InsanKnitty

Our dear Chewy has been gone for almost exactly 5 months now.  I am over the tears, however still think of her every day, wishing she didn’t have to go so soon…  Murphy misses her, I miss her, the kids miss her.  In fact, they had a little visit to her ‘grave’ during the nice spring weather yesterday.

I mean, seriously look at that face… awwww such a sweet sweet girl she was…

Our youngest daughter talks a lot about Chewy being ‘dead’ now.. and how she’s in Heaven with God and Jesus, and that she looks forward to seeing her again.  She has asked a few times if she could go to Heaven now.. and for a three year old this sure is a difficult to explain topic.  She understands now, after MUCH communication that you can’t just GO to Heaven.. because you can’t come back when you do.

I’m not sure why, but, Little Girl has this idea that Heaven is this Brick Retirement Home that is near our house.  The building is large and in my opinion, while it is quite pretty, it is fairly creepy looking.  It’s a long three story dark brick building set up on a large hill…

Every single time we have driven by that place, since the day Chewy died, she has said that Chewy is in Heaven, and then over time, she pointed out that THAT Brick building is Heaven, and that Chewy is there…  She has asked to visit this building because she thinks Chewy is there..    We cannot drive by this place without a discussion on Heaven, Death, Chewy etc.  On days when I don’t want to ‘deal’ so to speak I find myself driving a different way so we don’t have to pass ‘Heaven’…  but today when we went by… I noticed some green in the grass, some flowers peeking up from the ground and started thinking Heaven didn’t look so creepy afterall…  I hope Chewy likes it there…

The winter is officially past us… and typically I take my Christmas cactus into a ‘rest period’ where it’s not watered and just left on the windowsill for a period of time to ‘rest’ before the spring growth period.. I say usually because this is our first time in a colder climate.. I say our meaning, me and my three cactus plants…

The window sill I use for my plants is basically the only location that gets good sun in the winter since the leaves are not yet on the trees… but I also use this windowsill as a dumping ground (along with my kitchen counter and the kitchen table, and the laundry machine… well… you get the idea).. I’m a piles person.. and the piles had stacked up on the window sill until last week when I finally cleaned them off to get ‘ready’ for Easter Since I’d been ignoring the plants on the sill, I hadn’t really ‘looked’ closely at them… but wouldn’t you know it… the silly things think it’s time to bloom again!

One of my plants is a pretty pastely pink… and the other a bright fuscia… and both bloomed at Christmas this year.. I know I posted picks of them at some point.. I’ll go back and look for them…

The fuscia one didn’t bloom as well as usual, but now she’s loaded with blooms… yet another bright spot in what started out as a rather bleak week!

And yesterday… wow… the temps were so nice… I spent 3 hours in the afternoon working in the yard.. I raked, and clipped and trimmed and raked and raked and raked… and then I thought about Cass as I loaded the rakings and clippings into our plastic bin and then lugged it deep into our woods and dumped it… oh the fun. The hilarious part is… there’s only one small corner of our backyard that is now ‘leaf’ free… ONE SMALL CORNER…

Thank goodness I like yardwork!

You’ll start to see my knitting productions dropping off quick now.. In Spring and Summer, I still love to knit, but I like to get my fingers dirty in the soil… and dirt and yarn just don’t mix well together

You know the knitting community is a wonderful thing… here I was in this foul, ‘woa is me’ mood yesterday, and all these wonderful ladies came here to give tips of how to deal with my predicament… I kinda knew what I needed to do… but it was reassuring to hear everyone second that opinion…

The doom and gloom of yesterday is looking more spring like and cheery today…

Take for example my yard…

I stood in the window looking at our back yard and wishing I was in North Carolina where it’s probably green, the trees are most likely filled with buds starting to open or maybe already open, and the daffodils are starting to die back.  Granted there would be a dusting of Yellow pine pollen on EVERYTHING, but at least there would be some color…  I did the whole ‘Whoa is me’ garbage again and then turned to a different window and saw this…

Thank you God… sometimes You just so know when someone needs THAT sort of pick me up!  Dwarf Dutch iris’s… so pretty… I will go outside this morning and clear away those dried nasty brown leaves so I can see her beauty more fully!

