Cleaning is a good thing!!!

When you loose something....or at least when I lose something, it drives me crazy!!!! I lost a ring, I bought it at an Art show and my mom gave me the money for my birthday. I have had this ring for years and all of sudden lost....into the black hole....gone....vanished. I had looked everywhere, in every nook and cranny, under things....no ring!!! Now I loved this ring even more that it was gone. Figuring it was a lost cause and getting ready for my son's future in laws to come for dinner, I was cleaning. Oh, I know, it's a dirty word but yes I was actually moving things to dust. Low and behold it was on my nightstand all the while. I have this wonderful habit of taking rings off in my sleep and there it was under the doily, hiding from plain sight. So that means cleaning does have an advantage. Now has anyone seen my inhaler????
Nine days to Vacation!!!!! Naturally my heel spur is acting up in full force, making me wonder if I should go and get a cortizone shot now.....or will it go away if I baby it???? I found a purse to take, so that is one less thing to worry about., Now I have to practice carrying it, just like a little girl. I don't want to forget it somewhere so it is virtually empty till I get used to it. On the other hand because it is empty, it is stupid to carry it??? I have enough weight to carry around with out adding a purse. I know what I am taking with me to knit, but what about to wear??? I am taking the traveling scarf, I know it didn't start yet but I want it to really travel, so mine will be a few inches longer than the others.
This is a rant, so if you don't want to hear my rant, stop reading here.
I am sitting here sipping my morning coffee and the news is on....in a matter of 5 minutes they are discussing, the government is pushing company owners to encourage fat people to lose weight or they will lose their insurance and their job. They want us to all have a certain waist size or you won't get health insurance. Have they seen my relatives???? Then, they said if you have bad credit, you can lose your job??? I have only one question....who is going to be working? Thin, wealthy people? Are they going to support the onslaught of unemployed fat/late payment people? I can say fat because I am, I understand worrying about our health, but as Whoppi Goldberg said , take the Sucrose and high refined and other sugar crap out of our diet, no other Country in the World uses that a a sweetner. Yes we are responsible for our own problems, but look at any food you buy that is processed it is full of crap....!!! So if you are fat or are late on your Utility bill, you may not have to worry about working? So grab some store bought food, and sit on the couch and watch TV, don't get sick, or don't worry about it because they have programs for the un insured and let the thin, rich people keep working!!!!!! AAACCCKKKKKKKK Ok, I'm done.

WWKIP Day at Just 4 Ewe

I am attempting to upload the slide show of photos from the WWKiP day? This could be photos from just about anywhere or nothing??? As usual all the photos were taken at first and then nothing again, so I missed quite a few knitters that came later. We had a great time, it didn't rain, it was Sunny and really sunny and then rather warm....for me anyway. Everyone got a WWKiP day Button and Purls of Wisdom beads and a Door Prize well actually a yarn prize. Food food food, we had lots of Food. Thanks to everyone for helping make this day a very special one all around the World!!! Knitters Unite!!!!

My apologies for whining

So as I sit back and assess the situation...Shame on me for whining. I now know what happened in my basement and I also know it isn't the worst. I turn on TV and could cry at the loss of so many people. I drive around the area and it makes me ill to see households sitting on the curb waiting the garbage truck. I had a drop of water in comparison to others. My heartfelt sympathy goes out to all of those people. I also was a little smug in thinking "I have insurance" oh I do, it won't cover the plumber and the carpeting and the possibly 5 boxes of wet stuff.....my deductable is $1,000.00. I guess my thinking is if I loose my appliances down there, then it will be a loss. In other words, my Bush incentive check which won't even get here till July or August, is already spent 3 different ways, but at least I know it's coming.
Today is WWKiP day!!!!! I have lots of Door Prizes and we will have snacks and freebies, so be sure and stop by, for a little while anyway!!!! I think we may see sunshine!!!!! I know, I am asking a lot but I heard it was making a guest appearance!!!! Stay dry and Safe!!!!

World Wide Knit in Public Day

Hey, you have to come and knit for a bit!!! WWKIP day is this Saturday and we are going to have lots of fun!!! Bring a chair, drink a snack to pass if you wish and a project. I will have Door Prizes and no it's not wet wool. None of that got wet..thank you!! You must be here to collect your prize though. I am ready for the next flood, if it stays contained that is....and every rain cloud has a silver lining....eh eh eh....I am rearranging my studio and making it better!!!!! So things have to go and I am purging!!!! See you Saturday!!!

Call me ....stupid?

I take photos of my feet, yarn, flowers, yarn, bugs, tattoos, pancakes,did I mention yarn, but do I take photos of my wet basement? Do I, the one that has her phone on her at all times, when the water was streaming in....think to take a photo? Even if only to blog the disaster? Do I take photos of the rolls of wet carpeting now in the dumpster? Heck no...because I am brain dead and the insurance company knows how trustworthy I am....isn't everybody? Do you think someone might lie about this??? So tomorrow before the dumpster guy comes, and hoping no one threw garbage on top of it, I will be doing some dumpster diving to get a photo. Why not, I have come to like smelling like wet .....anything...on the other hand.I am so sick of the smell of wet concrete , that I even dread the thought of a shower, but not that I take it in wet concrete, but water, in any form is scary !!! I would go out there tonight but the raccoons tend to inhabit the dumpster at night and they are probably sitting on the carpeting munching on chicken scraps. If I open the lid and bother them, they get downright nasty. So I am going to take photos of the drying cement, the fans, the dehumidifier, the piles of totes and the clean area, had they seen the basement before they would gasp to see a "clean" area. I hate the look of the bare concrete and had a sudden urge/stupid idea to do that epoxy floor down there, but if water keeps making an appearance how good is that stuff? I do know there will be no carpeting down there, I repeat the nice carpeting is out....!!!! Oh, Oh and good news, the Insurance agent called and I DO have sewer/sump back up coverage, unlike the Emergency hotline woman that said I didn't, I knew I did or thought I had ordered it about a month after I moved in here. But of course they tried to say I didn't...I knew I did, so I can see where this is going with no photos, in an age of cell phones, with cameras, and digital cameras and me just freaking out and forgetting to take photos?

