Yep. Another stupid test.

found on my sp6 spoiler's blog

You Are Fozzie Bear

"Wocka! Wocka!" You're the life of the party, and you love making people crack up. If only your routine didn't always bomb! You may find more groans than laughs, but always keep the jokes coming.

The Muppet Personality Test

Bid Accepted!!

It's official! The contract was signed this morning & earnest money delivered. The radon inspection is this weekend & the other inspections are Monday at 12:30!!

We are buying our first house!! SQUEEEEEE!!

Wanna see it??

Front view

Family Room

Master Bedroom

Master Bath (part of addition)

Bedroom #2

Bathroom (original)

Kitchen (very low cabinets because
previous owner was in a wheelchair)

Dining Room

Living Room (addition) I wanted to show the valuted
ceiling & skylight, so you don't get the full view! ;)

Back view

It also has a full basement that is half finished. I didn't post pics cause they are kinda boring. However, there is a little room with lots of shelves, towel bars, a sink with counter space & lots of outlets. This is my dying room!!! XD

I'm all a-quiver! Closing should be around April 12th.

Dude! Its so unreal still!

squee.

House News

Yesterday we put a bid in on a house! Squee!!

It doesn't sound like there is any competition and it has already been relisted once, so we are hoping to get a deal. We haven't heard anything yet, but the deadline is tomorrow at noon.


In knit news, I finished the back of my mum's sweater. Pics later, this post is already photo heavy!! ;)

Oh, and for those in need of some kitty comic relief, check out this

and this


LMAO! XD

Eek! & Squee!

A couple weeks ago my hubby & I got into a discussion about looking for a new place since our lease is up in April. We were planning on renewing, but he wanted to see what was out there in order to make an educated decision. I was advocating we at least see what we qualified for in terms of a mortgage. Our initial plan when we moved out here would be that we would rent for a year & then attempt to buy a house.

So, after a lot of cajoling, Kris submitted an application via lendingtree.com and we quickly got responses. I was sure we would, but he didn't think so because his credit is kinda crappy. Not only were we approved, but with pretty decent terms too. So much so that Kris now thought it was crazy not to buy a house because we would be paying less on a mortgage than we are renting!

Friday we hired a buyer's agent & drove around. Saturday we did drive-bys on about 20 houses. Yesterday we hit the open houses. Today we are going out with the agent to look at some more.

We are going to buy a house!

Our First House!

SQUEEEE!

eek!

Dude! I SO need a new Job!!

Ok. I was about 5 minutes from work & had just pulled over to get my morning tea when my cell phone rings. Its that crazy-ass boss of mine. You see, she is going out of town today & won't be back until next Wednesday. Well, she has decided that she doesn't have enough work for me to do while she is gone.. which is insane, because there is a shit-ton of work on my desk which I haven't had a chance to do because everyday is a new crisis with her. Anyways.. I have the next week off. Which sucks cause no work=no pay! Technically I am still a temp so I don't get vacation time, or paid days off in any way, shape or form. grrrrrrr!

So, here I am at home. Until next Thursday. sigh.

At least this gives me an opportunity to job hunt. I have spent the morning filling out a bunch of bid forms for U of M and scouring Monster.com for anything promising. I so hate job hunting. I'm not very good at it & I'm even worse at job interviews. sigh.

So, taking a break from the frustration I have been doing a little blog surfing. Which led me to this Johari site from the blog Brilliant Disguise. Please check it out so I can see just how self-deluded I am! ;)

Now onto the knits!

I could not wait to spin up the Merino/Silk/Bluefaced Leicester blend I picked up on Saturday. So, while watching the Olympics Saturday evening, I spun up about 200 yds of this...

Worsted energized singles

Which I promptly knit into this...


I based it off the elf hat in Handknit Holidays, but I modified it so much that it no longer reflects the pattern. I made this for my geekie niece. I just hope it fits! :)
I am thinking of making her matching mittens & a scarf. I think I may do the ruffle scarf pattern of Jillian's. Too cute!!

I also got started on my mum's sweater. Its not really fair isle enough, but she will love it. I will just need to do fair isle for someone else.



Wow.. this was a long post! See what happens when I don't have to work! ;)

MeMe Alert

Cause I've been tagged! This is actually a first for me.. I'm so excited! ;)

4 Jobs I've had in my life:

• Bartender
• Technical Support
• Nanny
• Administrative Assistant
  

4 Movies I can watch over and over:

• Serenity
• Shaun of the Dead
• LOTR
• The Ring
  

4 TV Shows I love to watch:

• 24
• Lost
• Gilmore Girls
• South Park
  

4 Places I have lived (prepare for bordom):

• Garden City, MI
• Westland, MI
• Canton, MI
• Grass Lake, MI

4 Places I have been on holiday:

• Toronto, Ont
• Seattle, WA
• NYC
• Haliburton, Ont
  

4 of my favorite dishes:

• Shish Tawook (love middle-eastern, yummy!)
• Chicken & Broccoli in Ginger/Garlic sauce
• Chicken Tikka
• Pizza
  

4 Websites I visit daily:

• Google
• Yahoo
• Pogo
• Blogs on my side bar
  

4 Places I would rather be right now:

• Seattle, WA
• Anywhere in Europe
• Australia
• Japan
  

4 Bloggers I am tagging:

• Joanne
• Emily
• Heather
• Ingrid

Fleece Fair, WIP, & FO (finally)

Hi all!

