Ravelry - I'm In! - And how do you Felt?

Well, after waiting since July, I have officially joined Ravelry. Now I am starting to see what all the talk has been about. The only downside I can see is spending too much time on the computer. This is going to be so much fun!

I finished my felted bag (the Pipes and Braid bag from http://www.she-knits.com/) . Now looking at it, I wonder if I should have felted it a little more. I think it will be okay though. When I ran it though the washing machine I forgot to see how long I set the cycle for. I think I went on automatic pilot and set it for how long I usually wash clothes for. I used a regular pillow case and just knotted the top, and used a hot wash, cold rinse cycle. I will say I loved this pattern. The directions were easy to understand, and it knit up so quickly.

When my daughter made pot holders last week we didn't want to put such a small amount in the washer, so I tried felting them by hand. I am not a patient person, so when it didn't work after a few minutes, I put some hot water in my Kitchen Aid bowl, stuck the potholders in it, then felted them with the Kitchen Aid, using the dough hook attachment. What can I say, it worked.

The cooler weather here is really getting me in the mood to knit. Last night it actually snowed! If that's not a sure sign to get those needles out for me, I don't know what is!

Ravelry.com - I'm almost there!

When I put my name on the waiting list to get on ravelry.com, there were something like 18,000 people in front of me. Yesterday I checked to see where I was on the waiting list to get on, and there were 900+ people in front of me. This morning I checked and 445 people were in front of me. Tonight I checked and only 45 people are ahead of me. Maybe I will get invited tomorrow!!!!

Holiday KAL-CAL

I have joined my first KAL. Who knew the internet could be this much fun? Anyway, I wanted to post the link to this KAL-CAL. It's put on by Marly (yarnthing) and Sharon (She-knits), both of whom have podcasts that I listen to (see their links to the right). The KAL-CAL officially starts on September 22, so if you need a little motivation to getting your holiday projects finished, sign up! Here's the link: www.holidaykalcal.blogspot.com

Musings from a parent of teenagers

Somehow I seem to always be behind. I'm never caught up on my laundry, I'm forever rushing to get the kids to school, I never seem to get to bed on time to get enough sleep, and I am rarely, rarely on time to work. With life as crazy as it is, any little extra activity can really throw me off. This week was one of those "off" weeks.

It started out on Tuesday. I was taking my younger daughter to the library. As we were walking in, the wind caught her hair and I noticed something glittering on her ear. This should come as no shock to me, but she has pierced her own ear (with the help of a friend, as I find out the next day) - the upper part of her ear. I think what really gets me is she didn't tell me about it. At the point I am speechless, and all I asked her was if she sterilized the needle before she did it. We get done at the library, start to drive away and we see my dh driving toward us. He tells us that our oldest has cut her lip during her color guard practice and may need stitches. I race home - pierced ear all but forgotten - to meet dd. I am envisioning her being driven home, with a huge gash on her lip and blood gushing from the wound. But no, she drives herself home, gets out of the car with what appears to be a little cut on her lower lip. The bleeding has stopped, and I think this is great, she's going to be just fine with a little ice. then I look closer. And closer. No, this is not going to be fine with just ice. The cut is deep, we need to go to emergency.

A quick - quick, ha! - trip to the emergency room. Before rushing out the door I grab my Don't Leave Home Without It items - camera and knitting. While we waited I was able to get quite a bit done on my sock, and I got some great pictures of our trip to ER. I even got to take home tweezers and scissors home as souvenirs. Did you know they are disposable? The nurse asked if I wanted them, since they just throw them away. And to think what they are going to charge me for them. . .

The mate to this sock is what I am currently working on, and what went with me to the ER. It's a striping yarn, using a very simple sock pattern. I love this kind of pattern, since I don't have to think too much when I knit. I am knitting them as a Christmas gift for a friend who loves the Harry Potter books - Gryffindor's colors.

This started my week, but there's more. This story is going to need a post all its own.

I opted for a change of pace this weekend and put my knitting down to work on this page layout. I started on Friday and finished it up this morning. Lots of inking required - much more than I usually do on a page. I was having a major scrapbook block for a while, but this page got me back on track. The patterned paper and diecut embellishments are from Bo-Bunny.