Phew!

I FINALLY finished that stinking Moss Grid Hand Towel from Mason Dixon Knitting-for Mom's birthday that was, ahem, a month ago. I don't know why (well, yeah I do-'cuz when you do not actually knit something, it seldom knits itself-funny, that knitting.....) but it just took me forever and I really wondered if it was worth the effort at all. I mean, a towel?? Can I not purchase one of these items at any one of 27 nearby stores? Ahh the curse of the hand knitter-why buy when you can KNIT it?! It is handmade! A one of a kind, made with love (and some grumpiness and maybe a little name calling, too, but we will just play forgetsies with that, 'k?)! So I plowed on through and now that it is done, I am glad. Mom deserves something special, even if it is a wee smidge late-ish. It will be blocked and photographed tomorrow and I will throw it on up here on the old blogeroosky. I know you are on the edge of your seat with anticipation....try to hang on till then!

Madge, I Soaked In It!!

I'm the charter member of the Blue Mom Group. Yuck. We did some tye-dyeing yesterday and my fingers took a beating. We were shooting for orange and maroon shirts for the game (the blue was from something else, just fyi) and here is the post-dyed, pre-uncoiled state:

It sure appeared that it was going to be Hokie colored from this point. We each did a t-shirt and socks and I got really excited to do the rinse and wash phase of this shenanigan. I was having these grand visions of the Things all in their matching shirts at the game and I was just plain giddy. Well, the socks did not really WANT to be orange and maroon:

No, it is not your monitor-they are pink and purple. Really. Not sure what quite went on with the little interaction between the fabric and the dye-good thing I have lots of little girls around these parts!! The Things were thrilled so that ended up being a happy little accident. However, now I was worried because Thing 2 chose her white Little Hokie t-shirt to dye and I thought, "uh oh, that will NOT look good pink and purple!" It actually turned out ok but the maroon ended up a little purple:

All the other shirts turned out the same purplish maroonish weirdish color and dark orange which was as good as we were going to get so I figured I'd go ahead and wash them and dry them so the girls could see the final product. They are currently in their SECOND go around in the washer as the first time they came out orange, a significantly faded purplish maroonish weirdish color, and.......light salmon. White is gone. It's not so good looking. They are in now with some color safe bleach and we'll see what happens. I admit-I do not have high hopes for them to become stunning Hokie apparel. Do you ever have those projects that just start out one way in your mind-usually in this way: "ooh! how fun! what a crafting adventure! this is going to be GREAT!!" so you set merrily about your project and they turn out this way:....5 days into the "1/2 hour" project, "WHY?! why do you hate me?! what did I do WRONG?! maybe if I just wash/knit/paint/stitch it again one more time it will work, right???(2 more days later......)!#$% bleeping bleepity piece of trash!" That happens to me a lot, um, every once in a while, too.

But I DO have one picture of some finished knitting for a change! Here are the Jitterbug socks modeled by Thing 2 who said "can you hurry up and take the picture? these things are itching me really bad!" She has inherited my "love" of wool socks-as much as I like to look at them and I like to knit them and I WANT to wear them, I cannot very often because they are just too itchy, even with nice wool. (Although, just fyi, I did wear these all day the other day and they were not too bad overall in the world of itchyness) Well, of to check the washing machine again-wish me luck!


PS-any ideas how to get this stuff off my hands????!!

Coming Unraveled

I just got my invite to Ravelry-I have no real clue what this means but it seems to be something good......

Just To Tide You Over

I have been out of town and then under the weather for a few days so I am trying to get caught up on the explosion that is my life so I will just share some pictures from last week until I can get it together enough to write something more interesting. Forgive the less than stellar pics-they are from our cell phones.

Dave Matthews/John Mayer/Phil Vassar/Nas concert for Viginia Tech.

Me and the Husband at Dave Matthews/John Mayer/Phil Vassar/Nas concert for Viginia Tech. (See tiny Dave Matthews back there?)

Me knitting at Dave Matthews/John Mayer/Phil Vassar/Nas concert for Viginia Tech. No event is above a little knitting. Or a lot-it was a really long concert.

Oh, and have you seen these??? I LOVE THEM AND I WANT THEM!! Just saying.

Cheap Cheap!

What a week I've had! It has been a bargain hunt extravaganza and I love it! First, I found a GREAT new shop just 10 minutes away called The Upscale Attic which is an upscale consignment shop for home decor and furnishings-LOVED IT!! It was set up so nicely, the owners are really friendly, they had great things and the prices were reasonable-pricey a bit because the things they had were really nice but not at all "expensive just to be expensive", make sense? But, they had a"Bargain Basement" backroom in which I got 2 of these beautiful wooden Windsor chairs for 12 DOLLARS EACH! And the gorgeous crewelwork pillows on the chairs are also from there and only 8 DOLLARS!! Hello?!? I love bargains!! Speaking of bargains, next stop was the sale at Mosaic where I scored gorgeous yarn for a Christmas present (which shall not be shown since the recipient lurks about from time to time), 2 SUPER CUTE books, also for Christmas gifts galore for the Things and all the cousins (there are many-we're a disturbingly fertile brood): and got more than enough of this yarn for next to nothing (75% off!!): to make this sweater, which I love and hope to be able to finish in just a few days. Then, I got a brand new pair of Birkenstocks on eBay (love me the eBay!) for seriously little cash-they may not be the fanciest shoes in the world but they are so stinkin' comfortable that I really do not care-I'm over fanciness as a shoe requirement at this stage of my life!! Plus, they show off handknit socks so nicely in the Fall and Winter (yup, I even wear 'em with socks, it's true!) so it's a double bonus. Last but certainly not least, albeit a bit gross and will be limited to possibly once a year or less, was my grocery store bargain where we got smoked turkey legs on mega sale because it was the first HOKIES football game-we won!!-which we had for supper and Thing 1 thought was hilarious, mostly because they were as big as her head: Whew! All this hunting has worn me out! I'd best go lie around and do nothing for a bit, except maybe some knitting of course. Gotta get a move on all those Christmas gifts....

PS-I am fully aware of the absurdity of knitting things for Barbie but if you saw the ADORABLE patterns and the excitement on the Things' faces about the possibility of Mommy's handknits for their dolls, you would've caved, too-just sayin'.