Happy belated Christmas

Good grief I have been busy. I have been working on my Etsy shop~ http://www.happiknits.etsy.com/

It has taken up alot of my time, and you know what?? I am lovin it. Totally addicted to the etsy thing. It has awoken my creative side. I also hosted Christmas eve here, alot of work. I am posting pic of my niece thoroughly enjoying her sgetties... She is just the cutest :)

She and her mommy slept over Christmas eve, and santa bought her lost of presents. I'm also posting my latest creation in capelet form~ I named it the chakra capelet after the manipura chakra, it represents power, energy, vitality and transformation :)

Mom got a capelet for a Christmas present..that was a suprise for her. I am out sick from work for a week, so New Years will be a quiet one. Happy New Year to all, safe, happy and healthy.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wow it's been awhile since I posted! Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in blog land. I have been so busy setting up shop over at Etsy that I have neglected the blog and *gasp* ravelry. It's also prime craft fair time so I have been knitting my fingers (and let's not forget-elbow) to the bone. The tendonitis is still hanging on I wear a brace, but, some days it's worse than others. The girls are great-growing so big ^sigh^ Hubby has been at Petsmart several times and almost came home with additional babies. Uhhh so hard to resist but really- I am a cleaning fool around here. Constant sweeping,dusting,etc.... This is one of the news scarfs I have been doing. So much fun I tell you. There are so many talented people on Etsy- I have fun checking out the art. Lots of cool stuff, and let's face it, isn't it nicer to give something hand crafted for Christmas? Take the handmade pledge this Christmas-your friends and relatives will appreciate the extra effort you took in finding that unique gift-Ha-do I sound like a commercial? Don't mean to. Anyhow, many things to be thankful for this year, mostly, health and a wonderful, supporting husband, and my 2 wonderful sisters who have been through so much this past year and so far....have come out swinging on the other side-love you both. And of course to peace in the family, world peace starts there. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

Happy ROctober

Seems like lately I haven't even had time to go on Ravelry. I have been busy trying to catch up on knitting. After a visit to the orthopedic doc and a second steroid shot, I'm currently in PT.. My arm feels tired but not in pain (phew). So I wanted to post some pics of the girls....Eila, currently curled up on my lap, nickname= drooly julie-yup, just drooled on my foot. Rajne, who had her "walrus" whiskers out and I ran to get the camera, she's a daddy's girl...and then there's the super lovey dovey Zoe Belle. Knitting soon I promise :)

Happy Birthday Kiona!!!!

Happy 1st birthday my sweet little niece Kiona. You are such a sweet little girl. You're pretty like your mommy. I hope you enjoyed your party and your cake. I love you very much xoxo

Such a beautiful child.

On another note- had shot today and arm is already feeling much better. Md did 2 shots of lidocaine followed by 2 shot of depomedrol. The second spot he did was most certainly the more painful area. So now, ice/rest/nsaid and hopefully next week I will be back to knitting. I have a pattern drawn up that I can't wait to start. Inspired by an article in Interweave's Felting mag, I have purchased (shhh-broke my yarn fast) some black cascade 220. I have mapped out a pattern an am going to attempt to embroider flowers onto blobs of color and then felt it-I believe the woman's name is Marni? she has a website tinkknit? or something of that sort. Anyhow I love her flower market bag and want to give something smaller a whirl. Will keep you posted on progress. I am also up to 3-4 spinning classes per week. So you figure, the weight, it must be melting off, right? uh, nope, not yet. But as far as I'm concerned this means full out and out war. I WILL lose weight. I will just add an additional day of cardio in there somewhere.

Where have I been????

Ohhhh Over at Ravelry........Very addictive. Very fun!!!! So most of my time online lately has been playing around there. Yeah, that's it...It's like a knitter's playground. So many new friends to play with and share projects. Groups to join, stuff to see. I have been spending way too much time online, H is starting to get antsy because I'm hogging the computer. In other news....My arm is hurting BAD. I finally went to the doctor because it has been 2 months now. It's bursitis in the elbow. I cannot tell you the last time I slept through the night, the pain is just horrible. So next week we're doing the steroid shot in the elbow. I'm not a big fan of medicine, but, I can no longer take it. I have been doing some knitting, but I think it's at a price... So I only have one new project to share...

