And Answers, Cont.

Uccellina asked when I graduated. LHHS, Class of 1992.


Annika asked
What's my favorite thing to knit? (I also want to know if you made a blue sweater for Christmas.) I love knitting. Anything. That said, my favorite thing is sweaters. They take so long, but they are such a prize when finished. And my first sweater was blue. It wasn't for christmas, but for me. And it's like a big sweatshirt. Warm, too big, worn heavily... I love it.

Post 100 Contest

Ok, here it is folks.

These are the contest rules-

1. The prize is 4 balls of Cascade Fixation. 2 are of one color, 2 are of another color. One person will win all 4 balls. They will be mailed out to you sometime before next weekend, depending on how long it takes for the winner to respond.

2. If you choose to answer the questions you can do so by emailing me- sunflowerfairy AT HotMail dot com. Please don't post answers here in comments. YOU MUST PUT "CONTEST ANSWERS" in the subject of the email or it won't get through the spam filter.

3. There's 10 questions. TRY to answer them. It's my contest and if you make me laugh hard enough then I might give you a sympathy add.

4. Those who answer all 10 questions right will be added to the pot.

5. You will be named here on the blog after I pick a name. You will be contacted by email also. You have 48 hours to contact me my email with your home address listed. If you don't answer by 48 hours I'm picking a new name.

6. You can enter as many times as you'd like.

7. The contest ends this Friday at midnight EST.

8. If you've ever posted a comment on my blog your name is instantly in the pot. My ego loves comments. Only comments from day one to post 99 are eligible. If you try to comment on anything after this post is added you will not be eligible. Please still try the contest.



Ok, Here's the questions:

1. The Boy was born in November, 2005. How many months old does that make him?

2. Speaking of The Boy, what's his name?

3. What Boston punk band did Hubs and I go see on our anniversary?

4. What's my real first name?

5. Name one maker of yarn that I've worked with over the last few months.

6. I have an alter-ego somewhere on the net. What's her name?

7. What was the heading of the first post I wrote?

8. What did I do on my birthday in May?

9. How many tattoos do I have?

10. Tell me the exact date in July that I showed off my shiny new swift.


Ok, I'm also leaving 100 things up, these are super easy with or without it. And, quite frankly I'm too lazy to remove it and put it back up. Plus, Sachi doesn't have that much time to answer the 19 question the removal would cause. lol

Good luck!

99 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall

Post 99.

I never thought I'd be able to pull this thing off for this long. Wow.

Thanks to the special people (not the short bus kind either)who have helped me keep this thing up and running. Some of you answered (what must have seemed like) the dumbest questions ever.

Tomorrow I announce the contest. It will be a 10 question quiz. Please number your papers from 1 to 10. Use a number 2 pencil and don't erase unless absolutely necessary. Cheating will not be tolerated. Most of the questions will be from my 100 things, which will be removed tomorrow before the quiz is posted.

And there will be only one prize- the 4 balls of Fixation, which I think is a pretty good prize if you like to knit socks. There's 2 balls each of 2 different colors. Maybe I'll toss in a set of the steel dpn's too.

I also got to knit for a short time yesterday- this is what I'm working on,Cherry Garcia from Hello Yarns. And have you seen this?? I'm dying to get my hands on it. It's such a gorgeous colorway!!

I'm A Winner!

Friends, I love contests.

I really, really love contests that have yarn as the prize.

Eklectika is giving me 2 skeins of Regia yarn. Oh, the heaven.

Be jealous, be very jealous.

This also leads into a contest of my own. There's post number 100 coming up and that means I need to celebrate, other than drinking too much or spending my husband's hard earned cash.

I have 4 balls of Cascade Fixation yarn that need a new home. Details will follow soon.

There's alot of running around I have to do today. There was a family emergency on Friday and we're still trying to pick up the pieces. No knitting to speak of but with SnB this morning maybe I'll be able to get some done. More later.

Sweetness- Done

I'm calling this Sweetness.

It should be called Karma, but Sweetness sounds better for a baby sweater. (Yeah, I made yet another one. Why are so many my age having babies?? Oh, maybe because I'm not 18 anymore.)

The story behind Sweetness, or Karma, is pretty cool. When I was pregnant with the boy I was constantly sick. Constantly. I started taking meds for it after 14 weeks, almost 6 of those consisted of me coming in and out of the hospital for dehydration. When I didn't feel like cooking or smelling food or cleaning up we'd go out to eat. Ok, so we pretty much went out to eat every night.

