Getting Blocked

Well finally!  It seems like forever since I've been here and it was only Friday.  I have been busy though.  My back is just about back to normal so I spent the weekend with blocking wires and pins.  Take a look ladies because I seriously doubt that I'll update Ravelry cause I'm a lazy  one.  The fact that I've gotten this far is amazing.

This lovely item is Nimbus.  I love, Love, LOVE the shape of this thing.  My sister says it looks very "Batman."  I have to agree.  I'm  going to have to re-block this puppy.  I steam block most everything and with some items, well, they just need a good old fashion wet block.  I believe this is one.  Once I took the pins an wires out, it drew up....a lot. The yarn is Crazyfoot by Mountain Colors in Red Willow.

This is the Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief.  I did a couple of extra repeats....I think it's just a couple.  I think this yarn was made for this thing - wish I could remember what it is.  The stripes are so great.

Summer Flies is another shawl that I think I'm going to have to re-block.  This yarn, Interlacement Seeds - Chairman of the Board Colorway, doesn't have a lot of give to it, so steaming didn't offer up enough give.

And finally, Saroyan. Can I stress how happy this yarn makes me?  This is my own personal happy rainbow. I smile every time I look at it.  The yarn is JoJoLand Melody Superwash and it is so incredibly soft and springy.

Number One Son is back at college.  I miss him.  I don't know if his brother does, but I also miss their laughter and the general noise....now if I could just get my house back in order before Car Guy gets back from Sweden.  It's amazing how the presence of one more person creates more...mess, activity and general disorder.  It's also amazing how quickly you get used to them being back.  I don't know that I'll ever get used to him being gone.

Tonight I think I'm going to rent this and watch it with Number Two Son.  I've already seen it and *Oh My - Gasp* it's amazing.  Believe it or not, the kiddo has read the book and wants to watch this with his old Mama.  He's discovered this new love of reading (YEA!!!!) and is now reading Angels and Demons. No light reading for that child.  He likes to make that brain work.  Would you believe he's in an after school bridge club...they play other games as well, but I think it's great that he's learning all these games and the art of conversation that goes along with it.  I see a beach trip full of fun and games this summer!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Happy Friday!

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Stranger Than Fiction

This is one of my favorite pictures of my boys.  It was taken a long time ago when they liked each other and would play sweetly together. Then something happened. The older one decided it would be fun to pester the little one...a lot. I mean A LOT, as in way too much. As in drive their mother insane. As they got older, it got worse.  It also became more physical. There were times that it got so bad that I would step in between the two of them and pray that neither one of them would swing.  That my presence was enough to calm them down. And thank goodness it worked.  I never got the accidental black eye by stepping into the path of flying adolescent fists...whew.  But it always really bothered me the way they only tolerated each other.  My sister is one of my best friends.  I love and miss her terribly, particularly since she lives on the other side of the country.  But those two, not so much.

Then the oldest went off to college.  The house got a lot quieter.  Some of the silence was good and some of it was not so good.  I have missed him, but I didn't miss the fighting and the snarky comments that the two would exchange.

While at school, the oldest started having girlfriend problems. You know, the usual...fighting, breaking up, getting back together. He found support in the most unlikely place - his little brother. Then my youngest recorded that song and posted it to youtube.  His brother saw it. And he posted it on his facebook page. And he tweeted it to all his friends and was proud of his little brother. And they started talking.  Not fighting, but really talking...or rather texting and tweeting. They found out that they had some things in common and that maybe they weren't as obnoxious as they thought they were. Then the oldest came home for spring break....and has been hanging out with his little brother. And instead of yelling, I hear laughter and a friendship emerging....like they might, dare I say it, like each other?!?!

Yes, there are some things in life that truly are stranger than fiction.  I know, I've seen it....and it makes me the happiest mama ever.

Weekends Past

Thank you so much for your sweet concern!  I must admit that it made me feel very special.  I am slowly getting back into the swing of everything but I hate to say that it takes me a little longer to do so these days.

Our weekend was rather quiet partially due to my back and partially because we spent six hours in the car driving to Greenville and back to bring Number One Son home for spring break. Then yesterday, Car Guy flew out on one of his trips to see the world.  He's in Chile this week and totally bummed that he's not at home with me and the boys.  He really hates missing this time with both of our boys home.

