Granny Smith froggy pancake

Am I awake yet? The girls woke up at their regular time (5:30 am) and since it's Saturday that meant pancakes for breakfast.

I confess to having little or no will power. My resistance to the Piece of Vermont in the Granny Smith colorway shattered and I cast on a pair of Jaywalkers socks last night. Not having been blessed with dainty little feet I choose the larger sized pattern. The ribbing flowed smoothly and then came the first pattern row. The concept of the pattern is quite simple and easily memorized. However, the mechanics of the simple double decrease are impossible for my clumsy fingers. Here I fudged and replaced the dd with a lame k3 tog. The substitution seemed to work (although there was a large lump of yarn where the decreases were). I happily knitted away through the season finale of Battlestar Galactica.

Back to this morning. While cooking the aforementioned pancakes I darted in and grabbed the Jaywalkers to work on between flips. What in the world? These things were huge! So, it's froggy time for the socks. I will start these again in the smaller size, but not until after the neglected and now loathed cardigan is completed.

And yes, those are coffee stains on my counter. A good house scrubbing is in order today!

3 in 1 day!

Just a quick note to tell Christy thank you for calling (she moved to Wisconsin last year).

And after discovering somebody else who loves Fiesta I wanted to post a picture of my own neurotic collection. Like many Fiesta collectors out there I had a hard time choosing just one color. The older Fiesta is used for display only (some are visable up above the cupboards). The last thing I bought was a place setting in Scarlett. The newest color added by the Homer Loughlin company is a bright blue called Peacock. However, I have enough dishes to sink a battleship so I can't justify buying any. There are platters, utensil crocks, a napkin holder and a variety of other pieces stashed about in the kitchen too. At some point I'd like to replace my old radioactive red platter that broke last month. That will have to wait though until after Brian has a new job.

I received another wonderful card from SP7 Cindy! She hasn't let a week go by without sending something. THANK YOU!

The girls are home from school today because the roads are like an ice rink.




Here's a picture looking out at our back pasture next to our chicken coop. This is the only clean part of the yard because the girls aren't allowed down there.










Between the remodeling debris and the kids' constant messes it looks like the Clampetts live in the rest of our yard. This view was taken from our garage looking towards the side yard. The corner of my bedroom (right side, cream colored house) can be seen, but thankfully the rest of the house is out of view.


Gotta run, something just crashed in the living room!

My knitting spot.

This is where I like to sit and knit; however, where I actually knit the most is in my van while I'm waiting to pick up my daughters from their schools.

The baskets are crammed full of my yarn stash, needles and patterns. And Bonny (seen under the chair) can help by unwinding the balls of yarn for me.




Hopefully the cardigan will be done in the next week so that something new can finally be started. My "Want to Knit It" list is quite long and choosing the next project will be diffecult. Here's a close up of the Philosopher's Wool KAL sweater that I'm working on. After this anything NOT green will be a welcome change! Grumperina has a sweater called Picovoli which is featured on MAG knits that I'd like to try. Then again, there is the Trellis shawl from Interweave Knits, a pile of sock patterns and the ballet cardigan, also from Interweave Knits, and all of these projects are beckoning. I'm trying really hard to just have one project on the needles at a time. . . this is really hard.

Speaking of multiple WIP's, I went through my quilts that are started and not finished. Yikes! The oldest unfinished one there is a picture quilt featuring Frank Sinatra. This was started as a birthday present for a friend of mine 8 years ago. Her birthday is March 15th and I think the quilt will have to wait yet another year. I don't even know if she still likes Frank Sinatra and her bedroom colors are sure to have changed since this was started. The guilt, the shame. My husband (when he's home) just shakes his head when I start something new. He'll often remind me of the totes in the garage full of projects needing finishing. The quilts are not portable though so they will remain as they are.

Well, it's 3:22 am and since insomnia is obviouly NOT going to allow sleep I'm off to shower and fold clothes. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

I Sat on my Camera...

Yesterday our neighbor, Penny, generously offered to let my girls have a ride on one of her horses. Being the ever-dutiful (ha ha) mother I came along to take pictures and partake in their excitement. The rides went wonderfully and the girls all listened attentively to Penny's riding instructions. Midway through Amber's riding I began talking with the llamas (not named Lorenzo or Dolly) who were also observing the sessions. Anyway, in a moment of distraction I sat on my camera... hard while it was turned on and the lens was extended. Now the camera is dead and all I get is "lens error" on my monitor.

And today I really, really wish it worked because Cindy (my SP7 spoiler) sent me the most fabulous package! I've tried scanning some of the goodies, but the resulting pictures only hint at the beauty of the yarn, etc. Within the box there was a new issue of Interweave magazine, TWO skeins of Knitpicks' shimmer in Maple Leaf, handmade glass bead stitch markers (which perfectly match the yarn), a Mary Englebreit box and magnet and a "Do Not Disturb the Queen" door pillow! I have already conducted a quick skim of the magazine and I plan on making the Trellis shawl by Evelyn Clark out of my lovely new yarn. Cindy, thank you very much, you really are awesome and I appreciate everything that you have done! In my opinion Cindy is the lead contender in the best SP7 contest.

Time to go pick up Amber and Autumn from school and then back for more drywall finishing!