Stash Collector

I'm Biased...

2009-08-30T18:24:00.003-04:00

I may be biased, but I think that this is one of the cutest ornaments I've stitched - maybe ever. Either that or I'm just crazy with otter euphoria.
I stitched him up very quick, I couldn't wait to finish him once I started. His name is Snowdon and he's by Jemini Designs in the 2008 JCS Christmas Ornament Issue. He is one of the kits I received in this year's ornament exchange.

He makes me want to go to the Ga Aquarium and see Oz and Gracie again...

So far I'm doing really good on my goals for August - I finished two ornaments (cuz I was woefully late on my surprise) and one medallion. I think that I'm going to stitch The Sunflower Seed ornament for Sept.

Recent Fluff?

2009-08-27T15:51:00.007-04:00

Through T's blog, I found this Booking Through Thursday blog. I love books and reading and really wish that I had more time for it - if you check out my good reads list you will see that I'm quite optimistic in my book reading ability.

What’s the lightest, most “fluff” kind of book you’ve read recently?

What is the definition of fluff? The strict definition (to me) means anything superficial, unneccessary, lacking substance. I generally don't read books that wouldn't have some kind of purpose to me. So for this question I'll consider any light, feel good, and more-humor-than-serious books.

After reviewing my recent reads, I realize that I haven't read much fluff this summer. Another indication that I need time at the beach.

I have to pick Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich. I really love these Stephanie Plum books, there is enough action to keep you interested and a whole lot of funny to make you feel good. I don't know a single person who read one of these and didn't like it.

So what's the lightest most "fluff" kind of book that you've read recently?

Finally!

2009-08-23T13:21:00.005-04:00

I'd like to spin tales of exotic adventures and romance, but unfortunately I have not had any of that...I've just been stucking working and working. I'm happy to report that my project went to production last week and I'm in the process of rejoining the living.

I haven't been totally hobby free during my blogging sabbatical. I've knit on many Mmmal-abrigo Traveling Scarves. Most were late, but at least I did them. My own scarf is still out traveling the country. There's plenty of time before it is cold enough for scarf wearing - and you know that I'm not wishing that to come any faster.

I've also done a little stitching. I finished 1 ornament before our weekend gathering in July. I didn't get a chance to scan it before leaving it with Vicky to ornamentify so I'll post that later. Just recently, however, I finished my "surprise" ornament. He's so cute, I'm very happy with him.

DF's Heather, Andy and I are starting a new Stitch Along. It is Just Nan's Floral Fifteen biscornu. I started Medallion A1 in July at stitch weekend and just finished this week - it only took me 3 sittings to complete (everything but beads, saving those until I have 4 or so to do).

Only 14 more to do!

I'm in the process of determining my goals for the rest of 2009. I'd like to stitch an ornament a month and a medallion a month. Realistically I need to figure out what else I can fit in.

Roar!

2009-03-01T16:22:00.005-05:00

Yes, she is in like a lion. There are many things that I need to catch everyone up on - but first...here's what it looks like outside this afternoon.
At this moment it's turned back to rain, but we are expecting a couple more inches throughout the rest of the day.

I'm happy to be inside catching up - or attempting to catch up - on some knitting and tv!

So Close

2009-01-25T21:22:00.005-05:00

I had great intentions of finishing Danielle's Block Blanket this weekend. I knit feverishly late Saturday night - only to get to the end of my last skein with 3 more rows remaining! Gah. I hadn't checked gauge because it's a blanket, I had no idea that I was that I would come that close and actually run out of yarn.

So here it is...waiting for another skein so that it's last 2 borders rows and cast off can be done.

So we'll all have to wait for a picture of it keeping Danielle warm.

Back In The Driver's Seat

2009-01-21T16:17:00.006-05:00

I don't know about the rest of you out there in the big world, but I feel like I totally lost control of things in December. And it's almost the end of January and I'm just getting things back in order. I can definitely live with a certain amount of chaos (and do on a regular basis), but it really bordered on the make-me-curl-up-into-a-ball-in-the-corner-of-the-room kind. So I'm very happy that it's behind me. And I won't list my 89 reasons for not blogging as the Yarn Harlot did, suffice it to say that I don't want to relive any of the chaos by listing it here. Now, please don't get me wrong. There were many fun avoidance techniques that I was able to invoke and I greatly enjoyed myself during those. But I'm not going to list those now either. It's onward and upward.

First to knitting...

I'm 3/4 finished with the Block Baby Blanket for Danielle. I hope to be finished by the weekend when I will see her again.

And I'm participating in the Malabrigo Swap "Sisterhood of the Traveling Scarf". The idea here is that I start a scarf in Malabrigo worsted and a pattern of my choosing, knit 5-6" and then send it off to the next person in my group. She will knit another 5-6" in color and pattern of her choosing, and so on and so on until it has traveled through 12 hands and returns to me. It is up to each knitter how free or restricted to allow the scarf creation - mine is very open, inspiring me to call it "The Traveling Scarf of Chaos".

Here's my start which I completed last night.

The colorway is Bobbi Blue and the stitch is the Farrow Rib (k2, p1*). I knit a 3 row garter edge to prevent curling. The color is beautiful! And the pattern is very nice.

A journal (which I still have to write in) will accompany my scarf so that I can read about its journey.

Next, is stitching...

I have done a little stitching on Donner (way less than I wanted). I started him after Christmas but didn't get very far before going back to knitting. I want to get re-inspired on the YSP Stitch Along as I haven't completed our December goal - or maybe it was even November! I also have been working on a belated birthday gift, I'll have pictures as soon as it's done and in the recipient's hands.

What's next? Scrapbooking...

I went to a crop at our local Archiver's this past weekend from 2:30pm to 11:00pm. I couldn't see by the last hour, but I had a very good time and managed to get a good amount of scrapbooking done. Pictures coming soon on that...

That pretty much brings us up to date. I hope that I will have substantial progress to show on something soon!

Welcome Danielle Jeanne Entinger!

2008-12-09T15:05:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-11-23T13:52:00.002-05:00

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

2008-11-21T15:02:00.004-05:00

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?

2008-11-20T19:48:00.022-05:00

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

2008-11-11T08:00:00.000-05:00

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

2008-11-10T20:48:00.003-05:00

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

2008-11-03T20:30:00.004-05:00

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

2008-10-31T14:29:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-30T16:06:00.005-04:00

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

2008-10-23T09:45:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-16T13:26:00.004-04:00

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

2008-10-07T21:24:00.006-04:00

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

2008-10-03T14:37:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-02T15:50:00.010-04:00

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

2008-09-05T23:42:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-24T22:33:00.005-04:00

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

2008-08-21T18:16:00.011-04:00

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

2008-08-19T23:02:00.006-04:00

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

2008-08-16T21:06:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-12T13:40:00.003-04:00

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.

2008-08-08T19:46:00.001-04:00

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:

Choose a project appropriate for the event
Cast on allowed after the Opening Ceremonies start Aug 8 8:00pm Beijing time (approx 8:00am for those of us in EDT)
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)
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.

Set-up
Increase Rows
Straight Rows
Decrease Rows
Final Rows
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!

2008-08-01T22:11:00.000-04:00

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)

2008-08-01T12:17:00.000-04:00

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.

Happy Birthday To Me

2008-07-31T11:10:00.000-04:00

Today is my 41st birthday. It's amazing how fast the years go...

If I could do whatever I wanted today I would drive to the beach, sit in the sun, swim in the ocean, read a book, enjoy some margaritas or ice cold beers and relax. Unfortunately I'm working today, so I'll just have to daydream.

I do have something to look forward to - tonight I'm having dinner with my stitch group.

Stitch Weekend (Part 1)

2008-07-28T18:08:00.000-04:00

The weekend started out promising. (To reduce the typing requirements, I will eliminate DF from people's names but know that each of them is a DF to me.) Heather and I met Jean, Judy and Ann at Bead's By Design in Marietta for some bead shopping. Everyone scored some beads, except me. I refrained due to my current bead stash and moving anticipation. From the bead shop we went to the Marietta Diner to start the gluttony of food consumption. I had a tasty Caribbean Monte Cristo sandwich and fries.

We had a bit of time to kill after lunch - before we were expected at Vicky's. What to do, what to do? We could get a pedicure....hmmm, yes....let's get pedicures. Heather, Judy and I found Fantasy Nails while driving down Barrett Parkway. Judy and Heather enjoyed pedicures while I settled for a manicure. All were very lovely and at a good price. Then it was straight to Vicky's.

Several of us started out making knitting stitch markers. Mine are for my Mmmmalabrigo Magic Yarn Ball swap - pictures will be later as this is a surprise. The stitch markers were followed up by knitting, stitching, show and tell, general talking, some bitching, and a lot of laughing.

We kept the evening reasonable and those of us not staying at Vicky's left by 9:30. I had high hopes of getting sleep over the weekend but even though I arrived home at a reasonable hour there were several things that I "needed" to find/gather/organize - including one set of ornament kits for my Hands To Work ornament. Here it is after finishing by the talented Vicky.
1:00am - to bed with me.

Saturday morning (I'm already dragging) but breakfast included Cathy's fabulous homemade cinnamon and praline rolls. Fresh from the oven and dripping with icing, they were such a treat!

