Sugar Bunny Boulevard

Beautiful Things and Surprises Revealed

Happy Spring Wednesday Everyone!

Sunday afternoon there was an estate auction two houses down on our street.  The neighborhood was a bustle of cars, people walking, a din of chatter and auctioneer sounds.  We picked up a few goodies and Jeff shuttled back and forth between the auction and our house depending on what they were selling at the moment.  For a while I sat on the porch swing knitting while Emeline and Lila Pearl played on the porch and ran about in the grass.  It was a beautiful sunny day - perfect for the auction.

Emeline was down in the grass picking dandelions and wandered over to the driveway.  She stopped in the middle of the driveway and stared for a moment at the garage.  Then she said, "Mommy..... Mommy!  Come see this!  Mommy.  You have to see this beautiful thing."

For a few days every spring our driveway is covered with a halo of bring pink blossoms - the red bud trees are stunning.  I actually hate those trees the rest of the year because every single tiny pink blossom produces what seems like approximately one hundred wafer thin seed pods that litter our driveway and patio later in the year then crack open and release four or five small disc-like seeds which get stuck on your shoes, feet, etc, and get tracked through the house.  Think cat hair.  These seeds and pods haunt you like cat hair.  The cat can be dead and gone for twenty five years but you still find their hairs around the house - even when you move to a different house.  Yes - the seed pods are like that.  The only thing that keeps me from cutting our red bud trees down is the picture above.  When they are in bloom I would like to set up a tent at the end of our driveway and stay out there until they're gone because it is a beautiful sight to see.  And I'd still be nearby to a bathroom.  I was happy to know Emeline notices these beautiful things in our world without being prompted.

It's always a fun and unexpected surprise when someone who I don't know ads me to their "Friends" on Ravelry.  I always wonder why in the world they want me for a Friend if they don't know me.  A few days ago I received a notice that Cedric added me to his Friends.  When I get a new request I always add that person to my Friends, then click on their picture to read their profile so I can learn more about them.  Cedric is a 74yo man.  He has been knitting for over 70 years.  And lives in the Shetland Islands.  This is all very interesting to me.  Even more, he's all of this - lives in this place - and has a computer and is using Ravelry.  And he has less than 40 people (at the time of this writing) on his list of Friends.  I am so honored that Cedric added me to his Friends.  Hmm.  His birthday is November 9th.  Maybe he wants to participate in the Ravelry Scorpio Birthday Swap this year!?  You never know.  I could ask him. 

Although I haven't been posting a whole lot, I am getting caught up on Bloglines.  Why oh why do I love to read so many blogs?  I'm keeping the number down - less than 200 unread posts now when it was over 2000!  And I'm happy to say I did read - a bit of skimming might have happened - but I didn't just wipe it all out and start anew.  I'm not commenting much (who has time? actually I would have time but my ancient computer doesn't like to leave comments - that will all change when we get our Economic Stimulus Check next month!) but I'm reading reading reading!  :)

SURPRISE TIME!

So the surprises.  I have three surprises right now.  I'm keeping one as secret a while longer.  The other two are ready for a Reveal!  Yay!

Surprise #1:  I told you I've been writing a sock pattern to be released with a kit.  Here's a little more information about it.  I've got my fingers crossed that you'll LOVE this!

Introducing Pink Ribbon Socks!

These are not the final pattern photos - I'll probably try to get the giant sack of yarn stash out of the way for the final photo shoot.  heh

The kit concept began with this colorway - called Pink Ribbon.  After I dyed it and I saw this yarn I was instantly inspired.  The pattern came together quickly in my head and with some research, lots of swatching, and diligent knitting, my idea became an actual knitted item (even a pair!).  Now the pattern is on paper, has been charted and is on its way to my test knitters!  Wow!  The original pair of Pink Ribbon Socks fit my daughter Katie perfectly (and it was her turn in the family sock knitting queue).  She wore them for the first time to school yesterday.  For some reason that made me nervous.  hehe

The Pink Ribbon Sock Kit is a limited edition and will soon have a web page with instructions for preordering.  The kit will cost $40 plus shipping, international orders will be accepted, and $20 of every purchase will be donated to the national Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation!

The Pink Ribbon Lace pattern begins at the top with a cable twist and goes down each side of the leg, seperating at the gusset, carrying the ribbons to meet in the front and back.  The Pink Ribbon Lace pattern continues down the front of the foot and at the heel concludes with a cable twist.  The foot and leg can be adjusted in length by adding or subtracting repeats from the pattern, or adding stockinette at the end of the foot.

Complete instructions are given in the pattern for heel flap construction, turning the heel, and completing the toe.  Alternate toe construction can be substituted for what is given in the pattern.

There will be 100 kits available, and each will come with the pattern, hand numbered, in a sheet protector along with 100g of the exclusive Sugar Bunny Boulevard Pink Ribbon colorway and the receipt confirming your donation to the Susan G. Komen foundation. 

If there is an overwhelming response to the kits there may be a second limited edition release later this summer in time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.  At this time I haven't found a way to release the pattern for sale on its own so that the money can bypass me and be donated directly to Susan G Komen with an automatic download.  If anyone has ideas for this please let me know.

Surprise #2:

If you can stand it, I do have one more surprise.

Sugar Bunny Boulevard yarn and stich markers will soon be for sale at The Loopy Ewe.

I think that sentence stands alone.  If you're reading this you probably have a clue.

Had enough surprises?  Okay, then I think I'm done for now.  And next time I promise to show and tell about my Wee Tiny Sock Swap experience of 2008!  Yay!  I really love WTS.

Have a super wonderful rest of your week - enjoy the beauty of spring all around you - unless you're cussing about snow still falling - but still there must be some beautiful things to be appreciating, right?  Like you could pretend that you live in Australia and it's supposed to be getting cold and starting winter now?  :D

Take care of every little thing and I'll see you back here next time or maybe in your blog comments!

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Eye Candy Friday ~and~ Checking In and Catching Up

(Mostly Written on Thursday...)

