I can hardly believe it. We are on the brink of 2005!!! How did this happen? You know what makes me feel older than anything else? It’s not that I’m almost 30. It’s not that I have back problems (that was a stupid car accident). It’s not that I have three children, or that I’ve been married over a decade. It’s that time FLIES! It goes so fast. I can’t believe it. When winter began this year, I didn’t think to myself, “Wow, no sun for months, better settle in for the long haul”, like I usually do. Instead, I thought, “Good grief, it’ll be spring again before I know it, and I’ll have to start pulling weeds again.” Seriously. How did this happen? I have memories of being a kid, and hearing adults say things like that. “How could it be Christmas already?” I though they were insane. It had been 12 YEARS since the last Christmas. What in the world were they talking about? Now it’s me, and I’m old.

OK, enough of that. Want to know what my favorite thing to do is, besides knitting? (and it’s a very close second. Sometimes they even switch places). It’s looking through knitting books. I enjoy magazines tremendously, but I really like books. As I was reading the world’s funniest blog last night, I was reminded of one of my most recent acquisitions, and certainly one of my favorites. Have a look. This book is totally cool. Part of the reason it is so cool is because I have proven that I would wear anything I could knit out of it. I have already knit one pair of gloves in my lifetime, and I genuinely enjoyed the process.

Now that it’s turned cold, I wear them almost every day. I can only imagine how wonderful beee-ut-eeful, colorful fair isle gloves would be. I know how enjoyable perusing through this book is, because I’ve done it many, many times. I commented on Steph’s blog and told her that I want to turn many of her gorgeous mittens into gloves. In order to do that, I’ll need some books. Like this one and this one. Just putting it out there.

As for actual knitting… Here’s the pretty mohair I told you about,

and here’s the other ball, plus some peony petals.

Finally, here’s one of the last stems of leaves on the peony bush in my front yard that isn’t brown and yucky. I have photographed it to serve as a guide for the accompanying greenery to my big, luscious flower in the making.

(I think I’m actually going to end up using some Turkish Olive, Lamb’s Pride for the leaves of this particular flower, instead of the fluffy mohair, but there are more flowers to make, so I’m sure the other stuff will get used). And since I don’t feel like retyping what this is all about, click here if you’re confused, or check out the Flowerswap 2004 link in the sidebar.

AND… my clogs are still wet from felting, despite the fact that they have been sitting in front of my heater for the last two days. Curses.

Mmm, slippers.

Short and sweet. See ya’ll tomorrow!

I haven’t been feeling well since Friday, and I’ve been getting a lot of knitting done. In fact, yesterday, I did almost nothing else. The lame part is that both of my inner ears itch. I hate that. Also, while my throat doesn’t hurt, it is amazingly dry and scratchy, which is extremely uncomfortable. Blah, blah, blah… I don’t feel good. Pity me.

Let’s get back to the knitting, which is far more interesting than my ailments.

If you ignore the fact that I’ve been neglecting the seaming of mom’s sweater, I’ve been doing really well. On Friday, I started Veronica’s Christmas doll. It’s a rotten picture. You’ll get a better one, I promise. Saturday, I finished my first clog. Sunday, I finished the second,

and felted them both. You’ll get to see them completed tomorrow.

After the clogs were done, (which means I’ve finished my project for the Green-along! See sidebar if curious), I started brainstorming and swatching for the Flowerswap 2004 (again, see sidebar). My swap partner is Myra, from Hawaii. I’ve been thinking about this project almost every day, trying to decide what I wanted to do. I’ve never knit a flower. I want it to be a cool one. I’ve been looking around for the right yarn, trying to think of the right flower, etc. I played around with the idea of knitting something that grows in my garden. (Or something that I wish grows in my garden).

The last few Friday evenings when I’ve been manning the store at Columbine, Cher has had me balling some hand dyed mohair into little, 80 yard balls that she sells for $2.50. As I was winding them up this last Friday evening, it occurred to me that some of the pinks and greens would make pretty flowers, and the price was sure nice. So I came home with 5 different balls, two pink, three green.

Last night, I started playing around with flower ideas. I’ll post more about it soon.

