In looking up my GoStats for the day, I found the following searches led people to me:

MSN Search: Nicole F. (I was #2 after Lawyers.com.)

Google: knit blog sirdar (#1)

Yahoo! Search: knit flower washcloth (#8)

As for the top word searches:

poncho
pattern
knitting
knit
nicole
blog
yarn

What's on tap for the weekend? We have our PINS meeting at the Purple Iris from 2-5 on Saturday. I would love some of my blog readers to come! Please! Pretty please! It would be cool to meet everyone (or to see you again). Email me if you're interested. Please!

I'm outta here! Peace!

Oh well. So much for a nap. I found this site and thought I would pass it along. Check out Flowers for Al and Don. I've donated, won't you?

I am home again today. Tuesday I was home from school feeling icky. Had been all weekend. Wednesday was better, and I went in to work. Thursday...



This is the view into our backyard.



I went out to get the mail and took these pictures.



And what did I spy peeking out through the snow? The first crocus and tulip shoots which Mom and Dad helped me plant in November. Woohoo!

And, lookie what the mail woman broght today! My first Sirdar pattern.

I have been trying to fix my Silky Wool Gyrid emblem on the front. My stitch count is a little off. I hate trying to rip cables. Yuck! I will work on it after I take a much needed nap!

Here's to sweet dreams of more snow (doubtful, unfortunately)!

Happy Sunday morning!

It's amazing, but we are having a second weekend day with sun! Gasp! This has really been a dreary winter in the Southeast. Yesterday we had a high of 60 degrees. Nice! Today should be about the same. 'Bout time. As a Leo, I definitely need the sunlight to feel good. Alaska? Forget it. I would have to get one of those specialized lights for SAD patients. No, I'll enjoy the sunshine from here, thank you very much. :)

Yesterday was a pretty productive day. I worked on my computer/knitting room. got rid of a few more boxes. I reassembled the cube unit that Miguel decided to to fall into and not use anymore. It was a real PITA to put together (both the first time and yesterday). Once I clean off my computer desk, more things will go on/in the cube unit.

While I was working away in this room, reorganizing, tossing, and putting the unit together (aka cussing), I was charging up my new toy. I bought a Palm Zire 21 from eBay for about a third of the regular price. I bought it last weekend, it shipped Tuesday, and I got it yesterday. I love it! I've already synced (is that a word?) my Yahoo! Calendar and my address book. I've played the free Hearts card game. I bought it to keep track of my calendar, mostly. In the fall, I'm beginning my education specialist degree, and I knew this PDA would be helpful.

I ordered a hard case for it yesterday. It will take a few days to get here. So, in the meantime, I am going to knit myself a cover using some homespun I have. It should just be the perfect amount to do this little project. I'll take a picture when it's finished.

In other exciting knit news, I've finished the back of Gyrid. I'm just about to begin the front design. Yippee! I also will have the following items coming to live with me. This Sirdar pattern, 20 x 50g SIRDAR SEA PEARL yarn, and Sirdar wash n wear double knit yarn 10 x 50 gram. I got some really good deals. Can't wait to turn them into some new finished objects!

Dr. Daniel Jackson: You are open minded and
considerate - basically an all around nice
person ... and did I mention stubborn?


Which Stargate Character Are You? (Now with pictures)
brought to you by Quizilla

I have LOVED this new season on Stargate! Loved it, I repeat. And, there hasn't been a repeat, yet. Anyone else out there an SG-1 knitting fan besides Melisa? Let me know.

I have decided upon the new project. It is the Elsbeth Lavold Gyrid shell in my eggplant Silky Wool. I am already on the armhole shaping on the back. I just love the fabric from the Silky Wool! It is very yummy!

Valentine's Day was a quiet affair here at home. I had given Miguel his gift on Friday. I have a handheld solitaire game I love to play before falling asleep. He has wanted something similar so I found a poker game for him. He loved it! I got a set of three gold ball earings of varying sizes. I was feeling crummy all day (so bad I didn't go to the soccer jamboree--yikes!), and Miguel was nice enough to pick up Chili's baby back ribs (barbeque sauce!). Yum!

Ta Da!



Presenting cheesylove from knitty. Mine was done in Wool-ease and Passport Yarn Co. Venice (a Michael's yarn). I should have made the medium as the large is just a few inches too roomy in the bust (doh!). It's so hard to tell, though, if the extra room is already built in, or if I am supposed to allow for a few extra inches on sizing. I guess that will come with practice. I will, however, be wearing it to school tomorrow in celebration for Valentine's Day. Here's to a crazy, students-who-will-be-hyped-up-on-sugar Friday!

FO! FO! FO!

Yes, I have a finished object. Cheesylove is done! I stayed a little extra at school so I could sew the sleeves onto the body. I tried it on, and it fits! Woohoo! I showed a few people at school, and they were impressed that it wasn't store-bought. Some students (boys, actually) teased me and wanted to see the tag. I assured them that it was hand knit, and they gave me compliments, too. Since the deadline was for a V-Day wearing, it's blocking away as we speak. I'll try and post a picture on Friday.

So? Now what? I am still working along on the cotton ease red and black scarf for my department head. But as for a bigger project, maybe I'll drag out my Philosopher's Wool Kilim sweater which has been marinating since last spring break. I could start the Elsbeth Lavold Gyrid shell in my eggplant Silky Wool. I could also restart Cul-de-sac. One cable (of course at the bottom) is a little wonky. Reef Shawl? A pair of socks? Hmmm.... I'll keep ya posted.

Woohoo!! Friday!