I'm going to TRY to keep this short and let the pictures speak for themselves.  Additionally, there is a long long list of names here that represent the latest update in afghan project data.  Thank you to EVERYONE that has sent squares, sent money, commented, emailed a little "how are you?", said a prayer or sent us good vibes.  I'm sorting squares and trying to keep it all under control - the dining table has been COVERED UP with squares for several days .... just waiting for inspiration to strike and tell me what to do with them all to keep them organized for the next step.  So far I've washed and sorted about 1250 squares and that took about five hours last Sunday.  I've spent today getting my mind and house in the right place to continue with the next bunch.  I've basically only got one week left to finish the sorting - let's see how it all goes.  :)

THE DATA:  The items and quantities added to the sidebar total are shown below.

• 474 squares
• 3 pair mittens
• 1 winter hat
• 1 scarf
• seaming yarn
• 83 yarn needles
• 1 shawl
• 2 afghans
• 4 cloths
• 1 baby bib
• $80

The grand total of squares is now at 4672.  Whew.  I'm kinda thinking we won't probably get all those afghans finished on September 15th.  But I could be wrong.  :)

All of these squares and mittens and the darling hat and seaming yarn and needles and money and other wonderful things came from the following people:

• Elisabeth - Chicago, IL (my Sockapalooza knitter!)
• Kathy - El Dorado, KS
• Bea - Bergen, NORWAY
• Britt - Floroe, NORWAY (Bea's Mum!  maker of the Cutest Hat in the World)
• Kristin, Kelli, Andrea and Melissa - Kansas City, KS (for the University of Kansas Medical School Knitting Group)
• Jessica - San Jose, CA
• Virginia - Pine Hill, NJ
• Maeve - Arlington, VA
• Millie - Vienna, VA
• Beverly - Lawrence, KS
• Clara - Silver Spring, MO
• Penny - Tulsa, OK (HUGS!!!)
• Renee - NEW ZEALAND
• Kate - South Natick, MA
• Annell - McPherson, KS
• Kelly - New Brunswick, CANADA (Brought in PERSON 131 squares all the way from Canada!  Thank you Kelly!  XOXOXOX)
• Mary - Churchton, MD
• Anonymous Knitter - Smithville, TX
• Amy - North Adams, MA
• Jill - Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA
• Doris, Lana and Sue - Orverland Park, KS (for Blue Valley Baptist Church of Overland Park)
• Norma - Florissant, MO
• Juanita - El Dorado, KS
• Yvonne - Unknown Location
• Patty - Lakewood, OH
• Laura - Arlington, VA
• Amy - Houston, TX
• Pam, Karen and Misty - Lompac, CA
• Bev - San Jose, CA
• Catalina - Rye, NY

That's everything y'all!  It was a little bittersweet to open the last package today (I had about five sitting around waiting for me to clear off the dining table).  I think there are other packages yet to come with completed afghans being made by knitting groups around the country but this was probably my last package of squares.  What a relief but... ha.  No buts.  It's very exciting to move into the sorting phase.  I'm touching every single square again.  And measuring it.  And putting it in a stack with other squares the same size.  It sounds boring but with all the colors and textures and fibers you wouldn't believe how exciting it is.  It's hard not to make a stack of squares I want to put together except that I keep wondering what will the next one in this size look like?  And the next?  It's fun.  Fun also to realize that squares who have been patiently waiting together, made with the same yarn by the same knitter or crocheter... are now going their seperate ways because they are a different size!  People who sent more that one square are touching a lot of different families when their squares are sorted by size.  Then color.  Then maybe texture?  I'm having fun with it.  I guess I'm easy to entertain.  :)

OH.... and you'll be interested to learn that in the Sorting Game the 8" squares are winning.  7.5" and 8.5" are tied with each other and each are half the quantity of 8" squares.  All the rest are fairly minimal but 7" and 9" are about tied as well.

Everybody have a wonderful weekend and take good care of every little thing!  XOXOXOX

Moments

The past several days and weeks have been full of small moments when I think "take a picture!" but I've been too busy to blog about it much.  Some things have a story, some don't - some I'll come back to again in the future if I can.  So I'm giving you a little collage of moments.  And the list of squares received from last week on Wednesday Thursday and Friday. 

I'm trying to make this quick so I can get to the Y this morning.  We went to the Y twice last week plus I did some yard work on Saturday that definitely qualified as a workout, resulting in a 3lb weight loss last week.  I'm inching closer but still haven't reached a mini-goal of getting under 200lbs.  I still have a little more than a month before the seaming party and I would be very happy to have those few pounds off before facing a ton of people at the seaming party.  I'm also getting a hair cut tomorrow.  It'll be pretty major because I haven't had a salon appointment in many years.  I usually cut my hair myself but decided it's okay to splurge a little when what I really want is an extreme makover.  ha

As always, click any picture to see the full size version.

Last week on Wednesday Thursday and Friday we received a lot of packages!  In all of those packages we received 266 squares, 2 yarn needles and a bit more seaming yarn.  There's a PayPal button in the sidebar now if anybody would like to donate for seaming supplies.  Thank You to everybody for knitting squares and everything you've done to help out.  I appreciate it VERY MUCH and am excitedly anticipating a lot of mail this week!!

The squares and yarn needles and seaming yarn from Wed-Thu-Friday last week came from the following people:

• Betsy - Covington, LA
• Kelley - Wonder Lake, IL
• Kandis - Harrisburg, OR
• Anita - Great Barrington, MA
• Cheri - Jacksonville, FL
• Steph  Cincinnati, OH
• Ruth Ann - Moore, OK
• Linda - Kitchener, Ontario, CANADA
• Cheryl - Des Moines, IA
• Paige - Indianapolis, IN
• Knitting Artists of Northern Virginia - Leesburg, VA
• Carolyn - Garden Grove, CA
• Eleanor - Wayland, NY
• Amy - Apple Valley, MN
• Nauda - Melrose, MA
• "Night Ships" knitting group (Ellen, MaryS, Marion, MaryU, Pat, Carol and Nancy) - Ann Arbor, MI
• Barbara - Mashpee, MA
• Sherry - West Roxbury, MA
• Susan - Miami, FL
• Theresa - Eugene, OR
• Anne - Woodbridge, VA
• Lauren - Atlantic Beach, FL
• Leah for Emmanuel Presbyterian Church - Bedford, TX

This batch of mail had so many many MANY sweet thoughtful personal notes to me - thank you every one of you for your thoughtfulness, your wishes for a successful seaming event, and for your time spent on making squares, packing them up, sending them off, and writing dear little notes and letters to include with them.  It's your encouragement and the vision of the seaming event that make it possible for me to see this project through to completion because I'm telling you.... it's big y'all.  It's pretty darn big!!  :)

I might have to take you on a little movie tour of what the den looks like right now!  I'll think about that. 

