A Knitted Frenzy

Feast for the eyes!

Another package arrived from my fab-o KnittyTM SP, the one and only Nick Stokes!  I just about died laughing at the "Love Napkins"!  They're cocktail napkins that have preprinted info on them where you can fill in your name, number, what you're wearing, etc.  The funniest part about them is they're made by an American co. for the U.K. and have American English verbaige (favorite instead of favourite).  Where can I find these beauties in the U.S?  Nick also included so fabulous cotton yarn, dark chocolates (mmmmm!), nail color, lip stuff, bath stuff and a ton of beauty sample packs!  I love samples!!  :)  Thank you, Nick!!!

Did anyone else catch CSI last night?  Poor Nick... what have they done to your hair and why is it continuing??  I want to take a pair of scissors to it myself.

My copy of the Yarn Harlot's new book arrived last night too!!  Neener neener!  :D  All of her books are great and wonderful but I think this one might  be the best.  Seriously.  Go out and get it if you haven't already.

Completely Off Topic

After Heather's post the other day, I connected with a cousin (W) of sorts I didn't even know I had! 

If you're familiar with the Mormon church, you'll know that Sidney Rigdon was/is regarded as a nutcase, slightly off his rocker and/or lunatic.  I am not Mormon and I find it hilarious that I'm related to this character.  The Mormon folks I know, however, think I'm a chip off the ol' block for even mentioning his name.

Sidney Rigdon was the right hand man of Joseph Smith, the man that founded the Mormon church.  My dates and sequence of events are little fuzzy but I know that Sidney challenged Brigham Young for the presidency, failed and then tried to form his own church back east but it fizzled.  Reasons whether or not he needed to be in a straitjacket is murky... all the history on him is tainted by Mormon bias.  And I'm not saying it's a bad thing, just that we may never really know how crazy he was.

Anyhoo, the point is, I'm related and I was able to trace the lineage yesterday.  My grandmother's maiden name is Rigdon and I was able to go back to the 1600s, the time when Sidney's father was born.  Sidney is the brother of my great great great great great grandfather - an uncle essentially.  W is directly related to Sidney's father.  We're cousins!  (We're so far removed I couldn't even begin to count the steps (math you know) but it doesn't matter!  I figured out the puzzle!)

(And if I didn't have Jen to keep me on track, my posts would stay vague.  Thanks, Jen!) 

I did most of my research on the LDS site.  It's completely free and if you have info on your own line, you can update it for everyone else to see.  I also read Under the Banner of Heaven, a fascinating non-fiction work about fundamentalist sects of Mormonism that contained a wealth of Mormon history.  The author included a little bit of info about Sidney Rigdon, info I hadn't found anywhere else.

The really disturbing part is that thru the LDS site I also discovered my great great grandmother's maiden name is the same as a guy I once dated.  Is it a common name?  I didn't think so but now I'm hoping so.  :-/

Knitting in Action!

My posts are getting shorter and shorter these days...   Here's a quick one to show you the Big Bad Baby Blanket I finished in January... in action!

We (my brother, lolo, my sister and I) threw a party on Saturday for my mom's 50th birthday.  Baby K is 9 weeks old now and I actually rocked him to sleep!  (More on the effect of Baby K later).

Great party, knitting in action... what more could you want on a Saturday night??

Obviously the birthday girl had a good time.

*****

Instead of making another new post, I'm just going to add on to todays. 

I think I need to do a bit more traveling:

create your own visited states map or check out these Google Hacks.

Doesn't it look like the east coast is being eaten away?

Sockapaloooza Progress!!

I've gotten a little further along on my 1st sock for my Sockapaloooza pal than the pic shows.  And the color is way off here.  Oh well.  I don't have time to fix my camera issues, I have socks to knit!!  BTW, the pattern is surprisingly easy (as long as wine is NOT involved) and the sock is coming along nicely. 

 

 

 

I took a trip up to my parents last weekend and shot some photos of the incoming storm.  I also discovered a couple little tricks my camera can do with lighting and exposure.

My parents live in the house I grew up in.  5+ acres of horse property (no horses now) + 400 empty acres of greenbelt behind them = seclusion.  It's hard to go from that to instant neighbor nosiness in the city but I hated the commute so I guess it's an even trade.  The green shots are of what we used to call indian lettuce.  I think someone may have told us that name as a joke - I have no clue if that's what it's really called.  All I know is it squeaks when you walk on it and it was fun to lay down in.  And the cat shot is my mom's cat on their roof.  With all the rocks and trees around, he can get up there very easily.

