“Walter”melon Monkey has passed from this life to the next. Walter was found tortured to death by singing amphibians. May he rest in peace.
In his heyday…
His last known photos ……
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ComingSoon: There’s a new kid in town.
I was reminded this morning of all the ways God has blessed me and wanted to share a jewel with my readers:
“The Lord is my Strength and Song; and He has become my Salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents and private dwellings of the uncompromisingly righteous: the right hand of the Lord does valiantly and achieves strength! ……. I shall not die but live, and shall declare the works and recount the illustrious acts of the Lord. ….. I will confess, praise, and give thanks to You, for You have heard and answered me; and You have become my Salvation and Deliverer.” Psalms 118:14,15,17 & 21
(emphasis mine)
Thank you my God for being my strength, help me to lean on You and not spin in circles.
“Take my life when I don’t have the strength to give it away to You.” …..Third Day
5/27/07 ….. managed late night cast on for monkey sock #1, slated for Sockapalooza 4.
5/28/07 ….. finished 1 inch of twisted ribbing and worked 2 pattern repeats. (lace pattern almost memorized at this point.)
5/29/07 ….. pausing to record a total of 3 repeats completed, but not done for the day yet!
Now I understand all the hoopla I’ve been hearin’ ’bout Monkey. 
What else I’ve been doing this past holiday weekend:
1) Discovering Raverlry at last!!!!!
2) Spinning up my first consistent laceweight plys from my Spunky Club fiber for May.
3) Celebrating my MIL’s college graduation with a party.
4) Hanging new curtains in my livingroom.
5) Thinking about the upcoming PROM!!! (more details to come 
)
Longer post later I promise! Now it’s past time for food!
It is finally spring in northeastern Oklahoma! We don’t have room for a real garden right now but I managed to plant a couple of tomato plants in pots for the patio and a bunch of flowers / flower seeds in pots for the porch. Because of all the rain we’ve had over the last two weeks the tomato plants are huge!! I think I may grab a couple more varieties next weekend.
The garage sale we had on Saturday was a success. My sister made a little over $250 selling 2 instruments and of clothing and we came out with about $215 selling some large baby items and miscellaneous stuff collected over the last ten years. We are planning on doing it again next weekend since we still weren’t able to have it all out in time on Sat. If I could make another $100, I would be thrilled! We even found time in the midst of it to give haircuts to my girlies. It was a very long but productive day
On the fibery front, there hasn’t been too much going on. I’m still trying to let my arm heal and it’s been slow-going. I am usually back in the saddle very quickly after most injuries but having never actually broken a bone before I was totally unprepared for the long recovery time. I’m still slowly knitting away on the first of my mom’s Mother’s Day socks. I’m planning on trying to finish this one today.
My Larger than Life bag is still sitting at 3 squares completed. The crochet is the hardest on my injury so this may take longer than I had hoped in the beginning. Oh well, there isn’t any deadline thank goodness!
I do however have a partially finished FO to show you. It’s an FO because I’m done with the knitting and felting of it but there is still alot of sewing and finishing work to be done. I knit this up using 4 balls of Patons SWS in Natural Navy. Obviously it is a bag of some sort but that’s all the info I’m sharing at the moment.
Thanks to everyone who chimed in with their picks for the lining fabric on my LTL bag. If you haven’t yet, go ahead! I haven’t ordered it yet so there’s still time for me to be persuaded.
Coming Soon: spinning plans!
By Amanda and Becky so I guess I don’t really have a choice, do I? Nah, I don’t mind too awfully much. Here goes!
1. I tend to be a slob. Those piles of clothes everyone has been talking about? There must have been spying on me. I hate it and am trying desperately to change my ways.
2. The smell of black licorice and/or root beer make me gag horribly.
3. The only time I had a dream involving a celebrity, it was Will Smith (ahhhhh) and I had to choose between hubby and him. Hubby won but still!
4. I always hated wearing socks till I tried on a pair of handknit socks.
5. I adore a good glass of port.
6. I am a quarter Portuguese.
7. Hubby and I want to move to Israel someday.
8. I didn’t decide on a favorite color till I was 29, it’s green. More specifically, it’s olive green.
Let’s see who I can tag who hasn’t already done this: Keri, Laura, Vera, Julie, and Kat.
There ya all go, don’t know how interesting I am but that’s how the cookie crumbles I guess. We are having a garage sale tomorrow so I won’t be posting again till sunday.
Coming soon: gardening, felting, and other shenanigans.
Well the yarn got here, my first order ever from Elann and I need to say, ” I am very pleased with their service and their yarn!” I am thrilled with the colors I chose and so excited about how the squares are coming together! I could easily whip out six in a day but with my arm still in a brace, I think I had better stay on the conservative side with one. They are coming out a little on the small side with this yarn but that’s okay. It won’t hurt anybody’s feelings if my bag is a little smaller than the rest.
I’m playing with the idea of ordering a few more balls of the burnt olive in order to knit the bottom/side band in garter stitch doubling the yarn for extra stability. For those who have made the bag, do you think it would work? Here are the three I’ve finished so far.
The colors are not quite showing up right, but if you look a couple of posts down you’ll see the true colors.
I’ve started shopping around online for some pretty lining fabric and found quite a few to drool over. Wanna help me choose? I need one for the inner lining, and one for the outer lining, or I can just use one for both.
