Sugar Bunny Boulevard

A Special Saturday

This is a special day y'all!  This is my 400th post.  And three years ago today I began writing this blog.  This web log.  This endeavor that has led me and followed me to places I never imagined.

When my blogiversary rolls around it usually makes me go back and re-read my first few posts.

Like many things in my life, the first post was begun very late at night.  On January 11th.  And wasn't complete until after midnight, making the official blogiversary date January 12th.  And I've made 400 posts!  Pretty cool that they came together on the same day like this.

I explain back in my first post what inspired me to begin blogging... and that I was quite inspired to pick up knitting again even though I didn't anticipate this truly being a "knitting blog" at the time.  I was an equal opportunity needle arts enthusiast, and though I could knit, I did not have a tremendous amount of knitting experience.  I had been haunting one blog in particular for several weeks through a family connection and caught the sock bug.  I was absolutely fascinated by the idea of knitting socks.  I was also obsessed with finding the perfect yarn to make a Clapotis, which still hasn't happened.

As I closed my first blog post (it was long and wordy.... imagine that...) I was getting ready to cast on for my first pair of socks - Right Then!  That began the quest to not only knit socks, but learn to knit socks that fit.  It took the better part of a year for that to finally happen for me.  What a great accomplishment!  And during that year I began making wonderful knitting friends.  They're not just blog friends.... they're truly part of my real life - I've even met some of them.  Blogging keeps us in touch, but so many of us are truly "real life" friends. 

Reading through my first blog post I think over so many of the ways my life and knitting have changed.  At the time of that first blog post I was working full time but nine days later was layed off from my job working at a law firm in Waco, Texas.  Life is such a journey and it's just amazing how in a moment your path can go a new direction.  I've been through many unexpected changes since leaving home at 17 and thankfully I decided early on to embrace change and look forward to what change brings with optimism, hope, and cheerful anticipation.  The last three years have brought a wide spectrum of things from despair to elation and wow - you have been there with me all the way.

At the time of my first blog post I didn't think of myself as a knitter.  I was intimidated but curious about learning to knit with double pointed needles.  I couldn't knit a sock because my tension and gauge were all over the charts.  But things came along soon enough. 

In the past three years I have become a knitter.  Have even begun teaching people to knit.  I have tried new things.  I've dyed yarn and wool, and even learned to spin - a long time dream of mine.  Before I go on and on and on, I'll let you check out this video timeline of my last three years of blogging, knitting, dyeing, spinning, and even the faces of a few little ones.  :)

I didn't realize until I begain creating that video that it really only covers the tip of the ice berg.  There's more to a blog and the blogging experience and the knit blogging community than I could ever capture with pictures in a video slide show.

Thank you all for reading.  And thank you every one for your comments.  It's just not possible to express how much this blogging experience has meant to me.  It's the people.  Totally.  Thank you so much.  :)

Take care of every little thing and have a Wonderful Weekend!!  XOXOXOXOX 

Oh Macro, How I Loved Thee

Hello hello!  The evening is dark and quiet (getting on toward night now) and all you can hear is the computer grinding away and the washing machine running.  Babies are asleep and things are winding down.

As promised I have a bit of spinning to show off.  I'll start by saying that I am still not 100% satisfied with our camera choice.  One very good thing is that the girl helping me when I bought it (at Wal Mart) said that they have a 30day return policy.  If I try it out and don't like it, bring it back in the box, etc, and I can exchange for something else.  I've pretty much concluded that I will never EVER be able to take the very very close-up macro photos with this camera that I was able to take with my older camera.  Awesome macro is an incredibly important feature to me in our picture taking life.  Without a good macro feature I won't be able to get the very closeup pictures of etches on Jeff's glass pieces that he sells on ebay.  And my gosh, it's a form of entertainment for me!  Seriously.  This camera won't take macro pictures any closer than 15cm (6").  That's just not good enough.  I need more like a 5cm range.  I think that's what the old camera was.  OTHER pictures are awesome with this camera.  Nice color, blah blah blah.  I just really need a better macro feature.

SO!  I have pictures of spinning, but not closer than 15cm!  Ugh!  As I said, this bit of spinning is to make a shawl for the Spun Stitches knitalong.  The shawl pattern I hope to make is a faroese shawl called the Comfort Shawl, a free pattern issued when you subscribe to the Interweave "Knitting Daily" newsletter.  It has a garter stitch border about 2" wide with some simple lace just above the border, and the rest is stockinette.  I think this will be a good simple pattern for showing off the wild and crazy sampler-style spinning I'm doing.  I am combining so many things in this spinning because..... because why not?  Because I can!  Because it's my spinning and I am having FUN with it.  Hopefully I won't start hating it when I get to the knitting part.  This will definitely knit up with a stripey effect because of the way the colors and fibers are arranged.

