Welcome Danielle Jeanne Entinger!

My niece, Danielle Jeanne, was born on Sunday December 7 at 9:23am. She was 6 lbs 1 oz and 19 inches long. She's a little bitty thing but sweet and adorable.

Congrats to Myron Rolle!

Congratulations to Myron Rolle - a Florida State student and prominent football player - who won the Rhodes Scholarship yesterday. He's the first football player in 25 years to be awarded the scholarship and the Seminole Nation is very proud of him.

Friday Fill-In

1. The last band I saw live was The Police.
2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is the parade and all-I-can-eat mashed potatoes.
3. My Christmas/holiday shopping is behind schedule.
4. Thoughts of sleeping in fill my head.
5. I wish I could wear sandals.
6. Bagpipes should be played by hot Scottish men with nice legs.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to peace and quiet, tomorrow my plans include lunch with Vicki and dinner with Nicholas and Sunday, I want to see a movie!

Where In The World Is Jill?

It was a whirlwind week!

Tuesday, Veteran's Day, started very early for a trip to Philadelphia, PA. It was very appropriate to be in the city where the birth of our country took place.

We saw Independence Hall

The Liberty Bell
The Korean Memorial
The Vietnam Memorial
And we enjoyed Martha's Ale at The City Tavern (established in 1773)

A little work was even accomplished before the sightseeing.

Wednesday was a little more work and flight back to Atlanta.

Thursday night DF Heather, her DH Michael, and I went to the So You Think You Can Dance Tour Show. It was fantastic!
Our seats were great

The dancing was fabulous!

Heather and I did a lot of screaming. We hung out after the show for 45 minutes hoping to see the dancers - Heather was waiting to see Gev and I was waiting to see Joshua and get a picture with him. Tiredness (and age?) eventually won out and we headed home before they came out. The crowd waiting was still large. I'm very jealous of those young and rested enough to stick it out.

Friday I headed to Tallahassee for Homecoming. I was barely functioning by the time I arrived.

Saturday DF Teresa and I went to Wooly Bully and Really Knit Stuff. We managed to help out the local economy with a few purchases. Then we met up with Selena and her DH Kevin to go to the football game.

Teresa and I stopped by to say hello to Renegade and Renegade-in-training

Aren't they beautiful?! Teresa and I were even in the tunnel when the team came off the field from warm ups and Renegade and Chief Osceola went on to the field. We were definitely in the spirit!

It was a black out game.
The Marching Chiefs don't have black uniforms
The game did not go the way that we wanted, but we had fun.

Sunday it was back to Atlanta to start this week - and catch up on some sleep.

Happy Veterans Day

I'd like to thank all those who have served and are serving. I know many veterans and appreciate the time that they gave to protect the country and the rights that I enjoy everyday.

Ye Shall Prosper - October Goal

The October goal for our Ye Shall Prosper Stitch Along was to complete the front of the needlebook. A little late for me, but I did manage to finish it. Technically the design part was completed on time and then I started the chain stitch border which took longer than I planned.


One day this may be an actual functioning needlebook. I love this fabric, it is subtly overdyed and it really adds a nice texture to the piece.

It's already November 10, so I need to start on the November goal quickly.

I'm off to Philly early in the am, so early that it's really part of the night not the morning!

We Have A Winner

Thank you for participating in Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And the winner is.....Jennie! Jennie was a faithful clicker on the breast cancer site and was also faithful about commenting and blogging.

Jennie send your snail mail address to me at jillnoleatgmaildotcom.

There is a new goal for November at thebreastcancersite, so I hope that everyone continues to click.

Halloween Treats

DF Heather took this test and it's very enjoyable...

Your result for How Long Would you Survive in a Horror Film?...

The Black Guy

Look, I think the whole "the black guy always dies first" stereotype in horror films is just awful. In fact, the black guy usually dies second. So cheer up. The black guy is the one who always wants to turn back; who thinks that what the rest of the gang is doing is crazy. In other words, he's the sane guy. It's always a shame to see the black guy get cut down, because he's almost always right and you know that the group's going to just go charging right in without him.

