Weekend Love: more beach!

Another great weekend!  This weekend was almost an exact replica of last weekend.

Saturday morning, we hit the beach but this time with my sisters, cousin and their families.  My cousin, her husband, and my niece all brought their paddle boards and I got to try it out for the first time!  I don't have a picture of me or them on them as all I had was my iPhone and that wasn't going anywhere near the water.  So, you'll just have to imagine that we all had a great time paddle boarding and swimming!  Carmen even got on the paddle board a couple times.  We didn't take her out very because I didn't have a life vest for her and it was my first time trying it out.  We just held the board and let her play on it. Maybe some day I'll feel more comfortable paddle boarding with her.  I know she LOVES it!  She would get on the board and point out to the ocean like Let's go!

I also got some pictures of me this time!  My sister Aunt G took some great pictures of Carmen and me while we were waiting for the rest of the family to get there.  I'm usually the photographer so there aren't always a lot of pictures of me and her together.  My absolute favorite picture of Carmen and me right now is this one!  

After a fun morning at the beach and a nice long nap, we went over to Carmen's Papa's house for some afternoon swimming with her daddy and Papa.  Her daddy and Papa had spent the morning fishing and were just getting back around the time we got there.  She had fun swimming with them again, while momma got some knitting done.  A picture of their catch...we fried and cooked up some of the fresh catch on Sunday for dinner and it was DELISH!

Sunday again was a repeat of last week.  Started with some shopping, a quick trip to the park for some golf practice...it was JUST too hot though!  And then we napped, colored, watched Lilo and Stitch, had a quick dip in the baby pool while her cousin Flower girl visited us, and then ate dinner with Grandma Shari thanks to Google+ hangouts!  I didn't get many pictures Sunday but Special K and I both agreed Sunday night that it was another great weekend!  Here we are at the park trying to stay cool in the shade.

And my first try at french braiding Carmen's hair.  I feel it was a success as that little girl never stays still!  The trick was Lilo and Stitch!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Happy Weekending!

Catching up: High Tea, swimming, and the stomach flu.

Hi, everyone!  Sorry for more radio silence but between trying to avoid talking about the one thing I want to and getting a stomach bug Monday morning...I've been sort of struggling to stay afloat.  I have wanted to share some fun things about our weekend though.  So this is going to be a weekend update on Wed.  Yes, I know a little later than I had hoped.

This weekend was full of awesome!  Saturday afternoon, my niece Flower girl organized a girls high tea at my sister Fleas' house.  Other than having to wake up grumpy from her nap, which made her very grumpy, the tea was awesome!

The guests included my sisters, nieces, and two other little girls and their mommas.  One of them was my long time friend K and her daughter T, who I've talked about on this blog before here,  (It's also T's birthday today! Happy Birthday T!) and the other was a mommy and me friend, who was the first person I sat next to at my local Tuesday morning mommy and me group.  CGR was 2 weeks old and she was impressed I had made it out of the house!  My niece Flower girl takes care of her daughter a couple times a week.  The little girls all sat so cute at their little table and all drank lemonade out of some cute tea cups that K had brought. (The bow from the pictures is from Krapfl Girl, who is currently on vacation but check her out after Aug 1st when she gets back.  She's got some GREAT bows!)  Carmen also had her first Oreo, which is vegan, and she loved it!  Personally, I think she had too many but I'm sure if you asked her she would have signed more! :)

Sunday, we had an impromptu park time then spent the morning with CGR's daddy before he headed to go play golf with his dad and CGR went down for a nap.  After nap, we went shopping and stopped by K's house for a quick swim and then played with lots of toys!  CGR is a huge fan of little people so when she saw K's daughter's little people stash, she was in heaven! CGR also liked petting and giving kisses to K's dogs and kitties.  I am allergic to cats so I stay away but thankfully CGR is not.

The weekend ended with dinner with the hubby and then some quality time before he was fast asleep by 8:30.  I ended up staying up way too late and then waking up at 5:30 am with the stomach flu.  UGH!  Monday was pretty much spent sleeping the day away, trying to eat, a shower, and then slept all night as well.  This is my 2nd stomach flu this year and let me tell you...NOT a fan of it.  My niece Flower girl ended up sick the same day and then the following day my brother-in-law got sick.  Thankfully CGR and no one else has come down with it and praying it stays that way.