It's called Carrie, from Rowan's little book of big accesories. It was super fun to knit because it uses short rows and It was my first time doing them. Guess what.... I actually got it right the first time for a change, no frogging involved!!!!

Some garden pics

Hubby and I just finished up vacation. We kind of hung around the homestead for this one. We did take an overnight trip out to Hershey, Pa. and Lancaster. It was a fun trip. Although, I have to say, Lancaster is commercial! I was looking for authentic amish country. We did find it on our way home, but at first it looked like a major hub. Lots of "outlets" if that's what your into. I don't things are any cheaper in them. On thursday my mom came out for the day and we cleared ALL the weeds out of my overgrown garden, spinkled preen all over an mulched. Hard work, but it looks beautiful now. So I decided to post some pics from my plants around the house. OK, so as usual pics don't want to upload....ok, here we go, this is one of the front planters, verbena, mini petunias and geraniums. The other planter is having issues- I think it's a beetle leaving spit all over the petunias, so I have to replant new ones. I have spent alot of time babying my azaelas this year. A use for used coffee grinds!!!! They love them and already look much better. The second planter contains sweet potatoe vine, petunias (large and small) and some kind of daisy. In my window box I have almost the same combo as the front planter except I used full size petunias instead of babybells.This window box has done beautfully this year with minimal work!!! Next, one of my pride and joys!! My huge hosta that is planted in full sun!!!! I know, not believable right? Hostas are usually shade loving plants, but, every year this one grows larger and larger.Next, a mandavilla vine that was a bd present from my friend, master gardner, Janet. Next to it is a boudelia I planted just last year!!! Lots of sun in the willy nilly garden. I also caught this cool butterfly hanging out on it. Pride and joy #2 is my huge Boudelia that my grandmother bought me 2 years ago. It's gorgeous!!!! Always lots of butterflies hanging out on this one. Also deer will NOT eat these. So if you have a deer problem like we do- try a butterfly garden. However, I did plant alot of echinachea and they ate all of them. They like the leaves, so they chew it down to the stalk and the flowers never get a chance to bloom. I have one more pic... This is helenium. I planted it last year and kind of forgot about it. So I pulled it out of the ground in the spring thinking it was a weed. My first clue should have been the fact that there was a root ball. I realized what it was when I looked back at some pics. So upon Janet's recommendation I put them root balls in water for 3 days,then replanted them. Well, I think it worked, don't you???

KNitting injury!!!!!

Yes I am still here- I have been injured!!!!! Not sure how it happened. I think I did it at the gym and then kept knitting through the injury and wound up with some seriously painful tendonitis, aka "tennis elbow" or shall we call it "knitting elbow". Yup. Kept knitting. So I finally have strength back in my arm, but still have pain. So a short post with some projects I finished. Cute rose bag with cute satin lining, I used malabrigo. I also made this super cute star bag-- I used Valley yarn-berkshire from http://yarn.com/ I really like this yarn it's super soft and felts really well. Of course being the fabric addict that I have become I chose this cutie lining material--slightly juvenile, but then again, your never too old for smiley stars and clouds :) Also I want to leave you with a pic of Zoe Belle who is growing so fast, I can hardly believe it , she's always in "attack mode". She is the loviest cat ever. Pics of her sisters soon...

Also on a completely different note I joined a gym. Has anyone tried spinning???? I tried it once in college and thought it was kick ass, but I never continued with it. So upon joining the gym and my "knitter's elbow", I wanted to take a class but the thought of "body pump" or "body attack" and all that upper body work, I settled on spinning. And you know what.......I liked it so much I got out of bed on saturday at 7am and took an 8am class. Crazy! I also bought a heart monitor and bike pants. Have you seen these things? OK- spandex plus a shitload of padding in the crotch area. Hmmm, being an 80's chick who swore off spandex FOREVER....I think my comfort on the spinning seat is more important than the attractiveness that I exude while walking into the darkened spin room. So I broke down and bought them but did not wear them this morning- couldn't do it..

