mama's world

drive by posting

Yup, that's what this will be.  This week was exhausting with work and fighting off some unknown ill.  I am feeling better now though I definitely need to keep going to bed early.  Not necessarily a bad thing.

I am nearly set for Malabrigo March over at the Junkies group on Ravelry.  This will be our second annual Mal March and we have tons of KAL's planned.  As usual, I've bitten off way too much.  Thankfully it does not all have to be finished by the end of the month.  Some of the items are small; so it's not quite as bad as it looks.  Here is my cast-on list:
Shalom Cardigan - in Verde Esperanza Chunky
Amelia -  in Stone Blue Worsted
Mockery Socks - Idiecita sock
Meret Beret - Java Red Worsted
February Lady Sweater - Pagoda Worsted
Pleated Ballet Slippers - to be determined (tbd)
Squiggle Cowl - tbd
Lace Ribbon Scarf - tbd
Evangeline Cowl - tbd
Felted Clogs - tbd

Yeah, that's alot!  lol  The socks will be for one of my BFF's.  The other BFF has the last of a pair of socks on my needles and I am hoping to be done with them in the next week or so.

I was all set last night to swatch for my Mockery Socks and then finish a LO I had been digi scrapping. I wound the Mal Sock for my Lace Ribbon Scarf with no problem at all and I’m happy to say both hanks were knotless.

Then I got to the Idiecita for the socks. OMG! It was a mess. It was impossible to wind…I couldn’t get it untangled and ended up pulling the whole swift down and was left with a huge tangled mess. I was already tired and cranky before I started and I seriously thought about chucking the whole mess. Fortunately, reason took over. After 1-1/2 hours of slow, deliberate untangling I successfully detangled 1/2 of the hank. Yeah, 1/2. How do I know this? Just before I put it away for the night I arrived at the “intentional knot in the skein”. I’ve got more detangling to do this weekend.

I just keep reminding myself how lovely the colorway is and how much I think the intended will love the finished socks.  I will be taking a break from the tangles tonight, but will finish it before the weekend is out.

I did a layout earlier in the week and have one about 1/2 done now.  So I will have some LO's to share tonight or tomorrow night.

I've been on Facebook for about 2 weeks now.  Well, technically I was on there for about a year, but I never bothered to actually use it.  It's been pretty neat finding old school friends on there and also reconnecting with both of my BFF's.  I know that sounds silly, but we all have hectic lives and don't get to touch base often.  Facebook has been allowing us to chat and catch up.

Okay, that's all for now.  Pizza is on the menu for tonight (it is Friday) and I'm sure we will be watching The Wheel of Fortune since that is P-nut's new favorite show.  She picks it hands-down over Hannah Montana reruns.

ahh....so much for a drive-by post. 

feeling a bit overwhelmed

Nothing major...just me getting too bogged down in too much.  On the knitting front, there are quite a few UFO's and more than a few of them want my attention.  Usually that doesn't bother me; however, I really, truly wanted to take a stab at my first sweater this winter and I just can't start.  I resolve that this coming weekend (too late for this one) I will pick up a few crochet hooks in varying sizes and get my test knit #1 finished.  I will then search for the missing US5 needles and finish test knit #2.  Then I can go into Malabrigo March without guilt and cast on for a sweater.  A girl can dream, right?

I've also been trying to organize my digital "supplies".  So, this means that I have been tinkering with the EHD's when I sit down to the laptop instead of scrapping.

But tonight, tonight I feel good and that is thanks to Sue Cummings.  Her designs are fresh and simple and set to get you scrapping quickly.  I took one of her quick pages and some of her word art and very quickly did this:

I Love You
 
*click on the image for full credits*  I did absolutely nothing to this layout except plunk in a photo, drop on the "title" and fiddle with the three little hearts.  The photo placement, the background word art, etc. were all there for me already.  And the best part?  Sue usually has a few versions of the quick pages in the pack...each with a few little changes to the details.

And the best part?  I've been wanting to scrap this photo for months and wasn't sure what to do with it.  The simplicity of Sue's quick page is absolutely perfect!

If you have a minute, please head on over to Sue's blog, My Chalkboard and check her out.  While you are at it, take a peak at her Oscraps store.  You won't be disappointed.

scrapping and knitting and life

Sounds a little philosophical, doesn't it?  Well, sorry to disappoint, but it's really just a summation...lol

I got home Friday to find that Daddy-o had decided to make homemade pizza for dinner.  YUM!  The downer?  As I was eating, I began to have tunnel vision in my right eye.  That's the term, right, when you lose peripheral vision?  Not pleasant.  I've never had a migraine (that I know of), but a few months before we were married (12+ years ago) I had a really horrible sinus headache that started like this.  Not the normal sinus headache.  I was getting sensitive to light and sound.  Not good.  I finished eating, took Tylenol Sinus and laid on the couch in the semi-dark while P-nut finished her dinner.  It subsided some (and the tunnel vision went away), but my sinuses were in an uproar and I had a hard time watching tv.  Also, the tv combined with P-nut and Daddy-o talking drove me to distraction.  At 8:30, I decided it was bedtime and jumped in mine after putting P-nut in hers.

I woke around 4:30 and still had a really bad headache.  I took more sinus meds.  When I got up a few hours later, it was there--but bearable--so P-nut and I got dressed and headed to the office.  She was so psyched to come to work with me.  I ended up having the headache (varying degrees) all weekend so I laid low and knit a lot. 

Saturday night I felt well enough to make a layout for me new CT.  I am happy to announce that Deb Fisher (aka DebF) at Pickleberry Pop is designing again and invited me to rejoin her template team.    I made my first of two layouts with her Templates Vol. 12.

And here is A Little Reminder:

Click on image for full credits and journaling.

My knitting over the weekend consisted of working the SKA January Mystery Beaded Socks.  One sock is done through the heel and the other is very nearly ready to do the toe decreases.  YEAH!

On Monday, I met Ruth and a friend of hers for lunch.  We chatted and gave one another moral support and tried to figure out the square Ruth and I are working on (is it really working on it if we knit 4 or 5 rows on Jan. 2 and haven't touched it since?).  I had laid out the written pattern in Excel in what was (for me) much more understandable than how it is laid out in the pattern book and it seemed to help us both.  I did 4 more rows at lunch, found a few fixes I need to make to my "chart" and feel better about the project.  Also, after talking about it, I think I have decided to make two 6-square lap-ghans instead of the 12 square afghan.  Honestly, what am I going to do with a huge cashmere afghan?  Don't get me wrong---if I do it right and well it will be a thing of beauty---but I have a child.  and a dog. and a husband.  'Nough said?  I am going to keep one and put the other away for P-nut---hopefully as a wedding gift some day.  This will also allow me to skip the squares I don't particularly care for.  On the months I'm not fond of the suggested square, I will do a repeat of one I have already done and that will be a square for P-nut's afghan.

I was going to scrap tonight, but I am woefully behind on two test knits (different designers) and I could also use a new pair of mittens.  So, what better time to do the second mitten for one of the test knits?

I am woefully behind in posting my Project 365 photos though I so I need to spend about an hour working on those before I knit.

Have a good day.  If you are sledding with the kiddos (or without) don't forget to take a few photos.