a bit of progress

The sun finally cooperated (and I'm actually home for once!) so I was able to get a bunch of shots of all my current projects plus ones I've finished in the last month or so. Here's a decent shot of my super cupcake hat.

Here's leafy greens.

Though I was unable to get a pic of me actually wearing it. The hubby isn't feeling all too great and he's the only one I'd trust to photograph me wearing it right now. Might have to wait until my sister is here so I can have her wear it and I'll take the pic! Here are a few more shots of leafy greens.

I wanted to share the close-ups of the stitch pattern. :)

Now here's a shot of my finished super cupcake cowl!

There was another hospital visit Friday morning for surgery so I worked a teeny bit on that habitat hat.

It's slowly coming along. I was getting a lil annoyed while I was working on this hat because no one had come out to tell me how the surgery went so I messed up a couple of cables but they were easy fixes! Thank goodness I've made this hat once before or I might not have caught the mistakes.
Last night I decided to dig up my gust scarf! It's not that far from completion. I think it was the needles I was using (blunt addi turbos) that were making me not want to work on it. I switched to some addi lace needles and it's been a bit easier. Though I was a tad distracted while working on it last night because we were watching "The Goods."  When I saw the first 10 or so minutes of it around Thanksgiving, I thought it was going to be funny. It ended up being rather disturbing! My brother has some other movies on his laptop that I put onto a flash so we may try to watch at least one of those movies tonight. Now here's gust:

And here are some close-up shots of her too!

And finally, here is a progress shot of blood, sweat, and tears. I'm on chart E (only one more chart after that). This has used up way less yarn than the pattern says it was going to.

I hope that it grows a bit more too!

Okay, off to make dinner. Tomorrow morning, I have an 'interview' with a preschool. I'll let you know how it goes!

there is a light at the end of our tunnel!

Well, my husband and I received some good news yesterday when we met with our social worker. Exciting news. We just might be getting out of this house sooner than we thought. He told her that I was going to kill somebody soon if we didn't get out. And what was funny was when I got to talk to her, she mentioned wanting to get us out of my parents' house and I said, 'Yeah, cos I'm gonna kill somebody soon!' We've got a bit of research to do but her number one goal for us to is to get us out of here.
My husband said we'd move into our own place and we could visit all the time and my response was, "I don't ever want to come back here to see these people." I got to talk to my best friend earlier and I was able to unload a bit on him. He agrees. I need to get out of here now because there's no telling what I'll do next.
Today began with my dad complaining about the pipe in the sink in the bathroom that we use. For as long as I can remember that same pipe makes this sound when you turn the hot water on. Apparently the sound has spread to the other pipes in the house. My response? "It's YOUR fault. You were the one who decided to shut off all the hot water to fix it. So YOU made it spread." He responded with banging and slamming stuff around in the kitchen. I decided that THAT was where my brother got it from-not knowing how to be an adult.
As you can see, I don't take any crap from my parents. I honestly never have. I told my sil that I think I'm the only one that will say stuff back to my parents. They have no right to speak to me the way they sometimes do. I'm not a little kid. I'm an adult. She had trouble living here with my brother and my niece and do you want to know why? It's because my dad is awful (which you already kind of knew). If he has a problem with you (though if you confront him about said problem he'll deny, deny, deny.) he won't tell you to your face-particularly if you are not his own child. He'll allow it to build up inside of him and then he'll tell say me or my brother (if it's regarding my husband or his wife). It'll go like this, "Tell ___ not to ____ because___" That is what happened when my brother was living here with his wife and the monkey. Now, if this were being told to me, my response is typically, "YOU have a mouth. Use it. If you have a problem with so and so tell them yourself. I am NOT going to speak for you." My brother's response? He'd go and tell his wife whatever it was that bugged my dad and tell her what my dad wants her to do to fix it. It got SO bad when they were living here, that my dad would write the most evil notes to her. And you know what? My brother never stood up for her.  I totally think that my dad was the catalyst to their marital problems. In my sil's eyes, it felt as though my brother wasn't respecting her because he wasn't standing up for her. And that's just wrong.
I wanted to tell my dad sooooooooooooo badly that he was the first source of their problems but I bit my tongue. I wanted to tell him that it is his horrible attitude that makes his children not want to be around. I also feel as though that since his own son couldn't man up, it's his fault as a father for not teaching his son HOW to be a man.
On the knitting front (great segueway, I know!), I actually finished my super cupcake cowl!! I bound off, gave her a bath and then decided I didn't like the bind off I did so I ripped back and did an elastic bind off. The pattern doesn't say to do one, but I think it's better now. Instead of making it 11.75 inches, I went with 11 inches. Off to blocking she'll go and hopefully I'll be able to share some pictures soon!

