New Yarns!

Last week (thursday) I ordered from theloopyewe and yesterday (monday) my order was here! Amazing service :) I got two skeins of yarns I have not yet tried out- Seacoast and Duet Sock Yarn - gorgeous!



Today I met Dan for lunch at Panera - yummy! He found a heart shaped chip in his bag - pretty cool -

then I went to check out a new LYS, Madison Wool - at first glance inside it's a small shop. Very small. More like what I remember Yarns Down Under looked like before they expanded. Michelle (the owner) is very nice and chatty and quite welcoming! She showed me all kinds of neat stuff - she carries things that you can't get at saybrook yarn, so that's cool - for variety. She says that it looks like Wednesdays will be knitting "group" but I'm welcome anytime to come in and knit :) Awesome! She has an assortment of ggh - not the too frizzy / funky yarn - but stuff you'd want to knit with! There was also Cascade, Sheep Shop (gorgeous!), Lobster Pot, and a few more I decided to sample:

I got 4 skeins of a great grey-green organic merino / organic cotton blend from o-wool - thinking about a baby sweater / hat set....


The pictures do not do them justice! Each of these are from Blackberry-ridge - there was a simple seed stitch scarf in the shop that was just beautiful! I'm thinking that or one of the multidirectional scarves or argosy or whatever else I can find on ravelry would be awesome!
Great shop - I look forward to potential wednesdays and more shopping!

Tomorrow I'm going up to the hospital to wait with my mom while my dad has his series of procedures done. I think I'll take the "Hope & Donald" scarf with me - they are his parents, so it's a way for them to be there too... And maybe one more project just to break it up, I have no idea how long of a day it will be.

Now it's quiet

It's been a busy weekend here. After the fun adventures of waiting in traffic on Friday and going to the ultrasound appointment (by the way - we didn't find out the sex of the baby. We're having a baby!) we went out to a great restaurant - Cafe Goodfellas - so delicious! Scarface was playing while we were there - i want to watch Goodfellas now! On saturday we got the garden started (marigolds, carrots, garden beans, sunflowers, zinnia, poppies) and then had company over.

Today we finished the garden (already started tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, and planted seeds for cucumbers, cosmos, marigolds, corn, nasturtium) and I'm pooped. Kinda feel like working on the sock, but I don't know how much more I can push my fingers :)

In my blog-reading, I've come across a great site: 5 Minutes for Mom - they've got some great prizes coming up to win... It may be a little early for some of the items, but an ice cream maker? Dude! I'm already in love with my sno-cone machine.

Sock Progress

I started my Go with the Flow Socks - so far they seem to be moving along well, I think I'm only going to do 15 repeats on the leg, not the 20 in the pattern. I am really enjoying working with the Reynolds Soft Sea Wool too.


As far as my other work-in-project (aka I'm so crafty I make people! great stuff!) we sat in 2 hours of traffic today on the way to the ultrasound appointment - for nothing! I didn't see any emergency road work being done. Sheesh. Anyway this is cool:


Doesn't this little foot need a sock? or booties? :)

29 and doing fine

Having a birthday is a pretty good way to start off a vacation (or retirement, however you want to look at it). Yesterday I turned 29, which I'm still trying to wrap my brain around - I don't feel 29, I don't look 29 (so I hear), but I'm okay with being 29 so I suppose that's all that counts. I spent the day getting a whole lot of peace and quiet - I played with my yarn, read a bit, knit a bit, watched some dumb tv shows, did whatever I wanted when I wanted, went out for sushi (only veggie rolls for me) and then for ice cream. A very good birthday indeed. And I have the best husband ever - he and Betsy tried to plan a surprise visit for me, but life happens and she couldn't make it - next time! He also surprised me with presents:

T-shirt from noisebot.com - feels so soft!

Drop spindle kit from Flawful Fibers on etsy!!! eeeeeeee!! I'm so excited! he was a bit annoyed with me for buying that other one on monday - I truly forgot I sent him the link to etsy and it was a total impulse buy!! I'm hoping to try it out today....

I've started my sock for Summer of Socks - I'm using Reynolds Sea Wool that I bought on Monday (love this yarn BTW) and I *think* it's the "Go with the Flow" socks from the Favorite Socks book (I don't have the book in front of me to confirm that) - I've got the cuff done and I'm starting on the leg. After lunch I'm thinking I'll pop in a Muppet Movie dvd and keep at it.

