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Wednesday, November 30, 2005

More Finished Objects

FO #39 I'm more pleased with the colors now but I don't like how this hat fits. It makes me look like I have a watermelon on my head. I probably won't wear it much. Maybe I'll have to use my leftovers and make a headband. That would look better with my new haircut anyway.

FO #40 is another mini sweater. No picture to show of that one.

FO#41 Before felting:


And after. Unfortunately I wasn't very good at capturing the size difference. Here is a close-up of the mittens. I didn't do them exactly right. I don't have the pattern centered perfectly. I didn't read the instructions for the women's size (I used the child size measurements when centering) until it was too late. It's not too bad. Don't tell anyone, okay?

I also have a WIP to announce. It's a sweater for Frog. I'm making it out of Bernat 70% acrylic 30% cotton. I used yarn before on a baby dress and I really liked how it feels when it is all knit up. It is also machine washable, which is a plus. I'm making this so I can have something to seam up at the finishing class I am taking at the LYS. I was going to make a sweater for myself but decided that would take too long. I'm barely finding the time to blog lately. I know, the horror of it all.
Here's the purse I commissioned from Shop ESCAPE. I used it all Thanksgiving break (luckily it showed up the day before we left). You can check out her blog at My Escape from the Boys. The purse turned out just like I had hoped (better, in fact). I love the fabrics, the clasp, the size, etc...

Monday, November 28, 2005

Raising the Bar

Project Fat Arse has been kicked into overdrive. I've got an appointment every day this week at the Y. The only thing that might keep me from missing a day or two is a blizzard. Central Nebraska is pretty much in white-out conditions but we've missed it here in Lincoln. I don't know how much longer that will last, though.

About raising the bar...I put Big Apple down to nap this afternoon and when I came in to get her, she was not in her crib. That bang I heard a few minutes earlier must have been her acrobatics to get out of there. She's perfectly fine. I guess I'm going to have to leave the sides up all of the time now. What a nut.

In knitting news: I'm about to finish my pair of felted clogs. I need to take pictures of a bunch of things. I'll try and do that tonight and get them posted later or sometime tomorrow. I also need to find some good yarn to make a sweater. I have to make one for a class I'm taking at the LYS on finishing techniques. That's really my downfall. I can't seam worth a crap. Hopefully this class will help. I just need to get some sweater parts together before the class (on Dec. 10).

Friday, November 25, 2005

Quidditch Sweaters, Nebraska, and Yarn!

Here are my adorable brothers. They put on their sweaters before I got there so I could see them in all of their glory! Joe is on the left and Sam is on the right. Joe is practicing Quidditch on his broom and Sam is holding up his wand.

Sugar Daddy and I got to go and see the HP movie on Thanksgiving. Oh my! So GOOD! It is definitely the best one by far (even though I say this every time a new one comes out). The Quidditch World Cup is awesome. I wish they would have shown more of that. I'm always amazed at how they can put the movie together without ruining a lot of the plot. They leave out a lot of stuff but it doesn't detract from the "full" feeling of the movie. I miss the house elves, though.

While we're here in Oklahoma, we took a family picture to include in our Christmas cards. Off topic: Christmas is one of the hardest words for me to type because I always include a "y"...Christymas. Anyway, for the picture this year we decided to wear Nebraska shirts to celebrate the fact that Sugar Daddy is most definitely a professor at that school and that we are now most definitely residents of that fine state. Here's the one we are going with. Too bad the only "Nebraska" that you can read is on my ample bosom. Bummer. More motivation to kick PFA back into action. Do you notice my new short haircut? My sister was "in the zone" and created my new hairstyle. I'm very much in love with it at the moment.


My mom did an awesome thing this year for Christmas. She gave all the kids and their spouses money. We are supposed to spend it on presents for ourselves and get the presents back to her so she can wrap them up for us. Since we don't live around here, we were kind of exempt from that. But, we did have to spend the money today before we left. We decided to get a new printer for our computer and then split the rest of the money evenly. SD is buying more computer stuff and I went to a yarn store here in Tulsa and spent my money on Noro (color 55) and Koigu Premium Merino (3 skeins). Yummy. I'll take pictures of that later.