Lot's more going on, including lots of hexipuffs knit!  I'll talk more about those in a post soon!  And hopefully I'll be able to share some news after this weekend!  We are almost through with the details and once papers are signed, then I'll let you all in on what's going on.  If you can just send good thoughts and prayers our way that it all goes smoothly that would be great!

Happy Wednesday aka Catch up day!

How was your weekend? How's your week going? 

Happy 4th of July!

Hope you all had a fantastic mid-week day off and a safe and happy 4th of July!  Here is our day in pictures!

Happy 4th of July from the Barknknit Family!

This Moment: Playing with her cousin Surfer Girl.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo(or maybe 2)  – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find and see.

This Moment - midnight showing of Breaking Dawn!

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find and see.

Friday night with the gals and a fast Saturday...

Friday night, 2 of my local sisters and my cousin drove up to Seminole for a couponing workshop.  I had heard of the workshop from a friend and thought since it's F R E E why not!  I'm glad that the other gals came with me though because it was a lot to take in.  We learned a bunch and I'm not sure about them but I'm very excited to get started.  They did warn us that it's going to take a while but I just hope that we can shave some money off our monthly expenses.  I'll keep you posted.  If you are local and want to find a couponing workshop to attend, check out their site at Truecouponing.com.  Like I said it's free and what do you have to lose but a couple hours of your night.

After the workshop, we stopped for dinner and it was really nice to spend some time with the gals!   I think we need to plan a gals night with my sisters and cousins again.  What do you gals think?

Today flew by!  My little one wasn't a fan of napping and this mama had her first allergy attack in a long time.  Thankfully, daddy was home and hung out with his girl while I got to sleep it off.  After I managed to get rid of my drippy nose, we played some more and then headed over to my sister's house to watch her high school age daughter get ready for Homecoming tonight.  Surfer girl looked amazing and I think she wishes her family wouldn't descend on the house for her big moments but that's what family does.   It's just our way of showing her we love her.  We got lots of great pictures including this great one of little miss CGR!  She's such a happy walker even though she was so tired and spent most the afternoon in a foggy haze.

Once we got home, got dinner in her, her nose started running like a faucet.  I feel horrible for her but no fever so I'm hoping it goes away.  She didn't protest going to sleep once she got her bath and her daddy rocked her. She's been sleeping soundly ever since.  Hoping that she sleeps all night because not only does she need it but I need some sleep too!

I finished my BROOM aka my Spectra Scarf tonight!  I plan to take some pictures tomorrow and get it turned in!  I can't figure out what to knit next but I'm going to sleep on it and then I'll figure it out.

Happy Weekending!

Saturday fun times with my girl!

Picture heavy post! :)

My plans for today was to go outside...to a park or somewhere. The weather has cooled down and I just can't resist enjoying it before it gets too chilly for us southerns. :)

I didn't quite have the day I had hoped or planned for because the landlord and his worker came to fix the leaky roof. On the bright side I did get to spend lots of time with my girl today! She refused to take naps because her first was interrupted by banging and dogs barking...and her second attempt was also unsuccessful. It is 4:30 and she's just now taking her afternoon nap. This probably means she isn't going to go to bed until later tonight but I'm going to let her sleep now.

While we spent the day at home waiting for the roof fix to be done, I made her model some handknits for me. Wanted to make sure that stuff I've knit her for winter would still fit this Dec for Ohio!

I tried on her Toddler hoodie and the arms might get tight so if they do I’m going to reknit them again but I love this hoodie! The hood is HUGE but oh well. :) She's so cheesy I love it!

Then I tried on her winter Tiered coat that I knit out of my handspun!! I am super excited about it!! :) It still needs new buttons because the ones I originally put on there to turn in for the House Cup I took off because I didn't like them.

This coat is pretty big and I wanted it that way because I wanted it to be something I could put over other warm clothes this winter. The arms are long and It might even fit her two season but that to me is awesome if it does! When the work was finally done and this little girl refused to take a nap, I got a text from my niece Surfergirl asking what we were doing. I told her that we'd love to go for a walk to feed the ducks...she said sounds good! So, we got in the stroller and headed over.

