So Excited!

WooooHooooo! Last night I got a call from our local paper, Feather River News, telling me that I was a finalist in their recipe contest. I had submitted 4 recipe's, and 2 of them were picked. You could submit one recipe for each category, and my main dish and my comfort food recipe's were chosen!

So now I have to make them and take them to the paper on May 14th for a taste test. First prize is $100.00. My main dish recipe is my Mom's, and if it wins I promised her that she and I will go out to lunch, a fancy lunch, alone! If my comfort food recipe wins, I'll probably still take her to lunch. And of course any left over $$ will go in the yarn fund :-) Anyone want me to post the recipe's?

Have you seen this? I thank I may make some of these for baby gifts. How cute are they!!

I am in love with this!

Really, what would I do with this yarn.....160 yards of a bulky weight. I just love the colors! What could I do with one skein?



Spunky Eclectic

Blog Mishap

I had a bit of a blog mishap this morning.....for some reason my template changed by itself, and I lost all of the code that I had put in. I did my best to get it back the way it was......with a few color changes.

I am missing the KnittyHeads ring button, I have to go get the code again. And I lost my site referrers. They are not giving the code out anymore so I have to wait on that.

This took me all day, and if it happens again.....I may just bite the bullet and go to Moveable Type.

Not only have I been doing this most of the day.....this has been happening in my house.

The closet floor needed to be ripped up, all the floor joists replaced and then a new floor laid down.....thanks a lot termites!

8 Days and 7 Nights........

We are home from the hospital after 8 long days. Mister James is doing much better, in fact today he acts like he is no longer sick at all. I wouldn't wish RSV on my worst enemy! He was such a great little patient. The nurses all told me that he was the happiest sick baby that they had ever seen. I was told that there were cases of RSV this year where the babies were so listless and lethargic, James was never like that. He needed oxygen and nebulizer treatments, and we have an inhaler for him here at home.

I am so blessed that I have such a wonderful husband. He watched Katie and Ben the whole week. I couldn't stand the thought of leaving James' side, so they would make the 30 min trip every day to come and see me. Ben, who is 2, had a hard time. There were a few days that he didn't even want me to look at him. I think he was mad at me :-( But all is back to normal now that James and I are home.

The only good thing about the hospital was I could knit. I really only knit the first few days there. I was so worried and I needed something to do. After about the 4th day, I was getting a little stir crazy, along with lonely...and I didn't feel like doing anything. Thank goodness for the nurses who didn't mind that I talked their ear off. At one point there were only 2 patients in the hospital, so they had a lot of down time!

I got some great surprises when I got home! The first was a RAOK from Grenadine Girl It's a really cute felting kit for a little pouch. The next was a very nice card from Caitlyn wishing all of us better. And last but not least was a 15.00 gift certificate to Amazon from Romy. Plus all the comments and emails really made my heart warm. It's nice to know so many good thoughts are coming James' way. Also a big thank you to Catherine for helping me make my blog look so cute! I love the yellow and pink, my two favorite colors!

I also got my KnitPicks order, and my Elann order. I am just too exhausted to knit anything with it! I got 4 skeins of knitpicks Sock Garden, and 2 of the Sock Landscapes. Plus I got 2 skeins of the Alpaca Cloud for a scarf for my sister.
The Elann order was their baby cashmere for a shawl that I might get to one of these years!

Update

Hello everyone! I have been talking with Jenn on the phone and James has made his turn! The doctor had hoped that they would be out of the hospital by the 19th , but the little guy is still wheezing like cray so I assume they both will remain in that little room for a couple more days:( She wanted me to go ahead and sign in and update all of her friends:) She is itching so bad to get to a computer. Can't imagine how out of touch Jenn feels. More later
Catherine (Knittin' Around)

When it rains it pours.

First off, thank you for all the well wishes that I received about the kiddo's and my hand. My fingers are healing. They blistered and popped, and became more sore than when I burned them!

My 2 and 3 year old have tonsillitis. They have started antibiotics and are so much better now. Of course that's not the big problem anymore....my 2 month old, James, has RSV. It's really scary. We have to watch him very closely, there is a big chance he will have to be hospitalized if he is having trouble breathing. Right now his oxygen levels are really good. He is coughing up a storm, and it breaks my heart to have such a young baby be so sick.

He went to the doc yesterday, and today, and if he is any worse tomorrow, then we have to go back. I am so strung out. 3 sick children at once is not fun. Thank goodness Katie and Ben are feeling better. Now I am starting to get it. It was only a matter of time. There is no way parents can escape this when their children are sick.......They have all been doing a lot of cuddling with their momma.

I PROMISE this will turn back into a knitting blog as soon as I pick up some needles :-) There just isn't enough hours in the day lately!

