Everybody's doing the Cocoamotion....

It's time for another LKOTP Product Award. (ok, I totally made that up but it's my blog and I can do that. What? You wonder what it stands for? Hello?! Little Knitter on the Prairie Award. Highly Coveted. Well, they will be seeing as I just made them up. Anyway...)

Today's recipient of the LKOTP Product Award for improving my life in an indulgent and completely unnecessary manner is the Back to Basics Cocoa-Latte Hot Drink Maker.





This bad boy makes the single finest cup of cocoa I have ever had. Ever. Anywhere. And I make it myself at home (bonus! on the cheap!). I usually subscribe to the Alton Brown philosophy of kitchen products in that a single purpose gadget or appliance takes up valuable kitchen space and is wasteful, multi-purpose is the way to go. If this thing didn't make the best cocoa I'd ever had I'd agree, but it has earned it's place in the kitchen and isn't going anywhere. We received it as a gift (ok, technically it was a gift for the kids from their Great-Aunt & Uncle) two Christmases ago. I was skeptical at first since I knew this was one more thing I'd have to find a place to store. But, it was Christmas morning so we opened it up and decided to make some cocoa. We were blown away by the yummy cocoa and immediately taken with the little machine.

It looks like a modified blender that both blends and heats the ingredients to the perfect temperature. You can immediately drink it when it is finished in the machine and not incinerate your mouth. One of my big pet peeves about ordering hot drinks in restaurants is that you are then forced to wait at least 5-10 minutes before you can safely drink them.

The recipe I use came in the instruction booklet for the Cocoa maker. It's relatively inexpensive and extremely easy.

Hot Cocoa
2 C. milk
1/4 C. sugar
5 t. cocoa
1 t. vanilla

Add the above to the blender, put the lid on, plug in, turn on. It quits mixing automatically when it's done. It even has a feature that automatically turns it on to mix and heat the remaining liquid in the blender so that your re-fill will still be the perfect temperature. This cocoa is so good I made a thermos full of it for my parents when we had the big blizzard in December. The girls had gone to their house before the snow started to make Christmas cookies and by lunch we were in the middle of a blizzard. Mom and Dad drove them back home and I gave her the thermos so they'd have something warm to sip on for the drive home (or sustain them should they have been buried alive in snow). She later asked me if we had put alcohol in it because it was so good. No kidding, it's really that good. And no I didn't put any alcohol in but I think it would be perfect with the new Bailey's Mint. Oh the possibilities....

Is it good for you? Technically no although my chocolate endorphins would argue with you (shut up, there totally are chocolate endorphins). It may not be good for you but as an occasional treat on a chilly day it can't be beat. My wicked math skills estimate the above recipe yields 2 C. of cocoa for about .70 cents.

As always no financial contributions were made to this blog author for product consideration (Unfortunately. That would rock, what a cool gig...) I just like to share when I find something I love.

And now with the temperatures approaching near spring like levels I raise my mug of cocoa and tell the rotten winter of 2007-2008 good-bye and good riddance. The cocoa machine will be safely nestled in the back of the cabinet until next fall.

Finally managed to fill up all of my sad empty boxes on Ravelry with actual knitting pictures! Yay me! So I thought I ought to put them on the old blog as well...

First up are pictures of the Sweet Mary Jane Cardigan before blocking. I literally don't have anywhere in my house where it can be safely blocked without a child (or husband) stepping on it. So, I'll take it over to my mom's and we can fit and block it there. Then we can go shopping for ribbon and buttons.






Here are the Mary Jane Slippers. The knitting is finished on both of them and I need to do the crochet edging and strap next. I bought two skeins of this yarn so I think I'll make a second pair for my sister out of the other skein. It didn't quite take one skein for the pair. I'm going to do the edging and strap in black. Love this yarn!!! Yay Noro!




Here is my little man in his Camo Hat (Joseph pattern I purchased to make in fun colors but haven't gotten to it yet). We bought him a new coat last Fall that is a camo print. I thought making him a hat out of camo colored yarn would be cute to go with it. Except I didn't have his coat with me when I bought the yarn so they don't even remotely match. His coat is in shades of brown and this yarn is in shades of green. Yuck. But it was an easy hat to make. And I don't care if he ruins it. The yarn was uber-cheap, Red Heart crap. I am becoming such a yarn snob. ::sigh::




Sweetheart Glovelets. These were fun to make although they could probably stand a proper blocking so they'd look a little nicer. I couldn't wait for that though and wore them out the other night. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and the color is darker than it photographed here. The pattern was extremely well written and I even managed it while doped up on cough syrup.


Monkey Socks! I think I already have pictures somewhere on this blog of my Monkeys but I figured I'd throw these up here as well while I was putting up all the others.

PS--forgot to mention...

Did anyone see the Martha Stewart knitting show today? I specifically sat and watched the entire show today since it was supposed to be entirely devoted to knitting. Everyone in the audience was knitting but that was about the closest they ever got to actually knitting anything on the show. I was disappointed that they didn't at least do a "Knitting 101" segment or something. It wouldn't have been to hard to show a simple cast on and how to do a knit stitch. I can't imagine how frustrated I would have been if I had wanted to learn how to knit and watched the whole show and was never shown what an actual knit stitch was.

They made stuffed animals out of gloves/mittens (that was presumable hand knit at one point or more likely store bought) so that wasn't actual knitting. In another segment they made marzipan decorated to look like knitting which was very cute and on theme but wasn't actually knitting either (not that they can really be faulted, I can't expect them to knit the food, duh). The other knitting segment was wrapping left over yarn around a plastic bangle to make a bracelet. In the very final last minute of the show they showed Martha and one of her producers knitting and giving a tip for making sure booties/socks/cuffs are the same size by knitting them both on the same needle at the same time so they would be the exact same size. But even at that there wasn't any further instructions on exactly how to do it.

I enjoyed the knitting theme and hope they do it again at some point. It just would have been nice to see more actual knitting content.

