Sunday, May 28, 2006

Africa


Some of you might know that this summer hubby and I are going to Kenya for 3 weeks to work with AIDS orphans.
We had a team meeting today and as trip details get finalized it's starting to become more real.
for those who don't know we are going to 3 spots in Africa that work with AIDS orphans and provide aid to children and families in need.
I have blogged about it before
here.

I have also just added a donation button on my sidebar, for any of you that would choose to help our trip.

basically--we've paid for our flight and will be paying for hotel and the vacation part of the trip.
the extra money we are bringing is for whatever the greatest need is.
for example: one of the places we are going has a well with no pump and no real way to get the water out. So, while we are there we hope to just give the money for them to buy a pump that works and make some sort of contraption to allow running water.
we are short on funds for our trip and we are leaving in less than six weeks.
if everyone who reads this gave $5.00 then our "gift money" would be greater.
that's all.
we've heard all about
make poverty history and many other organizations working in Africa.
this is one small way you can help.

some of the places we are going:
http://www.mullychildrensfamily.org/index.html
http://www.ywamafrica.org/East/Kenya/Athi/index.html
and the
Moffat Bible College in Kijabe

any questions? Drop me a line at sprouty25 AT gmail DOT com.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

One Skein Wonder-Girl

Here it is:


and with Wonder-Girl modeling it for me:


I was originally making this for me...hmm....Something must be wrong with my gauge. (insert *gasp* of amazement here)
Yes, I just used whatever purple stuff I had around, lost the ball band and had no idea what weight it was. I could have guessed that it would fit me...And it almost didn't fit her.
I had to almost bribe her to get her to wear it. She tried it on for me for a minute on Tuesday when it was done and that was it. Yesterday I had to tell her I'd "email" a picture to her favourite cousin, but she'd have to wear it first...It worked.
Maybe I should just make things for the baby...He can't protest yet. I don't think he'd wear a purple shrug though...

oh well....She is loving the pink, blue and yellow socks I am making:



She thinks they look like rainbow ice-cream, and that's good enough for me.....

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Hi

Hi there bloggers!!!
thanks for all the hits today...
just one little mention from Alison and my hits went from nothing to 135 so far.
thanks so much!!!
it's so nice that you came to see little old me.

~~waving~~~

edits to add: and the total.....(drumroll please) is 384 hits today!!!
wohoo!!
thanks all

Monday, May 22, 2006

Why on earth

Why is there a google add for a "flatulence, gas and bloating" above my beautiful picture of my finished sockapaloooza sock???
sheesh.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

I guess this picture will have to do.

I have had some hits on the blog...likely people looking for pictures of the finished socks.
this will have to do:



until I get info from the sock buddy that they actually fit and they are wearable.
edited to add: they fit!!! wohoo! and she likes them, she really likes them (said to sound like sally field).
Specs:
Toe-up Jaywalkers knit on one long US 2 needle.
Yarn: some hand-dyed blue from a LYS in the next town over. The colourway doesn't have a name but it's a nice bright blue with lighter blue throughout.
Sad to say this LYS owner recently died. I was looking for her new location, e-mailed her and got a response from her family to say that she died suddenly. Sorry to see her go--nice that her yarn was made into special things for others to enjoy!!!


I cast on for glampyre's one skein wonder but I'm having a little trouble the pattern. Has anyone made this??
can you please help me figure out how to do the edges? Am I just picking up stitches and doing the moss and then ribbing??
care to comment??


I know there are some that read this blog. I even found someone once who put my blog on their sidebar! (little ole' me!!) of course, I didn't bookmark it and now I can't find you...Where are you?

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Oops my bad.

I didn't take another picture of them before they went off.
I was excited to get them mailed.
I stayed up late weaving in all the ends (there was some breaking of yarn due to all the knots)
I put a little bit of yarn for darning and some Canadian wildflower seeds for her garden!
not much, but knitting wise, there's not much that I can get too with the wee ones.
hope she likes them, hope they fit.
I will stalk her blog to see and maybe steal a picture.
I've already cast on for 2 more pairs of socks. Started a toe-up-short-row sock for Princess B in a yummy Regia ball that looks like rainbow ice-cream!
I also ripped back my Koigu anklets as I couldn't figure out where I had left off all those months ago.
And then it hit me...This Koigu is the most wonderful yarn I think I have ever touched.
I have frogged it at least 3 times and it's not splitting, not fuzzy, not anything but perfect...
no wonder people love it so much.