So have a wonderful week - it'll be a busy one for us.  Kids are starting school.  Benny starts 2-a-days in football today.  We have visitors coming soon soon SOON!  I'm teaching classes (big one on Entrelac tomorrow night) and dyeing yarn.... watch for some pictures soon - but it's so unfair - I'm dyeing for TWIST!  And I don't know if Shelly will be taking phone orders!  But get this - I'm dyeing Panda Cotton sock yarn (bamboo/cotton/nylon blend) by Crystal Pallace.  Yes - you heard that right.  The Procion dyes have been ordered and I'm dyeing cotton.  I've also made another order for my wool base yarn to sell on the blog.  So it's all good and it's all crazy and you get the periodic reports and photos right here!

Take good care of every little thing!  XOXOXOX

A Match Made In Heaven

Pattern and Yarn sitting in a tree...... K I S S I N G

Oh I am in love.  In Love.  IN LOVE!!  Y'all, it's a good thing these socks weren't made for my foot or I might completely flake on the Sockapalooza thing and keep them.  But have no fear.  There's a skein of Lisa Souza Jonquil with Loksins written all over it just waiting for me to get these finished!!*  Sock #1 took four days.  Let's hope its twin has an equally quick and painless delivery!!

*When I was nearly finished with this sock earlier today Emeline wanted to try it on.  I said Emeline, I don't want you to try this sock on.  How about if I make you some socks of your own??  She looked at me like she never thought such a thing was possible!  She said, "I would like to have a sock!"  I suggested maybe I could even make two.  Stay tuned for Emeline's yarn selection process.  It's sure to be a special day. :)

In the mean time.... the mail came today.  Just as I was finishing this sock.  I had about two rows left on the toe and I heard the mail carrier walk across the porch, lift the squeaky hinge on the mail box.... then a slight thump.  A package?  Are we expecting a package?  Another surprise from super square knitter Lana for the afghan project?  I got up from my chair and checked.  Hm.  A small package.  From Chicago.  From Elisabeth in Chicago.  Huh.  I don't know an Elisabeth in Chicago.  Maybe she's a friend of Christine or Nancy or Amy?  I was stumped.

You'd think maybe the writing on the outside might have given me a clue.

I opened the package expecting afghan squares!  What a delightful surprise to find a nice post card explaining that she was my Sockapalooza pal, describing the socks - telling me the pattern and yarn used (but not color).  Wow!  I've been so focused on the afghan project and finishing the socks that I'm knitting for my sock pal that I had completely forgotten that someone somewhere was knitting socks for ME!!  hehe  And then - *gulp* - reality set in.  I haven't finished the socks I'm knitting yet.  *sigh*  So.  This is as far as we get.  I haven't opened the package.  I have not seen the socks.  Nor whatever surprises await in the other little packages that Elisabeth has included for me.  She even knit an afghan square!  My outgoing package is past due.  My Hogwarts sock swap package hasn't been sent yet either.  Nor my package to Marisol for the last Special Swap.  So this package will wait and those three packages (plus at least one or two others, I hope) will be in the mail before I can open this.

My dear sweet sock knitter Elisabeth in Chicago, I don't have your email!  I have no idea if you've got a blog!  I won't be checking Alison's list because I don't want to spoil the surprise for myself.  Thank you so much for the lovely package - I can't wait to open it!  :) 

I'm going to cast on for sock #2.  Wish me some fast knitting!! 

Holey Matrimony

PATTERN - YARN Nuptuals

Over the weekend Miss Pattern and Mr Yarn were joined in Holey Matrimony at a small black tie candle light ceremony.

Miss Loksins! Pattern was printed on white paper, wore a full length transparent sheet protector, and carried a single yellow rose.  Miss Loksins! Pattern was most recently from New York City but has Icelandic heritage, hence her name "Loksins!", translating to "Finally!"  An appropriate selection for the Sockapalooza participant that has been busy with too many other things and is Finally getting her act together to knit for her pal.  It has been reported that the lace-wing pattern flies off the needles - let's hope that the same is true with this union of Loksins! Pattern with Handpainted Yarn.

Mr Handpainted Yarn was dressed in a handsome semi-solid wool/silk blend called Brick, complete with a dapper black tie. 

The couple was seen swatching until the wee hours of the morning and are expected to settle down this week to make beautiful socks together.  They hope to include an appearance at the opening of the new Wichita yarn shop, TWIST, during their honeymoon.

Socks and Swaps and Squares - Oh MY!

I have conversations with you all in my mind all day.  Every day.  Everywhere I go.  I'm always thinking of how "this" might work into my next blog post.  Walking to the church to pick up afghan squares.  Driving to the building center to buy shelving and knobs for the bathroom cabinets.  Sitting in the bathroom watching the babies while they sit on the toilet as the water runs in the sink inspiring them to *tinkle*.  Making the soup for my lunch.  Virtually everything is blog content.  I take way more pictures of stuff than you ever actually see because later I think "nobody really wants to know about this."  As much stuff as I DO yammer on about it's hard to believe I really cull anything out that's not useable.

My Our life is a blog post.

