What a Croc

I have to tell you that I've never been one to follow fashion trends. I wear New Balance sneakers I've had for the past 4 years. The only reason I have these is because Bran threatened to burn my last pair of Nikes. I had worn them for at least 10 years. They had no holes and were so comfortable. Broken in just the way I like them. I will admit that they didn't smell pretty. And since they were 10+ years old they weren't the most fashionable. I still own and wear underwear that I bought before I had Dan 15 years ago. My current bathing suit was bought the year I was pregnant for him. For some reason, I just don't feel the need to be stylish. I mean, I like to look good, but I think most days I look just fine in my jeans/shorts and a tee.

The rest of my family likes to be stylin'. They follow all the trends and get sucked into the latest crazes. Like the Croc craze currently spreading through our sleepy little town. At first I refused to buy them. I thought they looked cheap and hideous. And they're flimsy. But then Dailaesse caught Croc fever and I just couldn't resist any longer. Since Darcie had also been wanting them I set out in search of a pair for each of the girls about 2 weeks ago. The one store here in town that carries them didn't have them in their sizes. I went to Lake Placid. Same deal. I got online. After spending 3 hours searching online stores I found the pair of turquoise Darcie wanted so I ordered 'em up along with a pair of Sea Blue for Dailaesse. I also ordered Off Road's for Dan in red and black for Bran. And these...


for me. I hate getting sucked in but I so love these shoes.

Little Hank Grows Up

The last time I was at Sue's I bought a gorgeous hank of Fleece Artist Merino. I have to be quite honest and tell you I think the poor little hank may have been a return. I believe this to be the case because it was the only hank of this colorway, it was wound oddly and it's definitely not one of the new colorways. Can you imagine anyone returning a hank of Fleece Artist? Must have been some sort of deranged lunatic. I felt so bad for the poor little thing that I just had to bring it home with me.

When I got home with the little skein I tucked it into a special spot in a nice clear plastic bin with lots of other Fleece Artist. It's sat there since I brought it home. Everytime I open the bin to add more yarn or take some out I see that little hank. I can only imagine what sort of terrible life it had before coming to live with me. I felt it's pain and I knew it was desperate to become something spectacular. So last week I took it out and wound it into a ball. The little hank immediately perked up.

I cast on for a pair of Pomatomus. I got through 2 pattern repeats on the leg and could tell that as happy as the little hank was to know it was loved, it still wasn't as happy as it could have been. (Am now back to working these socks in the yarn I originally bought for them.) So I ripped out the start of the sock (I wished I had taken pictures but really, it was so sad that it would have depressed you.) and decided to cast on for a pair of Diamond Lace Socks. Little Hank was much happier about becoming a pair of these because it really got to show off. Unfortunatley, the pattern didn't. (BTW Sandie, you really did a wonderful job designing these socks. I love the pattern and will be working it in a color that will allow it to do the showing off instead. I'm thinking a nearly solid Lorna's Laces.) So I ripped that sock out and went back to the drawing board and came up with this...

the Crusoe pattern from Knitty. As you can see, I've made a change already opting to begin with a little 2x2 rib before starting the slip stitch pattern. I also don't think I'll carry the pattern down the foot. Will let you know about that for sure when I get there though.

Knittin' Country

We had a local radio station that played country music a few years back. They called it Kickin' Country. I was immediately reminded of it when I received this from my secret pal the other day...

Thank you so very much Jennifer!!! I absolutely love it! I have to admit that when I saw the title I was thinking that it was going to be a bunch of really old country songs. Not that I don't like the really old country songs, but I do listen to the newer stuff more often. This mix is just perfect. Lots of new stuff with a few songs from the 90's thrown in. You really out did yourself! Now, if I find out that you don't listen to country I'm going to be even more impressed. LOL

I know lots of you are waiting to hear how things went for Dan and Darcie too. I have to first say that I can't wait until the judge that we have for our county is no longer on the bench. The man is a complete asshole. In fact, calling him a man is too good for him. BUT, the law guardian finally got off her fat ass and sided with the kids for once. This is the first time in 10 years that she has gone to bat for them. So, the visitation time has been cut in half which the kids are just thrilled about. They aren't the least bit happy that they still have to go but they are glad that it's not so often. The law guardian has promised to keep tabs on the ex's counseling status and we meet back with the judge in October to review the situation. I believe that for the next year or so we'll be going in every 3 months for a status check which is wonderful. The only sad part about it is that I really think it's too late for the kids to benefit from it. They've both said that they don't care if he gets help or not. They hate him and want nothing to do with him. The law guardian told Dan that he only has to go for another year so he's flying high. Poor Darcie is stuck though. I'm hoping that if he gets some counseling though that it will make a huge difference in the time she does have to spend there. All in all, I think it was a huge win for the kids. I haven't seen them so happy in a very long time.

