This is the scarf I am making for my other sister, in real color it looks just like fruity pebbles. I cast it off today and just need to add the fringe. 

The Boys Blue room, still sparse as it was just done, but it turned out well.

The Glowing Pink bedroom. This one shows the girls decorating skills. I am thinking of repainting the ceiling as this room is very, very, very pink.

Another view of the girls room, if you couldn't tell. Please don't mind the bedding piled up on the bed.

Home again, aaaaah.

First, my husband rocks. He cleaned out and threw away a bunch of junk, and he and his mom painted the kids' rooms. The boys have blue walls, the girls a glowing pink room. It was all very nice to come home to. The plan now is to do some stamps on the wall with the kids help.

It was sad to leave CA, but I am so happy to be home. The kids were hilariously excited when I came home and I was in heaven with all the hugs. Arenne lost her first tooth while I was gone and proudly showed off her much anticipated gap.

Now, for the sad news. Yesterday was my last day of work. Yes folks, I came back from vacation to work one last day. I am so sad it's done and will really miss it. Now I am on a job hunt, as we have great, affordable childcare and Col would be very disappointed to not be going anymore. Before I had a job and no childcare, now I have the childcare and no job. Hopefully I can find something I will love, or at least like a bit, very soon.

While in CA I made a gorgeous, easy scarfy shawl thing for one of my sisters, and have another in the works for the other. I also finished Jen's felted purse and made a cute little pumpkin hat for my WAY TOO CUTE nephew. I will try to get pics up soon.

Califooooornia!

Ah, finally a new post and it's extra special as it's from sunny Southern California! My really, really, really fabulous sisters bought me a plane ticket out here for my upcoming birthday and I am absolutely loving it. I've been out here for a few days, we've visited all over, been to Huntington Beach (WOW HOW RELAXING!) and had some really great food. I have been knitting and crocheting all over the place, and finished my sister Jen's purse and a shawl/scarf sort of thing for her. Pictures to come later. I was even knitting on the beach, pure bliss.

Aside from having tons of fun with my sisters I have been snuggling and loving up my little nephew man. The best ever. I am loving every minute of it.

Tomorrow is my last full day here, we are off to look at model houses, do a bit of shopping, and then swim, barbecue and sleep over at Jen's. I'm also baking cookies for them. Ah, who would've thought I was so domestic!?

He's a big kid now.

My youngest child turned 3 today. 3. Where has the time gone? He is my baby and now he is 3 years old. He informed me that he is a big kid now. It's so hard to believe.

Today has been bittersweet, and not just because my little one is growing up. This was the first birthday of any of my children that I wasn't there for-I've always been able to be off for the entire day. Colin had a really great day, and I know he won't remember that I wasn't here all day but it still makes me sad. I did have a good morning with my hilarious little guy, and he had a great birthday and that what's important.

Ta-daaa! The fun fur stripes scarves are finished, I promise to get a cute picture of the girls wearing them soon. 

It's a Knitting Milestone!

I am just so proud. I am sitting here watching A&E, one of my favorite channels, and working on Arenne's scarf. Suddenly I realized I was knitting WITHOUT LOOKING AT MY KNITTING! I was knitting away, watching tv. I didn't think it was possible for me to be able to do this, but I am!!! Oh how far I have come!

Upstaged again

this time by a Disney channel movie. I did sneak in some good snuggle time and I am now 3/4 done with Arenne's scarf.

Ah, quality time with the kids

Finally a day off, aaaah. Did some cleaning, laundry, and knitting. I had planned on being able to spend the day with the kiddos. Instead they played outside with their friends. It's not like the old days when I was the entertainment, they've moved on. Hopefully we can get some good time in together tonight before bedtime.

I've been hoping

the cute picture of my youngest child would be enough for me to get away with not posting for a bit.

WHEW. So this full time evening shift job thing is seriously cutting into my online time, my yarn time, and especially my kid time. Sigh. Thankfully I have tomorrow and Saturday off and I am home until about 2:00pm on Sunday. I can't wait to just hang out with the family. Mr. Blue escaped for a couple days to go and see Coldplay-of course I am bitter at not being able to go-but at least he got to get away and have some fun. The kids enjoyed a couple evenings with their grandparents, always a bonus.