If you're ready for a lead role check out: Danny Glover, Predator 2; Laurence Fishburne, Event Horizon; Calvin Lockhart, The Beast Must Die; Taye Diggs, House on Haunted Hill; Sanaa Lathan, Alien vs. Predator; Tory Kittles, Frankenfish; Carla Greene, Shadow: Dead Riot; Teresa Farley, Breeders; and Alex Datcher, Body Bags.

All possible results:

Jock/Cheerleader

The Black Guy

The Horror Aficionado

The Hero/Heroine

The Killer

Please remember to rate, but more importantly, please message me if you've found any blatant errors (especially with the results page and links). Thanks!

Take How Long Would you Survive in a Horror Film? at HelloQuizzy

There will be more updates from ASG2008 coming, but here's a pic of Heather and I dressed up as String1 and String2 (our needlework versions of Thing1 and Thing2 from The Cat in the Hat).


Happy Halloween Everyone!

Keep Clicking

Thank you to everyone who clicked and helped thebreastcancersite meet their goal for the month. Keep clicking every day to keep providing free mammograms.

Reminder: You have until midnight tomorrow night (October 31) to send me entries for the blog candy. I have to apologize because the month has flown by and I haven't been tempting you as much to enter. Check out Breast Cancer Awareness Month if you want to refresh on the rules. Thanks to everyone spreading the word!

Gone Stitching

I'm on my way to Hilton Head, SC today for A Stitcher's Gathering. I'm very excited that it is back in Hilton Head and I get one more trip to the beach before the cold and wind descends. DF's Jean, Heather, Ann and I are traveling down in what Jean has dubbed The Party Van. Teresa, Angela, Joy, Vicky, and Debbie are meeting us there. It's going to be a great weekend filled with lots of laughter and probably some stitching will sneak in too. I'll have pics when I get back.

Keep clicking - The Breast Cancer Site is getting close to reaching its goal but every click counts!

Breast Cancer Fundraiser

On Sunday, DF Andy and I went to one of our LYS The Whole Nine Yarns in Woodstock for a Breast Cancer Fundraiser. All of the proceeds went to a local support group Sisters of Support. There was a small fee to attend and we got to choose a ball of pink yarn at the door. The purpose of the yarn was for all of us to work on afghan squares that will be joined and create afghans that will be auctioned or raffled off to raise more money.

The Whole Nine Yarns did a really great job and it was well attended. There was also a silent auction and many vendors donated wonderful items. I bid on and won a package that included a subscription to Vogue Knitting Magazine, 2 skeins of purple Lorna's Laces yarn, Nicky Epstein's Knitting On The Edge and a shiny pink bag for everything to go into.

The attendees were divided up into several teams and we "competed" in several activities throughout the afternoon - in between knitting on our squares. The "event" that I competed in required moving a rubber band stretched across my face and around my head (just above my upper lip) to below my lower lip without using my hands. If you find yourself with 10 or 15 minutes of free time and wonder what you should do, try this out. It's bizarre and I don't think that I moved my rubber band one millimeter before one of the gentleman of the crowd won the contest.


Keep clicking on The Breast Cancer Site for free mammograms. If they reach the goal of giving away 500 free mammograms this month, Bare Necessities is going to give away another 200 free mammograms so every click counts! You can see that we are at 52% of the goal and it's mid-month.

Ye Shall Prosper - September Goal

Some good friends (Heather, Teresa, Jean, Judy, Ann) and I decided to start a stitch along for Moss Creek Designs' Ye Shall Prosper. We took this class from Rae Iverson last fall at ASG.


The initial goal (targeted to be completed in September) was to complete the back of the needlebook which we started in class.

I completed mine tonight, late as usual...but I'll try to do better in October.

Pink Inspiration

I found the Stitch Pink blog today and I wanted to share it with everyone. This blog is dedicated to stitching (and crafting) for and about the cause. It's a great place to find charts and projects for you to stitch and also for people to share what they have stitched. Check out the beautiful biscornus! I have a serious attraction to biscornus right now.

