My Little Tribe

RENT

So we rented RENT this weekend. Duuuude....I haven't listened to the soundtrack in quite a while. I completely forgot just how much I love this play, (and what a freaking GENIUS Jonathan Larson was.) And I think Chris Columbus did a fine job adapting it.
We even let Cassidy watch with us. I'd say a majority of it, went right over her head.  She did comment "oh, how sweet!", immediately following the scene of Angel and Collins singing "I'll Cover You". Either she didn't realize Angel is not a girl, or we've done a great job at teaching her that love is love, no matter what gender your partner is (and the idea of that just makes my heart jump with joy!) Or perhaps she recalls us subjecting her to listening to the soundtrack repeatedly during her formative toddler years?  Really, she used to totally rock out to "Out Tonight" at the age of 3,  and declared tonight that she loves that song  (and that Maureen is a really bad singer during the protest scene....LOL!)
Anyway, it still doesn't disappoint me. I still cried like a baby (a few times) And then watching the bonus disc I cried some more. Oh, and I got a LOT done on Badcaul between the movie and bonus disc when I wasn't singing or crying!

"Measure Your Life In Love"

Who has the best darn Secret Pal in the whole world?

I do!
As I was getting ready to head out to run an errand, the mail lady knocked on our door. Richard promptly came back and announced to me that I got a "SPackage" (get it? get it? Hes pretty proud of himself for coining that one!)
Sock yarn, baby alpaca, cranberry tea, foot pampering schtuff, adorable purse notepad, candles, and the coolest thing, a drawer pull/knob made from a rock from Lake Superior (SP, you know, now I need to go buy some sort of antiquey yarn storage cabinet thingamagig JUST for that super cool knob!)  Thanks so much SP!

Another few things I got in the mail recently I plum forgot to mention. Richard's mom sent us an awesome care package filled to the brim with Wisconsin cheese. She sent curds man, CURDS (which are all gone now..the kids sorta like curds too!) And this cool Wisconsin cheddar shaped, like Wisconsin, and summer sausage ....yum.
And my moms group friends in Cortland sent me a lovely card with bunches of handwritten notes from them all, right when we were moving down here. And now they know we're moving back (well, not to Cortland, but the vicinity) If any of you are reading this....I'm just TICKLED that I lent some inspiration for some of you to pick up knitting needles and yarn!

As for me knitting? No real progress on Rogue, good thing I passed on the Knitting Olympics, I wouldnt be getting a medal. I did start the sleeve on our way up to Syracuse last week and made some good progress, but I haven't picked it up again since. I've done a few repeats on Badcaul, but I've got at least another two inches before I reach the heel.  Waiting on foot measurements from my sister in law for her socks, then I need to start working on socks to ship back to Wisconsin (hint hint Mom..that means I need measurements from you and Erin)

And the big news today?
The house we went to see this past week, is the house. We're going up again this week to make it final. Adorable house. Huge, charming (three fireplaces!), nice part of town, what looks like nice neighbors, and just enough "needs work" to keep Richard and I happy with our home improvement addiction. I'm quite excited! And if you couldn't tell, I'm not the least little bit stressed out about this move.

Pictures, as promised

Flash (left) vs. Natural Light (right)
Go figure...the flash picture is more representative of the color (at least to my eyes!)
LOOK AT THAT PROGRESS!

Side cable, because you can't really see it from the front.  But if your a knitter, or a knit blogger, you've probably seen a hundred, if not more, Rogues in progress if not Rogues being blocked or Rogues being modeled! I admit some of Rogue, is absolutely B O R I N G, but the cabled parts are something to look forward to, and something to enjoy as you knit them. Good thing I'm on the hood, which is mostly cabled.

And the lovely Badcaul, in beautiful Nature's Palette Fingering weight in Indigo. Lovely yarn, awesome pattern, slightly tweaked for my pal's foot. I truly love this pattern. I love not only its beauty (Look at those cables POP!) but its simplicity

Moving, Knitting, Moving

First, a picture! We went to Mom's on Sunday for turkey dinner and myself and the sisters realized we were all wearing hand knit socks! So Richard took a picture. Me all the way to the left wearing my Sockapalooza Two socks made by the lovely and talented Alexandra who sent these to me all the way from Germany. In the middle is Tracy (the small footed sister), donning the Sockotta Jaywalkers. On the right, Jill, the big footed sister, wearing her birthday Opal Petticoat Jaywalkers. And this is when the non knitting readers of my blog start to roll their eyes and think I'm completely insane for having a picture of me and my two sister's feet, hand knit socks or not!

