Mandy from Yarnegeddon had such a fantastic photo on her site that I remembered I’d been greatly neglecting mine! I think I might have 4 in there now- but of course it’s not linked to flickr- so I will have to figure that one out. Mine will post to facebook or twitter but there’s noooo flickr.

Anyways- I thought that at the end of my run today I would take one, err a few.

Let me introduce this story- earlier this evening I decided to go out for the run- and it started pouring. Like flash flood pouring. I got soaking wet. But I wasn’t outside. No, I was sitting in my car trying to look up the weather when all of a sudden a HUGE river of rain water came pouring in through my sun roof. Yeah, it was closed. It sprung a leak.

So we went back home to wait it out. Then returned.

Jon picked me flower

Here is what a small section of the bike path looks like followed by views on either side of the river.

but the fun of having my car’s sunroof drench me didn’t end there because here is what I stepped in while taking these pictures………

HAR. I just lost the entire post so I have to re-write it all over, what a drag!

I semi-recently buckled and forked out too much money (especially since it’s a 3GS and the OS4 just came out, little grumble inserted here) for the iPhone. I suppose my old phone died and I would have been without a phone had I waited for the os4 but still… I really want the new one, sob. The good news is that I upgraded to the 4, but minus the super awesome retina screen and some other neat additions.

I don’t know how I lived without it. I use it. All. The. Time. And hardly ever to talk or text. I can get lost in the app store for hours. When they say “there’s an app for that” or “There’s an app for everything” they really aren’t kidding. There needs to be better search parameters imo- as there are too many apps out there.

In the post I lost I had listed my favorite apps with detailed reviews. LE SIGH. Here goes again although maybe a bit condensed.(Knitting apps are at the end of the post)

Camera Apps-

The iPhone camera baffles me. How do you make a fairly amazing phone and then just kind of slap in a crappy camera that takes mediocre to bad pictures?? And yes, of COURSE os4 has a fricking FLASH whereas 3gs does NOT.

Anyways, I have bought and downloaded a variable cornucopia of camera apps. Most of them aren’t really worth mentioning. However there are three that I deploy and use often and would absolutely recommend .

1. CAMERA+ is the best camera app period- even if the picture isn’t great at first snap- the editing is top notch and will fix it, I mean really fix it! Plus, the pictures go straight to the light box so you don’t clog up your camera roll- but are very easily transferred to the camera roll when you want them there. Go here to find out more. I give this one 5 stars.

2. Hipstamatic is a variable cornucopia of limitless combination’s of fun vintage styled photos. I have taken some breath taking ones with this. You can shake the camera to get random combos or manually choose flashes, films and lenses. My childhood pics look really similar to some of the effects in here. There’s something so beautiful about the imperfections and strange colors. Hipstamatic page HERE

3. Camera Bag gets an honorable mention as the magazine lens is pretty neat. This comes with 13 different “lenses”. You can take a photo within the app or transfer an existing one from the camera roll- swipe across the screen to preview pic with different lenses- you can make copies on an original in the different lenses too-

4. For fun- IRODORI- think of the possibilities, esp if you are a color worker! This is great for making palettes- you could use this to paint your house, dye yarn, beautify your blog, anything web design related.. too many possibilities to list.

FOOD APPS-

I have and need only one… EPICURIOUS yeah, enough said.  Search thousands of recipes- 90% of then guaranteed to be delicious. I continuously make the Chocolate Hazlenut Torte and Belgian Leek Tart. You can email recipes to friends (or yourself to print out), save favorites, make a shopping list and if you turn the phone sideways it walks you thru the recipe step by step.

