Through the Back Loop

Slowly Knitting - Slowly Blogging

2011-01-23T10:13:00.002-06:00

Ten months. Time continues to march on even though nothing on the blog seems to record it. Maybe that means my hair didn't become more gray. Maybe those extra pounds I wanted to lose have melted magically away. Maybe I've been so busy clicking my knitting needles that I haven't been able to blog. Maybe. Oh, the possibilities!

The reality is - The hair is more gray. I'm trying to grow it out to embrace my true age..... we'll see how much more of that I can stand. The extra weight is still on me, but my husband has managed to lose over 90 pounds in the last year, and he is healthy. He joined a weight management program, and has dedicated each day to being a newer, healthier man. I love him! Knitting? Well it's amazing how much I had forgotten about parenting little ones.

By the time meals are cooked, kitchens cleaned, homework done, and little ones are tucked into bed, I have little motivation. Projects are moving slowly. It doesn't help when one major project that was meant as a gift was obviously the wrong project.

My mother wanted a new knit shawl, and I was secretly making one for a Christmas present. When she described the "exact" type of shawl she wanted me to knit, it turned out to be the opposite of what I was half way completed with. Bummer! It still sits on needles and I ended up buying something closer to what she wanted. It was my only project of the moment, and I had no motivation to make anything else... but......

to my surprise... my 18 year old daughter has FINALLY become a knitter! She takes her knitting to school, sits in her room listening to music or watching movies and... KNITS. Ahh... success at last!

It takes Roughly Nine Years to Travel In a Complete Circle

2010-03-03T08:44:00.003-06:00

Here I sit again. In the kitchen. A bag of knitting at my feet while watching the feathery steam float from the top of my hot cup of coffee. The radio in my kitchen plays current pop hit songs and I am at peace. Finally.

Nine years ago I sat the same way, but in a different kitchen, with a different knitting project, a different radio station, and a different feeling in my soul. Trepidation. We started what later became the most difficult years of our lives. I never knew when I started blogging that I would be recording those difficult years. I blogged because it satisfied some need within me to write. I never cared who read my entries, never cared how many hits my blog got, and I still only write to satisfy my own needs. Now, however, I'm thinking of printing off all of my entries to serve as a journal of our journey.

My knitting served a crucial role during this time.

Constancy.

Predictability.

Stability.

It traveled with me as my husband graduated from earning his new professional degree. It sat with us as we sent off hundreds of applications. It came along on the trip to set up his apartment in a new community several hundred miles from our family home. It came along as I carted our oldest daughters to and from activities like a single parent.

My knitting rejoiced when I was hired to work near my husband and our family was finally reunited. The needles and the rhythm of completing each pattern soothed my soul as we moved again and again, lost the equity in our home from mold damage, mourned the loss of my mother-in-law, and it soothed me most when my husband began his battle against cancer.

Now, those things are finally behind us. We sold the property that was weighing us down for years, took our huge financial loss, and still managed to buy a new home. A beautiful home to raise our new family. We moved on my daughter's birthday, a great reason to celebrate many things, but mostly to celebrate life. To celebrate the new lives that will be joining our family later this spring through adoption.

We have waited so long to have traveled in a complete circle.

So here I sit again. Caring for two small sick little girls while the radio pumps out current hits, and my coffee sends curls of steam into the air. The only differences?

I don't feel the same trepidation, even though my husband is undergoing routine cancer testing at this very moment. I feel the joy of my family, even though my little girls are sick. I feel the relief of only owning one property, the home we live in each day. And my knitting?

Well, it's amazing how I had forgotten how difficult it is to knit when there are little ones to be taken care of, but when I get the chance. It rejoices with me in the happiness we have finally found!

OH JOY! It's FINALLY here!

2009-07-04T06:51:00.003-05:00

Warning: This blog entry contains positive language, happiness, and excitement. Readers may not be used to this kind of attitude from this particular blog, and extensive exposure may result in joy and happiness for the reader as well. Proceed with caution. You HAVE been warned!

Good news. On every single issue our family has been dealing with! SERIOUSLY!

First, the first afghan gift was given in late June, and I finished the project under the wire, again. I made the fringe the night before the wedding. At least THIS time the afghan was dry when I made the fringe. Last time, it was still a bit damp, so I left it out in the back of our car to dry during the church service and then wrapped it before the reception to increase drying time. This time... much better.

Second afghan needs to be started SOON! I plan to order the yarn this week. For the last yarn, DH and DD stopped at Herrschner's on the way home from an ortho appointment and bought the yarn. When I saw the receipt I was shocked. It cost more to buy it there than it would have to buy it online? Even with S&H? Strange.

Also, I'm back at camp, teaching knitting. This year many of the girls brought their own needles and projects and in the second week of camp everyone is already knitting away! AWESOME!

Ok. ok. ok. You are wondering about the happiness warning that started this entry. I had to get SOME knitting content in here. Joy, joy, joy! Where do I start? Adoption? Ok. We got to spend one night with our new little girls, and it went very well. We are officially starting the transition process next week, and they will be with us permanently in a couple of weeks. We have a crib, car seat, a stroller, and we will be shifting the older girls rooms so that everyone can share. The sharing of rooms is working out because our older daughters are SO excited about adding to the family. None of us can wait until the day they come!

They are also excited that sharing rooms may only last a few months BECAUSE......

THE HOUSE IS SOLD! THE HOUSE IS SOLD! THE HOUSE IS SOLD!
Closing is July 31st and everything is in line for it to go through without any problems. We got the news about a week ago, the same time that we got the news about the little girls and transition. We are truly happy...... BECAUSE......

We were given the pre-qualification to build! Oh, my. Yes! Our credit has taken a huge hit over the past two years especially, trying to maintain all of our monthly payments. It was getting harder and harder, but we did it. At first, we didn't qualify because of the foreclosure on our home? Did I already write about that? There was NO foreclosure, but for some reason (it's a long story... it took a long time to find out why this happened) it was appearing on our credit report. A month later, after many phone calls and sleepless nights, it was gone. The difference in our credit report was pretty amazing. We can build!

We have picked out house plans, will meet with the builder to trim some of the costs down (we now need a bigger house for 6 people, but have less money because of the $40,000 we lost in the home from the mold damage)and can hopefully order the home in August and be in by Christmas! And? Yes, there is MORE! And... the house we are renting was in the process of being sold to someone who wanted to live in our side of the duplex. Somehow, the sale fell through and our landlord has taken the house OFF of the market! Plus, our new lease was signed for six months starting July 1, which means that we can move into a new home and not need to find a new renter!

There is happiness and excitement pulsing through this family again! And NO longer will we have to use the phrase, "when the house sells," as an explanation about why something cannot become a reality for us.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to the powers above that have finally provided!

We hope for more good news on July 15th when DH has his next cancer check. July will TRULY be a great month!

No go off and spread that happiness that this blog has given to you!

It's sold!

2009-06-04T20:56:00.003-05:00

But not the one you are thinking of. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First... knitting.

The "Project" that I'm working on is coming along very, very well. Ahead of schedule. My wrists hurt most of the time, but the darn gift will be done on time!

I'm also preparing for summer knitting at camp. I've put together some informational handouts that are laminated and on book rings so that the girls can refer to pictures to help them out if I'm busy with someone else. I have some basic projects planned, and a better system ready to keep track of who has what materials, who has completed which techniques, and who is ready for their award. I'm pretty excited.

Knitting has been pretty good. I'm planning projects for the little ones who will be joining us in a month or so. Two little ones.... we are very excited. We are just waiting to hear the dates that are being planned for this, but we know that it will happen over the early summer months.

HOUSE

It is sold.. as I said, but not our house. The house we are renting has a buyer, and we were first told that she wants to live in our side (the bigger of the the two units in this duplex) and rent the other one out. Our landlord wanted to get us a lease for six months to protect us so that we couldn't be kicked out. Our home that has the offer is not moving along - the buyer has not sold their home and cannot lower their price. We are afraid that the deal will die. Because of our struggles financially, we cannot even put in an offer on a house to buy, or qualify for a loan to build if the house were to sell. At least not for six months. And.... ready for this? When our rental is sold, even with a six month lease, we have been told that the owner has the legal right to ask us to move out with 30 days notice.

So... we will be adding two little girls to our family, with a lot of love and no money..... we may lose the buyer for our own house, we could be kicked out of our rental - and we don't qualify to buy or build anytime soon.

Yeah... I'll be losing sleep again. Our social worker for the little girls was amazed at what we have lived through, and how we have continued to hold our family together in a positive way. She said over and over,"You guys are amazing." I don't feel amazing. I say my prayers several times a day. Not for a new house, not to be able to buy, but to have our financial burdens lifted - basically by selling our house in Valders.

If you have read over our history - and you think we are worthy of a mention - send a letter to Extreme Makeover, Home Edition. Please. We can use all of the help that we can possibly get.

That Quiet Time of the Day

2009-05-20T22:11:00.004-05:00

It's late in the evening. The house is quiet and everyone is shifting into that nighttime mode. Temperatures today were so warm, that the windows and doors are still flung open and a nice breeze crosses the house. It's very peaceful. Michael Buble is helping with that, too.

There has been quite a bit of knitting going on. In fact, the deadline of knitting "due dates" is bearing down on me. I can't talk a lot about the project because the person who it is intended for may actually be one of my ten hits each day? Who knows.. I wouldn't want to ruin a surprise.

The knitting is going well, and it's a project that I enjoy. My family is supportive and wants me to make these things, too, so they allow me to indulge that knitting bug even more than ususal. Mother's Day was a perfect example. I got a headlamp that allows me to knit while we are on the road at night. AWESOME! There is a red light, so that I don't bother my husband the driver, or distract oncoming cars. I originally wanted it for camping trips, so that I could knit by the campfire, but I realized right away that this could also be used in the car! Now I don't have to always drive the night shift so that I'm free to knit during the daylight. Again, AWESOME!

I've used the laundry soap for all of my washing since my last post, and it has won over the hearts of all of my family. Even the picky teenager loves it and wants to use this forever. The clothes feel better. They look brighter, I think, and the fact that it's "green" (is Borax "green"? Hmmmm don't know) really apeals to my oldest daughter. I gave so much away to friends and family that I had to make a new batch this past weekend. At about two dollars a batch, I can't really complain. Most of my friends loved it and they want to have a laundry soap making party? Sounds great to me! If we serve some wine and make laundry soap - I'll be happy!

House news.

Well, I mentioned how happy I am right now. I'll leave that update for another time. It's not good news, and I don't want to ruin the moment. I'll just say that we will need to continue renting for 6 months to a year before we can buy or build anything. Long story. So, we plan to bring two little ones into the small duplex, and we are Ok with that. What's important is the quality of our family, not quantity of what we have. The best thing that we have is a happy life :)

Thanks Michael - your voice has brought real content to this weary soul on a warm and breezy spring night.

Laundry Day... Errrrr Night

2009-04-18T21:08:00.003-05:00

Years ago I decided that it would be a good idea to learn how to be self-sufficient. The kind of self-sufficiency that meant that if there ever were another depression, I would be prepared to do very valuable things like raise vegetables, can and freeze, sew anything, bake my own bread from scratch, and cook up just about anything I needed from scratch. I am pretty much a freak, I know.

We were newlyweds, and I brought my penny-pinching ways into my marriage. Luckily, my husband didn't mind sampling my pink homemade applesauce, and he waited months before I perfected lump less gravy. He also feigned interest as I explained and tried dozens of ways to make the perfect boiled egg. Now he likes to brag about my perfectly boiled eggs to others (how embarrassing!). I also found several recipes for making my own baking mix and my own ant repellant (it didn't work very well).

I have always loved frugality and we live pretty frugally, even when we have had more money than we do now. I joined the Frugal Homemakers group on Ravelry and noticed a thread for homemade laundry detergent. I was doubtful. Finally, I read it and was so excited that I had to wake up my husband to tell him all about how wonderful it would be when I started cooking up some laundry detergent. This was at midnight on a weeknight, so he wasn't really thrilled to hear about my new "experiment".

On Friday night I went out for my evening's entertainment. I went in search of these:

I went to four different stores in search of the ever elusive Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. Turned out that my regular grocery store had all three items, who knew? And all of the items were cheaper than what I had paid for them at the hardware store. Oh well, lesson learned.

I came home and started supper, and started shredding the Fels-Naptha soap

Then I cooked it up while we ate the real food. I was very careful not to confuse the pots and serve up soap soup.

Then I added the rest of the ingredients and set it aside for the night.

I had to wait until morning to see how it would turn out, so I will make you wait until morning as well. Sorry! I know that the suspense must be killing you. My husband also had a sleepless night, filled with fret about how my $8.00 experiment would turn out. And wondering if I would actually use the stuff.

One Dollar Mitten

2009-04-12T13:30:00.005-05:00

Yep. One dollar a skein. Bargain priced yarn at the dollar store - and it's pretty good!

When I saw some mittens at the LYS in Wausau with a cable cuff - the cable ran around the wrist - I knew that I had to make some. I picked this yarn to experiment with and....

Pretty nice, no? For the next pair I will make a few changes. A wider cable cuff and more ribbing, and maybe a different shaping style, but all in all it was a good first effort.

We spent the weekend in Sheboygan again, visiting Opa, Grandma, our nephew, my brother and sister-in-law, and Nalena. All in one day. EXHAUSTING, but a great day. The Easter Bunny left an early basket for Nalena, and the girls went outside to blow bubbles, play with the chalk and play in the sandbox. It was chilly, so coats are still required for little ones.

House
Because this is primarily supposed to be a knitting blog, and because I need to find some space to purge all of my financial agnst, I decided to separate posts into knitting and "the house" which is our primary finacial strain. This way, if you are interested only in knitting, you can skip right over this part. And if by some strange chance you enjoy hearing the continuing saga of our house, you can find those updates without having to read through knitting stories. Brilliant? I thought so.

We had an offer a few weeks ago, did I mention that? No, I checked back. I didn't mention it. That's probably because it wasn't worth mentioning. The offer was $45,000 below our already $20,000 reduced price since the lower level was gutted. She came up $5,000 and we went down $5,000, and then she said it wasn't worth any more than that. Since then there have been two walk throughs. Their comments are ringing in my ears because it is now always the same story, again and again.

"The lower level will require too much work."
"The siding is old and starting to deteriorate."
"The garage door is old and the trim is starting to deteriorate." (the garage door is actually a new problem)
"The upstairs bathroom is out of date."
"The kitchen floor has a tear in it."
And, "It needs new carpeting in some places upstairs."

All true. And impossible for us to do anything about.

A friend of mine was asking about the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition application that I sent in, and I told her that this was sent over a month ago and so far we have heard nothing. Their application very clearly said that we would hear nothing unless they were interested, so no news is not good news. Then my friend asked me if I had considered the Oprah show. I hadn't. I haven't watched the show in years because I'm never home in time, but I went to the website and they wanted me to condense my "remodeling project that has become stuck due to financial reasons" into 2,000 words.

I began writing. I read it to DH and he liked it. Then I began to copy and paste it into the form online and... whoops. It said 2,000 CHARACTERS, not 2,000 WORDS. Great. Four pages of text and now I had to cut it to 2,000 characters including spaces? Hmm... challenging.

I wrote a poem:

Lessons in Life

Stuck
Wheels spinning in mud
Nine long years
Young children watching, learning
Lessons in life

Job to be eliminated
Back to college, both
House damaged
Windows and roof replaced
Full time work and classes
Young children watching, learning
dedication

Heart attack
Quit job
Savings gone
Finally graduate
But no job
Young children watching, learning
determination

Hundreds of applications
Still no job
Substitute teacher
Three years
Waiting
Children watching, learning
Patience

Finally a job
Three hours away
Separated but happily married
Two homes
Finances stretched
Children watching, learning
Sacrifice

One year becomes almost two
Finally another job
Rent
Family reunited
Pop-up camper is home
Children watching, learning
Healing

New savings gone
Repairs, new carpet and paint
Credit used for bills
Finally house for sale
Buy beautiful lot
Children watching, learning
Effort

Flood
Mold
Oma has died
Finally accepted to adopt
But no – testicular cancer
Teenagers learn
Despair

Chemotherapy
Lost wages
Disability
Money spent driving
To cut grass and remove snow
Teenagers learn
Hopelessness

Decreased property values
Sluggish house sales
No money for updates
House decaying
Adoption pending
Teenagers learn
Heartache

Our story in basically 2,000 characters. We have proposed donating our home to a needy family if we could have a home in our new town. This is my plea for help. Hopefully they will hear me.

Reality......

2009-04-01T19:24:00.003-05:00

Another month dodged.

How the money came to be to keep our mortgage going, I will never understand. I only know that when I called the mortgage company, the situation was a bit better than I had thought. They got my March payment as they sent the default notice. That counted for February. Somehow.... I had stashed away enough money, and borrowed some from another account... to make another payment and get caught up. With John being on disability for the month of February, he didn't get a penny of income until the end of the month. For some reason, I had recorded that I paid the mortgage payment already when his disability check came in, but I hadn't. That has never happened before, and I hope that we will never be in that situation again, but with the economy the way it is...... it's only a matter of time before we cannot afford to keep the mortgage in one town while trying to sell the property and renting a place to live in another town. This has to end.

I really don't feel like knitting again. I can gauge my emotions by how much knitting I do. I don't have the money to buy more yarn, and I'm tired of my stash. I don't have the ambition to spin on my wheel, either. I pretty much get up, go to work, come home very late, take care of things around our "apartment" and go to bed. I did manage to knit up the summer cap for John, and that took a lot longer to make than I thought it would. Now I have no real projects that I want to do... only some gifts that I need to make, but don't have the wool for.

Yep... I'm a bit down. Again. The happy days that we got really worked to pick me up, but reality crashes hard around your head when the trip is over.

Happy Feet

2009-03-19T10:23:00.005-05:00

Here they are....

all of my girls in the socks that I have made for each of them. We had a blast this past weekend trying to forget the realities of our life and smiling for the first time in months. I hadn't realized that it has been months, close to a year really, since we have genuinely smiled. We were really smiling. Really happy. It was hard to leave.

Anna was a great big sister. She's pretty excited to not be the youngest.

Better days have to keep coming.

I can't even come up with a title for this one

2009-03-11T20:20:00.003-05:00

I tried. Really I did. Things were looking up and I had told myself that March would be better. Everyday I was feeling positive. We heard some great news about a little girl that we know and of course John got his first "all clear" from cancer. Bills were getting paid. There was extra money to go shopping for the first time since last summer and I was really looking forward to our trip this weekend to the water park. Even the mouse terrorizing our empty house wasn't enough to really bring me down.

Then I checked the mail today..... after paying WAY too much on myself - for my hair. What a foolish, foolish girl I was. I should know by now that whenever it seems like we have extra money... it really isn't there. Something bad will happen. EVERY. TIME.

There it was. A loan default notice for our house. I was enraged. I make payments every month. Always. I called the 1-800 number to yell at anyone who would be there. They were closed. So, taking the time to gather all of my ammunition.... I went online to find the cleared checks for our mortgage payments. March payment - cleared. February payment.... February payment.... February payment... there it was. In January? No, that would be the January payment. Panic ensued. Where was the February payment? After checking the account three more times, I realized that money was so tight in February when John was on disability that I hadn't sent it in. I don't EVER remember that happening. I ALWAYS pay the mortgage... and John always checks to make sure that the payments clear. I SWEAR I paid in February. Somehow there is no record of any check being written or anything clearing our bank for that month.

I put us in default.

You know what? Take the house. I don't want it anymore.... it won't sell... no one wants to invest to finish the damn thing and it has caused us more sleepless nights and tension filled shoulders than I ever thought could be possible. The bank can have it. There is no hope.

Since August my mantra has been, "I can never do anything for me without somehow paying for it." Now I'm afraid to even go this weekend. I know that we can't even afford the "free" trip that has been given to us. We don't have enough money for the bills...... again. How will we find the money for this great "free" trip? We will need extra money for the dog vaccination, the dog kennel, gas, food, and who knows what else. My daughter just said that they don't have to play lazer tag in order to save money. Some relaxing break from our problems this has turned out to be.

I can't do this anymore. I give up. Done.

It's Been Awhile... But There Has Been Knitting

2009-03-08T21:23:00.002-05:00

Besides the chemo caps that I have made for John....

I have also been working on some toddler socks, 2 needle mittens to teach the girls at summer camp this year (Anna got the "test" mittens), some mittens for my oldest daughter, and now I have yarn to make John some summer caps to replace the old faded ones from years ago.

In the wings are two gifts that I can't mention here, but I can say that I was worried about the pattern. I could only find part of the pattern, but thanks to Ravelry..... I found friends who had the book and they gave me the basic information that I will need to make the gifts. How many stitches to cast on and final measurements were all that I needed.

On Feb. 18th we got the news that John's final cancer markers were within normal limits, and they weren't recommending surgery for him right now. He won't need any more CT or PET scans until April 2009. Normally this would be great news and just today John said that most people, after facing cancer, feel happy and optimistic about life. Each day is a true gift for them and their biggest worries are behind them. For John (and me) this isn't the case. The cancer lifestyle was stressful and scary, and afterwards we should have felt even better than we did. To be honest, now the reality of our house is hitting us square between the eyes. Another massive price reduction, no people attending open houses, and a mouse eating at some of the things that were left behind. There is no moving forward for us. We fight and struggle to hold on to any thing positive.

Here she is.... our positive thing in life.....

We get to spend the weekend with her, her little sister, and our friends at Wilderness Resort, thanks to the generosity of Angel On My Shoulder. We have never been given anything like this before in my life... a three day weekend. We are very excited. We will NOT think about anything else.

A Naughty Word

2008-12-31T09:12:00.004-06:00

Cancer is a naughty word. When you hear someone else say it, it takes your breath away and leaves your head full of questions. What kind of cancer? How bad is it? Did they get it all with surgery? Will this person live? When the word cancer is used to diagnose a loved one, the shock is even greater and you are left with a million more questions. I know. John was diagnosed in November.

Our world has turned upside down once again. Pretty soon, things will have turned upside for us so many times that we should be right side up again. Hopefully this is the time. I won't give a lot of details here, because I have started a caringbridge site for John that explains everything that has happened, and satisifies my urge to deal with situations through writing. I have also been able to deal with this situation through knitting.

My good friend Karen was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, and after the first gasp of shock and after the many initial questions had been answered, I took out my needles and made her some chemo caps. Karen was the kind of person who never asked for help. Even during her treatment, which lasted for more than a year, she never called to ask for meals or help transporting her or anyone in her family. She was given these things, and was very grateful for the help, but she got through things on her own. I gave her three different colors and styles of caps, wondering if they would be a welcomed comfort. I got my answer a few months later when she called me out of the blue. After catching up over the phone for several minutes, I asked her if there was anything that I could do for her. She stammered a bit and was obviously uncomfortable, but then asked if I would make her some more chemo caps. She loved them. She asked if she could have some that were a bit longer and would cover her ears so that she could wear them at night because her ears got cold. I said that I could. I asked her what colors and what types of yarns that I had used that she liked the best, and immediatly cast on stitches to fill the order I was humbled to have been given.

When Karen went into remission and returned to work, people asked her during one lunch break about all of the things that she had been given during her treatment. She spoke of DVDs, books, meals, blankets, and then said that she had donated everything that she had been given during her treatment because she wanted to put that part of her life behind her. A few seconds later, she looked at me and said, "except for the chemo caps that you made for me, Kristyn. Those I carefully packed away just in case I need them again." We all hoped that she never would.

Several months later, her cancer returned and she went for more difficult treatments. My caps went with her. She didn't make it, and cancer took her too young.

Last year, one of my mother's friends was diagnosed with breast cancer, and my needles were again filled with chemo cap stitches. Her treatments have finished, and she is doing very well. I hope that the caps brought her comfort as well.

Now, cancer has hit much closer to home. It has hit in my home, in fact. John was diagnosed in November and I immediately cast on stitches for his chemo caps. There are some differences with his, though. He has specific orders. He wants caps that he can wear in public that will support the school colors of the school he works for and the school our daughter plays on teams for. Of course this wish has been granted. Being male, he also has an easier time pulling off the bald look. He doesn't wear the caps all of the time like my friends did, or like the women in the oncology center do. But, his caps are cerished just as much because he knows how much it means to me to be able to support him in any way that I can. He will beat this thing, and we will be stronger because of it. And hopefully our world will be set right side up for us to march along together again.

If cancer has affected a friend or loved one in your life, consider voting for this cause on Obama's Change.org site. The strong issues created by the public on this site will be given to our future president. Let's make sure he knows that cancer needs to end.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T19:39:00.003-06:00

Start with knitting.. well actually crochet.

Just to prove that I have been doing something lately.
I inherited this basket and the unused yarn from my mother-in-law and I thought that since she is no longer here to make her annual Christmas presents for all of the women in the family, I would take her yarn and make them myself. No one else in the family knows how to crochet. Plus, this is a good time for repeating double crochet stitches at nauseum. That's because our family continues to suffer from more bad things. My DH was diagnosed with testicular cancer on 11/24 and yesterday we found out that the treament will mean several rounds of chemo and possibly one very nasty surgery. He is in pain from his surgery to remove the tumor, and we couldn't go to visit my father-in-law for his first holiday alone. We felt just terrible, but John was not up for the 7 hour round trip car ride. Tomorrow are more doctor appointments, but today we tried to have a normal Thanksgiving.

Anna was my right hand woman. She cooked every dish for the meal with me. Stuffing, turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and the gravy. Alicia made the pumpkin pie. And. It snowed. Right on cue and big fluffy flakes, see?

Here is Anna in action... 13 years old and she can cook with the best of 'em.

I carved the bird.

And we all ate.

You can see that John is hurting, but he is in good spirits. Tomorrow Alicia turns 16. Oh. my.

A Memorial - Lore Lohoff

2008-11-02T12:31:00.001-06:00

12/29/1929 - 10/02/2008

My mother-in-law was one of the most wonderful people anyone could have met. She had her flaws, just as all of us do, but my memories of her will always be of the gifts that she gave to me. Those kitchen table talks with coffee and at times cigarettes while kids played around us, husbands watched television, and time stood still are the gifts that I will cherish.

From her I learned how to cook. We shared recipes and tips for how to make things better. Really, she taught me the tried and true German way to cook and I gave her little tips that I had learned from some magazine article. I have many of her recipes, but will never be able to make hospital jello right. Even when we tried them together side by side in my Valders kitchen years ago, hers worked. Mine never has. She, however, could never manage to make a pie crust as flaky and flavorful as mine, even when I helped her.