I am excited to start a new pair of socks (even though I do still have to finish Dan's socks...) because I finally finished my Sock Madness pair!! That only took several months. They were hibernating. Oh well. They were my first pair with a short row heel and I think I liked the making of that sort of heel, but fit wise I like the heel flap. I put them on this morning for photo ops and then forgot to take them off - very comfy!

School's Out Forever!

Oof, and what a day. I don't know why kids think that just because it's the last day of school means they can do whatever they want. Oh wait - that's what they did all year, why should they bother to show a bit of respect today? Ugh. But it's done! And I'm done!! And I wasn't told off (or hit!) they are all bark, no bite. Let the relaxing and knitting begin!!

I went to The Yarn Barn to treat myself - the end of school / my career there and it's almost my birthday.

I decided to try out some Soft Sea Wool - in the "Dark Pink" colorway - I think it looks like a Kool-Aid color. I also picked up a skein of Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton in a natural color to make a baby bolero from the One Skein book. And I splurged to get myself a skein of Lobster Pot Yarn in Salt Rose to make maybe a hat for me - I've lusted after that for a while now.

I also decided to open up a new addiction for myself this summer (along with learning crochet, embroidery, cooking, photography and getting ready for baby.) Louet's Drop Spindle Kit - oh baby!


There's a beautiful navy, aqua / teal, and copper fibers inside...

That's all positive. There is negative though:

Those kids and their nonstop talking during the movie and then my having to look up and redirect them to stop talking. Somehow I missed the cast on for the next square - so my scarf went from 5 squares across to 4 squares across. Not a huge deal, but if this is going to be a potential Christmas gift, I want it perfect. I was only 6 repeats in (out of 26) so I will frog it and start over. I've got the time.

Projects!

I'm so excited - I decided on a project, worked on it (and pretty much only it) and it was done before the due date: Father's Day - even though I won't see my dad until the end of the week. I made him the Knitpicks Bow Tie

I used Cygnet Wool Rich Four Ply yarn that I got from a swap - Color is "Denim Mix (2137) - used less than one skein. It was an easy pattern once you got going on it, but man - using those US1s messed with me after a while. I tried to tie it myself following online directions but couldn't get it to work, so I'll leave that to Dad and hopefully I'll get a picture with him in the tie. He prides himself on being able to tie a bow-tie. I'm excited for this somewhat goofy project as I haven't knit anything for him yet. I think he'll get a kick out of it.

Friday (the almost last day of school) Dan and I went into NY to see my brother perfom at the pit - very cool. They had the audience write down a word for a later improv thing and of course I wrote "knitting". Of the two papers my brother pulled, one of the two was mine. The other was "Banana Hammock" - so, after acknowledging that he pulled the paper his sister wrote he made a joke about getting a knitted banana hammock for Christmas. (anyone know of a pattern? that would be funny). **Edit to add: I googled "Knit banana hammock" and one of the first things that came up was the thong from knitty HAH!)

I didn't want to bring in the US1s on the train, so I cast on for Argosy - I think it will be a potential Christmas present - if I can part with it - it's a great pattern and works up seemingly quick!

Valuable Lessons

It's the next-to-last day of school. Things have been somewhat calm / low key, the kids are on their loud volumes, but at this point, who cares?

I cast on for Argosy last night - needed a new project for knitting on the train this afternoon. I brought it in to school with me and knit a little bit while the kids played games.

Then I taught them Asshole obviously, the non-drinking version, and we called it "Loser" but the basic ideas were there. Someday they'll learn how its really played and perhaps they'll think of me.

NOOOO!

The last week of school is already hard enough. I've had two kids go on and on about how they can not wait for the last day to tell me off. Then I heard about hitting a teacher. When I told them it was a felony they wanted to know how much jail time it resulted in, because "They young and have the rest of they life" UGH. And then, because apparently my school can't do math in, oh, the start of the year, we get this memo today:
"Please be advised that Monday, June 18, 2007 will be a school day (half day). The state requires that we have 180 instructional days and we are short one day. There is no reason why we cannot make Monday our last day here. We just need to work hard Thursday and Friday afternoon to ensure all work gets done, everything gets filed and all materials are properly stored for the break."

