Fair Isle HELP!

Somebody please tell me, am I doing this right? The carrying the yarn thing... is it supposed to look like this in the back? I think the front looks ok...

tangled lights

So the tree is up, but I am now faced with this chaos. And it's been sitting on our floor for four days now.

Now matter how careful you are when storing Christmas lights, they always end up like this eleven months later.

I am happy to say that I am now on sleeve island for my cabled sweater project. It took half a dozen attempts to get the right gauge again and to get two sleeves going at the same time, but I am on the island. And I will not be voted off until I complete my mission! I finished the ribbing last night.

I cast on for my wild knee socks... and discovered after 1.65 rounds that my aluminum dpns just aren't going to cut it. So off to the LYS store I hope to go tonight. :)

Hmmm.. My Julia yarn has come in the mail for my wild think socks!!! 25% Alpaca, 25% Mohair, 50% wool. 100% yummy. Of course, I must meet up with the lovely Lynne to split up the rest... and then I will be off and starting these lovely socks. Which I have nothing to wear with. YET.

I did my gauge swatch with size 7 dpns, as recommended, and my square was too big by a half an inch (see below). So I went down to size 6, and it seems to be right on...

We were also working on our Mercy photoshoot for her 2007 calendar. We'll take orders!!!



Here we have Mercy in her pink faux crocodile carrier and two fall month photos. We were thinking October for the basket one and November for the cornocopia one.




We had a lovely Thanksgiving and I got some lovely knitting done. I am now on the armhole decreases for my cabled sweater. Taaaa Daaaa!!! Pretty soon I will be on sleeve island- a place I have never been before...

I was able to put up a few Christmas decorations today:







Well, I gotta go! ELF is on TV!!! We love Will Farrell. :)

Back to my regularly scheduled Blog...

Thankfully, a new book came to my rescue Saturday when I was feeling quite upset about the bike path dangers.

"Found" by Karen Kingsbury.

I read it in about a day. Typical for Karen Kingsbury books. I picked it up at the store Saturday afternoon and had it finished before church on Sunday! I absolutely ADORE Karen Kingsbury.

I started reading the Redemption Series, a five book series that follows the lives of 5 children, last summer and have been hooked ever since. What I love about her books is that they tell stories of people that are faced with real temptation, with real trials- sometimes they make the right decisions and sometimes they don't. But, despite what choices they make, God forgives and is the only one able to piece their lives back together. I would HIGHLY recommend her books! A great Thanksgiving read!

I also did some swapping shopping. :) Always a joy to do that.


Check out these Napoleon Dynamite socks I found! It was meant to be- I was strolling through the store to pick up a catalogorder and passed the sock section. This pack was the only one like it. YEEEESSSSSSS! SWEEEEET!!! They are for my cousin... Hope she doesn't read this!


In knitting news... I heard from a little birdie that the yarn she ordered for the wild thing knee socks arrived today. According to my calculations, as I ordered one day later than she, mine should arrive tomorrow! I'm still pluggin' along on my cabled sweater... I hope to finish the front this long weekend.

So... what are your Thanksgiving project plans?

ANGRY. SCARED. FRUSTRATED.

I am ANGRY. I am SCARED. I am FRUSTRATED.

This sicko is back.

DNA proves bike path killer is back

This man is known to have attacked 10 women over the past 20 years in MY CITY. He killed three of them. The last one, Joan Diver he killed on the anniversary of his first murder, college student Linda Yalem. SICK.

He attacks them from behind and strangles them with a rope or cord. Tapes their eyes, nose and mouth. Rapes them, and leaves them for dead. Why on earth would somebody do this?

I am a runner. I was supposed to go running on the bike path this morning. I was going to meet the Team in Training folks and run 10 miles. I would be running with other people, but sometimes I would be by myself if there wasn't somebody there that was my pace. But with this breaking news over the past few days, that the murder of Joan Diver just two months ago was NOT an isolated incident, that it was this twisted man... I stayed home.

