2012 - Week One - Let's Do This2012 - Week One - Let's Do This I'm starting off 2012 with a positive surge of energy and eagerness because I know this is going to be a great year!  This year, although I don't set new year's goals or resolutions, I am looking forward...

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Week Fifty - GiftsWeek Fifty - Gifts This week's post is all about gifts.  First I'll start with the gift of an amazing husband who cares for me way more than I could ever deserve.  This past week, my laptop that I use for doing my job...

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Week Fourty Nine - Lessons LearnedWeek Fourty Nine - Lessons Learned One of the things I have learned about blogging over the past years, is that the very thing that you most want to write about generally keeps you from writing. That thing is called life. When I get busy,...

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Week Thirty - Rabbits Reborn and Sharing the Game of SoccerWeek Thirty - Rabbits Reborn and Sharing the Game of... This week has been a long one.  Scott has been in Africa all week and does not get back until Wednesday.  Although I have missed him greatly, I have been able to accomplish much with the quiet house...

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Week Twenty Nine - Missions and MittensWeek Twenty Nine - Missions and Mittens Scott left for Uganda yesterday on his first mission trip, ever.  He will be gone for 10 days and is part of an all male (testosterone rich) group of coaches and active guys.  He was excited, nervous,...

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Week Twelve – The Madness Continues

Category : Fiber Arts

Last week I mentioned the Sock Madness 5 knitting competition that I qualified for.  I neglected to show the completed socks from round one.  In week ten I showed the progress of these socks.  The pattern is Supporter’s Socks and the pattern is very simple, but the result is very nice.  

We received the pattern for round 2 of Sock Madness on Tuesday afternoon (22nd) and I finished 15th out of 45 in my team.  A pair of socks knitted in 5 days, not bad.  Only 37 move on to round 3 and I made it that far.  Yay!  The sock pattern for round 2 is called Nornir and below are mine, complete with my new clear clogs to show them off!  Whoo Hoo!  The pattern has a boat load of slipped stitches and I doubt I will ever make them again, but the final result was nice, albeit a little snug.  The clogs came from Knitter’s Dream.

Now I am back to waiting for the pattern for round 3…only 25 will move on through that round.  Wish me luck!

Week Eleven – The Madness of March // Flat Stanley’s Visit

Category : Fiber Arts, Journal

This week was filled with learning all the new ways to use the iPad 2, renewing my use of some older networking tools, cooking pastries and candy, showing Flat Stanley around town, and getting psyched up about the start of the actual Sock Madness 5 competition.

The iPad 2 is SO much more useful to me than the generation one was. With the camera feature, I am able to journal everyday about anything and everything, then include photos with my entries in the journal. The video feature is amazing, and the ability to use Facetime is super fantastic. I can pretty much do anything computer related on this device I can think of, except text messaging and phone calling, which are actually cellular activities anyway.   If I could do those two things on my iPad 2, I would totally ditch my phone!

This week was slow at work (everyone is on Spring Break), so I was able to attempt the Facebook thing again. It is a little more understandable, but still confusing. I think the problem I have is that I am not “friends” with a lot of the people on there. I have no desire to connect with blasts from the past, or keep up with people who cross my path from time to time. Getting past the “friend” label and what it means to me compared to what it means on Facebook is probably my biggest hangup about using it. But, in an effort to keep up with my son and his family, I am giving it a go.

Our grandson. William, sent his friend Flat Stanley to us for an adventure. Scott and I took him into town for the tour of the Auburn sites and then he took a ride on the John Deere back at the farm.

The kitchen adventure began this week with the creation of St. Patrick’s Day candies for the people Scott works with at the church. I used some new candy molds I bought recently with green, yellow, and chocolate melting wafers for the candy. This is the easiest candy to make, takes the least amount of time, and produces an impressive result because of the candy molds. The tall ones in the box have pretzels as their “lollipop” sticks and the round ones are chocolate covered mint flavored Oreos.