Remember me? I know.. I totally suck. Been so wrapped up in the Olympics & dealing with my mom's latest healthcare crisis that I just haven't been up to blogging.

Well, here I am at last & with exciting news. Today was the Spinner's Flock Spring (ha!) Fleece Fair in Chelsea. I was very good & didn't go overboard.. I still have quite a bit of fleece at home that needs spinning, but I can never resist new stuff. Honey even came with & did the buying! He Rocks!

Here's the haul...

There are 2 4oz rovings of Pima Cotton (yum); 2 8oz rovings from a Rambouilett/Merino cross ewe in a luscious rich brown; and 1 8oz roving that is an 70/20/10 blend of Merino, Silk, & Blue-faced Leicester. The colors are so girlie & the roving soo soft I just had to get it to make something for my niece with. XD

The fleece fair was just amazing this year. Every year it gets bigger & better. Now, if they would just have more people manning the check-outs everything would be great!!

So, in my last post I showed you the plastic bag yarn I was making. Here in the WIP:


I just need to make the handles, which I haven't decided how I want to do yet. So far it has turned out pretty nice.

Oh, and I finally finished honey's socks! On Valentine's Day (only 2 months late)!


Love that mountain colors yarn!! The colorway is Pheasant and it took less than a skein! Whee!

Oh. Joanne? Get a look at Kris' new guitar!


Its a Craviola by Jay Turser guitars. He just got it yesterday & it has a surprisingly rich tone for being very narrow in body. They are discontinued, so he got quite a deal on it through music123.com. I thought Brian might get a kick out of seeing it! ;)

That's all for now. I'm off to indulge in my Girl Scout cookies, spin some fiber & watch the Olympics!

Yarn Squee!

Alpaca Direct totally rocks! Seriously, give em some love people! I placed my order on Sunday evening & received it today! Plus, their price on the yarn was $.50 cheaper per skein then anywhere else & they had a larger selection of colors!!

mmmmm, yummy soft Baby Alpaca!

This is the yarn for my mum's sweater. So glad I will finally get to cast-on something besides socks. XD The main body is the lilac/periwinkle, and there are 2 skeins each of pink, red, lime, & eggplant (dark purple). So soft & purty! Yippie!!

In other news, been turning this
into this

details to follow...

Oh.. and if you have a few minutes you may want to check out these recut trailers for the Shinning and Sleepless in Seattle... OMG funny! XD

Silliness

Please enjoy the below silliness, blatantly stolen from Big Girl Feet

The Llama Song

How to Dance Properly

hee hee hee

Holiday Gifties

So, here are some sure nifty gifties I received for xmas that I totally have neglected to blog about.

First off, I received the 2 books that I was a lusting over!

Here is the EZ book I wanted & some hand-made stitch markers from the lovely & talented Joanne! (I still haven't sent her xmas present out, dude I suck!) I wasnt able to get a good pic of the st markers, but they are lovely!

This is a totally happy-making present. Its a yarn meter! Whee! Now many of you may not get my ectasy of this, but I really suck at figuring out yds on my niddy noddy.. I always loose count! XD

And the fete de resistance?

Gorgeous knitty bag & a set of Lantern Moon needles from my SIL! Squee-age! Having another hip knitter in the family rocks!

In other gifty news, I got a copy of this...

RAK from the super-fabu Jillian. If you haven't seen this book you should take a peek. There are some absolutely ridiculous hats in here.. cracks me up! I totally love it!!

Now, in an attempt to avoid the frantic xmas morning sweater knitting of this past year, I have already picked a pattern for this xmas' christmas gift.


This will be for my mum, nix the fringie bit on the collar. The pattern is "Folk Jacket" from Plymouth Yarns and is made with Baby Alpaca Dk. This is the first time I will use the yarns that were actually called for in a pattern. Dude! ;) I wanted to knit a fair isle sweater, but didn't see one that really suited her & my sister & niece agree that she will dig this one. Besides, there is a little intarsia involved here without so much as to make me insane.

Who knows, if I actually finish this in a decent amount of time I may be able to knit something out of this for someone else.

Holy Crap!

So, I followed the link to this quiz off Crazy Aunt Purl's site, cause ya know, I'm fond of the quizzes.

Dude! This one totally pegged me.

Kinda Scary!

I took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Longs for a tender and sympathetic bond and for a ..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

California Dreamin

Okie doke. Here is a post full of pics from this past weekend in Southern California. It was fun & very relaxing. I really didn't do much, mostly along for the ride while honey was busy with the NAMM convention. I didn't even hit a single yarn store!! (gasp!)

