I tried a series of alternating stitches on the needles, crossing them...but the join was still a little off. So I just decided to just work in the round where I could and then seam it up where I couldn't. Because I decided this mid-project, and then I forgot to put it together with a stronger yarn, the seam isn't perfect, but I know what to do for the next time I choose to make the hat.

After this picture was taken, I have also decided that the next time this hat is on my needles, I will make it a snood. It looks slouchy in this photo and I like how it just slumps; but in reality, it's a fitted hat. But it's bumpy, and according to Sarah, that's all that matters!

~T

THE SCROLLS, THE BEADS, AND THE GREEN FELINE

2009-02-22T01:38:00.007-05:00

Today was another day of meds and fluids. At this point I think I must have a sinus infection and the pressure that has been building up in the cavity behind my face has proven to be almost unbearable. I will be taking a trip to a doctor tomorrow to see if I can make this go away.

I didn't do any knitting today. I couldn't decide if I wanted to work on the sock some more, or some lace work, or start something new. So, I just opted to leave it alone until I knew for certain what I wanted to play with. Instead, I decided to sort all of my beads. In the past couple of months, I have been trying to categorize all of my beads and findings, making sure that my finished pieces stay together in their own space.

I had purchased some pretty scroll pins and just for the fun of running my hands through my beads, I tried to see how many different combinations I could come up with, without making the process complicated. I was looking more for variety as opposed to intricacy. The pictures aren't great and not all of them are my favorites, but they will make great gifts for my sister's upcoming birthday.

Here is the lone ranger. I found this amusing glass cat at my local bead shop when I went shopping with my close friend. She ended up getting some pink cats and we made some cute earrings with them. Alas, this poor guy is all alone because in all the hubbub, his partner's ear snapped off. So is the life of the glass cat. But Anne (the owner of the shop) ordered some more for me, so his mate shall be with him shortly. He looks a bit regal, despite his green complexion.

Back to knitting tomorrow. But for now, good night!

~T

KNITTING FOR BUNDLES

2009-02-20T22:12:00.010-05:00

I thought I would be feeling far better today than I actually did. All the medication really did was make me groggy and out of sorts, which in turn makes me cranky and annoyed.

My friend Karrie had a baby at the beginning of January, and for a while, I was rushing to try to get a baby sweater finished. It came out of the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino book, which I think is an adorable compilation of classic, really useful baby garments, hats and blankets.

And I guess I'm in luck, because I have three friends who are now expecting babies. Not that I was fearful that I would EVER run out of things to knit, but at least now I know what a few of my projects will be. :)

Anyway, I rushed and rushed, and then ended up going over to Karrie's house for a small gathering when her baby was about two weeks old. At that point, we were all knitting, and it didn't make any sense not to work on it, so I showed her what I was planning on giving to her and her cute little bundle. Thankfully, she loved it.....and then I was less stressed and took my time. I have run the ribbon through the eyelets. I need to just finish the collar, and block it. It's a very sweet sweater. I'm hoping at least one of my friends is having a little girl so that I can make it again. Here it is.

The top of the garment and sleeves were done in a seed stitch, and it took me three separate trips to find the right color ribbon to run through the eyelets. I think I found the right one, though.

I worked a little bit more on my sock today. I still think it's amazing how it looks so different when it's worked up.

I made the leg about five and a half inches long instead of the eight inches that the pattern calls for because I hate socks that come up too high. It might have to do with the fact that I have the hefty calf of a baby moose........but moving on. I've turned the heel, and I'm just about done decreasing to the point where I can knit senselessly for a while. Let's see if I can at least get to the toe tonight before I go to bed.

More realistically, let's see if I can knit a few more inches. I'm beat.

~T

STUFFY NOSE, FLAT FEET

2009-02-20T01:46:00.005-05:00

Stashes are a great thing! I've been working fervently on my lace scarf and I'm really surprised that I'm enjoying it as much as I am. I have three and a half stars completed. The pattern calls for nine stars, so I'm well on my way. Of course, the nice comments help, so thank you! However, I have not felt great the last couple of days. I have a terrible cold and here is what my diet has consisted of for the last two days:

There's nothing like Sudafed, fruit juice and throat lozenges for breakfast. Blech! But I'm getting better. Anyhoo, with my head feeling like someone had stuffed it with goose down, I wasn't really in the best state of mind to follow a chart to work on my lace scarf. Believe me, I tried....but the symbols kept switching places with each other.

But I couldn't spend the day not knitting, right? Right. So I went digging through my stash, because I wasn't up to going to the yarn shop either. And I found the Flat Feet that I had wanted to try knitting a long time ago but never got around to. I like knitting socks; it's fairly mindless until you get to the heel, so that's what I started tonight.

Here's what it starts off as:

I personally think it's kind of neat that it's already knit up and I get to unravel is as I go along, watching my surprise sock unfurl. My knitting friends weren't impressed. They thought it was kind of dumb to undo something that was already knit up. Thank goodness it's my sock!! Hehehe!

And here is the sock cuff (it's all I was able to do....apparently I knit a lot slower when I'm sick too).

Isn't that pretty, though? I'm excited to see the whole sock done! I'm going to try to knit a few more rows, then it's more Sudafed and I'm off to bed.

~T

Knitting Lace Like the Alaskans Do

2009-02-17T09:10:00.007-05:00

I've been ogling my friend's hand knit lace wonders, and finally decided that I wanted to tackle lace weight yarn. I have worked some lace patterns before, but I was using a worsted weight cotton. After perusing my LYS I found a very pretty, almost navy lace weight alpaca, which I of course squished to my face for several minutes before I purchased it.

I have two lace books on their way to me via UPS (A Gathering of Lace and Knitted Lace of Estonia), so I figured that I was well stocked with patterns, since I didn't want to go too crazy. What if I don't like knitting lace? Of course, my eyes fell on a lace book, my hands snatch it, I read the first few pages, and now I own it. It is called Arctic Lace by Donna Druchunas, and it is a wonderful compilation of patterns and stories of the knitters of Oomingmak Musk Ox Producers' Co-operative and their signature laces.

Here is the scarf that I would like to make:

Here's my first attempt (and by first I mean third......it's funny how things don't work out when you read the chart incorrectly - hehehe):

With my gauge on a size three needle, the scarf was a little wider than I wanted, so I am just knitting the center star without the border diamonds. And,who knew......I like knitting lace. Looks like I might need a bigger bookcase.

~T

Fiddler On the Roof, High as A Kite!!

2009-02-15T23:38:00.005-05:00

I can honestly say that I have reached a new level of happy! Oh my gosh! Tonight my friend Sarah and I went to go see Topol (the original Tevye in the movie The Fiddler on the Roof) on stage in providence, in the play version of Fiddler on the Roof.

OK, I've always been a musical junkie. If a movie had sung dialogue, I was all about it. Watching live shows always made me giddy.....but I had NO IDEA how exciting this experience would be for me.

The first time I saw the movie I was five years old, and even at that age, I was mesmerized by the humor and the imminent sadness that was woven throughout the film. As I got older, it was one of those movies that I had to watch at least four or five times a year. When I met my husband who is a movie fanatic, I found myself not only watching that movie all the time, but it would be in my DVD player every night as I fell asleep to the music. Granted, some people would say it was an obsession.........alas, I am comfortable with obsession.

Needless to say, even though I knew I would be in this state of amazement once the show started, I did not expect the tears. I literally cried when Topol stepped out onto the stage. I can't explain it. I really can't. This man's voice is such a remarkable instrument and he is sooooo awesome, I don't understand how he doesn't kiss himself repeatedly.

The play was better than I could have ever imagined. So of course, before I left the house, Jeff hands me a Sharpie just in case I need to get an autograph from Topol. I was a bit irritated because why would Topol sign anything for me? Why would he wait around on a Sunday night for Whacky McQuacky me to get an autograph? So I put it in my purse to appease him, and went to the play.

After the play, Sarah and I waited in the lobby for Jeff to bring the car around, and since we're in the middle of Providence, there's traffic up the wazoo, so it's taking a while. Sarah and I get antsy, so we decide that we are going to walk the few blocks to meet up with him. After walking a block and a half, we see a group of about fifteen people huddling on the street corner and the entire road is barricaded with police cars and trucks. At first I thought someone had gotten into an accident.....so I ask the police officer, "What's going on here?"

