I know I moved south and that it is supposed to be warmer here and all, but this is crazy! It was 77 degrees here today!

Thermometer on the rearview of my truck

And if that wasn’t wonky enough, it hit record highs today in NY as well! No wonder everyone I know is getting sick…

Today being Saturday, I have a Saturday Sky shot as well. I didn’t have my camera with me, and the shot isn;t as nice as I had hoped, but at least I caught some of it.

I did a whole lot today, both out and in the house. Early this morning, I got up and went for a hair cut and color (LONG overdue! I was dreading trying to find someone new, since I so loved the person cutting my hair back in NY. But I took a gamble and I really like her alot, The cut is really good, and the color is close to my natural color. She wasnt aggressive in style or color and explained she wants to see how my hair reacts to the color she used before we start fine tuning or tweaking. I think Im going to be very happy with her long term, which is a huge relief!

I went to Borders afterwards, and used a Christmas gift card, a 30% rewards coupon, and the balance of my Rewards cash back to get a bunch of magazines (2 knitting), a book for work, and I caved and bought the knitting pattern a day desk calendar. It was 50% off, so for $6.99 how could I not?

From there, I came home and opened every window in the house and cleaned some. I also knit just about all of my January KAL dishcloth too! I have 3 rows of Moss stitch border and 2 ends to weave in and I’m done (as soon as I finish posting!)

This turned out really nice (better in person than the pic, I think) and I will be making more of these I’m sure. And tomorrow, I will, once and for all, finish the last finger and thumb on that glove if it kills me!

Yesterday I mentioned a charm bracelet I got in the mail, and promised a picture today. Tada!

I was looking on ebay for something else, and found this bracelet in Teri’s Creations. I emailed her a question, and she answered so quickly! (always a plus!) My mom always had a thing for charm bracelets, and it was so affordable, I kind of had to buy it :winky: It arrived FAST and in perfect condition. The bracelet is being modeled by a Rare Gems skein of STR, which was from the last STR Club package of 2006. (Yes, I signed up again for the next round, because I am completely and utterly smitten with their yummy colors and the wonderful cimmunity that has grown around the club.)

Ah, and speaking of ordering! I called the nameless company this morning, and they assured me they would send a replacement package at, at no charge to me, on Monday. They also said they would send it expeditied shipping. If it happens to work out as promised, I will be one happer camper. Although, they had no explanation as to why I couldnt update my shipping information on their site and I basically troubleshot it for them – the way their forms and Firefox interact, my changes weren;t propigating to the database. Once I switched to IE, problem solved. VERY annoying, since I so dislike IE, but I will just have to remember to use IE on their site I suppose.

There was one more picture I ALMOST showed you, but then I realized it would spoil a surprise, so you will just have to wait till I get the box finished and out the door (hopefully by the end of the week) so it’s recipient can share the contents with you. OK OK, Rachel, it’s for you I SO hope you love it as much as I think you will!!

And in case you, like me, have been living under a rock, Lolly is kicking up Project Spectrum again! I’m all signed up and ready to go (starting in February). If you want to join the fun (and you know you do!) click here.

Tomorrow is looking pretty good, with only some reading, knitting and cooking on the agenda. I can think of worse ways to spend a day! Hope you get to do the things you want to do

No, not really – but there is Flying Fingers, and purple fiber!

1st up, progress on the baby cardi! Not as much as I would like, but progress nonetheless!!

As I said, not a ton of progress, but much of the trip to Flying Fingers was spent laughing and talking with dear friends and I was afraid I was gonna screw up my row counts (left the row counter on my desk, don’t ask)

We pulled up to Flying Fingers and saw this:

If you look at the pic full size, you will see the window has a sign in it that says Good Bye! They are moving from Irvington to a new location in Tarrytown. The doors of this shop will close forever at the end of July, and the new place will reopen in September. In the interest of moving less stuff, all fiber was on sale for 50% off, and all accessory type things were 30% off.

I went with the intention of only buying something if I found a really really good deal.