How could I be so stupid?

Well, there won't be any knitting in this house for a few days. Not only won't there be any knitting going on, there won't be much of anything going on that requires the use of my left hand. I badly burned my first three fingers on that hand.

I was heating up a bowl of baked potato soup (my favorite) for lunch in the microwave. When I took it out and pulled back the ling wrap, the steam burned me. I wouldn't want to type the words that came out of mouth. That happened at 11 am....here it is 4:30 and my fingers are still in a glass of cold water. The pain is so bad! I have never had a burn like this before...it has turned white and I think there is a blister coming. The only relief from the pain is when it's in the water......falling asleep tonight is gonna be fun huh?

Not only do I do this to myself today, but my children are sick. Katie has a fever...and I am sure tomorrow it will be a cold, and Ben has an ear infection. What I wouldn't give to go back to lunch time and not burn my fingers....then I could cuddle my poor sick babies with 2 hands!

Fiber Snobs...Look Away

If you hate novelty yarns....STOP. Look away now. Read no further.
.
.
.
.
.
.

I made this scarf for my landlord's granddaughter. I can tell you that I HATE working with this yarn. It's Lion Brand Fun Fur. I cast on 13 stitches and just knit in a size 11 needle. When I picked it up this afternoon, I had 16 stitches. How the hell did I do that? I did a k2tog and ended it with 14 stitches. Oh well, you can't tell...... I finished it in about 2 hours, I hope she will like it. She had one and someone took it from her in a restaurant. She is only 6 and was devastated, poor thing. I have to send it out tomorrow, I am afraid it will be too warm soon to go out with it on!

My first sock is coming along. They are for my Father in law. I wanted them done for his birthday...think I can get them both done in 3 days? I don't think so. They are coming for a visit next month from Montana. I'll have them done by then....or I hope so.

No, I didn't knit this. My wonderful Mother did. It's Kiri designed by Polly. She used 3 balls of Rowan Kid Silk Haze. It's so beautiful.....one day maybe I will be able to knit as beautifuly as she does.

Last but not least, I got Stephanie's book in the mail yesterday. It's is so cute! Is it bad that I have read the whole thing already? I think I may order another copy to give to my Mom. It's the perfect gift!

Something's bugging me......

And you know what it is? TERMITES! Can you believe that we found the little buggers crawling around on our floor! They have tunneled through the wall and are dropping on the carpet. It's a good thing that we are only renting this house.....but we were planning on buying it this year.

Not only do we have the termites, but the addition of the house (where the termites are) was not built to code. So there is very little space between the soil and the floor. So now we need to have a contractor come in, pull up the carpet and flooring, and dig out the soil. We are going to lose the carpet (not exactly a bad thing). So when all of this wok is going on, the children and I will have to go stay somewhere else. Mom and Dad are you ready for us?

Even though we don't own the house, it's stressful to have to deal with this. Our landlord is an older woman, and pretty much leaves all the "planning" to us. She just pays the bills.

On a good note, today is my son Bennett's second birthday. My sweet little boy is growing up. Why do they have to so that. Can't they stay little forever. Guess it make me sad to celebrate their birthday's now. Since we are done having children each little milestone seems to make me sad......or maybe it's just hormones (can I blame them? James is only 8 weeks old)

I also got accepted into the ROAK ring this week. That made my day. I have had 2 gift certificates for Adagio Teas already. One from Lu and one from Samanatha. I also received an ecard today from Sedie. How cool is that. Thanks so much all of you!

Now tomorrow we will all be driving to Reno to go see my in laws. They are flying there from Montana for a small vacation.....Reno is perfect for a day trip, maybe I'll even get to do a little shopping. (That would be yarn shopping of course!)

Doing some thinking

Last night I bought a book from Amazon for my Mom. It will either be for her birthday or Mother's day. Both are in the same week. At the LYS that she works at, she is known as the sock queen. If anyone comes in that needs help with a sock, she is the one they call. So I though that a book of sock patterns would be appropriate. I picked Socks Socks Socks : 70 Winning Patterns From Knitter's Magazine Sock Contest.

I hope that she will like it....I mean 70 patterns? Maybe I will get a few :-)

I then got to thinking about knitting in my family. There is a small yarn shop here in town. No really, in my town of 1000 people there is a yarn shop. They offer classes and I have thought of taking one. But then I decided that I don't want to do that. I want my Mother to teach me to knit. Her Mother taught her, and probably her Mother taught her. Someday I hope to teach my daughter. I have doilies that my Grandmother made for me, and some that my Mother made. These are things I want to be able to pass down.

