Vacation! Yippee!!

Well, I am leaving at the crack of dawn tomorrow to go back to Minnesota! I'm pretty excited! I hope Joie is good on the plane. And of course, I'm completely packed! almost done packing! just started packing blogging instead of packing. Apparrently, that's more important. Not like I'm leaving at 5:30 in the morning tomorrow or anything. I probably won't be able to blog until sometime next week, and then I'm not sure if I will. I might not even want to! I'm probably going to be having lots of fun and hanging out with family and friends who I haven't seen in ages. Then again, I might get bored and maybe even miss you all a little, and want to say hello. I guess we won't know until we get there, will we? I promise I'll post new and cute pictures of Joie when I get back, though. Adios everyone!

Toothpicks and thread

So, the other day, I thought, "how nice would it be to have a nice little knitting project to take with me on my upcoming vacation?" I immediately thought of how everyone says socks are nice and portable, so I searched for a pattern I liked that wouldn't be too hard, and how to cast-on for them. I used knitty's magic cast-on, which is really easy, and the pattern for ankle socks called "pom squad" for magknits. First off, I'd like to say that knitting socks is like trying to knit with toothpicks and thread. The needles are so tiny and the tiny little stiches are cute! Once my fingers got used to it, I got all cast on and ready. Well, I only have 4 needles in the size I'm using, so I tried to make it work (about 25 times, seriously) and it just wasn't. So I need to pick up another pack of needles before I can go on. I do think that once I can actually start knitting the sock, though, I'm really going to enjoy it! And from the tiny bit that I did get knitted up, my new sock yarn for my dye-o-rama pal looks awesome! Thanks, KnitPastis! :)

Another Love

I dyed my second skein of yarn yesterday- this one is for my Dye-O-Rama pal. I am really enjoying dying yarn! I definitely think this is something I could really get into. I think next month I will invest in some professional dyes, and really see what I can create. I love looking at everytihng I see and wondering what kind of yarn I could make it into. I have all kinds of ideas for different colorways swimming around in my head! It is so much fun to take a crisp, clean, white skein of yarn, and make it into something fun and bright and pretty. I think there is definitely more yarn dying in my future! Without further ado, here is a picture of the yarn going out to my pal- I call it Cherry Limeade, after my favorite Sonic beverage. I used pink lemonade to do a veriegated pink, and then lemon-lime for a splash of spring green. I wish I could keep it! I hope my pal likes it. I'm also sending off some home-made sculpey stitch markers, a little journal for keeping knitting notes ( I got one for me too!), and I printed up a pattern for her. Now I'm off to make a little wrap for the skein, and I'm completely finished with the project- yaay! I'm taking a little break from knitting to sew up some sundresses for Joie. They're really quick and easy, and I've had all the fabric and notions for them for a while. I'd like to have a bunch for our upcoming vacation, because they're cute and easy and nice and cool for hot summery days. I'll make sure to take some pictures of them and post them here.

I'm in love!

Yes, I am in love. I got my yarn from my Dye-O-Rama pal this Saturday, and it is GEORGOUS! I'm so excited to knit up my first pair of socks with it. My pal was KnitPastis- go check her out and encourage her to dye some more awesome yarn! Here is a picture of the Fresh Squeezed Lemonade she made for me, inspired by my early childhood on the farm. I also dyed my first skein of yarn this weekend! It was a lot of fun. I used Paton's 100% wool and Koolade. It's worsted weight, so I think I am going to make a pair of Fuzzy Feet from Knitty with it. I am absolutely in love with the colors! It came out exactly how I wanted to. I used pink lemonade, cherry, rasperry with a sprinkling of grape, and the brown was half orange and half grape. I call it Cocoa Berry. Did I mention I am in LOVE with it? I had a lot of fun dying it up, and I am really excited to do more! I'm still debating what I want to for my pal, but I have a few ideas. I should get it done this week or next weekend, because I'm taking little Joie on vacation to Minnesota for 10 days on the 25th. I'm really excited, and it will be good to see my family again. Most of them haven't even met Joie, so it'll be good for her to meet grandparents and great-grandparents and all that. I think that's all for now- Joie's nap time seems to be over.

