Life as MrNicksGirl

Look what I got for Valentines day

2006-02-15T08:33:00.000-06:00

I asked Nick to get this playmat for me, its for a game we play. Hehe isn't it cool?

NO LA

2005-09-01T07:32:00.000-05:00

The letters of my name... same initials of the letters of a city in need.

I found this blog: http://mgno.com/ its an employee of a company where I get my website names from.

Its just crazy what is going on, the looters are gangs are out of control.

Last night at bible study, we didn't study the bible. Mark showed maps and diagrams of the hurricane, showing pictures of the distruction, talked about how this is going to be a very trying time for our country. To have a whole city evacuated and all those people displaced. Its horrible. Then we prayed. I couldn't pray outloud, because I was crying.

Woe is me

2005-07-08T22:54:00.000-05:00

Well since I can't find anyone online to chat too, guess I'll post.

I have not been knitting since monday. Been programming like a fiend and I joined the YMCA, so I've been working out this week. Yay. It has definately helped my stress level, although I'm doing more. I don't come home nearly as brain dead. Weird, huh?

I am doing a wrap, from Sally Melvilles "The Purl Stitch" ...

here's a pic:

Hard to see the pattern... the center square is reverse stockinette stitch ... the four corners are garter, and the other 4 are regular stockinette.

Pretty simple pattern huh? ...........oh I keep messing up! its driving me crazy. I will do real good for awhile. Then wham-o ... I get off somewhere. I use a row counter.. I have the pattern as a diagram, which I understand.. I got the hang of it, you always start with knitting, and rows 11 and 12 are both knit, which is where the checkerboard pattern changes........... ?? luckily I have an Easy Project, a knit trianglular type scarf from Sally Melville's "The Knit Stitch" (can you tell, I like her books!) that i can work on that doesn't require any counting.

I made a wee bit of progress on my craft room. I hauled out my bookshelf (which wasn't doing too much for my piles of yarn) and put my computer books that were under my desk in the living room. Then rearranged the tubs of yarn, cross stitch and quilting stuff so I can have a path. I think it will work out better. And my computer books are so much more happy to be out in the open! :)

well I guess I'll go make myself a beverage and go to bed.

Help!

2005-06-24T08:47:00.000-05:00

I decided on a pattern for that purple cotton yarn. Its a sleeveless shirt, all ribbed with a mobius collar. Its from "The Purl Stitch" by Sally Melville. My Ribbing is stretching out kinda funky..... so I emailed my new expert knitter friend to see if she had any advice... and she posted on her blog, along with a picture I sent.

http://fearlessknitting101.com/?q=blog/2

Her name is Nina (prounced NINE-ah, not KNEE-Na as I had been saying it wrong the past few days and my friend Kim corrected me! ooops, sorry :< I'm horrible at names).. She lives near the eastern side of the US, and she's lucky enough to work in a yarn shop and teach knitting! as well as do commission knitting. Looks like she will be posting some good stuff on her blog, so keep an eye on it! Looking forward to it Nina!

Yarn Shopping!

2005-06-10T21:03:00.000-05:00

I went to Knitting Etc, in Orland today! My aunt bought me this yarn:

The label, in case you can't read it from my horrible picture its "Inter Mezzo" 100% 24ply mercerized cotton 124yards per skein, 100 grams

3.75 stitches = 1in
5 rows = 1in
US 10 Needles

Here's a closeup:

And I've heard so much about Cathay...I had to buy a ball. This is NICE yarn, wow. This would make a heavenly sweater!

Now my delima.. what to make with this purple yarn. I figured a vest or something like that. I haven't been able to find anything that is suitable yet. Any ideas? I have about 700 yards of chunky yarn.... hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Firefighters and Babies

2005-06-10T07:47:00.000-05:00

(Click all pics to see larger ones, apologies for the poor photos. What do you expect from a camera phone!)

Last night, my brother who is the head merceedes mechanic in my town, is also a volunteer fireman and last night was his graduation. My brother made us all so proud last night. He got special recognition for: perfect attendance (didn't miss one practice or training session), got a 90% or higher average grade (he was actually 93), and he passed the state fire exam (first time!). So it was pretty neat to see his graduation. Then everyone came over to my house and we had snacks. A friend of ours found a old fire ax at an antique shop that was supposably found in the old firehouse (where he is stationed) when they tore it down and rebuilt. That was pretty cool. Once he gets it on the wall I'll have to take a pic of it.

Worked on knitting two baby socks at once with two circulars last night. I can't get the cast on method (you have to slip half the stitches to another needle... then.. slide them down, blah blah.. So I got the hint from a girl from my knitting group Monica, she says she likes to starts the sock on dbl pointed for a few rounds then switches to the circs. Which makes sense, its hard to get the first join tight when using two circs. I don't know if she does the same when doing two socks on two circs?

