Happy Halloween!

Zachary was a vampire for Halloween at school. Tonight he will be Spongebob Squarepants. South Florida is in for some bad weather with Tropical Storm/Hurricane Noel just south of us. It is projected to head out to the Atlantic, hopefully that will take place. I am about 1/2 inch away from starting the toe decreases for two socks at once. It seems to have taken forever. My mother made a hooded sweater and a pair of men's socks during the time that I have been working on the two socks at once. I am just not that quick at knitting. Pictures of knitting tomorrow. I am in love with some sock yarn at Blue Moon (who isn't). It is called Count Cluckula. I am thinking of getting it...will have to wait though...bummer!

Wedding Bells, Hangovers and Fun Times

My brother-in-law, Anthony got married yesterday. It was a beautiful wedding at the Signature Grand in Davie, Florida (near the Nova Southeastern University campus). The bride was completely calm, until the moment arrived for her to walk out to the ceremony room, then she just couldn't stop crying. We (the bridesmaids) waited a few minutes, then she composed herself and we went to the ceremony hall. Everything was just gorgeous. Her dress was stunning and the bridesmaids dresses were beautiful on everyone. The color was a blush pink, which I thought would wash some of the girls out, including me. However, the color looked good on everyone. Anthony was very happy, a bit too happy. Apparently, he had some controlled substances before the ceremony and during the reception. He did seem a bit loopy to me, but I just assumed it was wedding day jitters. I should have known. He has never smiled that much in his life! He is a bit high strung and moody. He is the complete opposite of his brother. My hubby Rob is very easy going and calm, generally. I hope everyone is having a great Monday. I should have taken today off, but I just took time off last week since my mother was down here to visit so today was not going to happen. Oh well. I have had some Tylenol, so I am feeling much better.

Where has the past two weeks gone??

I am so sorry for not blogging sooner, but I have been just crazy busy! First, my mother comes into town. The pictures above show where she slept in the guest room with all of the yarn, which is her favorite place in the house, of course! Second, our brand new (finished in July, 2007!) $10,000.00 roof started leaking. Third, I have to get fitted for my braidsmaid dress for a wedding that is happening this Sunday (I can't believe that my brother in law will be married!). I had a great time with my mother. We went yarn shopping at local LYS, make up shopping at Sephora and book shopping (knitting books, of course!) at Borders. I also had some progress on the two socks at once and had some beautiful sock yarn come in. Have I mentioned how much I love the yarn pirate? Her latest installment (Killer Bees) is just gorgeous and it came with two needles! She is the best! I normally would never pick these colors, but dyed together they are just stunning! I also got some amazing yarn to go with it from Cherry Tree Hill at the local LYS, it is a small skein of fingering weight alpaca and glitter in the same colorway (minus the black). I am going to make socks with glitter cuffs! I don't have a picture yet of the CTH yarn, but will show it later this week. I also received some sport weight yarn from Zen Strings, which is another amazing dyer in the Pumpkin King colorway. Just gorgeous! I have so many gifts to make and it has taken me three weeks to get halfway with my mother in law's socks, so my mother suggested that I make smaller stuff, which is a great idea. So, I decided to make heart shaped satchels and put lavender and vanilla in them for lingerie drawers or just for hanging. The pattern (from daily knitting) uses fingering weight yarn so I have plenty of that. Well, that about wraps it up. I am going to take my camera with me to the wedding so there will be lots of pictures going up. By the way, Rob's cousin loved the cardigan! I also got my future sister-in-law knitting. Her first project, a baby sock (her sister is pregnant)! I know, pretty bold, but I think that she is doing great. I have her using sport weight, which is easier than fingering weight. She is actually doing pretty well, actually great really considering knitting in the round on double pointed needles, heel flap, picking up stitches, turning of the heel and the decreases for the toe. After that, I will show her how to kitchner stitch and she can start the next one.