::sigh::

wordy, wordy, wordy

Still no pictures. We had a busy weekend of early spring cleaning. This is my slow time of year work wise so I'm finally getting a chance to catch back up on the much neglected house work and organizing. We spent most of the weekend sorting, moving things, re-organizing, cleaning and hanging pictures on the walls. In December we moved our oldest girl into a room of her very own. But in order to do that we had to clean out all the stuff that was in there since the room was basically storage space. So all of that junk has been sitting in the hallway waiting for me to have the time to find permanent homes for it all. It took some work but we waded through about half of the stuff. I then went through the middle daughter's room and cleaned/organized it as well. It is soo nice to finally have things back in order. I can't stand clutter and we've been wading through it for about a year now. I'm finally, FINALLY, caught up with my business work and I'm soooo happy. I know I'm stressed when I'm in the middle of it all but I don't realize how stressed I am until I finally get a breather. I told my husband that for the first time in two years I feel like I'm standing on the ground instead of holding onto the out of control spinning carousel of life. I always feel like I'm just holding on by my fingertips with my body flying around parallel to the ground. There's still work to be done on the house to get it whipped back into shape and what I consider an acceptable state but we're steadily on the way. Thank Heavens!!

In knitting news I've been busy every evening working on knitting since I don't have to be strapped to my computer every waking moment. I've knit several dish cloths which have been fun to do. I love how quick and easy they are. And as an added bonus they really are pretty awesome in the kitchen. I made my first three from cotton dishcloth yarn I picked up at Twist. The next several ones I did I grabbed at Wal-Mart. The colors were pretty from Twist but on my last trip to Wal-Mart they had even more variety than they usually do and had some pretty good colors too. I've made several patterns so far. I enjoy knitting the Chinese Waves dish cloth since there is no purling but I don't think I like it as well for actual use in the kitchen. When it comes to using it in the kitchen though my favorite right now is the Lion Brand free dishcloth pattern. I had to try the obligatory Grandma's Dish Cloth Pattern which was super easy and works very well in the kitchen as well. I grabbed a ball of red cotton to make a Valentine's day dishcloth but I wasn't very happy with the results. It was easy to do but didn't look all that great. Here's the pattern for it. My review--eh.

In between the dishcloth knitting I finished my first Sweet Mary Jane slipper (minus the crochet edging, I'll do that last on both of them). Today I finally managed to get the second one started. I don't know what my problem is with these but I'm having the worst time casting on for them. I've done a provisional cast on in the past without any problems but these have been a huge pain to cast on. I spent a couple of hours this weekend trying to cast on for it and finally gave up and made a couple of dishcloths instead. Thankfully I managed it this morning and am through the toe portion and ready to bind off and begin working back and forth for the mid-foot portion of it. That being said I'm still going to have to do some creative weaving in of the beginning since no matter what I did I had a small hole there. Didn't have that problem with the first one although I bet it has to do with my increases. I knit into the front and back to increase on the first one and my stitch count was off so I winged it and it turned out ok. I actually followed the instructions on the second one and did a M1 and had nothing but grief. Go figure.

Should finish it up tonight and then I can start on the crochet edging. I do virtually no crochet at all so I'll have to have my mom help me with that. My grandmother was an expert with crochet and made the most beautiful doilies and afghans. I miss her so much. She passed away from lung cancer while I was pregnant with my oldest. She would get such a kick out of my knitting and would have loved to teach me anything I needed to know. She taught me to crochet as a child but all I ever really mastered where endless single chains and granny squares. Every time I try to read a crochet pattern it looks like trying to read German which is frustrating. Of course that's how knitting patterns used to look to me at one time and I managed to stick with it and decipher them.

I think after I finish up the slippers I'll work on a scarf. I bought the yarn and pattern several years ago on a trip I made out to Seattle to visit my sister. We took the ferry to the San Juan Islands for the day and drove all over the island exploring. At one point we came across an alpaca farm, Krystal Acres Alpaca Farm. We stopped in and they had beautiful, soft hand-dyed alpaca yarn. I picked up a skein (or 2?) to make a scarf. They had a pattern with tiny glass beads that matched so I purchased it as a little kit. I haven't looked at it in a while so I need to refresh my memory as to what it looks like and see if I need to get a tiny crochet hook to put the beads on the stitches. I do remember the yarn was super soft and beautifully colored. They even had skeins that had pictures of which alpaca it came from and their name. Very cute. I loved the San Juan Islands. I am a Kansas girl through and through, wouldn't want to live anywhere else--except for the San Juan Islands. I absolutely loved it and could absolutely live there. Which is saying quite a bit since I'm such a flatlander. I want to take the family on a vacation up there sometime. It's a bit of a pain/expense to get to but so worth it. Just stunning. Every type of terrain you can imagine--flat valleys, ocean coasts, woods, hills, ocean. Beautiful.

I don't keep a big "stash" of yarn at all but I'm glad I had a few projects purchased and set aside to go for now. It's great having a slow time of year business wise to get caught up on things but it definitely puts a damper on the old finances! I think after I finish my scarf I'll have to actually go purchase yarn for the next projects. I found a darling cabled purse on Ravelry that I've added to my to do list and I'd like to make some preemie and chemo caps for charity as well.

Hopefully tomorrow I can take some pictures. My Ravelry page is so plain jane, no pics at all. I've definitely got to take care of that! Can't stand seeing those empty boxes...

Geesh, I am perhaps the wordiest most sporadically posting blogger ever....

Back to work!!!

Comfortably Numb

So I have now been sick for almost five weeks. Five weeks of coughing, sleeping and being in a general foul mood. I think my family is almost ready to sell me. I've given up trying to figure out what I'm sick with. So far I've been diagnosed with: sinus infection, bronchitis and flu. Who knows which it is, maybe all three. Maybe something new and mysterious! I have been on multiple prescriptions and frankly they don't really seem to do much. I'm a little better but still sick. The one medicine that definitely does something is the prescription cough syrup. I went through the first prescription bottle in a few days. It did help and didn't taste bad and was pretty relaxing, I believe codeine was the big drug in that one. After a trip to the emergency room though I was prescribed a bigger, badder cough syrup that as far as I can tell seems to be some kind of methadone deritivite. It is crazy stuff. I actually feel numb after I take it. It does stop the coughing but it also seems to short circuit part of my brain. It's very difficult to try to do normal things after I take it as part of my brain is tooling along like normal but the other part is stumbling around in the dark completely confused about simple things. It's extremely odd. It isn't like being tipsy at all. When you're tipsy all of your senses seem to take a gradual decline into fuzziness but with this cough syrup there's like there's a disconnect somewhere in the brain. It has really done a number on my knitting. I can't seem to make the pattern instructions work out in my head. I've done surprisingly well all things considered. I'm working on my Sweet Mary Jane slippers and I swear the instructions seem to be partly in German. I went ahead and worked on them tonight even though I figured I was probably screwing them up. I stopped after a while and it looks fairly normal so I must have been muddling through a little better than I thought. Of course the first night I started on them while doped up on the cough syrup and I couldn't figure out the dumb provisional cast on to save my life. Thankfully the next morning I got it on the first try--cough syrup free.