If only this was a scratch-n-sniff blog...

After getting good and sugared up Andy, Heather, Jean, Judy, Ann and I headed to Hancock to check out beads - Andy and Jean wanted to learn how to make a right angle weave bracelet. It just so happened that I was wearing a solid black shirt and decided that I "needed" some black beads to make a necklace for future wearing of this black shirt - plus the beads were all 30% off. I managed to find some. I also scored some nice Christmas fabric (also on sale) to use to finish my surprise ornament. Hancock had a decent selection, but we needed czech fire polish for the right angle weave bracelets - so off to Joann's we go. I was doing good until this point. Then I just went crazy. Here's an overview of everything I came home with.
Necklace, 2 bracelets, and anklet. I have some items already that I'll add to these to complete.

We ~~inhaled~~ ~~feasted on~~ enjoyed some wonderful chicken salad for lunch and forged ahead with projects.

Andy and Jean (instructed by Heather) started their right angle weave bracelets - and I decided to add the beads to my Three Penny Fob by Indigo Rose. I stitched this 4 years ago...and finally added the beads and finished it into a fob - weighted with 3 shiny 2008 pennies!
Andy and Jean completed their right angle weave bracelets in record time - this is such a fun, quick pattern!

...to be continued...

Squirreling Projects Away - The Results

2008-07-24T17:22:00.000-04:00

Many thanks to all of you who offered advice! I really did try to pack up as much as I could. Stop laughing, I made an honest effort. And as time goes on, other projects may get packed away also...but here is what I have squirreled away for knitting:

Jill-Walkers socks (hopefully I can finish soon)
Shrug
Medallion Capelet (I really want to be able to wear this in October)
Collinette Shawl (because I really want to start a lace project)
Monkey Socks (because I can't just have one project of socks)
Melia's poncho (hopefully Melia can wear this in October)
Clapotis (because is going to be my Olympic project - so here's hoping that I can finish it!)
Baby blanket (not started but must be completed by Dec)

I didn't post stitching options, so I had to make decisions on the fly. Don't forget that I'm planning for a long market time so I needed some seasonal pieces to get me through. Here are the stitching projects that I have squirreled away:

Royal Blossoms (Just Nan - about 25%)
Patricia Ann (Indigo Rose - maybe 20%)
Three Penny Scissor Fob (Indigo Rose - all stitched just need to assemble)
Pansy For Lynn beaded scissor fob (Tomorrow's Antiques - 80%)
Summer Garden Gate (Moss Creek Designs - 30%)
Nantucket Violet Basket Band (Chatelaine Designs - probably 30% on just the band)
Pumpkin Harvest (Moss Creek Designs - I'm determined to finish this fall)
Needlepoint Snowman Ornament (ok, this is really optimistic)
Wooly Winter (Shepherd's Bush - 40% at least)
Quaker Turtles (With My Needle)

I am optimistic that by focusing on just these projects I might actually finish some of them.

One of the reasons that I squirreled away this many stitching projects is that this coming weekend a bunch of my stitching friends and I are getting together for our annual "Stitch Weekend" and ornament exchange. Three days of stitching! There are no official rules that knitting is not allowed, but I plan to focus on stitching. Actually, there really aren't any official rules except to have fun. I'm looking forward to it very much.

For those of you keeping score at home, I have not completed by surprise ornament. I really do like the pressure of the deadline because it's really behind now. So I'm off to work on that now.

Squirreling Projects Away

2008-07-16T18:02:00.000-04:00

I have decided to put my condo on the market sometime in the near future. I figure that I'm about a month out from being able to do that...but I've started packing up my "extra" stuff to make it look like a normal person with a normal amount of stuff lives here and that the common Dick or Jane can live here normally as well. Yes, this is going to take some serious effort.

I've started with the craft ~~stuff~~ lovelies because that is the area that I have gone overboard and my mother is coming on Saturday - and let's face it...none of us wants our mothers to see exactly how much stash we have. She has a hint of knowledge, but it's nowhere close to reality and I want to keep it that way. There are 3 space bags full of yarn in my living room as I type this.
The question is how many projects/yarn should I leave out to make sure that I have ample to work on for the next 6 months but, again, that it looks like a normal person lives here? In reality, 2 or 3 is probably enough. I'm not the fastest knitter in the world and I'm also going to have a few stitching projects out as well. But...I keep thinking "maybe I should keep this one more out" except I think this over, and over, and this is where I'm probably in trouble. So I need some clear heads to tell me what's reasonable. Clear heads - are you out there?!

I guess that I need to put down what I have in black and white. OK, here goes.

Jill-Walkers socks (in progress)
Shrug (in progress, 5%)
Medallion Capelet (in progress, probably 90% complete)
Collinette Shawl (lace project not started)
Monkey Socks (not started)
Melia's poncho (in progress)
Clapotis (not started)
Malabrigo Lace (project TBD)
2 Hello Kitty washcloths (not started)
Jitterbug (project TBD)
Baby blanket (not started but must be completed by Dec)
Herringbone Block Shawl

Wow...I actually didn't realize that I had that many I was keeping. It doesn't seem like much when you're choosing. Is it too much? If so, what should I hibernate?

One Down, One To Go

2008-07-09T22:56:00.001-04:00

Happy Dance! I finished my 1st ornament! These rules are grueling, but they are definitely working.

This is Christmas Holly from the 2007 JCS Christmas Ornament Issue.

For those of you reading who aren't involved, I am part of a group of stitchers who are assigned ornaments from the magazine to stitch and "record" the amount of materials used. Then make a certain number of kits to exchange for other ornament kits. It's a lot of fun, but I'm such a procrastinator that I seem to have to kill myself at the end to get everything done.

So I have one more ornament to stitch - it's a surprise so the other stitchers don't know which one they are getting. After stitching it, I have to make the kits for both. And I have exactly 2 weeks left - the ornament exchange will take place during our annual stitch weekend starting July 25. I think that I can do it with a minimal amount of stress.

Lessons for next year - I am not picking ANY 32 count over one ornaments to stitch or receive!

I Am Elizabeth Bennet

2008-07-06T13:00:00.000-04:00

You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of ridiculousness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed.

Now where is my Mr Darcy?!

Good Food, Good Friends

2008-07-05T23:47:00.000-04:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful 4th of July and celebrated it with enthusiasm and respect. I feel very fortunate to live in this country and I know that the freedom that I enjoy every day comes at a price. Thank you to all men and women serving our country, past and present.

I celebrated by attending a gathering at DF Heather's with DF Andy and several others. The food was good, the company was good and the weather was fantastic. Heather's deck offered a breezy view of the fireworks from several sights - the closest being at Centennial Olympic Park. The evening could not have been better.

There was even progress on my ornament. I have 20 days to complete this ornament and stitch my surprise ornament. I think that I can make it but I've had to put some strict rules in place.

If I'm at home, I must stitch on ornaments
No knitting at home - this includes fondling yarn, daydreaming about patterns, looking through knitting books, etc
I must stitch on an ornament every day - even if it's only 1 or 2 stitches

I'll be able to show a completed ornament soon! The rules are helping.

Back Home

2008-06-23T21:41:00.000-04:00

I'm back in Atlanta - arrived home safely this afternoon. The trip was fun, but exhausting. I always enjoy seeing everyone but all of the running around is not very relaxing. I now need a vacation to recover. :-)

Thanks again to DF Teresa for putting a roof over my head and a place to come home to sleep for those 6 hours every night. I had a lot of fun staying with her and catching up. It has been too long and I know that I will see her several times over the fall and we won't go 7 months again!

Thursday I drove to Middleburg, FL. That was uneventful - which is the way that I like my drives to be - except that I had an awful allergy attack and spent most of the drive sneezing and irritated. This continued after I arrived until I went to sleep. Fortunately the rest of the weekend was not like that. Friday T and I met my parents who had driven up for lunch and a quick exchange of 4 tiny chairs for my nephew, Nicholas. It was good to see them. Then T and I did a little shopping and T had her makeup session for a wedding she's in this coming weekend. We stopped by Knitwitz for a short visit before meeting a bunch of longtime friends for dinner. It was fun catching up but the mariachi band was competing with our volume. I think that we finally won.

Saturday we started early with a trip to the crack book store. I'm a collector of books as much as anything else. I love to read and I guess that I'm just uncomfortable if I don't have 100 books waiting here for me to read. This had to be the cheapest trip to Chamblin's ever for me, so maybe I'm not as sick as I thought. We went to Riverside to meet some of T's stitching friends - Melody and Carrie. I'm in such a stitching slump that I didn't even take stitching on my trip. I have to do something about that slump quickly. I knit while they stitched. It was hot, hot, hot (yes, Africa hot) that day - I even told T that my eyelids were sweating at 9:30am when we left her house. The "house" that we went to in Riverside is gorgeous and right on the river. Here's a few quick pics:

It was too hot to sit on the porch, but I would very much enjoy that!

The St Johns is very wide here, so the straight on view doesn't show much except water. This is the view to the left.
And this is to the right. You can probably tell that a storm was coming.

A side note for those of you who haven't known me for 10+ years - I grew up on the water in Florida and it is one of the things that I really miss being in Atlanta. So looking out at this view reminded me a lot of home.