With Emeline recently turning three, you know what most kids are doing around or before that age:  potty training.  She's been ready for longer than I care to admit.  I'm the one that hasn't been ready for various reasons.  Mostly I hadn't spent the time yet to babyproof the bathroom.  So I started to work on the bathroom and yesterday we started seriously working on potty training.  Every time someone goes in the potty we have a Potty Party!  Yay!  The Potty Party stats so far:

Emeline:  1
Lila Pearl:  5

Yep.  I think I really did it this time.  I'm starting too late with Emeline and now she's in a power struggle with me about it.  Every thirty minutes I say "Let's go use the potty!"  Lila Pearl drops whatever she's doing and runs to the bathroom ready to rock and roll!  Emeline dryly says "No."  She only sits on the potty when she wants to and she will be informing me when and if she's ever ready to actually tinkle or poop in it.  Just before their nap she said she wanted to sit on the potty - and she did tinkle.  She modestly informed me she had done so.  We had our little Potty Party and I told her that when she goes on the potty all the time she can get a "big girl" bed and can go to pre-school with the big kids (starts in August).  She smiled and quietly said "Yeah!"  I need to relax about potty training her and just let it happen and let her think she's the one deciding.... because it appears that she actually IS the one deciding.  She knows exactly what she's doing.  Somehow the proper incentive will present itself and hopefully she'll be motivated to go all the way before it's too late to enroll in preschool.  I took Emeline to see about enrolling for pre-school and they said that all students have to be completely potty trained.  Emeline was not enthused about that part at all but she emphatically states that she wants to go to School with the big kids.  Lila is probably just peeing because she happens to need to pee every time I sit her down.  She's not telling me she did it - it's just there when she gets up.  And Emeline loves cheering her on saying "Yay Lila Pearl!  You did it!  Potty Party!!"  When Lila is on the potty and Emeline is refusing to sit on the potty Emeline is still cheering her on saying "You can do it Lila Pearl!"  Pretty funny if you're not the Mama wanting Emeline to sit on the potty.  :)

I'm dangerously behind on blog reading.  If I'm not careful I'm going to miss out on something really important!!  Just last night I was trying to catch up on a few random blogs and discovered that Emily is the Queen Mother of Dish Rag Tag.  Why didn't someone tell me?  Oh.  It's really a good thing you didn't because we all know I'm a sucker for all things Emily (I wanna be just like her when I grow up) and fun swaps are so hard to resist.

Soooo.... yesterday I did part of the aforementioned administrative duties.  I emailed the yarn company with my wish for yarn to be donated for seaming afghans.  Please keep crossing your fingers and toes and knitting needles and all other crossables that they'll find this to be a reasonable and worthy and angelic cause for the donation.  (\o/)

I did not do the data entry part.  Instead I opened swap packages and knit on my Comfort Shawl.  It's not really mine.  But you know - at the moment it's my knitting.  I'm getting ready to do the lace rows at the bottom and then the seed stitch border and I'll be done!  Wow - that was fast!  I don't think I'll have all the yarn used up but we'll see - that part might take more yarn than I think.

It seems that I report about swaps in twos.  This time it's the Hogwarts Sock Swap (they're taking sign-ups for Round II now!) and Special Swap (yes, again!).  I really do not know how I could have been blessed with the most wonderful swap partners ever - yet again.  I have never EVER been paired with a bad swap partner.  With all the stories I've heard about people never getting their swap package and their partners disappearing, etc.... it's never happened to me.  Please, Swap Goddess, let me continue getting paired with the most wonderful swap partners ever.  And I have one other little bit of sweetness to tell about which came with some afghan mail - a fun priceless little surprise.

HOGWARTS SOCK SWAP:  I have received my package!  And I have not yet mailed the package I'm making!  GAH!  The deadline is coming soon!  The dear and lovely woman knitting for me is Line of 2 ret 2 vrang (what does this mean - knit 2 purl 2?) and she lives in Denmark!  Isn't that COOL!?  Line thought it was just the right thing to make not one but TWO pair of socks for me!  Can you even BELIEVE that??  I opened the package and saw.... yes - Jaywalkers!!  Beautiful Jaywalkers.  As you might know, I have a history with Jaywalkers, and it really is not a pleasant one.  For some reason I wasn't quite jiving with the Jaywalker pattern when I knit them and even though I finished them I wasn't very pleased with the results (that's one finished pair of socks I should have frogged, period - I did a bad job of knitting them).  But Line is a fearless knitter - she knit Jaywalkers despite their reputation as a difficult sock to fit, especially to be gifted!  And her fearless knitting came out absolutley perfectly.  PURR-FECT-LEE.  I could never have imagined loving a pair of Jaywalker socks but y'all, after putting these on my feet - and they slid on like butter and stay up like they were MADE FOR ME or something - I just might reconsider and knit this pattern again.  The right way.  The second pair of socks she made are the cutest striped socks with contrasting/coordinating heel/cuff/toe in the two stripe colors for each sock.  Does that make sense?  No?  The pictures tell it all.

And Line knows what to send for an international pal for SURE!  SUPER WOW!  The most awesome sock yarn and special candy treats!  I wish you could all have some of these treats - they were very good but I don't have much left to show.  :)  The sock yarn called Leone is new to me and wow - it's so cool!  It's a single ply fingering weight superwash yarn - both yarns are just YUM!  And oh YES - the rosewood double pointed needles - oh Line - I LOVE THESE - what a treasure!  She sent beautiful stitch markers and look at this gorgeous necklace that she made for me herself!!  She made the chain long but I'm thinking of putting an extra clip on the chain so I can wear it short!  Don't you love this?  I never select adventurous jewelry for myself so what a lovely treat this is for me.... I love it!!

Thank you Line for being a wonderful swap partner for the Hogwarts Sock Swap!  Now I need to go finish the socks I'm knitting for my pal!  :)

SPECIAL SWAP:  Oh Special Swap is so fun.  Lynne is hosting such a sweet intimate little swap, obviouslly called Special Swap.  We're paired with a pal who is our swap partner - we give to each other so it's not a secret and we get to ask each other all kinds of questions so we can decide what's the most perfect things to put in their package.  This time around my pal was Marisol of Purls Just Wanna Have Fun!  YAY!  As small as the knit blogging world seems sometimes, I have so far never been paired with a pal that I already knew!  That's just amazing.  I knew OF Marisol but I hadn't spent time getting to know her until now.  So I had the pleasure of getting to know Marisol and read her blog, see pictures of her delicious yarn collection and lovely knitting (wow she has quite a list of knits going on!) and her adorable little boy and everything that goes along with getting to know Marisol.  Isn't it fun to make new friends this way?!  :)

The theme for this round of Special Swap has been In the Garden!  OOOoooooo how great!  It's such a broad and wonderful theme!  Despite my crazy life and inability to answer a few extra little questions (I even made the list myself), Marisol put together a package that has *ME* all over it.  hehe  She sent a gorgeous skein of Scout's Swag sock yarn in the colorway Fraises des Boise, which I believe translates to Wild Strawberry - or at least "the good stuff that goes in a Strawberry Mojito".  I think I'd like my husband to stir one of those up for me this weekend!  YUM!  There's also a bunch of delicious treats like little cookies and cinnamon crisps, tea, and darling little honey lemon bears that you're supposed to drop in your cup of tea and let them dissolve (don't tell Marisol that I'm just eating them right out of the bag because they're so GOOD!) - and a beautiful new tea cup/mug and delicious lotion too - so pretty and girly - the whole package is so darling and oh yes - there's this VERY COOL mini pine tree windowsill garden kit thingy - I can't wait to find the perfect pot for that!  And to top it all off she included the WendyKnits! book!  Yay!  Did you know there's a pattern in there for a tank/shell called "Laura"??  I think I have to make it! 