I also joined the When Pink Matters challenge today. The challenge is for anyone who has been touched by Breast Cancer to stitch at least one pink item by October 31, 2009. Yes, 2009! A whole year away. Maybe with my current biscornu obsession I need to find a pink one. If you have or find a suggestion, please let me know.

Save the Ta-tas!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I'd like to challenge everyone to wear pink this month. Let's heighten awareness!

In case anyone needs incentive, I'm going to give away my first Blog Candy. I will have a drawing on Nov 1. The prize package will be knitting related and I'll be dropping some hints throughout the month regarding its content.

So how do you enter the drawing, you ask? There are sooo many ways! I will enter your name every time you do one of the following:

1. Post a comment on my blog anytime in October and mention Breast Cancer Awareness or Going Pink.
2. Post to your own blog and mention Breast Cancer Awareness, ETA: and send me an email referencing the post.
3. Wear pink, take a picture and email it to me.
4. If you've had your mammogram this year (2008), send me an email and tell me. If you haven't had your mammogram, schedule it, do it and then email me. Note: this qualifies for a single entry.
5. If you get someone else to have a mammogram this month, email me.
6. If you make a donation to any Breast Cancer organization (Susan G Komen, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, etc), email me (you don't have to tell me the amount just that you did it).
7. Knit something pink, take a picture and email it to me.

See how easy it is to rack (no pun intended) up those entries! It's so important to get the word out and I know that you smart women can help. My email address is jillnoleatgmaildotcom.

If you'd like additional information on Breast Cancer Awareness Month check out the website.

One more thing...

The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman.

It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' -- for free (pink window in the middle). This does not cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate a mammogram in exchange for advertising.

Please ask 10 friends to tell 10 friends.

One of my Other Obsessions

Several of you that I know IRL know that I love to scrapbook but don't get nearly enough time to do it. It's much easier to stitch or knit on something for an hour - which is all I have very often - than it is to scrap/crop. In my world (and yours may be completely different), I have to decide what pictures I'm going to scrap and then get out all of my supplies and look through magazines for ideas. Once I have the idea, then there's the time to create it, lay it out, glue it down. I am not known as a speed demon in any of my crafts, but I have to be in the snail category for scrapbooking.

I had taken a long break from scrapbooking - this can be attributed to several physical injuries and recoveries (that we probably don't need to rehash). Then, way back in May (while I was still in my boot from surgery), I went on a weekend scrapbook retreat. Being on crutches slowed me down from my snail's pace but I had a lot of fun and my love of scrapbooking came back strong. Since then I have been trying to get organized or reorganized to get back to it. The first weekend in August I attended the Create.Crop.Cure (a 12 hour crop to support the Susan G. Komen 3 day walk) with two good friends, Vicki and Alisa. We had a lot of fun and I managed to get a few spreads done as well.

I didn't have any firm plans for Labor Day weekend and was very jealous when Vicki told me that she would be scrapping all day Friday. Then I spoke to her Friday night and she invited me over to join her and Jennifer for scrapping on Saturday.

I'd like to share one of the two (yes two - I said I was slow) spreads that I got done on Saturday. This is of my nephew, Nicholas. I'm very pleased with the way that it turned out.

Once More Across The Finish Line

I pulled out this ornament kit from the exchange in July and started it last night. It's so small I was able to finish it already!

This is Tipsy Tree by Charland Designs from the 2007 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue.

Scarf Stroke Finish Line & Podium

I did it! I reached the finished line - and in very good time IMHO.

The scarf was finished last night (Wednesday, 8/20) about 11:00pm.





And here's Wisteria who didn't want to be left out of the Olympic and Ravelympic hype:


I was presented my medal at the Scarf Stroke Podium.

An update on the Clapotis - I'm still working on it, but there is no way it can be finished (by me) by Sunday. But stay tuned for periodic updates.

Shawl Relay Scratched, Scarf Stroke Added

Well my friends, all of this knitting caught up with me proving once again that I am human. I really like to deny that fact, but this body won't let me. After a huge surge over the weekend on the clapotis the tendinitis in my elbow flared up, my neck is having muscle spasms, and I've had two horrible days with allergy issues. All of this has led me to withdraw from the shawl relay. I'm very excited about the progress on my clap and I promise that I will continue on at a more normal pace.