We packed up in the early afternoon and headed to Knitwitz for Midnight Knit-Insanity. There are so many parts that could be considered insane - the length of time knitting (9+ hours, longer for me if you count the 2.5 hours at Melody's), the getting home at 1:00am, the amount of makeup that had run into my eyes (re: Africa hot) blurring my vision, the laughter and stories told over knitting, the fact that Jennifer produced a miniature accordion right after Tricia complained about being told she couldn't have one, or the # of projects that I thought I would get to during this long knitting day!

I did manage to accomplish some knitting and here's what I have to show for it.

I finished my 3rd medallion. Let the blocking begin!

I turned the heel on the Jill-Walkers.
Sorry about the turned pics, Blogger is not happy tonight.

I completed one more block on the Herringbone Block Shawl

T got to ring the bell for finishing her bauble socks

I had a fun, fun time Sat night - thanks Knitwitz and Co!!

Sunday (after church), I headed over to the beach area and sat on the wonderful sand and put my feet in the wonderful Atlantic for a couple of hours. I wasn't allowed to go further than the shallow part due to my ankle recovery and it was pure torture to be that close and not swim in the ocean - but at least I got what I did. Sorry Heather - no pics...I forgot my camera! Doh. I visited with my cousins and my aunt, had a nice dinner and got home late again.

Now...when is my next vacation? I'm ready....

Gone Knitting

2008-06-18T22:25:00.001-04:00

I'm on vacation! Well, technically it starts tomorrow but I know that I won't have time to post anything as I'll be running around (carefully in ankle brace) gathering up last minute items that I was supposed to gather tonight.

I'm heading to Florida - Middleburg, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach. Yes, that's right...I said BEACH! I've been looking forward to getting out of town and relaxing and also seeing lots of ~~old~~ longtime friends and some family. My DF Teresa is hosting me (again). I haven't seen T since late October, so I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time with her.

I'll also be attending Midnight Knit Insanity at Knitwitz. That's Saturday evening. So my expectations are high for all of the knitting that I'll be able to accomplish. I promise to have something to show for it! OK, now the pressure's really on.

Keep it real while I'm away.

Jill-Walker Progress

2008-06-09T21:28:00.001-04:00

I've made some good progress on my Jill-Walker socks. The pattern is very easy and going much faster now. I did end up doing some additional decreases with the help of DF Heather. I'm excited about turning the heel.
The ruffle is great, but the 224 stitch cast on was painful.

A significant amount of the progress was made while watching FSU baseball over the weekend. Two of the three games played were on TV here in Atlanta, thankfully! It helped calm my nerves to keep my hands busy. The Seminoles are on their way to Omaha for the College World Series. Go 'Noles!!

On Sunday I went to the Fox Theater to see Horton Hears a Who. It was Riley and Melia's first trip to the Fox and they were mesmerized by it, and who wouldn't be? They had a lot of curious questions - how does the man play the organ with his hands and his feet? How are the keys moving on the piano when the man is playing the organ (way over there)? Why is everything gold? They especially enjoyed the "Jasmine" themed surroundings and attempted to count all 96 stars. I can't wait until they are older to take them to a live show. Riley was having difficulty picturing the orchestra pit - why would the musicians sit down there where no one could see them? We all enjoyed the movie as well. Thank goodness we don't have to go to the movies to get news - although that would make the media more discriminating in what they present.

Gratuitous Baby Pictures

2008-06-05T11:20:00.000-04:00

My office manager, Marsha, sent this pics to me. I thought that they were cute enough to share - and they show off my handwork.

3 Day Weekend

2008-05-28T22:08:00.000-04:00

I spent my 3 Day Weekend in a very relaxed fashion. Of course I had things that I wanted to get done and things that I needed to get done, but I didn't make myself crazy with expectations and commitments. The sleep was great!

Knitting-wise, I finished the 2nd preemie baby hat for my office manager's grandsons. I decided at the last minute (of course) to knit these for the shower but didn't quite make the deadline of last Thursday. Taylor and Mason are going to look fab sporting these:
Taylor and Mason come from a mixed-marriage - that's right a Seminole married a gator. Taylor is the Seminole, I made sure to clear that up right away...

I did knit a little on my Jill-Walkers but unfortunately there isn't much to show yet...so I'll hope (or maybe you will?) for an interesting picture in the near future.

Stitching-wise, I managed to work on my Just Cross Stitch ornament. It's over one on 32 count and it is just taking a long time. I'm under the 2 month mark til the deadline now - so I'll be giving it a full-on effort very soon.

Scrapbooking-wise, I did some organization - one of those forced organizations that the Yarn Harlot spoke of - when I was looking for my Xyron. Now I didn't need the Xyron, but I knew that I had one and I couldn't rest until it was located. I don't know why these things/moments/obsessions happen. I worked on one page for about 4 hours on Monday (after locating the Xyron). It's still not complete, yes - after 4 hours!! Sigh. Scrapbooking is not one of the more organized, neat and tidy hobbies either. Even with the forced organization, my office looks like a scrapbook store exploded. There's just no getting around that - so as long as I'm feeling creative I'm going to live with the explosion.

Monday night - Memorial Day (thanks to all of those who gave their lives protecting the rights that I enjoy today) - DF Andy and I went to the new Verizon Ampitheater in Alpharetta to see Joe Cocker and The Steve Miller Band. It was a great show, both acts, and the venue is incredibly nice. But I was not prepared for the late hour(s). We got into the car at 11:55pm - we couldn't leave before Steve Miller played The Joker (c'mon!). It was 12:55am by the time I got home. I'm still recovering, but I did enjoy.

Tag!

2008-05-22T14:11:00.000-04:00

I was tagged today by Jennie. I met Jennie on Ravelry. Thanks to Ravelry for new friends!

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themself. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 0r 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Clear the cobwebs, here goes. I was living in Ponte Vedra Beach (FL), working in Jacksonville. Citibank Cards had just bought Universal Card from AT&T and I was part of the team working on how the two companies and cultures were going to merge. My team was also in the middle of a major system upgrade in preparation for Y2K. I was doing a lot of work travel for both of these - I spent several weeks in Utah and Kentucky. It was very stressful but exciting. My brother was living in Camarillo, CA and I visited him that summer. Took my Dad to his first pro golf tournament - TPC at Sawgrass. I spent any free time that I had on the beach.

2. What are five things on my to do list for today.

Shop for and attend a work baby shower
Work on preemie baby hats for the same shower (I like the pressure of deadlines)
Watch Grey's Anatomy Season Finale
My Cricut will be delivered - need time to play!
Search the web to see if Moonlight was cancelled

3. Snacks I enjoy...

Chex Mix
Cheez Its
Dark Chocolate Peanut M&Ms
Reese's PB Cups
Chips and Salsa/Guacamole (especially with an ice cold beer)
Taco Dip w/Frito Scoops (tailgating food)

4.Things I would do if I were a billionaire...

Quit my job!!
Buy a condo (on the beach) in St Augustine Beach, FL
Buy a ski chalet in Lake Tahoe or Park City
Buy a house in Buckhead with lots of storage and have a room for each of my crafts
Travel - Germany, Ireland, Australia
Open a trust each for Riley, Melia, Nicholas, Carrie and Danny for their educations
Start a charity/foundation
Pay off Vicki's debt

5. Places I have lived...

Merritt Island, FL 1967 - 1985 (18 yrs in the same house while I grew up)
Tallahassee, FL 1985 - 1992 (various dorms, apartments during school and 3 yrs after graduation)
Jacksonville/Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 1992 - 2000 (apartment and house)
Georgia - Sandy Springs/Smyrna/Buckhead 2000 - ? (house w/friend, house w/brother, condo by myself)

6. What jobs have I had...

Token fast food job - Long John Silver's
Token mall job - Ivey's (now Dillard's)
Space Camp counselor (Kennedy Space Center, FL)
Several software development jobs - Computer Programmer, Technical Manager, Consultant, Development Manager. My 2nd job out of college was with Interlight Productions in Tallahassee. It was a very creative company - we produced multi-media children's bible stories and we had our own art dept and digital recording studio. I loved the people that I got to interact with - and have never had another job with such creativity. I worked at AT&T Universal Card Services for 8 years and I really loved this job. I had several positions there and worked on several projects for many bosses. The company had a very progressive/modern model of the company structure (i.e. upside down pyramid) and was very successful using this model. I credit the leadership with both preparing me to move on in my career and also for giving me a standard with which to judge success. And my success can be directly traced back to those years.

7. Peeps I want to know more about...

April Recap

2008-05-13T17:18:00.000-04:00

At the beginning of April, I listed my goals for the month. I'm almost afraid, but let's look back and see how I did.

~~Finish Chemo Cap for Yarn Harlot (by April 6)~~ Completed April 6
~~Finish 2nd Medallion of Medallion Capelet~~ Completed April 14
Finish stitching Hands To Work Ornament
Finish 2nd sock
~~Complete 3 blocks on Herringbone Block Shawl~~ Completed April 26
Dust off Watergarden (Amazon project) and do something on it!
Complete 2 bands on Patricia Ann

I have to admit that it was a very optimistic set of goals. Especially since I did end up having the MRI on my ankle and finding out that I was having surgery on April 28. I really lost that last week of the month, and everyone knows that I need the last week of any project/deadline to get something done.

