Stomach Flu = Suck

This will be a non-photo post, y'all. The stomach flu wreaked havoc on the household last week, with DH starting the festivities last Monday by puking his guts up half the night then sleeping it off Tuesday, me weighing in Tuesday morning (25 pounds down! Go me!) and going home to start not feeling great that afternoon, and waking up Wed. morning with a fever that hit 102 by the afternoon (of course, at that point, DH had returned to work feeling somewhat better, so I was stuck with the Toddler Tornado and a fever so bad my skin hurt!), more puking & problems with "the other end". And CUE TODDLER! Yup, Wednesday evening, DH home and looking pretty peaked himself, on the phone with a buddy of his, and I hear this strange splashing sound. Now, the dear daughter is almost 2, and has really not been sick more than a sniffle her whole life. I mean, I am incredibly lucky, I know...nothing more than a fever a few months ago when she got one of her molars in. So I almost didn't recognize the sound of puke hitting my carpet in a stream. Then the smell hit. DH threw phone to floor, missing puke puddle and yelling "Sorry dude gotta go!" as he grabbed her, and I, still feeling totally icky and not so sure of my own intestinal fortitude, grabbed paper towels and carpet cleaner. Finally, at around 8 PM (an hour past her bedtime) we put her to bed after having puked about half a dozen times, but so exhausted she was falling over. After throwing in the second load of laundry (the first being the snuggly blanket I was using that she threw up all over the first time, the second being the SECOND snuggly blanket that DH had across his lap when she puked the second...or was it third...wait, fourth? time) and finally settling....cue TODDLER! After cleaning that mess up, tubbie for the toddler with the puke in her hair, new sheets in the crib, Bear (her lovey, her one and only) and blankie in the wash (the third load!), new PJs, settled toddler back in, settled myself and my aching skin back on the couch...cue TODDLER! Finally, at 10 PM, a hush fell over the house. Oh, that's because DH and I were standing in the laundry room staring at the washing machine as it washed it's FOURTH load of the night. You see, somewhere between load 1 and 2, the washing machine leaked all over the floor. So I had to mop up the entire laundry room, scraping wet cat litter off the floor (just the stuff that falls off the paws - hey, it's been a rough week! Haven't gotten to the sweeping yet!) and generally cursing a blue streak all over the place. Oh, and just for fun, between load 3 and 4, we had a repeat performance of the most pissed-off sick wife mopping a basement laundry room floor on the Eastern Seaboard. So DH and I stood and chaperoned the 4th load, checking hoses, the utility sink the washing machine unloads into, the whole nine yards. Not a drop of water. Not. One. Drop. So at 10:45 at night, almost 2 hours after I wanted to haul my sick, tired carcass to bed...I went up to take a shower...and THEN go to bed. Luckily, the toddler slept through the night.

Fever and general ickiness continued the rest of the week, and my stomach still isn't feeling great (and this isn't taking into account the flaming butt the toddler developed over the weekend, necessitating pedialyte, the BRAT diet and a nice pair of sheets, an adorable pair of Baby Gap PJs from Uncle Mike and Aunt Nancy, a onesie and an overloaded diaper being gathered in a ball, tossed in a bag and thrown out the upstairs window in the general direction of the trash) so there hasn't been too much in the way of work being done. Although I did spin about 8 skeins of yarn up last week that I still need to take pics of and post on etsy (or send to a new consignment!), and the second birthday sock is almost done now, and I'm working across the back of a shrug for the toddler for Easter, and I've gotten 3 of the 4 walls painted in my new craft/fiber room - all things I know I need to take pics of! I will get to it today, I promise...so picture heavy post later!

Oh, one more thing!

Taryn at MYMY! finally got my yarns listed! THANKS, TARYN! Check it out now, I'm the BIG feature seller! To make up for the delay, Taryn was kind enough to make me the big ol' banner on the front page! It looks SO cool!

Kitty Kate c'est finis!

Kate is DONE! Done done done! I'm so thrilled at how she came out, and at how quickly she knit up. Isn't she adorable? I'm thinking of doing her in green and blue, and then waiting to see what gender my friend's little spawn is going to be and knitting one up for him/her/it, too! I actually finished her this morning, just had to sew on the missing limbs (which went better than I thought, since I am absolute crap at sewing) and wanted to post as soon as she was done, but Blogger was being a pain, so NOW here she is!