His response was a nugget of gold: "If you want to see him, you have to get in the back of the line because these folks were here first". Seriously.........seriously. So you know I jumped in that line, grabbed my Sharpie, put my phone on picture mode, and thought I was going to pee from excitement.

Eight minutes later, my friend and I were ushered into Topol's dressing room, and it took everything in my power to stop myself from jumping on this very pleasant, smiling man. I walk up to him and I whisper as I hand him my playbill, "I have loved you since I was five years old." And then I did my happy dance. He laughed, signed my book, (turns out he had his own Sharpie) and said "Come close, get close to me" and with one arm around each of us, we got the picture I never thought I would ever get in my whole life.

I just laid my head on this man's shoulder like it was meant to be there from day one. He laughed at my enthusiasm, told me it was nice to meet me, thanked me for going to see him (ummmm.....yeah, NO!!! Thank YOU, Topol!) and we were on our way. I giggled and sighed happily all the way home.

I am still giggling and sighing....................

~T

SO MANY MEDIUMS, SO LITTLE TIME!

2009-02-04T19:23:00.005-05:00

When one door slams in your face, another door opens, right? Right! And the door I opened happened to be hiding all of the hobbies and passions I have picked up over the years..... and I'm about neck deep in all of it! Hehehe. It's amazing how many things I forgot I loved to do....it's a bit scary, actually. But exciting.

I checked out one of my friend's blogs today and it only confirmed what I have known for a long time...artists are very rarely only good at one thing. This friend is someone I met through our love of knitting, and of course I know we are multi-faceted just because of the fact that we are human beings, but it was still great to be reminded that there is always more. Always more. Looking at her self designed, hand made dolls and reading about a few of the things she is interested in, it made me happy that I am actually in a place where I can embrace the other things in my life that make me complete. I thanked her for inspiring me the other day. I guess I'll have to thank her again. Hehehe.

For the last few days I have been working on a very beautiful project that had originally aspired to be an afghan, but as I continue to work on it, I truly feel that with me, it will be much happier in the form of a scarf. And I asked myself if it was a laziness thing (because after all I can get a bit overwhelmed and dread the idea of having to work on a project long term) but it turns out that I have a stronger desire to make the Great American Aran Afghan, which is something that I have wanted to do for at least the last year and a half. So, I think another two feet and the scarf will be a done deal....and then onward and upward.

My sewing machine is out and oiled and I have been making lined upholstered bags with my mother in law. She grew up in Pennsylvania and apparently lived next door to a seamstress who taught her all these nifty little tricks to make the sewing experience a fun one. Imagine that! So, I'm learning as we listen and hum to Gershwin show tunes...

Speaking of show tunes, my friend Sarah and I are actually going to see the Fiddler On The Roof (which is one of my FAVORITE musical movies) and get this: Topol (who is the original Tevya in the movie) is reclaiming his place as the original and the best. TOPOL!!!

I'm super, super, super excited, although I can't help but laugh at the reaction of both my mother and father in law when they found out Topol was still acting. "WHAT?!! HE"S STILL ALIVE?!!" Hehehe. Poor Topol. No matter; I think he'll be awesome just because.

Anyway, I'm sitting here waiting for my hubs to get back with a lightbox. We are going to spend the next couple of hours taking pictures of the jewelry that I've been making. With a lot of pushing and nudging from the nice lady who owns the bead shop down the road from where I live, I have finally decided to sell some of them online.

Etsy will be my first place to try them out, and then Jeff is working on a personal website for me so that I can really explore and continue to venture in all of the neat things I like to do while sharing it with others. So, the next few months will be busy, I think. I would like to get some of my small quilted things up, my jewelry, the cool bags I've been designing, of course interesting knitted goodies, and maybe one or two of my smaller oil paintings (although, I get a bit shy about my paintings and drawings).

The lightbox is here, so off I go. Maybe I'll be able to get some of my pics up tonight. Then again, maybe not.

~T

Settled and Happy

2009-01-16T00:54:00.006-05:00

I know, I know....it's January 16th and this is when I am talking about the New Year. Fine, it has taken me a couple of weeks to settle into 2009, but I'm here, and I'm settled.

Being Thursday night, I spent the evening with my knitting family at the shop where I spend most of my time, and I had the pleasure of meeting my friend Karrie's brand new baby. What a darling, little package of cuteness drizzled in honey! Even though I am no way ready to fulfill my hubby's all time dream of having six children, (even one for that matter) I can't help but oooh and aaah when I see newborns.

It's not just the cuteness and the awesome baby sounds. It's more about the moment that I get to look into the eyes of a human being whose viewpoint of the world is not yet tainted, and I feel hopeful for them, for me, for all. It's weird, because really, how the hell do I know what a baby is thinking about, but I know that I am hopeful. I have decided that I can probably watch a mother cradle her baby for a very long time and not be even a wee bit bored with it.

It also reminded me to be so thankful for my own mother who raised her family as a single mom, working her butt off to make sure that there was always food on our table, but always made sure that she was there to be the nurturer as well as the provider. She showed me how intelligent and powerful women can be, and she taught me that it needed to be done with no apologies. I,as an adult with a mere handful of responsibilities, am in awe of the dedication of this woman who worked a full time job during the day and taught college courses at night, who combed my hair, and chased me through the sprinkler on hot summer days; who baked four different kinds of cakes every Saturday morning and composed classical lullabies with a Caribbean beat on the piano to lull us to sleep; who encouraged each and everyone of her children and made us believe that we could do whatever we wanted to do, but she wanted us to be humble in our successes and accomplishments. I am in awe oh her. So now that her six children are grown, I hope that she can be proud of the people that we are, as well as take credit for the good things that come from us.

So, I called my mother when I got in the car to go home. It was about half past 11 at night but I wanted to tell her how awesome I think she is. I got the response I thought I would. "Oh, Tatoue, you're crazy. I love you, but you're crazy". And then she laughed. Ahhhhh....music to my ears. What more could I want?

Ummmm.......sleep perhaps?

~T

Happy Me!

2009-01-03T00:18:00.003-05:00

I just have to say that I had the most awesome birthday today! I want to write so much about it but I am so tired, I will save the details for tomorrow. But I am so blessed to have such awesome family and friends. And I mean AWESOME! Everyone went out of their way to make me feel so special through their words and their actions. I smiled all day! Tomorrow, when I am awake and can portray a cohesive thought, I will sit and write to share all of the wonderful events of my birthday!

Oh....and I'm lucky that my Jeffie believes in celebrating a birthday week, so I can't even imagine how awesome the next six days are going to be. I love my people!

~ T

Rationalizing Yoda

2008-12-23T06:45:00.003-05:00

I wonder why I thought shopping for stocking stuffers was synonymous to actually Christmas shopping. I had this cunning plan this year that I would do everything in advance. All of my purchases would be made online so that my claustrophobic self wouldn't have to deal with the pushy, no-eye-contact-making, "I shall stampede you to death", idiots who are racing to make sure little Dick and Jane have lots of gifts under the tree this year.

I'm not being mean. It's just that I can't ignore that I now live in an era where people actually are killed because they unknowingly got in the way of a purchase. Anyhoo, I digress. So, as you may have guessed, I waited until the last minute to actually get any of my real shopping done. I have been working furiously, getting all of my knitting projects done for my family. I have this strange desire to make sure that they all have something handmade from me. (that might have something to do with the fact that I love them more than life, but call it a hunch)

So, I have two and 3/4 children's sweaters done, 1 1/2 scarves, an awesome hat, some bookmarks and a Bible cover. I'm kind of freaking out because I'm not really sure that my nephew is going to appreciate wearing a sweater that has no neck. But I could be wrong. Kids are weird that way.

Jeff and I finally decided to hunker down and just shop. SO, that's what we did. For four hours we walked around shops debating over who wanted what. As I strolled (and I strolled because I don't walk fast for anybody), I found myself reminiscing to the days when Christmas was stress free. You know, when I was six, when all I had to do was stick some uncooked noodles on a piece of construction paper, title it "Best Mommy And Daddy" and suddenly I was the new Degas.

I'm not sure if it was because I was raised in a Haitian family, but we never were asked to make Santa a list. My mother asserted that Santa always knew what we wanted. As an adult "strolling" through Target, I now understand that statement to mean "You will be grateful for whatever I get you......and if you're not, get a job". Ahhhh, reality.

