Potpourri Anyone?

So Tulip is pretty close to being done. I have to do the front borders and the I-Cord and it's almost done. All my shots tonight looked crappy so sorry no pics. Lenores are also clocking along now that soccer season is in full swing. I'm on the heel flap and will soon be turning.

I'd probably be done with Tulip but I've been dealing with my tree. I managed to get a shot this weekend before the rain of it in full bloom. Kathy, the neighbor across the street, wondered why I was taking pictures of a tree. Try explaining a blog to someone who doesn't own a computer.

So once the rain and wind came through, this is what I had even after an initial sweep on Saturday.

The drive. The flowerbed.

The walkway.

And the yard with Ginger for perspective. For new people, Ginger is an 85lb half Lab, half Rhodesian Ridgeback. I had to sweep today because I couldn't get the van up the drive the petals were so slippery. I ended up with two (yes two!) lawn bags of petals.... just from the drive. I'm not sure I want to tackle anything else. It's almost as bad as the fall when all the leaves fall.

Happy Birthday, Elder Celting!

We join our program already in progress...

Whew! I just finished baking, frosting, sprinkling, and packing 4 dozen (yes 48!) cupcakes to celebrate EC's 10th birthday. There's 2 dozen yellow and 2 dozen chocolate. This is to accommodate both his regular class and his extra help class plus teachers. We should get back about 6 but I'm not holding my breath.

EC turned 10 yesterday and I was so wrapped up in the celebration Saturday that I totally forgot to do the cupcakes for today. So I had to do them tonight. He seemed pretty good about it.

So Saturday, we had the whole clan over to celebrate the double digits. Here's the cake (minus EC's name) and as you can see, we went Tony Hawk this year. The whole day, Elder Celting was trying to niggle out of me what exactly it was that we got him. I kept saying "Socks and underwear." Imagine his surprise when opening a large box to find.... socks. The second box he was trying to keep up a brave face and instead of underwear he got this:

Yep we finally got him the Nintendo DS he's been wanting. This will make my trips to Bloomin' Yarns that much easier as each boy will have a handheld to entertain themselves with while I puruse to my heart's content. I think my mom hit it big as well with these:

Laurie had noted that it seemed as though the whole family had matched their wrapping.

It was pretty wild. All in all, EC received many wonderful gifts especially games and a carrying case for his DS. I think I may have to start playing the game Laurie got him: BrainAge. Helps hone your mental skills. I need that.

So before I get to the knitting, I wanted to comment on my tree. While Laurie and Heather are watching daffodils and the lovely yellow in the yard, I watch my magnolia tree. Every year, it blooms and I hope to get a good picture. I usually end up with it starting to bloom so all the flowers are still buds just starting to poke out and a cold snap hits. This kills the blossoms and turns them all brown and I have crap all over the yard and drive.

As you can see the tree is in full bloom which is wonderful as the tree is huge. I often call it the Charlie Brown tree as it looks like it's going to eat the house. So when I step out my door in the morning it looks like this:

And this is what I see out the front window:

Quite refreshing and a great way to see that spring has sprung.

So on to the knitting. Saturday while the family was over, I was doing a little work on the Toddler Tulip. As it was sitting out, my SIL who had always seemed resistant to the knitterly gifts was admiring it. My MIL asked what it was and I said it was a cardi for my niece (SIL's daughter). At which point the SIL was thrilled. She said she had been admiring the colors and was hoping that it was for her. So maybe she's coming around.

And in all my running about Saturday, I DID manage to pick up my November Muse. So here's where I took the last picture on Sunday.I've since used the last color (Cloud Jungle) and I'm going to do the sleeves before the border. I'm going to see what I have left of November Muse to debate doing the attached Icord in that with the border in Chinatown Apple. We'll see. Hopefully, I'll have it done or almost done by Friday Knit Knite.

It's Here!

Michele called and left word that my November Muse came in today! YAY! That means between morning soccer (which I'm hoping they cancel due to rain) and cleaning the house and afternoon soccer, I MUST go to Bloomin' Yarns to pick it up. I think if I make it, I should have the Tulip finished by next Saturday. Wooohooo!