There's a local irish pub that we love going to. They have the best cranberry scones (instead of bread) on each table. I love these things. One night I begged the waitress for more. She gave me 5 to take home! Every time after that she'd bring me some extra. She always asked how I was, what was new, if I needed anything.




A few months after the baby came we stopped in one time for dinner. She told us that she was expecting! We didn't see her again for a long time. Go figure that people don't bring babies into the local bar, hunh?

Well, we were there the other night and I asked about her. Come to find out she had the baby earlier in the month. Welcome Keane!

So, the baby sweater is for him. And her. Because sweetness gets you much more in this world.

Karma is good.






PS Feel free to keep asking the questions. Or ask in your blog if anyone has questions for you. Great idea, Dave! ;) I'll have the answers for you on Monday.

Answers

Sachi asked what color the sky in my world was.

Deep, pretty summery blue.

Dave asked why Sunflowerfairy Knits.

Um, just Sunflowerfairy was taken already. He also asked why Sunflowerfairy is one word. Well, I came up with the name when I needed an email address. I didn't want to use my real name. All of the other ways to spell fairy were taken. I have a tattoo of a fairy swinging on a swing that's attached to a leaf that's attached to a sunflower on my leg. Sunflowerfairy just fits me. It's one word because I like it that way.

Laura (sorry, I can't find a blog link for you. Leave it in the comments and I'll attach it) asked if my headache was better.

Yes, thank you. Large amounts of Excedrin, caffiene, quiet and sleep helped.

Diane asked if I found a magic lamp and a gene popped out to grant me 3 wishes what would I wish for?

Eek. This is a hard question. Um, my dream house, unlimited amounts of knitting supplies, and to be able to see my Grandma Jan again.

Drew asked why there's only non stick pans and no non stick spatulas.

I make mean pancakes and what I do is spray my spatula with Pam before using. Works like a charm. They must make non stick spatulas somewhere, right??

Kristin asked what's the first thing I would do if I won the lottery.

Change my home phone number and cell number. Second, hire a damn good lawyer. As a side note, my mom's best friend won the lottery once and got millions of dollars. I think after the lawyer I'd call her.


C'mon, there has to be more questions about me burning in your head. lol. Feel free to ask.

Ask Me Anything.

I dare ya.

Of Migraines And Baby Sweaters Done

The green baby sweater is done. It's gorgeous, if I do say so myself. I'm a bit worried about sizing, it seems small.

*Update- I've been able to upload, but now I think the photo is crap. It just doesn't do the sweater justice- it makes the sweater look lopsided, the photo washes it out....I'm going to bed. End update*

I have the outer twinges of a migraine starting. So, no knitting for the rest of the day. A bit of picking up the house till the boy goes to down for a nap and then Mommy goes down too.

More later, after the Excedrin kicks in.

Baby Sweaters Are Sweet.

I love baby sweaters. To know that something I made will keep another little person warm and snuggly gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. A dear friend is expecting her first son and her baby shower is coming up. The date keeps changing so I decided to put down the second mitten and get cranking on the sweater. I honestly thought it was going to take much, much longer than it has.

Here's the the back and two fronts.




And the wrong side of the sleeves.



What am I doing photographing the wrong sides?? I have no idea.

Anyways, I'm working with Elsbeth Lavold's silky wool. What's up with the pieces of hay and straw in this yarn? It's supposed to be designer- doesn't that mean no prickly stuff in it??

First Mitt Done!

DONE! Well, one is done. The second is on the needles. Yahoo!

It's made from 100% cotton. I'm thinking of doing more and trying to sell them with my mom's soaps and lotions. She sells at craft fairs locally.

I have a baby's item next on the list. Probably a sweater of some sort for my friend Jeannine's baby, due in November. After that is Hub's birthday gift and who knows what else.





*I also wanted to dedicate this post to my Uncle Tommy who passed away one year ago today. He was a loving husband and father to 4 children. My cousin Sarah was due that day with his first grandchild, Olivia. He was killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of 49. It's a sad day for my grandmother. Can you give a moment of thought for them both today? Thanks*

Let The Bitchin' Start!

I started my Bitchin' Mittens yesterday. After a ton of trial and error (mostly error) I finally figured out what I wanted to do, atleast for my first pair.




They are 100% cotton bath mitts, with a little surprise on the fingertips. You'll see, when I'm done.

I'm following Ann Budd's recommended sizing and they are huge on me, but will fit my sister (for Christmas) perfect! Hello- two birds with one stone. I love it.

