Happy Halloween!

No. I'm not totally crazy. With Halloween falling on a Sunday this year, the annual downtown trick-or-treat thing is scheduled for this afternoon. So this morning I was gathering up the vampire cape, teeth, face paint, fake blood to send off to school with Noah. The daycare he goes to is AWESOME about taking the kids to do extra things. And since the trick-or-treating starts at 3:30 p.m., this works out really well for me. Beings that I'll still be at work.

As for the appointment for my dad the other day .... The news was actually great! The testing they did showed there are NO neurological problems (before they had possibly thought dementia or the brain aging faster than normal). What he's dealing with is an extremely severe case of depression. But he has been doing better some days. He's even smiled a couple of times.

I really miss the way my dad was, but I'll always love him - no matter what.

I ended up frogging the whole sock I was working on the other day. I just could not pick the stitches up correctly. Stress + two fighting kids + an awful headache = totally frogged sock + sadness. I'm going to try to start the sock again tonight. Maybe even try to do two at a time. We'll see how that goes.

My fingerless gloves have had no progress. I still have one glove without a thumb.

If there is anyone out there interested in a possible holiday get-together for knitters in Colorado, I'd be glad to hear from you. I think this could be a lot of fun. Maybe do a little gift exchange. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm Ready For Some Good News ...

Well, Dad has another doctor's appointment today. I'm going to go with mom and dad to this appointment, too. Hopefully, we should be getting the results back from more of the tests that he had taken in Cheyenne about a month ago.

If we can eliminate some possible causes for his depression, etc., that would be great! And if we can target causes, even better. It's just been so hard on mom and dad. And everyone else. Especially when you don't know what's causing the problems.

Anyhow, on the way to the appointment, I will be working (frogging) on a pair of socks for my mom. I turned the heel yesterday and did all the decreases ... Then realized I'd forgetten to work one row knit in between each decrease row! AAAGGGHHH! Guess I'll be in the pond for a while. Ribbit!

Still didn't get pictures up. Mom's in the process of putting a new computer up. Since she has the pictures I want, it'll be a few more days still, I'm sure.

Noah's eye's much better, but it's got that sickly greenish-yellowish color of fading bruises. At least it doesn't seem to be too sore.

Monday, Monday

Well, the weekend definitely was not long enough.

I took the day off from work on Friday. My son had his first grade field trip to the Denver Zoo. And I rode the bus with him. To the zoo and back.

The day was cold, and it started to mist/sleet for the last hour or so we were there. Then, I forgot to bring along any cash, and all the other kids were getting cotton candy, ice cream cones, stuffed animals, etc.

BUT, it could have been a lot worse. (And I did get a little knitting done on the ride up.) I was still really, really glad to get home that evening, though.

The picture I posted yesterday is of my son. He's perched on a statue of a gorilla (though that's hard to make out in this photo). Whenever we go to the zoo, we always joke about going to visit my kids' cousins ... the monkeys!

Monkey-ing Around

Look At Me Now!

The new me:


You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting
and do it all the time. While finishing a piece
is the plan, you still love the process, and
can't imagine a day going by without giving
some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation
involves leaving ample space for the stash and
supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn
ends and you begin.

What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I had never quite thought about myself like this before ... but I like it! :)

I Love Fall!

I really do love Fall. I love the cool temperatures, the sometimes cloudy and overcast days (like today), and I like to see if get dark earlier. Call we weird. It takes all sorts, though, huh?

Last night I meant to get some pictures up of my mitten in progress and my weekend purchases from Lambspun. However, Time did not allow that to happen. Imagaine that! My goal is to have something uploaded at least by this weekend.

Haven't really had much knitting time the last couple of days. Too much going on with the kids. HOWEVER .... on Friday I will be traveling to the Denver Zoo with my son for his field trip. AND ... I will be riding the bus. SO ... (if I don't go insane!) I plan on getting a bit of knitting done during travel time. Hopefully ...

Rather Be Knitting ...

I think this could very easily be the title of my entry almost every day!

