When Its Good ...

I got home last night to find a wedding invitation from my buddy Gwynn. I have to say. One of the prettiest and ingenious invitations I've ever gotten. The hand made paper is filled with wild flowers. You can soak it in water and then just plant the seeds. Just the best invitation ever.

This morning. I sit here eating a breakfast burrito, drinking a cup of coffee and I feel like everything is just right with the world. Every now and again I get this strong feeling like things are perfect. And right now is one of those times.

Why Oh Why?

So sometimes Northern New Mexico just pisses me off. Especially when I'm trying to finish a project and NO ONE in the state has the bits I need to finish it. What is the deal? Mike and I have worked hard on the porch. All we need are 25 more caps for the screen (highly underestimated the total required), and no one has it. When we call Lowes you can't even believe what they say. We finally decided to just order the parts from the local True Value. Should be in in a week or so. The whole situation pisses me off though.

On a lighter note. When fixing the enclosed porch we removed all the nesting material from a family of birds. Mike said, "Don't worry. The smell of paint will keep them from re-nesting." Sorry honey. Not the case. The birds are back with a nest even bigger and nicer than the last. There are babies in there now. So we aren't going to touch it. I'm hoping to get some pictures once the babies are bigger.

Spring Cleaning

I've begun to feel very overwhelmed by crap. Just the shear amount of crap that is around our house. I want to clean up the spare rooms, laundry room, and our room. The long story short is that I've decided to buy some new dressers for our room.

I am going to get rid of a large chair, the chaise lounge, an old solid wood desk, a coat rack seat thing, and two dressers (once the new ones come in). I've offered Dana first dibs on the lounge ... but all the rest is up for grabs. If you are interested, let me know.

The challenge

I've decided to create a challenge. All of you competitors out there listen up.
I'm looking for a character. A hip young knitter who is always getting into trouble. Possibly involved in or trying to solve murders.

The Rules
* The Misadventures of Scarlett Floyd.
* 1 page character description is all I need
* Submissions go to me
* The character description should be everything for me to write about her - I want to know her after reading your page
* Entries must be submitted by May 15th 2006
* The winner gets a custom made pair of socks from me. With a special design on them!

If you have questions let me know!
Good Luck.

Enclosed Porch

We talked about working on the porch tonight - but decided to take a much needed rest. This is the current state of the porch.

As you can see - only one section is filled with screen. The rest is empty and still not painted. Hopefully before the end of this weekend we'll be done.

Bird Killing Must Stop

Mike and I spent most of the weekend working outside (always remember to put sun block on the backs of your arms). On Friday Moab caught yet another 2 birds and we both finally had it. Starting Saturday the cats have been locked up and we have been working on the enclosed porch. First taking everything down and prepping to go back up. I'll take some photos tonight and post them.

I also borrowed a macro lens for my camera from Mouser and took some photos around the yard. I think I'm going to use the knitting ones for a background on the knitting blog. Photos from the super cool macro lens!

Coralgina - WONDERFUL

I started the "orangina" in a coral yarn. I thought the pattern was going to take time to get used to. But not the case. I started last night - and this is how far I got in a couple of hours. I'm in love with it. Great pattern. SUPER easy. And the results are instantaneous!

Starting New Project

Last night the yarn I ordered for the pink summer top showed up (oh and Susan's yarn for her felted bag ... which I can't wait to help out with). I made a test swatch. Checked the gauge. And started. I'm totally in love with the pattern and the lace work. Although I'm going to have to be careful. The pattern is complicated enough that if I try to work on it and watch a movie or talk on the phone I know I'm going to mess it up. I'll post photos of it tonight!

And the chemical peel is taking. Right now my face is coming off. Mike said he'll take photos of it tonight as well.

New Blog

I started a new blog for the Knit and Bitch group. Go to:
http://atomickb.blogspot.com/

I've also tried to send out an email to everyone in the group inviting them to join. If I missed you - please let me know and I'll add you.

Welcome all Knit and Bitchers!

