~Help Needed with the Comforting Jenn Project~

~Comforting Jenn~ First, I'd like to thank you all for your gorgeous contributions to Jenn's blanket and there are a few of you that I recently realized I have yet to thank and also post pictures of received squares - I'm so sorry - I will get those up, hopefully tonight, but if not tonight, very soon. I am one of those people that has a terribly hard time asking for help, so please bear with me. I had desperately wanted to get this blanket to Jenn sometime in January, but the holidays held us all up and I soon lost hope of that. I am losing all hope now of even getting it sewn together in the near future. Things here are absolutely out of control and without getting into the details, suffice it to say that I'm having trouble finding time to sleep let alone sew an afghan together, hence my need for help. You have all done so much for this project already, but if any of you have, or know of a knitting guild/group that would be willing to sew squares together, I would be forever grateful. I truly feel like a failure asking for more help, and am embarrassed, but I just don't know what else to do - I'm stretched as thin as I can go and had no place else to turn. My hope is to get this to her before June - which would have been Baby Sean's 1st Birthday. Thank you all, again, for everything you've done!

~Don't you just LOVE a Bargain?!~

I have enhanced the stash yet again - I can't resist a bargain, especially when it is something that I have recipients for :) After our snow storm last week, I decided that I needed to get out of the house for a while, so I decided to go to one of our discount stores and poke around for an hour or so and pick up some of the cheapo reading glasses (I now need to have a pair in every room of the house! ugh!). While in the process of poking I found......... YARN! lol I used great restraint until I came across skein upon skein of Moonlight Mohair and Trellis. I have wanted to make a Northern Lights Wrap for myself and a dear friend of mine for quite a while but found the price of the yarn to be much more than I wanted to spend. The Moonlight Mohair is normally $8.99 a skein and the Trellis $5.99 a skein and with 4 kids I couldn't justify the price. The total cost for each wrap would have been around $82.00 with tax. Back to the bargain - it was all $2.00 a skein (total cost for each wrap $20.00 WOOOO HOOOOOO - I am having a knitting party! lol The pictures don't do it justice, but it is gorgeous knitted up and will be well loved when finished. I took Matt back to school last Sunday and from the time I left the house until the time I returned 7 hours later, I came down with whatever "bug" the girls had last week! I have been coughing, feverish, achy and all around dead sick all week. Right now it is the blocked ears and cough that is killing me - hope it goes soon, March has not been a good month in these parts as everyone I know is coming down with this, so simple knitting was in order and I worked on the Log Cabin and started these two wraps over the last few days. Softball season has begun and Emily (my freshman) has made the Varsity Team! Thrilled doesn't even cover how happy she is as she will get to play with her sister (senior) this year. I'm so happy for her as the coach only pulled 4 out of 22 girls up! Lyss came home safely from the Bahamas last Tuesday, she had a wonderful time, has a beautiful tan and is all rested and ready to play IF THE D#@$ED SNOW WOULD STOP! ugh! This is what I encountered last night when taking out the dog (the flakes show up better when you click to make bigger). I don't even find it pretty anymore - I want to plant flowers and see leaves on the trees and grass on the ground - not to mention the fact that my car is just disgusting looking all the time! The girls are supposed to have their first game this coming Thursday, but I just can't see it happening as there is snow on the ground and when it does melt there will be inches of mud - we are keeping our fingers crossed nonetheless though! No more complaining - Well folks, I'm off to make a hot cup of tea, put in a movie and knit a while before starting supper! Enjoy your Sunday and stay well!

