Labor Day

I wish every weekend were three days long. It is Sunday night and instead of mourning the end of my weekend I am pumped that I still have another day off. And not only that, I have a fun day planned. It is September's BOM day! So I hope everyone has a nice Labor Day!

Yarn Harlot

So I don't think that I blogged about this, but reading Stephanie's post on her blog today reminded me of the situation. My mom and I were in the fabric cutting line at QT on sale day. We were a person or two apart because my mom had decided at the last min to buy some more fabric. ANYWAY, I was asking to look at her class supply list for her beginning crocheting class. The lady in between us asked my mom, "Why don't you just learn to knit?" Then my mom explained to her that she had tried knitting and wasn't successful, and yes, she had taken a class to learn to knit, but she decided to try crocheting because maybe one needle would be easier for her. The lady then goes into this speech about how she used to crochet but then she got tired of making dishcloths so she moved on to knitting. She also told my mom that you, "can't make very many things crocheting" and it is best for "dishcloths". At this point both my mom and I decide to ignore her because we are done with the conversation. I just felt so bad for my mom though. This was her first time at quilt store sale day and some stupid customer was rude about her class choices. I told my mom later when we were at lunch (BK Lounge baby...) that you can make TONS of stuff crocheting. She was like, "Oh, I know. I can also make blankets." I laughed... and informed her that NO! I mean you can make ANYTHING. Sweaters, socks, bags, WHATEVER your heart desires.

She said she might start with a dishcloth.

Fair Fun

Weston and I went out to the fair today. It was pretty fun. The highlight of my day is seen above...meeting Lance Mackey! For those who don't know, he is a dog musher who has won both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod two years in a row. This is quite a feat because they are both really long and less than a month apart. Two years ago when Mackey won both races it was the first time that anyone had done it. Then he did it again...pretty amazing. So I was pretty excited to talk with him. We talked about dogs and then later I went back to talk to him again and he remembered me! I went back to ask him if I wanted to get a dog from him what I would do. So then he gave me his phone number and e-mail address. That's right...I have Lance Mackey's phone number. That was pretty much the only thing that was different about the fair this year. I always have a good time and can't wait to go back next year! :)

Quilt store sale day!

Today was one of my favorite days of the year....quilt store sale day! I was actually rather well behaved and spent a lot less than I anticipated. I bought the kit for the farmyard quilt I've been wanting, signed up for two classes (one block wonder and the top down sweater), and bought my fabric for my BOM. I also bought yarn and needles to work on my 2-at-a-time socks. I'm through with the cuffs and I'm on the body of the socks. They are only little kid socks, but I'm still pretty proud of my work. I'm having a bit of trouble with laddering, but I think it may get better now that I am not working the ribbing section. Who knows.

Anyway, quilt store sale day was a success and I had a great time! The only thing that is a bit of a bummer is my weekend is almost half over. This whole working full-time thing is quite a bummer!

Bamboo yarn and chicken bites

(Picture of my school bag. A beautiful quilted bag that I blogged about a while ago. I love this bag. I use it for just about everything now. I am planning on buying a button for the bright green square there as I am not in love with it.)

Random, I know. But just wait. It will all come together.

First things first, I started a pair of bamboo socks yesterday at my inservice (no, I don't knit during presentations, but I had about 2 hours of down time and got quite a bit accomplished. And the link is to a site that sells the yarn I have. It is WONDERFUL and I am in love with it.) and I noticed a few things. First off, I am not normally a "public" knitter. I normally knit in the comfort of my own home or a friends house...not where other people can see me. I did notice how interested people are in what you are doing. And even more so when you tell them that your yarn is made of bamboo. After my inservice I went to get my school mandated physical. I knitted in the doctors office while waiting which also struck up a conversation with him that ending in him telling me he HAS to call his mom and tell her about bamboo yarn. It was pretty amusing.

**Random side story about the doctor** The nurse told me when she was taking my vitals that the school district also pays for a tetanus shot if I wanted one. At first I said no, but then when she told me it would be free I said sure. Free my butt. My arm is KILLING me today. When I woke up I could barely move it. Then this afternoon I started feeling sick and am just now getting over that. My arm still hurts though. When I told my husband I got it because it was free he replied, "Well so is a punch in the face but you don't want one of those."

