Natural Easter Eggs

So this year we decided to dye our Easter eggs with dyes found in nature. By we, I of course mean me. I truly hate Easter Egg dyes. They are messy and gross. Sure the colors are kinda pretty, but why not try something different. We used spinach for a VERY pale green, red cabbage for a Robins egg blue, yellow onion skins for an orangey color, cumin for a light yellow, coffee for brown, carrott tops for a yellowy green, beets for a reddish pink, red onion skins were supposed to be purple, but they turned out a sort of brown, and golden delicious apple peels for a brownish lavender. The kids, mainly the youngest, had fun checking the process. These dyes take a little longer to develop their color than say a Paz kit, but I like the end result. We also read on some website when researching this that sometimes cream of tartar will enhance the color. We added some and it seems to give the eggs a sparkle like glitter. Pretty fancy! Enjoy the photos. TTFN, Miki

First let me start by saying I LOVE my Dyson. My husband freaked when he found out how much I had spent on it, but I was seriously tired of getting vacuums that just did not preform to standards, or running out of bags just before a party. So I think this give away is a great idea. I would love to win one for a very dear friend of mine that has allergy issues and has not been able to afford one. Or maybe for my mom who chose another brand because of its weight, but I don't think it is that great of a vacuum. BTW Dyson is sponsoring this give away which is also terrific. Thanks to Housewife for letting me know about it. TTFN, Miki

Matching socks is it possible?

A little while back I wrote about knitting socks that match. It frustrates me that people don't take the time to match a self patterning yarn so each sock lines up. Housewife said she was just glad her daughter wore socks, she didn't care if they were the same or not. Well, her daughter might like the ones I just knit for my youngest. They were knit with Moda Dea Sassy Stripes yarn, color 6946. I had purchased two balls of this yarn a few years ago to knit socks and never did. Now that I am buying higher end yarn, I didn't want to knit these for me. She wanted them and I figured that I would knit a "matching pair" for her BF, my neice. Now Moda Dea says you need to balls to knit one pair of socks. I had originally bought two, in the same dye lot so they would match. I grabbed one ball, and began knitting. The sock began knitting up different then I thought it would...but I continued. When it was done, I pulled out the rest of the ball to try to match the repeat. I didn't find a repeat...in fact the rest of the ball looked completely different than the sock I had just knit! I had a sock that would NEVER match another sock! J, my youngest daughter, decided that was fine with her. Now it is our little joke. In a way I think it proves the original point I was trying to make, that just because two socks are knit with the same yarn, doesn't make them a matched pair. Of course, it could prove another point also, that isn't mine. That socks knit with the same yarn are not supposed to match. Of course I realize this is an extreme case. On a side note, the second ball of yarn, matches the second sock, so something was wrong with the first part of the first ball of yarn. I plan on calling Moda Dea about this.

To continue this same idea a little further. Before knitting up the no match socks, I had started a pair for Hubby. They are knit in Austermann Step, Nacht Blue. I love this yarn. It has aloe in it. It is SO soft. The yarn store said one ball made a pair of socks. So I began knitting. Finished the first sock, pulled out the repeat and began the second sock. Got to the toes, and didn't have eonugh yarn to finish the sock. Went and looked at what I had pulled out for the repeat and it didn't match either. Now mind you, Hubby doesn't have larger feet. He wears a 10 1/2-11. If not for the repeat I would have been able to knit for him, but certainly not anyone with larger feet. I gave him the option to finish the socks with the no matching pull out, but he said he wanted the toes to match to. Now the difference in the blues for the toes would have been minimal, but he said no. So, we went back to the yarn store, and they were out of that color, so now we have to wait until they get more in. Am I being punished by the sock knitting gods for critisizing the non matching socks people were knitting.