I then threw my sneaks on and went through the yard .. which since it’s a new house to us, may have other blooming beauties I was unaware of…  while I didn’t find any, I did find this…

I forget the name of this shrub, but it’s along our driveway and has buds… YAY! :-)  Color is on the way!

In addition last night we got some news we’d been really hoping to hear.. .and while I can’t yet share it here, it definitely brightened my mood that much more!
I’m feeling so much better today  even if my ‘issues’ aren’t solved… at least I have some bright spots right now to distract me from those grey areas!

So… for everyone interested in the pattern for the eggs in my previous post. Here it is… I added the link to the text below the eggs picture as well… It was a quick knit… and I used the leftover bits from kitchen cotton that you have when you knit dishcloths… Perfect little de-stash project!

In my world right now I’m bombarded with laundry and a messy house, which is a sure sign that my kids are home on Spring Break! Thankfully they go back tomorrow (yes, I think it’s odd that my children have a mid-week to mid-week break… this is the first place I’ve lived where that’s the case)…

I am knitting, but not like my usual crazy knitting fool self… I’m somewhat plagued by ‘what to knit next’ syndrome.. I’m sure my knitting friends have lots of fun terms for that but currently my brain is lacking in the creative vocabulary department.

I finished a sock, and it fits… which is a nice change from the reality of my cool and beautifully too big Monkey sock from a few weeks back… it still sits on my window sill waiting for me to rip it back and start over.. but I haven’t the size 1’s needles I need.. so again.. it still sits…

I have a LOT on my mind lately, and the sad reality of it is that I can’t talk about it here.. I had really hoped to… you know.. just purge my thoughts here at my blog.. I mean.. I did start it for that exact reason.. but now… too many people read it… I guess now I’m afraid of who might read it that I’m not aware is reading… I should never have shared my blog link with family, and neighbors and such…I’m totally ok with the greater world reading my stuff.. but people I know.. yeah.. that just gets awkward… So instead.. I give you.. my preppy ankle sock…

Tootsie Footsies Ankle Sock

Cascade fixation #9518

US 4 DPNs (I desperately need to enhance my circ collection)

I’ll come back when my life isn’t so insane…

Here’s the pattern: Go knit yourself some eggs 

Middle guy is moving up in the childhood ranks…

He gets to be a bigger boy every day!

It’s been a few days since I’ve been able to sit and actually blog or read blogs… it’s funny how when that happens you suddenly feel out of touch with the world…  I did take time thought to read a few yesterday.. and Cass has once again hit the nail on the head… while at the same time caused me to snarf out my coffee… (does anyone remember using that word??? so late 70s)

Anyway…  a few things to mention… Yesterday was my dear pal Chan’s blogoversary.. and she’s having a contest… so run over there.. I’ll wait..

Today, is sweet Monica’s birthday!  Be sure to go stop by and wish her a great day!
On Wednesday I received my Scavenger Hunt swap package…  this was such a fun swap and a good one to end my ’swapping’ for the year with…  the swap was based on finding items in specific categories to send your pal…  Christine was my upstream, and here’s what she sent me:

And the run down of categories:

Something Green

Knit Picks Andean Silk.. YUM!

Something Round

Look at that totally cool yarn Cutter… it’s like a charm for your bag!

Something to do with the Letter T

Look at my awesome new Knit tote

I totally love the pattern and colors!
Something Local: see above photo for the large jug of maple syrup.. Christine is from NH!

Something Funny

Oh.. yay!  An alien!  I was so thrilled to receive a knit buddy, I admit to being somewhat disappointed in not getting one in the Cocoa swap… so I now have my own little knit guy…  Isn’t he cute!

Something Hard

Pretty pretty stitch markers

Spoilers choice

Christine included 3 items (really 4) for the spoilers choice category…

this adorable fairy notebook and notecards with a cute girly sparkly pen

Knit Picks superwash in a Mountain Meadow colorway.. LOVE the colors!

and…

See in the back corner there… ‘Favorite Socks’… I’ve been eyeing that book.. and with the lovely sock yarn she sent, and that cool knit tote I’m surely going to be casting something new on today! Christine also included some yummy coffees, tea and some gourmet cocoa!  Thank you so very much Christine!