can the sh-- hit the fan twice??

Okay, before I go on, the hubby is a-okay. We're still trying to get into the swing of things but that isn't something that'll happen overnight!
The new sh-- involves my brother, his wife, and that lil monkey. In a nutshell, my brother has moved back into my parents' house so it is now, my parents, my husband, and I plus him. I don't know if this is going to be a forever thing or just a temporary thing. His lips are sealed. Plus we've been so busy, we're not around as much so I haven't been able to investigate. I'm not really sure how he's doing with the new living arrangements. I know his wife is holding her own but can I tell you how pissed I am that the lil monkey is smack dab in the middle of all this garbage??? Ugh. It is heartbreaking to hear the things that she has been saying to her mom. This is going to scar her in so many ways. I keep hoping that things will work out but I really don't know what the future is going to hold for them. I know that I'll still be in her life and so will my husband and I'm sort of counting on him to be her male role model since her own dad couldn't step up to the plate. I don't know if it's just miscommunication or if someone has grown out of love or what but there's a freakin' lil girl at stake here. She's the one that matters the most. Yet she's the one who is going to hurt the most for the rest of her life.
So with my brother now here at the house it is an additional stressor. My mother and I got into it Sunday night (when he brought all his belongings). She had the nerve to say to me now where are we going to put his things since I took up all the space! My response was, "I am TWO people." YOU take up your own closet in your bedroom PLUS the hall closet so don't be telling me any crap. You're making me feel as though you don't even WANT me here. I don't even know why I wanted to move closer to you. I don't know why you're pulling all this crap NOW. When you know how fragile I am and you know that I can't take anymore." Then I got up to walk away and I said that between her and my father, I was going to be the next person going to the emergency room because they were going to give me a nervous breakdown.
Oh, and before we even got into that conversation, she actually had to ask me why was my brother crying. Umm.....maybe because he is human and has feelings? Something (I'm learning) that both my parents are lacking. I had gotten into it with my father as well earlier in the evening which is why I made the remark about both of them sending me to the hospital. When I was talking to my father, I let him know that I was actually having chest pains the day before so if he wants to keep going, go ahead, and put me in the damn hospital.

oy vey

I think I spoke too soon in that last post. It turns out that my dad is now the one in the hospital. He had an allergic reaction to something and woke up with a rash all over his body and his face was swollen. He woke up unable to breathe! He had already gone to the ER a day or so before but went home cos he told them he was fine. Boy was he mistaken. So he's spending the night in the hospital just for observation.
With all these recent trips to the hospital (ER, hospital waiting room, etc.) I've been able to get pretty far with my super cupcake cowl. I might even be able to finish it. Waiting rooms and the ER are ideal places for mindless knitting. They're not the best places to be..but knitting will definitely take your mind off things if you have to spend a lot a time in either of these places.
We went with my brother and his wife to see my dad in the ER. My mom had spent most of the day with him and was home when my husband and I came back from our errands. When my brother and his wife got to the house, I sensed something was up because my sil looked like she had been crying. I asked her if she was okay but she said she was fine. I didn't believe her but respected that she didn't want to talk about it.
Sorry that there haven't been any pics in the last couple of blogs. I haven't much to show off! I've only strictly been working on my super cupcake cowl.

there's more?

