Serious Problems on the Knitting Front

I've never gone this long without knitting. I am having serious life overload. The socks are on hold. The lace is on hold. This sweater, something I cast on for some mindless knitting, has about three inches left on the second sleeve. It's been that way for over two weeks. School has killed my most effective stress relief. Well, at least put it in a coma. The only good thing about it. . . I GRADUATE IN 3.5 WEEKS!!!



Other good news??? Well our stairs (the only entrance into our house) have been torn up for three or four weeks. The Duke decided to hire someone to finish them. Ivan did a great job!


The risers looking up from the bottom.


Yeah! No more entering the house via a ladder to our second story living room. No I am not kidding.


Oh and just because they are beautiful. . . My mom and my adorable new nephew.

Beautiful Women

The women in my family are so beautiful and I am so grateful that my little sister arranged for us to have a wonderful day and to capture how much we mean to one another.

Thanks Justin!

What is sounds like in my head

This is why I am not blogging right now- kudos to you if you actually are able to read it.

Hello all, I am off to Utah on Friday to spend Mother's Day with all my favorite Moms. School, adoption, Little Sir, and sleep are consuming me. I am actually going days at a time without knitting (yes, I am loosing my mind.) I only have 5 weeks left of school, though. I am nearly finished with a sweater for Little Sir (couldn't handle turning heels, so socks are in waiting.) We are hopeful for some adoption progress soon (although that wouldn't free up any more time, would it?- Still that is one additional commitment I'll happily add!) I will try to blog about something interesting while I am there, but no promises. I all ready have "appointments" on several days and I am taking school work with me. Ugh- graduation you can't come soon enough. I am all ready frazzled about not being in Utah long enough to see everyone (hello! My best friend had a baby and I MUST go see her. When? Kerst? Sunday?) Also reminding myself that I will be in Utah again at the end of June and I will be there for longer then and I will be graduated by then (is that really going to happen? It seems so unreal.) Also, I want to finish the Duke's quilt and I NEED to finish the lace for my MIL's dress while I am there (which I am knitting- um, Princess and Queen, you may get a crash course in lace knitting while I am there.) But I am so getting ahead of myself. Before I go I have to buy Little Sir several pair of new pants, his 18 mo ones are all too short now, oh and onsies too, they all fit in the body, but too short in the arms. I am raising a monkey child. Speaking of which, did I tell you all about how he peed all over me today. Yup, he had a bad diaper rash (which appeared out of nowhere- he didn't have it this morning,) was crying because it hurt so bad when I changed his diaper, didn't want me to put a diaper back on, just wanted me to hold him and comfort him, so I did. Next thing I am SOAKED in baby urine. Yep, that is love. OK, and I need to do laundry, I have NO clean clothes and I want to buy a new outfit for the pictures we are getting taken on Tuesday. Hopefully something that make my massive breasts look smaller- I am thinking of having something done about them (read surgery,) they are so annoying and heavy. TMI? Sorry, I didn't think anyone would actually make it this far. Well, there you go, I blogged. This is a tribute to my mother (who not only thinks like this, but also talks and lives like this- can you imagine?) Love you, Mom. Thanks for passing on the never ending voice in my head. At least it sings sometimes. It is also a tribute to my education (may it come to an end soon) think about how much effort it has taken for me to learn how to write in a coherent way when I am thinking like this!



Now, your reward (or reprieve)- I can not believe this was my boy last summer. OOOOH, I so need another one of those sweet smelling, big deer eyed, cooing little, adorable beings. (Taking nothing, of course from Little Sir, who is the most perfect toddler on the plant- did I tell you he unloaded the silverware from the dish washer today for me- he can barley reach the drawer they go it, so I would wait until he went back to the dishwasher - this was a one by one process- and I would put the one he just put in the drawer into its proper slot- he is simply a genius, what can I say?) I just can't wait for another little bundle to come to our home. I guess I will get my temp fix this week with ET, the Princess' new little man. Gah! I can hardly wait to hold him. (I think I just started lactating a little- not really, just water I spilled on my previously mentioned massive breasts- they do get in the way.) Oh and I just wanted to let you know that this manic post was brought to you completely caffeine free. Imagine what happens after I've had a Coke! Now you know why I don't drink it very often!

Awful Awful People

The Duke and I have been victims of our first (and hopefully last) adoption scam. No, we were not taken for any money, just taken on a bit of an emotional ride. I am posting it here so that it search-able and other people will be able to easily and quickly discover that this is a scam.

First Email

Name: Melissa
E-mail Address: melissalood1987@gmail.com
Phone #:
Affiliation: Birthmother
Comments: ----------------------------------
Dear adoptive parents i am considering the the adoption of my lovely baby Cerli. She is 6 months old. Due to the circumstances that has brought me to taking this decision which has not been easy, i just wish that baby Cerli goes to a home that she will grow up with parental love and care. I read through your profile and was strongly moved so i decided to contact you since you would be very good adoptive parents for baby Cerli. I will wait to here from. Here is my email address you can contact me for more information.have a nice day.

