The End!!

And it is none too soon. NaBloPoMo ends tonight. Thank you, Jeebus! I am butt-assed tired of posting every single day. Once I hit "Publish Post", I can sit back and relax for the weekend. And check the prize list to see if I won for sticking it out the whole month.

Today is Family Friday. I don't have any fun pictures to show. I don't have anything especially witty to comment about. Why, you ask? Because the monster formerly known as Connor is teething. *cue fingernails on blackboard sound* Oh yeah. My day started before 5 am today. My personal favorite part of the day has to be watching him sit on the floor wailing. We are talking inconsolable, people. Until I pick him up. Then the world is right. But my arms and back are revolting. I give him homeopathic teething tablets before bed and say eleventy billion prayers that he sleeps for 9 hours straight. I have Tylenol in the back up supply, but I am leery of giving it to him...I don't take any medication and don't want him to take any either if it isn't absolutely necessary.

So, that is that. Fun times, fun times.

I have been tagged by the duo over at Secret Leaves. I secretly love doing meme's. Shh, don't tell everyone though, okay? I wish I were witty like Cass to come up with a twist on the meme, but alas, I am not. It is all I can do to think of 7 Things that I haven't previously told you. But, I will give it a shot.

1. I can wiggle my ears.
2. My second toe is longer than my big toe.
3. I can bend my fingers back really far. Really far.
4. I can bend my thumb joint back(the one below your nail) so that my thumb makes an upside down "L" shape.
   
5. I can't bring myself to eat anything that has fallen on the floor in my house. But I will stand by and watch as my son drops a piece of something, picks it up and puts it in his mouth.
   
6. I still have a scar on my tongue from when I was a super genius and had it pierced. Twice. I am smart like that.
7. I can't sneak up on anyone. My ankles crack and pop when I walk and it is really loud.
   

So, what does this prove? That I am a genetic mutant and a bad mother.

I tag the fellow NaBloPoMo-er's that I can think of off of the top of my head. Kendra and
Chiloe.

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I finished the dropped yarn over scarf today. It is way scratchy though. I don't know if I can gift it in good conscience.

I am dying to start either socks or a bag. Or both. I am thinking of doing the Squatty Sidekick or the French Market Bag. I will be using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Red shades. I am totally leaning towards the FMB. It will be a gift, so I had better cast on soon!

Peace.

WIP's and a FO

Since I totally flaked out on posting my Works In Progress yesterday, so I will bore you with them show them to you today. Cause NaBloPoMo is sucking the creative energy out of my head, thank God there is only one more dayI am nice like that.

First- the shawl...I have made a few more progress rows...I anticipate having it finished next week. It looks pretty much the same as before, so I didn't picture it again.

Second - The dropped yarn over scarf. I anticipate having this one done by next Thursday as well. I have made it to the second ball of yarn.

Third - The Irish Hiking Scarf. I love this pattern, this yarn, and this scarf. At first I was a bit intimidated, but now I have the pattern memorized and it is easy peasy. If anyone wants to try cables, but is unsure, do it! Try the Irish Hiking Scarf.


On to the Finished Object. Singular tense here. One lonesome dishcloth. Using the Grandmother's Favorite pattern, Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn in the Mistletoe colorway.


I recently found Phoe. Go check out her page. I will wait. You won't be sorry.

Okay, back? See her amazing knitting? Yeah, she is very prolific and often offers her knitted items for free to her readers. A couple of weeks ago, she had some yarn available for adoption and I jumped on the chance to try Opal sock yarn. It is the Owl colorway and she sent this coordinating pattern with it. And the cutest bracelet. I can't get a decent picture of the bracelet at night, but trust me, it is cute. And it is on my wrist as I type this. Thank you, Phoe! Your Saipan package should be arriving soon.

I am almost counting the rows on the simple scarf and the shawl so that I can be done with them and finally cast on a pair of socks. Eeep! And a felted bag. Double eeep! I have start-itis bad.

If you are searching for the world's biggest yarn stash, look no further. No, I am not showing pictures of my deep freezer again. Are you sitting down? Okay, look here. That could qualify as a shop, not a residence.

