Down for the count

So I guess the Strep wasn't happy invading my body just once this year. Less than a month later it's come to visit/haunt me again. I was struck down Sunday morning and after a visit to the doc on Monday they confirmed it with a positive strep culture. Whoopee!
So Monday and Tuesday were pretty much wasted on the couch with the occasional sit up for more antibiotics and steroids. But today I am trying to move around more so as not to sleep my way in to next year!

On a positive note-
Christmas was mellow and I think everyone got what they wanted, especially my daughter. She loved her new clothes so much so that she wore them most of Christmas day.
She is seen here wearing her new slippers, arm warmers, sweatpants, and apron. Obviously not all meant to go together, but when your seven, why not! She has also been sporting her latest accessory Fifi the stuffed dog. Much easier to manage than her new real puppy.
We also had time to do some baking and I finished this cute little number for her.

Pattern: Anthropologie Inspired Capelet
Yarn: Lotus Yarns Bulky in Mulled Wine

Here's wishing everyone happiness and great health for the year ahead.
CHEERS!

Holy Crap Batman, Christmas is Coming!

Hip replacement, Strep Throat, and a new puppy were the highlights of November. Which seems to have come and gone since my last post. On the horizon are many knitting projects for the holidays, training a 7-year old to train a 12-week old puppy, and assisting a 38-year old to feel confident with his 2 shiny new titanium hips.
Sounds feasible now, but last week while I was sitting in my local emergency room with needles and tubes in my arms because my airway was sealing up and my temperature was around 102, due to a severe case of what they thought was Mono, then turned out being Strep, I had my doubts.
With the help of my parents and my friends, we are all still alive! Maybe a little bruised and battered but it really makes you appreciate the little things when you have so many major things happen in a matter of weeks.
I've been working on hats, gloves, and socks for presents, and I'm hoping to pick up some yarn today for a wrap for my mom. I may even venture into some sewing this weekend. Well, practice sewing anyway. I'm just so afraid of the cash I could drop on fabric.

Happy Holidays

This is my favorite time of the year. The weather is finally cooling down and I get 3 straight days of celebration. Halloween is tomorrow and I'm looking forward to dressing up my daughter, trick or treating and having friends over for dinner. Photos 3 and 4 are of one of my favorite houses to drive by on the way to school. I love how it's not overdone like some houses but it gives you a creepy feeling when you drive by it. It probably has to do with my fear of spiders. And the body encased in a web with little spiders all around it. Ewwwww! But I love it!

The sugar skull and skeleton lady arrived yesterday in the mail and is from one of my best friends in the world. She was visiting from Boston a couple of weeks ago and although we had planned a night of mischief and mayhem, we ended up in the emergency room for some issues she was having. She sent this to our family as a thank you for taking care of her and it will lovingly be displayed on our Dia De Los Muertos altar this weekend.

Everyday is Halloween

At knitting group, we were talking about costumes and how excited we get this time of year to be anything we want to be. I wish every holiday was like Halloween. With the stress of some of the upcoming holidays, how much fun would it be to dress-up. You could dress-up as a Pilgrim or Indian or turkey, okay well maybe not a turkey, but... and for Christmas I think an elf costume or angel would be fun. Things get so stressed sometimes with relatives coming over and preparation for everything that I think dressing up would make it waayyyyy more fun.

This year my daughter decided to be Princess Leia, all on her own even. Her dad is so proud. I think what made the outfit for her was the gun. One of her best friends is going to be a Stormtrooper, it should be fun! The girls in my weekly knitting group decided to do a Halloween Knit-Along, most of will be making these Leia wigs. I can't wait to see how they turn out.
May the force be with you this weekend.

Radiohead 8-22-08

Last week G and I went to the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco to see Radiohead. There were lots of bands, but we only saw Radiohead & Beck and a little bit of Steel Pulse and Black Keys. There were so many people (50,000 plus) at Golden Gate Park I'm amazed we got to see those bands. Traveling from one end of the park was no small feat. Some people, who were obviously much younger and more intoxicated than we were climbed over and under fences and trees to get to the other stages. We left halfway through Beck's set just to get to the other stage to see Radiohead. Beck played to "the smaller crowd" seen here. The haze seen in the last photo is not fog! G and I came home smelling of pot and patchouli, which may have influenced our decision to stop at In & Out at midnight on our way home.