Second Email

Good day ***** and ******,
I want to first of all ask how you both spent your weekend ?
Baby Cerli is doing find and she can't wait to be in her new home.
I stay in East Sussex ,in a place called Brighton . It is a nice place
but i do not really like it much. Brandon(Cerli's father) died a few
weeks after his right were terminated . He had a car crash, I really
don't want to talk about it since it makes me feel really bad , It is
sad situation we have,
About my family , I am the first from a family of three and the only
girl , my father is on a wheel chair and lives with my brothers in
Ireland ,My mother died while i was still in High School. They are all
supportive on my idea about considering Adoption for baby Cerli,
I also have some questions to ask both of you as well. I think this
would make us get to know each other very well too. Since i am
considering you as Adoptive Parents for baby Cerli ,i would like to
know the following information about you :
What state do you live in?
What religion are you?
Do have have any other children?
Why do you want to adopt?
How do your family and friends feel about adopting children?
Do you have any pets?
What kind of schools do you intend to send baby Cerli to?(private / public)
How did you and Lincoln meet?
How long have you and Lincoln been married?
How big is your extended family?
What do you do during holidays?
What are your hobbies?
Are you willing to give me the type of contact Such as visits,
pictures, videos, letters, etc after Adopting?
How often ?
I am really sorry about all the questions but it is a hard decision i
am making and i want the best for baby Cerli , that is why i am taking
time to ask all the questions which would make me get to know the kind
of couple and family you are , and also the kind of home baby cerli
would be leaving for.Please also feel free to ask any information or
questions about me or baby Cerli , i would be very happy to answer to
your questions. I have been discussing with mr willian connor a lawyer
helping us through this adoption process . He promise to get in
contact with you and ******* .
Hope to read from you soon.
Melissa Mckayla.

Thank You Thank You Thank You!

Can I say it enough? THANK YOU!

You are all so wonderful! You have dramatically increased the traffic to our adoption blog. Thank you all so much. You are all wonderful people and wonderful friends.

Now let me say thank you with some gifts.

Because so many more non-knitters than knitters added the button, decided not to differentiate when I ran the random number generator, and it selected 2 knitters and 4 non-knitters. So I will add an additional hat or an additional set of magnets.

So, for knitters,
Stacey and Jill (Jill you are a knitter aren't you?)
Stacey send me your first choice, and Jill send me your first and second choices along with your addresses.

yarnnation at gmail dot com

For knitters:
-A Namaste needle binder in retired color camel with cranberry interior.
-100 yds of handspun yarn in the color(s) of your choice
-2 hanks of STR Sock Candy (200 yds each, cotton and elite) in colorway Autumn

Non-knittes
1. Sarah D.
2. Diana W.
3. Lindsay P. (I know you said you didn't need anything, but I want to say thanks, and you can't argue with the random number generator.)
4. Patrice

All of you send me your addresses, Sarah, send me your top choice, and all the rest of you send me your top 2 choices.

yarnnation at gmail dot com

For non-knitters:
-a cotton chenille knit washcloth with a bar of some yummy soap. (The washcloth is cream colored and oversized- very luxurious!)
-a knit hat in the colors of your choice
-a set of 6 magnets in the colors/theme of your choice

Thank you, thank you, thank you all again!

Getting it Together? Maybe one Day.

OK, the button is fixed, the link is fixed, and the code is fixed. (Can you tell I do this stuff in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping?)

Thank you to all of you who have all ready added our button to your blog, I am all ready seeing traffic from your blogs. You are all wonderful!

For those of you who haven't (I don't even have enough people entered in the contest to give all of my prizes away yet- help me out here) You still have until Sunday to enter the contest (of course, you can help us anytime, but if you want prizes. . . Sunday is just 3 days away.)

See my previous post for details!

Help spread the word about our adoption.

UPDATE: I decided that the original button that I made was too busy and hard to read, so here is an updated version. For those of you who have all ready added the previous one, don't feel like you need to change it (although you can if you want.)

My friend, Diana, asked if I had a button advertising our adoption blog that she could add to her blog. I hadn't thought of that, but of course, I am always happy to implement fantastic ideas! Thanks Diana!

We would love it if everyone (yes, even if you aren't in the US, but have US readers visiting your blog) to help us by adding our button to your blog. Here is the code to insert that will also make the button a link to our adoption blog.