We had Crazyboy go lure the duckies our way. He called himself the Duck Whisperer. :)

So many ducks came over and many of them are not scared!  I was a little worried our toes might have been mistaken for bread! :)

She LOVES her cousin Crazy boy!

We had a lovely walk and by the time CGR and I were on our way home she fell fast asleep.  So, hoping she doesn't take too long of a nap but whatever she needs will be fine.  Hope you are all having a great Saturday!  

Happy Family TIME!!

Surfer Girl's Panama Flag and Pups say Thank you.

So, this past week my niece Surfer Girl and I worked on her Social Studies project. She had decided that she wanted to knit the Panama Flag! How cool is that? Last time she knit a snake for her Science project. If I can get a picture of that I'll share it next time!

Ok...So, she imed me last week and asked if I would help her and I said sure but we need to get started ASAP! It took until Sunday night for us to get together but she came over and we figured out the chart. I searched online for a star chart and we planned it out. So, Monday we realized she didn't have the right blue so we went and bought yarn at Jo-Anne Fabrics and then she started knitting.

Her school gives A TON of homework. I know because I used to be one of her teacher's but I never gave homework. :) So, she had her mom call me Tuesday night asking me if I could help because she was a bit overwhelmed. I said sure and picked up some blue yarn from her and I knit the blue square and then knit the white with the blue. I did say she had a lot of homework.

Oh, I forgot to mention, Surfer Girl is the tightest of tight knitters. She knit her squares using US 7s and I knit using US 5s and mine were still larger than hers. The last square she knit was the white with the red star and I made her knit using size 9s and it was still smaller than mine! What can we do.

Well...she didn't have time to sew the last part together. I sewed the other three while she finished her homework Wed night. It was due thursday! So, she put it on construction paper and turned it in. I still think it looks great!

Go SURFER GIRL! Her mom did tell her teacher I knit two squares but her teacher is a friend of mine so it's ok. :)

And after all the great comments on yesterday's post I wanted to share some happy dog pictures in my defense. We'll call these Dogs with Bones!
Can you tell who is more protective over her bones? My silly silly girl. I love how Jackjack's ears are all back and if you would have seen how fast his tail was going. He doesn't like to carry things in his mouth so when I asked him to stay he put it down and stared at me. What a good boy!

We want to say a HUGE thank you to Ginger from dogyarnfun whose mom gave us these bones because she didn't like them.

Ok...hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll be back for more post and hopefully get a podcast up this weekend too!

Happy Knitting and Dog Loving!

A COLD Dogs on Thursday!!

So...we'll start today's post with a little bit of Abbs. I got home from work yesterday and was a bit shocked to see that half of Abby's mussel was swollen. It looked like a bug bite so I quickly gave her Benadryl and let them out back. She seems to act normal and run around and want to play. It still worried me so I decided to stay home and watch her. I was supposed to go to Knit night for the first time in a while but I felt watching her was a little more important. After about 30 minutes her face started looking normal. She's fine today. Speaking of our knit group, we are thinking of moving it to Thursday night because it's just been hard on a lot of people to show up on wed. And Abbs and I start our Obedience class next wed. I'm super excited!!

Ok...well..on to today! Today we woke up and it was cold!! As we went on our walk, we passed a lot of frost and poor people trying to warm up their car to get the ice off the windsheild. Us Floridians are not used to ice on our cars. :) I took these pics to show you. Not sure you can tell it's frosty. :)


So, when we got back from our walk, I let the pups out to romp in the yard and they were having too much fun chasing each other! It was cute. Oh, and ignore the neighbors yard.

When I wanted them to settle down, we practice some sit stays so mom could take a picture. :) They are do darn cute!!
Well, off to work I go! Hope you have a great day!

And just so you know. I'm obessed with reading the Twilight series at the moment and I'm head to the movie with my niece Surfer Girl and her mom Fleas tonight! I'll let you know how it goes!

Gnat

Dogs on Thursday catch up!!! Pictures!!