Saturday, we all went up to Sequim for the lavender festival, which ended up being a single, rather smallish holiday bazaar. No regrets though. We had a good time. Thanks to my friend Hayden (yes, the hat’s namesake) for posting about it. I wouldn’t have known about it otherwise. Anyhow, we took some snapshots of the ferry ride home. If you’re interested, click the following link.

Good morning. I’m fighting some sort of evil, mid November illness, so I’m cranky.

Let’s see… this week kind of sucked by my Health Group standards.

Monday, I did treadmill and weights. Man, it felt good.
Tuesday, I did treadmill, and intended to do weights later, but I forgot we had a babysitter lined up for the evening, and I ran out of time.
Wednesday, I spent most of the day putting up the remaining Christmas decorations, because I was in the mood to, and then I spent the afternoon making 4 dozen crescent rolls (Mmmm) and it wasn’t until the evening that I remembered there was such a thing as exercise, and I was way tired.
Thursday was a holiday.
Friday was a holiday by association.

Blah. So, I ate loads of fat food, and I didn’t exercise worth a darn. How many weeks in a row am I going to claim to do better next week? And guess what!? This week is no exception…

I AM GOING TO DO BETTER NEXT WEEK!!! I have to.

The weird thing is that now that I’m off of my refined sugar and flour restriction, I’m not enjoying life any more than I was before. Goodies, while admittedly good, really aren’t very important. And, to be honest, the only reason I’m even eating them in quantity is because they are SO MUCH MORE CONVENIENT than cooking super-uber healthy things from scratch like I usually do. It’s more like,

“Hmm, I’m getting hungry. Should I spend a half hour washing, drying, chopping, and assembling a yummy salad? or should I just pop that cookie into my mouth and call it good? Should I break out the homemade refried beans, heat them on the stove, grate cheese, chop lettuce and tomato, open a can of olives, and turn the oven on to heat my whole wheat tortillas to make a burrito? or should I grab a leftover crescent roll and slather some butter on it?” You see? It’s really not that I’m craving the junk. I’m tired of spending half of my life in the kitchen preparing food that my children will inevitably complain about anyway.

SO, I’m thinking about things. The scale, surprise surprise, is up a little bit. I’m 215 right now. I’m confident that it will drop back down once I start behaving myself again. I had a late night dinner consisting of “easy grab foods” last night, which is certainly affecting things. But what I’m thinking about is how I lost nearly 10 pounds in the 3 1/2 weeks of my refined carb fast. That is more enticing that the thought of being off of it. My intent is to give myself the weekend to play, then getting back to it, allowing myself exceptions for holiday events and social gatherings.

I want to get below 200 pounds. That is the new goal in sight. I have felt marvelous these last few weeks. I haven’t missed much by avoiding unhealthy foods. And seeing a smaller number nearly everyday on the scale makes me happier than any “lunch consisting of cookies” ever could.

The floor is now open. How’s it going out there ladies?

I just woke up! How nice!

Thank you to Carrie, who happens to be done with her Hayden, for reminding me that today is knit-along day. I’m so groggy, and out of routine because of the holiday, that I completely forgot. SO, its another Hayden-along day… How’s it going out there, Hayden-alongers? In addition to Carrie, Lisa Prit, Malle, and MA are done with theirs. Great job, ladies!

I’m impressed with how quickly you ladies are finishing your hats! Good job!

I myself haven’t done another yet. I have the colors picked, but I’ve been jumping around a bit on projects this week, and the hat isn’t one of them. Maybe I’ll take it to knitting group tonight.

In other news, wanna see what I did yesterday morning?

Mmmm, gingerbread. (Nate decorated the one wearing a tie).

I’d like to keep this short because as with Nate’s birthday post, if I really get going, I’ll never, ever stop.

I am so grateful for my life. I am grateful to be here. I thank the Lord each day for my family, my situation in life, my relative health, and even my struggles because they have certainly contributed to who I am today. I am grateful to feel His love and guidance in my life.

I am grateful for friends that surround me. They truly enrich my life.