I absolutely love my job. Love it. I will be very sad when it is gone. As for salads, I've compromised by bringing salad at least one night a week, and having them for lunch. It works, right?

On a very cool yarny note, one of the people coming into my bay is an extreme knitter. I am so excited to have met her, she is extremely proficient at knitting and crocheting and works at a craft store teaching. Her work is GORGEOUS and she sells at a farmer's market here every Saturday. She also sets up at craft shows and that when she can. On an even cooler note, she has invited me to go to a big craft show with her, if I am interested. Of course I am, but then where will I find the time to get any sort of stock worked up?!?! Especially with all these purses waiting in the wings. I am very happy to have met this woman, she is very nice and very good at all things yarn. The only sad part is that I can't sit and crochet next to her during the workday. Sigh.

My big little boy. Colin had his first day ever of daycare last week, here is on the big day. He was so very proud. :) 

So I totally failed

at bringing salads to work. Last night I had Mexican food. Delicious, yummy mexican food. I did have a salad for lunch today. Two salads, I needed a refill.

Today was my first day off, it was GREAT. I took Colin to daycare to give him a little consistency, especially since Wed. was so hard for him. He was completely fine and happy to go and did not want to come home with me when I went to pick him up.

I had planned on getting some stuff done around the house today, instead i sat and crocheted and watched Third Watch on A&E. I had to DVR the last of the third episode, and will be watching it momentarily. It was heaven to have some downtime.

I picked up the kiddos tonight and it was so good to see them. We had a total family night at home, Joe made a fabulous dinner and we sat watching the kids play outside. Great all around. I got lots of hugs and kisses today and I desperately needed them. Before I was totally ready to have breaks, now I am away from them way too much. They are all excited, as am I, that I have tomorrow off as well.

I have no idea why but I get totally sucked into That's So Raven. I really like this show. It must be all those Saved by the Bell years.

I Couldn't Resist.

I did not bring a salad to work last night. I ran out of time to get it all ready to go. I ordered Chinese with Bob and had rice instead. Very bland rice, with that awful soy sauce that really tastes like nothing, except perhaps what you'd imagine the look of it would taste like.

I did not drink my tea this morning. The call of the coffee place was too strong, I couldn't help myself. In my defense it has been awhile since I've had some.

I resisted the urge yesterday to obsessively call Colin's daycare or drive over there and scoop him up. I waited a good amount of time to call and he was, of course, fine. He was settled down before I was down the street, had pizza for lunch, took a good long nap, and made a ghost. I really hope today is easier though, for him and me.

Work is going well and I really enjoy what I'm doing. Still crazy and chaotic, I'm fairly sure it will stay that way for a little bit. As much as I like it I really am looking forward to a day off tomorrow. Bring on the comfy clothes and yarn baby!

The horrible side of going back to work.

Leaving my very, very sad and crying two year old at his daycare. Blech. :(

Paging Dr. Scholls...

Going from a stay at home mom who gets delicious sitting on the couch snuggle time to standing on my feet for pretty close to the full eight hours makes for aching tootsies. Those Jellin'? Gellin'? commercials aren't seeming quite as dorky right now. Okay, they still are dorky, but spawned an entire round of gellin jokes that I inundated my poor co-supervisors with. As sad as my jokes were, I think they really did want to join in. I'm sure of it.

It went better than I had expected yesterday, and I love it so far. I really do feel that getting this job will be great for me personally. I miss the heck out of the kids already. Col and I get the daytime together, but I barely see Abs, Arenne, & Drew. At least I've got Fridays and Saturdays off.

Col and I hit the grocery store this morning, wheee. My goal is to bring salads to work for dinner, and I'm having green tea in the mornings. Work clothes shopping and the flourescent lights combined with the big mirror did not do great things for my body image. I wanted to actually wipe the image from my eyes, so I guess the next best thing would be to eat healthier and soon I will get my behind back into the gym. Soon.

Par for the course, Mr. Blue did well handling the afterschool stuff and remembered everything. Off to a great start. I, however, am not doing as well with my list, as I am sitting here on the computer rather than picking up and cleaning and laundry. A girl's gotta wake up though, right?