some new fiber

Been kind of busy...But happened to get out to the lys today and got some new goodies. My favorite yarn to date is still manos, however, I am a BIG fan of malabrigo. My pics do not do the colorways any justice. I did attempt to take an up close pic of the purple/brown malabrigo-simply gorgeous colors-will make an awesome newsboy cap. Sorry if pic is a little blurry. Also, the girls came home from surgery today. They had their surgery on tuesday- I was a basketcase. But, we got to visit them wednesday and today they came home! So just a short post... and a pic of little Rajni

Happy BD to me

Oy. BIG BD today. So I figured let me post a pic from a time that was so much simpler. A time when my only concern was what to dress my barbie in. A time when I am quite sure I couldn't wait to grow up. Funny isn't it? We can't wait to hit that 21 mark, then we wish we could go back there again. I would only want to go back to 27, when I first met my husband. Because life without him in it would not be any fun. So, cheers, here's to a great year in a new decade of life, may I step closer to understanding "the big picture". This pic is from 1978 check out that funky hairdo and those glasses!!! Rock ON!!!!!!

Happy Anniversary

Tommorrow is Our Anniversary..........

Always and forever, Each moment with you, Is just like a dream to me That somehow came true
And I know tomorrow Will still be the same

Cause we've got a life of love That won't ever change and..
Every day, Love me your own special way Melt all my heart away With a smile
Take time to tell me You really care

And we'll share tomorrow together

I'll always love you Forever
There'll always be sunshine

When I look at you, It's something I can't explain Just the things that you do
And if you get lonely Phone me and take A second to give to me That magic you make and.. Every day Love me your own special way Melt all my heart away.... With a smile
Take time to tell me You really care And we'll share tomorrow together

I'll always love you.......

Forever

Happy 5th Anniversary Sweetie I love you more than ever. Thank you for being my best friend. I'm the luckiest girl in the world to be able to spend my life holding hands with you.

Happy Birthday Rachel

Today is my baby sister's birthday. Although she is far from here today she is in my heart and I love her very much. I am so proud of all she has accomplished and all the "work" she has done. She is the mastergardener, she is one of my best friends. I fell totally in love with her the moment I laid my eyes on her-I got yelled at by my mom and grandmother for picking her up out of the crib (I was only 10). So here's to you rach- 30 years of being in my life and sharing lots of fun and sisterly moments. May you find many many years of happiness in this life, may the wind always be at your back, may you always know how much you are loved, may you take to heart all the lessons life has (not always so kindly) taught you, may you see how beautiful you are, how special you are, how fun you are, may you always enjoy cake as much as you did in this picture. I love you.

The Party is over.....

Some day I will become more responsible about spending money. I now have little choice because last week I handed over all credit cards to the man. I got yelled at for several hours and told no more a) garden center, b) online ordering, and..... c) no more YARN....eeeekkkkk gasp... that's right fellow bloggers,,,the yarn buying stops here..Trust me, I'll make do. I have enough yarn to knit an I cord from here to florida. But the garden center, hmmm this time of year that's a toughie. All those pretty flowers, needin love...Speakin of love...Lots of that going on in this house. The girls are just lovin the momma and dadu. Zoe Belle is the most affectionate, and ssshhh she's a momma's girl. They are growing so fast, getting their big girl faces now. I have been knitting, I just haven't taken any photos of the finished projects. I did finish the turtleneck from fitted knits. I made a couple of booboos that are extremely visible in my opinion, but the non knitting public might not notice them. I still cannot seem to go with my instinct and follow the stitches. I always follow the pattern and second guess my decisions and wind up screwing up the project. Soon I will post pics of knitted stuff.. Until then I leave you with Rajne who says....No More Spending or else...