Did I mention that tomorrow is the last day of NaBloPoMo? Not a moment too soon, either. I plan on taking the weekend off. Then I plan on posting every other day.

Peace.

Clean Up Sunday

Did I ever mention how much I adore Christmas movies? I enjoy watching them year round, but once late November hits, I watch one every day. We are watching The Family Stone right now. At first I hated this movie, but now it is one of my top 5 Christmas movies.

In the spirit of Christmas, and trying to elude extreme Grinchy-ness here at the House of Grinch (watched that on on Friday), DH brought me a book from the bookshelf yesterday. I am wondering if this is a hint or if he was just being nice and thought I looked bored? I think it was a hint. It is a favorite of mine....

The Best of Martha Stewart Living Handmade Christmas

(A quick peek at Amazon.com shows this book for 1 cent (3.99 shipping)! Click on the title under the picture to be taken to Amazon.com)

My movie is playing and I have a cabled scarf calling my name. Ciao!

Peace.

Saipan Saturday

As per our routine, we were boring and did the usual today. Farmer's Market, post office, Ace hardware, Joeten for groceries. We also went to the Brilliant Star Montessori School's Holiday Bazaar. It was nicely planned and put together.

The Christmas trees are in at Joeten (the "Department" store that is also the grocery store). And if you were to believe the radio advertisements, "Christmas just isn't the same without a fresh tree from Joeten." Here's a closer look at the prices (click on picture to enlarge).....

No $50 Christmas tree lots here on the island.

I think that our Christmas will be just fine with our free artificial tree that is almost as old as I am. We spent some time yesterday putting up said free tree and getting the lights on it. It is sans ornaments for a while, we want Connor to get used to it without breaking all of the ornaments immediately.
(Psssst, those are fake presents under our tree. We use them every year that way it doesn't look so lonely under there until we actually get a couple of real presents under there.)

I also did something today that I am hoping becomes a routine...at least for the next 6 months. I met up with Deece again for a Mom's knitting & coffee time. Yay! Her little girl is just as cute as can be and is exactly how I imagined her.

Peace.

P.S. Gayle, it isn't a typo that you read. We plan on trying again in April-ish 2008 : )

Knitting, Baby and Houses.

Since I missed WIP Wednesday, FO Thursday and today is Family Friday, I am combining them into today's post.

WIP Wednesday would have been:

The shawl. It is endless garter stitch right now. I do a few rows and feel like I am making zero progress. I put it around my shoulders one day and it is too small, so I put it around Connor and it was ginormous, so I think that I have about a dozen or so more rows to go before it is "tween" sized.

I started a new scarf. Mom gave this yarn to me in March when we were home to have Connor baptized. I have 3 cakes of it. I have no idea what it is made of, how much there is, I only have a vague idea that the 3 strands together make it a light-ish worsted weight. Just a simple pattern, really. And it is free! I have an idea of the recipient, but I am not 100% set on her. We will see when it is all done, then I will know for sure.

Did I say that I started a new scarf? Well, I lied, I actually started two new scarves. This one is one that I have been obsessing about (it is free too!). I have been so anxious to cast on for it. Truthfully, I casted on for it when I met Deece last Saturday for coffee. But with all of the yakking and coffee drinking, I didn't get but two rows done. And I figured that somehow messed them up, so I ripped them out and restarted.

I am so proud of myself, I am cable-ing!!! I never thought that I would be able to do it, they always looked so intimidating, but with the awesome cable video tutorials at Knittinghelp.com, I got it down! I am cable-ing, y'all! This one is using Knit Picks Andean Silk (Wool, Alpaca and Silk) in Navy. I adore this yarn. I would love to have more eventually.

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FO Thursday would have been...

I finished two more dishcloths this week. I did another Palm Tree cloth. I need to make more of these, but green cotton is hard to find here. I guess that some people will be getting different colors of palm trees.

I also did a Grid Pattern dishcloth. It was easy for the most part. Kind of boring. I have decided that I really enjoy doing the picture dishcloths the most. I found a free pattern for a Coast Guard cloth (other military branches available as well) on this site.

