SUCCESS!

Frick read the first two parts of Dick and Jane on her own tonight to her father after dinner.
Thanks to a comment from mlj1954 on a previous post, I finally dug out the books that I loved so much and forgot I had purchased for my “someday” children (honestly, I’ve had the book FOREVER).

When she saw her sister’s success and exaggerated, unlimited praise from CFO and I,
(and the Disney Princess reward stickers that can only be acquired by doing schoolwork),
Frack decided not to fight it tooth and nail anymore,
(this is the kid who runs screaming from the room as soon as the books come out, and WILL NOT touch a pencil if I tell her she has to write anything)
so Frick has been teaching her little sister the alphabet all evening. :O)

Insert HUGE sigh of relief here…

Great timing!

I must thank my friend for getting sick the day before the Ravens/Steeler game. Her husband called last night and invited CFO to go see the game with him instead, so it'll just be STT, The Girl, Frick, Frack, Duckie, Lollie and I.

If I happen to be on the phone with STT while she and CFO are watching a game, both eardrums hurt. STT & CFO in the same room watching a game is 10 times more painful and frightening! Add the 70 something pound dog barking and running around because of all the shouting and yelling, things get a bit crazy.

Then there's this:
This is what happens in our house when your husband is a HUGE Ravens fan and best friend is a HUGE Steelers fan.
CFO does NOT need to have Frack running around the house wearing her Ravens cheerleading outfit, carrying Duckie, and waving her pom poms shouting "Go Steelers!" in his face for the next few hours. At least I'd advise against it.

Not if she wants a car when she turns 16.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

These are just some of the things I am grateful for.

Frick and Frack who are my pride and joy. The reason why I get up each day.

CFO w/o whom Frick & Frack would not be here, and who, among other things, has given me the opportunity to be with them for the most important parts of their lives.
My family who taught me the importance of love, patience and tolerance.
Friends who are always close by no matter how many miles away.
My home may it always be somewhere people want to visit.
Lollie Pup who reminds me that I have other responsibilities.

Hope everyone has a day filled with love, laughter, and lots and lots of food!

I started it

Actually, I started it last week at the Knitting Gild meeting, and realized that it was started on the wrong size needle, then restarted it yesterday during the Ravens game.

Viola!

A Cardigan for Arwen.

Interweave Press Winter 2006.

Sunday Sillies

I was frogging STT's Harry Potter's scarf the other day so I have it in my head. The only way to stop the voices is to search for as much HP knitting stuff as I can. " :O)

So that's how I found this:



I'm a Gryffindor!

Hello. My name is Margaret.

I have a problem. It’s controlling my life. It’s consuming my few quiet thinking moments a day with its urgency. I hear the pictures SHOUTING “Oh, Pick me, pick me, PICK ME!!!” as I mentally leaf through the patterns in the knitting magazines and books that I have memorized.
Then there is the stash calling.
I honestly do not have a large one. Really! I’ve seen bigger. Much bigger. The thing is that this one skein habit that I have, makes it look larger than it really is (work with me here– it took me a while to figure out that excuse!). The sock yarn is the worse offender. (OK, so maybe I didn’t really need to pick up 8 new skeins while I was in Canada. But heck, I was in Canada!) The yarns are saying:
“OOH, OOH, my turn!”
“No, it’s mine!!”
“I’m supposed to be a Christmas present! That’s why she got me.”
“Step back! I was going to be a birthday present 2 years ago! I go first!”

I just can’t resist a new pattern, technique; yarn… There’s just so much out there!

Remember that UFO list that I stupidly committed to paper? I swear it’s coming back to haunt me. (As I knew it would even as I was writing it down.) I have to finish many of them before Christmas. I’ve just been relegating projects to different occasions and will concentrate on finishing the most urgent of them now.
I’m not even thinking about the stuff I committed to that I still haven’t cast on.