Speaking of the Torte-

EXERCISE/WEIGHT APPS-

1. C25k (or from your couch to 3 miles nonstop in 9 weeks). I use this almost every day. I can’t believe I am running! I love it and hate it. The app itself is fantastic. There are a few out there but this is the one I recommend- probably because it’s super easy to use and aesthetically the best looking one. Here is the website- I can use my own music, I can take calls (although Baby thought I was having sex when I answered). It alerts me when to walk and when to run, let’s me know when I am halfway through (so I can turn around on the bike path) and also notifies when it’s the last run (so I can push myself really hard by sprinting before I collapse and die).

If anyone wants to do this with me (even if you live somewhere else and we’re not personal friends) by all means speak up! It’s fun to have buddy systems! My friend Darcy in Portland is doing it with me.

My first set up was very laughable. I used a Bad Kitty kid’s purse (sent from my lovely Libby Baker in a care package some time ago) held up by an apple green sweat band- the cords were flopping all over the place, the ear buds kept falling out, I was so out of shape and breath and on top of that annoyed that I had to run with my hands over my ears while adjusting the wires.. so let me save anyone if I can by notifying you of the following items you MUST procure to avoid a benny hill exercise experience.

1) Invest in a great bra- not a good one- a great one (unless your boobs didn’t increase a cup size per child like mine did)

2) Get an arm band to hold that sucker in but make sure it’s the right one for your phone specifically or else it might not fit.

3) For the love of all things holy you’ll probably need THESE too.  They’re not say super sexy or anything but this is the one case where I would actually adhere to the FUNCTION not FASHION rule (where usually I lay on the opposite side of fashion not function) but I figure I’m out there all sweaty, red and wearing booty shorts anyways so who cares.

4) I almost forgot SHOES. I went to Marshalls and got 30 dollar awesome adidas’ something or the other, I can barely tell I am even wearing shoes.

My point is- Running is hard and sweaty as it is- you need to make yourself as comfy and stress free as possible to endure it.

2. Second app worth mentioning is LOSE IT! In which you realize that if you ran 30 minutes you can eat 500 extra calories and still lose weight.  It’s also free! And you can do the buddy online thing apparently too.

Okay I admit I have a bunch of other apps too but it’s time to get to the KNITTING APPS!

1. The only knitting app you REALLY need is VOGUE. (at least as to date) This app is jam packed. Yeah, we all have those knitting needle ‘cards’ that you cross off the needles you own. Have you ever actually had it in your possession when you actually needed it? Yes? Oh, well I haven’t. Personally I can remember in my head all the books I have but it was fun seeing them entered into the library anyways. And my huge needle collection looks particularly impressive once I spent the entire day cataloging them into the phone. I found out I had 12 pairs all in the same size and then shockingly zero to none in others! Or worse- 3 size 4 dpn’s.. as in 3 out of 4 or 5. oops.

The projects page is great if you are doing something small like socks. You can add in as many counters as you need! (so yes! You can have 2 counters – one for left and one for right plus an extra two for ribbings!) The text section is also great for making changes or taking notes and will save me much money on notebooks and pencils.Otherwise- spend ALL day typing in a pattern when you could just be knitting it. Not sure if I would put one of my own patterns in for reason just stated.

Excellent stitchionary- sure it’s no treasury but it’s on your PHONE- come on! The how to on knitting and crochet is great for beginners and the beyond basics section is perfect for those quick look ups. You don’t have to actually get up and go to your books- finishing  techniques, buttonholes, how to make bobbles, slanted inc/dec’s… that and more are on your phone now! WHOO HOO!

Keep track of your yarn- there’s even a ‘dupicate’ yarn option so you don’t have to re-enter in ALL the info, just switch out the color, dye lot and skeins in possession. Theres also yarn subs which sure could use a lil work but gets the basic point across.

Huge list of terms and abbreviations- huge as in COMPLETE. Alphabetized of course. I’m pretty sure this is the most comprehensive list out there.

Supposedly there is an AUDIBLE COUNTER but I’ll be damned if I can find it/figure out how to use it.