As if spending an entire month (practically) in the hospital isn't enough! This morning, there was a minor accident involving one of my husband's fingers and a car door. So we were back at the hospital, not even a full 24 hours after he was released! He is okay now, in some major pain but okay. He broke a bone in his finger and also suffered a laceration. It's going to take at lest 6 weeks to heal. Ugh. Poor guy. I don't want to see another hospital again!

home

My husband was finally released from the hospital today!!!!! He called me up to tell me that he had a feeling he was going to be released soon and that I oughta come by the hospital sooner rather than later. Maybe now I'll be able to sleep again.

feelin' like a zombie

I haven't slept well in the past two nights. I'm not sure who/what to blame. I finished Mommywood the other night in the wee hours of the morning. And I have to say, once I got through the first forty-some pages (where I thought it was going to be the reality series all over again), I was proven wrong. It was actually pretty good. She genuinely does struggle with wanting a 'normal' life for her kids and Hollywood stardom. Some situations that she writes about in her book do appear on the show but she goes more in-depth in the book.
I started one of the books on my little list yesterday after picking it up from the library. I have to go there again to pick up yet another one. I don't know why they don't just wait until they've compiled everything and then call you. It turns out a movie is going to be released of the book I'm reading! How funny is that. I don't know if I agree with the cast so far though..
There's been a bit of progress on the knitting front. I was adventurous yesterday and did a bit of knitting on at least three of my current projects: crack, blood, sweat & tears, and my super cupcake cowl.

No pictures of the super cupcake cowl because it pretty much looks the same as you saw it last time! I actually had to rip back about an inch because I screwed up a row and couldn't stand looking at it when I was working on it last night. It was so bad that even my husband noticed it!! He wanted to rip it back to where I wanted to start from but I was nervous. He did all right..didn't go too far or anything, thank goodness! He is still in the hospital..in fact one of his doctors asked him what the hold up was regarding his release! Sigh..We were hoping sometime this week but now it seems maybe it won't be until next week. Hopefully it will be soon because I can't take this shlepping to the hospital everyday for much longer.
One last thing..I must do some yarn enabling. If you haven't tried any sundara yarn, she's got some new sock yarns up and she probably has stocked up her other yarn as well.

ETA: The previous link I provided for the book I started after Mommywood was a New York Times link to the first chapter. Since you now have to pay to read the NY Times online, I guess they changed the url. Sorry guys!! 

impulse knitting

You've heard of impulse shopping/impulse buying. We are all victims of it-particularly those of you who knit/crochet/craft/scrapbook/quilt/etc! Well, I fell prey to impulse knitting late last night. I was going through my patterns that I keep in my wips bin and I had the milkweed shawl in there (for future knitting!). I nonchalantly started to go through my yarn bins. I was actually looking to see if there was stuff I could destash and then I peaked into my three irish girls bin. Yes, I have a separate bin for this yarn because I have more than three or four skeins of the stuff. (I also have a sundara bin!) Well, there were two skeins in there that were possiblities for a milkweek for myself. One of them I just couldn't part with just yet though. So here's how far I got.

The yarn is amazing to work with. Oh my gosh. If you haven't used any three irish girls yarn ever you better hop on over and get your hands on some, quick! I've got two projects in Sharon's yarns and it's the softest yarn in the world making my two projects just sort of breeze by. Here's my first finished crack sock! It's been raining so excuse the poor photos!

I've already cast on for the second sock so we'll see how long it takes me to finish the pair. Can I tell you this sock fits like a glove. Some of my previously knit socks don't fit as well as they used to. I know it's because my feet have morphed into a smaller size. I might have to start giving some away.

Edited to Add: The sun came out for a bit so I was able to get a pic that is truer to the color of my blood, sweat, and tears shawl. :)

rainy sunday

Since I've been away, I finished knitting my leafy greens and she's about to have a bath.