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Family Friday

Connor is taking a few hesitant steps on his own!!! I can't hardly believe it. He has been walking while holding on to one of our hands for quite a few weeks now, but in the last couple of days, he will be holding on to the furniture and take a couple of steps on his own without holding anything. It is so cute. And so nerve racking! I am watching him like a hawk because I don't want him to face plant on the tile floor.

This is from Thanksgiving, when we were down at the Ranch.

Back to the housing in Juneau. It all boils down to a few things that are scaring me shitless about buying such an expensive house. It isn't that we can't afford it, because we can. But what if DH makes Chief and we have to move in 2 years? I don't want to be stuck with two house payments and end up having to go back to work and put the kids in daycare. The second thing is that I hate debt. Hate hate hate it. I enjoy not having credit card debt, car loan debt, etc. We do have our timeshare debt and my paltry student loan (why don't I just pay it off already?), but that is it. And a giant mortgage is a huge step. House prices are crazy. Where we are from, you can get a pretty nice house for 100-150k. So, to me 250k for 2 or 3 bedrooms on a subdivision lot is a stretch.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so much to be thankful for. I won't bore you with a list of things/people, let's just say that it is long. I will say that I am a very fortunate woman and even though the last few months have been nothing short of difficult, I still consider myself blessed.

Today we went down to the Ranch for island style Thanksgiving. I really enjoy spending time with our friends and their family down there, so I jump at every chance we get. I made pumpkin rolls (two actually because they are so effing good) and Hedgehogs (the review is totally wrong) as our contribution to the feast. As usual, we came home with a boat load of left overs. Which we have already started to eat.

We had red rice, green banana ball things(the purplish balls in the middle top of picture), sukiyaki, turkey, ham, green beans, shishkebabs, and taro cooked in fresh coconut milk. It was all very good.

Plus we came home with a bag of local tangerines...

Lastly on a "thankful" note, I was so thankful for Joeten Hafa Adai getting this wonderful treat in stock for me to find. Luckily I didn't have to sell a body part to be able to afford it, it is only the small container...

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About Juneau.

We will be moving there in late May / early June-ish, 2008. It is a 4 year tour but that might be cut short if DH makes Chief in the next year or so. Which is a good possibility.

The cost of living really can't be that much higher than here in Saipan. But one thing that I have discovered that is literally making me nauseous just thinking about it is the housing cost. Granted we do get a Basic Allowance for Housing and I totally love that. There is just something about buying a $250,000 house that makes my stomach turn. Seriously, I can not even fathom that kind of financial responsibility. And we aren't talking mansions here people. This is for a 2 or 3 bedroom house. With less than a quarter acre of yard. Eeeppp! I have been searching Realtor.com and we looked at FSBO.com as well. And there ain't much to choose from. We have the name of a realtor that will help us, so we will be calling him up after the first of the year. And after I have had a few vodkas to help "calm" me.

The weather is pretty temperate from what we have learned. It is on the coast and surrounded by temperate rain forest, so it doesn't get quite as cold as the rest of Alaska. And according to weather.com, the highest recorded temp was 90 degrees. *bliss*

We did some online investigating to see how in the world we would be able to get a U-Haul of stuff up there from Illinois. Did you know that it is over 3,000 miles (approx 56 hours driving time) to get from Illinois to Juneau? And it appears that we can only go as far as Skagway, then we have to load up on the ferry and float down there. More investigation required.

So that is what I know for now.

Tomorrow I plan on posting knitty goodness as well as new baby pictures. He won't be a baby much longer!

Peace.

Mondays are Domestic

The sheets are changed, the bathroom linens are changed, and laundry is in the washer. I have to hang it up soon, because it will take two days to dry if it continues to rain like it is. I am so glad that our clothes lines are under the porch though, that way I can wash no matter if it is raining or not. Dryer be damned (if we had one that is).

I found some pictures on my hard drive today of quilts, so I thought I would share them.

But first,I have a few more dishcloth patterns.

