More Tennessee lovin'

So many things to love about Tennessee.

Sunshine

Frog legs

Craw fish and collard greens

Piles of bugs hourly

And best friends. 

Tennessee is really a wonderful place. I love pretty much everything about it. I especially love that I am here with my sister wife, and her family. 

And we are knitting. Lots, and lots of knitting. 

I finished the belt Cardi, without the belt. I am working on the belt now. 

I frogged some socks.

And I knit this beautiful Lizzy dress.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lizzy-dresslizzy-dress

 

I knit it with Queensland Sugar Rush. It is light, and flowy. I love the way it turned out. The patterning on the skirt. (Which I mod)

The bodice, which I should block.

I absolutely love the patterning of this yarn. This is why I fell in love with this yarn . I am so pleased with how it turned out. The pattern was so well written!

Now I will work on this blasted belt. It is beautiful, but 5x5 cables in rib may not be my favorite thing. 

Tennessee knits

I threw the four youngest in the car and made the short (30 hour) drive to Tennessee. Few things in life are better and more beautiful than going to your sister wife's (with her own chickens and husband) for a week of knitting. And knitting we are.

The belt cardi that was never meant to be is done and blocking.

If you need proof that blocking is a must, just look at that dirty water. There are a million reasons to block, but that one speaks loudly. 

The other reason speaks loudly as well. It says something about a cardi that should never be. It talks of gauge problems, running out of yarn, pattern errors, and determination. This cardi really wants to die, and lay in frog land forever. But I persevere, despite knowing that it is completely wrong for my body type.  I am really hoping that blocking will be the snake oil that cures all that ails. A girl can dream. It could grow seven sizes. Knits do that you know. Of course they only do that when they are already just a bit too big. 

So we will see what this awkward little lady blooms (please bloom. A lot.) in to.

Happy second birthday, Khyri dear

 Yesterday Khyri would have been two. A perfect, bright, beautiful toddler.  Instead, we celebrated her memory, and the angel she has become. Her mommy made cupcakes.

And delivered them to all of Khyri's local friends. Khyri made it clear to her mommy that cupcakes were not optional. 

And they decorated her sleeping place with balloons and banners. It was very festive and perfect for this sweet girl. 

Then everyone got together and sent balloons up for her to catch. You could almost hear the giggles. 

You will never be forgotten, baby girl. Never.  

Apparently yesterday's post was my 100 post

Which sounds crazy awesome, if I didn't start this blog many, many years ago. Still, I probably should have celebrate somehow. Maybe at 200 ..... With cake.

Speaking of, the paleo lifestyle is going well. Still hanging in there. Thought I would throw that out there since I suck at remembering to take pictures. I have modified and cut out most carbs though. I just plan to do that while I work at getting my bulk back under control, and getting healthy. Then I will add in natural carbs. Not sugars, breads etc. The paleo foods. I feel good. I feel happy. Really happy. At peace. A clean diet makes all the difference.

And to liven things up:

That is my thigh. It is the most you will ever see of my thigh. And that is my blood. I make no guarantees that that is the most you will see of that though. I am not only accident prone, but a bleeder. 

So the story of the blood..... 

This is my precious kitten, who I adore. His name is Blue Zender. He puts me to bed each evening, and then he spend about an hour playing with the amazing man I married. The favorite toy is the string that is attached to the Roku remote. He will chase it for hours. It is very cute. Except today. 

I was about to step into the shower when my precious son asked me to start a show for him. So I walked into my room, naked. I picked up the remote. That is when all heck broke lose, and the bleeding started. My sweet kitten scaled my naked body, and at the sound of my screams, slid all the way back to the floor. 

I blame the amazing man that I married. I know my adorable kitten isn't to blame at all. 

Plus, my toothbrush is missing. Which has nothing to do with anything, but I thought I should put it out there. 

I think today I will knit. Last night I finished the sleeves of the cardi. Then I found that the body is much too short, unless the belt is meant to go straight across the breast. I think it is not. I am confident that this resulted from my choice to leave gauge swatching behind. So today I will knit the body longer, and probably run out of yarn. It's OK, I can always order more. It will be good to let the yarn gods mock me, as they dye up something that doesn't even sort of match. This is one of those times that a knitter knows she is defeated. Knows there is no chance for this garment, so she knits faster in the hope of outrunning the bad. It doesn't ever work, but that doesn't mean I won't try. 

Knowing when to say goodbye

Sometimes in life good-bye has to come. In the life of a knitter, and a knitted object that can be an extra hard thing. We can always darn, pick stitches back up, re-knit damaged portions. And we always know that if all else fails, "that will block right out." But sometimes, just sometimes, there is nothing that can be done. Conditions beyond our control rule sometimes. Sometime you just can't save them, try as you may.

Sometimes it is just time to say good bye. That being said, I don't yet think it is time for this washcloth. I think it has a couple of good months left. Someday soon though, it will be time to say goodbye.

And move on to better things, like new moth proof storage for yarn. I got 48 skeins in one jar. I was pretty sure that it was the most accomplished thing in the world, until my oldest, the grass fed angel, said "well, they were small skeins."

