Things that I am Thankful for

This a contest for the Sock it to me Twice swap, but it is also something I have been thinking about recently.

Two nights ago my youngest brother found my middle brother on the garage floor face down in a pool of blood, so the very first thing I am thankful for is that he is alive and on the mend.#2 bro found #1 bro and we were able to administer assistance and prevent a terrible thing from happening (he had been drinking heavily and it was very cold outside, terrible terrible things). He is doing much better now. The lump on his forehead is draining down his face so he looks like he got into a fistfight.
After that happy story I'll move on to nicer things. The #2 and #3 things I am thankful for are my kids. One human and one canine.

#4 is this guy. My wonderful husband.








#5 is my family.
#6 having a roof over my head and a safe vehicle to drive
#7 my health. Things have been a bit hurry up and wait lately, but we've figured out what's wrong and are planning on what to do to fix it.
#8 is my husbands job. I am very lucky to be able to stay home with C while he works
#9 the ability to be free. I am very thankful for the men and women in the armed services and for everything they do to make sure we stay free and safe.
#10 chocolate.

Sock it to Me Twice!

1. How long have you been knitting? Do you consider yourself beginner, intermediate, advanced?
It'll be 4 years in January. I consider myself to be intermediate/advanced. I'm not afraid to try new techniques. I think the scariest thing would be steeking. Cutting into my knitting on purpose gives me the heebies. I'm going to need try it soon though. Aversion therapy =)

2. How long have you been knitting socks?
Probably for almost 3 and a half years. My third project was a sock. I knit a scarf, a hat and then a sock. The sock took me a month to finish and now lives in my sock yarn drawer without a mate.

3. What are your favorite fibers to work with?
I haven't worked with anything other than wool and cotton. I think I need to branch out from socks, sweaters and dishcloths.

4. What is your favorite color?
If I had to pick one it would be blue. If I was allowed more than one answer it would be blue, pink, purple, green and red.

5. What are your current WIPs (works in progress)?
Hahahaha. Did my husband put you up to this question? The short answer is Selbu Mittens, a pair of socks for a swap, Tangled Yoke Cardi, Enormous Mittens and a hat for the kidlet.

6. Name your favorite yarns, (brand, fibers, colors, etc.).
Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Chewy Spaghetti, Cider Moon

7. What are some yarns/fibers that you stay away from.
None really

8. What is your family situation? (Married, kids, pets?)
Married, 4 year old daughter, 1 Labrador

9. Name some of your hobbies.
Other than knitting I do counted cross-stitch, quilt and sew clothes and costumes on my 'borrowed' sewing machine.

10. Name some of your favorite movies?
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Silence of the Lambs, The Shawshank Redemption, Braveheart

11. Do you like to read?
I love to read. Before I had my daughter I worked at a bookstore and read a book a day or so. Since having her that has severely dwindled. I miss reading, but I don't think I could read a paperback and knit at the same time. I'm just not that talented.

12. Do you collect anything?
Dog hair and dirty socks? I used to collect frog figurines years ago. If you asked my husband he'd tell you I collect sock yarn.

13. Do you own an iPod or mp3 player?
I have an mp3 player, but I don't use it. Never found a time I needed it =/

14. What are your favorite type of knitting needles?
I'm digging my knitpicks metal dpns at the moment. I would really like to try their new wooden ones, but every time I go to order something they're out.

15. What knitting notion could you not live without?
My sewing needle. Somehow I'm down to one out of the 5 I started with. I guard it with my life.

16. Who are some of your favorite designers?
I don't have any

17. Do you subscribe to any magazines? (Knitting or otherwise.)
I have a subscription to IK

18. When is your birthday?
July 4

19. Do you have a "wishlist", (on Ravelry, Froogle, or Amazon)?
I do on amazon. It's under jessnoyes(at)comcast(dot)net. If the search comes up with children's toys, that's the old list that I can't seem to get rid of =( I don't need anything from that one.

20. Do you have a Ravelry ID?
JessN

21. If you had a sheep, what would you name it?
Clarabelle (yes I know that was a cow. she would also have a pink bow =D)

And then some?

When I asked the ultrasound tech if I had everything that was supposed to be in there she said 'And then some'. Turns out I have at least 5 gallstones, the largest of which is blocking the bile duct. That is the one that is causing me the problems when I eat fatty foods. I have an appointment with a surgeon on 12/5 and hopefully won't have to wait very long to get the thing out of me.