I'm hopeful that not many kids will show, but given their parents and how they wouldn't want to be bored at home, we'll probably have a full house.

Insert big ol Lucy face here. If it's not one thing, it's another. I need some vitameatavegamin.

YipYip

Thanks to the mental-floss blog, I have rediscovered two of my favorite characters from Sesame Street, the YipYips



And I got my muppet (Beaker & Bunsen Honeydew) inspired yarn!
Once I'm done with the tie, I will be casting on with this - maybe jaywalkers??

I got a lot done today so yay on that! And a lot of it was dumb stuff (cleaning out the pocketbook, sorting out an old mail pile, etc) - bring on summer vacation!

Virtual Vacation Q & A

(I took today off of work. Good day to dream about vacations!)

1. If you could visit any state in the US, which would it be and why?
I want to go to Alaska - have heard it's just so beautiful and I really want to see a glacier before they all melt away!

2. If you could visit any country in the world, other than your own, which would it be and why?
It's so hard to pick one - I want to see them all for the different cultures and sights - Japan, China, New Zealand, Spain, Ireland (again), England (again), Russia, Egypt...

3. Have you ever driven across several states/providence/countries?
I have driven across much of the eastern U.S., driven into Canada (to Winnipeg from Grand Forks, ND)

4. Have you ever visited someplace you consider exotic? Where was it?
Hawaii was so tropical - we went there for our honeymoon - it was spectacular! I've also been to Cancun, Mexico and the Virgin Islands - equally stunning.

5. What was your favorite "travel" vacation? Why?
Hawaii and Ireland with Dan because each was a "big" trip for us... we travel well together :) Also the Virgin Island trip - my grampa had sailed down to the V.I. from Rhode Island, and sailed around the islands for 9 months - we went down to spend a week on his boat - it was awesome!!

6. Have you ever played tourist in your own home city/state (if international, country)? Explain.
There's plenty in CT I haven't seen yet - Mystic is a fun place to go to play tourist...

7. Are you a museum visitor, beach comer or an amusement seeker?
A mix of both - love love love the beach and just walking along it. Museums can be great - I like the natural history kinds

8. What's your favorite type of yarn?
alpaca, blue sky organic cotton yarns

9. What's your least favorite type of yarn?
fun fur, overly fuzzy / halo-y mohair-ish yarn

10. What items do you like to knit?
it seems like everything except sweaters :) scarves, socks, hats, and currently I've got a whole load of baby stuff on my queue

11. What do you pack, knit wise when you go on vacation?
more than I'll ever get done! Socks are good for travelling - and I like the two circs method so I don't have to worry about needles getting losts!

12. What other crafts do you do/would like to do other than Knit?
I'm all set to get started with embroidery and crochet - just need to give it a try, same thing with sewing.

13. Are you allergic to anything? (Yarn wise or treat wise)
nope

14. What is your favorite color? Least Favorite?
I love blues-purples-greens-raspberrys....i tend to stay away from brown and yellows

15. Sweet or Savory (Treat not personality)?
Sweet sugary treats - jelly beans, mike and ikes, wonka candies

Camera Play

This weekend somehow went by incredibly fast - especially since on Friday it seemed like there was not much that was going to be going on. Friday was the graduation for the 8th grade at school - it went off pretty well. Now there's just this week left - and it's all busy work! Tomorrow I'll do a lab with the kids I see, I took Tuesday off, Wednesday I'm thinking we'll do rock salt ice cream, Thursday (half day) maybe the egg drop, Friday (half day) hopefully it'll just be a movie day....Then Friday night we're off to New York to see my brother perform his stand-up.

Anyway, this weekend we had friends over and they extended their stay which was a lot of fun. They also brought their bassett hound, so Jackson got to be around another dog which is good for him!

It's not often that this group is together - cheers! (While I really wanted to enjoy the fruity-rum drinks I did not. Someone has to take photos!)


They played outside and I hung out with the whiny dogs, watching:



The dogs were even more miserable when I walked outside, but I think they were plotting something...


We had a fire (hard to photograph!)


And some fireworks...


Today I went out to an environmental "fair" in town, picked up a lot of information and some lightbulbs. I hope they do this every year - it's a good idea.

