*Christmas update* my list for gifts keeps expanding. at this rate, i'll be needing to buy my own sheep. lots and lots to do and so little time to do it in!

my shipment from knitpicks was shipped today. such a great deal! i hope the yarns live up to the hype. i'm going to make some yummy sweaters and socks for my fam and friends (and ME!). free shipping and everything. so much better than shopping at ac moore or joanne's, which is all that we've got in fayetteville. :-( *sigh* i never knew i had it so good before.

 
I made myself an early Christmas present! It's silk boucle, simple, and lovely. Happy Thanksgiving to me! :-) I purchased the silk at Knitting Nation in Nyack, NY. Love it, I just love it! 

I just bought this book at Sam's club and I am excited to try some of the ideas! Quite nifty, actually. My next non-Christmas project will be a rug made from shredded t-shirts. :-) Sounds cool!

*Christmas Update* Yeah! I'm done with 3/5 Christmas projects!!! I am SO thrilled. once again, I can't post them for fear of the recipients finding out, but they are LOVELY!!! All I can say is that I absolutely love knitting with silk and cashmere and cashmere silk blends and my oh my, they turned out GREAT!

Your Hair Should Be Red

Passionate, fiery, and sassy. You're a total smart aleck who's got the biggest personality around.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

I do love red! I wish i could show you this lovely thing that i am knitting!!! cashmere, so soft...lace weight...my goodness, it's like heaven in my hands! just thought i'd check email and chanced upon this quiz. how funny that i've taken 2 quizzes today. that's more than i've done all year! thanks to you, joy steuer!

Hey, I finally took one of those online quizzes, just to be a dork. Here's what it said!

The Warrior Princess

You are strong, courageous, and dynamic, a woman of
action. You have an iron will and a sharp
tongue. Indecisive, weak, or wishy-washy people
test your patience. You tend to grow bored
quickly and yearn for excitement.

Role Models: Brunhilde/The Valkyries, Xena

You are most likely to: Lead your people to victory
against an army of orcs.


What Kind of Princess are You? - Beautiful Artwork (Original Music is BACK!!!)
brought to you by Quizilla

*Christmas update*

I have finished 2/5 Christmas projects and am starting #s 3 and 4. :-) I love this! It gives me an excuse to buy gorgeous yarn and to knit for those I love. I love knitting. Just love it! I wish I could show you, but I don't want to give the surprise away! I bought alot of the yarn at a great little shop in Nyack, NY when I was visiting my family. It's on Broadway across from Cafe San Juan and the Runcible Spoon. It's caled Knitting Nation. thanks for all your help ladies!

 
We went camping last september to Stone Mountain, NC. It was beautiful! we got to see more stars than I've ever even imagined, build fires and roast marshmallows. I even got to knit in the great outdoors and it was wonderful. There was another group at the campsite who brought all their quilting supplise and would sit and quilt all day outside their camper. how funny! 

 
Isn't this a cool picture? I was jumping up and down trying to take an action shot (remember those old toyota commercials?). We went to Stone Mountain, NC for a camping trip with the Gentrys. It was a great time.  

Hey mom (and anyone else who may be reading this)! I've been too busy doing what I love to update! The past few months have been so incredibly full of fun and good times and GREAT knitting. :-) I have completed 3 of my many projects for the holidays...I wish I could share more, but I don't want any of the recipients to find out!!! I love giving great gifts to the special people in my life. :-)

my mom told me that she checks this site every morning...so, "hi mom!" i've been doing the whole clover lace thing for the entire summer and am finally on my last sleeve...although i am really sick of the color i chose originally...a mauve-y pink. i might end up dyeing the whole thing black. because i need another black cardi in my closet. :-P hmmm...any suggestions?