Enough about my innards and on to the knitting. Unfortunately I haven't got any pictures at the moment, but I have been working on the socks for my Vintage Sock Swap pal. I decided to do the Child's French Sock pattern. I liked the color of the ones in the book so I pulled some KnitPicks Essential in Burgundy out of my stash. I have just finished turning the heel and am on my way down the foot. I'm also making some enormous mittens for enormous hubbo's hands. Using the Urban Necessities pattern from MagKnits, but I went up a needle size to accommodate his 9.75 palm circumference. Luckily the first one fits quite well.

My etsy favorites list is currently 3 pages long. I think I need to decide on what I am getting my pals from the Mitten Swap and the Sock Swap and order it so I can be sure it's here in time for mailing. How to narrow three pages of super neat stuff? sigh...

That's all it is?!

I had another 'episode' Sunday night/Monday morning and decided that the 7th one was enough to make me go to the ER to see if there was something seriously wrong (this one wasn't nearly as bad as the previous one, thank Maude). At the ER I was diagnosed with 'abdominal pain', given a shot of pain meds (that did pretty much nothing), told I need to have an ultrasound of my gallbladder, and I'm not to eat anything fatty or delicious ever again. Or until I have that sucker ripped out. I have an appointment with a GI doc on Monday so hopefully I'll get this solved before having another one of these episodes. I could really do without being taken out with pain for about a week.

In knitting news I have gotten some stuff done while attempting to pretend I'm not in pain. I have almost completed one of the mittens for my swap partner. I think I might be redoing this one though. This one is almost too tight I think so I am going to knit the right one a needle size up and see if that helps. And my floats where the needles changeare a bit tight. Good thing I have heaps of yarn. I have also finished about 8 mittens for Cait, but none of them seem to fit her properly. There's one on the needles right now that look like they might be a winner.

*grumble grumble* Shipping *grumble grumble*

According to the 'tracking' website my Knitpicks package was supposed to be here yesterday but got to my local post office this morning after 10am. Grrrrr. I didn't cast anything on yesterday because I didn't want to abandon a project for the mittens. I was itchy itching for something to knit today so I cast on Calorimetry this morning and finished this afternoon.



So my itchy fingers were calmed for a bit, but I still want to cast on for some Halloween socks. Itchy, itchy, itchy.

Beware of the Donut!

Apparently they can make you sick enough you make *really* good friends with the potties in your house. For an entire day. So I certainly won't be going anywhere near a donut for a good long while.

I have finally come up with a mitten pattern to use for my No-More-Hum-Drum-Mittens swap partner, Squirrelly Swedish Mittens My book never came to the LYS, or they never called me, so that narrowed the field a bit. I would eventually like to get the book, but I guess the universe doesn't want me to get it right now. Now to wait for my Knitpicks order to arrive. It is currently 'in process' so it should ship within a day or two and then I can start on the mittens. It's good that I have to wait though, my 2.25mm needles are currently occupied with UglySock so I wouldn't be able to start them right away anyway.

I am down to the last half of the repeat and I think I should be fine to start the toe decreases. Being sick has really put a damper on my knitting.

The day after I became ill I received my Socks of Doom in the mail. Bereni was my assassin and she sent me a lovely pair of warm blue socks. Now if only the weather here would get cold enough to warrant handknit socks!
Now I'm just waiting on the socks from my victim to send to my assassin's assassin's assassin. Hopefully she isn't dead yet!

I'm not dead yet!

Although I am a bit jumpy when I hear the postman/fed-ex truck/ups truck drives by.

Driving myself a bit batty trying to find the best mitten pattern/yarn combo for my No-More-Hum-Drum-Mittens swap partner. Hopefully the book I ordered comes in to the LYS soon so I can come to a final decision and order the yarn and get working.

I'm hoping to post pictures tomorrow of my uglysock (It's a really strange colorway, I'm not even sure where exactly I got the yarn, but I kinda like it so I'm just going to keep on keepin on.) and my Tangled Yoke Cardi-in-progress.

Tonight's question to stall and keep mommy in the room question from C was 'Mommy, why don't mice wear pants?'

Discuss.