Friday, November 26, 2004


A shot of them posing in the new ponchos. I added ribbon to the neckline to cinch them up a bit, it worked out pretty well. Posted by Hello

My beautiful girls. :) Posted by Hello

Tuesday, November 23, 2004


Arenne is too much, she is so sweet and wore her poncho all night. Posted by Hello

And here is the front. I am going to add some ribbon-I think-to the neck to cinch it up a bit for her.  Posted by Hello

Here's the back of Arenne's poncho, it's a little big. Posted by Hello

Monday, November 22, 2004

It's not boucle

that is of the debil, it is fun fur. *twitch*

I really detest

sewing in the ends. A lot.

I have the first poncho sewn together, and am sewing in all the end strings. Then it's onto sewing Abbie's poncho together and those ends in. Then the fur fur. I will have them finished tomorrow, hooray! (About time too.)

One lesson I've learned, if your strips end up wider on one end than the other your poncho will be slighty off. Hopefully this will not be that noticeable when worn. Hope for me. And my children. ;)

All four strips, FINISHED! Posted by Hello

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Phase 1 of Desk Excavation has begun

Halfway through, and I had no idea I had as much yarn as I do. WOOHOO! I am trying to get my area back to craft friendly, I set up shelves and am moving things around a bit. It makes me wish I had my very own craft room, but I'll have to make do with my corner.

Still working on the ponchos, obviously I haven't had as much crochet time today. We have our nephew over tonight and the girls are over at my parents for their own sleepover, I am way outnumbered by the boys. Football, video games, and pizza. Good thing I like all those things too. ;)

The Hawkeyes won again WOOHOOOO!

Friday, November 19, 2004

And the poncho saga continues

I have not had NEARLY enough crocheting time lately, so still working on strip #4. I must get them done by this weekend. It is my duty as a crocheter. And as a mom of two little girls who are waiting, not all the way patiently, for them.

Tonight is party night with Big C, he is raring to go, and WILL NOT be held, lest he fall asleep. We are listening to launchcast on yahoo messenger and he is dancing his cute little diapered behind off. My little wildman.

Today I had to go get a copy of the title to my old car that we are trying to sell. As usual, this trip to the DMV was filled with adventure. They couldn't find the title in their system based on my name. I was told to come back with the vin # and license plate #. The problem here is that I had to work today, so I planned on trying to get out of work early to go up before the kids get out of school. WRONG. Today was busy, the other waitress was sick, and the one who filled in could only stay until 12:30. Of course we were then busy, and I didn't get out of there until almost 3. The plan was changed to include carting four kiddos to the DMV. I bribed them with fast food if they were good, and hoped that maybe their presence would help get me in and out faster. On the way there I was very nearly hit by a FedEx truck, backed into by another truck, and had a car take up two spots so that the kids and I had to walk even further. (Said car pulled into both spots right ahead of me, and did not move over even though I was patiently waiting behind them. People are so thoughtful.) We actually made it into the DMV, the kids were pretty well behaved. Turns out that they had to call Des Moines for the title no. and will now have to make a new copy, which will take 5 days. My buyer was coming on Sunday. Scratch that.

Adaptable? Hell yes i am adaptable. With four kids there is not much that goes as planned here. In spite of my adaptability today was enough to shatter what was left of my nerves. I rewarded my well-behaved children with Burger King, complete with Spongebob kids meal toys, drive-thru all the way, treated myself to a latte, and we made it home.

It's a drizzly, rainy day, jammies were put on right away and we settled in for a night of book-reading and game playing, and to top it off some Nemo watching. Now if I can just get this rowdy little one to sleep so I can crochet in peace.

Thursday, November 18, 2004


Here is the yarn I am using for scarf/hat combo. Lion Brand homespun and this yummy furry yarn for edging. Posted by Hello

Will illness ever leave my house?

With six of us living here, and having to each catch all the bugs, it seems as we are never fully well. Arenne is home sick today, she threw up last night, poor kiddo. It seems to be going easier on her than it did Colin though.

I am hoping to finish the second strip for Abbie's poncho today, then I will move onto sewing them together. I'm a little nervous about that part, as I've never done it, we'll see how it goes. After that it's fun fur time!

I have worked on the scarf a bit in the car, although not a whole lot. Still haven't picked the bag back up again, it's on hold for now. After finishing the ponchos I am making a scarf/hat combo to be auctioned off at sybermoms. I'll post a picture of the yarn I am using for that in a bit.

