Weekend Recap

Don’t you love it when you get to chat with an old friend and catch up? It really brightened my day :-) That was nice since it was so gloomy and rainy outside. At least we are getting some much needed rain, and the power didn’t go out at work this time.

So I saw the Flickr Meme on Alyson’s blog and had to do it too. It was pretty fun to see all the pictures that came up. I like how all these pictures look together. And you can click on the picture to see where they all came from on Flickr.

1. First Name: Michele

2. Favorite Food: sushi

3. High School: Arlington High School (a lot of weird things came up...)

4. Favorite Color: Purple

5. Celebrity Crush: Heath Ledger (so sad...)

6. Favorite Drink: Strawberry Margarita

7. Dream Vacation: Italy

8. Favorite Dessert: Creme Brulee (Yum!)

9. What do I want to be when I grow up: a good mom (that kid's great)

10. What do I love most in life: My God (then of course my husband)

11. One word to describe me: contemplative (i guess, let me think about that)

12. My Flickr Name: McKnitter (it's mine and it was the only pic)

Last weekend was a blast for me. I met up with Angie for some much needed knitting time at a coffee shop (…mmm…German Chocolate Latte…) and then I was off to the spa to get a manicure. It was a lot of fun, but I don’t know about it being worth it without the gift certificate. I mean, it’s just polish and pampering. I would definitely go back, but I would do one of their packages that include a massage. They are pretty reasonable and the spa environment was really relaxing. Maybe someday soon…after that I met up with Angie again for a move with the hubby’s and the kid. We saw Kung Fu Panda, and it was pretty funny. I secretly love kids movies. After that we had a Mexican dinner, and the hubby and I stopped by a sporting goods store to look around. He decided to enter a triathlon in September. This is the same hubby who sits on the couch every night to watch TV. I have no problem with him entering, and he will probably do pretty well, but I do have a problem when he does what he always does. He will get an idea in his head and want to go buy all the stuff for it and then never mention it again. I usually let him talk and say we can go look and he changes his mind before any damage is done. This time wasn’t bad, he only got some running shoes. I am just glad he didn’t want to buy a bike, and probably a pool if I let him. I hope he sticks with it. It will be good for us to get some exercise. We even joined a gym to get started. It’s been too long since we have been to the gym.

I don’t have an update on the knitting but I have something even better. New Yarn!!


I got these from Discontinued Brand name Yarns and I love the colors! I wanted to get some solid or semi-solid yarn for lacy socks and I stumbled across the site on one of the Ravelry forums. They don’t have a huge selection but what they have is really cheap. I got both of these for $11 each + shipping. It took a while but it was worth it. Now the question is, should I put these away for later, or cast on 2 more pairs rightthissecond?

Socks, Bags, and Dragon Eggs

Wow, I have been in a fog lately… Last night at my bible study, I felt like I was about 10 minutes behind everyone else. I even went to bed right when I got home, at 9pm (which I never do unless I’m sick). I have been in such a fog, that I completely passed up my one-year blog anniversary. I had been blogging a whole year on May 10^th. Even thought I haven’t had much to say lately, I have had enough to say to last the whole year.

So when I had the presence of mind to knit this week, I knit on the Monkey socks and something new, but I’ll get to that.

I love how this is coming out. The yarn is gorgeous and the pattern brings out the best in it. I am in the 3^rd repeat, halfway through the leg. I think these will work pretty quickly.



The other thing I started is the Sweater Bag from Lion Brand. When Angie came back from Tennessee, she brought a ton of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick and gave me 9 skeins. 9 skeins is a ton! (Thanks Angie!!) I had this pattern in my queue in Ravelry for a while so I cast on and I am about halfway through the first repeat. It seems like a good amount has been completed but I have to do 4 repeats and a strap. I like working on it though because it’s fast, easy and you can see the cable pattern already. I don’t know what I am going to do when this thing is huge and it’s 90 outside (which it already is). For now, it’s ok.

Well, it’s almost the weekend again and we have a full weekend, again. We have a birthday party for my boss tomorrow night, I have a nail appt on Saturday, and a work party Saturday night. It will be fun for sure. I am especially excited about the nail appt. I won a gift certificate to a spa in Melbourne, and since I finally stopped biting my nails, I am getting a manicure, but not just any manicure. This one includes a hand/arm massage, some special lotion, and a wax dip. Too bad I can’t knit during it. (So if Angie or Traci want to hang out Saturday morningish, I will be in the area!)

