Dances With Yarn

For you Ma!

Well, I've been getting a little flack from a particular someone about not having posted anything to my blog in a while, so here goes...

First, there has been knitting.  I've jumped on the bandwagon and am knitting a pair Monkey socks.  It took me four tries to find the "perfect" yarn.  My first attempt was with Hill Country Yarns Alpaca Sock yarn in a warm cinnamon color.  The yarn was yummy and so squishy soft, but the gauge was off and the sock was turning out to be ginormous!  Then I tried a skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock and that pooled like crazy.  My third try was with a skein of Happy Cotton Sock Color but I didn't like the colorway I was using and frogged it.  I finally settled on Hill Country Yarns Superfine Superwash sock yarn in the Aquarina colorway and I love it!  No pooling!  I'm actually quite a bit further than this pic and am already about halfway down the foot!  I used a garter stitch short row heel and am not too sure whether I like the looks of it -- I'll post a pic as soon as it stops raining and I can step outside and take a nice sunny pic.  I really love this pattern -- it's an 11 row lace pattern repeat that's actually quite easily memorized.

Also, Football Star Son and I attended his freshman college orientation.  This was my view from my hotel window.  Nice, eh?  Yeah well, despite the view from the hotel window, the accommodations were by far better than the dorms that most of the other suckers parents opted to stay in.  Um, no thanks.

And while we were in the area, we decided to do a little sight-seeing and headed up to Gruene for dinner at the Gristmill River Restaurant, which is a restaurant "built in the remains of a brick boiler house that was originally constructed  in 1878 as a part of a cotton gin powered by water from the Guadalupe River".  Very cool.  After dinner, there was shopping in the General Store of course, where I picked up some Cinnamon Honey-Butter and some Apricot Salsa!

Yes, I've been very busy knitting and traveling, but I have to be honest and tell you all the real reason I haven't had time to blog lately.  It's Ravelry.  Ravelry.  The Ultimate Time Vaporizing Website.  You know, when I first got my invite to Ravelry I swore I wouldn't blog about it until all other 7,000 (plus) of you got your invitations because I felt it was a little rude to do so.  You know, kind of like being inside of a really jammin' night club screaming to all those standing in line outside waiting to get in about how much fun you're having.  Just.  Not.  Right.  But having said that, let me just say that it's wonderful, it is worth the wait, and it will totally rob you of entire weekends without a moment's notice, so be warned. 

And finally, as if I'm not busy enough, I decided today that I'm going to fly to Chicago in August to attend Stitches Midwest!  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!  Let me know if any of you are going and maybe we can meet up!

Okay, my Monkeys are call me! 

Got Hair?

So we had bit of a garage sale and well, the girls got a little crazy with the attachable hair.

The garage sale was a huge success and my husband is very happy to have his garage back!

Cheerleader Daughter won the award for best helper during the garage sale, as she was up early both days (the boys slept in on the second day) and did a great job throughout the whole shebang.

In crochet news (I'll bet you thought I'd NEVER talk about yarn again!), I finished my second Babette Blanket.

   

I hate to say it but try as I might, I just don't like it. 

I don't like that (in my opinion) the predominating "design" you see is the zig zaggy diamond-ish pattern instead of the individual granny squares.

 

Aren't the squares prettier???  I think so.  I don't know why but when I first set out to make a solid-colored Babette, I thought the squares would be more distinguishable than they are.  So my recommendation is that you NOT make a solid-colored Babette if you want to be able to see the squares.  If you don't want a lot of colors and/or prefer a muted palette, choose colors that are similar but not identical.  In hindsight I wish I'd have gone for a half dozen shades of beige and cream as opposed to going with one color only.  The only benefit I found of using one color was that there were fewer ends to weave in and weaving in those ends was much easier to do since I didn't have to worry about the colored yarn showing through the other stitches.

I'm also nearly finished weaving in the ends of my first Babette!

It's hard for me to imagine that these two blankets are actually made from the exact same pattern with such different results.  Funny.... 

But aren't the colors wonderful?  And LOOK, no zig zaggy diamonds!

And since I finished my Babettes, I picked my striped crocheted afghan back up and have about 2 feet of it done.  Talk about color! 

It's SO incredibly soft and is made with Hill Country Yarns Country Alpaca in several solid shades.  I don't know what my deal is lately with afghans but for some reason that's all I'm interested in working on.  Oh well, it probably won't last long....  I just hope it lasts long enough to finish this one!

CSI Yahoo Part 2

Case closed.

Apparently my little hacker's been at it since (at least) 2001 and actually hacked into at least two of my email accounts.  She saved copies of all types of email correspondence including emails containing account numbers of all types....

...emails containing private stock information...

...emails to and from our home builder...

...email order confirmations from just about every online order I ever placed...

...private emails from friends and relatives...

She even hacked into my eBay account to see what I was buying and/or selling.

Seems someone had way too much time on her hands.

Football Star Son's Tribute to Kyle

Football Star Son was asked to honor Kyle with a tribute at the SFHS 2007 graduation ceremony.

Good evening, for those of you who don’t know us, my name is aaron and this is my best friend adam garza. I feel that God puts a certain person in everybodys life who is truly amazing. Kyle Jonas Adams was that person in many peoples lives, including the two of us standing here before you and many of you out there. Kyle was an A student at Santa fe High School, a member of the varsity football and baseball teams, and was a member of the national honor society. He strived for greatness at everything he did…and most of the time he achieved that greatness. There were struggles along the way such as mrs nolens freshman english class and mrs scullys world history class but he always gave 110%. He was a caring brother, a loving son, nephew and grandson and a loyal friend. I am sorry for all of you who did not know him because he was truly an outstanding young man. Kyle served as a light to those who needed guidance both during his life and his death. Whether you needed advice or just someone to vent to, Kyle was always willing and eager to help in any way he could. Adam and I both could go to kyle with any issue or trial we were facing and he somehow always found a way to make us feel better. Its hard to step back and look at my life without Kyle because he was such an important part of it for so long. But when I do this I realize that he is as present now in my life as he always has been and he is more important than ever.He is not with me physically but rather emotionally and spiritually, Kyle is with me more than he ever has been. I know that I can speak for adam and myself, and much of the graduating class of 2007 when I say that Kyle was the most caring, honest, humble and loyal person we’ve ever known. He was an asset in the hallways of santa fe high school because it was hard to catch him in a foul mood. His smile could easily turn the worst day of your life into your best day and he never missed the chance to prove it. His bright blue eyes could pierce into the very depths of your soul if he knew you were upset. The sound of his laugh made you smile, even if you didn’t feel like it. He was an all-American great guy and I thank God for putting him in my life, even if for only a short while. Kyle’s life was much shorter than it should have been and proves the statement that God only takes the best. He took Kyle, and he got the best. To my graduating class I say that Kyle’s memory lives on in us and I pray that you remember him in all the good times and the bad times. I wish everyone the best of luck in their future and go forth knowing that Kyle is watching over us all. The last thing I would like to ask of everyone here in attendance is to help me in recognizing the people that made Kyle who he was. Please join me in applauding Mr. and Mrs. Ken and Karen Adams………thank you for your time and all of the support that you have shown his family and those who knew him.