List of Things I Must Do Now That I Am Working Full-Time

I've become so used to being a domestic goddess, even if I'm not a very good one, that I need to do some serious re-organization around here. Most nights Mr. Blue will be the parent in charge of homework-not that there is a lot of it-and reading the kids' daily mail and all of that. He is not used to this. At all. I have always done this and have a handy filing system and a calendar of the girls' specials for each day and all sorts of notes and things to keep us on track. You would be amazed at the amount of paperwork and organization that comes with three kids in Primary School. Arenne has nightly reading assignments, and I read with the others as well, something Mr. Blue does occasionally, but is not used to all of it on regular sort of schedule. He's more of a read when the mood strikes kind of guy.

I also need to get much more caught up on my laundry as I will not have as much time to play the old throw the laundry in at the last minute at night game. Especially to make sure they have actual matching clothes and enough socks and all that. Enough blathering, here's my list.

1. Remind Mr. Blue to take care of "homework" and check kids' school mail in the evenings.

2. Get caught up on laundry, at least a little bit.

3. Get on a morning cleaning schedule. Yes mornings, yes me, actually doing things in.the.morning.

4. Attempt to get morning cleaning done early-ish so that I can spend some time crocheting or reading or just jacking around. Something to enjoy the little bit of alone time I will get each day. Try not to fall into nap every day during this time routine.

5. Refer to this entry often to remind myself of the things I must do now that I am working full-time.

6. Find the horribly loud chirpy cricket by my back door and annihilate it.

I have made

it through my first official day back at work, which was full of training. Things are kind of in chaos right now, you can imagine that setting this up in less than a week has been a little crazy for everyone. I start my official new shift tomorrow, Lord help the people in my bay. ;)

It's very sobering to go over the training for handling calls and to think of all the people we will be talking to to. We are getting lots of thanks for being involved in the "project" but I can't help but feel it's not totally right as we are getting paid for it. It's different than when I volunteered post 911 to handle calls for donations. Still, I really hope that we can help these people at least in a small way.

Things will be very different in the Blue household. I will be working an evening shift, and it will go from being home all the time, to me being home until afternoon, and Mr. Blue home in the evenings. It will be a switch for the kids. As well as for me. I was able to get home earlier tonight and it was good to enjoy a night home with them. Colin LOVES his new daycare, or "school" as he calls it. I am so happy. Hopefully this will keep up for him. I am so relieved to have found such great care for him.

I just have to add that I also went and bought an interview outfit today. It's been six years since I've worn professional dress clothes and I've grown considerably since then.

I was on a fast mission, and horridly disappointed at the selection at this particular department store. For crying out loud, it's a department store! The first skirt I tried on was absolutely motherfucking hilarious. Seriously. It would've elicited laughs from even the most serious people you know. Such a cute kicky little skirt, but when coupled with my baby burdened body it turned into a caricature. I laughed at my own reflection in the mirror. (This took a lot as I was trying to come down from the gasp at the hideousness of my overgrown baby/beer belly.) Perhaps if I had larger boobs to offset it it would not have been as shocking or HI-larious.

Whatever the case I came home with an appropriately fitted and rather flattering skirt in purple and black and a sweater top in black. All around it fit me well, and I even wore NYLONS. Yes folks, black nylons.

Too bad it was mostly wasted on a flip flop jeans wearing crowd, eh?

Belt pattern

Here is my unofficially written totally made up pattern, based on a rosette looking stitch I made up long ago and used on tons of afghans.

I used a 3.25mm hook(D) and the Sugar 'n Cream-maybe 1/4 of a skein?

Chain 4.

(*DC, Ch 3, SC) in 2nd chain from hook, skipping next chain repeat * in original chain. hopefully i am writing this in a nonconfusing manner. Chain 3 and turn.

For next row, and all rows after until desired length:

(*DC, Ch 3, SC) in sc of last stitch in row before, repeat, chain 3 and turn.

That's it. I really hope you can understand the instructions, if not make up your own like I did.


I haven't been working on as much the last few days, having another flare. Tonight I did a couple rows on the second panel-more of a triangle actually-and I had done a bit waiting in the school pick up line. Turns out I skipped a stitch about 3 rows back. Wheeeeee. Frog, frog, frog and I've made up one row so far. Thankfully this is a really easy pattern that works up quickly. Not at all like when my needle slips out of my knitting and my heart stops and I go into a mad panic to get it back on before any of the stitches disappear.

