i love the mailman

I just ordered the sock yarn for my March sock club. I think the waiting is harder when you know what is coming than when it is an actual surprise.

We have a great mailman, he has watched the kids grow and delivered an untold number of birthday packages for them. He brings packages to the door a few times a week and never complains. He has never suggested we get a bigger mailbox. From time to time he will ask what is in the box. Today was a good day. Today he brought this

Dragon Fibers fiber club Merino Bamboo.

It feels like cotton candy. I do not need to spin or knit it, just wrap the whole braid around my neck.


Webs Skein of the Month. This is Merino and silk. It is so soft, perfect for a scarf. No way it would ever even think about being scratchy.


The color is deep and wonderful and not me. My Mom will love it. I have stashed it away in the present drawer for her.

The package also included a pattern and a nifty surprise. This yarn retails for $35.00, lasts month's yarn would have cost me $24.00. The cost of the club is just over $100 a year. Totally worth it! If you join now the cost is prorated. You should join.

its a seattle thing

Emma, this one is for you.

catch up & laundry

The past few days have been very productive. I have done a ton of writing and feel really good about what I have accomplished. I have been writing for the book so much that I have been completely spent when it comes time for a blog post. I do not know how Stephanie does it. She writes book after book AND lengthy blog posts.

Time for a little catch up. This is what is on the spindle

Emma calls it Secret Garden, but I am calling it Crab Apple. The green does not show on my monitor, I hope it does on yours. I spun about 2 ounces this morning. As I spin, I think of the crab apple tree my Grandma had in her backyard. To this day, crab apple jelly is my hands down favorite. I come across a jar every few years and treasure the flavors.

This is what a couple of days of dance classes and doctor appointments will get you

Louet Gems, Diagonal Rib #2’s. Husband has worn these socks before. He put them through the washer and dryer and was so upset when he realized they no longer fit. I am making him a new pair. This pair is going very slowly, there is so much other stuff on my plate right now.

I spent today sorting toys. When our friend asked if we would help I was expecting to spend a couple of hours dealing with toys, it turned into 5+ hours! I should have brought a camera, because this pile of toys was HUGE!. A friend of mine, had a friend of hers, give her a PILE of toys and clothes. This pile of toys and clothes belonged to her two sons. After going through the toys I imagine the sons are now off to college. The kids and I sorted through 100s of pounds of Legos and Star Wars action figures and army guys. After the sorting they were put into gallon size Ziplocs and then into totes for a specific charity. The kids on the receiving end are going to love the bags!

Part of the deal with having my kids sort toys was their ability to tell the difference between Lego and Playmobil and Papo and Star Wars...and their reward was being able to cherry pick the things that wanted most. I am so proud of them. They understood that the toys were going to kids that did not have Lego and Playmobil buckets stacked high in the closet. They chose carefully, and well.

The one extravagance they gave themselves was a Nintendo DS and some games. The family that donated the toys had an embarrassing amount of game systems. Truly, embarrassing. I allowed the kids to choose one to bring home. Again, they chose wisely.

For the past couple of months our washing machine has been letting us know that it is at the end of its lifespan. This thing has worked like a champ through 3 kids in diapers (the 4th was disposable all they way!) and 17 years of washing a family of 6's clothes. It is time to replace it with one of those water efficient front load models. Do you have one? What would you recommend?

shiny, shiny

While waiting to leave for my Physical Therapy appointment I pulled out the concertina. I do not think I have posted photos of my new sweetie

She is old and shiny and I love her.

I have been a musician my whole life, so me picking up a new instrument is not really that big a deal. But what I want from this experience is different. I am a classically trained musician and have always played from written music. With this concertina my goal is to learn to play by ear. I can’t wait to see what happens.

My Physical Therapist was so mean to me today. More reps, more weights, new exercises. If I can get out of bed in the morning I will be surprised.

My concertina needs a name. Do you have any suggestions?

3 stars

Is anyone out there Jewish? A friend asked me why the Sabbath ends on Saturday when you can see 3 stars in the sky. After pouring through most of the Jewish reference books on my shelves, and a couple of hours of internet searching, I have come up empty. If there is someone out there who knows the answer and can point me to a reference/resource, I will be oh, so, grateful. Until then, I will put on another pot of tea and return to the books.

1800?

A few days ago my blog counter rolled over 1700. This took almost a year. Today, before I even mailed out the package for the lucky #1700, the counter has rolled over 1800. OMG! I will keep posting, y'all keep reading, as we get close to 2000 I will rummage through the stash for another yarny goodness giveaway. I have very little stash, and it is all good.

I spent most of yesterday trying to reinvent the wheel. After a long day I am back where I started. But fresh and with rested eyes. Truth be told, I make a little progress everyday, and feel really great about the whole process.

