Monday, February 27, 2006

My Rant about the DMV

Let me just start by saying that I know most of these people work hard, and try to do their job right. Today I went to the DMV to get my Virginia License and to get plates for my car. This is something we did a month or so for my husbands, but we hadn't done mine yet. Now getting a title and registration in Minnesota was easy. Getting a license there was a whole other fiasco. Needles to say in Minnesota I went to the DMV twice and still didn't leave with a license. In Minnesota they mail your license to you. It took me over two months and several phone calls for it to finally arrive in my mailbox. Their reason for not giving it to you the day you pay for it, well it is this special new security feature. Frankly I couldn't find it. It had micro printing and a bar code and a hologram just like my Oregon license. Oh well! Anyhow in Minnesota they wanted my birth certificate and my official registrar stamped marriage license, not the fancy one. I of course didn't have it, and when I mentioned it to my friends and family none of them had theirs either. I ask if they would take my Social Security card as I had to have a copy of my marriage license to get it. They said no as it isn't a form of ID(what?) and doesn't show the progression of my name. Whatever! Anyone so now here we are in Virginia. The first time we went to the DMV to register my husbands car we didn't plan on getting our license so we didn't have our birth certificates. We expected to have to take a written test. This was not the case. They told us, after we ask what we would need, we needed birth certificate, proof of our address, and the marriage license for me. So when we went back to do our license, that is what we brought,.....But no we needed our social security card or at least something official that shows our number and name, like a W2. Well fortunately we had my husbands W-2's in the car, but as I don't work outside the home, I was outa luck. How strange we weren't told we needed them, and stranger still, I was told at one point not to carry my card as it wasn't ID. Hmmm..., well then what is it? So here we are at today. I got everything together. Had some trouble finding the marriage license, but left for the DMV. Waited about an hour and when we got to the desk, I had forgotten the title to the car. I was told it couldn't be registered without. Well why not, we didn't have the title to my husband, just the registration and they registered it. I was told they shouldn't have because it is hard to get a title in VA if you have lost it. What? All you have to do is a lost title search with the VIN. How stupid do these people think I am? Anyhow now I have to go back with the title tomorrow as my Minnesota plates expire tomorrow. So now on to the license. She takes the paperwork I give her, doesn't even look at the marriage license and gives me a new license. Now I am really irritated. Why have rules and regulations, and policies if you can pick and choose which ones you are going to follow? My husband said I pissed the lady off and she was going to put me to the bottom of the picture taking pile. Maybe she did, we were there a while longer. I guess having lived in 3 states in 3 years and having to jump through each states hoops, makes me wish that we could all decide on what is needed and then follow through with it. And if a Social Security card isn't ID, stop asking me for my number on every little form I fill out. That's all for now, Miki

Birthday Week

Whew! My week of birthdays and parties is OVER! Thank goodness. I am not sure how much more I could take. My twins' birthday was on Tuesday. They turned ten. We had their party with about 20 4th graders on Sat.. My youngest daughters birthday was Thursday. She turned 6. So, on Sat. we had a party for her friends. So, needless to say no knitting has been accomplished this week other than the hat for my cousin. Which I still need to send. This week is scheduled to be another crazy week so, I dont know how much I am going to get done as far as knitting goes this week. The older girls are still cheering for basketball, my son starts baseball practice. My youngest starts Karate lessons, and then their is girl scouts. I will be doing a lot of driving just to get them where they need to go. Someone on the sweater machine group on Yahoo has inspired me to knit some summer tops. I am not sure however I have a yarn and can/want to use. I will also need to adapt a pattern from handknitting. There are lots of really cool patterns in the recent knitting mags. Also, after getting no response back from the group about the problems I was having with the machine, I called Bond-America, the suppliers, manufacturers, whatever. Anyhow Laurie, the women I spoke with said that it sounded like the carriage was funky and she would send me a new one. I sure hope this fixes the problem. What great customer support!!! I have only heard one bad thing about their customer support and it really surprised me, because I have never had any difficulties. This person eventually had their problem dealt with, but had to send her machine into them, and I dont think she has gotten it back yet. Well, I need to get the kids moving a little faster or they will miss the bus. TTFN

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Hooded Poncho Yarn

Mary, the yarn I used in the hooded poncho is Red Heart Yarn, color water color. I also did a blanket in a variegated purple and green and tan that patterned up into an argyle. Unfortunatley that is before I had a digital camera, so I didnt get a picture of it. I hope this helps, and have fun knitting something spectaular with this yarn.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006