Busy busy

Yes I have been knitting. I just have not been posting the stuff. The girls have been keeping us busy, and I tend to spend my off time with them. Knitting on straight needles is interesting because they try to bite the needles. So I've found circular works much better. Eila (the calico) had a piece of yarn so far down her throat 1 more minute and I would have had to pull it out via an alternate route. The weather outside here is gorgeous today. I did some weed pulling, clearing out the "willie nillie garden". H loves to call it that. But there is some method to my madness. I planted a beautiful green/pink echinechea from white flower farm. I also planted some pink lily of the valley. I have been wanting them for some time so this year I splurged on them. The girls have fun watching the action outside the front door now. I can't believe how long Rajne is . She's super soft and has beautiful gold eyes. All three girls have such beautiful features. We are lucky to get such pretty girls. So, I bought Stephanie Japel's book. I didn't even realize that she was glampyre until I read the bio in the book. I used to read her blog quite frequently. And of course we all know about the one skein wonder. I have to tell ya- I had this yarn in my stash. Cascade 220- three balls of it!!!!!! I am so proud of myself using stash yarn.

Kitties like fishes

We recently acquired a fish tank from my inlaws. So after cleaning it up my hubby bought some new fish yesterday and the girls l*o*v*e* them. You can see their brains trying to figure out how they are going to get inside the fish tank (hehe). What's pretty amazing is that Eila is actually perched on hubby's arm here. She usually doesn't sit still for more than 5 seconds. She's the "busy" one. When it comes time to nap she fights it, struggling to keep her eyes open as long as possible. She's just like me!!!! And I picked her out of the liter(hmmm, strange....) Anyway the other girls had just as much fun. My bet is that the "ninja" cat- Rajne (the black/white one) will be the first to find her way on top of the tank. She's slick- she came sailing over the 3 gates I have up in front of the sun room. And then there is zoe belle. She's an affectionate one now. She was knick named skittles because she was so skitish, but now she's all about givin mommy and daddy love. I took the pic of her in the sunroom while I was sewing last weekend. I couldn't listen to the hoarse meows anymore so I broke down and let her in the room with me. There are too many plants in there so I'm nervous about them eating the greenery...

some new crafty stuff

I have been using the sewing machine in lieu of knitting as of late. It's good stress relief also because I have to pay such close attention to everything I am doing. Oh and of course I have to rip out seams and resew. Oy, just like the knitting. I guess this is how I will become sew-er extrodinare. My mom and I were shopping around in the local fabric store on sunday and I came upon this cool fabric. It has all kinds of bride-ish sayings on it. I am going to a bridal shower this weekend and have been wanting to try out my sewing skills on a pillowcase, so... I made one for the bride to be. It is cute (if I say so myself) I would have enjoyed receiving something like this. I took a close-up of some of the sayings...So cute. I will confess I did have some logistic problems measuring out the fabric evenly. And I had to consult mom on several things, but all in all a success. I also finished a shell. I got the pattern for free when I bought the yarn from WEBS. Its cute and as usual I was confused by the pattern, so the last time I was in the LYS the nice lady there (who was also slightly baffled at first) helped me realize that I was knitting from the top down. It would be nice if they told you that in the pattern, but I guess it is "implied" in the directions...But it was very easy after I realized what was what. It is a one size fits all. I also want to post some pics of the babies. They are growing so fast. Speaking of kitties. Does everyone know about the cat and dog food recall??? We actually had some of the food that was on the recall, but the code numbers didn't match up. I didn't realize there where so many different brands on the list! Babies went for shots today so they are currently all sleeping. They did grow quite a bit in a month. The calico is the heavy-weight by 2 ozs over zoe belle (grey) and Rajne weighed in at 2lb 1oz....

Full Moon Madness

Glad to have had the weekend off, because last week was insanity. Have I told you lately how my customers are special? how they live in this place we have renamed Entitlement? Mother truckers. Just give me my paycheck and let me go on my merry way. Honestly. And please, kind readers do me a favor- hang up your cell phone when your picking up your drugs. Do you talk on that blue tooth thing while your in the doctor's office? Do you think maybe you might miss something important? I refuse to put one of those brain cancer magnets in my ear. Next to your BRAIN. I can't even stand to talk on the cell phone for more than 3-5 minutes at a clip. I am getting better at not going to the counter to listen to the bs going on there. I just wish I didn't hear everything that's going on. Oh and BTW I think it's interesting how people who were nasty to you think you won't remember them. I remember just about everything. That's how I got through school- good memory. OK,OK enough ranting. It's just that every once and awhile I have to let it out. As soon as H clears off the memory card I will post knitting pics... Bought some new fiber today. Like I needed more.

cuteness abounds!!!!!