I am, of course, grateful for knitting. It has been a wonderful way to exercise my creative side, and to do something for myself while still being actively involved with my children. What I mean by this is that I can knit while listening to and talking with them, which seems to be what my little girls need. They are such emotional, expressive little people. They never stop talking. And they don’t just talk. They ask the most complicated questions. They are so inquisitive about the world, and people, and relationships, and how everything connects. It is quite draining, actually, but while I’m in my chair, knitting, they surround me and talk, and ask, and I can talk with them.

I am grateful to be able to stay home with my children.

I am grateful for this blog. I don’t mean to sound shallow, but I really am. For the people I’ve met, the friends I’ve made, and the things I’ve learned. I thank those of you who have reached out in the comments and taught and encouraged me. It is most appreciated. Most importantly, I’m thrilled to have found a way to share my day-to-day life with those that I love that are far from me.

I am grateful for my incredible husband. He is such a strength to me. He supports and loves me in a way I could never have imagined or even hoped for.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who are celebrating it. Thank you, to the rest. Have a wonderful weekend.

Yesterday morning I worked out and cleaned bathrooms. Yesterday afternoon, once Abby came home from her half day of school, we went to Seattle to play at the Children’s Museum.

I tried many times to get my good friend Celeste to come with me, but in the end, it was just the kids and I. It was actually quite nice. I took Lauralund because it is easy knitting which would enable me to adequately watch the children.

It was a weekday, so the museum wasn’t crowded which meant that I could relax and knit. They had an art station set up for the kids to make candles. (Should’ve got a picture of that).

We left shortly before closing so we could haul up to the Science Center before they closed and play at the shadow wall, which is Veronica’s absolute favorite thing.

By the time everything closed, forcing us to head towards home, it was dark.

All in all, it was a great, fun day. If you’d like to see our last stop, click the link. I realize that all of these pictures are in varying degrees of blurriness. I need a new camera.

With what feels like only four hours of daylight each day, it makes taking good knitting pictures very difficult. Yesterday, I had nothing to photograph for you during daylight hours. Why? Because I spent the ENTIRE day cleaning. As in, no breaks. Constant, busy, cleaning. Not much fun. To pacify my children, who were extremely bored, I told them that if we got it all done, we could start breaking out the Christmas decorations. Which we did around dinner time. It wasn’t ’til 7:30ish that I got to sit down and knit something. Even then, I only had about an hour.

this is the beginning to my clogs/slippers. This is a good thing because I am, once again, wearing Nate’s. They’re so cool.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening in my knitting chair. It is happily situated in the living room, beside my fish tank. I enjoy it because aside from being extremely comfortable, there is a lamp immediately behind, and a coffee table right in front. This enables me to sit with my feet up, in plenty of light, and enjoy friendly little water dwelling visitors that like to come over and say hi. (Primarily because they recognize me as the big, lurking monster that feeds them).

While sitting in my chair yesterday, I should have been seaming mom’s sweater. I probably should have been knitting my own slippers, as I was once again wearing Nate’s. And once the kids went to bed, I certainly should have been working on Christmas dolls. But I wasn’t.

Sorry for the rotten picture.

Behold, the first completed piece of Lauralund. Most of you will get my clever little joke. Some of you will not. Hopefully, there are some of you out there who find it at least mildly amusing, if not full on hilarious like I do.

I am very excited about this sweater. It is my first ever sweater for me. It is being knit with the amazing brown Lopi I found in a warehouse and bought for cheap. I am loosely basing this sweater on the famous Klaralund that has been all over the blogs, and while I haven’t seen the pattern, I think I can figure the majority of it out. (I also have a sweet blog buddy who is going to let me have a peek at hers, but I couldn’t wait, so I started without it). I am of course changing some styling elements, and the sizing is completely my own.

Something interesting that I have already learned….

While soaking my completed piece, (front or back, I don’t know), to prepare it for blocking, I discovered why this yarn feels and smells like a sheep. The water left in the sink was not colored with dye, it more resembled what I would imagine a bathtub would look like after bathing a sheep. Little grassy bits and everything. I’m quite amused, actually. And in case you couldn’t guess, my hands were subtly softened and moisturized while knitting with it all day.

Poor Mary. She is gone now, with her poncho knit from the same stuff, and she doesn’t know. I should probably tell her to wash it, unless I want to spend some time entertaining myself with thoughts of her walking around Virginia, smelling like a sheep.