Illness prevails and my use of big words.

The illness has spread to the smallest one in the family. Colin started acting grumpy and out of sorts after a long nap yesterday and was soon feeling warm and feverish. Throughout the night he got worse, sleeping an hour at a time, at most. Poor little guy. This afternoon, with the help of Children's Tylenol he is up and rowdy and happy to see his brother who came home today. The reunion has also sparked myriad fights and random screaming and hollering, apparently this is what joy does to children. Yay for adults.

A thunderstorm is rolling in and I am happy to have a grey day, it just seems more relaxing and peaceful. Rain is one of those comforting things for me. Someday I will have a nice screened in porch like my parents that I'll be able to sit on during the rain and read books and drink tea.

Typing prevails reminded me of a conversation with my siblings while we were all here having a few beers. A rare occurance, due to the sisters distance from my brother and I. Gack, be back to finish!

Here are Abbie & Arenne's belts! Wheee, this was a quick fun project and the girls love them. Arenne fell asleep in hers. lol I see many other belt designs in the future, I love those quick rewards. 

Here is Abbie's belt, just finished! I got her to sleep by telling her it would be done when she wakes up in the morning. ;) 

A close-up of Abbie's belt. 

Alright, I am having

trouble finding words to convey what I want to say, so I am just going to post.

My heart goes out to everyone affected by Katrina. It is absolutely horrifying to see what people are going through and I sit here wishing there was a way to just stop all of the awfullness of this. All of you are in my prayers and my thoughts.

Donate through the Red Cross, or other agencies and help these people out.

Still a bad blogger.

My sisters have gone home :( Illness is still here in the house, including the husband and I. At the moment I have it the worst. The only two who have remained unaffected are the small boys, and hopefully it will leave them alone. Drew is off for the weekend with his grandparents and cousin and the rest of us are having a relaxed and leisurely recuperating weekend. Pray it works.

After all of our busy-ness this past few weeks it was very nice to be home again. I've made some projects on some of my projects, finished the dishcloths for the swaps-finally! and need to get those mailed out. I'll post pics later so it doesn't spoil the surprise. (If either of them read this blog, that is.) Today I took a break from my poncho to start a totally new and unexpected project. Arenne and I had a bit of time to ourselves today and I noticed how big their new jeans are. Why! I could make the girls belts! I hauled out some pink Sugar 'n Cream and came up with a belt. Arenne LOVES it. I am now working on Abbie's, in purple. Using my own made up stitch-that I used on all of my afghans before actually being able to read patterns. I'll have to take pics and post them here.

Now I am going to try to finish Abs' belt and wallow in my sickly misery.

No, this is not a tangle of yarn. It's actually a poncho I am making for myself FINALLY. I found a pattern book with this in it, using Lover's Knots I believe they are called. I'm using Caron Simply Soft and it is working up very quickly, wheee.  

Here's one of the dishcloths I've gotten from the Sybermoms craft forum dishcloth swap, I love the pattern on it. Thanks Snarky!! 

I have been making a bunch of these headbands out of sugar 'n cream. It's just a chain joined and sc around. Very easy, but they work really well.  

My name is Blue and I am a Blog Neglector

I am behind on posting on this blog, I am behind on my blog reading. It's sad! It's been busy here with school starting, and my sister and her family visiting. My nephew is just too too much, it's been great having my sister here, even if we did party a little too hard last night.

I am doing some knitting, and putting off things I really should be working on. What's the fun in always doing what you need to though? I'd like to try to be witty and interesting but I am much too hungover.

Here is the "T" washcloth I've made for the little nephew man. This was a very easy pattern, and I only had to frog 8 rows because I missed a couple stitches.

My nephew is beautiful, quite the chub! I had a blast getting to meet him and snuggle and kiss and love his chunka munka self. He is quite the talker! The kids are totally enamored, it's great.

WOW

Holy Moly. I just took a four or five hour nap. This is absolutely unheard of.