The cuteness factor around here is incredible. Everywhere you look there is cuteness. The girls now have full run of the downstairs (they have not as of yet made their way upstairs). On monday they figured out how to scale the gate in the kitchen so we just took it down. I didn't want them falling off of it. I am a paranoid mommy. They look so innocent right?

One more thing I would like to mention today. Do you watch that singing show on tv? you know the one... starts with A (first word) I (second word)-sorry I don't want the mass influx of people on this website if I mention names. So even if you don't watch, by now you may have heard the ruckus about this girl from NJ- Point Pleasant to be exact. You know, pictures (scantily clad) and videos ("it's not her") blah,blah. Please don't take this as representation of Jersey Shore girls. I grew up at the ocean- we don't call it "the shore" that's a "benny" (anyone not from the area) word. So what makes a good representation of a girl who grew up near the ocean in NJ? Not this girl in the headlines. We jersey girls like to: a) hang out at the beach in the summer, from the first warm day all the way up until October b) get dressed to the nines and go out dancing with our girlfriends c) curse all the extra traffic that comes into our towns during the summer months (benny's go home) d) represent ourselves in a dignified manner. At least in the town I grew up in (Sea Girt) nice town, and the town I worked in (Manasquan). All bordering Pt. Pleasant. So if you watch that show- do us Jersey girls a favor- don't vote for that A girl, ugh, she cannot sing.....

End of rant-next post I promise some knitting pics...

The babies are here

We picked up our new babies yesterday. They are 6 weeks old today!!! Eila (calico), Rajni (black) and Zoebelle (gray). They are so sweet. Didn't want to sleep last night because I wanted to continue the snuggle fest that was going on while watching tv. Eila was so comfy she was talking in her sleep!!!! Just a quick post, wanted to show the pics... PS....they are already daddy's girls, however one in particular has him wrapped around her little white paw....

some new stuff

Had a full day of shopping today, and boy am I tired. Interesting thing happened at the LYS. I usually put my yarn skeins by the register as I puruse the store, today, that almost turned out to be a big mistake. Now, I had 4 skeins sitting there in a pile, the woman who works there was trying to help me figure out a pattern I got from valley yarns (more on that soon), so I went to look at something my mom was showing me and when I came back to the register the beautiful green skein of malabrigo that was by the register is missing. I call out to my mom- mom did you take the green yarn from the register? she says no. Now at this point there are quite a few women milling around, and I asked my mom this question quite loudly-no one else claims to have taken the yarn, then I start looking around at all the women in the shop and bingo here comes this "clueless" (ok-for her benefit I will say she "probably" did not hear me asking about green yarn) who has my skein of yarn in her hand. She swiped it off the counter. So the saleswoman says that's the only skein of that color. I look at the woman and really restraining myself, ask "did you take that skein off of the counter?" she doesn't say a word she shoves it back at me. "thanks" I say. She just glares at me. So sorry I saw it first (nana booboo)- NO I DID NOT SAY that!!!!!! But it was what I was thinking. HEHE. I cannot help it- I'm not usually like that but green and pink are my colors. And quite quickly malabrigo is becoming my new favorite yarn. Included in the second pic is some rowan all season cotton that I got on sale through WEBS. I'm going to make a basketweave pattern yoga bag out of Knit Cafe book. There's a skein of lorna lace's worsted for a rasta hat I saw on Knitty Gritty (love that show). Bulky alpaca for baby hat and of course some cascade 220. Oh and the awesome Ozark handspun. Have you seen this yet???? It is gorgeous yarn and I am sorry my camera does not do it justice. It still has curls in it from the sheep hair. super groovy. I am going to make myself a scarf out of it in memory of my bootsie girl. I also spent last sunday sewing and made a funky yoga mat bag. Here is a closeup of pretty fabric I bought from that large everything store. I won't mention the name because they have enough advertisement already. My sewing technique still needs work, but I'm all about teaching myself stuff through trial and error...Just like the shell I'm knitting more on that soon,promise...