I won a wool yarn auction on ebay today, 8 skeins of white superwool. I've wanted to try koolaid dyeing for awhile now. I'll definitely need pictures of that, I'm sure it will be an adventure.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

So I'm still working

on Abbie's poncho, but the more I work on hers, the more I worry that I am going to have to frog and restart Arenne's. I will have to try to get a pic, but one end is wider than the other, as I added stitches on both strips. Blech. I'm worried that if I do frog it, it will ruin the yarn. I think I can sew it together and it will be fine, but it's harder when you are doing two, that will be worn together, the differences will be very obvious then. So far I have decided to continue working on Ab's and then decide. (Which basically means I am just putting off the decision.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE!

I have to have a message just to send birthday wishes to my good friend V. Hope the day treats you well, in spite of everything, and that you get to enjoy your weekend. :)

Monday, November 15, 2004


Progress so far tonight. :) It's going well. Posted by Hello

Strip one of Abbie's poncho, same kind of yarn, different color. Posted by Hello

Wooohooo!

Arenne's strips are done! I have started on the first strip for Abbie's now. I really had trouble with adding stitches with the boucle, hopefully I will get better with these next two.

Hopefully.

Sunday, November 14, 2004

Blah Ha Ha!

So, today my mil came to pick up the munchkins, and I promptly conked out on my couch. I am feeling better today, no more spending half of my day in the bathroom. Yesterday was just tons of fun, I now have the entire bathroom memorized. ManBleu came home with a latte for me-a good, good man. He made dinner for us, the kiddos came home and I graciously allowed him to take over kid duty. Good thing, because the tremors decided to visit, and as usual I was very stiff and achey afterwards. I was also frustrated and down, and I am just pretty much fed up with all of this physical crap. I had planned on doing some mad crocheting and at the very least finishing strip 2, buuuut instead I sat at the computer, and felt sorry for myself because I couldn't get my hands to work.

After a few hours of moping, an M&M/Oreo blizzard, fun on my favorite websites, and a really great conversation with my friend Soop I am feeling better. My hands are working again, so I am redoing the couple rows I had to frog because I missed some stitches, and hoping I can finish strip 2 before I need to get to bed. (I really need to get there now, but I am pretending I don't.)

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Wow, I am tired.

ManBlue is at the Hawkeyes game, having a blast. I am here, in my messy living room with four very wide-awake children. I wish they all still took naps. C is feeling much better today, he was a sick little man yesterday, poor guy. We had a rowdy night last night, please pray I get some sleep tonight. Hopefully the illness is now on it's way out of our house.

I've been working on Arenne's poncho still, over halfway done with the second strip. I am itching to totally finish it, but I want to stick with the plan of doing Abbie's strips next. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Let's Go Hawks!!!

My good friend Michelle sent me these absolutely gorgeous wood crochet hooks, and some yummy yarn as well. I'm almost afraid to use them they are so cool. Posted by Hello

A pic of the second strip for Arenne's poncho. I have added stitches to this one too, apparently I am boucle challenged. I had to add this picture to prove to Michelle that I am still working on the ponchos and not playing with the above beautiful hooks. ;)Posted by Hello

Friday, November 12, 2004


The first afghan I crocheted. I made this around 9 years ago, the stitches have loosened a bit from washing, but it's held up pretty well. Posted by Hello

Thursday, November 11, 2004

So I'm onto strip number two.

I've not had as much time to work on it today, especially after I conked out for quite awhile this morning. This illness is wiping me out, big time.

Tonight I took the girls to a school rollerskating party, which they had forgotten to bring the note home about. Honestly, it was the last thing I wanted to do, but they were way too excited about it. So, my parents took the boys, and off we went. We had a really good time, they were absolutely adorable, and did pretty well for their first time skating.

I have a doctor's appointment in the morning, hopefully they can get me fixed up. Back to the poncho.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Here I sit

feeling horrible, this illness is kicking my behind. Kids are blissfully asleep, laundry is switched over, living room is an absolute mess. I have got to get my behind in gear and get it picked up. I am so relieved, someone has been working for me, so I don't go back until Fri. Even that seems to soon, but it is so nice not to have to worry about working right now.

I finished one of the poncho strips for Arenne's poncho, and have started the second. As I posted, I had added an extra stitch, and it appears I decided to do one more later on, but I am just going to go with it. I feel like I've frogged it enough. Arenne is very excited, she asked if we would be done in 3 minutes lol. I wish I were that good. Hopefully I can get them both done this week.

I work on my dishcloth turned scarf in the car, etc. I keep it in my purse for when I am stuck by trains, in the pickup line at school, or in the fortunate moments when I am actually able to go buy myself a latte and sit and wait for it. My felting project sits lonely next to me on the desk. Poor thing.