The Herringbone Block Shawl to date

I didn't get my 2nd sock finished in April, but I can Happy Dance now!!!

I know that the stripes are not symmetrical in terms of color, but that's part of the quirkiness of these socks. Yay...my first socks are complete. I'm very, very excited about moving on to a more difficult pattern and one of the lovely yarns that I have purchased since starting these. My next pair are going to be Jill-Walkers. When DF Jean sent me the link....I knew that it had to be them!

I don't believe that I did a SINGLE stitch in April. So the rest of May and June there is going to be some serious stitching going on.

Now...do I dare try to come up with goals for the rest of May?

Getting Back To Normal

2008-05-09T13:59:00.000-04:00

I'm getting back to normal after my ankle surgery. Two weeks ago I spent the entire weekend getting myself and my condo ready for post-surgical occupancy - no time for frivolous blogging. A lot of clean up, some cooking and some errand running were required. Not to mention a Vera Bradley purchase inspired by Jean in the "boo hoo me, I have to have surgery and therefore I deserve this new purse and wallet" category.
The surgery went well, I finally feel like I'm on the road to healing. I go back to the Dr next week so I'll have an update on the rest of my treatment then. For now, it's the old RICE principal. I'm trying to keep my foot elevated as much as possible but it makes things like knitting and stitching a little more difficult! In case anyone cares, here's my lovely (and fashionable) boot next to my "normal" leg for perspective.
Keep your fingers crossed that I will be off of the crutches next week - that will be a huge help! Thanks to all of my DF's who have helped me out - Vicki, Andy, Heather, Jean, Cathy.

Cathy brought some lovely cut roses from her garden. They smelled so wonderful (as well as being beautiful). Anytime I or anyone else walked by them the entire room smelled like a rose garden.

Jean, Richard and Oscar sent me some lovely purple flowers. This picture was just taken today and they are over a week old!

Over the weekend I went with BFF Vicki Tag to a Scrapbook Retreat. I've done several multi-crop days, but this one was different as all 12 of us "croppers" stayed at the house. There was cropping going on at all hours of the day and night. I think that I got to bed at 2am and 3am Friday and Saturday (or should I say Saturday and Sunday?).

This is myself, BFF Vicki and DF Jennifer - early in the weekend, so we were very alert and not yet sleep deprived.

Karen (who owns the house) had a wonderful setup. Her large basement had room for 12 of these large tables, a full kitchen, bath and bedroom that slept 4. Vicki, Jennifer, Melissa and I stayed on this level - given that I was on crutches we didn't have much choice. The other 8 ladies stayed upstairs where I believe that there were 2 bedrooms and another bath. Karen had several places for us to display our beautiful pages after finishing them. In this picture, the top 4 are Vicki's and the bottom 4 are mine. I quickly lost steam after that and only ended up completing 8 total pages.

See anyone you recognize?

This week it was back to work full time. And just when the weather was "painfully beautiful" - that is the line that my hair stylist Adam used last night. It really was way too nice to be stuck at work, but I couldn't do much outside with this boot anyway...

I think that we're all caught up now.

Purple Rules!

2008-04-17T17:20:00.000-04:00

My favorite color is purple. I know, I know...some of you long time friends are saying "Duh" but there are a few newer readers who may not know that yet. I found the Purple Rules group on Ravelry and participated in a recent swap.

The swap was set up as a secret, so we didn't know who our "swapner" was until the surprise package showed up. I was assigned DF Jean. This explains why I haven't been able to blog about it thus far. At first I thought that it was very cool to have Jean, but then reality set in and I realized that Jean does a lot of stash enhancement on her own and I had no way of knowing what she might already have! After some fretting, I did pick out a few yarns for her that I believe were not repeats. I delivered her package in person last Friday before Annie Modesitt's class - literally RIGHT before class started.

My package traveled a long way - all the way from Norway! My swapner is Ingvild and it was a huge delight to get yarn (and chocolate) from out of the country.
Two of the yarns are alpaca and the large skein in the bottom right is Merino Wool - it looks a little bluish-grayish but it is actually purple with a thread of blue/green running through it. Now I have to pick out some new projects to work on! Nothing for winter now - may have to save those til fall comes back (shhhh, it's not welcome yet).

And I can't wait to try the chocolate!

Annie Modesitt Comes to Town

2008-04-14T22:22:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the tardy post, but my internet was down until late Sunday. Isn't it amazing how cut off you feel when you can't get to that instant news and information?

Friday I went to The Whole Nine Yarns in Woodstock for a class with Annie Modesitt. The class was for the Universal Mitered Bag. I really enjoyed the class. This may have been the first formal knitting class that I've taken.

In order to learn the techniques, we worked on a small swatch version of the bag - maybe American Girl Doll size. Here's what I was able to accomplish:
Although I haven't done much on my Herringbone Block Shawl/Scarf, learning that technique was similar and really helped me in comprehending the pieces that go together to make this bag. Annie's final version of the bag looks like:
Isn't it wonderful? My colors are drastically different from Annie's, but I'm very excited to see how they come together.
On the drive home from class, I was planning/designing my bag in my head. I'm thinking about using the Tan Heather for the base. With the pink as the accent. And then making most of the diamonds from the Noro. The colors in the Noro are very soft, I really think that it's going to make a beautiful bag.

I've been patiently waiting to start the bag in an attempt to reach at least one April goal. I'm happy to show that I finished my 2nd Medallion for the Medallion Capelet tonight!
I'm waiting to block all 3 together. I hope to cast on the 3rd medallion sometime this week...after I make some progress on another April goal - my Hands To Work ornament.

A Great Day

2008-04-07T17:48:00.002-04:00

Sunday was a great day! It started with DF Andy and brunch at American Roadhouse (crunchy french toast with sugar, cinnamon and caramel sauce). We then met up with DF Jean and her DH Richard, and DF Heather for Georgia's largest knit in.

Here we are knitting (no, we are not in an alley, we are in a real neighborhood theater).

DF Cathy arrived just in time to hear/see the Yarn Harlot. There were so many funny things, I cannot possibly remember them all. She did speak at length about the misjudgment that us knitters receive from non-knitters - including "them" thinking that we are old, bored, poor, and lonely. Of course, we know the truth! She also told her story of the 14 km trek from the cabin in the woods to the small general store for beer and toilet paper. I did not find that strange at all, these are necessities in my life!

Stephanie signed books back at Knitch
She looks very awake considering the long day she had already had!

During the knit in, I finished the Chemo Cap and donated to Stephanie - Knitch had a nice arrangement on display.

The dark blue/green hat next to mine is from DF Heather.

While at Knitch we did some shopping. I managed to hold my credit card back, after the damage I did last time...it needed a rest. But I enjoyed looking at the yarns with everyone else.

Cathy, Andy and I went to Zocalo for some noisy but "creative" mexican. The food was fantastic and the beer was cold!

Like I said, a great day! The only downside was the amount of time on my feet, my stupid ankles are paying for it today....

April Goals

2008-04-04T16:39:00.000-04:00

This month's theme is "Amazon April" - i.e. working on big projects. At the moment, everything seems like a big project! I want to follow the theme, but I also have some specific goals for the month:

Finish Chemo Cap for Yarn Harlot (by April 6)
Finish 2nd Medallion of Medallion Capelet
Finish stitching Hands To Work Ornament
Finish 2nd sock
Complete 3 blocks on Herringbone Block Shawl
Dust off Watergarden (Amazon project) and do something on it!
Complete 2 bands on Patricia Ann

Wow, that should keep me very busy!

Marching To The Madness

2008-04-01T02:46:00.000-04:00

The stitching theme for March was March Madness. I'm sure that this phrase is grossly overused, but who are we to mess with the universe? In our world (the world of needlework) March Madness means to knit or stitch (or both for extra madness) on something different every day that you knit or stitch. I believe that we all have our own interpretation of what that means and here's mine: I want to knit/stitch on a bunch of things and if my living room is a disaster of projects worked on then I have succeeded in my goal. It probably would have made more sense to post every day (ha) or even every week with what I had accomplished....you should know by now that I don't make sense.

So here it is....ALL of the MADNESS:

Afghan Square for Victory Junction Gang Camp

Neck of a Teddy Bear Sweater for Charity

2007 JCS Ornament by Hands To Work

Complete 1st Medallion for the Medallion Capelet

2nd sock of my 1st pair

Herringbone Block Shawl
Garter Stitch poncho for Melia
Violet Basket Band
Ruffled Shrug
2007 Surprise Ornament
(I can't show you....it's a Surprise, but I least I gave you something!)
2nd Medallion for Medallion Capelet
Chemo Cap for the Yarn Harlot
(it's curling a lot, hard to get a good picture)

As you can see, I have been spending a lot more time knitting than stitching. That is partially due to ankle recovery - it's a lot easier to knit than stitch in a reclined position. But I have really been enjoying the knitting lately. April will bring more stitching, as I have a few goals to meet...stay tuned for those.