Hi everyone!!! Check me out!! Posting on Thursday! I totally missed last weeks post because we ended up having 3..yes, 3 Thanksgiving dinners!! So, this is going to be a somewhat long post. I'm sorry now. So....let's start with Thanksgiving. I woke up early...at 5:45am to meet my sisters Fleas, sister CZbrats, my nephew Skater Boy and niece Surfer girl to go up to the Turkey Trot. We had fun walking the 5K Fun Run and chatting it up. After that, I went and took a nap while Special K made Cherry Pies...I won't tell you what happen to them...but he did a great job until the end. I had made the Pumpkin Cheesecakes early.

Our first thanksgiving was at my sister Fleas' at 1pm with my family. We had a good time and it was nice to be with my family. Then we headed over to Sk's step-family for our second round at 3pm. We enjoyed the food and then when we were leaving to head back to my family..I called and they said we are just off to take the dogs for a walk and we'll be back. By the time I got there they had realized that my cousin, who was out of town's dog had gotten out of their backyard and ran off. So...some of us jumped in cars and some on bikes and roamed the neighborhood. We didn't find Diego that night which was crazy but we found him the next day in someone's backyard. The lady had found him soon after he had gotten out and his tag with the number had fallen off so she couldn't call. He seemed well...even though she said he got into some syrup from their breakfast. :)

Well...that Thanksgiving night, while SK was driving around for an hour or more, he found a house he really liked that was for rent in my sister's neighborhood. This is a man who has not wanted to live so close to my sisters, so I was interested in looking at the house! So, after he talked about it more on Friday night at his Dad's Thanksgiving dinner with a deep-fried turkey(which I had never had)...our 3rd, we decided to go find it. It took us 30 minutes to find it but when we did we checked it out. SK still liked it so we decided to call the landlord. We met up with him on Saturday and the house is nice. It's bigger than ours and all tile. Has an actual driveway, a garage, a bigger kitchen and bedrooms! The yard is fenced and not as big as ours now but still a good size. SK really liked it still and I did as well. The house is 2 blocks from my sister CZbrat, 3 blocks from my sister Fleas, 5 blocks from my cousin LD, and about 7 blocks from my sister G. We talked to the landlord on Sunday and told him we'd take it and by Tuesday we signed the lease and paid the deposit and we get the keys on the 22nd. 2 days after we get married. This is crazy but I'm so excited! Wish us luck with the craziness that we have started. I'm packing our first box tomorrow night!!

Ok..so that's my story..now lets get to the Dogs. Pictures!!

Here are the two of them on the bed with me, while I'm knitting on my sister's sweater! Jackjack is the black blob behind Abby's head.

Abby is just too cute...I had to take another one of her watching me.
So...I think I've talked about Jackjack and Abby's love/hate relationship with each other before. But, when I first got Abbs she was very food aggressive because she was mistreated as a puppy and Jackjack had the only dog syndrom. Once they figured out their differences, he still did not like her laying where she was touching him. In the last couple months, they have been getting closer and closer. Last night...IT happened!! Jackjack was laying on the couch and getting pet by SK. Abby came over and laid next to the couch and then decided she was going to squeeze in. So she jumped up and SK said "Abby, what are you doing?" I told him to leave her alone...and he did. Jackjack didn't move either. So, she laid down and got comfy. This was big enough for me.....
but...then she did this!!! We both looked at each other and smiled!! This has never been a sight at our house but they laid like this for about 20 minutes until it was time for us to head to bed and them to go outside for their last potty break of the night. It was so adorable!!
Look at those faces!! I just love it!! My heart melted!!
Well...I hope you enjoyed the stories and pictures!! Sorry for the infrequent posting but life is pretty busy with wedding planning and now packing to move!! Please pray for us and wish us luck!

Happy Dogs On Thursday!! And don't forget to visit all the other lovely DOT participants and say hi!

Happy Birthday to me and Wedding Wednesday!

Ok...so it's my 28th birthday today. I've gotten a lot of birthday wishes through email, txt, facebook and ravelry. Thank you everyone!!

I also got this great email from SonnyandShear.com with a code for 20% off all their yarn in stock!! Now what more could I have asked for. So, I took some of the money that I had received for my birthday and bought some yarn!! I bought two skeins of Dream in Color Smooshy...one of my FAVORITE sock yarns!! I'm not actually using it for socks though but I can't tell you what I am knitting because it's a surprise for someone who reads my blog. I wanted to get more but I figured my budget could only budge a little. I'm excited to get this yarn because I can't wait to start this project.