Tonight we're headed to my parents for dinner, then a neighborhood meeting (a sex offender moved in up the street), and hopefully all that will be done in time for the finale (I can't believe it) of Sopranos... and then it's monday again. but I've got tuesday off.

More Graffiti

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by nutmegknitter

First of all, sitting 1 hour and 20 minutes in traffic (to go all of 16 miles - 13 of which are highway miles! No accident either. Ugh) is not my ideal way to start a Monday or any other day. Combine that with awful attitudes of preteens, tweens and teens. Combine that with finding more grafitti on my tabletops. I teach 4 through 8 graders. How do they know to write such garbage, and then why do they think it's funy?

Project Updates

I finally took pictures of my "Works in Progress"!

First, my "Hope & Donald (Chevron Scarf)"

I'm using Ruby Sapphire yarns - I spotted the "Hope" colorway and bought it immediately - it's the cranberry colorway. I had this brilliant idea to make a scarf for my Nana using "her" color and one for my Grampa and requested the custom dye job for "Donald" - the colors are inspired by the ocean and the fact that Grampa loved sailing and was a captain. I was not a fast enough knitter to get anywhere near finished for Nana, and now that she's passed on and I'm sure is back with Grampa (where they belong. They are soulmates.) the scarf is going to be for me, in honor of them.

Next, the KnitPicks Bow Tie

I'm using a sock yarn that I got in a swap and I really like the color, though I'm a little worried about the fuzziness that seems to be happening. It's tough to knit at night / low light since it's on size 1!!

I'm also working on a "Big Bad Baby Blanket" using Blue Sky Organic Cotton (yummy) that I think I'll be keeping. It's a great tv-knitting pattern. I put it down for a while as I'm almost at the point where there's a switch in the pattern and I need to wind up another skein. So it's temporarily on hold. The bow tie has kinda taken top spot as I'm hoping it will be a Father's Day gift.


And I'm still plodding through the Sock Madness round 1 Mad Cow socks. I like them, they're easy to do, and really all I have left is the foot. Jackson approves.


Today my energy feels zapped. I'm trying to get through school work. I made banana bread with milk chocolate / peanut butter chocolate chips. Also feels like a lazy day. Like it should be summer vacation. Soon enough.

Yesterday / Today

We're getting down to the wire at school. I took Friday off and it was quite possibly the Best. Day. Ever. Dan's work schedule is such that he has every Friday off, so me not working makes it pretty sweet and we did a little bit of everything that all worked out nicely.

We slept in. We had a lazy morning. I played with my yarn and ravelry. We went out for lunch near the water - New England Clam Chowder and French Fries looking out on Long Island Sound - yum! We went and told a close friend about the baby.

We went to the doctor's appointment - I've gained 2 pounds in the last month, should gain about 4 more for the next appointment. Heard the baby's heartbeat. Found out I can have a hot dog! (There were some at last week's BBQ that looked so good, but I didn't know if they were ok - too much reading / conflicting information)

We (yes we) went for pedicures! I have the best husband ever! And afterwards he said that yes he would go back for more! We figured it out - we're a good team because I'll do "guy" things (go out to the bar, watch him play video games) and he does "girlie" stuff with me (pedicures, shopping).


On tap for today is to play catch-up with the house work we avoided yesterday. I need to work on some report card stuff. I also wanted to take pictures of my works in progress.

I just found these SATees and am thinking I will have to get a few items for my baby and for when people I know have babies. In high school there was this teacher in high school that I dreaded having (and then had him for 2 years in a row) - he was tough and didn't play any games. In retrospect he was one of the best teachers I had, even though I didn't go the english / literary route. He did vocabulary with us every week and Dan (who had him too) and I can still recall many of those vocabulary words- many are on those tees and on this list of 100 words every high school graduate should know. I can recognize the words and know that they were "Mikulak words" but Dan tops me in that he remembers their meanings!

Belated Thank You!

This post is overdue.

I need to publicly thank dragonknitter for inviting me into the world of ravelry. I have spent this week playing with it and OMG it's crazyfun! I've gone back through the blog (and flickr for the times I had it) to load in my projects, queued 39 projects, started to list the stash... It's a lot of fun and once it's open to the world this thing is going to be huge! The inspiration and ideas(easily searchable) are just brilliant!