Radiohead was absolutely fantastic! After fighting the crowds earlier in the day, I was about to call it a loss, but when Thom and the boys hit the stage it made it all worth while! Thom's voice, the lights, the crowd singing and dancing, it was AWESOME! You can see how happy G and I are when they hit the stage if you click on the 3rd photo. I've added a sampling of music here, here and here so you can enjoy Thom's fabulousness. Radiohead put on the best stadium show and I would pay thousands to see them in a small venue, although G might not let me go as he'd fear the headline "Crazed fan suffocates Radiohead lead singer with hugs and kisses!" in the next day's newspaper. I'm such a teenager when it comes to music!

Back to School means back to blogging

Here's my favorite shot from the 1st day of school!
She's jumping for joy that she gets to get to see friends, old and new, and meet a new teacher. I'm jumping on the inside because the chaos of summer is over. Now we get back into "school mode". Although they're kind of boring, routine and organization are things that please me immensely.

6 tHinGs...

62 Cherry tagged me, so here we go!

The Rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

I love to bake! If I could, I'd wake up every day put on an apron, some good music and bake, bake, bake!

I love Isabella Rosellini. (pictured above)

I was married in Edinburgh, Scotland. On a month long backpacking adventure my man and I decided to get hitched. I'm pretty sure we're married, but it was really hard to understand the marriage clerks Scottish accent, especially over my mother-in-law's crying.

I'm not a touchy-feely-huggy kind of person. I will hug my daughter, my grandma, my husband. When people come up and hug me, I cringe. Although people say I'm very social.

I like gangsta rap! I'm not into most lyrics but I can't pass up a Snoop, Ice Cube, Ice-T, or NWA song on the radio.

I CAN FLY! Well at least in my dreams I can. Since I was very young I've had lots of dreams where I'm flying. People have different interpretations of what it means, but my favorite is my 7 year olds belief that I am indeed a superhero!

Can I get a HooT-HooT!

I'd like to send a great big Hoot to Madge from Knitdevil for the goodies she sent me a few weeks ago for my birthday. I got the grooviest card, some very awesome skull stitch markers which I couldn't get a good photo of but believe me they are fabulous! A wonderful Punk Rock Crafter button, and last but not least this phantasimo yarn by Tempted called Punk Junkie!
BIG smooches Madge, you are the bees knees!

Speaking of hoot, I finished this owl hat a couple of weeks ago. It is such an easy cable pattern and I love the finished project. It was a very quick knit, and I'm thinking I may put some small black beads where the eyes should be.

Meet Hank the Owl. My BFF PinkPurl crocheted him for me and since he is made with all the classic 70's colors I felt the name Hank suited him. Thanks Nay, I lurve him!

I believe

that this is one of the best live performances I have EVER seen!
Last night I went to see Supersuckers, Nashville Pussy, and THE REVEREND HORTON HEAT!
Although I enjoyed the first two bands, I have to say The Rev puts on a mighty fine show!

It was a two hour bass slappin', guitar strummin', and drum bangin good time.
Just what G and I needed since we haven't been out "alone" for awhile. It took our mind off the flood (yes, our house flooded AGAIN! last thursday) and even though my ears are still ringing a little today I had a great time!

Supersuckers rocked it, since they are "the greatest rock n' roll band ever" or at least that's what they kept telling us. Nashville Pussy put on an entertaining performance, the girls in this band are bad ass and the singer is quite entertaining! But The Rev takes the cake!

They played their own stuff as well giving us a little music history lesson by playing Bill Haley and the Comets, Roger Miller, Stray Cats, Nirvana, and the drummer sang and played Black Sabbath's Paranoid. At one point the singer from Nashville Pussy came out and sang Motorhead's Ace of Spades. What a night! Okay, back to reality...

Ready, Set... Summer!

Blue Icee Tongues

Lemon Meringue Yarn

Cadillac and Prickly Pear Margaritas

we're off to a good start!

Punk Rock Sock Club - Installment 1- THE CLASH

Colorway: The Clash
Yarn: Lotus Knits

I'm so happy with this months sock club yarn! Melanie did it again with the rockin' yarn and theme.
I was looking for some sock yarn for G and I think this is it. He likes the colors and The Clash are one of his fave bands as well as mine. In the background you'll notice a thing called a vinyl record album. This is how we listened to music back in the olden days (and sometimes still do).

