InsanKnitty

Do you knit, or crochet, or do both? How long have you been knitting\crocheting? Just knitting, can’t seem to get the hang of crochet yet…

Have you knit dishcloths or dishtowels before? Have I? Oh.. have I!

What are your favorite cotton yarns? Is there a cotton or linen you’ve been dying to try but have not? No particular favorite, I’m open to trying anything new.. I use sugars and cream, lionbrand cotton plus?, hmmm I’ve got some mercerized cotton but haven’t used it yet, and got a really cool recycled cotton I haven’t tried yet either… I’m really open minded…

Are there any cotton yarns you don’t enjoy knitting with? Nah.. not yet anyway…

What type of needle do you prefer using? (Metal/Wood/Plastic) Prefer wood, but use everything.

What other projects do you enjoy knitting or crocheting? Hats, scarves, mittens, afghans… just about everything really… I’m getting ready to start with my first sock!

Do you have other hobbies or enjoy other kinds of crafting? Scrapbooking, reading, running, jigsaw puzzles

What kind of treats do you like? Chocolate? Candies? Nuts? All the above, with the exception of dark chocolate… I actually prefer hard candies, love butterscotch or caramels.

What colors are your kitchen and bath decorated in, if any? Just getting ready to move into a new house, so we haven’t got the colors determined, other than our current bath towels, which are dark forest green and slate blue

What are your favorite colors and what colors do you dislike? I like everything, even oranges and yellows if they’re in fall color groupings, my favorites are greens and blues though..

Do you drink coffee? Tea? Other beverages? All the above.. my other is diet coke, and water, sadly missed the coffee exchange!

Do you have any kids (human or pet variety!)? 3 human children ages 7,5, and 2.5 and three furbies, 2 dogs, murphy age 12 and chewy age 10, and Sparky our cat, age 7

Do you have any allergies? nope, thank goodness!

Please share 3 tidbits about yourself that you think your pal and other swappers might find odd or interesting.

1. I run every day generally about 6-8 miles with a weekly long run around 10 miles
2. I have a master’s degree in biology that I use to teach my children to love science (at the moment anyway)
3. I learned to knit the same year I started running, which was when I was 12.

Also, please note that my family is making a state move (obviously)… so I will be offline for the next few weeks!

This is Chewy. She’s a lab and Irish Setter mix. Her fur is like silk… and she’s 10.. which is saying a lot because many 10 year old dog’s hair is rather yuck! She was my sister-in-law from Minnesota’s dog… We adopted her because their oldest daughter was allergic to Chewy, and they couldn’t bear to just give her away to a stranger… She’s been a member of our family for 7 years.

Back in April she developed what we thought was a urinary track infection and we had it treated with an antibiotic, but it came back, or rather, never really went away… well, in the middle of ALL my other STRESS, we had her get an ultrasound today… the vet was thinking it was urinary stones… (think Kidney stones but in the bladder)… but that’s NOT what it was…

It’s cancer…

we don’t have a prognosis yet… but at 10 years old, chemo isn’t really a realistic option… when the tests come back about the type, then we’ll be able to talk more…

Great… Like I needed this added onto my pile!

I can’t even see what’s being said… sadness…

My hits are coming from the ‘Dishrag Tag‘ forums… and let me tell y’all how bummed I am that I missed out on this little treasure of a swap.. it sounds SOOO cool.. I heard about it JUST after it closed to participants… (Anne, Devon, Chan… I want to do this if I can’t get in on the next one.. will you all help me??) Anyway… someone over there posted about my Harry Potter dishcloth and I keep getting hits from their forums.. but I’m sad because the vain side of me wants to go see what’s being said… but I can’t.. because you need to be a participant in the ‘tag’ to be able to see the forums…

To learn more about dishrag tag, click the above link and scroll down to the entry from June 12th? Sounds like fun doesn’t it!?!?! I want to do this.. I’m bummed I missed out… Maybe I’ll start my own..

hahahaha

Maybe I’m just out of my mind from lack of sleep and too much work, and today.. too much sun!

oh poo!