Thank you again very much - I need to send you the absolutely biggest hank / skein / ball of cashmere and sea silk :)

Still Life with Dachshund

After 2 botched attempts, the third time was the charm for my string bag (via magknits) (and some mods I read about on the craftster boards). I ended up casting on 45, knitting the lace repeats 14 times, then instead of binding off and seaming the sides, I cast off some stitches and worked the handle. I then worked the handle on the other side, then seamed up the sides last night. It does stretch quite a bit when there's actual weight inside of it, but I figure that I can toss it into the wash when needed - I used Lion Cotton, in a natural ecru color. My attempts to get a nice photo were diverted by a fruit sniffing dachshund. Here's the photo evidence:


Whatcha got in there, huh? I smell.... bananas!?...mango?!....


Ooh, it's out on the table I can get it!


sniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniff


nudge nudge little mango...


any minute now that mango is mine!

This cheered me up following a horrendous end of the day rudeness of students who told me yea yea I'll get rid of the cookie then shove it in their mouth and don't you tell me now woman. And my allergies have kicked up. I am not a happy camper.

Eye rolling headaches

I can't wait for the end of school. I'm trying to see if I can get at least two personal days off in the next two - three weeks. I've got a headache from rolling my eyes at the things the kids say and do so much. Actually right now I think the headache is from hunger, but it is almost lunchtime.

I finished my Market bag last night, so I'll post photos / details on that later.

I finished reading The Namesake - really enjoyed it and look forward to seeing the movie version. I started reading The Wonder Spot with a whole lot of deja vu - I felt like I read the book before, but I think it may have just been the first chapter as a preview in a different book.

Yesterday was kinda a stinky day, but reading Lost Season 3 recap made me giggle. Last night's episode kept us up talking, and even this morning it was the first thing we talked about.

How did I not know about Knitwhits before? The hats are too cute!!

Movie night

Last night Dan and I went out for dinner (hibachi yum!) and then out to a movie - impromptu date night! We went to see Disturbia - creepy yes, but almost funny as we were at a 7:40 showing and there was a whole lot of pre- / teenage girls in the audience screaming / screeching just to scream / screech.

The best part though was when we were standing in line to buy the tickets. There was a couple behind us, and they were looking up at the board of movies / showtimes. The woman said to the man, "Oh, 28 weeks later - that's the sequel to the Sandra Bullock movie where she was in rehab - it was really well done."

Um, right. We were hoping that they would buy tickets for that, but they didn't.

I spent most of yesterday catching up on podcasts (I started listening to Material Mama - going to find more sewing related things... might as well work up on my sewing machine when I've got the time coming this summer.) and working on the string bag - finally figured out my goof on the pattern. So after 3 starts I've finally got it and I'm maybe 3/4 of the way done with the bag portion. It's going quickly, so good on that.

Mango (and info for Heide!)

On a whim at the local farm store (and so much more! I bought a mango. On sale, even. I have eaten mango before but never bought and fought with one myself. Even though it's a little fussy to cut apart (I think I shoulda just used a better knife) I'm hooked. Sooooooo good! How did I not know this before? Yum, it's like better than candy!

Heide - I can't find your email! And I can't get to your blog! I am so curious to know about what you think of those gDiapers! I'm thinking that we'll do a mix of disposable and maybe those... still too early to worry about though. I picked up the Flat Earth crisps and the Kiwi magazine at the Branford stop-n-shop! If you've got any other good local baby tips or things you wish you knew about before please let me know! Currently you're my only local source on that sort of info!

This post is full of random content

I got an early birthday (June 20) present today - a new ipod! 80Gb / video baby! Wow - now I need many more video podcasts! Suggestions? Are there knitting videos for the ipods yet? I had a lot of fun moving through the music library - all I want to do is sort through my cds too!

I've started the Saturday Market Bag from magknits using Lion Cotton. I think I messed up somewhere - the 4th row repeat didn't make sense to me - p3? I could p2 and then drop the yo... I had to rip out the first attempt as I misread p2 to be purl 2 together for some odd reason.

Reminder to self: You joined the June XY along at Get Stitchy - make the bowtie.