Alright, so I'm trying to be a bit more traditional, running through the mental list of items I knew my neice and nephews showed interest in. Alex likes anything having to do with Star Wars and Transformers, Aubrianna has become a musical junkie,....meaning she loves musicals. So she really wanted "Hairspray" the movie, and anything having to do with High School Musical. Okey-Dokey. Ethan is three, so basically he just wants whatever his cousins are playing with at the time. Thank God he's still easy to please.

OK.....toy aisle......Star Wars figurines.......24 dollars. EXCUSE ME?!! I got the shoes I had on my feet on sale for fourteen dollars.....and I wear them every day!!!

Again, I found myself thinking back to my childhood. This time I'm nine, Jenny is seven and Joey is is three and the world has lost its lid over this phenomenon called the Cabbage Patch Kids. Remember them? Yup. 75 dollars apiece for those suckers.

So....here comes Christmas and I think that I should be the spokesperson and I state very sweetly that since we have been glitter dusted angel children all year long, it would be awfully nice if Santa (you know, Mom) would get each of us our very own Cabbage Patch Kid. And oh, make sure they look like us because that's the whole point of having one....they look like your babies. Reasonable request, I thought. I wasn't a very bright kid.

So, Christmas comes, and I know that Santa didn't let me down because I saw three boxes under the tree that looked like the temporary home of the Cabbage Patch Kid Dolls. Jenny and I give each other excited looks, and we tear into the boxes......and we say hello to our new not quite Cabbage Patch Kid doll. I mean, in retrospect, the dolls were really cute, but I don't know......the blonde yarn curly hair and hand painted blue eyes didn't really have us convinced that these were the babies we had requested to look JUST like us.

So, I turned the doll over, hiding my disappointment, and I decided to look for the proof. I pulled the pants down and looked for the authentic "Xavier" signature on the baby's bottom. To my horror, (not really shock), my fears were confirmed. This baby was an imposter!

"Mom!", I pouted. "These aren't real!" She didn't even blink as she said with her smooth Haitian accent, "What's not real about it?" My brain starts screaming, "Don't answer her, it's a trap! TRICK QUESTION, TRICK QUESTION!". My father put his guitar down which was not a good sign. It meant the merriment had officially left the room. "DON'T ANSWER, YOU CRAZY PERSON". Brain. Still talking. Eh....,whatever. I answered.

"This doll does not have the 'Xavier' signature on it's butt and that's the ONLY way we know that it's a real Cabbage Patch Kid Doll". I got her. How could she argue? I got the eyebrow raise (the same one my Jeff gives me at least once a day) and she gets up from the couch without saying a word.

Oh my God, I ruined Christmas! I felt horrible. I was a spoiled brat who wasn't grateful for my gifts and now I had hurt my Mom's feelings and I ruined Christmas for everyone.

I was about to get up to beg for forgiveness when my mother came back into the living room. Sitting back down on the couch, she quietly leans over and snatches my poser doll out of my hands. Oh no......now she was taking it away and I would have NO doll. This was horrible. I tried to apologize for my impertinence but I got the look again, so I just shut my mouth.

Without a word, she pulls the pants down, and with a laundry marker she writes in beautiful cursive letters "Xavier" on the right butt cheek. She blows on it to dry the ink, puts the cap back on the marker, and says softly, "Is that better?" I could only stare. A full minute went by before Jenny couldn't contain herself any longer and just fell over laughing. And then I started laughing. And of course three year old Joey laughed because she was three, for crying out loud.

And then most importantly, my mother let out that great laugh that only she has, and she says "Be happy with what you receive, little girl". And I was, because I then realized that only I knew who the real Xavier was.

So, on that note, I contemplated.... how many signatures was I willing to forge this Christmas? The answer? None. The Star Wars figurines are in the process of being wrapped as I type. And besides, Yoda is kind of cute.

More later.........

~T

Simply Sweet Celtic Beret

2008-11-09T13:48:00.004-05:00

My Simply Sweet Celtic Beret is complete and thank God Renee has the perfect head to model it! I tend to have a large dome (lots of good stuff in there, I'm hoping) and I like hats that are not constricting, so I make a lot of big things. However, for those of you who have normal noggins, I have also included the pattern for a smaller size beret. If the link I have included works, you'll find the pattern and you'll be on your way. If it doesn't work, it's on Ravelry. If you're not on Ravelry......ummmmm, what are you waiting for? No seriously, if you want to make the hat, and the link doesn't work, get a hold of me and I'll send you the pattern.

http://knittingwithtasha.110mb.com/Patterns/SIMPLY%20SWEET%20CELTIC%20BERET.pdf

But anyhoo, I'm going to make it again.....this yarn was a little too smooshy for my taste and the lines of the celtic knot aren't really crisp. Of course, this could have something to do with the fact that I'm still learning, but more knowledgeable knitters agreed with the notion that the yarn had way to much give.

But the color combiniation makes me happy, and the ribbing is kind of neat since it changes midway from one color to the next. I'm happy the hat is complete, I'm happy that it "works", but I'm also happy that I can see what I don't like about it but I know I like it enough to find better options! I'm rambling....but oh well, that's what I'm known for.

So, I'm off to complete my knitting swap partners package.....her handmade gift is done, and I shall be posting that once it's mailed out and received. I just have a few more things that I would like to put in the treasure box so that it's a nice gift and not just a mediocre gift. Who needs mediocre? We should always aspire for awesome.

Ummm......and by the way, we have a new president. :)

T

CROCHETED FINGERLESS GLOVES

2008-11-03T23:31:00.004-05:00

These fingerless gloves are super quick and easy to make. They are gorgeous in self striping yarn so feel free to express yourself! If you are a new crocheter, this is a satisfying project. Make a bunch of them and remember, these can be tried on as you go, so don't be afraid to add some stitches or remove
some to fit your hand better. Adjust them until they are perfect for you and have fun!

Aran weight Yarn
Size G hook

Chain 8
Row 1 : SC in second chain from hook. SC across row. Chain 1 (this is your turning chain). Turn Work.

Repeat row one until piece measures 7 inches. End row.

Fold the piece end to end (first row to last row) and sew together. This is your cuff.

Along top edge (this is whichever edge you choose to be the top) pick up and SC 36 stitches. Place a marker to indicate the start of the round.

Continue to single crochet in the round until the entire piece (cuff included) measures 5 inches,

CREATING THUMB

SC until four stitches before your marker. Now with stitch still on hook, insert hook into the fourth stitch after marker and slip stitch. This creates the hole for your thumb. Continue to SC around the hand portion of the glove (28 stitches) until the entire piece (cuff included) measures 7 1⁄2 inches or until it fits your hand to your liking. Tie off your last stitch and weave in the ends.

MAKING THUMB

SC in the eight remaining stitches of the thumb and place a marker to indicate the beginning of your round. SC in every stitch for 1 1⁄2 inches or until the thumb fits you to your liking. Tie off last stitch and weave in your ends. You have completed your first glove. Now make the second one!!

Sock It To Me Cabled Cap

2008-10-30T13:37:00.004-04:00

I have finally decided to add my Sock It To Me Cabled Cap to my blog for anyone who is interested in making it for themselves or someone they love. It's a simple pattern using the sock yarn of your choice. The brim is a cable floating in garter stitches and you just pick up the edges and knit in the round till you've got a very comfortable hat! Hope you enjoy making it!

P.S. If anyone has already made this hat and would like to share your project with my readers, I would love it if you sent me some pics! Thanks!

SOCK IT TO ME CABLED CAP

Gauge: 7 stitches to the inch. I used a size two 16 inch circular needle, but you can use double pointed
needles.
Set up rows.
Cast on 30 stitches
K 10, Place marker, knit ten, place marker, knit 10
Knit 10, slip marker, purl ten, slip marker, knit 10
Row 1: Knit 10, slip marker, slip 5 stitches onto cable needle and hold in front of work, knit next five
stitches, knit five stitches from cable needle, knit 10.
Row 2: Knit 10, slip marker, purl 10, slip marker, knit 10
Row 3: Knit 10, slip marker, knit ten, slip marker, knit 10
Row 4: Knit 10, slip marker, purl ten, slip marker, knit 10
Row 5: Repeat row # 3
Row 6: Repeat row # 4
Row 7: Repeat row # 3
Row 8: Repeat row # 4
This is your cable pattern.
Repeat rows 1- 8 until your piece has 90 garter ridges. Bind off. Sew cast on edge and Bound off edge
together. This is the brim of the hat.
Pick up 160 along the brim of the hat. Place marker to identify beginning of row.
Knit in the round until the body of your hat is 9 inches deep.
Decrease round: *Knit 15, knit 2 together*. Repeat until end of row.
Next row: Knit
Next row: * Knit 14, knit 2 together*. Repeat until end of row.
Next row: * Knit 13, knit 2 together*. Repeat until end of row.
Next row: Knit
Continue in this fashion until you have 16 stitches remaining. Break yarn, leaving at least 8 inches.
With a darning needle, thread yarn through remaining stitches, cinching top of hat closed. Weave in your ends.