So I cast on one sock with one pair on the dbl pointed, then transferred it to the two circs. Then did my next sock on the dbl pointed and then had a hard time figuring out if I should put the second sock to the right or left of the old sock, trying to think how the yarn tails would be to knit.... I had to switch off to the a single dbl pointed to get the circ going the other way.. and after a few of those switch-er-oos, I got them going. I can see it in my head how it should go, but I guess it didn't translate very well to the tangle of circs in my hands! Maybe I will get the hang of it next time!

And here are some baby things I've been working on...
This blanket. Everytime some other knitter saw me working on it they go "Ohh just like the dishcloth!!" since this seems to be the token dishcloth pattern!

I used Red Heart Baby Clouds. Its so soft! I thought if I used two skeins increasing, then 2 skeins decreasing, I'd come out even. Nope. I had to buy another skein for the last 40 sts or so!

This sweater was pretty fun. The buttons are little froggies. :)

These are from "Creative Knitting" July 2005. These go so quick, they are so fun!!

:) Today I'm going to a yarn store in Frankfurt, IL. Probably will only buy a few things. Maybe some sock yarn or some yarn to make this beautiful bag!

2005-04-01T08:41:00.000-06:00

Jack of all trades, master of none.

Thats me.

Lets see, this week I've

saturday: started chemo cap
sunday: finished chemo cap, and made matching headband
monday: knit on an afghan square
tuesday: finished square, started a crocheted afghan square
wednesday: hand pieced a small diamond quilt block
thursday: worked on huge cross stitch that will probably take me 80 years, a Treasa Wentzler called castle sampler
friday: this morning while flipping through a knitting catalog, was tempted to grab needles and yarn for another afghan block .. but thought no, better work on my cross stitch at least another day!
This weekend i plan to get a couple quilt blocks ready to go and finish up a few odd projects i have sewing wise.

Gosh I'm really craving a donut right now. I am a carb and sugar addict I think. Especially french fries. Its bad that my work is accross the road from a McDonalds and a medium fry is only $1.10 (and I have gift certificates for McD that DH's grandparents always send for birthday and christmas)

This is a funny story, not crafty related at all.
My husband Nick and a few friends love bowling. I like it OK, sometimes I'd rather do something else, but they like to go at least once a week. Well it was Kim's birthday this week and Nick asked me about 3 weeks ago if we should get her a bowling shirt. I see no reason or purpose for a bowling shirt and I think they are pretty silly (but hey, if having a special shirt for bowling makes people happy, thats ok! have TWO bowling shirts!) I was like, uhhhh I don't know if she would want one. I sure wouldn't want one. This one was a "50s style" shirt, 100% polyester. I sure as heck wouldn't wear anything 100% polyester. [shudder] ... So I said, well why don't you ask her if she would want one and what color/size she would like. He said, no that would ruin the surprise. So.. reluctantly I said ok, get her the blue in an XL.

So Wednesday we were going to see Kim at bible study. Nick and I came in seperate cars. I was there first. Nick walked in with the shirt stuffed in a fex ex box and gave Kim and I funny looks. We were both like What!?!?! ... he just gave us funny looks. Kim opens the box and starts laughing. I'm like WHAT?!?!?! ... it turns out that earlier that same day, Kim had been looking at bowling shirts and had found that VERY SAME shirt and sent Nick a link and asked what color. Nick said how about royal blue? ..and maybe you should order a ball at the same time (trying to dissuade her from ordering one that day, which she didn't)

If you are curious to see the shirt, here's a link ... she did like the color, it was one of the ones she liked the most. Nick got "Me" embroidered on the front, which is the name she always uses when bowling.

SO Nick thought that *I* had asked Kim about those shirts (since I wasn't sure she even wanted one) and tried to spoil his surprise, which is why he thought something was up when he walked in.

Knitting Survey

2005-03-10T08:57:00.000-06:00

1. Do you knit continental or English? I knit continental. I haven't tried two color knitting yet.
2. How long ago did you learn to knit? I learned as a kid, but had no patience and never finished kept at anything until I was about 25. I had been doing alot of cross stitch, which seems to have taught me endurance and patience :)
3. First FO? First thing I can remember actually finishing, was probably a dish cloth with cotton yarn as a kid, knit from corner to corner.
4. Favorite yarn? Anything I can afford :)
5. Favorite pattern? Right now I'm really loving Sally's "The Knit Book" sweater patterns.
6. Favorite pattern source? No favorites really.
7. Favorite needles? I have the boyd Needlemaster set. I was just given a set of bamboo needles from a friend, so I'm anxious to try them.
8. Nicest thing you’ve ever knit? Probably the sweater I made for my SIL. I'll have to see if I can take a picture of it.
9. Most hated project? none yet!
10. Who are you going to pass this on to? nobody, the only knit bloggers I know are Monica and Lynette!

