The one where my sister, Helen, guest blogs

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Well, I'm just too proud of myself! These are the knitted nesting boxes from the book that Kathleen is toting around…Mason-Dixon something, something. This is how I spent my vacation up in Chicago. People kept inviting me places and offering me activities but I kept saying…"No thanks, I'm knitting!" Anyway, I got some weird looks but I don't mind. I used my substituting day on Tuesday to sew the sides together (I love those gifted classes where the students do all the work!) and finally got my washing machine cleared of inessentials like clothing and towels so that I could put these through the hot wash.

Maybe I can make one for Ricky to keep his remote controls in while he is convalescing?!
Love, Helen

post post: does she have the bug or what?!

post post post: the last reference is to Ricky, my nephew who was in the motorcycle accident. Thanks for all who prayed, he's recovering from a broken right femur and hip, broken left forearm, shattered left wrist, broken ribs, ruptured spleen, collapsed lung. They still haven't taken off his neck-brace, but today I heard he's graduating from ice chips to popsicles. The MRI should tell us more after today. Fingers crossed!

Canned Yarn!

A big shout out to Shelley who returned from her Canada vacation this year with her yarn locked into a Becel margerine tub. She found that her wound yarn cake held it's shape for an average of 1.2 yarn moves/jostles/take-a-longs/glances-in-the-general direction and not only did the cake lose its shape, but it tangled up quickly as well. I've been fighting/ignoring this dilemma for a while now and thought the only solution was to shove the knotted cake as far down my Crown Royal drawstring bag as it would go and simply hope for the best.

Shelley inspired me to confiscate one of my sister's leftover ICBINButter mini-tubs for my current sock project. It had my niece Erika's name on it and she tried to fight me for it, but I had the scissors AND the yarn needles. And, as Alyson wisely quipped tonight, "In the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors and Knitting Needles, knitting needles ALWAYS win!"

I saw Shelley's yarn hole in the middle of the lid and raised her a cut slit from yarn hole to the edge - great if you need to pull your project out of the container before you reach the end. And then I scoured the fridge for potential candidates to hold bigger cakes:

Any ideas how a single-living gal can use up an entire tub of butter in the next couple of days? (other than the obvious use as tanning lotion - I mean, duh, I totally already thought of that, but would never dream of replacing my Crisco!) And let's refrain from mentioning any Tangos in Paris, shall we?

Did you catch that bit up there about "as Alyson quipped..." like we just hang out and gab all the time. I first met Alyson precisely one week before I moved to Germany in 2001. She found my blog a few years back and started knitting I think a year after that. Since then she has lapped me in experience, skill and all-round knitting style. I've gone from instigator to the inspired and I follow her blog for the latest in yarns, yarn sources and great patterns. And tonight I got to see her for the first time since I left for the Vaterland and we had a great, chatty reunion at the Sip n Knit "Knit Night". Even though the regulars there are super friendly and make for a great evening of knitting and bs-ing, seeing Alyson made it especially awesome. Long live the Yo-Yo!!

Be-ribboned!

Literally, please, be-ribboned! As in "ribbon thyself"! Cause I don't know nuthin' 'bout sewin' no ribbons!

I've had Mason-Dixon's Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono finished for a week or two (nearly three) and am only ribboning it tonight because the Mom went into labor today. Nothing like the image of giving birth to make me consider sewing ribbons onto cotton might NOT be as painful as I thought.

Nonetheless, it took what felt like ages and seriously hampered the progress of my new Dublin Bay. Can't wait to show it off tomorrow at Knit Night. And as much as I am a certified worshipper of the Mason-Dixon book, we are certainly not amused with the carefree finishing up instructions of "sew two ribbons onto the edge". Where are my thousands of pictures guiding the oblivious knitter into the world of eensy thread and eensier needles??? How do I know it's not going to look crappy and show up all over the place??? How do I know it'll stay in place at all??? What if the ribbon splits or slips or what if the thread cuts the cotton??? This thing MUST stay on a baby. A squealy, squirmy, fist-chugging, being-passed-around-like-a-hot-potato baby. Here's hoping :)

The Dad will get it tomorrow at work - I just hope the Mom is happy with it and the blasted ribbons stay sewed on.

Post post: I just found out my nephew Rick (27) has been in a motorcycle accident and has been air-lifted to a hospital. He's considered "stable" with a broken leg, hand, collapsed lung and assorted extras. The doctors say it's a very good sign that he hasn't lost consciousness. My sister is flying down to be with him and even got to speak to him quickly. Please keep them in your prayers.

Of Two Minds

There're so many reasons for duality in today's world. Conflicting feelings between potential presidential candidates... brilliant marriage versus love affiar with one's homeland... can I be a Yuppie while dressing like a Granola Girl...and most importantly: how much can I stray from the Rowan pattern and still end up with an awesome Rowan baby kimono???

I mean, the black and white trim looks great in the pattern book, but my dark and light pink combo knocked it out of the ballpark. Shall I ride the wave of hubrus and decorate the neck with a seed-stich border to match or go solid like the book? With all the hemming and hawing, I could've probably knit the damn thing four times by now, but at least the stalling has meant my sewing up was done in record time.

Now...just to decide on the solid or striped version of the neckline border....

Holy Cow! I'm Alive!!

Believe it or not, I'm still among the land of the living.

I made it through 4 months of a spontaneous teaching gig at the University of Erlangen/Nuremberg (Business English, baby!), finding a new job, 2 months of 5am mornings (doubly fun when coupled with a 2 hour commute) and even inculcated myself into the world of metal components. Take THAT, Martha ;)

When my two months of Florida training came around, I found myself doing as little as humanly possible in my free time. There was a bit of culture shock returning to American cable and I fully admit to getting sucked into Spike's nightly three-episode marathon of CSI: Las Vegas. Go Grissom! I think I spent the first two weeks turning the word "glut" into my personal action verb. Even when I didn't need anything, I'd swing by Barnes and Noble, Target and Wal-Mart, just 'cause they were there. The guys at Taco Bell and Dunkin Donuts nearly know me by name. Every time I'm in a store and someone is helpful and friendly, I practically gush.

The Irishman was away on business this week, too (to the UK). And my sister-n-law Sinead is coming to visit with her family next week, as well as my step-daughter Megan, so hopefully he'll be as distracted as I am until his next business trip (which is in September to the US!)

Some pictures of what I've been up to:
My first weekend included a trip to a scrapbook crop with my sister Helen and niece Erika. Talk about Stranger in a Strange Land (where's the yarn???!)

And this week, I went to my first knit night at Sip'n Knit in Maitland. Yea!!!! I forced myself not to buy anything on the first visit, which was a good tactic since I was tempted to buy one of everything!!

That's all the updates I have for now. I should be getting Internet at the company apartment soon so that I can blog on the week-days, too. Happy days!!