Unfortunately I have nothing from my Fathers Mother. She died when my father was a teenager, and I never got to know her. Dad remembers her crocheting, but not knitting. What I wouldn't give for something that was handmade by her.

I never knew her, but I feel very close to her. Maybe it's because I have heard that she was very kind and gentle. Plus she is my Father's Mother. How could I not feel close to the woman that raised my Dad. My Father is the man that all men should aspire to be, and I believe that my Father has many of the traits that his Mom had.

I hope one day that my children will appreciate the handmade items that I pass down to them.

On the knitting front, I am making great progress on my sock. And I am pretty proud!

A sock knitter is born

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter....or just a nice Sunday if you don't celebrate Easter! My Mom and Dad came up for dinner and everything turned out very good. I was so happy to have them here, I really needed Mom's help on starting a sock. I have been having the hardest time trying to start one with the stitches on 3 needles. This is the way my Mother knits her socks, and that is the way she showed me. Well, after a couple nights of udder frustration, I decided that maybe it would be easier for me with the stitches on 4 needles.

Enter my Mother, queen of socks, LYS worker, the ultimate knitter. I asked her for help. She helped me start them on the 4 needles. It was funny to watch, for her, the 4 needles was very awkward. I on the other hand think it's great! The light has gone off, things make sense, I am now a SOCK KNITTER!

Close up of the Trekking yarn Yarn and sock started

I am also making progress on the Irish Hiking Scarf. It's made out Cascade 220. The yarn is nice and soft in the hank and when it's wound into a ball....but I am not terribly pleased with the way it feels when it is knitted in this pattern. I don't want to pull it out because I am pretty proud of my first cableing project.

I was reading on another blog, My Escape From the Boys, about the first sweater that a new knitter makes. It got me thinking that I really want to make a sweater. Never mind that it's close to summer. And that Summer's here are HOT HOT HOT. If I start now, I know that I will have one done for next fall. Something pink is calling me.....I just need to find a pattern......

Still sick :-(

Infections are no fun. I am still battling the one that I have, and it's been going on 3 weeks now. last weekend I was in the hospital dealing with it. Why is Motherhood so hard sometimes?

The reason I am so sick.....but he is a cute reason!

I have gotten a few things started during the couple days that I felt like a real person. I have cast on for the cowl, and have made it to round three. This I have to concentrate on so I can only work on it while the kids are asleep.

I also started my Irish Hiking Scarf. This will be a present for my Brother. Maybe for his birthday, I have until December so I am sure I'll get it finished. I'm pretty proud of it so far. I thought cables would be hard but I am really enjoying making them.

I bought some Encore to make an afghan. I love the feel of the yarn and I love that I can throw it in the washer and dryer. Once I got home with all my yarn I realized that EVERYTHING is in the brown family. I need to make a quick project with some color, so I made these. Wonderfully mindless knitting, and they work really well to wash dishes!

Tomorrow is Easter and I am cooking the big dinner this year. I am not sure how much knitting I will get done tonight since my goal is to bake the cakes and pies. And of course tomorrow I'll probably be in the kitchen all day, either cooking or cleaning up!

Have been very sick :-(

As much as I would like to say that I have done some knitting, I can not. I had planned a knit fest with my Mom last weekend BUT I came down with mastitis on Saturday.

For those of you that don't know what mastitis is, you are lucky. It's an infection of the breast, thanks to breastfeeding. It involves pain, feeling like you are going to die, and lots of acting like a baby! But seriously, I am on the mend. Fever is gone, DH is back at work (after playing nurse for 4 days), and I am ready to knit! I promise pictures tomorrow.

I think I will cast on for my cowl tonight and see how that goes!

Stash Building

A couple of days ago my wonderful husband brought his yearly bonus home. It was a bit more than we thought it would be so that meant I could buy a little yarn and such! I was so excited. I bought a couple things from Elann.com

Both of the above patterns. I just love the sweater, and I think that the cowl will be perfect for the winter here. I also bought yarn, in mocha cram, for the cowl.

I couldn't resist buying some of this sock yarn. It's Sock it to Me, cotton and elastic, sport weight. I am having such trouble with making socks on DPN's using fingering weight, I thought that maybe this would be easier. I am not sure if it's the yarn, or the DPN's , that are driving me CRAZY!

My DH came home last night from an out of town meeting with wonderful gifts for me. Today is our 5 year anniversary.

He also got me 3 knitting magazines, Knit It, IK, and Knitters. I had these but it's the thought that counts :-)

I am coming along on my felted bag, and I found a cute pattern in SnB for a cell phone cozy. I think I may try and knock that out tonight.

