A Snail Issue..and Potholders

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My easy going , unbearably neat freak of a daughter has mutated! I SWEAR!!! She has turned into a snail. She has started to leave a trail of slime everywhere she goes. It's disgusting, and she hates it even more than me. Every ten minutes she wants me to clean the saliva out of her mouth. Do you know how gross the human mouth is? And she wants me to put my hand in there!?! It's a good thing I keep rubber gloves on hand, and where the hell is that bulb syringe when you need it? I had it only this weekend, it must be close...mocking me. Can you tell it's been stressful here today? My drama queen and I don't handle stress well...we'll work on that. In case you were actually wondering her top front permanent teeth are gracing us with their presence. Yipee!! A is a bear and I want to crawl in my bed and curl up in a ball and bawl. Then I hear it....MOOOMMMEEEE (every four minutes).




I quit trying to fight with html and found a new template I like better. The best part is that it was super easy to get going. Every thing is well in blogger land again. I got to the point that I didn't even want to look at my computer, screw html. I'm happy again.





These are the potholders I've done so far for the swap. After looking at the photos I like them more, weird eh? That's me :)) The pattern is Southwestern Duo Potholders. I only did the full circle style and not the crescent. I used Sugar 'n Cream for the bold primary colors and I Love This Cotton in Taupe Ombre I had in my stash for the variegated colorway. These totally remind me of the southwest US. I was going for a mexican/deserty feel. I really like these and I hope whoever gets them likes them too. They measure approximately 9" in diameter(not including the loop. So they are well within to 6-12" restricions. I initially bought cotton yarn from Elann, but when it arrived I decided it was too thin for potholders. They should be thick and safe. So what do you think?

Pulling Out My Hair

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I have decided to change my blog template. I like this one better, it feels like "me". Problem is I am a total beginner at this stuff. Html and computer speak is way out of my league. It's coming slowly but surely. I am having a bit of trouble with the links under the header they don't seem to line up right. The "home" button links to "about" and "about" to "contacts".... crazy stuff like that. I know how to do bits and peices of this but putting it all together is really throwing me. If I could take out the home, about, contact, and FAQ I would. I'm just not sure how and it's driving me INSANE!! Not that I've not been on that road for some time now, but still. Oh well, I'll fiqure it out. Please bear with me until then.

In other news, I have finished a couple of potholders for the swap. They seem a little plain to me. I might find a new pattern, though it's coming down to the wire. I just can't contribute something I'M not totally happy with. I'll post photos here tomorrow and over @ the swap blog to try to get some feedback. I tend to be over critical of myself...and have been told on many occasion that I don't know how to take a compliment(thanks hun:))

We'll see. I do like the colors I chose though. They remind me of the desert and southwest, which is what I was going for so that's in their favor. I ordered yarn from Elann but when it arrived it screamed dishtowels...what'a a girl to do? The yarn speaks and I listen. I'll post Wip's of those soon too. Listen to me...what a tease you say? Well, I can't help my nature ;) Til' tommorow....

I Heart Faces Entry

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This is my first time participating in an i heart faces contest. Here is my entry for the week 14 contest for Easter/Spring. This little peach is Em she is my cousin's daughter. This photo was taken last Easter at our town Egg Hunt at the local park.
I can't decide if she or A photograph better. They are my two favorite faces. I guess I need to post more pics of A. You can't really compare the two though. A is so light and fair and Em is dark and naturally tan. They are true beauties and the only thing better than photographs of each of them is photos of them together. Can you tell I'm biased. I ain't denyin'. :))


Eggstra, Eggstra

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I hope everyone had a very Happy Easter and continues to have a great Spring. We had a good weekend, considering A had a bad cold, I've had hives (severe allergies..boohoo) and the Telephone Guy got called in to work until 2PM on Easter...woohoo...hohumm! We made the best of it anyway! A and I got up and made Sticky Buns, yumm! While waiting for those to bake, we made these cuties! I found this tutorial on marthastewart.com (Oh yeah,I heart martha!), and A's all about crafts so of course I dove right in. Just a little tip, if you're planning to "blow out" eggs, use a bulb syringe. By the time I was finished blowing on nine of those little suckers my lungs were ablaze! Of course, if I had bothered to even look @ the instructions I would have know to get the syringe. Hey, though, that's not my style...I see something cute and promptly do it my own way,which is usually the hardest.