Well....my birthday has been nice so far. I got a card from my niece Surfer girl and she was so cute!! She said "It is your first birthday as a knitter." I thought that was great!! She's a knitter too so she knows!! :) Her and my sister also gave me a shirt which I had designed but because of a mistake in ordering I ended up having to give mine away. They had an extra so they gave it to me. I'm happy because I really liked the design. It was for our Paws on Parade team.

Tonight, Special K and I are going out to dinner at a nice restaurant. I'm super excited!! Sangria and Special K and again what more can I ask for!!

For our wedding Wednesday post I'll just that some interesting things have come up but I can't share them yet. I'm going to figure it out and then I'll share. All the details need to be figured out before we start the invitations...which needs to be soon.

Hope all is good!! HAPPY KNITTING!!!

Knitting catch up and extra!

I've been doing a lot of knitting this weekend. I actually organized an extra SnB on Sunday because I missed last Wed. due to my foot. Which by the way I got to wear my pedicure sock a bunch because it looked great and kept my foot warm. :) Check it out.
I had a doctor's apt on Friday and he said my toe is heeling really well. We talked a bit about the gout and he said I need to get my uric acid levels tested next time I get a blood test. I got to actually see the toe and let me tell you it was black and blue. I only have 6 stitches which come out this coming Thursday. Go ME!! I already have big plans to start up walking every day with my dogs as soon as I get an ok from the doc. I miss taking them on walks as much as they miss going with me. :) So that's the plan!

As I said in the 2nd episode of my podcast that I had a couple things to finish that were on my needles...well guess what?? I finished them. The first one I finished was my fingerless gloves in the Symmetrical Braided Gauntlet pattern and I used Dream in Color Classy, which is LOVELY!! I'm a big fan of Dream in Color. I had started these as my travel knitting for Thanksgiving and I'm glad they are done. When I was finishing them I realized that it was my sister, Cris' birthday coming up..well..it was last week...and I decided that I should send them to her. She lives in Encinitas, CA and gets cold a lot and I already sent her the hat that I made in this yarn. So...I gave it to my other sister to include in her package. :) So...off they went and hopefully she will like them. Next time I knit this patter which I plan to, I think I will make them longer on both ends. These were my first cable pattern and it was surprisingly easier than I though.

The 2nd thing I finished was Surfer Girls hat and I don't really want to talk about it because again I knit a hat that is too small!! ARG. I showed it to her and she said she is going to give it to her cousin and promise to knit her another one. I have to find a pattern that is for adults and not children. I'm hoping to get on that soon.

Other than that I've been knitting my Rainbow Socks, which have been knitting up great and will take a picture of the first finished one soon and post.

I've also trying to rest my toe more than I have but I am restless and just want to be up and about. I'm paying dearly for it though. My toe gets very sore quickly.

You may also notice there are quite a few new things on the blog lately. Such as a feed for my podcast, more ads and now including ones from Google, and there is a little more info at the end of my posts. ;) I'm testing things out and seeing what I like. Let me know what you think if you get a chance. The ads are there because I'm really just trying to get some more extra money especially some yarn funds. So..we'll see how it goes. Thank you so much for all your support!! You readers and my family and friends are so wonderful and thanks for sticking around and reading and commenting little ole me.

Ok..well, off to put my foot up finally and relax.

Happy Knitting!!

PS...finishing the two on the needles projects means that I can podcast and I have plenty to talk about because we got Abby's skin test back but you'll have to listen to the 3rd episode to hear about it. Ooh I'm bad. :)

Dogs on Thursday!!

It's is pretty cold around here today for Florida. Our heater doesn't really work so everyone in the house is loving it but me. The pups and Special K are enjoying the cold weather. I like it to a certain extent but if it's too cold I don't want to get out of bed. :)

For today's Dogs on Thursday I wanted to share Abby's new puppy with you.

I found this at Walgreens for $3. I've only ever seen it at Petsmart for $15 and paying that much for a toy that as soon as Jackjack gets a hold of it will be shredded isn't my idea of well spent money. So, when I was at Walgreens and saw them for so little I finally got her one. I didn't realize how much she would like it though. She is so cute with it and I've manage to keep it up when I know Jack might be able to snag it.

You think she likes her puppy??