Cans of Spaghettio’s do you think a stressmonkey Mom and her 3 kids can eat for dinner (two days in a row)? 7! S…E…V…E…N… the shocking part of that number is that I only ate 1/2 of a can… my 3 children ages 2.5, 5, and 7 ate the remaining 6 1/2 cans! That’s literally a can each for each of the two dinner meals! HOLY MOLY…

Tonight I had the last serving of Shepherd’s pie that was from the freezer, and tomorrow it’s looking like the kids will be having frozen veggies and frozen pancakes :-)… or homemade Pierogies that we made with my mother-in-law at Easter… hmmm Pierogies seems more reasonable with the veggies.. .don’tcha think? Yeah, that would be great, however… tomorrow we’re going to Chick-fil-a to meet Abby’s school friends and teachers for a goodbye thingie… dang!

Here’s what’s left in our big freezer…
A Turkey
A bag of the flash frozen chicken breasts
3 bags of frozen veggies
1 container of Orange Sherbet
3 boxes of popsicles
1 box of frozen pancakes
5 tubs of homemade spaghetti sauce

WHY on earth do I still have a Turkey in the freezer?? Oh yeah, John changed his mind at christmas and wanted Ham…

I think I’ve done quite well at eating down the big freezer… now a quick glance at the kitchen fridge/freezer combo tells me there’s a bunch more ice cream (JOHN) and some frozen chicken fingers… thing is… we’re having dinner with friends tomorrow, so really we only have Thursday and Friday nights to eat down more of the freezers…

I think the kidlets are having pancakes for breakfast tomorrow!

In all seriousness… I’m down to the wire now… and I have extremely limited computer time. I owe TONS of emails…

Kena, I got your message, I’m so glad you like your swap package!
Mia, I’ll email you… I can either potentially stop and MEET you to pick up my KTS3 package on my drive up on Saturday, or you can mail it to my in-laws where I’ll be from Saturday until July 7th
Devon, Anne, Chan, I’m trying so hard to keep up reading your blogs… know that I’m a bit sad that I can’t spend more time ‘chatting’ right now.. .but in a few weeks I’ll be back to my chatty self!

My running is suffering, I’m not staying ‘fit’, I’m not eating right, I’m soooo exhausted and stressed… but I’m hanging in there.. and I’m a tiny tiny bit ahead of my schedule I set for myself this week.

Stop in and check out my Christmas KAL.. it’s coming along nicely, and you KNOW you want to get ahead of the game and knit up your christmas gifts early… we’re even having a contest!

Ok, back to the boxes…

So, John’s in PA now! It’s official… we’re really moving…

I know that sounds funny, I mean, you’ve been hearing me say we’re moving to PA for a while… but the history behind this move is pretty ridiculous. Last May we heard about the opportunity for this transfer, and decided to go through with it sometime in June… so in July we put the house on the market and got an offer in December that we accepted… 1 week after accepting we heard there was a ‘hold’ on the transfer. John was a contract employee for a federal agency, and this agency decided to ‘get rid’ of all contract employees (with the explanation that Federal positions would be created for current contract workers). John’s manager put the move on ‘hold’ for us…

This meant two things really:

1. We had to wait and John had to ‘apply’ for the job he was already doing

2. The move, if it happened, would be paid for by someone other than us!

In February the agency posted John’s position, and John applied… they posted the position for 3 employees and posted a similar position for an additional employee… and it seemed like FOREVER, and almost like he wouldn’t get one (the positions kept getting filled before they even got to his application)… but in May we finally heard that he had an offer in the works! It was nearly another 4 weeks before we heard that he did indeed get a relocation package, and things have seriously snowballed since…

So given this history you can imagine why even up until yesterday I wasn’t 100% convinced we’re moving… but we are!
John begins work today as an official Federal employee… and he meets with the house inspectors to ‘inspect’ the home we are buying… I have Abby and JJ in Art camp this week in the mornings, and playdates for nearly every afternoon… and will leave NC on Friday (or Saturday)…

How did this all happen so quick, when in reality we’ve been in LIMBO forever!?!?!

Well it did and about two weeks we’ll be official PA residents!

Ok, this may seem so boring to you, but I’m thrilled with myself for creating buttons for my Christmas KAL.. Go there… check it out.. write out your list of christmas knits you need to get working on!

     
Aren’t they cute!?!?