I learned how to shop from my mother-in-law. We compared coupons and techniques. If we bought twenty dollars at one store we could get the free item and drive to another store to spend twenty dollars there for another free item. Saturdays were spent with each of us pouring over our own Milwaukee Journal clipping coupons, and setting up our strategy. After shopping we would call to compare notes and let each other know about specials. Even today I find myself competing to get a bag of groceries for ten dollars, and I can do it with meat and other expensive items in the cart. I know she is proud.

I learned how to garden from her. She would sit on the most bitter cold winter day and plan out the vegetables and flowers that my father-in-law needed to plant. When spring came, they worked side by side to turn the soil, pull weeds, and get seeds and small plants started. My beans never produced half of what hers did. My flowers never bloomed as fully, and my cucumbers never grew to the huge yellow sized submarines that hers did for a perfect senfgurkin. The garden was her special place. She loved to sit in her garden and watch her grandchildren play. I loved to sit with her there, too.

Most of all, I learned how to love family in a new way. She made an ultimate sacrafice when she, her husband, and their two year-old daugther decided to move from Germany to the United States. Times for her were tough in a war-torn Germany that was trying to put itself back together after WWII, but things for a German immigrant family weren't much better when they came here. She wanted to go back a few months after they moved here, but my father-in-law didn't. I am able to have the best husband in the world because they stayed. She would give you the shirt off of her own back, and often did give away something that she treasured if you said that you liked it. It made her feel good to give, and you never left her house without something in your hand that she had given to you.

I have missed my talks with her for many years as her illnesses took her away from us very slowly over time. Now I'm left with an empty, aching feeling in my heart. She is gone to us forever and the world is not the same.

Thank you, Oma... for all of your gifts. I love you!

Rock Bottom

2008-08-29T08:10:00.004-05:00

I am convinced, and no one will change my mind on this, that the minute I take time for myself to do something for me, I am punished. I'm not joking, in fact I am quite serious. And it seems that in the last few months, the amount of time that I am allowed to enjoy myself before being slammed with some tradegy is getting shorter and shorter. It now seems to be only a few hours, which makes me nervous about writing this post. What bad thing will happen after I click Publish?

Since moving and trying to settle in a new area, my husband and I have worked extra jobs to build back the savings account we had to drain for many different reasons. I've posted about them over the years, and finally, this summer, we had money in the account. Immediately, I said that I was nervous because something would happen to prevent us from keeping the account. Some emergency. After my husband and I took our first trip away from home without our children in 16 years, we returned home and a few weeks later our car needed $1,400 of repairs. I thought this was my punishment. Boy, was I wrong.

One week in August, both of my daughters were gone for the same week, one at work (she lived and worked at a summer camp that week) and the other went to her girl scout camp for the week. It was heaven. I sat and watched tv. the house stayed clean. My movies were not interrupted. I watched the Olympics. And I knit. It was heaven. I told my mom that I worried about what price I would pay for such luxury. Well, that luxury seems to be at the price tag of about $30,000.

Last week Thursday, one week after our girls came home, we got a phone call from our realtor. Someone had gone on a walk through of our house and found mold in the basement. She sent us the pictures. The first pictures didn't seem so bad, but as we clicked on and on, they got worse and our jaws fell open in shock and disbelief.

This couldn't be happening. We had an accepted offer, but once they were told of the mold, they decided not to renew the offer (it will expire on August 30th).

I immediately called our insurance agent who said that this must be from the floods in early June. But we had been in the house in July, I told him. Still, he said that insurance would not cover mold or flooding, and that there were homes in our community with collapsed basements from the flooding. He encouraged us to call FEMA. We called FEMA and the adjuster came to look at our house. "I've never seen anthing like this," he told us. Really? A FEMA inspector hadn't seen worse? Imagine the bad things that he must see in his job! Then I called someone to give us an estimate of the costs to repair the home. He went in and later called me to say that the basement was still wet, which we knew, and that he couldn't do anything until we got the water out. Oh, and it would cost about $30,000. Now, we live three and a half hours away and the new school year has just started. We were at a loss to figure out how to dry out a basement so far away. I called another company and basically blubbered through my phone call and told him the story. Ron was so nice. He went into the house that afternoon, called my husband - because I then couldn't complete a sentence without crying - and said that he wouldn't leave the house until things were taken care of. He pulled people off of other jobs, and I don't know what they did, but he has assured us that the house is ok. For now. Our worry was, and still is, that the mold will spread to the upstairs and instead of losing the finished basement where our daughter's rooms are, we would lose the whole house. The house that carries our only investment for being able to build and settle where we are now. The FEMA grant decision came quickly. They awarded us $3,000. That leaves about $27,000 unpaid for.

Both men who estimated repairs said that the problem was not a flood, but rather a sump pump malfunction with clear water back up. They told us that this was an insurance issue and said that we should call our agent to file a claim. My husband did, and the insurance adjuster went through yesterday. We were feeling a bit better, and I actually had my first day without tears on Wednesday, when we knew that we were allowed to file a claim with our insurance. Yesterday I spent 14 hours at school getting my room ready and all of the work done at school so that we could go to the house and the nursing home this weekend. Oh, I forgot to mention that my mother-in-law took a turn for the worse on Wednesday. You see, she had a massive heart attack on Easter weekend, and we were told that she wouldn't live through the night. We all grieved and said our goodbyes, but by morning, she opened her eyes and asked for breakfast. A miracle, yes, but also a tradegy because she has since been in a nursing home and is only a shell of the woman we all used to know. We were going to leave this morning, but have changed our minds because my mother-in-law is a bit better and our girls have plans with new friends they are trying to make in our new community. My husband just left to go visit his mother, stop at the house, and continue our fight to find $27,000.

Last night, after taking the time for myself at school, he told me that the insurance adjuster basically laughed at him telling him that this was not a sump pump malfunction. I guess our sump pump pit is dry and our sump pump is not working and hasn't worked for awhile. There are no water levels to show a flood, and the basement has water in places where you wouldn't expect it if there had been a flood. He thinks that the heavy rain waters saturated the ground, and that those waters are slowly seeping through our foundation and ending up in our basment. He even thought that possibly someone may have hooked up a hose and let it run along the house to intentionally do harm, but he realized that wouldn't have been the case, based upon the damage areas. I guess our house is a puzzle. No one knows what happened, and I don't really care WHAT happened, I want to know how to make it better. I don't want to lose all of our money, but the way things are right now - we are looking at losing everything, including precious items in the basement like holiday decorations, pictures, high school albums, and items that I hold dear because they were my father's. We may have to sell the house at a loss and save to build. We were about 5 years from paying off the house and being mortgage free, which was one reason I didn't want to move, and now we may be looking at starting all over again.

I pretty much started this blog when our troubles began - Read Hogging the Brownie and you will see what I mean. Four years later and things are even worse. People say that it can't get worse than this, but things always do seem to get worse. Especially for us.

My daugthers have watched me cry so many times in the last several years, and they told me this week that it actually hurts them. "You are our parents. You are supposed to be able to handle anything. So if you cry, then we know that things are really bad," my daughter told me this week. Both of my girls have said that they want to do something to help, so they are planning to apply for Extreme Home Makeover. Alicia looked up the application information and it is quite overwhelming. I told both of the girls that if they never finish the application process - I am still proud of them for thinking of this.

So basically, I cry, I try to get ready for a new school year, I answer people's questions about if we have sold our home with sobs and long stories of mold, and I go to bed at night in tears with a throbbing head. John does the same. But he is still able to fight. This one has even taken the fight out of me... and I have been known as a fighter. I'm done. I roll over. I give up. This what rock bottom looks like. I will never be able to enjoy taking time for myself again.

Finish Line!

2008-08-14T14:01:00.002-05:00

The Finished Object.
FINALLY!
I cast off last night and started blocking it this morning. The blocking board is too small so I will have to block it in two stages.

I finished ahead of schedule. It usually took me two weeks to finish one skein for this project, but that was during the school year, and now it's summer so I have a lot more time on my hands. Not to mention that both girls are gone for the week - one working at a summer camp and the other attending another summer camp. Can you say.... HEAVEN!

Finished Object Stats:

Girl's Cashmere Stole
Started - December 2006
Finished - August 13, 2008
Yarn: Spinnerin Cashmere Plus (Italian) - Cream - Fingering - 85% Cashmere, 15% Wool
Pattern: Took from a swatch in a book and repeated for desired width
Needle: Size 3

What I loved about this project: The yarn was so, so, so, sooooo soft and feeling the fabric drape on my lap as I worked was luxurious. Also, I managed to memorize the 12 row pattern, and could pick up easily even after the project had sat for several weeks or months.

What I didn't love about this project: White! working with white was scary! I dripped coffee on it twice and nearly passed out with fright that the stains wouldn't come out once I had found them. They did.
Another struggle was just finishing the sea of white lace. It never seemed to end!

Now... on to finish the clapotis!

Day 5 - progress and pain

2008-08-12T08:55:00.003-05:00

The yarn pile is getting smaller, see?

There is now only one skein left, and not a complete skein. It's almost half-way used up already.
And, my hands hurt. Knitting for so many hours each day on such small needles, I feel the Olympic pain! Must. Keep. Knitting.

Let the Games Begin!

2008-08-09T07:23:00.002-05:00

Day one... and here is the yarn that needs to be knit up

On size 3 needles with 146 stitches in a row!
This will be a true test of ability!

Knitting Knews

2008-07-23T07:54:00.002-05:00

An update on my knitting - finally!

I went to the Stitch 'N Pitch Brewer's game on July 9th and had an awesome time. It was incredible to see so many people wearing the distinctive white caps while working on a project. My husband bought the seats almost the first day that they were available, and we were seated in the front of the section - which was nice for watching the game, but made it hard to check out the projects around me.

I brought the cashmere stole that I have been working on in spurts for that past two years.

am determined to get this done by the time my high school aged daughter goes to Homecoming - even though she has already told me that the stole wouldn't be appropriate there because the Homecoming dance isn't formal enough. I don't care.. I want it done. There are projects in waiting that need to be started. There are two babies waiting to come into the world... and also waiting for some knitted treasures. They are due in September and November. Must Start Knitting!

At camp - I am excited to say that I have now taught 4 left-handed girls how to knit. I searched and searched online to figure out the best way to do this. I heard about using smoke signals and mirrors and lulling left-handers into some kind of trance in order to teach them. Then, I read a note online about sitting opposite from the left-hander and having them watch me knit with the idea that they would copy me - using their left hand like I used my right, and using their right hand like I used my left. And. It worked! I must have jumped around the camp shouting with excitement ALL DAY! Those girls are knitting machines now, and I'm thrilled to know that I can honor left-handed learners by teaching them the correct way for them.

A Teaching Moment - Where I End Up Becoming the Student

2008-07-04T07:11:00.004-05:00

It's always a good idea to learn just how much it is that you don't know. Both feet are kept firmly on the ground when you realize that not only are you NOT as great as you thought you were, but also that the skills that have taken a lifetime for you to develop can be figured out in a split second by a more creative soul. This has been my experience at camp.

My friend is a co-director of a girl's camp, and asked me if I would come and teach knitting because she has seen several girls working on projects over the years and thought that they may enjoy learning more. I was up for the challenge, and began searching for patterns that would excite new teenage knitters, and challenge those who had more skills. I also developed a pattern to create a piece of camp clothing that is used each week during what is called the "council fire". All campers come to the council fire on Sunday nights and use camp hats and sashes during the ceremony. I developed a camp sash pattern that they could make and take home with them, thinking that this would be a great beginner project - and possibly an exciting project for them. Well, I have learned that guessing what is cool for teenagers is almost impossible - and better left to, well - the teenagers - because their tastes change with each cup of coffee I drink.

There are over 100 campers, between the ages of 8 and 16, not to mention the many counselors and counselors in training who also want to learn to knit. I set off to my new summer camp knitting lodge.

After a few days of knitting in public, girls started approaching me and asking if I would teach them to knit. I took a deep breath, let them pick their own yarn from what some generous people had sent as donations, and set off on my new task. It went pretty well. Those who had already learned how to knit from a family member, but had never "started" a project were taught the cable cast on method (my personal favorite) while true newbies were given a project that was already started so that they could learn the knit stitch. Before casting on, I would ask them what they wanted to make, and show them the sash that the director and I thought would be very popular. Most girls looked at the sash and thought about it for a minute, then told me that they wanted to make - a scarf. OK. I wasn't discouraged. At least they still wanted to knit - scarves were a great beginner project, even though I knew they many would give up on the project before it would ever be finished - especially since many will leave camp in a week - but they would learn the essentials of knitting and be able to take that home with them. So I set off.... teaching two or three at a time until I had taught about 10 girls. They were off in their cabins, needles clicking away during rest hour, and tempting others to learn. After a week, I had 30 knitting, and now after two weeks, the whole camp seems to be at it.

I can't keep up! I hear my name being called out all over camp, "Kristyn, I have a problem," or, "Kristyn, this doesn't look right," or, "Kristyn, can you fix this?"

I have run out of knitting needles, even with three trips to the local department store, and some campers have resorted to using filed wooden dowels to work on. The stitches stick, but can be used by people who already know the process.

My own summer knitting has changed. There are no socks on needles, no baby sweaters or intricate lace being worked. I'm spending my time on garter stitch squares that can be ripped out and reworked and used to teach the knit stitch, purl stitch, increasing, decreasing, and casting off. I have worked this same square over and over for two weeks, and my fast knitting has slowed. My hands are holding the needles like I did when I was a beginner myself. And I am amazed at the transformation. It seemed to come along on its own - my hands at first holding the needles like I always do, but then changing to a more awkward grasp after several girls told me that what I was doing looked "confusing."

The summer session has almost reached the halfway point, and many campers will be going home while a new group comes in. Some campers will stay for the full summer. What I have learned about teaching; THAT will last much longer.

A Story of Waiting

2008-04-18T20:22:00.002-05:00

"All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope" - Alexandre Dumas Pere

Well... my wisdom must be freakin running to a low point. We wait, and wait, and hope for our new house to become a reality. Then wait some more.

We have moved again - because the cottage rental where we were is only availalble during the school year, and we found a three bedroom, two bathroom duplex that would take all of our pets. Knowing that even if our house sold, we wouldn't be able to build and move into a new home before summer, we had to leave. So on the coldest weekend in February (again) we moved. If you look back to last year in February, we also moved on the coldest weekend in 10 years to become a family again. Someone has a really bad sense of humor towards giving me crappy situations and frankly, I've about had it.

My anger towards life turned towards my knitting, and with a venegence I worked to get rid of every crappy old project that was weighing me down. Then I knit for myself. That luxury that knitters rarely bestow upon themselves was mine. My choice of yarn, my choice of pattern, and my attitude improved. UNTIL.... the next crappy situation. My mother-in-law having a near death experience. On Easter Sunday we were taken from our family gathering after visiting her in the hospital and realizing that things were not good. We returned to the hospital with the rest of the family to wait for her to die. There was no hope. We waited all afternoon, evening, and night. There was no hope. Her darkened hands and shallow breathing brought us all to tears, and then we were content and ready. We waited. In the morning she woke for a few minutes and gave us a precious gift of more time to talk to her. She said that she felt, "Great!" I watched as my daughters cried at her death bed, then had moments where they were able to have great talks with cousins who they hadn't seen in years. The kind of talk that seems only to happen around death in today's world.

By later morning, the doctor's proclaimed a miracle, and we reacted with anger, frustration, and sadness. My mother-in-law left us many years ago from the dementia brought on by two severe strokes. We were ready for her to leave, and happy that she would have died without having to have lived in a nursing home. Now that would not happen. We spent three days getting her things ready and moved her into her new home while her husband sobbed. He still cannot be convinced that he has not let her down. His COPD makes it impossible to take care of her now that she will not walk, eat, or toilet herself. She looked around the nursing home and told me, "This is a nice place......for the old people." Our hearts and spirits broke.

We try to drive the four hours one way each weekend to see her, visit with my father-in-law and my mother, and take care of the property that refuses to sell. We are going deeper and deeper into debt - two educators with Master's Degrees...working every extra school job we can get our hands on. The gas prices laugh at me as I drive past each station. Up $1.30 from a year ago... and four hours of driving now add up to an extra $40 on gas each weekend. I'm back to deciding how badly we need generic peanut butter each week. I'm tired of life giving me crap so that I can be a stronger person. I'm strong. And tired. Very, very tired. I give up.

My knitting sits and glares at me from the bag. Sandy's chemo caps that should have been done two weeks ago when her chemotherapy started are angry with me; they yell at me and add to my guilt. The stole that I wanted for my daughters' dances is frustrated to still be sitting on needles, and the yarn stash is planning a coup. I think they will run out of the house if it ever stops snowing or raining. You see, they are afraid of ruining their fibers in the bad weather...this is the only reason they stay.

Despite all of the bad things, I like my job - which may not last because I am a new hire and a referendum looming could mean the end of my job - and more importantly it could mean the loss of a decent education for many, many students as I would not be the only one to be let go. If this happens, I can only imagine how many part time jobs I would have to take to be able to buy the generic brand of toilet paper that I know we MUST have each week.

So, I would like to give my yarn stash a little message. Run. Fast. Get out while you still have a chance and get as far away from my house as is yarnily possible because you know things are bad, and I know that even with patience and hope, they are not about to get better any time soon.

But I have no choice. I will have to continue to wait. And hope. If I can.

Christmas Snow

2007-12-29T11:40:00.000-06:00

Christmas as a kid meant two things. No school and snow. This year is finally providing us with both. It seems like this is the first year since I was a child where the snow banks are up to my waist. And my waist is a little higher now compared to when I was 9 years old!

The snow came as a surprise. Well, sort of a surprise. We were celebrating with our family “down south” and new that our new home “up north” was getting a snow storm. We drove back north on the 26th at night. Every 15 miles farther we drove, it was clear that there was more and more snow. The banks on the sides of the highway, even in dark, were piled high. As we drove through lit communities we could see the piles in parking lots grow taller and taller. Then, for the final twenty minutes, it became incredible. There must have been 15 inches on the ground, and true to Northwoods fashion, the roads were clear. These guys work miracles!

We unpacked, went to bed, and woke up to the reality of the storm.

That branch is normally above our heads, but with the weight of the snow it has now drooped, like all of the trees have.

Beautiful. And yes, at least 15 inches of snow on the ground, with more to come.

Anna has been playing with her Christmas sled on the driveway, and both Alicia and Anna have been ice-fishing on the lake with their father and a friend. Unfortunately, no fish.

My Christmas knitting is still in progress. I finished a pair of felted clogs in three days to give to my mother. Note to self…. To get them to dry more quickly, put them on the heat registers and they will be dry in two days instead of three! My mother wore them on Christmas night and was as pleased as punch. She was the first person to wear out the original pair given a few years ago. I used a Plymouth paint yarn in purples, blues and greens, and then a matching green for the cuff and sole. Yummy! They were a hit! Now I need to finish the stole that was supposed to be a birthday present to my mother a year ago. Then, on to finish a pair of socks for DH and then mittens and a hat for Anna. After that I am free! Free to make a scarf for myself from my birthday yarn! More to come on that later.

The Perfect Weekend

2007-11-12T20:37:00.000-06:00

Finally, a weekend that seems to be going my way! Our new life “up north” means a 3 ½ hour drive every Friday to go to our home “down south” and take care of our house and my in-laws. While it is exhausting, it feels good being able to help them out.

Once a month we stay up north, usually because of something our girls are involved in. This weekend was the weekend to stay in November. My youngest had her first swim meet here and we weren’t sure how long it would go. Turns out that I also hit the jackpot because Sunday was the opening of women’s college basketball, it was declared International Pajama Day, and???? Are you ready??? I was invited to RAVELRY!!!

Here’s how the day looked from my vantage point…

Heaven…

The girls have adjusted to the move here pretty well. DH loves being able to stay in the job that he loves, and I really like my new school. We have purchased land to build on and have the house plans all ready to go… just waiting for the house to sell in Valders.

To end the perfect day, my daughter and I had a hot beverage..

What a great weekend!

Happy Birthday...um... to me!

2007-09-09T09:46:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I celebrated 38 years of living by spending time watching my children play soccer and volleyball. Then we made our 3 1/2 hour jaunt to our "old home" as we do every weekend.

My mother came "up north" with us to stay the week, and it was a wonderful visit with her. As we drove home, my mother told me about her memories of the day I was born. After finishing supper that night, she began to feel some contractions and called the doctor. She was told to get herself to the hospital. Being the kind of person who tries to plan ahead, she called her mother, my grandmother, who was in the hospital due to an illness to see if she needed anything.

"Yarn," my grandmother told her, meaning that she needed some skeins wound to continue working on her project. My mother checked into the hospital, and then promptly went to visit her own mother. As the contractions became stronger and stronger, my mother continued to hold up her hands wrapped with yarn, so that my grandmother could wind the skein she needed into a ball. My mother was never a knitter, and everyone tells me that I inherited my love of knitting from my grandmother.

This is how I was greeted into the world, a knitter from birth.

I Won't Do That Again

2007-08-21T17:33:00.001-05:00

Very quick... very short.

I opened a new email account at our new home, and couldn't get onto Blogger because the old email address had expired.

It took me way too long to straighten that out!

We are in the process of moving (kind of) and setting up our new lives in Minocqua. The old house is almost ready to show (if we can ever agree on a carpet installation price with the company) and we now own land up north.

Lots of great knitting things have been happening in between, believe it or not!

Pictures to come.

Settling

2007-05-15T20:19:00.000-05:00

I’m getting ready for our trip this summer. We are off to Germany, again. We went a few years ago for a cousin’s wedding, and now the younger brother is getting married so we will go again. I’ve been working on this…

Their wedding afghan. It’s turning out even more beautiful than I had hoped… and the color is a grayish blue that borders on a neutral tone. It’s wonderful. I spent Mother’s Day recovering from bronchitis and laryngitis… knitting and spinning in front of a fireplace and watching movies. Then I was taken out to eat. Fabulous!

Oh, and I got a job. My current job contract ends in a few weeks and they hadn’t given me a contract for next year, so I applied at another district and we can now officially call the Northwoods of Wisconsin our permanent home. Well, we can… once we sell our old home and buy one here.

Finally.. PICTURES!

2007-03-22T21:16:00.000-05:00

Well here they are… finally… as promised.

After a week, things have changed so much that most of the snow is gone, the ice on the lake is starting to seriously melt, but I dream of putting my canoe in here even more than usual.

When I get the chance… and have the ambition... this is what my spinning is looking like. With a nice fire and a clean house – you would think that I would be spinning my heart out, but I still can’t bring myself to do much of anything. When this is done, it will be a shawl for my mother for her birthday which was, yes WAS... in January. She keeps bugging me and saying that she hasn’t seen any patterns to pick from yet. Oops!

Here is another picture of my new home.. well temporary new home. I wish that I could keep the lake!

From the Northwoods

2007-03-11T07:44:00.000-05:00

Well…. We are finally moved (for the moment) and settled. Moving day was, of course, on the coldest days on record since 1996 (also a year that we moved… I sense a tradition here). Luckily, because we moved into an already furnished cottage, we only needed to bring one week’s worth of clothes to get us started. So, on Sunday, February 4th, we set out a week’s worth of food and water for our two cats, watered the plants, and gave the hamster a smorgasbord of food and water before piling into our cars and making the 31/2 trek up north to our new home.

My first two days at the new school were cancelled because of the bitter cold. Wind chills were in the –60s… and it turned out that my daughters’ old school was also closed on these days. So.. I had to wait for my first day of work a little longer than I had planned, but it was nice to be able to cuddle up as a family and spend some much needed time together.

Now, we are a month into our new lives, and things are going pretty well. My new job, after a few initial bumps and bruises, is going well. It is a lot easier for me to manage and I’m finding that I am much less stressed. The girls are settling into their new schools and trying to make new friends. They are still pretty attached to the “old” friends, and each weekend when we make the return journey to our “old” home, they fill their time with visiting and hanging out with them.

We’ve started looking for houses, and we have decided that we might choose to build. This was huge for me because I had vowed NEVER to build a home, but instead to purchase what someone else had gone through headaches and stress to build, but we aren’t finding the kind of house that we would like. So, building seems like a good option. There is plenty of land available and we have found some plans that we like.

Knitting and Spinning…

I had thought that my nights would be filled with knitting and spinning now that I don’t have to run around with the girls so much. I envisioned piles of homemade knitted goodness tossed about my feet. I anticipated being inspired by the nature around me to create something beautiful myself, but… um. Well, umm… that hasn’t happened. I look at my spinning wheel and it begs me to sit down and work on my mother’s shawl, but my body just wants to rest. I’m asleep so early each night and up with the sun each morning (which is NOT typical of me) that by the end of the day I don’t have the ambition.

I finally started spinning this past Friday, but it was pathetically uneven, and I gave it up after an hour.

Now, I have a raging sinus infection and we came “cottage home” a day early this weekend, so the thought of spinning in front of the fire without moving much is pretty appealing.

Pictures to come!

Darlene… if you are reading this, please leave me a comment! And say hello to everyone at Monroe. I miss all of you!

On the Move

2007-01-18T18:54:00.000-06:00

Well…. This is finally IT. WE. ARE. MOVING.

Last week I was offered a teaching job in Rhinelander, Wisconsin and I accepted it. My official last day will be February 2, 2007 and although I am super happy and excited about living “Up North” and being a family again – I’m also torn inside about leaving my students here, many of whom I have worked with for all nine years.

We will live in Arbor Vitae, Wisconsin – ok… Minocqua. Arbor Vitae isn’t on most maps! The girls are really good about the move. I’ll be happy when we are finally settled. Our house in Valders won’t go on the market just yet. We have some minor updates to do and hopefully in spring or summer the “For Sale” sign will go up. Until then, we will either continue to stay in the tiny cottage that my husband has been renting all year, or find a new rental to live in with more space. We are in no rush – which is odd… considering we will all be up there in a little more than two weeks.

On the knitting side of things… here are a pair of mittens that I finally finished for my daughter. They totally kicked my butt around the block. She wanted an argyle pattern. This is pretty tough to do in the round without making the palm of the mitten too tight from the carried threads. The other option was start a new thread for every row. I tried both and ended up going crazy either way.. but settled for the “argyle in the round” method. By some act of the “mitten Gods” the color turned out to match the coat that she got for Christmas from my mother. Go figure!

Here is a breakdown of the project.

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Raspberry, Soft Pink, and Off White
Needles: DPN US 5
Date started: November 8, 2006
Date finished: January 1, 2007 (should have been done for her birthday on 11/28/2006)

Happy 77th Birthday, Oma!