The trip to Lambspun was great. It was fun to meet Lisa, and she had a HUGE surprise for me! I had told her I'd been wanting to buy a ball winder, and had planned on getting one this weekend. When I was getting ready to pay, she grabbed the ball winder from the counter and told me I couldn't get that. WHAT???!!! That was one of the things I'd definitely been wanting to get. She then preceded to tell me she'd already gotten me one. I 'bout fell over.

That is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me, and I would not have expected it in the least. Thank you sooooo much, Lisa!

The other purchases I made at Lambspun included two skeins of Brown Sheep Wildfoote in Symphony (yummy!), a darning egg for kitchenering my socks and a pattern for felted fish. This pattern was actually designed by the owner of my LYS in Sterling, Fiberspace. My son decided I just had to get that pattern on Saturday, though.

After paying for everything, the four of us (Lisa and her daughter, and me and my son) went to Wendy's for a quick lunch.

It was so nice to actually get together with someone close to my age who has some of the some hobbies as I do! Lisa, hope we can do it again sometime!

I also made a quick stop in Greeley at Wild 'N' Wooly. I'd never been to this shop before, never knew it was there. Cute place! And it has quilting stuff, too. So next time we're in Greeley, my mother and I can both be happy with stopping in there.

Today is also my dad's 56th birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad!

(Im)Patiently Awaiting Tomorrow ...

Lambspun here we come! I've only visited there once ... and can't wait to go back tomorrow morning. With any luck, we'll find a couple other little yarn/knit shops around Fort Collins to check out, too.

On my "must-have" list, I already have a ball winder, a darning egg (or something of the sort, to help when kitchenering my socks) and a few more row counters. If I would stick to having only 2-3 projects going at a time, I wouldn't need more counters ... but, just in case ...

My son loves to take road trips. My daughter doesn't. Therefore, he will be my traveling companion, and she will probably be spending most of the day with Grandma & Grandpa.

For those of you who are willing, please keep my parents in your prayers. My dad has had a rough past year. He's been dealing a lot with depression, and his whole life has changed. It's really hard on my mom, too. Maybe I'll elaborate on the situation some time, but it makes me very sad, too.

Anyhow, back to happy thoughts ... It's Friday ... gonna knit tonight ... then go spend more money to buy more things to knit tomorrow. What could be better than that? :)

Happy Day!

Well, it is. I'm making new friends. Ditched work for a little bit this morning (to go to the yarn store!).

Have a trip planned this weekend to go to Lambspun (Fort Collins, CO) with Lisa, my new knitting buddy who I've met through the RAOK and I Knit A Mile High web rings.

And I've learned how to get the link to another site into my posts. (See "Lisa" above.)

Now ... how cool is all that?

I HAD to buy some more circs to work my mittens on. I'd been using 16-inch addis for them and a pair of socks for my son ... but my hands hurt! The tips are just too short, and they rub my hands wrong. It's just not as as enjoyable to work on your project like that .... "Knit, purl, ouch! Knit, purl, ouch!"

This is me - Golden!

What Color Is Your Brain?

And it has started out to be a good morning. Even for a Monday.
I was RAOKed for the first time this morning! Thanks to Lisa Y for a $5 online gift certificate to Adagio Teas. Very cool. Also, got a couple of e-cards. This is going to be so much fun.

Started my mittens for the I'm in Glove KAL. Using Opal Mosaic in the purple pattern. These are my first pair of mittens, so I'm very excited about them.

Any help on creating my very own button would be much appreciated. Haven't had a lot of time to look around for instructions, yet.

Good day to all RAOKers!

Oh yeah! I'm in, and I feel honored. Can't wait to start getting to know other members of this ring.

I've been in a bit of a slump this last week or so. Need to keep myself busy. Try to update and enhance my blog more. (Doggone digital camera ...)

Today I've been working on the camo socks for my son. Going to put a short row heel in instead of following the pattern exactly. Hope this will work well for him.

Also, I'll probably start my Shawa mittens today. Just need to find the right yarn to use for them. Depends a lot on who will be the recipient of these mittens. They will be my first pair, so I think maybe they'd be most comfortable in my jacket pockets .... :)