That’s all for now, unless you noticed the eggs in the sidebar. Those are my dragons. I am totally geeky and thought the dragon eggs that Carin (from Lime&Violet) had on her blog were the coolest thing. So go click on mine to help them hatch. Please! And you can get your own here.

Is It Really June?

Happy first day of Hurricane Season! (not) Yes, today is the day. It hardly seems like it’s June already. Just last week it was the first of the year. This year I am a little worried about hurricane season. In the past 2 years we have been here, we have only rented, and had all hand-me-down furniture. Not much to worry about, or stress about it we had to leave. This year we have our home, and some belongings that we actually bought for ourselves. It’s not the stuff I am worried about really, all that can be replaced. It’s that now we are responsible, scary. I hope this season is quiet, but before it even started we already had a tropical storm. Hopefully this part of the year will pass as quickly as the past 6 months.

In other news, I *finally* finished the Never-Ending Anastasia Socks. I really love these socks, except how long they took to knit. I guess I was just sick of the yarn and I got bored with the pattern after half of the first sock. It’s a great pattern but it’s a little too repetitious for me. There isn’t much you can do with this yarn since it is so fuzzy though. I am just glad they are done.

Yarn: Zen String Lotus Toes BFL

Needles: 3.0mm Knit Picks Circulars

Pattern: Anastasia Socks

Pattern Designer: Pepperknit

Date Finished: 5/30/2008

Well, this weekend is almost over, but it has been good. We spent Saturday shopping for work tools for T. I can probably go without standing around in hardware stores for a while. At least we got to stop at Joann’s and Michael’s while we were in Melbourne. I wanted to exchange the Patons SWS I bought last week since I got totally different dye lots. I don’t know what I was thinking but I tried to exchange them at Joann’s before I realized that I didn’t buy them there. So we went to Michaels and I decided to get different color this time.

Today we decided to grab breakfast after church and headed over to Cracker Barrel (miss it mom?) where we waited forever. At least I had the new Monkey sock to work on. Breakfast was good, but they took a really long time to bring the food and when mine was ready they figured out that the server ordered the wrong thing for T. So the manager came by to tell us that T’s order would be up as soon as they could, and they there would be no charge for the meals. Wow, usually they only would comp his meal. That made our day! So now it’s back home to relax a little and get ready for work again tomorrow.

Long Weekend

Wow, it’s been a while. Since I last posted a lot has happened. Nothing particularly interesting, but stuff. Last weekend was T’s work party. The owners throw a huge yearly party for about 250+ people with food, drinks (yum, mai tai’s), Hula dancers, and celebs. Well not really celebs, but close enough. There was even a mermaid in the pool. Good times.

We had a great time, but not a good as some. We ended up driving T’s co-worker (and his puking wife) home since we lived nearby. Moving on…I got to hang out with Angie again on Saturday. Right after we picked up the money for the Mustang. Oh yea, we sold it FINALLY! I am so glad to have that gone! So Angie and I got to hang out at Panera for a couple hours while her boys went to see Speedracer. I’ll pass on that movie, thanks. We had a good time, and even got to run into Joann’s and Michaels after. I really wanted to pet the new Lion Brand Sock-Ease, but they didn’t have any yet. I did pick up some Patons SWS but I was a moron and didn’t look at the ball bands. I got two totally different dye lots.

So after we laid it all out I, figured put that there are a lot of events coming up. I wanted to try and make it to Stitch N’ Pitch this year in Tampa on June 21^st. We also wanted to try and throw an event together for Knit in Public Day on June 14^th (I know we’re slackers). Then there is blueberry picking in North Brevard, and of course SAFF is coming up, but we’ll see about that.

Now for an update on the Never-Ending Anastasia Sock:


I have turned the heel and am zipping through the leg, sort of. It is a little farther than this now since I took this on Saturday afternoon, but I have had other things on my mind too. Like This:


Yup, I frogged the Nutkins and switched them to Monkey’s. I liked the Nutkin Pattern, but on the foot it looked weird to me. It was all stretched and the purls between the pattern stitches looked like ladders. I really like how the monkey looks though. I loved the yarn and wanted to use it right away. Plus I really didn’t want to rip out the picot cast on.