I've even managed to finish up some knitting while sick--the Sweet Mary Jane cardigan (what is it with me and patterns named Sweet Mary Jane?) and the Sweetheart Glovelets (maybe it's just the word sweet? I must have a compulsion to knit all patterns with the word sweet in it). I'm planning on getting some pictures taken for ravelry here in the next few day so hopefully I'll get some posted here too. It's a little embarrassing to look at my project page in Ravelry and see all the blank boxes instead of cute little pictures...

Winter bugs and NetiPots

Every year after Christmas we seem to start the full-blown flu season and this year has been no exception. Almost everyone in the family has been sick. It seems to rotate on a person by person basis. I almost think it would be better to have everyone sick at once because at least it would cut down the overall suffering time. The worst of it seems to have struck with in the last week. I missed a week of work and the kids have each been taking turns missing school.

In other odd news I've found something that does seem to be helping my sinuses and overall illness. My mother told me about using a Neti Pot to help my sinuses. I've struggled with sinus and ear issues for my entire life. As a child I was taken from doctor to doctor, had tubes in my ear, adnoids removed, saw an ENT and went through numerous tests. I was taken off all dairy, given allergy testing and endured other yucky nose/sinus tests. Nothing really seemed to work. I live most of my life with a stuffy nose and always have tissues nearby. Breathing at night is nearly impossible unless through my mouth and I've snored since I was a child. My mom saw a segment on Oprah about the Neti Pot and how it helps folks with sinus issues. They had a woman demonstrate how it works and she seemed to have many of the same sinus problems I have and it was helping her quite a bit so my Mom told me about it.

The Neti Pot cleanses and flushes out the sinus with salt water. The pot itself looks like a small watering can which you fill with water, non-iodized salt and baking soda. The Neti Pot I purchased included some small packets with pre-mixed salt and baking soda which I just add to the pot with luke-warm water. You place the spout of the pot in your nostril, tip your other nostril down and gravity will draw the water into your nostril where it will circulate through your sinus cavity and drain out of your opposite nostril. After it is finished draining you remove the Neti Pot and gently exhale through your nose to expel the remaining water (I usually blow my nose a few times gently with a kleenex too). Then repeat on the other side. I'm currently doing this in the morning and at night. What a difference it makes! The first night I did it I woke up the next morning breathing through my nose with my mouth closed! That NEVER happens. It also makes a big difference throughout the day too. My nose isn't nearly as stuffy as before and breathing is easier. I'll be anxious to see how it will be when I'm completely over this horrible cold that I have now. Many people who use the Neti Pot report that they no longer suffer from colds or sinus infections when they use it. The water solution is suppose to flush out the viruses/bacteria and pollutants that get trapped in the sinus cavity. They have been used for centuries in other parts of the world and seem to be a very striaghtforward, natural way to maintain and improve the sinuses. I wish I would have started doing this a long, long time ago! I can't imagine how many forrests I've cleared in kleenex consumption over my life time. Yuck.

In knitting news (yes! actual knitting content!), I've been making huge progress on the Sweet Mary Jane cardigan. I'm actually almost done with it. I've knit the entire body, both sleeves, attached the sleeves, knit the yoke and am 1/3 of the way through the collar. I should finish the collar today and bind off. Then all I have to do is whip stitch the underarms closed, weave in the ends and block it. Well, I'll need to buy/sew on the buttons and buy/weave in the ribbon but I'm going to do that with Mom so she can pick them out since this is for her. I'm so excited to be almost done with this, it's been a learning experience and the most complicated pattern I've done yet so it's been really neat. Thankfully it's gone perfectly and the only mistakes have been dumb ones on my part that I've been able to undo and fix. I will post some pictures after I get it blocked!!

After that I think I'm going to knit some dish cloths. I think some quick, easy knits will be just the thing to do after this big project. I saw that Twist has some new cotton that I'd like to pick up and use for that. I might have to run by and pick that up today or tomorrow so I'll have something to knit for this weekend.

Better run, the school just called and now I've got another kid coming home from school sick.
Arghhh!

Sweet Mary Jane

Although I have no photographic proof I have made tremendous progress on my Sweet Mary Jane cardigan for my mother. The entire bottom lace portion has been knitted and I finished both sleeves. Last night I attached the sleeves to the body and began work on the stockinette yoke. I'm so excited about this progress. The first time I saw the pattern several years ago it immediately reminded me of my mom and I wanted to make it for her. At the time I knew it was beyond my knitting ability but I was confident I could learn and reach a level of knitting competence to tackle the project. I ordered the pattern and yarn and set it aside until I felt ready to dive in. When the pattern first arrived I remember sitting and reading through the instructions and it felt like trying to read Greek. I really couldn't understand how to read through that format of pattern, what happened to all of the stitch markers, etc. Very confusing. Time passed and when I felt ready to give it a try I did a quick search online and discovered that there was an errata to the original pattern so I quickly printed it off and included it with the pattern. I cast on for Mary Jane originally in October. I must have cast on half a dozen times because I kept making dumb mistakes. At one point I was probably 1/4 through the lace portion of the jacket and realized I had several glaring errors that I could never live with. I ripped the entire thing out and started over again Thanksgiving weekend. The original plan had been to cross my fingers and hope for a Christmas finish to give it to Mom. Unfortunately that wasn't possible due to massive work getting my oldest daughter's new bedroom completed for a surprise Christmas gift for her. All of that work greatly cut into my knitting time. We managed to surprise her with her room but I didn't finish Mary Jane. Undeterred I showed my mom her work-in-progress gift. I didn't want to wait until her birthday in August to give it to her and this way she can help pick out the buttons and ribbon.