Thank you so much Marisol for being a Special friend and sending such a lovely package for Special Swap.  I'm already dreaming of what pattern to knit with my yummy Fraises des Boise sock yarn.  :)

I also mentioned something special that came along with some afghan mail!  Some things are such a funny coincidence that it seems impossible that it could be true.  Just impossible.  During the last round of Special Swap I was paired with Lynne.  Anybody remember the very special 3ply homespun yarn that I made and was so emotional about and had a hard time knowing what color to dye it, etc etc etc??  Well.  I made that yarn for Lynne.  The theme for that round of Special Swap was to send your partner on a special vacation anywhere in the world.  Fun!  It was tough deciding where to send Lynne because there are so many great places to go when you're a virtual traveller!  Lynne told me that the best vacation she had ever taken was to the beach at Lake Michigan.  Wow.  I grew up in Michigan.  Wouldn't it be fun to send her on a little virtual trip back to the beach?  Uhh... she then confessed to me that she goes EVERY SUMMER to the beach at Lake Michigan.  Oh.  Maybe that wouldn't be the best choice then.

But I couldn't stop thinking about it.  So I decided to forge on with the idea and made the theme of her package "Summer in Michigan" featuring Blueberries, Cherries, and Petoskey Stones.  I included several blueberry and cherry items because it was a favorite memory of mine growing up in Michigan - we all knew that my dad's favorite birthday cake (in May) was blueberry pie (all things in life are somehow memorialized by food, no?)!  Another favorite memory of mine is a family vacation that we took to Lake Michigan where we stayed in a friend's cottage on the beach and I found a Petoskey Stone.  I dyed the homespun yarn in a colorway that I called Petoskey - blue skies, bits of wispy white clouds, blue/grey water and sand at your feet as your toes sink into the sand walking along looking for Petoskey stones.  It was all accompanied by a card that I made featuring a photo of the Petoskey stone that I still have from that family vacation at Lake Michigan.  I never did post any pictures or mention anything about sending the package on my own blog.  Lynne has pictures on her blog post about receiving the package.

Early this week I received a package of afghan mail from Lori in Petoskey, Michigan.  Inside the package were her squares.... and one little package each of dried cherries and dried blueberries, made by a company there in Petoskey.  I was absolutely stunned.  I thought surely this was a little tease because Lori had seen Lynne's post about receiving her Special Swap package from me.  I alluded to that when I listed Lori's package in the list of afghan mail I had received.  Lori left a comment stating that she had never seen Lynne's post and it was a happy coincidence that she included the cherries and blueberries in my package.  Lori - what a priceless surprise!  Thank you so much!!!  And look - she even sent cherry and blueberry colored squares.  :)

Are you still with me??  Does anybody still care about reading the daily square report??  hehe  I worry that I'm boring you to death with this stuff!!  But don't stop knitting, okay?!  hehe

Daily Square Report:

We're getting down to the real knitty gritty with afghan mail y'all.  I can feel the vibes of people out there who are continuing to knit until August 1st and I just know you're gonna slam me with TONS of afghan mail at that time, right?!  RIGHT!   

Just in case I'm gonna start knitting squares again.  I'm feeling nervous.  Not for any reason in particular.  Just because getting nervous about now seems like the right thing to do, don't you think?  :)

So we're adding 43 squares today!  YAY!!  That's yesterday and today combined.  It seems like we're getting a sizeable batch about every other day so combining is good with me - keeps me from having to post quite so often and I can do other things like encourage my daughters to tinkle in the potty.  *sigh*

Today's squares were received from the following people:

• Erin - El Dorado, KS
• Nikki - Roanoke, VA
• Anonymous Knitter - Ridgefield, WA
• Ann - South Bend Brook, NJ
• Susan - Rancho Cordova, CA (for the Camellia City Stockin'ettes Knitting Guild in Sacramento, California!)
• Cherri - Conklin, MI
• Maurine - Troy, MI (at least her 3rd package!)

Thank you ALL!  Thank you all who have sent packages!  Thank you all who are still knitting!  A few people have asked if I would please be sure to take pictures at the seaming party in September.  A few people have asked if I would be taking pictures of squares drying, squares all together for a group shot when I have received the majority around August 15th...

Seeing how I have an obvious history of not documenting things with enough pictures (*cough*), thanks for all the reminders.  I'll be sure to do all of that and more if I can just remember.  :)

Make Time For Sanity Savers

Even though this will officially post on Friday, this is really my Thursday post cause it's not quite midnight here yet!  And it's CRAZY LONG!!! 

Whewwww.  Can I take a breath? 

I always yap about how busy busy busy I am but then I feel guilty because some of my busy time is spent knitting and spinning!  How could I be soooo busy if I have time to knit and spin?  It's my Sanity Saver y'all.  Knitting is nice.  And is very relaxing.  However, spinning is my ultimate sanity saver.

Let's see what Laura has been up to?  It's not all afghan squares around here.  I'm making time for my Sanity Saver activities in addition to my Afghan Project Manager job and Mommy job.  That's why I'm not posting at a reasonable hour.  I did try to post earlier but things kept getting in the way.  This afternoon during the babies nap I opened the afghan mail right away, made a few notes.... took tons of pictures, and then just as I was about to sit down and compose a post the telephone rang.  It was Ruth from church - 92 years old.  She had questions about the afghan project and was in the mood to chat.  Who am I to put a blog post before the need to know Ruth better?  So I chatted away the rest of the babies nap time with Ruth.  Then tonight just as I was about to start a blog post Jeff called to say he was coming home.  I looked around and said "oh no, I guess I should clean up a bit."  It really makes me cranky to do house work when I'd rather be doing a blog post or knitting or spinning.  *sigh*  Thankfully the cleaning was done by the time he got home.  And here I am now. 