Since everything was so quiet, I'll tell you about the goings on from the weekend before....just a little late :)

We got up last Saturday, jumped in the car and headed to the small town of Dobson.  And when I say small, I mean small. According to Wikipedia the area of Dobson is 1.86 square miles. Yup, it's tiny.  One of the attractions is the Rockford General Store. We check it out and bought some penny candy that no longer cost a penny and were able to see a bit of a reenactment of the "War of Northern Aggression."  For you none Southerners, that would be the Civil War. And no, I'm not going into a political or educational discussion of said war. It was just interesting to watch.

This is one of the camps.  The people actually stayed there over night and cooked their meals over the campfires.  Everything was fairly authentic....until you saw someone pull out their cell phone.

There was quite a bit of gun play and when one of those Yankee soldiers was shot down in battle, the crowd would cheer.  It was pretty cold, so we didn't stay too long.  I mean, come on....we know how it ended.

We hopped back into the car and decided to see what else was around the area, particularly in the way of food and we came across Cody Creek and the Depot Restaurant. This was totally dumb luck, which turned out to be good luck because the food was simple but delicious.

The location itself is gorgeous.  There is a beautiful chapel, covered bridge and event location.  There are also cabins available. And let's face it, any place that has sheep is good with me.

The next day, we took off to Raffaldini's Winery with my friend Sue. The winery is just gorgeous and the wine is pretty tasty too.

Of course it didn't hurt Car Guy's feelings to be escorting two women around. We had  a wonderful time and I would recommend going on a clear day so that you can enjoy the patio.  The view is absolutely spectacular.

It was wonderful weekend and then Monday rolled around and I somehow managed to screw up my back.  That was the worst part of this injury.  I still haven't figured out I did it.  But enough about that.  I'm doing much better.  It's amazing what a person will do to get out of blocking...ahem.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Happy Friday!

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Adding a little blurb here to say sorry for being absent this week.  I'm afraid that I pulled my back some how earlier in the week, so I have been out of commission.  One shot, some meds and a bit of physical therapy and I'm almost back to my old self....This aging thing is for the birds though.  How can one cause that much pain to themselves and not know how they did it? Hope everyone is doing well!

My Baby....

So I wanted to take a moment and show off my baby....he's the one singing. If you can't tell, I'm extremely proud of him.

Thank goodness he doesn't take after his mama....I haven't found a bucket yet to carry my tune in (ahem).  Enjoy and I'll be back soon with the other recent "going ons."

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Happy Friday!

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Pathetically Blocked

This is really sad...and kind of embarrassing....Ok, not kind of.  It is embarrassing.  Most of you that have been around for a while know that I love knitting/crocheting and that I like to keep my hands busy.  I love the creative process and I love watching a project unfold into something beautiful and useful.  Here's the embarrassing part....I hate blocking.  And I don't mean that I find it annoying. I mean I hate the process...all those pins.  UGH!  Therefore, I was tickled to death when my Sainted Mother gave me blocking wires for Christmas.  I thought surely this would help. Right?  Wrong.

See this stack?  All finished projects just waiting to be enjoyed...if I would get off my derriere and block them.  Seriously, how pathetic is this?

There it all sits, on the bed in the guest room just waiting...the variegated red/orange yarn is The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief. The one next to that is Mairi.  It's been finished, other than blocking, for almost a year.  Next is my Saroyan.  It's only a few months old, as is the Summer Flies shawlette that looks like a dark blob in this picture.  I don't even remember the name of the the brown and tan fuzzy shawl that's in the mix.

And you know what's even worse?  They are all still sitting there and I've started something else....

This is Nimbus. I'm actually a bit further along than this. OK, a lot further along than this. As in the pattern calls for 24 repeats and I'm on the 25th repeat because I wanted to make it a little larger since I'm a little...um...larger. Ahem. Actually, I just have a long torso and I wanted this to reach my waist....yeah, that's it. The yarn is Mountain Colors Crazyfoot in the Red Willow colorway.  It's really interesting to see the orange pops in this picture because it's actually more of a rust color. My goal is to complete this and then...wait for it...block everything this weekend. We'll see how that goes.