I have FINALLY blocked and finished "Tempting." It was sitting in my closet for months, and I finally took care of it. This is the first sweater that I have made for myself. I must say that I am quite happy wih the outcome, although I have lost about 5 lbs. since I started knitting, so it's a bit loose...still, I love it! 

here i am with my new haircut...12 inches gone to locks of love. my goodness. josiah is also sporting his then new haircut. looking quite cute, if i do say so myself. i can't believe he's 3! such a cutie. 

i just received LAST-MINUTE KNITTED GIFTS by joelle hoverson and i am so psyched to start knitting! i've been on a bit of a knitting hiatus as my life has gotten way out of hand as my last entry probably exposed. way too much noise in my life this past 3 months. time to relax and enjoy my friends and family instead of contantly doing stuff for them, you know? OH, i also chopped my hair off for locks of love...it's back to the same length and almost identical style as it was when i got pregnant with josiah. you know, back when i still had time to care about my hair. i will take some pics of my "new" hair style and my chopped off ponytail and post it next time. it's kind of surreal to see my hair just sitting in this bag. i think it weighs at least 3 lbs. kinda nuts, eh?

i've been on the computer for 2 hours now and have nothing to show for it. i was supposed to prep my stmaping party for 2 tomorrow (2 ppl, can you believe it? the girl doesn't want to reschedule for 2), but instead i am wasting precious sleeping time doing NOTHING. i am a fool. but what can i say, you just need to be lazy sometimes. especially when you've had the day that i've just had. woke up too early, sneezing left and right, took the smush to daycare, went to osc meeting (fun, fun, fun), went to otolaragologist (camera up the nose and down the throat. good times), met up with sophie who had picked up the smush for me and had coffee-lovers only at cold stone, went shopping for a 7 yr and a not-quite-yet-newborn (baby shower) at target, went home, started to prep party and clean office, stopped when ups guy arrived and distributed the stampin'up goodies, then started dinner for fam and 4 guests (it was great, coconut shrimp and rosemary-crusted pork tenderloin, and then amaretto chocolate fondue), then i cleaned and enetertained, then went walking and handed out invitations for a mother's day stamp camp scrapbooking event. now i'm just wasting precious hours on this MACHINE while my loved ones are all tucked away in bed. i am a fool.

Josiah had a blast at Myrtle Beach. He didn't want to leave! I'm trying to figure out ways to get a place by the ocean...it was such a great little getaway. Now it's back to my little knitting dilemma. It was nice to get away, but I need to get back to my lacy knitted shawl-thingy. Had a bit of a crisis wih it the other day, hopefully I can resolve it now, since I've been able to take a break and relax at the beach. hopefully. If not, I'll just take it with me to the beach next time and figure it out in the sand and sun. 

I started my new cardigan today while dh played bball on the playstation2. For the life of me, I cannot understand how ppl play sports on a game console. It's not bball if all you're using are your thumbs! I must be missing some kind of fun that's going on here...or not. At any rate, the sweater is lovely, I'm in LOVE with Rowan yarn and I may never be able to go back to substituting the cheap stuff. oh help. I am becoming an official yarn snob. For my next project, I'm going to make something out of this yarn from this Rowan pattern collection: http://www.theknittinggarden.com/ro-magcalmer.htm#HEARTEN

I just need to go find a job or something to pay for it all...

We went to Southern Pines, NC yesterday for Joshua's back exam procedure (he's doing great, btw) and i FINALLY found a decent knitting shop. Scratch that, not just decent, it was exceptional. Bella Filati was so well organized and lovely! everything looked so fresh and clean and all the displays and the yarns were absolutely lovely. it made me feel like I was "home." I know, I'm a dork. It was awesome. So, here's my contraband. Joshua doesn't even want to know what I spent, but I feel like I deserved a little something after all that I've gone through this year. so I splurged on yarn and needles. It is, after all, cheaper than therapy! 

We had just arrived home from "school." Josiah's started to go to daycare on Ft. Bragg. I had originally turned down the free EDIS (it's like early intervention for military) daycare spot, but dh and Jo's PT (physical Therapist) thought it was a good idea for him. He's already been there twice and as far as I can tell, he loves going to "school" and playing with friends. There's one kid there that makes me SO nervous though! The first day I was there to observe, he was throwing blocks at some other kids head and then I saw him punching someone else. I almost grabbed Josiah and went running for the exit! but his PT assured me taht she would be there for a bit and that he would be fine. my goodness. Well, having the Smush in daycare does mean more time to knit and stamp (and clean, and run errands...fun, fun, fun). I just hope that kid doesn't hurt my baby, or we're going to have to throw down. right... 

now I'm just showing off. here's Josiah playing with Patrick (in the bkgd) and Connor (busy drinking water behind Jo). I just love that he has 2 matching eyes and cute glasses that he wears so well! btw, I taught Connor to knit last december and since he's made a scarf for Jenaa (the dog) and Jacob (schoolmate). They're not quite perfect, but pretty darn good for a 6 yr old! 

