I saved 2-3 lives yesterday..

but went through hell to do it. Keep in mind though I didn't save the 7-8 like the husband did but oh well I guess 2 is better than none at all. We gave blood yesterday. I somehow managed to sucker the hubster into doing it, neither of us had ever given blood before and no time like the present to start. I've always wanted to do it, and always knew I should, so yesterday when we were driving home and passed the LifeSouth bus I knew we had to go back. The husband only agreed to do it if I agreed to go fix his deer feeder with him (the reason I wasn't going to go is way too long and boring and will prob make me sound like a complete bitch so I'll leave it out), however if losing my pride means saving a few lives I'll do it. And did it I did, right into the trash can. That's right folks I got sick, almost passed out, and starting sweating profusely. It wasn't a pretty site. I just felt sorry for the guy that was up next, facing my direction, and had no other choice but to watch. The hubster did great mind you and not once did I hear a "I told you so". I think he felt sorry for me. Later last night though I asked if he got worried for me (because come on we all like a little pity every now and then right) and he said yeah but then said that when it all started he thought to himself "Boy I bet she's regretting this now". Ah the love. I managed to hold off getting sick long enough to give enough blood though. Yeah I start feeling nauseous and tell one of the ladies and then the other comes up to, they start rubbing an ice pack on my neck and such but they just weren't taking out the damn IV. So seconds later when it really hits me I'm just thinking to myself "if they don't take this damn thing out of my arm" because at the time I seriously thought if they took it out everything would get better (maybe not immediately but soon enough). I just wasn't thinking at that point I was too far gone and that taking the IV out wasn't going to matter. So anyway here's the battle scar cause I know you all want to see it.

I would go through with it again though, because after all if you are able to do it, it really is the right thing. Oh and yeah about the 2-3 vs. 7-8 lives the interviewer was seriously bragging and rubbing it in that my "boyfriend" will be saving 7-8 lives well la te da, touch him. Here's proof that I really did give blood and my arm wasn't the result of some heroin incident gone wrong.My shirt...actually the husband's but still, I couldn't find mine. And my iron was great, which as you may know "it is really an accomplishment cause it's hard for us ladies for have good iron", yes another interviewer comment. Seriously though all the gals in there were great especially the ones that had to take care of me. They were so sweet and motherly and that's just what you want when you're head is in a trash can, you're Momma.

Ok so now on to the closest thing to knitting I got today..my Mom's Christmas present.

I've been watching ebay for hand turned crochet hooks and these are the two that I've won so far. Ebay is serious business I tell ya, first all the panic of will I win the bid, and oh that bitch just outbid me, then the wait for it to arrive if you are so lucky to win, but don't think it ends there oh no you still have to remember to leave a comment and feedback...oh the pressure. I'm going to try and get her a couple more by the time Christmas rolls around, hopefully she'll enjoy using them if now I'm sure she'll enjoy looking at them. If you're wondering the blue one is a graydog and the other is a daystar. You should be able to do a search with that and crochet hook and they come up if not let me know if you're interested and I'll get the usernames of the folks.

Just pretend there's something clever up here

So my ass has been DRA-GGIN lately. I can't figure out what it is. I've done everything from get enough sleep to get too much to get not enough, nothing matters. I've started exercising again this week hoping that maybe that would help, and finally today I'm noticing a bit of a difference but not much. So now not only am I still draggin' but my arms and chest are also hurting. My ass and abs finally quite hurting so there is hope for my arms. Too bad Cooper I won't be able to toss ya up i the air this weekend though. I've also been trying to stick to a schedule since I seem to not want to do ANYTHING. So what's up for today you ask...

Well that would be wash the bedding and clean the kitchen. Usually I would take this opportunity(kitchen days) to clean out/organize the drawers or wipe out cabinets or something like that in addition to cleaning the kitchen but something tells me that the counters are just getting cleaned and that's it. On the bedding front, I know you are all so enthralled right now aren't you, anyway I've already stripped down the bed and am just waiting for the load of clothes to get finished before the sheets go in. Damn I lead an exciting life, I now understand exactly why I have such a large group of readers.