In addition to all this  I also got a package from my Cocoa Swap pal Becky… she knew how much I loved the ginger candies she sent me and had been near the store where she’d found them and sent me more!  wow.. that’s so sweet! (literally)

I have one finished object to record…

Clappy (Not this photo though) is really making me happy!  it’s warm, and soft and super lovely.. and way HUGER than I expected (yes English majors, I know that is not a real word…)

But I love it, and I finished it just in time for the Clapotis KAL… :-)  The end date for finishing is March 31. I will be knitting more of these lovelies… it’s such a great pattern and I can’t wait to try it in a variegated colorway!

I hope to get a better picture later… the big girl just wasn’t all that keen on playing with the camera this morning!

Ok.. so.. if you want something fun to see…  Check out the parade of knit buddies at the cocoa swap is posted… :-)  what a fun bunch of blues busters…

Carly, you’re NOT alone!

And Chan,

Here’s the show…

Clappy, still making me happy! But sure looks like it will be big…

And.. the First Communion Shawl…

and the teeth on the rectangle end..

And the rains fall soft upon your fields….

Happy Saint Paddy’s!

Saint Patrick’s Day holds a special place in my heart… I spent a year in Ireland as a college student… and every year on this day I think fondly of that time…  and always remark how differently it is celebrated here!  Our family has little traditions that most don’t.. my husband worries a bit about these ‘fairytale’ things I introduced… but not to worry.. ;-)  the kids will be fine..

Lucky visited us last night… laundry was strewn all through the upstairs hallway…  he peed ‘green’ in the toilet downstairs and didn’t even FLUSH…

Men… sheesh!

There’s a movie theater of green stuffed animals set up in our living room… and … the usual pot of gold ‘chocolate nuggets’ was left in the kitchen.

Some years Lucky has really gone all out, though I think he was a bit tired when he reached our house this year… he didn’t cause nearly the rucous he’s caused in the past… maybe he’s just getting too old for the late night parties…

I got up this morning and baked green ‘goodies’ for breakfast… fruit scones.. with the luck of the irish..  what a yummy reminder of my year in Cork…

 

Yep, the spring should be rearing it’s head.. but .. well other than the spring showers..  I’m not feeling Mother Nature’s love yet.

Today I had hoped to take the Littles to the playground…  however, it rained through the night and into the  morning..  and while I could pack towels to dry the swings, slides, monkey bars…  I’m not in the mood for the extra loads of laundry right now…

Let’s not even talk about the fact that I think I broke my pinkie toe last night… dang ottoman…  right there, in the middle of the floor where it always is… you’d think it would get out of my way when I’m trying to pick up so I can sit and knit at long last…  I’ve broken this toe before… it feels just like it did last time… so.. .guess the treadmill will start to collect a small layer of dust over the next few days.. sadness…  I’d really hoped to get in a good run today!  The good news though is that since I was laid up with this silly toe situation last night… I got a bunch of knitting done the old Clappy… starting to look good… I have done 4 repeats of the straight section, with 4 drop stitches so far.. and I love how it’s looking…

In addition, I cast on for the Big Girl’s first communion shawl…  I’m knitting this with DaleGarn Baby-Ull, instead of the lace weight the pattern called for,  so it will be able to actually provide some warmth for her big day in early May… additionally, I stuck with the needle size and will knit the heart lace section to an appropriate length for a girl child instead of adult!   I am amazed at how much more simple following the charts is… I admit, a bit sheepishly, that I had been afraid to try lace… and this shawl had me a tad worried because of all the charts.. but.. I LOVE it so far… The pattern is knit from the short side which is great for adjusting for an appropriate size.  I’m already working the straight section… but.. like all my other lace knitting friends… I realize that knitting Lace requires quiet, and ALONE time…  and… with the big guy out of town this weekend, it will be limited to evening knitting… so we’ll see how far I actually get with that…

Today’s park plans have been traded in for some craft time.  I pulled out the glue, pom poms, googlie eyes,  and pipe cleaners, and the things they’re creating are so fun and cool… I will share them when everything is dry…  so far we’ve got a monkey wearing an iPod with earphones and everything, several dozen bunnies, and puffles… :-)  All absolutely adorable and quite creative :-)  I love when the Littles take something and open up their imaginations and just go with it…

For the Malabrigo lovers out there Mari is having a contest where you can win some… so check it out, and while you’re there, tell her I sent you!

Also, stop in and check on Anne… did y’all see about the tornado in Atlanta!?!?!?!