It's longer than I thought it would be (which makes me glad!). I'm nearly finished with my first crack sock. I'm about one pattern repeat (I think!) and a toe away from completion.

Too many thoughts were swirling around in my head last night as I tried to fall asleep. I sort of decided that I would complete my crack socks and then finish that second habitat habitat hat I started. After I finish off those two projects, I will start working again on the shawl for my mom even though I know it's going to take eons to finish (that's the reason I haven't finished it yet!). it's gotta be done, you now? Oh and somewhere in between I'm going to cast on for one of the pairs of socks for my husband too! Oh and that ribbed cowl will get finished too! Lofty goals, I know..more so than my resolutions for this year! ;)
I finished another book while I was away. This one was super quick! It was also 'fitting' for my current situation. I passed it along to my husband and he read it in a jiffy as well. It really got to his core and changed his way of thinking a bit.
What's funny is, I've had a list of books that I've kept (for what seems like forever) and I decided to finally seek out those books on that list and read them.

Judging by the publish dates of these books, I've had this list since about 2000. I know I have other book titles written down elsewhere. It's what I do. If I read something about a book, I jot down the title in the hopes of eventually reading it. Of course I don't necessarily keep track of these lists either. I just jot down the titles on whatever I have laying around. Sometimes I don't even jot down the titles. I keep a memory of what I liked about the book thinking that I'll be able to find it on the internet (which is something I just did and I've now placed that particular book on hold).
Right now I've got a couple of non-fic books that I'm reading and I have to say, they're not as fun as my usual pick of fiction. I can't sit there and picture the story unfolding and leave it up to my imagination. With non-fic books, you usually know the people involved (or at least the situations sometimes) and it's just not as entertaining. I'm reading Mommywood right now (ha!) and in a way I'm sort of re-living the Tori & Dean reality show (which I do by the way enjoy. teehee!). It's kind of like if I've already walked down that road once before why go down it again? I'm going to give it another shot though. The other book I'm reading is The Tipping Point which I've been wanting to read for at least a year now. I became interested in Malcolm Gladwell at my last school so I'm glad to finally have my hands on this puppy. I've also got one of the other books waiting for me at the library. There's an interesting review from Publishers Weekly about this one and I've been starting to wonder if all his books are just a collection of all his New Yorker articles (which are great reads) but who wants a compilation of those when you can just grab a copy of New Yorker? I will trudge along though.
Okay, aside from the knitting and the books, I've been doing some man work as well. lol. For Christmas, we got my mom a molcajete de piedra (mortar and pestle made of stone). Though the one we got her isn't as dark as the one in the link. It's closer to the concrete, I think. Apparently, you have to grind rice in it before you use it (so said my husband!). I knew my mom would never get around to it and I had wanted to do this for her anyway. So, I finally remembered to do it and here's what it looks like now.If you ask me, she is now a thing of beauty.

Back to the library and the books..I really have to say that my (now) local library is amazing. I've always thought the library system here where I grew up to be quite antiquated and some of you know that in the last year or two, they were actually threatening to completely rid the place of libraries, period. The ability to place books on hold is a new addiction for me. The reason for the increased praise for my local library system is I was actually able to (just now!) place a brand new book that I've been wanting to read on hold!

Pardon the dust..