Oh, and on the bad news front. The sheep farm/knitting store (that I have yet to visit) is for sale! Yes for a cool half million it could be yours.
I hear that she wants to sell the farm and open a knitting store/B&B that still will be close by.
WOHOO!
But that means that I need to go to the yarn store soon....tee hee...more birthday money spending?

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

oooohooooh oooh

it's done
they are done!!!!!!!
i will post a picture later...but i'm so excited.
the baby just woke from a 2 hour nap and i had just cast off the last cuff and set them on my lap when he woke up.
i'm done baby!!! yeah!!!

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Knitting post

Okay, enough about shoes.
on the knitting front:
the socks are almost done!
I am working on the cuffs right now (well not right now) and they should be finished tonight.
I know I have said that a hundred times already, but it's taken me so long to unravel the ball of knotted yarn.
and with the baby sick and blah blah blah I had only been getting an inch or two per night.
so...The top of the heels are done and my plan is to knit until the yarn is finished as I don't have much left.
I was going to go back to the shop where I bought the yarn to see if she had more (and also as I wanted some dyable yarn) but the owner sadly passed away...
I am glad to own some of her hand-dyed yarn and that it will pass on to a sock friend.
by they way, Princess B keeps saying "is your sockfriend Lisa?" everytime I pull out the socks to knit them.
Yes, poor Lisa.
I'm still here...I'm still working.....
I'm almost done...Thanks for your patience....

Happy birthday money to me...

Yes, I bought the shoes

and I love them.
I went to the store and had a big chat with the store owner, telling him about how I had read the website and people just raved about them.
he told me that they sold about 1400 of them in the past year!!! Wow.
I even was telling some nice little old lady that everyone wears them and they are good for sore feet (she is diabetic)--they joked about offering me a position as a saleslady for the crocs!!
ha ha.
I did get the orange...I love them.
Princess B says "OH Mommy, did you get orange shoes!!" she is so excited, she wants some too.
they don't' have the kids sizes though...
anyways, just thought I'd share.

Monday, May 15, 2006

I think I need these.


aren't these the cutest shoes ever?
now, some of you are thinking.."um, yeah they're crocs" and some of you are thinking
"why on earth would you want to have orange shoes".
well ...
1. I love orange.
2. I just heard of crocs the other day... read the website inside out and backwards and believe that I will love them.
3. I have a Christmas present coming to me and I have birthday money
4. did I mention I love orange.
yeah, i mean i love orange. i once wore orange for 42 days in a row in college. that's with no repeats. 42 different shirts/sweaters/pants/whatever orange items of clothing---for 42 days straight. it was fun. people i didn't even know from campus were "donating" clothing to the cause..

sigh, college was fun.

but now:
I'm a little behind the times.
just today, in telling two friends they said "yeah, they're crocs..so and so has them".
I'm a dork.
I guess with two kids, one of which has been sick for 3 weeks, I'm not up on anything remotely cool.
they have them downtown in my little small town at stedmans for $23 Canadian, that's less than what crocs sells them for!! and they have all the colours!!
I was in colour overload and since the baby was fussy (still, again) I couldn't shop...so I left.

but I will go back, oh yes, I will go back.

I was thinking of getting some clear clogs, or some clear boots to show off my socks..but I can't find any clear boots in adults sizes, and I'm hearing that the clear clogs can get filled with condensation....yucky.

any of you have these shoes??? love them? hate them??

Friday, May 12, 2006

progress

it has taken me longer to get finished than i'd ever imagine. i try to get my work done so when the kids are in bed i can just sit and knit for a couple of hours. you'd think that would mean a lot of progress..but not so much.
here's a pic i took this morning:

they look finished don't they??

really this is what i have....

one really huge looking sock and one still on the needles...

i really hope these fit. sockbuddy i will be mortified if they are too big for you. i have measured, measured, and measured.
and the ball-that-was-destined-to-be-knots???
this is what's left:


so i will finish this week...

my progress has been hampered by the fact that the baby is sick, again. he may have another stomach virus or something worse. i was pretty scared today when his temp went up to 103F but apparently that is nothing to be too worried about (who knew?)
so, back to the dr's we go.
this post is kinda crappy, but that's about how i feel. tired from all the sickness, laundry, trying to get the baby to eat, worrying because he won't eat....
sigh...hopefully things will get cheerier..