I haven't been doing a lot of knitting on this trip. I did finish the hat. I'm working on some more mini sweaters for the tree. I also brought some wool for felted clogs. I'll probably cast on for those soon so I can have them to work on in the car on the way home. My mom just brought me a cardigan that my dad bought for her in Ireland. It's Donegal wool and is full of beatiful bobbles and cables. It got snagged and needs a little mending. I'm her girl for that. It makes me want to make one for myself. I'll have to put that on my list of knits for the future. Better get back to the family! Hope you all had a great holiday because I sure did!

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Winter Wonderland

In an effort to prepare myself for the cold weather, I've been knitting myself a winter ensemble. Oh yeah, baby. I've made a scarf (Wavy from www.knitty.com), mittens with an argyle pattern (from Family Circle Easy Knitting magazine fall issue...they were on the cover), and a hat. The hat is too small and I don't like that I used the flamingo pink as the main color. I'm re-doing it with the burgundy color as the MC and the pink as the contrast. But, that small hat still counts as a finished object so I'm now up to 38 for the year.
We're leaving today to go to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. We'll probably leave in an hour or two. I may or may not be blogging while I'm gone. But, I'll be back in town at the end of the weekend and regular blogging should resume next week.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Lots of Pics

I'm just going to post some pictures here from Eric and Connie's visit. I've gotta keep the family satisfied. Have a great weekend!

Thursday, November 17, 2005

And So It Begins...

Big Apple took her first step today. She just turned 8 months old on Monday. She's been standing up without holding onto anything for about a week now and then just sitting back down. Today, she decided to move her little feet. I imagine I'll have another full-fledged walker on my hands before she turns 9 months. She is, after all, my freakishly strong little girl.

Christmas List

For all family members that read this blog (or anyone else willing to get us Christmas gifts...):

http://nelsonchristmas.blogspot.com

I did finally update them.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

I Suck

Things have always come pretty easily for me. When I was little, I was a cute, well behaved little girl. I was smart and had friends. I've pretty much succeeded at just about everything I've tried. But, there are a few things that I really can't do at all. *I'm sure my sister, aka Loser, can come up with some other things...I dare you to leave a comment*

1. Skiing. When I was ten I went skiing for the first time. I couldn't stop and plowed down everyone waiting in the lift line. My mom even heard other people talking about that "poor little girl" later that day. I tried again when I was 18. I mean, I was an adult. I had more control over my body. I should be better. Nope. I got caught on the t-bar and was drug up the mountain. I'm not going to give myself a third chance to make a fool of myself.

2. Horseback riding. Everyone in my family knows that I suck at this. The worst part? My dad trains race horses and I grew up on a HORSE RANCH! People would always tell me, "Oh, you're so lucky to live on a ranch with all those horses. I bet you ride a lot." Uh-huh. Sure. If they only knew. The last time I will ever ride a horse was a couple of years ago. I was at my Grandpa's in Utah. Sugar Daddy was there. I was much more experienced than him so I thought, how bad could it be? It was bad. I ended up flat on my back in a field.

3. Macroeconomics. I tried so hard to pass this class. The TA that taught it tried to help me. I was in office hours every week. He told me to drop it while I could. I did and then promptly changed majors.

4. Makeup. I have no idea how to put on makeup. This is probably appalling to my sister, who majored in makeup application in the 6th grade. But, I'm just not that good at it. I've tried to get Janet Jackson's smoky eyes and ended up looking like I was just beaten. In my 9th grade school picture I ventured out on a limb and applied blue mascara. Add big white hoop earrings, braces, a horrible short haircut, and some zits and you've got a great memento of your first year of high school.

5. Parenting. I've been coming to this realization for a while now. It's hard. This is something I'm having to work at more than anything else in my life. I don't know why I didn't expect this. But, I didn't. I thought I would be a great parent. I thought Frog and Big Apple and I would be happy all day, make play-dough together and go jump in leaves. Instead, I'm up to my eyeballs in poop, snot, and drool and neither one of them wants to play nicely. Unlike the previous things I suck at, this is not something I can just quit. I'm in this for the long haul. I'm sure I'll get the hang of things sooner or later. In the meantime, I'm working on it. This is the one thing I won't allow myself to fail. On the upside, I just saw Dr. Phil and things could be worse. I guess I'm not too bad.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

First Snow

We woke up this morning to see this outside. The snow is still coming down but I think it's too warm now for it to stick. Luckily, the streets are not so bad. Just mushy.

