My Friday

For today, I just need to get through this early but short day. All week I've been working 6-3, and it's nice getting off at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, but just tiring getting up to be at my job at 6 a.m., but not too bad considering I have about a 15 minute drive, if not less. I have no issues getting up early, but this week has just been tiring for me. I do feel I was very productive this week though, with all my personal stuff that is.

I got all my 5 swap packages out to all my spoilees, this was a task in itself. Just packaging everything making sure I had all the requirements for the swaps and also making sure it catered to my spoilees preferences. I hope the packages are greeted with acceptance and glee!

I also sent out 2 Traveling Scarves packages, one for my Group 37 Noro Combo, which was Gramma's gorgeous scarf and also for my Group 42 Tweed, which I totally flaked on, well inadvertently.

I had finished Cristi-Lael's pretty tweedy scarf weeks ago, put my notes in her journal, packaged it and left it on my desk in my office to send out the next day. Well my son or daughter, one of them, both won't own up to it, moved the envelope package and covered it with my son's binder. It was out of sight out of mind for me, and the other day when I was going through my office I came across it and was just in complete horror! I immediately updated my post for the group's tracking thread with an apology. I think I'm going to have to buy a lock for my office cause my kidees seem to like being in there and also using it to discard of unwanted things.

One cool thing I found out from a awesome Mod in my RR group on Ravelry (I apologize I don't have her Rav ID), which if you don't know, you gotta try, is being able to ship First Class Mail packages from your doorstep without having to actually visit the Post Office.

You say how is this?

Well if you have a PayPal account, then you can! Logon to your PayPal account and go to Products & Services, select Multi-Order Shipping Labels, from there Create a New Order, I use a fake Order #, like for Group 37 Noro, I used 37-1, 1 signifies my first package sending out, the next Noro package I send will be 37-2 and so on. Fill out all the info, and weight, and delivery confirmation, then do Pay and Print, and voila, you have a valid, paid for, label printed for you from your printer. Tape to the package and put in your mailbox for your Post Man to pick up. I just love this! It's so much easier than having to go down to the Post Office. If you need to ship a package and don't want to be hassled, this is a pretty easy way.

So, speaking of my TS Groups, I also finished another scarf, Purpleturtle's Group 25 SO, but still need to weave in ends and package. It should go in the mail tomorrow, which will leave me with only 1 TS scarf! WhewwHoo! (can you feel my joy?) I do love participating in the TS groups, but sometimes it can get just a wee bit overwhelming, especially when you start getting a bunch at once.

Contest info to share, I submitted my comments and post to "The Nautical Knitter's" site the other day for the Snowman Stitch Markers Contest she was having and guess what, I visited her blog again and found out that I was one of the lucky winners! Thanks so much DK! I can't wait to use them. Congrats to Deb (aka iaisknitter on Ravelry) and Yvonne from Purlin’ Goldens who also won some cutesy stitch markers.

These are the cutesy Snowman Stitch Markers I'll be getting soon!
Photo courtesy of DK the Nautical Knitter's blog



Now onto some gritty stuff, this weekend is going to be a huge boxing fight, yes the De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao fight!



I'm pulling for the cutey, De La Hoya, I've always been a fan of his. I must admit though, I am not a 100% convinced he can beat Pacquiao, who himself is a very strong boxer. Pacquiao is fast and has good stamina. In De La Hoya's 24/7 series, he says there will be a knock out, I'm thinking it will go 12 rounds. I'll be having a nice little boxing party get together at my house Saturday for this, complete with dip, spicy buffalo wings, pizza, and of course beer and wine. Only dilemma I have is choosing what knitting project to do during the fight, needs to be something I can do blind.

There are many other things going on for me this weekend, but none as exciting as the De La Hoya fight. I hope you all have a good weekend! **Go De La Hoya!**

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

What to do after Thanksgiving? For us, we go out and buy our Christmas tree, bright and early. On Saturday night we went and got the best pickin's from the lot, all the nice fluffy fresh smelling trees were there. I just love how a fresh Christmas tree makes the room spell good. While we decorated we watched Elf, such a funny movie, I love it! Will Ferrell is hecka funny in that movie, I love when he says "Ooh what's a candygram?". It's a definite instant classic.

Check out my little decorations



And here's my yearly fireplace display



Now the challenge, getting presents under the tree, that's a whole different mission, especially because I have teeny kids which means the gifts they want come with a pretty hefty price tag. Plus I have my handknits to make, and I'm behind schedule, way behind schedule.