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

and the gifts just keep on coming!

so i was going to the city to see a friend who just had a baby.
i went to the post office fist and---surprise!!! sockpal socks!
i was soooo excited i could not stop myself. i ripped into the package while driving and was so happy to see my socks!
so excited in fact, that i couldn't wait to try them on....so i didn't....i didn't wait, that is.
i actually tried one sock on while driving into the city...i wish i had a camera.
it was quite the scene to be driving on a small highway, with my foot on the dashboard admiring the colours of the sock, in the sunlight.

and behold, i give to you, my socks:

aren't they gorgeous????
she handpainted the yarn!!!!
the pattern is from Interweave Press and is a lace pattern.
i love them. i wore them to bed and i don't want to take them off!!!
close up of the pattern:


my sockpal socks are going slow..but i have manage to get many more inches done.
i thought hubby and i were going for a big drive today and i could knit an hour each way, but it doesn't look like i will get to go..happy birthday to me.

yes, it's my birthday!

so far, not so good...was up half the night with the princess and the prince got up at 4:30am. i finally got him back to bed at 5:30am and prayed (God, all I want for my birthday is for him to go back to sleep!)..is that wrong?
So I got to sleep in until 8:30am but got up to the little prince losing every ounce of food from the last 24 hours....sick sick sick...again.
and the diapers?? well, let's just say he's already changed outfits twice and had a bath and it's only noon. so the stomach virus starts again at our house....
on a good note--hubby bought me a day at a spa!!!!
he thought i could go today (and while i scrubbed vomit off the floor i was thinking "Yes, yes I'll go right now") but you need to book ahead....

so...
new socks=good
stomach virus again=bad
sock knitting time=good
many outfit changes and multiple baths for the sick little prince=bad.

i think i shall go sit in the sun and do some knitting...good day!

Friday, May 05, 2006

oh mr postman....

it has been a really great week for mail!
this is the stuff i have received in the past two days...

this phildar catalogue
i have been wanting forever and could never win the bid on e-bay--but this time i did!!! it's not the exact book i wanted, but when is saw these jackets on the blue blog i needed to find the pattern. my nephew loves giraffes and i want to make something for him.

there is a jacket that is so cute:
so i'm stoked and his birthday is next week. (for those thinking i am crazy and i'd never get a jacket finished in a week, i won't actually be seeing him for a couple of weeks, does that still make me crazy?)




i got the harlot's first book! when people say it's laugh out loud funny, they are right. i can't help reading some of the meditations to my husband, but i don't think he gets it. kinda like knitting.

...and gift #3--my first addi's!!! wohoo! i haven't even swatched anything and i already know why people love these...

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

something funny...

I don't usually use this blog to post random thoughts and funny stories, but this article was a laugh-out-loud-funny read.
it's an article about tom cruise's baby. I just can't help feeling sorry for the little tyke...and the article expresses some of the same thoughts that I have had...
read on:

on the knitting front---I was actually preparing myself to cut the sock yarn...sat down with scissors and when looking for the best place to cut, all of a sudden it started unraveling really well!! I got about 1/4 of it unraveled last night to knit with. The actually knitting part was another story as little princess decided to come downstairs at 10pm still awake, because she needed "another" story...
there shall be knitting tonight...Oh yes, there shall.
I have e-mailed the sock buddy to apologize, but haven't given her my blog address, so she's likely not reading this but if she is "SORRY AGAIN".
less posty--more knitty.

are we supposed to put gifts in the box too?? What gifts do you give a sock sister??
any thoughts?

Monday, May 01, 2006

wanna hear a sob story??

Okay, so I didn't finish my sockapaloooza socks for today.
sigh.
I have spent more hours unraveling the knots in my hank than in finishing this pair. I went to a women's conference this weekend and spent the whole day unraveling yarn. My sister crocheted about 6-8 breast cancer pins and all I had to show for myself was a couple of little balls of unraveled yarn.
sigh again.
I don't want to cut the yarn but I may have to otherwise it will be next May before these socks are finished.
I am about to e-mail my sock buddy to tell her the sad news.
sock buddy--I am so sorry.
but don't worry--they are coming...I will work...I will not sleep...I will drink way too much coffee and neglect my children to get them done..Well, okay not that far but I will, yes I WILL get them done this week.
my buddy got ditched last time sockapalooza came around. Then her sock saviour ditched her, now her new sockapaloooza buddy has fallen.
okay, less time blog surfing and more time knitting.