Can't get enough of those Jaywalkers!

My most recent finished pair:
This is the fifth pair, and I have already cast on for a sixth! Here is Emma graciously modeling them.

Well, maybe "graciously" is not the right word.
Here she is hanging her head in shame while Tara looks on thinking "Thank God Mommy didn't try and put those things on me!" Ahhh the things these girls put up with from their crazy mommy!
Also, I have shipped off the squares for the Rebuilding Greenburg project. Mom and I knit up 30 squares! I wish we were a little closer to Kansas, because it sounds like they're going to have a great time seaming all of the squares together!

A Ride on the Brittany Transport

Meet Livvy:

Please excuse her, but she is very tired. She left New Hampshire early this morning, travelled through Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Delaware, before meeting her forever family and being taken to her new home in Maryland. That's a lot of time on the road! My sister S and I picked her up at Exit 8 on the NJ Turnpike and took her to a state park in Delaware. Here she is bonding with her forever Dad:
And this is her Mom and Dad, along with brother Clancey. Now that is one happy family!

I'M IN!!!

I have received my coveted invitation to join the inner sanctum that is Ravelry. Sorry, no time to blog. Must get back to Ravelry. Loving it! My name on Ravelry name is BritKnitter.

At a Critical Time Like This???

Yesterday I was #25 on the list to get my Ravelry invitation, so I just went to www.ravelry.com/antsy and typed in my email address today, and it said:

Your invitation was sent on Today. We just sent you a new copy of the email (from invitations@ravelry.com) in case it was lost or eaten by a spam filter.

I go to my email to sign in and it says:

Server Temporarily Unavailable

We apologize, but the server that holds your account information is temporarily unavailable. This delay is not due to a problem with your account. You may notice that other users can sign in and get their mail, but this is because their accounts are on different servers.

We are working as quickly as possible to end this delay, so please check as often as you wish to see if you can sign in. If you keep seeing this message, it means the server is still unavailable. We appreciate your patience, and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Ok, so the server is down. No problem. I have only been waiting for FOREVER for my invitation to join the super-cool Ravelry site, and now my invitation is floating around somewhere and I can't get it. Arrrrrgh! Server-schmerver, I want my email!

One Sweet Ride!

Take a look at this baby:

Not bad for a trailer that used to just haul trash to the dump. Yes, that is correct. We have no trash pickup out here in the boondocks. We haul trash, recyclables, etc. to the dump ooops, I mean the "Convenience Center" ourselves. Hard to believe, isn't it? Anyway, the "Trash Trailer" has now been promoted to the "Kayak Trailer". My sister S and I helped Dad convert it so it is just right for transporting kayaks. See?

Of course, when I say we "helped", I really mean we mostly stayed out of the way while he cut all of the wood, bolted it all together, put new tires on the trailer, re-did the wiring, you know, stuff like that. We DID do the carpeting on the 2x4s and 2x6s, though. Custom upholstery - that's something I can add to my resume!

Creeping still, and a creepy critter

I just checked Ravelry for maybe the 500th time today (OK, maybe that's a slight exaggeration) and this is what I found:

Found you!
You signed up on June 5, 2007
You are #6822 on the list.
25 people are ahead of you in line.
13716 people are behind you in line.
33% of the list has been invited so far

25 people ahead of me! My invitation might come later today. Probably tomorrow, but maybe today!!! I'm sooooo excited. I can't wait to see what all of the fuss is about.

Now for the creepy critter - look what I found on our back porch at work this afternoon. Eeeewwww. But on second thought, it's kind of pretty, in a keep-outside-of-the-building-and don't-come-within-ten-feet-of-me kind of way.

Ravelry position checking

Just a quick post to answer a question from the anonymous commenter who asked how to find their position in line for Ravelry. Go to http://www.ravelry.com/antsy and type in your email address, and it gives you your position. I'm up to #175 - woo hoo!

Creeping...creeping...creeping

I am slowly but surely creeping my way to the top of the invite list on Ravelry. This is what I found today when I typed in my email address:

Found you!
You signed up on June 5, 2007
You are #6822 on the list.
350 people are ahead of you in line.
13150 people are behind you in line.
31% of the list has been invited so far

Wow, only 350 people ahead of me!!!! I am so anxious about getting my invitation. I have heard such wonderful things about it, and can't wait to try it out for myself!