Here's Josiah with his new eye and his new glasses. It was oscar night and we were eating chocolate ice cream or something of that sort. Doesn't he look happy? Gotta love it. Oh, can you believe my hair's not long enough to donate yet? the SHORTEST piece has to be 10 inches. Almost there. There are times when I just want to get rid of it and be done with it, but I made that commitment to donate it...and then I'll pick up some magazine with the story of someone who received a wig from Locks of Love during their bout with cancer and I'll start crying (you know me). Hopefully it won't be much longer. Hey, wasn't that a pun or something? I am so witty. RIGHT. 

Here is my lovely lacy shawl that I am struggling through. I got the pattern from knitty. I'm using Patons Brilliant in cream something or other. Isn't it pretty? I've only got about 1,000 more rows to do... 

Frogging is the most painful thing to do. This pile of yarn represents hours of knitting a winter poncho that never was. It was a very hard lesson to learn; when substituting yarns, you need to measure both length and width (stitches and rows). I neglected to calculate the rows. Very sad. It ended up too skinny and the neckline really looked OFF. :-( I'm so disappointed! Ah well. It's not even cold enough here to warrant a winter poncho. Dang it! 

i will post a pic tomorrow, much too lazy tonight. i am EXHAUSTED b/c i have been staying up until the wee hours trying to figure out this lacy pattern that i wish i had never fallen for. i found it on knitty, and man it looks so good in the pics! so, i start before i realize that it's COMPLICATED beyond my nighttime knitting ritual. i usually start knitting around josiah's bedtime, so i'm already pooped. then, i put him in his racecar/bed/thing and i knit in the dark until he falls asleep. *what happened to falling asleep on his own, you say? well, there was Christmas and New Year's with parties and ppl galore, then dh left for training in Al and then the whole Duke University Eye Center and the ensuing ER insanity. SO, he's a bit off his schedule.* i tried to knit this thing in the dark, and OH MY GOODNESS it looked like i had, well, tried to knit it in the dark. very, very bad. i had to frog that thing over and over before i finally got it right. now i only have 1000 more rpts to do. i don't know if it's worth it, but it does look so pretty already...very shimmery and fringe-y. i'm knitting with bamboo straights and Patons Brilliant yarn. very pretty. i'll post a pic tomorrow! good night.

i love this boy. he is too cute! soon, i will knit him a cotton pullover in blue and green. i might actually go with a pattern this time...i didn't use one for his last sweater (see below), just elizabeth zimmerman's method. we shall see. i have knit so many items for others, i just want to lavish my time and knitting ability on him.  

My adorable little model is wearing a Cascade 220 wool crewneck sweater. it was originally a rollneck, but his head was too big (or the opening was too small...whichever). Josiah loves his sweater and has already drooled all over it. He's even had a nosebleed in it. that was great. [:-)] thankfully, it all came out. Isn't he cute? 

hey, sorry to all of you who tried to leave a comment, but couldn't. if anyone knows of another free blogger site that allows comments w/o membership, pls let me know.

on another note, i started knitting a shawl/wrappy thing with a ball of patons brilliant in cream and it is addictively awesome. SOOOOO pretty (OOOH, see the colors...). and i'm almost done with the first ball. my goodness

i also am almost finished with josiah's first yr scrapbook. it only took me 2 1/2 yrs, but better late than never, right?

I am almost done with a very pretty little cashmerino off-the-shoulder sweater. My husband recently returned from chaplain training school at Maxwell AFB and when I proudly showed him my sweater, he siad, "Oh honey, you knit another cute sweater for Josiah (my 2 yr old son)!" Come on now! Men. When I am all done, I shall post it and maybe even model it for you. :-)

me and my lovely family at a Christmas party 

knitting w/ the girls at thanksgiving