I also have another pair for my BFF that match the last pair I made for myself on needles. Now they won't match mine exactly, because that is even a little too anal for me. But they will be close. TTFN, Miki

Seeing the World Through Rose Colored Glasses

I just read a post on a blog that I read regularly, and it got me thinking. Am I viewing the world through rose colored glasses? I like to think I see the best and people. Maybe I am just living a fantasy. Housewife thinks that unless our blogs are private for family and friends we should limit or maybe even eliminate the personal information on our blogs. After reading her post it made me think about how irresponsible I had been. Have I used my kids names? Yes. Had I mentioned things they did? Yes. Have I mentioned where they go to school? I don't think so. Have I mentioned where we live? Yes, that is in my profile. Are my kids safe? I hope so. As a parent I like to think that I have done everything in my power to keep my kids safe, but maybe I haven't. Do I frequently check websites to see if registered sex offenders live near me? You bet I do. Have I checked every single one of the kids' parents in my girl scout troop? Yep. Overkill? I don't think so. My sister had a father of one of her girl scouts on the list. He liked to hang out off to the side during her meetings. He never spoke with the girls, but they all knew who he was, so there was no stranger danger. When she found out that he was registered and not to be around children, she called his parole officer. Boy did that ever make his wife angry.

Now I have sort of lost my train of thought. Anyhow, this has got me to thinking...I need to be better about what is put on my blog, for the safety of my whole family. This for me started out as a way to stay in touch with family and friends, but has become something more than that. I am not prepared to make it private because I would lose the input of the few readers that I have, that I both enjoy and respect. Thank you Housewife for reminding me to take my shades off indoors. TTFN, Miki

New Sock Yarn

I finally ordered some sock yarn from Ray. He had recently done some new colorways, and I just couldn't resist. I ordered Blue Jeans, Doberman, and Milk and Honey. I thought about ordering the Rasberry Ice ( I think that is what it was called). But I didn't think I had enough pink to wear with it. Anyhow, I got them in the mail yesterday, and they are AWESOME! The colors are great and the yarn is soft. I can't wait to make socks out of them! If you haven't checked him out yet, please do. He has nice yarns at competitive prices, and great customer service. I had my order in two days! Plus you are supporting an independent bussiness man, and the American economy. TTFN, Miki

Fergie the Spelling Tutor

Somthing must be wrong with our world when we have pop stars/rappers, or whatever she, Fergie,wants to be reffered to spelling in their songs. Has the state of our public education system gotten so bad that in Fergalicious she tells us she isn't a slut, and I say REALLY? Then why are you rolling around in cake and frosting in barely any clothes in the video? Give me a break! Now she has a new song Glamorous and which she also needs to spell for us. TTFN, Miki

Posh Pooch

I just finished knitting Duke a new sweater. It is from the Posh Pooches knitting book. It is a baseball style jersey with Raglan sleeves. I knit it in left overs of Caron Simply Soft. The colors are dark green( sage I think) and pale yellow. Duck colors of course. Here isn't too sure he likes it yet, but he will adjust. Enjoy the picture. TTFN, Miki

Missing Tooth

Well it happened. Jacquelyn lost her first tooth last night. She was leaving Thinking Day(a girl scout event), bit into a fortune cookie and started screaming. I ask her if she bit her tongue. She screamed and cried something back at me. I told her she had to calm down I didn't understand did she bite her tongue. She screamed and cried some more and started looking on the ground. What she said sounded something like I think I just bit my tongue off and I can't feel it anymore. When I repeated that back to her, she laughed and began to calm down. Apparantly when she bit down, one of her bottom teeth moved and now it hurt. In fact, it loosened up a lot. Of course she would not eat as biting hurt. So today, we finally got the tooth out, and she was able to eat. Enjoy the picture! TTFN, Miki

Matching socks update and what kids choose to wear

First let me say I just typed this whole post, and then lost it. DANG! So, I started to type this post in response to a comment left by Housewife. (Thanks for reading and commenting.) She said that her daughter doesn't wear matching socks anymore, and sometimes her shoes don't match. The funny thing is, this doesn't bother me. My kids make many interesting wardrobe choices, including mismatched socks. Except for Gwen, who I think it would physically pain to do so. But, that is a whole 'nother story. I like to think that how my kids put an outfit together is a reflection of who they are and is a way for them to express themselves. In reality, they are probably just putting on the first things they grab.

My problem lies with those who make the socks, calling them a match pair. For me they match no more than to different blue socks, or two different patterns knit with the same yarn. These same people are constantly worrying over seams on garments they have made, and saying it is the attention to detail that makes the difference in a hand made garment. However, they don't take the time to find the repeat in the patterning in the yarn and start the second sock from there.

