KnitQuest

Did You See It Yet?!?!

I’m sitting here with the biggest grin ever on my face. Do you know why? Did you see it yet? Go look, I’ll wait.

That’s my sock on the front page. My sock! Zoom Zoom! On the front page of Blue Moon Fiber Arts! Knit in the super cool new ST-1 and ST-2 colors!

What could be better than that? Having those socks and my pattern in the Blue Moon booth at Sock Summit. I’m so excited I just might pop.

And if that wasn’t enough Tina, depraved dyer and goddess of the sock, herself took the photos and is very kindly letting me use them in my pattern.

Did I mention I was excited?

Who wants some Summer Loving?

Summer Loving is written, knit, tested and ready for anybody who needs a little fling.

Add a little lace action, a bit of my favorite stitch, a nifty little pleat, and you’ve got yourself a little summer romance in the making.

If you want to see it in person, the scarf and the patterns will be at the HazelKnits booth (629) at Sock Summit.

Specifics:

Pattern: Summer Loving

Yarn: HazelKnits Merino Soy (shown in Sweet Crush) and HazelKnits Artisan Sock (shown in Violeta )

Needles: US size 4,  and one size 4 DPN

Gauge: 5.5 sts per inch in garter stitch

Construction: Scarf is knit in two pieces and joined with a 3 needle bind off in the middle

Available for $5 US

I’d never be able to release patterns without the help of test knitters. Thanks so much Wendy, Kimberly, Christina, Elizabeth, Manon and an extra special shout out to Kathy, who not only knit the scarf but modeled it fabulously! I’m making her the official Knit Quest spokesmodel (should that be 2 words?).

I Didn’t Forget

Can you remember way back before I left on the RV trip? I promised I’d give away 10 Tellum patterns to commenters. Well it’s taken me forever, but I didn’t forget my promise. In fact my technical difficulties and time crunch are to your benefit. I’m giving everyone who left me a comment on that post before today a copy of the pattern. So if you left me a comment check your email (don’t forget the junk mail folder).  Thanks everyone for your patience and your comments!

I also haven’t forgotten that I promised to give away 10 copies of all my patterns and that I still have quite a few to go. But like so many other things in my life it will have to wait until after Sock Summit.

Moving on… The last of my trip photos.

Do you think she’ll grow up to knit one of my patterns someday? I hope so.  I probably don’t qualify as a master knitter but I put the needles in her hands anyway. Just in case.

I got to meet my adorable niece (ok really she’s my cousins daughter but we’re going with the auntie thing anyway) and her equally adorable brother during our last stop of the trip.

I love them both and had lots of fun cuddling and playing with them. Babies are even more fun when you get to give them back to have their diapers changed.

I must admit that I was extra smitten with the new princess because we finally have someone in the family that looks like me. Plus how could you not fall for that gorgeous smile.

What were we knitting?

My newest sock. I’d better get back to knitting so I can to have it ready for viewing and knitting by Sock Summit.

Home and Deranged

Home, home and deranged
Where the weeds and the dust bunnies play
Where seldom is heard an encouraging word
And the dishes are dirty all day

How often at night when the lights are still bright
And the laundry covers the floor
Have I stood there all dazed and asked as I gazed
Why is my life such a bore

Home, home and deranged
Where the weeds and the dust bunnies play
Where seldom is heard an encouraging word
And the dishes are dirty all day

Well that about sums it up. If I were more clever I’d throw in some verses about piles of mail, messages to return, and how having two kids at home makes it almost impossible to concentrate.

Unfortunately concentrating is what I really need to do. Sock Summit is in less than two week. Two Weeks!!  Two weeks to finish three patterns (okay inside I’m still hoping it will be four but that’s just the crazy talking), do all my printing, make sure my patterns page is in order (it’s awful right now) and work out all the details of when and where I’m supposed to be to help Tina and Wendee.

Plus I’ve just discovered I don’t have a place to stay. I was going to stay with a friend who lives in the area but then I realized she was a half hour or more away and that being a house guest for a week but not having any time to visit was just rude. The hotels I’ve called so far are all booked. So if you know some nice soul who’d doesn’t already have a room mate and might be willing to share please send them my way.

The pictures are Summer Loving (scarf)  and Zippy (vest). Both patterns are going up for testing this week and I’m doing my darnedest to have them ready for Sock Summit. If you’re interested in testing either one leave me a comment.

See I told you I’d been knitting.

Scary

If you’re going to take a 3 1/2 week road trip you have to expect some complications and delays. Getting off 3 hours late and not making our first stop. Not great but there is always Wal-Mart.

Noticing a funny chemical smell and then discovering it’s your battery and it’s leaking. Small delay to hunt up an auto parts store, buy a new one, and swap it for the old one. Not to bad.

Turning off your wipers while driving down the freeway but they don’t actually go off. Puzzling but after a half hour of trying to fix it, it fixed its self. Weird but not a big deal.

Normally slow lazy dog launching herself at the driver, while going 70mph down the freeway, and knocking over a full glass of water in the process. Surprising for sure, especially for the person I was on the phone with who I promptly hung up on, but no damage done.

Then yesterday came along and none of that or anything else mattered. We stopped in Larmie, WY to get some gas and Bug was helping me take the dogs out. He had his arm in his shirt and when I asked why he said “so I don’t itch it”. He pulled his arm out for me to see and his forearm was swollen almost twice it’s normal size with a clear bite mark in the middle. Holy cow.

Okay, calm mom face on, let’s go see dad and get some Benadryl. Umm now.

As we were trying to get back in the rig he fainted. Started to say he didn’t feel good and just collapsed. Turned white as a sheet. We got him in and sat down. Gave him water, juice, and the Benadryl and tried to figure out where the emergency room was and how we were going to get out of the gas station with this big tanker blocking us.