Meme & Youme

Straight from JenLa to you....

Meme Rules:
-Your finds must come from knit blogs.
-You may not use a blog for more than one item-all items must come from different sources.
-Finds can come from current entries or archives.
-You must post your answers with the title of the blogs they were found on and a link to the blog/item (permalinks where appropriate) on your blog. If no permalink is available, give us the post date.
-Do not steal anyone’s bandwidth-which means you should not hotlink pictures.
-You need to comment and let us know when you have completed this meme.

1. A blog which you think people have not discovered.

Elizabeth @ Wool is wonderful owns sheep.  She's able to sheer those sheep and spin the wool.  She also has baby sheepies running around. That is my dream.

2. A blog whose author lives close to you physically. Just get as close as you can, it’s all relative.

Jen , of Adventures with a Knitting Spaz, is the same state as I.  And she's getting married soon!

3. An unusual or weird animal picture.

Check out a turbo Jack Russell at Russell Yarn.  More cute than wierd.  (And she's got fab martini recipes!)




4. An entry that made you laugh and got you strange looks from family or co-workers.

I've seen this on a few memes already: the Weenie post from the Yarn Harlot made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt.

5. An idea you wish you’d thought of.

Flash Your Stash at Zibibboisgood.  How fun is that?




6. Something you’d like to knit.

I am dying to knit Eunny's Deep V Argyle - I bought the pattern AND the yarn - but I'm terrified of starting it.  Soon... soon.




7. A picture of something you consider beautiful.

Any of Sandy's sky pics on Sandy's Knitting.




8. A blog whose author you’d like to one day meet in person.

Laurie.  Someday, Crazy Aunt Purl, someday!




9. A blog of someone you have already met in person.

I've met  Meg here @ Ancient Pathways. 

I'm Actually Knitting!

Casting on for my Sockapalooza pal socks has commenced!  It took a bit of math trickery to modify the socks for my pal but by George, I think I've got it!  (And good thing because eventually I want to make this pattern for myself and would have to do math anyway). 

In other knitting news, I started a pair of very basic socks for my mom's 50th birthday - 6 inches of ribbing at the top, the rest very basic stockinette stich.  The yarn, Mountain Colors.  The color, Pheasant.  So appropriate because my mom breeds Golden Retrievers (on a very limited basis) and hunts pheasant with her female hunter.  The colors are gorgeous in this sock and as soon as I charge up my camera, I'll post pics.  And the yarn?  Hello? It is so incredibly soft!  The stitch definition is amazing.  I think it's taking me so long to complete the 1st sock because I keep stopping and staring at the perfection of the stitches.

Knittytm SP6!
My SP, Nick Stokes :), rocks!  I received two gifties yesterday ~ A gc to Amazon.com (which I promptly pre-ordered the Yarn Harlot's new book with!) and Patricia Corwell's Body Farm & dotted journal!  I love it!  I love it all.  :)  Happy mail makes me smile.  :)  Thank you, Nick!

And Now We Wait...

There is the final document I signed not 30 minutes ago.  All that's left is filing with the court and a judge's signature.  We're back to waiting.  Maybe it'll be final on his birthday next week.  Wouldn't that be a fitting birthday present?  For just a fleeting second, I would love it if he felt a twinge of remorse.  Oh no wait... remorse is for those with consciouses.  Never mind.  I'll settle for irreversible sterility (did I just say that??)

Unending Cuteness

Awwww....

This is why I don't drink myself into oblivion every night

My dogs are the major reason I haven't gone completely insane yet (the other major part is all the yarn I have tucked away in my house.  But we're talking about my dogs here, gosh!)

The week I've had so far is enough reason to come home and drink one bottle (yes, bottle) of wine a night.  BUT instead, I come home, get my mail, and let the dogs out into the yard (they have their own yard, with gravel, not pretty grass because Sam has a tendancy to try to find out what's underneath the grass).

And we play.  I throw the ginormous tennis ball to the other side of the grass, Sam beats Jessie to it and Jessie throws down a headlock on Sam, complete with gridiron mouth.  You wouldn't think the underdog (by 30lbs) would be so agressive but she is.  Scrappy really.  :)

Until I sat down to post, I forgot how bad this week has been.  That's how much good therapy my dogs are.  I highly recommend dogs and knitting over a therapist.  The cost might be the same (hell, it's probably more!) but the outcome is much sweeter (and warmer!)