Are you more successful in completing your projects?

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Happy Friday!

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Homeland Security

Well it appears that we have been under siege.  Thank goodness for my brave guard panther!

There was a stranger at the door yesterday morning.

He tried the cute approach...rolling around in front of the door.

Then he came up to the door to introduce himself.

Please let me in!  It's cold out here....if I hit the glass hard enough, will it open?

Or maybe if I ask nicely?  Hello there, please my I come in?

He was a thief, I tell you! He would have stolen my food....used my box (eww!) and then he would have taken my spot in front of the window. No sir! Not going to happen! It's bad enough that I have to share all that stuff with him. Sniff. This is my house and I will defend it!  Now how about a treat, since I did such a good job? Please?

Three Bags Full?

WARNING....Picture rich post with a lot of cuteness!

Actually, it's only one bag of wool. 

But its 4.4 lbs of lovely Corriedale wool to be exact. 

Doesn't he look like he's smiling at us?  And saying hi?

This little guy was shaking off, kind of like a dog does.  It was so cute!

Almost got this little guys wool too, but I couldn't find anyone to split it with me.
I had to stick to a budget...dang it.

There was so much beautiful wool, but I behaved because now I have to wash it, card it and then spin it.

This is the wool Cadbury was kind enough the share with me.

Since Car Guy is going to be gone for two weeks straight in March, guess what I'll be doing? 

We actually missed seeing the most of the shearing.  We woke up to...snow!!! Yea!  So we decided to go grab some breakfast, see how the roads were and go from there. The roads were fine and everything was very picturesque. When we got to the farm, they were shearing the last two sheep.  The others were waiting patiently in the pins, bleating every so often and coming close to the side to get the occasional ear scratch.  We were happy to oblige. Once they were release from the pin, they ran around the pasture, shaking off and frolicking about for their audience.

Even though we weren't there for very long, it was a wonderful experience and reminded me of how much I want to find my own little farm somewhere.  I am waiting for my boys to finish school and then "maybe" might become "someday."

Here's a link to the farm we went to - Rising Meadow Farm

A Mother's Tears

They come at the best and worst moments. 

They can express the greatest joy and deepest pain. 

They are her strength and her weakness. 

But most of all, they are her love. 

In those tears are all her hopes and all her fears, 

Her greatest dreams and her darkest times . 

But she wouldn't trade them, because if she didn't have a mother's tears

She wouldn't have her greatest gift, hope and triumph, her child.

How Dare They?!?!?

Source

 Oh Dagnabbit! Those bleeding idiots! I knew it was coming.  I heard he was through, but really? Will they, won't they? They did and now they won't. Argh!!! Can they not leave well enough alone? I think babies are no longer allowed. Everything is indeed dark...and WRONG I say!

I'm done gnashing my teeth and bawling my eyes out, for the moment.  I'll probably watch it all again and the process will repeat itself. But seriously Mr. Fellowes, please stop breaking my heart. I can't take any more. And now I must wait until season four. *sigh, sniff, sniff....Wahhh!!!!*

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Happy Friday!

After 22 years together....

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

Happy Valentine's Day...and Yarn Stuff

First of all - Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  I hope your hearts are full of love and joy today! And every day, for that matter.


As promised...here are the pictures of the other items on my needles.  This is the Summer Flies shawl.  I'm actually almost done with it.  I'm on the last section of ruffle.  I tried taking several pictures of it, but because the yarn is dark, it's not really photographing well.  Maybe after it's blocked, it will show up better. The yarn is a mixture of blue, green and a brownish copper.

I wish my photography skills were a little better because this does not show off the gorgeous stitches. Ugh.  This is a bit disappointing.  Anyway, I'll probably finish it this weekend.  I have it on temporary hold so that I can do some knitting for a friend.

Fellow Biscuit Nicole has a friend with a grandmother that just found out she's has leukemia.  She has to start chemo immediately and was told she'd lose her hair rapidly, so we are quickly making happy, colorful hats to keep her head warm.  This is some stash yarn I had leftover from Christmas elving.  It's from Hobby Lobby and is a soft chenille.  I thought it's be nice and soft on her head.  I know from my sainted mother's experiences with chemo that your head can actually hurt terribly when your hair starts falling out, so the softer, the better.