Today Youngest Son has a dentist appointment, last one for a while. I cancelled his tap lesson this week. Good thing becasue both daughters see Ortodontist today. Then there is the after dinner dance class. I so dislike having to bundle up and head out after dinner. I prefert to have wine with dinner and change into my jammies. What about you? What time is your time to feel like you are "in for the day"?

No knitting progress. Yesterday I knit and ripped and knit and ripped and knit and ripped. See the whole reinventing the wheel from above. Good news, Oceanwind Knits holds up well to such torture.

My bean grew a whole inch



I love my bean!

I need to start a small project to take with me. What will it be? A soon as I am done with this post I will go stash diving. Knitting progress to follow.

Please, let me know, at what time of day do you say NO, it is too late.

sprouts

Spring has arrived here in Seattle. We are having a bright beautiful weekend. There will be rain all week, but temperatures around 50 and no more night time freezing. It feels so wonderful to be sitting in the sun. The next non-rainy weekend will be spent preparing the deck, bringing out the furniture and potting new plants. That is one of my favorite weekends of the year, full of anticipation.

Look what else has arrived


my intentional bean. It is very appropriate because I plan to spend the whole day writing.

edit-
I had planned to spend the whole day writing, Husband through a wrench in my plan. He is at work and I need to make arrangement to go pick up some plants and drop off some baby stuff. Before I pick up the plants, which are being rescued from a co-workers yard, I have to go to the nursery to buy pots and dirt. Of course I can not lift anything, so I have to wrangle kids into helping. This is going to take hours, so much for writing all day. I am mad because I have to do this and guilty for feeling mad because of the long hours Husband has been working.

flowers?

Our local Trader Joe's has a large pillar in front of the main door that is circled by potted flowers. Cut flowers are piled deep on either side of the entrance. This morning as I walked in to pick up a few things I actually laughed outloud at the site before me. 5, count 'em, 5 men standing in front of the flowers, hands in pockets, looking more than a little shell shocked. I could not help but laugh.

I had a great Physical Therapy session this morning. I am going to put that whole usgly Epidural Cortesone Injection idea right out of my head. I see light at the end of the tunnel for the first time in almost 2 months.

Time to get cooking. Happy Valentine's Day to you all!!!!

too busy

Too busy to post yesterday, but the first Flap Mitten is done

Malabrigo, #4 needles, 48 stitches around. This mitten is perfect! It is soft and thick and my design came out just right. I am anxious to see how much yarn it will take to make the pair. I do not have a scale and my fingers are totally crossed that one skein will be enough for 2 mittens. Now that we are coming to the end of mitten weather, (sorry Steph, our spring will appear MUCH sooner than yours), I think I will squirrel these away for Youngest Daughter and Hanukkah 2008. I am not a last minute kind of gal.

This afternoon I returned home and found this

It is a valentine present from my aunt. She is so wonderful. One of the truly good people of the world.

Last Sunday's Writer's Group was moved to this Sunday. Too many of us were sick and unable to attend. At the time I thought, "Yipee, I will be able to get so much more done before next Sunday." My continued optimism continues to amaze me. This week has been crazy busy. I have not had time to do much more than order some reference books. I came across a gem of a list. The books are all out of print, but available through the magic of the internet. I suppose I could count that as work. Searching for all those titles, pulling the debit card in and out of the wallet...

Kim is having a book contest on her blog, check it out.

a prize

To the first person who reads this entry,
Please leave a comment and I will send you some yarny goodness.

i could use an Alfred today

Holy algorithms Batman! The counter on this here blog is about to hit 1700. I rememebr when it turned over 100, I was so surprised. 1700? I am floored!

There will be much knitting done today. Why? Well...yesterday the girls and I were walking around Seattle Center trying to find the Emerald City Feish. Just as we realized we were coming up on the right place, the pavement slipped out from under my left foot and I completely bent my ankle sideways. Sideways! We were far away from the car, so decided to watch the competition and deal with the ankle later. We did eventually make it back to the car. Once home I took off my sock and OMG. There was swelling and dark colors and red lines. Nothing that should be associated with an ankle. So today I sit and deal with the Sciatica in my right leg while tyring to rest the left ankle. OY.

Looky, first FO of the day


Dandelions in Summertime. Rio de la Plata, size 1 needles, plenty of yarn left.

Now its onto Flap Mittens


I have 2 meetings tonight. Will I be able to finish the first mitten? Tune in tomorrow. Same bat time, same bat channel.

more yarn

Here is a project that was finished a few weeks ago. Oldest Daughter put it right into service and I did not have a chance to take a picture. Last night I found it lying on the table and I grabbed the camera.