Lost and Found

Today started like most of my days- waking up around 8:30 with little Joie, eating breakfast, checking my bloglines and email. Joie went down for a nap around 10:30, and I decided to get cracking on my project for the baby shower (for twin boys!) on Saturday. I'm sewing some cute little things- I want to keep it a secret because I know mommy's sister reads my blog. ;) I decided to put on some music while I did my crafting, and the first cd to catch my eye was the Dixie Chicks album "Home". I popped it in and sat on the floor to get to work. As track number three started, I got a little teary-eyed. The song is "Travelin' Soldier" - for those of you who don't know it, click away. I've always gotten teary-eyed when I hear this song, because it's a sad song to begin with. When one of my awesome friends Patrick (aka Scuzzy) joined the army about a year and a half ago, it hit home even more. A little history- Scuzzy and I met at rough times in both of our lives, and got really close. He is an awesome person and is like a little brother to me- I love him like family.Last I talked to him was a year ago, when he was sent to Virginia to await his assignment. well, hearing that song today made me miss him and wonder what he was up to. I looked online in a bunch of places for about half an hour, trying to find anything that mentioned his name, a phone number, address, anything. No luck. I then remembered his grandmother lives in Minnesota, and since he used to live with her, she would surely remember me! I dug up my old cellphone, and her number was there. I called her up, and she kindly gave me his email address. I inquired as to where he was- my Scuzzy is in Iraq. She said she hadn't heard from him in a few months, and would I please say hello? I said I would and thanked her. I wrote him an email, and then looked at his picture on the yahoo! directory. I cried- he looks thin and tired and scared- it looks like he is in a tent in Iraq in the picture. I prayed that he is okay. I hope I hear back from him soon-if I do, I'll let you know. For now, my heart and prayers are going out to him there, hoping he is staying safe, and I'm trying to keep myself from crying.

Knitty McKnitterton

I just realized that besides the mention of Stitch n' Bitch in my previous post, I haven't talked about my knitting at all! So, here is my knitting update. Joie's wrap dress is slow going. I've only picked it up twice since the move. It felt really good to pick it up, though, so I've been trying to work on it more now. I finished about 13 rows at the SnB, and another 10 or so last night. I want to have it done before we go on vacation at the end of the month. On the other hand, I want to crank out 3 (or more!) pairs of baby booties- I have 2 baby showers this month. One is a set of twins, hence the three pairs for 2 showers. Now that I think about it, though, how much would booties be used in the hot New Mexico summer? Blah. Anyone have a suggestion for a really quick knit for babies that would be summer appropriate? I guess I could sew something as well. I think this warrants a trip to the local fabric store... Oh, right, I was talking about knitting! Well, uh, I think I pretty much covered it with the last paragraph. I'm expecting two knitting books in the mail- One Skein and Knitting Way. I think I need to call the post office, though, because it seems like we aren't getting any forwarded mail here. Hmmm.... I'm super excited about Dye-O-Rama!!! I'm off to ponder colors...