FrANkeN-sKeiN

Last Friday I spent the day with my friend M dyeing some yarn. We soaked, we mixed, we poured, we microwaved. This is one of the hanks of wool and silk my husband has appropriately named Frankenskein. This was my first attempt at dyeing and I see more in the near future. I now have even more respect for hand dyers, since it took me the whole afternoon to color up two hanks of yarn.

Her name was Lola...

she was a show bag. With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there. She would merengue and do the the cha-cha...

May I introduce you to my new super fabulous knitting bag. Her name is Lola Laguna. My daughter named her because we agree that she is so pretty and girly we had to give her a name. Laguna is the style name of this Namaste bag so we felt it should be included but we call her Lola for short. She is made of the softest leatherette material and her color is divine. She also holds a boat load of stuff, some of which I'll share tomorow.
Copacabana

Strike!

Stitch N Pitch 2008

1. cute bag with ticket purchase

2. telling myself "i got this"
3. textbook form
4. in the strike zone (click to enlarge to see ball)
5. call in the bullpen, i'm done!

knitting, baseball, 77 degrees, and thanks to my rock solid pitching we won 4-3
what a wonderful night!

"One Love"

One Love, One Heart

Let's get together and feel alright!
-Bob Marley

Pattern: My Hat of Choice - Soulemama
Yarn: Pancake and Lulu - Merino Twist in Crocus

The hat was made for the Pancake and Lulu One Skein Challenge.
This is not a colorway I'd normally pick, but the yarn was incredibly soft and I really enjoyed knitting with it. The colors remind me of Bob Marley, and the pattern is one of my favorite for a spring/summer hat.

New Haircut

"In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us."
-Flora Edwards

I took my daughter to get a haircut a little over a week ago, and this is what happened to me. My super sweet overly caffeinated hairstylist, who normally only gets to trim my bangs, talked me into cutting my hair and donating it to charity. Although it is 9 inches shorter than before, it's not as short as the mohawk she dons and almost had me talked into.

Knitting content coming soon...

Stitches Stash

Stitches was a hoot! This year I told myself to make a plan. Although I had a map and a list of patterns for which I needed yarn, I only came home with the yarn I needed for one project. The rest was all, well BONUS! I found a cute pattern that I'll be using with the orange-ish hemp and hemp wool, the turquoise silk and bamboo for this, the fuscia malabrigo is for these, the stainless and wool Habu cones are for this little number, and the shot glasses- well let's just say they were the most necessary items I spotted at the Ravelry booth. I figured since I have so much knitting on my plate, I may need a tasty beverage to go along with it. In case of emergency, fill and drink.
I also scored this beautiful green Hand Maiden Casbah which I am wearing around my neck as I write this, as well as some brilliantly handpainted yarn from Creative. I had to pick up some of her yarn after reading about her trek across the states to get to Stitches. She just may be the sweetest, most gracious person I've ever met. As people were purchasing her yarn, she showered them with the most sincere thanks. She was just the sweetest thang!
The Stitch & Ride train seemed to run a lot smoother this year. They had a chemo cap drive and they gave us a nice bag filled with knitting loot. I believe there was 400 plus stitchers on the train this year, and it was nice that they chartered the train just for us. We started at 6:00 am and returned home by 9:00 pm. It was a long day but well worth the exhaustion and I already can't wait for next year!

Spread The Love

I received these handmade hearts in the mail recently from Viva Scrapper. It's all part of the Pay It Forward Handmade movement. I think they are adorable and may need to make some in a pillow size for my daughters room!
Do you want to spread the love too?
All you have to do is leave a comment and I'll mail a handmade gift to the first 3 to respond. I haven't decided what that gift will be, but I will get it to you in the next few weeks! All you have to do is promise to repeat the process. Post on your blog and offer gifts to 3 people who will do the same. You can sew it, knit it, crochet it, embroider it! Just make sure you ROCK IT!
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!

Circus Monkey

Last week was busy, glad it is over.
Bunco, softball, and making costumes for tomorrow's dance performance.
I did however find time to start this sock. My knitting group decided we should do a monthly sock knit-a-long, this is our first pattern.
Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Yarn: Circus Tent by Yarn Chef
Yummy!