Yarn Spree

2008-03-29T16:30:00.000-04:00

On Friday, DF Heather and I went to LKS Knitch to end my stash enhancement ~~drought~~ ~~suffering~~ self-imposed diet for Lent. I took the day off as a comp day for extra time that I put into my latest project at work.

Actually, before we arrived at Knitch we lunched at

American Roadhouse in the Virginia-Highlands area.

Heather had pancakes, a huge slab of ham and I had a monte cristo sandwich with sweet potato "straws". PLUS - we shared a veggie plate with sweet potato souffle, squash casserole, glazed carrots and mashed cauliflower. The squash casserole was my fav!

We then proceeded to put Amex back in the black...well, I did at least. Heather was very good and only used birthday credit for her stash enhancement. I actually brought a list, with purposeful purchases in mind. That didn't work out like I planned.

These are "Heather's fault"! On the left is Malabrigo Lace - in a beautiful orchid purple, a little on the pink side. And Claudia's Handpainted Yarn in Midnight beside the ML on the right. They are both very lovely. She forced them on me - right into my hands...what was I supposed to do???!

I also purchased an Araucania Ranco because this
yarn spoke to me. It was actually causing a scene
so I had to pick it up before strange looks occurred. After purchase, I looked over at Nell winding yarn and saw her with a yarn that made my heart stop while I thought "whose yarn is that?!" and then I realized that it was mine!!! Such a good feeling!

BTW - does anyone have a pronunciation guide for Araucania?!

I also bought some sale Artyarns Ultramerino to make 1 or 2 Chemo Caps for the Yarn Harlot - who visits Knitch next Sunday, April 6. Something for a chemo cap was on my list...and this is a very nice aqua variegated that I think anyone would love. I have to get right on to making these!!!

Also on my list was something to make the Fishnet Scarf - from Interweave Knits Summer 2007. I found this, and fell in love with the pinks. It's very springlike.

It's Manos silk blend - by Manos del Uruguay, 30% silk and 70% Merino Extrafine Wool.

I also purchased 4 skeins or Noro Silk Garden for an Entrelac Scarf.
Entrelac is one technique that I want to learn this year. Of course, it could be argued that by the time I made it to the 2nd floor where the "wall of Noro" is, I had enough purchases but no one made that argument.

And so, I found more Noro Silk Garden for my Herringbone Block Shawl (pictures coming soon).

These don't match on purpose. Each block on the shawl can be its own color combo, it's a great effect that I didn't understand until I saw it. Heather's is far along, you can see hers here if you'd like to get an idea.

Sum Total (of yarn, not money!!!):

Heather was loving the Malabrigo Lace she found.

"Mmmmmm, soft......"

We did have time for some knitting after the shopping. Heather was working on her Errant Lace Sock and I on the Herringbone Block Shawl.

It was a great day! We tapped it off with dinner at Spoon. Then I rolled myself home and fell into bed completely exhausted!

And Mother Nature Laughed

2008-03-24T21:47:00.000-04:00

It's Spring! It is!! The calendar says so! Easter is over, white shoes are acceptable and it is Spring!

But when I looked out the window at the office today, it was snowing. I live in Atlanta - the SOUTH and it was snowing today. Now, nothing stuck to the ground or even to the cars...but there was snow coming down.

You may not be able to tell from my writing, but I was not happy. This is seriously ruining my plans to wear sandals. Saturday was a beautiful day, sunny and in the 70's. Tonight we have a freeze warning. Mother Nature, much to my chagrin, does have a wicked sense of humor.

Happy Easter and an Overdue Happy Dance

2008-03-23T20:27:00.000-04:00

I have been very quiet blog-wise this last 4 weeks. Work has been crazy, life has been crazy and I was plain wore out! Things are starting to return to normal, so I hope to get caught up soon.

I hope that everyone had a Happy Easter. It started out very chilly here, but turned into a great day. I went to church and spent the afternoon with Vicki, Scott and the girls. We had a fabulous Easter dinner with ham, mac & cheese, roasted asparagus, and glazed carrots. I can't think of anything that would have made it better!

Here are Riley and Melia in their beautiful Easter dresses!

Their dolls Molly and Julie (not pictured) have the same dresses. Too cute!

Back at the end of Feb, I knit and even finished (I know!) a scarf for DF Heather.

It is KnitPicks' Potato Chip Scarf in Quellon (a hand dyed Araucania Yarn from Chile). I found the yarn at an after Christmas sale at LKS Yarn Garden and fell in love with it.

I daresay that Heather liked it, she donned it immediately and (I believe) kept it on throughout the birthday dinner for herself and DF Linda.

It was a fun knit - even if I did have to cast off some 800+ stitches. :-)

Will My True Love Find Me?

2008-02-21T22:12:00.000-05:00

I took the "Will My True Love Find Me?" quiz...and here's what it says.

Your True Love Will Find You Eventually

You definitely put yourself out there a little - but you could be doing more.

If you're truly looking for love, try doing more things and meeting more people.

You don't have to actively look for love, you just need to stay active.

Be out there a little more, and the right person will find you!

Will Your True Love Find You?

So now I'm counting on it!

p.s. This post would've made a lot more sense on Valentine's Day, but this is my life and explains why it's a week late...

Fat Tuesday of Stash Enhancing

2008-02-11T14:01:00.001-05:00

Most of you know that I have given up stash enhancement for Lent. Earlier I posted that I would give it up from Feb 1 - Mar 31, but I slightly ammended those dates to be Feb 6 - March 24.

On Fat Tuesday, I made a "final" purchase and it arrived this weekend.

This is 6 skeins of Noro Aurora to eventually knit this. There is actually a metallic thread that runs through the entire skein, around the colored yarn. It's much easier to see the metallic thread in the garment picture - for some reason the camera just doesn't capture the sparkle of the yarn on the skein. It is Beautiful, though!!! I am looking forward to casting this on...someday. I did not purchase the Cash Iroha needed. Now that I have this yarn in my hand, I can try to find a good color match. I'm thinking of something in the teal/blue family. And then maybe when I can purchase it, I might have finished something else. What a thought!

My ankles are healing, still yellow/green/black/blue but the swelling is going down. I should have a ton of knitting to show for my time off my feet, but you'll have to wait for that. And I have a huge itch to stitch (ha, didn't mean to rhyme) but it is difficult to stitch while keeping your ankles higher than your heart. If you don't believe me, try it. Considering that I usually use a lapstand to hold my frame, it is even harder for me! But soon, soon....I hope. My JCS ornament is hollering at me.

Successful Retreat!

2008-02-07T20:21:00.000-05:00

The knitting retreat and getaway weekend was a huge success, IMO. The Lodge was very nice and relaxing to say the least. My ~~room~~ suite was incredible. As a matter of fact, as soon as I checked in I informed everyone that I was never leaving. Thanks to DF Heather for the snaps, since I forgot my camera!
The bathroom was almost as large as the bedroom! I took advantage of the jacuzzi tub Friday night! I took advantage of the chocolate on the pillows every night!!

Friday night we had a wine and cheese get-together and the hostesses handed out many door prizes. Heather won a beautiful purse, I won a large candle:
The candle is not as nice as the purse, but I consider it a win over the bird clock (which I felt sure to win).

Saturday morning was our Herringbone Block class with Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton. I didn't completely get the 1st block done, but I did make some progress:
Here are Heather and I with our pieces and the teacher's piece:

Now that I have seen it, I have decided to save my Cherry Tree Hill for another project, the color changes are too often in my CTH. So much for trying to use yarn out of my stash, what was I thinking?!

During our lunch break, we ran out and did some shopping. I found this beautiful shawl pin for the Nicky Epstein Medallion Capelet (guess that I have to finish it now!):
We ran out of shopping time and were even late to the 1st afternoon class. We decided that next year we really need to come early or stay late and enjoy the quaint town of Highlands, NC more. Intarsia was the next class and this class disappointed me in some ways. First, the description had stated that we were going to learn intarsia on a purse pattern. So, I immediately got this color idea in my head (of teal and winter white) and was very excited. But....we did not get a purse pattern - or any other pattern. And by being late, Heather and I were separated from the class at another table.

The last class on Saturday was the Nicky Epstein Medallion Capelet. I started this one 3 times - the first two times were on the DPNs as the pattern instructed and the last time was on the circulars using the Magic Loop (thanks Heather!). All of my knitting on this over the weekend was ripped, but here is what the first medallion looks like today:
That's about halfway through the pattern.

There was just enough time before dinner to run over to the shop and peruse some yarn. What would a knitting retreat be without some stash enhancement anyway?

I found some Noro to start the Herringbone Block scarf (more will be required later, but the beauty of this piece is that you can use different color combinations). This Noro is Silk Garden.
And some yarn for a new shrug - Debbie Bliss Bolero Jacket:
Saturday dinner was fabulous - Heather did a great job blogging about the food, so please visit her site for in depth descriptions and pics. It was all yummy. So yummy, in fact, that I had no room for the free Dove bar Saturday night.

Sunday morning we had a short talk by Cornelia and I was inspired by several of her designs (IOW had to order yarn to make one of her designs, coming soon). She gave us a purse pattern and I stitched several rows, but haven't made a lot of progress.

I wish that I could say that the weekend was uneventful other than the above, but several of you know that I ~~chased after Matthew McConaughey~~ demonstrated my clumsiness and fell down the stairs and sprained both of my ankles. So, it's back to laying on the couch for me!