It's a good vacation when you go to LL Bean three times in one week!

It's Friday already. How can that be? This week has just flown by. The days go so much quicker when you're on vacation than they do when you're at work. It was a productive week, but some fun was squeezed in here and there, too!

The most important thing we did was to take Emma and Tara to the vet for some full-spectrum bloodwork. Since they have now been exclusively on homemade food for a little over three months, we thought it was a good idea to see if they are getting all of the nutrients they need. Everything came back fine. Tara's triglycerides are a little high, but not high enough to worry about. They both look healthy, but I feel much better now that I know they ARE healthy.

We also saw the Harry Potter movie (good....in my opinion it's too scary for kids, but good), went out to breakfast with Mom, and went to the closest LL Bean store...three times...in one week. It's almost an hour away, so I would say we get there probably three times in a year. Not this week. Three times. One week. The thing is, I had ordered a kayak (not from LL Bean - big mistake!) two weeks ago, which was on back-order until the 17th. My sister S has been looking at kayaks for over a year, and thought it would be a great time to buy one now so we could go out on the lake together. Hence the trip to LL Bean. We actually went to several other stores, but none compared in the selection of kayaks or knowledge & helpfulness of the employees at LL Bean. She did not buy a kayak on the first trip, because you have to mull these things over.

On the second trip to LL Bean, she bought this one:

In the meantime, I am waiting patiently for my (non-LL Bean) kayak to arrive. To make a long story short, after several calls to the manufacturer, it turns out they were not able to ship the kayak this week. They promised that it would be shipped four days ago, and now they can almost, pretty much, kind of guarantee shipment some time next week. Next week, when I am back at work. Now, we have a lake on the grounds where I work, but I think it would be frowned upon if I were to bring my kayak to work.

This morning I cancelled my order, and we went back to LL Bean, where I bought this one:

This is what it looks like in the lake:

This is what it looks like after someone tips it over while trying to get out of it:

Note to self: keep the bottom of the boat pointing toward the bottom of the lake at all times.

One Step Forward...

I finished the first row of blocks on the Alphabet Blanket! I decided to take time to admire my work in each of the blocks. Mind you, I was not looking for errors since I knew there was no way I could possibly have made a mistake. I had checked and double-checked each row as I was working, and counted and double-counted the number of knits and purls, and I thought twice... three times... four times(!) before doing each yarn over and decrease to make sure I was doing the correct one - left leaning or right leaning. So, with all the confidence in the world, I stopped to admire (and photograph) the fruits of my labor.

AHHHH! WHAT IS THAT?

After several minutes of avoidance, in which I tried to convince myself that that is, indeed, how the "X" square is supposed to look, I tried to figure out how I could blame this on someone else.... anyone else.... even Emma and Tara (I'm a bad dog mom, for even considering this). What to do....what to do. Those who know me know that I will do just about anything to avoid frogging. "Rip it, rip it, rip it" to all of that hard work? It makes me shudder just thinking of it. Could I fix it with a darning needle? No. Could I just rip out that one portion down to the offending area and re-do? Right, try and figure out all of those decreases and yarn overs again, but this time in a very tiny space. I don't think so. The only mature, responsible thing to do is to face up to the fact that I made mistake, correct it, and learn from this valuable lesson.

After the screaming and crying and tantrum-throwing was over, I downed a fist-full of Prozac and riiiippppped away. Here is the blanket, ripped back to the row before the offending portion.

Sad, isn't it?

End of the Weekend!

The weekend is almost over - woo hoo! Not my normal reaction to early evening on a Sunday, but this was the worst time of the year at work, and I got home about two hours ago, and am now officially on vacation for a whole week. I won't go into too much detail, but if you like being treated like dirt by a bunch of uber-wealthy people, and uber-wealthy wannabes, then you would have had a great time.

Anyway, a whole week off. I can't remember the last time I had a whole week off. I usually take off a day here and there for appointments & day trips & such. I'm not doing anything special (just appointments & day trips & such!) but at least I have a whole week to recover from such a crap-tastic weekend!

