You're a witchy woman! Chances are that you see
Morticia Addams as a role model, and your
wardrobe sports a fair amount of black. The
other mothers at school pick up may look
askance, but your kids already know that the
judgement of others isn't what counts.

What kind of a freaky mother are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Of course in my case it would be Goth Step Mother!

I so did not want to come to work today - oh well - I've gotten a lot of paper work done today - I would rather have stayed in bed though! I did bring 2 of on crochet projects with me today - Christian's Hoody and the silk capelet, so I will get some work done on those.

Hope everyone who celebrated had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving....

to everyone. I hope you have much to be thankful for!

Yesterday was a good day, for a Monday

I got taken to lunch by one of my sales reps, met with one of his customer's and solved a billing problem, so it was a good day at work! But, best of all - I have an interview at a Spa next week for a sponsorship - I would be able to treat under the Spa's massage license, so I would get lots of practical experience before I take the boards. I have really missed doing massage on a regular basis, so I am really excited!

Here is a quote from an article in today's New York Times :

"At a time when the White House has portrayed Mr. Bush's 3.5-million-vote victory as a mandate, the poll found that Americans are at best ambivalent about Mr. Bush's plans to reshape Social Security, rewrite the tax code, cut taxes and appoint conservative judges to the bench. There is continuing disapproval of Mr. Bush's handling of the war in Iraq, with a plurality now saying it was a mistake to invade in the first place."

OK - so why did they vote for him? And this:

"The poll reflected the electoral feat of the Bush campaign this year. He won despite the fact that Americans disapproved of his handling of the economy, foreign affairs and the war in Iraq. There has been a slight increase in the number of Americans who believe the nation should never have gone into Iraq. A majority of Americans continue to believe the country is going in the wrong direction, traditionally a warning sign for an incumbent."

It does end on the cheery note:

"Finally, in one bit of presumably good news for a party that is looking for it, Americans now have a better opinion of the Democratic Party than of the Republican Party: 54 percent said they had a favorable view of Democrats, compared with 39 percent with an unfavorable view. By contrast, 49 percent have a favorable view of Republicans, compared with 46 percent holding an unfavorable one."

On the knitting/crochet front - I finished the back and left front of the hoodie for my nephew and I did a few more inches on my capelet.

A quiet Sunday...

is what I am hoping for today. I have been feeling rushed and pulled in so many directions lately I haven't had the chance to just sit and breathe.

Yesterday was a great day though - I volunteered at the Critter Knitters Knit Out at the Museum of Art and Design - what a wonderful place - I had never been there before, but I will definitely be going back - they are doing a fiber arts exhibit now that is really quite amazing. Downstairs where we were is a set of chairs and an ottoman that had been deconstructed thread by thread, and there was a "tapestry" of Brittany Spears that was done with painted acrylic nails! It was so perfect! Talk about the medium being the message. You can see it if you click on the link above then click on the Fiber International 2004 exhibit. The knit out was great too - we were there to teach people to knit and help them make squares that would be pieced together to make blankets for the city's Animal Shelters. People were there from the Crochet Guild also - it was a very large turn out and a whole lot of fun! All the volunteers got lovely thank you gifts too, a pretty candle in a glass holder with a piece of yarn tied around it holding 3 lovely beaded stitch markers. The museum is right across the street form MOMA (you should have seen the lines for the reopening!) at 40 West 53 St - I highly recommend a visit.

The boys are on a camping trip this weekend, I have to pick them up at the church at about 11:30 so that gives me a few hours to knit and do laundry. David will drive them home later.

I am working on a capelet crocheted from some 100% natural hand dyed silk I bought on ebay - this silk is not what I expected - it is matte and kinda stiff almost like linen - the colors are lovely though - it is called amethyst and onyx. I also need to start on the hooded cardigan for my nephew and finish the boys afghans. I have a lot to do - maybe this won't be such a quite Sunday after all.

I should have known better than to ask for a quiet Sunday - went to pick up the boys at the church and the scoutmaster was waiting for me to let me know that the boys were terrible this weekend and that they had gotten into a huge fight this morning packing up their tents. I just don't know what to do - David is at his wit's end. They can't seem to be together for more than a few minutes before they start fighting with each other - it has gotten so much worse since their little brother was born. The scouts are going to ask them to stop coming if they keep up this behavior.

Just another manic Monday

I have been woefully negligent in my posting of late. I have been reading lost of other blogs, but have had nothing to say on mine. Part of it has been the post election blues, part trying to get organized and start preparing for the State Boards in January (I have not looked a my notes or opened a book since August!) and part has been just general ennui. I am trying to shake myself out of this fugue but it is slow going.

I worked on the live lobster poncho this weekend, I had put it down to get Marilyn's poncho finished in time for her birthday. I really enjoyed working on the cables - it was nice to focus on something detailed for a change.

Robert, my stepson, had taken up knitting. He is knitting a square for a charity project at his school. I will take a picture to post soon, he has really done a very good job.

I was too tired to wake up when the alarm went off this morning, jumped out of bed late, missed my bus and generally had a poor start to my week. Here's hoping that the rest of the week is better than today.

Starting over

I almost finished my headband last night - we had a minor flood in the kitchen when DH noticed a leak and went to touch it and his finger went right through the pipe. Thank god my landlord was available and fixed it. So I didn't get as much work done as I wanted - I will finish tonight then I think I will frog the one fingerless glove I have and restart it as this (scroll down) - I really like the cables that Robbyn did.