ENJOY!!!

BOO HOO, I HATE THE FLU!

2008-10-24T01:09:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago Jeff and I went to IKEA and purchased a new bed, and thanks to the flu, I spent a lot of time in it! Initially the plan was to get a bed that was low to the ground so that Benji, our little arthritic Shitzu-Terrier mix can now jump up whenever he pleases without grunting in the middle of the night for me to pick him up. Since I sleep very little, it's a bit annoying to finally doze off to find myself being nudged awake by a whining little marshmallow dog. He's cute, and old, but it's annoying. And what's more irritating is that now that the bed is set up, Benji seems to like to sleep in his doggie bed now....right NEXT to the new bed! I've been trying to get him to sleep in his own bed for years, and now that I've tried to accomodate the little bugger, he has found a whole new appreciation for his own bed. Hmmmm.....

This flu came and placed me firmly on my rear. It was a bit rude, I think. No introductions, no warning....just "oh, and by the way, you're sick as a poisoned toad and you'll be in bed for a week". I'm sure if I were really able to remember and compare my different moments of illness, this flu could be comparable to other bouts I've had in the past. But since I can't remember......this is the worse I've ever felt!!

It started with a sore throat, which only aggravated me. By the next morning, I couldn't even straighten myself out on the bed. My back spasmed for days and I had a fever that wouldn't let up. Jeff worked from home the majority of the week to make sure that he could help me if I needed to get out of bed; but I felt horrible. I didn't even look at my knitting for days.

And of course, this all came after I had to postpone my tooth surgery due to another infection. It just seemed that everything was collapsing around me all at once. The one thing I did learn this last couple of weeks is that I am a huge baby when I'm sick. HUGE.

So tonight is the first night that I've been able to be out in public for more than 2 1/2 hours without being completely exhausted and I enjoyed sitting with my friends again at the knitting table, laughing until my lungs felt like they were either going to explode or be coughed out. I guess the only thing I can do is take things slowly and just be optimistic that I'll feel better with every day that passes.

Now I have to make sure that I am truly on my feet by Sunday. My in-laws are reconsecrating their wedding vows in honor of their 36th anniversary. It is a surprise party for the "bride" and I'm in shock that she is still clueless as to the big day. First of all, my sister in law keeps slipping with certain details, apparantly uncertain as to what the word "surprise" means. Thankfully, her mother never picks up on any of it. But then again, she doesn't pick up on much. She's not stupid.....just a little disconnected with her surroundings.

And Irving (my father in law) tries to talk about the plans with me, but because he's almost completely deaf, he speaks VERY LOUDLY. His whisper is louder than my outside voice. So there have been many conversations in which I sprinkled the word "shhhhhhhh!!" quite generously. Oh well. I think it will be lovely whether she knows about it or not. Now........let's hope he really gets more thank bagels for the reception............

T

THE ROOT IS ON FIRE

2008-09-12T23:20:00.006-04:00

I haven't written in a while and I think it had a lot to do with the fact that I really didn't want to look back and see how many days I actually went being a stressed out ball of yuck. It's difficult being in a constant state of mind where you feel like you are compromising your own right to happiness for the happiness of others.

I may be more sensitive than I would like to be, but I have learned to appreciate my sensitivity. I find that it's probably the only thing that keeps me human and somewhat sane. And it's the same thing that makes me vulnerable. A double edged sword. I had a friend tell me that I care too much. "People hurt you because you care too much." I"m not really sure there is such a thing as caring too much. But I do know that there is such a thing as respect and love and friendship and appreciation. You know...the stuff they teach you in kindergarten.

So, quite frankly, the last month I found myself looking for the genuine acts of respect and love and friendship and appreciation, and felt like I came up short. Why would I write about it? What's the point of dwelling on something that I can not change......especially when I know that I am not responsible for that change. I can only change the way I react to the negative things I encounter in my own life and hope that I can grow.

Anyhoo, on a completely positive note, I finished my swap with my new friend Julie, and she really seemed to love the package that I put together for her. There is something really exhilarating about gathering goodies for a person you know very little about and hoping that your instincts are right.

She sent me these beautifully knit napkin holders, two knitting mystery novels, which totally rock because I am a mystery wacko, the cutest little lamb and yarn stamp and ink pad, candies, cheese stitch markers, gorgeous yarn, a crochet hedgehog kit, a toy for my muppy puppies, praline candies and gummy lobsters that Jeff devoured upon open seeing them. Oh, and a beading magazine and some beads, which I think I will turn into stitch markers.....for myself of course, because I think I should make something for myself. And the greatest thing is that she only lives about forty minutes away ( I think) so we are planning on having lunch sometime soon and meeting in person! Fun, fun!!!

Of course because I'm a tool, I say "fun, fun" and the party pooper part of my brain reminds me that I have to take the stupid antibiotic that has been making me feel sick for the last three days and schedule an appointment for the root canal that I need to have done on my second molar. Yippee for me!! Ugh! You know, sometimes I really wished I had a one tracked mind! Or at least a mind that made a little bit of sense. Could you imagine me playing that word association game? You know, the one where someone says a word and you say the first thing that comes to your mind. It would go something like this:

Word: Yarn
My Answer: Knitting

Word: Knitting
My Answer: Swapping

Word: Swapping
My Answer: Julie

Word: Julie
My Answer: Pralines (Yummmmm!!)

Word: Pralines
My Answer: Sweet (Double Yum!!)

Word: Sweet
My Answer: Toothache (umm....what?)

Word: Tootache
My Answer: Infection (ugh)

Word: Infection
My Answer: Root Canal

You see!!! I'm nuts! I went from Yarn to Root Canal!! Hehe. Oh well. That's me, I guess. Kookoocachoo! At least I feel more like myself than I have in a while which is a good thing because when I am myself, I find that my smile hangs around for a long time, despite the occassional dischords.

-T

2008-08-25T22:05:00.002-04:00

So, I went bowling tonight and I'm not quite sure that I know what the purpose of a bowling ball is. You would think by looking at me that I have never seen a bowling ball, never mind actually using it! Sucky McGoo is all I can say. And being that tonight was the championship night, you would assume that I would be at the top of my game and play well. Um,.....that would be no. But at least I had a good time and the prize money was enough for me to pay for my spinning class that I have tomorrow with Peggy Church.

My friend Linda and I are going to spin. I've never done it before, but since I am addicted to yarn, this seems like the next logical progression. I'm very excited about it. I'm not sure I'll be successful, but excited none the less.

The shop is now chock full of beautiful new yarn! And of course, I can say chock full and you think...."oh, new yarn". I mean CHOCK FULL. We were all sitting at the table, sorting the gazillion patterns that Sandee has acquired, and then all of a sudden the UPS truck literally backs up right to the door (we thought he was going to run into the shop, he was so close), and boxes upon boxes just came out. We weren't sure they would all fit.

We all just went to work. What else could we do? SO MUCH YARN, and because there was so much I don't even think that I was able to process just how beautiful these new skeins are. I didn't really get a chance to touch them, or even look at them, for that matter. But knitting is definitely going to be that much more satisfying because our options are endless now.

I'm trying to put my week in order, and I fear that I will not complete all the tasks that need to get done. The dress, to be more specific. It's really just finishing work, but I tend to get really picky, so I can't really force myself to rush, because I want it to be as close to perfect as I can get it, ya know? I'm not the type to do a hack job, even though the person who will be wearing the dress would deserve it if the entire ensemble just fell apart. Hehe...that would be funny. Mean and probably a tad bit distracting, but funny.

I'm trying to stay optimistic without freaking out, but, yikes.....a little scary. I'm just going to try to take it all in stride. I wish I had a cheesecake right now. That would help.....

