It's Fall!!

Yes, I will try and keep up to date on this blog...Life is good. I love being a black belt - although I really and truly miss my fellow brown belts. Chris, Christophe, Quentin (!!Oh, how I miss Quentin!) and Monday nights with my fave teacher Justin. Sigh. But now I get to work out with the people that used to teach me!!! It's crazy! At once exciting and humbling. I am trying my best to work on decluttering our home. I've already sold off some homeschooling books and next are the comics. Any extra cash I can make right now is helps so much.
Our new puppy Miley is so precious! I actually finished a project and began another, making great progress until I was sidetracked by some baby booties.



I bought the yarn just because it was a) the most beautiful shade of orange I'd ever seen and b) I really wanted to make the Ishbel shawl pattern and knew it only required a single skein of sock yarn. SOLD. I was so in love with both the pattern and the shawl that I finished the thing within a week! I love it! I am currently trying to figue out a pattern for some house shoe/booties that will fit me based on a pattern for baby booties. !! I'm almost there. I need to decrease, cast off, seam and see how it fits. From there, I think I'll have a workable pattern.

Black

Wow! I'm a Black Belt!! I can't believe it. It seems too good to be true! In two more days, I will attend my first Black Belt class. Granted I will probably get my ass handed to me (there's that darned "initiation" thing) but I truly feel like a new student again. That feeling is worth all the past effort, pain, blood, sweat and tears.
The test went well. I was a nervous wreck ALL WEEK. When we finally took the floor, I felt surprisingly numb. Grandmaster The' was there speaking and I was so enchanted by that I forgot to pay attention to what he was saying 99% of the time. The result of that was that I got a few forms confused and was doing something different than the rest of the testing students. WHOOPS! I rocked the rest of the forms and did even better on my second test which was to second Brown Sash in Tai Chi. The greatest bonus was the fact that so many of my fellow test-ees are good friends. It is a wonderful feeling to be with such a large group of people you care about and all be doing something important and fun together. Two words to describe the night: Gratitude and Relief!

New news and vampires

Wow. I have no excuses for not blogging for over a year besides the glaring fact that I'm incredibly lazy. Too many things have happened in the past year to recap right now (again with the lazy) so I'll start with whats new now. The kids are back in school and I'm busy practicing for my black belt test. The Grandmaster is coming to town and I'll test for my first black belt next Friday evening. I'm incredibly nervous. Thank the Lord that I'm testing alongside some of the most awesome people ever. Last nights workout didn't seem hard at the time, but I'm feeling it already this morning. My body did not want to move out of the bed this morning. It was a supreme effort of mind over body to get up. Then I was harassed by the puppy who thinks it's awesome fun to put her paws on my feet and lick at me randomly while I stumble around and try and get dressed. Needless to say I was ready to bury her in the backyard by the time I got the kids on the bus. When I came in my husband showed me this ad that was in our paper.



If you look closely at the last line....


I find this endlessly delightful!

back to school x 3

Back to school. Me. I'm a student again. Who okay'd this?! How did this happen? I barely remember filling out the application...
These are a few of the thoughts that raced through my head as I sat through a freshman math class (ya, I'm mathematically challenged, so what?!) with a bunch of 18year olds. (SOB)
I kid! Really, it is awesome being back at school. Thinking back on when I was younger and in school...how much I took it all for granted! Ack! Just being in a class where I have something to learn and comprehend is fullfilling. But, besides all this lovey dovey back to school stuff, there is the "oh my goodness, the sheets haven't been washed yet? What happened in the kitchen?" and "how long can the dog be inside without peeing in the dining room?" On top of me trying to balance mom/housewife/student/volunteer I've fallen behind on my Ravelympics project! Yes, thats right...something I'm supposed to finish in what...a few days' time now?
Someone...send help...and a math tutor. (who knew you couldn't take a square root of a negative number? he he! SOB!!!)

Ravelympics countdown....

Four more days until school starts and none of us are excited about it. sigh...
I'm going to miss my babies a lot the first few weeks. After that, the sense of freedom takes over and I get into a groove. Also, school will be starting for me the week after next. Yes, I'm an official Georgia Bulldog! I'll only be going 2 days a week for a math course, but it's a start.
Knitting has been going good. I knit Gina a baby hat that could fit a 2 - 4 year old.



I can't say I'm totally happy with it, but it's cute and serves it's purpose. It's going to El Paso for pete's sake, so I'm sure it won't get worn very much.
Ravelry is sooooo addicting. Pattern browsing and forum reading take up most of my computer time. Tatami is back up for sale - downloadable!!!! Yipee!!! I'm already trying to think of yarns to use.
I've only dyed two skeins of yarn in the past couple of weeks because I read that even while cooking, the fumes from acid dyes aren't healthy and I don't want the kids around. I'll wait for school to start. I've got some great ideas for colorways floating around in my head.

In other news:
The Ravelympics are coming! I'm really excited for this (easy to please I guess). I've got my lovely green wool



my modified pattern notes and I'm ready to go. I think I may wait until the opening ceremonies broadcast in the evening to cast on. Technically, I can begin at 8 am (8pm Beijing time and beginning of the ceremonies). I'm going to knit a ribwarmer jacket to fit a child ages 8 to 14. Since I don't know the pattern well, my gauge is not the same as the pattern and I'm modifying it, I don't know what size to excpect, but I'm betting that it will fit into this age range somewhere.

New yarns!

Well, new colors, old yarns.

This one was my first and I love it even though I'm not a pink person.




I named this colorway September because I love brown, my birthay is in September and the birthstone for Sept is Saphire. The base yarn is Paton's Kroy Socks and I can't wait to knit this into some socks.

The Halloween yarns came out great!! Too much fun!





Vampires, zombified and jack o' the lantern. Halloween socks!!
Dyeing is too much fun. I'm going to try self-striping next.

Yarn and weather

Okay, the yarn did not come out exactly as planned. I guess I didn't really expect it to, but I was hoping...


The green is my favorite.
In the meantime, I've ordered more supplies, and I'm just sitting on my hands waiting for them to arrive. Okay, not too much sitting. I've made some stitch markers.

And swapped one of my Aracaunia skeins for a brighter shade at The Yarn Garden. Incidentally, the sale was still going on there on Sat. when I went. Score!

All of it is ready to be dyed.

I cast on for the baby sweater I want to make for Gina's little boy. She is due at the end of this month, so I hope I can get my crap together and get it done along with a little viking hat (her dad is CRAZY about the Minnesota Vikings) before the kid is too big.

In other news....lightning almost struck my mom's house! From what Mom and Dad say, it was like something huge rammed the side of their home. My mom was so shook up from the sound and vibration, her heart was racing for half an hour afterwards. There are bits of tree all over their roof and yard - even some clear across the street!