There are six skeins finished so far.  The purple you see is a wool blend which I think has some mohair and possibly "angelina" or some shiny fiber mixed into it.  The third skein from the left has wensleydale locks and also llama fiber in it.  The next to last skein on the right is mostly Fleece Artist merino - gorgeous color transitions through browns and rose/berry colors.  The skein on the far right was really fun - it has a fiber blend of baby camel and tussah silk.  Mmmm.... that baby camel is a very fine micron that is similar to cashmere and yak.  You can already see the bloom just from handling it.  The camel/silk blend is soft beyond description!!  I have quite a lot more of that fiber blend and now that I've experimented with it a little I'm looking forward to using it for something special!

In the center skein:  gray is wensleydale locks - quite a fuzzy halo with that fiber because it's so CURLY!; white is wool from Jan's sheep Tootles; reddish brown is llama - a very smooth hairy fiber similar to mohair but much softer.

I've really been excited about this spinning as an experiment with different fibers.  The spinning is fun but wow, I'm really looking forward to the knitting!!  My only concern is that I might not like how the color changes look when they're knit up in this pattern.  I don't know.  I need to stop saying that because I'm really not worried that I won't like it.  My BIGGER concern is getting gauge with this faroese pattern.  It calls for what I think is a sport or possibly DK weight yarn.  I'm close with my spinning.  But the pattern calls for size US10 knitting needles.  THAT makes no sense at all to me based on the pattern photo.  It doesn't look like it's loosely knit.  Maybe it's a pattern error???  Surely not after this long.

Daily Square Report:

People - I am constantly amazed by this project and the people who are contributing.  As of yesterday we needed just 12 squares to hit the "1000 squares received" mark.  Since the project started, Tuesday has been a slow day with the mail but I was still hopeful.  Today I only had two packages at the church, and one came in the mail at home (Hi Lana!).  So I wasn't in any big hurry to open the packages... I ate a slow lunch, worked on laundry, etc.  I'm TRYING to get a long list of things done before leaving home for a few days and three packages was just what I needed to keep my focus on housework.  So finally I decided to get these packages opened so that I could get pictures taken before it got too dark.

Today's three packages..... three.  THREE.  Three packages brought us 92 squares.  92!!!!!  Can you BELIEVE THAT??  This isn't someone pulling a box of squares out of Granny's Attic.  These are three knitters.  Devoting their time and energy and thoughts and prayers and caring to families in Greensburg, Kansas.  Everyday people like you and me.  I usually don't tell how many squares a certain individual sends because one square is as important as a hundred squares.... but I just have to say - Lana sent 54 squares in her box.  It takes 56 to make an afghan y'all.  Can you believe that she sent 54 squares??  My gosh.  If I had thought I could make 56 squares in any amount of time I might have stayed quiet and knit this one afghan all by myself and never told anyone about it and never started the whole project at ALL!!  Our total square received is now over 1000!  We have received 1080 squares!  Only 40 more squares (less than 1 blanket worth!) and we'll be at the half way point.  Can we get a WooHoo!?!?

   

I generally don't tell how many squares a certain individual has made because I don't want to minimize how many ANYONE has made!  But since I told how many Lana made, I'll tell you that Eleanor also sent 35 squares.  This really just boggles my mind when I think that a project I'm talking about has caused so many people to do something so awesome.  It's not me doing this.  The people of Greensburg really didn't do it either I guess.  This honestly is not. my. project.  It's your project.  Every one who makes a square.  It's my 10 year old daughter's project.  And 92yo Ruth's project.  It's more than making squares for people who lost their homes.  I love knowing so many people want to help others when they're suffering from a loss.  The response to this whole thing has overwhelmed me.

Today's squares came from the following people:

Elizabeth - Lebanon, IN
Eleanor - Wayland, NY
Lana - Springfield, MO

Bless your hearts.  Every single one of you, for telling your friends and writing about this project on your blogs and telling your knitting groups and Yahoo groups and for knitting one square or 54 squares.  Thank you SO MUCH, everyone!

Have a wonderful rest of your week!  I guess most of you won't read this until Wednesday - only a few more days until Estes!!!  Yay!!!  :)

Happy Wednesday

Hi everybody!  It's Wednesday. 

