Prarie State Park.

My aunt happens to be a park ranger at Prarie State Park. There are prarie chickens, and buffalo, and plants,a nd bugs, and such. Over the weekend, the park had an event and people came from around the area to see pioneer people doing what people used to do. There was dutch oven cooking, and music playing, brain tanning, stantic throwing, and games, such as the throwing of buffalo chips for a prize of $1,000. (I think.) There ware people dressed in old fashioed clothing, and wood fires every where, but there was no fiber craft, no quilts, no afghans, no nothing, only one woman was wearing a shawl and it was not even knitted or crocheted. It was store bought and looked like somone popped the whole thing off of a knit-wit. I was dissappointed, but when I asked my aunt why they did not have someone spinning up the buffalo hair for the evnet, she said she was lucky to have what she got. So, I think that the next time they have the event I would like to talk to her about setting up a spinning wheel, and maybe a loom, and have someone kinning, someone crocheting, tatting, and quilting with examples of each of them. I did not want to poke at a sore spot, but I was curious. But, if there was a way to get the buffalo wool, I would love to learn how to spin, first though I need to get a spinning wheel.

Man, oh Man!

I have something about men to get off of my chest, I said that we were going to go to the State Park, but he (X) could meet me at my house if he wanted to. He says great. So, did he ever show up? No. Did he call? Yes, an hour and a half later. Turns out he calls and leaves a message saying he did not feel so well. Why, you ask? Because he had a house full of people all night into the morning, and he stretched his earring holes, which made him ill. He thinks it is okay to stay up and party and use ear piercing as an excuse to stay away from his children and he thinks that is perfectly acceptable. He has seen his children once for an hour and a half this week, and has he paid any child support? I am sick and tired of being nice. Especially since the other day, I noticed that he drank our 2 year old daughter's pain medication for her tonsils. Not only did he take more than one dose, this is the third time he has drank an actual overdose of liquid hydrocodone medication. He needs to change and apparently nothing I say will work. The courts won't make him take a drug test, and they will not try to test him or order one unless he is arrested for a prior offense. I am sick of his lies. I hope he stays away.

Babies, kids, children and so on...

As I said the other day I got to see my cousins two little children. One is five and the other is two. They never wanted the second of the two which is a shame and it broke them apart. I was upset when I found out I was pregnant, but after a day or two, I calmed down and then I fell in love with the idea. I would not trade having my two for anything in the world, but I would have made me rich whilst having them. (If we are dreaming.) Anyhoo, here are my two precious little bugs.

Whew!

Okay I have managed to land two days substituting, and I hope more, but for now, that is all I can do. I have been working on a blanket using up all of my scrap eyelash yarns, and some other acrylic yarns, (*gasp!*). My kids seem to love it. It is furry, and it looks like sesame street was ground up and woven into something, but I call it the monster pelt. I have been trying to keep busy, and so far I am succeeding, but I did not get to go to Kentucky the other night like I wanted to. I am still poor. I am really counting on getting this state job, and if I do I will be so thankful. I would even be able to pay someone to watch my kids so that I could go to church, speaking of which, I need to make a little girl sweater for my pastor and his wife's child. His wife is my friend Theresa, whom I know and love and miss. I really am getting back in touch with a lot of people that I know back in my home town, and I have to go the high school reunion next year. I have to lose 30 pounds or I am not going. Kidding, I am definitely going. I can't wait;-) I was listening to my tape of the Dixie Chicks, which I have just found after about three years, and the tape broke. It came off of the little round thing on one end, so now I can't listen to it anymore. I must buy a CD. I also got to see a couple of little cousins the other day, and I must say that my cousins little girl and my little girl look a lot alike. I think my daughter looks more like my side of the family that my X's, but I am sure he would never agree. I also made chocolate devils' food cake. MMMMMMMmmmmm.......so good.

Busy, busy, busy.

I have been constantly filling out job search after search trying to find something that I am qualified for, and I would like, is day shift only, and no weekends. I really could use more help from the X, but he is not currently paying child support so I am a little strapped for daycare. I can't even afford to pay for someone to watch my kids for an hour. On the downside of my life, my arm has been killing me lately. I am not sure why, but I think it might have something to do with pilates. I have been trying it lately, and it seems to be a pretty good workout for the midsection. You will feel it later. I have been working on another baby sweater, but it is grey, they same shade of grey that I used in the baby Ezekiel baby sweater. Only, this time I will not be using any different colored stripes. I do not feel like taking any pictures right now. I am so tired, and stressed out trying to figure out where my next paycheck is going to come from. I have managed to be pretty resourceful up until now, but I have simply just run out of options. I have been called to substitute for two different occasions locally and I am looking forward to it. I miss all of the excitement in the children's eyes when they realize that it is time for art.