To aid in the recovery process, I bought myself a treat. What kind of treat you ask? You might guess..... sock yarn. Well, as much as I need more sock yarn (doesn't everyone?) that's not it. You might guess..... well, we could go around and around, and and no one would ever guess right, so I'll tell you. It's a KAYAK!

I acknowledge that I'm not much of a water person, and I especially don't like being out in a boat on the water, but I have a theory that this is because I have a (quite rational and reasonable) fear of being out in a boat and having the motor break down and I can't get back to shore. I know how to swim, but have another (quite rational and reasonable) fear of being in any body of water where I cannot see to the bottom. Fish and turtles and all manner of creepy crawl-y (or swim-y, as the case may be) creatures are just fine, and I have a "live and let live" kind of attitude toward our fellow inhabitants of planet Earth. I do, however, expect well established boundaries to be obeyed. I consider the area of, say, 6 feet yards miles to be a reasonable distance between me and various unsavories. While I consider myself to be a trusting person, if I am going to go swimming, I want the advantage of clear water where I can see to the bottom and know if a critter is anywhere nearby so I can scream bloody murder alert a fellow nature lover that I am in need of assistance.

But I digress. Back to the kayak. It is human-powered, so there is no motor to break down. If I got myself out onto the lake, I can get myself back. No fear, no matter how rational and reasonable, of having toes bitten off by turtles, or having all of the blood sucked out of my body my leeches, or being eaten alive by flesh-eating carp. Just a peaceful, relaxing day out on the lake. Ahhhhhh.

Whole Lotta' Pink

Now THAT is some pink yarn!

I've cast on the Alphabet Blanket from this book:

After a couple of rough starts (rip, rip, rip), I got myself straightened out, and am having fun with this blanket. Here is the progress so far.

Looks kind of pitiful in the picture, but it's a lot of fun. It's one of those pay-attention-to-what-you-are-doing-and-read-the-chart-you-idiot kind of projects, but I like the yarn, and it's moving along faster than I thought it would. I first saw this blanket on
Jennifer's blog, and just had to buy the book for myself. Treat yourself to a peek at her blog. She has a cutie pie of a baby boy - just two months old. So sweet!

In which more pink yarn is in order...

About 20 or 25 years ago (my God, am I that old?) my sister S and I bought an old aluminum boat from our friend Kris' grandfather. Kris is now married with two sweet boys, ages 5 (this week) and 3 (in September). The fact that she had Zach is remarkable, given the fertility problems, miscarriages, etc. that she and her husband went through, and when Danny came along it was over-the-top joyful. Two years ago she had a third boy, Luke, who died in-utero at around 25 weeks, I think. Really, Kris and Luis are the best parents I have ever known. They work as a team and are raising some truly wonderful children. When they lost Luke, it was one absolutely heartbreaking. Truly - Kris has had cardiac issues ever since, and losing Luke must have literally broken her heart. A few months ago, we got a call from her, and she is pregnant again. The joy for her is tempered this time with the thoughts of having lost Luke, and her own health issues, but she is determined to enjoy every day of this pregnancy, knowing (all too well) that there are no guarantees in life.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, Kris calls while on the way home from one of her many appointments with OB, Cardiac and Ultrasound, and this time (drum roll, please) IT'S A GIRL! Kris is healthy, the baby is healthy, and it is a girl!!! Between the specialists and doctors and ultrasounds, she is being seen just about every week, and everything is right on track for a healthy baby girl to be delivered in November. I am so happy for her, and cannot wait to meet the wee one and dress her up in lace and eyelet and smocking, and pink, pink, PINK! I love Zach and Danny, but it's hard to get excited about boy's clothes.

Boy did I get off track. Back to the boat. My sister spent hours and hours on it over the past couple of weeks, fixing it up, painting it, etc. and gave it to Zach and Danny this weekend, from their great-grandfather who passed away at least 15 years ago, maybe more. Kris brought the boys down today, and we all went to a local State Park...

...and went for a ride in Zach and Danny's new boat! This is Zach "steering" the boat (going around and around in circles).

After a while we tied the boat up to the dock and did some fishing.

If you look really hard, you can see a little baby bump in this picture.

A good time was had by all.

P.S. If anyone has any extra healing energy or healthy-baby vibes or whatever, if you could send it to Kris, that would be great! Ahhh, the healing power of knitters!