I'm A Sucker For A Sale.

So this local farm is having a sale. I posted on my local Stitch n Bitch board that I wanted company and one person was brave enough to offer to accompany me and the boy.

Off we went today, 2 moms in the front, 2 babies in the back of her car. Good company, great conversation, good spirited kids. It was a fun day.

The best part was the yarn sale. Ohhhh. You pull up and there's bin after bin of yarn. Ever color imaginable. No seriously, every color. All for $9.00 a skein. Too bad I already bought my yarn for the holidays. I did buy some. (Does anyone ever leave a sale without yarn?? No.)



What's here? 2 sage colored cotton and acrylic mix, 2 natural colored silk, cotton, lamb's wool mix and one cranberry color.

Funny story about the cranberry colored skein- when I first started knitting I bought a skein of yarn and when I learned how to do socks I knit up a tube sock with the one skein. I didn't have enough for 2 socks so I've had just one random sock floating around. It's this same yarn. Now I can make a match! I'm going to frog the old sock, seeing as I now know how to make a heel and all.

And what's this???

Yep. Roving. For free. It's acrylic, but when I start to spin I want to try as much as I can. This is just the beginning of a love affair, I can tell. I also sniffed out a possible used wheel. This is really getting exciting.

Another Present Down.

Hat for my Father In Law. I know, I know... mil get a sweater, fil gets a hat? Well, he's a simple man who is hot all year round. He wears a windbreaker while shoveling. So, no sweaters for him. This was the next best thing. And yes, the hat's really that boring in person too. Just like he likes it. lol

Only 11 more gifts to go. Yippee!




I sent out a bunch of emails- to Clear Channel Communications, the manager of the Meadows(where the concert was) and to Tom Petty's management. I highly doubt I'll get a response. It just made me feel better to vent. Thanks for the comments on Eris too. She's a beauty.

Dear Idiots At The Tom Petty Show Last Night,

You know who you are. To all the drunken, stoned, loud-mouthed, argumentative, girl pushing assholes, "Yankees suck" screaming, those stumbling into us repeatedly, and especially the 2 guys next to us who thought that putting their shirts on fire and tossing them around was a good idea....

Fuck off. Out of a crowd of 20,000 people 19,990 of you can bite me.

Pardon the language, sorry if I offend.

I've been a Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers fan since I was a young teen. I saw them once before and had a great time.

Last night they played with The Allman Brothers, another good band. I should have known the crowd that they would attract though. I don't smoke and I don't use drugs and quite honestly I'm uncomfortable around those who do. But I suck it up at shows. Typically we go to indoor shows where smoking is prohibited. This was an outdoor show.

Great night- crisp, clear. The air has a hint of fall coming. I love that. Saw shooting stars repeatedly.

But hell if the others around me didn't just ruin the whole night. We were by far the oldest people there- I'm not kidding. I'm thirty two!! When I was younger I never acted like those at the show. I'm embarrassed for them. I have no idea how any of them got home. People were literally passing out around us from too much excess. Disgusting. Trust me, there's been times when I was really, really wasted in public. But atleast I had one sober person to corral us up and take us home if someone was done for the night. Hubs said at one point for me to look around at all the people using their cell phones- for texting or talking. I don't know how many assholes sat there screaming into their cells trying to find others at the show.

The sound was awful. I have a hearing impairment, making things tough to begin with, but any time Tom Petty said anything I couldn't hear a word. The same thing happened at Dane Cook. Just to give you some idea- Hubs was talking to me at a normal level when they played and I was able to respond to him.

I want my money back.

And I'm seriously thinking of never going to another show at this venue.

Do I write them?? Do I call someone?

Photos Of Eris

Here she is.



The hole is fixed.



I taught myself how to seam differently.



It's almost invisible. It's the mattress stitch, instead of the regular sewing stitch I normally use. It looks so good.


And another finished object, although not a holiday gift.



My grandmother loves fun fur. I think there's little fun in this crap. But she wanted it, so she's getting it. No, I didn't kill a Muppet, it's a scarf.

Eris is done.

Can I say....wow.

Beautiful sweater. The problems (e.i. the hole, the neckline issues) have been fixed.

I am proud of it.

I can say that with my shoulders back and my head up.

Now I'm going to have a glass of pino grigio and go to bed.

Photos tomorrow, after it's done blocking.

I promise.

First Sleeve Done!