Now on to the chicken bites. My team all went to Boston's for lunch and I ordered the buffalo chicken bites. There were a TON of them and I barely got through half. I got the rest in a box and was planning on eating them later. They were in my school bag along with my knitting (and some random paper work...I do work while at work sometimes). So Weston and I go to Lowe's to pick up some lawn furniture (at 50% off!) and a bookshelf. When we come home he tells me that Frito got into my yarn. This is not that surprising. He for some reason loves to carry yarn all over the house, get tangled up in it, and basically cause a lot of trouble. When Weston asked me why he would have gotten into the bag I realized I had FORGOTTEN to put my chicken in the fridge. So Frito being the mischievous dog he is ate ALL of the chicken, some fruit snacks, and chewed a hole in my baggie of dried cherries before he realized what they were and that he doesn't like them. On top of all of this he not only totally messed up my ball of bamboo yarn (not beyond use, it is just a tangled MESS) but pulled a needle out of my socks and dropped 20 stitches. So. I am going to pull out my other ball of bamboo and start a new sock. That will be less stressful than dealing with that mess right now. Which is fine because the sock was a bit large anyway. And it was hard to be mad because I can just imagine how funny it would have been to watch the whole thing happen. You can tell he struggled with the yarn trying to get to the chicken because it was wrapped around the handles of my bag. Oh, my dog. He is so funny.

So that is how bamboo yarn and chicken bites caused me a bit of stress today. Not to mention students come back to school tomorrow. Crazy!!!

I love your style

I went to JCP today with my mom and bought some new clothes. (A link...not that you can't go to JCP in town, but it was a goal...) Having to dress up everyday requires more than one pair of dress pants and a few mis-matched dress items. Anyway, JCP had a ton of clothes on clearance for $5 which meant that I could get some pretty decent stuff without dropping a lot of cash. Which is good since I don't get paid for another month (AGH!). I got two skirts, three shirts, and a nice shrug to wear over shorter sleeved items. I was pretty excited.

I am supposed to be cleaning my sewing room right now. You would think that since we moved in 6 weeks ago this would have been done and taken care of. Think again. I have a very bad habit of putting things like this off. And I just bring all of my stuff to the living room and sew on the dining table. It is way more work to do this because I have to clean up after myself, but it has been working. I do want my sewing room to be functional I'm just lazy. Plus, now it is already 8:30 so I'm going to start getting ready for bed. Having to get up at 6 am to walk the dog is really taking its toll on my sleep. Maybe I will start my cleaning tomorrow....

Back to School

So today is my first official day as a contracted teacher. I have been going to training all week, but today is the first day that I HAVE to be there. We have four (that's right FOUR) inservice days before the kids come to school on Wednesday. I am nervous and excited about going to school today. I have met the office staff and my department chair but no one else at the school. It should be an interesting day.

On the knitting front, I finished two dishcloths for my kitchen. They are very cool. Pictures will be coming. I was excited about how fast they knit up. The pattern (I used the ballband dishcloth pattern, free on ravelry) was easy to memorize so I was able to pick it up whenever I had a break at work and knit a few rows. I still have a ton of one of the colors and not enough of the other to do anything with. I think I will get another ball of the variegated and make two more just so I have a bunch of them around. I've also thought these would be great housewarming presents, or wedding presents, or happy tuesday presents because they are so easy to knit and very useful. I am excited to see how they wash as well. Ok, I should get ready to go....

Random thoughts

1. Why is McDonald's sponsoring the Olympics? Really? Am I supposed to believe that if I eat McDonald's I too can make it to the Olympics for an athletic sport? I don't think that Michael Phelps makes a habit of stopping by McDonald's on the way to the pool...
2. There is a new commercial out for JCP (I think) that is a mock of the Breakfast Club. Pretty funny. Except the target audience (teenagers) probably won't understand the commercial because they haven't seen the movie. A hit and a miss JCP. Really should have thought that through.
3. I found a blog last night called Knitosaurus (oh yeah, a link!) and I'm TOTALLY jealous that I did not think of that name first. I add -osaurus to everything. Laz-o-saurus-rex, Pudge-o-saurus, etc. Mostly when referring to my crazy half dinosaur dog.
Off to bed. I have a big day tomorrow. BOM starts and then I get to go back to work. Oh yeah. Every American's dream....