This week's Knit Along pattern is Nubbins Nouv. Does not look that great to me, and looks more complicated than I want to tackle, so I am just going to do the alternate Nubbins Dishcloth.

And since this week is Thanksgiving, I also wanted to share this dishcloth pattern: Gary The Gobbler. Isn't it just so appropriate?!?! Have fun with it and if you do knit it, I would love to see pictures. I am going to dig through my stash and see if I have any colors that would work well for it and cast on once I am done with Palm Tree #2.

On with the quilts...

This is made with 1930's reproduction fabrics, just pieced together and tied with perle cotton to match the squares. I made this and a little 14"x14" pillow cover to match for Mom for Christmas in 2005. It was at the foot of the hospital (hospice) bed when she died. Even though we don't need quilts, I had to bring it home with me. It is bigger than crib size, but smaller than a twin size.

While we were at home in September, I had to go to the thrift shops. Did I ever mention that I love to thrift shop? Oh, I did? Okay. This little tied quilt was sitting on a hanger just waiting for me to find it. It is similar in size to the one above that I made. It does need a new layer of batting in the middle though. I couldn't pass it up, it was only $2.50. It makes me sad to see hand made things in thrift shops going for so cheap. I think of the price of materials and the time that someone put into it...

So there you have it. That is all I have for today. I have to get this posted since we just had a 2 hour power outage and I don't want it to happen again and be out of NaBloPoMo. Plus, I have a grumplestiltskin baby to get to bed.

Peace.

Saipan Saturday

Drive by blogging at its finest today. Thank you, NaBloPoMo for providing me this opportunity.

Hmmm, lemme see, today I got to me another Saipan blogger, Deece! Yay for Mom time! The plan was to meet at the Cafe and knit and yak and drink coffee. What did we do? We yakked for 95% of the time and knit for about 5% of the time. I tried to cast on the Irish Hiking Scarf about 5 times. Damn long tail cast on. I usually end up with about 2 feet of yarn tail after casting on, or conversely, I try to cast on the last 3 stitches with 1/2 inch of yarn remaining. Never a happy medium. Deece recognized my plight and gave me a tip, so if you see me measuring my feet later, don't laugh. I will let you know if it worked or not.

It was so much fun that we are going to meet up again next week. Hard to believe that neither of us took pictures. Especially of DH riding by with Connor on the back of his bicycle.

Peace.

FO Thursday # 2

I haven't had that many finished objects to blog about in the past week, but I do have a few pictures (click pictures to make bigger):

The Ball Band Dishcloth
"Grinch Vomit" colorway (red & green Bernat cotton yarn)
I like the eclectic look/design of this cloth, but don't care for the size. I need to modify the cast-on rows to make it less wide.

DW Dishcloth

Yellow/White Ombre Peaches n Cream colorway
This was fun and makes a lovely cloth. I will make more of these.

Another view so you can see the neat color pooling.

Simple crocheted dishcloth, pattern from blogging friend
Same yarn as DW cloth
Quick to crochet, takes about a day for me...in between wrangling a 10 month-old

More to come next week, so stay tuned!

Gayle, you asked if I only used cotton for my cloths...Yes. For now at least. I have heard wonderful things about Bamboo and Hemp, so someday I would like to try those, but they are kind of pricey (since they are so new), so I will wait. I love the fact that the cotton is pretty cheap and you get functional things from it. I can get at least one cloth out of a little ball of cotton, and here, the balls are about $2.25 each. As for the wool, it is all for gifts. Although I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that we do move to a cooler climate next year. I am getting tired of sweating day in and day out.

I have already pulled the pattern and the needles along with the Navy Andean Silk to start the Irish Hiking Scarf. I just need to get a little bit more done on the shawl/poncho thing before I can cast on. It will be my first time doing cables!

I was considering using the Bordeaux colored Swish and doing the Besotted Scarf, we will see. I totally want to order more Andean Silk to do a Clapotis for a gift. Must. control.myself.