Moving on (pun intended) We drove up to Syracuse last week to see two places. One to buy, one to rent. Both, not worth our time or gas money spent. However, the house to purchase, will be ideal for some family, just not us. It is in need of a great deal of work, so much more than our house in Cortland (can you say barely liveable?) BUT, it was a few blocks from Richard's office, and in the most ideal school district. Ah well. And the rental. Goodness gracious...expensive, small, and no parking.
We're heading up again tomorrow to meet the realtor to see yet another house. I have a really good feeling about this one. Truly. Of course, I had a dream about powerball numbers last week (and played them for the big jackpot on Saturday) and well...I'm not a new millionaire today. So my "good feeling" could be totally misplaced.

Rogue update, and I'll include some pictures a little later today, I'm all the way up to the hood. Halfway through the hood charts to be exact. I'll probably take yarn and needles on the trip to Syracuse tomorrow and start one of the sleeves. I'm almost there folks! I have found a few things I'll do differently if I ever do another Rogue (both of my sisters have asked me for one, we'll see if I actually ever get around to making them)
And Sockapaloooza socks...I casted on the Nature's Palette wool and increased the size a bit to accomodate an ideal fit for my pal. I'm not sure how I'll handle that increase once I get to the ankle, and how it might work with the cable pattern, but I'm brainstorming as I work on it.

Rogue Progress (and how Valentines Day wasn't ruined afterall!)

Horrid picture since I couldnt get a shot in ANY natural light (we're still dealing with the wonky camera tethered to an electrical outlet) But anyway, its a progress shot. I've knit in the top of the kangaroo pocket and finished the side repeats, now I'm just knitting the top portion of the first chart up to the arm holes. If you have yet to knit Rogue, this is undoubtedly, the most boring and tedious part (at least in my opinion) So as you can see, it still doesnt look like much, and in this light you can barely see the cabled sides in this colorway (Briggs & Little Heritage - Grape which has little flecks of greens and reds mixed in the the heathery purple. It sounds horrid, but I promise its purty!)
As for my whiny post last night concerning our botched Valentines Day dinner, something actually came through. No, the gas company did not deliver much needed cooking fuel. But Mom and Gram watched the kids so that Richard, myself, Jill and Virgil, Danny and Melissa could go out for dinner together.  And tonight, since all the fixins were already purchased, Richard will be making our fab Valentines Day feast here at home. Who needs candy and flowers, I'm getting two fab dinners!

If It Wasn't For Bad Luck...

Really, Honestly, we would have no freaking luck at all.
Richard had planned this scrummy Valentines dinner for us. Mom was to watch the kids.
That is until I smelled the awful scent of propane gas. We do not have propane heat, but rather only for cooking. Sure enough the stove wont light...the propane tank is empty.
Make a call and we cannot just fill it halfway (we're not staying here long, remember?) And have to buy a whole freaking tank. But thats not the real issue here. First they said they would be out here to deliver today. No one shows so I call them to find out of when/if they are showing. Turns out they wouldn't be able to come out today.
So its bologna sandwiches and cereal for dinner I spose. And Mom has said, don't worry, she'll take the kids tomorrow night.

Goodness gracious, please take me back to civilization where fuel is actually pumped into your home and you only pay for what you actually use (I have yet to address the heating fuel dilemma, which is about the same scenario as the cooking fuel, meaning we're required to purchase full tank)

Holy Sheep!