Afghan to Cindy

I have finished my step-mother's afghan, and I will be mailing it out tomorrow, or rather later today. I am surprised that it took me since Sunday, since it was actually very easy. I do not crochet much and when I do, the pattern has to be written in a way that I can understand, which is not much. I used the pattern from the lion brand website titled the 5 1/2 hour afghan. The pattern actually calls for 3 balls of Jiffy yarn to be used concurrently, but I used two strands of homespun instead. I used three differnt colors, and a Q hook as called for. If you have not been to the LionBrand website, you should go, they have tons of free patterns to print or download. Here is the link if you are interested.

strange,

You know, I can't seem to help myself, but I think all of my pictures make me look stupid, so I think I have momentarlily taken one that is okay. So, yes, I am once again changing the photo of myself in my profile. I will have more progress later today in knitting hopefully. I am gong to go fill out some applications for now. I have to get a job. I would like to find one that will let afford a better lifestyle, but I don't know if that will happen. You would think that a college degree would help you to earn a better living, but so far that has not been the case.

Labor day, labor away.

I have been having a particularly annoying day. My family is driving me crazy. Some one called at the crack of dawn this morning, and woke my son up, who screamed forever, and then I stepprd out on the porch for a second, and my daughter immediately started screaming, and I have an afghan to finish by sometime this week. It is for my step-mother's birthday on Monday. I finished the dress for my cousin and hopefully I can get a picture of her in it later today. I have got to get some kind of job soon, I am going crazy. I still do not have my car back. I miss my car, and I am sick and tired of driving around a car with handicap tags. I am only 28, as of the 21st of last month, and I am not handicap, and I have a car of my own, and I want a job. I can't get a job with this car, everyone looks at me like I am a lawsuit waiting to happen. I always thought it was important to take good care of your car, and to have a good one, but my car is being stripped down apparently without my permission. My battery has been taken out the hood was up in the rain, and there are clothes of my X's roomate in the backseat of my car, which means that when the battery was in the car, his roomate was driving my car 30 miles to work and back. I have an older BMW which I love like a faimly member, and I am getting horribly impatient waiting for it to be fixed. I think I might go annoy some family members so I can borrow a size 24mm wrench. okay, I feel better, I like that I can say what I like without having to worry online. No matter what I say, it always gets blown out of proprtion. No, I think I will leave my internet on all day and go to the park.

Off white, victorian white, cream, ecru, and?

I am making a pair of gloves for my father in cream Hauk, by Dale of Norway, the pattern is from Schachenmayr book #72 S 2, titled Inspiration.

It doesn't seem to be a manly color, but it is just plain natural colored wool. I could not get any other color at the time from my lys. So far I am really enjoying the construction of the gloves, but it is hell on my hands. My hands have been swollen for two days now, and I guess they will probably be that way until I finish them. I might need to look into getting some plastic needles, or some clovers, or something that has some give to it. I have been using Boye aluminums in size three. I actually will have to get more needles, because of the fingers. Ihope to have them done soon!

purple bauble for a purple, wait no that's not right

I just finished a purple sweater for a baby, but I can't seem to find the right type of closure for it. I tried buttons, but the guage is so small that it really is a fight to get any button through it. It is the baby yoda sweater, and I like the pattern okay, but there are a couple of things that would or did change. The sleeve size was way too small to use in the original pattern so I added a few stitches to the sleeve, and if I were to do the patterns again, I would figure out how to do a smooth band of garter stitch along the front edge where there is border. (I added the border myself, I thought it looked too plain.) Other than that, it was a very well written pattern, and I don't remember where I got it from, but it was a pattern from someone's personal website. Please let me know who if you know so I can give them credit. The color is way off, but it shows what was done. More next time...

remiss

I have been very lax in keeping my promise to myself about my blog. I don't do it for the satisfaction of anyone reading it, I just like having a place to vent. And to show my work. I don't have much else going on right now in the way of leaving the house, but I have been busy. I have been comissioned for a wedding, and I have a picture of the current dress I am working on. I really like the way it is going so far, but the pattern is incorrect for all of the layers you have to sew through. It makes the top layer shorte than the others and the bottom layer longer and then I have to trim it perfectly, and resew. Color is great, a shade of dusty rose in chantung, very silky. I think my cousin will be surprised when she puts the dress on for the first time. It is also much lighter than a store bought dress because lining can be bought very thin. I have been very inspired by this though, and I also watched marc jacobs on tv the other day, and loved his slip dress. I have to make some. In several differnt colors and then I have to make sweters to go with them.

lost? maybe.