I just realized that my favorite template was no longer available. So I'm playing around with things here..bear with me! Since I've been away, leafy greens is nearly finished..I'm about 16 rows away from completion. I also managed to finish and complete a book! This was yet another good find. The writing was compelling and the language vivid. It was almost like I really was a 'watcher' (that's what the main character, Mathilda refers to the people that might be watching her). I was disappointed by the ending but then I thought would I have rather have had a happy ending? The answer is no. It's basically a story of a young girl finding her way after the death of her sister whether she gets to a point of acceptance or not is up to you to decide. I am at the library to pick up some books I placed on hold the other day. Back in the day, they used to charge you a $1 to place a book on hold. I'm not sure if that's still the case but I brought $$ just in case! I also put a bunch of other stuff on hold as well. What boggles my mind though is I was at the library the other day and I physically went to seek out some of the books I placed on hold this morning and I couldn't find them. Yet, they were listed in the library catalog. Go figure. I thought I was losing my mind for a second. As for the hubby-we heard yesterday that the Medi-Cal papers finally went in the mail and the case manager said we'd probably hear back the latest next Thursday. Meanwhile...we received a bill already. I don't even want to open it! Okay I'm off..must pick up my books that the librarian is holding for me and head on home.

I finished!

I picked up The Christmas List again last night and guess what? I could not put the book down. I finished it in the wee hours of the morning to the sound of rain. It left me with a warm feeling inside which is just what I've been needing. I'm going to return my two books to the library and I hope to get lucky again and find some more good books to read! Also while I'm at the library I hope to catch up on some blogs! I did a bit of knitting on my leafy greens yesterday. I've started the fourth repeat of the body and then I'll be able to work on the edging. I wanted to work on my crack sock but I knew if I started, I wouldn't put the thing down until it was the wee hours of the morning so I opted to read instead! Yesterday afternoon before going to the hospital, I wound the two skeins of yarn selected by my husband for his future socks.

This is adobe earmarked for the bricker sock pattern.

This is deep forest earmarked for the gridiron sock pattern.

It was very difficult not casting on for them last night when I got home from the hospital. *Two great things about today so far: It looks like we might actually have some blue skies after a couple nights of rain and my internet is finally working 'normally' again. Yay!

busy monday

I heard back from the luggage shop in that neighboring town. The store manager left me a vm yesterday telling me that the dm wanted to hire someone with a bit more retail experience than I had. You know what? I was perfectly fine with that. What's funny is over the weekend, I really started to think about the possibility of working in a shop selling luggage and I wasn't too keen on the idea of it. I'd be on my feet all day long (something I'm not used to!) and I'd have to wear black from head to toe. So in a way it worked out. Yes, I'm still without a job but that's okay. Something will pan out. I received my Winter shipment of the Dye Dreams Four Seasons Sock Club! What spurred me to sign up for it late last year was that Anne Hanson was going to do one of the patterns and you get a bag with each kit! ;) I present to you A Sockwork Orange. It reminds me a bit of candy corn. The pattern is pretty straightforward. I just might even cast on for them and do the kal! We'll see. I have other socks on my horizon. I went through my basket of handknit socks and realized that I have way more handknit socks than my husband does. So yesterday I talked to him about this before heading off to the hospital to visit him and I brought with me some 'manly' skeins of yarn and the two 'manly' sock patterns I currently own to see what he'd pick out. I prefaced the offer of new pairs of socks with the notion that in no way would they be completed asap but at least one pair would be finished once I got a few of my current projects out of the way. He will now be known as Mr. Fancy Feet to me because he selected two skeins of sundara sock yarn and I kept saying, "I don't even have a pair of socks made out of this stuff yet.." Granted my only manly skeins of yarn consist of two skeins of sundara and two skeins of malabrigo sock yarn (which I also haven't used to make a pair of socks for myself yet!). The patterns I brought for him were Bricker and Gridiron. I wish I had more manly sock patterns but I think right now those are two patterns I own that haven't been made for him yet. He's getting a lot of use out of his handknit socks in the hospital. It's nice. :) On Sunday, I went a lil crazy and cast on for yet another new project. I finally cast on for a springtime bandit which I'm calling leafy greens (for obvious reasons!). This is yet another green project to add to my queue! I must be on some sort of green kick right now. I've been making progress on my crack socks too. This has actually been a surprisingly quick and easy knit. Yet when I first cast on for these babies, it was something awful! Guess that goes to show that my knitting skills are improving. :) My habitat hat has been waiting for me to get distracted with the crack socks or the leafy greens but it hasn't happened yet. So I think I have to finish one of them before I can focus on the habitat hat. It seems as though I've been doing okay keeping up with my blog and my knitting but letters and blog reading have fallen by the wayside so I wanted to extend my apologies for sort of losing touch. That should end soon though (I'm hoping!!). Thanks for bearing with me and for being there through all of this chaos!!

