Moving Day

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Some Kids Never Grow Up...

... and that's good.

For the last year all my daughter has talked about is wanting a big party for her birthday with all her friends and family, and a Jolly Jumper. A BIG jumper, and it had to be a princess castle.

This is for her 18th birthday... mind you, not her 3rd.

I made sure the jumper people knew it would be used by teenagers. The rental agreement said "no more than 2 teenagers at a time"..... ooops

It also said "must be supervised" Does this look like I'm supervising? (BTW, I'm wearing my Eiffel!)

Other rules we "broke" - hmmmm, no flips, no mixing of age groups - at one point my 50-year-old husband, a bunch of teenagers, and a 5-year-old were all in there playing a mean game of dodge ball. Hey - at least I didn't them bring in food or drinks, or pointy objects (I considered trying to get a picture of my jumping with my knitting for you... but figured the "pointy objects" rule probably ought to be one we obey).

The only one who got hurt the whole day was my BIL, and he wasn't even in the jumper at the time. He fell off the Bongo Board.

I tell ya - renting that jumper was worth every cent. Add in hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream cake, and a couple of 3' speakers hooked up in the backyard for party tunes, and ya got yourself a pretty great 18th Birthday Party. I highly recommend it for any age.

There was a little knitting, when I wasn't in the jumper or eating.... can anyone guess what this will be? Big hint - I'm probably the LAST knitter on earth to make one of these. I'm not telling. It'll be evident soon enough, and you can probably tell already by the subtleties in the knit pattern.

Party on, my friends.

Proof that I'm Alive

... and still knitting.

I dropped Lily (the non-knitting daughter) off at school today in the usual spot, and as she gets out of the car she starts laughing. She leans down and picks something out of the gutter. A stitchmarker! "Do you think it's ours?" she asks?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is :o)

Here's the progress on my Central Park Hoodie - I'm actually a good 8" or so past this now. I'm LOVING the pattern, and especially the color.

But, Lily strikes again - she picks it up the other day and says, "Ooooh, what's this? I like it! Are you making it for me?

Uh..... No! Now she's hoping it'll be too small for me and she'll get it after all.

We'll see.

PS - Life's crazy right now, but I'll try to post more often - thanks to all of you who have checked up on me to make sure I'm still alive and kickin', and knittin!

"So, you're just a sock knitter??"

I'm not a yarn stasher. We all know this about me. I don't just buy yarn to buy yarn, no matter how much I love it. I know... I'm odd that way the knitting world. I generally just buy yarn with a certain project in mind, when I'm ready for it.

An exception to this is when I'm on vacation or a different city and have a chance to check out a new yarn store. I'll enjoy the thrill of buying something for no reason when I'm on vacation... but generally try to limit my purchases to yarns I can't find at my LYS. That's where I found myself this morning. That's when I had my first encounter with one of "those" yarn stores.

The hubby and I spent the night in Santa Barbara last night, and he left for a seminar this morning at 8:00 AM. So, knowing I'd have some time to myself in Santa Barbara I "googled" yarn stores, and found one. Oooh, and they have Koigu - something you can't get at my LYS. Sweet!

So I tell the hubby goodbye, and have two hours to kill before it opens. I drive around beautiful Santa Barbara for awhile, then decide to get some Starbucks and find a scenic place to park and knit for awhile. We had already been to the beach last night, so I decided to go up to the Mission.

It was gorgeous. I sat and knit for awhile, took some pictures, then decided to head off to the yarn store.

I should have known the second I walked in, the owner greets me with "What are you looking for?" No Hello, good morning, or anything like that. I want to tell her I just want to wander around and look at and touch everything, but I figure that may not be the way to go. So, I ask, "Do you have any Koigu?"

"Yes, it's over here with the sock yarn," she says - like I know where she keeps her sock yarn. Then she says, "So, you're just a sock knitter?"

I'm thinking, so what if I am? But, I say, no, I knit all kinds of things, shawls, sweaters, and even socks. That satisfies her and she leaves me alone for awhile while I wander around.

Second clue: Another lady walks in, is greeted with the oh-so-warm, "What are you looking for?" This new shopper asks if they carry any Cascade 220.

"Oh NO, dear. You can get that at any old craft store. I wouldn't carry that."

Hmph. I don't know what "craft stores" she goes to, but I've never seen Cascade at any of the craft stores I know of.

Besides, I just spent 45 minutes at the beautiful Santa Barbara Mission, knitting on my just-started Central Park Hoodie, marveling over the beauty of my Cascade 220 yarn and thinking to myself, "ya know.... Cascade is my comfort yarn.... I just love this stuff." This lady's totally ruining my knitting zen.

So, what do I do? Oy - I spend $40 on yarn I could have bought at my LYS. Oh, and some Koigu. The Koigu I can justify.... I can't get that readily.... but the Silky Wool? - they have that at my LYS.

I should have waited and given my money to Lois, at least she likes me and is polite.

I usually try not to complain about people. Maybe the shop owner was just having a bad morning... I don't know. But every time I look at this yarn it's gonna bother me.

She has a nice little shop, with some nice yarn. But, I won't be back.

Cost: $3.99, Weight: 3 oz

This is just a beautiful little bit of nothing! (click pic for bigness)

Pattern: Ene's Scarf, from Scarf Style

Yarn: KnitPicks Bare, laceweight, dyed by Kaity, about 3/4 skein

Needles: KnitPicks Options, size 6.

Comments: I STILL managed to goof up the diamonds on the border, after all the drama of casting on.... but it doesn't look bad. The pattern was fun, and relatively fast. The yarn is a dream, and for only $3.99.... well, you can't beat it!

Lockdown - Another Perfect Knitting Opportunity

At about 10:00 today I see the Sheriff's helicopter circling town and get a text message from my youngest telling me their school is in "lockdown." Well, that's a little scary - for her AND me! Luckily, I have some connections and the hubby's scanner, so I was able to find out what was going on. Apparently someone in custody at the police station, about 1/2 a block from the high school, slipped his handcuffs and ran out!

2 hours, literally locked in the classroom, not allowed to even get out of their chairs, except once to be escorted to the bathroom. Wow, big excitement for our little town. Thank goodness for cell phones - we were able to text back and forth and I was able to let her know at least there wasn't a mad gunman or something REALLY scary going on- oh yeah, and let her know that I realize they're trapped in there at lunchtime, but, no, I can't come slip a pizza under the door! I also told her she really should have some knitting with her to pass the time - I mean, really, a situation like that just screams for knitting!

And, yes, like a good mother I got right in my car and drove around the high school myself to see what I could see, which was every cop car in town posted around the school, and cops on every corner. Just a little un-nerving.

So, instead of leaving town to run errands, I sat around and knit until I knew it was all over, but it did give me a chance to finish my Ene's scarf!

And, check out what's sitting there on my pile of unblocked scarf. Kaity and I got our passports yesterday. Now we're officially ready for our Sea Socks Cruise in May. Woo Hoo!