2006-12-29T11:47:00.000-06:00

"Oma" and "Opa" are German for "grandma" and "grandpa". My mother-in-law, Oma to my daughters, is one of the greatest women that I have ever met. She lived through WWII as a teenager in Germany, caring for her six younger siblings and rushing them off to safety in the wheat fields when bombers flew overhead and dropped their explosives on her town. One time, during the night, the entire family fled down their street, only to come home and find that their neighbors house had been hit, and everyone inside killed, including my mother-in-law's friend who lived there.

She came to the US in 1953 with her husband and their oldest child. My sister-in-law was two years old when she came here, and two more children were born in the U.S. - another sister-in-law and my husband. Oma and Opa worked tough, physical jobs and fought for every penny they earned. In the 1980's they bought their first home, and my MIL still talks about this as one of her proudest achievements.

A few years ago, she suffered a stroke, but she was still her fiesty self afterwards. Last year, in September, she suffered a much larger stroke that has robbed her of her short term memory and a lot of her independent care skills. We celebrated her birthday today, and it was a true celebration. Oma had been in the hospital for several weeks with a bladder infection, and a medication update that was made to help make her happier and less depressed and angry since her strokes. It seems to have worked. Although she STILL won't smile for a picture - she jokes around and sounds more like her old self.

In the picture above she is wearing one of my gifts to her. I made her a bedjacket. It is basically a shawl with cuffs, and it is the first project I have made from yarn I spun myself. I picked out the color with her in mind, it's called Weathered Barn. And the bedjacket was actually a marriage of two different patterns - a fan and feather shawl with cuffs from another pattern so that the shawl won't fall off of her shoulders, especially when she uses her walker. Oma's short term memory loss made it possible for her to enjoy her gift every 20 minutes. She would ask, "Whose is this?" grabbing the shawl and looking at me, using long term memory to know that I am the knitter in the family.

"It's yours," I would tell her.
"Oh, my goodness. Really? It's beautiful," she would exclaim as she stroked the wool against her cheek, closing her eyes.
"Yes, I made it for you, and I spun the wool myself."
"Really? You made this yarn? It's beautiful. Thank you!" she would say. Then about 20 minutes later we would have the exact same conversation.

It is hard for her to put on the shawl by herself so she may just hold the shawl and enjoy the feel of the wool - she was also a knitter and crocheter before her strokes, and has always enjoyed the feel of wool. I also made it for her for this reason, hoping that if she didn't wear it, she would enjoy just touching it. I think I succeeded.

My second gift to her was this:

This is Buttercreme Torte, and I was the first one other than my MIL to make it. It is a huge family tradition, one of those recipes that isn't written down, but rather kept in someone's memory. Over 10 years ago, I sat down with my MIL and asked her to tell me all of her recipes. This was one of them, and it happens to be her favorite torte. She would make it every year on her birthday.

When she was discharged from the hospital on Dec. 26th, she knew that her birthday was coming up and kept commenting that she wished for a Buttercreme Torte. It takes two days to make and uses 3 sticks of butter combined with thickened pudding for the frosting. Truly NOT a diet food. In the past two weeks, Oma wouldn't eat anything at the hospital. She lost 20% of her bodyweight during that time.

She polished off two pieces of the Buttercreme Torte and told me that there was only one thing wrong with it. I braced myself for her honest criticism.

"The one thing wrong with it," she said, "is that it tastes like more!"

Happy Birthday, Oma! We love YOU more!

It's a Small World.....

2006-12-07T14:19:00.000-06:00

What, pray tell, could bring me back to blogging after such a hiatus? Well, a moment on Tuesday gave me something to talk about. Something good that filled my heart with those warm, hot chocolate with mini marshmallows kind of feeling. The kind of good that comes from cupping your hands round a hot cuppa tea on a chilly day.

Each month I go to spinning guild. I am the “newbie” of the bunch as I have only been spinning for two years. There are three new ladies who have joined us, taking the newbie pressure off of me, thank goodness! Our meetings are all pretty much the same. Set up and spin for awhile, someone brings us back to the “topic of the day” and we do any guild business which is usually passing around flyers, magazines, and mail that the guild has gotten over the last month, a show and tell time, and then we spin until we feel like going home. It’s pretty low key.

Our guild is pretty funny… I’m convinced that I shouldn’t be a member because there must be some unwritten rule about having a certain first name to be in the thing. There is Mary, MaryAnn, Marilyn, Ann, Annie, and then us losers who were named Kristyn, Carol, Nancy, Pat, Margarite and Amy (at least these last two could follow the initial letter rule that Carol, Pat, Nancy and I just completely ignored). Even the new people have followed the rules. There is a Mary Ellen!

On Tuesday, we shivered in the woolen mill where we meet each month and watched part II of our DVD learning session on novelty yarns. I became quite proficient at the knotted yarn technique. I sat between Mary and Nancy. Nancy’s knotted yarn was much thicker than mine and really showed the knots off better, but mine was pretty delicate looking.

Near the end of the night, Pat shared this awesome gooey pumpkin bar with crystallized ginger sauce. I’m still licking the sauce off of my fingers. It was super! The perfect thing for such a chilly night. Then it was time to pack up. Pat came over to me and mentioned a project that I had made a year ago for the first child of my cousin in Germany. She complimented me on it and said that her friend also knew about the sweater set and had seen it.

“Really?,” I asked.
“Yes. You know her. Her name is Vicki and she said that she has seen the sweater and she thought it was really nice, too,” Pat replied. My mind began spinning (no pun intended) while I’m picturing everyone I knew who had seen it. Vicki? Vicki? I couldn’t think of a Vicki.

Pat must have noticed the confusion on my face, so she helped me out by telling me Vicki’s last name. “Vicki M.,” she said, “Vicki had seen a picture of it online or something.”Immediately I got it. Pat is from Brillion, which is close to Appleton, which is where knitorious lives. Well actually, knitorious lives in Kaukuana, but that is a stone’s throw from Appleton. VICKI! “Oh! You mean Vicki Knitorious!” I cried excitedly.

“Vicki who? No. Vicki M.” was her reply. Isn’t it strange? A blog name, to me, means as much as a surname. Vicki M. didn’t make any sense to me, but say Vicki Knitorious and I was jumping for joy while Pat was confused. The name knitorious made no sense to her. “You know her?” I asked.
“Yeah, of course. I work with her husband and I know her really well.”
Small world. Vicki Knitorious and I have never met in person (although we NEED to!). But I have always known that I like her a lot, and now it is certain. Pat is so nice, and because I like Pat as much as I do and she likes Vicki, well then it’s a done deal!

Back In the Swing of Things

2006-09-25T21:56:00.000-05:00

There are pumpkins all around and the summer fruit is getting down right expensive. This can only mean one thing. It’s Fall. Fall is definitely one of my favorite seasons. But, now that I think about it – when it is Spring, that is my favorite season, and when it is summer, I love summer. Winter is the only season that I don’t have a love affair with. But Fall is all about that cozy warm feeling. I’m planning to make chili and tomorrow night will be crock pot macaroni and cheese. Comfort foods.

This weekend I packed up the pre-teen and the full fledged teenager, and ignoring their rants of unfair treatment, I went up north to my husband’s school-year home. Careful packing was in order for this trip, as I knew that it would rain and I would be unable to do any canoe trips on Saturday. Of course a day in the rain in a cottage by the lake can only mean one thing. SPIN! I packed the wheel carefully in the back of my Jetta Wagon and we were off, sulking girls included. Even the temptation of “up north” boyfriends did little to make my 13 year-old smile. It was the high school homecoming game, and anyone who was “anyone” was there. Even eighth graders, she told me. I told her that I guess we’re “no ones” and I couldn’t be more thrilled.
We stopped off at my local woolen mill (Hidden Valley Woolen Mill) and searched for the perfect color for me to make a shawl for myself. If you are a careful reader, you may remember the cashmere shawl that I started earlier in the year. You may be wondering what has become of it. Well… it is still on the needles and progressing very slowly. I decided that I deserved a finished product more quickly, so drafting, spinning, washing, and knitting would be the way to go, right? Of course, right.

I picked out a luscious roving in a “weathered barn” colorway. It was full of deep maroon, grey, a bit of black, and some light maroon. It was exactly the color of a weathered barn. We held it up to an apricot blush, and the two looked fabulous together. I got the weathered barn for now and saved the apricot blush for another day. Off we went to the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

It was a fantastic weekend. John had our favorite meal (his famous meatloaf.. he makes the BEST meatloaf) waiting on the table as we pulled up. After eating, we got busy watching movies and I began to spin. Saturday morning I spun and spun and spun throughout most of the day. It was gorgeous. The roving was easy to work with and I was getting a nice, fine, even yarn from it. I spent some time on the paddleboat with my daughter and my 13 year-old fished off of the pier, and looked for boys. This time there were none. Fish OR boys. I was in big trouble!

We spent the night in front of the fire, watching more movies and listening to the rain while I sat and spun and then knit. It was a great retreat. I packed up last night and headed for home, with two much happier girls. Turns out that they didn’t mind the lack of boys, but we can’t figure out where they went. On Labor Day weekend, the lake was crawling with eligible teen-age boys, but now, nothing. We are guessing that they were staying at the campground on the opposite side of the lake, or that they were just busy with sports stuff. The hunt will go on, I’m told.

On Sunday I started to get sick. My allergies couldn’t take all of the trees. My allergies and sinuses get a workout every year at this time, and this year it seemed that it would be a bit worse. I woke up Monday morning looking as pale as could be and I was barely able to breathe from the pounding in my head. I stayed home today, drank tea, and looked at my spinning. I wanted to spin some more, but lifting my head up from the pillow proved to be too much of an effort. Spinning may have to wait until my next trip up north, in about three weeks.

If you know the boys on the lake, could you tell them when we will be there? Thanks.

A Little Bit More About Me

2006-08-10T12:33:00.000-05:00

Things you've done: (ones I've done are in bold)
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb (does a sheep count?)
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 10 provinces
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. alphabetized your cd's
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children.
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146.Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone's life

A Time for Healing

2006-08-08T09:23:00.000-05:00

Several years ago when my husband’s job was being phased out and he made the decision to return to school and earn his master’s degree, I never thought that our lives would turn out like this. Poor and happy.

I know that you don’t need a lot of money to be happy, but sometimes it sure would be nice to find out! There was a period of two or three years before his job was in jeopardy where we had two full incomes and there was even an emergency saving’s account with enough money to get us through a few months, “just in case.” That money was used up in July 2004, and we have never been able to put away since. Stressful? Yes. Happy. You bet!

For two years, John has looked for a full-time school counselor position near where we have chosen to raise our family. Out of hundreds of applicants he would sometimes get an interview, but never a job offer. This tormented him. Many times he lost out to “young kids” with the fresh-eyed enthusiasm of youth, but who also had no real experience. That left him feeling worthless. Last year he got a job, but we were saddened by the fact that it was 3 1/2 hours away. For more than two years I have been asked if John has found something close to home nearly every day. It is exhausting. Last year I would tell them about his job in Lac du Flambeau and instead of congratulations I would hear either, “so, are you moving up there?” or, ”so far away?”

Our original plan was for him to work up there for one year and then use that “experience” to make him more marketable in our home area. He had one interview this year at the school district where I work. They hired a fresh young whippersnapper who earned his degree eight months ago, plays ball with the vice-principal and graduated from the high school a few years ago. “Good ‘ole Joe,” was excited to think that he would be counseling the younger siblings of his friends and working side by side with his former teachers. We were crushed. Last year, John fought with a hundred other applicants to get an interview. This year we have heard that there are often two hundred or more applying for each job. We have learned to be thankful for the job he has.

This has been a summer of healing. We have played in the sun, picnicked, swam, and calmed our minds to our new way of life. It turns out that our second home in Minocqua actually offers us the kind of life we have dreamed of. Canoe camping, state and national forests, fishing, and a slower pace are all part of the natural landscape there. And there are three yarn shops within a half-hour drive. We have talked about moving, but there have been no real job opportunities for me, and to be honest, I’m afraid of the work involved in a move – our house still needs a lot or work to be considered saleable. So, we have set our minds to living in two homes for another year, possibly more. We feel lucky that we have two incomes, we feel lucky that we have two homes and that one of them offers us limitless play. We did it last year with the added torture of continuous family medical problems so we hope that this year will seem calmer in comparison. I can’t imagine that another year of strokes, heart attacks, colon cancer and septic infections are in our parent’s futures, so if we survived that – this year should be a breeze.

So if you see me, don’t ask if John has found a job because he found one a year ago and we are happy and content. And very poor. But we are also very blessed.

Having the Kids Away at Camp

2006-07-14T09:11:00.001-05:00

After a week at camp, today is the day that both girls come home to the nest. Is it normal to feel happy and sad at the same time?

It has been an incredible week – John and I spent half of our time in his apartment up north smelling the pine trees and slowly moving from room to room sipping coffee to slowly greet each day. We would then go to the library to check e-mail and after that we drove around and investigated canoeing sites.

It is beautiful up there, and canoeing is everywhere. We had planned to bring our canoe along, atop my new-to-me car and paddle around for the afternoon, but we couldn’t get it rigged atop my car without this dreadful buzzing sound of the straps vibrating against the car every time we hit 50 mph. We had to go home and dump the canoe. This left us sitting along the banks of the Sylvania Wilderness watching two large groups pack and pull out while we sniffled into our hankies and waved them off.

The second day up there we bought cross bars for my car so that this will never happen again.

After coming “home home” as we call our primary house now, we continued with the slow greeting to each day. It has been a beautiful week. Which leads me to thinking: what would be the best things about having the kids gone?

Top Ten Reasons You Should Send Your Children to Camp the Same Week

10. Waking up to birds chirping at any time of the morning instead of waking up at 6:30am to the sounds of your daughters’ fighting over where the clean socks are.

9. Being able to blast the radio on a station that I like without hearing, “Can I change the radio station? Why are we listening to THIS?” every five minutes.

8. Having a complete, uninterrupted thought.

7. The phone doesn’t ring. Ever!

6. We had thought that our TV only tuned to the Disney and Nickelodeon channels, but alas, we do have OTHER channels. And we watched them!

5. I can go to the bathroom without having to beg my 13 year-old to stop putting on make-up or hair straightening first.

4. No one has asked to have a friend sleep over; not even the cats. There has been no whining about this, in fact the only whine we have had went well with some cheese as we drank to our happy week!

3. I started a soda, and it will still be there later in the day when I want more. We haven’t had to plan secret invasion times to get food or drink before the kids inhale it.

2. At the grocery store, we could poke around and learn about new foods (morel mushrooms really stink!). At the check-out, the contents of our cart made us look like health food freaks – no Frosted Flakes, no pop-tarts, no Gogurt. We had REAL food!

1. To satisfy your dirty minds – YES! We have DONE IT in every room in the house – clean that is! And the house has STAYED clean!

We have missed our little cherubs immensely, but do you think that the camps would keep them for one more week? Neither did I.

Back to Normal

2006-07-05T21:17:00.001-05:00

Welcome back?

Is this what I’m supposed to say after such a long break?

Life finally seems to be settling into a summer groove here, now that we are all living under the same roof and summer school is over. John and I both taught summer school at our local district, and the last Friday was our last day. Can you say, “Let’s camp?”
That’s pretty much what we were saying, but John is on jury duty this month so he has to wait for the “all clear”. We worked outside to make the house look like someone cares about it again, and promptly went to camp near his winter home of Minocqua, WI. John wanted to attend the 4th of July parade, a pow-wow and the fireworks in the town where he teaches, Lac du Flambeau, WI. We ate so much fry bread and Indian tacos that I’m still a bit groggy from it all.

With the second camping trip under our belt (we went to Hudson, WI for our daughter’s soccer tournament a couple of weeks ago), we are busy planning our first canoe camping trip of the year. See what I mean by things are getting back to normal around here? John and I have had to learn again how to move around the house and do things together after spending the entire school year as single people. It was strange and very pleasant to wake up to coffee already going... and I have to admit that I’ve been WAY spoiled by him cooking supper almost every night.

Next week will bring a first for us. The first time we will be kidless in our 15 year marriage. Well... we were kidless for the first 18 months, but I can’t even remember that time. Both of our girls are going away to summer camp next week. Get this... they are going to different camps, but we managed to luck out and have them be the exact same week! At 1:00 Sunday we are free to fly the coop. What should we do?

Do you have any suggestions?

If it Wouldn't be for Bad Luck....

2006-06-08T21:04:00.000-05:00

Yeah.. you know what that means.

He didn't get the job.

We are back to checking the job postings every 20 minutes and again considering a move. This time I am looking for a job close to his and we would keep the apartment up north while also keeping our mortgage here until we could save enough money to fix up the house and make it saleable.

Oh. Yep. I'm knitting - but my heart isn't in it right now.

Yep... still here!

2006-06-01T22:38:00.000-05:00

After a two month blogging break, there should be so much to say that anyone reading this would need to curl up and build a fire to keep warm as the winter frost comes in. But, alas. This will be a short post.

The medical issues continue, but there is an end at site. DH comes home tomorrow, and we can celebrate our anniversary, which is today. He will be home for the summer, and hopefully forever. He has an interview in my school district on Monday. Speak to the powers that be and make a loud joyful noise in his honor. Help him get this job!

DH needs to come home to improve the general mood of the house. It is difficult to be a single mom, my hats are off to anyone who has to do this 24 – 7. SAH-LUTE! Me. Not so good at it. I tried, but there are only so many cups of coffee that one can drink to try and improve their mood. After 36 cups in a day my mood was sour – but I sure could run around the block! One of the nicest things that happened, knitting wise, was my daughter’s music concert. Confused? Yep – it was a bit of a surprise, and actually left me teary-eyed in the audience. After 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade bands each played three songs, the 7th grade choir stepped on stage. Their first song was a medley of pieces from Les Miserable. Then they sang a cute little song that left me weeping quietly. It’s called Gloves.. and each 7th grader brought in a pair of special gloves to wear while doing choreography. Yep.. my daughter picked the fingerless kool-aid gloves that I made for her sister. The swirl was visible from the audience, and I was stunned that my gloves were what she chose as special, even though they weren’t hers. “See,” I told myself, “knitting can even come up in a choir concert.”

A Moment to Savor

2006-04-25T19:56:00.000-05:00

What's a girl to do? The grass has been cut, two flower beds turned up for a second time, laundry is going, daily chores are done, kids are fed and sent off to swim - leaving me

what's this?

IN THE HOUSE ALONE FOR TWO HOURS?

Could it be?

Really?

What to do? What to do?

How about updating some computer things while working 182-stitch rows of lace on US3 needles? With. The. Pattern. MEMORIZED.

Yep... that'll do just fine!

A Blogging Break

2006-04-06T21:25:00.000-05:00

I have to take a blogging break for awhile. I guess that, if IÂm honest, I have ALREADY started a break. Things have been just too hectic for too long, and I find myself feeling guilty every time that I read someone elseÂs post and know that it has been ages since I have posted myself.

Both of my in-laws continue to have major health problems, an aortianeurysmim, colon cancer for my father-in-law, and a stroke and a heart attack for my mother-in-law have left them less than well. They moved into a nursing home on Monday and it is a terrible place. I have been in several nursing homes, and this one seriously made me cry.

And itÂs that time of year again. The time where we try to find a job for my husband close to home. We would like to be a family again, like the days when we actually all lived under the same roof and saw each other every day. This is just not working. I have applied for a job close to where he is working and living, but deep down I really donÂt want to move. It is too much work.

I have finally finished the Olympic gloves that I thought would only take 8 days. They took about 8 weeks. IÂm working on a frustrating pattern right now for my oldest daughter. It is a basketweave cable pattern purse and I rip almost as much as I knit. Not very relaxing.

IÂm going to take this break for awhile. Notice that ÂawhileÂ is not defined. I canÂt commit to anything! J

Gauge Bitch

2006-03-16T15:18:00.000-06:00

Ok.. let me “toot my own horn” for a moment here. At work, there are several people who have learned to knit because of my knitting. For three years now, I have taught the basic stitches, casting on, binding off, and preached about gauge. There are two co-workers who regularly come to me for help with their projects. They are newbies!

They are as different as kool-aid and vinegar. One will follow the pattern to the letter and stress about what might happen if there is one extra stitch in a row. The other throws caution to the wind and goes away from a pattern to make her own sleeve design (which was too tight) add turtle necks (which ended up as a mock because she ran out of yarn) and DOESN’T PAY ATTENTION TO GAUGE! She also never comes to me until she has a problem, and then doesn’t want to redo anything , but expects me to magically fix any problem with the wave of my magic knitting needle.

The first sweater that she made was for her daughter. It ended up so big that she can’t even fit into it herself. “Gauge,” I told her. “You were off from the very beginning, remember? That’s why the sweater is so big.”

She didn’t believe me and basically said, “Gauge, schmauge.”

Now she is making a beautiful sweater for her niece. She has completed the front and the back, and NOW is a little bit worried that it is too big. But she won’t do it over.

She showed it to me, and I’m so proud of her progress. Her ribbing is nice, and her stitches are more consistent. The neck edge is smoother and she has followed the directions. Except for gauge. She knew that I would scold her for not checking it. She told me that she had checked it herself, but who cares if there is one extra stitch per inch. No big deal, right?

Wrong. This little two-year old girl will be able to fit into this sweater until she is about 10. “That’s good wearing,” I told her. “You are really getting a bang for your buck!”

“But why does this always happen with my gauge? I don’t get why gauge is so important,” she said.
“Because one extra stitch per inch gives you a couple extra inches when you knit across a sweater,” I said calmly for the hundredth time.

For the first time, she asked me what she could do to fix the gauge when it is wrong, and I explained the confusing concept of using smaller needles to get more stitches. Admit it, it does seem to defy the laws of numbers. She nodded, said, “Ahh, I get it,” and I was satistifed with converting her to the world of “getting gauge”.

Then she asked me why her knitting was never on gauge to begin with. I told her that she must be a loose knitter. Her knitting must be looser than the person who made the pattern.

“That bitch!” was her reply.

Final Olympic Moments

2006-02-25T07:03:00.000-06:00

I can do this. Even through all of the challenges and difficulties that I have had to face. I CAN earn this gold medal. It will be mine.

Ok. I just need to regroup and organize. I have the first mitten knit up to the top decreases. I could have finished the thing, if I hadn’t left my knitting bag at work one night. But, I’m going to be positive. Make a plan. Yeah, that’s it.

Ok. So, with one mitten left and two days, this is possible. I have to finish the first mitten today and get the second one to the point where the hand is almost done again. Basically knit that one up to the hand decreases today, and then finish it tomorrow. Ok. The second mitten always goes more quickly because I have spent so much time planning and setting up the pattern. The second mitten becomes a nice and easy straight knit.

These mittens do look a wee bit small. I should probably have my daughter try them on. You know, I have to be honest. I didn’t think that I would still be sitting here with two days left, planning every minute to meet the deadline to earn the gold. I thought that my “challenge” was a bit lame. I mean come on! It would take one day to dye the wool, a few days for it to dry, and I can knit an adult mitten in two days… so two smaller mittens should take less time, right? The entire project should have been done in about 8 or 9 days, tops. Just over half of the time the Olympics are on. Why is it, then that I’m rushing to get this done? Well, the dying took three times longer because the colors wouldn’t get dark enough, and then creating the pattern whipped my butt! But, it’s ok. I’m going to make it.

Ok. Here’s my daughter. I’m going to have her try it on and see if the decreases are ok. YIPPEE! They are. What? What did you just say?

Oh, shit! She doesn’t WANT mittens. SHE WANTS URBAN GLOVES JUST LIKE THE ONES I MADE FOR MY HUSBAND. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

I guess I can kiss that medal goodbye. Gotta go rip out this mitten, rewind the wool, and start all over again.

Top 10 Reasons That I Will NOT Earn the Gold Medal

2006-02-22T14:29:00.000-06:00

10. Personal trauma. Mother-in-law ended up in the hospital the week before the games with a heart attack. The Sunday after opening ceremonies my DH was in the ER with his own chest pains. They did a heart cath on Monday which turned out good (he has to exercise more, but no blockage that needs to be treated right now).

9. Limited training time. Everytime I turned around, time was taken away from me to practice swatches, chart potential patterns, or read up on dying techniques.

8. Dying Dilemmas. Crap! The dying took twice as long as it was supposed to. Thanks to a blizzard, I finally got the yarn somewhat dark enough, but it still needed two more days to dry! Maybe I bit off a wee bit more than I could handle with this?

7. No knitting time.
Ok. Could my daughters, who I dearly love, please take a break from all of their sporting events so that I can knit? Why is it that they have to be involved in swim meets, basketball games, and basketball tournaments? I mean, what is really more important in life, that they build confidence and develop their skills as part of a team, learning how to work together and strive to better themselves, or I FINISH THIS GOD D#!M KNITTING? It seems pretty clear to me! They need to sit at home, quietly, while I work to get this virtual medal!

6. Crappy spectators.
Every time I try to knit, someone asks me what IÂm doing and I have to tell them the entire story of the Knitting Olympics. I need a sweatshirt, or a large hat, that says, ÂIÂm Competing in the Knitting Olympics. LEAVE ME ALONE!Â
Can someone come up with this, please?

5. The Frog pond.
After the wool dried and I wound it into little balls of cotton candy, I started knitting. The first ribbing (based upon the measurements from my swatch) was too loose. The swatch lied. I hate the swatch! Obviously, after it was knit and left to sit overnight, it got some grand idea to change measurementsnets so that when I measured it the next day it giggled away at its own cleverness. I ripped and started over on smaller needles. Then, after the ribbing, it has been rip, rip, rip, and rip again to get the pattern to fit into the space, because my entire pattern was developed based upon my SWATCH MEASUREMENTS!

I have thrown the swatch in the garbage. The sticky, gooey, smelly part of the garbage. Guess I got the last laugh there!

4. Equipment malfunctions.
It took me two days to find the US7 dpn, then I needed smaller. It took a lot of stomping, swearing, and sweating to find the US5 dpn. Of course they were right where I had left them, with my baby cap pattern. I hate it when I do that!

3. Bad tempers.
I have been so crabby lately that I canÂt even stand myself. I have learned that it is much harder to be a single mom, especially with the year of medical problems that we have had. To recap Â in August my father-in-law was hospitalized with a strange infection that was never truly diagnosed or treated successfully. In September he ended up back in the hospital because of the infection and my mother-in-law had a major stroke. Two parents in two different hospitals in two different cities. In October, my mother took her first trip away in three years and ended up in the hospital with a blood infection, bladder infection and a kidney stone. November Â my mother-in-law had a procedure done to clean the arteries in her neck, and I had minor surgery for my endometriosis. December, you ask? Well, that would have been my mother, back in the hospital, for five days. January gave us some time off so that we could get the double whammy in February Â my mother-in-lawÂs heart attack and DHÂs chest pain. It has been quite a school year!