Knitters Join In

While out the other day I found something super cool. It is a yarn exchange for one skein knitting. I've joined up. Everyone else should as well. Check it out at:
http://www.oneskein.com/secretpal.asp

The deadline is May 1st to sign up. Come on .... Join in!

Chemical Peel - Day 1 - AGAIN

Today I went back in for another chemical peel. They thought the first one was just not strong enough (and I'd have to agree since there was next to no peel). This time around, they put the acid on and let it sit for a while. It was SUPER painful. I was sort of socked at how much it hurt this time. I could actually feel burn bubbles rising to the surface. Before we walked out there were three good ones on the side of my face. Even now, hours later, it still hurts and feels very burnt. I'll keep you posted on how it progresses. I'm guessing that by this weekend I will be super yucky girl.

Got to love the alpaca

I bought this yarn up in Taos with my buddy Susan. I fell in love with it. SUPER soft. From Peru and baby alpacas. At $12.95/skein it wasn't cheap ... but well worth the price.

The vest was started on Thursday night and finished on Saturday morning. Fast for me. The pattern came out of the back of a knitting murder mystery. So of course I had to try it. The book wasn't that great - but the pattern was easy to understand and written well.

The question is ... how do you not buy yarn when your cats think it is as soft as their mother? How can you not buy it when all you want to do is pet it? How can you not buy it when it knits up faster than any other yarn you have ever bought? The answer - of course you can't!

On another note, the word synergy is to no longer be used. I hate the word. It makes my skin crawl with tiny little vernacular bugs. From now on, when the word is being used, I will replace it with cyclone. I like that word a lot more, and so should all of you!

RV Weekend

We spent the weekend down in Deming for a motorcycle race weekend. I love race weekends. We have the RV, the cats, Mike all to my self, and my knitting. What more could a girl ask for? I worked on 2 out of my 3 projects. Finished one and messed up the other. The pink vest was finished before Saturday afternoon (I started Thursday night on the drive down). The blanket work was great, but then last night while it was dark, I was moving it and dropped a bunch of stitches. I'll now need to spend some time figuring it out. The blue socks didn't get touched.

As for the race ... Mike took 2nd in HW Superbike AM, 5th in Formula AM and 1st in HW twins. He did flat 1:14s for most of the race. Bits from Ray's bike (which he is still riding since his Duc is being fixed) kept falling off - or being removed.

Yikes - Bad Kitties

I went to put on a sweater I made a couple years back and it appears as if a kitty has had its way with it. See photos. So - the question is - try and fix it? Or pull it out and use the yarn for another project. What do you think?

On another note - my mini peach tree is covered with blooms. Oh I love spring time. Now if the wind would just go away, I'd be set.

Blanket

I was asked how the blanket is coming. Figured I'd post a photo. This is the weaver blanket or is it basket weaver? Threaded? Not sure. It is done in 10 stitch sections. Pretty fun to make. So far any way. Moab thinks it is the greatest blanket ever. She wishes I would make matching pillows.

Projects - Update

I decided - while on line this morning - to make the pink top below. I'm going to make it with this yarn (Shine Sport from Knitpick.com)

I bought the pattern and the yarn should be here in like 2 weeks. Rebecca ... if you want to join in ... you could knit it at the same time. Looks like a fun pattern! Let me know.

I've also decided to make Mouser a pair of black/yellow socks. I'm going to design them this weekend. I'll post what I come up with.

Weekend Work

This past weekend I tried to finish up projects around the house. I have the sock of the months March (blue sock) to finish. Actually I just started them. I have a zig-zag afghan that I'm working on and a queen size quilt that needs quilting. I got a decent amount of work done on all three. Except for Moab trying to sleep inside the quilt while I was sewing it and the interruption of extra project (privacy curtains for the cats in the motorhome) - I got a lot done.



We leave this Thursday night for another RV trip down to Deming. I'll probably spend the rest of the week getting all of my projects together. I am now thinking about doing one of the two tops here. And of course the kitty which won on the voting.



The chemical peel will have to wait until next week. The doctor is out of town this week and has to do it again. I'm not too happy about that.