I made nine eggs figuring A would break atleast half of them, yet no matter how many times we (as in she) dropped one (about fifty....thousand) they held up pretty well. We only broke one...Yay! :)) The materials we used were mostly felt cut-outs and abit of left over fiber fill for the tufts of hair on the chicks. Good ole' Martha has a lot of templates for the beaks, and feet and such, but in true Mandy form I just free handed them. Honestly though they're pretty simple, a child could probably draw these. For glue I use Crafter's Pick The Ultimate craft glue. A likes the rings that come in the egg dying kits so she decorated her egg animals with them aren't they cute!!!! Aww, there's nothing like a mother's love!






Here's her Easter Basket. I pretty much went with craft items and little easter toys and only a bit of candy, totally opposite of last year (below) which gave birth to a bohemoth of a basket. I swear, that I will NEVER do again. I think I went a little crazy. No child should have a basket like that. Hell, five kids shouldn't have a basket like that. No matter how I tried to justify it (she deserves it, this is the first year she is interested...blah, blah, blah) I feel like an idiot. I'll not even disclose the amount spent on it. It's embarassing.







That being said, I am really happy with this years basket, and so is A. By, the time The Guy got home she was crazy with anticipation. All in all, we had a Happy Holiday. I hope your's was great too.

FOs !!!

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I spun the yarn above with Romney X Wool. This is the first yarn I have ever spun, and I used a top whorl drop spindle that I made with a dowel and a CD and a few other odds and ends. The link to the website with the guidelines for making the CD Spindle is here. As much as I like my CD Spindle I am trying my hand at making my own wooden spindle. When I am finished I will post photos of it.
I think I might have over spun the fiber a bit too much, but I like the look of it. It has a variegated texture which is what usually attracts me to the yarns I purchase. I have read that spinners tend to spin by feel, and if that is so, I may have not done such a bad job after all. The small hank is about 50 yards and the larger is about 130 yards. It only took me a few days to spin both of these. However, I spent all my free time those four days spinning! I have discovered a new outlet for my fiber obsession :)) Now, when I get burnt out on knitting or crochet, I can SPIN!!!! This photo below is the roving I used to spin the yarn above. There was still a bit of VM present, but nothing I couldn't take care of as I drafted. I would recommend spinning by hand to anyone who has not yet done so, I found it extremely relaxing.


Here we have "molly", so named by my "little"(she's not so little any more:p) helper! Here molly is still in pieces, but has since been finished and sewn together. A loves this little cutie, she was fun to crochet and very easy to construct; the hardest part for me was sewing on the appendages. Those little suckers just wouldn't stay put! She was made all from stash yarn, I think it is Caron Simply Soft, or so it feels:) The link for the pattern to make this doll is here. We have still yet to make the matching dress, but it's on my ever growing to-do list.


I have recently gotten some beautiful natural grey 100% Corriedale Top Roving from The Special Tea Shop. I made an oopsie when I placed my bid and thought I was bidding one amount for 2 items and it turned out the amount was for each item. The owner was so nice and instead of sending me 8oz sent almost 16oz. That was was very kind and fair. Her shop on ebay is here, if anyone is interested. This wool is so soft! I love it the way it is, I almost hate to spin it. Haha, yeah right, of course I will. It will make the most wonderful yarn.


A Beautiful Disaster

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I have had a most interesting week! I found my yarn for the potholder swap thanks to Candace @ Squash House Quilts. I ordered from Elann yesterday, and I can't wait to smell that new yarn! Is that weird? I love the feel of all (and I do mean all!) yarn, but if it doesn't smell yummy I can't use it. Smells are the first thing I notice about everything. I think I have decided on a pattern for my potholders. Since I am newly come to the Southwest US, I will be using a SW style pattern as a keepsake...I bought way more yarn than I need for this very purpose! But, who really needs a purpose to buy more yarn?