I've been doing a little shopping and purchased this book.  I have to say that I think I actually love every single pattern in it.  Seriously, every last one.  Here are a few...

This one...oh my goodness.  This makes me want to spin a lot of gorgeous wool because I think it would be so beautiful in some natural handspun...I have to have goals, right?

So, I've found that traditional winter hats (called toboggans here in the South) don't look so great on me, but for this hat, I'd give it another shot. Aren't those leaves amazing?

And I think I might be in love with this one.  That motif in the center is just wow. 

These are just three of the patterns. Click the link and you can see the others on Ravelry. There are 25 in all and there seriously isn't a bad one in the bunch.

Of course, you were all right.  The picture yesterday is of hand carders. I bought some wool at SAFF this past October and hadn't done anything with it because it seriously needed some carding. Also, I'm going to my first shearing this weekend, so I think they will come in handy.  I'm looking for some wool for that first sweater up there...now if I could just get better at plying.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's!

Getting There

Do you ever have mornings where you just can't seem to get motivated regardless of how much coffee or tea you've had?  That's me, only it's been the whole blooming week. I would have never thought that driving seven hundred, thirty-six miles (that's right 736 miles) over the course of the weekend would wear me out, but oh my, it has flattened me. I am positively dragging.

I took Friday off and drove down to Greenville to pick up Number One Son and The Girlfriend.  We stopped at this little place that The Girlfriend knows about and had the most delicious and unusual cupcakes.  The place is called The Peppered Cupcake and that's what I had.  The actual cupcake is a regular cupcake but it has orange marmalade and horseradish inside with a lightly peppered icing.  OH MY GOODNESS!!!! It was flipping divine. Tabitha, the owner, specializes in unique cupcakes and she has perfected the art.  Number One Son likes the Maple Bacon cupcake.  I just have one problem with all this.  The cupcakes are amazing but if you're going to spend your day making all that decadent yumminess, please have the common decency to have a couple of extra pounds.  It's so unfair to walk in and see this trim, attractive woman making these fat filled items. Not an ounce of fat on her. It's a conspiracy I tell you!

Anyway, the weekend went by rather quickly.  Number One Son got his replacement retainers (ahem) and Number Two Son now has a mouth full of brackets and wires.  I don't think Number Two Son was very excited by the whole process...until he found out that since he's gotten his braces, he can whistle.  He's never been able to do so.  We were talking about it the other night because sometimes, when air passes over/through the wires, he can hear a faint whistle.  We started discussing how one actually does whistle and I recalled a friend in college who could only whistle when she had her braces.  He gave it a go and viola! I wish I had a camera at that moment.  The shock and happiness on his face reminded me that while he might be 17, he's still a kid at heart.

I also made a purchase Saturday....

Do you know what it is? I'm going to wait and see if you can figure it out.  Just a little mystery in the day.  I'm sure there are several of you who will guess right away.

Sunday we got back in the car and took the kids back to Greenville, stopping on the way down to have lunch with Anne and her family.  I love spending time with these guys, I just hate that this trip was so rushed.  We will definitely have to plan something soon.

So there you have it.  Since all of this driving around the state, I have been pooped.  I get up in the morning, go to work, come home, fix dinner and crash....hard.  It's been really busy at work, so that means the days have been flying by.  I can't believe it's already Wednesday.  I'll try to take some pictures of my works in progress and let you know about them tomorrow. Now I have to be a responsible adult and work.  Have a good one!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Happy Friday!

 

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.

And Then Some

First off - I can't begin to tell you how much you all have touched me.  I knew you were a generous group, but seriously, I'm overwhelmed.  The emails, Rav messages - You've made my day....and then some. I hate to rush time, but I cannot wait to present these promised hats to Fru.  I feel like the Grinch....my heart grew three sizes today!  I humbly thank you.

Now onto our regularly scheduled programming.....

Things have been pretty busy. Car Guy as been in Vegas all week for work.  At least he says it's work....

What do you think?

It's a good thing I'm not a jealous woman.