More about kids and there clothing choices. About a month, my family and I were walking through IKEA. I overheard a couple behind me talking. My husband says this is a bad habit of mine, I say they were invading my auditory space. ;) Anyhow, the guy says to the girl, "you would never wear tennis shoes with a dress would you?" I didn't hear her response as I was somehow distracted by someone or something. It was until later that I realized he was talking, rather loudly, and rudely in my oppinion, about my 7 year old daughter. Jacquelyn had that day chosen to wear a very pretty red velvet dress with a pretty satin ribbon, and red Converse hightops. Now give me a break...ok, it looked a little crazy, but she is 7! And at least she matched and was clean. I mean it wasn't like she was 35, and going to a gala...but so what if she was. Really at least at 7 she has already figured out that sneakers are way more comfortable than dress shoes. I mean I keep forgetting that and forcing myself to wear heels for any important event we go to. TTFN, Mikalan

Knitting socks that match

Is it just me, or is it wrong to knit socks, that while are made using the same yarn, just don't match. Nothing bothers me more than when people hand knit socks with self patterning yarn and they don't make the socks look the same. Now I know, from experience, that it isn't the easiest thing to find the repeat and work from there on the second sock. Then there are the people who do two socks at the same time one knit from the inside of the skein, and one knit from the outside. But come on people, they don't match unless you match the repeat. It is this attention to detail that I think makes all the difference. Am I alone here?

Here are some pictures of a few of the things I finished knitting. Gwens poncho is knit in Lion Brand Jiffy in a sort of Rose color. The poncho is VERY thick and warm. The blanket is for Craigs boss's new baby girl. It is done in Simply soft in lavender, mint(or is it light sage) and ivory. The bag is for my sister in law Stacy it is knit in Cascade 220 red and black and then felted. I then needle felted a letter "S" on the back, or is that the front. It was my first attempt at needle felting. It didn't really turn out the way I thought it would, but I like the results. I hope she does too. TTFN, Miki

Oh yeah...and sorry the poncho pictures are sideways...My computer wasn't lettin gme turn them. Maybe I can edit it out later. -M

Yarns I want to buy

So I know it has been awhile since I last blogged. My kids keep me soooo busy. So I just wanted to really quickly give a shout out to someone who I "met" on a yahoo knitting group many years ago. He lived in New Orleans, and is a Katrina survivor. He has since moved to Houston, and has refocused his life. He is now creating and selling hand painted/dyed yarns. They are very pretty and reasonably priced. Anyhow...check them out at Knitivity. I am waiting to buy some sock yarn, as soon as I get caught up on some other projects, and destash a little. I really like the Amethyst, Wading Pool, and California Blush. Another bonus is, that the yarn you buy is unique. I mean he may have some similar, but not like a mass marketed yarn from a large company. I think that is kinda cool. TTFN, Miki

How time flies

I just saw that it has been since Dec. 14th since I last blogged. Shame on me. Anyhow it has been a crazy sorta month. First the harddrive died(yes again) on my laptop. I am still waiting for the new one. I am less than happy with Seagate right now. Then the harddrive went out on the desk top. We had been having problems with the desk top, so I really didn't mind replacing the drive. Then just this last weekend while driving on I 95 home to Richmond from DC, our car just died. So not cool. We had to towed two miles to Quantico, stayed in a hotel and rented a car the next day. So $500 later, we had it at the mechanic. Now mind you, we had just gotten the car back from the mechanic, and he replaced an upper radiator hose. We had been having a coolant leak, and he thought it may have been the water pump, but decided it was an upper radiator hose instead. A couple of days later the mechanic in Quantico determined that it was the timing belt that had broke, and that the water pump was leaking. $600 later we would have a car we could drive the 80 miles home. The mechanic then also found that the tensioner was broke, which was what caused the belt to brake. So we drove home with a repaired car, and the mechanics promise that if anything were to happen he would fix it, even if it meant towing it back to Quantico. Well considering that the car is 15 years old, and we had been talking about buying a new one, we went through the "fun" process of car shopping. Now mind you we weren't buying new, more like 5 or so years old, and we had a "cap" as to what we were willing to spend. We did not want to get financing, as it is really nice not having a car payment. Unfortunately, we didn't have all the cash available right away. We were hoping that Craigs dad's house would sell and we would use part of that money to buy a car. But now we felt like we couldn't wait, so we decided to sell some stock. We knew that we wouldn't have the stock money until next week, but did that stop my husband? Not at all. He decided to go to Richmond Auto Auctions without me on Thursday and bought a new Expedition. Needless to say I was a little angry that he didn't even call me, and that I had no say in the car that I was going to drive. Plus there is the thing that it had to be paid for in full by Monday, and we wouldn't have our money until Wed. . So, it ended up taking just about every penny we had until the money comes in. So just when the story starts to sound good, it gets bad again...kinda. While driving home from picking up the new car, the old car broke down again (same problem I am guessing). The mechanic after being called, said he would drive down on Monday(today) and fix the car. Well he didn't come today, so we will need to call him tomorrow. I just need it working so we can sell it. I am ready to cut my losses on this one and to move on. In the midst of all this I have been knitting and finishing projects and starting new ones, which I will update when I have a spare moment. TTFN, Miki