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Do you just love my Meez on the sidebar? I do! She even has a Barack Obama shirt on, khaki shorts and lime green Crocs. So me! Of course I wear my glasses when I knit. Most of the time anyway. Do you think that the Meez is too big? I use firefox as a browser and my laptop has a wide screen, so it is hard for me to tell.

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In the sadness department:

When Mom died, my BFF's DH (Hi Jason!) very graciously worked with me to create a video to be shown at her memorial luncheon. Wait, back up...he did the work, I just gave him the pictures, the list of songs and pointed out the order that I wanted things (thanks again, BTW). Anyway, it turned out fabulous and I watch it every couple of weeks. I gave Mom's parents and siblings a copy of it along with a framed picture of Mom that nobody had ever seen before.

So, getting on with the sadness part. You all know that we don't have TV here (we have tv's, we just don't have cable so no cable = no tv, not even with rabbit ears, and yes, it is by choice), so every day I have the radio on a certain channel and I keep it on all day long. I have noticed that about every other day, I hear "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor during the day. The eerie/sad part is that it is one of the songs on Mom's dvd and I end up crying while singing it. I miss her so much, I can't even begin to try to explain how I feel. In a way, I keep telling myself that it is her trying to let me know that she is here with me, but I don't know if I believe that 100%.

Peace.

WIP Wednesday

I have been slowly plugging away at the poncho that I showed last week. It is hard to see progress. I will take a new picture next week for comparison.

I started a new dishcloth this morning. The Grid Pattern Dishcloth. Find the pattern here. I am knitting mine with my Clover circular bamboo needles size 8. The pattern says to use size 10's, but I thought that would be too lose. It is pretty loose as is.

Today I received my Knit Picks lot box from eBay!!! I am so happy with it, I was fondling the yarns all afternoon. I am smitten with the Andean Silk. So soft. And even the Wool of the Andes isn't that scratchy. I have heard many comments on Ravelry about how it is too scratchy. I disagree.

Berroco Touche (cotton & rayon)

Knit Picks Main Line (Wool & Cotton)

Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (Peruvian Wool)

Knit Picks Andean Silk (Wool, Silk & Alpaca) *divine*

Knit Picks Merino Style (Merino Wool)

Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (Peruvian Wool)

Knit Picks Swish Superwash (100% superwash wool)

Peace

Tuesdays are for reading

We went to the library last friday. I still am amazed at how nice the library is on this island. Blows Guam's out of the water completely. Since we are bookworms, we left with a bag full (a reusable canvas bag because that is how we roll).

I picked out:

Lean Mean Thirteen - Janet Evanovich I *heart* this series. I can whiz through these books in about 24 hours.

The Teahouse Fire - Ellis Avery I thought it looked interesting. No other reason.

The Handmaid and the Carpenter - Elizabeth Berg Fictional account of the romance of Mary and Joseph. Looks like a quick read.

Saving Fish From Drowning - Amy Tan One of my favorite authors. This is a big book, so it may take me a while.

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Speaking of reading, I do try to keep up with my blog reading via my Google Reader. I am trying to carve out a little bit of time every day to leave a few comments, but I can't get to everyone's all of the time. I have had a bunch of new readers and have added you all to my google reader, and I pinky swear that I will get to your blog and comment soon.

I have taken my blogroll off of the sidebar (along with many other things). I am trying to streamline and update the look of my blog. I will be cutting the list down and then adding more knitting blogs to it though. I plan on making a post that has my "master" list and then just linking to it in my sidebar so that the sidebar isn't so clogged up.

I am still trying to figure out the Ravelry progress bars. I have been activated to use the code, I just can't for the life of me get it to work. I may just throw in the towel and use the progress bars as outlined here: Progress bars (for dummies like me). Since I am still mulling over switching to wordpress.com or not, I won't stress about the Ravelry bars since they aren't supported on Wordpress.com.

Oh, and if the wonderful Saipan blogger that posted a comment on my last post is reading this (which I doubt), please don't spam me with your drivel again. I don't appreciate it. I tolerated it once from Plutonic Pluto or whatever his alias is, mostly because I don't like to delete comments and censor. But, if it happens again, I will start deleting comments. Thanks much!

Peace.