Queen of De Nial

The night from a movie? As I was sitting in the basement, my new hangout, relaxing and listening to the sump pump do it's thing. I am getting my survival nest pretty comfy and the tornado warnings were still going on....when an alarm goes off on my sump pump. There was only one reason I was aware it went off and that was when the water in the back up battery goes dry and needs more water. I get up and notice I don't hear the sump pump and as I am walking it was like a movie. Water creeping in around me, the floor disappearing under water...I have the phone in my hand and call my brother in a screaming voice....my basement is flooding???? My sump pump quit, one look and the crock is full of water and I can't hear any pumping....Help me I don't know what to do? He is upset and says he can't leave because the streets are closed due to flooding. Besides nothing is open any more, where can we get a sump pump???? I don't care pull one out of your arse....ahhh crap I don't know what to do....will I get electicuted? he says if you stand in the water and you have an electrical cord in the water, yes you will.....Ok so now we have my two most dreaded things, water, I can't swim, not realizing the water probably will not top the stairway, and
electric!!! I head for the steps, I'm calling a plumber I don't care what, he can fix this and the wet carpeting and all my stuff!!! So I call the Emergency number and am reassured I am on the top of the list, I called quickly that is a good thing they remind me...yeah...get out your wallet....I keep looking for the water to hit the first step...it seems to have stayed the same....I call the neighbor, we are all on one sump...mine!!! Her basement is flooded too, but she tells me hers is worse because she has a finished basement....You know what when someone is freeking upset about their running and rising water, don't even go there and say well mine is worse....rationally it probably is, but right now I am two steps away from ripping your head off of your neck.
In my mind I am seeing floating totes of yarn, bobbing gently in a circle laughing at me...
The plumber comes and notes the sump is working fine it just can't keep up? There are a few things we can do here....he is talking calm and like a used car salesman. I think he senses I am not calm and not buying his sales pitch to put in a bigger crock? are you on drugs? can you do that tonight? Now? Well no he calmly replies, I say....it's raining and more rain to come and can you build an Ark? He gives me a few more let's put it this way cheaper alternatives. I came up with one of my own, put in a larger pump? Ok? Oh sure I can do that, but with the water rising so fast I may have to do that another day!!!! WHAT? Warm sunny Monday??? Well I can....blah blah blah.....Dan really was nice, just too calm for me. So he did it right and it is done and water is leaving the area. My wallet is $800. lighter.... Now the aftermath....I kept looking at it wishing it gone....what is my line of attack? I didn't sleep last night and now I am having coffee, I did bring out the carpet cleaner to suck water out of the rugs, but....now I have a Migrane....last night I turned the humidifier up and put a fan on and that is going to do the magic.....that is going to dry up the sopping carpeting and some cardboard boxes......I am in denial.......I am toast!!!!! But, I am very thankful that it wasn't a tornado, I could have lost my home, which the neighbor said would have been good for her, I reminded her I live here, I appreciate not living in a shelter, in my nightgown. Not today...... Clean up begins.

Auntie Em, where's Toto?

Just another quiet Friday at the shop....customers shopping and visiting and knitting. It is about 3ish and the weather has turned ugly. I am getting as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs and at the door is a familiar face....Martha. Martha is looking a tad nervous herself...you Ok? I ask and she is talking fast and hyper, the storm is ...well it's right behind me and almost here. You sure, I have TV on and they said it's out West of here? Come on in and knit a while, we can listen to the weather together...hey that rhymes... The phone calls start, It's Lois....hey Janny, they said there is tornado warnings in Oak Creek? Ok thanks, text message...Hey mom, are you Ok? Tornado headed your way. Hey Martha? We better get in the basement. Martha has never been in the "Studio/crap filled basement" Hey I've never been down here...oh really, I spend most of tornado season down here, under that beam on that there chair,under the stairway. You can sit there. So there we were, another phone call from Karen in Mukwanago, "I hope you're in the basement" I am thanks!!!! My son is texting again to see if we're Ok, and I tell him to send food!!! I try to work this cheap crappy weather radio I bought for this special reason and I can't get any reception, works really well. I have my flashlight and lantern. There we sit looking at each other Martha has her fiber in hand and purse in the other hand and I am fidgeting. Which one of us will get the Ruby slippers? While Martha was on the phone calling her husband, a huge centipede went fluttering behind her on the wall and I almost said, Oh I hope you aren't afraid of centipedes, but something told me to shut up , that she would be and I would be trampled over and no one would get the Ruby slippers. So Martha there was a huge Centipede right behind your head....so you shut up and I get the slippers.
Thanks to everyone for comforting me when I am freaking out about storms, but the centipede and Martha kept me busy!!!!

Soft warm Fuzzy's

I am feeling a new love.....I am holding it and caressing it and petting it. I am playing with it and admiring it's beauty...it's quality and it is Yarn....oh yeah baby!!! I just got in some Aruancania, I'm sure it is the wrong spelling because I totally destroyed the label in a mad attempt to wind the yarn into a ball. You should hear how I pronounce it!!! It is Merino, Alpaca and Silk and it's yummy, the dying is in short spurts so when you knit it , it doesn't stripe it speckles. I am making a beginner hat, so when my beginning knitting class gets to the last week, I will show them what the hat pattern looks like. My other sample hat got handed in to a Charity hat program somewhere?
My son and his fiance are taking her mom and I to Quebec and Montreal for the 400 anniversary celebration. I will be closed 4th of July weekend. This is the first vacation I will have been on since I opened the shop. It will be fun and a good chance to get to know the in laws. I am going to try to sneak to some yarn shops. I may have to ditch everyone else, maybe I'll pretend to have a headache or .....need coffee, which may be located near a YS..! I don't pretend to travel well with others, I tend to be a loner and like exploring on my own. My son will have no problem with this at all... I have a strong need for alone time and 7 days of togetherness may put me on Prozac. or Qualudes, one of the two. I am totally optimistic about this though and I know it will be a good time. Her mom is very nice as is she. I am brushing up on my French (pastries). Stay dry and knit up a storm!!!!

Hee Haw!!!

This laugh is on me....Monday's are Money Mondays. I do most of my errands on Monday and spend most of the money I have on Mondays...hence the name Money Monday!!! So on my circle of errands I stopped at Barnes and Noble and I was not looking for a knitting book, I was looking for a good whole food cook book. So as I looked from row to row with my neck kinked over in a ninety degree angle trying to read spines and trying to keep my balance, I happened upon the book above. Hhhmmmm I love my Magic Bullet (small blender) for those of you with your minds in the gutter!!!! It is perfect for one person for making salad dressing, chicken salad, egg salad, sauces and so much more....Italian Ices....Imagine my smile as I tried to straighten out my neck to read the book the right way. I opened it and the first recipe was some kind of Ginger Dressing with Sesame and you blend it and my heart was pounding... who would have thought someone wrote a whole book on my little blender? I think I may have to have this one....wellllll....in all my excitement I started to read the book tonight because God only knows I have nothing to do but read a cookbook, I got half of the description right.... book!!!!! So laying back and reading, I seem to notice they don't tell you to blend some of these recipes or how many times to push the blender and hhhmmmm let me look in the contents, Bioflavonoids? This Magic Bullet book is about healthy recipes too, wow I got more than I had even hoped...except that is the Magic Bullet, it's not about a stinking blender it's about the Magic of eatting Bioflavonoids!!!!!! So here's another book for the shelf. Here's my sign "Call me stupid!!!"

The Game

The Game
I was on a blog and found a fun thing to do. This is the game. You go on Flickr and search for the following pictures. You can only use a photo from the first page, no cheating. Then make a Mosaic, Mine are a tad skewed up??? I will relabel them for you
Left to right
Your flickr name, One word to describe me, What I love most in life
What do I want to be when I grow up, fav dessert, dream vacation
Favorite drink, Celebrity crush, Color
High school, Food, and first name.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name

You can play too.