And, today was a great day. I started it by wearing my Wool-Ease chunky vest I made last fall with my favorite pair of jeans. ( I LOVE this school. We get faculty jeans day on Fridays. Much different than my previous school.) Got lots of compliments on my vest. Then, my third period was having a "Cultural Exchange" (read party). We had homemade enchiladas con pollo, tostadas,arroz con leche (was given the extra to take home!), Publix brownies, and fruit salad. We chatted, ate, and listened to Latin music. It was a nice change of pace.

Daye brought my pink sweater all sewn up. It's beautiful! With her help, hopefully I'll be able to finish seams as well as her. I'll sew in the ends tonight, block it, (cut off one plastice stitch marker I accidentally sewed in--don't know HOW I did that!), and put up a picture this weekend. Yippee!

It was also our principal's birthday today. His family came to school and surprised him. I was lucky enough to be in when he returned to school from a tribunal. He was most surprised, and he hates surprises. :) I do think he was happy to see all this family there.

After school, I went to Hobby Lobby to pick up some Cotton-Ease to make a commissioned scarf. While at the Fiber Arts Club on Tuesday, my department head came in and announced that he would pay someone $100 to make him a 6-foot long scarf in red and black striped. He told us that he had the hardest time finding a correctly colored scarf (our school colors) with the right amount of length. He's a big guy, tall and stout. I told him I would do it, but he did backpeddle the amount offered. He requested cotton, but I didn't want something which was 100% cotton to knit. I bought three skeins of red and three of black. I intend to make a garter stitch scarf with 2x2 ribbing for the center around the neck. I've seen a few patterns like this and love the concept. The yarn cost $25, so I'll probably ask for $50. :)

And, of course, there's cheesylove. I hope to have the sleeve finished and the neck started by the end of this weekend.

Time to make some dinner! See ya!

Checking out my gostats page and saw this:

directions on how to refelt a poker table

This was a google search someone had typed in and then came to my site. lol
Something I definitely do NOT know how to do. (grin)

I'm still merrily working away on cheesylove. I finished the first sleeve and am a third of the way done with the second sleeve. I do still need to do the neck, but then, it will be finished! Hopefully, still in time for V-Day.

We had a small turnout for the Fiber Arts Club. There were only five of us, all teachers. We knitted away, cheerfully talking about our families and school. I've really come to look forward to Tuesdays because of our knitting group.

That's it for now. I'm off to go work on my sleeve a little more before turning in early. :)

It's finished! Presenting Bottoms UP Bucket Hat Pattern from ChicKnits in Lamb's Pride. I have yet to wash it. Whatchya think about the color?

Busy Saturday!
I ventured out to the LYS to use a $15 gift certificate I got for my birthday from a friend. (I only got it a couple of weeks ago. You think I have THAT much restraint to hold on to it from August? No way, Jose!) Daye happened to be in there, too; I figured she would be there. I thought about getting the Purl Stitch book from Melville. Then I picked up Elsebeth Lavold's book. I recognized her name from the Silky Wool google search I performed earlier this week when trying to figure out if it felted. I liked the designs in the book enough to buy it and 5 skewing of Silky Wool to make the shell in the picture on the bottom right. Did I pick out black or grey, the two colors of wool I already have? Of course not! I fell in love with the deep eggplant purple, number 05. It's much richer in person than in that picture.

I showed the book to Daye, and she fell in love with the designs, too. Originally, her 9 now-wound-into-balls skeins of Silky Wool were for her first cable sweater. Unfortunately for her, though, the patterns she wanted to do would be too large for her. In order to get gauge, she would REALLY have to go down in needle size, add about 10 more skeins of yarn, adjust the pattern to fit her tiny torso, etc. It just wasn't feasible. So, in seeing this book of patterns, designed especially for this yarn, she had to have a copy of the book, too. (I'm such a bad influence! Mwahaha!)

While at Quilted Hearts, I was told that they are going to be closing the store (GASP!) and moving. It's very convenient for me to get to them now because they are very close to I-985. They will be moving to Dawsonville Highway. For the locals, it'll be next to the Golden Buddha, past Kohl's. Not as convenient for me because I'll have to go through town to get there. They plan on being closed for the greater part of February and open again in March. Their new retail location will be about the same size, so I'm not sure why they are moving. Must be more cost effective. Dunno. Thought the locals might be interested.

Went to PINS (Purple Iris Needle Society) yesterday with Daye. There were 11 of us this time. About half of the people present were new! We were pretty evenly split between knitters and cross stitchers. Fun, fun, fun! I brought my poncho and my cheesylove body to show off. Because I didn't want to mess with working on the sleeve cap shaping, I cast on for the second sleeve and worked on that. Day is trying socks again. Both of us had a hard time counting and trying not to twist our stitches when we joined. We could both laugh at ourselves because we were mumbling while counting in order not to lose where we were. :)

Yesterday I also began another little project. I bought the Bottoms UP Bucket Hat Pattern from ChicKnits. I still wanted to do a hat, I wanted a pattern that I could do felted or unfelted. I shopped the stash and found a skein of Lamb's Pride in pink. It must have been left over from my Fuzzy Feet (still haven't found them! grrr). I'm on the top decreases already. I started it before leaving for PINS and worked on it all evening. When Miguel saw it, he chuckled and told me it was cute (but awfully pink). It might be too pink for my complexion. When it's finished, I'll post a picture.

Anything else (long post!)? We might get freezing rain tomorrow. A third week with only 4 work days? It would be too good to be true. But, we can all hope!

I found this quiz on Yarn in Loops. Very cute! And, it seems, it's right on.

You are Merino Wool.
You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to
keep you close because you are so softhearted.
You love to be comfortable and warm from your
head to your toes.


What kind of yarn are you?
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