I picked up a new magazine yesterday, Kiwi - it's about organic living and stuff. There was a great advertising surprise inside from my new favorite snack company, Fruitabu - there was a magnet, coupon for a free box, iron on transfers and stickers! My other new favorite snack are the Impossibly Good Flat Earth veggie crisps (Garlic and Herb) - serving of veggies while I think I'm eating chips? Excellent.

News

Life in the nutmeg nutshell continues on with more news, not just ranting and ravings and knittings (which there will be more of eventually) and dachshunds. I've got good news and not so good news and news that I'm not sure what to do with yet.

First the good: I'm pregnant! I'm 13 weeks, due on Thanksgiving (Nov. 22) - which is more than a little wild, as it is my favorite holiday all year and it also will forever hold a special place in my heart as we were married the day after Thanksgiving (Nov.26) three years ago. I'm feeling quite good - really didn't have too much in the way of morning sickness, I was just really really really tired. I've got my energy back which is good and just have to keep on top of eating / snacking because when I get hungry, I'm hungry NOW. :) Our checkups so far have been positive, everything is looking good. Oh, and we've decided that I'm not going back to the school - I'm going to take a year off, we'll make it work. I think that I'm done with teaching in the school sense - I'm going to be looking when the time comes for either entry-level science lab tech sort of jobs (I started out as a chemistry / environmental person) or a science education / outreach (like working in a science museum) sort of thing.

On a less happy note, my grandfather is on dialysis, but it's not doing much good. The man has all sorts of medical issues right now. My grandmother, who is already stressed out over this recently found out that she has breast cancer (stages 2/3).

The news I'm not sure what to do with is that my father has an atrial flutter which was picked up at his last physical. He goes in for tests and stuff this week (I think) and then following that there are procedures. He doesn't seem overly concerned about it, just annoyed at the fact that now his coffee consumption is now limited to one cup a day. I told him I feel his pain on that one.

We had my folks over last night for mother's day and surprised them by having my brothers and one brother's girlfriend come in from New York - so good - so filling!! Today we've got a local dachshund meet-up and then dinner out with Dan's folks. Where do the weekends go?

Looking for a Book?

I'm trying to sort out my stash and shelves... I've decided that I certainly can part with these books, most are like new / very gently perused from Crafter's Choice book club - leave me a comment (with email please so I can get back to you) if you're interested... trades are cool - sock yarns, cotton yarns (especially Tahki merc. cotton, blue sky cotton / organic...) or whatever.

1. Simple Knits with a Twist
2. Log Cabin Quilts
3. Knitting in No Time
4. Big Book of Knitting
5. Making Vintage Bags
6. Quick and Clever Cross Stitch
7. Travel the World in Cross Stitch
8. Native American Cross Stitch
9. Domino Knitting (japanese)
10. Easy Beaded Knits
11. Easy Beaded Crochet

WEBS!

This was a yarn-y goodness weekend. Betsy was up north, so we decided to do a mini yarn crawl. I haven't bought yarn since the last time she was up in January. We decided to take a trip to WEBS in Northampton - under 2 hours away. Oh my! Why didn't we ever go before? I have no idea!! It was fantastic! I got to see and touch yarns I had only heard about - I sound like a knitfan, huh? Anyway, I was pretty good about my purchases -


There's some Blue Sky Cotton to make a Big Bad Baby Blanket, some Lamb's Pride for making Craft Alien Critters, Lang superwash merino for some possible baby things, Tahki Cotton in a few colors I was missing (I'm thinking maybe a miter square blanket - looking back into the stash, I think I could do that!), Blue Sky Organic Cotton for another Baby Bolero, and some other mercerized cotton for maybe an acorn hat.

It was such a good trip! I'm so antsy to just cast-on for everything right now! Maybe just one new project....

Magic Yarn Ball Swap!

Thanks so very much to Alcariel!! This was an amazing swap to take part in - my first in one of this kind. Let me tell you, I will never look at a yarn "cake" the same way again - I had this attached to my ball winder so I could rewind as I unwound - man my arms got tired! The husband helped, the dog helped :)
So when I opened up the box, this is what I found:

A big ol ball of yarn, and a pattern for Stitch Diva's Simple Knitted Bodice and a pattern for a mini sock to go on the mini sock blocker keychain! :) And I can see Mike & Ike's too!
The unwinding began, and continued, and continued! There wasn't just one ball of yarn (Mountain Colors - gorgeous!!!) there was two! You can see the pinkish yarn in the photo below - that's "Meteor" - dyed by Miss Violet and spun by Alcariel, my pal! How cool? Also included were gummy rats (weirdly delish!), samples of "Soak" (been dying to try this!), Cream Savers, the mini sock blocker keychain with a knitted sock, and a little sock change purse (I may use this to hold stitch markers)...Wow!
I look forward to using (and eating) everything!!