It's frustrating. This is supposed to be a safe place to live. I love to run out on the path. It is so beautiful there. Nice surface, nice views, miles marked to keep track of you pace, etc. I feel like I am in jail. The police are warning women not to run alone, in the dark, on paths or shortcuts. There have been more attacks that have not been reported to the news. I know- the policeman who patrols the path warns us. He told us of the specific mile markers to be aware of.

I am going to run this afternoon down busy Main Street on the hard concrete that kills my shins, with my dog, a cell phone, and maybe my swiss army knife. I wish I had pepper spray. I think I want to take Karate. Like, learn how to kill your attacker in 90 ways with a toothpick type karate.

Living in fear is not fun. This guy has got to be caught.

The yarn has been bought...

Yes, the yarn has been bought. After my last post, my friend and knitting mentor, Lynne, totally encouraged me to knit these wild knee socks and offered to knit a pair along with me! So, after some coordination we decided to split the yarn, hence defraying the cost a bit. PLUS Lynne found a great seller on ebay who had the yarn- UnRaveled Yarn. Check her out. The shipping is VERY reasonable and the prices are great too.

Now I am racing home every day to see if the yarn is here yet... And one of the many things that is great about knitting with Lynne, in addition to the fact that she is an incredibles source of wisdom for all things crafty, is that I think it will be very difficult for me to mess these up!


I frogged my sock. My way-too-big sock. I aim to start again sometime... I just need some motivation and to make some UFO's FO's.

On the running front, I have had some highs and lows this week. I wanted to run 10 miles on Monday after work, but again, too dark & scary. Plus a woman was murdered on a bike path two months ago.. so I have a little more reason to be scared. So I hop on the treadmill and the thing wouldn't let me run 10 miles! Only 8. Which was ok, I just picked up my pace. I felt HORRIBLY sick after I got home though... exhausted, dehydrated, hungry, sick to my stomach... Clearly I did not replace electrolytes. Bad Dana. BUT I did run under 9:45 minute pace for 8 miles and complete a trekking class during that time. So it's ok.

The Turkey Trot is one week from today! I hope to get one more hard workout in and then taper a bit. Then run the race and come home & eat a whole lotta stuffing. And knit by the fire. mmmmm.

A new obsession is brewing...

Yes, those are Runners World magazine on my coffee table. And yes, that is Vogue Knitting waaayyy off to the right.

I seem to have gotten the running bug. Now, you might say that I have had it for a while, seeing as how I just completed my first marathon a few weeks ago.

But... its... gotten....worse.....

I go to the gym and hop on the treadmill (no more running outside during the week- too dark and scary). I start running at a comfortable pace and then this voice tells me to go faster. I try to fight it, but there's some logic behind the voice. And coercion.

"Make it worth your time."
"The faster you run, the quicker you'll be done."
"You'll burn more calories."
"Don't you want to get faster?"
"Don't you want to win a medal?"

AHA! The clincher. Don't you want to win a medal? Well, duh. I still have some competitive bones in my body. So I listen to the voice, and keep hitting the increase speed button until I am running for dear life, afraid of what will happen if I slow down and fall off the back of the treadmill. Every day, a little faster, a little farther. More reps in the weight room. I can feel it baby, its hurting, I am sore and I am getting stronger!

I got a little payoff for my hard work yesterday:




Third place (for age 20-24) in the Lindsay's Legacy 5k. With a time of 26:10. Not bad considering I haven't run a 5k since high school.

But... I .... must.... improve.

The Turkey Trot is a week and a half away. That's 5 miles. I can't wait!

Now, I am still knitting, don't you worry. I have a few inches of cabled sweater front happening, but nothing significant to post.

I have, however, found some new possible projects, though I should be casting on for Christmas gifts...


These legwarmers/knee highs are so cool. And so complicated. Considering I am a sock failure. Eh hem, I mean a yet-to-have-accompished-a-sock-knitter.

Anyway, they have fair isle (which I have never attempted) and embroidery (which I have also never attempted).



The pattern is from Fall 2006 Vogue Knitting and is designed by Kristin Nicholas. Kristin seems very cool. It calls for Nashua Handknits/Westminster Fibers Julia (kid mohair/alpaca/wool). It looks like these will set me back about $80! Hmmmm Merry Christmas to me?