Sage Flowers Spray by Kaffe Fassett
Puffs in Green by Kaffe Fassett
Embroidered Leaf by Kaffe Fassett
Beach Ball Jungle by Kaffe Fassett
Amy Butler’s Lotus Water Lily in Lime
Leave me a comment and let me know what you would pick, okay? Thanks!
Since my camera got left at my mom’s house on Sunday and I have no pictures to show you my progress on assorted projects, I will succumb to the latest blogland meme.
Mark with bold the things you have done, with italics the ones you plan to do someday, and leave the rest plain.
Afghan
I cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette Stitch
Socks–top down
Socks–toe up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens–cuff up
Mittens–tip down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting // modular knitting
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting // twined knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (including Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American / English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Buttonholes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with double pointed needles
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling / Felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses / bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self patterning / self-striping / varigated yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs / fingerless mitts / armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug / bolero / poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public
Interesting how many things I have learned and accomplished in the three years I’ve been knitting! Well stay tuned tomorrow for a update on my Larger Than Life bag from IK Crochet and help me choose the lining fabric! Have a great hump day!
Mother’s Day rocked. Billy and the kids brought me breakfast in bed with card, flowers and chocolate coffee stirrers! Along with my wonderful new sock stash addition, I also received lots of flowers, potting soil and a really cool hands-free stand for my hair-dryer!
After church we shared lunch at my Mom’s house with 2 of my 3 siblings. My sister mixed up a batch of non-spiked pina coladas to go with the grilled Honey Ginger Chicken. YUM!
I was doubly blessed to come home and take a nap! Then I relaxed while Billy cooked dinner and we watched Extreme Makeover Home Ed.
All in all, a perfect Mother’s Day for me. Hope your day was relaxing and full of love.
Now returning to the rewarding job of full-time mother and homemaker……………………
Things are really poppin’ around here! Even with my arm (shhhh! sometimes) in a sling, I’ve been getting a lot done. My mom has ooohed and aaahed over every pair of socks to come off my needles so it’s only natural for me to pull a quickie out of the hat for Mother’s Day. I think I ordered the yarn from Sheri on last friday, broke my arm on sunday, got the yarn on monday, started the socks on thursday, and here’s the yarn and my progress at the moment of writing:
The yarn is Cider Moon’s Glacier, a DK weight superwash merino softer than a baby’s bottom. The colorway is called Victoria and it is the most intense purple possible without retinal damage. The pattern, Campfire Socks by Cider Moon as well is nice and stretchy and utilizes a square heel, a new one for me. My dear friend, blogless Dawn decided on her own to take my kids for a large portion of yesterday so I had lots of uninterrupted knitting time and would have finished the first sock if not for such frivolities as grocery shopping and eating pizza.
If you noticed my list of buttons on the right, I got signed up in time this year to participate in Sockapalooza 4! Last year I found out about it when it was about half over.
I have heard from my upstream pal knitting for me and supposedly we’ve swapped before!!! That really made me wrack my brain till it hurt. Although I’ve got a few suspicions, I really don’t have anything hard to go on so you can breathe my sweet pal, your identity is safe for now. I contacted my downstream pal and it’s gonna be sooo much fun to spoil her! She pretty much gave me free reign on her socks, her only preference being a strong dislike for pastels. The perfect yarn (I think?) has been ordered from The Loopy Ewe, (duh!) and I’m leaning towards knitting Monkey.
What do you think? Is it a good match?
Of course when I ordered it, it was right after a Sneak Up at the Ewe and I tried but failed on getting out of there with my self-control intact. I managed to snag a couple of treats for myself. And dangitall I don’t feel guilty! I mean come on! It’s Mother’s Day weekend, I’m entitled. Hehehe…(insert giggles) I’ll show you when they get here!
Along with Socktopia and now Sockapalooza, I also joined up for the Summer of Socks 2007 , the Six Sox KAL and the Sensational Knitted Socks KAL. There’s a lot of socks I’ve been wanting to knit for myself and I plan on getting a head start on my Christmas gifts this way as well.
Last but definitely NOT least, I was thrilled to sign up for the Larger Than Life CAL! I’ve crocheted for a loooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time and adore crocheted bags so when I saw this one in the spring issue of Interweave Crochet, my heart started racing! I told hubby last night that I really wanted the yarn for this to be my gift from him, (he craves this kind of gift-giving help!) and then promptly ordered it! I’ll be using Elann’s Callista which I’m really excited to try. The colors are amazing! My main color is the burnt olive, with the contrast colors being: copper, desert rose, boysenberry, aramanth, morocccan blue, peacock and tarragon.
Well, I’d love to say I’ve come into posession of my first hank of STR but I haven’t.
I have decided to return to my favorite childhood activity as my preferred form of cardiovascular exercise. Old-fashioned roller-skating. I’m very, very excited to get back in the rink after a 12-15 yr absence. So, on Sunday afternoon I went. This is Tuesday and I got back from the doctor’s office a few hours ago. I managed to fracture my right forearm right next to the elbow. No cast thankfully, just a sling for a week, then some stretching to start regaining my normal range of motion.
Am I still as gung-ho about skating? YEP! You bet I am. I’m busying myself shopping for safety gear/pads.
As soon as I can type with both hands without pain I’ll post again. Till then please keep me in your prayers, and STR in my mailbox definitely says “Get Well Soon!” hehehe (gotta leave hints for my sockapalooza pal!)