The cooking continued with the frying of rosettes, something that I have always wanted to do, but just never made time for. I grew up eating these light, airy pastries and have had a rosette iron in the drawer for years. I just never made them before.

The third “candy” item I made this week was chocolate caramels. These are so delicious, but I think I could have let them boil a tiny bit longer, as they are softer than I would have liked. Oh well, this is why I am making these things in the first place, practice.

Finally, March Madness started this week and it has been fantastic! So many close games and with the job I now have I am able to watch all the games! Not only can I watch them from my television, but I can also catch every game on my iPad 2.  Yes, I am a geek.   Friday I went with Scott to Best Buy and while we were walking around the store, I fired up my MiFi and the iPad 2, and watched the live feed of the game on NCAA.com.  Oh yes, I did!   It was really funny.

Back at home, while waiting for Sock Madness 5 to start, I started on a surprise gift for the new baby.

The official name of the team that I was placed on for Sock Madness is “Sock Madness and the Sock of Secrets.” It is a take on Harry Potter, of course, and I like it so much better than the other three team names. Now, the ultimate madness is that I am just waiting (and constantly checking my email) for the round 2 pattern to be released! AAAAHHHH….

Week Nine – Hello Sock Madness // Goodbye Hair

Category : Fiber Arts, Health

This week was packed.  We went to Birmingham on Wednesday so I could have a MRI.  Never had one before, quite an experience.  I can’t imagine being claustrophobic and having to endure one of those.  Good thing I don’t scare easily.  Official results are not in yet, but doc said it looks cancer free.

Round one of Sock Madness V (2011) began March 4th this year.  I am amazed that I am going to be able to finish a complete pair of socks in under a week.  Here is my progress thus far.

We have two weeks to finish the pair.  Those who finish the pair in time will be put into one of four teams, who will then compete in brackets making additional pairs from patterns we have not even seen yet.  The patterns are all different techniques and the time to make the pairs gets shorter.  There is no way I will win this competition, but it is fun to try.  The consolation is that I end up with several new pairs of socks!  Yay!

On the tatting front, I finished this lovely piece just minutes before the Sock Madness pattern was released. Whew.

Just like the motif from last week, I love the design, but do not like the colors.  The pattern is “Small Cross” from Tatting with Visual Patterns (Mary Konior) and the thread is Lizbeth (size 20, color 147).  On the spool, this thread is deceiving.  This one looked red and black on the spool, but tatted up red and burgandy.  I think ordering directly from Handy Hands is a good way to go, since I can see the tatted example of the thread colors on their website.  This spool I bought at Hobby Lobby.  I am going to make this one again in black, perhaps with silver around the outside edge.

Finally, there is the subject of my hair.  I was unaware of how sensitive your hair is to changes, like illness and surgery.  My hair has been falling out in handfuls for a month or two now and it was getting so thin and stringy that I had to take action.  Here is the result.

Some people have told me that I am so “brave” to have my long hair just cut completely off.  But I really see it as doing what I have to do.  It is either going to fall out or be cut off and since I would like to think that I am still in some control, it had to be cut.

Those are the highlights of my week.  What was yours like?

Quote of the week: “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” J.R.R. Tolkien

December SKA 2009 Complete // Just Under The Wire

Category : Featured, Fiber Arts

Can’t believe I actually finished these in time for the drawing.  Whew…

Better Late Than Never Socks

Better Late Than Never Socks

Better Late Than Never Socks

Purple Candlelight // November’s Sock Knitters Anonymous Cast On Post

Category : Fiber Arts

Have been working on these for a couple of weeks now. Had to stop though because the 5” needles are hurting my hands…had to order some 7” dpns and am waiting for them to arrive to resume…anyway, here is my 1st pair for November:

Purple Candlelight

Start date: November 1, 2009
Completion date: TBA
Pattern used: Candelabra by Chrissy Gardiner
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Heritage Solid
Needles: #1 US

Other details here: Nautical Knitter’s Projects