But alas, I got the new Interweave Press. My usual MO is to leaf through it and check out the pictures, then I’ll see if there’s anything I want to make, then I’ll go back and read the articles. It didn’t work out that way this time. I opened the magazine and THIS is the first thing that I saw.
The image is burned in my eyes. I hear the siren’s call.
It’ll be my first sweater.
I even have the yarn for it. (Ok, so it’s the yarn I got it at S&W 2 years ago for my then pregnant best friends’ diaper bag. She never knew about it so won’t miss it. Besides, the baby is 16 mos old now and doesn’t really need it!)

So what did I do to help me finish all my UFO’s in time? I joined my first KAL.
Sigh.

They say the first step is to admit you have a problem. OK. I can do that.

Hello. My name is Margaret and I’m a project-a-holic.

another one of those...

Got this from Yarn Therapy. Though it was cool.


1.Flip to page 18, paragraph 4 in the book closest to you right now, what does it say?

"Sounds like fun," Kathleen said. "Think I'll skip it."

2. If you stretch out your left arm - as far as possible, what are you touching?

Frick (and I don't have to stretch, she's leaning on me!)

3. What's the last program you watched on tv?

Little Mermaid

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.

12:30 (oops! it's 1:23!)

5. Except the computer, what can you hear right now?

holly hobbie and friends movie

6. When was the last time you were outside and what did you do?

yesterday. I went shopping with BroInLaw's ex-girlfriend.

7. What are you wearing?

CFO's hoodie from HS days and jeans

8. What did you dream last night.

I was doing a re-modeling project in our house.

9. When was the last time you laughed?

earlier today, it's hard not to with Frick & Frack around.

10. What's on the walls, in the room you're in right now?

star wars poster, star wars poster, TV, mandela, sand painting, and an entire wall of Frick & Frack originals.

11. Have you seen anything bizarre lately?

e-mail from a friend I got this morning. It had a bunch of alternative christmas presents like Play Dough's "Bling" maker and an ez bake meth lab.

13. What's the last film you saw?

wizzard of oz, last night

14. If you became a multimillionaire, what would you do with the money?

set up funds for girls, buy/pay off homes for family and set up a shelter for battered women with my sister.

15. Tell us something about yourself that most people don't know.

I'm dyslexic

16. If you could change ONE THING in this world, without regarding politics or bad guilt - what would it be?

The blatent disreguard people seem to have for one another lately. Do any of them know the Golden Rule?

17. Do you like dancing?

heck yes!

18. George Bush?

Is our president, and as such, deserves the respect the office demands. Reguardless.

19. What do you want your children's names to be, girl/boy?

My choice for a girl was Isabel Julia. It was vetoed both times. I'm glad we had girls because I still don't have a boy name.

20. Would you ever consider living abroad?

In a heartbeat!

21. What do you want God to tell you, when you come to heaven?

good job putting your talents to work

22. Who should do this meme?

my SP so I can try to find out who you are!

Birthday Haul

Finally decided to try photobucket. Let's see what happens...

I need to show off my cool stuff. I got an amazing knitting haul for my birthday.
Yes, I am that spoiled.

Here's the yarn that I got from Stitches, post-it notes: gauge, it's not a 4 letter word, Lace Moebius pattern, Knitting Under the Influence, and Unwind T-shirt from STT and Girl. I forgot to put out the Socks that Rock bumper sticker.

The fab Brown & Green traveling needle case is my present from Carole at my LYS. Lucky me was at the store the day the lady that makes them was there with her fabric samples. (I swear I was planning to buy it for myself!) I'm not a pink girl, so when I saw the green & brown toile, I so had to have it! And Carole surprised my by giving it to me as a gift. Thanks Carole!

And the beautiful pictures are originals from my own Frick & Frack.

This would be me with my PINK shirt, and yes, that would be a DPN in my hair. I was finishing one of the stockings for Mr. Mike.

And, no, I was NOT hoarding the Bavarian Creams!!!

Javajem showing off her Clap!

And this is Miss Shelia, who I've decided I want to be when I grow up.

Thanks again gang, for a fab birthday!

Good Times!

First -

Have you hugged your veteran today?

Second -

I had a fab birthday yesterday. We decided that going out for cocktails to celebrate is not the best call. Since it seems as if a sip of wine with dinner puts you over the legal limit now a days, we decided to start celebrating Wednesday night in the comfort of my own home.