I got a small accessory gift for my KSKS pal, which I obviously can’t share. And I decided that I couldn’t really pass this up

Another view?

Not only was it right in line with this month’s Project Spectrum color, but it was actually a good deal for the 10 skeins of Lamb’s Pride Cotton Fleece. Plus, I already have a project in mind for this, which is 3rd or 4th on the list at the moment. I may even start this one and use it as a background project while I work on other stuff…. Any guesses?

And finally, I couldn’t resist 2 skeins of Wildfoote in Master Grey and a pair of 000 32″Addi Turbos. With the sale price, they were way cheaper than I can even get them online, and the Wildfoote was 2 for $5.

All in all, I think I used one of my 2 exceptions in the SOS well (especially since I don’t think I will even be using my 2nd one!)

Dinner dishes are waiting to be done, and then I have some work to finish up. Then maybe I will get to work on the sleeve?

( or, “Where have the past 4 days gone?” , aka LONG, picture-heavy post!)

I woke up Thursday not feeling right – just a sore throat and my ear was bothering me a bit, so I pushed thru the work I had to do, and called it an early night. Missed my Thursday night routine, but must have needed the rest because I woke up Friday morning feeling much much better – which was a good thing, since the block party on my block was Saturday. (Our next door neighbors organized the whole thing. They are really nice people, and we thought participating would be the right thing to do. I’m glad we did, since we had a nice day, and it was nice to meet some more of the neighbors)

I made some carrot cake cupcakes (complete with cream cheese frosting) and some yellow cake, chocolate frosting and sprinkles cupcakes. It seemed like a block party-ish thing to make somehow.

Vik & Yan and Ethan came to visit on their way to another party (bummed they didnt come back later, but I understood), sadly before most of the Block Party stuff was happening.

Trinity was not making fun of Yan by sticking her tongue out, Yan was rubbing her belly and she was a happy happy girl!

Then, Missy, Chloe & Rachel came to visit. (Somehow, Rachel managed to elude the camera, but you can see pics of this talented gorgeous yound lady on her mom’s blog)

We tried to get Chloe some face painting, but the people were not ready yet. It was ok though, because there was more fun to be had.

SOOO Cute! She (hopefully!) had herself a great time! (Note to Missy – did any of the cupcake pictures come out?)

And speaking of cute, our neighbor’s son came to hang out with us for awhile during the day too. He is a HUGE fan of Trinity’s and always wants to come over and see her. About a year ago, we took a picture of the 2 of them outside our house, and we took another at the block party to compare. I somehow misplaced my electronic copy of the original, so I can’t post it, but this is the one we took this year. Trinity still has a tiny bit of height on him (but no where near as much as the 1st shot)

I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have. Especially can’t believe I missed out on the Saturday Sky shot! I did manage to get one when Joyce, and Beney and Karen & John were over later in the day though…

Those who couldn’t make it were missed and thought of! All in all, it was a nice (tiring!) day.

Despite the block being baracaded off, the mail man still made it to the house of Saturday, and look what he brought me!

Sorry for the non-modeled shot, I was having a hard time taking the picture of my own wrist, and the dog was less than cooperative when I tried to get her to take the picture for me

This AWESOME bracelet is a gift from the super sweet Mandy. It was an unnecessary but VERY APPRECIATED thank you gift. She’s too good to me! I love love love it, and it makes me smile when I look down and see it. (and let’s not overlook the PS July color scheme :winky: )

Sunday was kind of laid back with very little going on. We watched some movies. I made some yummy maple walnut bread, which made the house smell good for most of the day.

AND I got some more done on the KP&S Baby Cardi.

I still need to finish the body length, then go back and pick up the arms – which I won’t have any time for before tomorrow night though since tonight is the second and last night of the defensive driving course. Good times ahead It’s a simple pattern, but I am enjoying it. It’s coming together quickly too, which is nice, and I think it will turn out well. (Soooooo little seaming!! )

And how was your weekend?

