Sorry to have disappeared from sight. Life got in the way, plus I just didn’t feel like blogging for a while - things just got me down. I am going to try and get back to blogging at least once a week - since I always have Sundays off maybe that will become my blog day - not sure yet. Been really busy at work and home. Work is just crazy, but that is due to being in the retail industry and having to get fall and Christmas out already. Home has been really busy between school, knitting, and life - we started planning a large family vacation for February of 2010. All of us (mom, dad, me and my sister’s family) will be going to Disney World for a whole week - I cannot believe it (I’ll be turning 30 that year) and am already excited since I have never been. I started a sweater at the beginning of the month and have only the button band/collar to finish - it is Emerald from knitty.com and in bulky weight yarn. Have to find the cable for my camera since I misplaced it once I got a new keyboard - the old one had the USB ports in it, but the keyboard meet with a glass of water late one night and died a terrible death. Well, it is late and I have to work today so I will be getting off to bed, but hopefully I can post again tomorrow with a better update. I will leave you with a photo of Natalie wading in Lake Michigan from about 2 weeks ago - my sister was holding on for dear life to her hand. Natalie loved it!

Just wanted to let ya’ll know I am alive, but very busy. I have managed to finish clue 1 of Mystic Meadows. Will try to post again this week with a full update.

I just cannot seem to keep up with everything going on in my life.  I guess I just need to relax and not stress everything so much, but I feel bad when I let things slide.  Like right now I have a hamper full of clean clothes sitting right next to the closet - do you think I could take the 5 minutes it would take to put them away so that the pile of dirty clothes could go in the hamper?  If you guessed no then you would be right.  On top of that I have yarn and needles strewn all over my room from all the swatching I have been doing for the shawl KALs I have joined.  It would only take a half hour or so to put them all away, but again it doesn’t happen.  What is wrong with me - I am stressing out about everything and cannot seem to deal with a single bit of it.  I hope it is just a May thing and that June will be better.

I have managed to keep to my schedule for school while still working, knitting and watching movies.  I did manage to restart Cozy, work on Sunset Seraphim (kept to the 2 rows a day) and Mystic Light, swatch for Mystic Meadows and tried out several lace stitches for a shawl I am attempting to design for my Dream In Color Baby in Gothic Rose (I have 2 skeins which is 1400 yards and I have a picture in my mind, but cannot find the stitches I need - maybe I should get one of the Barbara Walker books).  I managed to find the needle for BILs scarf - this whole time it has been in my car under the edge of the floor mat.  So that didn’t get worked on as I found the needle last night - maybe tomorrow night as I have a movie to watch.  I did frog back Natalie’s sweater so now I just need to try it again and try to get the floats the right amount of loose, but not too loose - I may put in a lifeline in the last plain round so that if I have to frog back it is not such a problem.  Dad goes out of town tomorrow until the 7th and I plan on getting the other sock OTN so that I can knit them at the same time (so I don’t have to make notes) and working on them everyday until he comes back.  I also want to get my curtains made as that was one of the things I did not get done over the weekend.  Then I also need to get photos, paper, and other supplies together since mom and I are going to a scrapbook crop Friday night.  The room needs to be done as well as touching up the bathroom since we are having a couple of coworkers over on Sunday for a BBQ.  Plus I am sure there are several other things I need to do - the biggest one right now is getting to bed since I open in the morning.  So I will let ya’ll go tonight and get back with ya’ll soon.

Natalie was 13 months old on the 21st and my sister took her to a new photographer today - she wasn’t 100% happy with the previous photographer as they weren’t bad, but not what she expected for the amount of money we spend. This new photographer is more what my sister was looking for - professional quality photos, but in a relaxed, casual way that makes for more good photos. Natalie is just not a sit still type of girl and that is what the last photographer tried to get her to do - she just is so into learning about her world that she gets upset and so serious when made to do anything other than be on the go. Even with the relaxed mode we still got some serious ones, but they are so her. Here are four of my favorite shots from the photo shoot. Small knitting update below the photos.