I also got my last and 3rd package from my Falling For Ewe Swap spoiler, who kept herself secret these last 3 months. She is just totally awesome and is Tina from PhoenixFiberworks, a great blog that I've now added to my Bloglines account. I got such a great package, you wanna see...







My goodies are a full braid of Merino "Chocolate Cherries" roving from Zarzuelasfibers.etsy.com and some pretty luscious purple fiber from MissMalarkey on Ravelry, a box of scented oils in Warm Sugar Cookies, Baked Applie Pie, and Gingerbread. A "Start Spinning" book, a "Knitting New Scarves" book, and a "Crochet Today" magazine, plus a package of pencils and stamps and a cute notecard.
I'm so happy to have had this swap pal, I have no knitting pics, actually didn't do to good with the knitting had less time than I thought to knit, but I'm back at it tonight, I'll share later 8)

I'm Thankful

Well it's here folks, "T-Day"! I can just smell the smells of YUM-O! I've already started my prep work for my Thanksgiving meal, and will continue on prepping tonight. My 19lb bird will go in the oven at 6 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning. I went and purchased this to keep me comfy....



And, I'll be making some of my traditional Cranberry-Pumpkin Bread tonight, to have with my coffee as well. I just love this time of year, so toasty warm and snuggly, and I get to knit! You gotta understand this is my first Holiday season where I'm knitting, this time last year I didn't even know what a stitch was let alone DPN or FO. I learned the basic knit & purl from a dear friend, Leslie B., who I worked with last year. She was so nice to teach me and we became so close after bonding over our wooly love. Because it's my first holiday knitting season I've been going crazy over projects to make and I just don't have enough time or hands to knit with. Is that the life of a hopelessly addicted knitter? If so, I'll like it! 8-)

There are so many things for me to be thankful for this year, one is the great package I got from Julsey7 on Ravelry, my spoiler for the "1930's & 1940's Glamour Darhling" swap in "The Odd Ducks Swaps" group.
I came home to this package yesterday in a small box, snuggly packed.





There was such pretty yarn inside it, in my favorite colors again, it’s from Freedom Spirit, 100% wool, Shade 505, just gorgeous! I got chocolates, a Mae West movie “She done him wrong� (Can’t wait to snuggle up and watch this one!), Mae is one of my faves too! I also got the cutest buttons that I’m already planning to use for a cowl, and a classy leaf pin. And the card that was in it with Mae’s face on it, is so pretty! It will go adorned on my tackboard in my office.

Besides my glamorous package, as I was saying, I'm thankful for so many things, here are some that I can share 8)

--I'm thankful for having a loving and supportive family
--I'm thankful for having 2 awesome children who are growing into responsible adults
--I'm thankful for having my dog, Rosie, who has filled my heart with a love I never knew existed until having her. Pets really do bring out something special in your heart.
--I'm thankful for my daughter's cat, Gracy, who I know fills my daughter's heart with love.
--I'm thankful that both my husband and I have jobs during this hard time and that we have a roof over our family's heads and are able to provide for them.
--I'm thankful for my health, and my familie's health.
--I'm thankful for making it through the financial hell I went through with my home I had owned in Newman. I wouldn't wish that kind of stress on anyone, it is such a difficult thing to deal with.
--I'm thankful that my husband and I made it through that together.
--I'm thankful that daughter is here, and is healthy. She's always been a fighter, and had complications and 3 surgeries the day she was born. When I look into her eyes I can still see her eyes as they were the first time I looked into them when she was in her incubator at the hospital.
--I'm thankful that son is a growing young man, and is healthy. He too had a 1 week stay during his first week, I can still remember sleeping with him at the hospital that Thanksgiving week.
--I'm thankful for having learned how to knit and for having come this far with knitting. Knitting really has expanded my mind to a whole new world of creativity. It is to me the "gateway" craft unto others. I've spun off learning how to spin, how to dye, and how to crochet, and now how to design. Knitting truly is a talent to cherish as it can come in handy with everything. Think about it, if we ever had such a disaster here where we were without our luxuries, you could knit baskets, bowls, anything to survive. If you ever got stranded on an island, could you not knit clothing or making a hut just out of the basic structure of knitting? There are so many ways knitting is a key talent to have.
--I'm thankful for so many things, not all I can list, but I will say that I'm thankful for all of the friends I've made through knitting and all the wonderful people I've met through it as well.