How about some pictures of what I've been knitting and spinning??

Hogwarts Sock Swap  First up - progress shot of Hufflepuff socks in my own hand dyed yarn - dreamy merino/silk blend sock yarn.  Delish.  Just a few inches into the 2nd sock now but it's really a quick knit.  The deadline for mailing isn't until early July so I'm good.  I'll be including a few other goodies in the package as part of the swap - Hufflepuff House colored stitch markers (obviously yellow/black) and sock knitting needles.  I need to check and see if there were any other requirements - I don't think so.  I might make a little sock knitting tote in Hufflepuff colors to send along as well.  It's AMAZING to see the socks and accessories and Harry Potter-esque detail that some people are putting into their packages!!!  I haven't read the books so I don't know as much detail about the nature of the different houses and apparently MANY other details that the movies skip over.  I sure hope my pal likes these socks!  I'm using the RPM pattern from MagKnits. 

Next up in the knitting category.... ohhh... I have really worried that maybe I shouldn't show this.  It was a complete and utter series of moments that brought me to this place.  WEAK MOMENTS.  Weak Moment #1 was when I received two skeins of beautiful laceweight alpaca/silk from my sweet friend Carole.  Just because she loves me.  Isn't that so sweet??  The yarn was a pretty and bright pink red and yellow colorway called "Happy Dance".  Surely Carole thought of me when she sent the yarn because I've been so completely overjoyed about the progress of Rebuilding Greensburg - Block by Block!  Weak Moment #2 was when I thought I would love to cast on for something with this yarn immediately.  I thought and thought about what to make!  Then I looked at the yarn and wondered what I would look like covered with pink red and yellow.  The idea scared me just a little bit.  Socks, yes.  A shawl.... not so sure.  I also thought "maybe this is why Carole so generously sent me this yarn?  Maybe she couldn't see herself covered with a pink and red and yellow shawl?"  Hmmmm.....  Weak Moment #3 involved some blue dye.  And a lot more thinking.  I soaked the yarn.  My husband saw it and thought I had dyed some new yarn to sell and complimented the colorway!  He was APPALLED when I told him I was considering overdyeing the yarn that Carole sent me.  That didn't stop me.  My daughter Katie was equally shocked when she heard of the plan.  That didn't stop me.  I forged on despite the guilt they tried to shroud me with because my curiosity as a yarn dyer could not be quelled.

This..... became This.
 

After a hot bath with some Sapphire dye, Happy Dance is now more of a Waltz.  And I like it.  And it's becoming a laceweight Argosy Wrap.  What do you think?  Do you think Carole is actually reading or maybe just skimming for afghan info?  We can only hope because I'm about to faint knowing that she's going to find out I overdyed the yarn she sent.  The colors came out like plum, dark purple/violet, and various shades of green/teal.

I'm thinking this will be the Summer of the Shawl around the Bunny Hutch in my knitting life.  Not only am I working on the above wrap, I have also joined up with the Spun Stitches Knitalong (couldn't resist - have you seen their BUTTONS?).  The idea is to spin yarn enough for a shawl, and then knit said shawl.  That's a whole HECK of a lot of yarn, huh?  Especially when you're spinning with a spindle.  But that's okay.  Cause I'm making time for my Sanity Savers and this is a big one.  Something that adds interest to the spinning is color and using good fiber.  This project is combining both of those pleasures.  I haven't made a final decision about the shawl pattern - still need to check some info on the pattern I'm thinking of.  But here's a peek at the fiber and first skein of yarn.

 

The fiber was all gifted to me by friends.  The left and center were birthday gifts from Kelly.  I have the most of the purple wool on the left so the shawl will be mostly that color.  The white wool on the right was sent by my dear friend Jan in Oklahoma.  It's wool from her own sheep, Tootles.  It's the softest sweetest stuff on Earth.  And it drafts and spins like a DREAM.  If this is what your reward is for keeping a sheep (coated), it's worth the effort.  Thank you girls both so much for such beautiful fiber gifts - I'm thinking of you both so much as I spin and plan to make a shawl from the yarn.  :)

Enough about this stuff.  How about some afghan news???  If you're still with me, that is.  Sorry for the crazy long posts lately!!

Daily Square Report:

Today we received nine more squares and yet another surprise in addition to the surprise I mentioned in Wednesday's post!!!  The surprise of getting squares every day is nice but these extra surprises really knock my socks off!

First - yesterday's surprise!  Florence of Manville, NJ emailed to let me know this was coming but I didn't really know what to expect.  Florence sent an already completed crochet lap-ghan for some lucky family or individual in Greensburg!!  Isn't that awesome!?  And what a fun surprise it was to receive.  Before their nap this afternoon I told the girls that I wanted to take their picture outside holding this blanket.  They happily complied since that meant putting off nap time just a little longer.  hehe

As I've already said, as soon as the babies went down for their nap I opened today's afghan mail, did my record keeping stuff (counting), and took a bunch of pictures.  Today's surprise in the mail was from an anonymous knitter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  This person sent three GORGEOUS hand knit winter hats and attached very nice notes to each one and sent me a note as well explaining how it came to be that she was sending them.

The twist happened in this story when the babies got up from their naps.  I had planned on writing the blog post before they got up but then, you know.... phone call from 92yo Ruth and I ran out of time.  I had put the green hat by the computer so I could remember what it said on the tag about how the people of Louisiana had been helped after Hurricane Katrina so she was happy to have the opportunity to help someone else in similar need. 

I was in the bedroom changing Lila's diaper when Emeline found the hat and exclaimed, "WOW, a HAT!!  This is a pretty hat!"  She put the hat on and ran to the bedroom to show me that she was wearing it.  I told her "Emeline, please take that off, it's not your hat."  She said, "It's mine."  You can imagine the argument discussion that followed.  The crying and upset was very dramatic but I somehow convinced her that she could not keep the hat.  She then headed for the front door and INSISTED that I get the camera and take her picture wearing the hat on the front porch in the swing.  She started out rather cheery.... but then I reminded her that it was not her hat and she had to let me have it back.  I think her expression (and residual tears) says it all.