So I've been knitting up a storm lately, NOT. Oh that takes me back. You know what word/saying I was thinking of the other day "cool beans". How stupid are the youth. I was just going to say how stupid were we but I'm sure there's saying being used today that 10 years down the road someone will sit back and say remember when we used to say "insert cleverly stupid phrase here", boy what were we thinking. Just for my own peace of mind though, I must say I never said cool beans, I'm sure I used other stupid sayings but not that one. So back to the knitting, Hal's gettin' hungry, I'm over halfway done with the sides of Sophie's cat bed see....

I'm not feeling the colors. I'm just hoping that when it's felted it will look better but in the end it's a cat bed so really what difference does it make? I love the blue color, I mean I LOVE it. And I'm really diggin the brown with it, I wish I had just gone with brown and white as the background colors and the blue as the main color. The yellow isn't too bad but I don't know what I was thinking with this green. The green itself is fine but it's just not working with the rest, oh well. And just because a knitting blog isn't bad enough I'm also including pics of the cats today. Yes I wish to be even more of a dork...It's not the greatest photo. Apparently the focus feel on the scratching post (guess it's not so much a post anymore huh) and Chandler's white is sooo blown out. You see how Sophie's ears are pinned back she's waiting for Chandler to attack, like he normally would have but didn't this time. He is however doing his typical look away as if you say I'm not about to attack you ha ha ha. Also please excuse the dirt on the floor under the cat scratchy thingy it really isn't dirt it's catnip. Sophie is a total junkie when it comes to the stuff and I knew that if I rubbed it on the cat scratchy thingy it would so draw her in. The part I didn't think about is how much would be all over the floor, there was tons of the stuff everywhere. Luckily though I was able to get to the bag before Soph made a HUGE mess when she stuck her head in the bag, I told you she was a junkie.

Don't mind the ends

Bet you're wondering what that is aren't ya? Well I'm calling it fairy poop and it's proof. Proof of what you ask? Well it's proof that I am actually trying to make progress on the next fairy recruit. Sadly though it's also proof that I'm not very far. I have a couple reasons for that pile. And just because you're wondering I'll tell ya what they are, lucky you. Well reason number one (probably the most important) is I was short a stitch. So why didn't I just try to find the stitch and fix it? Because I didn't like the yarn. I like the yarn just fine; it's Vanna's and it's pretty darn soft, but it has too much halo/fuzz and not enough drape for the dress. Soo....out it came and on the search once more I am. I will find the perfect yarn for this. The doll itself is going to be the same yarn as the last, all except for the hair, so I don't have to worry about that. Oh I will find it you can bet your bottom dollar I will.
The title pertains to this project, obviously. I need to weave them in then I can felt these bad boys. They are going to be pot holders/hot pads for my sister and I'm going to knit some dishcloths to go along with them. She recently moved into a new house and I thought this would be a cute little something to give her. If you are wondering about the colors, oh admit it you know you were, my mother pretty much choose her kitchen colors for her, well at least the red. And the ole hubby decided he liked the grey. Yeah as you may recall my small mistake a few posts back thinking that the square would shrink down to nothing well I suppose it was a happy mistake because it gave me the idea for the sister's small housewarming gift.

The houseguests

As you may have guessed from the title we had company this weekend. Technically I don't know if you would call them company though. It was more like a sleep over. Two of the husband's nieces came over. And if I may brag on them a bit they were GREAT. Not one single fight was had. Although one did let in our wet, muddy, smelly bloodhound who had dug out of the fence in the rain, but other than that no problems. We even got to play with yarn. I convinced the youngest, who is actually a knitter herself (very much a beginner but a knitter none the less), that we should dye some yarn even though she actually wanted to start knitting something. Here is her creation...