Oh what a tangled web we knit

Look at that mess of yarns, tangled around each other searching for it's soul mate. For whatever reason....I am having commitment issues. ( I can hear little giggles) Oh believe me this is nothing new....my history precedes me..but I am having problems staying with my knitting, spinning, working???? I am fluttering around like a moth in the flame? I have within reach of me....the dreaded Booby sock which is on the foot so it is not so cursed at this point. The new sock kit from Mountain Colors, Duet with the Cat Bordhi pattern that I have a question about,instead of two lace (there is that dirty word, I am getting three lace patterns) so it is on hiatus. A sweater that I started knitting last year and have found new short term interest in it. I may be preoccupied by my new WII fit....oh my gawd, you have to get this, it gets me fat arse off the couch and hula hooping and jogging, yes I said jogging. Tightrope walking and skiing, I just know I can take my numchuck and controller and meet me on the ski hill!!!! Dream on Janny!!!! I am doing fine after my loss, thanks to family, friends and customers. Maybe my life is out of sync...I don't have the same regime I have been doing for the last 10 years. This could be the problem? Not that I do anything on a schedule but when an animal owns you, you DO have a schedule, they like to fool you into thinking you're the boss, but we all know who the boss's really are. Now I am my own boss and am proving that I am floundering.....LOL, Joey would love that!!! Darn dog.....hahahahaha

On a another note, Irene stopped in the shop with her knitted bag from the Interweave Knits magazine, the reallly cool one with the Celtic braid going down the sides. It is to be felted but we couldn't help but notice, it looked like a one piece swimsuit, or a Sumi wrestler outfit. An ugly one piece, I might add, and try as I might I just couldn't convince her to step into it....believe me for a good laugh if I could have stuffed my body into it you would be gouging your eyes out about now. She is going to sew the bottom together and felt it lightly. I promise to show it to you when it is really done.

Squirrels beware!!!!

I have lost my companion and best friend. After a wonderful day yesterday Joey took a turn for the worse. I had to decide if she had the quality of life we all knew for her and that she loved. Anyone ever being in this postition knows it is the hardest thing you will ever do. Her favorite thing was chasing squirrels, so they better watch out because where ever she is she has dumped her seizures and is ready to run. She got her car ride, which she so loved and she did well. My dear dear Sister in Law Cheryl was with me and stayed with Joey. I appreciate all the great friends I have that have helped me through this and I can't tell you how much it means to me. Joey would have been 10 in July, she allowed me to go camping and she was my protection. Not many people could have put up with her sometimes but then again, not too many people can put up with me either. We were made for each other. She was spoiled and loved everyones pets and treats. I am closed today, Kim is going to teach the class tonight for me, while I lick my wounds. Thanks to everyone for being there for me and Joey!!! Joey go get em girl.....

I'm on a short leash?

I updating all of the wonderful well wishers, on Joey my dogs health. Her meds are kicking in...sort of? I think this is just buying time, but it is time I still need. I have changed her food to natural and I think I would strongly urge other pet owners to do the same...in reality how long could we live on McDonalds food? Basically dog food is the same type of garbage and we wonder why they get sick. She is eatting Buffalo food now, I can only say too late??? But my thinking is maybe it's an allergy to something. Her seizures are now only happening when she gets excited??? If you don't know I own a Cattle dog, Australian Cattle dog or Queensland Blue Heeler. When you say this and don't get excited, the two words cannot be put in the same sentence. Her life is comprised of knowing where I am, protecting anything that is a mile around me, which includes squirrels, rabbits and mostly other dogs!!! She never sits down while I am driving she stands on the middle council and is alert to the road. She barks when people come in the shop to let them know she is behind the gate by the back, and you are more than welcome to come and pet her. So she is a busy girl. So, she is on Valium to help her relax, well Cattle dogs are known to fight any sort of drug that is going to "control" them, because THEY are in control. So I split her pills into half and she gets 1/2 pill when she looks like she may be getting agitated. She is going to be weaned starting tomorrow? The phenobarbotal, is given twice a day at 7am and pm. This is crucial. I have not left the house since Wed of last week. It really doesn't bother me too much but I am sick of worrying. I am also sick of doing Freezer Foraging. So two Angels of Mercy kicked me out of the Shop and made me leave. Knowing quite well my baby was in good hands I was reluctant to leave but once gone, had a hard time going back. We are not out of the woods, I am just buying time. Sometimes her old self comes out, she came to bed and realized she didn't have her ragtag, Baby (stinky stuffed animal dog) so she left bed and came back with it gently in her mouth. I also got my morning kisses....these are the little glimpses that keep me hanging on. Thank you Angela and Lois for breathing space. Thank you for giving me the courage to go!!!!
As far as knitting, my tension is so darn tight that if I were to knit anything right now it would look like I melted it together. I am actually knitting on the Booby sock, I am to the heel, so now I should be home free. Maybe there will be turn for the good, maybe I won't have to face the inevitable? The old saying "you can't keep a good dog down?" or is it "man"? LOL!!! I am working on the Sheep in the City website and it is coming along nicely. Thanks again to all of you that are asking about my baby!!!

Happy Mother's Day

Even though it is rainy and icky out and we still have to wear winter coats, I want to wish everyone a wonderful Mother's day!!! I wish you a little time to yourself. A nice meal made by someone else, restaurants count. Time to put your feet up and enjoy a nice cup of tea or coffee. Time to knit, spin or close your eyes and relax. Time away from the very fact we celebrate this day, and time to spend with the them. Time sure is a valuable word when you think about it.....? Time has lots of meanings....spend it wisely? Time slips away.....be on time.....time travel.....I think I need a cup of coffee. My son and his fiance have invited my mom and I over for dinner, so I don't have to cook!!!!!
Well my human child is doing well, my furry child Joey is not. I took her to the vet and her bloodwork is Ok, the thyroid has not come back yet, so my hope is that is what her problem is. Joey has never feared anything, she loves to ride and now she is having some kind of muscle spasm in her legs, that leaves her shivering and cowering. It happened twice Friday and Saturday she seemed better till we went for our afternoon walk and she saw another dog and she had one and then in the car she cowered and laid on the floor...all freaked out. She has been fine since, but I am worried sick. She seems drained from this and I keep skirting the fact that it isn't a Seizure....it has to be some kind of seizure, but until the thyroid test comes back I guess I just have to wait.
This is when owning an animal sucks!!!!! I am not a strong person when it comes to my pets. It makes me cry.....often.....