I was going to run all sorts of errands today. I guess I'll save them for some other day. I am going to go the Y, though. My friend, Hollie, just got a membership and we're going to meet there later today.

I have a picture of all sorts of knitting related things (and some See's candy that Connie gave us).


My little mini sweaters bring my FO total up to 35. My wavy scarf is on the right. I'm halfway done. In anticipation, we wound up some Cascade 220 into balls. The baby blue is for felted clogs to match my new rob. The pink is for a hat and mittens to be paired with the scarf. After looking outside today I decided to get a move on finishing my winter accessories and less time making little sweaters.

Monday, November 14, 2005

How's That Working For Ya?

We had a little Family Home Evening lesson tonight. We try to get the Frog involved as much as possible. Sugar Daddy showed him a picture of Jesus and asked Frog if he knew who that was in the picture. Frog looked at the picture and then at Sugar Daddy. He replied, "Dr. Phil".



*Just so you don't think our family is totally corrupt...Frog did correctly identify Jesus later in the lesson. He also said the closing prayer. What a kid.

Whirlwind

We had an excellent visit from Sugar Daddy's brother, Eric and his fiance Connie. It was our first chance to meet her and it was also her first introduction to some extended family. I'm just so excited to have another girl in the family (SD has 3 brothers...Eric is the first, besides SD, to get married---it's been a long 7 years!). I've never had a sister-in-law before so I'm looking forward to it.

I guess I'll share more about our visit once I get some pics back from Eric. He snapped so many that I didn't even bother to break out the camera. He had it covered.

In other news: the mini sweaters are still being produced here at chez Nelson. I didn't work on them too much during the weekend but I now have 4 more ready for my tree. I decided to go with red and off-white. Each sweater is going to be a little different. I thought that would keep it from getting too boring for me.

I also found out that we are going to make another trip to Long Beach. There is another conference in January. I can't pass up another trip like that! The only extra it will cost our family are the airfares for myself and Frog. Everything else is covered by the university. I think this time we'll try a little harder to make it to Disneyland. Frog turns 3 in January and I think he might even appreciate seeing the characters (if he doesn't get scared) and riding some of the rides.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

I Can't STOP!

The grey one was leftover wool-ease and the striped one came from none other than the Teletubby hats. I really love the way the striped one turned out but weaving in all the ends made this one take twice as long as the single color sweaters. For those who are counting (just me, I'm sure) this brings my year long FO tally up to 30.

Sugar Daddy is in agreement that our tree would look awesome decked out in mini sweaters (and I may make some mini mittens and scarves...but I don't know if I'll have time). I just need to come up with a color scheme. Should I just make a ton of little red sweaters? Blue? They will be on my tree with plain silver ball ornaments and white lights. Any suggestions?

This addition to my crafting "schedule" has been taking away time from card making and stocking making. I'm not done with Big Apple's stocking. I make the felt applique stockings with all of those beads and sequins. I blame Tiffany. She made them for her family and I fell in love with them. Darn it, Tiffany.

Oh, I forgot to mention...I should probably clean up the house a little bit. SD's brother and regular blog commenter, Eric, is coming to visit this weekend and he's bringing along his lovely fiance. I'm sure it will be a great visit clean house or not---and really, how clean can a house be when you've got 2 kids on the loose?

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Do You Think It Will Fit?

Can this sweater be any cuter? It is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and I used up some of my leftover wool-ease from the Harry Potter sweaters. It really did take less than 2 hours to make. I finished while Big Apple was taking a nap and I was watching Evita. This ends up being FO# 28 for the year. Not bad. I'll probably be knitting up a bunch of these to put with some Christmas gifts. Sugar Daddy is going to make some little hangers to go inside so they can hang on a tree, or whatever.

Score: 2-0

Who won the epic battle between patience and instant gratification?

Click here. And here.

I didn't buy them.

What did I buy instead? Groceries. Yum yum. Oh yeah, and I had a Runza yesterday. It was a BBQ Bacon one. It was really, really good. But, it had twice as many calories as I burned at the Y yesterday. Oh well. I'll be better today.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Cabled Socks, Chocolate, and NEIL!

I've been dying to make me some nice warm, wool cabled socks. Well, I finally did it. I used Cascade 220 and it took me just over 2/3 a hank to finish them. They worked up nicely on size 4 needles.