I have been kinda lost ever since I quit my job, I have been spending my time with my kids and loving every minute. Anyhow, I have had a yard sale, and I am being commisioned to make a dress for my cousin, and possibly make curtains. Itold her how much it would cost to make black-outs and she almost fainted. To top that off, she lives in an all metal house, and there is no way to secure that curtains, so they have to be magetically secured to the walls. I have secured two other jobs, and I think that I will like them both, substituting in the public schools, and doing photography. I have an art degree, but I don't have a lot of experience with the editing programs such as Adobe. This will be new, and I hope very satisfying. I have been knitting, and possibly today or tomorrow I will have something done. It is very cute but tomorrow is also my son's first birthday, so I am having a party. The party that I wish I could have had for my daughter as well, but I did not know that many kids. Now we do, and it will be lots of fun. Talk at you later.

New updated me.

I thought I should post a more accurate photo of myself for the blog. Other than the last profile pic, three was only one, and it was bad.

New Projects

I have been working on the Angelina sweater for a while now, but I think I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I also cast on for the Simply Marylin by Debbie Bliss. The colors in the pictures are pretty true, and if you notice, you will please excuse my bed cover in the picture. I washed my sheets and everything a couple days ago, but the dog jumped on the bed, got under the covers and dirtied it up again. I have been so busy at work. My boss, thinks she knows what is going on, but I am really starting to wonder, we have had payroll problems, ownership problems, and controlissues because she pretty much allows her daughter to walk all over her staff. She is going to lose all of her staff if she is not careful. I resigned as the director, I was tired of taking all of the blame. I was not adequately staffed or funded, and I did the best I could, but she did not appreciate it, so I stepped down, however, I still have a job. She wanted me to stay and pretty much since I told her what I thought of her skills as my boss she has stayed away from work. Everyday she says she will come to work and she only ends up being there for a half an hour or so. She said she would help me releive people so they could take their lunch breaks and then she left. She didn't do anything. She was there a total of about 10 min. She told me last week she would get me my paycheck, and she sure did, after I went on strike for two days. Which made my paycheck a total of four days late. I was freaking out. The girls came over to my house after work and cheered me up. We also went out the other day and I saw someone from my past. 13 years past that is. He looks very different now, and I know I do as well. He seems to like kids, and that is nice since I have two, but they have a father and I am not looking for anyone to move in with me, or to move in with, marry, or anything like that. There is someone that I would like to date, but I doubt that I will ever get the chance. He was a fellow art student and of course he had red hair which I secretly have a huge weakness for. I am also trying to apply for a teaching job that I am not certified in. Wish Me Luck!

blue period

I have proof that I have been busy on something blue. It is a baby blanket for my son. I made one for my daughter, and this is late, but almost done. My son is now 10 months old, but when I had my daughter, I was not working and I had no other child running around to keep me busy. Anyhow, it is now technically the month of violet and purple. I am torn between the Simply Marylin sweater by Debbie Bliss and the Salt Peanuts sweater by ? I think it might be Veronique Avery.
Oh, man, on a personal note, I have been having one hell of a time at work, I even missed two days becuse they would not give me my check, she didn't have enough money to pay me. I had bills to pay, and when the bank would not cash my four day late payroll check, the car I was driving broke down, my son was sick, and I thought the world was conspiring against me. Until, that is, the girls from work called me and came over to my house, and we drank wine and had a gripe session about work. We like our jobs, the details are the only thing that bothers us. And so I have less progress than I thought because that was Friday evening and the girls were here until 3:40 AM. I should be finished tomorrow or later today, I would like to add a border as well to complete the look, so we will see how it goes.

Baby Ezekiel

Okay, as you might remember, I finished this baby sweater about two weeks or so ago, I think. Anyhow, I finally got the buttons sewn on, and I really like it. It is a size two, and my daughter is two, so I had her try it on for size. She likes it so much she wants to keep it. I always seem to procrastinate when it comes to buttons. Oh well, I can't wait much longer, Marsha, the mother of previous said baby, and her husband Scott and her other child that I am very fond of, Malachi, are all moving to the Windy City at the first of the month. I am going to miss her, even if we aren't as vocal as we used to be, I am going to miss swimming and walking and being pregnant with her. We both have our children fairly close together and the last time she got pregnant it was because she wanted to be pregnant with me. Awwwww. They are moving for better opportunities, since she is a nurse and wants to study mid-wifery. Good luck! You will be missed.
My next finished project will be blue. In honor of Project Spectrum.