Mondays are Domestic

We had people over today for a cook out. The house is nice and clean. I have lots to do to work on the blog tonight (gotta add my Ravelry progress bars, eeep!), plus get our Christmas list finalized and emailed to the parents. Then I am ordering a shit load of cotton yarn from the Peaches N Cream website. Adios.

Peace.

Clean Up Sunday

I am blogging today for the sake of NaBloPoMo. We cleaned today. DH spent 4 hours with the deck brush and the hose scrubbing the patio around the house. The funk that grows on the concrete here was getting to be way slippery like an ice rink. I almost busted my tuchus a few times. It is much better now.

Oh, I just remembered that I never posted about the Wisconsin Wool & Sheep Festival. MIL, Connor and I went while we were at home. If you live anywhere near Wisconsin and enjoy wool and knitting, spinning, crochet, weaving, felting, etc., I highly recommend it. I am now wondering if I can finagle a trip home next year for it again.

The sheep, rabbits, alpacas, and lambs were so adorable. And the fibers were amazing. I saw my first $90 skien of yarn. I about fell over. I also saw a woman knitting while walking. I was almost stalking her actually. I couldn't stop watching...she was knitting Continental style (see knittinghelp.com for videos of Continental style) and it looked so smooth and fluid. I am a "thrower", I knit English style I guess. I think that is what it is called. I tried to knit Continental and just can't get it to work right with threading my yarn in my left hand and keeping decent tension. Did I mention that I am impatient and give up easily if I have a way that already works? Maybe some other day I can try it again.

You want pictures, you say? Okey dokey.

Isn't this precious? Connor got to pet one of the lambs brothers.

Spinning, Weaving, Knitting. And then there was me, standing there like a dork, taking pictures while my tongue was probably hanging out of my head. I was amazed, okay?

So gorgeous. And greasy. Blech.

This one won the blue ribbon for it's category. I don't know anything else about it except that it sure is pretty.

The KKK leader for sheep (I'm kidding) The cover just reminds me of their costumes. He had a thing for that gate.

MIL & Connor

I love this alpaca. Looks a little crazy in the eye if you ask me.
Puffball. I watched as the owner of this rabbit had to tell some kids not to pull it's hair out. If you pet it and hair came out, okay, but no pulling. Naughty kids.

Whew, that was a long day, Mom. I am hoping that where ever we end up next year, they have a sheep & wool festival. I didn't buy much. A "learn to spin" kit with a homemade drop spindle. Which I have tried a couple of times and am about to pitch out the door. I also bought a needle felting kit for a cute pincushion. I thought it had everything included. Guess that is what I get for thinking. Now that I am back in BFE, I have to figure out where to get a few felting needles. eBay here I come!

Peace.

Saipan Saturday

We were boring today. DH had to do a boat inspection and was gone all day. He now has the next 3 days off (one for Veteran's Day and then his birthday on Tuesday). Yay! We are having a few people over on Monday for a cook out, so we have lots to do tomorrow. Kind of like fall cleaning and getting the house ready for company. Might as well do it all at once.

Saipan today has been really overcast and dreary. Rain off and on. Kind of cool, which is absolutely lovely since I am totally sick of the perpetual summer.

I don't have any fun pictures to show you from Saipan, but I found fun one the other day while blog surfing. This is NOT me, nor is it anyone I know...

Redneck Tank Top
(click the picture to really see it)

If you have time to waste and like to knit/crochet, I found another fun site, straight from the House of Fug... You Knit What? part 2

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Peace.

FO Thursday

One week down, three to go. This NaBloPoMo thing is kicking my tuchus. I am having a hard time keeping up with emails, let alone time to waste browse on Ravelry. And I do so *heart* Ravelry.

Today's theme is FO's (Finished Objects). I don't have much to show, I just finished the Ball Band Dishcloth a little while ago and haven't taken a picture. So you will have to wait until next Thursday to see it. I keep calling it "Grinch Vomit". Seriously, this thing looks like it was made at the House of Fug. I think that I will try a different color combo next time around. But it is "festive".