So, when STT came over with this:

(only half of her haul from Stitches)

I made these:










and it turned into this:



This would be Frick knitting, STT sipping, and Frack playing stylist. I gave up winding STT's haul from Stitches in favor of a few more Cosmos.





The next day, we went to BK for lunch and the girls and I took advantage of a beautiful day and hit the park.


Yes, that would be Frack at the top of the rock wall. She then climbs over the top and down the other side. There is no picture of that because I was trying not to have a heart attack. Can somebody PLEASE explain to her that Mommy is old and her heart can't deal with the strain.



Lucky me my birthday landed on knitting night. It was a great night with most everyone there. STT got me a dozen of my favorite Bavarian creams from DD, and many other goodies were received.
C was hard at work on her stocking, which means that her next project will be SOCKS!!! And Javajem & Giants Knitter were busy showing off their Claps.

As soon as the cable guy leaves (another long story that'll no doubt be a blog entry), I'll try to post the rest of the pictures.

Wow!

I had such an incredible time at Stitches East that I’m glad I could only go for one day! To say my head is still reeling, is an understatement. Who knew you could get a yarn headache?

I did take the sign seriously, and was afraid to take out the camera, but luckily, Javajem had no such fears, so check out her blog for some great pics.

This weekend was an early birthday gift for myself. STT and I took an incredible class learning the Swedish technique of tvåändsstickning, or twined knitting, and knit a small mitten. (And no, after 6 hours, I STILL can't pronounce it right!) I thought my head was going to explode by the time we got our first break, but I struggled on!

This is Frack modeling my first FINISHED one!!!

I’m on mitten #2, and must say, it was a LOT easier to do it than the first one. I can’t believe I got this far on my own!

It took us 4 hours to get this far on the first one.

(STT was good about teaching herself to knit with her right hand. I gave up after the first round. That's why I was further along.)

This took a little over an hour.

Beth Brown-Reinsel is the most incredible teacher! She is OBVIOUSLY a pro, but never once made us feel inferior. She was so very patient, and didn’t rush us. Next year, I hope to take her Danish Skrå-trøjer knitting class. I want to make a cute little sweater for Duckie. :O)

I was good about not buying too much. Since we both started knitting about the same time, STT and I give each other gift certificates to yarn shops for our birthdays in our ages (getting older has it’s perks!). This year she gave me cash to use at Stitches, so I splurged on this:

Brooks Farm, Primero, 100% Kid Mohair, 500 yds.

Yummmmy!

Happy Birthday to me!

I got a few more goodies, mini-skeins, roving, and a few patterns that I found for .75 each! Couldn't pass it up!

(blogger is teasing me again, and I reached my limit to how many pictures I can upload at a time.)

It was a great day, and well worth the money. Who would have thought that sitting in a 6 hr knitting class would exhaust you that much!? (I guess running up and down 2 levels to get to Market a few times didn't help.) (The escalator took too long.)

I am so looking forward to next year.

And we rest...

We've been partying at LMSFG since Friday night. Considering that we don't party as a rule, 5 straight days take a LOT out of you...

Duckie looking dapper in his ghost get-up.

Friday, CFO went to hear a band with friends, Saturday was our friend's annual Halloween party, Sunday was CFO's b-day/Go Ravens! party, Monday was the annual neighborhood Halloween Parade, and CFO's actual birthday, and Tuesday was spent sitting outside, handing out candy, knitting and scaring the kids, while CFO took the girls and Lollie-Pup around the neighborhood.

(It was great, I actually scared one of the kids that hangs out across the street. They thought I was a dummy sitting on the bench outside. Then I moved - in reality, had to move my post-it to the next line in my lace chart. - One of my main goals has been achieved!)

We didn't have nearly as many Trick or Treaters this year as we did last year. As a result we have TONS on candy left over. And since I put my favorite candy in the bottom of the cauldron,
(I ain't dumb!) I'm predicting a sugar high that lasts well into the new year.

Our haul...

Good times to be had by all!