i've moved

i did say yesterday that i was back, and i am, i've just moved.
check me out here: http://livefully.blog.com
see you there!!

i'm back!!!

hello again,

i've decided that after being gone from blogging for a loooong time that i am ready to put blogging back into my life.

i love reading about 20 blogs a day and i miss not being in this loop.

i've decided that i will make my focus blogging about knitting and the wanderings of life.

looking forward to a new and fresh start.

Friday!!!

yeah! it's friday. 71/2 school days till christmas break. do you think i'm ready?
no real news here. but i must blog every few days if i'm going to stay in the habit, right?
tonight my new grandson, daughter and son in law are coming to here.... to grandma's house!!!!!!! lots of new firsts....
we are having a brunch here tomorrow for the grandson. about 25 guests. that will be so fun.
not a lot of news on the knitting front. i'm working on my first christmas stocking from the dec martha stewart magazine. just started it last night. fun thing to work on.
i was looking forward to coming home from work today and relaxing and working on the sock. always fun to have a knit to look forward to at the end of a day.
happy weekend!!!!

Trying to Beat the Christmas Clock

not much knitting done since last post. we threw our annual christmas party last saturday night. about 35 guests. busy, but fun. then the next morning i left for michigan to visit with my daughter and the new grandson!!!!!!!!! great fun.
i have most of my realistic christmas knitting done. i did see on another blog the cute martha stewart christmas socks and picked up the magazine and tonight i'm looking thru my stash to see what i can find to do a stocking for the little grandson.
hopefully i can "pull that off" too.
this weekend, on sat we are having a brunch to show off the grandson to all our friends so i'm busy with that planning. then the parties are over and i can settle in and enjoy the holiday. and hopefully lots of knitting.
have a great rest of the week!!!!!!!!!!

I'm spoiled!!!!!!!

okay......i have the BEST sp3 in the world!!! i'm not kidding!! i just got another package from her and not only has she gone over the top, she has sent me dreaming things that are "so me" without me being a very good blogger and giving her continual info about me.
first, i want to say: thanks, thanks, thanks!!!!!!!!! then i want to say: sorry, sorry, sorry!!!

want to hear about all the goodies my great sp3, danielle from oregon sent ?
the package was soooooooo heavy!! (danielle, did you hear my shouts of delight across the miles?)
everything was wrapped so cute with a little note of her thoughts attatched to each item. first there were 3 balls of yummy, cotton ball soft, baby alpaca. in baby blue!!!! my theme color this year!! and my sp didn't even know, since my last post, that my DH bought me baby blue uggs!!! wow!!!!!! so i know what the blue alpaca is going to become, a fluffy scarf to match.
next, 3 balls of some creamy white, jo sharp, dk wool. (ps D the movie is "somethings gotta give) i've never knit with jo sharp before, but i've fondled it many times and i just bought one of her books a few months ago. (D how did you know?) the book is called Gathering and i think i may make one of the cable "jenny hats" , that will only take a little over one ball, and then maybe some matching, wrist warmers with the leftovers, fabulous!!!
two skeins of "socks that rock" yarn. i've never heard of this yarn, but i'm in love! i think it's from blue moon fiber arts. the colorway is farmhouse. i have these dreams of one day visiting Paris and so my sp said in her note that it reminded her of a beautiful paris sky. yes. so this yarn has to be knit into the clapotis on knitty.com. while i'm knitting it i will pretend to be that cute girl in the picture sitting at the paris cafe.
oh, i'm not done yet. three knitting books. yes, i did say three!!! and can you believe i don't have any of them!!!! (and my book collection is deep and wide). the vogue knitting will be a wonderful and helpful resource. lilly chin's book is something i looked at many times, but have never taken home. the the monkey suits book will give me great ideas for my new little "monkey" that i now have to knit for, my grandson. i look forward to spending some time looking thru these great books.
also, thanks for the "sock" stitch holders. i've had some here and there but i think my cats think they are toys and so they dissapear. the foot soak looks yummy too.
whew......okay.........i'm done!!!!!!! THANKS is not enough.
i look forward to my christmas break knitting projects. which will be the sp projects just mentioned. right now i'm finishing up christmas gifts and hadn' thought of what i would do for me after that. now i know. and all are projects that i will wear this season, so i'm itching to get started. i'll keep you posted.
thanks again, and my new years resolution is to begin to blog again!!!!

Happy Christopher Day

Thanks Chris for discovering America and thanks for the day off!!!
Today I plan to, after I get off the couch, get off line, do a few things around here, and get into the shower, do a bit of shopping.
It's nice to have a day in front of me with not too much that I have to do. My first stop will be to the Gap to make a return and of course "check out" what's new there. I think I will go to the Body Gap and see if I can find a cute pj set for my daughter, who we are still waiting for the grandson, birth day. I remember how fun it was, those first few weeks after that first baby, sitting around the house and not having to get dressed. I think she would enjoy some new jammies. I'll look for front button ones because she plans to breastfeed.
Then I NEED to stop at DSW shoes. I love that store because you can walk in there, scan the rows of shoes, try on in two seconds and you're out. Then on to my favorite place, Trader Joe's. I haven't stocked up from there in over a month. Yum1
The DH is out of town working till Weds. so i have that "on my own" feeling. Sometimes that's fun.
Over the weekend we went to see Ladder 49. Wow!!! Great movie, very emotional, I will never look at Firefighters the same way again. It's a must see.
In knitting news, I'm still working on Klaralund. The front and back are done, and I'm over 3/4 of the way done with the sleeves. I'm working them together. That's always great because when you're done you're done. Then seam and wear her. Hopefully by the end of this week.
Not working on anything else at the same time, but I have my list.
I have had no luck finding the new Rebecca magazine at any knitting shops. There are some new patterns that I think would be fun to look at for the future, but no luck yet. Tonight is the knitting group at the coffee shop so I will probably head over there too!!!
Well if I'm going to get going with my day I think I need to GET GOING! Happy Day!