life goes on

Like I said, the ribbing was killing me so you shouldn't be surprised that I've sort of abandoned it (for now!). Yesterday, I revisited the habitat hat I'm making for my best friend in Portland. I've finished the first chart and I started Chart C.I was trying to come up with a name for it but nothing has stuck yet. I cast on for a pair of socks yesterday too! It's been a while since I've had a pair of socks on the needles and I have to say it was nice. I re-cast on for the craic socks which I had started back in March or so of last year but I wasn't too happy with them. The pattern is flowing much better this time around. I think working on the habitat and the macduff hat helped. Hopefully I won't run into the same problem I ran into the first couple times around which were missed cables and the sock fitting too tight! No decent pic of my super cupcake hat to share yet..but hopefully soon! Oh! I finished my first book of 2010. I want to keep track of all the books I read this year like Kristyn does! Though I don't think I'll be able to keep as good track as she does. I finished Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb. I have to tell you that it was such a fun read and parts of it were pretty hysterical. The book made me think of that (annoying) movie, A Christmas Story (probably because of the kitschy-ness) but this book was better! Yesterday, I started The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans (I know, what is up with all these Christmas books after Christmas. I didn't expect to find them at the library when I went the other day and I had been wanting to read the Wally Lamb book and just happened to find the other one too). I was intrigued by what was written on the inside cover jacket so I had to get it. This one won't be so funny but I'm sure it will be just as good.

the results are in

Well, yesterday we got the results back from the biopsy that was done on my husband last week. It's not what we were hoping for but guess what? He's still going to live a hopefully long and healthy life but there's going to be some changes. We had been given a small glimmer of hope the day before that things were going to sort of return to normal but then we received the real news. After having metabolized the information we were given, we now have some questions which we are going to ask the doctor about tomorrow. What sucked is that it was virtually a stranger giving us the news and not any of the doctors we had come to sort of 'know' and trust so we're having some second thoughts about this doctor's version of what's going on. I think once we hear the information from the doctor we know, then we can really believe it at least that's how I feel. Okay, I had to stop in the midst of this post to get ready for an interview with the d.m. of the shop I interviewed at on Monday. I think the interview went well. She had me try to sell her something on the spot--and I have absolutely NO retail experience whatsoever! She 'purchased' what I was trying to sell her though. She is going to be doing more interviews next week and will be letting people know sometime next week. In the meantime, I really need to jazz up my cover letter so I can start applying for secretarial stuff as well. I'm on a ribbing break. I think I've overloaded my fingers/hands with ribbing. Ha. I started the super cupcake cowl and I'm at 4.5 inches and the pattern says to knit til the thing is 11.75 inches. YEAH! I finished the super cupcake hat (still blocking I think!) but I have yet to get a picture of it and I also finished minimus! Can I tell you my niece absolutely loves this yarn? She was playing with both the minimus and the maximus the other night. I have enough yarn to make something for her so we'll see. Maybe an mini minimus? We'll see. It was cute watching her fold them and love them so much!

meme

I had totally forgotten about this meme until I saw it on Robyn's blog. You post the first sentence from your first blog post of every month for 2009. I can't even remember if I blogged at least once every month..hopefully I will surprise myself. ;) January: Here are all my finished objects of 2008. February: I spent yesterday catching up on a few things and can now announce that as of right now, I'm caught up on all my blogs, most emails, and uploading pictures to flickr! March: I spent the weekend knitting furiously. April: Apparently, I'm now a permanent rider on this crazy train. May: My birthday began with a lil party @ school. June: I finished knitting my wedding shawl! July: Before I go into this rant, we got back from our lil trip up north on Tuesday night. August: Well, last week was a whirlwind week (I should be used to those by now!). September: And so the new chapter of my life begins..though it isn't all that I had hoped it would be! October: The Princess And her cake. November: Is there a reason all knitting pattern chart symbols aren't the same across the board? December: I've been meaning to post but end up not posting because I haven't any pictures to show off and I know that pictures make posts much more interesting! Thank goodness this year finally ended. Here's to hoping 2010 is a better year.