Bor-ING:
Last night my honey and I went to the 1st of a 2 night defensive driving class. A neccessity for the insurance discount! We live in NY remember? (While we aren’t as bad as some other places, we are still in the top 5 most expensive states for auto insurance!) And I couldn’t even knit!

Reminisc-ING:
Before we went to “class” we stopped at a diner for a quick dinner. (I know, diners are a regional thing – see here for a semi accurate accounting). I’m used to seeing the music box things at the table, but they are all digital these days, so imagine my surprise when I saw this:

You can’t see it in the picture, but they have Van Halen’s JUMP on there – which was popular in what? 1984? It is also one of the few songs of VH I have serious issues with, but not really musically per se… I (and others!) see Jump as the beginning of the end for the original band… *sigh*

Annoy-ING
This could be an entire post in and of itself, but I will keep it short. Insurance companies? THIEVES! SCAMMERS! Bringers of all things frustrating and annoying and bad. I cannot understand why medical insurance (or car or any other insurance for that matter) has to be so difficult! (Nuff said, I don’t want to get all riled up again)

Wonder-ING
Last summer, the landlord of the house we rent replaced the front window. In doing so, the guys tramped thru the bushes in front of the house, pretty much destroying whatever was there. The landlord said he would plant new stuff this spring, but it never happened. We have a nice array of weedy tpe bushy things there, and since it isn’t an eyesore and I’m not spending a ton of money to landscape property I don’t own, it’ll do. However, I noticed the strangest thing the other day.

A lily? In the middle of all the other “stuff” (for lack of a better word – I am not the gardening type)? There were no lilies there last year, and it is the only one! I’m not asking, it looks pretty, and maybe it will spread (see above disclaimer about not being the gardening type yada yada. I dont know if it is possible for a lily to spread, and to be honest, I don’t care all that much. I just think it is cool that this is the 2nd time this year flowers I know weren’t there last year have sprouted and brought a smile.

And finally, Sooth-ING Knitt-ING
Last night when we got home, I tossed caution to the wind and cast on for the Knitting Pure & Simple Baby Cardi. I am using stash Cotton Tots (with which I got gauge immediately on suggested needles! No, really!!) and it is (light) purple, so I am participating in PS July and following the Summer of Stash AND adding tot he pile of stuff being sent to the 2 babies Ive been knitting for. There isn’t much to show, as we got home late and I didn’t knit too long, but here it is anyway.

Stunning, isn’t it? That’s roughly 4.5″ of the required 8.5″ for the hood, which is where this pattern starts. I’ll be working on it and alternating with the last bib and burp cloth (which I will cast on for tonight or tomorrow I guess)

If you haven’t already, go wish KnitNana a Happy Birthday!! She’s a sweetie, and deserves all the good wishes coming her way!

And now, back to work for me! (bleh!)

It must be tough to be Sunday. Think about it – most people seem to have a love/hate relationship with the day. They love the lazy weekend day for it’s generally historic mandate to be a day of rest, but also abhor it’s signal of the coming work week. I’m certainly guilty of it! I started out today thrilled it was Sunday, but as I looked at the clock a few minutes ago, the feeling of disappointment came crashing down. And I still have laundry to do!

Anyway, I finished the Mason Dixon Baby Genius burp cloth last night.

It’s shorter than I would have liked, but that’s my fault. I only had one ball of this color of PnC, and still, I decided to drop down a needle size from recommended because I really liked how the fabric felt tighter knit. It’s squooshier! I’m not worried about it, I’m sure it will still be put to good use.

This morning, I went stash diving, because I really wanted to do something this month for Project Spectrum (purple), and being a good SOS participant, I needed to use something in house. Surprisingly, I have no real purple left in my stash except for this cotton tots in a light lavendar.

I still need to check one other place, because I swore I had some Trekking in purples around here someplace!!

Those 4 skeins aren’t quite enough for a blanket, but I will find something to make from them, I’m sure. Possibly 2 more MD kimonos…

The little lamb in all the pictures is a new addition to the house. I have been told he was bought to add to my collection. I wasn’t really aware I had a collection, but I guess I have at least the start of one….