It is a Nintendo DS cozy! When I saw the pattern I could not decide if the idea was cute or dorky. Oldest Daughter assured me it was so dorky that she had to have one. Stash diving brought up a skein of MMMMalabrigo. You can kinda see the cables. There are simple alternate cables on either side and more intricate cabling in the center panel. The pattern is from the Stich N Bitch page a day calendar. I altered it by working about 20 fewer rows and I did not add the hole for the strap. A quick knit received with a very satisfiing squeel.

The mailman is so good to me

Loveletters by SockPixie. 100% Merino. Lovely to look at, delightful to hold. You could practically lick it.

fiber, finally

Here is a good old fashioned fiber post.



Up first, Youngest Daughter's 3rd pair of socks.

Do not know the specs. It is good yarn, worsted, with her first cable.

She will soon be making an identical pair for her best friend. She did this with her first/second pairs as well.



Banded Iguana.



I have not measured the WPI, but it looks very Fingering. This is a Merino /Tencle blend from Dragon Fibers. I LOVE Dragon Fibers. It is the first time I have spun this blend and I was surprised that it did not fluff up much in the soak. The finished skein is displayed on the CD wall. I do not have a clue of the yardage. I aslo do not have a clue what I will do with it. My brain has been working for process, not product. For now, it is beautiful on the CD wall.


One sock of Dandelions in Summertime is done. The heel of the second sock is in progress. Oops, I thought this was a picture of a finished sock, oh well, you get the idea.

As soon as this pair is finished I will start on my February Sock Club yarn. The yarn is not actually here yet, but on its way. Loveletters.

are you serious?

Specialist said, “epidural cortisone injections”. He also said that if it did not work it would be time to call Neurologist. I do not know how I feel. I want the pain to stop. I want to be a whole person again. I do not want someone sticking needles into my spine. It has been an emotional morning. Too early for wine, I guess it will have to be tea.

no one told me it is personal

Writing is so much more personal than I ever imagined. It makes me feel open and vunerable in a way that I am not used to feeling. It has me wondering if I want to continue with this whole blog thing.

I have a couple of friends who are far away, and they enjoy reading the blog to see what I am up to. I have a couple more people I have met through knitting adventures on line, and we enjoy each others daily blog posts. What I am not ready for are people who read the blog and then see me, face to face.

This has happened 2 times at local yarn shops. "Are you the Terri that....?" "Yes, that is me." And then again yesterday. I posted a comment on a blog, not realizing my blog was linked to the comment. When I saw this person she mentioned that she had taken a quick peek. I was mortified. What had I written? Nothing mean or spiteful, but what about quality and spelling and dangling participles? What about wine consumption and swearing? Then there is the whole revealing aspect of it all. What have I revealed online that I would be uncomfotable revealing in a casual conversation?

The truth is I need to get over it. Writing is personal. People I meet through writing are going to know me in ways I am not comfortable with. The same thing is probably true in reverse. It is a courageous stretch we make, to meet people and make art and trust we will not be hurt. I am still not comfortable with it, but I am willing to try.

show me the money

Well, Oldest Daughter has applied to 4 colleges. She has one more on her list and should get that application finished up this weekend. Now for the really hard part. You guessed it, the money. So the scholarship search begins. It is all so much work. I do not remember it being this much work when I was looking for a school, &*&*years ago. I took the SATs (aced them, thank you very much), and I applied to one school. I do not think I had to pay an application fee. Soon after I applied I got a fat envelope in the mail asking me to chose a dorm. Painless.

Oldest Daughter's experience is VERY different. She chose 5 schools based on a couple of college fairs and a small forest's worth of solicitations. She had to get references from 3 teachers. Those references had to be in sealed envelopes and the teacher had to sign across the seal. Then there were transcripts from her high school and 2 colleges. Her high school credits are mostly homeschool credits, which makes for a whole new set of forms. She had to submit personal statements as well as essays. On top of all this there were application fees for each college ranging from $55-$100! Holy crap.

4 of her college choices send out acceptance letters in March. The one she wants to attend the most, sends their letters out in May. I am praying to God that she does not have to accept anything before the May letter arrives.

I need another glass of wine.

Sorry about the spell check.

smack

I have hit a wall with the second chapter. I need more research materials and will be heading out to the bookstore as soon as they open. I can only do so much research on line. In the end I like to hold paper in my hands while I am reading.

Is anyone else having problems using the blogger spell check? Apolagies all around for the spelling in the last few posts.

Many Doc appointments and dance classes this weeek. Here is what my first Dandelions In Summer look like after a week in the wating room

I am very pleased. The colors are much brighter in real life. It is pretty cloudy here today, I will try another picture once the sun arrives. The pattern would be perfect if I would have knit it toe up. But me, toe up? No thank you. You may remember that I pulled out one whole sock (size 11 men's) and the second sock up to the heel becasue I could not bear to do another short row heel. The ends had been woven and everything. I hate short row heels that much.