Karma Swap Pal~~You're the Greatest

Oh my!! I arrived home the other day to find this waiting for me from my Karma Swap Pal:
3 skeins of Essential, 2 skeins of Dancing from Knit Picks and the green skein is NoNo Kitty superwash!! Floored~~absolutely floored! I must have done something awfully good in a past life to deserve this! I am so enamored with Knit Picks sock yarns, this pas perfect. Such a sweetie she is and TaDa, she is none other than Knittinmom, Chrissy. Check out her blog....turns out she's a sock knitter too! The green is going for another pair of socks for my darling DD, whose favorite color is GREEN, who loved the yarn and WAS at a point of "Mom, don't knit me anything else!!" (oops I should have rotated the pic first!!) The other skeins will be for very special socks.

While we're on the subject of Karma Swap which was started by Keohinani I want to apologize to my partner for getting her package out so late. You don't know who you are yet, but please be patient......it's on its way! And a great big thank you to Keohinani for hosting the swap.

Knitting news! All of my "waiting for" stuff arrived last weekend, so I can now finish Sonnet, fix the wacko stuff going on with my Jaywalkers, and begin Tempting II. A wonderful time was had last Saturday at my lys, Knit One Purl One, actually got to go in for a couple hours of knitting with the gals. It's the first time I was able to do that, it was a flooky weekend DD was with her dad, MWBF (most wonderful boyfriend) was working out of town so I allowed myself to slack off around the house and indulge. We stayed til almost 5, one of my dearest friends took a spinning class there, then she and I went to a hockey game, which of course they won, of course because she and I were there and she was wearing her lucky underwear! LOLOL.

Doggy news! Well it seems DD and MWBF found a dog at the shelter Tuesday. He's ready for adoption tomorrow and I'll be there at 8 am right when the shelter opens. Ok for those of you who have read my blog ramblings before know we had to put our Great Dane down a couple months ago, and we still have the 200lb Mastiff. We adopted a Rott/Shepherd mix that didn't work out. One would think we love big dogs. With that being said, tomorrow morning I'm hoping to bring home a Miniature Pinscher!!! Ok picture a Chihuahua (sp?) size Doberman. DD says it will fit in my purse! What a hoot, this is gonna be fun. So keep your fingers crossed and in my next entry I can post pics of "Fang". Yes that's what my two honeys want to name him.

Gonna get to work now. Have the day off tomorrow, Yippee!!! Have a wonderful weekend filled with love and smiles.

Good News and The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Tom Petty comes in really handy sometimes! First the good news. I found the Paton's Fresco yarn in Grape I need to finish Sonnet!!!! Happy Dance to the max!!!! Boy do I love Ebay. So in addition to waiting for my needles to finish the Jaywalkers, and waiting for the needles so I can start Tempting II, I'm now waiting for the Patons. So what do I do? Cast on for another pair of socks of course. The Knit Picks Parade was calling my name so I cast on for the Rib and Cable Socks by Nancy Bush that are in (oops, I forgot what issue) Interweave Knits. I think it's the Winter 2005 issue????? Yes two at a time on two circs. Someday I'll try the toe up method. Hey an obsessed girl has to have something on the needles. It's odd though, I'm rarely if ever cold and my goal is to have all hand knit socks????? Eh oh well. Anyway I'm really enjoying this pattern, right now it's just K4, P2, K2, P2 but it's easy and fun. I can handle purling in a rib pattern or a purl here and there but I've realized that I really don't like purling entire rows. Guess that means my only stockinette will be in the round. Now I'll beat myself up. I made a pact with myself not to purchase any more yarn this month except with the gift certificates I have. Justification for the Patons~~I have to finish the cardigan. Ok, feel better.

Awesome DD came home last night in the most amazing mood. Sometimes when she comes home from her dad's the first night can be trying. Not all the time, just a lot of the time. Apparently it was boring over there. It seems to me she was glad to be home. She is an incredible kid.......given the changes in her life over the past 8 years, she's still a sweet, kind, good hearted 15year old. Tomorrow, I'm taking her out to dinner just because. We've got to start planning her sweet 16 party. No, we're not renting a hall and having the "private prom" kind of party that's on TV these days. We're doing it all at home. Decent size back yard.... hey, we've had 150 people at the bashes we throw. I would say adult bashes, or adult only, but you might get the wrong idea. Got some themes rolling around our heads. No, she won't agree to a knitting theme.....damn!!! LOLOL

Gotta get back to work. Have a wonderful Tuesday! Until we meet again....

Happy P's Birthday!!!

Yes, my sister "P"'s birthday is St. Patrick's Day!!! Yes, we both have Irish names~~and an Italian mother, go figure that one. We do have a little Irish blood in us but we were raised with the Italian side of the family. "P" looks italian, I don't....well except for the boobs. Anyway Happy Birthday Dear Sister.

On the knitting front, my Jaywalkers are coming right along, although in my humble opinion they are doing something other than walking!! I've turned the heel and picked up the gusset stitches and well, there's something very wrong. As I do all my socks 2 at a time on 2 circs, don't know what I did, but they're just not sitting correctly on the needles. So, until I get size 0 or 1 DPNs (which hopefully will be today on my lunch break) I can't, won't work on them. Instead, I'm redoing the toe on my very own pattern socks. Just didn't feel right so I'm making them longer. Hey, anybody have a good pattern/yarn suggestion for socks to wear with Birkenstocks???? I'm all ears.

