January 26, 2007

January 26, 2007, originally uploaded by Sabrina Tang.

Dear Gentle Reader,

I have a confession to make. I have been on a diet since Sept. of 2007. I have lost 25ish lbs (still have 8ish to go to get to the 1st goal weight). What's the problem you ask? Well....

Here goes:

I have broken..... badly..... over the last 2 days.

Yesterday, I ate at El Rodeo. I had Chile Verde, which is pork butt in tomatillo sauce. Sides of rice, beans, avocado salad and tortillas. The problem was, portion control.

Later, went to the Fresh Market and acquired 2 boxes of muffins and a cherry pie.

Today, I eschewed the leftover pork butt for lunch and had homemade mac and chee instead. It was whole wheat penne at least. Just now.... I dove into the pie. Not 1, but 2 large pieces. Oh, forgot to mention the cinnamon muffin I had for breakfast. There was NOTHING redeeming there!

I guess that's what you get for being into self-denial for 9 months. Well, I have denied myself NO yarn or fiber tho. I guess that's all that matters, eh?

NEW RESPECT

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Dishcloth Cotton.You are a very hard worker, most at home when you're at home. You are thrifty and seemingly born to clean. You are considered to be a Plain Jane, but you are too practical to notice.
Take this quiz!

One day, today actually..... I was trolling thru Ravelry when I happened upon this:

Swiffer Mop Cover, originally uploaded by smariek.

Another use for dishcloth cotton. I think I am going to have to rethink my snobbery about yarn and about myself. Maybe dishcloth cotton is fabulous, versatile, and a downright must have for my stash. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm , this bears some thought.

Here is the the best buy I got at Sedalia Fiber Festival. Natural 100% alpaca, brown and silver. Probably the prettiest, softest, most luxurious yarn I have ever knit with. It was a great buy as well. $22 for 660 yards. I got 3 skeins. More than enough to make a sweater and maybe some mittens, hat, and socks as well.

I like the way the stitches are. I am going to need a camisole or something underneath it. Very drapey, and just the tiniest bit see through.
I CO another sock. This time Marcelo's Seven-League Boots for DD #1. Leftover sport weight yarn. I have so much of this yarn, I can probably knit another pair of adult socks for a Christmas present.
My latest acquisition from CyberFyber, aka, David Simpson. Aura. It is going to be lace weight for my second attempt at the Bee Fields Shawl. I MADE SURE I had enough material for it this time. Almost 1.5lbs, more or less. These are the 1st 2 skeins of what I think will probably be 8-10 skeins.
This is what I call my 'found' alpaca. The lady from Riveranna Farms gave it to me. I had just made a small purchase and she said to take from her bags of 2nds..... as long as I didn't spin it.
Folks, giving me fiber and telling me not to attempt to spin it is ludicrous. I told her I was going to spin it. She said I could have it as long as I *wink, wink* promised not to spin it. Okey, dokey....*wink, wink* I won't spin it. There you see, I haven't *wink* spun it.

I had all kinds of funny things to tell you about, but, blogger failed me when the creative juices were flowing earlier. The dingbat pictures refused to upload. Lost all the fun stuff. So, the driest, knitting post ever. Hope to do better for you next time, Dear Reader.

Your Friend,

Catie

Been doing many things these last couple of days.
Setting twist and finishing yarn to knit.
Trying to figure out what to knit with 150 yards of orange, hand spun boucle. Ideas? Anyone? Anyone?
Finishing up sock #1 of An American in China sock. Sport weight yarn. Size 4 needles. Wool by David Simpson in Carnival colorway.
The closest yarn, that I have seen, to resemble this yarn is Alice Starmores from her Virtual Yarns website. The yarn is multi-faceted and complex. You can make it stripe, or better yet, let it spin as it would and it creates it's own heathered color.
The DIY Man socks. Again, David Simpsons fiber, 3ply, light fingering, size 1 needles. I really spun this yarn way too tight and it is quite ropey. BUT! I have learned that sock yarn should be spun tightly to help it wear longer! So, Andy gets rough socks. It might even wear the hair off his legs.

You know it's hot when.................

You know it's hot when:

• Your dog has drank so much water, it doesn't even realize it has to go and pees on your Aubusson rug.
• You forgot the dog probably needed to go out because you didn't want to open the sw facing door FOR ANY REASON.
  

• You also don't want to open the sw facing door to let kids play in the kiddy pool, for same aforementioned reason. They think any door is revolving and they must be able to have complete access to anywhere AT anytime, at ALL times. Regardless of Mom crying out that it is hotter than the blazes out there and MAKE UP YOUR MIND!
• DH thinks it is cold in the bedroom when it is 84 degrees.
• You can't sleep with DH because he is hot, snoring, and restless (he wasn't cold, what IS his problem).
• You sleep on the downstairs couch with window open and at 4:30am, the Siamese cat starts to meow at you from the other side, cuz the window is open and she can smell you. You are rather ripe after all.

• You know you need lots of H2O in heat like this, but this causes the post, have had 3 baby bladder to feel the need to pee.
• You barely get pants down in time, cuz they stick.
• You stick on the porcelain.
• Can barely pull them up, yet again, sticking. End up doing a 'happy dance' pulling them up, much to the entertainment of 4 yo son who has yet to leave you alone while you do any sort of personal business.
  