AHHH

I have been busy reading new blogs today and realized a few things. One, I should have been working on the border of my pumpkin quilt. The sewing machine is plugged in and rearing to go, but here I sit like a very lazy person. Two, I do not post enough pictures on my blog. I have been trying to work on it, but not having my own digital camera (well, I do have my own, but the charger was lost in one of my MANY moves these past two years and I have yet to find a new one, so it is dead and I have nothing to charge it with. LAME) is a bit of a roadblock to that. Three, I do not post enough links on my blog. Clearly I talk about things in my blog. And OBVIOUSLY it is very interesting so you would want to look at it or read it or whatever, so I should post links on here.

SO...anyway. Here are a few goals I have for myself for this quarter (or semester...we will see how it goes)
(Random note: Being a teacher makes you think in terms of school years forever. You can not escape it. January is the middle of a year to me.)

1. Learn to sew more of my own clothes. I hate clothes shopping and I like sewing. So this should solve that problem. Maybe.
2. Make my blog way cooler. (See notes above.)
3. Finish (and by finish I mean have it quilted and on a bed) at least one quilt.

That is all I can think of now. I should have a knitting goal, but I am not sure what it will be yet. Plus, I don't want to set the bar too high...I do want to accomplish my goals.

Valley Quilting

Leah and I ventured out to the three quilt stores in the valley today. It was quite the trip! It was raining hard core but that didn't stop us from finding all of the different shops and even the yarn shop in Wasilla. Everything was quite nice. I was very impressed with the selection that Sylvia's Quilt Depot carried, there were fabrics there that I hadn't seen anywhere else. I didn't do too much damage to the bank account...kept it under $100 which is pretty good having gone to 4 quilt shops (we also went into Dina's in ER. They have a TON of new fabric and some of it was too cute to pass up. The new fall line from Sandy Gervais called Pumpkins Gone Wild is AMAZING) and a yarn shop. Leah also got all of her shop hop blocks which is always fun. Frito got to go to dog daycare for the day which is always a good time for him (and for me because he is tired!). Everyone was pretty excited to see him again as they really miss him there. And who wouldn't? He is probably one of the most amazing dogs ever. :) Not that I am biased or anything.

I found out last week that I actually get to start back to work on Monday. AHH! I have three days of training BEFORE our four inservice days. So that was a bit of a bummer to learn, but I guess it is good I go back to work. Every day I go is one day closer to payday! And quilt store sale day! If only payday came first...but I probably don't need THAT much fabric. I'm going to go work on the border for my pumpkin quilt. If I can finish one project I won't feel too bad about starting another one.

Spooky

I buckled down today and sewed all of my jack-o-lantern blocks together. I am teaching this quilt as a class in October. I still have to make the candy corn border on it but I'm pretty proud that I got this much done! I am almost done with my kuspuk. I just have the hand sewing left to do. I'm getting ready to take Frito on his afternoon dog walk then I think I will sit on the porch and finish it up. How exciting! I have been pretty productive lately, which is good since I have to go back to school in 8 days. :( But on the plus side I will have real money to spend at the quilt shop soon, which is very exciting!

Charm School

I went out to the quilt shop in ER to go to Moda U. Moda U is a club that is run by Moda fabrics where you learn about new fabrics and over the course of a year you get the directions to make a quilt top. So it is kind of a block of the month club. ANYWAY, today Moda U was about charm squares (5" squares of pre-cut fabric) and all the different ways to use them. I accidently spent a lot of money. Class was really inspiring! :) I got a new book called "Charmed and Dangerous" which has different table runners and two full size quilts made from charm squares. So I got christmas charm squares to make one of the quilts and 60's reproduction charms to make the other. I'm not sure if I'm too crazy about the 60's fabric, but they are cute and it isn't something I normally make so who knows how it will turn out.



I have my last kuspuk class tonight. Hopefully I will get it done!

Last Day

So today was my last day working at the quilt shop. It was sad for a few reasons. One of them being that now I'm going to have to go to actual work. 13 days and I have to report to middle school. As a teacher. A career. I'm grown up. I bought a bunch of stuff before my shift started and have a ton of projects planned. Probably too many.

So I don't know if any of you have noticed, but I go in spurts with my crafting. For example, when I was still living with the in-laws all I did was knit. It was pretty much impossible to do anything else. Now that I have my machine back I have been sewing all the time. I started a table runner the other day and almost finished the top tonight. I probably would have it done but I messed up on one seam and then decided to be done with it for the night. It is late. So I am heading to bed. Be on the lookout for pics of a completed table runner soon. It may also be up for grabs as Weston doesn't like things on the table....