I see dead people

I did it, I went to see plastic dead people!!!! My mom was really interested in seeing the exhibit and everyone that has seen it has given it an amazing review. I don't know if it was my dismay at peoples behavior, or worrying about pushing my mom into a display and having plastic dead person riding with her in her chair? It was my Mothers Day gift to my mom a day on a field trip. It started with buying tickets on line....hhhhmmm there is a 10% sur charge for that process so I called, that cost $5.00? So you should buy tickets ahead and pay more?? do I hear $$$$$$$$$$???? So I pick mom up early and we head off on our excursion. She has a light jacket and I put her cadillac walker into the car. (This one has a seat for her as she tires easily) We get to the museum parking and almost get T boned in the parking structure by 4 women zipping around the rows. I drop mom off and find a parking spot 50 feet away!!!! what luck!!! Now this is pet peeve of mine and old people and even though I harp on this everytime we enter a building, grocery, whatever, my mom walks into the door and stops, leaving me and my fat arse hanging on the threshold with a jam up behind me and the automatic door clicking open and closed. "Mom, move in and off to the side and then gape at will" Now that you read this you will notice tons of old people do this.....AARP requires you walk into building and stop!!!! Causing major rear ending behind you....Ok so we go pick up the tickets and we are early. We head towards the butterflies there is something really fun about butterflies flitting all around you and on your hair and fingers, except mom has seen the best there is in the world and she has been here before and so I keep going and make her go anyway. Oh I forgot to mention, we went on Monday!!! Free day!!!! 50 gazzilion kids and another 30 bazillion senior citizens. So here is our duo with a walker, with kids darting in between us and seniors stopping on a dime and tooting. I feared for their lives. I am not a crowd person....well not anymore that is. We leave the butterfly exhibit and one follows us to the security of double doors, with some coercing I get it back into the safety of 50 kids poking pencils at them. Off we go to the Body works show....I am not thrilled to do this, I am not a rubbernecker at funerals and take no interest in seeing bodies anywhere. I have been apprehensive but everyone assures me it is tasteful and not gross!!! So with walker and mom and myself we go to the line....our appt. was for 11:00am, we were there about 10:30 and that line was humongous, but here's a good thing to know, the off hour ie: 10:15-45 etc. were minimal. We enter and I must say it was interesting but the rudeness of people amazes me. I pushed my mom as close as I felt safe to the encased body and some woman steps in front of mom and stops, leaving my mom inspecting the seams on the back of her arse????? Do people not see that there is someone in a chair?? Then the people that have to point at the bodies and take the risk of just getting close enough to almost touch them, when there is clearly NO Touching!!!! I rented the little radios which I highly recommend if you can hear them above the loud talkers and kid's screaming!!!! Then we have the other old people, that paid to see this so they are going to push their way into the front like it's a free buffet, and move right in front of a person that is in a chair. What has become of manners? So I was pretty distracted trying to get mom to see the displays and not ram people with her chair and basically avoid wheel chair rage. There were in human beings defense three ladies that helped me lift moms front wheels over taped electrical cords on the floor....I tried getting over them with momentum and almost dislodged mom into a catapult forward into becoming part of the exhibit, so we had to lift the front legs. Three different ladies helped me, and two were foreigners, or spoke with accents. It was pretty exhausting, and pretty soon I began to smell the bodies (mentally) and found myself, well actually caught my reflection in a glass,making this scrunched up with disgust face??? very attractive. Was it a good exhibit?, yes, am I glad I went ????? without incident??? not really, it isn't my thing , but mom loved it, oh and the radios, she got to work them like a pro, but was losing interest until we came to the male genitalia, she whipped that radio on and listened intently!!!! I told her it wasn't a working model!!! So we went to lunch downtown and I took her home and I took a long nap and can still smell plastic people!!!! PS, I think we should all have to spend a couple days in a wheelchair to see what it is like to be disabled, just a little life lesson, so we can respect the view!!!

My name is Jan

My name is Jan and I am here to say that I am an addict....I thought that I had control, I thought that I could knit one wristlet, because we all know how it is to knit the second one. I thought I could stop....I thought with my attention span of a flea, it would not own me....!!! I was wrong, I have started my second wristlet.....I think of nothing else, one more row....another bead gently slipped on....one more round....I don't want it to end, I do but I don't!!!! My life is consumed, how can that happen, there are dishes to do, I have a shop to open....once again the sun is shining brightly and my coffee is hot and I need to have breakfast .....but, the beauty of the shiny little beads, twinkling like stars in the dark sky has me hypnotized. I need to talk to Kim, she is the instigator....Ok so I know it's going to get hot out and the project of the month was to be some summer stuff but really can we sit on this pattern till Fall???? I think not.....at this rate I may have made 50 pair. Think of the possibilities, I love opalesence, beads, hhhhhmmmmm on white alpaca, maybe even handspun.....STOP ME!!!!! PLEASE

Don't tell Kim

My name is Jan and I am an addict!!! I am addicted to "just one more row" maybe one more...I am not doing another row, well maybe this next one will be it. I will stop after this one....I can't wait to see what this one will look like? I'm so close.....I've got to stop and go to bed....I have to get dressed, today....sometime!!!!!
Kim has done it again, she has written this pattern for one of the patterns of the month with Misti Alpaca and beads and a stay in rehab!!! I was in love with the beauty of the beads in knitting, so I told her I would test it for her. So don't tell her I showed it to you.....I couldn't help it. I did all that in about 2 hours, my hand is killing me but I can't stop!!!! I mean it, I may open late today!!! Then I have become spoiled by her pattern writing, she is fantastic at detailing instructions for some of us, not so great knitters. The booby sock is on hold!!! The Chevron scarf is on hold, the Alice in Wonderland coat is on hold....life is on hold....someone help me.....I can't stop knitting!!!!!!

Lots a News!!!

Man do I have the good news!!! One, Kim Ogle, pattern designer extraordinaire is writing patterns for Fiesta/Ironstone yarn company. They have requisitioned three patterns with their yarn, so that girl is off and running!!! Congratulations Kim and don't forget us little guys!!!! She does a good job and it's time she gets some reward!!!
Second and this is really big!!!
Sheep in the City Getaway!!! February 27, 28 and March 1st 2009!!! Mark your Calenders!!!! This will be a Milwaukee event, with vendors, classes, make and takes...All fiber doings, door prizes and more!!! Knitting, Spinning, Weaving, Crochet and Felting!!! Do as much or as little as you like. We will be holding it at Comfort Suites Convention Center, 6362 S. 13th St. Oak Creek, WI You can stay in a fantastic room with microwaves and fridges. There is a fitness room and two pools, whirlpool suites and a hot continental breakfast in the morning. We are buzzing here trying to get our ducks all in a row!!!! So mark your calenders or reserve your room.

Booby Sock, Bad girl

Confession of a sweet addict.....I bought a brownie.....no I bought two brownies....I took two bites of each and threw them out...they really didn't taste like a thought they would. I took them out of the box they came in and really threw them out. Not just set in the box close to the garbage. No, I put coffee grounds on them....and dirty kleenix, I hate dirty kleenix. I really craved them, and I was disappointed....was it guilt....I don't think so, was it my desire to eat better???? well....I am proud of myself that I didn't just keep shoving them in regardless of taste??? I do have issues. So to keep busy hands, I started my Booby sock. it's a fun knit!!!! Small but fun. I can only do so much because it is so tiny. But maybe I will inspire you to start your Booby sock for Breast Cancer. and not eat brownies????

Ply Split Braiding Addiction

Let me introduce the Teacher/Weaver Lou French!!!

This was our class room and Jean Hutchinson is assisting in making cords and many of them.


Char is working on the Wave braid

My wave braid key ring.....did I mention how fun this is?