She is just such a cute puppy with her puppy. :)

And Jackjack got a rawhide which he didn't chew but horded for a couple hours. He's a funny puppy dog.

Well...hope everyone had a great Dogs on Thursday!

Knitting news I'm at the last couple rounds of my sister's hat and I'm on the second half of Surfer Girl's hat. :) I'm almost done with the pair to my Fawkes sock. I think I'm doing good. I am doing lesson plans today and then I plan on making a list for the Gift-a-long I joined to get a head start on gifts.

Happy Knitting

Catch up....it's about time!!

Wow...it's been 8 days since I last posted. I do believe this is the longest I've gone between posts. So you can only imagine I've been pretty busy and away from my computer. I am never very far from my computer and usually have time to play but with the holidays, my brother in town, and Special K off work(which is rare)...I have not had time to sit and blog. Don't get me wrong I missed it and thought about it but I just haven't sat down...until today. I'm sad I missed Wedding Wednesday and Dogs on Thursday this week.....I promise not to let this happen again...Oh and there will be another theme day starting next week....It's going to be a surprise!!!

A lot has been going on in the last week...we got off for Christmas break but I have been working "extra" care at school. This is always an interesting experience for me. I am not the biggest fan of watching a bunch of K-3rd graders, whose parents can barely handle but the kids always surprise me. I actually had 7 kids today drawing, which if you'd seen them 15 minutes before you would be surprised that I was able to accomplish this. They were enjoying themselves and seemed to not want to stop drawing for lunch. Score one point for gnat!!...but the kids sad to stay, still probably have 5 points. I'm much better with my middle schoolers than I am with the Kindergarteners. They love me but I am not as sensitive sometimes as I think I should be. I am working on this.

I do get time to knit while working so that's been good. Last Friday I spent probably the whole day working on a hat for my sister. :) She knows that I'm making it for her but not what it looks like so no pictures yet. It's part of her Christmas gift...I am her secret Santa. I knit her a couple things and bought her something small and she emailed me asking me to knit her a hat because she saw the one I'm knitting Surfer Girl, which by the way isn't done yet either. UGH!! Well...I spoiled the surprise and told her that I was her secret Santa and if she could handle the package being late I would knit her a hat. I picked an awesome pattern out and started knitting it last Friday. I got halfway done that day...my wrist hurt I was knitting so much. :) Then the weekend came and my brother...well, the holiday's didn't allow much knitting time for me...unfortunately.


So...I worked on it here and there but I was at the part of the pattern I need to give it a lot of attention. So...hence I finally finished it yesterday and lo and behold...it was TOO small. I about CRIED!! It would fit a 3rd grader but not my sister or my head. So...the final decision after some pouting and fussing was to rip it back and add more rounds. Holding back tears I ripped back about 20 rounds. I put it back on the needles and sat and stared at it. I need to pick it up and finish it today but it and I need space before I just take scissors to it. It will look great when I'm done though I will have to say that. :)


Between all the pouting and fussing over Cris' hat I did manage to knit myself a simple Ipod sock using some left over yarn from my Fawkes socks.



My dear Fiancee Special K, bought me a red Ipod Nano as one of my Christmas gifts. He spoiled me rotten this Christmas with the ipod, two gift certificates, two knitting books, two omelet pans, a knife, and his love. :) I did not knit him anything because he doesn't appreciate my hand knits like most people, but that's ok. I bought him a wallet and filled it with pictures of us and his family. I got him his favorite chocolate, a BBQ utensil set, a tee that says "morning people suck", and my brother went in with me on a tennis racket, tennis balls, and a headband. Special K just learned to play tennis so we figured he'd need some supplies. We actually have a date with my niece and nephew tonight to play. :)

Well...I could go on forever but I always feel I need more pictures if I'm going to ramble too long. :) Thank you for those who sent comments for sharimom. We missed her during the holidays but we did get an awesome package for Christmas from her. I need to take some pictures and I'll post when I can. Another holiday weekend is upon us so I doubt I will be by the computer much but I will try to take pictures and get a head start on some post to share.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and plan on having a wonderful NEW YEAR!!

Happy Knitting!!!

Knitting...actual knitting!!