~New England.... gotta love it!~

We have been on that roller coaster ride we call "New England Weather" lately! 70 degrees on Wednesday and 20 degrees today with a fresh pile of snow and ice to dig through! (click for big) Lots of knitting getting done, but I hate posting pictures of a blanket in progress - I've been working on my log cabin while watching movies with the "boy" home from college this week - making good progress and enjoying some mindless knitting! Lyss is in the Bahama's with her Aunt, Uncle, Babci and cousins for the week - having a great time from what I'm hearing. We miss her terribly, but are all glad she is having some fun! Here are the next pair of peekaboo mittens, finished for my co-softball coach. We will have warm hands this season! I hope she likes them and that they fit. (click for big) I used hand dyed (not by me) wool for these and although I love the colors and the way the yarn knit up, I was truly annoyed that the dye came off on my hands and wooden dpn's. The colors are so dark, that it was truly difficult to clean my hands up after knitting on these. Anyone have suggestions for the needles, or are they destined to look like "crap" forever now? I really don't want to sand the finish off of them and I am very apprehensive about using a damp cloth on them (not that I think it would work anyway). Suggestion are welcome from any of you who have run into the same problem. I had my stitches removed this week from my "mole removal" and am glad to report that this one was not skin cancer! YAY! I have had one bout of a slow growing skin cancer when I was in my 20's (thank God it was slow growing as my physician misdiagnosed it for 8 years!) so am very good about having them checked - too many to count and lots more to be removed. One at a time and hoping for the best! Now for some snow fun..... Even though most of the "humans" I know, including myself, are not at all thrilled with the weather developments, there is one chocolate furry friend here that LOVES it! I give you Beau and his duck! (click for big) He was in some serious need of a pair of Mom's socks when he came in from playing in the snow and then found a nice lap to take a nap on! Check out the position - pretzel dog! lol (click for big) Enjoy the rest of your weekend, I'm off to softball practice (indoors) and then tomorrow I am driving to Vermont to return Matt to college - it will be a very loooooooooong day in the car and a sad, lonely ride home! Happy Knitting!

~Back among the living~

Hi everyone, I am still alive. I have been totally flattened by what I can only assume is the flu. High fever, body aches, chills, sweats and a headache that made me wish I were no longer among the living! I managed to drag myself to work on Wednesday because of things that HAD to get done and that did me in for the rest of the week. I can't remember when I missed almost a full week of work and a weekend too! My head hurt so much that no knitting was even considered, although I picked up the needles today and knit the thumbs on the peekaboo mittens I finished a week ago and worked a bit on my log cabin blanket. I haven't made it to any of the girl's games and thankfully Matt got a ride home from school because a trip to Vermont and back was out of the question! It is MORE than nice to have him home though - the girls are so happy and Lyss is heading off to the Bahamas on Tuesday with her Godmother and family. More later. I came across this meme at Karen's site (thanks Karen!) and thought I'd post it for lack of pictures and knitting content. Please forgive my lack of comments on your blogs, I haven't been able to focus on a computer screen all week - lots of catching up to do! Book Meme Look at the list of books below: * Bold the ones you’ve read, * Italicize the ones you want to read * Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. 1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown) Great book! Impossible to put down! I read it in a day at the beach last year. 2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) 3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) 4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) I have a first edition copy of this one. 5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) 6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) 7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien) 8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) 9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) This whole series is phenomenal and I've read them all many many times! 10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) 11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling) 12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) 13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling) 14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) 15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) 16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling) 17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald) 18. The Stand (Stephen King) I was a huge Stephen King fan when I was younger and have read most of his books. 19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling) 20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) 21. The Hobbit (Tolkien) 22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger) 23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) 24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) 25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel) 26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) 27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) 28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) 29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck) 30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom) 31. Dune (Frank Herbert) 32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks) I just love Nicholas Sparks books - Lyss and I have read them all! 33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) 34. 1984 (Orwell) 35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) 36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) 37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay) 38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb) 39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant) 40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) 41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) I read this entire series years ago. 42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) 43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella) 44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom) 45. The Bible 46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) 47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) Love it! 48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt) 49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) 50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb) 51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) 52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) 53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card) 54. Great Expectations (Dickens) 55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) 56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence) 57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling) 58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) Loved it! 59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) 60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger) 61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) 62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) 63. War and Peace (Tolstoy) Tough read :) 64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) 65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis) 66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) 67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares) 68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) 69. Les Miserables (Hugo) 70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) 71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding) 72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez) 73. Shogun (James Clavell) This whole series was wonderful - in my opinion anyway! 74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje) I had an awful time getting through this book, but loved the movie. 75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) 76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay) 77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) 78. The World According to Garp (John Irving) 79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence) 80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White) 81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley) 82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck) 83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier) Great series. 84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind) 85. Emma (Jane Austen) 86. Watership Down(Richard Adams) 87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) 88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields) 89. Blindness (Jose Saramago) 90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer) 91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje) 92. Lord of the Flies (Golding) 93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck) 94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd) 95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum) Another fantastic series of books. I haven't read the last one that was written by someone else yet, although I do have it here waiting. 96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) 97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch) 98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford) 99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield) 100. Ulysses (James Joyce)