Knitting Retreat Check List

2008-01-30T19:20:00.000-05:00

Some of you have read DF Heather's post and know that we are going on a knitting retreat this weekend (to Highlands, NC). I cannot wait!! I, too, don't know what to expect - but I know what not to expect: work! I will be out of town, and not working...woo hoo! I was not so ~~crazy~~ determined to not purchase new stash (although my moratorium is coming soon). So, in preparation for the weekend I have completed my check list:

1. New suitcase
Check!

2. Cascade 220 and Ultra Alpaca for Intarsia project/workshop
Check!

3. Hand Painted Yarn Merino Bulky in Sodalita for Nicky Epstein's Medallion Capelet
Check! And OMG if you could only run your fingers through it!

4. Manos del Uruguay Kettle Dyed Wool for Sunday morning Designer Challenge
Check! I have to admit that I did have a little bit of guilt on this one, but I feel good about supporting the organization who produced this yarn, they are a non profit and their mission "is to bring economic and social opportunities to rural women".

5. Cherry Tree Hill DK in Blueberry Hill for Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton's Herringbone Block Pattern project/workshop

One
Two
Three

Check!

There are other less exciting things on the checklist...and they are complete too. (Just for you Jean) Check-Check!

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand (or at least a few) Words

2008-01-24T15:20:00.000-05:00

This is an interesting exercise that I saw on Heather's blog. I (also) picked pix that were illustrative of the answers, but that's not necessary. Can you guess the answers?

Here's how you do it: answer the questions and type your answer into Google images search. Post a photo from the FIRST results page.

Age you will be on your next birthday?
Place you would like to visit?

One of your favorite places?

Your favorite object?

Your favorite food?

Your favorite animal?

Your favorite color?

Name of a past pet?

Where you live?

First grade teacher’s last name? (I can't believe this actually found several images!)

Your middle name?

A bad habit of yours?

Favorite flower?

Favorite Holiday?

What would you rather be doing now? (I added this one)

Snow Weekend

2008-01-22T01:30:00.000-05:00

I tried to take advantage of the snow weekend... We didn't get that much snow as anticipated, but it was very pretty coming down and laying on the grass and trees.

I did some knitting on super secret knitting project. I cannot show picture, for obvious reason.

Then I did some knitting on Booga Bag. It's coming along very slowly...

I did some thinking about working on the first sock from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters book - including which yarn I want to use, cuz I have so much sock yarn to choose from! Hmmm...not much to show for my thinking...

I did some prep work on super secret stitching project. Now if I could just find the @#$%! chart! Again, picture is not available.

I found and printed out several teddy bear patterns to knit for charity. I hope to start one this week.

I knit two rows of K1 P1 ribbing for my shrug, then noticed a mis-stitch, ~~cursed~~ politely sighed and ripped the entire thing, cast on and knit 1st row again.

I did a little stitching on Wooly Winter.

What else did I do with these hours stuck at home? Well - I spent too much time on Ravelry. I received the list of class options for the WKKH retreat and had to do some investigation and discussion to make a decision. I caught up on several hours of tv and watched Ladder 49 (which I have had since August!!), I guess that Netflix is making money on me. And then there's the sinus headache that I had. So spent too much time, laying around, sleeping, and groaning (and probably complaining). I really need a replacement day for Sunday! Now, how can I arrange that?

SBQ

2008-01-18T16:41:00.000-05:00

This week's SBQ:

What is your favorite past time while stitching? Do you just enjoy
silence, listen to music/audiobooks or do you "watch" TV/movies? Do
you have specific favorites you listen to/watch while stitching?

I have to say that my favorite stitching (and knitting) past time is watching football. I love college football, but also follow a few favorite NFL teams. The reason that this is my favorite stitching past time is because you don't have to pay attention to every second. I can actually pay more attention to my stitching and watch the tv when the excitement rises in the announcers voices - btw, it takes a keen ear to know "real" excitement versus just another play excitement. This is a skill that has taken years to master, and I am still occasionally fooled. My 2nd favorite would be watching tv or a movie. Reality shows are especially nice for stitching. I have learned that watching certain tv shows while stitching is a waste of time for both - I end up rewinding too often, missing important subtitles or subtext, or totally miss a stitch as I an engrossed with the show. The first of these shows was Alias and, now, Heroes falls into that category as well.

What's That Smell?

2008-01-16T09:59:00.000-05:00

So I had a slow leaking tire, and I went to Kauffman Tire and (of course) had to purchase a new tire - I can never be lucky enough to have a problem that can be plugged... While I was sitting there waiting on my car, I noticed something unusual.

I know, right? Lavender Scented Tires?! C'mon!

Being the curious person that I am, I had to smell. And it did smell like lavender! Not newly poured tar or rubber or bleak...but lovely lavender!

If you think that I have photoshopped this pic or staged this, or are just curious for more...check out:
Kumho Releases Scented Tires, World Scratches Head
or
Kumho Passenger Tires

I really don't understand a world where they can put lavender smell into a tire, but are unable to rectify Atlanta traffic!

Guilt Free January

2008-01-14T14:12:00.000-05:00

Yes, I took two weeks off from the blog. Call it part of my hiding from the real world - and denial of returning to the real world. Now I see that there is no hiding. Work came, and bills came, and no one is here to cook for me (any longer) so grocery shopping and cooking came. Big Sigh.

This month's theme, however, is Guilt Free January. So, while others are out there attempting to destash and organize, I have embraced the Guilt Free-ness by starting a new stitching project (Wooly Winter by Shepherd's Bush), purchasing more sock yarn, casting on for a shrug (with more new yarn from the end of the year sale), not to mention knitting a new scarf (only to determine that it was too short - and now ripping and rewinding are being performed by Jean and Richard). And I've also been knitting on my Booga Bag, trying to do a row or two whenever I can.

Now don't get me wrong. I completely understand the need to destash and organize. And I, too, have these needs. But I must stay true to the monthly theme. Also, according to another friend, this is the Year of Abundance. It's hard to destash and embrace abundance.

It is January and being such I do ~~yearn to~~ need to set some goals for the year. And, in no particular order, they are:

1. Read 50 books - I joined the Book Challenge Group on Ravelry and am keeping track of my reads on goodreads.com (Jillnole)
2. Finish 12 things (3 of them UFO's) - I don't feel that I can detail which or how many stitching vs knitting, but I do know that I need to finish more this year than last.
3. Complete my JCS ornament stitching by April 30.
4. Be ready to knit a sweater - this means finishing one of my smaller sweaterish projects like the shrug (above) or sleeveless sweater or vest.
5. To not be left out of the destashing, I will not purchase any new stash in Feb and March (that's Feb 1 - March 31). I'd like to go cold turkey like Heather, but I'm afraid that might send me into some unrecoverable shock.
6. Clean out my rubber stamps and sell unneeded ones on eBay.

In terms of Abundance, it will (hopefully) come in the joy that I receive from completing each of these and in the occasional chocolate fix.

Carry on you destashers and organizers! I'll be joining you soon, but for now I'm waiting for my UPS man and Postman.

What Kind of Knitter Am I?

2007-12-30T16:31:00.000-05:00

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer. You are through those knitting growing pains and feeling more adventurous. You can follow a standard pattern if it's not too complicated and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've started to experiment with different fibers and you might be eyeing a book with a cool technique you've never tried. Perhaps you prefer to stick to other people's patterns but you are trying to challenge yourself more. Regardless of your preference, you are continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as well you should since your non-knitting friends are probably dropping some serious hints, these days.http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!

Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

This week's SBQ

2007-12-29T12:59:00.000-05:00

This week's SBQ is:

Did you receive any stitching-related gifts for the holidays?

I did! I did! I received a plethora of DMC, some needles, and a tape measure from Vicky during the annual stitch group holiday gathering. Speaking of - here is a quick pic:

And I received a needle felting snowman(!) kit. And The Embroidery Stitch Bible.

I must get busy!

Christmas Wrap Up

2007-12-28T11:14:00.000-05:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday. My already tight schedule was thrown a looey in the form of a sinus infection - which surfaced on Sat night. As a result, I didn't get any Christmas cards out and I ended up wrapping gifts at the last possible (well almost) minute on Christmas Eve.

I did manage to get to Enchanted with Vicki, Riley and Melia. That was a wonderful movie and we all enjoyed it. Patrick Dempsey is so yummy!

On Christmas Eve Mom, Dad and I went to Vicki's to join them for the Children's Service. That was interesting, restless, noisy and typical. We all agreed that the choir director must've had to use the restroom at the end - we flew through Joy To The World in about 30 seconds to end the service. We enjoyed her family's company and exchanged gifts that night. Vicki sewed a beautiful table runner and pillow to match and then instructed me to get shopping for a new dining room table. It's beautiful, and I hope that I have a beautiful table to display it on sometime soon! BTW - for those following along, Vicki loved her scarf but I did not get a picture of her with it (bad Dobby!).