Yummy Weekend

What a nice yummy weekend I had. Or maybe I just thought that it was so great because it started for me on Thursday!!! That could be part of it!
Had a lovely time in Michigan with my daughter's co-workers, at her shower. Fun! That was on Thursday evening, then we came home to her place and put away MORE baby things and did loads of laundry in Dreft. Yum! Then tried to decide how to fold all those tiny things. That was so much fun. I told her that I can't wait to see HIM in every outfit!
Slept in on Friday till about 8. That's late for me. Then we went to breakfast at this yummy health food resturant. One of our favorites! On the trip home I did stop very quickly at the Fiber House Yarn Shop in Grand Haven. It is under new ownership and I haven't been there in over a year and let me say that it is not as great as it used to be. Not near the stock. But I did buy enough Noro yarn to make the shawl in the Cornelia Book 2. I can't remember the name of the shawl and my book is not here with me. I choose a verigated yarn that has different soft blue and wine colored shades. Very different. Wish I had a camera! This shawl will be a very quick knit. And I plan to start on it after Karalund.
Speaking of Karalund!!!!! I started working on her when I got home on Friday, just for an hour or so in the afternoon, then the same on Saturday afternoon. And last night was able to "camp out" on the couch, watch tv, and knit! I really have not been able to do that for quite some time. It was bliss! Hubby worked at night last night, left about 4pm and so I was on my own. I have the back of Karalund finished and 2/3 of the front done! I love it. I picked quite colorful Silk Garden but I think I will enjoy wearing that sweater.
On Saturday night hubby and I went to a Mexican resturant for dinner. Yummy again, and wonderful Margaritas:)
I'm suppose to be reading for my book group that is meeting Oct. 22, with the author!, but I have not been doing very well with that. I can't stop knitting in my free time! On Sunday morning hubby and I went to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel and while we were waiting I was "shopping around", they have such cute stuff, anyway, I notice a rack of books on tape and CD. You pay $21.00 and then you may use it for one week. At the end of the time you return it and get all but $3.50 back. What a great idea!!! And I think you can return at any store. Great for traveling! Who thinks of this stuff?
Well, that's all for today. Happy October to you!

I'm still alive!!

I'm a bad blogger! Where does the time go. However, I did lose the last two posts that I tryed to publish. Or maybe I'm just doing something wrong. Sometimes, as you all know, computer land is a frustrating and slow place.

I have taken the rest of the week off. I have been so sick with a cold. I guess it was my turn in the teacher world to get sick. Just about everyone else at school has had a cold. I stuck with it on mon, tues and weds, but realized that if I don't rest my body and my voice this thing is just not going to go away.

On the knitting front I recieved my Silk Garden yesterday from "Brown" (ups)!!!!!! Actually I ordered it from Purl. ( I also ordered and recieved the new book: Knitted Gifts, by Joelle. The owner of Purl. There are some beautiful and fun things in there. ) Yeah! I hope to do a swatch today for Karalund, and be on my way. I will do my first swatch on #7 because I'm a loose knitter. I doubt that I will be using the recommended #8. Silk Garden is sooooo soft. I have knitted with Noro Kreyoun (sp) before. That was a great yarn, but not the softness of SG.

The baby blanket is done! And in little bits of time that I have I'm doing a baby hat with the leftovers. Knitting for a tiny baby doesn't excite me as much as I imagine as, say knitting for a toddler will. I have two of the Wee Knits books that I have been looking at for the future.

Daughter had another DR visit yesterday and everything looks good. Now we are just in those last, few, waiting, weeks!!!! Can't wait for that boy to get here!

I've stopped working on my poncho. I'm rethinking it. I'm about 3/4 done but I don't love it. I think it is because I have done it with Harrisford Wool. Which is beautiful but the poncho will have no "drape". Which is an important thing about ponchos. So before I rip it is sitting, doing nothing, resting in the thinking pile.

I like the felted tote in the Fall Interweave Knits. It is just like one that I saw in the J Jill catalog for $89!!! I've never done any two color knitting. But I have yarn in my stash that I could use for this and it may be a good way to start.

Other than that I only have a red raspberry sweater jacket, that I am designing, on the needles. I have the body and one sleeve done. So I'm well on my way with that. Oh, and a few flowers, for the class I am teaching in later October.
So, that frees me for Karalund!!!! Everyone sayes she's fast.

We are finally getting into sweater weather here in Chicago. Which I'm ready for. I ordered Ugg's online from Nordstrom's months ago and the delivery date was to be sometime around Thanksgiving and just got an email today that the date was changed to Jan 15th!!!!!!!!!
Uck----not ugg!!! Drat!

I'm heading to Michigan tomorrow and on my way I drive by Saugatuck. There was a shop there that had Ugg's at one time. I may have to pull over and check it out. Also there's a yarn shop in Grand Haven that I may have to check out. I'm going alone to a shower for my daughter so when on a solitary road trip, you can do what you want, right?

Have a great knitting weekend! Laurie