I have used most of my cord so now I am in a waiting period for the winder.
~~~~
So I told you I took a class last weekend. At one of the Weavers Guild Meetings, one of the Members had on a beautiful necklace, that was reminiscent of macrame. I asked if she made it and if she said yes and then I asked what technique it is and she told me Ply Split braiding....Voila and obsession is born. I searched every site I could to find out as much information as I could and kept hitting walls. I paid wayyyyy too much for book from Peter Collingworth only to find as the rest of Peters book it is an excellent historical reference but toooooo technical to figure out. So now I have a book, and a very basic knowledge of Ply Split braiding. Then a class was offered by Lou French. I was thrilled, I was excited.....I didn't sleep the night before. It was wonderful. It was so fun to learn a totally new technique, I was sucking up as much information as I could....a monster has been created.
Drawback-you make your own cords to do this. This entails, a device that goes on your drill to twist the cords...Ok I want one and Lou sells them but she didn't have any....now the wait and we all know how much I hate to wait. So I have been rationing my cord braiding, in hopes that the winder gets here soon. I asked Lou if I could teach the class and she sort of gave me her blessing. I understand now why, it is hard to write the directions and it is hard to explain, so she has done a wonderful job!!! Thanks Lou

Fiber diet to Knit longer?

Well I went to the Dr. this morning and of course he brought up the fact that I gained like 15 pounds in a nano second. I know it he knows it my pants know it. So he said I need to eat healthier or....
1. I will get diabetes, it is inevitable and weight is a great invite.
2. I will have a stroke and I am so overweight that I don't want anyone to have to lift my dead horse weight onto a stretcher.
3. I will have a heart attack? Also a family inheritance.
So here's the plan.
I want to knit longer!!!! We can still party at all our things but we have to choose healthier alternatives. With summer coming, there is a lot of fruit and veggies we can graze on.
So, I am starting a Fiber diet.
We will weigh in once a week and record it in our journal. I am thinking Thursday anytime, you can check in. I have a lying @$%^#^ scale. here and I will get on it in front of everyone too and I am no light weight. We will put $2.00 a week into a pot and after 3 months whoever lost the most honest weight will win the money to spend on Fiber. It will be like a Weight Watcher meeting, we can do this if we don't stand alone. So If you are interested let me know. I am starting tomorrow!!! I do want to live longer and healthier, with my life as perfect as it is right now I don't want to screw it up!!!! Join me????

Martha did it!!!!

I have been so excited about this class I took this weekend. I have had a hard time sleeping, thinking of all the stuff I need to bring and one was my Ott light. So I placed it on the back counter behind some stuff (Imagine that) Well needless to say Martha was sitting back there and in this High Fashion Drama she threw her head back swooped her arms and knocked my poor Ott light on the floor. I think that is what happened... I kept saying it's OK, but with the moment of class closing in I needed the light NOW, it has been in hibernation for years and NOW I need it. So after Martha left, I picked up my poor, bruised Ott light, carefully plugged in it's life line and gently opened it up and nothing....no light....no breath....dead!!!!! Pushing up daisies , dirt nap....gone never to shine it's little light any more. My eyes teared up a tad...I caressed it's smooth sides and then started to rip it's top off to try to extract the light bulb. That is what was broken, so I grabbed my JoAnne coupon and off to shop I went....being a little afraid and limited on time that the bulb was not the only thing broke, I found a really cute Pink Ott light for dirt cheap on clearance so I grab it and off to the checkout I go. The clerk who is younger than me says."Honey this coupon is expired...yesterday?" As tears welled up in my eyes , I told her about how Martha Broke, I mean accidentally trashed my other Ott light and I need it for a class tomorrow and it was given to me by Great Grandmother and "sob" being that I lost a family heirloom, I grabbed the wrong coupon and did I mention I need it tomorrow!!! She caved!!! So off I danced with my new light and used it happily this weekend.....
Martha has offered to replace it but this is just tooooooo much fun. I would rather her not so I can keep mentioning the fact that she destroyed maliciously my humble Ott Light...but hands off the pink one Baby!!!!!! Tomorrow photos of the class which was way cool!!!!!

What can Joey do for Brown?

If I never get another UPS delivery you can thank Joey!!!! Otherwise refered to as Precious!!!! We were hanging out knitting, and Joey comes running down the steps to make me aware that the UPS driver is pulling up. Now for the most part she doesn't run out the back door.....but I think with Spring in the air and Squirrels darting back and forth on the road, I think Joey is having a harder time containing herself? Compared to what you may ask but she really doesn't run out if I tell her to stay. In defense of her, the FedEx guy Vince loves her and riles her up every time he makes a delivery, playing with her and making her jump and go crazy. The UPS guy is more serious and I open the door and he hands me a package and Joey flys past me and nails the poor guy in the Nutz.....there was a quick jerk forward and my ackward "joey get in here" I quickly closed the door. I did hear the truck drive off so I know he wasn't too crippled to drive, so I sighed a sigh of relief and chuckled a little as I turned and told the woman what just happend. So if I don't get anymore deliveries from UPS, I guess I understand.

I'm alive pass the Fiber....

That elephant on my belly was actually swollen colon, I have Diveticulitus....eat more fiber don't just spin it!!!! I think it's Patty's fault for letting me buy all that popcorn at Goodies, in Shorewood. Awesome Caramel corn and Cheese corn and candy and and and, you too can have an inflamed bowel!!!!! Just kidding. I am better now, I am taking antibiotics in megadoses!!!! So what is new??? I have started on my 50th project not to be finished??? I have got to start finishing something. I see all of these really cool projects and customers come in with so many great ideas and with my attention span (of a gnat) I have to start something else fun.

What not to do when you have the flu!!!

UUUhhhhmmm, For lack of a better thing to do while I was sick, too sick to knit, I decided to close the toes on some socks I cranked out on my sock machine......!!! If you have bunions and are in need of socks with a gnarly mess on either end, let me know!! Being sick my lack of concentration and eye hand co ordination was greatly depleted, why on earth did I think I could close toes, stitch by stitch. I will keep the socks for myself, you should see the mess I made on a heel!!! I think I am feeling better if I could only get the elephant off of my lower abdomen???? Not sure what that is? I would say my uterus is bloated but that has been gone for 14 years? Maybe my ovaries are the size of basketballs? Something is not right, I may go to the Urgent care today and if they give me a $200 enima, I'll just, you got it poop!!!!

I'm still hot!!!!

But now it comes in Flashes!!!! Aint't that the truth!!! I am sitting here in a t-shirt and flashing like a maniac!!!! Speaking of flashing, I had to take my mom to the Dr. yesterday, Kim watched the shop for me. So I come waltzing in, in the afternoon and sit down to chat and proclaim it sure it hot in the shop? Kim replys with "I didn't even turn on the little heater." Sara her daughter is stripped down to a tshirt and says "it is hot!" I figure the temp outside is a little warmer than usual but Holy Cow I am really hot!!!! So for whatever reason I get up and walk to the front of the shop and it's even hotter!!!! I glance at the Electric Heat Dial, that somewhat resembles the light dial a foot away and notice it's on Maximum or 100!!!! AAAAccckkkkk, Kim accidentally cranked the wrong dial!!!! The shop has never been so warm in it's history!!!!! So for all of you at breakfast club that thought you were having a power surge, false alarm, just a case of mistaken identity!!!
I am working on the new Noro yarn that came in, yes it is here. As is some new colors of Malabrigo. I have some new yarns coming in hopefully with in the next couple of weeks.
The booby sock is not yet in, sorry, they said March 1st??? What a surprise!!! So don't forget about the Friendship Hat this Sunday!!! Enjoy the warm weather.....maybe Kim had something to do with it????

Saturdays Cover Vets!!!

I just wanted to remind everyone that this Saturday is the Cover Vets, charity event. We will be taking polar fleece and making lap robes for the Veterans at Woods (Zablocki). Bring a snack if you like and whatever you are drinking. I will provide Sloppy Joes to the volunteers. Bring a good scissors too. This requires no sewing, we will have stations set up so we can switch positions, or tasks. There will be cutting, fringing and tying. Please come and do a little good for a Veteran.