We made to the ER and even found a parking spot not to far away. I jumped out and carried my 57lb baby in as fast as I could. All I could think was “Thank you God we weren’t in the middle of nowhere and boy do I need to work out more.”

I have to say that if you’re going to have an emergency do it in Laramie. They had us in triage as soon as we walked in the door and with a doctor in less then a half hour. Amazing.

After a lot of tests they told us it was probably a combination of high altitude (over 7000 feet in Laramie), the bad reaction to the bite, not enough fluids, and low sodium levels.  He’s normally a healthy guy so that made sense and I started to feel better.

Two hours later we were out and off the Burger King to load him up on salt and calories. On the way in he fainted again. This time he lost consciousness for a few seconds. More carrying, more calm mom practice, and a call to the ER.

They reassured me that it didn’t mean they were wrong the first time and hubby reminded me he hadn’t eaten yet and it looks like they were right.  He’s been fed, had enough fluids to float a small armada, and is still sleeping soundly as I type.

As you might imagine I didn’t sleep so soundly and am having a very hard time not waking him up just so I can see that he’s ok and so I can feed him some more.

I’m sure he’ll be just fine and this will end up being just one more memory to add to our trip.

 

I wrote this two days ago but couldn’t get any wi-fi until now. We’re in Boise enjoying the chaos (6 kids in the house including 9 month twins). Bug is totally fine now. No more problems thank goodness.

Home Away from Home

I’ve been showing you all the sites as we go but honestly the last couple day there hasn’t been much to see. Corns, cars, and clouds (including quite a bit of rain) pretty much sums it up.

The other thing I’ve been seeing a lot of is the inside of the RV and I though you all might like to see it too.

I took the pictures when we were parked with the sliders out so it’s not this spacious driving down the road.  Starting at the front we have the worlds biggest dash, some comfy chairs, and an insane amount of cup holders (which are all usually filled with water and iced tea).

Somebody else really likes my seat too. Every time I get up one of the fuzzy members of the family steals my chair.

Moving toward the back is the kids couch (which didn’t seem to make it in a photo) and the dinning area. It’s also DDs bed when it’s not a table. Perfect for eating, coloring, and playing board games while watching the scenery go by.

On the other side we have the kitchen, where I’m getting really good at fixing sandwiches while keeping my balance and making sure the mayo doesn’t go flying off the counter.

The bathroom, which is my hubby’s favorite thing about the RV. He doesn’t have to stop every two hours so I can pee (see previous note about iced tea).

Last is our bedroom and beneath the bed …

my stash! I seem to have not made much of a dent in it but it’s always good to be prepared. Obviously this doesn’t include the three projects in progress I keep up front.

See I told you I was still doing some knitting

On The Road Again

As I type this we’re racing across I80 in Iowa, that darned song looping around in my head, watching acre after acre of corn whiz by. By the end of the day we’ll be in Gothenburg, Nebraska and have traveled 567 miles and visited 12 states total. I can’t believe how much we’ve packed into two weeks.

Other than a ton of driving we’ve been have a great time visiting family and trying to fit it all in.

Bug had a great time showing his older cousins his chess skills. They were super good sports and I must admit it was nice not be the  only one getting my butt kicked.

We had some fun at the same park hubby played at as a kid.

There were enough kids to play a fair game of baseball.

  

Swimming is always a big hit.

She still won’t swim or get her face wet but she was finally tall enough that I didn’t have to go in the pool and clearly she enjoyed herself.

Fireworks and chasing fireflies rounded out our evenings. Bug was so excited to catch one, he accidently sucked it into his mouth. I nearly died laughing when he spit it back out still glowing!

Yesterday, on our way out of Michigan we stopped in Ann Arbor for a visit to my favorite restaurant. Todd was extremely proud of his parking job (as he should be) so we had to take a picture of it.

Latkes, cheese, brownies, parmesan pepper bread, Zang bars and of course the best sandwiches ever. I love, love, love Zingermans!

It’s probably a good thing we don’t live closer cuz all I’d ever want to eat is cheese and bread.

I think she liked it too!

PS – this is still a knitting blog and I am still knitting (as much as I possibly can). I’ll have lots to report and hopefully 4 new patterns ready for final touches and testing as soon as I get back.    

Freezing Fun

Today we were in The Dells Wisconsin freezing our tushes off.  However that didn’t stop us from spending the day at Mt. Olympus Water & Theme park. It did keep us out of the water part though.

We’re hardy Seattle folk but 60 degrees and rain is too much for me to be outside sporting a swimsuit.

We did ride go-carts. Clearly she was a bit concerned about the whole thing and she drove about 1 mile an hour (Bug passed her twice) but she did it!

We rocked the coasters.

With our arms up of course. No fear here. In fact she rode the biggest coaster she could get on 6 times. 5 of them in a row. She was loving it and I was just praying I’d keep my funnel cake down.  

Bug was finally tall enough to go on all the big rides and took full advantage of it. with daddy. I love the big rides but they don’t love me so much.

Just watching them go round on the tea cups made me a bit queasy but they loved it.

How cute is he? Look how’s he hugging and protecting her. Made my heart melt.

Speaking of cute.. We told her how brave she was to ride the coaster with her arms up, especially when her brother won’t do it. After that she rode every ride, no matter how big or small, with both arms up and a proud grin.

Tomorrow we’re off on another long day of driving. Hopefully we’ll make Detroit before everyone’s asleep.

PS – Hubby remarked that she looked like an extra from the Sopranos in her track suit and started calling her little Guido. I’ll never look at that outfit the same.