Thank you all so very much for your well wishes and prayers. They certainly did the trick!

Shits N Giggles

First the giggles...

We took Dailaesse to Hulbert's yesterday. It's a plumbing and heating supply store. My dad went to work there right out of high school and stayed for over 20 years until he left to start his own business in the early 80's. They have a huge paved parking lot that's nice and flat. My dad took me there all the time when I was little to ride my bike. I've taken all 3 of my kids there too. Anyway, we loaded her, her bike and her helmet into the van and set out for our daily adventure. Up until now, Dailaesse has always rode her bike here on the lawn. If she falls she lands on the nice soft grass. But as we all know, it's a lot harder to pedal a bike on grass than it is on pavement. We got to Hulbert's to turned her loose in the parking lot. She took off. With her daddy right behind her reminding her every 10 seconds to slow down and not take the corners so sharp. He was making her nervous. I had to tell him he had to come sit with me. He finally gave in and joined me up on the loading dock. He was a mess. Then it happened. She fell. He turned white and ran. I'm serious. I watched the color drain from his face. I told Dailaesse to get up and brush 'em off. She did and was back on her bike before he could even get across the parking lot. I had to giggle sitting there watching him because I couldn't help but remember going through the same thing with Darcie just 6 years ago. He told me the first time we took her there that he thought he surely must have gotten his first gray hairs. The first thing he said when he came back to sit with me yesterday was that he was sure he had just sprouted at least 10 new grays. It sure is tough on daddy when his little ones fall down. Thank God they're tougher than he his. :-)

As for the shits part...

I have court tomorrow. Enough said?

Please keep us in your thoughts and/or prayers.

A Little Q&A

Shelby posed these questions to the participants in her SP8 group. I thought they were fun. Here are my answers...

1) What is your favorite season of the year? My favorite season is winter. I love to play in the snow. Snow angels, snowmen, building forts, sledding, ice skating, snowmobiling. It doesn't get much better than that. Plus, since I'm allergic to everything that grows in the ground, I always feel best in the crisp winter air.

2) Where is your favorite vacation spot? It's been years since I've been on vacation but if I had to pick a favorite I'd have to say Niagara Falls would be it. I love that there are so many things to do at any given time of the year. And it can be enjoyed with or without the kids. Huge plus in my book.

3) If you could visit any place in the world, where would it be? Anywhere my kids and hubby are. :-) And if that just happened to be Australia that would be even better.

4) If you could pick any job, and be paid well, what would it be? Mom

5) If you were going on vacation for 1 week, and had to take ONLY one project with you, what would it be? A really complicated pair of socks.

6) If you won a shopping spree to your favorite Yarn shop, what would you get?? I guess it would depend on how long I had. LOL I'd definitely wouldn't leave until I had some Alpaca, Fleece Artist Merino and Turbos.

How about you all? If you post your own answers drop me the link to your blog. I'd love to hear what you have to say!

On this day in 1991

I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy at 5:39 pm. He weighed 9lbs, was 21.75" and had a ton of black hair. And he loved to cuddle.

The minute I was told I was going to be a mom I fell in love. I didn't know if I was having a boy or a girl and I didn't care. I just wanted my baby to be healthy and happy. And he was. My little baby boy (although not so little anymore) is still healthy and happy and I enjoy him and love him more as each day passes. He's smart, handsome and funny. He has an amazing sense of humor but takes everything he does very seriously. I thank God every day for sending me my precious son and I pray that we'll have many more days to spend together.

Happy 15th Birthday Dan!

I am so proud of you for the wonderful young man you've become and I love you so very much!!!

(I'm off to dry my eyes and take my little man to Ronnie's for some michigans.)

The Cold Shoulder

Is so over! You'll have to excuse the model. She's wearing her night shirt. She's also tired and cranky which explains the lack of a smile on her pretty little face. Believe me though, she loves the jacket. So much so that she has requested one of her own. Will have to get her over to Sue's so she can pick out the color Alpaca she wants. What do you all think? Now imagine it held together at the bottom with a funky pin. That's how Sue had it displayed at the store. So cute!

SSS

You've all heard of SecondSockSyndrome right? Well let me introduce you to my version of SecondSleeveSyndrome...

I'll knit the second sleeve as soon as I finish the jacket for Sue. I mean, how can you expect me to choose working acrylic above luscious baby alpaca?

That's my story folks. And I'm sticking to it.

Here's the mail...

it never fails...it makes me wanna wag my tail...when it comes I wanna wail...MAIL!!!!!

I got my latest order from Adagio today.

Darjeeling #2 which is just amazing. A refill of the white blueberry because it's so yummy. And samples of golden monkey, blueberry, keemun encore, and ceylon waltz. I just brewed a cup of golden monkey and I can just barely taste something that resembles the smell of the sencha. Although it brewed up nicely and I love the color I don't think I'll be going back for more of this one. (If anyone is interested in trying it drop me an email with your snail mail addy and I'll drop it to you tomorrow. First one to write gets it.) Later I'm going to try mixing the blueberry with some cream. Yum.