Could be worse *s*

And finally, before I rush off to enjoy what’s left of my Sunday, I want to thank Janet for her sweet gift and card. I really thought I did this the day it arrived ind brightened up my mailbox, but apparently, my memory is worse than I thought!

I mentioned I had been having trouble finding the clear chibi with the smaller needles, and tada! She sent me one! Many thamks my friend, and sorry for taking to long to get it posted!

Hope everyone’s weekend was long and wonderful!

It’s that time!

The entries have been counted…

names have been blurred to protect the generous *s*

The raffle tickets divied up… (See Trek? Your wonderful sock bag is getting LOTS of use!!)

And my honey has done his duty…

Drumroll please?

Gary wins some yummy mountain colors sock yarn in Red Tail Hawk colorway

Amy is the lucky recipient of Dani’s “The Cure” colorway – sooo pretty!

Valerie wins the Think Pink colorway of Scout’s creation – she’s gonna flip when she sees it in person!

All 3 winners will be getting the yarn and one of those adorable little sock blocker key chains
I bought a few weeks ago.

I appreciate EVERYONE who entered, and really wish I had prizes for you all. And I’ve decided to leave the link to Robin’s page on my left sidebar until the start of the walk. Even if it brings in an extra dollar, it’s worth it!

On a completely unrelated note, I’ve said goodbye to Nextel and hello to T-Mobile. I have 14 days to test things out and see if I like it. Between the AMAZING service I had from the guys in store to the really great plan I got, they are well ahead of Nextel, and as long as I can use the phone, I’m a happy camper. The story I told the other day was really only the beginning of the nightmare, and to make it as brief as possible, I will say this: $450 UNAUTHORIZED charge to my credit card, refusal to credit it back, insisting they can only credit my Nextel account for the amount, slapping an UNAUTHORIZED 2 year contract on my account, refusal to remove it until I threatened legal action and told them they weren’t the only ones recording phone calls (what? I wasn’t lying. Lots of people record phone calls – I just am not one of them :winky: )

I traded in my old i730

for a new Razr v3

Even with a 1 year contract, I spent less on the phone (by about 50%!) than I was going to at Nextel, and my monthly plan? 1500 anytime minutes for 39.99. I’m a happy camper. Only trouble is I know my i730. I know all the hacks, and now I have to relearn them all for the Razr. Fortunately, I already found a few good forums, and by the end of the weekend, it should be tweaked just the way I want it. (which, in addition to other things, means my ringtone needs to be 5150)

2 more things to add to this already long post…

Happy month of purple/violet! (Or, for the uninitiated, happy July)

I like purple, Im just not too sure what purple I have in my life, so this month will be a challenge I think.

And finally, however plain it may be, this is for Sandy. (It’s early, I may did update later with a different sky shot. The people next door are having a new fence put in, the workers have been jackhammering since 7:30 and this is the best I have right now)

ETA a 2nd Saturday Sky picture

It is cool and breezy and just gorgeous outside! I took this about 8:15 and I’m pretty sure once it is fully dark, stars will be very visable tonight

Happy Saturday!

This being the Summer of Stash and all, I’m trying to be very good about thinking about what I am going to knit, and making sure I have appropriately matching items in stash. This also being June, it is also a month of Blue. So, when digging thru my Sugar n Cream stash to figure out what I had to work with for my post baby set projects, I realized I had a bunch of various blue cottons..

I haven’t quite decided what I’m going to make with it since there certainly isn’t enough for a whole log cabin blanket (a la Mason Dixon Knitting) in just the blues but I am determined to find something to do with it all. I guess I need to pull out all my S n C, combine colors to see what looks good, and how much total I actually have…

Gotta get back to work, but I thought I would share some proof that not only are Mondays hard, but that my poor baby has a really REALLY tough life :winky:

Note the hind leg tucked up under her front? She contorts herself so well for such a big dog