4.99 is well worth the onslaught of delights included in this wonderful, well thought out user friendly app (except for the audible row counter that is)

2. KNIT EVENLY $1.99 Sure I can do the math, but this is so much faster and easier!! “Figuring out how to increase or decrease evenly can be a major hassle for any knitter. Often it takes several frustrating tries just to make it work.Knit Evenly calculator is the perfect app for this task and reduces it to a simple push of a button. Whether you are increasing or decreasing, knitting flat or in the round, Knit Evenly delivers consistently great results. Get the Knit Evenly app today and make it a worthwhile addition to your everyday knitting toolkit!”

3. Touch and Go at 4.99 I am not 100% if it’s QUITE worth it, it’s not super user friendly- I admit I bought it because I hate the math, but honestly- the math involved here is the easier kind. Anyways, it’s worth a mention nonetheless. I haven’t utilized it yet but am looking forward to it so long as it’s not too huge of a pain in the ass. Learn more here I’m pretty sure they realize it’s not see spot run see jane jump as they seem to have provided a demo as well as more in-depth help, which is NOT on the app. So that’s good for you to know NOW. I’m thinking this might inspire me to do a shawl and use it for this purpose. I will report back sometime in the far off future when I actually acquire either the burning desire or patience/time needed in order to do a beautiful complex lace shawl.

4. Worth a mention but not your money or space needed for this app at THIS TIME- STITCHES FOR KNITTING. Now this app COULD be excellent. It has potential but is failing in the fact that there are only 30 stitch patterns, and ummm there’s nothing new or unique or interesting in here. Stockinette, reverse stockinette, seed stitch, moss stitch, WAIT! SEED AND MOSS ST?? What a RIP! So make that 29 stitch patterns. AHEM. The pictures are clear and good quality but that’s about it. There has been nary an update despite the proclamation that we should all stay tuned for MORE. Bur it’s chirping crickets and I think they might be at the bank laughing. For now ladies, hold on to your treasury of knitting patterns and buy the vogue app (which has 24 K&P/Lace st patterns, 22 beautiful cable st patterns, AND 24 color st patterns grand totaling a whopping 70, that’s SEVENTY!!!!) Website for this paltry app is here and apparently the crochet version is JUST as limited and lame according to the crocheter’s reviews… This app is 2.99 and a whopping 11 MB’s in which I have no idea why or where those mb’s are coming from due to the lack of content.

In conclusion, I am over the moon with the Vogue Knitting App and wish all apps were up to this snuff! The problem with the apps is that they basically all share some of the same content, but Vogue went above and beyond by basically combining them all into one and out-doing them all therein.

If you have favorite apps (knitting or otherwise) please feel free to share here and review!! Plus it’ll save me some time searching them out!

EDIT! Yeah, I’m a little app happy this week- anyways I figured that there MUST be some other calculators out there! I found a few for the PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM! And I nestled them into my Knitting folder (neat new os4 feature to organize those suckers)

Anyhoo- read on for more apps you might love!

Algebra Solver- for just 99 cents you get alllll these features HERE- wow, that’s a lot of math.

There’s also the Math Solver for iPhone app- which is another full gamut of scientific calculations but has a pythagorean solver as well as pythagorean triples solver..

Here also are some websites that you can use a calculator for free-

This one is pretty good as it kind of is teaching you the math while you get ready to calculate-

http://www.1728.com/pythgorn.htm

Here’s one to get square roots- http://www.math.com/students/calculators/source/square-root.htm

In case any one is wondering what in the hell I am talking about- we are talking armscyes and sleeves. The hypotenuse is the triangle’s longest side.

Speaking of all this math- I’m looking forward to tomorrow when I get to do a ton of grading homework. This week we’re doing grading step by step and exploring plus sizes, which I am sooo stoked on!

Don’t get me spiraling about how dizzying it is to try to wrap your brain around how to make something that is sure to flatter everyone, I start thinking about heights, weights, boobs, tummies, upper arms.. it’s all so varied and akin to snowflakes!!