Now, for the hilarious part! Well, it was much much funnier in person, but i'll try to do the incident justice. First, just let me say... we had a clog. You see, we are staying in our camper for the time being. Campers being temperamental as they are seem to constantly have something that needs to be fixed. Also, my husband is no plumber ;) He's the Telephone Guy! If it's not some huge technical issue, don't call him! I love my husband, he's a great guy! The smartest man I know, but I won't let him under the hood of my car! You should stick to what you know! So, back to our clog...hehehe. First he tries a plunger, and that doesn't work. For the following two days he puts everything from non-toxic septic cleaner to microbial camper sewage bacteria-stuff, and when none of this works he turns to Sulfuric Acid! None of this works. Things go downhill from there. Mr. T then sends me to Home Depot for chemical gloves and extra milk (we'll get to that later :))) He's gonna snake the drain from the outside.... Oh, man, did I have some worries and I had worked myself into a great panic by the time he was ready to get started. I had my purse and keys by the door and A ready to get in the car and fly to the ER.

Mr. T, being the thoughtful man he is (as I'm hovering) tells me I might want to step back a few feet b/c when the clog comes loose sewage is going to rush out everywhere. I then step back about five yards...just to be safe. He's snaking away and nothing is happening! He gets frustrated and sits down to rest as he's pulling the snake out. He's going to try snaking from the toilet side. As the end of the snake comes out of the drain pipe a wad of who the hell knows what comes out on the end...and just behind that.... a barrel.... full.... of sewage. Mind you, this was not funny @ the time. The poor guy was trying to get back on his feet and reconnect the drain at the same time as he was slipping in shit. All that is running through my head is all those war movies we seem to always have on atleast one television, and all the men that died of disentary from unsanitary conditions! I am screaming at him to GET UP! Finally, he gets that sewage soaked slippery drain hose reconnected and jumps up to run out of the sewage spill disaster area and realizes the sewage is HOT, from the Sulfuric Acid, duh! He then starts to panic and takes off at a run, only to trip over the water supply line and fall head first into the corner of the slide out on the camper! I swear if I had been video taping, we would win a million dollars for AFV!

Needless to say, I was NOT going to let that man inside in those clothes. At my insistence, he strips outside down to his underwear and takes a shower. At the end of his first shower he yells for me to bring him some milk. Now my family singlehandedly keeps the local dairy in business. So, thinking he was thirsty, I take him a glass of milk. No, he wants the whole container! He then proceeds to tell me that since milk is a base?!? it wil counteract the sulfuric acid, and that I should pour milk on him!!! OMG! Let me tell you! Those of you with food fetishes out there, I have no clue what you are thinking! It did not do a thing for me! However, we both got a good laugh out of our situation!

After he took two more showers, he got around to calling Poison Control. According to the lady he spoke to, he did everything he could do and he would be fine; only, since according to her, milk is not a base,so, he wasted a gallon of milk!!! He still swears she has no idea what she was talking about. Of course, HE knows EVERYTHING. Oh well, atleast I have a new, hilarious story to share!

Adios!

Life, Love, and a Potholder Swap

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Hi all, My baby girl just lost her fifth tooth, on top, and very noticeable! Ready for the crazy part? A has not turned five yet! She started loosing her four bottom front teeth two weeks before she turned four...i know! They have all come in very fast. She's already 46" tall, too! I feel like I live in an alternate reality, kids just aren't supposed to grow this fast! It's not fair my baby is getting big way too fast! I guess I should have thought about that before I married a 6'3" giant...LOL! And me, a measley 5'3 AND 3/4 "! Oh well, at least he (and soon they) can reach the top shelf for me;)


In other news, I joined a potholder swap! It's my first, and I'm excited. I love knitting potholders. Talk about super fast gratification! I have lots of potholders and tend to give many of them to family, but that never happens until I'm ready to part with them (many, moons). It will be nice to have a quick answer for the Guy when he asks why I am knitting another potholder. :) Now I just need to decide if I'll use the new hand spun Romney wool I just finished or cotton from my stash. Ahh, decisions, decisions!

When It Rains It Pours

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I get up today full of good intentions. I'm going to break out my trusty camera and take a photo of the yummy socks i'm knitting. They are from Vogue Knitting winter 08/09 on p. 77, I love these cabled socks by Mari Muinonen. I've started with Caron Simply Soft Shadows in Mardi Grey. Hey, what can I say the yarn was a gift! Besides, It's grey, my second fav color ( purple being numero uno:) with a green, pink, yellow and blue striping yarn. So, in the interest of full disclosure these are the first pair of adult size socks I've made. I have bought many patterns over the years but blankets and afghans always catch me by suprise. So, I'm @ the end of my second repeat on Chart A, and they look great! So, I go get my camera to post my WIP. No flash! WTF!?! I forgot in just three days that I have no flash! Taxes are eating my brain! The pics are black, being as the sun has decided to hide out this week; and, let the rain have full run of the skies. So, needless to say there will be no new photos until: A) The sun comes out of hiding, or B) I get around to sending it to Olympus for repair. This blows! Oh well, I need to focus on taxes anyway. I have no more excuses, blahhh!