2. Cookies.
Did I mention that I am the Âcookie momÂ for my youngest daughterÂs Girl Scout troop? Uh, huh! On Friday I get to sort out 2, 700 boxes of cookies for each of the 16 girls. Knit? When?

1 I feel the project has morphed into a living creature and is whipping my a##!

Can you hear it laughing at me, too?

Oh, and the uneven dye coloring? I'm telling myself that it adds character!

Blizzard Christine

2006-02-16T17:34:00.000-06:00

I'm just like a kid, getting up at 4:30 am to see if school was cancelled. There was no snow, really, only about 3 inches, which won't close schools here! I sat on the couch for a few hours and shortly before 6:00am it was announced. My district, and my girls' district were closed for the day.

I was a bit shocked. There wasn't much snow on the ground, and it was supposed to have started this morning. I quickly hopped in my car and drove to the gas station and got myself a day's worth of coffee (our coffee pot have been broken for awhile). Then, after breakfast, we needed to run into town (about 10 miles away) to go to the bank. The trip there was ok, but I knew that the storm was barrelling in on my heels, and sure enough, 45 minutes later the road home was nearly invisible. But we made it. I must have been nuts!

Then it was knitting time. So far, my olympic debut has been pretty pathetic. I botched up the first batch of dye, then bought some more, only for that to turn out too pale. So I bought more kool-aid and finally, today, I have yarn! It still isn't exactly the colors I had hoped for, but it is close enough! I started playing with stitch patterns, and would like to do a mosaic pattern, but I can't find any free online resources. Know any?

Because I'm at home alone with the girls, I am the "do it all" person. Which means I get to run the snowblower. The snowblower and I got off to a rocky start a few months ago when she backfired on me at 6:00 in the morning, shooting flames nearly 10 inches out of the engine. I was afraid of her today. I had to call DH and ask him how to start the stupid thing again, and I nearly cried as I slowly upped the choke and engine speed. After that, I forced her into submission and she did a fine job for me. An hour later the driveway was finally cleared out so that I could return the videos I had rented for the storm (they were due back today at 5:00pm.... my fourth time out in the car - I forgot to mention my quick trip to the store to buy toilet paper because we were out). The roads were awful, and I was just about the only fool out there. Well I found out why everyone was home. The only store in my village, the store that I needed to get to in order to return my videos without a late fee was CLOSED. Figures!

Well.... back to knitting. And I can watch the movies again!

I Know How You Feel, Michelle!

2006-02-12T10:07:00.000-06:00

My practice runs have not been so hot. Luckily, there was no media there to record my demise, unlike my Olympic teammate, Michelle Kwan.

With the Olympic theme music playing, I entered the arena (my kitchen) and began my first steps of kool-aid dyeing with trepidation. I wavered. Should I go with the full immersion dye method, the painting method, or the “just sprinkle it on” method that a friend from spinning guild told me about? I floundered several times, and then decided that the colors would be darker if I sprinkled. I hear all of you moaning and gasping, “No, don’t do it! It will ruin your chances for the gold!” Why didn’t I listen?

Then, to cover up my mistake for the judges, I decided to overdye with the immersion method. I was going for two shades of blue, one dark and one light. I put the mix in the water, and for a dark blue color it looked very light. Then the fatal mistake. I decided to add a packet of “tropical punch” to darken the color. The package was blue, so obviously the mix must also be, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS???? RED???? Now my dye vat was mud colored. CRAP! I had to dump it out and rethink my entire strategy.

I decided to dye the lighter shade of blue with immersion. I got the water ready, added the mix, and OH MY GOD! THIS LIGHT PACKAGE IS ACTUALLY A DARK BLUE. I have now learned this important lesson:

Marketing is a bunch of crap!

The dye was dark, but the yarn, after soaking for over an hour and being coerced with vinegar, didn’t get as dark. I squeezed out all of the water and set the wool to dry, exhausted. Today, I will step into the competition ring and try yet again.

Hang in there Michelle, we can do it!

Go Valders!

2006-01-30T22:00:00.000-06:00

Bleacher butt has never felt so good!

If you had told me 10 years ago that I would not only spend 6 - 8 hours a week squishing into jam-packed bleachers to watch bastketball, but would enjoy it and actually ask to watch kids games that I wouldn't have to- I would have smacked you with my knitting needles. Basketball? I didn't care about basketball! Well this mother of two players and friend of a mother of two players has changed her tune.

When my oldest daughter started playing 3 on 3 a few years ago, I liked it because it meant a day of knitting while sitting outside with a cup of coffee. This was a sport? Ha! I only had to put down my needles three or four times during the day for about 25 minutes at a time to watch the girls run around with this orange thing, trying to toss it up in the air so that it would go down into the net thing. Then I clapped. Ok. Game over? Time for more knitting.

My husband was smart. He introduced me to the sport the right way. "Of course you can bring your knitting," he told me. "I don't mind." And he didn't.

From the outdoor 3 on 3, I progressed to the 5 player school team. Indoors. My husband told me that I could still bring my knitting, and I did. But I didn't have a lot of time for knitting. I talked with friends before the game and during halftime. When the game was over, we left. No cup of coffee in my camping folding chair. Only hard bleachers, cramped knees, and a numb butt. But I liked it. Of course it helped that my daughter's team was pretty darned good (and that's not just a proud mamma talking). This year, they have won all of their games and have a record of 8-0 with most of their games being won by over 20 points.

My daughter's good friend, Sally, who plays on the same team has a brother on the high school varsity team. They are pretty darned good, too. Don't believe me? Check it out! They are ranked 5th in the state right now for Division 3, and we have been to most of their games. They also win most of their games by more than 20 points. We even went to the games before they were ranked in the state. Before the bleachers were so cramped. Now, the whole village shows up. Honest. When you click on the team page you will see that the high scorer is R. Linzmeier. He is the brother of my oldest daughter's friend. Boy, can he play!

Now my youngest daughter is playing, too. This means that I spend 2 hours a week watching my oldest daughter play on her 7th grade team, 2 more hours watching the 8th grade girl's team, 2 hours watching the boy's varsity team, and 1 hour watching my youngest daughter at practice.

That's seven hours of time that I used to knit. No wonder these pair of socks are going so slowly. But it's worth it!

Go Valders.... Go Varsity Boys, 7th grade girls, and 4th grade girls!
I put down my needles in awe.

I Give, I Give

2006-01-18T14:20:00.000-06:00

At the start of the school year, we were faced with the challenge of being a family while living 3 hours apart during the week. No problem, I thought to myself. I'm a strong German-Russian woman (German-Russian women are known for their fiestiness, I think it's a proven fact. If you don't believe me, I'll get cranky and verbally beat you into submission) I can handle this challenge. I grew up in a single parent home, and if my mother could do it, I surely could.

I give. It's hard. It's January and the house has been cleaned twice since September (and neither of these cleanings was around a holiday), the laundry is only barely caught up, and I awake every morning to look foggy-brained at my list of things to do. Things to do AFTER WORK, of course. I plop my body into bed at midnight and fight for six hours of sleep only to do it again.

I GIVE!

My hat's off to you women who live this life for years and years. I don't have the energy to get through the week, and I'm counting the days until summer vacation when there are two adults in the house again. Maybe I can take a nap!

So, with all that has been going on, the blog has sat in the corner waiting for my attention. I'm doing my best!

Most days I sit and think about the things that I hate most. This

My husband leaving on Sunday afternoons to go back to work for the week.

And this:

It looks like our cat doesn't like it much, either.

Knitting News

I'm working on the first pair of socks that I have ever made for myself. Oh, joy! I love them!

I have figured out what I'm going to make for the 2006 Knitting Olympics
I'm going to kool-aid dye some wool, design and knit a pair of mittens for my daughter. And now guilt is also overcoming me and I'm thinking of adding a pair of mittens and a hat for Max, who grows bigger everyday without the handmade knitting that he deserves!

Happy New Year!

2006-01-02T12:05:00.000-06:00

A new year. I’m filled with anticipation and hope that this year will bring the things that have been so elusive in past years. Things like good health for me and all of my family, a job for my husband that will keep him closer to home, and time. Lots of time. Time for quiet and reflection, and quietly reflecting upon quiet reflection.

Even with the undeniable time restraint of 31,536,000 seconds (or if it’s easier to deal with - 525,600 minutes) that 2006 will consist of, I’m hoping to defy time and create some extra moments here and there. Moments to take a bath, or listen to Prairie Home Companion without interruption, or to spin, or to just sit and watch the clouds on a summer afternoon. I’m determined to find an extra second or two each day to just enjoy life.

So, naturally, today being the first day of this new year, I started right away, by doing what? By doing nothing for the entire morning. Nothing but sitting and surfing the Internet for podcasts (which I have immediately become addicted to – do you know how cool these things are? I can put NPR podcasts on my daughters i-Pod and listen to them whenever I want – AND there are about a billion and a half different podcasts out there to choose from. FREE!). I listened to Prairie Home Companion online (which, of course, was interrupted by both of my children for drastically important questions like, “Can I go outside?” and “Can I finish the crumbs of potato chips left in the bag?” and “Should I let the dog in? She’s scratching at the door.” The good thing about listening to a program on the Internet is that I can rewind it! But that is like having to reread the same line in a book when you are interrupted.) When my head finally cleared from the frenzy of podcasts and Prairie Home Companion, I searched for Mediterranean Cruise rates (always good to start planning ahead. In this case it’s probably 18 years ahead!), and I began planning my blog entry. I went back and skimmed through my 2005 blog year to and began to take note of all of my finished projects. I had forgotten about a few of them! Here is my knitting review for 2005. I made:

A felted cap for DH
Latvian mittens for me!
A pair of socks for my mom.
A baby sweater for a friend
Three helmet caps (two for my daughters and one for my niece)
One complete baby sweater set (a sweater, jumper, bonnet, mittens and booties) for my cousin in Germany
One sweater, a baby cap and booties for my friend in New Zealand
A Harry Potter scarf for my niece
A pair of mitten-gloves for my husband

Notice that there is only one item that I knit for myself? Yeah, I noticed that too. During those spare moments that I’m planning to create in 2006, I’ll have to knit some more things for myself – like a pair of socks! I’ve always wanted a pair, but have given away every single finished pair to others. No more!

Here is the final FO for 2005

Gloves

Start date: 12/26/05
Finish date: 12/30/05
Material: Lion’s brand Wool-Ease in Chestnut Heather (179) and Natural Heather (098) 1 skein of each
Pattern: Urban Necessity from MagKnits with embellishments to make them “folksy” for my DH.

You will notice the strand of yarn in one of the pictures. That was how much I had left of the Chestnut. It came awfully close – 37 inches (Yes, John. I actually measured the thing!) Knitters will understand my frenzy as the skein came to an end. I thought that if I knit more quickly, I could fool the yarn into lasting longer and I would be able to finish the project. It worked!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday break, and enjoy every moment that you create for yourself this year!

Make up Knitting

2005-12-19T21:18:00.000-06:00

I’m down to the wire with Christmas knitting. In order for my nieces to get their presents in time, I think that I should have posted them last week. It is amazing to me that a friend of mine can send mail to France and it arrives in 3 days while the mail I send to my brother’s family in northern Wisconsin takes more than a week to get there. Even in summer. Strange.

I also have to ship out my baby knitting. I have finished my knitting for the New Zealand baby that is due January 3rd. Along with the sweater, I made a quick baby cap and I used this book to make a pair of cute newborn sized booties. They are precious. I wish that I would have known about this pattern three years ago. My good friend at school suffered from my naïve knowledge of baby knitting. I gave her some cute baby fruit caps, but since then, I have used better materials, cuter color choices, eliminated the “fruitiness” of the cap for a more caplike look, and added other baby items to my gift to expectant mothers. My friend noticed that she was jipped. Now I owe her little guy, who is a three year old guy in need of cool “big boy” mittens and a cap. I owe him a make-up knit.

This got me to thinking. Who else has suffered because I learned later how to do something better? My children definitely have. As I was digging through the secondary yarn stash located on the floor of my closet, where each yarn can still be found in its purchase bag complete with receipt waiting to be incorporated into the highly organized yarn stash in another room, I came across a pair of socks that I had knit. One of the first pair of socks, to be exact. After I finally learned how to turn the heel and pick up gusset stitches without leaving a gaping hole in my knitting a few years ago, I was excited. Why wait for sock yarn when I had plenty of yarn in my stash. Heavier yarn would only mean heavier socks, right? This would keep my kids feet especially warm in our brutal winters. I enthusiastically cast on with this stuff (acrylic. I’m sorry) and gleefully worked to provide necessary warmth to the feet of my children as winter approached. Now, three years later, these socks sit on the floor of my closet, under bags of unused yarn, between my unused roller blades and acoustic guitar which are also collecting dust. These socks were worn once.

I was digging through my stash trying to think of what I can make until I get the yarn for DH’s capped gloves. Tomorrow night is my daughter’s school concert, and I will need something to work on while listening. Maybe I should finish a scarf my daughter started last year and could use right now? Maybe a real pair of socks for the girls.

Then there is Max. And Christmas is coming.

Oh, no. Another unrealistic deadline for a last minute gift?

Gotta go!

Try to relax and enjoy the crisis. - Ashleigh Brilliant

2005-12-07T15:26:00.000-06:00

Just when you think things can’t possibly get worse, they do. But enough of the personal drama that seems to have overtaken my life lately. I will not, will not, be overtaken by thoughts of impaling myself with sharp objects. After all, there is nothing in my house that I can use to accomplish this anyway, I haven’t been grocery shopping in so long, and I refuse to use a knitting needle in such an inappropriate way.

I will just have to relax and enjoy the crisis. After all, it is only 19 days until I need to have presents bought and wrapped and shipped, cookies baked, meals prepared, a tree set up and decorated, and a sweater knit. Piece of cake! So what that both of my in-laws are unhealthy, so what if my mother is unhealthy and needs me to do her grocery shopping, so what that my husband is on major pain-killers as he passes another kidney stone and will have to have surgery for the gall bladder stones they found. These things don’t matter now that the furnace is working again, we have two less animals to worry about feeding (the fiddler crab and the parakeet have died), I have recovered from my own surgery, and all of my baking supplies have been eaten by the dog.

If I begin to feel stressed out, I will pour myself another glass of cherry

and dream of being here…

That oughta help.

Happy Birthday, Baby!

2005-11-28T20:33:00.000-06:00

She's 13 today. It's not possible! I cannot believe that the little girl with the permanently dirty face, the little girl who spoke her ~~first word~~ first phrase of, "What's that?" at the age of 9 months and hasn't stopped talking since has become a teenager. I have fought this day off for years, begging her to not drink her milk so that she wouldn't grow up (of course this made her drink it, which was really the point), and refusing to let her call herself a "preteen".

Here are 13 things that make my daughter special:

13. She can cook by herself. She makes scrambled eggs, french toast, Ramen noodles, and almost anything that comes in a box. Last night she made her own birthday treats (chocolate rice krispie bars), what a treat for me!

12. She still loves to go camping. Really roughing it. Anyone who will fight with her sister to be the one who gets to go to the bathroom first so that they can dig the "bathroom hole" in the sand is a special person. Canoe camp wouldn't be the same without her.

11. She fishes in the dark. The light up bobber is too clunky for her taste, thank you very much. She will fish in the dark by feel, and claim that she can see everything by the light of the moon. She baits her own hook, and takes off her own fish, sometimes.

10. She is a smart consumer. Since our in-home test of the reliability of advertisements, she no longer "needs" to have brand named anything. I bought a named brand cereal and a generic, put them in plain containers and we had a taste test. Even though the named brand was a little bit better, the generic was still good!

9. This girl can save money! She knows what she wants, and puts her money together. I'm loving her iPod Nano myself! Rock on!

8. She is a friend to everyone. At school, she has never joined the "popular" group because she doesn't want someone else to think that she doesn't like them. She also doesn't want to have to act a certain way to stay popular. She is her own person.

7. This girl can play sports! Trust me, when she was little we thought her talents would lead to acting, dancing, and cheerleading. This would have been great. She went to many camps for dancing and cheerleading, and had a small part in a play, but sports? We thought that she would trip over her own feet. Now, this 13 year-old plays basketball, soccer, and joined swim team" just to stay in shape?" She's strong in every sport, too. Goodbye, dancing!

6. She eats Chinese food like a pro. She likes all of the same foods that I do, so going out for lunch is a breeze. Dim sum, potstickers, noodles of any kind and egg rolls. Bring them on!

5. This girl is a writer. She knows how to write something that people want to read. All of her teachers since second grade have told her this. She wants to go to college and become a novelist. As long as she buys me lots of yarn and insists that I knit while on the vacation in New Zealand, or a cruise, or on the beach that she has paid for - well, I don't care where I go!

4. She is a good sister. Even though they fight sometimes, I know that my two girls are close and will always be the best of friends, and the worst of enemies. True sisters!

3. If you need someone to draw or paint something really wonderful, this is the girl! She inherited her love of art from her father, and even though I can't understand how she does this so well, I appreciate the final product. She has been to the museums of art in London and Chicago, and spends hours upon hours just looking at the works there. Hours and hours, and we had to force her to move on. She would have loved nothing better than to take her sketch pad into the museum in London and spend the day sketching. Wow.

2. She is my chick-flick buddy. Six hour sappy movie marathon? We are on the couch in our pajamas with tissues at the ready. And for a snack we both want the same thing.

1. She is a family girl. She loves her family from the bottom of her soul, and will defend them to the bitter end. I'm so glad for each of the 4,626 days she has graced us with her life.

Happy Birthday, my TEENAGER!

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-23T11:31:00.000-06:00

I've been away. Things continue to be busy, but I will have to give an update this weekend.

I'm having surgery this afternoon for my endometriosis, and I plan to spend the long weekend recovering at home with knitting, chick flicks, and plenty of coffee!

Hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful!

My Life

2005-11-12T19:44:00.000-06:00

My life, these last two months, has become like a novel you would read where bad things happen so much that you finally are forced to put the book down shouting, “I get it already. This person has it BAD!”
The only difference is that the book is something that you know is fiction. My life is real. No one would believe that these things have actually happened, it really does sound like I made it up.
In the beginning of September, DH was hired at a school district 3 ½ hours away. We helped him move in, and Sept. 11th was our last “normal”, ”happy” day. I should have been warned, just from that date!
My FIL ended up back in the hospital for antibiotic treatments, and the next weekend my MIL had a major stroke. Each was in the hospital, but in different cities – an hour apart. They both deteriorated every day, and we thought it was the end, but on the same day, without talking to one another, they both improved. FIL was sent home with a special line so that he could go to the hospital every day for antibiotic IV treatments as an outpatient. MIL was released home with her now almost non-existent short term memory.
For weeks, six to be exact, I have driven to their home two to three times every week. They live 30 minutes away. I will help them clean, go grocery shopping, do laundry, whatever would make them happy. On the weekends when my DH comes home to see us, he would have to drive the same 30 minutes one-way to take his father to the hospital for the treatments. After six weeks of treatment, my FIL was no better, and now faces surgery this week for his aortic anuerysm. Because of his emphysema, the doctors have warned him that he may not survive the surgery.
This weekend would have been the first “normal” weekend in months. My mother, who has been sick for two and a half years, went with a friend to visit the friend’s aunt for the week. She has ended up in the hospital with a kidney stone, bladder and kidney infection that spread to the blood, and a low white blood cell count. This was the kicker. I have dipped into the sherry each night, and I have to admit to smoking a couple of cigs even with my asthma in bad form. Hey, I’m human, lay off!
Mom should be discharged from the hospital in Rock Island, Illinois today and come home tomorrow with her friend. I debated a thousand times about going there, and I will spare you the guilt ridden conversations that I have had with her friend, and I will also spare you the saga of my poor relationship with my mother.
Anyway, my sanity has been retained through most of this by finishing one of the baby gifts. Just take a look at how fantastic the Dale of Norway Fanasaeter pattern is.

Bestill my heart.... I can see the little German/Indonesian baby filling this up. Apparently others could also see the imaginary baby while I worked on the romper, as several staff at the hospital where my MIL had her procedure came up to ask me, ‘What are you doing to that baby?” only to realize that there was no baby there.
Some more photos and project facts:
Pattern: Dale of Norway FanasaeterYarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull in creamGauge: An incredible amount of stitches on sizes 0 and 2 US needles. Start Date: Somewhere between my FIL’s first hospitalization and his second. Let’s see – that would be about Sept. 1rst.Finish Date: November 1, 2005 at 11:45 pm.
Now I’ve started the same pattern in lavendar for size 6 months for my friend who cannot be named in case she visits. Darn, she is probably my only pregnant friend right now, so she will figure it out. Don’t look, Sharon!

Mine, all Mine!

2005-10-31T17:03:00.000-06:00

Well… here it is.

My very own spinning wheel, complete with a long dramatic, soap-opera like story. My oldest daughter told me that this wheel is perfect for me, and she’s right. Here’s why:

First, it’s from New Zealand. It’s an Ashford Traveller, and because I spent a year in New Zealand, anything from there is top notch in my book.

Next, it needed a bit of TLC. It belonged to a woman who was a spinner and a weaver, but she had been sick for quite awhile, and the wheel was pretty dirty. It looked black when I first brought it home. To be honest, I was a little disappointed when I first saw it because I had pictured the light colored modern style wheel in my mind. This black thing was a pretty far cry from my dream. But after some lemon oil and some elbow grease, the wheel showed off for me. It had some beautiful wood grain, that would never have been as beautiful in a lighter stain shade. The little bit of TLC that I needed to give made me feel like it was my own right away.

Also, I fixed it. Well, I had to break it before I could fix it. I guess the wheel was testing my devotion early on by being committed to breaking. The leather strap that connects the treadle to the arm (yes, it’s that old that it has a leather part– and yes, I’m that dense when it comes to spinning wheel terminology) broke after I brought it home. To make a long story short, I made a new friend in a leather crafter from Neenah, WI and now I have a lifetime amount of leather – at no cost! She sure was a doll! I took the leather, and having absolutely no clue about what I was doing, went about fixing it. Amazingly, it works! You can see my new piece of leather in one of the photos. Go on, check it out! I also decided to replace the jumbo fly wheel with the standard fly wheel, and had to shorten up the drive band, but the was a no-brainer compared to the leather piece I had to cut, punch holes in, and fit into place so that the screws lined up with the holes.

And, look at the fancy detail on the treadle. I’m in love!

Lastly, this wheel is different, it has a story, and it is a bit old. My daughter pointed out that I appreciate all of these things, and she would never have expected me to, “go with what was currently popular” anyway. She was right.

I guess I’ll have to knit her something from this.

Then again, maybe not!

Who's laughing now.. Alicia!

Double Digits

2005-10-21T15:54:00.000-05:00

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY ANNA!

This is an extra special birthday for Anna, because, as she says, "I'm into the double digits now!"

Every parent knows how special their child is, and Anna has truly blessed our lives. While she will always be my baby, she is growing up so fast!

In this picture, she is modeling the Harry Potter scarf that I made for my niece for Christmas. Below is another shot of Anna modeling the scarf (you will notice the lack of fringing - to be done later). You will also notice my new spinning wheel in the background. More on that another day.

Here are ten things that we love about Anna:

10. She fights you for the last black olive in the jar. Because she loves black olives so much, anyone serving black olives at a meal she is attending has to plan on buying an extra can so that they will last at least 3 minutes longer!

9. Her laughter comes from her toes. She laughs hard, and brings everyone around her into her laughter. It is one of those true, deep down, "I am honestly tickled" kinds of laughs.

8. She has my sense of direction. You can put her anywhere in the state of Wisconsin, and she can find her way home. She is like me with this, and can find any place after she has been there once. This really irritates my husband and my other daughter who often get lost in our own back yard.

7. Anna is a great swimmer. She has improved from being one of the last swimmers to finish every race to becoming one of the first swimmers to finish every race. She improved this much in a year. She is dedicated, and wants to do her best.

6. She can bait her own fishing hook. Worms are her friends. Need I say more?

5. Anna can cross her eyes and make each eye go in the opposite direction. She was blessed with this gift since birth, and I would often show her off as a circus act when she did this as a baby, most often while drinking her bottle. I have never quite gotten used to it, and I'm never sure if it is creepy, or funny.

4. If you are planning a shopping day, take Anna. She will walk and look and look, and knows how to find a bargain. Anna also likes coffee. This comes in handy when you are shopping with her. A coffee break is a treat for her, too! Starbucks is our hangout while my older daughter is at soccer practice. She drinks her coffee with plenty of cream and sugar. And lets it cool awhile before sipping.

3. From the time she was 6 months old, Anna new what she liked in a motorcycle. Harley Davidson has always been IT. If a motorcycle would pull up to next to our van, she would lean over in her carseat and check it out. If it was a Harley, we would hear, "Ohhhhhhs" coming from her, but if it was another brand of motorcycle, she would look away. The funny part is, no one in our family has a motorcycle of any kind. She is our only Harley Girl.

2. Anna is a traveler. Like me, she is happiest when we have driven no less than 15 hours with no more than two bathroom breaks. She will sit and stare out the window, be soothed by the rhythm of the road, and think. She even thinks about thinking. On a recent trip to my brother's house, she asked how long it would take to get there. "Six hours," I told her.
"Oh, that's not very long," was her reply. And she meant it.

1. No one gives a hug like Anna. You can still feel her hug two hours later.

Happy Double Digit Birthday Honey! I can't wait to celebrate your Triple Digit Birthday!

Needs and Wants - And Will Do!

2005-10-10T12:32:00.000-05:00

Following Iris’ lead, I googled to find out what I need. Here’s my list:

Kristyn needs the help of Riley.
Kristyn needs a stalker.
Kristyn needs the club affiliation motions on the agenda.
Kristyn needs a domain fund.
Kristyn needs the authority.
Kristyn needs someone like me!
Kristyn needs more music up on the site.

Finding out what I need left me wanting to know the answers to the following questions:

Who the hell is Riley and when will he start helping me?

Will Riley clean out my closets so that I can have more knitting time, or will that become the job of my new stalker?

Can all club members leave a donation to my new fund? Is everyone who reads my site a “club member” (wink, wink)?