the interview

I just got back from my interview which was pretty low-key. The guy kind of got the times mixed up (and I had a feeling he might..). I got into town at 11 (which was the time he wanted to originally meet according to the vm he left me but when we actually spoke he said 11:30. So since I had about a half hour and I knew there was supposed to be a yarn shop nearby, I took a walk. :o I ended up not finding the yarn shop though. I circled for a bit even. There was a possibility of me showing up to my interview late because I couldn't believe that the yarn shop that was on the map wasn't where it was supposed to be. I was a bit sad. I knew I wasn't going to buy anything but it's just nice to look, ya know? Anyway, we had to conduct the interview near the register (which I didn't mind at all). The next step is he is going to forward my information to the district manager who will be calling me. He suggested I go into that interview saying that I'd like to be a keyholder and eventually asst. manager. He said it wasn't rocket science at all. He also said to just let her know where I was at with teaching. You all know I'm at an impasse. I think if I got a teaching job right now it would be great but part of me doesn't think I'd be happy. If this job doesn't turn into anything, it's okay. I plan on doing a bit more work on my non-teaching cover letter so that I could look into secretarial stuff..or maybe even some agriculture/seed technology since that's what's big around these parts. On the drive to the interview, it hit me today how lucky I am to live here-which if you know me is a bit ironic because I have spent most of my young adulthood running away from where I grew up. It is a beautiful, gorgeous day outside. There is not a breeze in sight. The sun is shining and the sky is so so blue (without as much as a hint of the amount of pollution you'd find in the blue skies of LA!). Speaking of LA, my sister is having her own personal health crisis. She threw up several times yesterday, had a headache, and has diarrhea to boot. Oh, the kicker is that she's having pain near her kidneys (sound familiar??) so I was a lil freaked. She told me to call her today to make sure she's alive. Dork. I did and asked if she had a fever or anything that maybe it was appendicitis. Then I asked if her insurance provider had an advice nurse (to which she said she didn't know!). I told her it probably did because all the insurance I ever had always did. Luckily she found the number and called. She was advised to go see a doctor and that bedrest is not going to help her! For once she was smart enough to stay home though. I reminded her that this was why our parents didn't want her so far away because we can't help her when she's sick! She didn't even have anyone to bring her any pedialyte. Poor girl. Maybe she'll rethink this LA deal now..hopefully she's okay. She'll find out in about half an hour! Okay I am off to pack for my night at the hospital. Please send good thoughts my way so that I can avoid any drama (i.e. bro and SIL drama!) while I'm there. It doesn't put me in the best of moods..Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with some knitting progress!

the sh-- has hit the fan.