On a non-knitting note. Would someone inform my newborn son, James, that night is for SLEEPING and the daytime is for being AWAKE? He has this confused and it is leaving his mother very tired! :-)

Frustrated

I am not having a good knitting day. I have started a sock for my Father in Law 3 times so far. The first time, my stitches were twisted, and the last 2 times, I was knitting backwards. I didn't even figure that out until I was done with the ribbing and started to do stockenett. So I put the sock down.

I thought oh, I'll start my Kiri. You cast on using the provisional method. Something that I have not done before. After reading a couple book and looking at the diagrams, I tried it. Can't get that right EITHER! So I have put that down and decided to get on the computer. Maybe I am not supposed to knit today?

I bet I could pick my bag and knit on that......it's just knit....no other stitches.....just knit. Think I could do that right?

I Love Packages

Today was a good day! I have gotten a lot done on my felted bag I love the way the Lambs Pride knits up. I may have to find a few more projects to do with this yarn.

I also got 2 packages in the mail today. One was my Cascade 220 color #9437. I plan to do Kiri with this. I hope it will turn out. The Kid Silk Haze just isn't something I thought I could work with yet. Plus I am SURE I will be ripping it out a few times, and I have been told that KSH doesn't frog well. Please excuse my 2 year old's chubby finger in the picture :-)

Last week I emailed Toni at The Fold about the Socks That Rock yarn that she carries. I wasn't sure of the guage or the weight. She emailed me right back and said that she would be happy to send me a snippet. I sent her my address and waited for the snippet. To me that would be a small hunk of yarn. Today I get a whole skein of Sedona. A WHOLE SKEIN. How cool is that? Now I know I will be ordering from her. She is truly a wonderful lady!

Also on the needles is a vine lace pattern Barbie blanket. My DD, Katie wanted a red blanket for her barbie. I wanted to try a new pattern so I am doing the vine lace pattern. I found it on the bottom of a Capelet in the spring 05 IK. So far so good. I am using Rowan DK....in a very bright red. I am not a big fan of this yarn so far. It's too itchy for me.

Well, I've done it. Pictures like I promised. How did I do?

AHHH Nap Time

Isn't nap time a wonderful thing? I have both boys sleeping and Katie watching a movie. Wouldn't this be the perfect time to sit and knit? Yes, but what am I doing? Laundry and blogging. Crazy huh?

We went out to dinner last night. I haven't really been out of the house since James was born and I was going crazy. I was surprised at how well all the kiddo's did. And it was nice just to get out....and not have to cook or clean up.

I started a new project last night. It's a felted bag.. I cast on last night and so far so good. Of course it's all stockinet but I don't mind that. Something simple is always easier when the children are underfoot. I needed something to do last night since the baby was up from 8 to midnight. I was starting to doze mid stitch, and had to put it down. Since dinner is already in the crock pot, I will have extra time tonight to knit.

Greg is home tomorrow, so I plan on taking pictures of my FO's and my WIP to put on here. I PROMISE it will be more interesting in a few days. Not that I am really worried, I don't think anyone really reads this yet :-)

The Day Nothing Got Done

Well here it is, 2:12 pm, and I just got out of the shower. I had plans for today and NOTHING got done. So far I have been sitting at the computer reading knitting Blogs and ordering yarn for the Kiri that I plan on knitting. I bought Cascade 220 in color #9437 to do the shawl. This should be intresting since I am a beginner. But I printed out the pattern last night and I think I can do it. It may take me a year, but I think I can do it :-)

It's just been one of those days. No matter where I look, I see the destuction that my two toddlers have made. The kitchen is a mess, the back room has toys all over the floor, and my head hurts so bad that I just want to take a nap on the couch. Not to mention that my newborn was up all morning. While this could be a good thing, I couldn't get much done. I did start the dishwasher, that counts right? Maybe James will sleep longer tonight since his awake time was this morning? Can a woman dream?

Well, maybe I should so empty the dishwasher now.....or maybe I should sit down and finish the Barbie blanket I am making for my daughter......Rowan DK in a vine lace pattern. She just wanted a red blanket, I just wanted to try something new.....

My first Post

Well...here I go. I decided that I wanted to start a blog so that I can show off my knitting. Not that there is much of that happeneing at the moment in this house. I just gave birth to my third child, James, 15 days ago. So now I am running after a 3 year old DD, Katie, a 2 year old DS, Bennett, and taking care of newborn James.

I just learned how to knit from my Mom about 5 months ago. So far I have made about 100 dishcloths....a baby alpaca scarf for my husband, and am working on my first pair of socks. Oh I can't forget about the 5 fiber trend hats that I have made, and a few hats for James (all of which are WAY TOO BIG for him yet).

I hope to be able to get back to knitting more soon. The nurses thought it was funny that I was knitting while I was in labor. Knitting DOES relax you right?