Frosty the Snowman

Well I have finished my snowman ornament. I think he turned out pretty well. His scarf may be a little long...but oh well. Gwens was just about done, but while messing with his hat last night she broke the ball. Then this morning at breakfast Cory's got broken also as they were playing with it. The kids' still need a little work, and a few bottoms, but I posted pictures any way. I have them sitting on top a shot glass so that they will sit upright for the photos. -Miki

Clarece's snowman

Jacquelyn's Snowman

Gwens snowman

Clareces snowman profile. Look at the twist in the carrot nose.

My snowman...lets call him Frosty.

Cornells snowman

The Stockings Were Hung By The Chimmney With Care...

So here are photos of the finished stockings hung by the fireplace. We got a new camera a few weeks ago that I am still trying to figure out. I am not pleased with the flash, so the pictures may be a little darker than I like.

Here is Clareces'


Here is Jacquelyns'


Here is Cornells'


Here is Gwens'


Now I have a year to do mine, Craigs and one for Duke. That should be easy...not! TTFN, Miki

Crafters ADD

I have recently come to the conclusion that I have a from of Crafters ADD(attention deficit disorder). I love trying all kinds of new projects, but seem to become distracted when I see something new I want to try. This leaves me with many projects going on at once, and taking many years to complete some projects. I love the "thrill" of starting a new project and seeing how it will turn out. Once I get the hang of a particular technique, or I can see how the project will finish, I become a tad bored and have a hard time motivating myself to finish the project. Then I start something new. It has been one of my goals this year to finish many of my UFO's. I think I have done a pretty good job with it. However, I could have finished them all had I not snuck other projects in also. My sister asked me the other day if I had finished my felted needle case yet as it had been the same on my progress bar for ages. I laughed and told her no, but I had knit a few pair of socks, and some glass cozies and a few baby blankets, and some other things that never even made it to the progress bar. In truth if I listed everything on my progress bar that I was working on, it would be a joke.

This weekend I had set a personal goal of finishing the kids' stockings by Sunday night. Well, instead of working on them on Saturday, I decided to make some snowmen ornaments. I had seen the idea on Carol Duval's program and already had most of the supplies from another incomplete project. I figured the kids could help. They are made with a glass ball on the bottom and a styrofoam one on the top. The glass ball is filled part to most of the way full with "snow" (shredded plastic). You then embellish the balls to look like snowmen. I will post a picture when they are done. The kids started making Fimo carrot noses. I was filling the balls. On the last one, I was attaching the styrofoam ball, and the glass ball shattered in my hand. I cut everyone of the fingers on my left hand. I was lucky though, because I wasn't wearing protective eyewear and that could have been bad. I probably should have had protective hand wear on also. I took a pretty good chunk out of my thumb, and had to remove many fragments from other fingers. It was very reminiscent of this summer and the whole frame fiasco. The kids were upset to see my bleeding every where, and my husband chastised me from work. Oh well....so they didn't get finished. I did however work on knitting little scarves for them, but they didn't get finished either. Sunday I spent the evening sewing the stockings together, and pulling the basting stitches out. Today I put the hangers on them and they are DONE! Yeah!

The stocking is done!

So, after working for hours trying to get Jacquelyn's stocking done, I have finished stitching it. It turned out really nice. I will post a picture of it after I have it sewn into a stocking shape and hung with her brother and sisters. My goal is to have that done by sometime Sunday.