<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://mightbebabywright.blogspot.com"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKLx44J5i3SM77i8TtCju4wcbh61okcf6zbbTIqu9mRRFWZNgbiNDpbO7Nq5gnmkjTst3TpLeVaC9Yufmu8S_wk9CT1-ksomISlSMLU9fFxBiPLgV-HFbG6bgZ7yZH4jcW36k2ug/s200/newbabywrightbutton.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325571333120019154" border="0" /></a>



To do this on blogger:
1. Go to your "Layout" tab
2. Click on the "Add a Gadget" link on your sidebar
3. Select the option to add html
4. Copy the code you see above into the space provided

That's it. Easy as pie! (I never really got that saying, Pie can actually be quite difficult to make.)

I also thought that I would offer some encouragement in the way of incentive. (Or in other words, LET'S HAVE A CONTEST!)

If you include the button in a post on your blog I you will be entered once. If you put it on the sidebar of your blog (with the intention of leaving it there) with a short post about what it is, then you will be entered three times.
After you have posted the button, leave me a comment here WITH A LINK BACK TO YOUR BLOG!

For a contest that is this important to me and this close to my heart, one prize and one winner isn't good enough, let's have several. SO ALSO INCLUDE IN YOUR COMMENT IF YOU ARE A KNITTER OR A NON-KNITTER.

For knitters:
-A Namaste needle binder in retired color camel with cranberry interior.
-100 yds of handspun yarn in the color(s) of your choice
-2 hanks of STR Sock Candy (200 yds each, cotton and elite) in colorway Autumn

For non-knitters:
-a cotton chenille knit washcloth with a bar of some yummy soap. (The washcloth is cream colored and oversized- very luxurious!)
-a knit hat in the colors of your choice
-a set of 6 magnets in the colors/theme of your choice

There you go SIX prizes. Please pass the word along, the idea here is to get the word out to as many people as possible!

-Post the button to your blog, either in a post (with some explanation) or on your sidebar (also with a short post explaining it.) A post gets you entered once, on your sidebar gets you entered 3 times.
-Leave a comment ON THIS POST with a link back to your blog and let me know if you are a knitter or a non-knitter, or "either".

Yeah! Thanks again to Diana for the great idea and thank you in advance to all of you who are willing to help us find our baby!

New Addition

This is my beautiful little sister. With her adorable teeny tiny bundle of adorable. (4lbs 13 oz)
He arrived on Monday, and despite being miniature is perfectly healthy. His mom is doing great too!



Here are all her boys.



It is KILLING me that I have to wait for a month to see him!

Who is that handsom stranger?

Sorry Ladies, he taken!

Try to direct your attention to the headband he's wearing. I knit it for a friend, the Duke is just modeling it for us.

Yarn: I wish I could remember. I've lost the ball band. I do know it's 100% wool.
Needle: US 7
Pattern:
CO 100 sts, join, being careful not to twist your stitches
work in stst for 5 in
on RS purl 1 row
work in stst for 5 more inches
BO, catching the matching CO stitches to join the two ends

Tea Time!

I recently fell in love with a new tea, and it reminded me that I have been wanting to post about some of my other favorites. FYI - For those of you not familiar with my religious affiliations (I'm LDS) I only drink herbal (botanical) non-caffeinated teas, so that is all that will find on my list.

There are four tea houses locally that I enjoy visiting (although I have found that toddlers and tea houses don't go very well together, so I am enjoying my tea at home more often now.)

Let's start off with the one that carries my new obsession. . . hold on one moment while I go start a pot of it for myself.

OK, Teahouse Kuan Yin is located in Wallingford


(click on any of the logos to visit their site.)

My favorites:
-current love is Hibiscus Spice. I am not typically a fan of fruity teas (which usually includes hibiscus) but this is not a sweet tea, it is spicy and cider like.
-I also like their WuWei and Herbal Chai

For those of you not in Seattle, they do sell their teas off of their website, will ship to the US and Canada, and will consider international orders on a case-by-case basis. Note that they do have a $20. minimum.



Next up is TeaCup on Queen Anne Hill, which just moved to a new beautiful location and also stocks more of my favorites that any other place I visit. You can also order many of their teas from their website.

-Coconut Cove is another exception to my general dislike of fruit teas. In the summer this makes a wonderful iced tea.
-Evening in Missoula is probably the tea I drink more than any other tea. It is my go-to favorite. It is a complex blend of 18 different botanicals.
-Province Vanilla Rooibos- another new find, and absolutly wonderful. It will become a staple in my tea cupboard, I'm sure.
-Mocha Hazelnut is another favorite (you won't find it by browsing their site, but you can order it by calling them.) This is a chicory based tea that coffee lovers usually like. It is good with cream and sugar.



Miro Tea in Ballard could easily become my favorite place to go sit and have a cup of tea with a friend. They also carry tasty things to eat with your tea! I haven't had that chance to go here as often as I would like (it is really not toddler friendly) so I haven't tried all of their teas that I would like to yet.