Love this shirt!

New 'do

New 'do
Originally uploaded by nutmegknitter.

Knitting has been sparse. I don't really want to show the baby gifts in progress, because garter stitch bibs in progress won't look much different than the finished project.

Instead, here's a recent shot of me and Dan. I've got a new hair do - got a chop, and now surprise surprise, I wear my hair down (with goop in it to keep the curls / waves) without clips!

I swear my head is not that much bigger than Dan's - but it looks like it in this photo...

Photos

First off, big big big big thanks to my Lime & Violet Secret Sibling Pal - I think I know who she is (am I right, Melissa?) The box absolutely rocked!

There's a ton of sweets (all of which I have been craving! Couldn't find them on the trip!): jelly jolly ranchers, mike & ikes, peach rings, Sponge Bob Crabby Patties, cream savers, pralines...drool! Then there's a great selection of yarn - purple and white cotton (I'm big into the Mason Dixon baby bib's / burp cloths and other baby things now - perfect colors!!), thicker purple /magenta yarn for house socks (maybe thuja??) and Lisa Souza yarn (Red Devil!) awesome! The pattern is "Twist and Lace" - made to use with the Lisa Souza yarn - excellent! There's Burt's Bees goodies too and a chibi (don't have one yet!!) - so so very excited!! There's even a package of treats for Jackson! Thank you for spoiling me so very very much!!

Here's a short sample of Ireland:

Slainte! At the Guinness Storehouse.



Sheep!


Blarney Castle



Cliffs of Moher - my favorite!


At Blarney Castle - I swear this coat was made out of electric blue fun fur!

Ireland (Cliffs of Moher & Bunratty Castle) part 4

On Wednesday, we again drove a bit, took a ferry across the River Shannon. Our destination was the Cliffs of Moher - my favorite part of the tour - absolutely breathtaking!! And it was still a beautiful sunny day - warm even!!

That evening we dined at Bunratty Castle for a medevial banquet and enjoyed the after party at Durty Nelly's Pub - which has been around for 200 years!

Thursday we began our long trip back home to the states...we were at the airport by 10, the flight was at 2, the travel time was 7 hours (we were back by 4)...

Friday and Saturday have been very low key - I'm exhausted and not to keen on the idea of going back to work tomorrow...

I will have to post again to show the fabulous box of goodies I got from my Lime&Violet Secret Sibling - love it all!

Ireland (Ring of Kerry & Skellig) - part 3

On Tuesday, we set out for the ~100 mile drive of Ring of Kerry - absolutely striking - beautiful! This included Gap of Dunloe and Macgillicuddy's Reeks - you don't usually think of Ireland as being "mountainous" - but it is quite rugged and rolling! At one photo stop you could hold a lamb! I missed out though, because my camera battery died! I had my camera on all day - you just want to photograph everything!! We did buy a disposable for a backup at a later pit stop. The only part we didn't like was the Skellig Experience...

We took a Jaunting Car ride through Killarney National Park with a very chatty and knowledgable driver :)

For dinner, we went to Hannigan's - I lucked out again with a good tortellini dish, and Dan struck out with whatever he got :) We strolled around a bit checking out a few pubs looking for Irish music. We heard a bit that was just instrumental, a bit of ballads, and then ended up at the hotel bar and talked with the bartender there.

Ireland (Blarney Castle & Killarney) - part 2

On Monday, we left Dublin and made our way through the countryside. We had a stop for tea and scones at a working farm - delicious! And they had hundreds of sheep and lambs! We drove by Cashel, saw lots and lots and lots of sheep and cows in the fields. Eventually we ended up at Blarney Castle and Blarney Woolen Mills (shopping!). As we dove into the grounds, there was a boot sale!! Didn't have time to go check it out though. I almost didn't go up to the top of Blarney Castle - you have to go up a very narrow sprial staircase - I don't do to well with small enclosed spaces, but Nana did it, so I could do it! The view from the top was worth it! I did pass on kissing the Blarney Stone though!