Here is the funniest part of the whole stocking thing. The pattern I chose was from a kit, and like most kits it has a picture on the front of the finished project complete with personalization. Of course the personalization is generic. In this case the name is Duncan. Well, Jacguelyn realized that it didn't say her name on the package and became quite distressed. Craig told her that it wasn't a big deal that her secret Christmas name was Duncan. Well strangely she fell for it, and has told us that on Christmas she wants us to call her Duncan. I explained that I could change the pattern and put her name on it and she told me that she wanted her Christmas name on it. Well, of course I put Jacquelyn on it instead of Duncan, which dissapointed her and her father, but they will just have to get over it. I will put the name Duncan on all her gifts though. That should make her happy. TTFN, Miki

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 35th birthday. So far it feels like any other day. My kids are real excited about it though. So excited that I had to open my gifts first thing this morning, even before breakfast. They bought me a Moms devotional, a top with a lace inset, a blue tooth headset for my phone, and a leather jacket. I think this may be the first occassion ever that I didn't get any jewelry from them. Wow!

Later today some of my girl friends here in Virgina are taking me out for lunch. That will be fun. Of course over the next few weeks it will just feel like a weekly occurance as we have three birthdays over I think 3 weeks. And then a fourth one a few weeks later.

Tonight I have a Girl Scout leader meeting, so no real celebration. I just hope that the package my mom sent from Oregon gets here as she baked me an applesauce cake and vacuum sealed it. She did this two years ago when we were in Minnesota, but not last year. Just so its out there and my mom doesn't sound crazy, she always makes me an applesauce cake for my birthday. Well except for last year. When we were in Minnesota that was the first time we werent living in Oregon, and so she sent it to me. She even sent the frosting. All the kids had to do was frost it. Of course they got a little carried away and add all kids of sprinkles and stuff. It really ended up looking disgusting, but it tasted sooooo good.

Looks Yummy huh?

Well I am off to do the things I need to do, like finish Jacquelyns stocking, TTDN, Miki

Gwen's Cheer Socks

Well now that football cheer season is over, I have finished Gwens cheer socks. Oh well there is always next year. I knit socks to go with her uniform, for before a competition. She isn't supposed to wear her cheer shoes unitl she is warming up to go on the mats. This helps to keep them a pristine white color. So the plan was to knit these great socks and get her a pair of black crocs to wear with them. Well we got the crocs. That was the easy part. Of course had I really worked on the socks to get them done they would have been. But they were just a side project for me. You know how my attention span is and all. So now they are done. Yeah! Sorry for the picture. I just couldnt capture the color the way I wanted, and it looks a little blurry, but that could just be my eyes.

The yarn is Lion Brand Magic Stripes, Lumberjack Black colorway.

And for my next project...socks for me. No really this time I mean it. I am sure they wil fit me this time, and Gwen will not get them. I am knitting them in Lion Brand magic stripes, Regatta Blue Stripe colorway. I am about half way done with the first sock. After that I owe my husband a pair. He will be getting my first pair knit with AWESOME sock yarn. He chose a yarn that he found at the Yarn Lounge in Richmond, that has aloe and jojoba oil in it. The yarn is Austermann Step. The color is 4, from what I can tell. My description of the color is a varegated grey, light blue. I can't wait to see how these knit up.

Thats all I got, so TTFN, Miki

State Competition

Well Cheer is over...for football that is. I am not sure when basketball starts, but it will be soon. I had promised pictures of Gwen's hair, but for some strange reason, never posted them. It take about 2 hours to wrap, and my hands are super hairspray sticky after, but it sure looks cute.
In curlers

Curly




Today was our last competition. Virginia States. The girls have worked very hard the last few weeks in preparation for this competition. It was an all day event, with many different categories that I couldn't even dream of trying to figure out. Out "senior" squad placed first in their category, and we...drum roll please placed 2nd. This was out of 6 teams, and our girls looked great. Here is a picture of Gwen holding the team trophy.




I also took a few pictures of them doing their routine. In the first one, Gwen has her back to the camera, as she is the front support for the stunt group.


In the next one, she is in the back row, on the right side.



For the last one, she is also in the back, on the right.


So after a long day of cheer I am totally wiped. TTFN, Miki