Thank you all for visiting, and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

Regards,
Rocky

Everything at once

Over the weekend we went to my little cousin's 7th bday party, Alyssa. She is so cute and the sweetest girl. Her parents surprised her and had her birthday party at Boomer's in Modesto, CA. They have everything there, from go karts, to water boats, mini-golf, rock climbing, batting cages, lazer tag, arcade games, you name it.

The kids had such a great time, and really enjoyed the rock climbing. My son climbed the rock wall over 4 times and did each turn in record time. We said he looked like Spiderman up there, he navigated that wall like it was nothing.



My daughter tried too, but had a wee bit harder of a time.



It was such a great time, but very tiring. The long 2 hour drive to the party gave me plenty of time to finish knitting my Holiday Stocking. I made one for my Death By Socks Christmas Stocking Swap Pal, Yarnwhisperer. I have to apologize to her, I had over a month to get this done, but fell behind on so many projects and ended up casting on this past Friday 11/21/08.

I didn't know what to do for a stocking, so I decided to wing it and let the project happen as I knitted it.

I started off with a provisional chain cast on and knitted in red for about 9 inches, then turned the heel, onto the toe, which was about 2 1/2 inches. I used a plain stockinette because I felt it would look nice.

I then swiss stitched in a snowflake design, plus Yarnwhisperer's initials "A T". After closing up the toe, I removed my crochet chain and picked up the live stitches, then with white yarn, knitted for 2 rows, then reversed knitted the opposite direction to make the right side the wrong side. I was pretty skeptical at first, but it worked out better than I thought. The 2 knitted right side rows allowed the reverse knitted (purls on right side) to puff out, so it really looks like a stocking.

For the yarn, I used Vanna White's Red Yarn, very soft, and economical, and this yarn from Stacy Charles that is white with laced tinsel sparklins through it. I thought it would be perfect and it is!

For added flair, I weaved in some red beads for the snowflake. I'll put together the notes from my pattern and share for free again! I plan on making another one, but for my daughter, I might switch up the design though.



That's my Bear in the picture, he had to share the spotlight.



Can you see those beads? I love how they turned out.

Besides my stocking gift, I also got a few gifts of my own, a lovely Starbucks & Yarn Package came from Shoegirl on Ravelry.



I got some really pretty Lorna Laces sock yarn, 217yds!, a cute mug cozy, in my fave colors, neutrals, a Starbucks gift card, Giada's Tuscan Spice from Crate & Barrel (I love this!), Giada's little menu, and some hand cream (which I love cause I'm always washing my hands).
Thank you Shoegirl!

Another goodie came Saturday, it is "Autumn Haze" from Socks that Rock 2008. This is the final installment and I'm in love with it. My absolute #1 fave of the entire 2008 club. I need more of this colorway, so I can make something absolutly pretty with it.







Aren't those colors beautiful!

Ok one more goodie for yah, today I received the latest Madeline Tosh Society shipment, "Tourmaline", and is to die for! It's 1000 yards of luscious silky soft Tuscan silk! This is definitely an early Christmas present for me.





Oh, before I leave yah, if you want to enter a fun contest, please check out the Nautical Knitter's blog, she is giving away the cutest Snowman stitch markers!

I'll post again before Turkey Day!

Swaps and TGIF

First off, I'm so thankful it's finally Friday! I did have this past Tuesday off in honor of Veteran's Day, but the remaining days after just seemed to drag on, literally!

My list for this weekend is:

--Get house clean and ready for Pop's 13th Bday party tomorrow (Sat)
--Order cake (last minute, I know!)
--Get BBQ food, carne asada, chicken, hot links, hot dogs, fresh salad, ingredients for potato salad, chili beans, chips, dip, soda...
--Send out about 8 packages of completed Traveling Scarve's sections (Whew!!) I swear I knitted 2 full scarve's this week. Each section I'm knitting is about 6 x 6, so maybe at least a scarf and 1/2. I'll be happy when these are in the mail.
--Send out my Starbucks & Yarn Swap package, Tea Swap package, Glamour package
--Start stalking my new Christmas 2008 Swap spoilee
--Finish knitting my Pocket square for my Tech Square Afghan
--Forgot, make food for party bright and early Saturday... I'll be consuming many Venti White Mochas for this *-)
--Buy last minute present for my son
--Take my daughter to get a trim before the party
--Go to Green Planet Yarn and buy some Alpaca Tweed yarn at $7.95 a skein! about 200 yds.! I've decided to go with this for my CPH.
--Start CPH 8-)
--Pay bills (uggh!)
--Save the world 8-)

My list is long and I'm probably leaving out a lot of things, but I've got to try and make it happen. It is going to be a turning point for me with my son, who will be 13 years on the 19th of this month. Once he hits that 13, I will officially have 2 teenagers, no more babies, even though they still act like toddlers, well sometimes.