Finito, Fin, or just plain done.

I have been working on a hat for a week, it seems that I never get my lunch break anymore, so I worked on it last night, and this morning. I have so many other things that I need to work on. I have a Christmas list a mile long. I need to make bigger sweaters for both of my kids, and baby sweaters for three different expectant parents.

Has anyone else seen one of these things? It is called a yarn clam and they sell them at my LYS (when I can get there). I just thought that they were pretty cool and that I should let other people know that they keep your yarn from rolling all over the place and convert and bag that you are carrying into a yarntainer.

I've been Found.

I don't mean in the religious sense, but in the sense that someone from highschool found me on that Classmates site, and they sent me email, but I don't want to talk to them. They were a friend at first, until I realised that he was trying to stalk me, he even asked my parents for permission to move in, so I moved out at 17, along with several other reasons. I told my mom he found me and she thought it was cute. What is she thinking? I have no reason to want to talk to this person, so I won't.
Up next, I have finished assembling my Lace Leaf Pullover. And I really like it, but there are some tragic mistakes. Like, how do you weaving the two ends to a kitchener stitch if there is no side seam? I have 2 mistakes and since I don't have a clue how to fix the, I will embrace them. The front of the sweater is flawless, it is on the back, and under the right arm that I have problems, but you live and learn, and ask help, then grow. I don't think it is so bad considering I never kitchenered anything before in 4 years, and never sewn in a whole sleeve that was already seamed. The picture is a bit warped, but oh well.

Lucky me, I guess.

Both, of my digital cameras seem to be giving me problems. So, I have a fuzzy picture. I still need to sew buttons on, but it is a raglan sweater in size two knit with Lion Brand Woolease in yellow and grey, on size 9 needles. I am almost finished with my Lace Leaf Pullover by Teva Durham. I have to sew the sleeves on. I put it out of my mind for two months, and forgot to finish it. I had the body completely done, and half of the sleeve, and i just got busy. More pictures later. Get this, the X cleaned the inside of my house, the outside with a mop, and mowed my yard. I forgot Father's Day was this weekend. I have three men to buy for, or make things for. We will see how that goes, I need to send a package out for my Dad, he lives in West Virginia, and mail takes forever. Kind of like this post, gotta go.

Time to post!

I have made up my mind, that it is time to post, and I will have several new posts in the near future, because I have a couple of projects finished. I would also like to have a pair of gloves done before the end of hte month, only they do not go in the project spectrum guidelines. My Dad wanted a pair of gloves that had the first finger from the first nuckle up and the thumb from the middle nuckle up exposed. And since he lives in West Virginia, I thought it would be best to make them out of Dale Hauk, which is water resistant. I believe that it is not the only one, but I do know that it is the main ne that advertises. My LYS did not have any blue, so I got cream, and I am going to knit in a band of color, or a pattern of some sort. I finished the yellow and grey baby sweater, but I have no room left on my SD card, and my batteries are almost dead. I will post pics of it next time. I used a pattern off of magknits, but I did not use the heart pattern, and I put stripes in it. There are a few changes that I would make if I were to knit it again, the main one is that it would be so easy to knit the sleeves in the round, so I think I will give it a shot. I have at least two more baby sweaters to make for now, both girl, and both for this winter. I need to make sure that they are not too heavy.
In other news, I applied for an art teaching position in the public school arena, but was too late, however someone I know got it, her daughter used to go to the daycare that I currently manage, and she is a delightful woman who I am glad to lose to, if I have to lose. I have been meaning to write her a letter of congratulations, now she won't have to substitute anymore.
There is a guy at work, that I like, he doesn't actually work there, but has kids that come to our daycare. I think that he is good looking, but other than that I don't know anything else about him. The man is as elusive as a shadow. His kids have been going to the daycare for about three or four months, but I have only had the pleasure of talking to him about twice. I don't like to play games either, or I would make something up, but I think I will never get the chance to date him. I have only been trying to figure him out since I met him, and found out he was divorced.
Life has been busy, putting in applications is unnerving, and trying to make sure all of the details are right. I still need to put in some more. I think I might move if it helps. Teaching is what I want, next to knitting, so I am going to chase my dream. I'm out for now, talk at you later.