Return of the Iron Goalie

I finally have some time to sit and write! YAY! This weekend was the start of soccer season. I managed to fit in knitting and soccer to make one long day. Friday night was, of course, Knit Knite. A smaller turn out but we had a nice time, none the less. I even got to work on both my toddler Tulip and my own Tulip. I even made enough progress on both this past weekend to be on hold until I pick up a skein for one or the other. That means I'm working on my Lenores. I have one done and I'm starting the leg of the second.

So Saturday, I had flights which is the skill building portion of soccer. See here Elder Celting using some fancy footwork to get the job done. That was at 8:30 am (groan). We went straight from there to Bethel Bakery to order his birthday cake. He'll be 10 on Sunday. From there I managed to make it out to Bloomin Yarns to meet Carol Martin. I admired her wheel and despite trying not to buy anything before MD, I picked up some sock yarn in a beautiful colorway called Berries and Carmel. I found a version with lots of rich color. I was also tempted by the Indian Corn colorway with some of the worsted but couldn't justify the strain on the budget. I'll have to order in later. I like Laurie's idea with the sweater and I see she picked that color. Carol Martin complemented me on how well behaved and interesting the Celtings were. They spent their entire time there talking to her about her sheep and soccer. (whew!)

After our visit there, we headed off to lunch and to Younger Celtings soccer. At his level there are a TON of teams and kids. You basically have to find your field by the color shirts they wear. Makes me wish we were on this team:

As it is, we're team USA which is this lovely soft yellow which blends with all the other light colors picking up dirt and hard to distinguish. Younger Celting was the only boy on the team in the fall but is now one of two.

Then Sunday came and the legend returned. Elder Celting: Iron Goalie. That's his name for himself. He walks up to the coach and just introduces himself as "Iron Goalie." Since the fall team split and our goalie went to the second team, Elder Celting has another chance to be goalie this season. He seems to be into it and is doing pretty well. The game ended in a tie and most of the parents agreed that it was a nail biter the whole time. EC has no problem diving onto the ball and getting into the thick of things. I'm thinking we need to invest in a mouthguard.

Ravelry Favorites

So I've been reading Laurie's posts about lurking on Ravelry. Apparently she's been having issues looking for recognizable favorites in the random assortment. Being an outsider myself, I thought I would try it out today. Here's what I saw when I hit the see more favorites link on the people page.

How about that? First group of people includes Miss Julia! Following Laurie's logic, that must mean I'm part of the "in-crowd." Isn't that a laugh? I just found it so startling, I had to post.

In my own knitting news, I'm on hold with my Tulip body until I get some November Muse. So I'm working on the sleeves to keep progress as far moving as possible. I'm also working the gusset on the Lenores. Basically they're my travel project which will be the big thing since soccer season has started. First flight is Saturday. This means logistic moves to make Bloomin' Yarns anniversary sale and meeting the woman from Farmhouse while still getting the boys to soccer. Wish me luck!

A More Even Keel

So things at work are still hectic but have balanced out. I had my review on Friday and found out that despite the company's miserable standings, I received a raise and a "promotion". Now I know some of you are wondering why it's "promotion" and not just promotion. It's because I finally got the title that reflects the job I really do (Sr. Lead Application Developer) as opposed to the same title as just about everyone else in our IT group (IT Analyst) including the low man on the totem pole who's lucky if she can accomplish a task without messing up at least one step. So I guess this means an upward trend.

Now on to the knitting. I left off with a mostly finished Rocketry. Well I now have a finished Rocketry and Tulip. I've also worked with the leftovers from my kit to forge into a Tulip for my niece. I'm filling in where I need to. Look at the adorable buttons I found for Rocketry too. I love these buttons and have used them in the past. I love them so much, I'm willing to forgo knitting them in because the shank is the wrong direction and sew them on (GASP!!)