Don't all children look adorable when they wear hats that are twenty sizes too big?

And the squares.  Yesterday's 57 plus today's 9 mean we have received a total of 890 squares and still need 230 to reach our minimum goal.  Hooray!  In the comments on Wednesday's post Katherine suggested that I set a new goal just because it's so fun and motivating to have a goal!  Well then.  I guess we'll do that.  I think I agree with her.  I thought today about what might be a stretch... we have, oh... more than 45 days of knitting to go.  We're very near to reaching our minimum goal of 20 afghans.  I casually mentioned 2000 squares a few posts ago.  So how about we double the goal to 40 afghans(!) and set it for 1120 x 2 = 2240 squares!?  Think it's reachable??  Maybe I'm crazy.  Maybe it's too high.  Maybe it's too low??  I guess the days ahead will tell us.  Honestly it's a mystery at this point and I LOVE watching it unfold before our eyes!

In a combined list, yesterday and today's squares came from the following people:

Joanne - Saginaw, MI (2nd package!)
Barbara - Papillion, NE (2nd package!)
Florence - Manville, NJ (squares + crochet lap-ghan!!)
Tracy - Greenwood, MO (2nd package!)
Juanita - El Dorado, KS
Laura - Dadeville, AL
Vicki & Carin - Algonia, IA (mother/daughter team!)
FB - Stafford, VA
Laura - Los Banos, CA
Connie - Santa Rosa, CA
Carrie - Brunswick, ME
Jean - Hollis Center, ME
Sharilyn - Fairport, NY
Mary - Chicago, IL
Anonymous - Baton Rouge, LA (3 awesomely squishy beautiful hats!)

Thank you ALL for your sending your squares and these other thoughtful items.  Thank you ALL for your generous time spent knitting and crocheting and for sending thoughtful notes to the families who will receive the afghans. 

I bumped into the lady at church this morning who is working hard searching to find just the right family for our church to "adopt" and help out with rebuilding in Greensburg.  She was bursting at the seams with excitement about the news she had for Pastor Wade.  Hopefully we'll have more information very soon about this family and we can find out if they have children (she didn't know), as well as other possible needs.  She told me a little about her effort to find "just the right family" over the past month.  It's difficult to imagine what someone goes through when a tragedy has happened such as this.  She thought they had found just the right family and then the mother decided that she would not be staying in Greensburg and is buying a house in another community.  It's still a very recent trauma that families are recovering from in many different ways.  Emotional recovery is huge - especially for the family who decided to move away.  They had young children (and one with special needs) who went through the terror of this tornado destroying their home and they are having a lot of difficulties with the limitations that the community holds for them at this time.  Searching for just the right family to adopt is an emotional rollercoaster as well, because this woman from church is looking for someone to help and is hearing tragic stories and trying to offer hope to everyone she meets as she continues her search.  Hopefully we've found just the right family now and will be ready to help move on to the next step of recovery for them.  I'll let you know when I hear more about it.

Everybody TAKE CARE and have a beautiful Friday!  I'll be posting the usual Eye Candy Friday and afghan report later in the day.  XOXOX 

Knitting In Public

It's been a little nutty around here the past two days because Emeline has been sick. 

Tuesday night I did well to heed Susie's advice and go to bed before midnight.  Around 4am I woke to Emeline crying then yelling for me saying there was something yucky in her bed.  Nice.  Change the sheets and blankets in the dark... she was throwing up intermittently for several hours following. 

It's Thursday night now and she is still fighting a bit of a fever.  You know how kids are.  High fever and they have this glazed over look in their eyes.  Take some Motrin, fever goes down, they're bouncing around playing with toys.  It's been up and down like that for two days now and that really takes its toll on the dishes and laundry and general attention elsewhere.  Hopefully this is nearly over with.

Feeling pretty rotten but we coax a smile with fruit snacks.  Drew on herself with a marker in one of those bouncy moments.

This evening was Suzannah's DARE graduation ceremony.  Lots of 5th grade kids here - about 160 total between all the elementary schools, so it was a fairly crowded auditorium.  Benny and Katie did a stellar job of watching the babies while I attended the DARE graduation.  I took my Hufflepuff RPM sock along anticipating a good hour of uninterrupted knitting time during which I probably would not fall asleep (happens a lot at home).  When I sat down it was 30 minutes before the ceremony was to begin and the row I sat in was completely empty.  I sat exactly in the middle so that I shouldn't have to stand up for people wanting to walk in and out of the row.  I wondered if getting my knitting out would scare people away from sitting in this row at all.  Eventually there were people in the two aisle seats at both ends of the row with just me right in the middle.  My mind wandered, I began to drift off to sleep with my knitting poised in mid-stitch.  My head nodded and woke me.  I straighted up in my seat and glanced to my right to see that someone had come all the way to the center of the row and sat down right next to me.  Hm.  So much for scaring off the locals, not that I was trying.  It really was an experiment.

Immediately in front of me was a little boy and his parents.  Here's how the conversation went:

Boy:  (looks behind him and sees the knitting) ::tap tap::  Mama.  What is that lady doing?
Mama:  (looks behind him at me)  She's doing crochet.  Oh, well, no, I think she's knitting.  Yes, that's knitting.
Boy:  What is she knitting?
Mama:  I don't know.  Why don't you ask her?

Boy looks at knitting, looks at me, turns back around.

Boy:  (turns to me in a very quiet voice in this rather loud auditorium)  What are you knitting?
Me:  I'm knitting a sock.  (hold sock with cuff up and needles down)  See, this is the top.  Have you ever worn hand knit socks?
Boy:  No.  My mom buys our socks so she doesn't have to get all that knitting stuff.

Boy:  Mama, she's making a sock.  Would you knit socks for me?
Mama:  Nooooo no no no.  I'm not going to take up knitting.  It would take way too long to knit socks.

Boy:  (to me)  How long does it take to knit socks?
Me:  Oh, I can make a pair in about a week.
Boy:  Why don't you buy socks since it takes so long to knit them?
Me:  I do buy most of my socks because it takes so long to knit them.