I am working diligently on my top down cardigan. Because I am not so petite it takes me about an hour to do one row. Just like I said when I demo spinning. If I had to make all my clothes from scratch, I probably would be thinner. Maybe? I got bored with the plain knitting, stockinette so I added a half cable twist every couple of rows, this added some interest and makes the sweater less boring. My next project will be the Alice's wondercoat.
Tonight I am going to a retirement party for one of the guys I used to work with. I can't wait to see everyone but, it is in a smokey bar. I have been having migranes for the last three days and I will have to shove mentholated chapstick up my nose and see how long I will last. It sucks. On smoking in public, my theory is, if the public smoking places would have taken the problem into their own hands and installed super duper smoke eatters, so you wouldn't smell the smoke so bad, I don't think the government would have had to step in and stop smoking totally. I have bad asthma and smoke and febreeze/dryer sheets and perfume are major triggers for me. I avoid these situations, most of my friend understand how badly perfume causes me to have migranes/asthma attacks and they understand. I try to avoid the situations where I am exposed to the triggers, but sometimes you just can't. I found if I shove menthol in my nostrils, it can help a bit. So if you are sitting by me and I have a tube of chapstick up my nose, please just understand I am avoiding some trigger that is dangerous to my health. I am assuming tonight I will have two of them up my nose, not to mention, I am wearing something I can take off by the door and hang outside.
So get this visual, two tubes of chapstick shoved up my nose, running naked into the back door and jumping into the shower. Now I am rethinking this, is it really worth seeing everyone???? I may just not be going at all????

Happy Valentines Day

I am not a romantic, two failed marriages and dating cured me of that!!! I am however in love with the fact that there is a love for other things. Not a material love, but for friends, family and ideas. I love my family, like nothing else I know. I love my friends the same way, but different? I love what I am doing each day, each moment. So then I think, maybe I don't know love? Maybe it is just joy!!! Joy of family, friends, and life. But if I removed any of them I would be devastated. So for me and my pea brain, I am in love with life, family, and friends, who could ask for more?
I went to a Valentines Day Magic Ball Party, I picked the bag that I wanted right off the bat. I'll tell you later why I picked it. I got sucked into this magic ball deally, when our Yahoo group suggested it. I was intrigued by the idea, but not sure what it was. So my friend Lois was sitting here and asked if I was going? I don't know, I don't have a ball made. With confident reassurance she created a monster. I was on a mission to collect all kinds of trinkets and baubles to add to my ball. This is how it goes. You take over a 100 yard skein of yarn, and wrap stuff up in it. The limit was $20.00 so I had a knit bottle warmer in the middle, candy, sheep , pins and on and on and it looked like a space module on the moon, when I was done. I put something just about every 3 wraps. (Attention span of a gnat) So then we put them into bags and picked a bag at the party.
Wendy had the party at her house, her home is warm and inviting and she is an awesome cook and hostess. We had white chili, corn bread and homemade salsa that was divine...! So when I sat down on the couch, right in front of me was a bag with Valentine Hearts all over it. I eyed it and knew it was really the only Valentine I would get so that is what I set me sites on. That is why I picked it, not too sound sappy but I wanted a Valentine present. Boy did I get one. I love ripping open presents, but this one had me whineing with every unwrap.....It was a pink yarn with little beads in it, and a group of pink sucker stuck into it. That was just the start...unwind ...unwind ......more unwinding and finally I hit the motherload...a little tin of mints, stitch marker with hearts on them, A gift certificate, more unwinding, a little mini notebook, a chocolate kiss, there was lots of things wrapped in this ball of yarn, that was so fun. So for my Valentines present I got lots of little trinkets and baubles and time with friends. As it turned out I picked my Shop Fairies bag? I think it's Karma!!!!! Thanks Wendy Happy Valentines day

Superbowl Scarves!!!! We had fun...right!!!! We did didn't we...Did we.?

Superbowl Sunday!!!
We had a what seemed like a knitting marathon. We are all icing our wrists tonight!!! They came in with goodies in hand and fiber in the other. We ate and knit and knit and knit some more. We increased with each Penalty Flag and added a bead for each touch down which were minimal. We Decreased at the Extra point and switched scarves at each change of football possession and dropped a stitch with the fumbles. Even from a knitting standpoint it was a boring game!!! Each scarf was so different and we had a diverse group of knitters. From 10 to 10 x 5 year olds!!!! Oh and if you want my recipe for crab dip I will give it to you....I don't think even the Racoons will eat it!!!!


Margie is scared stiff about the Super Bowl scarf!!! she just found out how many increase rows we have to do!!!!

Ladies we have our drinks, now start your needles!!!!

Very rarely do I ever see Lois pooped!!!! After a weekend of knitting, she is ready for bed!!!!!! I think Martha is counting stitches? And Natalie's scarf is strangling her....get if off Natalie, it's a killer.

Here are the final scarves, vibrant and colorful with a nice wave of curves. This looks like a much happier bunch once we started Binding off!!!

Even Joey got in the photo.

Pride Stamp

No this is not a Post Office stamp for Gay rights, this is a huge dent in front of my shop from my arse!!!! I lost my pride in two seconds flat and I mean flat when I fell ever so gracefully in front of the shop. I am Ok...thank you!!! My pride is a little bruised, by pride I do mean arse. In my quest to stop the dripping in front of the shop door, I bought more heat tape to lay in the gutter. The gutter has a huge berg in it so I attempted to lay it on top of the iceberg. Out with the ladder heat cable in hand, and thoughts of playing when the job is done. The Village is empty, so I progress to do climb the ladder and lay the cable and all is well. The last desend from the ladder and I saw the slush, it beckoned me.."step here my darling and I will throw you like a bull ride." So step there I did and in slow motion, ladder in hand, if I'm going I'm taking something with me...down I went and became the biggest slush sponge you have ever laid your eyes on. I had on a sweatshirt and jeans, what could absorb water more??? My hand hurt from the burn of snow rash I just got. So chuckling inside, I get up and take inventory...yeah I'm alright and look around still giggling at the sight and now I weigh 50 pounds more with water weight and that is not at my ankles. So when you visit the shop the big dip in front of the shop the one where the puddle is growing....it's my Pride stamp!!!!!!

Embarrassing Dawg

I couldn't get a photo of this because it happened too fast!!!! The camera was somewhere else and my phone was hidden under yarn. It goes like this....All the shops in our little village have owners or renters that live upstairs. So when we look out our windows we are all on the same level. So when I am sitting in my living room, I am level with the neighbors across from me and our windows line up to some extent. So my couch is in front of the windows providing a launching ground and perch for Precious/Joey. She moniters the Village Mall area with great intensity. Believe me no one moves in front of our shops that she doesn't know about. So on the down side she also goes balistic when a dog trespasses on her territory and attacks the windows with a vengence.
So I am knitting fervishly and I see her standing on the couch, (normally spread out sleeping) looking across into the other windows. She is intense, not moving and staring. I know they have a fish tank that has a lot of movement but her attention span is like mine and this was pretty deep. She isn't barking just staring, tail raised and watching. I blow it off as a goofy dog watching the fish tank? So I am talking to Lisa, who just happens to live there and I said, "I just need to tell you I have a Peeping Dog!!" I said she was so enthralled with something the other day, and she kept staring into the window!!!" Lisa laughed and said her and her son were waving and making faces and putting on a show, they thought it was funny that she was looking over there!!!!! So my dog got busted for peeping and they were enticing....If you aren't apologizing for kids it's for your animals. I won't even get into the three point butt drag she does only in front of company!!!! Precious....

Of all the things I miss most....