I have a couple of things on needles.  Only I haven't taken pictures of them yet, so I'll just tell you about them.

The first item is Tudor Grace.  I'm doing it in a the lace weight Miss Babs Yet and in the Primrose colorway...Love this stuff! It's a dream to work with. Since I'm using a lighter yarn, I've increased the number of repeats from four across to ten.  I think this is going to be a WIP for a while. It's an easy lace, but I'm moving really slow.  Oh wait.  I lied.  I found a picture on my phone...tada...

The other item I'm working on is the Summer Flies Shawl. For this one I'm using Interlacements Seeds in the Chairman of the Board colorway.  I really don't have pictures of this one....I just checked.  I got this yarn at my LYS.  I went in there for a set of needles and came out with this as well...she says while hanging her head in shame for lack of will power.  You'll understand when you see it. Gorgeous blues and greens and coppers. I will warn that this is an interesting, loose spun yarn and splits rather easily.  That can be frustrating at times.

Of course I don't have pictures of any of this on Ravelry because I'm a slacker.  I know.  My sister has already fussed at me about this.  I'll get better.  One day.  Maybe....Nah.

Oh!  I've been spinning as well.  Nothing terribly exciting, just some undyed wool. Once it's done and plied, I thought I might try a little Kool Aide experimentation.  We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Any who....I'm off tomorrow to get Number One Son and bring him home to get a new retainer. Ugh.  A six hour trip there and back for a retainer he lost after only having it for 3 months!  I told him if he lost this one I was taking it out of his hide....and his bank account.  Yikes! He'll be with us until Sunday when I get to do the drive again....Oh Anne...are you around on Sunday?  Wanna do lunch?  Ha!

I'll try to do the "This Moment" tour, but it might not be until Saturday.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and again, I give you my heartfelt thanks!

Dear Silly Fru

Silly Fru - This was stolen from Fru's website...I admit it.

I want to introduce you to a friend of mine.  Her name is Wendy, but I think most people know her as Fru or Sassypants Knitter.  I met her a couple of years ago when I went to SAFF for the first time. She's an out of state Biscuit.  I will never forget the first thing I heard come out of her mouth.  Another person was showing her some amazing yarn and she reached over and reverently stroked the gorgeous softness and said "Holy s#*tballs! That's unreal!" I wasn't shocked or upset by that comment because what some of you don't know about me is that I have quite the potty mouth...it can be rather embarrassing because those awful words typically pop out at the most inappropriate moments.  I'm much better than I used to be but I've always admired people that will let something like that fly when they are enthusiastic about something.  I knew that this was a kindred spirit. I mean, come on, she's a fellow hippie chick!

Because she lives a state away, I haven't gotten to know her as well as I'd like to, but I have to say that this irreverent woman has one of the most amazing hearts I've ever encountered...and it's in mourning at the moment.  You see, Fru lost her beloved Grammy at the end January to esophageal gastric junction cancer.

I have found since I started knitting and crocheting that this community of people that play with sticks and string are an amazing, warm hearted group of people and that's what I'm counting on...that you will share this warmth.  When Fru's Grammy found out she was ill, she decided that she wanted to knit 100 hats for the homeless.  Fru put the word out on her blog, where she pod casts regularly, and the community responded. Boy, did they respond with over 300 hats.

2012's Hats - Picture stolen from Fru's Facebook Page

This is were you come in.  I'm asking you to help out this year.  Fru is going to do the drive again in her Grammy's honor. She tentativly wants to officially start the drive in September and close it out in November, but if you're anything like me, you need plenty of time and planning, but I also know that y'all can whip up some hats like nobody's business. 

So if you're interested, contact me on Facebook, Ravelry or email (melbatoast68@gmail.com). She prefers that the hats be simple, washable and dark colors. I just ask that the be filled with love and warmth.  Thanks!!

Additional info:
News Story
Fru's Website 

There are several hat patterns on Ravelry.  Here are a few of my favorites:
Simple Slouch Hat
Man Hat
Ribbed Watchman's Hat
Midnight Sky Men's Hat
Hats from the Heart

These aren't fancy hats, but they look nice and warm.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Happy Friday!

Inspired by Amanda Soule - Feel free to join in and share a link to your moment.