Childhood Memories

Favorite Special Treat Food: I was an avid baker when I was young. I would make popcorn balls and candied orange peels as a special treat for me and my brother and sister. Another favorite was butter and peanut butter together on bread. Favorite Real Food:I don't really remember anything in particular, but I know I loved pizza and my mom's taco hot dish. Favorite Place to Go: My Great-Grandma lived on a big alfalfa farm. I spent tons of summers riding the hay wagons, building forts out of bales of hay, chasing the new barn kittens around, and exploring the woods. After she died, we lived there for a while. In the winter we would get bundled up and lie in the snowy fields and watch the sun set. We also had a big mulberry tree that would drop berries in the spring- yum! Favorite Thing to Wear: My mom would make me great summer dresses that I loved. I also loved anything dress-up. Favorite Person: I would have to say my step-brother- he lived in California and us in Minnesota, so in the summers, when I saw him, we were inseperable. Favorite Event/Occasion: That has always been and always will be Christmas. Favorite Pet: Our cat Jasper. He was the first cat we ever had. He was the greatest cat ever. Favorite Thing to Do: I loved to run all over the farm. Climbing trees, baking, anything crafty. Favorite TV Show: Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Spiderman. Favorite Book: All of Roald Dahl's books, especially Matilda. All of the "Little House" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. A book that had these wonderful pictures- each section had tons of pictures related to one letter of the alphabet, and a little boy hiding. I don't remember the name of it and can't seem to find it online, but we all loved to look for all of the things and the little boy.

You're in for a treat!

Oh, yes you are! It has been quite a while since I've written a real blog. It's gonna be a looong one, I got a lot of catching up to do. So grab some coffee or popcorn, and settle in! The move went well. We spent a large portion of the day getting to truck packed, rushed down to Albuquerque, and got papers signed. We then unpacked and ate some yummy Papa John's Pizza- there isn't one in Santa Fe, so it was a welcome treat! There isn't much unpacked, because I really can only unpack things while Joie is sleeping, and she doesn't do too much of that during the day. Not to mention that unpacking sucks. Now, you may ask, why doesn't the darling hubby help? Well, for one, he really just wants to relax when he gets home, and the weekends we both either are rushing around doing errands, or relaxing together. Secondly (and probably more the reason than anything), I would end up moving almost everything he unpacked into the precise location that I wanted it. So it would be like unpacking twice, and that just isn't any fun. Hence, the unpacking is going slowly. It is getting done, though, I figure sometime around christmas, we should have everything out of boxes. I discovered last weekend that Village Wools is right down the street from our new place. How exciting is that?! I went to check it out with the hubby. The visit pretty much consisted of me drooling over and fondling the mass amounts of yarn and the hubby following me around asking "what's this for?". All in all, lots of fun! To keep with the knitting theme I have going now, I finally went to Stitch n' Bitch last night- albeit a little late. I didn't get there until about 8, an hour after it starts, but oh well. I had a ton of fun, it was really relaxing!It was the first time I had picked up my knitting since the move, and it felt good to do it. I only introduced myself to the 2 ladies on either side of me, and unfortunately, I'm bad with names and don't remember theirs. I was pretty quiet and content to just sit and knit and listen to everyone chatter away. I recognized Jamie and Beverly from their blogs, but that was about it. Hopefully next week I'll introduce myself to everyone. I had a great time, and James was me HERO for watching Joie and letting me escape for a few hours. The big news in the house this week is Joie's starting to eat rice cereal! It's pretty exciting, and she seems to like it. It's fun to watch her make a big mess and get the stuff all over her face, mostly because she tries to eat her fists while I'm trying to get the spoon in her mouth. I just found the camera today, so we'll have to snap some pictures next time we feed her. We also have a few new additions to the family- four cute little mice! We have a black one named Bella, A tan one named Twinkie, an albino one named 2%, and a white one with black spots named Cow. They're a lot of fun to watch run around and play. I always had mice as a pet growing up, and it brings back some good memories of childhood. Speaking of which, I'm going to do the childhood meme that has been going around in a seperate post. I joined the Dye-O-Rama as well- basically a secret pal yarn swap with hand-dyed yarn. I think it is going to be a lot of fun! I haven't ever dyed yarn before, but I plan to buy 3 skeins to dye- 2 for practice, and one to send. I think I'm going to start out with Koolade and easter egg dyes, and if I get really into it and get some extra cash, then I'll start using professional dyes. I'm really excited to start dying yarn, and It'll be even more special, because with my two practice skeins I'll knit up my first pairs of socks! Well, I can't really think of much more at the moment- I had some pictures I wanted to post, but I'll do that later. It's good to back here in blog world.