The pattern can be found here. I also learned how to cable without a cable needle. That saved me a lot of time working on these. I spent about 4 days on the socks.


There are a couple of things coming out today that I REALLY, REALLY want. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory comes out on DVD and Neil Diamond has a new CD (12 NEW SONGS!). It's taking all of my willpower not to load up the kids right now and head down to my local Wal-Mart. I think I'll just be patient and add them to my Christmas list. And, if I don't get them for Christmas I'll rush right out and buy them then. Do you really think I can wait? You're right. I'll probably be posting pictures of my latest acquisitions tomorrow. I'm weak, what can I say?

Monday, November 07, 2005

A Big Hit

I just got a phone call from my little brothers. Their package arrived today. The sweaters were a big hit! They fit! I'm not a git!

I can't tell you how pleased I was to hear that they actually fit them and they LOVED them! I was a little worried because how many 9 and 10 yr. olds appreciate hand-knit items? They asked me where I found them and when I told them that I made them from balls of yarn they freaked out and thanked me even more. What good boys. I asked them if they were going to wear them to the Harry Potter movie. The reply?

DUH!

Sunday, November 06, 2005

The Latest Meme

I've been tagged by Melessa. It's the 24 hour meme. You list something significant that happened in your life for each hour of the day.

12:00am--This is the time I wish it was around 10pm every New Year's Eve. I hardly ever stay up. I just figure it's midnight somewhere and then go to bed.

1:00am--I can't think of a single significant thing that ever happened to me between 1am-2am. I try to be asleep as much as possible.

2:00am--If I wake up in the night, this is usually when it happens. I almost always have to go to the bathroom and sometimes I can't go back to sleep. I knit or watch infomercials and pray to get tired.

3:00am--Big Apple was born at this glorious hour. We had been waiting at the hospital since about 10pm. I had finally decided to take out my knitting and I told SD, "Watch, as soon as I get started on this...the baby will be born". Before I took my first stitch, BA's birthgrandmother came in the waiting room and said, "Es una niƱa".

4:00am--See 1:00am.

5:00am--I used to get up this early to be able to make it to school on time. I was on the academic team and we met early in the morning before classes. It paid off. We were the 1992 High School 2A State Champions (Oklahoma). Let me tell you...that has really helped me in life.

6:00am--This was the hour we met our first child, Frog. He was born the day before but we had to drive all night from Indiana to Oklahoma. When we got to the hospital, I held him and didn't ever want to put him down!

7:00am--I had a 7:30am class during college (a couple, actually). One night, SD, a friend (Kim) and I stayed up all night talking and we went to go see the sunrise at the top of Dale Hall Tower. Then, Kim and I went to our 7:30am class...or did we? Sugar Daddy asked me out for the next night and we've been an item ever since. Well, for those of you that know the story I'm leaving out Charlie and Karen. Technically we were still an item during all of that drama.

8:00am--This is when my day usually starts around here. Frog and BA are just getting up.

9:00am--This is when my school day used to start when I was teaching. Last year I taught 8th grade World Languages and Spanish II.

10:00am--When I was a freshman in college I watched The Price is Right every day.

11:00am--Around this time of day I usually try to get something done around the house. Big Apple is usually napping and the Frog can be easily distracted with his music or a DVD.

12:00pm-- All My Children. Although, now I can use the DVR and watch it whenever I want.

1:00pm--Y time! When I go to the YMCA, it is usually at 1pm. That way, when I leave at 3pm...if Frog is going to take a nap (rarely), he usually falls asleep in the car.

2:00pm--When I was a missionary in Mexico, we had our "dinner" appointments at this time. We ate one meal a day with members and this was it. We also weren't allowed to go back to the house for a later meal so we didnt' get another meal until we got home at 9pm. Don't feel too bad. The Mexican people were always very generous and fed us something at almost every appointment. We were never hungry, that's for sure. Maybe that's why even with all of the walking we did, I gained weight during that 18 months.

3:00pm--School's out! That magical hour when the final bell would ring and we could leave the building. Can you tell if I'm talking about when I was a student or a teacher? I think it evokes the same feelings either way.

4:00pm--Uh, Oprah? I must admit, I don't really watch it anymore. But there was a time when I was obsessed. Remember my Oprah post on how to get tickets? I'd still like to see her again in person. That was always fun.

5:00pm--This is the wonderful time of day when I know that Sugar Daddy is going to come home any minute.