Apparently I added an extra stitch. Thankfully when I went for more yarn I bought two more skeins for each poncho, so now I don't have to worry about not having enough. As you can see, I've done quite a bit since the extra stitch fiasco, and seeing as how I 've already frogged a bunch of rows once for doing this, I am just going with it. Hoping it will hide when it's all put together. ;) Please also disregard the pen colored on the desk, it's hard to keep things drawing free in our house. Posted by Hello

Tuesday, November 09, 2004


Progress as of tonight. This picture is pretty dark. Posted by Hello

Monday, November 08, 2004


Progress so far tonight. :) Posted by Hello

Okey dokey, here is the first row redone, complete with 24 dc. HOORAY! Let's hope I don't have to frog as much through the rest of it. It's been slow going getting used to the boucle, but not as bad as I originally thought it would be. Posted by Hello

So the row from the last picture has turned into this, 10 chains. I carefully pulled it apart and am starting over, only having 21 dc worried me, and I'd rather start over in the beginning than be mad at myself in the end.  Posted by Hello

First row of one of the girls ponchos. It seems so small, but my guage is on. I was supposed to get 24 dc, but I am only at 21, not sure what happened there. Posted by Hello

Sunday, November 07, 2004

A poncho has been started

So far all I have is my chain. Oh my. Granted I started it, and then didn't have much time, but this boucle is really intimidating me. It's hard to see where each chain is in all of it. I really hope it will get easier as I work with it more. I'm thinking I will do the four strips-2 for each poncho-and then sew them together and do the fur at the end. That way one of the girls won't have to wait longer than the other. Hopefully.

I am sick, it is making me very crabby. I am so tired of being sick and catching everything. Blech. My hands are also really sore, which makes me more crabby. Crabby, crabby, crabby. Yippee.

Can't sleep

and boy is it fun. The rest of my house is asleep, the only noises are occasional snores, rustling, and coughs. We have an awful cold running through here, Mr. Blue has had it for two weeks now. All weekend plans have been scrapped and we are vegging at home. Hopefully we will all be feeling better very soon.

My hands have been sore, I've worked some on my scarf and I am thinking I will start Abbie and Arenne's ponchos tomorrow. They are too excited about them, reminding me today that lots of other girls wear them at school lol. It's too funny seeing them as kindergartners and being "big girls."

I'd also like to excavate my desk and I need to file the pile of school paperwork listing precariously to the open side of the desk. I have gotten some Christmas shopping for the kiddos done on ebay, this could possibly be the earliest I have started yet. Drew will be getting Thomas the Tank Engine bedding set, and I can finally get my behind in gear and decorate his room. I picked up a Thomas border and some posters awhile back, but in the hopes of moving I hadn't put them up yet. Now that I know we'll be here for another couple years, it's time to put it up. I also found music boxes for my girls. :)

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Bleh

I am politiced out. Very saddened by the outcome of the elections, but what are you going to do? Hopefully President Bush will prove me wrong in the next four years.

I am still working on my scarf, and the bag. I'm just about half finished with my scarf-hooray! and the bag is still in the same darn spot as I haven't picked it up in a week.

I now have quite the yarn stash and I love it!! Ebay rocks, and so does yummy yarn.

Now, I am off, as Big C has gotten a hold of a marker, and apparently he is the canvas.

Monday, November 01, 2004

So I bought

Stitch 'n Bitch today. :D I can't wait to start reading it, BUT, I am making myself work more on my scarf. I know I will not be able to resist long, but I have to get some of these projects done.

Okay, at least one.

I also got some delicious black yarn in the mail today that I bought on ebay, I am planning on making myself a poncho with it. I love having this yarn stash, it is growing all the time. I won two very pretty skeins of purple of yarn as well, I CANNOT wait to get them!

Blech

First of all, I have to work today, and I am just really not in the mood. Secondly, the yarn I chose for my boys' hats just isn't working. Thankfully they each have hats to wear, so it's not like they will be hatless, but still! Maybe I will make them scarves instead. We'll see.

It's a rainy, cold day and I would love to just be home, cozy in my house, crocheting away. Instead I will be at the restaurant, serving people food. Normally I like my job, today I just would rather be home. At least I am off tomorrow.

Mr. Blue and I will be going down to Dem party headquarters to help out for election day. I believe we will be calling people, which I am not looking forward to, but anything to help. The thought of Bush winning this election makes my stomach turn. I apologize to any Bush supporters out there, as I respect other people's views and opinions, even if I do not agree.

Any of you with kids who are Nickelodean watchers will understand this: I have the theme from the Miss Spider cartoon running through my head. It is catchy, and I like it, but really, when I am serving someone their burger and fries and singing "Spiders are spinning awaaaay..." it gets a little weird.