Well, the knitting was good for Mystic Light, but I have managed no other knitting today. Yet, I am seriously thinking about casting on the Slow Bee Shawl - even though I don’t even have all of the beads and yarn I need. Somebody stop me please I think I have a case of startitis. I did have a nice mail day today - no bills and a yarn color card. My mom really likes the Icelandic Shawl that I got from Knitting Daily, but she is as I have mentioned allergic to wool. She loves the colors from the photo, but I was having a hard time even trying to search for substitutes without a color card (rather than one on the monitor). Well Sarah’s Yarn had a color card so I bought it and now that I have it I really like the colors they chose - I wasn’t sure from photos, but they do really go together. So now I can try to find a yarn that comes in the colors I need. Like I really need to purchase more yarn for another shawl project.

Well, guess I had better get off here and go study or maybe watch a movie since I have already spent several hours studying - got the 1st lesson read just need to go back and answer the questions. That might actually be better to wait and do tomorrow as that would be a good way to see if I learned anything. Talk to ya’ll later.

Well, I have managed to add 6 rows back onto my Mystic Light Shawl since the frogging.  I am going slower on it now so that I hopefully will catch any mistakes before I manage to knit so far past it.  There has also been some progress on Sunset Seraphim - I think I have stuck to the 2 rows a day that I wanted to.  On my brother-in-laws scarf (hereafter called BILScarf) I have managed to make no progress since I have managed to misplace a needle.  I have decided that since I get Sunday and Monday off again (normally I get  Sunday and normally Thursday or Saturday and Sunday - it alternates and last weekend was my normal weekend off, but due to Memorial Day I get Monday off ), plus only having to work 4  days before being off for Saturday and Sunday, that I would frog back Natalie’s sweater and cast on Mom’s Cozy this weekend.

I did buy some blackout drapery lining, some white muslin, and a very simple white lace trim to make curtains for my room.  I cannot sleep anymore once the sun starts to rise and since my window faces the east I am normally up by sunrise if not slightly before.  This plays havoc with my system as I normally either go to work from 9 to 5 or 12 to close (sometimes they will throw in a different shift, but those are the normal ones).  I know that most people would be okay with getting up that early, but I am a major night owl so in order for me to function I normally sleep until 7 or 7:30 - this is because I normally cannot even think about sleep until after midnight.  I have tried tons of times to change my bodies schedule, but no matter what I cannot.  Anyways, the whole reason I mentioned the fabric is because I want to get the curtains made this weekend as well as finish the 2 dresses I have almost done for Natalie since they will be here around the middle of June.  All of that in addition to everything else.

Also, I just started back to school - I took a fairly long break between the last class and this one, but from here on out I have to go pretty much back to back due to one of the requirements of AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association) for their Coding Basic course.  So if I don’t post except for once or twice a week it is because I am studying.

Well got to work in the morning and I wanted to get a bit more done on the first lesson so I will let ya’ll go for tonight.

I have managed to achieve negative knitting. You do this by frogging almost 70 rows of a shawl. I was going to live with the mistakes I had fudged in my Mystic Light shawl, but every row kept coming up with either extra stitches or not enough. I finally decided that I just could not live with all the fudging and frogged it back to where I was at Natalie’s birthday party as I am pretty sure that is when the original mistake had happened. I am actually really happy that I decided to frog it. I think that as easily as I managed to frog - not a stitch was dropped or picked up twisted (even with just ripping the needles out and winding the yarn to frog it) - I was meant to. No progress has been made since I frogged it this morning since I had to close tonight, but I plan on picking it back up tomorrow afternoon.

I have managed to work about 20 rows on Sunset Seraphim due to having to wait for my hair appointment. I did create a checklist showing me exactly how many rows of the plain knitting I have left as well as the stitch counts. The checklist also lists out the charts so that I can check each row off until I am done. If my math is correct I have about 138 or 137 rows left which means that as long as I work 2 rows a day I can be done in a little over 2 months. That would then allow me to concentrate on other projects. I am also going to try and work a stripe a day on my brother-in-laws scarf. Dad’s socks are going to wait - since the toe and heels are out of a solid blue I can cast on the second toe and work it until it is ready for the U of M yarn. I am going to do that and then work 10 rows on a sock and then 10 on the other back and forth until they are done, but only while dad is traveling (he has a bunch of travel planned for later this year) so that should allow me to get them done without having to worry about him seeing them. Mom’s cozy will be cast on this weekend and will be worked on during the day when she is at work - this will only be about 1 day a week since we normally work the same schedule - the only difference is that I normally have to close 2 nights a week versus her 1 night a week. Natalie’s sweater has been located (could not remember where in the stash it was) and I plan on frogging back the couple of rows either tomorrow or Thursday.