Sonnet is still on hold, can't find the **(^^%$ yarn anywhere and 6 balls are needed. AARRRGGGHHH. Tempting II is another fun, learning adventure. I cast on the required number of stitches on the required needle size; even cast on in pattern, so proud. The yarn is Cascade 220 superwash in a deep red. It just wasn't looking quite right so Ms. K put the needles down. Read an entry on nonaKnits and decided that maybe, just maybe there was something to this swatching stuff. Got size 7's (and have found a wonderful circular needle, Silverado by Susan Bates) and guess what? The size 7s worked. Thank you once again nona for the advice. The yarn is soft, yummy and it begs to be fondled. Now the waiting for the proper length of circ to arrive. Speaking of waiting for stuff to arrive; I did receive my first order from Knitpicks and love the sock yarn.....I ordered Parade in the plum colorway and Simple Stripes in vineyard, yes I love purple and all shades thereof. It's absolute wonderful yarn and the price is awesome. Trying to get my vacation knitting projects in order WAY ahead, yeah vacation is in August......ahem. Excuse to buy yarn????? Shit, who needs one.

No pics again today, can't find the damn transfer cord again. Yes my sign is Virgo; somewhere along the line, the universe, in its infinite wisdom, decided to (or forgot to) give me the "a place for everything and everything in its place" trait known to every other Virgo on this earth. Am I more special? Was the universe on a coffee break when I popped out? Can't explain this one. Instead my special blessing was the "obsessive" trait and the "let's reward me BEFORE I do the work" trait. Bad habit of mine......every evening and weekend this goes through my head~~~ok it's time to clean and do the laundry and when that's done then knitting~~you can imagine what ends up getting done....nothing but knitting. Oh well. At least there's one very happy camper in my household and when mama's happy so is everyone else.

The house is going to be very empty this weekend. My DD went to her dad's for the weekend for the first time in 7 weeks. Loved every freaking minute of it, she's a joy to have around and I'm going to miss her. Yes, my 15yr old DD is a joy to have around; very lucky mom here. Despite all the crap in her life the past lots of years, she's got a good outlook. She has been so "even" the past 7 weeks and seemed peaceful. Now she goes with him and i bet when she comes home Monday, well, let's not go there. She and I will be going to hockey and having a grand time.

Ah hockey, not much to say on that note except my beloved Kings are really sucking right now. Not only losing, but getting creamed, trounced, reamed etc. Will we be there tomorrow night, you betcha!!! Will we be renewing our season tickets next season? You betcha!!! I love the Kings.

Ok. I could go on forever. Let me leave you with this:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Champagne in one hand - strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming WOO HOO - What a Ride!"

Have a marvy weekend and catch you on the rebound.

Yammering

Didn't realize it had been quite so long since I posted. Hmmm. Anyway, sock news....I'm Jaywalkin'!!! Sorta. Don't know if they qualify as the "Drunken Jaywalkers" I've heard about, but you can definately tell the knitting I've done while drinking! Got some wonky parts in the legs, but the pattern is wonderful, easy to memorize and fun to knit. Got 5 inches of the leg done. Not too bad. Loving the yarn and the new circs are lovely. Took the pics, but alas as usual I forgot the transfer cord....Ahem.

Tada, placed my first order with Knitpicks for sock yarn. I had no idea their shipping rates were so reasonable. Ordered for 2 pairs of socks. Read great stuff about them on other blogs so I'll let you know when I get the package. Gotta start stocking up for vacation knitting. Made those reservations yesterday. A week by the lake with BF; and a week in Solvang with my lovely DD. Can't wait...

Obsessive personality? Not me......sheesh, I LOVE KNITTING SOCKS. Let me ask you a question, and please honestly answer: Selfish knitting~~the WIPs and future projects I have are all for me. Is it selfish to knit for yourself when people around you are having babies, birthdays and other such celebrations? Mind you, I'm gonna finish all these projects and I do charity knitting.....how awful am I cuz I don't feel like knitting for anyone else but me????

The Kings kicked the butts of the Minnesota Wild last night~~Welcome Back Kings!! Had a blast with my friend, she's the only person I know who loves Hockey, loves to Knit and loves a bit of alcohol like me! This weekend is a hockey weekend. Saturday DD and I have a game. Sunday she and I are going to the Tip-A-King charity event. That's where you "tip" the players for an autograph or a photo. She's very excited.....Actually our friend is more excited than we are. And he's actually embarassed but not really you know? He's is plain awesome.

Even 8 years after the start of the "process" Divorce Sucks. Sometimes I think, "get over it" it's been a long time already. When I start to believe I am over it, I hear a song or something that brings the whole nasty thing, reason back. Let me clarify "it" for you. I wanted the divorce, I was the one who left. The reasons are awful and the only detail I'll give is restraining orders are involved. Maybe it's still unfathomable to me that one person could treat the person he loves so horribly in the name of love of course. It's unfathomable to me that a father could play mind games with his DDs; that a father would encourage alienation from a mother; that a father could ...oh god, never mind Get over it.