Does it matter really in the grand scheme of blogging that I didn't get to post it this morning? Like, I was going to post this morning that she was done, but then when Blogger wouldn't let me post pics, I was going to post that Blogger wasn't letting me post, but then decided to wait till now...and does that really matter? Hmm...

Ooh ooh ooh!

My yarns are now available at yet another site! Amy of www.purplepinkandorange.com has been SO kind as to list a handful of my handspun (hee hee) on her site! They can be found here. Now GO BUY SOME!

Amy, you rock!

Bday knitting comin' along...

Back before Christmas, I found beautiful sock yarn (Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in Desert Flower) that I decided had to be socks as a Christmas present for my then 18-month-old daughter. I wanted more than the "plain" ribbed or stockinette stitched socks I was seeing...I wanted something pretty and feminine and girly. Of course, I'd never really KNIT a sock, but I figured it couldn't be that hard. Well, it wasn't...THREE MONTHS LATER! I tried a couple of different lacy patterns, to no avail. Lace eludes me right now. So I went to my LYS and got a classic pattern from Yankee Knitter, and one sock is done! There it is! And what's great about the pattern is it uses fingering, sport, or worsted weight, and it sizes from baby to adult male! I am in love! Now I can use the pretty sock yarn I got for myself at the same time -Vera, which is tan and brown and a pretty plummy berry color.

When the new issue of Knitty came out, I knew I wanted to knit Kate for my daughter. I had knit her a garishly lime green Baby Bobbi Bear for Christmas that had come out less than impressive (I knit tightly, so I went up a needle size and shouldn't have!) So it was with some trepidation - and the proper needle size - that I cast on for Kate last night after my yarn order came. I cast on before dinner, and knit a little after dinner and then for an hour or so after my daughter went to bed...and check Kate out!
And this morning I got a little further before the booger went down for her nap....I'm tempted to keep her this way because she looks so cute and bowling pin-y! Ok, I admit it's a bit morbid, so I won't...could you imagine strolling by a little girl walking around with what's already a little weird looking doll, only to realize it's limb-less? Ok, ok, I'll knit up its legs and arms!

Fun with needles...not really!

I'm a member of the Spindlers Yahoo! Group, and there are so many neat things that I learn. One of the latest is injection dyeing. You take a ball of fiber (or a skein of yarn balled up), soak it, and then take squirt bottles or those big fat dye needles and squirt dye into the ball, all willy-nilly like. Totally fun! Oh, be sure to put plastic wrap underneath the ball, enough to then wrap it up and stick it in the microwave for 3 minutes, one minute at a time (I turned the ball after each minute). Oh, and put a microwave-safe bowl or plate you use for dyeing, or a paper plate, underneath the ball in the microwave, or it may leak dye all over the place...ahem...like it did to mine. But I think my microwave looks good with a pale blue tinge to it!

Fair isle and FOs and Etsy, oh my!

I have been a busy little girl lately! I took a fair isle class at my LYS, and I'm SO excited! Fair isle has been demystified! It's SO MUCH EASIER THAN IT LOOKS! I am a fair isleing fool! The class project was a hat, which I finished the morning after the class...for my daughter (the purple hat). I then went back the next day to knit for a bit before the snowstorm hit too badly and to pick up more yarn to make more hats! Cathy at the shop is the sweetest person ever! I'm forever amazed at people who can remember other people's names. I'm terrible with names, but Cathy remembers everyone! She rocks. I asked if she was hiring weekend and evening help, and she said she'd let me know. I'm hoping she is, because she seems like she'd be a doll to work for (and I HATE working, so you can imagine what a sweetie she must be!) The first hat is the one I made for my daughter, which she promptly pulled off when I put it on her (there will be braided ties for her hat in the near future!). The second hat is for my mom's best friend's daughter. The light color in the fair isle is a pretty pale sage green. Next will be one for the hubby (with a different pattern - any suggestions?), and then finally one for me!

Here's something else that's got me all excited! A UFO has become an FO...well, at least an off the needles project...it still needs to be seamed and felted. It's the laptop bag from Alterknits in Cascade Pastaza. I've been working on it forever and a day, and now that I'm actually using my laptop more to manage my yarn sales, I find a bag would be a handy thing! It measures 58 inches prefelting...and doesn't bow in like that, the edges were rolling in on me. I will try to seam it tonight and felt it tomorrow, but I have a self-imposed mission to get more done to empty out my room and get it painted, so I might be doing that instead (fun fun fun!)