Well I didn’t mean to make a long post since I have to work in the morning so I will let ya’ll go and do another update later in the week.

After my uncle’s death I tried really hard to keep knitting and doing the things I normally do, but for a while all that I seemed capable of doing was messing up every project I picked up. Once I got past the blues it was very close to Natalie’s first birthday so I focused on that. Plus I couldn’t seem to get back into the writing mood. I kept thinking of all the things I wanted to say, but like several others have mentioned the longer you go without blogging the harder it is to get back into the swing of it.

I have been working on many projects - including losing weight. Brandon’s death made me think about the fact that I will be 28 this fall and I still don’t have my life together. I want to get it together so that if something happened tomorrow I could at least leave this world knowing that I had finally started to get it together. Okay, enough of the depressing.

I have been working on my Christmas projects - not sure how many I will get done. My sister’s shawl (Sunset Seraphim) is about maybe 40% done and I haven’t touched it in several weeks. Mom’s Cozy has been frogged several times due to being unable to work from the written directions. I have since charted it out and am planning on restarting it next weekend. My brother-in-law’s scarf is about 25% done and I should really work on it as it is just a plain garter stitch scarf, but I know I am going to run out of yarn and just haven’t managed to get back to my LYS to purchase more. Also, I have been carrying the yarn up the side (twisting it together as I go) so I need to make sure that a single crochet around the edge will hide it. Natalie’s sweater is sitting in time out until I can frog back to before the start of the stranding as I was stranding too loose on it. It is only about 2 or3 rows that I have to frog, but I have not managed to do it. Dad’s socks are the worst though - plain 2×2 ribbing all the way which is even more mind numbing than garter stitch to me - with garter stitch I can watch movies, but 2×2 ribbing requires me to think about the knitting too much. Plus since I am using University of Michigan colors to knit them I have to make sure that he doesn’t see them or he will know that they are for him.

In addition to all of that I have been working on a Blackwork piece for my room (I think it might turn into a pillow since it will match my new quilt), sewing some dresses for Natalie and also working on my first quilt (which will be a queen size Triple Irish Chain). I have also been working on Mystic Light and my first Booga Bag, along with making plans for many other shawls.

Mystic Light is about 1/3 of the way through the 3rd chart and I am loving it. It has some areas where I fudged some stitches, but I made sure that when spread out that you cannot really see the mistakes. The only mistake that I am going to fix is in the central cable, but I am going to wait until it is done and then go back and duplicate stitch over it to fix it - I read somewhere about this method. I just love the color I chose - it is in Pagewood Farms Denali Hand Dyed Sock Yarnin Really Red.

The Booga Bag is in Benat’s Felting Natural Wool in Storm Cloud. I found the pattern through Ravelry and also am making some modifications to the pattern per someone’s notes on Ravelry. I increased the number of cast on stitches to 40 and knitted 40 rows before picking up stitches to make it 120 stitches in diameter. I am not sure if I am going to go to 75 rounds in height or not. I am also planning on adding a flap to the bag as I like bags that can be closed at least part of the way.

I have plans for at least 3 other shawls (not that I only have yarn for 3 more) due to Ravelry. I fell in love with the Mystic Light Shawl and have since signed up for Mystic Meadows which I am doing in Schaffer Anne in what The Loopy Ewe called Plum Pudding - it is a bunch of different, deep purples - not normally a color that I fall in love with, but this I did. I also purchased Mystic Waters and have some Dream In Color Baby in Some Summer Sky for it. Then there is the Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl which has a mandala theme. As the designer states

My inspiration for this shawl pattern is the Mandala.

The sanskrit word “Mandala” has many definitions: circle, completion, labyrinth, halo, the center, a collection, a community, a connection. A Mandala is a spiritual tool used for discovery, in meditation and to establish a sacred space. Each Mandala is unique and different, reflecting the essence of it’s creator.

Mandalas can be used to serve as a way to focus your mind and see more clearly, to unblock negative energy and as a means of internal healing and self-reflection.