(program begins - Mama hushes boy)

I forgot that I was ready to start the heel flap on this sock when I picked it up to take along, so I knit an extra repeat on the leg since I wanted to double check how the pattern says to do the heel flap (odd number of stitches here).  I don't think my pal will mind a bit.  The patterning is finally showing up a little more like I wanted it to.  Sometimes these things take a while to appear.

Ready to start the heel flap.

Look for a contest coming up - hopefully in late April to early May.  This is my 300th post.  A quiet milestone really.  I was hoping that my 3000th comment would line up with the 300th post but it didn't work out that way.  I'm about 180 comments short of that goal.  So that's your warning.  Some time in about 180 more comments someone will be the lucky commenter.  When the time gets closer I'll decide what the prize is and I'll be POSTING what that prize will be!  ha  I have 2-3 more packages to send out to people who have patiently waited long long ages for packages that they're expecting from me.  Those packages will be sent out before the 3000th comment arrives or I couldn't bear to have another contest.  In the mean time, I'm happily planning for the 3000th post contest package.  Have fun and if you want the chance to win some yarn and goodies sooner than later, leave a comment!  :)

HUFFLEPUFF

Funny how things don't always turn out how you expect yet they're still great!  :)

I dyed two skeins of Hufflepuff yarn exactly alike.  I've started knitting one skein for my pal in the RPM sock pattern and the other skein is tentatively spoken for SOLD thanks to a nice referral (thanks Susie!).  I don't expect to be dyeing more skeins exactly like this because the striping didn't come out exactly as I imagined, but I like it anyway.  I do, however, plan to make more Hufflepuff and also some Gryffindor.

This yarn is just incredible.  I haven't used a silk blend sock yarn before.  If you have then I'm sure you can imagine the feeling of "this is AWESOME!"  heh  I've always wanted to use some Regia SILK.  I had two skeins but then gifted them to someone and never got to try the yarn.  I just can't imagine it being better than this.  No possible way.  NO.  POSSIBLE.  WAY.  I can't imagine how awesome it would be to WEAR these socks.  Oh the softness.  I'm nearly drooling thinking about it.  hehe  I know I'm silly.  Gotta get more more more of this base yarn - I think I only have a few skeins left.

Update on Katie:  The arm has stopped hurting.  Thank Heaven.  But last night the poor girl woke around 3:15am puking.  I suspect a mild case of food poisoning and blame it on the chicken teriyaki she had for lunch at school yesterday.  She stayed home this morning but is feeling better now and went to school at 12:30.  What a good girl.  I think I would have stayed home if that happened to me in 8th grade.  Probably because I didn't like Mr. Honzowitz.  Ugh.

Saturday Sky

Happy Saturday Everyone!!  Here's a sweet little slice of Saturday Sky for you.... just right there at the top... see?

It's a beautiful sunny warm Spring Day here in Kansas.  The babies got a little loopy when I let them play on the porch this morning.

Eye Candy isn't just for Fridays. heh  Here's one more of Lila Pearl with two of her loves - books and her baby.  Awwwww.

The big kids are visiting Texas for Spring Break this week so it feels a little bit like a vacation around here without having to take them to school, cook meals for seven, do that much more laundry, drive them hither and yon, etc etc etc.  I love having them here, but a little break is nice too.  :)

Oh, I finished my Wee Tiny Sock and mailed it off today (one day late because... eh hem... weird little story about the camera disk that I really don't need to retell).  Surely they won't say I can't swap again in my life because I sent it one day late.  I usually send my swap packages a day late - that's just the way I am.  *sigh*  There's a Flickr group set up for the photos called Wee Tiny Sock Swap 2007.  There are such great pictures there of these tiny little things.  Thanks Emily for organizing this fun swap!

I've been knitting away on Ene's Shawl but I'll do another lace knitting journal entry tomorrow or Monday so I'll save pictures until then.  I'm zooming along right now and have finally gotten a few rows into chart three.  I was thrilled to find that my stitch count was perfect when I completed chart two (313 stitches on the needles).  It's getting smaller... it's getting smaller. 

We took the babies to Wichita this morning to visit with their grandparents and visit the Michael's store and see if they had a better needle for this lace knitting (Ene).  I was hoping to get a size 6 in the Susan Bates ... oh, I don't know if it has a name.  But the cord is black and the needles are silver.  I thought the cords looked pretty flexible when I saw them a while back.  I was sorry to learn that their smallest size was a 7 and when I felt the cord - not anywhere near as flexible as I hoped.  SO, I'm going with either the new Addi Turbo lace needles or possibly KnitPicks Options.  Still deciding.  But the heavier this gets (if you can even call it heavy) the more difficult it is to use the current circ with quite a rigid cord.

When we were at Michael's I stopped and talked with their Events Coordinator about whether they are looking for knit and crochet instructors.  They asked "what can you do?"  ha  The manager ran to get me an application and they acted very very interested.  One of the first things she said was "you schedule your own classes".  Whew! And "it doesn't matter if you've never taught a class before."  WHEW!  How exciting!  One thing is that I'd be limited to teaching classes that used materials that can be purchased at their store.  Well hm.  I think that's pretty workable.  I first knew about them looking for instructors when there was a mention about it on the Lion Brand email newsletter that I get every week.  They said to bring back the application next week with samples of items I've made and they'll talk to me about it.  Well Cool!  I'm excited... yet... you know.  Every person that I've read (on blogs) who teaches their first class is always very nervous.  I'm sure I would have all the same nervous insecurities (will they like me? will I have a clue what I'm doing? will I remember how to knit?).  I'll let you know how that deal goes.

I've also been dyeing up the rest of the sock yarn I had here in the SOOT colorway (it's all spoken for at this point) and have ordered more yarn to dye.  This time around I'm getting a shipment of 50/50 merino/silk blend yarn for dyeing.  I am so excited to try this yarn!!!  I'll be doing some more semi-solid colorways when it arrives.  Stay tuned for posts about its availability!  And y'all, it's not going to be crazy expensive.  The merino/silk blend will only be $23 per 100g skein.  I can't wait for it to arrive!!  How do you feel about semi-solids in maybe pink, brown, burgundy, blue (light? dark?)...??  I have one skein of laceweight yet undyed.  I'd be glad to take a custom order if anyone has a colorway in mind?

Have a great rest of your weekend and I hope you have a lovely Saturday Sky!  :)