-T

OVEREXTENDED

2008-08-24T23:15:00.006-04:00

I have to say that I have felt twenty years older the last week or so. Jeff actually purchased a heating pad because my back was spasming. That is so not good. Although I could act like this is surprising, I really have run myself ragged. I am in the finishing stages of my friend's bridesmaid's dress, and there's a level of pride in what I have accomplished, because I know that I have taken my time and I was meticulous in the construction of the dress. HOWEVER, it's really hard to feel joy when you feel like you're not appreciated.

I rushed to her mother's house on Wednesday night to do the final fitting, and I find her sitting on the piano bench playing kissy face with her husband. And in my head I'm screaming "DO YOU THINK YOU"RE THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTS TO SPEND TIME WITH HER HUSBAND!!!!" Practically every spare moment I had was put into that stupid dress, and she acts like this thing has come down from the clouds already made. ANNOYING.

Of course the sparkly satin green thing doesn't fit her. She's like, "Oh my, aren't I a plump little pigeon?" and I'm like, "No, but you are a pain in my plump little hiney". I had to separate myself from everyone and I just sat saying, "OK, alright, OK, alright".....just trying to think of the best way to tackle this monstrosity that was slowly becoming the bane of my existence.

I ended up having to take out the back and side seams and making 1/4 inch seam allowances as opposed to the 5/8 seam allowances that most clothing pattern require. It fits perfectly now, with a little extra room just in case she decides to eat a hamburger between now and August 30th. Was there a thank you involved? Nope. Seriously, though. Seriously.

So, I know, I can be a pushover, I should stand up for myself, I should tell her to blow it out her..........well, you know. But it's not in my nature. There are times I really want to, I mean REALLY, REALLY want to, but I have a difficult time being mean to people. EVEN when people are mean to me. There is that second where my body is in reactionary mode, and most people know to watch out if I allow myself to stay in that zone. But I have this switch that just shuts me down before I have the chance to lay into the person who has ticked me off.

I don't usually let myself get confrontational, because if I know myself. If I'm feeling confrontational, I'm probably going to be really loud, and pretty aggressive, and I don't back down when I get to that point. And then I run the strong possibility of hurting somebody....which I don't want to do. So I take a lot, and maybe I shouldn't. but c'est la vie. It's how I'm built.

And honestly, I also like challenging myself, and getting this dress done was a challenge, so, whatever. I bring on my own punishment. I'm crying myself a river. Moving on......

Saturday night, I went over to Nana's house. Nana is a 93 year old lady who I usually sit and knit with on Mondays but I've been so busy, I haven't been able to go. She's lonely and pretty much sits in her chair all day long watching TV Land, knitting baby hats and crocheting trim on socks. Because of overextending myself this week, I really wasn't in the mood to go over to Nana's, because it can be a little tiring. It's just another one of those moments where you realize that your time is not your own because someone else needs something from you. SO, needless to say, I felt a little aggravated.

And then, lo and behold, life showed me why I should just shut up, because I had a really good time sitting with her, and I'll tell you why. Nana makes me feel needed. When I walked into her house, she put out both of her arms and hugged and kissed me and said, "I have missed you something awful. Where did you go?" Good grief. I felt this pang of sadness in my stomach. Where did I go?

Being in her nineties, things are a little fuzzy for her, so her mind almost "loops"....meaning she will say something, and then ten minutes later, we're having the same conversation. So we talked about her childhood, and her bootlegging father, and the "new" episodes of M*A*S*H (thank God I love TV Land too; if not I wouldn't be able to talk to her about her shows!). She tells me when she had her stroke, and how the hospital can check her pace maker over the phone.

Then she says, " I thought of you every day and I wanted you to have this", and she handed me this beautiful doll that she had made clothes for. Ummmm........and yup.....I love her.

Anyhoo, I finished the gargantuan socks I was working on, and Jeff's sasquatch of a dad totally loved them. Best of all, they fit, which is awesome because if they hadn't, I simply would have set them on fire. Remember, I'm a camper now. I can start a fire. Hehe.
So, now I'm off, working on the vest I'm hoping I can have done for Jeff's mother's birthday......two and half weeks from now. Yeah, goals are a good thing.....right? What am I going to title my next blog? OVEREXTENDED - PART TWO? I'm such a tool!!

-T

FAVORITE CAMPING MOMENTS

2008-08-18T21:56:00.018-04:00

So, it's now obvious that I actually do enjoy camping. Like I said, we weren't roughing it, and it wasn't like we couldn't just drive home if things got horrible, but this was definitely me stepping outside of the box and doing something different....something that actually wasn't all that enticing to me. I feel somewhat accomplished.

On the second night we camped, the weather was perfect, and the whole campground just seemed to pulsate with life. It's like the storm left everyone feeling grateful for the following day. I could hear other campers talking and laughing. The group right next to us was having a bachelor party weekend, and they played games and drank beer and cracked jokes the entire time. I wouldn't want to be anyone of them the next day with the hangover situation, but I think it was a nice way for them to spend their time. The camaraderie was nice. They asked me to take a picture for them so they could remember the "good times". I chuckled and told them I would do that for them, but I wanted them to know that there would surely be many more good times to come.

I spend the day knitting and reading a novel.....about knitting. Hehe. It was an amazing revelation to know that I could just sit there, under the trees without one pressing thing I had to attend to. The most work we really had to do was make sure the fire was stoked, and that wasn't a problem. Look how gorgeous is was:Even Larry was overwhelmed by its beauty. He danced around for about five minutes! One day I will prove that I have ONE normal friend. Ahem...maybe not! Hehe.

Jeff was able to spend some time playing his new guitar. I'm not quite certain he anticipated that his playlist was going to strictly consist of the Alphabet Song and This Old Man, but he is a child magnet and basically goes out of his way to make the little ones happy. Yet another reason I love this man.

Brian enjoyed his camping days by lounging on Chris' motorcycle. Apparently he has been trying to weasel it away from him for the last few months. It looks like he might just get his way......maybe. ;)

Chris and Heather enjoyed the sun and each other as much as possible. Just looking at their faces was enough to make you feel relaxed. They had the right idea, if you ask me.

And so our camping trip ended in the same fashion I guess everyone's camping trip ends. We cleaned up our site, gathered our furniture and took down the tents. OH, speaking of taking down the tents. I have decided that watching two grown men work vehemently to get a tent back to it original packaging size is one of my favorite things to do!! What a bunch of weirdos!

Now I don't want to seem like a sap and under no circumstances do I think that my life is the most stressful one in existence. I know it's not. For the most part I spend my days doing the things I love to do and I get to go home to someone who loves me as much as I love him. But sometimes life gets a bit fast and unruly, maybe even a little untidy, and getting away for two days helped me recenter myself. I saw a sign on the way into the campground, and it was very simple and yet profound. Here it is:

For two day I was able to drive in the slow lane, so to speak. I had nothing to do and I had no where to be. I suppose it's kind of liberating to know that sometimes it takes something as simple as sleeping in a tent as the rain crashes down overhead to make life seem a whole lot easier. So, tonight, I wish you all restful and peaceful dreams as I crawl into bed......the bed in my house............

I think I like my camping bed better. ;)

-T

CAMPING: PART THREE

2008-08-18T08:19:00.013-04:00

Slowly my friends started trickling into the camp and I bit my tongue every single time someone would ask why Sarah and I had only taken two sites. I mean, granted, we didn't reserve a spot; but also, Sarah and I were the only ones who got to the camp in the first place to get the ones we had now, so everyone could cry me a river. The only one who would have had an excuse not to help secure a site was Jeff because he was working, and he still managed to exchange the tents and bring all the furniture during his lunch break.

Once everyone was there, it took very little time to get everything set up. Tents and pop ups found their spaces, beds were made, the campfire was already crackling. I'm going to be honest. Once the tent got staked into the ground and Jeff got there, I was feeling pretty good. I didn't have the anxiety I was feeling pretty much the entire time before we got there. But I did know a serious thunderstorm was coming and even though I had a good feeling that our tent would stay upright, I was still a little nervous. But even though it was dreary, I thought the trees looked beautiful.

Food was ready at about seven and we all sat down and ate together. Foil wrap is a magnificent thing. Other than the typical hotdogs and hamburgers, we had stopped at a vegetable stand and picked up a dozen ears of corn and four or five zucchini squash, which we drizzled with butter, wrapped in foil and threw in the coals. We did the same to golden potatoes and onions. Yum!!
By 7:45, we knew the storm was pretty much right on top of us, so we quickly grabbed all the things that we knew we would appreciate more if they stayed dry and placed them in cars and tents.