Yep it's my mind. A few weeks back I was hard pressed to find a pattern from a book that I was sure I had. I looked but apparrently I can't see so well anymore. Last night while I was perusing my library, a yellow bound book with the same title as the book I was looking for was sitting neatly on the shelf....in plain view I might add, not hidden under something. No standing proudly with it's pale yellow jacket and title boldly printed down it's spine, mocking me. I was sure I had it but gave up on it, thinking I maybe thought I had it or meant to order it and didn't , Oh yeah, I could hear the hahahahahaha, and you want to know why? Because I ordered a new one from Amazon, I rushed it because I HAD to, I had to make a spider block. Now, Immediatly and I couldn't find the book I knew I had, I was sure I had. I looked but my eyes must have been half closed....because now I have twins!!! Like George Webb clocks, Twin $30 dollar books!!!! I also am loosing other things, I am going to blame this on menopause. My mind is mush and my hormones are drying up. I am now buying things in duplicate, oh my gawd....I am officially getting OLD!!! Not just number wise mind wise and you know what, I have been doing that stupid Brain Age game to improve my mind, what is that? It's kind of like when I did Ginko Biloba for my mind and forgot where I put the bottle. Be careful if you are laughing because it will happen to you!!! hahahahahahahha

Leave me alone I'm ripping!!!

I am working on a top down sweater....I have already altered the pattern to have a snugger neck than the off the shoulder view, it had. I don't like the increases they suggest which is something like taking the left side of the grand daughter stitch (third one down), but I did it. Then I decide it is a boring knit and I should add....hhhmmmm a tree, yeah that's it a tree. So I search the internet for a tree...I find an awesome tree, so now I have to translate the chart to start at the top and go down. I start knitting but the tree is designed to knit from the bottom up and it is not working, it takes me 20 rows to figure this out...I am persistant!!! So I cordoned off the 20 stitches, and ran them down to the place I started. I reknit them and found that there were a few yarn overs, which created a few more inches of yarn so I tied them up and just kept on knitting!!! Onward....keep pushing onward!!!! Don't look back and keep on knitting. I am finally to the sleeves on holders and joining the body. So now I have two sweaters on needles, this one is a little more hopeful. I hope!!! What's good about it is it is, mindless knitting!!! Inventory is almost done...ROTFLOL!!!!!!!!!

It's dark down here!!!

My sympathies to anyone that was affected by the tornados!!! According to the weather, the bad storm was over my house? Not quite so, but I wouldn't know other than my brother talked me through it. Of all the bad crap I pulled on my brother he knows I freak during storms. He called me and I already was in the basement, because the cutie on Channel 12 Mark Baden told me to...yes he said Jan you live in Oak Creek and due to high winds and possible tornados you should seek cover. That was all I had to hear and I had my flashlight in hand and a bottle of water. Oh yeah I bought a weather radio, with a flashlight in it and an alarm and probably a nutrition bar hid on it somewhere. No reception in the basement so that thing is useless, unless of course I am in bed sound asleep and it blares it's Tornado siren off. I am almost afraid to have it on for fear of just that!!! So no TV and the radio which is blaring, some stupid Whitney song, and I am trying to get the latest on what is happening outside my home. So I pull up my icefishing bucket, sit under the stair well and check out the nice metal beam above me, and the phone rings. Are you OK? yeah I'm in the basement. Good because it looks as though it's headed right towards you.....oh crap are you kidding me....no .....you want to come over? Not NOW!!!! Are you sure it's coming this way, they normally go further south? Yeah you should be getting hail and rain and strong winds about now. Hhhhmmmm I don't hear anything but the radio's blaring another song by the Backstreet boys, what the heck station do I have on???? But the radio is over by the only window in the basement and we all know not to go near windows so I sit and stay talking to my lifeline. By now I am bored and playing with some threads hanging on my loom and realize I have chipped toenail polish. My brother keeps talking and then says oh man beware of debris falling from the sky.....what???? are you serious? yes I am debris from where the tornado hit is falling from the sky....but here? Is it that close???? Where are you from Caledonia???? Oh just north of it.....you're in Racine right? No dork I'm in Oak Creek, about 3 miles from Racine county line.....long pause......Well sit tight anyway the dopler radar says it's right over your house......I gotta go...Enough of Brother the Weatherman!!!!

Beautiful Season

the beautiful photo won't upload???
This is the Beautiful Season and I dare anyone to deny it. When you look outside, the trees are heavily laden with snow and the sun makes it looks like it's dressed in diamonds. I know it's colder than cold but it is definetly beautiful. I have been busy, not ringing in the New Year but End of year crap. I have inventory to finish and then I can restock the shelves. I have a brown box sale and for the first day I did pretty good. Tonight is the first Spinning Guild meeting, something we here in Milwaukee really need. Ok all that stuff is boring, how about an update on my Sleep Apnea? If you need an update, I'm sure you do....the mask guy came out and fitted me with a new mask, the old one left a crease in my face that stayed till noon. I think it was a gutter for drool??? So now I have a nose muzzle, (my interpretation) it just covers my nose and I have slept very well with minimal creasing on my face!!!! Yeah!!!!! I thought I would drop my jaw and commence to snore but it's weird when you open your mouth you can't breath???? Besides the man left a chin strap....yes a chin strap to keep my jaw from opening....so far I don't need it. I remember the process of getting my baby ready for bed....now I have a whole procedure before bed...take my pill, pee, put on muzzle, put glasses somewhere that I can forget to find them pee again (just in case) and so on. The last thing I do before laying down is sit on the edge of the bed and look into the window, which very unfortunately shows my reflections.....this seals the deal, my sex life is and will be extinct!!!!!

Can you even imagine?

Can you even fathom, coming home and finding your home on fire? To think of losing everything you own. I know we all say, at least you are all OK, you have your lives and we all agree on that, but what would you do if you lost everything? Where do you begin rebuilding your life. A good Fiber friend has lost her home to fire today. Her family is fine, they may have lost two family cats but saved one cat and the dog. The details are still a bit unsure but the fact is there was a fire and it was bad. It's too early to give material things, until we know more. Money will help I'm sure and I will be putting a Fire Fund jar in the shoppe.
Tonight as I am writing this I remember a saying ..."How would you feel if you lost everything.....and then got it all back."
How would I feel if I lost everything? What is something that I would miss most? I guess my photos would be a major loss, I have a ton of them, and they can't be replaces. It is mind boggling to even try to comprehend the thought.. I get sad at the thought of the loss, but to really have it happen. What a sad day for our friend.

Let it snow...let it snow ....let it snow!!!

And snowing it is....Winter has not even started and we have got more than 18" above our normal snow fall for December....just thought you would like to know that....!!! I went to the Movies tonight and saw Beowulf.....I wasn't prepared for it to be cartoony? Not a big fan of cartoons unless they are by Pixel. It was different, and it was supposed to be in 3D and we didn't get glasses? Not sure what that was about....let me just say dinner was good!!!! I am still getting an influx of knitters scurrying to get all that last minute gift making finished. I love seeing what people are making. This coming week is party week, two parties to attend ....weather permitting. I am working on some entrelac neck warmers....what started out as a gift ended up on my head.... why is it I go shopping for someone else and everything is tempting me to buy it.
We had a full house here on Open Knitting Thursday, I didn't expect that with Christmas closing in....we had our usual pizza and Christmas cookies and fudge, that was no good...(translation...very good leave it for Jan to eat) Any suggestions for classes in February? Or March? Let me know, I am working on the class schedule with beginning knitting the four Tuesdays in February filling up in a hurry.