So, here it is another hat, which I guess in my group of friends and family I have become notorious for. When I was back in Oregon, and I gave my sister all the cool stuff I made for her new baby, my Aunt Kathy ask if I was still making hats. Of course I still make them. She said she wanted one for her daughter Bonnie who is a Junior or Senior, I dont remember which at the University of Oregon. She was hoping I could do it in Green and Yellow. Now dont get me wrong, I am one of the biggest Duck fans ever. You have to root for your school right. And I have my share of green and yellow attire, but a hat I dont know. I had a great dark green one I wore to cold games and loved it, but the yellow is soooo bright, I dont think I could pull it off, but maybe for a game. Anyhow, I came home, my sister suggested I try the Patons Merino Classic Wool. They had just started carring it at her Joannes and she wanted to know how it felted. She also knew that I hadnt found a Brown Sheep distributor locally and knew I wouldnt have time to buy direct. So I went to my local Ben Franklin, which has a great selection of yarn for a craft store and they had the perfect color in it, Bottle Green. I then found a bright yellow fun fur, not sure of its name as I cant find the label, but it is the only bright yellow. I then knit the fur with some Lambs Pride in Lemon Drop, and had this green and yellow hat. The green felted great, the yellow could have felted better, but when coupled with the fast felting green, I had to stop felting it. I hope she likes and wears the hat. I still think it would be a game day only hat, but she may think differently. I knit the hat from the Kangamooknits pattern, and did it on my USM.
I am beginning to have problems with my USM, it seems like the carriage is sitting lower on the bed. The carriage keeps catching on the needle butts. It is VERY frustrating. I think I remem

Monday, February 20, 2006

The hooded poncho

I had a comment on one of my entries....Yeah someone is looking at my blog. I dont know why this excites me so, but it does. I responded to the comment in the comment section. I am not sure the person who wrote it will see it, so I will also respond here. This seems a tad more efficient to me anyhow.

So the answer to the comment is yes, I did knit the hooded poncho. I knit it on my machine, from a kangamooknits.com pattern. The yarn used was a varigated one from Red Heart. I dont know the color off the top of my head, but saved the label for when I finally get around to making my knitting journal. I love the way it self patterned into a pseudo intarsia. The ponchos were gifts for all my nieces last Christmas. I have also given them as gifts to most of the little girl friends of my daughters on their birthday. For me this is a inexpensive gift, that is quick to do. One poncho takes about 2 hours, and when using Red Heart, or Simply Soft, my preferred yarn, costs me only about 10 dollars.

Also I must apoligize for the picture being sideways. I had recently taken it on my trip home and hadnt even gotten to the point of turning all the pictures when I started to add them. I was just finally happy to get the pictures to add. The strange thing is I didnt do anything different and this time they showed up. Oh well live and learn. TTFN, Miki

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Link to the Ruby Red Slippers pattern

Hello all, I know I have promised the pattern, and never given it...so here goes. The title of the blog is Just let me finish this row... How many times have I said that to my kids. Anyhow you can get there from www.lionbrand.com, or www.lionbrand.com/lbyarnblog4/. When on her site the easiest way to find the pattern is to type Goodbye Yellow brick road into the search this site box. The pattern should come up there. Hope this helps anyone looking for it. TTFN-miki

Wednesday, February 01, 2006








Well the first time I tried, they didnt show up, and then I got two to show, and one I didnt even right about. Anyhow it was of my neice Alli in her new hat. She chose the purple one in Cascade 220. It wasnt mine, or her moms favorite, but it was hers. Isnt she pretty. Anyhow, I am going to try to add more pictures now. So keep your fingers crossed. -miki


Well, I am back from my trip to Oregon. I had so much fun. I sure miss my nieces though. My stay was much to short, and I can hardly wait to go back. My sister loved the blanket, felted booties and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road booties I made. My nieces thought the Ruby red slippers for Baby Jilly were sooo cute! And they were. ;) So for now I really dont have that much I am knitting. I am still working on the socks in self striping yarn. I am not sure I like the colors and may give them to my daughter, but then again I love handknit socks, so I may keep them. I am also working on a shrug pattern from the Lionbrand web site. It is a wrap around shrug knit in homespun. I chose a charcol grey so it will be versatile. Essentilally you put in one arm, wrap the rest once around your body, like you would wrap a scarf, and put the other arm in. I thought it sounded interesting, and I love homespun. So, we will see if I like it when it is done. I had started on a sweater for my father in law. I was knitting the Boyfriend sweater from Kangamooknits.com, in Caron Simply Soft. But, it was HUGE. I could have worn the size medium as a dress. Now I am not that short, so I dont know why it is sooo big. I think I will write Linda at Kangamooknits and see what she thinks. Maybe it has to do with my guage. I have no idea at this point. I guess I really should swatch and check guage. I am going to try once again to post pictures on the page with the easy insert option we now have. Last time it didnt work. So, if it doesnt work this time, I will have to use Hello again. I will add the round blanket I made my niece, the booties and red slippers and the checker board blanket that I made a friends baby. I will also include some finger puppets that a friend made for my niece. I absolutely love them. I am encouraging her to make some to sell. She could even write a few stories to go along with them and to inspire others. I guess that is all for now. TTFN, Miki