Since she doesn’t recommend any specific colors I searched for something that called to me and found it at KnitPicks. Their Shimmer in Spice just spoke to me. Since I was born on the first day of fall autumn colors are some of my favorites and the Spice colorway just seems like all the colors of autumn leaves and since a mandala is a personal thing I thought this was appropriate. I cannot seem to stop petting the skeins - they are so soft and I am so pleased with this yarn - only $6.49 a skein for 440 yards of 70% Alpaca and 30% Silk.

I also have more yarn for socks, shawls, sweaters, afghans and etc than I know what to do with. I did end up frogging my MS3 - I just was not thrilled with the asymmetrical look. I may go back and make one of the other options - like one with two pointed ends or one with two wings, but if I do I think I would want something other than the KnitPicks Bare yarn. I do have plans for that yarn - I have also signed up for the Slow-Bee KAL 1 and 2 and think the Bare would be perfect for the 1st one, but I would need more yardage and more beads. So since I would have to order more yarn and beads I am just holding the yarn for that and will order enough to get the yardage needed once I finish up some of my other projects.

Well this post is getting pretty wordy with no photos to liven it up so I will go for now. Once I get my camera working again - I somehow messed up the card - I will post some photos of the yarns and projects mentioned here.

Hey, still alive here just been really busy. Will try to post an update this week. Just found this photo and had to post it since it has a knitting theme.

See more dog pictures.

Well, I guess I am a bad blogger. When we got back to Alabama from Michigan I became really sick within literally an hour of walking in the door. Just about everyone who spent time at the ICU came down with this really bad flu that was literally hell. Then when I recovered from that I went straight into inventory at work - I had just switched jobs (I actually started at the new job on January 2nd) and had only worked 4 days so that was an experience. Then the Monday after inventory I found out that almost my entire department will be reset over the next 3 months.

There hasn’t been much knitting or crafting going on due to lack of interest, but I am finally getting back into it. I did manage to get down to 52 rows (including the bind off row) on my feather and fan shawl from Folk Shawls on the trip to Michigan, but haven’t really wanted to work on it much due to the connection - I am finally ready to go back to it as I believe Brandon would not want me to shove it out of site and never finish it.

So, I did what any good knitter would do to increase the knitting interest - I added to the stash. I have managed to buy in the last 2 weeks several skeins of yarn, 2 crewel embroidery kits (even though I don’t know how to do this - what is one more craft, right?) and have decided to start or finish several projects. I am going to finish Cozy - which I had to restart due to a bad knitting session - for my mom for Christmas. I also want to finish Sunset Seraphim for my sister for Christmas, which means I may need to figure out where I stuck it last time the shawl and I had a disagreement. The new projects I am planning are socks for my dad (out of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in University of Michigan colorway as he is a big fan), something for my brother-in-law in Michigan State University colors (as he is a graduate - and yes that means the MSU vs UofM game is very interesting) and sweater for Natalie. All of these new projects will be for Christmas. I am hoping to get them all done. If I do I plan on including $10 or $15 gift cards to places that I know they will enjoy, except for Natalie who I will most likely give either a toy or money for her savings account - whichever my sister wants. (To remind myself of the ones I already have planned - Mom is Hobby Lobby, Jenn is Hobby Lobby, Dad is Starbucks and Tommy is Undecided.)

Hopefully I can update with some photos this weekend - no guarantees as I have to locate my camera which I haven’t seen since we went to Michigan (yes I took my camera because my sister and niece were with us.)

I will leave ya’ll with the following photo that my sister uploaded today. The first one is slightly blurry and the second has the evil dog eyes going on, but the captions my sister gave them says it all.

see the food in her hand? She’s feeding the puppy her cheerios!

and when you correct her, this is the face she gives you… notice the terribly deprived look on Phoenix’s face because I didn’t let her give him the cereal..

My niece just loves that puppy so much.

My uncle Brandon passed away on Thursday, January 10th around 9:30 am. We knew it was coming since the accident had left him brain dead and the life support was being turned off, but it was still so hard. He was only 23 years old and had his whole life in front of him. This is the only photo I have of him available so I might add more photos once I get back to Alabama. The funeral will be on Saturday, January 12th. I imagine this will be very hard for everyone, but I know that the date will forever be remembered - especially since that is my mom’s birthday.

Edited to Add: I edited this post so I could post a link to Brandon’s obituary.