We continued our drive to end up at Killarney - dinner was at the hotel with the tour. I had a pasta dish which was good, Dan struck out again!

Ireland (Dublin) - part 1

First off, thanks to everyone who left comments / sent emails regarding my Nana. She is a very special person to me and I will miss her tremendously. During our Ireland trip, we had not one drop of rain! I think that Nana pulled some strings on that one, and smiled down with sunshine on us.

Ireland was fantastic! I have over 300 photos, so I won't be overloading this post with them (or even flickr, though I'll probably find a few to share). We went through CIE tours, specifically, the Taste of Ireland tour. It was a true taste - we saw a little bit of everything!

We arrived in Dublin a day early (Saturday). We didn't know if we would be able to check into our hotel room early on in the day or not, but we were! We checked in and immediately took a nap. I wanted to get to the stitch 'n bitch in Dublin, but we were just too tired! After our nap, we took a cab to the Guinness Storehouse - it's all behind walls, like Willy Wonka's factory! We did the tour and enjoy a sip at the Gravity Bar. We had dinner at Foley's - I had lamb stew which was really great, Dan's filet however was less than what he was expecting. We walked back to our hotel and hit the hay for about 12 hours!

Dublin is a neat city, but the streets were confusing to me. They are not in a grid like New York, or main streets leading to a central point like Providence. It's kinda like Boston.

On Easter Sunday, our tour started. We got to tour inside Dublin Castle, very striking. We drove by a lot of places like Trinity College, Doors of Dublin, St.Stephen's Green, President's House, Temple Bar area and more. We had time after the drive by touring, so we took a taxi back down to Temple Bar and walked around a bit. We saw U2's Clarence Hotel, and had a snack at a pub.

In the evening, we went out to dinner with the tour to eat and enjoy the entertainment of The Merry Ploughboys - they were awesome! There was even dancing / step dancing (my favorite!)

When it rains...it pours

As if today wasn't already off to a crappy start. My Nana passed away.

That's an old picture, but really the only one I could find - our house warming party, summer 2005 - back when she was starting to loose her hair from chemo...look at how tiny Jackson was (9 or 12 weeks, maybe!)

She hadn't been doing well for a while. We all knew this. And she stopped the chemo treatments around Christmas. We all knew this. I'm glad she doesn't have to deal with the side effects and not feeling well and all that cancer crap. I'm glad she will be with Grampa again. But it still sucks. We were close. I respect her so much, even with her quirks about leaving appliances on and how much she worried. She was a role model for me - strong, stubborn, independent Irish-American gal. She read, she cooked, she got herself into the digital age (she was on email and netflixed with the best of them!) and was not afraid to have fun or let Grampa talk her into doing something silly.

Services won't be until next week. Nana is a "sponsor" of our Ireland trip - she made it possible, so we're still planning to go. It will be bittersweet. I feel bad about not being there for the services, but I think she would want us to go.

This seems to be the nutmegknitter's blog of doom lately.

Working for the weekend

Vacation cannot come soon enough - Friday night (weather permitting!) we're off to Ireland - and while that in itself is fabulous, I may get to attend an Irish Stitch and Bitch!! My Knitter's Tea Swap pal was Isobel and she's in Dublin! We've been in contact and I think I have talked Dan into going as well - we'll be wandering about anyway since we can't check into the hotel until later in the afternoon, and we could get a bite to eat! I'm sure we'll be dazed and fazed and even more out of it American tourists, but I really think it's such a neat plan!

Today in school, the first five minutes of class, I was told the following:
"If you snatched anything away from me I woulda punched you in the face"
"I aint chewin anything! Get your eyes checked"
"You're racist, picking on us kids" (said by a white girl. I fail to see how, as a white woman I was being racist or sexist even towards her)

Now, I understand kids say things as a defense mechanism or to show to others they are tough, but now this is just harrassment. The same white student who said all three of those quips also has other issues so she was not immediately suspended, but should any other incident happen today she will. I hope she starts her spring vacation early. I'm tired and fed up. Again. (that seems like all I ever write in here anymore.)