And, who exactly is that “someone like me” person? Should my husband be worried now that he lives 3 ½ hours away during the week? Maybe I shouldn’t tell him so that he won’t worry.

Anyway… tonight we are off on another road trip. What will I do? Spend 24 hours here with all expenses paid:

Kalahari Resort

I knew that you would be jealous.

Knitting is packed – after school, we hit the road! I meet up with DH on the highway and we get an extra day as a family. Well, us girls swim while DH sits in a conference. Shucks for him, huh?

I's Kin Kount

2005-10-07T20:38:00.000-05:00

When I'm afraid that I can't do something, I let it sit. This would explain the boxes and boxes of family pictures waiting for me to get over my fear of scrap-booking. And it would explain the alpaca shawl that is still sitting on needles, after working on it for two years. I sure could use those needles.

Anyway, I cast on the ribbing to the romper pattern I'm making to go with the baby items I've knit. Cast on 44 stitches. Work in K1 P1 rib for 3 1/8" (like that extra 1/8" is noticeable???? Who writes this stuff? Will a newborn baby refuse to wear the romper if the ribbing is only 3" long?). Increase 42 stitches evenly in next row. This was easy sailing. Not a problem. Work round and round and round and round on dpns. Normally ribbing is pretty boring, but I worked this quickly, afraid of the next step.

You see I would have to count. Count to 3 and count to 4 at the same time. After the ribbing was done, I set the romper down for a few days and it taunted me. I knew the deadline for these babies was coming faster and faster with each day, so finally I tempted fate. I started my two rows of stst. Then I worked the pattern row as I had done for the sweater, the bonnet, the sleeves, and the booties. Ok. I could do it. Maybe. On to the dreaded next row which would start the double counting frenzy, I told myself that row 1 was also row 4. Increase. No big deal, but now the next row was row 2 and row 1. Then I worked row 3 which was a pattern row and was also row 2. Next came row 1 - 3. and then 2 - 4 which was an increase. Every time I put it down, I made sure it was either on a row 3 (pattern) or row 4 (increase) to help me figure out exactly where I was.

By the time I had worked 5" I could work the first counting by glance and only had to count rows for the increases. Well, I only had to count increase rows out loud, pattern rows emerged in my head.

Now I've started the second leg, and I'm able to count both sets without my mind going numb anymore. I's Kin Kount!

Dreaming

2005-09-28T11:45:00.000-05:00

I'm dreaming of this:

A friend of mine from the spinning guild owns a woolen mill, and she called me the other day to tell me that she had heard of a good deal. The wheel is an Ashford, which is what I want for purely sentimental reasons. It will take me back to my year in New Zealand every time I use it. Carol went to the estate sale and picked it up for me (turned out it was in good condition).

The price was fantastic! Now, I'm just waiting to set up a day where I'm not busy running to soccer practice and/or games in Appleton, volleyball games all over the area, or grocery shopping for my in-laws so that I can go and get it.

An update on the in-laws: Mother-in-law FINALLY stabilized this past Sunday and was discharged home. She is not doing well at home, though. She is very confused and has to be told to do everything - including being told to go to the bathroom.

Father-in-law is at home with IV antibiotic treatments. In four to six weeks we will find out if he will need to have surgery or not. He has a 50/50 chance of not having surgery, or having surgery. Doesn't really matter which way you say it in this case! With his emphysema, they are trying to avoid any anesthetic and surgery.

It's a crazy world lately, but I'm still finding time to knit - like at 11:30pm or 6:00 am. EEE GADS!

Sanity

2005-09-25T12:40:00.000-05:00

This has kept me sane during the past week. It's a Dale of Norway pattern for my cousin in Germany who is expecting his first child in February. Actually, his wife is expecting the baby, but you know what I mean.

This is the bonnet. The pattern has a "bonnet" for a girl and a "cap" for a boy. The bonnet was too darn cute, that I had to make it. Besides, would it really look bad on a boy? I don't think so. The pattern photo in the book shows the baby with the bonnet... you can make out some of it here with the sweater pieces layed out to show my progress.

Well.... last Friday (the 16th of Sept.) DH came home from his job up north. His father had been readmitted to the hospital for another round of antibiotic treatments, and they found inflammation around his heart. His mother can't stay home alone, so to keep us together and make sure his mother was taken care of... all four of us packed up to spend the weekend at her place. When we got there... John's mother was showing signs of mini strokes. And at the same time John's kidney stone decided it was going to make it's final painful move. We took both of them to the ER (of the hospital where his father was), but John's pain went away. His mother was admitted and on Saturday (the 17th) she was transferred to a hospital in Milwaukee. On Sunday she had a major stroke. And his father was still in the hospital in Sheboygan. John didn't return to work, and on Monday, things got worse with both parents. It was like they told each other telepathically that they would go together. Each day brought waiting, tests, and few answers about what the future held. John stayed in a hotel in Milwaukee from Monday to Thursday, with only the clothes he had brought home for the weekend. Friday, his father was released from the hospital after the antibiotics had provided NO improvement. They started him on a different antibiotic and he is at home with the IV treatment. He goes in each day to get a new bag. John's mother FINALLY showed some improvement yesterday, and should finally be moved out of ICU in Milwaukee. It has been exhausting. Then, on the day that John and I could spend the day together (both of our girls were invited to sleep-over birthday parties), I got the flu. Throwing up flu. Haven't had it in years, and like John says, you can count on one hand the number of times I've thrown up in the past 15 years. Well yesterday was one of those days.

Today? Well, the oldest daughter has a soccer game in Appleton if the thunder storms go away, and John will head back to our "cabin up north" for the week.

I've finished the sweater, sleeves, and bonnet of the sweater, and I will block it all this afternoon. Then on to the booties....... SANITY!

Give me a Sign

2005-09-15T18:56:00.000-05:00

We begged for one during the past year and a half as we completed more than 115 application packets. Which job would he get? Would he get any?

Before an interview, John would sit in his car and ask for a "sign" if this would be the job. Turned out that the sign he wanted was a song. "Play How Far is Heaven if I'm going to get this job," he'd say to the powers that be. Let me see a Buick Rendevous (the car that he would like to buy). Most of the time he was answered by silence. Nothing

At interview number 12, he didn't bother to even ask for a sign. It wouldn't work out, none of the first 11 had, so why should this be any different. Just as he went to turn off the van to go into the building, guess what came on the radio. Yep. Freaked him out. He hadn't heard that song in months. Very strange. Probably a sign, but quite possibly a coincidence.

After the interview (which was the only interview that all four of us went to), we went out to eat. The next day we went home and waited. We waited for over a week without a phone call, and finally John called to see what was going on. The school was letting the school board decide who would get the position in a few days. Two days after that we figured that John wouldn't get the job. We sadly moved through the weekend and Monday I headed back to school. John got ready to work as a sub again, until the phone rang later in the morning and he was offered the job.

He went up there a few days later, spent several days in the Comfort Inn, and found a nice apartment after Labor Day. The next weekend we went up to buy the furnishings for his new apartment. The signs were everywhere. They had actually started before he got the job. John bought a teacher planner to help him with working as a substitute. Turned out that the planner had exactly the right number of class periods that he would be teaching in his new job. He grabbed a book to read from the library that was interesting. The author turned out to be from northern Wisconsin, and her books are based there. Those books appeared in the tourist shops in town. But now that he was settled up in Minocqua, the "powers that be" have kinda been driving him nuts.

Turns out that there is an older German motherly type in his apartment building (John's parents moved here from Germany in 1950) who likes to check in on him from time to time. One of the teachers at his school is a huge St. Louis Ram's fan - she has decorations all over her room. John has been a fan of the Rams since he was 11. But the strangest "signs" came while the girls and I were up there for the weekend.

The first night, I wanted to do some cleaning in the apartment - or the "cabin" as we are calling it. We went to the local grocery store, and at the checkout a girl with a German accent rung everything up. We noticed her name. It was the same as our youngest daughter. Shocking, right? Well hold your hats because the bagger's name was the same as our oldest daughter. FREAKED US OUT! Our girl's names are not that common - Anna and Alicia.

We went out for dinner after working hard furnishing the cabin all day. The restaurant played John's favorite music (The Doobie Brothers) the entire time we were there. Over and over. An entire CD, not a song from the radio. We were shocked. John sat still through it all. Turns out that this has been happening to him every time he turns around. He's gotten his sign. Rendevous are parked at every corner, I heard How Far is Heaven as we talked on the phone minutes before he left for his first day of school. That song has been played almost daily.

The powers that be can take a break.

John is working, he is happy, and we miss him at home. But we know that this was the right decision. We've gotten that message LOUD and CLEAR.

Oh... and the sign that told John the cabin was truly going to be a "home" for him?

He told me, "It won't feel like home until you are sitting in the living room knitting." Well, I aim to please. Now it's a true home!

A Job

2005-09-04T09:23:00.000-05:00

My husband.... is the new guidance counselor at Lac du Flambeau Elementary School!

He was offered the job exactly 626 days and 15 minutes after graduating with his Master's Degree. He started on Wednesday, and has loved every minute.

Finally.... the search for a job is over. For now. Turns out that Lac du Flambeau is a three hour drive from our house, so he lives up there during the week and either he comes home on the weekend, or we go up there, once he has found an apartment.

On the knitting news.... the Harry Potter scarf is done, and the first baby sweater is almost done.

I wanted to post pictures now that I'm back at school, but these first weeks back have been a little crazy. Hopefully things will settle down now.

625 plus 15

2005-08-29T21:59:00.000-05:00

Very short post......

Finish this math problem by posting to the comments.....

625 + 15 = ??

Hint: The answer is NOT 640 and it is NOT knitting related.

The answer is coming soon to a blog near you :)

Last Day of Summer

2005-08-19T10:25:00.000-05:00

Well, this is it. The last work day where I can sleep in and not freak out that I will be late for work. The last day where my biggest concern centers around when I will get dressed. My last morning of drinking coffee on the couch for 2 hours while watching news and the weather channel. Summer is over. Crap!

Surprisingly, I’m ready to get back to school. My children are driving me crazy. My husband and I cannot say three words to each other without one of them asking us what we just said. “We weren’t talking to you,” only makes them get angry and ask us to repeat ourselves again. “None of your business,” also irritates them. Now, we just ignore them. That doesn’t work, either.

Yesterday, after 8 hours of back-to-school shopping in Appleton, the girls still had the nerve to whine, complain and fight with one another after we spent hundreds of dollars for the “correct” brand name items so that they can be seen in public and actually attend school. After shopping, we stopped at Goodwill to look for desks and furniture that we could spruce up for our future coffee shop room. While we were there the tornado sirens went off and we were shuffled into an interior room to wait out the storm. You could hear the rain through the roof and we knew that things weren’t good, but we never dreamed of the damage that happened in another part of the state last night, Stoughton, WI. The drive home was painstakingly slow. Downpours and wind gusts made the trip a lot longer than normal. We were all happy to be home, and the storms gave the girls something different to focus on than each other, and there was no more fighting.

DH still does not have a full-time job lined up and school starts here Sept. 1rst, so we are not hopeful. He has had three or four interviews this summer, one of them in Minocqua, WI.. which looks like this

A real Up North Wisconsin community. I would be jealous if he were able to live there during the week. We went with him for the interview, and it was beautiful. He hasn’t heard if he will get the job or not, but after more than 110 applications and 12 interviews, he isn’t optimistic.

Today will be one of the last days for me to knit. All day. I’m almost done with the Harry Potter scarf, and my wrists can prove it. They are so sore that I can’t knit for more than 10 minutes at a time without a break. I’m hoping to finish the scarf on Sunday or Monday. I'll have to be a knitting trouper and work through the pain. They should offer Olympic medals for this kind of dedication!

Calgon... take me away!

2005-08-13T22:30:00.000-05:00

It's time. Time for the girls to back to school. Most days I fear for their lives. I probably won't win "Mother of the Year" for the many plots I've developed to have them raised by others. Our home sounds like this:

"Mamma, tell her to stop!" The oldest will say.

The younger one will chirp, "I'm not doing anything."

"Yes she is. Tell her to stop."

"Nooooooo! I'll stop. I will."

"Yeah, right. You said that a half hour ago."

"I will this time. Really."

After about 10 minute of quiet, I hear the oldest again, "MAMMA! Can you please tell her to stop?"

I want to make it stop. Please let them go back to school. Luckily, the oldest is finally old enough to watch the younger one while we leave the ~~country~~ house for some peace and quiet, but when they act like this we are afraid of what we would come home to.

I've been frantically knitting. Two caps are done, and the Harry Potter scarf is half-way done. My knitting list was shortened when I heard the very sad news that my coworker lost her baby recently. It would have been her first pregnancy (her husband and her adopted a baby boy several years ago) after many years of fertility treatments. I was so sad to hear the news. The last time I had spoken to her (early July) she told me that the doctors were very worried that there was something wrong with the baby. She underwent many tests, but they hadn't diagnosed anything yet. I am heartbroken for her and her husband.

I'm still shook by the death of my sister-in-law's nephew. His funeral was extremely emotional. The media was everywhere, and I cannot believe the strength of his family to talk to them immediately after the service. I don't know that I would have been able to utter a word, but through their tear-stained cheeks, they asked others to pray for their son and all of the troops still in Iraq. Pray. I normally am not a praying person. I have quickly learned how. For John. It is a small thing to do, but in my opinion, it honors him.

Thank you Teresa W. for your comment about Sgt. Wood. I had heard that one person in the explosion had survived, but I hadn't heard any more. I'm amazed that we found each other through knitting. I have tried to e-mail you, but it bounces back. Please send me a note at in_stitches2 at yahoo dot com. I would love to hear an update, if you know anything.

Hectic Holiday

2005-08-05T09:50:00.000-05:00

Well, I’m finally home, clean, and relaxed. What a couple of weeks this has been.

On the way to my brother and sister-in-law’s house, I started the second helmet cap for my oldest daughter. I had finished the one for my youngest daughter, and my goal was to get the earflaps connected to the cap before we arrived. No problem. I got a lot further than I had planned.

My brother makes lampwork beads, and my sister-in-law turns them into beautiful jewelry that they sell at local art fairs. Last year I had tried to tell them that they could make some money making knitting markers, but they didn’t really believe me. This year was different. I showed them some online examples, and they were excited. Making knitting markers would be a great way for them to use leftover beads. On Saturday, Amy took me to a local yarn shop called Pine Needles (what a PERFECT name for an “up-north” yarn shop). It’s located between Hayward and Cable, Wisconsin, right on the highway. It had just opened three months earlier, or really, they had moved from their old location across the highway three months before. Let me tell you, this woman knows how to set up a great yarn shop. She and her husband are retired, and this has become their project. I talked to her husband for awhile, he told me that she tells him how she wants the shop to look, and he builds it. I sure could use him around my house! Amy told the shop owner about her stitch markers, and the woman said that she had been trying to find exactly what Amy made online, but without much luck. She would prefer to sell markers in her shop from someone local, so Amy will be taking some of her samples over there. That night Tom, Amy, and I sat around discussing what they would need to make good markers. How big of a ring? Should it be soldered closed or would a small opening be ok? How long would be too long? and so on. The next day, they bought some materials and made five samples for me. I was in heaven! I use one on every project, even if I don’t need to mark anything. It is knitting jewelry. I will post some pictures in about three weeks when I have access to a digital camera again. They are beautiful!

We left my brother and sister-in-law’s place on Sunday after a wonderful visit. After eyeing up my current project, my nieces gave me their Christmas knitting requests. My Christmas knitting list looks something like this:

1. Dishcloths for Amy (they are almost done now, and I will give them to her when she comes down here for her nephew’s funeral)
2. Another knit helmet cap for my niece.
3. A Harry Potter scarf for my older niece.
4. Three sets of baby gifts for my friend in New Zealand, my cousin in Germany, and another friend from work.
5. Two pairs of Fuzzy Feet (one for my mother and one for my mother-in-law; this will be their second pair).
6. If there is time, a Weasley sweater to go with the Harry Potter scarf – but only if there is time.

Looks like I will be busy. My wrists are already a little sore!

On Sunday night (a week ago), we left Hayward, Wisconsin and drove the six hours to our house. We dropped off the camper, repacked a few necessary items, and began driving to Florida at 7:00 p.m. DH drove just past Indianapolis and at about 1:00 am, we switched and I drove through the night, arriving at Chattanooga, TN at 7:00 am. DH took another turn, and after hitting TERRIBLE traffic in Atlanta, we took an ice cream break, and we switched shortly after that again. We ended up finding a hotel in Daytona Beach, FL RIGHT ON THE OCEAN for a great deal. We arrived at 7:30 p.m. EDT. We had an almost 24 hour drive without more than a 30 minute break in temperatures that stayed at 95 during the day and only went down to 78 at night. It was hot. So hot that you couldn’t sit comfortably in the back of the van without feeling woozy.

When we arrived, we took a quick swim in the ocean, a little swim in the pool, ate supper and went to bed. The next morning was the launch, and we needed to get up at 5:00am to make sure we would get into the park that only accepted 600 cars before closing. After a sleep that was way too short, we got up, rubbed our eyes, and headed out. It was already 82 degrees, and we had really seen enough heat, but there was nothing you could do. We packed water, soda, fruit, and sandwich makings for the wait. After getting lost (the park was NOT labeled very well), we finally arrived at the park, and we were actually early enough to get close parking. We sat on the beach and waited. You could feel the excitement in the air. A man near us blared his NASA radio, so we could hear exactly what was happening. At the final countdown, everyone cheered, and you could hear the lumps in people's throats as they shouted and pointed, “There it is!” I tried to videotape the launch, but my excitement meant that the beginning of my footage became nervous, excited shots of my feet and the crowd until I calmed down enough to catch the space shuttle. It was an experience none of us will forget. It was so wonderful to see the shuttle go off again, and especially wonderful to hear people in the crowd speaking in German and Italian on their cell phones to people back home, describing what they were seeing.

The next day we played in the ocean all day. Daytona Beach is awesome! The beach becomes a community with ice cream trucks, T-shirt vendors, bike rentals, and an actual street where people drive their vehicles to find a parking spot and set up their spot. I had so much fun teaching my family how to swim in the ocean. It was their first time, and ocean swimming is completely different from swimming in any lake around here – even Lake Michigan. We played with tiny jellyfish, bodysurfed, and just floated. It was perfect. After supper at Shell’s seafood restaurant, we began the drive home, again at 7:00pm. We arrived home the next day at 9:30pm. The trip home took a little longer because we were so tired. We ended up taking a 30-minute nap in a gas station parking lot, and stopping to eat a REAL breakfast instead of a quick McDonald’s breakfast.

It turns out that we brought the heat home with us. This past weekend my oldest daughter played in the Gus Macker 3 on 3 basketball tournament and it was HOT. Florida HOT. We all came home from the tournament with sunburn, although swimming in the ocean for an entire day didn’t leave us red at all. Go figure! Sunday night left us all exhausted, but Monday was a packing day so that I could chaperone a Girl Scout’s camping trip until Wednesday. Monday was still hot. So was Tuesday. It cooled down a little on Wednesday, but by the time I got home, I didn’t care anymore. I slept. And slept. And slept some more. Then I watched some movies and napped. Today, I managed to do laundry, nap, and knit. That’s it.

Tomorrow we are off to a pig roast.

I’m ready for school to start so that I can relax a little bit more!

A Tribute

2005-07-29T21:20:00.000-05:00

We returned from our trip last night at 9:30pm, but the stories about this trip will have to wait. Today is a day of tribute for a fallen soldier.

John O. Tollefson died in the line of duty on Wednesday. While I only met him a few times in person, I feel that I knew him because of the stories that my sister-in-law has told me about him over the years. He was her nephew, and she held him in high regard. It turns out that she wasn’t the only one. You can read the article that appeared in John’s local newspaper yourself. He was truly a remarkable young man.

My sister-in-law (while I visited her this past weekend) talked about John’s reasons for joining the Army, and his life-long goals only days before those dreams would end. While she knew that his job was a dangerous one, she, like the rest of John’s family, prayed for his safe return home. Their homes are now filled with a heavy sadness, a sadness that I can only imagine. Even though I didn’t know John that well personally, I am also left with a truly heavy heart when I think about John and the other 1,985 soldiers (as of tonight) who have given their lives while in the line of duty.

I hope you will take a moment to be thankful for the sacrifices that have been made.

AND...... WE'RE OFF!

2005-07-21T18:42:00.000-05:00

I have packed up a bunch of knitting.

Why, You ask?

ROAD TRIP!!

Itinerary:
1. Friday morning – drive to Hayward, Wisconsin (6 hours)
2. Friday through Sunday –visit with my brother and his family
3. Sunday morning – drive home (6 hours)
4. Sunday night – drive to Cape Canaveral, Florida (24 hours)
5. Tuesday – WATCH THE SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH!

6. Wednesday – play in the ocean
7. Wednesday night – drive home (24 hours)
8. Thursday night – arrive home and SLEEP!

Thank you NASA, for keeping the smiles on my family.

I do have an FO to report, but it will have to wait until I get home. By then, I may have two projects to show you!

Four days of knitting in the car = HEAVEN!

A Day at the "Door"

2005-07-16T09:49:00.000-05:00

After staring at my dejected family for a few days, it was time. Time to leave the comforts of air conditioning and brave the elements for a day of fun. If NASA wouldn’t cooperate with our plans to drive to Florida to see the launch of the space shuttle, we would have to do something else. Something probably a little less exciting, but still fun, right?

When we moved to the area of the state where we currently live (a BIG 35 mile move that shattered many people in our family because we were now SO FAR AWAY!) there were many differences. One thing that happens every spring in this area is the Fish Boil. Now think about it. You take hunks of fish, pearl onions, red potatoes, and carrots and basically boil the snot out of it in water that is so salty you could float a rock in it. Then serve it with about a pound of melted butter poured over the top. What starts off sounding rather revolting becomes bearable. Anything is good with melted butter on it! When we went to our first Fish Boil, we were hesitant. Afterwards, we became junkies. If there was a fish boil within 50 miles, we were there. Most of the fish boils around here are fundraisers for local volunteer fire departments, and they are served to a mainly Catholic community on Fridays, especially during Lent.

My family became so addicted that I even found an online recipe and made one here at home. It was even better than most of the places we had gone, and I make it fairly often now.

Well, the Fish Boil originated in Door County, Wisconsin. If you look at the shape of Wisconsin, it looks like the mitten for a left hand with a skinny thumb. Door County is the thumb that pokes out into Lake Michigan. It is mainly a playland for the wealthy Illinois tourists, but locals love it also. It has become famous for its cherries, the shopping, the scenery, the resorts, and fish boils. If you want an authentic fish boil, this is the place to be. This was our mission.

We drove up to Sturgeon Bay, and stopped at two local yarn shops. I knew about one, but the second was a surprise. I satisfied my fiber craving and the girls satisfied their sugar craving at Apple Hollow Fiber Studio. They have a large website, but the actual shop was small. I was greeted by the most beautiful hanks of wool as I opened the door. They had some skeins, and my oldest daughter found some yarn that she wants for her helmet cap, so we bought that. Afterwards the girls shared a smoothie and we sat at the cute tables in the middle of the shop. The owners were very friendly and helpful. Next, we drove down the road about 6 buildings and went into Temptations Needlework, described as a needlework, yarn, knitting and crochet shop. I wasn’t optimistic. Oh, my! Inside was a huge selection of almost any kind of yarn you can imagine! At every turn there was a hidden room loaded with yarn. And buttons? She must have every button ever made. My youngest daughter was in heaven looking at them, and DH sat down and watched us with a smile on his face. You see, it was his idea to stop at the yarn shops as a special treat to me. Another reason I LOVE this man!

We continued up the peninsula (discussing why it is called a peninsula when it is really an island. At Sturgeon Bay the waters from Green Bay and Lake Michigan actually meet) searching for a specific shop that sold British goods. We found it in Fish Creek, and inside Made In Britain we indulged ourselves with treats that reminded us of our trip to England a few years ago. I bought a bunch of candy and then remembered another one that I had planned to buy. Off I trotted to pick it up while the family waited outside. When I walked out of the door of British Goods, there they sat with smiles on their faces, all eating the candy and moaning in happiness.

Next we went to Peninsula State Park and swam. This didn’t last very long because the water stunk so badly that we became sick to our stomachs. My thought is that with all of the hot weather we have had, the shallow water there has had bacteria growing, dying, and stinking up the place at a much faster rate than normal, so it literally stinks! We left, rather disappointed, and drove up to Ellison Bay for our fish boil.

The authentic Scandinavian Fish Boil is a little different from our volunteer fire department boils. They use fresh whitefish from the lake instead of cod fillets. This means that there will be bones. Lots of them! They also think that boiling the vegetables WITH the fish will taint the flavor of the fish, so the fish is boiled alone. We call that tainting FLAVOR! After shelling out $62 we watched for the boil over (a tradition that looks cool, but I’m told by a friend from the area who is related to a master boiler that this is really only for show) and got our trays.

On average, a local fish boil will cost $8 a plate, this one cost $13, and it wasn’t very good. I was the only one who actually ate the fish, and that was more because of my miser tendencies than any great taste coming off of the plate. So, I have a recommendation. If you want a really good Fish Boil in Wisconsin – come to my house!
On our way home, we stopped in Kewaunee for a frozen custard, and guess what? It was the start of their Trout Festival, and we had made it just in time for the fireworks. A great ending to a great day.

Today we rest!

Help!

2005-07-13T07:55:00.000-05:00

As I was catching up on my blog reading this morning, I happened to read about the problem Julie is facing with the magazine, Belle Armoire. You can read about it on her July 10th post. Basically, the editor of the magazine contacted her about a story it planned to do about a bag similar to hers. The editor promised to list her as the originator in the introductory paragraph of the story. The editor also promised to list Black Sheep Bags in the resource section of the magazine, list her pattern on the sidebar of the website (I looked and there doesn't appear to be any sidebar for felted knitting), and offered her a free subscription for six issues.

Well, the article was published, and none of the agreements above were honored. I looked at the online closeup of the article, complete with pictures, and you can see that these bags were inspired by Julie. Compare for yourself... Belle Armoire's purse and Julie's Bag.

Please think about lending Julie your support. I have sent an e-mail to the editor of Belle Armoire, and I hope that you decide to send one also! (the e-mail address is beleditor@stampington.com) Maybe you could help spread the word by posting something on your website about this, too!

As Julie said, she is "not looking to get rich from this," but the magazine should honor their agreement, don't you think?