And Saturday was a wonderful day. We had soccer practice down at the Iceoplex. Unbeknownst to me, the Pens were also practicing there. They stopped over to say hi to Elder Celtings team after both practices finished. We even got to see Sid the Kid on his way out of the building. Before you ask, I had forgotten the camera at home. I could've screamed. So from that high, I ran over to Bloomin' Yarns which was right along the way. I had a falling down with yarn for my own Tulip. As you can see, I'm cranking along. I'm going to have to hold up though once I finish with that green (Goodluck Jade). The next color I'm using (November Muse) is on order and I have to wait for it to come in.

Saturday was so nice, we even took Ginger the Were-Beast out for a walk in South Park. For those of you not from the 'Burgh, South Park is famous for one thing... buffalos. They have a few and our walk is a meandering path that is great for the glutes and wears out the dog. See? But the coolest thing is that from along this path, you get a good view of the buffalo enclosure. I finally remembered the camera so I could show you our furry friends. I often wonder what they do with the fibers they collect from these guys. As a matter of fact, the Celtings and I have had discussions about the properties of various fibers and spinning prompted by buffalo sitings. :) It's nice to know that while I often think I'm a crappy parent, I must be doing something right. After all my kids are pretty well rounded from sports to spinning to Legos and video games.

Nice and Not So Nice

Friday started out crappy. I had it out with my boss because I finally told him what everyone was thinking and saying just not to him. He wants to run the project I'm on but can't read any of the documentation to discover what ground he doesn't need to recover and what is still outstanding. When I try to help, I'm told "you don't need to be included in everything." Okay but don't say that I wasn't willing to be a team. I even left for lunch and was denied my favorite shortbread cookies at Panera. So thinking I need to hit the Powerball and tell everyone in my professional life off, I headed to Knit Knite to play with yarn. That always makes me feel better. I worked on Rocketry which was even more cheerful. I had yummy coffee (Honey Cinammon Latte) and a Snickerdoodle.

The best part though was this:
Heather found it for me on her trip to Ligonier. She said she had seen it, thought of me, and couldn't walk away. How's that for unexpected joy? I can't wait until it's warm enough to wear.








Janice also shared her 30% coupon and I had $15 Borders Bucks so I was able to not only get this:
but also this:
I found it while I was looking on the knitting shelves and was intrigued. I'm not normally a cotton knit kind of girl but I loved these classic styles that I could actually picture wearing and/or using. I really liked the throw and the surf hoodie.







I snapped the Rocketry shots while there was some sun still outside. I also wanted to show you my parking issue today. See this spot in the shade of the tree? It's my off street parking area at the bottom of my drive. Notice how the drive levels to the street and you can pull the car into the spot on the left and still be somewhat across the drive if you wanted. We park the Cavalier there since it has all the fancy ground effects on it, preventing us from putting it in the drive.




See this car? It belongs to Mr. Furline across the street. He parks at the absolute end of his drive and then proceeds to use the neighbor's drive to get in and out of his own. He also complains if she doesn't have her side cleared when he expects it. That just drives her nuts. I know what's this got to do with anything? Well this morning as I'm pulling out, I notice that his car is parked in our parking area. You know it's one thing to be neighborly and ask to use the spot because something's going on with his own driveway, it's another to just park there. I mean come on, in the past six and a half years we've lived here, the man has made it perfectly clear that all parking areas are at HIS discression. We've had people over for a party who parked on the street in front of his house because there was no more room anywhere else. He told them they needed to move because they weren't visiting his house and couldn't park there. Taking Laurie's advice, I went to ask what was going on when I returned this evening and the car was still there.



This was the point where the man said he parked there because we make it difficult (meaning he had to do a 5 point rather than a 3 point turn) for him to pull out of his driveway if we park across the front of ours. He paused to show me where we parked the car. It was a spot fully on the street. I know my husband. While he parks at the end of the drive, it's fully ON the drive not in the street. He referred to his relationship with the previous owner of our home as if that made a difference. Trying to be respectful of a neighbor and an older man, I let him know that I would mention it to my husband but that we didn't park on the street. I reminded him that the scenario of us parking across the end of our driveway was the same as him parking at the very end of his. At that point, I told him that if he persisted on parking on my property, I would have him towed. Oh and I let him know he had best move the car before I had to let the dog out. After all she had been couped up all day and needed to pee. :)

Darn right Scottish Girls Rock!