I think it turned out nice. I made one with pink, yellow, and orange and the colors weren't as vibrant at all. She was very pleased with it. She just kept feeling it and wanted to start knitting with it immediately but once I explained that since it's sock yarn it requires smaller needles and more stitches she quickly choose my worsted weight version. I'm considering making her a pair of tube socks with it and surprising her but I don't know if she'd like that or if she'd rather knit it herself.

While we were cooking the yarn I was felting a pair of slippers for the my other niece. They've been finished for a while but I'm also making a pair for their mother and figured I'd wait to give them to her until both pairs were finished that way they wouldn't have to do the whole felting thing twice. But since they were over and it's my water bill I thought what the hell, in they went. I love this pair, the two ladies in the yarn store also loved the colors together. I forgot to get a pic once they were finished but here's a pic prefelting. I had to throw it in cause the prefelting pics are always so funny.
Oh this one is growing up so fast. Knowing her I can even see her little attitude in the pic, yes I know it's just of her feet but trust me it still has attitude. She is 13 and just got her own email address. She was so excited showing me her 6 contacts and 19 emails, so now all my g-rated emails will be heading her way. Hell I even filled out one of those get to know me things so I could send it to her. Oh well until next time...

Use a coaster

Here is the promised knitting post for the day. I didn't steal your idea this time Newbs, it was truly an accident. For some reason I thought that the coaster would shrink to half their size. Yeah it didn't as you can tell. Now I have a pot holder. And by the way for those of you who felt these things by hands you are crazy. I tried and it so defeated me. My arms were sore, my shoulders were sore, it turned out all wonky shaped, and it still wasn't felted completely. So into the washing machine it went (which brought back the found teddy bear memories). It is still wonky and still toooo big.

I also got the yarn in for my cat bed as I was typing this so here it is. The blue will be the main color, I'm kinda torn whether I like it or not but either way this is it....

VENTING

Ok you're probably going to want to cover your ears....er I mean cover your eyes on this one. I am officially writing another letter. Yeah so I say this so much that my husband has started counting and he claims this is the 236th letter that is supposed to be written. Oh and I promise there will be a knitting post later on so just ignore this one and wait for the other one. I'm felting a ummm coaster? and so when I went into the laundry room all the bad memories resurfaced (from last night) and now rather than pay a shrink 300 bucks, I'm paying you guys nothing.

So I bought some fabric softener from Sams this weekend, I won't tell the brand but just know this I now I hate teddy bears. So as always at Sams you get this gargantuas (although I don't know how to spell this word it really works here, so its staying) amount that takes the equivalent of two people's lifetimes to use. No worries though it came with a handy dandy little spout poury thing, so no heavy lifting right? Yeah so yesterday I use it for the first time. I pull off the spout poury thing's cover which is also very conveniently a measuring cup stick it under the spout poury thing push the spout poury thing's button a couple glugs later I'm finished. It was great, effortless if you will. I'm likin' it and since I'm very picky about how my FS smells (the husband will tell you this also, usually in a bitchy tone) I will add that the smell is nice (I know this because my entire house now smells like it but that will be explained shortly). Ok so great it worked as it should great. Well Wednesday has now become our grocery day so when the husband gets home we head out, after a quick shower of course. When we arrive home with our fresh Publix produce (we're new Publix shoppers and the newness hasn't worn off yet), I walk in and am pleasantly greeted with a lovely smell of FS. I think to myself damn that's some strong FS, I've only done one load with it so far, but continue unloading bags. So as you can imagine when I later walk into the laundry room to see a third of my new FS all over the floor, dryer, and some clothes I'm thoroughly pissed. It had leaked, and yes I did replace the cap. I kept it on its side as I would've thought I could, but apparently shouldn't have, and it leaked. Now I know what you're thinking, because I already thought of that and my husband already told me, you probably shouldn't leave it on its side but damn the instructions on the back are written sideways so that when it's on its side, so that you can use the little spout poury thingy they are right ways up. So it only makes sense, what with the instructions and spout poury thingy to keep it sideways. Where was that damn teddy bear when I was having to clean my laundry room last night. On a side note as mentioned earlier my house smells GREAT. Oh and I told you to skip this one....