There's Something in the Water

2005-07-11T08:24:00.000-05:00

When Sharon, my friend from New Zealand, lived in London, I made a promise to her. She wasn’t going to live permanently in London, and knew that one day she would move back to her home in NZ. I promised her that before she moved back, I would come to visit her in London. A few years ago, we made plans for a “girly weekend” in New York City. It was halfway for both of us. In October of 2000, we met at the airport and spent the weekend shopping and talking. Time melted away as it always does when we get together, and people looked at us often, some even had the courage to ask, “Do you two know each other? Your accents are so different.” Each time someone asked us this, we would be reduced to teenage fits of giggles. We must have looked odd. Sharon with her flaming red hair, skinny stature and Kiwi accent, and me with my Midwestern twang, large frame, and teacher voice. Both of us obviously tourists, but from opposite ends of the Earth. We answered, “Isn’t it obvious? We’ve been friends for almost 20 years!”

Sharon was my closest friend the year that I lived in New Zealand. Our friendship has lasted throughout the years, and it means the world to me. That year I was in New Zealand, I was able to meet people from all around the world. Some of my closest friends in the exchange program were from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. I worry about them, and wonder how they are, especially those Sri Lankan “boys” who are now men, who have had to suffer so much.

When I married my husband, we honeymooned in Germany. His parents moved here from Germany after WWII, and the rest of the family still lives there. We stayed with them for some of the time, and became close to two cousins who were the only relatives our age. Andreas and Christian are brothers, and we talk to them over the Internet often. Since our honeymoon, Andreas and Christian have come to the US twice to visit us, and during those visits we promised them that we would make the trip back to Germany for each of their weddings.

Two years ago, in November, I got an e-mail from Andreas. He was engaged, and hoped that we would keep our promise and come to the wedding. His fiancé was from Indonesia. I immediately told him that we would. A few days later, as I was looking up the different airfares available, Sharon e-mailed and said that she had decided to move back to NZ the next summer. It looked like we would visit both, and that is exactly what we did. We stayed in Germany for two weeks, and my daughters were flower girls in Andreas’ wedding. They understood only two words in German (good-bye and thank you) but followed what the other two girls did and stood quietly throughout the German ceremony. It was beautiful.

After our two-week stay in Germany, we flew to London and spent two weeks with Sharon and her boyfriend Peter, who is South African. Despite the heat wave that was going through Europe and England that year, we had a great time. Nothing was air conditioned, not like buildings in this country, but we sweat happily and had a blast.

Something seems to connect these two groups of people who had never met. They both e-mailed me about my promises within days of each other, and we visited both during our trip. I shouldn’t have been surprised when the phone rang on Saturday evening and Andreas asked me to guess his happy news. Sharon e-mailed me three days before to tell me that she, now married and back home in NZ, was pregnant. So are Andreas and his wife Lilis. My knitting needles will be cranking out baby gear big time, and I couldn’t be happier!

Oh, by the way, I did guess Andreas’ surprise correctly, although I wondered if his brother Christian, who is now engaged also, had set his date. He hasn’t, but we have again promised to attend, it seems like the wedding will be in 2007 – plenty of time for us to save. Andreas and I have already made plans! I LOVE having such an international family! We have "family" from five of the seven continents. We only need to have a family member from South America and we will have a truly world-wide family because no one can come from Antartica, can they?

Anyway... let the baby countdowns begin!

Home

2005-07-06T08:10:00.000-05:00

No matter how much I love to travel, or love to camp, it is always nice to come home.
We returned late last night from another family adventure. This was our third camping trip of the season (we went to Arkansas in March, and camped in a local state park for DH’s birthday in April). For the third year in a row we headed to a national forest campground late on the holiday weekend without a reservation. This campground (Boot Lake in the Nicolet National Forest) actually doesn’t accept reservations, but on a holiday weekend it is normally full. When we pulled in, it was obvious that we might not luck out. There was standing room only on the beach, and cars and trucks with empty boat trailers lined the entrance road to the park. The parking lot was full. We drove around the campground, and every site was taken, but wait. On one site a man was shaking off the canvas above one bed of his pop-up camper. This is an international sign for, “I’m packing up to leave.” We stopped and asked him if his site would be free later that day, and he said that it would! And, it was a LAKEFRONT SITE (site number 9)! OH HAPPY DAY!
We had the best weather in a year of camping. In the past 9 out of 10 trips we either packed up in the rain, or packed up our pop-up wet and had to set it up again at home to dry out. This was a real treat!
This was a serious knitting retreat for me! I carefully packed one project to finish, one to start, and one “just in case.” I finished the second anklet in 24 hours in order to start a new project. A winter cap with ear flaps for my daughter. My typical camping day looked something like this. Wake up, knit, make coffee and breakfast, knit, take a walk, knit, go to the beach, knit, paddle in the canoe, knit, read, knit, and knit around the campfire until the sunlight faded away. Heaven! Oh, and the book I read wasn’t a kid’s book, it MUST be summer!
We would have loved to stay a little longer, but we had to come home. My youngest daughter goes to Girl Scout Camp today, returns on Saturday, and we are thinking about driving to Florida to watch the space shuttle launch. With the camper, of course. For this trip, I will have to make reservations. It’s an awfully long drive home if you can’t find a campsite! Another knitting retreat!

Kicked Its Butt

2005-06-27T19:02:00.000-05:00

That retro Reynolds yarn forced me to put on my boxing gloves and come out fight’n this past week. It was determined to make a fool out of me and look bad with every stitch I chose. First round was arrowhead lace. The combination of size 5 US needles and yarn overs with this yarn made it look like a very holey scarf reminiscent of a 1970’s crocheted afghan. Not what I was looking for. The yarn wasn’t flattered by it either. The yarn claimed victory in that first round.
Round two was another lace pattern – the traveleing ladder. I love the look of this stitch, but again, yarn overs are no good with this yarn. I should have known better after the first time. I ripped it out again and decided to put it away until inspiration would come. I was pretty sure that inspiration in the form of white wine would definitely help. In the meantime, I started a pair of anklets from Alison.
Everyone has a list of accomplishments that they wish to achieve in their lifetime. Those lists often include things like climbing a mountain, travelling to another country, scuba diving in the Carribean, etc. Most of the time the items on the list are things that can be both scary and exciting. My list also contains things that excite and scare me when I think about them. I tackled one thing off of that list this weekend. Short rows.
Now how, you may ask, can short rows scare me when I have completed almost every other knitting feat. Kitchener stitch – no sweat, cables – I work them with pencils when I lose my cable needle – HA!, intarsia – bring it on!, not to mention intricate lace – no problem. But short rows? Even the words gave me shivers, until this weekend. I sat down and re-read the instructions three times, then slowly tackled each row, kicking everyone out of the room so that I could concentrate. And I won. It looked great, AND it wasn’t that difficult!
After this victory, and a lot of wine, I felt ready to go a third round with the Reynolds yarn. I told myself that the pattern needed to be simple. Simple and textural. That would show off the fuzziness of the yarn. I decided that a basketweave stitch would be a good place to start. I want this to be an easy pattern so that I can work it while watching movies, a pattern that I can pick up and work on for a row or two while waiting in the car for the kids to get out of swim team practice without my mind going numb trying to remember the pattern. Basketweave seemed perfect. I completed my cast on and started working. After a few rows the fabric started to look yummy, and I knew this one was a winner.
So the next time I’m feeling beaten up by a skein of yarn, I will go directly to the drinking wine and working on something else plan so that inspiration will hit. That seemed to work this time. That, or the Reynolds yarn got jealous seeing me fondle another yarn. Either way, I won!

Oh, Elaine, who is anxious to see a picture of my husband's culture cap, I will do my best to "scab a pic" from someone's digital camera, or maybe I'll finally break down and buy another one. I'm anxious to show it to you!

B is for Beannie Cap.... and for Bernice

2005-06-21T22:44:00.000-05:00

The “Heads Up” beanie from Interweave Knits was finished just in time for DH to wear on Father’s Day. He has worn it almost every moment since then, and I’m pleased with how it turned out. The picture will have to wait until I have digital camera access again, so I’m forcing you to use your imagination. If you hear loud shouts of, “Ooooh- Pa!” coming from the Wisconsin area, that would be my husband. He was thrilled to learn that the yarn for his cap came from Greece. He’s in some turmoil, though, because he thinks it looks like a Reggae cap, and his father said it made him look Muslim. He may ask me to make baklava now, season with Caribbean jerk, or make tabouleh depending upon which ethnicity wins out with the cap. For now, he picks an ethnicity to match his mood. It’s a Reggae cap when he is lighthearted and trying to sing along with the music on the radio following his own tone-deaf technique. The cap is Muslim when he is trying to focus and deeply reflect upon something, and the Greek cap appears when he is celebrating and hanging out with family.
The idea that the cap can be multicultural pleases everyone in this family. No matter which kind of cap he thinks it is, he is proud to wear it and tells everyone that his wife made it. It will go out on its first canoe camping trip soon; that’s the reason he wanted me to make it.
Imagine Picture Here“Heads Up” BeanieYarn: Tahki Cotton Classic leftovers (from baby caps) in forest green, orange, lime green (looks more yellow), and blue. Needles: size 5 USStart Date: something like early JuneFinish Date: June 18, 2005

I’ve been a bit absent minded lately and remiss in blogging about something that happened on Mother’s Day. There’s a bit of history here, so bear with me. When I was a mere child, my lovely aunt owned a yarn shop in Oshkosh, Wisconsin (EAA fans will appreciate this reference). In the 1970’s, she taught classes in macramé, crocheting, knitting, needlepoint, and punch needlepoint. Knitting was not one of the more popular classes.
She owned this shop before I became a knitter, and therefore I wasn’t able to appreciate what opportunities were all around me at the time. I remember going to visit her with my mother. We would drive from my hometown of Sheboygan, Wisconsin (about an hour and a half drive) and go directly to the shop. After 20 minutes, I was bored to tears, and begging for a couple of bucks to walk down the street and poke around in some of the dime stores. To keep me quiet and enjoy her visit with my aunt, my mother shelled out the cash and off I trotted. After I spent all of the money on candy and soda, I would work off my sugar buzz by galloping back to the shop. After another few hours of boredom, my aunt would close the shop and we headed to her house. When I look back on those days with an adult knitter’s perspective, I could scream. Here I was, surrounded for hours by hundreds of dollars of yarn and materials, and I was clueless! She would have given me pretty much anything I wanted, or charged my mother very little for it. By the time I had learned how to knit (from my cousin {the daughter of my mother’s brother}, not my aunt), the yarn shop had gone out of business. Oh, the humanity!
Over the years, my aunt has cleaned out her home and found bags of yarn and materials left over from the shop. Because I am the only avid knitter in the family, and let’s face it, probably her favorite niece or nephew (sorry to the rest of the family, but let’s face facts here, ok?) she has given me a ton of great stuff over the years. The last time I got a bag from her was more than ten years ago, so I thought that she had hit the bottom of her leftovers. WRONG! When I went to my mother’s house on Mother’s Day, a bag was waiting for me from dear Aunt Bernice (pronounced Burr niss). What was inside, you ask? Here’s the list of what I kept after donating the Red Heart to my mother’s friend to use in tying quilts:
100 grams of Reynolds Kitten in fuzzy green (screams scarf!) --- made in Belgium
9 ounces of Britannia Shetland in cream
180 grams of Spinnerin Cashmere Plus in white (I melted when I found this one – gorgeous!) --- made in Italy
2 x 50 grams of Phildar Luxe 025 (one in cream, one in sage... can you say MITTENS?) – made in France
300 grams of Pingouin perle fin in navy blue --- made in France
150 grams of Pingouin coton neige in a white and blue nubby yarn --- made in France and six pairs of slipper sox bottoms
Everytime I think about this yarn I make an unconscious low, sarcastic giggle in the back of my throat. It’s mine... ALL MINE!
Aunt Bernice is now my all-time favorite aunt! Well, she’ my favorite at least until I want Aunt Carla to make her world famous raspberry jello salad. Hmmm, Thanksgiving is five months away, so enjoy the moment, Bernice!
I know I am.

Super Short Post

2005-06-15T08:49:00.000-05:00

It's summer school time, and teaching summer school is almost more hectic than the regular school year. You would think that a half day would give you a lot of time, but with curriculum writing in the afternoon and getting the kids to swim team practice... it's still 6:00 when I start supper.

Baby Molly Elizabeth was born last Saturday, and I gave her mother the cardigan. She was thrilled. Tears and everything. Thanks again, Vicki, for saving me!

Wish DH luck on Monday morning for a job interview. It's a job 5 hours away (he would live there during the week and come home on weekends), but he still would like it. Maybe this time!

Now, back to the computer lab!

Dyed and Gone to Heaven

2005-06-08T21:17:00.000-05:00

Well, not really, but I couldn’t resist this as a title. The truth is that I learned a lot about myself last night at the Spinning Guild Meeting.

10 Things That I Reaffirmed about Myself

10. I cannot rush a meal.
Even when my DH orders take out and tries to bring it home to fit into the 15 minute gap that I have created to eat that meal. After waiting an hour for the broasted chicken meal, I ate quickly, chomped down two Tums and buzzed off to the guild meeting. Late.

9. The harder I try to plan for everything, the worse off I end up.
Yesterday I needed to work all day at my school (I needed to get to school early in order to run through my talent show act once more – I acted and did the sign language interpretation to the song “Leader of the Pack” with a group of teachers. It was a riot!), and while working, I need to try and prepare for my summer school substitute. I had everything printed and ready to go for a sub (my regular teaching ends this Friday, but my summer school teaching in another district starts today. They have gotten a sub for me for the first three days). I left my school as soon as the final bell sounded and rushed off to summer school, unpacked, and realized that my sub plans on the laptop could not be printed in the summer school. It is a different district. There I sat, after spending over an hour setting up the room needing to waste an hour copying my plans from the laptop onto the summer school desktop computer so that they could be printed off for the sub. Idiot!

8. I sweat worse in air conditioning.
This I learned as a result of trying to copy notes from one computer to another while meeting the crunched supper deadline and making it to the guild meeting.

7. I am not as organized as I think I am.
After calling Carol from the guild and telling her that I couldn’t make it, she convinced me to come anyway. I showed up with two of the four assignments completed. Well one and a half really. We were supposed to bring our spun skein – ready to dye (mine was too huge), wear old clothes, bring cling wrap and gloves, and tools for dying.

I showed up super late (everyone was starting to steam their skeins) with my huge skein, old clothes, and that was it. I forgot everything else.

6. Cuteness doesn’t get me very far.
Seriously, how cute can a 35 year old, large, sweaty woman be when she needs everyone to get close enough to help her? One of the guild members did not seem pleased. She helped me redo my hulky skein into three smaller skeins, but was not pleased that I was so unprepared.

I started spinning in February and joined the guild two months ago. I’m a rookie, I’m just learning. Being so unprepared at every turn last night did no reaffirm my ability to make it through an average day.

5. I learn best alone.
Actually I already knew this, but yesterday clinched this for me. I need the freedom of playing at home without being rushed or having people look strangely at me for my color selections. I was rushed; I grabbed whatever was available and squirted it on my skein. I squirted too much on the first one and caught the glare of the leader for yet another time.

4. I don’t “get” color.
My odd looking scarlet and royal blue combination looked just as odd when I pulled it out of the cinnamon bun. Forest green and purple? Other people seem to pull it off beautifully, but mine looks like baby poo disguised as something pretty.

3. I don’t like to stand.
There was really no place to sit in the dying room. I went outside to sit down and cool off after my skeins were painted, but I was interrupted by the leader telling me that my skein had been steaming for way too long. I didn’t even know that she had put it in the steamer. She then informed me that it was not her job to watch the clock for me. I’m thinking that it would have been pretty helpful for me to watch the clock if I had known that I was supposed to. These instructions were obviously given to those people who showed up on time. My second skein was still sitting on the table. That one never made it into the steamer. I put it in the microwave when I got home. Did I mention that she really didn’t seem pleased with me last night?

2. Skein painting is best left for a weekend.
Seriously, who thought it would be a good idea to start dying at 6:30 at night with eight people trying to get a bunch of skeins painted, finish cleaning up by 9:00 pm and end up with something that looks decent? I don’t think it is humanly possible.

1. There are only 24 hours in a day.
No matter how hard I try to make more time, that limit is CONSTANT. I need to realize that at least 7 hours MUST be spent sleeping, and the remaining 17 hours cannot be morphed into extra time. I cannot complete 20 hours of “stuff” in 17 hours. I need to “get over” this idea already and slow down.

Maybe tomorrow, I have too much to do today.

Summer Sinuses

2005-06-05T09:53:00.000-05:00

Last week at work, I was innocently eating my lunch in the teacher's lounge when one of the teacher's sneezed. No big deal. Sneezing is human, right? After all, I could sympathize, it's allergy season. Another teacher commented to him, "Oh, allergies, huh?"
"No," he replied. "I have this terrible cold."
I shuddered. I felt my throat starting to itch.
Then another teacher talked about how she had this cold too, and suddenly everyone in the room mentioned a person at school who had been suffering with this. Where had I been? I had never noticed everyone snuffling. I knew I was doomed.

You see, I have been cursed, since birth, with the worst immune system known to man. I inherited it from my father. As much as I love being like him, this is one thing that I could have done without. Mention the work "sick" and I catch it. It's that simple. No amount of echinachia will help.

Sure enough. I woke up the next morning with a sore throat, stuffy head and runny nose. The start of a sinus infection. IN JUNE! This is ridiculous. Sinus infection season officially ends in April, and here I am, clearing my throat, setting up lunch bags in the living room for my used tissues, and taking my temperature every 30 seconds.

On the plus side, because I'm always sick I know how to do the things I want to even when I'm suffering. If I took off every time I was feeling poorly, I would never leave my house. So, I load up on meds, drink a thousand more cups of coffee than normal, be sure to eat bready things to soak up the yuck in my stomach, and off I go. Yesterday, I went to two soccer games and an afternoon fishing in a stocked pond.

It's free fishing weekend in Wisconsin, and even though we already have our licenses, we went to the pond for a chance for the kids to catch some trout at a local Outdoor Activity Day. It's hard to cast without hooking onto another line, there are so many people fishing.

The trout were HUGE! My oldest daughter caught the first 12 inch rainbow trout, and then her friend caught the next three. All the same size.

They have tents set up and will clean and deep fry the fish for you right there.

We caught our fish too late, so I cleaned them at home. My youngest daughter and her friend played and walked around (they weren't interested in the fishing). The trout bit off of wax worms and corn. Both daugthers brought friends, and everyone had a blast. We plan to go back today, so I'm loading up on the coffee and eating after sleeping in a little. The last week of school, and I'm going to have to push myself to get there everyday! YUCK.

On the knitting front, I have started a new project for DH. He loved his felted cap so much, but can't wear it in summer. Interweave Knits Spring 2005 had a cute pattern for a cotton cap called, Heads-Up Hats. I have left-over cotton from baby caps, so I'm using that up.

Cardigan waiting for Baby

2005-05-30T21:55:00.000-05:00

Gail... don't look. Knowing my luck, you will pick today to wander over here and read my blog, ruining the surprise. If for some reason, you have remembered that I blog about my knitting and you have stopped by to see what kind of trash I am writing about today, please click on a link before it's too late! Don't come back here until after that baby is born. It should only be a few more days... and then I can give you this.

Finished Object: Jacket with Seed Stitch Bands
From: Debbie Bliss' Baby Knits for Beginners
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in Dusty Rose, Dusty Lavendar or color 608
EMT (Emergency Material Technician): Vicki (your thank you note should go out in the mail tomorrow. I'm a loser... I am terrible at sending out cards and thank you's in a timely manner. Ask anyone in my family. They will rat me out)
Needles: Size US3 and US4
Date Started: May 5, 2005
Date Completed: May 29, 2005
My favorite thing: THE BUTTONS! Aren't they cute?

On such a gorgeous day, I decided to take a picture of my Lupines starting to bloom. These have transplanted themselves from another bed that is about 20 feet away. I wish that they bloomed all summer long.

On such a beautiful day, I hung out laundry on the line all day (some of it was from yesterday. Funny how clothes on the line in the rain don't dry, no matter how long they are out there!) I also found time to fold the laundry, cook some food, take a nap, and then go fishing with DH and the girls.

Alicia and DH were in the canoe, and Anna and I fished off of the dock. We caught 8 panfish (the last two were big enough to keep, but we let them go anyway. There is a lot of summer left). English Lake is about 5 minutes from out house. Actually there are about 9 or 10 lakes that are about 5 - 10 minutes away.

Happy Summer!

Haven't we been down this road before?

2005-05-25T19:19:00.000-05:00

Yep. I've been here before. Definitely. If you don't believe me, go back to May 12, 2004 and May 20, 2004 and read for yourself. The job I was offered in Cincinnati is open again; they want to interview me again and they are willing to make some contacts to get DH a position in the area also. A year later, and we seem to be right back where we started. This time, though, we have decided that we will make this move if both of us find positions.

Well, what about jobs in Wisconsin, you ask? Sixty. That's the number of active applications DH has out in Wisconsin right now. Sixty. And guess the number of calls to interview. Two. Two. What is that? Like 3%? There are more than 40 applicants for every opening, and from budget cuts, all of those people have already had school counseling experience. My DHs years of experience working with teenagers in a residential treatment center doesn't seem to count.

Yes, I will talk about knitting. I should be much further than I am on the last sleeve of the baby cardigan, but migraines took over Monday and Tuesday night, so I got little done. I didn't even leave the house. Tonight is better, and I plan to finish the sleeve, block it, and be ready to do the finishing tomorrow.

I know. Roller coaster. One day I'm up, the next I'm down. Seems to be the story of our life for the past year and a half. I'm ready to get off now, please.

Hope and Happiness

2005-05-22T07:53:00.000-05:00

"Let your hook be always cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be fish."
-Ovid

Hope.

Yesterday was one of those days you fall into bed early knowing that it was a good day. And in the grand scheme of things, good days have been too rare lately. Things were so right Saturday that the feeling has carried over this morning as I drink the first cup of coffee and listen to everyone in the house sleeping.

I can't thank Vicki enough (there will be something sent off in the mail for you on Tuesday). I was completely shocked by her kindness, not that I didn't know she was kind. I did. But I never thought that my yarn emergency would get a response, especially on my blog. I don't have a lot of hits each day, so I never expected the blog to connect me with the yarn I needed. My post to the Knitter's Review was viewed several times, but the responses weren't able to give me a lot of information. Things seemed bleak.

I knew Vicki had sent the package, and my oldest daughter and I rushed to the mailbox on Friday to see if it had arrived early (she is waiting for a package with her basketball sweatshirt in it - both packages were due to arrive either Saturday or Monday). Yesterday, after watching two great soccer games in summer-like weather (one daughter lost, one won; both played extremely well) we came home and I darted off to the mailbox. There it was, a cute little box that fit perfectly into the mailbox. Obviously, Vicki had snuck over to my home and measured the mailbox to know the exact dimensions for this box to fit so well. She obviously also knew how much this would please me. The mail carrier had even lined up our letters alongside in a most compulsive way. He was obviously trying to apologize for the many times he did not deliver mail in the winter when the streets were too full of snow by appealing to my ~~anal retentiveness~~ sense of order.

I opened the box, and Vicki RAOKed me big time. Thanks, hun! Photos to come, but the bug on a rock is too cute! The girls immediately begged for the suckers, and I happily gave them their sugar and sent them off to run around and buy junk at the village-wide garage sales. Peace. In the house. For a long time. While DH cut the grass, the neighbor came over and asked if I would like him to edge the lawn. Would I like it? Oh. My. God. Ten minutes later, he was done and I was sweeping up the clippings on a gorgeous day. Have I complained about the people in my village? Well, forget that, this guy is kind.

I weeded happily (the garden beds are the best I have had in nine years - because I'm actually working them this year) and ran to the dump for recycleables and yard waste. My black-eyed susans and phlox have spread in one flower bed, and my balloon flowers, which I thought had died out, were peeking up at me in my other flower bed. Lupines are spreading everywhere, which is fine because I like them, and the lavendar is fighting hard to hold on this year. Vicki and I live about 45 minutes apart, but her garden is light years ahead of mine in the growth department. I'm still a rookie.

After my DH finished frying out (a native Sheboygan term for grilling out, BBQing, or cooking brats on the Weber), we ate and I was able to listen to the entire episode of A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. The entire episode. Is it my birthday? No, it was just a good day. During the two hour show, I cleaned up the kitchen, finished weeding, and sat on the deck knitting away with the yarn Vicki had sent me. Perfect. Day.

Happiness.

HELP! KNITTING EMERGENCY!

2005-05-14T16:57:00.000-05:00

I interrupt your regular program for this knitting emergency.

See how beautiful this is?

Well, it is a gift for my friend who is expecting her baby in four (count them) 1, 2, 3, 4 weeks. She won't get the gift though, because I am short of wool. I am starting the first sleeve and I am out of yarn. Why, you ask, did I not buy enough yarn to begin with?

Well. Here is the story.

I bought the yarn from the LYS and they only had 2 skeins in stock at the time. The person working didn't know if there was more in the back or not. It sure seemed like the two skeins would be enough for the sweater, and maybe if I had done a smaller size it would have been. When it was pretty clear that I wouldn't have enough, I called the LYS to see if they had more. Not only didn't they have more, but the person told me that the owner was in the process of selling and wouldn't be ordering anymore. YIKES! Ever since I have been cursing myself, saying

What an idiot. What an idiot. Rule number one in knitting - always buy enough yarn for a project.

What an idiot. What an idiot. I should have picked a different color that had more available skeins. IDIOT!

Can you help? Do you have Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino stashed somewhere? Do you know someone who does? Can you point me to a yarn shop that can match my dye lot? GGRRRRR!!

HELP! I'm pretty frantic.

I have left one last message at the LYS begging for their help in finding a match for my dye lot, but I don't know if I will be successful or not.

If you can help me, there would be a reward!

Here is the information:

I need 1 skein (cripes, only 1!) of Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino in color # 608 (sometimes called dusty pink, sometimes called rose, sometimes called dusty lavendar) in dye lot # 357.

Please help!

You will now be returned to your regularly scheduled program.

Maryland?? Almost!

2005-05-06T07:42:00.000-05:00

I've used up three boxes of Kleenexes. Crying.

I could have gone. We were supposed to be in D.C. anyway - and it just happened to be the weekend of the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I was shocked when I found out that we would be in the area that weekend. Then we changed our minds.

Crying. Big time.

Why were we supposed to go there? you ask?