I also swatched my Peruvian alpaca for this:
I have the yarn in this color:

I used the bamboo needles I picked up at Samurai - they are a thick size 7 or a thin size 8 and I got the perfect gauge with them. I used the swatch to make myself a cell phone cover. I really like this pattern because it is knit in 2 pieces - no separate sleeves to knit! It is in the current Vogue Knitting. I don't know when I will start this as I still have my Christmas knitting to finish, but I doubt I will wait that long.

Another Monday, another WIP

It has been a while since I posted - I was just a bit tired and bummed last week so I didn't do much knitting or crochet. I was also desperately trying to get the forms filed so I can take my licensing exam in Jan. I had put all the paper work away while dealing with moving my mother, when I finally got it out to see what needed to be done I realized I missed the deadline to file, so there I was calling the testing company and NYS and trying to get it all done asap. I was able to register for the exam - had to pay a $50 late fee - then had to scramble to get a passport photo and get the license exam notarized so I could mail that in.

Fortunately Marilyn is a notary - so I went there yesterday and gave her the poncho for her birthday. It looked really good on her! I hope she likes it - I will try to get a picture to post. I finished it late on Sat night and had no film to photogragh it before we left on Sunday. I like the design - I modeled it on this, but used the tulip crochet stitch and a soft bulky wt acrylic, Misty by Red Heart. It is very warm and cozy. I liked it so much I want to make one for me too!

I did a bunch of crochet squares for Robert's afghan I have 12 knit squares in the middle and 16 crochet square in each end so it looks like this:

C C C C
C C C C
K K K K
K K K K
K K K K
C C C C
C C C C

I think I will do Jeff's a little differently.

Today at lunch - after I finish posting I am going to co for another one of these I made a bunch last winter and I love them. This one is in brown alpaca.

Sadness

I am feeling very sad today. I don't understand how we American's can be so blind. This is a bad thing for America and for anyone who isn't a conservative, who believes in individual rights and the freedom to think and say and feel what they want. Fear and tunnel vision won this election and I am really afraid of what the future holds.

VOTE

While reading blogs this morning I came across this one - Love it - I almost spit out my coffee! And I was Norma's 1000 comment so she is sending me a prize - how cool is that!. Tried to vote this morning but the line was soooo long - I would have been very late for work, so I will go on the way home tonight. I can't stress enough how important it is for every American to vote - it is your right - exercise it.

I was also surfing yarn shops and found out Smiley's has the alpaca on their web for $2.99 a skein. I have the brown heather and will be going back next week to the store to buy more.

Take a look at these - I love what she did to the voodoo pattern - the cable rib is perfect.

I have been having fun with the crochet block book. Last night I finished 2 while watching a special on Genghis Khan on the history channel. I will finish those 2 blankets in time for Christmas. I also made one for my afghan group partner - I was going to knit one and crochet one, but now I think I will crochet both.

Before I sat down to crochet last night, David made me go through all the old records and cassettes I had taken from my mother's after she moved. I think I have one of the best collections of 80's music ever. I found Ian Hunter, Bananarama, Yaz, lots of the Cure, ALL of Elvis Costello's albums (including some rare imports) 999, Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe and Rockpile, Squeeze, Spit Enz, Souixsie and the Banshee's, Concrete Blonde, the soundtrack to Party Party and so many more I can't think of right now. Plus my collection of Led Zepplin albums (I still think Robert Plant is the sexiest man ever!) David had never heard of most of them. He is a wonderful man, but has not taste in music - he likes to listen to tv theme music.

Oops - time to get back to work....

Remember to VOTE tomorrow

Did everyone have a good Halloween? It was very quite in my neighborhood. My bell hardly rang at all. The boys are back with their mother on Sunday, so I didn't have to take them Trick or Treating. Good thing I didn't buy much candy or I'd have it in the house all week.

Took the new car out for a short road trip on Saturday - David originally wanted to go to PA, but the weather was so lousy, we just drove out to the Island, got as far as Port Jefferson then headed back so we could get the kids home on time. Stopped at Target and p/u a few more bins for stash storage. I am happy to report that knitting is very comfortable in the Aztek. I still think it is butt ugly, but David is happy and that is all that matters.

Just about finished the 3rd skein of Misty for Marilyn's poncho - I have one more left, but I am thinking that I might need 5 - well see how long it is after I finish this one.

Picked up 200 crochet blocks - cool book - I made a few to add to Robert's blanket - I had knit 9 squares up in his colors and now I want to do 9 in crochet and sew them all together. Then I can do the same for Jeff's.

I also received the new Interweave knits - some really nice stuff in there, but my favorite is the web pattern here. It is done in Filatura Di Crosa Zara but I was thinking Elann has some beautiful Peruvian wool at a very reasonable price - would have to see if that could work.

Remember - VOTE tomorrow!

2nd Post: I found it - I mentioned that I had seen some really beautiful handpainted silk/wool blend yarn and couldn't find the link - well I found it!! Here - isn't this gorgeous!!??!! I want every color!

Did anyone catch Desperate Housewives last night? (I know, but I can't help it - it is a bad habit) I was hysterical - I never realized how threatening knitting could be! No wonder David and the boys don't bother me when I am knitting.