Knitting Crimes & Other Craft Adventures

While trying to take etsy shop photos:

One of these sweet looking children….

stuck a green booger to the glass pane of my brand new buffet.

OK, so my youngest is watching “Sponge Bob” right now and that’s just what Plankton just sneered.  Or yelled.  I’m not crazy about Sponge Bob but I’m trying not to be overbearing.  It’s Friday, 6:09 p.m. and my work week is O-V-E-R!!!!!  Hooray!  I had my “super huge scholarship” meeting and got through it.  There’s still work to be done, but the meeting is O-V-E-R!!!  Hooray!

So, I’ve done no knitting this week, though I have been trying to take pictures for the etsy shop:

I am having a hard time getting up close shots that aren’t fuzzy.  I don’t have the greatest camera in the world, so perhaps that’s part of the problem.  I do crop the photo.  Do any of you have any tips you could share on taking an interesting picture?  What do you think of the pictures?  Be honest, but please please please be constructive….

Now, I’m off to change out of my work clothes and drag some pork chops out of the freezer.  Viva the weekend!

Hi there, remember me?  I know, it’s been awhile.

So, how have you been?  Me?  Oh, swamped.  I was out of the office 2 days this week.  I attended the IICLE’s (Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education) Estate Planning Short Course in Chicago.  That meant that I had to be up at 5:45 a.m. and ready to leave to catch a train by 6:30 a.m. — Train at 7:11 a.m., into Chicago at 8:23, then a 10-15 minute cab ride to the Hyatt McCormick.  There were about 400 people there. Each of us had a HUGE notebook with all kinds of information.  I went with a co-worker who had a sense of humor, thank goodness.  He took my falling asleep on the train and during certain sessions in stride and we had a great time.  Thursday I didn’t get home until 7:00 p.m. and Friday I didn’t get home until 6:20 p.m.

After doing the whole car/train/cab & cab/train/car thing for 2 days, I still had to take Lainie to the Fox Valley area on Friday night to try on a flower girl dress (Craig’s younger brother is getting married in September).  So, off we drove on Friday night.  I dumped Cole on my parents while we went to David’s Bridal.  Wow, was that place packed!  Lainie is going to look really, really pretty as a flower girl.

Yesterday was spent running around town: to a doctor’s appt. for Lainie, to the post office (to mail my first etsy sale, hooray!), to work to pick up some misc. stuff, to Culver’s to get lunch, to the baseball field to take Craig lunch, to Farm & Fleet to exchange a surprise for someone!, then to Uncle Dennis’ to pick up Cole (who attempted to have baseball practice but it was raining.  However, 40 degree temps and gusting wind/rain still did not cancel Craig’s doubleheader), then to Lainie’s tumbling class.  We didn’t get home until 3:40 p.m.   I made a white trash dinner of cube steak (or chicken fried steak as they call it where I grew up), au gratin potatoes and mixed vegetables.  Lainie helped make pudding for dessert.

Today I have been just hanging out around the house.  It’s 4:17 p.m. and I still have yet to shower (sorry, TMI).  Craig took the kids to Winding Creek Nursery south of Sandwich to get a new tree to replace the one that died in our parkway last year.  He even took Archie, so the house is Q-U-I-E-T!  Wonderful.  I am going to shower (in case any of you were worried) and then I’m going to walk downtown to O’Leary’s to meet up with the Dekalb Stitch ‘n Bitch for 2 hours or so of knitting.  I am beginning my first adult sized sweater with another girl.  Such fun!

This week promises to be another one full of activity.  I administer several private scholarships at work and my largest one has its meeting this Friday.  I have only gotten through about 40 of the 130 applications.  Stress city, man!

I’ve attempted to list some more markers into the shop, but my photography skills are just not quite as good as Kristin’s (who took the inital lovely batch).  I did, however, update my ravelry projects to include…..

The Swampy Scarf.

Doesn’t it look like it could start moving at any minute?  I’m making it with some yarn from the sale crib at the Yarn Exchange and cone yarn in a gray chenille.  Hopefully I’ll post some in progress photos of the sock this week (had no luck working on it on the train as I dropped another stitch and didn’t pick it up right) and of the “Big Sack Sweater”. 

As my crafty buddy, Kristin, would say:  “Keep it crafty, everyone!”

Still under construction - but coming along nicely!  Yay!
Check it out here!

(Special super I-owe-you thanks go out to my crafty buddy, Kristin, for the immeasurable amount of help she’s given me this afternoon - Kristin, I’m sorry your butt went numb sitting for so long at the computer!)

The stitch markers keep coming!  Etsy has proven to be dangerous territory.  There are a lot of cool bead suppliers!

Czech glass in purples and gray/black

Shiny, red, white, silver

Big and bright for a bulky project

Lovely turquoise and yellow glass

“Little Flowers”

The shiny beads at the top have hints of blue that bring out the color of the bottom bead

Sock stitch markers

More sock stitch markers - glass, very cheerful!

It took forever - but I can call it done!  And it fits!!!!

My oldest turned 8 yesterday.  We celebrated on Sunday with an “all boy” party and had family come towards the end to eat.  I made a ton of food and conned my younger brother-in-law into grilling the  hamburgers and hotdogs.  It was a beautiful, warm day.  I can’t believe my first baby is 8!!!

And the carnage afterward:

Robyn, of Knit and Purl Mama, emailed me asking what the heck a PB&H was (from my IOS picture).  That, my friends, is a peanut butter and honey sandwich.  My husband and mother-in-law brainwashed Cole into liking that better than the normal PB&J.  Robyn told me she was allergic to peanut butter for the longest time.  She can eat it now, but it grosses her out.  I said “that’s a shame”.  Because we buy the industrial size for our house:

80 oz.  (that’s 5 pounds!!!) of peanut butter goodness.  And we eat so much of it in our house I don’t even bother to buy name brand - just the largest size in whatever store brand is available.  It’s the definite “go to” food in the house.  I pretty much have a peanut butter sandwich at work for breakfast every day.

Go to Robyn’s site and check out her little boy, Sean.  Such a happy little cutie!

*Island of Shit.  My piles of stuff earned this nickname from my husband some time ago.