Well in the midst of all this GIGANTIC chaos, I have been completing some projects! I finished Abby’s dress, and while I think it’s adorable, it’s too big… bummer.. but still a great summer dress to wear over her bathing suit (which is exactly what she’s doing today while she’s having a splash day at camp…

The ‘error’ that appears in her top is still bugging me, but I’ll ‘live’.. Abby loves it and doesn’t care that there’s a mistake… I know now that since I’m knitting this pattern from stash, using Lionbrand Micro Spun, that it’s really got a lot of stretch… so when I cast on Chelsea’s (matching ‘twin’ dress), I’ll adjust accordingly… guess this is what happens when you design your own pattern!

We’ve got only 2 days left here until John heads to PA for good… (with the exception of when we come back to meet the packers and movers)… so last night we celebrated with a dinner out to the first place we ate here when we came to North Carolina in 1998. Bullock’s Barbeque… mmmm yum. I really really enjoy Carolina style barbeque… and fortunately have found a recipe for it so I don’t have to go without when we’re Pennsylvanian’s. We invited Abby’s godparents and ‘god cousins?’ to go with us, since we won’t be seeing them again for quite some time… our kids showed us once again, that we need to crack down on public behavior… I don’t quite undersand why they think it’s kosher to be complete nutballs in public… Keith and Gina’s girls were fabulous… as always… Afterwards we went down the road to Locopop’s for some gourmet popsicles, mexican style… We went there on the recommendation of a friend Abby’s (her mom, not the friend)… and I loved it, though John thought it was in a scary’ish’ neighborhood.. (note to self, maybe we should have gone during daylight)… Reviews of Locopops can be found here and here

And… on top of all that goodness yesterday, I received some surprises.. well.. I knew they were coming.. but whenever you’re getting a package that you ‘don’t’ know what’s in it… well of course it’s a surprise!

Anne and Chan.. you’re the best!

Look at all this surprisy goodness…

My packing/unpacking is nearly done.. today’s a camp paperwork day… and hopefully a bit of relaxing.. and potentially a RUN! sheesh! I hope I can get the chance to read some bloggy goodness tonight!

My seeker Sarah Hope found a typo in my dishcloth pattern that I will highlight here, and change in the original post for any future ‘takers’

Line 38 should read:

MB K3, P1, K2, P1, K1, P2, K5, P3, K3, P2, K1, P1, K3, MB

Thanks and happy knitting!

Anne tagged me for a new meme that’s pretty interesting actually…

Here are the rules: The rules: You go to http://www.wikipedia.org/ and type in your birthday (only the month and day). Then you write down 3 events, 2 births, 1 holiday, and then you tag 5 friends

January 14 is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 351 days remaining (352 in leap years).
It is celebrated as New Year’s Day by those still following the Julian calendar.

Three(ish) Events
(I can’t pick just three.. sorry)
1129 - Formal approval of the Order of the Knights Templar at the Council of Troyes.
1690 - The clarinet is invented in Nuremberg, Germany.
1952 - The Today Show premieres on NBC.
1954 - Marilyn Monroe weds Joe DiMaggio.
1972 - The TV comedy Sanford & Son (an American import of the British comedy Steptoe and Son) premieres on NBC.

Births (ok, no way I’m sticking with 2 here.. there were too many interesting people with my birthday!)
83 BC - Marcus Antonius, Roman politician (d. 30 BC)
1741 - Benedict Arnold, American general notorious for treason (d. 1801)
1875 - Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian physician, Nobel laureate (d. 1965)
1915 - Mark Goodson, American game show producer (d. 1992)
1919 - Andy Rooney, American journalist
1968 - LL Cool J, American rapper and actor
1969 - Jason Bateman, American actor

Holiday
Makar Sankranti in India. The event is marked by flying kites.

I’m tagging.. hmmmm

Isabelle, Kathy, Tammy, and Laura,

Hey all,

The house is OURS! Wahoo! Very quick negotiations after a tricky weekend of trying to get the offer completed and into the seller’s hands..

We also received the info finally on the relocation and have some dates.. .looks like we’ll have movers here to pack the house and then load the truck from July 8-10th timeframe… we’ll likely head up to New York on July 1st to the in-laws where the MN cousins will be visiting etc. Then I’ll return to Raleigh to assist/supervise the packing etc….

This week I probably won’t be blogging much as there’s tons to be done. John needs to be in PA next week for work so he won’t likely be returning here after sunday of this week…

I’ll check in here and there.. but am not planning on having much blog time