Still...I didn't want to be left out of the Ravelympics so once they reopened sign ups, I jumped on the chance to "compete" in the Scarf Stroke.

Here's the yarn (Misti Alpaca Chunky):

I'm going to be doing the Ribs & Ruffles Scarf from the Misti Alpaca website. This is a Christmas gift, so I'll be doing double duty here. I also hope that this is a more reasonable goal - but we'll see....

I started Monday (Aug 18) and as of tonight (Aug 19) I have 23" knit.

It's funny that the name of the event is Scarf Stroke because the yarn is so soft and yummy that I find myself just wanting to stroke it!

Stay tuned for the finals - hopefully a victorious one!

Plan C: Knit a scarf for Barbie, a preemie hat or preemie booties. I can surely finish one of those by Sunday morning!

Shawl Relay - Update 2

I have been heads down knitting on my Clapotis for the Ravelympics. There's a lot of knitting left, but I finally feel like there's a reasonable possibility that I will cross the finish line.

I completed the Increase Rows (Leg 2) late early, early Friday morning. I went back and forth but finally decided to add an increase repeat for a total of 8 in that section. I really want this to be more of a shawl/wrap, so that's what swayed me towards another repeat.
It's Saturday night and I've completed 3 sections of the Straight Rows (Leg 3). It's hard to see the drops in this picture because the fabric has a huge tendency to want to curl and I haven't taken much time in making sure that all of the stitches have been loosened and dropped.


I did manage a short break on Thursday evening when BF Vicki came over to help me with a few tricks in Photoshop. I'm very excited about what she taught me, and I just hope that I can remember it in a week when I actually have time to get back to it!

As for the REAL Olympics, congratulations to Michael Phelps who had an amazing 8 days of competition. It was very exciting to watch it unfold. And I don't expect to see anything like it for a long time.

And a huge shout out for American and Florida State Seminole Walter Dix who won the bronze medal in the 100m dash. The Seminole Nation is extremely proud of him.

Shawl Relay - Update 1

I am way behind World Record pace so far. It's too early to panic, but I recognize that I need to refocus my energy. I crushed the Set Up Rows (Leg 1) and gained false confidence. Now it's Day 5 (of 17) and I've only made it to the middle of the Increase Rows (Leg 2). During the first 4 days of competition there was a lot of energy put towards required tasks - drug testing (sorting through mail and paying bills), podium training (cooking and cleaning), and time at the Olympic Village (scheduled birthday party). The media time (work) in particular is just crazy. I vow to minimize these as much as possible in the remaining 12 days.

On a positive note, I'm loving the way that the Clapotis is looking in this yarn and so far I'm enjoying the pattern.

On Your Mark. Get Set.

The games of the 29th Olympiad have opened! And I'm ready at the needles to begin my Olympic Project - the Clapotis shawl.


I'm representing Team Junkie (of the Malabrigo Junkies) in the Ravelympics on Ravelry. The event I'm "competing" in is the Shawl Relay. I say competing because it's really just about challenging yourself not about competing with others.

A brief description of the rules:

1. Choose a project appropriate for the event
2. Cast on allowed after the Opening Ceremonies start Aug 8 8:00pm Beijing time (approx 8:00am for those of us in EDT)
3. Knit on the project only while watching the Olympics (DF Heather noted for me that there is online coverage throughout the day so if I'm in need of additional time I can use this - don't tell the boss)
4. Complete the project by end of Closing Ceremonies Beijing time (Aug 24 11:59am EDT)
   

At this, the start of the Shawl Relay, I'd like to enumerate the parts of my relay - which I hope to blog about during the event.

1. Set-up
2. Increase Rows
3. Straight Rows
4. Decrease Rows
5. Final Rows
6. Finishing

With the mention of "rows" so many times, I almost wish that it was a rowing event...but that is not for me to decide (thank goodness, or I'd still be changing event names). And yes, that is "Finishing" mentioned in my knitting. Can't get away from it even in knitting... After knitting, there are stitches to drop and unravel and the inevitable weaving in of ends - and then blocking (which I'm hoping won't be necessary).