Mr. Blue has been gone for the past three days for a fun work trip to Miami, a big banquet, lots of fun, and all because he works so hard. He came home last night, and today was taking the children to visit family for the day. A WHOLE DAY TO MYSELF! I was supposed to clean. I did some work, then laid down on the couch and conked out. A phone call woke me up. Some of you may realize what a monumental day this has been. I was able to lay down, fall asleep-UNINTERRUPTED SLEEP-and not worry about when I needed to wake up. Sleep, rest, with no parameters. Generally, just getting a nap in is amazing. THIS, my friends, is unheard of. AAAAAHHHHHHH!

Now I need to fit in some cleaning before dinner at my parents AND (drumroll please) my sister, her husband, AND MY LITTLE NEPHEW MAN are coming in around 9:00. I AM SO EXCITED AND HAPPY I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!! I cannot wait to hug them all and then wait my turn to steal the baby, I mean, of course my mom and grandma should have the first hugs and snuggles, but you can bet I will be anxiously awaiting my turn.

In yarn related news, I started a washcloth for the nephew, from the same site as the ribbon one. With a T on it. I was about 3/4 done but had to frog eight rows as I had apparently purled 3 stitches instead of knitting them. Sigh. Using cotton tots, and wow is it softer than Sugar 'n Cream. I knew it was, but didn't realize the difference in working with it.

This is the pattern I am using. Be sure to check out the main page, she has a TON of cool dishcloth patterns, and even takes requests.

Now I am off for some furious cleaning, a fabulous dinner, and BABY HUFFING! WOOOHOOO!

You learn something new everyday.

And it is always better when accompanied by hilarity.

So, I am talking to Venus on the phone, in our usual style of gabbing away and then breaking off to talk to or holler at our children (she talks, I holler to be heard above the noise level here.) As she is talking to her son about what he should be working on I hear her say "Duke & June." I think, hmmm that sounds familiar. It takes about a minute for me to realize that Duke & June MUST be the generic version of Dick & Jane! I picture the black and white book cover, the most basic stick figures, living in row houses with sparse, dead grass and broken bottles in the gutters. This, of course, sends me into fits of laughter. At this point V has absolutely no idea what I am finding so funny, but laughs a bit at my obvious glee. So, I ask "Do they have a dog named Spit?" Takes her a bit, and she suddenly bursts into laughter.

Because I am a huge geek who finds the most simple things funny I run with this. Visuals pop into my head of Duke & June and their poor, ghetto adventures. Spit soon becomes a rat, Duke & June are going to the corner store to get cigs for their mother, and paying with food stamps. I am crying I am laughing so hard. It is still funny, hours later.

THEN, V tells me something that seems too good to be true. I am convinced she is pulling my leg. Apparently, in the story, Duke & June make a snowman. He has...ICE CUBES FOR EYES, A PRUNE FOR A NOSE, AND...plays the flute. Tears stream down my face, I am in disbelief, laughing so hard my stomach hurts, my jaws are sore, my cheeks throbbing.

Duke & June may not be as funny to anyone else, but to us, holy moly, that is some seriously funny shit.

Damn that Venus

For getting that aaaahahaahahahaha Neverending Story song stuck in my head. Grrrr. I am now listening to Gorillaz thanks to her link, it's the least she could do for being so mean. Incidently, she is also weirder than I am. Woohooo! (Really though, I think she only looks weirder.)

The first day of school went VERY well, the girls were all sorts of excited. They were both nervous as this is the first time they are in separate classes, but it went well. Abs still isn't that excited about, but she'll come around. A definite switch from last year when Abbie was ready for some independence and Arenne was decidedly not. They had fun today, especially getting all dressed up in their hip new clothes. I only wish I were half as stylish. The boys missed them though, they even hugged them when they came home.

Major decluttering here, crazy, but aaaah it feels so good! Of course once all four children were home and I was making dinner it quickly deteriorated, but at least they don't have as much stuff to mess it up with.

It's the first day of 1st grade for Abbie & Arenne. Check out these fashionistas, they were so excited and a little nervous. 

Here are all four of the kiddos. :) 

Ta-Daaa! It's done, finally. I decided to go ahead and make the top match the bottom-apparently I skipped a row down there. I also missed 1 knit stitch towards the top of the ribbon, but can't really tell. Not bad for the first attempt at the whole picture thing. I hope. 

Here are the patches and bag I will using to make my new yarn tote. These are actually not glowing, it's just the flash reflecting off the beads. 