• You carry the Aubusson rug out the SW facing door to rinse it well with vinegar and water to kill the pee smell, which, if left unattended, would flow thru the house in a matter of hours.
• DH decides to vacuum under where the Aubusson rug was and made the entire downstairs at least 3-4 degrees hotter due to the exhaust.
  

• You are hungry, but, the idea of cooking makes eating a bad idea.
• Alas, you ARE hungry. You boil noodles and the steam kills the appetite of the entire family. Noodles you say? That was nuts. Well.... there was truly nothing else to eat and going to the store and walking across that hot pavement didn't bear pondering.
  

• You decide to do something relaxing, like knit. Good idea in theory, but the yarn refuses to slip thru your fingers due to excess hand moisture.
• You must give up on all projects but socks, as wool in the lap is intolerable.
• You break a sweat while blogging.

Current temp of upstairs: 88 deg F.

Current temp of downstairs: 85 deg F.

Mental status: sane, barely

Plans for tomorrow: made dental appts for kids so we could go somewhere with a/c

What are those pictures: Well, with no knitting to show, I thought I would flash some hand spun stash!

Guess who is going to knit?

A "Little Bo Peep."


She has actually done quiet well. Amelia Joy,(aka DD#1, aka Bee, aka Mia, aka Mia Bee's, aka Budget) is 8 and is starting to get the dexterity to do this OK. I still have to sit right beside her and chant, "In, around, out, off. In, around, out, off." over and over. But you know what?

She is one of us now.

ps: She is knitting with Nikki's handspun!

tornado!

tornado!, originally uploaded by Relentless_Photography.

God is GOOD! Here's the story:

Last night the DIY man was on the computer, kids watching a video and I was on the phone with Tanya. My friend and I had been speaking for quite sometime when she said a storm with lightning was at her house and she needed to get off the phone. NBD. Until I looked out the window.....

The sky to the west was completely black. I tell the DIY man to come and see. He leisurely gets up and says, "Yup, it's dark out there." I went upstairs for something, I don't remember what.... I went into the girls room and whammy. It was on us. I lost all visibility out the girls window. There was a HUGE white oak that my grandma planted 70ish years ago and is slated, by the city or Rke., for destruction. I put my hand out, in prayer, to the tree and asked God to keep the tree up.

As fast as the storm came, it was gone. Less than a minute or 2. VERY scary. Hail, wind, no visibility. After it was over, we looked out the garage. A big, but more minor, limb had come down and missed my car by inches. Across the street a very healthy maple had dropped huge limbs in the road. But! our white oak still stands and dropped not a major limb. I couldn't believe it.

Later, we found out that 1/2 mile away, a tornado touched down. There hasn't been a tornado here for almost 40 years. I am sure Sallee has something to say about this, as it came close to her as well.

Letter to a sister of the heart.

Dearest Jenny,

We are gearing up for our day here for school. Amelia has finished 2nd grade and Madeline 1st. Ethan is 4 and I am starting him on learning his letters. God has been faithful! Amelia is reading exceptionally well, and Madeline is just starting. Math is not great, but I have my marching orders and we will make that our 1st subject of the day for the next year and that should take care of it.

We are living in the same house. Andy has the same job. We are quite boring, but I like it that way. The thing I am most grateful to God about right now, is that my house if finally coming together. After living here 7 years, 11 years of marriage, and 3 children...... I am getting my act together and pulling out garbage bags and throwing the mess all out!!!! I am ruthless. If it doesn't have a place, it's outta here. By and large, besides my mom, this has been one of the most serious struggles in my life.

We are currently going to Grace Covenant here in Rke. It is part of something called the Grace Network. Kind of non-denom/charismatic. Not Andy's cup of tea, but the thing is, there is no where else to go. There are Baptist/Bible churches..... that is our past. There is the Episcopal thing.... past as well. House church thing (let's not go there). I really don't know what God has for us. So, this is a sweet little church and I am quite comfortable there,but DH is not. *sigh*

My days are filled with feeding kids, keeping up with the laundry, educating kids, trying to keep the house relatively clean, and in my spare time (ha ha ha), I knit and spin on my spinning wheel. Believe it or not, that hobby keeps me VERY content here in the home. Andy is so funny. He'll watch me doing that and he will actually say that he likes the fact that I knit and spin. That it is one of the most wholesome activities he can think of. (The wholesome note: What? Me? Wholesome? I'm not sure I would describe myself that way. Earthy? sure. Edgy? occasionally, yeesh Andy, you've taken the wind out of my sails).

Jenny, I really believe that God led me to the knitting and spinning. What else is there for a woman of God to do? I really feel called to be home. As in: be home, in the home, at home, working at home, living at home, tending my 'garden', and any other thing you can think of to describe being a fully present, in the home mom. I love the way 1 friend put it...."The industrial revolution took a lot away from women, and now, what was basic social, productive activities are being rediscovered by women of God."

One of the 1st things God ever spoke directly to me was, "I want you to keep your hands busy and your mouth shut." I think I was either doing dishes or sitting on the toilet when that flashed thru my head like an axe. I am good at keeping my hands busy, but my mouth...... well, that is quite a bit harder.

That is not quite a list of my day, but a generality of my life on a day to day basis. I miss you. You became in a short time, a sister of the heart. All my love, Catie