Hello old friend

Now that I've finished the Hemlock I'm picking back up Wild Stripes for a bit. I put in an order for the yarn and DPNs to make this too cute cat bed. I'm not too into making things for my pets, especially the cats but I'm lovin' this bed. I honestly don't even know if they'll use it but I figure worse case scenario I throw a blanket in it and the pup can use it. So when the yarn comes in the Stripes go back in the corner.

Well in case anyone cares here's a bit of info on my Hemlock. I managed to get to row 81 of the Fan and Feather chart before I started to bind off. I was cutting it close too, I only had around 12 yards of yarn left. I didn't use the third skein at all, so I guess I wasn't cutting it too close but I had decided that I really didn't want to use it unless I had to. It's about 55 inches from point to point although it could prob be bigger we didn't block it very aggressively. Yes that was a we, I suckered the ole hubster into helping me pin the beast out.

If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

...then 8 pictures must be worth 8,000 words?

Hello...anyone out there....

So Newbs (as I've now named her) told me today that I recently, or not so recently (she left out the "when" part) had a visitor to my blog. Imagine that, someone actually reading my blog except me and occasionally Newbs. So I've decided that I'm going to make a little sign just to say hello, a bit of a shout out if you will. Ya know like on TV how someone is supposed to scratch their nose or tug on their ear to say hello to someone. Well I've decided that whenever I bold the word jelly bean I'm saying hello to.......drum roll please, Jhonda. Yep that's right Jhonda, I've heard through the grapevine, or Newbs, that you've been here. Well I think here, maybe to my other blog (oh damn guess I'll have to go over there next, in case you haven't been here). I was so excited too. Now to figure out how the hell I'm going to work jelly beans into a post on a knitting blog....

So back to knitting...somebody in hell better stock up on the bread, milk, eggs, and TP, cause it's freezin' over. I'm finished with the Hemlock.



I haven't blocked it yet, that's why it looks a bit like old lettuce. But I have to clean off the guest bed first. That's where all the blocking happens. Yeah no magic happening in there, well at least I don't think so, we've only had one "couple" stay over, usually our visitors are solo. Anyway as soon as I get it blocked I'll post the grand finale photos.

Oh one last thing, so I was eating the best jelly beans today. They were sooooo good.....

When the cat is away....

Yep that's right folks it's going to be one exciting night around here what with the husband gone and all. Knitting, netflix, and carbs what more can one gal ask for? This is pretty much what my life has looked like all this week except for the pasta, that one was a stretch it's pretty much been PB&Js every other night. Boy did I go all out tonight. The hemlock has been moving along quite well. I'm on my second skein and have found the hope that I was once lacking. I figure if I can get through one skein in 6 days then I should be able to get through another by the 24th. I haven't decided how far I'm going to go I guess I just figure I'll know when to stop when I get there. So what's on the ole movie list tonight you ask. Well I just finished up Starter for Ten, does anyone else find them self practicing their British accent after a British film (or a film set in England rather, not so sure it is actually a British film), or did I just tell how much of an dork I really am? It was a pretty good cheesy kinda movie. But it did include music by The Cure, so that's a plus. Up next will be Grace is Gone, don't know anything about it except John Cusack is in it. So I figure after this movie, and whatever Olympic events are on tonight I should be well beyond the Rainey Sister's chart. Finger crossed....