The pics are all from our little jaunt out to Joshua Tree National Park.. so amazing!!

Yes, the sky was really that blue!

This sign amused me...

The rocks are not from Joshua Tree,
they are from the beach at Carlsbad

Purty beach, purty ocean, purty sunset!

That's all there really is to say about that. I know, I'm so boring. I didn't do any of the touristy thangs.. Never went to Knotts, Disneyland, the SD Zoo, LA.. none of it. I enjoy the break though & I got to ride in a convertable with the top down for the first time in my life! Mega-Squee! Totally enjoyed the break from the nasty Michigan weather too, it was mid60s-low70s for the 4 days we were there. yippie!

So, while downloading these pics I noticed there were a bunch of other pics that I had that I haven't blogged about yet, most of them knitting/holiday/gifty related! I so totally suck! However, the holiday lethargy seems to be finally leaving me & I hope to get back into blogging regularly now.

Really! :)

Still Here

Sorry I've been remiss in blogging lately. Much ado about nothing, ya know.

I just, and I do mean just, got back from California. Pics & a brief description will be posted later.

For now... sleep & kittty snuggling!

g'night

Gryffindor Scarf

Now that the holidays are over I can finally post about the gifty for my sis!
From the title you should have guessed it, twas a Gryffindor Scarf.

I got the idea after seeing Denise knitting hers. I used the Prizoner of Azkaban pattern and knit it using Plymouth Encore yarn, which is 75% acrylic & 25% wool. It is very soft and the colors are quite brilliant.

I used size 7 needles, so I only cast on 60sts and did 12 repeats, instead of 14.

As an added touch, I got a wonderful Gryffindor Crest patch from Patch Palace (also recommended by Denise). I was initially thinking of intarsia knitting the crest, but I eventually came to my senses.

Below are my sister's reaction and the finished product. I am very happy with the finished project, and even happier to know my sister loves it & is the envy of her friends! XD








And, just because I can, Kitty PIC!

Torgeir Sweater

Here is my first update. I am so sorry I made you all wait. To all my knit-in pals, I am very very sorry & you all can stop berating me know! ;)

Project: Torgeir from The Viking Collection by Elsebeth Lavold

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Merino DK in Navy Blue (color #225214)

Needles Used: US size 4 straight, size 6 circular. Size 6 dpn used as cable needle.

Comments: I am very happy with the way this turned out! I would have to say this is the most ambitious project I have undertaken so far. I had a few pitfalls (learning what the heck "no stitch" meant, making a leap about repeating the chart at row 9 instead of 1, who knew?!) but it all came together in the end. At the very last minute. Even though I had started this thing in August, I didn't finish knitting it until xmas eve! This led to frantic blocking & sewing.. which I actually finished xmas morning about an hour before we had to leave for my parents house! :)

At last, here it is...

Pic of sleeve join.. look how snazy!

Dad opening his gift!

See the surprise in his eyes!!

Here he is modeling it.
Fits perfectly! SQUEE!!

He liked it so much he wore it the rest of the day.

That's him snuggling with his baby, Smokey

(he's a keeshond)...
the dog, not my dad.. sheesh!

So, there it is. The happy dance was done and all are satisfied!

More updates to come! XD

Thank God That's Over!

Wow. It has totally been like forever since I updated this thing! I am so glad all the holiday craziness is over!

I have so much to post!!

Lots of goodness will be here in the next few days.

I just want to let anyone who is still checking know that I am still here & will be posting more exciting news soon! :)

Hectic Knitting

The evil, crazy boss is in Hawaii this week so I am gonna slack for a few minutes and update my blog! :)

It has been a weekend of frantic knitting, but it has paid off. I finally finished the first sleeve for Torgeir, am 1/3 of the way through the 2nd sleeve, and got another 15 rows done on the front.

In addition, I started a pair of socks for Kris out of Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Pheasant on Tuesday. I was able to finish the 8" cuff, turn the heel, & knit the gusset while he was out & about. I will probably finish the foot tomorrow at knitting! Whee!

Oh.. we watched the show Weeds for the first time this weekend (love that "on demand" thang). Too funny. I think I might be addicted.

Ok.. probably should do some work now.

No Time Blog, Must Knit!

First off - Props & Kudos go to Denise and Joanne for finishing Nano! You guys rock!!

Just over 3 weeks to xmas and not a single gift got! Hoping to rectify that tonight at midnight madness downtown Ann Arbor.

Almost done with the knit gift for sis... done knitting it, just need to do the finishing stuff.

~4" to go on sleeve #1 for dad's sweater.. whee!

Had to rip out the kimono shawl cause I screwed up the second lace repeat.. grrr

thinking of making hubby some sox for xmas, but EVERYONE is out of Mountain Colors Barefoot locally... double grrrrr!

Nothing much else to relate. Have to finish up SP6 gifty & get that out this week.


Ok.. gotta go knit...