And finally, I have an Etsy shop! I have 5 yarns listed so far, and will be spinning more up tomorrow. Unfortunately, I also now have another venue to BUY things, but hopefully will be selling yarns to make up for it!

Drumroll please!

Well, it's official! Ashley at Neauveau has posted my yarns! I'm SO excited, and I know it's totally lame, but I keep visiting the site to 1) check and see if any have sold already (optimistic, huh?) and b) to just look at the gorgeous pics she posted of my yarns! She did a great job, and I'm beyond over-the-moon about it! I emailed my mom, my knitting friend, and my best friend the second they posted just to share! If I weren't sick today, I'd be happy-dancing all over the place! And I've got a bundle of yarn to go out to Amy at purplepinkandorange.com. Hopefully I'll have beat the beast that is currently residing in my nose and sinuses and be able to get them out tomorrow like I promised. YAY me! And I also can't WAIT to see what yarns Ashley posts. She always has the most gorgeous and interesting yarns, and I know she will TROUNCE all over my measly skills, but I can't help it, I wait on pins and needles!

On another note, I came back from visiting the 'rents over the weekend (they are soon to abandon me to retire to Florida...ugh) and there were BOXES of fiber all over my house! DH had gotten them all off the porch over the weekend, and they were everywhere! Besides a gorgeous print of a tree (I have a weird thing for trees...especially bare-branched and all misty with fog...wow) that I bought off of Etsy for my "new" fiber room (which still needs some cleaning out and then some paint slapped on it to be totally done) everything was fibery! I got some merino to spin from one of my favorite ebay sellers, some gorgeous batts from another ebay seller whom I really love, a couple of which her children actually made up! I'll have to post pics later, they're really gorgeous! And I got 8 oz. of recycled sari silk off ebay that is so shiny and pretty! I'm already spinning up some yarn with it, with fiber I got from Mary Jane's Attic. The silk is a bit tangly, but still a lot of fun to work with!

Presenting...The Ever Elusive Raven

Here she is, the other half of Black Cat Handspun! I found her new hidey-hole tonight. We're emptying out our spare "junk" room that my husband likes to call a study and allowing me to take it over for my very own before my fiber takes the rest of the house over (let me tell you, right now it's 1-0 fiber!) Our desk has been cleared off in preparation for bringing it down to our finished (and newly refinished) basement, so Raven found herself a little place to be out of the way. Good for her!

Oh, and here she is playing Parrot to my hubby's Pirate. That's my hubby...ain't he cute! Raven got shut in our daughter's bedroom when we put her to bed, so was very disgruntled that she'd missed out on any attention that might have been doled out to the other cats while she was incarcerated. When I adopted her from an SPCA, she drove the hour and a half back to my apartment just like that, on my shoulders doing 70 down the Northeast Extension...she's a weird, weird animal!


And the Hug she is done! Pics tomorrow when I can get one taken. I LOVE it! I would make the back wider next time, and probably try it on circs or DPNs just to avoid seaming, but it came out great if I do say so m'self!

Little brown sweater, how I love thee!

And Colleen, too! Colleen is a project saver! I bring little brown alpaca sweater to her house last night for some ER treatment. She lays it out on the table, we discuss what should have happened and if it's such a big deal to what is essentially going to be under my arm and seamed, and as she runs her hand along the seam, she says "What the HECK is this?!" Hmmm...somehow it seems instead of binding off 10 stitches in purl at the beginning of one of the rows, I just purled away, and when I got back to that side, did the BO at the next row like I was supposed to! So there were 10 little orphaned stitches crying all alone...and falling apart in the process. Sad little stitches. And those 10 sad little stitches were exactly the ones I was missing to BO at the beginning of the next row! THAT'S why I was 10 stitches and 2 rows off! Sheesh! So somehow Colleen was able to pick them up, get them back in the game, and help me frog back to them. Of course, I didn't have the foresight to bring more yarn with me, so I was only able to get myself back to the point where I still have to finish off the 2 rows I didn't think I'd be able to finish off, but they're there! YAY Colleen!