Ok. Yes, I do realize that this happens to be a knitting blog...hence the knit in Bark n Knit. :) So, I figured I'd have a post with actual knitting in it. Wow...what a concept. :) I have been using knitting needles and creating stuff. First off here's the first project I'm working on. Which is a Christmas present for Surfer Girl. I've had a bit of trouble with this hat. NOT because of the pattern but first off I took it to Wed SnB and had to rip back a couple rows...I was not paying attention. Then for some reason Jack and Abby have discovered my ziploc bags which contain yarn and knitting and have decided to open them up with their teeth and find out what's inside. I spend quite a bit of time yesterday untangling the yarn. Ye.s, they are still alive. :) The pattern is Utopia Hat from Smariek Knits. It's been an easy knit and for my second cable project a fun one.

To update those of you not following along on my ravelry projects. :) Here is the finished Fawkes Sock number 1. I've cast on for the the second one but slow progress.



I also wanted to share with you a Thank you gift from my Dishcloth swap pal Heathir. What's horrible is that I guess I never even noticed that she posted on her blog about my package. I had been checked when I sent it but totally missed it. You have to admit November was a strange month but I'm slacking. Well..if you want to check out the package I sent her, which I'm so glad she liked, go check out her blog. She is also the first person in a swap who sent a Thank you gift. Which by the way is a great idea that I need to think of doing and her gift was even greater. She sent me a needle roll and an awesome keychain sock blocker sock. :) AWESOME!!!

There's some knitting....finally. I have a couple of catch up post to come too.

This weekend we spent a lot of time working on the house and our yard, very little knitting got done. Today Special K's dad showed up with a ton of sod and we laid it in the backyard where all the sand is now. We also went to Home Depot, one of my favorite stores, and bought a new hose, sprinkler, hose nozzle(I LOVE IT) and some fertilizer. I never knew how fun spreading fertilizer with a spreader was either. :) FUN!!!

So...I'm sleepy now and I'm planning on curling up in bed and watching the Iron Chef America's Holiday Dessert battle. OH What fun it is to watch people cook!! If only the TV could let us taste the food too. :)

Have a great night and hope everyone had a good weekend.

Knitting Group!! Just approved!! Help if you can!!

So, I've been thinking about starting a knitting group at my school for awhile. My niece Surfer Girl has sparked interests with the rest of the girls and so they have been asking. I spoke with the administration and they said that would be great!! I'm thinking that now I want to get a collection of yarn and needles to teach them first before they decide on a pattern or project. I haven't been knitting for very long so I don't have many needles that I don't actively use and much extra yarn scraps. So here's where you, the knitting community can help me!! If you have any scraps of yarn or needles that you no longer want or use and would like to donate to my knitting group at school please email me at gnatchat at gmail dot com. If you donate to our group we will make you something and send it to you. May take a while for it to get to you but I promise that it will get there and be made by a student!

Thank you for any help!!

Quick update

I won a contest over at KnitMap.com. YEAH!! It looks like a great prize!! If you haven't already you should check the site out. Add your local yarn shop or leave a comment.

I spent yesterday afternoon hanging out with my step-sister Luz, and Surfer Girl. We sat around and knit. We had a great time. Luz wanted to learn how so I taught her to cast on and knit. She's doing pretty good.

Yesterday morning and today has been spent working on the house because Special K's mom will be here next weekend. Special K did wonders on our front yard and is working on the backyard today. I'm helping and doing some other stuff around the house as well. Gotta get back to it!!

Happy Knitting!!

The Yarn Store Crawl - 9/8/2007

THE YARN STORE CRAWL!!! I know I've been teasing about this but here's the story.

The crawlers: my sister Fleas, my niece Surfer Girl(Sammy), my nephew Crazy Boy, and me.
Fleas is a crocheter who is learning to knit because her daughter, her son and I do. I think she's enjoying it but has always been comfortable with crocheting since learning with our grandmother.

Surfer Girl got interested in knitting when I started and it was all I talked about. I've written about her before in my blog but she came with my to free lessons once and has knitted ever since. She's still hesitant to purl much but I'm trying to guide her along. She's in 6th grade and has orders from all her friends for bracelets and the latest is doggie collars. I've given her some dishcloth patterns to try and she is interested in knitting on circulars. She has a knitting animals book that she is going to try.