Then there's this little purchase I made last week even though I vowed not to buy any more yarn until I've finished at least a half dozen more projects.

I just couldn't resist this one though. Look at those colors. I'm having a seriously hard time not buying some of the other colors at RubySapphire Yarns. Just amazing!

And now for the grand finale...

From my awesome Secret Pal. 2 balls of gorgeous Koigu KPPPM (one of my favorites!) and a wonderful candle. I lit it right away. My husband asked what smelled so good as soon as he came through the door this afternoon. Thanks so much Jennifer! I just love everything!

Firecrackers, Firecrackers...Boom, Boom, BOOM!

We didn't do much of anything today. Bran and Dailaesse went out to play for a few minutes this morning while I did a little housework. They came back in covered with little bugs. I have no idea what these things are but they are all over the place. They are almost transparent and no bigger than the head of a pin. I showered Dailaesse and banished the dog to the kitchen. This afternoon we took the van through the car wash. That was loaded with them too. I've been hoping it would rain and wash them away. I wish I had taken pictures of them now. Maybe someone would have been able to identify them.

Lake Placid had their fireworks last night. We had thought of going but since the horse show is still in progress we decided against it. It's hard to get a parking spot over there on a good day. We were going to go to our fireworks tonight but Dailaesse stripped to her underwear and informed us she was in for the night. She said they would be too loud for her little baby girl ears anyway. What a kid. I'm going to sneak out onto the porch as soon as I hear the booms start and see if I can't get some pictures.

I hope you enjoyed whatever it is that you spent time doing today and that you have a safe evening! Happy fourth!

Butterfly Boo Boo

Dear Friends,

In an attempt to make my blog as instructional as the Harlot's I thought I'd give you all a little lesson on how to manipulate stitches without having to rip rows and rows of work. I knit both the fronts of the little purple sweater I started for Dailaesse and intentionally left out a butterfly at the top of each piece. See? No butterfly at the top. Just lots of empty space where a butterfly should be.

The first thing I do is stick a dpn through the 5 stitches that will begin the repair and then rip out down to those stitches sitting on the dpn:

Then I start knitting just like I normally would:

See the brand new butterfly? Isn't it pretty?

Ta da...

This concludes today's lesson. Wasn't it so thoughtful of me to deliberately leave out those butterflies just to provide you all with this valuable information? There's nothing I wouldn't do for you. Now, please excuse me while I go bang my head up against the wall since I found a mistake I made while fixing the mistake I made practicing on the first front I corrected just for you, my dear friends.

Kerry

Seriously. I will be banging my head on the wall. I don't know why the hell I didn't realize I stopped short on the butterfly pattern on the fronts. It was very obvious once the sleeve was finished. This pisses me off. What pisses me off most is that it's about 100 today and I'm hot, sticky and miserable. I'm also using acrylic for the sweater. And I have to fix it or it'll drive me nuts. As soon as I fix the first front that I botched I'll be standing topless in front of the a/c with a nice cold glass of iced tea and an ice pack for my head. At least this time it's just 1 stitch instead of 5.

All Teas are not Created Equal

I have to tell you all a funny little story.

Remember how I said I was head over heels in love with Adagio Teas? Remember how I said I've been trying to lose weight? Well, I decided to try some green tea since it's plastered every where you look these days that green tea helps promote weight loss. I researched to see what specific types of green teas were best. The answer? Sencha. So I checked to see if Adagio has sencha tea. Turns out they do. 2 different types. I, being of the "if it's more expensive it's got to be better" mind set ordered up a 10oz container of premier sencha. $44 for 10 oz of tea. Gotta be great right? My order arrived this morning and I couldn't wait to brew up a little pot of this tea. I opened the container and was immediately hit with the smell of rotten seaweed. Seriously. I thought, "it can't really taste as bad as it smells" and went right ahead and brewed a pot. Guess what? It really can taste as bad as it smells. Not only that, but it can leave that really bad taste in your mouth so much so that you have to brush your teeth AND gargle with Listerine to get rid of it. It was that bad. Now I must admit to never having had real green tea before. I've only ever had the diet Lipton bottled green tea which is quite tasty. Maybe it's a taste that you have to acquire. I can't ever see me growing a love for rotten kelp.

So, while I'm still in love with Adagio Teas, the honeymoon is over for me and the green tea. It's currently boxed up (along with a 4oz tin of dragonwell...not even willing to go down that highway) waiting to be brought to FedEx on Monday to be exchanged for some of their black teas I know I love.

Oh, and just out of curiosity...does anyone REALLY drink this shit???