Lavender, my favorite.

Long time no see!

You know how life sometimes steps in and takes over your schedule for you? That’s what happened to me in the last month or so. My social life got really busy and I injured my arm. I developed bicipital tendonitis in my right bicep. What is that, you ask? It’s one of the most painful things I have ever experienced. Somehow, the tendons in the bicep became enflamed, swollen, irritated. They got so painful I couldn’t move my body, let alone my arm without intense pain. So, I took myself to the ER last Sunday. That’s where I found out I have some pretty significant calcium deposits in my shoulder that were the root cause. One sling, one cortisone shot, and 5 days later, I can now move my arm without (mostly) pain. On a side note, I am right handed. Solely right handed. But during all of this, I had to use only my left hand. It was an interesting few days, being only left handed. But, all this arm drama meant that I couldn’t knit. I don’t think I touched any needles for a full 4 days. I did, however, drool over some newly acquired yarn: Socks That Rock Rhodonite and a whole bag of Atacama Alpaca. The Rhodonite is for the scarf out of Last Minute Knits (yes I am Totally jumping onto that bandwagon. How could I not? It’s a very simple pattern but so cute!) along with Rolling Rock (coming soon!)
When I was able to knit, I went back to my love, Julia. I am still chugging along. Haven't finished the back but I am about 3" from that milestone. I think I will start the sleeves next and I will definitely be doing those together.

I know some of you will be looking here for pictures of a certain Father’s Day gift. I have decided to hold off on sharing until the gift has been given. Occasionally, my dad will read this blog. I don’t want to chance it. He is flying me up to visit June 8-11 and I will share photos afterwards.

Okay, I know you didn’t ask but I am going to tell you anyway. Don’t bother with Pirates of the Caribbean III. It is a very long, very confusing end to this long drawn out series. I am a big Johnny Depp fan but in this movie, I felt like he was tired of playing Captain Jack Sparrow. And the romance with Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan just fell flat… Let me just say it was very anti-climactic. It’s right up there with Spiderman III. Hmmm…I am seeing a theme here…. :)

So that’s the update. Oh! My friend, Jason, was able to hook me up to the wireless internets. Only problem is I have to sit on my front porch to access it. :) My landlord’s office (where the router is located) is directly behind my house but the entire back of my house is brick. It doesn’t penetrate brick apparently. Jason is working on finding a way to increase the signal so I can have it in the house. How cool is that?!

I hope your holiday was fun, exciting, peaceful, anything and everything you wanted it to be. :)

My craft world is multidimensional

All I can think about these days are fabrics. Backings, pieces, backgrounds, contrasts, all sorts of fabrics. I am dying to start a quilt. And Craft Essentials (they carry some of the most beautiful fabrics from desigers Kaffe Fassett, Amy Butler, Denyse Schmidt) was having a 25% off sale on all fabric. :) Oh yes, yes I partook. I partook in a big way. I have planned out my first quilt. Wanna see the fabrics?

Unfortunately, I don't know yet how to quilt. I have ordered up some books from Amazon, one of which includes a pattern for coasters. I figure I will start out with that and see how frustrated I get with it. :)

On to my other obsession, knitting. I have knit nothing this week. But I have been crocheting. I pulled out my old standby, the Babette. I had half of a panel crocheted and another panel ready to sew onto the blanket. I crocheted up the rest of the unfinished panel and my trusty assistant, Chauntel, and I spent 2 hours on Saturday sewing it up. Which means, it would have taken me alone 4 hours. How do I love thee, Chaun. :)) I am not going to show you the progress on the blanket (I am so close to being done that you will just have to wait to see it in it's full, finished glory) but I will show you one of the final 36 squares.

And how about a pretty picture of a plant persevering through in this world of concrete and asphalt:

Mother's Day

I expected it to be tough. I have been preparing myself to feel sad, lonely, left out, upset. Instead I sit here feeling blessed. I spent the last 32 years with my mom and I am very grateful to have had that time with her. I miss her immensely every day but as I look around at the women in my life, I realize that I still have moms in my life. I have moms-to-be, I have new moms, stepmoms, well-seasoned moms, grandmothers, aunts, sisters. Today is about celebrating the sacrifices a women makes to bring up her children in this rough and tumble world. I salute all you moms out there. And I thank you for the things you do not only for your own children but for all the people in your lives. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

The Non-Sock Knitter

The name of this blog could very well be "my name is tracy. i don't knit socks." I was pretty adamant in my aversion to sock knitting. I have tried socks a few times before. I have even made Christmas stockings for my family. But I never felt bitten by the sock bug. I just didn't get it. Until a few months ago. Chauntel wrote up a pattern for a pair of socks, which she is wont to do quite often, and then, quite timidly I must say, asked me to test knit them. "I'm sorry, what?" I said. "I know you don't like socks but you are the perfect person to try them out. I need a new sock knitter to try them," she bravely replied. I chortled. I guffawed. I giggled. But I was intrigued... "Sure! Heck, why not!" I finally said. So, I knit them. Well, I knit one of them. But I finished that sucker right up quick! I cannot show you the proof of said sock knitting (it's a secret) but I even have plans for the next pair. In fact, I have plans for the next 11. See, I have secretly been buying sock yarns. I have yearned after them for years but never gave in. Because I don't knit socks. Well, my non existent sock stash has grown to this:

Right now, the socks I am just about jonesing to start are the German Stockings. Because they will be made out of Peruvian Baby Silk. Chaun gave that to me as a gift. I think she was just overjoyed that I was actually knitting a sock. For reals.

Nothing clever here.

Oh, it's been awhile since I posted! Sorry about that! I did get a request for info on the Julia. I am past 15" and have started the armhole shaping. It's tiny yarn on tiny needles but it's going fairly quick. Probably because I love it so. I did set that down on Sunday and I pulled out an old fav, The Babette. Remember The Babette? Crocheted squares of all sizes and colors. I put it down last time because I spent the majority of an afternoon sewing up those damn squares. And I hate sewing up the squares! And of course, I left the 2 biggest panels to the end. Which means I have A LOT of squares to sew together. Wait, what was that you just said? Did I want some cheese with my whine?? Why yes I do! And yes, I am whining. :) I am really just ready to have this blanket done and the amount of sewing I still have left to do is quite daunting. Maybe I will recruit some help... maybe if the price is right... Chauntel! Come on down!! :))

Okay, I am done talking about knitting. I am sneaking in this post at work so it has to be short. And I think my next post will be about quilting. My new favorite hobby.

I leave you with some photos I took over the weekend.