Well, my husband is still in the hospital. He may be there for another week. He is slowly getting better but it's going to be a while before he's anywhere near 'normal' (if that even exists anymore). It's been tough having him in the hospital. My family isn't the greatest of support networks and since I'm spending most of my time in the hospital, no one really knows how I'm doing. I wasn't doing all that great. I had myself an emotional breakdown on New Year's Day in the hospital but I think that was compounded by all the other crap that is going on around me. So the sh-- that has hit the fan has to do with my brother and his wife. Why they have to be going through marital problems while my own husband is in the hospital, I have no freakin' clue. I can't go into details but it's bad and it's only going to get worse. My poor monkey. :( 2009 hasn’t been the best of years but it will definitely be one that I don’t ever forget. I hope the fact that 2009 was mostly a crappy year (at least the last quarter of it) will mean that the rest of my life will be wonderful! (I can dream, can’t I??) So far, 2010 is lookin' a wee bit better than 2009 because my husband is still alive. I don’t know what I’d do if things had gone the other way. I think about it and know that I wouldn’t have been able to have stayed here at my parents. I would’ve needed to run. Run somewhere that I had never been before and had no memories of us so that I could start over. I’m glad I don’t have to do that just yet. I will definitely be cherishing the little things even more so now than ever before but in truth, I’ve always been a person who cherished the little things. Last night my husband asked me what was the first thing I wanted to do once he was out of the hospital. My response? I just wanted to lay in bed with him and cuddle. He of course wants to do something more adventurous than me and he already has plans for the summer when he hopes to be healthier. I really do hope that he will be healthier then. I don’t think I could take him only being healthy for a little while and then losing him. It would hurt too much. Now for what you all have been waiting for! I was finally able to take pictures of the knitting bag I got

the mini-sewing machine and the piggy pendant from my husband In addition, here are pictures of the yarn I got for Christmas too.

Adobe who let the bear in? sand castles pressed violets Here are the latest projects I’ve been working on. Maximus was a super fast knit. I feel so fashion forward when I wear it (granted I’ve only worn it once!). My husband liked it so much that I cast on for a smaller version for him but I might add a button instead. I cast on for the super cupcake too. It was one of the first things I wanted to make in the new year. I’m nearly finished with the hat and will cast on for the cowl as soon as I finish the hat. I’ve been neglecting the second habitat I need to knit for my best friend. It’s much easier to do mindless knitting in the hospital than to follow a chart!! I want to cast on for prickle soon. I want to make one in honor of my MIL because when she was still living, she would mention seeing a show on how to make a moebius and I never picked up on the fact that she was dropping hints to get me to make her one. :( Guess what-there is a bit of good news that I can share! I have an interview tomorrow to work at a high-end shop in a neighboring town. My husband has a friend whose best friend is running this shop and this guy is in need of someone to help at the shop. Apparently, I’d move up quickly and the money would increase just as quickly so we’ll see. The idea of being qualified to do something other than teach is refreshing and I’m a bit excited about this new venture into retail. Is that weird?? I’ve never worked retail. In fact, I didn’t think I’d even be considered for a retail job because I have no experience in that area. I was aiming to get a secretary job but this will do for now (if I am offered the position!!). I shouldn’t jinx myself. ;) Oh, I actually have some resolutions this year. Most of them revolve around blogging. ha. We'll see how I do! I want to post to my blog more often. I want to take better pictures of my finished projects and any yarn I shouldn't be purchasing in the coming year!

Favorite Finished Object of 2009

My favorite finished object from last year was by far ishbel. She's so so pretty and the yarn I selected for this project was perfect. It was a match made in heaven. :)

Finished Projects of 2009

I'm a bit behind with all this but bear with me. You all have an idea of what my life has been like the last few days so I know you don't mind at all. I was kind of bummed that I didn't get as many projects completed this year as I have in the past so I must make up for that in this new year! I made 4 hats, 1 pair of mittens, 2 pairs of fingerless mitts, 3 scarves, 1 shrug, 5 pairs of socks, 4 cowls, 4 shawls, and 2 sweaters. So without further ado, here they are: 1. hat 2, 2. mittens, 3. rivolo, 4. mitts for E, 5. zombies, 6. close up of athena, 7. a folded butternut scarf, 8. beret, 9. diamond fantasy shawl, 10. ruffles, 11. multnomah, 12. cafe au lait mitts, 13. peas?, 14. maximus, 15. blackberry cowl, 16. vent d'est vent d'ouest, 17. something blue, 18. sesame, 19. macduff hat, 20. the blues, 21. vintage rose socks, 22. mathematical equation socks, 23. ishbel, 24. wedding shawl, 25. fire socks, 26. ribbed lace bolero I'm not sure why the picture is so teeny.