-I do love their Bourbon Street Red (a Rooibos with Vanilla)
-I am thinking I would like to try their Sanctuary infusion

The do not sell their teas online.



And last, but not least, I couldn't leave out the only yarn shop/ tea house combo on this side of the Puget Sound. Yep, knitting and tea go hand in hand, and this kid friendly shop is a sanctuary I visit often.

-Apple Butter Chai is my favorite here.
-I also like Night in Istanbul
- Southern Key Lime
- and really the only lemon/mint tea I really like very well, Forest Glen

they also do no sell their teas online, but I'm guessing they would happily take an order over the phone.

There you go, my favorites. Where are your favorite places to buy and enjoy tea?

5 of 20 - a long time comin'

I started these socks while I was pregnant with Little Sir. Yep, over 18 moths ago.

I love the yarn, the pattern is lovely, it was just a very serious case of SSS- actually second half of the second sock syndrome. I was more than halfway to the heel of the second when I lost the love.

Well, now their done, and it doesn't matter how long it took!


Yarn: Whatnot Socks by Union Center Knits in colorway Teresa II.

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.

Pair 5 of 20!

Ahead of schedule by 5 days.

Sixth Socks

So I've started the sixth pair of socks, however, there is just a slight problem.



I love this yarn (Hazel Knits- Baroness) and this pattern (Fruit Loops- Knitty Spring 2008) so much that the sixth pair of socks might get done before the fifth pair.

4 of 20

Yarn: Trekking (from the Spring collection- color 147)


size US 1.5 (2.5mm) needles


Pattern: basic sock pattern, + 2 stitches at cast on, 2X2 cable up each side, flap heel


Operating right on schedule here at the sock factory.


Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go choose my next pattern and yummy yarn.

February Sister Revisited

My mom finally took some much better photos of my Sister in her Feb. Lady sweater.


When I gave it to her she didn't look pregnant at all, now we get to see how adorable it is over her cute pregnant belly!


And, a little detail.

I'll be back on Wed or Thurs. I've got a corporate finance final on Tues and after that I'm free for a week and a half!! I can hardly wait!

Quick Project Sock Update

Pair 4 of 20 are coming along. I've been under a bit (HA!) of stress as of late so I needed something easy to knit. These did the trick with just a 2x2 cable on either side of each sock, however, I am getting bored with them now. Good thing I am starting the home stretch. For some reason the foot always seems to knit faster than the ankle for me.



I've also added a bit to my sock yarn collection. I know the idea was to knit all the sock yarn in my stash, but I'm deciding that it still OK to add to the stash because the point of Project Sock is not to get rid of my stash, but to increase my sock wardrobe. Besides, everyone knows that when beautiful sock yarn in on sale it doesn't count, right!



This is "Dahlia" from the very talented Yarn Pirate.

A little fiber update while I procrastinate

I should be doing homework. I only have one problem left (that one problem will probably take 20-30 min. - but that's beside the point.) It's just one little problem. :)

Anyway, while I'm procrastinating I thought I'd show you a little of my current stress reduction project. Oh, how I love spinning when I need to relax.

Remember this? (Superwash Merino dyed while my mom was here)



It is now THIS! 2 ply sock weight and very very yummy!



OK, now I will go do my homework (or maybe just a short little nap first. . . ;c)

Happy Birthday to My Favorite Sister

Royal Dying Day

Last Thursday was dedicated to mass amounts of fiber and dye, two babies, my mom, Sarah and I. It was F-A-N-T-A-S-T-C (and physically taxing- there was a lot of moving heavy water filled pots and running up and down stairs.)


Here is an overview of what we did.

A little something for the Duke.

Superwash Merino for socks.

BFL is our BFF



The Queen picked up some Socks that Rock mill ends a Madrona and dyed them, they turned out amazing!

This was the very ugly Hand Maiden sock yarn that I won in a blog contest. Much better now.

The Queen's other STR. Mmmmmmm.

Enough Patons Merino (originally natural) for a February Lady. (Ravelry link)

And the Queen wanted something bright and fun to knit a Wonderful Wallaby for Little Sir, so we whipped a little something up.

A sweater I bought at a second hand store and frogged. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet, but I like it.

I also over-dyed the awful pink sock yarn and the panel of sock yarn. I didn't get good photos of them, but you can see them in the top photo.


Here are the boys. Have you ever seen anything so sweet?

3 of 20

Pattern: Nutkin (Ravelry Link)

Yarn: Not real sure what the base yarn is.

Color: super crazy Duchess Dye - It was two panels of sock weight yarn knit on a machine in stst. I dyed them and then unraveled them. It was lots of fun.

Love the pattern, love the colors, love the socks! YEAH

Pairs four and five are also started. I'll keep you posted.