The years are flying by so fast with my kids, my daughter who's 15 right, only has 3 years until she's 18, which is freaking me out, and my son, only 5. I will have 2 adult children by the time I hit my mid-30's. It's been quite an experience raising them, and growing with them as I obviously started young (do the math). I wouldn't recommend starting as young as I did, but in retrospect there are alot of advantages to it, as well as disadvantages. I would repeat it again if I had the choice. It is a harder road to take, but if you can make it through it is definitely worth it. My hubby and I are both looking forward to our mid-30's because we hope and plan to spend alot of time doing traveling, in small fragments, like 2 days here or 3 days there. It's amazing how your born by youself, in a way, you do have your family your Mother at the very least, but as soon as your 18 years old (for most people) your on your own in a world alone working or going to school or just doing what you want. When you have kids you start your own little circle of life and it's just really amazing as the kids grow how you in a sense create this micro-society with it's own culture, habits, you name it. Maybe it's me, I think way to much, but it is a pretty fascinating experience.

In other Swappy news, I'm sad so very sad to say that my "Day of the Dead" Swap I participated in has turned out bad. I've been in more than a few swaps and this is the first I've encountered this. It's upsetting and you'll be upset when I tell you. Basically my "spoilee" who I was spending time getting to know and putting a package together for, has seemed to "fall off of the earth", literally. I had been in constant communication with her since the swap started back in August, and she was so nice, then after our last chit-chat via PM on Ravelry on 10/29/08, it's been total silence. I've gotten no response from email's, PM's, blog comments to her blog, nothing. I sent my DOTD package to her at the end of the swap, got a delivery confirmation of 11/6/08, and there's been absolutely no acknowledgement from her. I've been stalking the DOTD swap thread in "The Odd Ducks" group on Ravelry, and still nothing. I finally sent a note to the Swap organizer, and sadly she magic linked me today to inform me that myself and another member of the swap have something in common, my spoilee is her spoiler, and besides my spoilee just not acknowledging my package sent, there was also no package sent to out to the other member in the swap. My spoilee didn't send her spoilee anything and hasn't responded to anything.

I'm in denial of this, I'm holding out hope that maybe there's a valid reason she's not responded? Could there be people out there that pretend to be nice just to score free stuff? Isn't that a horrible thing to do? Even though this has burned me, I'll still join swaps, and know and hope that not all swappers are like this. This is obviously the ugly side of swapping but the good side outweighs the bad. You get to meet others who share the same love of fibery things as you, you meet friends, you get fun surprises, and overall your heart grows bigger for it.

I'm going to make a suggestion to the swap organizer of DOTD who has admitted that for some reason the DOTD swap has been hit with a good amount of flakes this time, that possibly there's some type of a swap reference check made when people join swaps. Maybe they can give references from other swaps they've joined to account for their swap worthiness, what do you think? I'm kind of for it, but at the same time it's kind of a like a credit check, and I'm usually against those. Because of this turn out, I'm glad it's Friday, and an end to the week I found out I was burned in the DOTD swap.

Enough of that, let's get onto some goodies! If you remember I missed my Skein Lane Retreat 2008 this past October because my Grandfather fell ill and things weren't looking good, thankfully he's healthy now!

Well I got in touch with Carolyn from Skein Lane afterwards and she is just awesome! There was a "Cable Pillow" project for everyone to make at the Retreat, and she offered to send me the pattern, goodies, and yarn for the project to boot! Isn't that awesome!
I got my package yesterday, and the yarn is greeny good, I can't wait to make this project not that I need another project.







Check out these cute "Hand-made" labels!



Carolyn is just so sweet to have sent me this, I'd also like to wish her doggy good luck in getting better. I would go crazy if anything happened to my doggy, so I understand what she's going through. Let's send her good thoughts!

Last, but not least, I have so many Traveling Scarves that I've finished that will go to the post today, but I didn't bother taking any pictures of most of them because I didn't have time, however I did have time to take a snapshot of this scarf. It's owner is "Gramma's" on Ravelry, and it's been flagged as a quick turn around. Gramma provided her own yarn, some red malabrigo and blue malabrigo, it is very pretty!

Here's my contribution to this lovely soft scarf, I give you the "Mock Cable" pattern:



And here's a full view of the entire scarf.. it's so long I could barely fit it in my picture.



That's all folks! TGIF!