Well, in the continuing saga of my husband's job hunt, I got a phone call from Prince William County Schools in Manassas, Virginia. I had blown them off because after seeing the cost of living and house prices, we really didn't think that we wanted to live there. Plus - there was that terrible experience last year when we tried to tell our parents that we were moving to Cincinnati and they freaked out. I don't think we can go through that again. Yet another reason is that they wanted do a second interview with me (my first was over the phone), but there were no interviews set up for my husband (they have six openings in guidance). I was very honest with them and told them that we wouldn't consider moving unless both of us had a job.

So why didn't we go anyway? you ask?

No kidding. Why not? Especially since today is a no school day and I took a personal day yesterday to be free to travel to Virginia.

Turns out that this weekend is also the weekend of my daughter's 3 on 3 basketball tournament that is in my community. The one that I am on the planning committee for. The one that both DH and I have signed up to work for tonight and all day tomorrow. Bummer! If we had gone to Virginia, we would have had to go in one day and leave the next. Leave before MS&W even started. Moments before.

To make matters worse, or maybe better, depending upon how you look at it, I met someone who will be there this weekend. In Wisconsin. By chance. What's up with that?

Black Sheep Spinners Guild had their monthly meeting on Tuesday, and with my head pounding full of a sinus infection, I went. Carol had a friend there. She was weaving baskets. Cool! They are beautiful. Turns out she is from St. Charles, Illinois and has a business providing hand dyed, hand spun yarns, knitting kits, and baskets. Her name is Stephania Isaccson and she told me that she will be a vendor at MS&W. Check out her website! Her baskets are beautiful, and unique. One is called a lazy kate basket because there are bobbin holders on the handle to use as a lazy kate. Just fill up the bottom with yarn or tools and spin away. I wish her well, even though I am a bit jealous to have met someone at my tiny guild meeting who will be at MS&W.

So. Instead, I am spending the day with my DH. The girls attend a different school district and they have school today. MWAAAAAHAAAAHAAAA! We are off to Kinko's and Barnes & Noble. We will make up more application packets for him, have a nice lunch date, and then treat ourselves to some quiet reading and coffee time at Barnes & Noble.

Maybe I can stop crying long enough to look at some knitting books.

I WON! I WON!

2005-05-04T18:08:00.001-05:00

Here it is... my prize

Thank you baby Catherine (Elaine's daughter - Frog It) for letting me win my first contest... like ever. Like ever in my life. Really. Never even a BINGO game, and I was forced as a child to play hundreds of games of BINGO when I was a youngster as fund-raisers for my marching band. But now I won. I'm still in shock. I waited hours to open the box, just gently caressing the outside of it until my DH went insane and told me to open it before he did. I opened it slowly, savoring every second.

First I found this...

Artful Yarns Fable in "Little Red Riding Hood" God... it's so nice that you have to see it from another angle.

It's gorgeous. Now. What do I make with it? Huh? Any ideas? I'm thinking something scarfy/shawly like Charlize Theron wore in Sweet November.

Her mother actually made them, and they were crocheted. After they became popular (they were featured in a fashion spread of some sort) her mother sold them for about $200 a piece. I want one. This rosy-red color would be perfect.

We wound up the little chicken, and it walked across the coffee table "laying" eggs. It was hysterical. The thing seemed to poop out the eggs more than "lay" them. Too cute!

Then there are the magnets. Perfect for a cat-lover, which I am. Thanks JenLa!

Oh.. and Eva posted a comment that I tried to send a response via e-mail and it bounced back. Three times.

I think the man from the union meeting is in his early fifties. There was no ring (I had to check - anyone that into supporting my knitting habit had to be seriously considered!) So I have to say that there probably is not a Mrs. Union Rep Person. And, as for his willingness to move to Arizona, wouldn't anyone from Wisconsin want to move there? I rest my case!

You Mean that is ALL one String?

2005-04-30T08:36:00.000-05:00

Last weekend's union meetings were wonderful. I really enjoyed the process, the discussions, the topics that were raised, and learning how this annual meeting functions. I'm an odd duck, no doubt.

Luckily, I sat next to a man who has attended these things for a long time, AND he was kind enough to answer all of my questions patiently, and without frustration. Well, at least he faked it well if I was bugging the crap out of him. For him, I provided hours of entertainment during the meeting by knitting a sock.

I remember when I first met my husband and he saw me knit. He would stare and stare and stare for what seemed like eternity. Of course, I thought he was captivated by me, but NO. It was the knitting. After awhile he would say, "You mean that is all one string?" This never ceased to amaze him. For years he would watch me work and you could see him struggle with the idea that the fabric I was creating came from the one string. No matter how many times he had asked me and how many times I had answered him, he always asked. Now, 15 or 16 years later, that fascination is gone for him. But it wasn't for the man who sat next to me at the RA Conference.

He watched, and watched. Shifted position and tilted his head. I knew what was coming, but I wondered how long before he would ask me. We went through the typical knitting discussion dance.

After about 20 minutes he asked me, "What are you making?"
"A sock," I told him. This, of course, was an apparent request for me to take out the completed sock and show him what the final product would look like.
"Wow! That's neat."

Yes, we are old when we find other people who also use the word "neat"!

After about another 20 or 30 minutes he asked the question I was waiting for. "You mean that is all made from one string?"

BINGO! I showed him the self-patterning yarn, and although he was disappointed that I hadn't been working intricate color changes on my own, he was still impressed by the idea of one string curling up and around and through itself to make.... a sock! He was also truly impressed with my use of five double pointed needles. To him, it looked liked some kind of medieval torture device, even after I explained that I really only worked with two needles at a time. For his entertainment, I turned the heel.

He was in awe.

Later, when a women came by distributing papers and asked me what I was making, he excitedly said, "Show her the finished sock! Show her!" And then to the woman he said, "You have got to see this!"

During the lunch break, he went for a walk and when he sat down at the table, told me that there was a knitting shop nearby. He gave me the directions, remembered the name of the street it had been on, and even REMEMBERED THE NAME! If I didn't already have a wonderful knitting husband, this guy could have made me weak in the knees.

This got me to thinking. I wonder, on average, if men are more likely to be awed by the "one string" idea of knitting, or if women (non-knitters) are. Or is it pretty much equal between all male and female non-knitters? I'm also starting to wonder, just how long will somebody watch you knit before they ask you if you did that with "one string". I'm guessing about 30 - 45 minutes.

If you have stories that can contribute to this research... please post them!

Unfortunately, when I got the knitting shop (Follow Your Heart) later Saturday evening, it was closed. The meetings finished a day early, so I didn't have a chance to get there on Sunday - they opened at noon.

As for the statistics of the weekend....

900 teacher union members met for a two-day meeting in LaCrosse, Wisconsin
Two days of meetings were completed in one.
One hotel room to myself for two nights.
2 - 3 inches completed on the second sock. I didn't quite finish it, but if the meetings had continued on Sunday, I would have. I had finished the gussets and was running for the toe decreases.
I counted nine other knitters and two crocheters. I only saw half of the room, though. People were working on afghans, dishcloths, and scarves. I spoke with three of them and we exchanged projects and talked knitterly for awhile during breaks.

Excited by THIS? Yes, I am Strange!

2005-04-21T22:15:00.000-05:00

As a local union representative who will be attending the state delegate meeting from Friday night until Sunday afternoon, all I can think is:

"Any sufficiently advanced bureaucracy is indistinguishable from molasses." (Author Unknown)

or in other words,

"A weekend of being forced to sit through hours and hours and hours of meetings can only mean one thing - knitting heaven!"

I think my family now completely understands the depth of my knitting mania. It took me 20 minutes to pack my clothes and 45 minutes to pack my knitting bag. God forbid I get there to start a new pattern and I have the wrong sized needles. Now that I have packed three sets of straight needles and three corresponding sets of double points, with all of the yarn I may use (if I don't buy something new) and the pattern books I may use, I am set. I can travel in confidence. If, after I arrive, I unpack only to find that I forgot all of my precription medication and clean underwear, who cares? At least I have my knitting!

I leave tomorrow right after school for the four hour drive to LaCrosse, Wisconsin (Cold Mountain, the unabridged book on tape, is already in the car). I plan to check into my hotel (I was lucky to be the only person in a double room who didn't have to share), get my credentials for the weekend meetings, and bum around town or sit in silence watching my tv shows without any children bickering in the background. Saturday morning, breakfast will be provided for me. FOR ME! I will knit all day during the meetings, eat lunch that will be provided FOR ME, and I won't have to wash dishes! Saturday night I can go out with my coworkers for dinner, go back to the hotel and sit in the hot tub without being splashed by my children, and then I can retire to my own room with no children to knit! I know that I will be missing my family by this time. I won't get to see any of their soccer games. And even though I will enjoy the lack of fighting, bickering, whining, and hitting, I will want to call and hear my husband's voice, too.

Sunday the meetings will continue, and I can leisurely head for home afterwards. My knitting projects are:

1. Finish the second sock for my mother's Mother's Day gift.
2. Choose a baby sweater pattern (either the Seamless Yoked Baby Sweater or the Jacket with Seed Stitch Bands or V-Neck Cardigan with Contrast Ribs from Debbie Bliss' Baby Knits for Beginners). This will be a gift for a friend who is expecting child number two in about 6 weeks.
3. Then, I will have to decide on materials. Do I have enough in my portable stash, or will I have to buy materials? Shucks. Visit a yarn shop in another city? What a hardship this weekend will be! Maybe I'll find an even nicer pattern there. Hmmm.. I just may have to think carefully about this! Maybe I should forget to pack my patterns so that I have to go to the yarn shop. Hmmmm.

So, should I be a little more concerned about the weekend meetings? Should I have read things over to prepare myself more for 16+ hours of union meetings and parliamentary procedure? Naa, I listen better when I knit anyway. I'm sure I won't be alone. Maybe I can form a separate knitting table for a knitter's alliance? Sounds like an agenda item to me!

I'll let you know ~~about the issues raised within the union meeting~~ about my knitting progress on Monday.

Wish I Were HERE!

2005-04-17T11:12:00.000-05:00

Where in the world is this? It's Northcote, New Zealand. A suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. This picture (which I found on the internet) was taken from a street that was about a 5 minutes drive from where I lived.

Why do I want to be in Auckland, New Zealand?
Well.. just look at it!

Auckland from the North Shore.

Takapuna Beach. Many orange-chocolate chip ice-cream cones were eaten while walking along this beach. God, I miss that flavor!

Who wouldn't want to be here!

The real reason I would have like to have been here on Saturday, April 16, 2005 would be so that I could have attended the wedding of one of my closest friends.

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Peter Woodhead

Wish I could have been there, Sharon!
Someday!

Knitterly news

Flying off of the heels of finishing the Latvian Mittens, I started my Mother's Day project for my mother. Socks. These are a cotton/wool blend and hopefully will be a little cooler than the pure wool.

I debated about using a different pattern that would have some texture to it. Maybe an eyelet? Maybe some cables? But with this type of patterning yarn, I wasn't sure that I would have liked the results. I think it would have taken away from the self-pattern.

This photo was taken before the camping trip. I am now on the second white section of the leg (but haven't gotten to the heel flap yet).

My mother gave me specific instruction, "if I would make socks." They needed to:

If? What is she talking about. Like I need an "if" to knit! HA!

Her requests:
1. Have a longer leg. In the past I made the sock to fit just above the ankle, but apparently this was not enough above the ankle. This time - CHECK - longer leg.
2. Have a longer cuff. Two inches wasn't long enough for her. CHECK
3. Use a yarn that will be cooler and can be worn in summer. CHECK
4. Keep the socks coming. Did you know that handknit socks are said to be very helpful for people with Diabetes? I saw this on some brochures that my mother brought home after she was formally diagnosed a few years ago. People with Diabetes need to take extra good care of their feet, and if problems arise, they can develop into something serious easily. My grandmother lost her leg because of Diabetes-related problems. Anyway, handknit socks have no seam at the toe, and this relieves pressure on the foot. So I've made her four pairs already. CHECK

Finished Object - Posting Attempt 2

2005-04-10T16:06:00.000-05:00

Well here they are in all of their glory. A beautiful pair of Latvian Mittens.

Latvian Mittens

Yarn: Dale of Norway Heilo Yarn in soft blue and deep blue
Needles: size 0 (5 double points)
Gauge: 18 stitches and 17 rows in 2 inches
Pattern: Latvian Mittens by Lizbeth Upitis. Pattern #96, page 81
Approximate Start Date: January 3, 2005
Approximate End Date: March 15, 2005

I wore them the weekend after I finished them and got lots of compliments.

One thing that thrills me to no end is that the pattern repeats across the mittens when they are set side by side, see?

Now, this shouldn't have been such a surprise, because there were only 2 pattern repeats in one round (meaning it was pretty obvious that one pattern would cover the top of the mitten and the other, the bottom). But, I never get tired of seeing it. It pleases my compulsive nature.

Here is a close up of the beautiful braid.

Here is a photo of the inside of the thumb. This wasn't so easy to knit. The pattern was supposed to repeat on the inside of the thumb, but after several screaming episodes and threats from the neighbors to wash out my mouth with soap, I decided to do something different.

If you have read my blog for awhile, you will know about my engagement ring. It was my grandmother's engagement ring, given to her by my grandfather. It was passed down to my mother (the youngest daughter) and then to me (the youngest daughter). One day it will go to my youngest daughter. DH and I had a hard time finding a wedding band to go with it, but finally found a match that seemed to be perfect. The rings got caught in the picture so I thought I would tell their story.

We got back from camping at noon, and finally finished cleaning up. Three days of nearly 70 degree weather in April in Wisconsin? We must be dreaming!

Fried Post!

2005-04-08T14:38:00.000-05:00

I hit "Publish Post" last night after, might I say, a pretty darn good post. As soon as I hit it, an error occurred and even the "recover post" button did not work.

Darn Blogger! I have heard people complain, but have never had a problem myself. All day today Blogger was down, and now we are off for a weekend camping trip to a state park.

I'll post Sunday.

Congratulations to the new mom!

2005-04-03T15:31:00.000-05:00

Make sure you head over to Elaine's site, she has pictures posted of the babies - and they are CUTE! Congratulations to the whole family. Elaine, you worked hard and look at how it paid off! They are perfect.

James Peter
March 29, 2005
9:04 am
7lbs. 6oz.
19 inches

Catherine Marie
March 29, 2005
9:09 am
8lbs.
20 3/4 inches

Very, very, very short post today. Why, you ask? Well, it's 56 degrees in Wisconsin in April. Need I say more? It seems that we have brought a touch of Arkansas weather here. I just got done digging out one of my flower beds, and now I'm running out to clean gutters so that the rain can get through them again.

I finished one of the socks this morning, and I plan to cast on the second while watching the NCAA Women's semi-final tonight. GO LSU! GO TENNESSEE!

Do you note a sense of ultra happiness in my writing? We have been kidless for almost 24 hours! WAHOO! Each of the girls had an unplanned sleepover at a friend's house. What did we do with all of this time? Well, naturally, we both feel alseep in front of the TV by 10:00 last night, but this morning we have drank coffee and enjoyed the day without once hearing fighting, complaining, whining or bickering.

Chocolately Chippiness

2005-03-28T22:33:00.000-06:00

It’s amazing that after several “bad” situations, we had a great time and have already started planning the next big trip. There were four major “situations” that arose on this trip. The Beagle was situation number one.

Have you heard that dogs shouldn’t eat chocolate? I have too, but I never really believed that it could make them as sick as people said, until now. On Tuesday night, in a frenzy of suitcases, counted pairs of underwear, hair products, and a flurry of packing activities, I decided to become domestic. I baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I had saved the bag of chips (which is a feat in itself – normally they never see the cookie dough because the bag is violated and chips are stolen bit by bit from the bag in the pantry). Originally I had planned to bake a batch on the first snow day, but there weren’t any this year, so I thought it would be nice to chomp on some homemade cookies as we traveled to Arkansas. Singing a happy tune, I became the “good mom” and baked away. These lovely domestic sounds could be heard throughout the kitchen:

“Damn, where is the butter? We don’t have enough? I am not running to the store at this time of night! I’ll use half butter and half shortening.”

Ok. Back on track, humming away.

“There isn’t any more flour? What the hell is going on? I finally decided to be all motherly and the baking fairies have trashed my supplies!”

I found some cake flour and used that with the all-purpose flour that was left. I baked them up, and they tasted ok. Not as good as normal, but what can you expect with two major substitutions?

We finished packing and went to bed. I had to work a half-day on Wednesday so this meant that DH and the girls would be putting all of our gear into the camper and the van. This was dangerous. It required careful, considerate placement of all necessary items to ensure that nothing important would be left behind (like the time DH treated me to a camping weekend where I didn’t have to lift a finger – he packed everything for our 4 day trip, except underwear for me – I wore my swimsuit while my single pair of undies was washed and dried each day. Now, each trip begins with “Did you pack undies?” I will never let him forget that one. Oh, yes. He did pack underwear for himself on that trip.) Everything was organized for this trip. If it was on the kitchen table, the dining room table, or the “suitcase packing zone” it needed to be put in the van. The cookies were stashed carefully on the dining room table, safe from doggie noses. Or so I thought.
When we woke up Wednesday morning, we found the bag of cookies shredded on the dining room floor. Chocolate chips and crumbs were ground into the carpeting. We found the Beagle resting happily on our bed, stealing most of the space, as usual. She realized the gig was up and tried to look apologetic. I was pissed. Only 10 of the 36 cookies were left, and those cookies looked like they had been contaminated with dog drool, or sniffs at the least. I packed them anyway… my hard work would not be thrown out. We didn’t eat them for three days. That’s the biological limit for doggie contamination, right?

At noon, the camper crew picked me up at school and we were off. I knit away on my mother’s sock, listened to the radio as the girls watched a DVD on the computer (ain’t modern traveling grand?) and we counted off the miles. We stopped in Marion, Illinois – after nine hours of driving. We got a cheap room at the Super 8 and brought in our gear to settle down for some sleep at 10:30. (If you have done the math and figured out that noon plus nine hours does not equal 10:30.. we had to stop for a camper part that wasn’t working correctly – the dealer was right on the highway, we stopped for supper at our favorite travel restaurant, Cracker Barrel, and had two other pottie breaks)

After getting the room and the girls set up and ready, I got my pj’s on and was about to climb into the bed when my youngest daughter announced that the dog had just pooped on the floor. What? She NEVER does that! One look at her and my DH and I both realized that she was miserable. She looked sick. This was not good. We cleaned up the mess, took her outside to have her go pottie again (she didn’t) and then tried to figure out how to prevent accidents while we slept. We left her long leash on and tied it around my oldest daughter’s waist (she volunteered to make sure the Beagle was properly taken care of – she plans to become president of PETA) This way, we would know if she got off of the bed for ANY reason, and we could take her outside BEFORE an accident. Then we tried to sleep. The Beagle whined and groaned all night. She tried to jump off of the bed once and gagged as her collar cut off her air. I jumped to help her out. There was little sleeping going on. In the morning, we packed up and headed out. The Beagle refused to eat (what a surprise.. there was about a pound of cookie dough wrecking havoc in her digestive system), but drank and did her job before we left. On the road again, I happily knit on the sock. About an hour into the drive, the oldest daughter started screaming, “The dog! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! The dog! Oh, my God!”
Why is it that kids will go on screaming like this for 20 minutes while parents scream back, “What is it?” “What is it?” over and over without getting any reply except, “Oh, my God?” Another mystery of life.

The Beagle was peeing in the van. Big time. All over the floor. The carpeted floor. And we were between exits. There was nothing to do. At the next exit we pulled over and surveyed the damage. It was bad. We were lucky that she chose to do this “thing” in a spot where the pee didn’t get on anything else. Only the carpeting. It was soaked. It smelled, and we were driving into warmer weather. It was getting warmer every hour. This was bad. The Beagle looked worse. We started talking about visiting a vet in Arkansas as soon as we arrived if she didn’t get better by the evening. We prepared the girls that this could be very bad for an 11-year old dog. Her eyes were sunken and she looked as though she had already lost weight. We couldn’t even be mad at her, we just felt sorry for her. There wasn’t one complaint from anyone about the smell or the wet carpeting. We drove on.

After setting up camp (more on that story later), the Beagle was perking up. She loves camping. She dug around in the leaves and set her butt down very gingerly to sleep. Obviously, her butt was hurting her and she was still miserable, but she seemed to be through the worst of it. She was pretty much her normal self for the rest of the trip, just a little extra thirsty and a light eater.

What have I learned from this?

I will never bake cookies again! Or, maybe I will find a better place to store them before a trip? Ok. I’ll bake again, but not for awhile.

Spring Break - Arkansas

2005-03-22T13:55:00.000-06:00

My children must be nuts. Don't most kids hate riding across the country for hours at a time? Don't most kids call out for potty breaks every 5 minutes, and ask, "Are we there, yet?" every 2 minutes? Mine never have. Maybe it's because they know it's hopeless anyway, we spend all of our time driving around and whining about it won't make it stop. They have been raised on wheels. They are excited by the idea of driving into the wee hours of the night through states we have never been to before. When I told them it will take 14 hours to get here .....

their response was, "Oh, that's not so bad. Will we get to sleep and feel the road going under the van for a long time?"

They are freaks. I know it. And I love it!

This trip is because of them. At Christmas they begged for a long car ride again. Long for us means 12 - 24 hours. My husband, a few weeks later, commented that it would be cool to see a women's college basketball tournament game. My task was set before me.

The plan?

We leave tomorrow at noon - when my spring break officially starts - and drive to Hot Springs, Arkansas with the camper on the back of the van and the Beagle snuggled up with the girls. We stop somewhere to sleep and Thursday we finish the 14 hour drive and set up camp somewhere. I don't believe in reservations. I'm hoping to find a campsite with a lakefront view and you can't reserve those. We live on the edge! Reservations are too stressful. If you don't arrive at the hotel in the city you reserved at the time you planned, there is anxiety. Without reservations, we can decide when we have had enough, change our plans in an instant, and everything is fun. There are about a billion hotel rooms in the country, and we have always found one when we needed one.

Thursday night, the oldest daughter and DH will watch NCAA Division II Women's Basketball at Summit Arena while the younger daughter and I find some place to go shopping and eat sweets. Friday we will hang out and Saturday there is the championship game. Sunday we will pack up and head for home so that we have a couple of days to do laundry before going back to school.

I'm packing only two knitting projects. The pair of socks for my mother and baby caps for a friend. I plan to do some serious car knitting and camping knitting.

Going on a road trip with the family for a weekend $300
Basketball tournament tickets $60
Sitting outside in March without boots, snow pants or even needing to wear pure wool PRICELESS!

You can't get this in Wisconsin folks!

Snowstorm.... my fault

2005-03-20T21:25:00.000-06:00

I have finally emerged from the pile of roving to take some time to post. It's been crazy... spinning, knitting, working, cleaning, and spending the weekend as a basketball tournamet mom.

I returned the Ashford Elizabeth II wheel and asked to rent a Schacht Spindle for a month. The owner told me that they really only rent wheels for class times, and have never rented a wheel for someone "out of class". She made it very clear that they want to sell wheels, not rent them, and my use of one of their wheels would depreciate the value for a future sale. I understood this, but was perturbed none-the-less. I want to seriously try the wheels before I make such an investment. I want to know what I like and don't like before I shell out a few hundred dollars. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so, because after calling a few other places that had spinning wheel "rentals" I had been scoffed at enough when I asked if I could rent a wheel. After some negotiating, Yarns By Design allowed me to rent a Schacht for two weeks, and no more after that.

I like the Schacht, for the most part. It is much easier to treadle than the Ashford Elizabeth (this model is a double treadle), but for some reason I have been having a hard time getting the wheel started. Plying was SUPER EASY on this wheel. Actually enjoyable. There was no need to change the tension, I only reversed the spinning direction. I have spun 8 ounces and plied it in three nights. I'm almost ready for the next guild meeting where we dye the wool with commercial dyes. I don't like changing the bobbins. It's a pain to unwind the tension and "pop" out the bobbin. It is really difficult to match up the pins at each end because the eyelets move easily. I also don't like to hang my tools from the crank, and most of the people who have this wheel do this. It's convenient, but I personally don't want my tools dangling from anything. I like the brands that have built in storage for the hook better.

I have finished the Latvian mittens and wore them to the Wisconsin 6th grade girl's state basketball tournament. Lots of compliments. The reason we got 8 - 9 inches of snow on Friday night was because I needed an excuse to wear these mittens. Sorry to everyone else who had to travel in that, it was because of my mitten desires! Our trip took much longer than normal, but we made it. Synopsis of the tournament? Our girls were shook by the stiff competition. They lost their first game 29-20, won their second game (can't remember the score), lost their third game by 26 points (awful, awful game), and lost their fourth game (they never recovered from that third game). We went back to the hotel, ate pizza and let the girls use up what little energy they had left by swimming in the pool. Today they played two games. They won the first game by 3 points and lost the second game by 1 point. They had such an exciting last game... a foul on a shot to bring the score to within one point with 2 seconds left on the clock. She didn't make either of the free throws, the poor girl was so shook. I was super proud of our team. They have never really had tough competition, and have never been down in a game by more than 5, so this was a new experience, and they held up well and learned a lot. The games they played today already showed a lot of improvement. All I have to say is watch out next year! As fifth graders last year these girls didn't do well in two tournaments and this year they came back to win them both. They are fighters. My daughter had the best games of her little career. I'm still bursting with pride. DH actually welled up with tears after one of the games when we were talking about it in the car. She is the sixth woman on the team, the first sub to be called out, and she wants to be a starter. She played so hard that she was left in for the majority of every game. I feel bad for the girl who sat and isn't used to that, but most of the parents were impressed with how well my daughter did, and the coaches were amazed and pleased as well. They hope this is a sign of what she has to offer in the future. The snotty, competitive, clicky, in-bred locals who made snide comments about why she was out there instead of the other girl will never realize or see that my daughter played better this weekend. The next tournament could be different. I just wish that our parents could be better team cheerers. It's crystal clear after this weekend that we will never get along as adults, but I sure wish we could be more positive as spectators. One of the coaches had hoped to win the sportmanship award, but after the first game today, she told me that it would never happen because of the parents. The ref glared several times at our bench as the parents screamed about the calls. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm a parent of this team because of the other parents, not because of the girls. I'm so proud of them!

My new knitting project is a pair of socks of my mother for Mother's Day. Details to come.

Happy Blogiversary!

2005-03-12T07:27:00.000-06:00

One Year!

One whole year!