6:00pm--When I'm on the ball, I have dinner ready.

7:00pm--Most of my nightly activities would start at this time. Book group, Life Makeover Group, Girl's Night Out, etc...

8:00pm--This is when I wish the kids went to bed. Big Apple is usually down during this hour but the Frog is another story.

9:00pm--As a missionary, this is was the hour that we needed to be back to our apartments. In some of my areas, we would have to be on the bus by 9pm at the latest to be able to make it back by our 9:30pm deadline.

10:00pm--I try to go to bed between 10pm and 11pm. Most nights that works out.

11:00pm--If I'm awake at this time it's because I'm working on a project or I've had too much Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi.

That's it! I finished. Now it's time to tag some people. How about MARY, Jessica, Wendy, and any of the Lincolnknitters group? The lincolnknitters will have to give me their blog addresses so I can read them, though.

Friday, November 04, 2005

And the Winner Is...

Sugar Daddy held the bowl of names (eight of them) and I drew one. SAMANTHA wins! Email me your address and I'll get a package out to good old greater Lafayette for you. Haven't you been lucky with drawings lately? I seem to remember you having won something not long ago. Congrats! She was one of a few people (ahem...Tiffany, the self-proclaimed over achiever) that actually looked up the correct answers. Here they are for the rest of you.

1. What was the first knitting project I finished after I started the blog?
Frog's red sweater.

2. What is the first recipe I posted on the blog?

Cornbread casserole

3. Name one of my "resolutions" for 2005.

Lose 50 lbs. (not gonna happen), get another kid (happened), read more, etc...

4. I had a "Name the Baby" contest in Feb 2005. What was the winning name?

Eva. Okay, Ava. But, we decided to use the Spanish spelling (it is pronounced just like Ava).

5. What is my favorite soap opera?

All My Children

6. What movie did we get Big Apple's nickname from?

Evita from the song that goes, "I want to be a part of B-A Buenos Aires....Big Apple".

7. What was my "career" before I became a famous stay at home mom blogger?

Spanish teacher and Pampered Chef queen

8. How old did I turn this year?

30! Although, my mom would prefer if I were 16. She's not old enough to have a 30 yr. old daughter.

9. Name one of the places that granted Sugar Daddy an interview (besides the Univ. of Nebraska).

UT-Arlington, SUNY-Stony Brook, Univ. of South Florida

10. Who is my favorite singer of all time?

11. What does PFA stand for?

Project Fat Arse

12. What was Big Apple's pirate name?

Bloody Pegs

Bonus: About how many posts have I made in the past year? 258!

Thursday, November 03, 2005

It's My Anniversary!

I went out and celebrated the fact that I've been blogging for a year? How long can I draw this celebration out? If it's anything like my birthday...this could go on for months! Anyway, I bought myself a present.

That's one huge baby blue fluffy robe, 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of brown cords, and 3 long sleeve shirts. I tried to have Sugar Daddy be impressed with my new acquisitions (I paid $109) but he doesn't understand what good deals I got! What makes it even better is that I'm down a size in my jeans. Wahoo!

In other news: my mom's new husband just had open heart surgery. I want to wish him well. I think he has access to internet while my mom is there with her laptop so I wanted to post some pictures for him. I will knit him any one of these items he chooses! :)

When is it hunting season in Oklahoma? Will I be able to finish it in time?

You can't go wrong with matching sweater vests for you and the Mrs. At least, that's what I always say.

If neither of these will work...I could always just send you my best wishes for a speedy recovery!

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

FO# 25 and 26!

There is still time to enter my blog anniversary drawing. You can find the quiz here (or you can scroll down one post). You have until Friday to enter.

I've got some beautiful Quidditch sweaters to show you!


I just finished putting on the patches. I'm really pleased with the way they turned out. I hope that my brothers like them (and that they fit!). Frog decided to try one on for size.

I'm tired of knitting things for other people...at least for the moment. What happened to the Ugg booties? I have some sizing issues to deal with and I'm not ready to do it yet. Maybe next week.

I have two things just for me on the needles right now. What are they? Well...a pair of cabled socks and a scarf. I'm on the gusset right now on the 1st sock and on row 12 for the scarf. I don't have any pics of those yet. Maybe tomorrow. It's bedtime here at Casa Nelson so I'm signing off.