WooHoo!!

It's amazing how excited and surprised I get when a package arrives for me at my front door. Sure I ordered it but now I actually have the item in my hands. Today my copy of Knitting Rules arrived. Yay! I can finally say I have a Pearl-McPhee book. I haven't read the previous two books she has out there but I'll get to them eventually. I'm sort of a rebel when it comes to rules(you have to do it this way) so I choose to read the "Rules" in the title of the book as Knitting is Awesome. I can't wait to see what's inside.

Found it.

In these parts, if the sun is shinning and the temp is above 40 people emerge from their dens like hibernating bears. Yesterday we ventured out into nature to go geocaching. If you don't know much about geocaching you can find lots of details here. Basically it's a treasure hunt for big kids(adults). If it's a techy gadget chances are it can be found in our house. About a year ago my husband received a GPS as a birthday gift. Basically it's a really high tech compass. I like it when we're biking/hiking because it keeps track of the average speed, total distance, and lots of other cool stats. Back in the day I was a math and science nerd so numbers are wonderful things. It's really cool to stay close to home and discover new areas or parks that you didn't know existed and hunt for a "cache" at the same time. The kids had a better time watching the fish jumping out of the river than hunting down the cache but that's what's so fun about it. Something for the adults and kids. I can't wait for warmer weather and more outside time.

The question.

It all started over 16 years ago with a simple question. "Can I kiss you?" Pretty much complete opposites. A Midwestern farm girl and a Southern California beach boy. I'll never forget how surprised I was when he packed everything in his VW bug and drove 3 days to Upstate NY to be with me.
12 years ago today, on my Senior year Spring break, we went to Vegas to get married. Yep, Vegas and it was perfect.
I still love him- 12 years, 6 moves, 2 kids, and lots of unperfect days later.
Thanks for all the memories babe. Thanks for asking me that simple question so many years ago.

This week has been full of flu. I missed Sit-n-stitch this Monday because my oldest was sick. My youngest was diagnosed yesterday with strep throat and a really bad ear infection. I woke up this morning without a voice and all the flu symptoms you can think of(chills, aches, cough). Fun stuff.

I gathered these for my next art project.





Yep, I'm going to try dying some yarn. According to the calendar Spring starts Monday so what better way to celebrate than with lots of color. I need to get to ordering the yarn which could take me awhile but I'm excited to try something new.

I'm not the only person surrounding herself with pretty colors. Over at Project Spectrum she is hosting Dye-Your-Own Sock Yarn Swap for April. I'm not participating but if this sounds like something you'd like to do the sign up is through Tuesday, March 22.

Don't forget to vote.

It's down to the final 5. There is about 24 hours left to vote on which pattern should become the next Sexy Knitter's Club knit along.
Go Vote while your thinking about it.

This week flew by.

I haven't made much progress this week on the work's in progress. Knitting my first sock has been pretty boring. I cast on the sock almost a week ago following a pattern through an online knit-a-long for the first time sock knitter. It's been very helpful for me, the visual learner that I have become. I am knitting the gusset. For me this is a longer process (about an inch longer)than the "average" woman. I always thought it would be boring to be just average anyway.
I tried on the Picovoli yesterday and was very excited to find that it fits perfectly so far. I'm just below the boobs so I have about 6 inches(and 2 skeins) until the end.

I haven't made any progress on the Clapotis and while rummaging through my stash I came across a crochet project I never finished from about a year ago. This brings the UFO total to 4. Call me crazy but I'm thinking of casting on a shawl/poncho this weekend. Easter will be here in 5 weeks and I really wanted to have it done to give to my Mom. So in order to get it done I first have to pick a pattern, then work on it consistently so it doesn't become another UFO to tally.
Have a great weekend.

Cold feet?

Yes, I experienced a severe case of cold feet yesterday. No, not about getting married. This was over getting another dog. My husband came across a sweet looking dog listed on the internet at a rescue not too far away. We set up a meet and greet, without our resident mutt in tow, and everyone loved him. Well, everyone but me. I had lots of reservations; he's only 9 months old, he's so big(60 pounds), he's not very socialized and pretty scared of basically everything, he probably doesn't have very good house manners as he's lived inside a garage for the past 3 months. There was my weakness. Whenever I feel like I could provide a better home life I'm a sucker for homeless animals. This poor guy was in desperate need of a warm bed, a bath, and lots of love. Ok, I could do this. If my other housemates were ready I could be too. I outfitted my living room with an XL crate, bought new food bowls, toys, chew bones, puppy chow, even a snazzy black collar. When I woke this morning my husband agreed with my my previous reservations and suggested strongly against the new pet. So, I called the foster mom this morning and told her I wasn't ready for another dog and I could hear the disappointment in her voice. She really wants this guy to find a good home and she could tell she almost had one for this sweet boy.

Where's that sexy knitter?

I received some yarn on Friday I ordered from Knit Picks. I signed up a few weeks ago to join the Sexy Knitter's Club. Their first KAL started in the beginning of the year and just ended. It was the Picovoli. Anything with very short sleeves makes me shiver right now but I convinced myself to take on this knitting challenge as it would be my first shirt. I started working on it over the weekend and although very slow going, it's beginning to look like the top of a shirt.