After the final cast-on Thanksgiving weekend things have gone very well. Reading and following the pattern haven't been a problem at all, testament I'm sure to my progress as a knitter. I'm very excited to have the end in sight and can't wait to have this baby blocked and finished! My next project after Mary Jane will be some dish cloths. I tend to only work on one project at a time so I'm looking forward to some easy, quick things before I tackle my next project. I'm definitely odd by sewing standards. I always hear about quilters, knitters, etc. who have huge stashes of material or yarn and tons of patterns too. I find that having too many things stowed away makes me anxious about a big "to do" list and frankly I don't have much interest in a big closet of yarn. I enjoy shopping for each project and then seeing it go to completion. Different I'm sure but it works for me!

That's really all of the knitting progress I've made. I can't remember if I posted that I finished the Monkey socks or not but they are done and have already been worn. I love them and think I'll definitely be making another pair in the summer. I already have a pattern book marked for that :-)

336

I've been stalking my Ravelry invite. There's only 336 people in front of me so I should have my invite today or tomorrow. Yay!!

Shhhh! Don't tell the "boss"!

Confession: I'm at work but I'm not working.

I have completely hit the wall today. The boss has a huge stack of things I ABSOLUTELY MUST GET DONE. I swear the stack grows when I look away. So what do I do about this? I read knitting blogs. I look at things I want to knit. I think about my second Monkey sock just started on my needles this morning and sigh wishing I was knitting them. I would love to skip out of work today and have some time off.

I mean, really! It's finally fall!!!! My favorite time of year. The air is cooler, the kids are in school, the days are getting shorter and there is finally starting to be the faintest hint of color or the leaves. It's time for casseroles and crock-pot meals for dinner. Apple cider and pumpkin bread. Yummmm, pumpkin bread.

My birthday was a few weeks ago but I've been so swamped with all of the work that it wasn't as relaxing as I would have preferred. There is just still soooooooooo much work to get done. August was insane with all of the shooting I did so I have absolutely got to get the post-processing work on everything done to get it out the door.

Really now, you'd think my boss would be a little more understanding wouldn't you? Especially since that slave driver is myself. Ahhh the peaks and valleys of being self-employed. The old saying is true, you absolutely do work harder than you ever have in your life when you're working for yourself as opposed to working for someone else.

I swear I'm going to have a little party all by myself when I get the last of these summer weddings finished up. Memo to self: do not work yourself to death next summer.

At least dinner is already finished and ready to go for tonight. I put a London broil in the crock pot and covered with a diced onion and two cans each of golden mushroom soup and cream of mushroom soup. I even made a batch of mashed potatoes to serve it on. I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago but didn't care for the combination of soups they used. And it was too salty with the onion soup mix. It was ok but I know this combination will be better. The meat however was amazing, super tender. Even the kids were asking for more! I threw it all in the crock pot at about 8:00 this morning so it should be perfect tonight before church. Love those crock-pot meals in the fall. Especially on days I'm "working." (or reading knitting blogs. whatever.)

Take 2

::sniff::

No Grey's last night for me :-( My sitting ran late and by the time I got home it was time to scramble the kids through the bed time routine and get them to bed. Then I let dh watch his shows and it was time for bed.

The good news? DH is out of town for the next couple of days so I get complete and uninterrupted control of the remote and will enjoy several hours of tv/knitting time after the little ones are in bed for the next several nights.

I'm now on the bedtime countdown...

TGIT (Thank Goodness it's Thursday)

So Excited!

Tonight should be a great knitting night. I have a sitting to shoot very early in the evening but then it should be nothin' but knittin' as soon as the kiddies are in bed. I feel I should take this time and say a special prayer of thanks for the amazing Tivo. God bless the person who invented Tivo. Love you Tivo!!! I remember attending an advertising luncheon in the late nineties and hearing the speaker tell us about a new device that would be like a vcr only enable you to watch any show whenever you wanted without vcr tapes. Sounded crazy futuristic and yet I've had one for many years now and can't imagine not having it.

I'll definitely be watching Grey's and probably ER. Usually wait to watch The Office when dh gets home.

Anyway, time to run but looking forward to knitting tonight!

Feast or Famine (a.k.a. Picture Paloooza!)

Unbelievable though it may be, it's finally happened. I've managed to FINALLY take some pictures of my recent knitting. Whoa! Take a deep breath! Lean back in your chair! Don't fall over on me! I know it's hard to believe but below these next few lines will be ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPHS. Knitting in pixels!

First here are pictures of my Monkey socks:








And check out the needles--Sox Stix in size 2 that I picked up from Twist. Which is where incidentally I bought the yarn, the stitch marker and the bag that I carry it all in. Are you seeing a theme here? Love you Twist!

It may not be "The" Great Pumpkin, but I still think it's pretty great :-) This one is a birthday gift for a friend but I think I'll have to make another one for myself.
Pattern is 12:01 by Nathania Apple.





My blue-eyed beauty in her Drive-Thru sweater. Although I'm thinking of re-naming it Sunday School since she has been wearing it every Sunday to church.




And finally Twinkletoes slippers for my girls. I'm going to buy some suede slipper bottoms for them so they will hopefully last a little longer.




And now I'm signing off to go knit! It's been a super busy weekend, yesterday I had an 8 hour wedding shoot a couple of hours away which made for a 12 hour day. I had another wedding this afternoon although thankfully it was only two hours and was very close to home. However with all of the work it seems like the weekend positively slipped through my fingers. In order to remedy that to a small degree I'm going to go sit, knit and watch a movie with the husband.