Crazy Boy is a bit young at 3rd grade and has a short attention span but he's started learning to knit two weeks ago. I was sitting for two girls and they wanted to learn. One is his friend so he naturally wanted to try it as well. He's coming along and seems to enjoy it when he's not frustrated.

About our Trip: We live in St. Petersburg, FL and the plan was to start in Palm Harbor, FL and hit all the yarn stores we have not been to. (I will do another post with pics and stories about the two I frequent) I googled all the yarn stores and planned a route. I stuck to those in a general area and cut out the ones that would make the crawl too long for the younger ones.

We started out at about 10:00 am and hit Chick-fil-a for a healthy breakfast of chicken!! From there we headed to our first stop, Uncommon Threads in Palm Harbor. As we were getting there I realized that I had forgotten the one thing other than my wallet that I really wanted to bring. A CAMERA!!! I took the pictures of uncommon threads from my cell phone and after hitting the store we stopped for a disposable hence why it took me so long to get this post going. Ok... on with the Yarn Crawl. (ps. I've been writing this post for two days)

Uncommon Threads was probably one of my favorite yarn stores on the crawl. It was located in a strip mall and the sign outside that says YARN does not represent the quality of the store. When you walk in there is shelves and shelves of YARN!! There was plenty of places to sit and when I walked in I spoke with one woman who worked there and she was very helpful. It was a Saturday afternoon and it was packed!! Everyone seemed very friendly and there seemed to be a little group gathering in the back for snacks and knitting. They have an amazing selection of needles and the YARN!! It was so pretty. I saw some Shuibui Sock yarn that was amazing and should have grabbed it for my HSKS 3 pal but it was my first stop and I felt like I had to wait. (If I have time I may go back and get this for her because it was a great color) Surfer Girl really liked this yarn store as well. No one purchased anything but I think only because it was the first of four not because of the selection.

Second stop was The Yarn Gallery in Dunedin. I have wanted to visit this store for about three months and was glad it was open when we got there. (I called all stores ahead and made sure they were open) When I was working up in Dunedin this summer this store was closed for a month I believe because of a pregnancy. The lady who owns the store was so nice, extremely helpful and informative. The selection of yarn was pretty amazing. The store is roomy with three separate rooms and a table on one side in the middle room to sit and hang out but didn't seem as welcoming to strangers as I'm sure it may be. There was some amazing bags and needle rolls there as well. This one type of needle roll was made from recycled material and was a patch work pattern. The lady in the store was very nice and made a copy of a pattern for a sock with no heel for me. We all purchased some yarn at the Yarn Gallery.

Next stop was PIZZA at Cristino's Pizza in Clearwater. We weren't really planning on stopping for lunch here but Fleas had read a review of this place in the local newspaper a couple weeks before and we were all kind of hungry and ready for a break so we stopped. The pizza was wonderful as well as the atmosphere. We ordered a half mushrooms with sausage, a quarter cheese and a quarter pepperoni pizza. Fleas and I got salads for starters. For dessert the kids got gelato and Fleas and I helped them with it. I knit a little while waiting for our pizza. I would definitely recommend eating here if you are around Clearwater.

Next yarn store was Flying Needles Inc. in Belleair Bluffs, FL. This store was most needle point but had a pretty nice selection of yarn. With any purchase of sock yarn, you get a free pattern. I bought sockotta yarn and ChiaoGoo Bamboo double point needles in size 2. Surfer girl bought some circular needles. The two ladies who worked there were friendly and helpful. Fleas spent a bit of time speaking to them about their needle point. They had some high quality hand painted needlepoint patterns. The store was set up with one big room and had a table to sit and hang out.

The last but not least yarn stop was Knits n Krafts in Seminole, FL. The woman who owned this store was the nicest lady I have met. She was an older woman who was eager to help and wanted to make sure we knew that we could come and sit, knit and learn whenever we would like. She said she has taught many of people to knit. The selection of yarn was not as high end as the other stores but there was a wide variety and lovely colors. There was a nice selection of wooden and bamboo needles.

We all had a lot of fun on this yarn crawl. By the end we were tired and yarned out but eager to go home and knit...at least I was. I hope you have enjoyed our little store of Yarn Crawl 9/8/07. This probably will not be the last.

Happy Knitting!!!!