My yarn is Malabrigo Silky in colorway Arlene's Purples.

This is a marathon, not a sprint. I must remember to pace myself.

I hope that you are enjoying an Olympic event also!

Mmmmmalabrigo Magic Yarn Ball!

Back at the beginning of June, I joined the Malabrigo Junkies MYB Swap. I had no idea what an MYB (Magic Yarn Ball) was, but once I looked at some pictures I was hooked. It sounded so cool. Here's how it works. A ball of yarn is given to the receiver. It's not just any ball, or else it wouldn't be magic. It contains many hidden treasures, hopefully items that the receiver desires. The receiver knits an item with the yarn ball and as they are knitting the treasures are revealed. I admit that I am a delayed gratification person, but even I could not be patient enough to actually finish a project to get to the center!

Mine arrived today! I know that my swapner tried to get it to me on my birthday, but the postman just didn't hang around until 11:30 last night when I arrived home.

The box:
At first glance, I see lots of purple (I can already tell that my swapner has done some good stalking) and two wrapped sections:

I opened the boxy one first, to reveal:
Do you see what I do? Chocolate and Peanut Butter! YUM! Two of my very favorite foods!!

The second package was unwrapped and I found my MYB, wrapped in wonderful malabrigo. The color is beautiful, but I didn't know which it was (continuing the surprise). The end of the wrap was tied with a purple stone on a bail - that I believe can be worn on a necklace.
Isn't it gorgeous?

Now the tough part, unwinding, unwinding, unwinding...
I found some memory maker ribbon - in purples, of course. Can't wait to use this in my scrapbook.

Forgive my impatience now, I couldn't stop to take more pictures, the anticipation got the best of me... I found two sets of stitch markers, 3 small cross stitch kits, point protectors, and Soak (3). The center of the MYB was another paper wrapped section containing 3 more skeins of Malabrigo Worsted - 1 in Cuarzo to match the ball
and 2 in Velvet Grapes!
I feel very spoiled and grateful to Kara for sending me such a great package!
Thank you Kara! I hope that I did the great MYB justice, I absolutely love it!

Stitch Weekend (Part 2)

Rejoining the Stitch Weekend Recap...

After a yummy lunch of chicken salad, I continued with the beading trend and worked on Tomorrow's Antiques A Pansy For Lynn. I had quite a bit of the beading done and my goal was to finish the remaining beading before dinner. I'm happy to report that I did meet that goal.
I was feeling very productive at this point. But I had surprise ornament kits hanging over my head - I was successfully batting the thoughts away, but Andy suggested that 4 of us just sit and do them and "knock them out". That was the motivation I was looking for.... So after dinner, Andy, Heather, Debbie, Judy and I cut fabric, cut fiber lengths, wrote out the cards and packaged everything up. Just in time for the ornament exchange.

The tree was decorated with ornaments - some finished into actual ornaments, some just stitched (and of course there were others that were not finished being stitched).












Vicky finished mine into a beautiful piece:
And then it was "Christmas morning" and there were packages kits to be handed out.
These are not all mine - I also collected ornaments kits for Teresa since she couldn't join us. What fun it is to see everyone's packaging and especially the surprise ornaments. Some people (Carol) are very creative with their packaging
And then there's me...with the ziploc bags. They aren't as glamorous and couldn't be described as adorable, but they don't take up much room (which is a priority for me).

































You can see how beautiful they all look, and that is definitely the main reason that we keep doing the exchange, because most of us certainly don't need more kits to stitch. Did that actually come from MY fingertips?!

Sunday morning started with brunch and caffeine. After completing the beading on A Pansy For Lynn, Heather reminded me that she also had the beading completed and maybe we should work together to actually finish into fobs. So we diligently set out to do just that. I won't say that it was easy, but the finished products are beautiful!













Heather's is on the right, mine is on the left. Heather used the supplied sheer ribbon to trim around the pansy, I used more green cording.

Two happy pansies and two happy owners!

I ended the afternoon by completing the stitching on my surprise ornament. Which I can show now, since the surprise part of it is over...
What a great weekend, and I accomplished so much - besides being with friends and enjoying myself.