And this fabulous belted cardigan, designed by Margaret O'Leary, also found in the Fall 06 Vogue Knitting.

What I love about it is that there are 2 main cables and the rest is stockinette! Very nice, considering my current cable project has cables everywhere.

Off to start the week! Gotta run run run! Faster & Farther!

How Much?

Have you ever thought about how much your time is worth? Could you put a monetary value on your time? ALL of your time?

Many of us have a "billable" rate at work and a salary that sort of translates to an hourly wage (and unless you own your own business and have zero overhead, your billable does NOT equal your hourly wage).

But how much is your time worth? Ever think about that?

I did some preliminary calculations for me:

There are 168 hours in a week. I spend:

42 - 56 of them sleeping (6-8 hours sleeping a night, usually on the low end.)

40- 50 of them working

10.5 of them showering/ getting ready/ hair, etc.

3.75 on my commute to work a week.

2 of them grocery shopping

10.5 cooking at home & cleaning up the kitchen

8 or so on laundry and cleaning the house

12 or so at the gym.

Leaving me with 12-39 ish hours left a week to do other stuff. Like spending time with God. And my husband. Like knitting. Or walking the dog. Or blogging, reading, etc.

So I think I want to have my own "billable" rate in order to have the mindset that time IS valuable. Since I don't like mental math, I am just going to tell myself that my rate is $100/ hr. Pretty steep, but spare time is precious commodity!

So, without further adieu, I present to you the back of my cabled sweater. It cost me $2,000 in time.





















I wonder what the front will cost.

One last look...

... before the frog pond.

I vow to DO A GAUGE SWATCH. I didn't before. I figured it was just a sock, how important could gauge be?

I have learned my lesson. ALWAYS swatch!

Now, how to do that when you are making up your own pattern, like how I am for my hubby's hunting hat, I don't know. Any suggestions?

Mercy just looks so pitiful in my post from Halloween that I just had to post a happier one of her. I didn't want PETA to get mad or anything- haha!





See, she really is happy. I really do take good care of her. I don't torture her with the outfits all the time. She does look adorable in sweaters, though.
















This picture was taken the night we got home from the marathon- little Mercy had been at "Camp Grandma" (aka- my mothers) for the weekend, and she was so happy to snuggle in bed with us!








Look at what my in-laws sent me for my birthday:
The Angle of Light Willow Tree figurine.

I LOVE Willow Tree things. I have a few others too:

Angel of the Kitchen, from my mom




And Promise, from my in-laws.

I have a Christmas one too, but c'mon, it's only November!!!







By the way, my husband and I were priveledged to be a part of the first annual Lauren Castanza Challenge this past weekend. It was a 5K to benefit the Lauren Castanaza Foundation, which is raising money for medical mission.

Dear hubby came in fifth place overall and won his age group with a time of 20:55 for a 5 k. Amazing, huh?










"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4:7

The most amazing thing to me is how God can take something that is tragic, and turn it into something beautiful.

This is a picture of Lauren with her parents.

Lauren was called home to heaven last year while hiking. One moment, she was on this earth, the next moment, she was on the way to meet her Savior.

It was a tragic accident, she lost her footing and slipped off a path and over a cliff. Thank God that he doesn't waste pain.

She was a 19 year old young woman in love with life and her precious Jesus. Her writings were incredible, along the lines of Spurgeon, CS Lewis, and Chambers. Her journals shows her heart- that it beat for Him who saved her.

Her other love was biology and medicine. She studied very hard and was an exceptional student. She even did research during the summer at a local University. Her dream was to become a professor of medicine and go to third world countries to teach. But she wanted to teach the people not only how to be a doctor or nurse, but how to take care of their own people, not move the the U.S. to get rich.

Her mission on earth was completed on July 30, 2005. But for her family and friends, our mission is not complete. We are still here. Which is why Laurens parents have created the LRC Foundation to continue on in her honor and for Gods glory.

The race was the first event. It was a success. I am so thankful to have been a part of it.

We can't wait for next year.