Here is my latest project, thanks to Sybermoms craft forum. The Knitted Breast Cancer Awareness Cloth.

This is the first time I've attempted a pattern involving an actual picture design. I've already realized I skipped a row-in spite of counting and my handy dandy tic marks-as evidenced by the clear line where I started the ribbon part of the cloth. I thought about frogging, but really I'd rather not. This will just be the test cloth and can live happily among the other test cloths in my drawers. If you'd like to see what it should look like, please check out Ms. Box's.

THANKFULLY I appear to be getting over this hellish cold. My head is completely stuffed up, my throat is scratchy, but I seem to be hitting the end stages. I hope. I am way behind on everything, from house cleaning and excavating to my blog reading. Expect mad catching up.

In really exciting news my sisters surprised with an incredibly cool gift for the upcoming 30th birthday. They are flying me out to CA for a visit in early October. (The birthday is at the end of October.) I am totally blown away and way excited for the trip, WOOHOOOO!!!!

Still sick. Blech. Finished dishcloth #3.

Sick again

Crabby, achey, and sick again. Sneezing my fool head off.

Working on dishcloth #3, I'm surprised at how much better I've gotten at purling. Thank goodness.

Blee Blah Bloh Blah

Describes me today. Out of sorts, flaring a bit, and tiyad of whatever is causing me to jerk around the way I do. Nothing like a little unintentional twitch to spice up a day, eh?

I've started the 2nd kitchen cotton dishcloth, which means I've actually started a set. The knitting is getting easier for me and I am definitely getting faster at purling. I'm not as bogged down in the pattern this time around. I'm also working on some of the cloches I need to do, and I HAVE to get started on the purses. Have to. I also must finish the little man nephew socks, as he will be coming with my sis and her husband to visit in TWO WEEKS! I actually get to snuggle and sniff him in person in two weeks, I CAN'T WAIT! I've even offered to have him overnight to give them a break-but we all know it's really so I can have him all to myself. Myself and the kids, I mean. They are all very excited to meet their new cousin.

I MUST get myself motivated to get some stuff down around the house, and go through the ten million pounds of clothing we own. I really, really want to have the kids' clothes gone through and organized befor school starts. Pray for me.

VOILA!

It's finished! I actually finished the kitchen cotton dishcloth, all of that k1, p1, k1, p1 and on and on has paid off. I am mostly proud that I didn't frog it and start over. Now, to make a few more.

I finally

got my ever growing behind to the gym again. Good workout. Came home and chowed down on Kentucky Fried Chicken strips, biscuits, and gravy. I wonder how that works out in the end?

A dishcloth turned washcloth. This was one of my test dishcloths, knitted with a single crochet border. The border is a tiny bit too stiff, next time I'll use a bigger hook, but this is a perfect washcloth. 

A close-up view of the stitches. 

On the knitting front

The newest dishcloth, following this pattern. Finding just the right pattern has proved trickier than I thought, but finally I think I may have found it. Now, if I were only more proficient at purling.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The new Crochet Me is up! Go an check it out, it's delicious. I am in love with the little finger puppets!

The finished ipod case! It felted to the perfect size, I am amazed. The flap actually fits right over, I need to add a button I think. Still debating on whether to cut out pieces for the display, etc.  

The back of the ipod case, with a handy dandy pocket for my earphones. 

The Weekend Went Well

Aaaah, we had a great time, the wedding was tear-inducing and beautiful and we danced it up and had a blast. We weren't able to go out on the boat as it was too windy, but the kids got to play in the sand and swim and all of that good stuff. They were very well behaved, until the last hour of the trip home, but all in all a good time.

I am still trying to find just the right dishcloth pattern, I did a knit one with a crochet border, very simple actually and I am thinking I may go with that. I'd like to try out a few more patterns first though.

I've started more of the flower hats, need to do 3, and my ipod case is blocked and drying as I type, it seems to be JUST the right size. I am really hoping I wrote down the dimensions/stitches somewhere, I can't remember, one of these days I'll learn.

The poor little man socks haven't been picked up in forever, I had thought I would work on them over the weekend but I didn't have as much free time as I thought. Someday I'll get to them, and hopefully while the nephew man is still small enough to wear them.