I feel like such a little whiner sometimes when I go to use typepad (my blog host) and they're "down".  Down time for typepad was approximately five... maybe ten minutes yesterday.  During a time that I was working on my sidebar content.  "Oh what an inconvenience," I thought.  A few minutes ago I was ready to do a post and... whoops... thirty seconds without typepad.  Maybe a minute.  But seriously.  With all the griping that people do about blogger - I just don't see how I could possibly complain.  I didn't intend to do any free advertising for typepad today but gosh, I can't help it.  I really do love typepad and I'm so thankful that when I started my blog and had no clue what I was getting into, typepad is the host I selected.  Whew.  Thank you typepad people.  I really love you and appreciate the service you provide.  :)

After yesterday's weird little post, I'll add just a *few* more comments.  I'll try not to rant or ramble.  Cause ranting and rambling really is not attractive.

1. I'm thankful that I am not the Yarn Harlot because she would have gotten ripped in a thousand ways about the post that I wrote if she had written it.
2. I'm thankful that my commenters were respectful and kind and didn't rip me in a thousand ways.
3. If I/we expect men to treat women better, maybe we need to do a better job teaching our children how to treat others from the start.  This is big to me.
4. There is no way to displace responsibility for the actions of the lady who tried to hurt another person.  But really all I saw was .... this person was in the space program a year ago.  We don't have the whole story and probably never will but.... you don't go from being in the space program to landing in jail for assault and attempted kidnapping (or whatever her actual charges are) without a LOT of weird stuff happening in between.  It will be very interesting to hear what the media has to say about her recent relationship with her husband.  Jeff said he heard a story that they were already seperated before she did all of this so.... I don't know.  Of course she has to be penalized for the awful thing she did but something drove her to this craziness.
5. A person never knows what they might do under extreme conditions - emotional or physical or financial even.  That's why I said "this could happen to anybody regardless of their social status or educational level."  Crazy behavior isn't reserved for people with known mental health problems.  When you're faced with the reality of your world falling apart for whatever reasons, a person sometimes does things they normally wouldn't do.

Ready for some knitting? 

I'm knitting this for Suzannah:

The pattern calls for Koigu Kersti.  I dyed six skeins of Knitpicks worsted "Bare" yarn and so far it looks like this:

Sometimes it is just impossible to get an accurate photo of yarn colors.  We're having overcast conditions here so the lighting is not good for photos.  The colorway is mostly variegated green with spots of red and pink and occasional blips of blue and golden yellow.  I got a little red-crazy on one skein so I'm aternating it with another skein every two rows to spread out the pinkness.  The other four skeins are much more green.  And overall it's much darker than the above photo.  Here are two more pictures of the colorway:

I'm 12" into the back.  Armhole decreases begin at 14".  I've got stitch gauge but not row gauge.  It might appear to be knit for an Amazon when it's finished but maybe it'll all come out in the blocking. I have very little experience blocking sweaters.  Can I get it to smoosh down in row gauge with blocking?  Should I have used another needle size smaller?  Now that I think about it I guess I've heard (read) people say that you can block bigger but not smaller.  Hm.  When I started I thought "Gauge smauge...  If it's too big she'll grow into it."  I hope I was right cause I'm not turning back now.

You'll Make a Good Girl Crazy

In the words of Celine Dion, "You'll make a good girl crazy if you don't treat her like a lady."

Somehow there is a most likely a man to blame for what this lady has done.  Seriously.

This is a slight departure from my usual "knitting and babies" content but I can't stop thinking about this crazy story.  Having recently been single in the adult world... as in, post-divorce with children... I know what it's like to be out there.  Outside of a comfy little life at home, unaware of some of the realities of Mars/Venus relationships.  Lack of a "comfy little life at home" is a good part of the reason I got divorced.  This lady is married with children but who knows what her life is really like. 

Men refer to some women as psychotic but really - REALLY - the way men treat women in society, and the way so many females are raised with low self esteem and zero self worth, it's amazing there aren't more stories like this in the world.  There ARE more stories like this but the women aren't astronauts!  This can happen to ANY female no matter her education level or role in society.  I mostly blame it on the inability of men to think outside of themselves and their "parts".

Of course there are exceptions.  My own husband.  My son.  My brother Josh.  That's the list.  That's the end of the list.  heh  Er... and maybe a few of the male knit bloggers I know of... but really, I don't know you in person so you're falling into the melting pot of men.  Well, okay... Smith and Dale are exceptions too.  But that's it.  That's the list.  Well, okay... David and Moose.  But that's all.  No more.  All right.  There probably are more but I'm done linking.

Men, be nice to women.  All women.  It prevents all kinds of problems.  The emotional problems of women goes so much deeper than that but really... REALLY... be good to your daughters.  Your sisters. Your wives.  Your girlfriends.  The cashier girl at the grocery store.  Stop buying p0rn.  Stop thinking with your parts.  Somehow I know a man can be blamed for that lady's behavior.  Ultimately she made poor choices and she's responsible for her own actions.  But.  You know what I'm saying.