And onto other excitong things like new Frog Tree Pediboo that came in. 3,000 yards of Frog Tree Pediboo. Mmmm. 3,000 yards of amazeballs. 

And new things like Tunisian Crochet, with Noro. Which is beautiful. And not mine. It was made by the owner of our LYS, Twisting Fibers. She is amazing. 

And on the farm

Cuteness is growing. This beef is growing way too cute. 

And the new chicks are turning out stunningly.

And the kids are growing.

And becoming extremely naughty. This isn't his mother. And he isn't nursed. He is bottle raised. In typical man style, he will latch on to anything that will hold still long enough. 

My amazing husband has been making cheese like crazy. It is such a time consuming, precise science. This is chipotle cheddar. I love a strong, spicy cheese.  

He built a cheese cave in the basement. Because he is a man . It is like watching a mother with her newborn. So attentive. Only use the best. Watch it constantly. Adjusting even when the newborn cheese was perfectly comfortably sleeping. 

It really is pretty cute. I am married to one very sexy man. 

Because yarn rules my world

The shopping was amazing! Amazing! My husband and I drove to the yarn store, and that Good man curled up on the couch and had a nap while I sat in the yarn store getting high on yarn fumes. It really was a magical day.  I spend hours just touching, smelling, and deciding. In the end I came home with this:

Llama Lace for a new Jen. I love this yarn. It is my very favorite. 

Cotton for... Something. Maybe a baby blanket?

Sugar cane. 

More sugar cane.

And some more sugar cane.

And then I got some sugar cane.

But then I was enticed by... Some sugar cane.

And since I already had a little sugar cane, I decided I should get some more sugar cane. In purple. 

This is self striping, and I have always loved it. I have some in the stash. Which I have never used. But I could, and that is what counts. 

And it was on sale. For $3.00. I am pretty sure I just answered many a knitters question as to why so much sugar cane. 

For those non knitters, if yarn is on sale it must be purchased. It is a disease. Even if it is ugly yarn even our grandmother won't touch, put a 50% tag on it and it will fly off the shelf. 

Then I got these. I am a pretty experienced knitter, and somehow I didn't know these existed until I saw a friend, who is a fairly new knitter, using them. Where have they been all my life?

Oh.. And I may have ordered this. A lot of this. Maybe even 15 hanks of this. But it is Frog Tree (Pediboo worsted for those yarnies reading) so it was for a good cause. I have so much respect for frog tree, which is a not for profit yarn company.  So much respect. Their mission statement is:

 Frog Tree Yarn Mission Statement

As a result of our experience living and working at the grassroots level in Peru, Bolivia, Mexico and the USA for many years, we founded T & C Imports and Frog Tree® Yarns.

Frog Tree Yarns is a not-for-profit company that helps talented artisans/workers receive well-deserved, reasonable compensation for their efforts and to promote fair trade. Their funds are used to support educational and environmental projects, charitable organizations and volunteer groups

http://www.frogtreeyarns.com/ 

Please consider supporting them, because who has more genius than those that use yarn to help the world?

The Frog Tree will grow up to be:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/high-hopes-2 

The cables!! Do you see the cables? And the cables on the arm?  

After the shopping came unexpected gifts. 

My amazing hubby got me flowers. He is so very good at remembering to do this. Twenty years into our marriage , and he still remembers this little touch of love at least once a month.

Then my oldest child got me this. Obviously she knows me well. Very well. She went to Blazing Needles in Salt Lake. 

And after getting all the new yarn, I decided to start working on organizing some of the stash. I allowed the middle boy to enjoy the yarn fumes with me. He is a knitter himself. I am so proud. 

A good day

Today is a good day. I turned 38 this morning.   I am usually not a huge fan of birthdays, but this year is different. It is different for a couple of reasons. First, I have believed that I was 38 for the last two years, so I am not bothered that I am turning the age I thought I already was.

The second reason, and the real reason, is that I found out that I get 20% of at the LYS on my birthday. This is the happiest news ever. I am so super excited. I have big plans. What makes those plans even bigger is that I sold my wonderful, very loved alpacas to the yarn store owner in trade for yarn. That means my world is wide open. I am going to have a hard time reigning myself in.  Letting the alpacas go was hard, but my friend loves to spin alpaca, and it turns out that I do not.  My children are scared to death of the alpacas, and my friend has more room. Like 37 acres more. This is a win win.

Knitting progress has been made, but only on the blanket. It is a king size blanket, but it feels so small. I am enjoying every stitch.

I love it, surprisingly. It is oddly abstract, so many different colors, shapes, sizes. No rules. Just whatever I want . I knit with a yarn until I am bored and then I switch. Maybe I should call it my ADHD blanket. 

All of the other knitting is kind of on hold. The belt cardi needs sleeves. The socks need legs (though I did do a round on them while at Walmart earlier). The Jen has very little done. The shawl is still on clue two. 

All of them have hope, except maybe Jen. The yarn I am using is the yarn that the moths destroyed. I am having to join about once a round. I hate wool eating moths...