Emergency room visit, vacation day and knitting

Does that look like a child that needs to go to the emergency room? My son's school called on Tuesday and said that he had been crying and touching his throat and stomach. Later on in the day at school, I had called the school back and they said that he was fine, playing, etc. Rob took him to therapy and he did terrible in therapy, crying most of the time. I called the urgent care center, got Zach an appointment for 7:45 pm that night, called my boss and told him what was going on. Luckily for me, I have a very understanding boss! Anyway, here are pictures of Zachary waiting for the on call doctor to come in and...guess what....he has strep throat. This seemingly happy child has strep throat! Kids are so resilient! He was highly contagious so he got a free day out of school and I used up one of only two vacation days that I have for the rest of the year! At least yesterday was not a total loss, I was able to start on one of my many christmas gifts (socks for Valerie, my mom in law). I decided that I have too much trouble trying to make sure that both socks match so I am trying two socks at once on two circular needles. I would not recommend trying this unless you have at least two hours to kill (just to set up the yarn, needles, etc.) It was very confusing and until I got the hang of what I was doing, it just looked like a jumbled mess! It looks a lot better now and more pictures tomorrow of that. The only problem is that I think that I might have my socks inside out. The right side is on the inside which happens to me occasionally and I just flip them inside out, however, with two on the same needles, can I do that? I have to also say that I love working with this yarn - STR seduction - colorway love in idleness. It is so beautiful to look at and the touch of it is amazing and it is knitting up beautifully! I want to get some more (perhaps in the jingle bell rock coloway?) We shall see. Yippee, tomorrow is Friday!

Monday, Monday

Today is casual day in the office and of course, I forgot. So, I am dressed in office attire and everyone else is in jeans. At least I am wearing dress pants and not a skirt with pantyhose or I would feel really stupid. My hubby is coming home today (yeah!). I missed him very much. He is my rock, my everything. I realized this weekend how much I need him and I can't imagine my life without him. Over the weekend, I finished the baby cardigan. It is so cute! I really worked hard on it and I hope that Kimmi likes it. I have never put buttons on a garment before so I went to look through some of my knitting finishing books for help. They gave me NO HELP WHATSOEVER! What is up with that shit? Just because I can knit, doesn't mean that I know how to sew a button on!? I went through 12 books before I gave up and just winged it. The books show you how to create a buttonhole, button band, different size holes, etc. Then when comes down to putting them, they all say "sew button". I realize that the books are knitting books and not sewing books, but couldn't they give instruction on how to sew a button onto knitted material? Hello! Has anyone else been frustrated by instructional books assuming too much? In any event, the buttons came out fine, but it took me over an hour just to sew them on. By the way, Happy Columbus Day to the US! and Happy Thanksgiving to Canada!

Happy lonely Friday!

My husband left this morning before 7:00 am to go away with his relatives for the weekend to the Disney World Wine and Food Festival. If you haven't gone, I would highly recommend it! It is at Epcot in the countries section. They have small booths set up where you can taste different food from around the world, along with wine and beer for about $1.50 to 3.00 a plate or glass. It is a lot of fun and it is not terribly humid this time of year, but it is still hot, especially in the Disney area (Orlando). Orlando is located about 2 1/2 hours north of Fort Lauderdale. It is more in the center of the State, meaning there is no ocean or gulf of mexico breeze to speak of. I will be home with Zach all weekend, but we will have fun. He and I are going to go to Flamingo Gardens. Flamingo Gardens is a few miles from us. It is a non-profit park that showcases a natural habitat of everglades, with animals, reptiles and overgrown parts that have been untouched to show Florida as it was hundreds of years ago. It is alot of fun. Here are some pictures from the last time that we were there. My husband, his parents, his brother and finance and Zach were all there. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Hello All!

It has been so hectic and busy at work that I haven't really had the chance to post anything. I have finished the Dream in Color shrug. It is very soft and warm (great for the office)! I tried to take a picture of me wearing it. I didn't do a great job at it. My next project is a baby cardigan, which I have made some progress. I have to finish it before next weekend so I am working my hands to the bone to get it done. I should be able to finish it. On the house front, our brand new $10,000.00 roof started to leak (in two different places- UNFREAKINBELIEVABLE!). We have had a lot of rain here, but that is no excuse! It is so frustrating! The maintenance department in our development came by and patched it up, hopefully, it wil not leak anymore! Tomorrow is Friday and my hubby is going away for the weekend. I should be happy, but I will miss him terribly! Oh well, maybe some retail therapy will make me feel better (shush, don't tell the hubby!)