Ohhhh, I'm getting close. So close I can feel it. Close to having this sweater finally done, close to starting a new project. It makes me giddy if I think about it too much.

Eris Body Is Done.

Can I get an "Oh, yeah!"?

Modifications And Ding-Dong Books

This is the bottom edge of Eris. I have to admit that I've had enough of this sweater now and want to move on to something else. But I can't put it down. I tried repeatedly to do the bottom edge as instructed and it looked like crap. Big smelly crap. So after frogging it a couple of times I decided to modify it a bit. It looks ok so far. I have a few more repeats to do, and then I think I'll like it more. I should have gone down a couple of needle sizes, it would have pulled the cable together better. Blocking might do the trick.

I haven't been knitting nearly as much as I'd like, hence the other items I've been discussing. My wrist still stings at times from whatever is brewing there and I'm doing my best to rest it when possible.

And what do I do to pass the time??

Ding-dong books.

When I was 16 I had a friend who loved romance novels. She'd bury herself for hours behind glossy, long haired, muscled Fabio covered books. I never got it. I was too wrapped up reading Ralph Macchio stories in my Tiger Beat magazine to ever pick up one of those books. Then, after another friend was severely injured and bedridden after a car accident, Jen loaned me a bunch of these books after hearing that I was sitting, bored, bedside to this other friend.

After the first book she gave me, I read anything I could get my hands on. Although my tastes have changed I still love reading a good romance. For some reason I decided to pick up the Velvet Series by Jude Deveraux last week. They were the first books I read. They were the ones that started it all. And they are as good as I remembered. :) I haven't put them down!

Now if Diana Gabaldon would just release another Claire and Jamie book I wouldn't be stuck reading books written in 1981. But I doubt she's doing that any time soon. Bummer.

Needless to say, not a minute goes by that Hubs doesn't tease me about these books. Or any of the books I choose for that matter. If it's not a baseball or hockey book he's not really interested.

My wrist does feel marginally better. I feel like I'm never going to get Christmas knitting done though. Maybe I'll just have to suck it up and actually go to the mall this year(shutter).

Got any good authors you are willing to suggest? Let me know! They don't have to be romance, by the way. I love to read anything. Yes, anything.

I Dream Of Knitting Class

Ever think to yourself- "Wow, I'd love to take a class on _____."

Yeah, I do that alot.

I want to learn to spin. I want to learn how to spin with a yearning that I can't describe. I know I can't afford a wheel right now so I'm putting it off. Also, no where near me has classes available. Even my local guild isn't having meetings until the fall.

I'd love to learn new cast on methods. I've heard that there's over 80!! I know maybe 4. Why isn't anyone teaching this?

I've been meaning to take a class on finishing. Because I know it makes a finished product look 1000 times better when you have beautiful seams.

And on entrelac. Beautiful, just beautiful.

And learning how to knit cables without a needle. I can picture it in my head, but I really have no idea how to do it.

And a designing class. There's a design I'd love to make but getting from paper to the needles just seems impossible.

And mittens, because if I have ANY hope in winning this prize for my Bitchin' Mittens, I need all the help I can get. Look at this! How do you compete with this??

How about you? What classes do you dream of??

Sneaksleep

I decided to get off my butt and go to a SnB meeting in my area. (Yeah, you Cali girls always seem to have so much fun and I really, really miss adult conversation.) So I ventured off to Starbucks and met fabulous knitters and a crocheter. One of the knitters is Sneaksleep. Check out her blog. See her Jaywalker? Even better in person than her in photo. She's a gentle soul- someone you meet and you instantly know that she couldn't hurt a fly. Actually, she's the type who'd stop others from hurting flies. She's intelligent and sweet. And she didn't cringe at my stories of pregnancy or labor. And she made my kid laugh. (I love when people do that.)

The only bummer is the fact that she and her husband are moving south, so she won't be at the meetings. But I'm so looking forward to reading about her adventures!

Good luck, Brynna!

Eris Updated.

Here's the lastest photo of Eris, the wonder sweater.




I joined a knitalong for it. So far my one question was answered quickly and nicely.

I'm hoping to get the front/back/side cables done tonight and start the sleeves tomorrow. Having said that, that means I'll get the side cables done next week and the sleeves started in October.

Funny how that happens.

I *Heart* Mugshots.

Partially because they show stars at their worse, partially because I've never had the pleasure of having one taken, partially because I'm just mean.

I love mugshots.

Why, oh why, can't we get a Tom Cruise shot??