I have always loved thunderstorms. I've just never had to sleep outside during one. At 8:15, the sky came down and I lay in the bed next to Jeff, praying that the tent would stay up. It was only rain, but it was coming down really hard, and watching the lightning through the fabric of the tent was pretty exciting. We talked and giggled in the dark, and my friend Sarah and I yelled to each other back and forth through the screen, laughing that we couldn't hear each other over the thunder. By ten o clock I was out like a light.

I woke up at 1:30 am because I heard my friend Brian moving around. There was a group of teenagers at the far end of the campground who had a vehicle that kept sounding its alarm....and they didn't find it necessary to turn off the darn thing. Since we were awake anyway, we walked to the other campsite, found that our friend Chris was also awake; started a little fire in the pit and hung out for about an hour before we went back to sleep.

OK, now I can show you some pictures of WHY I can say "Don't cry for me, Argentina". I am totally spoiled and I'm not really sure I went camping, for that matter! Hehe.

First of all, leave it to the love of my life to discover that we UNKNOWINGLY managed to snag the only campsite that had live outlets. Guess what he plugged in first....huh? Any guesses? Ahhh, sweet laptop....How would he ever live without you? This is camping?!!! Hehehehe!

And then, now that everyone knows the outlets are there, here's what I woke up to the following morning: Percolating coffee! Larry woke up at five in the morning, drove back to his house and packed up his coffee maker and mugs!

And let's not forget the ORGANIC pancake batter that comes out of a whipped cream can...straight into the pan! ORGANIC? I doubt it!! HA!

And the biggest reason I know I'm a spoiled baby, but thank goodness I am because I don't think I would have enjoyed myself at all - our bed!

CAMPING: PART TWO

2008-08-17T22:01:00.005-04:00

Sarah and I decided that instead of twiddling our thumbs waiting for the rest of the gang to get there, we were going to try to assemble the new tent. It would give us something to do, and Jeff would be impressed that I was able to set up our humble abode without him. So we dragged the tent out of the car, opened up the packaging, and this is what I found:

I know, I know. Of course, the tent was going to be much larger and it would accommodate everything we needed it to, but don't you think it's a little funny that something Jeff and I were going to live in for the next two nights looked like it could fit in my dresser drawer?

Moving on. I am a firm believer of reading directions, so the super smart people at Coleman have the assembly instructions sewn into the carrying case. Awesome. I remove pieces as I read off the list. It says: Three long supporting poles (black). I reach in and grab one pole. So far so good. Out comes another pole..but this one is thinner and gray. I read further. This is the pole for the awning. Fine. That is until we realize that there are no more poles in the bag. We are short two supporting poles which camper or no camper, I know that's going to be a HUGE problem!!

I don't know whether to freak out or laugh hysterically. Considering I wasn't hurt, nor was I in any danger, the situation proved to be quite comical and I burst out laughing. Sarah on the other hand was rather cross, and immediately called customer service, as if they would be able to do something. After five minutes on hold, she is greeted by a poor man who gets paid to listen to irate customers complain to him about things he has absolutely no control over. She explains our plight, and I laugh even louder when I hear him say "Excuse me ma'am, did you just say you have no poles?" Rolling her eyes, Sarah hands me the phone and I confirmed that there were no supporting poles in the tent kit.

He sighs and is clearly very confused. He asks if I purchased the tent...I informed him that I stole it and then immediately apologized for my sarcasm and said "Yes, we just bought it". So he says what I expected him to say. "Return it to the store and get another one. That's all I can do for you, ma'am". To which I respond, "Are you sure you can't just send someone over here to assemble this one for us?" It took about five seconds before he realized that I was kidding and started to chuckle. After offering us some sort of coupon, I got off the phone with him, called Jeff and told him that he had to grab the receipt, go back to Walmart and trade in the tent.

OK, so I almost dropped the phone when Jeff says "I'm not sure where the receipt is". WHAT!! This is a man that has kept a receipt for a Twix candy bar I ate three years ago!! And he doesn't know where he put the receipt for the tent?!!! For crying out loud!! ANYHOO, we decide to just buy another tent and just exchange them. To make a super long story short (I fear there is going to be a part three to this camping story, and I apologize for being long winded and dramatic, but if I can't have fun writing blogs, what's the point?), the tent worked out fine in the end............................

-T

CAMPING: PART ONE

2008-08-16T14:35:00.002-04:00

Friday morning I woke up, already thinking about how many reasons I could feasibly come up with to back out of this camping trip without A) offending and disappointing my friends and B)without looking like the biggest, whiniest, spineless tool known to humankind. See, this is how I think in my head....when things happen in my life, they are always of astronomical proportions!! HUMANKIND would be affected by my bailing out of camping.

I'm watching the weather channel, groaning every time I saw that stupid image of the cloud with the lighting bolt shooting from it like a death dagger. 60% chance of thunderstorms for the day. And I'm going camping. I can't even tell Jeff that I don't want to go because he's already done the very nice, "man loves his woman" thing, by getting a nice tent and a very sturdy queen size air mattress that sits on its very own frame.

So, it's 9 in the morning and I'm sitting on my bed, putting my clothes together and I am trying to keep track of all of the tips my friends have been giving me to make this trip a tolerable one. Make sure I have a tarp to cover the tent, don't touch the tent walls because it draws water in, keep my eye open for the bobcats (that was almost the deal breaker), bring bug repellent,....

The plan is to meet my friends Sarah and Larry and we are going to stake our claim on some good camping land. We have to meet early so that we have first dibs. Well, already I knew that they had a completely different idea of what early was because I would have been there at the crack of dawn. Sarah and I didn't get there until 11:30. Larry was nowhere to be found.

OK, so as Sarah and I are driving to the site, I mention to her that my friend, who happens to be a very seasoned camper informed me that we probably should have made reservations. Well, I must have grown a bellybutton on my forehead because she gave me this look of "Seriously, though, what's the matter with you?!!" She scoffs and says, "We do NOT need to make a reservation. We're camping, not getting a room at the Hilton!". I just shrug my shoulders. What do I know? I can only repeat what I hear, right?

So, like I said before, we get there at 11:30 and as we're driving though this very quaint, non intimidating area, my heart starts to pound a little faster, but with excitement and not fear. Hmmm....interesting. I'm looking at all of these tidy little sites with their own picnic tables and I'm thinking to myself, "we have the pick of the day. These sites are all empty", until I read what the signs on the posts say: OCCUPIED.

Post after post after post says that the site is occupied. I look over at Sarah, who now has a worried look on her face. Playing dumb, I say, "What does that mean?" OK, my parents paid two grand a year for me to go to private school for nine years. I better know what the word "OCCUPIED" means. But I'm being a bit of a pretentious turd and I'm curious how she's going to answer.

"I guess that we need reservations", she says. Eureka!! Ding, ding, ding! We've got a brain in our midst! Of course we need a reservation, you wingnut! So I get out of the car to read the sign for camp regulations and I am informed that usually reservations are made, and THEN people can come and camp on the UNreserved sites. We made a mad dash back to the car and found the last two remaining sites that were not occupied. We parked the car at one site and ran to the other site, making sure that any potential site snatcher would know they were too late. Sarah and I had saved the day for our group of friends. Come hell or highwater, we were going camping..............................

-T

2008-08-15T00:31:00.002-04:00

I am going camping tomorrow. Those are probably the most horrifying words I have ever typed. Eeeeee Gads!

So, it's Thursday night and it was a fantastic night at the knitting shop. For the first ten minutes I think I just sat and listened to the eight different conversations that were going on and I was so content. There's nothing better than being in the middle of a group of people who can be carefree and laugh from the belly. It's awesome.

My dear friend, (who I won't name because that might be too embarrassing) came and spend a good deal of the day with me, and I was so happy to see her. But then again, I'm always happy to see her, so I hope she continues to come.

So, back to this crazy thing people call camping. I'm at the point where I think that there's a little alien that has completely taken control of all of the rational parts of my brain. My reasoning for my entire adult life has always been why am I going to pay mortgage every month so that I can purposely sleep OUTSIDE?!! Is it really a vacation if you have to fend off the mosquitoes, pray to God that your tent isn't going to collapse or get struck by lightning, assume that Mama, Papa and Baby bear aren't going to try to run off with your picnic basket, and seriously.....SERIOUSLY is it a vacation when you have to trudge through the woods to go poop in an outhouse?!!!! What is fun about roughing it?