We all know two things
I love sheep
I loooove Birkenstocks.
So what could be better, huh?
I happened along this eBay auction the other day, looking around for some mary jane style Born shoes. (Yes, its sheep decorated Birkenstocks!) When I first found that auction, the bid was like 16.00. I would pay that much for used Birkenstocks. But today, the high bid is up to over 60 dollars. SIXTY DOLLARS FOR USED BIRKENSTOCKS.
I love me those sheep. I love me those Birkenstocks. But I will never pay over SIXTY DOLLARS FOR USED BIRKENSTOCKS. The high bidder obviously loves sheep and Birkenstocks a little more than me.

Stress Revisited

Didn't we just go through this?
House searching, especially from a distance, even a 100 mile distance, is difficult. Particularly when its winter, new city is smack dab in a snow belt, and you have children who attend school.
And have I mentioned I hate moving? Ugh.

Anyway, aside from burying myself in my yoga knitting, we've been battling one form of bacteria or another. Cassidy just returned to school today after a one week vacation due to some pink eye. Personally, I've never had it. Don't know what it feels like, but it sure looked painful. First trip to the doctor resulted in a diagnosis of viral conjuntivitis. A return trip after noticing some pussy looking pimples ON her eyeball, resulted in an RX for some antibiotic (no, not bacterial conjuntivitis, but a cellulitis of some sort...it morphed...go figure)
Dylan spiked a fever today and sounds like a circus seal.
Alex is recovering from a cold, and now Connor is showing symptoms.
Lets just call our home a germ farm why don't we?

But...good news...
Ryan has recovered from the jaundice almost completely and is still just freaking beautiful (I'm not kidding, his cuteness blows me away)
And Cass has gone and added another wee one to her tribe. Go over and give her a congrats!

Bloody Brilliant!

Either I'm turning into Ron Weasley, or I'm just entirely too tickled with what I did over the weekend! I had been leaning towards Anna's Giotto pattern for my sock pal. But on a whim, I decided to do a test run with Badcaul instead. I'm not sure why, except that I love me those cables! So I sat down at the computer determined to find out how to do a "turkish cast on" and magic loop. Google did not disappoint me, and the very first link on the list was for Misocrafty's Turkish Cast On directions. I sat here reading, looking at the pictures, telling myself, "yeah right, there is no way that works"
But what magic! It works! Absolute brilliance!
I did screw up in the pattern on the very first cable round (cabled the wrong direction...oh well) but these are just a test run on some knit and frogged to death Paton's Kroy Socks. My pal's socks will be a different yarn. So now that I'm in love with this pattern, and specifically the turkish cast on, I think she'll be getting these instead of Giotto.
Although I'm not participating in the Knitting Olympics, I did learn some new things. I'm not sure I like magic loop, since I just cannot knit in a speedy fashion that way (stop, readjust cable, knit, stop, readjust cable, and so on) Perhaps its the fact that I'm using my only US1 long circular, an Inox Express (nice needles, iffy joins) But...that cast on was worth all that hassle. I'm not kidding. I'm still giddy over it!

More finished Jaywalkers

Yep, I finished them, nearly a week ago. My second pair in Cara's Jaywalker Knitalong. Considering I jumped on that bandwagon so late, I'm going to give myself some back pats for actually finishing two pairs!
Each of my sisters got a pair - Jill got the Opal Petticoat Jaywalkers . And Tracy got these. I did start, yet another pair, for myself, in Fixation, but I have to say, almost through the first sock, I'm getting sick of Jaywalker socks! So I may put sock two on hold for a while.
I also picked up my Rogue  again, and its been mostly what I've been knitting for the past two days. I'm chugging along, and almost to the point where I knit in the top of the kangaroo pocket. Once that is done, it may actually start to resemble a sweater, and I'll include a picture. Eris, in some natural, undyed Henry's Attic Montana will follow a finished Rogue (Yep, I'm starting to plan ahead!)
But....I also need to crack down, and pick the yarn and pattern for my Sockapaloooza pal's socks. I purchased these sock patterns (omg, aren't they stunning? Anna's work is just amazing!) But I can't decide which one to do! I'm sort of leaning towards Giotto though, with some Hand Jive Knits Nature's Palette Fingering Weight in indigo. I was going to use this yarn all for myself, but the local pickins are slim in the sock yarn category. Who knows, I may order some Koigu KPPM for my pal's socks, I'm not sure yet. I'll post what I decide to do.