Update on the sleep mask thing....we will call it Charlie the Cpap, because if I am going to sleep with something every night I am naming it!!!! I am really used to the machine, it was a bit of trial at first but the hardest thing was being tethered to a tube and I wanted to turn and it was pulling me back... But the best one was me spitting into the mask....oh yeah...spitting!!! Now close as I can figure out, is, the unit has a humidifier and I had it turned up high,,more is better you know...water must have been pooling in the mask and spraying me in the face so I in my sleepful wisdom started spitting, I am not a usual spitter, that I know of? Maybe I always spit in my sleep? Maybe I never noticed spittle everywhere? But I woke up torking a spit into the mask and the mask being under pressure kindly blew it back into my face which woke me up enough to know it. So now I had to get up and wash everything???? Am I supposed to be sleeping better? Now I have a permanent wrinkle down the right side of my face along my nose....at my age I am wrinkling enough, now I have incorporated a gutter system for all the humidity on my face. It takes up to four hours to go away. I mad the mask looser, but the problem is I sleep on my side and press the pillow into the mask which crinkles my chubby cheek, into the pooling system.... Is it just me???? I am trying to sleep on my back more, I know this can create something else like wrinkles in front of my ears?????

Game On!!! Superbowl 2008

I know it seems kind of early but you may need to get your reservations in for this one!!!! During the Football game Sunday and cheering on the Packers it made me think....Superbowl is coming up, we need to do some sort of knitting thingy for the game? Hopefully it will be the Packers playing but regardless....set the date for February 3, 4:00pm. We are knitting Superbowl game scarves!!!! With a twist that is!!!! Everyone will cast on 250 stitches and knit 6 rows in worsted weight wool, and bring two skeins of yarn with them oh and a snack of course.
We will be doing a friendship sort of scarf and it will go along as the game goes along...stay with me here. I will be the ref, barking out the commands....wow that isn't much of a stretch?
We will all start with our own scarf. The game will dictate what we will be doing.
Ie:
When the ball changes team in the game we pass the scarf we are working on to the next person, who will begin knitting with their yarn.
Touch Down-We add a bead,( I will have them here)
Fumble- Oh yeah we drop a stitch
Interception-You can take whatever scarf you want from whoever you want to start knitting
Extra Point-You increase until the next play
Flag on the play (If the ball gets brought back to line of scrimmage-we decrease till next play.

So we will have no idea what this is going to look like, there is more but you get the idea!!! How fun is this going to be? So start knitting your 250 stitches and 6 rows....do your stretches and let the games begin.

My deepest apologies.

You know how when someone dies they say, I think they knew they were going to die? The last few weeks, for some reason I have been reminincing, nostalic and somewhat melancoly. I have tried to call old friends and they have stopped in. I have told my son things that were, loving!!! Then, there it was this flash of "What the heck, am I one of those that knows they are dying?", well that all past I think it is the Holidays, or the fact that my life is perfect and can that be? But a lingering thought is this, I may be responsible for my whole neighborhood of kids being ill ? I was the one that exposed them to so many chemicals, if they don't have some horrible enviromental disease it's a miracle. I don't keep in contact with any of them but if by chance they read this blog...I'm sorry!!! We were all victims of our youth!!! Unsuspecting victims....Who knew that while I was breaking any thermometer in sight to get the Mercury out and show everyone how cool it is to try to touch it, and letting everyone touch it because of course I looked like a Houdini or Magician to them, I was endangering our lives. DDT, my grama had this really cool pump thing full of bug killer that we would spray around and at each other, you pulled the T-bar back and pushed it quick and it sprayed a mist of toxic fumes. How about Asbestos, my dad had a sheet of asbestos in his workshop, he made the error of showing me how it doesn't burn....hhhhmmm a book of matches and a corner of asbestos, I was the coolest kid, as I ripped a piece with everyone bending in to watch this magic show, making sure we all breathed it in, and then the match, holding it to the corner of the paper, it didn't burn!!! I scored again. Lead....are you getting the trend here, maybe my parents wanted us dead? My brother had lead soldiers, hell with the green army men we had lead guys from WWI, I think they had that kind of helmut on. We would play with them and found how soft the metal was, and this was where we demonstrated our Brut strength by bending the metal guns back so they would shoot themselves, and giggle at how funny this was. Again a neighborhood favorite. I then grew up to work in a Nuclear Power Plant and got nuked regularly, to the point of glowing!
Mercury,
DDT
Asbestos
Lead
Radiation
...so that I have lived to be 54, so far I am cancer free, maybe I knew something the Drs. don't "Over Exposure"

Thanksgiving

I have so much to be Thankful for, and this morning I am putting my computer to good use. I am sending Thank You notes to Support Our Troops in Iraq. Simple to do and it made me Thankful for what those kids are doing so we can be Free. I am Proud to live in America, I have seen other Country's and I love the United States!!! We are lucky and sometimes take things for granted!! I am Thankful and so join me in sending off a quick note to Thank someone willing to give their life for our Freedom!!
"For Evil to Flourish all it takes is for Good Men to do nothing"
Happy Thanksgiving
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Face Mask Fiasco

Ever wear an Old Easter hat too tight or a Lone Ranger Eye mask? Point being....I am into the third day of wearing my cpap mask to aid in keeping me breathing during the night!!! Well if you see me early in the morning, well into 3 hours of the day, it will look like a slept on a big wrinkle in my pillow case? So I loosen it and blow air out of the sides.....am I just that retarded? These new masks also come with humidity, I love moist air when I sleep, but now there is so much moisture it feels like I am drooling? Ok whatever, I WILL get this down pat. I can't post knitting photos because for that one gift recipient that may read my blog, they may see what I am making, well one of many that is!!!! Now another issue, Christmas music....I love Christmas, but not in October....I am excited I love snow and all that Christmassy stuff but, there are only so many Speedway Christmas albums that can only play so many songs that by December will have me crying Uncle. So when you are sitting and knitting here in the shop, I will have Christmas music interspersed (is that a word?) Each week I will add more but once we hit December I will be in full throttle of Christmas tunes. I do have a wonderful collection of music, but after 8 hour days of White Christmas and don't even think about that Hippo song...I hate it and do not allow it in my ears!!! I know you may be out and about on Black Friday, but you are welcome to come down, hang out and knit here!!! 10 % off but no sheep cards with the 10%.....I need to pay the rent!!! hahahahaha Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

My biggest Fear

Ok, so besides snakes it is numbers. We don't have a very comfortable relationship. I hate them and they do their best to intmidate me. But, being a shop owner, I have to deal with numbers. I approach bookwork like I used to do homework, no I didn't avoid it totally but I could have. I have to have a little game....it goes something like this. If I finish this months data entry, I can weave after, or start another project or have cake or something I enjoy. Then again if I get too bored with the numbers, I do it anyway, but seriously I know it has to be done. In my fears that I won't do it right, I keep track of everything, I am meticulous in keeping records, I may not have them accountant ready but I have them. Yesterday my new CPA stopped over. I have warned this quiet numerical force, that I am not number savvy. She is very reassuring, and quite calm, she sits at my desk, (which I took all the crap off and shoved on a chair so I looked competant!!!) She brings up Quick books like a Mac pro and doesn't gasp? No breaking into laughter, no serious tears....hhhhmmmm? I ask her if she would like some coffee, Please speak to me? She looks at the numbers and says not bad, let's see what we can do here. Ok, she finds all kinds of dandy little things that did or didn't report??? She mentioned that I will be able to balance my check book when we get this straightend out? I chuckled .....my previous balancing of checkbooks, consisted of changing banks every couple of years. I have homework, and she has shown me some tips, but all in all she didn't leave screaming and gouging her eyes out. I think I like her and her number brain. She is a soft, kind wonderful woman...she didn't holler at me. I got a gold star for keeping good records it's just where I entered them that is a tad baffeling. From here on I will do a better job in order to make her job easier and me from visiting the crowbar hotel. No knitting for a bit.