Promises, Promises

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Here we have Divani Armwarmers designed by Marilyn Losee from naturally caron's website. I used the suggested yarn, Caron Spa in Ocean Spray. They are soooo soft and comfy and beautiful to boot. The yarn is 75% microdenier acrylic and 25% bamboo. Here they ar modeled by my daughter. It seems no matter how hard I try I seem to always knit too tight on DPs. These fit the Princeass perfectly, oddly enough she claimed them b/f they came off the needles, lol.







Meet Max and Ruby! If you have kids you probaly know where the names came from. It seems I know more about childrens shows than anything else. I used extra yarn from my stash for these. I beleive it was Caron Simply soft, not sure, but that's what it felt like :) First, I made the pink amigurumi bunny (from Lion Brand's site, though you will need to register. Sorry)as a V-Day gift for P. As soon as she saw it she asked where Max was. Luckily, I had a bit of blue, too. Whew! In a flash of aroma creativity, I stuffed their abdomens with lavender satchets. They smell awesome! These are now P's constant companions, and the car smells good too :p

I know I mentioned her amigurumi doll too, but it seems my flash died in my camera and we are in the midst of a cloudy week. So, no new pics until I am graced with better lighting :( But, if you want to check out the pattern, it's here. A's doll is in purple and lavender for the body with yellow hair and blue button eyes. This is a cute doll, she loves it.

The Spin Zone

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Well, I've finally done it! Imade my drop spindles for spinning fiber, YAY! I'm so excited. I've been researching the best way to make my own for the last week. First, I tried it with a door knob on my dowel...not enough weight. Next, was a round wooden plaque, no dice! Finally, this!
It works perfectly! Who would have thought CDs, and i have a million scratched cds taking up valueable space. So, I made a top whorl spindle and a bottom whorl spindle! I like the top whorl better, but that's a personal choice. I spent less than five dollars, including tax! I had a spindle, so of course, I went to my life line: Ebay. I have wool roving on the way, yippe! I'll be sure to post photos of my newly spun fiber, after it's spun of course :)

New projects seem to jump into my hands. What can I say, i'm a craft whore. I just cant seem to commit to only one. Oh well, where's the fun in that? Right now i'm crocheting a doll for the Princeass, and knitting blocks for a bebe blankie for my sis, and some yummy socks for myself...I'm planning to finish these up this week. I need a clean conscience when my wool arrives. Maybe if i'm good tomorrow i'll get around to posting some WIP pics.

I also have a pair of turqouise qauntlets, Max and Ruby to show off...oooh, the suspence. Ciao!

It's me again world...

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Well, here I am again. It seems I try to keep a blog atleast once a year, and it never fails...I loose interest, or time. Usually, it's both. However, this is my new years resolution that I am officially late starting. That's me the procrastinater(or? Oh Well:) ). This is something I have to do...for my family and my sanity. We are 2,000 miles away from home on the edge of the desert, seriously. We are in southwest Texas, atleast 2 hrs. away from a city in all directions. Well, Hobbs, NM is just across the border, buuuuttt (pout pout), that is not a city by my standards. I miss civilization. It always smells of oil or horse, gag! But, I digress.

Smells aside, there is not a decent craft store that I can find. Granted, there is a Hobby Lobby in Hobbs. It has kept me sane thus far, but (pouting again), I want a small fabric/yarn shop privately owned to escape to and knit for a while. Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed, maybe something will turn up.

So, I suppose I should introduce meself. I am a wife and mother of one. One very temperamental, emotional, hurricane the Telephone Guy and I call our Princeass...lol. I asure you it's all in good fun. The Telephone Guy is my wonderful hubby. It's his doing that got us settled in the middle of nowhere. The company he works for here is also in good ol' Ohio. So, hopefully within the next year or so he can transfer us back to the land of trees and green grass. Til' then here I will be.
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