Christmas Day was spent at my brother's. Nicholas is 16 months, so he doesn't understand that Santa was coming but he did enjoy the many trucks that he received. "Truck" is his favorite word and apparently his favorite thing. So there was a lot of truck playing before he conked out - with unopened gifts waiting. We had pork tenderloin for dinner and our friends Erik, Rachel and Dominic (their 6 month old) joined our family. It was a great day, even though I wanted to lay down and sleep for most of it.

I'm finally feeling better and hoping to enjoy this weekend. Along with the 0 Christmas Cards that were sent, I stitched and knitted on 0 items. I hope to rectify that stat this weekend also!

Christmas Finishes

2007-12-12T22:59:00.000-05:00

A grand, festive, Christmas-style happy dance for my beautiful finishes! I have to credit DF Jean with the motivation that I needed to get these out and finally finish them. The stitching on these has been done at least 6 months, but for some reason I couldn't get myself to do the finishing work. Now here they are and just in time for me to enjoy during the holidays.

The first three are from Trail Creek Farm. This one was part of our annual JCS Ornament exchange - I believe this is from 2004.

I fell in love with this one so much that I had to do the others as they came out.

Luckily, I think that the distance of the photo does not permit too close of an inspection of my finishing work. I am definitely not a seamstress, and yes - even buttons are a challenge.

This Jeannette Douglas Needleroll Ornament was part of our 2006 JCS Ornament Exchange in July. I chose it because of the purple, naturally. I have one more finish that I hope to have soon - I gave it to Vicky to finish since it required a circle and is more of a challenge than these. Perhaps I'll have time to stitch something else in the Christmas theme before the actual day arrives.

Extreme Gingerbread Houses

2007-12-06T22:56:00.000-05:00

I spent a great day with friends, food (there was a little food that didn't contain sugar) and gingerbread houses! This is a tradition with My StitchGroup and I have been lucky enough to participate the last three years. At the end of every year (this year being no exception), we all decide that we're going to prepare better for next year with lots of ideas and lists and pictures and gingerbread house consultants...and then we show up and fly by the seat of our pants.

I did come with the idea of decorating my house with as much purple as possible. I know, it's a shock. I love the way that my house came out and am enjoying not only the beauty but the wonderful aroma that greets me when I open my door.

The white blob on the left is my cotton candy snowman...which has gone the way of most southern snowmen. It's true that they don't like the heat. Note to self: research proper snowman material and construction for 2008.

It does take a village, and here are some shots of ours:

The Red and White in the front is Debbie G's and on the right is Ramona's Fruit Loop Fantasy.

On the right here is Andy's Country Cottage (with nay a speck of gingerbread showing), next door to Sweet Steepleless Chapel by Debbie B. The chapel sustained some early earthquake damage, but repairs were quickly executed.

Front right is Vicky's Creation and back center is Angela's Sugar Dreamhouse. A good time (and good sugar high) was had by all!

After we were sugared up, we all went out to celebrate Angela and Andy's December birthdays. We had some delicious food at Copeland's.

And....you guessed it! More chocolate and sugar!

December Stress Is On

2007-12-04T13:50:00.000-05:00

The Yarn Harlot is both cracking me up and stressing me out. She is zooming ahead of schedule - although I agree that posting about it does call attention to the knitting gods - and I am sitting here wondering when I will ever find time to knit!!

I have already given up hope for Nicholas to have a sweater by Christmas. Fortunately, he does not read the calendar yet so I have that going for me.

If I would just knit 8 rows/night on Vicki's scarf it would be done in no time. Why don't I do it?!!! Last night I got home at 8:00 and had to shove some food in my mouth and do dishes (from Sunday) before 9:00 so that I could watch Heroes. Knitting is not allowed during Heroes - too much attention is required to both and both would just end unhappily.

My tree is up, but it is not decorated. Decorations are at my place, but not up. I have written 0 Christmas cards - haven't even bought stamps!!! I have 3 pillows with stitching complete just waiting to be finished-finished. Now would be the time to do that.

*whine* I want to be enjoying myself!

A Day Of Chocolate

2007-11-30T17:24:00.000-05:00

I can tell that the holiday stress is already affecting me. I was unable to resist the chocolate offered today. It started this morning - my company received our shipment of M&Ms. We regularly send M&Ms to clients as a thank you for their business. These are not just the off the shelf M&Ms but they have the Cypress Care logo and are in Cypress Care colors (mainly green). Over 25 21 lb boxes came today. Soon we will be ~~annoyed by~~ enjoying the sounds of M&M bags being sorted. The only reason that these are safe near me is that they are plain and milk chocolate. I really am grateful to not be tempted by many pounds of peanut M&Ms.

Shortly after this delivery, a co-worker received a box of chocolate (think Forrest Gump) from a vendor. This box made the M&Ms pale in comparison. I mean, check it out:

Beautiful chocolates and very unusual flavors. I had 3 - yes, I'm greedy...it was chocolate! I was able to hold myself back from ripping the box from my coworker's hands and running away. The three flavors that I tried:

Madagascar - A ganache made form 65% cacao from Madagascar.
Lavender Caramel - Caramel infused with French Lavender (c'mon it's purple!!!)
Cabernet Caramel - Caramel made with a rich Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley

They were all very interesting. I think that the Cabernet Caramel was my favorite of the 3. The Lavendar Caramel was the most unusual..and the prettiest IMO. :-)

For all the flavors, check out the website.

It could be my imagination, but it just seems like the evening will go down from here.

Diana's Dresses For A Cause

2007-11-23T22:54:00.000-05:00

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family in Ocala, FL. Thursday brought the usual - parade watching, turkey fixin', stuffing too much into my own stomach (which was well worth it) and football watching.

Today brought something new. My mom suggested that we visit the local museum and the exhibit Diana, Princess of Wales : Dresses For A Cause. 30 of Diana's dresses (auctioned at Christie's NY just before her fatal accident) are on display - on loan from the current owners to raise money for breast cancer research. The dresses were beautiful (such an understatement) and most had an accompanying picture of Diana wearing it with a description of the location/function. I have a love of details and a love of beading, stitching, embroidery. These dresses did not disappoint. I don't think that I could possibly pick one favorite, but there was a burgundy velvet that I loved very much. One of the things that I am thankful for this year is the people who raise money for these causes. If you are in the Ocala area prior to the end of December, I highly recommend it.

Mini Shop-Hop and The Police

2007-11-18T20:21:00.000-05:00

Saturday started very productive. My first weekend in town and healthy in many!! I cleaned up a good amount of the chaos that my condo had become in these last weeks. Not all, of course...I have to have something to do later! After the organizing, I started on my own Mini Shop-Hop of my LYS(s). I did not kid myself into thinking that I could get to all, but decided to get to the ones that I could.

First stop was Why Knot Knit in Buckhead. I, like Heather, could not find the store. I had to call Jean to get a hint of where the shop was located! Finally, after traveling a two block area in multiple circles, there it was! I had already been warned about the beautiful pattern that they were handing out. It did not disappoint. I had some control, though, and only purchased one skein of the Misti Alpaca for my scarf. Heather and I may be twins this winter - I think that we both chose the lovely teal.

Next stop was The Whole Nine Yarns. Interestingly, this shop is the furthest from me (in Woodstock) but I know how to get there much better! TWNY has been busy with rearranging their store. I enjoyed looking around, but held fast to my decision to spend as close to the $10 requirement as possible so that I could enjoy more shopping at other stores. As a result, I purchased one Size 5 Addi Turbo circular (this will come back to bite me). The shop is wonderful and friendly and they graciously let me wind yarn that I had purchased in Tallahassee during a football weekend. I believe that I still have a key punch left on my key chain, so I can see a return trip in my near future.

After leaving Woodstock, I went to Kennesaw and picked up BFF Vicki and luggage. Vicki wanted to take all (or at least a good bit) of her scrapbooking supplies to Connecticut for the week. This wasn't possible with the amount of clothes (hers and the girls) already packed. After a lot of reconfiguration, weighing, repeat, we were finally ready to go! Got back to Buckhead in time to change, freshen up, and catch Marta downtown. Vicki couldn't have been more excited than a 5 year old on Christmas morning. A muy rapido dinner at CNN Center and a few cervezas later and we were ready for The Police. I believe that Vicki only swooned twice. This is probably because Sting did not remove his shirt. He did wear a wife beater-ish tight fitting shirt that showed off his very cut arms, though. The music was great, they sounded like it was 1984. The show was very enjoyable but it was over too soon.

Sunday morning we were up fairly early considering the late hour from the concert and train ride back. I dropped Vicki at the airport to catch the flight to Connecticut - won't Scott be surprised that she did manage to fit some scrapbooking supplies into the luggage! As soon as possible, I headed to Knitch for another stamp in the passport. I couldn't resist a beautiful Merino Ribbon yarn. I tried to find a sock yarn for the Candy Cane socks, but nothing was exactly what I wanted...so I "settled" for the purchase of the Merino Ribbon. :-) There was only one other shop open on Sunday - Nease's Needlework. All I had to do was go in and buy my 2nd Size 5 Addi Turbo circular, stamp the passport and be on my way. Well, they didn't have any Size 5 Addi Turbos in stock. Ugh. And I couldn't find a sock yarn for the Candy Cane socks either. Murphy strikes again! So, I picked up two sock patterns (yes, I don't have any others here) and turned in my passport. Problem: I still needed the Size 5 circular, so back to Knitch. Murphy, old friend, strikes again. Knith didn't have them in stock either. There must have been a recent demand for Size 5 circulars. I guess that I'll be looking for another Size 5 circular sometime this week to take with me for Thanksgiving!

