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....