So I hope you enjoyed the pictures, heaven knows when I'll manage to get more things photographed again :-)

::peeking back in::

Yarn Harlot!! I went and saw the Yarn Harlot! To be completely honest I hadn't read anything more than a couple of her posts a day or two prior to her speaking engagement here in Wichita. Despite that I went and picked up a free ticket to attend her "lecture." It was another "stepping out of the box" activity for myself. For years, (ok, most of my life) I have felt the need to drag friends and/or family with me to activities I want to go to on my own. In last couple of years I have tried to grow up and be a big girl and just go by myself. Sounds completely ridiculous but it's been something I've had to work on. I don't know what I thought would happen if I attended an activity or event by myself. Maybe I thought everyone else would turn and stare at the poor girl with no friends. Or that I'd have no one to make small talk with. Truthfully I think it had more to do with the thought of having to talk to strangers out of politeness (is that even a word?). No, I'm not painfully shy I just can't be rude to other. Was raised better than that. Even if I think a person is creepy or scary I'm still polite. Sad but true. But in an effort to be a big girl I've been venturing out a little more on my own and I'm loving it. Turns out I'm pretty good company for myself. And I haven't been forced into conversations with weird people. Either everyone else is afraid of getting into conversations with strangers as I am or I'm really effective at giving off the DON'T TALK TO ME vibe. Either way, it works for me :-)

So I went to see the Yarn Harlot and had a great time. I had no idea there were that many knitters in Wichita! I'm sure quite a few traveled in for the event but it was still a surprisingly large number. She was a delightful speaker and her sense of humor was right up my alley. It was a lovely little event. And I didn't speak to a soul for two hours. Ahhh, bliss.

I do have much progress to report. I have about eight weddings that I need to photoshop so I don't have time for a picture taking session. Ironic, isn't it? I will get those done in the next few days so I can share all of my progress.

I have completely finished the Drive-Thru sweater for Sabrina. She's already worn it to church once and received quite a few compliments. Being my first sweater and that it's for a five year old I used ultra cheap acrylic yarn on it in hopes that laundering the inevitable dirt will be easier. If I had it to do again I'd use something a little nicer but it was perfect for the first sweater project. I think the yarn is Caron Simply Soft. Could be worse I suppose. Not much worse, but there you go. The body of the cardigan is Soft Yellow, the "fair isle" portion is Orchid, Sage Green and Soft Pink. I used lavender buttons that match the orchid color as well. Very bright and sunny just like our little Sabrina.

After finishing that I dove into 12:01. I've had the yarn and pattern for over a year but I just can't work on things out of order or before I've finished an existing project. So after the Drive-Thru sweater was complete I could finally start it. I had purchased the yarn last year so I could make it as a gift for my best friend. That obviously didn't happen so it will be this year's birthday gift instead. Of course I love it so much I think I'll have to go buy more yarn and make another one for myself. It was my first experience with that particular increase and felting. All in all it went very well. It's sitting on my dresser stuffed full of plastic Wal-Mart bags hoping to form it into a permanent pumpkin shape. I think I'll probably have to purchase something stiff to kind of line it with but that's ok. It's really cute! I was surprised at how long it took to felt it. Perhaps it's my washing machine but the felting process took at least 10 trips through my washing machine. I think next time I might try felting by hand, might work out better.

During the knitting of 12:01 I discovered that we have a new knitting store here in town!!!! I was soooo excited. Twist Yarn Shop recently opened in the same area as my own business. It was so exciting to go into a local store and see all the things I usually have to order off of the internet. I've been in several times and have even taken a class. She has great supplies and it's a darling little shop. I have gone to the other yarn store in town but her needle selection was limited and she just didn't carry many of the contemporary, modern knitting items that I've been eyeing. I feel bad for the old yarn store as it looks like Twist is really taking off. Of course I'm thrilled for Twist that it looks like it's going so well. Maybe I'll stop by the old yarn store and buy something to temper my guilt. The old yarn shop is just dated and she wouldn't help folks that came in for help with a project unless they had purchased the materials and supplies from her. She did have open classes that you could come to for help and it was inexpensive ($1-$2) as I recall but it just wasn't convenient for me. I think it all boils down to they each serve a completely different clientele. Unfortunately it looks like one is on the rise and one is on the decline and it makes me sad. I don't like to see anyone's business suffer.

Anyway! I love Twist! I decided I wanted to learn how to knit socks so I signed up for a sock knitting class. Imagine my surprise when looking over the pattern that I had basically made my first sock when I made the girls Twinkle-Toes slippers. I am, perhaps, not the sharpest crayon in the box. It was very worthwhile and re-assuring though as I felt like I finally had permission to tackle a real honest to goodness sock. I was a little behind everyone else in the class progress wise during the first class due to my own cluelessness. I thought I had the right size needles in my bag when I left the house but I didn't so I had to buy some at the shop which put my start time behind everyone else. They were all flying through the pattern and ahead of me. I kept working at it and just worked on it throughout the rest of the week as I had free time. We used a larger yarn and bigger needles so the socks worked up very quickly. Plus they had a very short ribbed section at the ankle so they were quick. I figured I would be the only loser in the class if I came with out having at least one if not both finished. I was a little embarrassed to show up for the second class as the only over-achieving geek who finished not one but both socks. Doh! Oh well, I bought supplies for my next two projects and started on my first pair of Monkey socks! I'm loving this pattern and having a great time with it. I'm not entirely sure about my yarn choice but we'll see how it works. It was a rainy dreary day that morning which I'm sure influenced my choice of a very mellow blue/green yarn. They aren't as bright and over the top as many of the Monkey socks I've seen but I think I'll actually wear these on a regular basis as they'll match more things in my wardrobe and will look great with jeans and loafers.

So, next time I'll see if I can get pictures in. It's been busy at work. I've redone out website, made a business blog and had my busiest month yet for shooting. Thank heaven school finally started!

Introspection and Gadget Admiration

Goodness, time does fly when you're having fun--or you've lost your sanity :-) Just kidding! Thanks to everyone who posted kind words of encouragement after my last post. I think it's fair to say that I'm not the ideal blogger as I seem to vent everything out in the blog and then abandon it until the next time I feel that need to let some of the pent up issues and emotions out. Needless to say that although my last post was a bit gloomy and depressed I've been slugging through life and things have been fine. All of the typical ups and downs but I did have a much needed mini-vacation which helped the old mental stability out.

I had a photography seminar in March which was out of state that I attended all by myself! This was quite a step out of the box for me as I used to feel compelled to always have someone go someplace with me. Anytime I wanted to take a class or go to an event I'd always talk a friend into going with me. Don't get me wrong, we always had fun, but there are times in life when you have to be the big girl and go it alone. But this time I flew out by myself and went to a place where I didn't know a soul and everything was just fine. A little intimidating at first, but just fine. It was a break that was much needed from all the mommy and business responsibilities and although I didn't indulge in any pampering, it was great. Well come to think of it, not having to make my own bed, cook or do any laundry for six days was pampering in and of itself. I was so busy during the seminar that I didn't even have time to go sight-seeing or shopping but I had a great time. It was fun hanging out with other photo-geeks who get excited about new gear and lighting like me.