After exactly one year of blogging, what have I learned?
1) Blogging is publicly personal. I started my blog to help myself complete some projects that had been hanging around on needles for a long time. After a few months, I became aware of how my entries really told the story of me. Me knitting. Me contemplating a big move. Me with my family. Our family excursions. Knitting in a canoe.Me struggling with money and helping DH keep upbeat about his job search. Me being a proud mom. Me becoming introduced to spinning. Me making new friends that I would never have met if it weren’t for blogging.
2) I can make Latvian mittens! But my first pair don’t compare to those beautiful mittens made by Stephanie.
3) My knitting obsessions are not unique to me. Before blogging, I never knew how many people also planned trips based on LYSs in the area. I mean, how can you go to a new city without looking up what yarn shops are in the area? It’s not possible!
I also know that I’m not alone in packing necessary items for a trip like underwear, toothpaste, shoes, clothes, and pajamas only to excitedly close up the suitcase and devote some serious time to packing the true essentials. Which projects will come along? Will I need extra skeins? How about these needles? Do I have all of the patterns I will need?
4) Even though there are nearly thousands of knitting bloggers, the average knitter still doesn’t know what a blog is. At my spinning class, I mentioned some of the things that I had learned online, and when another student asked me where I had gotten this information, I told her the blog name, thinking that she would immediately reply, “Oh, sure! I haven’t been to that site in awhile. I’ll have to check it out.” Instead, she looked at me with that face. The face where eyebrows crinkle, noses twitch, and heads tilt to the side as if to say, “What the hell are you talking about?” Us knitting bloggers have a log of work to do to get the word out about how great blogs are!5) I finished quite a few projects in the past year! Here is the list:God Awful CardiganSecret Sock Sisters Swap SocksAt least 5 baby caps6 pairs of fuzzy feetFelted cap for my DHOne and a half Argyle Socks that don’t match – these were for the TKGA Masters that I never finished and don’t plan to finish anymoreA pair of Latvian Mittens (they should be done tonight)

I like this blogging stuff!

Step Aside, I am a Professional!

2005-03-04T14:48:00.000-06:00

After three weeks, it's official. I'm hooked. I'm a spinning pro!

I wanted to post some pictures of my spinning, but I left my spinning at work yesterday and now I'm home with a sick daughter (the younger one) and I have nothing here to take pictures of. Gasp!

In three weeks I have spun over 1 1/2 pounds of roving. The first two skeins were ghastly, but at the spinning guild meeting one of the women told me that after a few washings it might be soft and nice. I sincerely doubt it, but I'm up for the challenge! This will most likely involve "before" and "after" photos.

The next 4 (count them..one, two three four!) skeins got better and better. I couldn't get the scotch tension to work on the Ashford Elizabeth, and swearing was involved as I plyed a few feet and then stopped to wrap it on the bobbin by hand. What a pain. I was determined that the wheel was to blame, until - my new spinning friends moved the whorl band to a different place. Hmmm. I thought I had sat down and mathematically calculated every possible combination. Obviously I missed this one because not only did it now ply wonderfully, but it also drew so much nicer when spinning a single.

Now I really like the Ashford wheel, but it is a bit too big and difficult to transport. I felt a bit funny at the guild meeting where everyone had a nice compact castle style spinning wheel and I marched in with the "mother of all wheels" bumping against doorjambs and stair railings. But still, they were impressed with my new spinning dedication.

Knitting? No, not doing that. Well, I hadn't until today. I figured that a "child" sick day entitled me to rent a good kid movie and work on the mitten. Shrek 2 with the DirecTV "all day ticket" is just the ticket! Plus popcorn. With butter. Oh, yeah - this child is totally unwell. She did cough a few times while she watched the movie, and I have decided that she must be really sick because she has stayed on the couch all day except to go to the bathroom or get something to drink. If she were well she would be playing in the other room and bugging me to build a fort or watch her new-fangled dance moves.

Tomorrow is the championship game for the older daughter. They won their first basketball tournament and tomorrow they play a tough team for first place in their second tournament. I'll have to take my Metamucil to calm my stomach. Basketball has become our life. When we're not at one of her games, we have watched boy's tournaments at her school and we have been watching college pre-March Madness. We're thinking about going to Hot Springs, Arkansas over Spring Break to watch Division II women's Elite Eight games. DH and the oldest daughter would go to the game while the younger daughter and I found some nice LYSs. And shopped. And found a great coffee shop. And ate lots of gooey sweets. Definitely the sweets! Maybe I can find some new roving? Hmmm.. that would be good. Anybody ever been there?
I'm totally open for suggestions!

Spinning Wheel, Got to Go Round - (Blood Sweat & Tears)

2005-02-26T23:31:00.000-06:00

Isn't it amazing that it only takes two weeks to become an expert? Well, I may be stretching it a bit, but after a week, I did this!

It plyed it into a beautiful yarn, and it's very soft. A HUGE improvement from my first attempt (no pictures.. I'm even afraid to show it to people. Except that it can be called "artistic", but even that 's strecthing it).

I went back for the final class last Thursday. I brought two full bobbins like the one pictured above and learned how to ply on the Louet wheel. Then I tried an Ashford Elizabeth 2 wheel. It looks like this:

Anyway. Here is a brief review of both wheels from a two week spinning master!

Louet S51DT

This was a great wheel to start on. The tension was great, once I got it set appropriately, and it took my beginner rope without complaining that it looked like crap. My first 1/2 pound of roving was gone in 4 days, and I tried plying by myself without great success. The first roving was sticky and hard to draft. It was very tough. I bought it from the shop that offered the class, and I didn't like it. I don't think it was a good quality. My next roving came from down the road at Hidden Valley Woolen Mill. Carol was so nice! I bought a color called "Lady of the Lake" and started filling up my bobbins. This time I waited until class night to ply. I didn't want to ruin this soft, pretty yarn. The first roving I didn't care about, it didn't even feel nice on the bobbin, so I knew that I wouldn't want to work with it, but Lady of the Lake had a lot of potential as a final product. The Louet was a nice, forgiving wheel. It went and went and went, and asked for more. The only problem I had was when I wanted to make a thin yarn. It wasn't possible, even when I predrafted like a fiend. No matter how hard I tried, I seemed to end up with DK weight yarn. If I predrafted very thin, the yarn would just break and I was forced to go thicker. When I brought the wheel back to class, the teacher told me that this was a typical problem with this wheel. She encouraged me to try a different wheel. So I did.

Ashford Elizabeth 2
Well first of all, this was a dream because the wheel is from New Zealand. The roving is from sheep down the road which are a New Zealand breed. I have been to Ashburton, New Zealand, where the company is located. Right here the wheel had me hooked. I knew this had to be the perfect wheel for me.

I started spinning on Elizabeth in class. It went smoothly from the start. I had no trouble switching to the single treadle, although I did have to pay close attention at first to make sure the wheel didn't reverse direction when I started spinning. At home, I had a hard time getting the wheel to take the yarn at first, but after playing with it for awhile, the tension seemed to improve. I'm not really sure how. Starting the wheel by hand really helped with this. After I got going, I felt like a pro. DH and the girls went to Hidden Valley for me and picked out a new roving. I didn't want to tell the girls that my plan was to spin yarn to make them each a pair of mittens, but I ended up telling them anyway after they picked out "Royal Flush" as a colorway. My DH and children gasped as I spun silky, thin thread almost invisible to the naked eye! I worked magic! The yarn was beautiful and it was soft. Today I brought it to show my MIL, and she oohed and aahed over it, too. Back at home I went to ply it. No luck. I sat and sat for over an hour, but again the yarn wouldn't feed onto the bobbin. The bobbin just spun and spun and my yarn twisted into a mess. I tried to change over to Scotch tension, but there was no manual, so I just played around until finally it kind of worked when I ran both belts around the spool and put the clear wire around them for some drag. I worked forever plying, often having to wind the yarn onto the bobbin by hand. It was not fun. I finally finished and wanted to spin a single again, but again it wouldn't draw. I had it set up with the original tension of one belt on the whorl and the other on the bobbin, but no luck. I ended up going to bed. Disgusted.

So, which wheel do I like better? Neither. Jury is still out on what will work best for me. I love how easy the Louet was to work, but I couldn't get the yarn I wanted. The Elizabeth is from New Zealand, which wins many points with me, easily makes thin yarn once it gets started, but is very, very, very touchy. It demands patience. Or someone who knows what they are doing, and I clearly don't.

I'll try again tomorrow.

Oh, and yes. I am still working on the mittens. They are progressing slowly now because my "spinning wheel's got to go round." The second mitten is only a little farther and doesn't warrant a photo, yet.

Glory Days

2005-02-18T23:09:00.000-06:00

I remember high school in the eighties. Friday nights were all about finding the 18 year-old in Wisconsin who could still legally drink and was willing to buy us minors the booze we craved. Sometimes it involved going to one of the two high school sock hops that were held after the varsity basketball game. On occasion, we would use our activity pass to be one of the 45 people attending the game. The stands were empty, except for the 40 parents of the basketball players and cheerleaders, and the 5 die-hard basketball fans who actually understood what “zone defense” meant. My friends and I were the girls who popped in for the final 2 minutes of the game and cheered at all the wrong times. We didn’t care. We were cheering for the game to be over so that the dance could start.

As an adult, I have even less interest in high school sports. My children are years away from high school. I have no business there. Or do I? Welcome to my village of 1,000, located in? The Twilight Zone.

My task for you is to read this description, and tell me, honestly, if I live in the Twilight Zone or if I am a complete moron and this type of behavior is normal. Remember. I’m talking HIGH SCHOOL and MIDDLE SCHOOL.

Maybe all villages of 1,000 people are like this. I know that we were initially mesmerized by how this community rallied around the school and its children. Each Thursday our weekly newspaper has been filled with photographs of children with captions like, “The second grade students hone their square dancing skills,” or, “Girls battle against each other in the high school Powder Puff football game”. We bought it all. This, we knew, would be a great place to raise our children.

At first we were optimistic. Sure our neighbor’s first questions of if we had attended the local high school seemed odd, but surely they would warm up to us after we had spent some time chatting. Nine years later, few of them talk to us. You see we are transplants. We didn’t attend the local high school, we didn’t marry someone who attended the local high school, and we didn’t marry a relative of someone who attended the local high school. They were left with nothing to talk to us about and we have spent nine years in deafening silence.

When our oldest daughter started playing soccer, we were thrilled. Thrilled to cheer on every player. Thrilled to share adult laughter at the cute things our children did both on the field and off. When our daughter was asked to play on a 3 on 3 basketball team we were… well… surprised. She had never really played basketball before, but the fourth grade girl who wanted to put a team together was her close friend, and as my daughter practiced, I watched to learn more about the game. I thought it would be like the soccer games. “Go Team!” “Yeah!” and knowing glances with other parents about the cuteness of children as they learned new skills, but oh, was I wrong. Who invited these parents that started screaming, “SHOOT!” “USE YOUR BUTT!” and “HELP! HELP!”. Oh. God. They were the parents of a girl on my daughter’s team. That was two years ago. Since then, we have added countless other parents who scream directions from the bleachers (I call them bleacher coaches) and criticize the split second decision of 12 year old players who are lucky if they have 50 games of experience under their belts. I was even more surprised to learn that most of the parents screaming had never played the game themselves! Maybe this behavior was something particular to the parents of this team. I had caught the parents of other teams smiling at one another. Sometimes.

Last Friday we attended the boy’s varsity basketball game because our youngest daughter had participated in a pom pon clinic and performed at half time. I was shocked by what I saw. Several parents of children the same age as my children filled the stands. They had no one on the team. Parents who have groomed their own sons to be future local stars (they built a cement half court in their backyard complete with nighttime lights) smoozed with the varsity coaches, trying to create a space for their sons on the team four years from now. Parents of girls on my daughter’s team were there, also having obviously bought into the policitalness of high school sports. Maybe we should attend games on a regular basis. Everyone else seemed to. Is this the only way you get your child on a high school team? True, most of these people were born here, grew up here, and stayed to raise their children here. They still come to “the game”. Their children, no doubt, will repeat the process. Life here revolves on what you did in high school.

Tonight we went to the girl’s varsity basketball game for two reasons. First, my daughter and my husband wanted to see a game, and second, my daughter’s good friend has been a manager of the team for at least three years (when she was a third grader). Again, parents of toddlers were there with parents of elementary school students, and parents of high school students. The stands were packed. In a community of 1,000, more than a third of them were at the game. Toddlers were passed from parents to grandparents as they all stood to sing the school song. I didn’t even know my school had a “school song” until graduation day when I asked someone next to me, “What is the band playing?” We both found out only after digging through the program. At the game, the woman sitting next to me (a local) jabbed me in the ribs and told me to stand up for “the cheer” and “the song”. Everyone joined in. It was like high school all over again, especially because I am still the only one cheering at the wrong time. Now, though, I have 300 people glaring at me when I accidentally cheer for the wrong team. They don’t like it much.

They take their high school sports seriously. The grandmother in front of me had no relative on the team, but screamed out to one of the players anyway, telling her that she needed to, “Pass the ball for Christ sake,” and, “Pass it to Abby!” Adults all around us screamed profanities at the refs at almost every call. Adults on the opposing side did cat calls before our players shot free throws, trying to break their concentration. Who the hell are the kids? Do they never grow up in this village? If this story sounds familiar and you live in my neighborhood… YES. I AM TALKING ABOUT YOU!

You. The person who kept screaming, “Swing it” when our team was on offense. You. The person who called all of the players by their first name even though your own children graduated 10 years ago and you don’t know these kids. You. Who came to the game because your daughter’s boyfriend played in the band before the game and you need to make an “appearance”. You. My neighbor, who caught my eye, AGAIN, and couldn’t be polite enough to even say, “Hello”. You. Who came to the game thinking that it would improve your chance to be the coach when your kid is on the team that will no doubt win the state champion bringing glory and honor to your name and this community. You people are the reason I want to move. Fast.

I feel so sorry for those kids playing. I can’t even imagine the pressure they must feel.

I just want to tell all of you that after you graduate from high school, you really aren’t supposed to relive it every Friday night until your ashes are spread over the outdoor football field. Get over it. You graduated, and now it is someone else’s turn to be a kid, not yours. You don’t need to do “the cheer” or call out kid’s first names as if you just had them in your study hall. Those days are OVER for you.

This cute, quaint village with the smiling faces peering out from each week’s newspaper has shown its true face. It is a bad episode of the Twilight Zone or Pleasantville, minus the pleasant. Are all small villages like this? Please tell me!

Lucky me, I get to spend the next two days surrounded by these morons who don’t seem to understand the rules that are read out prior to each game about sportsmanlike conduct of players and fans. Just because you pay a fee to watch a game doesn’t give you the right to taunt the players and the refs as though it were a professional game.

Saturday and Sunday are all-day 5th and 6th grade basketball tournaments on our high school court. Yippee. “USE YOUR BUTT” and all of the other adults who act like spoiled children will be there. Smoozing. The same community members who were at the games tonight will no doubt show up and scream at these little 11 and 12 year old as though they don’t know how to play correctly. Well, they don’t. That’s the point!

I can hardly wait.

Evil Mamma

2005-02-15T13:38:00.000-06:00

How cruel is it to wake up and be excited because your daughter is running a temp of 102 and you can stay home? Pretty cruel. I know. Sorry, I got a 65% on the bitchy test, and this is just an example of my total evilness.

As usual, I was slow to wake up this morning. I layed in bed hoping that if I refused to acknowledge the morning, maybe it would go away. Maybe, if I slept long enough, I could reverse time and it would still be the middle of the night. I need to get over this idea that I can manipulate time. It never works.

I finally dragged my butt out of bed and, feeling guilty about my excitement over a sick child, made a nice breakfast, drove the healthy child to school, came home and disinfected the house. The sweetest thing? Being told by my 12 year-old patient that she wanted me home with her instead of being left home alone. She's at that age, you know. Parents aren't always cool and only babies have mom stay home with them when they have the sniffles. She, on the other hand, is grossly ill. Fever of 102, sore throat, raspy cough, and sneezing. I don't remember ever hearing her sneeze before. They are kind of cute sneezes, except for the time she sneezed into the refrigerator without covering her mouth and then locked in all of the germs to be preserved in refrigeration (now that our refrigerator is working again). Total house disinfection is required after this.

Being February, it seemed like a good time to finally put away the Christmas decorations that were still sitting out. Uh-huh. Really, they were all over the place. The Christmas cards were still hanging from the ribbons. The miniature trees and Santas had pretty much been put away, but I had kept out the generic "winter" decorations. Snow men, snow women, snow people, and a Santa and a reindeer that had hidden themselves behind a snowman to avoid being put away a month ago.

Then I vacuumed. Seriously vacuumed. Those dust bunnies along the edge where the carpeting meets the baseboard? Gone. The dust bunnies on my valences. Also gone. The basement dust bunnies. Sucked up. Gone. Finito! Next, I dusted, and cleaned the bird cage. It's amazing how much birds poop. One little parakeet can make quite a mess. I suppose that regular cleaning would prevent this, but animals in our house have learned to wait patiently for clean cages. I even washed her "little friend" - the mirror. She can actually see her "little friend" again. Happy chirpy sounds have come from her cage all morning.

After administering more Motrin, feeding the patient some soup, and washing up the dishes, I proclaimed it nap time. This would have been perfect knitting time, but instead I started my favorite annual hobby - taxes. I could have used this time to spin more, but I have been a spinning fiend... all of my roving is gone. I'm hoping to run down the road to my local woolen mill and purchase some more this afternoon. Tomorrow will be another sick day I'm sure.. she doesn't seem much better, but DH will take his turn tomorrow. I don't think he will clean, though.

Update! Update!

2005-02-12T16:17:00.000-06:00

Ok.. I have lots to cover. This week has been nutso!

First... spinning.

I went to class on Thursday and sat down at a Louet S51DT. It looks like this:

At class, I did pretty well. Here was my first single, that the instructor had ply onto itself.

Not pretty, but I knew that this would be a process. I knew that this would not be something that I could just sit down and do easily. It makes me think of a potter's wheel, which is odd because I've never used a potter's wheel, but the idea works. The first thing you make on a potter's wheel is mostly crappy, but as you learn, you improve. So it seems that spinning will also be this kind of process.

At class I did pretty well. Near the end of class, the fiber wouldn't feed into the bobbin anymore and the teacher said, "Oh, you just need to play with the tension."

"Ok," I thought. "I can do that at home."

I got home and the girls were waiting up for me, as was DH. They wanted to see me spin. I sat down and tried and tried, but the damn thing wouldn't work. "How come it's not working?" DH asked. He's lucky to have complete use of all of his body parts after that comment. If I knew why it wasn't working I could make it work. After 45 minutes, after sending the girls to bed, and almost breaking down into tears at least 5,000 times. I got it to work. Not well, but it did draw in the fiber. It was ugly, but I was spinning at home. By myself.

Friday night I came home and moved the wheel to my kitchen vinyl flooring instead of the living room carpeting. I played with the tension a little bit and Wowee! I was spinnning. Pretty well, if I do say so myself. The yarn was thick, but it was spun. After the first round of bleacher butt watching my youngest daughter do her pompon routine at the halftime varsity basketball game, I went home and spun some more.

This morning we were up with the sun and off to the oldest daughter's BBall game. They won 48 to 8 and played very well... next week the tournaments start. We came home, ate quick and washed dishes quick and I showed them how to spin. They got it pretty easily. Sometimes I really hate how easily kids learn things! How come our old brain cells can't do that?

Well, I'm now trying to find an Internet site that will show me how to ply so that I can try it. It sounds fairly simple in theory, but so did spinning! YIKES!

The mittens were coming along slowly and now all work has ceased until I get the spinning bug settled down some. Here is my progress:

I know, it's not even blocked yet. Can you sense their feeling of dejection?

This afternoon we were at the youngest daughter's swim meet. She was nervous, but completed every event without having to be pried from my hip. She did pretty well, took 3rd or 4th in almost every race. WooHoo!

Tomorrow? Shopping. Then home to spin some more!

Spinning Day!

2005-02-10T15:30:00.000-06:00

Tonight is my first class to learn how to spin! I get to keep the wheel for a month, so I can practice at home! YEEHAA! I hope I'm not all thumbs! Class is from 6:30 until 8:30 and I get to go right after school and enjoy a coffee, have a quiet supper, and then head to class.

Slow progress on the second mitten... just like the second anything. The pattern is easier to work, but for some reason it's not as exciting as the first time.

Very, very short post.

Proud Mamma

2005-02-06T08:22:00.000-06:00

First, let me say that the first mitten is done. Or have I already said that and still have not posted a picture? Hmmmm.

Let me just say that the second mitten is going well. Better than the first, and the first went well. I think that's how it goes when you have to make two. The second sleeve is always easier, the second sock flows along more quickly with fewer glances to the pattern, and the second mitten is more relaxed (hopefully the tension doesn't have a noticeable difference - it seems ok) and I only have to glance at the chart once to know what needs to happen each row. Ok, twice. Well sometimes three times, but only when one of the girls interrupts me and asks where her red shirt is, or if I can sign her assignment notebook, or if I am planning to cook. Ever. And I am forced to leave my knitting for a moment to deal with them.

Speaking of the girls, we now have four instead of two! No, I wasn't pregnant without reporting (that would be the day that I wouldn't SHOUT OUT if I found out I was pregnant) - both girls are having friends sleep over. Am I nuts? Actually no! My plan worked. One daughter asked for a friend to sleep over, and normally this means that my other daughter becomes a pain in the butt, saying, "They won't let me.............," "I want to do ......................., but ................, " "So and so won't let me play.................," blah blah blah. Having both girls invite a friend to sleep over means? Peace! Really! I sat and knit last night and right now the 12 year olds are sleeping (probably until noon) and the 9 year olds are watching TV and playing. Peacefully. Happily. No one wants anything. I love it. Well, they do want to eat, but I still love it!

Last night was a school event. For the tsunami. Funny, about two weeks ago, my 12 year old asked if she could bake something and sell it outside on the corner to make money for the tsunami. Ok. We live on a street that has NO LIFE! Seriously! In summer, at 9:00 at night, my husband and I will be sitting on the deck and the entire neighborhood is IN BED! SLEEPING! We feel like such hipsters... drinking beer at night after 9:00. Rebels we are.

I was so proud of my daughter's idea, but it was hard to make her understand that she wouldn't really be happy with the sales from her corner bake sale. I told her to talk to her school about having a bake sale for the tsunami. That would definitely bring in some donations. She did. Others must have, too. The school had a winter carnival last night with all proceeds going to the tsunami. I hadn't donated anything to this point, but I had wanted to desperately. Don't ask me why I hadn't, I'm a very complicated, strange thinker. Something about "will the funds really go where we want them too?" "How about we adopt a little boy who has been orphaned?" "We don't even have money to replace a broken winter coat for our child, where will we find a donation?" Well, we did. They had a silent auction and we spent $21 on season tickets to a local baseball team. I can do a lot of knitting there, and be proud of the charity. We spent $5 on food. No cooking for me! They served chili, hot dogs, and nachos. Not to mention a bake sale. We spent at least $15 more on tickets for games. They had all kinds of great carnival games - pick a duck, cowboy candle game, avalanche game, snowman game, and a free throw competition.

My youngest daughter has ADD. Many times you don't notice that she has it, but put her in a large group of people where it is noisy and expect her to do something new for the first time - you can tell. She whines, she cries, she gets angry and defiant. This was her reaction to the free-throw competition after she had signed up. She walked into the gym and saw that she would be shooting in front of people. Scared. Really scared. Just like at swim meets. She clung to me and begged for me to let her drop out. I wouldn't. I try never to let her quit when she has signed up for something. DH and I helped her face her fears. She watched for a long time. She stood in line and we told her that we wouldn't force her to shoot when it was her turn, and we wouldn't have. But we knew that she would be more comfortable after watching others shoot, like her friend. Her friend missed all 15. When it was my daughter's turn, she was confident and wanted to take her free throws. She got 5 of 15! Pretty darn good. Good enough to be in a three way tie for 1st place! Now she had to shoot again - in a shoot out, but she wasn't nervous. She went up there and popped in 2 of 5. Some idiot told her she stunk and that she wouldn't win anything. That kid is lucky I didn't tar and feather her on the spot! She had NO IDEA how hard this had been for my daughter. So there my 9 year old stood. In the middle of the gym. In front of everyone. Crying. Sobbing. Gasping for air. Because that evil child had told her something mean. She wouldn't believe us when we told her that there were prizes for 1rst - 3rd place and that in a shootout for 1rst between 3 girls she had to win something. She finally got herself together and waited for the prize announcements with big, red, puffy eyes. As usually, other parents stared at her and at us. How come, when you are dying for the announcement it takes so much longer to happen? She really needed to know. She waited and waited and waited. Finally. 3rd grade girls - third place? To the cousin of the evil child who told my daughter she wouldn't get anything. 2nd place? MY DAUGHTER!! YEEHAAA! 1rst place? A nice little girl who beat my daughter by one shot. Good for her!

My oldest, who plays on the 6th grade BBall team also competed. HA! Her first try she got 1 of 15. She paid another dollar and tried again. 7 of 15. She was in a four way shoot out for second place. Against her teammates. One teammate, who will no doubt be offered a full scholarship to the college of her choice some day, seriously, was in first place. She is my daughter's sleepover friend. My daughter goes for her shoot out. 3 of 5. The other girls? Not so good, in fact the 3rd place girl got 1 in, and the other two didn't get any in.

So. Both of my daughters walked out with 2nd place medals for their grade level. Cool! They don't' get any athletic talent from me. It all comes from my DH. And I'm a proud Mamma!

My new Friends

2005-02-02T17:22:00.000-06:00

Last night was awesome!
I went to the Black Sheep Spinners Guild meeting last night at Carol's Hidden Valley Farm & Woolen Mill. Ann, the woman from the school knitting field trip, wasn't able to be there last night but she called meover the weekendand told me hat I should go. I'm so glad that I did.

I met Marianne, Marilyn, Carol, and two other women who's names I can't remember (sorry ladies!) They sat and spun while they talked and held a "sort of" business meeting. I got to see a few different wheels, and learned a little bit about how they run - this should help me before my first spinning class on Feb. 10th. Only 8 days!

YIPPEE! I knew it would come quick, but I'm still amazed that it's only 8 days away!

These women were not only good spinners, but also accomplished knitters. I can't wait until next month's meeting. Maybe I will be able to show them what I have learned (I get to rent the wheel from class for a month).

They liked my finished Latvian mitten and tried it on. I am pleased with how it turned out, even with some mistakes (pictures to come).

Tonight I plan to enjoy the warm weather by walking to the store for toilet paper, and then knit while watching the "State of the Union" address.