So what are we doing for the long weekend? I am knitting a lot and cleaning a little less. T decided to mow the yard and when I stepped out to change the laundry this is what I saw:

This used to be the cat’s favorite tree to climb in. I know it was kinda dead, but I liked that tree. Shouldn’t landscaping be a mutual decision?? Ugh…

Blah

The weekend’s over, back to work…But I did have a good one. I got to spend Saturday shopping with Angie. We hit up the book store, Joann’s, Target and even got to spend some time knitting while her son played in the Burger King playplace (after I crawled through to point the way to the slide). We had a great day, It’s been a while since I got to shop all day.

I even was able to finish the cami on Sunday. It is a little snug, to say the least but I think it looks ok. I will probably only wear it over something though.

Since it is snug it is shorter than I wanted, even after adding an inch to the body. I only tied the gather in the front so it could be removable too.

Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport

Needles: 4.0mm Knit Picks Circulars

Pattern: Ballet Camisole from MagKnits July 2006

Date Finished: 5/11/2008

Mods: Added 1 inch to the body and only tied the gather so it is removable.

Sorry if my heart isn’t in this post. I am kind of bummed about all the wildfires going on right now. The interstate is closed just about everyday and there are so many homes in danger. BTW, please keep Angie in your prayers, she is very close to one of the worst areas…

Broken Cars and Sick Dogs

Man I think we jumped right through Spring and into summer. We are going to be in the 90's until next week. I am glad I work in an office all day. Since the women there are somewhat older than me, they keep it super cold in there. I even bring a sweater most days.

I can't believe that the Integra is finally gone from the carport, well sort of. T finished gutting it and saved what he could to sell so he chopped up the rest. This is what the yard looked like on Saturday, but it was amazingly all cleaned up by the time he was done. Now the car is a couple of large pieces of scrap metal in a pile. He even sold the engine, but he still has to ship it. Not bad, I thought that thing would never leave. I never knew you could actually chop a car in such little pieces.

Saturday morning we took Diana to the vet again. She had more skin allergy type rashes so now we are trying her on a hypoallergenic food to see if that's what she is allergic to. Hopefully that will fix it because she looks like she is in pain when she gets those rashes. She is on all kinds of meds now too. We have ear drops and cleaner, ointment for the rash, steroids, and antibiotics. And look, She's officially part of the family. We had to go pick up her prescription from Publix and they couldn't find it until I thought maybe they put it under Diana's name. I never would have thought they would put it under her name at the people pharmacy.

I thought I was much farther on the Anastasia Sock than I am now that I tried it on. I thought I was about ready to start the heel but I need to add another 1 to 1 ½ inches. Sigh...At least the cami seems to be moving along.

I think I am going to try and get a knit night together this weekend, either on Friday night or Saturday morning. T will be gone all day Saturday golfing so I think I need to get out too :-)

May Flowers

How does that saying go... “April showers bring May flowers”? Well we didn't have much in the way of April showers but we did do some gardening. A friend of ours gave us a bunch of plants, whose names I have completely forgotten. I know that some of them are brumeliads, and we got two hibiscus bushes. I love the pink ones. I found that while I love the look of new plants, I don't really like the work of planting them. I would much rather sit in my chair with a sweet tea and some knitting and watch the hubby do it. He wasn't too thrilled with that idea so I pitched in. The yard doesn't look half bad, but it could use some grass.

While I have not been knitting a whole lot lately, I do manage to get in a little bit here and there. I have noticed that sometimes two days will go by without knitting a thing, but my hands do get a little shaky.

I have yet another update on the Cami and Anastasia Sock. I am not letting myself work on anything else until these two are done. They have taken long enough already.

The cami is past where you split for the arms and well into the lower back. If you click for a larger image you can see that my guage changes when I switch from knitting in the round to back and forth. I am not worried too much about it since any extra room will help in the chest area. I think that you won't be able to tell the difference once it is washed.

I haven't knit as much on the sock since it has turned into mostly car knitting. But still it grows ever so slowly.

The Never-Ending Sock:

As much as I despise this little sock now, will I like the finished pair? Or will I burn them...I think not. Burning them will only let them win.

So thats all I have for now. I had to make this quick since it's National Day of Prayer and we have a prayer service at my church. Do yourself a favor and say a little prayer today.

Have a good one!