To tide you over, may I present....the orphan dishcloths waiting to find their new homes on Christmas:

With the Ball Band dishcloth, that makes 11 done. I was hoping to give 3 per family/house but my knitting skills are s-l-o-w. I might only be able to do 2 per family/house. If the latter is correct, then I am half way done. I could always kick it into gear and just crochet them...I can do one a day hooking it. Decisions, decisions.

Little Grey Cat, you wondered about the two colors on the Ball Band dishcloth. And the Knifty Knitter. Well, this was my first time working with two colors and not cutting and knotting. Evidently tying knots to secure the thread is a big no-no in the knitting world (not sure what the punishment would be). I was totally intimidated by the dishcloth without ever seeing the pattern, but once I did and saw how easy it is...well. I just carried the color that I wasn't using up the side as I was knitting. It was a mess while knitting, but I didn't feel like weaving in eleventy thousand ends for one stupid dishcloth. Now, the Knifty Knitter...basically it is a loom (or set of looms) that you use to knit with. You wrap the yarn around the pegs and use this thing that looks like a torture dental device and knit away. I haven't used it yet, but am chomping at the bit.

Learn more here, see patterns online here (although there are many more sites out there).

I am off like a Prom dress, I have this week's KAL dishcloth to cast on. We are doing the Darrel Waltrip dishlcoth

And I found the motherlode of dishcloth resources... Dish and Washcloth Mania. *nirvana*

One more picture (because posts are so much more fun with pictures). I love these:

Cupcakes AND Knitting? *swoon* These were made for a stitching night at a LYS (Local Yarn Store) (picture stolen from Ravelry).

Peace.

Mmm, Mondays are domestic

Continuing on with the theme days for NaBloPoMo, I have decided that Monday's theme is "domestic". I enjoy having a home of our own, that we can furnish and decorate however we want. I especially enjoy being a little like Martha Stewart, and a little like MaryJane Butters...but with a tree hugging twist.

Mondays are the days when I do linens. I love to do linens. Changing all of the sheets on the beds, swapping out towels, washcloths, dishcloths, etc. For some reason, it is such a simple act that makes a big impact. Plus, there hardly isn't anything better than crisp Egyptian cotton sheets that have been hung on the clothes line to dry.

I spent a few minutes picking flowers from our yard. I am not so hot at the arranging, but I wanted to bring their beauty indoors. I believe that they are Heliconia & Ginger Lily.
And the candle is a pretty (new to me) fragrance, Cranberry Chutney by Yankee Candle. Every time a trip to Guam is made, I always request a couple of these big jar candles. I also got a pumpkin one, but the cranberry is divine.

We also made Magic Cookie Bars today. Using fresh grated coconut from our tree. Yum! I put a half of a bag of butterscotch pieces in with the chocolate chips (reducing the amount of chocolate chips) and boy is it tasty! I remember eating these as a kid, Granny always made them. And they are so easy, perfect for kids to help out in the kitchen and "cook" (with adult supervision of course). For the nuts, we usually use walnuts, although I do have a few bags of pecan halves in the pantry...and more coconut...and more chocolate chips. Hmm. And since I can't hardly stand it...Adventures in Knitting!!! So, y'all know that I am completely crazy obsessed...about knitting that is. I belong to a group on Ravelry that does dishcloth KAL (knit-a-longs) every week. I.Love.Dishcloths!!! I really do. They are quick to knit, a portable project, perfect for trying new techniques and stitches, instant gratification, durable, soft, and just plain fabulous. This past week's dishcloth was a palm tree cloth. How apropos, eh? I finally finished mine tonight.
This pic is kinda blurry, but you get a better idea of the palm tree:

I used Bernat Cotton, almost a whole ball. #6 needles. It took me about 5 or 6 hours, only because this was the most technical pattern I have ever done. This made me step outside of my garter stitch box...I had to knit and purl alternately, a technique that has made me lose sleep in the past. But, I finally figured it out (without adding stitches like I used to). I just need to work on tension, but we are taking baby steps. I got this week's pattern today and I can't wait to cast on, too bad it is 10 pm.

Peace.