I'm still struggling with some things but I imagine there will always be struggles with some of these things. I'm usually pretty good about rolling with the punches and dealing with things but I think last month it was got to be too much. I was so overwhelmed with all of the mommy/wife responsibilities and the business responsibilities that I felt as though I was just drowning from it all. Thankfully I think we're at least on the road to getting things back under control. One huge aspect of the stress was the book keeping for my businesses. I had been doing everything (appointments, photography, book keeping, photoshopping, lab drop off/pick up, order delivery, etc.) and the book keeping end just fell by the way side as I tried to keep all the customers happy. At least there's light at the end of the tunnel for that since my husband will be helping me out now.

It was reassuring to read from other mom's who feel the same frustrations. I love my kids and I love my job, I just never realized how overwhelming everything could be. Then to throw in some other issues of my own I just needed a little place in the world where I could let it all out. Perhaps one of the better aspects of all the introspection I've been prone to lately is re-discovering all of the promise of each new day and the unwritten future. If I spent all of my time lamenting the mistakes I've made and what I should have done I wouldn't be able to appreciate what I've learned and how to use that experience to shape the direction I want my future to take.

I need to learn to cut myself some slack in some areas and be stricter with myself in others. It's been a crazy year but I'm so glad that God has blessed us with all of the craziness. It's led me to some discoveries about myself and realizations that I'm capable of more than I had thought. I've also learned that I'm not superwoman and no matter how capable I am, I can't do it all and I really can't do it all on my own.

I think I remember reading once that changing careers can be as stressful to a person as having a loved one pass away. And if there's one thing I know about myself is that I'm very good at stuffing all the stress down and trudging on. I obviously need to work on that as well and thankfully this blog seems to be playing a nice little role in that.

But hey, this started out as a knitting blog, right?! Well there has been some knitting, there just hasn't been any pictures taken of the knitting. You'd expect nothing less right? I'll just wait and get pictures after it's finished. I have no idea how people have the energy to stop their knitting and take pictures of what they're doing. I sure appreciate it when I'm reading their blogs, it's really interesting. But when I'm knitting the last thing I want to do is stop, find the camera, get a empty cf card out and take some pictures that I'll then have to download, fiddle with and resize to upload to the internet. No way, when I'm knitting I'm *relaxing*! And I compulsively want to finish that row so I can turn and go to the next line in the pattern.

What is it I'm knitting you ask? (Because really, if I did post what I started it was probably months ago and I'm sure I didn't take any pictures of it). I'm working on the Drive-Thru cardigan for my youngest daughter. I've actually made good progress on it and should finish it this week if things go well. I have the body done, the sleeves done and attached as well as all of the color changes at the top. I'm now finishing up the yoke and will do the button bands last. Yay!

I'm wanting to delve into sock knitting soon so I may check some books out of the library and read up on that. And now for a small techie review, here are my two latest, favorite gadgets:

Sennheiser Wireless Headphones
I received these for Christmas and love them! When I was a kid I had one of my eardrums rupture from an ear infection. Between that and the constant fluid that seems to be built up on it I have a hard time hearing all the mumbling that happens on tv. So, my sweet husband bought these for me for Christmas. I usually only wear them when the kids (or husband) is in bed and I can't listen to the tv loud enough to hear what the heck is going on. It's great because the volume on the tv can be completely off but the headphone volume can be adjusted as needed. And they're wireless! Although how I, Queen of Deep Sleep, ended up with a family of incredibly light sleepers is beyond me. At least now we're all happy with the tv volume :-)

Neat Receipts Scanalizer
This is so cool! Makes tracking my debit receipts enjoyable. As mentioned previously my book keeping had fallen behind in epic proportions. With this slick little device I can scan the receipt in and categorize it by tax expense. It keeps a scanned copy of the image and I can then throw the paper receipt away. Yay! No more faded receipts or piles and piles of ones I need to keep on until I balance my checkbook. I can categorize them according to business or personal use and print out some very nice expense reports for tax time next year. And yes, I am backing it up after every use to a Rev disc along with my quickbooks data so I don't lose it all in case of electronic disaster.

That's all for now!

where did i go?

When I was pregnant with my first child I remember thinking that now was the time for the happily ever after to start. I would have the baby and life would cruise happily along and everything after that point was just the fun details of life. I don't know why I thought that exactly but that was my mind set. My mom stayed home with my sister and I and was a great stay at home mom. I was looking forward to doing all the same things and being the perfect mom. The first hint that things weren't going perfectly was the six weeks of colic we went through with her. Eventually that cleared up and things went fairly smoothly until we tried to get pregnant with a sibling for her. It took two years, some mild fertility medicine and one miscarriage before we finally became pregnant with her. She was an easy baby and things were going well. I was from a family with two children, both girls so I felt like I had everything under control. I knew what to expect, I was comfortable with this. Then we were surprised with our little boy, a surprise pregnancy. I love him dearly but my life has not been the same since the day I found out I was pregnant with him.

Everything has become more complicated. More busy. More crazy. More noisy. All of those details that I thought would work themselves out after we were in happily ever after mode have arrived. And they aren't working themselves out. Things aren't falling into place. There is a ton of work to do. No matter what I'm working on I feel like I'm neglecting someone or something because they aren't getting the attention they need while I'm doing this.

I'm frustrated and angry. I feel like I'm being swallowed up by life. I feel like a complete failure. I feel guilty. I feel like running away, not from my family but from all of the demands. No matter how hard I work the amount of work never seems to lighten or be finished. Not only that but I feel like I'm starting to become a little invisible. I'm disappearing but I don't know that anyone will notice until a bill isn't paid or everything else has ground to a halt. I'm living a life I never would have predicted. I feel lost without a map to navigate what to do or how to do it. I don't know what to do to be seen again. Maybe I do know but I'm too afraid to try it. It's always failed before, why would it work now? Do I have a choice? Are all of us broken somewhere and have a crutch that we lean on? If I give up that crutch will I just find a new one to replace it? Can I have a good crutch instead of a bad one?

I think I need to do some work. I need to learn to stand up with out the crutch. I need to do some rehab work on myself and learn to live without it. I'm scared of not having it, I'm scared of failing again. The failure seems inevitable. I'm not a fatalist except when it comes to this. I think it's something I'm going to battle every day for the rest of my life and that overwhelms me. I feel like not bothering with it since I'm doomed to fight it forever. But then I look at my life and where I'm at. I need to do this. Not for anyone else but for me. And maybe that's the first time I've finally reached that conclusion. Maybe that's what it will take.

I have a feeling this is going to be a year of change for me. And I don't know if I should feel scared, happy or even more overwhelmed than before because right now that's how I feel.

I have to make myself re-appear because I deserve better.

no more apologies

Peer pressure. Blog pressure. Bleer Pressure?

I always feel guilty that I don't have tons of pictures to accompany my posts. Truth be told I love to take pictures but I don't have a little point and shoot to capture some of the day to day stuff. All of the blogs that I always visit have lots of pictures of the dinner they made, the latest knitting/craft project they're working on, kids, etc. I'd love to do the same but I'm just flat out exhausted, and the thought of having to do more photo related work stresses me out. I started the blog to write about what was going on in my life and knitting that I've done. But I feel guilty about not having pictures to post so I don't write. It's a vicious little circle.

Today we finally had the birthday party for my daughter. Poor thing was born in the middle of January which just isn't conducive to get-togethers. Inevitably someone is sick or there is a snow/ice storm and this year was no exception. We had planned to have her party last Sunday but we had about 8" of snow last weekend so we post-postponed it to today. She wanted to have a tea party (which she had last year too). The girl is nothing if not consistent :-) However it was a tea party with a Cinderella theme since my girl is positively obsessed with Cinderella. For the last two Halloweens she has gone as Cinderella. We have not one, not two, but three Cinderella costumes. And every single day she carefully brushes her hair and wears the exact same Cinderella headband which came with her first costume.

We invited five other little preschoolers over to the studio for the party. After everyone was there they had the option of changing into dress up clothes and then we proceeded with the glamour girl make-over. We painted fingernails, put on make-up and curled their hair. After a brief fashion show I then took pictures of each of the girls.

Then it was on to tea time. My wonderful husband had helped me prepare the tea sandwiches ahead of time. We made chicken salad sandwiches cut into little triangles, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut into heart shapes and cream cheese and jelly sandwiches cut into circles. We also served a veggie tray to get in something at least a little nutritious. The tea was actually Arnold Palmers (1 part lemonade 1 part iced tea), requested by the birthday girl herself.

While the girls munched on the goodies I quickly downloaded all the pictures and did a quick Photoshop job on them and then printed them out on our little Epson PhotoMate. Then I slipped each 4x6 into a little clear acrylic frame I got at Wal-Mart.

For cake I made a Cinderella cake of course! I have a special pan I bought a number of years ago to make all of the Barbie-style cakes that the girls always want. It's taller than the Wilton pan, and makes the perfect size cake. I did do something new this year though and used fondant for the skirt over the butter cream.

Sabrina had a great time at her party as did all of the other little princesses :-) It was a super busy day but fun. Now we're at home recovering from all the non-stop running of the weekend.

Last night I did manage to do my gauge swatch for the Drive-Thru sweater (I did finish the ballet slippers but I still need to buy the soles to sew on the bottom. But knitting-wise, they're done!). I had started to cast-on and then remembered I hadn't done the gauge swatch yet. So I reluctantly tore out the cast-on and then started the gauge swatch. Good thing I did, I ended up having to go up a needle size to get gauge. Can not imagine how frustrated I would have been if I had started working on it without having gauge!

Tonight I'm going to finally get down to work on it. I've decided to make the cardigan version and will be knitting it in her favorite color, sunshine (a.k.a. yellow). The contrasting stripes of the yoke will be lavender, light green and light pink. And since I've decided not to pressure myself any more I'm not going to promise photos. Knitting is suppose to be relaxing and enjoyable and I refuse to turn it into another obligation or job by giving myself one more thing to do on my to do list. If I feel like taking pictures I will but I'm not going to apologize about it any more.

I am so cold...

Brrrr. I. Am. So. Cold. I haven't felt my toes for most of the day. We had a sleet storm set in on Friday and it settled in for the weekend accompanied by snow and wind. Good times! Normally I would have enjoyed the pretty look of everything blanketed by snow but we had a big bridal fair that our company participated in this weekend. This meant I was walking around in dress shoes in the snow and muck. Today I walked across the street to get some lunch and my shoes swallowed about a quart of snow each. My poor little toes still haven't recovered. Even with the terrible weather attendance wasn't too bad at the show.

It's been a busy week getting ready for the show but I did manage to get some knitting done. I finished the second yellow ballet slipper and started on a hot pink pair for my older daughter. I just have the two by two ribbing to do on it and it will be finished. Then I'll just have the second pink one to make and I'll be done with the ballet slippers. I think I've decided to knit some Sweet Mary Jane slippers for Christmas for some of my aunts. After whipping up several of the ballet slippers I think I'm in the swing of the knitted shoe thing. I'm even thinking of adding some beads to the slippers for a change of pace to glitz things up too. And like every good knitter my list of projects I want to knit seems to be getting longer and longer. I've also ordered the pattern for the Drive-Thru sweater. I'm looking forward to making one for one of my daughters.

And as usual, I haven't had a spare second to snap any pictures at all. I'll have to get some after I finish the second ballet slippers and they can model them together. Did I mention we got a dog? He is so cute but I fear he'll be full grown before I can manage to get some pictures of him as well.

Off to dish up dinner. My sweet husband made a batch of chili in the crock-pot while I was trudging through the snow around the bridal fair today. I'm going to curl up on the couch with a warm bowl...

Finally, a few pictures...

I tried the finished ballerina slipper on Sabrina this morning. Although a little big it does fit and she's very excited about it. I think I'm going to look into getting some slipper bottoms to sew onto the bottom. Now it's on to the second slipper!

Happy New Year!