Go Team USA

Ok so I will admit there have been many times during these past 4-5 days that I was ready to give up on this damn blanket. And you know the sad thing is, it isn't too hard. I added in a yarn over and couldn't find the f-ing thing to save my life. No joke I came in the house Sunday morning and had prepared not to finish, hell not to even pick the thing up again. Then I received the sweetest push on ravelry. I was left a comment asking where my photos were. Well hell how embarrassing would it be to admit failure 3 days in. So here is that picture...

I think I was somewhere in the low 20's when this picture was taken, now I'm up to the high 30's.

So how about that Michael Phelps? And no I'm not talking about his rockin' bod, although we can talk about that if you would like. And sadly I have to admit I found myself routing for China's male gymnast team last night too. They were so damn good though, I guess if USA had been closer I would've been cheering them on but....They did well also though, all rookies and still bronze. Swimming and Gymnastics are the two events that I have always gotten into, but with this ravelmpics thing going on I have been watching a lot more. The other day I watched soccer and even a bit of handball. Ok ok so if I have any hope of finishing I better get back to cranking it out.

A Bit Old School....

Well I guess the Ravelmpics has me pumped up about blogging too b/c I'm back. What is this like two days in a row, WOW. Well I don't have anything current to blog about, I only finished a few rows of the Wild Stripes since the picture was taken, only four more rows until I'm officially a third of the way through the knitting part YEAH. So anyway I'm bringing back past projects, that's right baby I'm going old school. Actually it's not that old at all. It, Sally the Eco Fairy, was a birthday present for my youngest niece's first birthday this past May. There she is in all her glory. I was really happy with how she turned out, even without the curls. Oh the curls....I saw another fairy on Rav that was just the cutest thing I've ever seen and all because she had this head full of curls. Below is my half finished version.Yes I did attempt the curls and yes the curls defeated me. I was cranking them out, oh wait let me back up a bit. Did I mention that I started this thing a week before her birthday. Yes you heard me right. With that in mind I was a bit uncertain if the curls would get finished so I knit the straight hair from the pattern "just in case". Then I started cranking out the curls, a bit in between parts of the doll and tons after the doll was finished. I bet there's at least 20 curls on just that one side. Well I was actually starting to believe I would get this thing done, curls and all. Then of course I ran out of yarn and that skein that I just knew I had was gone. I looked everywhere it was nowhere to be found, so off to Michaels the hubster and I went. What happened next was a sign, they didn't have anymore of the Bernat Soy. Oh well, I have to say it was a bit of a relief, a weight was definitely lifted off my shoulders. I walked out of Michaels knowing full well that I wouldn't have to crank out curls the next whole day. I would simply sew on the straight hair and call it finished.
See all those ends, I hadn't quite figured out what I was going to do with them, nor how I was going to sew each of the curls on yet but lucky I didn't have to worry about that. Not to mention when I found out the following weekend that Sally had taken a swim in a toilet I didn't feel so bad about not finishing the curls. Yeah so I saved all those curls and low and behold within a few days I found that missing skein. He was hiding in my knitting bag, imagine that in a knitting bag who would've thought. Anyway so sometime I'll break out those curls and make my own Curly Sally, and no swimming lessons for my Curly Sal.

Training in progress....

So I've decided that the Wild Stripes blanket is going to act as my training for the Ravelympics. It's definitely helping me with me speed since it's just stockinette stitch and lord knows I'm going to need speed in 5 more days. Anyway I'm just about finished with one of the 3 repeats (just 9 more rows) and it's not as boring as I thought it was going to be. I long to finish just one more color to see what it is going to look like with the next color. And the purl rows aren't too bad because each time I start one I think after this row is a knit row. I'm not sure I'm diggin the colors but as I said on Ravelry it looked much better once I pinned it out to take the pictures and I'm sure it will look tons better once it's finished and the embroidery is on. Actually I can't wait till I finish it just so I can see the embroidery on it, although wait I will I'm going to stop working on it prob tomorrow until after the Ravelympics are over. I don't want to develop carpel tunnel before I even start my Hemlock...