My Hero!

2007-11-14T17:17:00.000-05:00

Let me start off by stating that this was not rigged. Many of you know that Milo Ventimiglia is one of my favorite actors. Favorite in the sense that he looks great without a shirt. :-)

Heather took this quiz a few weeks ago and I marked it to come back to later. So, now it is later and "The Hero that I am" is....

Peter Petrelli

You scored 50 Idealism, 58 Nonconformity, 29 Nerdiness

Do you ever... get the feeling that you were meant to do something extraordinary?

Congratulations, you're Peter Petrelli! You are a compassionate, idealistic person, which is great. You're searching for your identity and purpose in life, and you have a strong desire to be special, and do something great for the world. You're a bit on the emo side, but you have the best of intentions. Your best quality: Empathy Your worst quality: EMO

EMO? Really? If you say so...

Click here if you want to take the test and find out which Hero you are!

Two Minute Drill

2007-11-06T13:02:00.000-05:00

So here it is...the two minute drill to get up to date...

First, the follow up to A Stitcher's Gathering. The first class was with Eileen Bennett (of Sampler House) and called Little Green Acorns. The project is a lot of blackwork/back stitching, but it is beautiful and I can't wait to be able to work on it! The color palette is fabulous. I always enjoy seeing the colors that different designers put together. No pictures at this time...but maybe someday soon.

Saturday morning we started with Rae (of Moss Creek Designs) and her Ye Shall Prosper stitching accessories. Rae is not used to having us Saturday morning - she is usually our last class (Saturday afternoon) and we were quite shaken by this change. It was probably the quietest that we have been in Rae's class - because most of us (namely roommate Heather and I) were still asleep. Rae's project was also fabulous and, interestingly, involved squirrels and acorns. This was a banner year for Heather - you can read about it on her blog. I did manage to capture a few pics of the pieces.

Saturday afternoon classes finished with Barbara Rakosnik (of Periwinkle Promises). Her project "Stitching is the Berries Sewing Tin" was also lovely, although not acorn or squirrel themed. :-) It was, however, covered with strawberries and queen stitches. We should all be pros at the queen stitch when these projects are finished.

Saturday evening was the costume contest...but we chose to dress like each other instead.

I loved, loved, loved all of the teachers and all of the projects and managed to "acquire" a few more additions to my stash. Wouldn't it be lovely if I had a picture of them? Well, I don't - so here is a plain old list of them - Queens Plums (drool), Viola Celebration, Just Peachy Celebration, Seasons of Flowers Sampler.

T-minus 1:30 - on to Patricia Sprinkle.
We had a lovely private dinner and book review with Patricia "Patty" Sprinkle. I have read several of her books throughout the years and enjoyed them. This was a wonderful treat by DF Andy who prepared a fabulous meal for us to enjoy while visiting with Patty. My favorite series is the MacLaren Yarbrough (A Thoroughly Southern Mystery) one.

T-minus 1:00 - Halloween

I had a fabulous time (albeit hectic) trick or treating with Dorothy (aka Riley) and Glenda the Good Witch (aka Melia). I even cheated on the lifestyle change with some Reese's - the best candy in the world!

And we had some adults trying to steal the show. Well, calling them adults may be a stretch...

Big, Juicy Burger!

And this was a personal favorite in the costume category:

Love the weiner!!

T-minus :30 Almost at the end

My 'Noles came away with a big victory this weekend vs #2 Boston College. 27-17. All week I was slapping myself whenever I had thoughts like "maybe it won't be so bad" or "our defense is pretty good". I just couldn't set myself up for disappointment. When 8:00 came Saturday night, I couldn't stay away from the tv. And I was a doubting thomas up til the last 30 seconds. Actually, I think that there were 28 seconds on the clock when I called Teresa and told her the good news. Even then, I was afraid that the refs would somehow take it away.

00:00

A Stitcher's Gathering - Louisville, KY

2007-10-22T21:49:00.000-04:00

I spent a fabulous weekend in Louisville at A Stitcher's Gathering sponsored by Moss Creek Designs with friends and acquaintances. It started on Thursday and we were all excited to visit our favorite local restaurant Lynn's Paradise Cafe.

But suddenly the weather had other ideas... We entered the restaurant to the sound of the tornado sirens and had no sooner put our name in for a table when the manager informed us that there was a tornado warning and we must go to the basement. This was unexpected, but we made due and staved off hunger by sharing entrees with 30 or so complete strangers.

Judy and Heather making the best of it!

Ann and Teresa have scoped out the dessert rack in case of emergency.

Our time in the dungeon expired and the restaurant treated us to dinner. If you have never eaten at Lynn's (ha - most of you reading this were with me I know)...but the food is fantastic and the atmosphere unusual and memorable. Lynn's has an annual Ugly Lamp Contest and the decor includes many entrants.

Soon we were ordering!

...to be continued...

A Frosty Finish!

2007-10-16T13:24:00.000-04:00

Hmmm...how long has it been since I finished stitching something? Wow - that would have to be an ornament for the exchange, so probably July! Luckily these ornaments stitch up quickly. All of my other projects seem to be years coming close to lifers.

This is Roly Poly Snowman. I got him in the 2007 ornament exchange from DF Teresa - Teresa stitched and kitted him as her Surprise ornament. He was so cute that I couldn't wait to stitch him and actually started only two weeks ago when I was visiting DF Teresa.

Now to find some perfect fabric for finishing...

Pumpkins, pumpkins!

2007-10-15T22:08:00.000-04:00

This weekend I went to the North Georgia Mountains with The Tagliatelas in search of pumpkins. And we found them!

Burt's Pumpkin Patch is loaded with pumpkins of all sizes and colors.

I guess you could say that I embraced fall (well it was a little warm, but let's just call it fall) and this helped me get into the spirit.

Don't worry, though, I'm still mourning the death of summer and wearing my sandals as long as possible!

We all found some pumpkins to enjoy.

Some big, some small.

This is Melia with "Mama Pumpkin" or actually in Melia-speak it's "Mama Punkin" and "Baby Punkin".

The colors were great and the types were very interesting.

These are pumpkins, gourds and who knows what else?

We had a great time! This is me with Melia (left) and Riley (right).

After The Pumpkin Patch, we went to the top of Amacolola Falls and had lunch at the Lodge. Here is the view from the top. Not a lot of color yet, but I'm sure that it will be coming in soon.

The Yarn Harlot Cometh!

2007-09-26T23:44:00.000-04:00

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee aka The Yarn Harlot came to Atlanta and my LYS Knitch. Knitch got us all warmed up by drawing raffle tickets. Warmed up may not accurately describe the experience, it was more like feeding the frenzy of knitters who were patiently waiting to meet Stephanie. I, sadly, did not win anything but Jean won some beautiful yarn and Linda won twice (a t-shirt and gift certificate). The evening was still a win for me though. The Yarn Harlot was extremely funny, I made progress on some knitting projects and I enjoyed the company of great friends. The Yarn Harlot is holding my first finished sock (previously pictured).

I even made the infamous Yarn Harlot Blog with my first sock.

And here is my wonderful group of friends who came to enjoy the evening.

This helped jump start me into knitting projects again. It's a good time of year to knit also - well it will be soon.

Finishes - Old and New

2007-09-21T20:56:00.000-04:00

I can't explain the motivation, but something led me to get out these stitched pieces

Just Nan's Last Stitches of 1999

and

Just Nan's Evening Star

and finish the mounting and put them into frames. I know, I know...what a concept. Both pieces have been finished for years and I'm embarrassed to say that they had a long time to wait to be framed. They came out beautiful and I'm happy to have them hanging on the wall now.

Earlier this month I finished knitting my first sock

It was very fun and I've already started the one to match it - maybe by winter it will be finished!

Confessions

2007-07-27T16:50:00.000-04:00

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)

stash [stash] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–verb (used with object)

1.	to put by or away as for safekeeping or future use, usually in a secret place (usually fol. by away): The squirrel stashes away nuts for winter.

–noun

2.	something put away or hidden: a stash of gold coins buried in the garden.

3.	a place in which something is stored secretly; hiding place; cache.

[Origin: 1775–85; b. stow and cache]

col·lec·tor [kuh-lek-ter] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun

1.	a person or thing that collects.

[Origin: 1375–1425; late ME (<>colleg- (var. s. of colligere; see collect¹) + -tor -tor]

Let me introduce myself. My name is Jill and I am a stash collector. I have a stash of stitching, knitting, stamping, scrapbooking, and beading supplies. I love them all and find myself unable to part with any. The bad news is that I live in 1100 sq ft. With all of this stash, you might expect a lot of projects to be completed but you would be, sadly, wrong. I am working on many projects at once and like to start many projects. This does cut into the ability to complete things.

Many of my friends are dedicated to projects and are able to focus their time and energy on one or two at a time. As you get to know me and my stash, maybe it will become clear why I cannot do that. And should that happen, please enlighten me. I look forward to sharing my many project starts and stash enhancements.