I am freaking out! OK, so we have a tent....a pretty nice one, I think. But now I'm told that I have to bring a tarp to put on TOP of it just in case it rains! AND I can't touch the walls because the water will seep into our new home. Oh, and I need to get some sort of plastic to put UNDER the tent to protect us from water coming into the tent that way. This is totally not making any sense. Why get a tent? What's next.....we have to dig a trench a pour a foundation?!

The only thing I'm confident about is that there will be food. And I'll have my knitting with me. So now, before I lay me down to sleep in my nice bed in the house that we pay to live in, I am making a list of all the things I need for tomorrow.......comfy clothes, food, bottled water, knitting, blankets and pillows.....my sanity.......Oh good Lord!!! What am I doing?

Ugh.....will keep you posted....if I don't eaten by bears first.

-T

PROMISE OF A NEW DAY

2008-08-14T08:06:00.004-04:00

I have been in a funk for the last few days. I mean, it's not shocking that I could be in a funk, since I'm human and it happens and my face would hurt if I smiled ALL the time; but I'm really tired of being in a funk. I just wanted to crawl in a hole for the most part of the day. A nice big hole. With yarn, and knitting needles...and brownies......and maybe a pina colada. I just felt like walking around with a billboard that said "BLECH!!" on it.

I guess I could say it started on Tuesday night. My day was uneventful, and I had actually been in a fantastic mood because not only had I figured out what I wanted to make for my treasure swap knitting partner, I was already 3/4 of the way done with it. That was super exciting because I was starting to stress out a little bit......not certain that I was able to read this person well enough to make her something that I could put a good dose of happiness into. But I got it and it's awesome!!

But anyhoo, my hub and I go to sing on Tuesday nights regularly. It's a nice little bar/restaurant which provides the community with an open mic and Jeff and I have become very close friends with the other regulars. We meet and talk about the hoopla of the previous week, and listen to each others music. It's a great time. However, I must have been stressed out because I was tense the whole night. My friend Jen was in a bad mood, and she's always chipper, so I think that spun me for a loop.

But I noticed as I was sitting on stage that my shoulders were up around my ears and I definitely had to forcibly push my voice to the surface; and for those of you who have heard me sing (when I'm in a good mood), it's just one of those things that's just there. I don't usually have to force it. And what's worse, we open with a song that I'm not really solid with, (because it was a request). The words are typed on a piece of orange paper in a 10 font and the stage lighting is ORANGE which pretty much made the lyrics do a disappearing act.

So, I think the performance sucks. I mean, I sang the first song with an orange sheet of paper propped up on my boob so that I could try to read the stupid lyrics.... believe me, I KNOW the performance sucked! Jeff KNOWS the performance sucked.....and the place breaks out into ground shaking applause. WHAT?!!!

Now I know I'm moody because who gets mad at applause? Seriously! But I'm not thinking, "They love you!!" or "Maybe it wasn't as bad as you think it was". I'm thinking "Do these people actually listen to me?" "Are they patronizing me?" Holy cuckoo, Batman! I was convinced that they were all drunk and their ears must have been doing the back stroke in whatever alcoholic beverage they were consuming.

Jeff, of course, informed me that I'm overly critical of myself. Picture it, you guys: his dark brows furrowed intently as his hands are vigorously thrashing through the air as he says - "You come from a line of musicians. You are a professional singer pretending to be an amateur. Even when you sing like crap, people think you sound great! Don't be so hard on yourself!!" Other than the professional part, he's probably right (although I'm fairly sure it says somewhere in our contract that he always has to make me feel better about myself, even if he has to pull at straws). And more importantly, I sing because I love to to do it. It's why I knit, and bead, and so on and so forth. It's definitely a defining part of my personality. So, yup, he's probably right.....but I'll tell him that tomorrow. ;)

So, yesterday was more of the yuck factor. I seemed to spend a majority of the day arguing with Jeff and now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not really sure why. I think it involved matches and a granola bar...........am I losing my mind????

But I do have to say this about myself. I am a pretty darn genuine person. I found that I didn't try to throw myself into happy happy mode. I allowed myself to be quiet and a tad bit melancholy (because I am super cute when I'm melancholy!), and the world didn't end for me! GO FIGURE!!! I just knit away on my new friend's surprise gift, and knew that tomorrow would be a better day. I can only hope!

-T

ABBA?....SERIOUSLY??

2008-08-12T08:48:00.004-04:00

I have been so exhausted the last few days, I have barely even looked at my computer. Sunday was Jeff's birthday, which can be such a grueling event even though the intentions are sweet. My hubby, (despite his sometimes biting sarcasm and his "are you serious?" look) is a very sentimental person. And for as long as I have known him, he has insisted on spending his birthday driving to spend time with the people that he loves. As opposed to me who figures I'll get a phone call and a card and life's good. He needs to venture into the world and physically hug and see his family and friends......and it's actually really nice. And he insists on recording everyone as they say "Happy Birthday Jeff" so a year from now he can see how we all have changed. That's what I've always wanted.....to see how much younger I looked last year.

But because everyone is scattered, we ended up foregoing our usual Sunday morning tradition of eating at Mrs. Bridges Tea Room and that just felt weird. I missed not having our cup of tea and salmon cakes. Eh, we'll go next Sunday. Or shall I say, we BETTER go next Sunday. Hehe.

I spent my entire Monday sewing in the lining on my friend's dress. I wonder if the people who write the patterns have ever really sewn an article of clothing before? I found myself making some obnoxious changes in order to make the dress work. For instance, the lining called for a lightweight fusible webbing - which for all intensive purposes makes sense because the dress is satin and a heavy duty webbing would suck. However, whoever thought that the lightweight webbing had enough density to form the casing in which to insert the boning was on crack. It just kept tearing. Of course it would! So I ended up making satin tubes and matching them to the bodice seams, and THEN inserted the stupid boning. I apologize if that whole paragraph was total gibberish to you guys, but take my word for it....what a pain in the hiney.

Now that I've lined the dress and we're on the home stretch, I'm a little nervous that the dress won't fit. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

And of course I am singing at this wedding because apparently, that's what I do. I'm the wedding singer. Which is cool......when I'm given more than two weeks to prepare for the event. I was asked about a month and a half ago if I would sing two or three songs as a "gift" for the bride and groom. Since I sing in my shower as well, I'm not really sure if one can really consider it a "gift" but I complied and said "Sure, why not?" Just let me know what you want me to sing so that I don't end up going up there and busting out something inappropriate.....like "Hit the Road Jack, Ray Charles' style.

SO, remember, I say, "sure, why not?" Here's why not. I had to call the groom last night to ask him WHAT SONGS I WAS SINGING. And the scary part was that he didn't know off the top of his head. Not a good sign. So he puts his wife- to- be on the phone and she says: "You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban (for her mother) I Love You by Sarah McLaughlin and I Have A Dream by ABBA (because her mother liked the movie Mama Mia).

I have a pretty good idea of how to sing the first song, I am not familiar with the second song, and....... I'm singing ABBA at a wedding??? I now have two weeks to sit with Jeff and figure out how to make these three songs not only work as acoustic pieces, but to work with each other. And then once that happens, I can learn the words.

A gift from Kohl's would have been so much easier. Let's see what happens.

THE LONGEST DAY EVER

2008-08-10T01:16:00.010-04:00

I'm not sure why, but anytime I get a full night's sleep, I feel more exhausted then when I'm running on only five or six hours. It's kind of annoying actually because I feel like I'm just dragging through the whole day.

I found it a bit amusing today that I had to make the distinction between someone being "passionate" as opposed to being "volatile". It perplexes me that when someone becomes animated about something that is important to them, they are looked at as being volatile and out of control. I personally think that this world would be a totally boring place if we all sat politely in our seats and articulated everything in a calm, monotone voice. Hehe. I would definitely not fit in that world.

After sitting at the shop for a few hours with the ladies, Jeff and I drove out to our friend's house and dinner with her family. I am in the process of making a bridesmaid's dress for her, and her mother always goes out of her way to make this huge meal to show me that she appreciates my efforts. Tonight she had a roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed turnips, gravy and cranberry sauce. Early Thanksgiving, right? I could have gone right to bed after dinner; but I was good and I cut out all of the pieces of the lining and decided to do the actual sewing on Monday. Tryptaphan is no joke.

And since Jeff's birthday is August 10, we then drove out to spend the rest of the evening with one of his closest friends. I found that to be a tad bit annoying, since it was ten o clock and all I wanted to do was crash in our big, comfy bed, but how do you say no to the birthday boy who does everything you want? Answer: You don't.