Wow. Did I really last post in September? No wonder I have been banished from some if not all of the webrings I belong to. To say that things have been busy is an understatement. We moved the studio to a new location which needed lots of work. We pulled up the old carpet, painted the ceiling and walls, built a wall and put down new flooring (not necessarily all in that order). Between that, the kids, work, etc. there has been no time!

Now that we're pretty much settled in though things are getting a little less crazy. I did manage to get a little bit of knitting done but didn't get any pictures. I made a little hat and baby bootie set for my business partner. However, in my usual procastinating self I literally finished the booties minutes before I left the house for the baby shower. I'll try to get pictures of the items actually on the baby after he arrives :-)

In other knitting news, I made lots of progress today! I knitted the first half of a pair of the Twinkletoes ballet slippers for one of my daughters. It was a learning experience for me, I had never done short rows or the cable cast-on before. Felt good to learn a little something new and get a little more knitting experience under my belt. Tomorrow I'll cast on for the second half of the set and hopefully finish it up before this weekend. Then I'll be doing another pair in a different color for my oldest daughter. I'll try to get pictures as well. I find that I usually post to the blog (usual? Did I just say usual? Who am I kidding, I haven't posted since September?!) after my entire family is asleep and getting out all of the camera gear, etc. would wake everyone up. Going to have to try to do better on that....

Let's see, what else has happened since I posted last.... Oh! My darling husband built a big wooden barrier to the huge, dirt-filled planter that had been the source of much grief and vacuming. I'm happy to say that we no longer have a fine layer of dirt all of the front of the house now. My son has now moved on to much more interesting pursuits since his indoor dirt pit was taken away. He is now busy trying to reprogram the heat/ac control pad whenever we aren't watching. There's nothing like waking up to a house that is 68 degrees in December! Or noticing that instead of just turning the heat off he is now going the extra step and turning the AC on. Good times!! We may have to buy a little plastic lock box to go over the heat/ac controls. That should be a charming addition to the decor, always looks so delightful in every school or office I've ever been in. Maybe my husband and I could even leave each other notes taped to it like you see in every church, "Do NOT set below 71! (also please take out the trash)." I always read all of the hand written notes in the churches, they do amuse me so. I'm always hunting around for the electrical outlets and light switches to take the wedding photos and frequently run across the notes. It always strikes me as funny just how angry the notes can be in a House of God. I came across one on Saturday that was quite lengthy and detailed about not leaving the lights on after a week night event as the lights don't turn off automatically and "WILL STAY ON UNTIL I COME IN THE NEXT DAY AND TURN THEM OFF MYSELF." (the all caps were actually written over twice to make them that much more bold for the reader or the inconsiderate, irresponsible, electricity-wasting church member going to the panel to make a lighting adjustment)

In holiday news I'm trying to decide what to do for Christmas next year. This year I was so busy that I bailed on making some of the things I had planned and went with gift cards instead. I'm thinking of starting the holiday stuff right off the bat, working as quickly as I can and then moving on to more of the things I want to make. We'll see, knowing me I'll just meander through the year and then start getting anxious about Christmas in August...

Playing catch up

Hello! Long time no post! I am finally starting to catch up with life. A little. I have been completely swamped with work, this summer was busy, busy. So, so, so many weddings. It's been great, the business is really growing but it's been an adjustment. Most nights I'm up until about 1 am trying to get work done while everyone is asleep. Needless to say there hasn't been much progress made on any knitting at all.

I do think I'm finally starting to get on top of things though. ::crossing fingers:: I'm pretty much caught back up on the photography end of things. Now I've just got to maintain that while I get the business/financial end caught back up. So much to do! I did manage to get all of my clients entered into a new accounting software so it's much easier to keep track of all the different account balances and all the details. We're also in the process of moving to a bigger business space which is exciting, although lots of work.

Perhaps one of the most exciting developments of the summer was the construction of a large wood device whose sole purpose is to permanently block access to the enormous planter of dirt in the house. Although my two year old boy is disappointed that he can no longer use his earth moving toys for actual earth moving inside the house, the parents are delighted.

I'm also making some progress in the organization of the entire home. Slowly, but it's being made. During the insanity of the summer wedding season everything pretty much ground to a halt while I was working on all the photography stuff so the house spiraled out of control. Which I can't stand. So, I'm trying to implement better routines so I can at the very least stay on top of things. This summer I barely kept my head above water by only keeping up with the laundry and dishes. So not my idea of a clean and tidy house. I do struggle with the kids rooms though. I want them spotless. Heck, I want the whole house spotless. But I struggle with knowing I should have them do it themselves so they learn how to clean their room and also the consequences of their actions. Unfortunately I find myself doing a quick pick up in the morning after they're at school which completely defeats the whole consequences thing. Oh but how I love walking through the whole house when everything has been put away. ::sigh:: I'm trying to work on this by helping them clean up at night so that they can learn what is expected/how to do it, while satisfying my need of getting it done how I want it.

Spiritually I am so far behind on my bible reading it is not even funny. Or possible to catch up. I read through the entire bible every year for four years in a row. I love it. However, with the start of this business I've fallen hopelessly behind and feel awful about it. I thought about taking a Bible Study class at church this fall but didn't sign up. It was being held on a morning when all three of my kids are in school. For the first time since before my oldest daughter was born (8 years ago) I have two mornings all to myself and I selfishly decided to keep it that way. I've got to do something though so I'm going to work on getting my quiet time back.

Which leads me to realize that virtually all my struggles in life go back to not being a morning person. I have all these things that I could get done and my day/life would go so much better if I just got up early and did them: quiet time, working out, cleaning. I am so so so not a morning person. Staying up to 1? Not a problem. Getting up at 6? Virtually impossible. I've got to work on it though.

I'm looking forward to getting to the point where I'll have some free time in the evenings back so I can relax and knit or do whatever. Instead of always working. Speaking of knitting, I have my next project ready to go, just need to find the time. I've ordered the yarn and pattern for the Sweet Mary Jane Cardigan to make for my mom for Christmas. With it being September already it's looking like this probably won't be done in time. Maybe for next Christmas...

Well, that's my little catch up for now. Hopefully now that things are a little less crazy and the kids are back in school I'll be able to post more frequently. And get some knitting done!