Spring Cleaning

I got a burr under my saddle last week and decided one of our closets needed to be reorganized. The previous owner had installed some nice enamel-covered wire shelving in the closet.



However, this particular system was too small for the closet, and it didn't work effectively. I took out the shelving, harnessed the husband to his power tools, and installed this:



Nice eh? Not sexy like enamel shelving, but much more functional and inviting. What was I to do but this:



The green and white bag on the bottom far right was my grandmother's knitting bag from the 70's. The rest of the bags are testimony to my bag fetish, while the yarn -- well, that's mostly my bulk yarn storage -- you know, yarns for sweaters and stuff mostly. The sock yarn, since it doesn't technically count as stash, is still stashed in the vintage trunk/coffee table. ;-)



Shhhhh don't tell anyone.

I think my scrapbooking supplies will be on the bottom shelves and my knitting books somewhere in between.

I feel so RICH with all these shelves!

Fantasy land

I'm ignoring the booties. I find myself thinking that they'll finish themselves out of obligation and guilt for all they've put me through. Nice fantasy of mine, eh?

And while I've been in fantasy land, I've discovered the magic that is Dream in Color Smooshy:



The colorway is Cocoa Kisses, and it's much much more decadent than the picture shows. The most amazing part is that the cuff is 9.5 in. long and fits my size 10 foot quite well, although I'm making them for someone else. Think about it -- 9.5 in. cuff on women's size 10 foot with ample yarn left over to repairs, etc. This has so much yardage!!!!!!

And then yesterday while at L & B, some CoolSpun Cotton by Kertzer jumped into my hands and at $1.99 a ball, I knew it was destined to become the potholders I so desperately need.



I'm using EZ's potholder pattern from Knitter's Almanac page 20 (using double-knitting). Just another example of her fine fine genius. How did her mind dream this stuff up????

Ducks suck!

Of the last 17 days, 15 have been spent knitting stubbornly on these:



I've knit one set of I-cord for faux laces and finished 1 and 1/3 of a duck (see the black booties above) when I decided enough was enough. I had become a slave to the pattern and it wasn't fun. Really, what's fun about size 0 needles, endless seed stitch, finishing and decorations? I'm instant-gratification girl -- I'm the one who wants it mindless and in the round and done. now. Cute is cute but not fun is NOT FUN!

With that in mind, I cast on for a reward sock



Cherry Tree Hill DK in Java. Lovely colors and absolutely deliciously soft soft soft to work with.

Oh and the sock monkey hat? Finished in just 2-3 hours, worn to school, and waiting to be blocked:





There's something enchanting about sock monkeys. I may have to knit sock monkey inspired socks (there's some on Ravelry -- go look).

Oh and for those of you curious about the aforementioned moth crisis at casa de knitting madre, the moths are gone, but most of all, they weren't the WOOL EATING moths. Thankfully it seems that the moth crisis is over.

Back to socks -- I say the baby bootie ducks SUCK!

Bootie Call (Subtitle: A Sock Monkey is Having His Way With Me)

For eight frickty frackin days I've knit nary a stitch except for these:



Baby booties. They're for small feet. They're not time killers. They're mindless. Right?

Horse hockey!!!! These booties are a nightmare of endless seed stitch and double layers. They're charming, and they'll be deliciously cute when I'm through with them. I've been hell bent on finishing them. There's a plethora of new babies expected in my corner of the world but as for this little product after 8 days of knitting...well, they may not be finished until the children are in kindergarten!

Today I abandoned the bootie call so that a sock monkey could have his way with me. A friend and I spied this on TV yesterday. I had to make it. All bootie discipline went out the window.

I cast on, I knit, and just an couple of hours later, I have this to show for myself:



I bet it won't take me 8 days to embroidery a nose, eyes and mouth either.

Damn booties!

Eghads!

I've got moths



I've got wool



Cross your fingers that the moth patrol comes through!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

So DH had a birthday last weekend. I surprised him with this:





You know, to try to compensate for my amazing stash of this:





The birthday celebration included steak and cake. I made his favorite cake -- angel food with strawberries.


As any man, now 42 years wiser, would do, he hid the cake in the plastic storage container in the oven out of view of 3 little cake loving boys.


A few days later, as any mother, now 40 years wiser, would do, she preheated the oven to cook meatloaf for her darling brood. She got this:





Yep, 350 degrees completely melted the cake container to the grate:




The melting plastic made little spaghetti-like strands that, to my 3 little boys, looked almost edible but smelled like melted plastic.

Nothing short of a blow torch will remove this pan from the grate.

That's okay, I hadn't even eaten a piece yet which helps me feel quite self-righteous when I say I've lost 2.75 in. in my waist!

Autism Speaks

The band, Five for Fighting, is donating a generous amount of money to Autism Speaks *each time* this video is viewed. The funding goes toward research studies to help find a cure. When you have a moment, please visit the link below to watch the video and pass it along to your friends and family. The video is beautifully done…..and educational.

http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/408214

Thanks for supporting these, our beautiful children, who are on the spectrum of Autism: