I Will Knit

Winter Hat

2008-09-30T17:12:00.002-04:00

Well, that was a quick knit! Thank you LB Homespun. Hats & scarves are really the only thing I enjoy using this yarn for. I decided to skip the ear flaps and ties this year since Chloe should leave it on if I tell her to. We'll see :-)

I don't know what's next. Maybe some matching mittens... but I tend to have issues knitting mittens. I might pull out some of that Red Heart and play around with it. Or jump right into the baby kimono I've had my eye on. So many options!!

Kipling Sweater

2008-09-29T14:03:00.003-04:00

I fell in love with the Kipling baby sweater a few months ago while googling baby knits. I had a heck of a time with this pattern though. Maybe because I haven't knit many sweaters. Or maybe because I've got this preggo-brain thing going on that makes even simple things much more difficult. Who knows! But I couldn't figure out her instructions on how to pick up stitches for the sleeves so I ended up just making it up as I went along. It's a little wonky because of that but who cares! It's like newborn size so it will only fit for a few weeks at most anyway :-)

It's knit with Bernat Satin in "Mist Heather" and I used up just less than one ball of yarn. (It's not so shiny in person either, that was thanks to the flash photo.) It's soft, machine washable, and was inexpensive. All pluses in my book when it comes to baby knits.

Now onto the next project! Time is ticking away. Only 3 months left until D-day and counting...

Hats and Booties

2008-09-14T19:35:00.002-04:00

These seem to be the order of the day. We're having two babies in the middle of winter after all, so we can't really have enough hats and booties, right?? Plus I love that I can finish them in a matter of days rather than weeks.

I found both the ribbed hat pattern and bootie pattern off Ravelry. There will probably be several more sets made in the next few months!

I've still got the Kipling baby sweater on my needles. I got SO confused by the instructions for the sleeve caps that I threw the whole thing aside. I think I'll pick it back up tonight and fudge my way through it. I hate leaving things unfinished!

After that I'll be making a sweet little purple kimono and probably a hat and mittens for Chloe. Can't forget about the big sister!

Basic Booties

2008-08-05T19:14:00.002-04:00

I made some simple garter stitch booties to pass the time while patiently waiting on our "big" ultrasound date.

Finished just in time because yesterday we found out we're expecting a little GIRL and a little BOY!

Now to dive into all those sweet little baby patterns! :-)

Baby sling contest!

2008-07-27T19:53:00.001-04:00

Check it out:

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

Rainbow Booties

2008-07-06T17:26:00.002-04:00

I've just finished knitting a pair of stay-on baby booties (Knitting for Baby) in the rainbow variegated yarn that's been sitting in my stash for years. I intend to use up the rest of it making various small baby items over the next few months, because..

we're expecting again!And not just one, but TWO little miracles. Due on Christmas day :-)

We're thrilled, Chloe is clueless. One thing is certain, a lot will be changing for our family this year!

Up above the world so high..

2008-04-13T19:35:00.002-04:00

Wash cloth #2 is done! I chose a variegated yarn and star pattern for this one. Chloe calls stars "up highs" thanks to the nursery rhyme!

Practical knitting

2008-04-04T13:18:00.005-04:00

Nothing spectacular, but still fun all the same!

My MIL gave us some crocheted pot scrubbies for Christmas a few years in a row. Well, we didn't get one this year and I decided.. why not make my own? Now, I could have figured out the simple crochet and done it that way. But I also could just knit a little garter stitch and call it good. ;-)

I made this by cutting up a yard of nylon netting into 2" strips. Easy peasy and only $.77!

I've also started on a wash cloth knitting adventure. Chloe's baby wash cloths are just grimy after almost 2 years of use so I decided to knit some instead of buying new ones. And I can put pictures of all her favorite things on them AND coordinate the colors with her bathroom. Here's the first one... a beautiful blue "foo-fly!" as she calls it.

Many more to follow!

iPod cozy!

2008-04-02T13:50:00.005-04:00

Justin bought me an early anniversary gift last week.. a brand new shiny 80 GB iPod classic! :-) I guess I was a good wife this year!

Well.. after being tossed in the diaper bag (ok, ok... gently placed) my shiny new toy was already sporting some scuffs and scratches. *sigh* Instead of forking over $20 for a case I just decided to knit my own.

And voila!

Knit on sz. 4's with some random German sock yarn that's been in my stash for a few years (and I think, destined NEVER to become socks). The pattern is my own.

As usual when I make things up as I go along, it's not perfect. But it'll do the job!

Skirtsicle

2008-03-30T16:46:00.005-04:00

I've been wanting to knit Chloe a skirt for a while now so when I came across the Skirtsicle from MagKnits I knew I had to try it. I decided to stick with the colorway used in the pattern because it definitely just screams summer to me! It was my first time knitting with cotton and I found that I really enjoyed it. Good thing, as I ended up with 1 (almost 2) balls left over. Dishcloths maybe?

It all came out a little thicker and stiffer than I'd imagined but I read that cotton softens up with washing so we will see.

Here's my little model.. way too distracted by Elmo to give me a smile.

No idea what's next! I've got my eye on some patterns out of MDK but most of those are blankets and I haven't yet decided whether I want to brave a blanket in the summer or not (yeah-- no delusions that I'd be finished this spring!) :-)

Baby got a new dress.

2007-11-25T08:02:00.000-05:00

Chloe got a box of goodies from her online pals Patrizzia and Miabella awhile back. Included was this cute little doll. Unfortunately for dolly Chloe must not have fancied the fuzzy pink terry sleeper she came in because it was off and shoved under the couch in record time. After re-dressing dolly more than 10 times that evening I finally got the hint and decided to knit her up a new garment.

I made it up as I went along and don't think it came out too bad. Of course dolly doesn't have much of a figure so we'll just blame any imperfections on that.

Chloe has yet to take it off so I'm assuming that means she approves! Or she cant get it off over dolly's ample noggin.

:-P

Lets go with the former, shall we?

More winter gear.

2007-11-01T05:19:00.000-04:00

I knit these mittens for Chloe awhile back and forgot to post them. I used the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns and fudged some gauge to get the right size.

I also frogged an old scarf to knit this hat for Chloe. Her head grows soo fast! I hope it will last the winter. She hates it though.. hence the ties. I knew it wouldn't stay on voluntarily.

No clue what will come next!

Drawstring Pants

2007-09-12T11:22:00.000-04:00

I liked the pair I made Chloe last year so much that I just finished a second pair of the Baby's Drawstring Pants from LMKG. I knit these from the top down this time to avoid the headaches I had trying to work the legs into the diaper area last time. MUCH, much easier the second time around. Knit with Caron Simply soft.. they only took me about a week to finish.

I knit them at a smaller gauge than the label called for, hoping to make a more durable fabric. Since you know.. toddlers fall down. A lot. Chloe wore them outside to play today and they seem like they'll hold up fairly well.

I also knit up another cloche to give to a neighbor for her 7 month old baby. I love the pattern! It's so easy and the slim little hat is just right for cool fall weather.

I think I'll take a few days break from knitting now. Not sure what will jump on the needles next!

Multidirectional Scarf

2007-09-03T04:57:00.000-04:00

Another FO! I'm on a roll. :-)

This time I made something for myself. Can't remember the last time I did that! I dug out a skein of TLC Essentials in Falling Leaves that I purloined from MIL's stash last year. I love, love the colors but had no idea what to do with just 130-ish yards of it. Then I remembered someone mentioning that multidirectional knitting is fab to show off color changes in variegated yarn.. so I thought, why not?

I used the ubiquitous Multidirectional diagonal scarf pattern. Here's the end result:

The colors are a bit more muted in person. I like it and it was a nice easy knit. It ended up just the right length too. Go me.

Next up, a pair of baby bell bottoms for Chloe to sport this fall. Stay tuned!

"A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything."

2007-08-25T10:47:00.000-04:00

"He robbed from the rich
And he gave to the poor
Stood up to the man
And gave him what for
Our love for him now
Ain't hard to explain
The hero of Canton
The man they call Jayne..."

I just finished knitting hubby and Chloe matching Jayne hats. Love them! And they are SO wearing them this winter. :-)

Knit with Lamb's Pride bulky in autumn harvest, sunburst, and rust. Pattern was a sampling of several different free Jayne Cobb patterns found online.

For Carly

2007-07-07T03:35:00.000-04:00

I'm a member of an online forum for moms. There's a great group of women there who also have babies born around the same time as Chloe who have become like family to me. Recently one of the little girls was diagnosed with cancer. I've been knitting up a storm so I could send her something. I only hope it brings a little smile to their faces and reminds them that they will always have friends behind them, no matter what.

Chloe trying on the hats to be sure they're in the ballpark of fitting..

The pink one is Miss Dashwood from Knitty, made with Caron Simply Soft. I love how this hat turned out so much, I'll be making one for Chloe next! And the purple hat is just a simple 2x2 rib pattern. The bear above is the Bubby pattern, also from Knitty, made from some recycled chenille yarn.

To Carly, with love. We're all behind you hun. You'll get through this!!

Another Cloche

2007-06-28T11:52:00.000-04:00

To ease back into knitting I chose something small. Another cloche from Knitting for Baby. I have gobs and gobs of this yarn left over from scarves and the bright colors seem fitting for toddler clothes (and not much else!) :-)

Here's Chloe modeling the finished hat, which, only took me 3 days to complete!

I've realized that toddler knitting has a whole new challenge-- getting the recipient to hold still long enough for a photo is more work than making the silly thing!

Next up, matching mittens. Stay tuned.

Sweater weather?

2007-06-27T03:31:00.000-04:00

It's June.. but with the chilly rain Chloe finally got a chance to try out the sweater I knit her last year.

I've cast on for another baby cloche from Knitting For Baby. In the same rainbow variegated yarn I used for the scarves two Christmases ago. Matching mittens to follow!

Bib

2007-03-07T16:30:00.000-05:00

Cardigan? What cardigan?

Haha, yeah. It's going to be frogged. A friend of mine's mom gave us a handknit hoodie for Chloe for Christmas. Knit in the same yarn and color as the cardigan I was making her. Which I figure lets me off the hook for finishing mine, right? :-)

But the big news today is... dum dum da dum... I made something!

Yep.. a baby bib. Ok... I actually have a bunch of different colored squares I made last summer that were going to be pieced together into a baby blanket. Until I realized I didn't have enough of two colors...

So I'm being resourceful! I saw some of the bibs from Mason Dixon Knitting on another blog and thought they were cute. So I took a square & added some straps and a button. Sometimes my insanely genius creativity amazes me.

Oh... gratuitous baby photo!

Victory!

2006-10-19T08:50:00.000-04:00

I knit for a whole half hour the other day! Woohoo! Thank goodness for afternoon naps, huh? Now if only the dishes and laundry and cleaning would do themselves so I had more time for fun during those precious quiet hours... :-P

It's finally chilly enough here for some knit hats and wouldn't you just know it Chloe hates having things on her head? She cries every time I try and put a hat on her. So far the only thing that's worked is the loose hood on her fleece jacket. Don't know what we're going to do come winter..

Anyway, my little girl is growing like a weed. She's already 10 weeks old, can you believe it?

She'll be leaving for college next month! :-P And another picture for your viewing pleasure... see those cute little toes? Of course you don't! Because they're covered up by the strangely deformed booties mommy knit her. Trust me, the picture doesn't quite capture how oooky they turned out.

I'll be back again soon.. and if I hire a maid I might even finish that cardigan!

5 weeks

2006-09-14T18:26:00.000-04:00

Wow, where has the time gone? Chloe is 5 weeks old and I've yet to touch my knitting. If only I could nurse her with no hands I'd have plenty of time! :-P

Baby Knits

2006-08-31T05:23:00.000-04:00

Chloe is 3 weeks old now and I haven't touched a knitting needle since before she was born! Will I ever have time to knit again? I sure hope so. So does the half-finished cardigan sitting on our coffee table! Good thing I planned ahead and started it in a 9 month size. I had a feeling I'd need some extra time to finish that one.

We still haven't put much of the baby knits to good use yet. Why? Because everything is still too big! Even the teensy hats I made. She is just so tiny. The only thing that she's worn so far are the stay-on baby booties (which really DO stay on!). I put her in this pink hat and yellow soakers just for a few minutes to take pictures. But the hat's too big and kept popping off and the soakers are too small!! Whoops.

She's here!

2006-08-14T05:58:00.000-04:00

Chloe Inara arrived 8/9/06 at 10:02 AM!

6 lbs 14 oz & 20 inches long with a head full of dark hair. Hubby and I are sooo in love! :-)

Junky Knits

2006-07-24T06:25:00.000-04:00

That's right... I said junk! :-P

I seem to be losing my creativity (not to mention many, many brain cells that make even the easiest projects 100 X's more difficult) the more pregnant I get. Which leads me to believe there's just no hope once we have a newborn in the house!

My latest FO's...

A very basic, slightly wonky hat. Yes, I needed something easy!!

And my very first knitted dress. Attempted without a pattern at 9 months pregnant in a yarn I'd never used before. (I know, I'm a genius.) After frogging it 4 times I just couldn't bear to pull it out again even though I hate the ridiculous flamenco-dancer ruffle thing going on at the bottom. Justin laughed so hard when I showed it to him I nearly made him eat the darn thing. But he insists he loves it and can't wait to see our baby girl in it. Fine. But she's never ever wearing out of the house. :-)

And the beginnings of a cardigan I started last night and think I'm gonna frog. The colors are just tooo icky sweet together they're making me sick. I don't want my poor baby looking like a huge Easter egg!! I think I'm going to start over and make it solid purple.

She's due in 9 days and counting. I think she wants to be an August baby and won't come early but I can hope, right? Somehow I figured starting a bigger project like a cardigan might tempt fate and she'd decide to grace us with her presence before I'm through. We'll see if it works!

Yellowy yarn

2006-06-30T05:42:00.000-04:00

Before getting into the FO's I have to thank the anonymous Knitty RAKer who sent me these goodies a few weeks back!

Some acrylic scraps for my toy making stash and watermelon pop rocks! Yum!! It really made my day. :-)

Lately I've been trying my hardest to be good and use up some of the oodles of yarn I have stashed away instead of buying more and more and more. I had a skein of pale yellow Bernat Softee Baby that I bought eons ago that I figured would be perfect to whip up some baby things. Only this pregnant brain of mine is having a hard time judging yarn amounts these days! I started with a sweater.. then had so much leftover I made a pair of booties and a soaker. And I STILL have enough to make at least a couple of hats or another pair of booties or... SOMETHING.

So much for stash busting. I think I need a break from the yellow yarn...

The sweater is the Placket Neck Pullover from Knitting for Baby. Knit on size 6 needles completely in the round which meant (woohoo!) virtually no seaming.

Here's the finished sweater once I'd added the beads (randomly picked from a variety pack I bought at JoAnn's).

And a close up of the beads...

The booties were the Stay On Baby Booties pattern also from Knitting for Baby and the soaker was a free pattern I found here.

I'm not sure what I'll do next. Maybe some more soakers. We aren't using cloth diapers but I love how cute knitted soakers look! Since I don't have to worry about using wool I can probably do quite a bit of stash busting cranking out those. Or maybe I'll do that striped cardigan I've been talking about for ages...

Oh, the joys of an indecisive mind!

Reincarnated

2006-06-07T06:37:00.000-04:00

Some of you might remember this sweater from waaay back in November.

If you do then wow, thanks for sticking around my blog for so long. :-D And you might also remember that this not-so-fashionable sweater became my very first ever yarn recycling project.

Oh I had such great ambitions for where this sweater could go, what it could become, it's ultimate yarny destiny. Then I let it sit in the closet for 7 months. Waiting. Patiently.

Well the wait is finally over for two balls of this recycled brown chenille. It came out of the dark depths of my closet and was lovingly cast on to make a gift for my future daughter.

It took two weeks of putting down the needles every time I got distracted by hubby's video game, reading the DaVinci code, organizing the nursery... but last night it was finally finished.

I would like you to meet my very first Baby Bobbi Bear.

I cannot wait to give him to my baby girl.The stacks of handknit items I have stored in her closet are worth more to me than all of the baby gear in the world. I can only hope she'll grow up to be a knitter like her mom so she can experience the thrill of creating something out of nothing but a ball of yarn, some sticks, and a whole lot of love.

Baby Cloche

2006-05-23T04:27:00.000-04:00

I just finished this garter stitch cloche from Knitting for Baby. Knit with Caron simply soft on size 6 needles.. I don't know if it's just me but this pattern as written seems WAY too big for a baby hat. I know they have ginormous heads but still! I left out two of the section repeats and the finished hat still looks like it's going to have to be packed away for awhile. (The pattern was written for one size up to 24 months).

At least it's pretty cute!

Baby socks

2006-05-17T14:20:00.000-04:00

The sock experience continues!

I wanted to try out some baby socks so I found a generic pattern and whipped these up using Red Heart Soft on size 4 dpn's.

I'm not entirely sure what size foot they'll fit but the great part about knitting for a baby who isn't here yet is that I know it will fit her eventually! :-)

I also got my pink and purple Simply Soft in the mail from JoAnn's today. I have no idea what they will become yet.. maybe some soakers? I've been toying with the idea of making up my own pattern based on the knitted pants I did awhile back. I guess we'll see!

A hat and the Frankenslock.

2006-05-10T11:24:00.000-04:00

I've been a busy little bee!

First to show off is an earflap hat for baby.. it took a couple of frogged starts before I gave in and knit a swatch to check my gauge so I could adjust the pattern accordingly. (I know, I know.. I should have done that in the first place!) It's my own adaptation of the Earflap Hat from the Knitting for Baby book by Falik and Nicholas. Knit with Lion Brand Homespun on size 4 needles.

Here it is modelled by the knit bunny I made over Christmas.. (sorry for the crummy lighting!)

And now on to the slock! I'm still waiting on the Baby Bobbi Bear pattern I ordered from Blue Sky Alpacas to arrive in the mail, so I thought I'd finally sit down and see about this sock knitting business. Instead of jumping right in with sock yarn I decided to put some of the icky green TLC Heathers I've had lying around for months to good use. That way if I messed up big time I wouldn't mind trashing the whole thing.. plus the thick worsted weight would make for a quick knit.

With the help of a pattern I found on this Sock Page I created this.. what I'm now affectionately referring to as my Frankenslock! (Slightly deformed half slipper/half sock).

As you can see it has a few issues. (As in I suck at ribbing on dpns!) The top is a bit loose and slouchy and the heel and gusset are far from perfect. But it's mine! And besides, nobody else in the world has a Frankenslock! :-P

More Cross-stitch..

2006-05-05T06:08:00.000-04:00

Still putting off the decision of what my next knitting project should be, I picked up this bib (also courtesty of the MIL) and stitched a cute little baby bear and ducky. Then added a butterfly. Then added a bunch of heart/flower thingies. Then finally decided I couldn't possibly cram anything else onto it so I better put it away before things got any uglier! :-P

I ordered the Baby Bobbi Bear pattern from Blue Sky Alpacas last weekend but it isn't here yet. What's a girl to do?! Well... go buy more yarn in the meantime, of course! So I stopped at the craft shop and grabbed a skein of Lion's Brand Homespun in a variegated purple color. I'm attempting to bully it into a cute little earflap hat and mittens (knit at a small size with a too-big gauge...). What? It might work! And I need something to keep me occupied until that darn pattern gets here!

Finally..

2006-04-28T16:39:00.000-04:00

Long time no update!

I finally finished the pants I started months ago. I'm so glad they're done! Cute.. but a pain in the butt to make.

One reason they took me so long is because I put down my knitting needles to do a little counted cross-stitch instead! This is a baby sampler my MIL gave me for Christmas that I just finished..

Now all I need is to decide on a name for this baby girl and to wait and find out her birthdate so I can embroider it on the bottom!

Next up... I'm not sure. Maybe some booties. Maybe a knitted dress?

Sun hat

2006-03-29T03:02:00.000-05:00

After finishing any project I usually have to take a day off from knitting to recharge. So after finishing my sweater I decided I wanted something quick and spontaneous. So I sat down and cast on for a baby-sized sun hat! I followed the basic hat pattern from LMKG and then found an adult-sized pattern online that had a brim... did a little fudging, added some ties, and came up with this!

What do you think? I had my snow-globe model it for you all just as the sun was going down. LOL, its a bit rounder than a baby's head but you get the idea!

Anyway it was a cute quick project that gave me a bit of a break. Now I've moved onto the Baby's Denim Drawstring Pants from LMKG. I'll post photos of my progress later!

Sweater Success

2006-03-23T08:15:00.000-05:00

After a couple afternoons of marathon knitting and two days of seaming, I have finally finished my first ever sweater! :)

It's far from perfect but I don't care. I'm happy with it! It was not only also my first time doing intarsia but knit from my very own intarsia chart too. There are some wonky bits where there were small holes I had to patch up while weaving in my ends but I just keep telling myself nobody will notice when there's a cute baby inside it. Right?

The seaming was a major pain in the you-know-what but I supposeit was good practice. If I were to make this sweater again I would definitely do the turtleneck bit in the round. I really hate the way the big bulky seam looks there! I would go back and re-work it now but I don't have dpns or circs in the right size. Ah well! Look at the beautiful arm and shoulder seams here.. not bad for a first timer, eh? (Ok, I'll stop stoking my own ego now...)

And of course the finished product. I have no idea what I'll be knitting next. Maybe some baby booties? I have some light blue Simply Soft from Caron that I could work into another sweater perhaps. Hmm...

Updates

2006-03-17T08:12:00.000-05:00

I've finally started knitting my first baby sweater. My first sweater ever actually! It's the Sweetheart Pullover from Knitting For Baby. I'm doing it in Caron Simply Soft in sage green. The pattern originally includes an intarsia heart (along with instructions how to also do it in seed stitch or leave it out altogether) but since we don't yet know what this baby is I've decided to do a star instead. A heart just seemed too girly.

So! Once I finish the second sleeve I'll be ready for my first voyage into the world of intarsia. I've already photoshopped some knitting graph paper and drawn out the star chart. Hopefully the actual knitting won't prove to be too hard!

In baby news, I recently had my 20 week ultrasound. The little munchkin decided to be shy that day so we weren't able to find out the sex. I go in again in a few weeks, so keep your fingers crossed s/he decides to cooperate next time! But we did get some nice face pictures. Enjoy!

Baby's face in 4d:

Baby's fist by his/her mouth:

Baby's chin, shoulder, and hand:

More toys!

2006-02-07T13:20:00.000-05:00

Ta-da! I finally took a pictures of the finished felted balls.

I was in the mood for something simple and remembered the pattern for Baby's First Ball from the Knitting For Baby book by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas. It was garter stitch. It was knit back and forth on straight needles. It was easy-- just what I wanted!

The colors of wool I had on hand weren't tops for baby toys but whatever! It worked. I finished the knitting in about 2 days while watching TV. The side seams (before felting) even went well!! I ran into some trouble post-felting though. Grr...

The small holes left in the tops through which to stuff the ball GREW with felting. Which makes perfect sense but did not make me happy when it came to finishing these. Especially when the helpful instructions simply say "seam closed." Sheesh. So I did some creative needlework and ended up with a bit of a lumpy mess.

Yet again I stand by the fact that this baby won't care about perfection!! Thank goodness :)

Baby Bunny

2006-01-06T09:16:00.000-05:00

See? I told you I've been knitting! This is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts that I picked up while in Boise with some Christmas money. There are some very cool projects in there that I can't wait to do!

But naturally, once I saw the adorable toys I just had to make one for baby. I might even make all three someday! (Bunny, elephant, and teddy bear). It's a no-fuss version made with Lions Brand Wool-Ease found on sale at JoAnn's. Ah, how I miss craft stores!!

I have no idea what my next project will be. I still want to find a pattern for felted clogs. And try my hand at a sweater. Maybe a baby sweater. I'm waiting on a big box of yarn that my mother in law let me pick out from her stash while we were visiting! She's mailing it because it wouldn't fit in my suitcase. It's all acrylic but that should be perfect for baby things. We'll see I guess!

Home Again

2006-01-04T06:52:00.000-05:00

This is going to be another short update-- I promise to write more once I get some new photos taken and actually have some knitting to talk about!

Today I had my second doctor's appointment and ultrasound. Our new due date is July 31st. Here's the little bean! I flipped the pictures so nobody has to crane their necks upside-down. S/he was so cute, waving his/her arms around the whole time we were looking :)

More to come soon, I promise!

Vacation All I Ever Wanted

2005-12-17T11:46:00.000-05:00

Here we go! In less than 15 hours hubby and I will be on our way home for 2 whole weeks! A week in Vegas and a week in Boise. Filled to the brim with family, friends, presents, and shoppping. Woohoo!

See you all next year! :)

Big News!

2005-12-12T09:49:00.000-05:00

We got some big news a few weeks ago-- hubby and I are expecting our first baby!! :)

Due to some reasons I won't get into now we aren't really sure how far along I am but I should be due in mid- to late- July. We're both very excited. Who wouldn't be? This means I have 7-8 months to knit a lot of cute little clothes!! :)

We had our first ultrasound today and could see the flicker of a heartbeat. We'll have another on January 4th when we get back from Christmas vacation.

I haven't been doing much knitting lately. Just trying to finish up the Christmas scarves for now. Ordering new yarn will have to wait until after the New Year but I expect I'll be in full blown baby knitting mode by then. Yippee!

Another RAK!

2005-12-06T15:48:00.000-05:00

It's taken me awhile to post this but I couldn't let it go without acknowledgement! A huge thank you to z-knitter for the wonderful surprise :)

L to R: one skein of Lamb's Pride Bulky, two skeins of Cascade 220, two skeins of Patons Merino, (in front) some beeeutiful stitch markers, a cute knitty card, some bamboo dpns, and very adorable sock-shaped point protectors. Knitty folks are just the BEST, aren't they? :) :)

This comes on the heels of my first successful felting project and I'm really excited to start something new. Some felted clogs perhaps? Hmm....

It will have to wait until after Christmas though! I need to finish the scarves first. :(

SKA?

2005-11-30T09:29:00.000-05:00

Guess what I started the other day? Yeah, another scarf. Is there a scarf-knitters anonymous (SKA?) support group out there anywhere? I just can't seem to stop!!

I bought two skeins of TLC Amore in plum waay back in June and had no idea what to make with it. It's so soft and pretty I decided to try out the Razor Shell lace pattern I fell in love with from another blog. Here's the beginning:

I haven't decided whether I like it yet or not. I love the pattern. I love the yarn. I just don't know if I love them together. What do you think? The boucle doesn't give very good stitch definition. But it's soo light and airy I already want to snug it around my neck and never take it off! But it's another one of those cool weather scarves-- definitely not built for biting cold and snow. So while I mull it over I put it aside and started this instead:

The cable pattern is from the Harmony Guide and the yarn is called Chile from the LYS-- the same stuff I used for Grandma's hat and scarf. Only... halfway through the second repeat I decided I didn't like how big the cable looked with this bulky yarn. So it got frogged. I've put together a new pattern using two different cables from the Harmony guide and am halfway through the second repeat of that now. (No, I didn't take a photo! Whoops. I promise one next time.) So far, I'm liking attempt #2 much better.

And in all this scarfyness I did get some work done on the rainbow one. See? It's pushing 3 feet! Slow and steady. Afterall, Christmas is a few weeks off yet, right?

And now, in un-scarf related news, I just finished my first swap on the Knitty Coffeeshop. I had a copy of Jill Eaton's Minnow Knits book I wanted to pass on. The lovely Kori is now its proud owner and she sent me such luscious yarn in return, I nearly cried with joy!!

From L to R that's two balls of Classic Elite bamboo yarn, two balls of Sisu sock yarn, and three balls of Rowan linen drape. I'm so in love! The Rowan colors are so yummy they make me wish it were autumn again. And the bamboo yarn... *happy sigh*. If you've never felt bamboo yarn you've GOT to. It was the first time I'd even heard of it and this stuff feels like buttah. I have no idea what any of it will turn into but I can't stop taking it all out, looking at it, and petting it a little. Thanks Kori!! :)

The Neverending Scarves

2005-11-27T10:38:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know I'm supposed to be working on that last Christmas gift. I even like how the scarf is turning out! I just can't keep myself focused lately.

This weekend hubby and I were Christmas shopping in downtown Heidelberg. We were in Galeria Kaufhof looking around when he had to visit the WC. Am I to blame that the clever folks at Kaufhof put their yarn section right next to the restrooms? Absolutely not! I found some super bulky navy blue yarn that matched what I used to make his hat a few weeks ago and decided he needed a scarf. Hubby is not a scarf person-- I'm not sure if he's ever worn one before in his life! But it's chilly here in winter and hats and jackets only cover so much. The yarn was a wool/acrylic blend so it's warm without being itchy. Super bulky meant that I knit up the garter stitch scarf on size 13 needles in one afternoon. Hubby seems pleased with it, so maybe he'll actually wear it! If he won't I'm sure I will. :)

As if I hadn't had enough scarf knitting to last me a lifetime, I really want to start work on my Irish Hiking scarf this week. Only the yarn I intend to use is still in thrift-shop sweater form. Whoops! Looks like I'll be doing some frogging tomorrow. Tonight, it's back to the rainbow scarf. I swear!

Booga Bag

2005-11-23T03:42:00.000-05:00

First off I'd like to apologize for the poor picture quality. Taking pictures at night isn't the best idea but I was so excited when it was finished that I couldn't wait! Plus the days have been gray and dreary here lately anyway. Now... to the booga!

This was my first felting project and I have to say I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. I knit it with Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Mist, Fog, and Blueberry. Much cheaper than Noro Kureyon and I still got the nice stripey effect.

Here's a shot of me hard at work. Dell is hard at work too. Catching up on his beauty sleep. Such a good kitty! Look how he could care less about all that dangly yarn!

This was my first experience with Knitpicks and my first time knitting with wool. I think I'm hooked. I've felt wool in the LYS before but it never appealed to me. I have sensitive skin and thought all wool would be too itchy. Even the merino blends felt rough. But I have to admit... this wool didn't bother me at all! I loved the feel of it and couldn't stop rubbing the bag against my cheek. I'll definitely be a returning Knitpicks customer.

Dell seems to agree :)

With a lot of spare time on my hands, the entire bag only took me about 4 days to complete. I thought the I-cord was going to be a pain but it went really quick. This was my first time knitting stripes too so I got to learn how to carry colors up along the side of my bag and up through the middle of the I-cord. Fun stuff :) I'd read comments from other people who have made Booga Bags in the past and saw that it came out smaller than a lot of people expected. Since I like bigger purses I cast on a few extra stitches and did a few extra rounds. Here's the unfelted bag..

I made hubby come down to the laundry room with me to felt it around 8 o'clock Monday night. I quizzed him for an upcoming test he has and kept an eye on the felting progress. I was checking it every 5 minutes. Almost two wash cycles later I had a felted bag. I couldn't believe how easy this was! It was like magic. I blocked it over some VHS tapes, gave it a buzz with hubby's electric hair clippers to remove some fuzz, did battle with some dpns and scissors and voila! My first felted bag :)

It came out a bit more square than the one pictured on the pattern but I don't care! I suppose I could have stretched it out to make it longer while blocking but I like it just the way it is. Imperfections make it one of a kind :)

Future Projects

2005-11-22T07:53:00.000-05:00

No photos this time... I'm too lazy to plug in the camera and download/crop/upload pictures right now. Next time, I promise!

I never did share the horror story of trying to knit my first pair of gloves. I thought the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns would make it easy! But for me, gloves are turning out to be quite difficult. I couldn't get the sizing right. My wrists are small but my hand is wide. To make a long story short I tried a small size cuff with medium hand... on two different pair of needles... with single and double strands of yarn.. and still couldn't get it right. So I tossed it all in a bag to come back to later.
Someone suggested that I try knitting socks first.. to get used to using dpns without all those tiny fingers to worry about. I might just try that!

After my battle with the gloves I decided to make my Booga Bag. I ordered the yarn from Knitpicks awhile ago and decided now was the time for my first felting project. The pattern is a piece of cake.. garter stitch bottom with stockinette body (knit in the round, so no seams! woohoo!). A lot of mindless knitting + movies + hubby working all day Sunday = Booga bag by Monday afternoon! I felted it last night and am still amazed at how it came out. It's drying over some VHS tapes right now and as soon as it's all done and assembled I'll put up some pics. I plan on taking it out on the town Wednesday when hubby and I go to see the new Harry Potter with some friends. :)

Now I'm forcing myself to work on the second rainbow scarf. Must finish before Christmas! But there are so many things I want to knit!!

- My first pair of socks
- My first pair of gloves
- Irish Hiking Scarf
- String Baskets from Comforts of Home by Erika Knight
- Topsecret sweater from Knitty
- Razor shell scarf
- Felted Clogs

I'd also love to try dying with Kool-aid sometime. We have quite a few flavors available at the commissary too. And... sometime in the way off future I'd like to try spinning :)

RAKy Goodness

2005-11-17T10:09:00.000-05:00

I've been RAKed!!! Hubby came home from work today bearing a package from a nameless pal out in Boston. Thank you so much! I certainly wasn't expecting this! After the crappy day I had yesterday.. losing the battle with my gloves... this just made my day!! :)

I got some brand-new size 2 dpns, yummy blue stripey Lana Grossa sock yarn, AND a pattern, tips, and websites for helping me on the journey of sock knitting! My glorious RAKer also sent a pretty blank notebook, a bar of Scharffen Berger chocolate (mocha flavored, yum!), and two.. yes, TWO heavenly chocolate covered pretzels!!! Here's the loot:

(Yes, that's a bite taken out of the pretzel. I couldn't restrain myself before realizing I should probably take a picture of these wonderful gifts!!)

Mysterious RAKer... I bow down before you. :)

Veterans Day Weekend

2005-11-15T11:41:00.000-05:00

Hubby had 4 days off of work this weekend so we took the opportunity to get out and explore some more of Germany. Saturday we went to Frankfurt and played 'tourists.' After the most AMAZING lunch at a Chinese restaurant called Jasmin we strolled along window shopping. We stopped in a tea shop so that I could buy some new tea. I think I spent 20 minutes smelling every single one! It's hard to choose a flavor when you can't read the labels. Eventually I found one called Winterzauber that I fell in love with. It's a red tea blended with almond, cardamom, and cinnamon flavors. Delicious! And look what else I found! :)

Yes, that's a yarn shop called Lana. Full of-- you guessed it! Lana Grossa yarns. I was drooling all over the front window! But since I'd just bought myself a present at the tea shop I promised hubby I wouldn't even go in. So I took a picture instead. However we DID go into a Woolworth's and Karstadt's looking for some cheap sock yarn and new dpn's so I can try knitting socks whenever I have a chance. Here's my cat Dell posing with the new equipment. Doesn't he look thrilled? Such a good kitty. He could care less about my yarn. The notebook holding all my printed out patterns however, is a completely different matter. He won't stop chewing on it!

On Sunday we drove 3 hours to see Neuschwanstein castle. It was just as beautiful as I expected even if it seemed a bit smaller in person. The tour through the inside was nice but a bit short and rushed. The rooms we got to see were amazing! Unfortunately most of the castle wasn't finished before King Ludwig's death, and construction came to a halt after that. On the drive I finally settled on a pattern for the last Christmas scarf. (YAY me!!) Simple 2x2 ribbing. LOL, I know... I know. :) Here's the start:

Last, I'll leave you with some pictures I took while we were at Neuschwanstein. Enjoy the view!

Neuschwanstein

Neuschwanstein

View from the castle

Hohenschwangau Castle

Perfectionist

2005-11-07T11:25:00.000-05:00

This is what's been staring at me for the past few days:

At first it was patient... sure that eventually I would decide on a pattern and start knitting it up into the vibrant rainbowed scarfalicious glory that it's destined to be. It's one of a pair of matching-but-not-matching scarves I decided to make my sister and her girlfriend for Christmas. I'm no super-knitter but I figured whipping up some scarves would be a piece of cake. Especially since I started in August and the first one was simple garter stitch. Now it's the beginning of November and I still don't have a second scarf even started. I think the yarn is starting to get grumpy.

What's my problem you ask? I'm indecisive and a bit of a perfectionist. Not a good combination. What this means is that I've done about 15 different test swatches to try out simple stitch patterns from both the Harmony Guide and the Vogue Knitting I checked out from the library. Not to mention the handful I found online. I just can't find anything I like!!! This yarn is dk weight acrylic... these are more autumny scarves than mid-winter apparel. But I'm trying to avoid lace/hole-filled patterns that will make them even less warm. I want to keep the second one simple to balance with the garter stitch in the first one. But so far I just can't settle. I don't like the way this stuff knits up in moss stitch and for some reason ribbing comes out wonky. Chevrons aren't quite right.. I don't want to do cables... lattice stitch is all wrong...

So far the only thing I'm half okay with is diagonal garter stitch ribbing. Fits well with the other one... but the ribbing doesn't show well with all the color changes! Grrrr...

What do you think? Should I go ahead and knit it up? Or keep questing for the perfect pattern?

To make things worse, two sweaters I picked up last weekend at the thrift shop are sitting there begging me to recycle them. Neither had tags so I'm not sure on the fiber content. As far as my inexperienced fiber-sense can tell, one is a cream acrylic or cotton worsted and the other is some kind of soft fuzzy mohair/angora/blend-something or other. Once I start frogging them I plan on doing a burn test to see if I can get a better idea.

I'm thinking of using the cream yarn to make myself an Irish Hiking Scarf. Now that I know I can kick cable butt I'm excited to jump on the IHS bandwagon. Who knows what will become of the other one. I just like watching my stash grow :)

Who stole my voice?

2005-11-04T10:47:00.000-05:00

I haven't done a lick of knitting today. I might cast on for that last Christmas scarf tonight if I find the motivation. This cold is just running me down. I've got that icky-sore nose thing going on from wiping it 234,702,695 times today. Then by the time hubby came home from work my voice was nearly gone! Ack!

I spent my afternoon working on some dorky homemade postcards. I'm part of a postcard exchange at the Anne McCaffrey fan forum and decided to make my own cards this month. If I see another pressed leaf or glue-gooey paintbrush or more decoupage again this year I might scream. But they did turn out kind of nice. Here's a batch I mailed out last week.

I guess I can take this opportunity to share my first foray into recycling yarn courtesy of a big yard sale that went on near here a few weeks ago. I have to watch what I spend on yarn and really loved the idea of recycling sweaters. But the thrift store here kind of sucks. I miss Savers and Goodwill!! I did find one sweater that was $1 and bought it more for the experience than for the yarn. It's a brownish acrylic chenille yarn.

After lots and lots of problems with the neck and shoulder seams I realized that the top of the sweater down to the armpits had serged seams. Arrrghh! Once I figured that out and slashed away the top, things went beautifully! The whole living room got covered in brown fuzzies and I ended up with a whole lot of yarn. (This photo was taken when I was half done. A whole gallon-sized bag full already!) I was so proud. And actually, this yarn seems perfect for knitting up a teddy bear (for which I'm still searching for the perfect pattern. Yes, I'm picky about teddy bears.) I saved the bits of black for detailing on the future teddy.

Now that our thrift store has started stocking winter clothes I'm keeping my eyes open for any good finds. Unfortunately their prices are higher than the good-old chain thrift shops but you never know!

I hate the craft store, this hat and colds.

2005-11-03T14:42:00.000-05:00

DONE!!

Knitting and cold medicine don't mix. I found this out the hard way this morning when I realized I was knitting the body of the hat backwards in reverse stockinette. Now, I could have left it that way I suppose but I didn't really like how it looked. So it got frogged and started anew.

Then 3/4 of the way through I realized I was running out of yarn. I had 100 g. of bulky weight yarn for this thing but perhaps underestimated how much yarn cables take! I quickly made up my own decreases since I'd changed the Coronet pattern to suit my gauge... and finished the whole thing with about a yard to spare. Sheesh. But it's done! I had hubby take a photo. (Please excuse the dark circles, I'm still feeling quite under the weather.)

Now I'll need to block it so the cables will lay flat. (If you look closely you'll see that the right side of the scarf has already been blocked. I'm using acrylic yarn and when I started I wanted to make sure blocking it would work to combat the curling. :) )

One more scarf to go and my Christmas presents are d-o-n-e! Then I finally get to knit something for myself for a change.

Now... about the craft store. It sucks. I went looking for my dpns and they only had sizes 7, 8, & 9. What kind of crap is that?! I'll have to order some online for next time. Today I made do with some clever manipulations with my Denise kit. I also planned on buying some polyfill for the teddy bear I plan on knitting sometime in the near future. And they didn't have any! What kind of craft store IS this??

I got a late Birthday check for $25 from the MIL last week. I'm planning on spending it on knitting stuff (what else?) Maybe a bit of yarn.. new needles... or a book. I really want The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns and Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I mentioned them both on my Christmas list but might cheat and get one early. We'll see :)

Hat Horrors

2005-11-02T16:30:00.000-05:00

Have you ever felt like a piece of knitting actually hates you? And when you aren't in the room it chuckles an evil little laugh, rubs it's nubby little stitches together and forms diabolic plans that are sure to leave you tearing your hair out for hours on end?

This hat is evil I tell you. Everything was going fine until it came time to graft the band together. I was proceeding merrily along, quite proud of myself for getting the hang of a provisional cast on so quickly when the devil incarnate reared it's purly little head and grinned. Well, reared it's purly little head and then dove back into the cable band disappearing in the void forever would be more like it! Upon undoing the provisional cast on I realized I was one stitch short. Crap. Okay, no huge biggy. I'll just find where it dropped and pick it back up.

MUCH EASIER SAID THAN DONE! Recall that this scarf & hat set is my first go at cables. This is now my first attempt to fix a dropped stitch with cables. So I poked... and prodded.. and stretched.. and peered... and couldn't figure out what the bejeebies I'd done wrong! So I decided to rip out the whole row and pick up the stitches all fresh and new in the next row.

Nice plan, not so good put into practice. Still one stitch short. What the @#$^@^! I spent nearly two hours trying to figure this out. I finally threaded a piece of waste yarn, went down an inch to the nearest clearly uncabled row and proceeded to lace through a lifeline. Then I ripped. Presto! Picked up the stitches and... @#$#%!!!!!!!!!!!! Still one short. {Insert VERY disgruntled look here.} At this point I threw the whole thing down, watched the end of Ghost, and ate some more Halloween candy instead.

After dinner I gave it another go. After ripping yet another row I gave up and seamed the stupid thing one stitch short, vowing never again to be so perfectionist. If I couldn't see a ladder then who friggin cares if I dropped a stitch or not! Take that you fuzzy-mucking-thingamapoo hat band! After it was done you couldn't tell a difference. And I still have no clue where that stitch went. I'm sure it didn't help that I woke up with a nasty cold this morning and was feeling icky and irritable. But did the knitting demon actually KNOW this?!

Then I got to try something new... picking up stitches. Piece of cake! Thank goodness. Now... the rest of this hat better go more smoothly. I'm going to pick up some 10.5 dpns at the craft store tomorrow for my decreases. I've done the magic loop method in the past but mine always comes out slanted in one direction. Drives me up a wall! I think I prefer dpns. I haven't used them since last January but we'll see!

Oh Happy Day

2005-11-01T13:42:00.000-05:00

My blog got it's very first comment!!!!!! Woooooohoooo!!!! Thank you knit_chick for the kind words and for popping my blogger-comment cherry. :-D It's a very very special day.

My hubby was out of town last night so I got a lot of knitting done. I finally finished grandma's scarf around 1:30 AM aided by a lot of Halloween candy. (It's our first Halloween living on an Army post. How was I supposed to know kids trick-or-treat at the bottom of each apartment stairwell instead of coming door to door?!) Now I've got a bowl full of chocolate that taunts me and mocks me until I have to cram it in my mouth just to shut it up.

I stumbled across the Knitty Coffeeshop yesterday and immediately signed up. A place where I can chat with fellow knitters? Joy! So far I've just been hanging around the Newbie forum but everybody seems really nice. I'm looking forward to picking people's brains for help whenever I need it.

Which leads me to my newest WIP. My own take on knitty's coronet hat. I've changed the cable pattern to match the one on grandma's scarf. Here's what I have done on the band so far. I had to learn a new technique for this too- how to do a provisional cast on. Piece of cake! Well, doing it was. We'll see when it comes time to take it back out. I'll have to learn a second new skill for this hat too. How to pick up stitches for the body of the hat. Wooooooo! Exciting :)

I had two extra balls of yarn left which will be more than enough to do the hat. I might even have tried some matching mittens if I didn't have that other rainbow scarf still waiting to be cast on. I started the hat band this afternoon and hubby came home around 5 this evening to find me surrounded by candy wrappers, happily knitting away and watching The Pagemaster. :-D And just in case you're laughing yourself silly over my movie choice, I check out 5 movies every week from the library so that I always have something on hand to pop in while I'm knitting. Our library has a pretty large movie collection even if they aren't the latest and greatest blockbusters. And since I often OFTEN find AFN lacking in quality programming I figure the library is the way to go. Best part: it's free. This week I was into kids movies. I got The Pagemaster, The Land Before Time I and II, Titan AE, and the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Okay, off I go... back to the hat! And maybe to another piece of chocolate. I hear it calling my name...

What Do You Need?

2005-10-30T05:25:00.000-05:00

I'm finding this all over the place! Seems like bloggers everywhere are getting in touch with their needs. Just google your name plus needs and find out something new about yourself. :) Here are my top results:

Lindsey Needs...

Lindsey needs nurturing, patient, and committed adoptive parents.
Lindsey needs to get a life. (Do not!!!)
Lindsey needs to take breaks to use the water fountain or bathroom.
Lindsey needs to slow down, turn the music down, and be respectful of other people's safety.
Lindsey needs to raise money to help with her expenses. (Ahh... anyone else thinking "stash expansion!!!!" :) )
Lindsey needs a little break from her social life. (What social life????)
Lindsey needs a room to match her sweet and colorful personality.
Lindsey needs to grow the h*ll up. (Hey!!!)
Lindsey needs less faith and fervor and more critical analysis.
Lindsey needs to shut up! (Well fine then.)

Christmas gifts

2005-10-27T16:56:00.000-04:00

I decided to make scarves to give out as Christmas gifts this year. Nothing too difficult. Rainbow scarves for my sister and her girlfriend Katie and something soft and green for my grandma.

I debated long and hard on how to go about the rainbow ones. Either buy solid yarns in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet for stripes or find some kind of variegated yarn in those colors. I couldn't find any single type of yarn that had all 6 true crayola colors at the LYS but I DID stumble across some pretty good variegated stuff at Woolworths. Bonus: it was soft and cheap! The only downside is this stuff is about dk weight. But I had 4 months to go, so I brought some home.

The first result is a simple garter stitch scarf. Easy as cake, yes. But it did show off the colors quite well. I tried out swatches of a few different patterns and nothing was working as well as good old garter stitch. Plus I doubt my sister or Katie would know the difference between it and something more complicated.

For my grandma all I knew was it had to be green. Green green green! It's her favorite color. And soft! Because she has sensitive skin. And warm of course! Cincinnati winters can be COLD. I wanted something a little nicer than just plain garter stitch since, afterall, my grandma used to knit too when she was younger! She'll know quality ;-)

I walked into the LYS one day and lo and behold! A sale! Sales make me happy. :-D Especially when I find some really soft and thick acrylic. I snagged 6 x 50 g. balls of the store's Chile brand. It's a very losely plied bulky weight yarn that I think I'm in love with for 1.75 Euro each! When I got home I started looking around for patterns. A quick Google search didn't find me any cool cable patterns for bulky weight yarn. I did find one pattern I went nuts for though. The Irish Hiking Scarf! I worked a swatch and quite dejectedly decided the bulky yarn just wasn't going to work. It would make the whole thing much too big and the cables looked strained.

So I picked up the copy of the Harmony Guide to Knit Stitches that I've had out on constant loan from the library for the past few months and thumbed through it to find another cable pattern I liked. Voila! The claw cable! A bit more challenging than a straightforward cable. But it looked much more difficult than it was. VERY important for my first cable project. So I threw some st. stitch and garter stitch around the edges and presto! My own custom scarf that *crossingfingers* I hope grandma will love!

I'm over halfway done with it now. Then I have to figure out another pattern for the next rainbow scarf! These need to be mailed out at the beginning of December. And it might just take me that long the way I've been knitting lately. :-P

Until next time.... xoxo

I Give In

2005-10-26T10:06:00.000-04:00

Time to face it. Knitting blogs are EVERYWHERE. I stayed away from them for a long time.. why, I have no idea. Then slowly they start to pull you in. At first it's just a quick google search for a photo that leads you to a blog. Then you find a link to another that has a cool pattern. Then maybe you run across one written by someone near where you live. Then *gulp* you bookmark it. That's the beginning of the end you know. Bookmarks. Now you can go back and visit that blog whenever you're bored surfing the net looking for something to do. Then you bookmark another and another and...

somewhere down the line you find yourself starting your own blog and wonder, what happened?!

But really! Nobody else I know wants to listen to me go on and on and ON about yarn and knitting and patterns. Then again, I don't know if anyone here in internet-land will want to either. But that isn't the point. I can type to my heart's content and it just doesn't matter! So NYAH! :)