I'm knitting and I can't stop...

2005-01-30T14:53:00.000-06:00

Help.

Ok, I knitted 3 golf club covers for my brother. I started a baby bootie. I started a pair of socks. Finished the socks, not bad! they are more like slipper socks. I made myself do some quilting yesterday and today I've done cross stitch and crochet, just because I don't want them to be neglected! I have lots of knitting I want to do. I haven't bought any nice yarn yet, because its expensive. I'm contemplating making a sweater out of acrylic. The sweaters I have at home (store bought) are acrylic, and well they are fine! I might get some of that soft acrylic.

I taught my cousin to knit. She taught my sister. My husband said I would be a good drug dealer. :) haha..

I will have to get some pictures up of my work so far. Just have to make myself stop kniting long enough to do so.

I'm hopeless!

2005-01-10T21:13:00.000-06:00

I took monday off. I called it a "mental health" day for me. I just felt so depressed sunday night that the thought of going to work made me cry! I stayed in bed and slept a while... ate breakfast.. did some sewing... sat and chatted with some friends online. Did some knitting. As little housework as I could get away with and a couple load of laundry and grocery shopping.

I feel better now. Not happy about going to work tomorrow, but at least I don't feel as bad as I did.

My husband started a new job today. He came home grumpy. SO I don't know what to make of that.

I want to make socks or mittens. I can't seem to get the right sized needles! I thought I bought the right ones, but turnes out I didn't. Oh well. So I'm practicing with circular needles and acrylic yarn, just making a tube. I did at bit of stocknet, then sead stitch, the garter stitch. Now doing a bit of stocknet then will do some ribbing. Maybe it would fit a wine bottle and I'll make it a wine bottle cozy.

Going to meetup with some knitters tomorrow, should be fun! :) :)

2004-11-18T08:37:00.000-06:00

Back from WONDERFUL MYRTLE BEACH!

Just sitting the in spa, looking up at the palm trees... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I will remember that for a long time. Looked at getting some "spa" thing to attach to my tub. One thing hangs on the side, but I don't know if I want something electric that close to the water and me... and others have a mat you put down and then a pump sits outside. The reviews on amazon say that those are very noisey and the air coming out of the mat is room temp and its COLD ... others say if the water is hot enough its ok. I don't know if I will try anything like that or just hope that sometime I will have a REAL spa.

Just finished a long email to my friend Margaret, who just opened her own cross stitch shop and knitting shop! Looks like a great place.

Been interested in beading. Lots of people on ebay with good deals on beads. I learned how to make beaded needlecases in MB. Pretty fun, haven't been able to get back to working on it...but I did buy the nymo thread I needed for it on sunday.

I might try to make beaded other things too.

I've been such a TEA person lately. Trying all sorts of teas. I had a "Red Hat" tea party for my mom saturday. It was a blast and everyone had a good time. I got some International Coffees "Chai Latte" that is pretty good. I got a catalog in the mail about teas, came addressed to my FIL who used to live at this house. :)

thats all for now

only 1 more day

2004-10-28T20:48:00.000-05:00

One more day of work and I'm off for vacation! I'm so excited. I need a break.

Did way bad on eating today, had a gyro plate with alot of fries...then for dinner had salsbury steak and potaots and 3 crescent rolls! ahh! not good. I've done pretty good mon-wed, why do i blow it on thursday? oh well. No stitching or quilting today. I finished up the newsletter for my quilt guild.

Tomorrow night and saturday, some massive packing and finishing up of projects!

Started a new project

2004-10-27T19:28:00.000-05:00

Cross stitching -- Working on Just Nan "The Promise" for my mothers birthday. Realized I had the wrong color out for one of the symbols, glad I realized it now rather than when I'm on vacation last week. I keep froggin, I don't like working on linen very well. Its hard to do on the train. Bah

Been trying to do the WW CORE diet the past few weeks, going well I haven't had as many cravings as normal, but it is hard. I'm not doing totaly CORE, just mainly incorporating better and more healthy foods into my diet. Been eating alot of cottage cheese, oatmeal, yogurt. Not bad. I am happy with it so far, don't know if the scale is. I noticed it was off like 3lbs , so who knows how long that has been off (no wonder I've been so frustrated). DOH

2004-10-27T19:01:00.000-05:00

My first post in this blog