I'd better get Knitting

You know, it's always about this time of year, when the snow flies, and it's frickin' cold, that I realize I should have started knitting mittens in June. Maybe they would be done (for once) when the snow flies, and it's frickin' cold. I have one of Nicholas' felted mittens done. And half a cuff on the other one. Oh and I bought the yarn for the girls' mittens.
So here is our blizzard (as taken by Brian):


And the good news on the Christmas PJ front? I found the patterns! They were in a drawer in the kitchen (and why wouldn't they be??). Oh yeah, and since JoannDOTcom (I am writing it like this, because I don't want anyone to make a mistake and click on a link that will take you to an evil, unorganized hole-"That's all I got to say about that.") screwed up my order, I have flannel for exactly ONE pair of pajamas. Which means I see a flannel run in my future.

Our Christmas cards should be coming today. Those of you who do not have multiple children might not realize how hard it is to get a decent picture (and those of you who do will understand why I bought a fast camera!) Unless of course you are one of those mom's who have complete angels as children. Bah. Anyway, I thought I would share some of the rejects with you (the last is my favorite of Emily):


Happy Friday everyone!

My Knit Picks Wishlist

Well, if I post this on my blog, then maybe I'll win it right? That would rock! So here I am posting this on my blog ;)

My Knit Picks Wishlist

Lawn Mowers in November...

...should have already been winterized. But alas, I am hearing my jackass neighbors mow their lawn. Look, I know you are excited it is 60 degrees in November in Wisconsin. But COME ON! Enjoy not shoveling--and not mowing--and just get outside! Of course it is possible they are happy to mow the dog poop rather than pick it up...

I have to change the progress bar on the scarf for Emily back down to 50%. I finished the ball of yarn, but it is definitely NOT a one ball scarf, as the label lied and told me. Even for my little girl, this scarf would barely tie once around her neck...so I'm going to have to buy another ball and knit that one too.


In other news--my family went to Wisconsin Dells and I didn't even get a lousy T-Shirt. That's ok though--I DID get to work 20 hours on the Reference desk. (which, despite some long 8 hour days, was pretty fun!).

My big BIG news?? The Friends of the Appleton Library (FOAL) sponsored their first annual Book n Bowl and held a raffle. The prizes were pretty great--vacations, Packers/Bears tickets, and iPad. Of course the only one I REALLY wanted was the iPad...and guess who won!? Wanna see it?


Brian and I are currently addicted to Angry Birds, although his boss says Angry Birds Halloween rocks too.

Snow White turned out great--and so did Anna's peacock costume she made herself!!! Luigi looked great too, but he was $19 at Walmart!

Look at those feather eyelashes! And look at the BEAUTIFUL sweater that Thora made her in the perfect color!!

October Knitting

About time to update my damn blog, eh?

Alright, I have been busy. I lost my jobs at APL, and I am now working at NPL, which is just really, well, nice. The people are nice, the patrons are nice, and I enjoy going to work.

DD #1's behavior has become a huge problem. I know in the coming years, it will only get worse. I am at my wit's end wondering what on earth I did to make her decide that stealing, lying and sneaking is acceptable. *sigh*

Anyway, enough family complaining. I could go on all day with that, and that's boring. Let me move on to knitting--I took a little hiatus, and have decided I'd better start moving PDQ if I'm going to get my kids some warm garments before it gets REALLY cold.

So what did I do. I bought some Red Heart Pomp-a-doodle. Seriously, what the hell was I thinking??

I HATE novelty yarn, and here I am working with pompoms on a string. But it's surprisingly, um, not difficult to knit with. And the finished product makes a thick, terry cloth feeling scarf. I'm embarrassed to say I'm pretty happy with it.


Oh and I found some Homespun that matches it to make mittens and a hat with for Ms. Emily.
Otherwise, I just finished sewing a Snow White costume (that was much more labor intensive than I'd like), and I started as an Independent Consultant with Scentsy. If I can make a little extra money selling a product I believe in (I'm all about the scents!) I'm there! So I'm excited about that new venture, pretty sure I will be horrible at it, but I'm willing to try. :)

I also tried to get a job at the local Joann's teaching knitting. It was looking pretty promising, until I rearranged my schedule to meet with the person and bring in some FO's, got pictures developed of other FO's I'd given away, etc. I called that morning to hear, "Well, the bad news is you have to meet with a manager, and I forgot to tell you that. But she's here today! But she kind of doesn't know about you or that you are coming." Now I see the sign looking for someone is down--so maybe my timing was bad. Or maybe their organization (or scary lack-there-of) tells me I didn't want to work there, even just for the discount. Ah well...it wasn't meant to be.

A Joke for my Anna

A kindergarten teacher handed out a coloring page to her class. On it was a picture of a duck holding an umbrella. The teacher told her class to color the duck in yellow and the umbrella green, however, Bobby, the class rebel, coloured the duck in a bright fire truck red. After seeing this, the teacher asked him: "Bobby, how many times have you seen a red duck?" Young Bobby replied with "The same number of times I've seen a duck holding an umbrella."

(When she was in Kindergarten, Anna's first conference involved her teacher and the school psychologist. Apparently, Anna colored her apple purple instead of red--as the teacher told her to--and this was cause for alarm. After Brian and I stopped laughing--causing the vein in her teacher's head to throb--we let her know that we pick and choose our battles with Anna, and purple apples would not be one we'd be picking. This joke reminded me of the whole incident!)

Finally...an update

I know I have been woefully lacking in posts, but, truthfully, I haven't been knitting much this summer! I seem to be working on the same project, just doing a row here or there. It's a sweater for Emily (the kids asked for sweaters for school. Oy!)

Anyway, for Emily I am trying a Cottage Creations pattern, Kyler's Kardigan in Paton's Canadiana light pink.
I SWORE I would never try another Cottage Creations pattern, but I was at Herrschners store, and I was tempted. So far I can understand most of it, but it's not moving along very fast.

I had a busy day so far. I made beef soup for tomorrow
seared beef for fajitas tonight, made zucchini cake

and creamy cucumbers....mmmmm.
So I'm still alive. I'm taking the kids this afternoon to go see Shrek 4 at Fox Cinema. We haven't been there yet, so I'm hoping it's a good time! :)

One little moth...

...can ruin your whole day.

Brian mentioned to me he'd seen little moths coming out of our room. I finally got up the courage to inspect my wool...and it's chewed to hell. I gathered up everything and put it in the big freezer downstairs, but I'm pretty upset. :(

From now on--quarantined yarn before it comes in (although it is possible my little "bug" girl brought them in the house) and rubbermaid containers. And "nuke the sight from orbit...it's the only way to be sure."

In other news, I have more time to knit, since I've lost 2 of my 3 jobs. :(

Boy, this post is a bummer...sorry about the depressing update. I'll finish some knitting and be more upbeat next time!