I want to show you the highlight of my morning. I woke up to Jeff already tooling around the house and playing with the dogs. Stan, our lab has a double ear infection so the poor thing is miserable. He has such a sad face and all I want to do is kiss him, but he's wearing the stupid "cone of silence" as Jeff and I call it, so it's a bit difficult to get to his face. But Benji and Belly were awfully cute today. Take a look for yourself!

Here's Benji sticking his tongue out at me:
How RUDE! He kind of looks like Popeye!
All he needs now is a funny pipe and a big ol' can of spinach and I might have to rename the little guy!

And here's Isabella showing that you don't always have to have the perfect smile to be super adorable!

And here they are, enjoying their Saturday morning on our bed, being particularly photogenic, if I do say so myself!

They're usually fighting to see which one gets to sit in my lap. What a bunch of hams!

And here is my favorite series of pictures. Jeff has a very soft spot in his heart for Isabella because I think he put the most work into making her love him. SO this is their little moment that I was able to capture this morning. It's just one example of why I love this crazy man!

AN EVENING AT THE FAIR

2008-08-09T09:49:00.006-04:00

I've pretty much lived in CT my who life and have never made it to the Lebanon Fair. As a child, because of school field trips, I would go to the Big E and walk around vast plots of land with my pre-teen friends, checking out all the things that grabbed our attention.......like the boys and cotton candy booth.

And then about five years ago, my "fair" horizons were expanded when my friends started taking me to the Woodstock Fair. I am proud to say that I actually was able to take in my surroundings in a far more mature fashion. The funny looking rooster that scowled at Jeff, the roaring go cart races, the amazing sand castles that change with the years........and the cotton candy booth.

But this year Sandee was asked to go to the Fair to judge some crafts and she invited her crew of women to go with her. So Sandee, Christiane, Kat and I spent about an hour looking over the handwork that was submitted to be judged and handed out appropriate ribbons.

Was I blown away? For the most part - NO. I was quite impressed with the junior division of crafters who seemed to take a lot of time thinking about their entries. I won't say anything disparaging because I want to be a promoter of all things done with fibers. But I will say this: If your project is a labor of love, all who see it will probably love it. Don't rush through a project just to get it done. We pick up on stuff like that. The way you finish your project can make or break you. As Sandee always says, you want your project to look handmade, NOT homemade. And by all means, challenge yourself, but also remember that sometimes less is definitely more. OK, enough said.

Here's the reason that I will attempt to go to every fair in this state. Do you see it? DEEP FRIED TWINKIES!! Totally scored! What an amazing concoction and of course I have heard of this delectable little snack. And I probably had the same question most people had: Why on earth would you deep fry a Twinkie. Well, if you are still posing that question, go and eat one and all of your questions will be answered.
A Twinkie on a stick, swirled in a tub of batter, flung in a vat of bubbling hot oil. My arteries are yelling at me right about now, but oh well. The person responsible for this ensemble of flavors is a bonafide genius! I mean, COME ON!
To make it an acceptable indulgence, Christiane and I split one (we won't talk about the hot fudge sundae we were also sharing at the same time) and I think we dispersed the caloric intake quite nicely. And we gave Sandee the last bite and her face was so cute when she popped the morsel of sinful proportions in her mouth. She literally looked like a happy child. Who needs cotton candy?

So, Jeff and I left shortly after and as we traipsed through the tire flattened, cold, wet Lebanon grass, I quickly grabbed my camera as Jeff counted rows to get us back to our car, and I turned my face to the sounds of people laughing and children screeching while a swing band played in the background. And for a second I was five years old again, holding on to my sister's hand with our parent's right behind us as we excitedly walked into our first carnival. And I realized that I've taken in more throughout the years then I give myself credit for. Nostalgia can be a beautiful thing.

FRIED BRAIN

2008-08-08T00:40:00.005-04:00

We saw two yarn reps at the shop today. Who would have thought that running your fingers through hundreds of strands of fabulous yarns would be so incredibly tiring! I mean, REALLY tiring. It's like fiber overload. The owner of the shop looked like she was ready to collapse, and my friend CB and I were so overtired that we were giddy and acting like silly children!

But in the end, it all worked out. Some great yarn will be on it's way to the lovely shop in Chaplin. Of course, it just dawned on me today that my hubby's father is approaching yet another birthday and wouldn't it just blow chunks if the only knitter he knows doesn't make him a handmade gift? So I am making him a pair of socks out of Louet Gems. Can we say "yummy"? I mean, sitting at the shop all day I hear all sorts of fabulous things about this yarn, but wow. It feels so nice to work with and has such a springy texture.

At first I thought to make him a pair of socks using a nice OPAL yarn or Trekking. But that idea changed for two reasons....He doesn't wear thinner socks. He tends to wear a sportier sock. AND the real reason is that he is a size 12 wide and I was too tired to convert the pattern to try to make a fingering weight sock fit a sasquatch foot. Instead, I am using a sport weight, but using the pattern for the largest sock which calls for fingering weight. I figure it will work.
And all I have to say now is ribbing is a
useful but tedious act! It felt like it took all night to get this little bit done! But isn't it pretty? Watch! With my luck, his favorite color is fuschia and blue makes him nauseous!

A LITTLE CROCHET FROM THE SLIGHTLY CROCHETY

2008-08-07T01:10:00.007-04:00

You know......it sucks that it only takes ONE tiny lousy thing to ruin a perfectly great day. I sat all day today finishing my little teddy bear backpack and then continued to work on my fabulous shawl which I am hoping will be ready for the wedding I plan to wear it to on August 30th. And then WHAM!! the rumor mill kicks in and I'm in a funk for the next hour! UGH! But thank goodness I had a good friend there who was able to give me some good advice on how to not over react, which was cool. So now, I'm pretty chipper...tired, but chipper!

So, here's the little bear that I crocheted.
I named her Priscilla and I kinda love her. :) I am not a person who crochets for the most part, but I have been in the mood for a challenge, ie. learning how to read and follow a crochet pattern. This is the second pattern I have successfully made it through! YAY for humanity! The first one is a cotton tank top that I will show you later once the shawl is completed. So, Priscilla will find her home with my friend's three year old daughter and I hope they will be good buddies for years to come!

Oh, and just in case you're interested: Here's a bag that I designed watching my three favorite shows - Monk, Psych, and Project Runway. I felt kind of relieved that Heidi Klum wasn't watching me crochet, in fear that she would say, "You're out" in that beautiful accent of hers. I'm in, Heidi, I'm IN!!!

Jeff named it Autum Rain. I love the way the Manos just works it's way through the body of the bag. So different then when it is knitted. And I am tickled pink (picture that guys, PINK!) that crochet felts just as nicely.

Here's a close up just so that we can see the texture. It's quite exciting and I am looking forward to making more crocheted bags. Perhaps even a matching wallet!

SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FROG!

2008-08-06T09:52:00.000-04:00

I have to say there is definitely something amazing about making something with your very own hands....whether it turns out beautifully and the way you expect it, or horribly! It's still so incredible that this world is filled with people who can look at a skein of yarn and say "One day you will be a felted clog!" Hehe. I've never made a felted clog.......note to self.

SO, I have decided to post my first picture (hence the picture!) This little guy is now living in Montreal with my swap partner, Marie Michele. I remember how quickly this idea came to me. I found out she liked frogs, and the next SECOND, presto!, I see this purse in my head. I knew he had to be needle felted, I knew he had to be quirky, I knew he had to have character, and I knew she had to love it when it was done, because what on earth is the point of making something for someone if they don't totally love it!!! For the love of Peter, Paul and Mary.....what a concept!!!

And it had to be a purse! I think it takes a special kind of woman to rock out and be a little kukoocachoo in a world where sooooo many people are way too serious about themselves

Will post more pics later, now that I have some sort of an idea of what I'm doing.

Blog numero uno

2008-07-13T15:52:00.000-04:00

It's funny. I always thought that I wanted to start a blog....talk about myself....ponder life a bit at the end of the day. And then I always came to this conclusion: No one could possibly care about my life enough to sit around a read about it.

This may be true. But now I know that at 32, I have a lot of stuff that I would like to talk about and ponder at the end of the day, and it doesn't really matter if anyone reads about it. It's just something I should do because I want to!!

So I will! And I hope it's an enjoyable process for everyone involved.