More tomorrow- I finally uploaded some photos and will be adding some in soon. Plus the knee highs are almost done- I tried to invent a new way of grafting but failed kind of miserably so I ripped and am reduced to continuing to knit up and hopefully managing a stretchy-enough bind off.

I love and hate socks. They always start out so exciting and by the time the ribbing comes, I’m bored. And of course I bought a ton of sock yarn after I started, so I have at least 8 pairs to design and knit now. meh.

I do hope SOMEONE out there has a blog named just that- I do.
Yesterday I dropped off my 2 girls with my ex-mother in law to go to California for 6 weeks. LE SIGH. This year was better than last as I cried for about 3 days- this time was less…. tearful. The house is so quiet that it’s very hard to adjust to. Jon said to me “I can make you feel better! Do you want me to spill something? I could cry about going to bed or whine. I could make a huge mess with the toys!” At least he got me to laugh.
So today I had to run around like a maniac getting Nia’s papers in order for pre-school, picking up immunization forms, and ugggh I went for a run too. It was SO muggy and hot I thought I was going to die! But, alas.. I am SO determined to drop 20 winter pounds. My old pal Darcy is going to do it with me. Here’s the catch, she lives in Portland Oregon. We’re gonna make it work somehow!
After finishing up the 3rd version of a new sweater (which I can’t post about or tell you about- yeah I know it’s kinda a drag, but so worth it) I fiddled around with how to shape sleeve hems with a folded edge. And then I decided to make some socks. Knee socks! I’m almost done and will post pics later or tomorrow.
Speaking of pictures, I need a new camera! I want a slr digital. If you know of a good one that costs less than a mortgage payment- please give me some ideas/advice! I recently saw a samsung that it also a hd video recorder- this appeals to me as 2 birds one stone.
It has been so insanely hot and humid here, it’s absolutely disgusting out! Last weekend was my very dear friend Jenny Mac’s baby shower! I took some pictures, but am waiting for our talented, gorgeous and lovely friend Damnit Janet’s professional pics, as they are far superior to mine which have half closed eyes and grimacing faces. I NEED A NEW CAMERA people.
I’m trying very hard to get back into blogging here. I think if I keep posting it will come back, eventually! One thing I know I always love to look at on blogs are pictures!! And there we are back at my crappy camera. le sigh again!
More fantastic news on my end- My amazing friend DaSilva Bullet is getting hitched!! I can’t wait! DaSilva is this beautiful, exotic fiery lil’ Brazilian renaissance woman who aside from being my roller derby bff and nemesister (we both retired this year but she was SOOOO hard to block! She got so low it was almost illegal)- she is in a band called So Sol, works at a bird sanctuary with children AND makes this amazing jewelry- plus she’s the sweetest and cutest ever- go check her out!
So in closing hell yeahs DaSilva! I love you!!

Cutest couple evah

Today I spent the better half of the day trying to figure out how to get this up- using Scribd.com which is actually a really neat site. You can upload, covert and embed any doc into any page! Of course if you are on wordpress, what they DON’T tell you is you need to upload the simpler ipaper plug-in if you want to see anything other than some code on your page.

Anyways, you can view it full screen, download it, even print it!

I usually include a list on pattern pdf’s but thought this might be a way for y’all to save on printer ink, especially if you already know what ssk stands for! No duh.

Knitting news- I’m trying to get this sweater exactly where I want it, knowing full well I will have to re-knit it in another yarn at some point. It’s been submitted so I can’t really talk about it until I know if it got in or not. Which kind of sucks. However, my next one I can tell you will be an eggplant lace-weight. I have the basic shape in my head. I might knit this one in plain ole’ stockinette.

I primarily knit in lace, and find it weird that when I have yarn specifically designed for lace, I say Stockinette. Maybe it’s the thought of making a teeny mistake and having to frog all that work that tortures me. Smaller needles = longer knitting time and ewwwwweeeee if I messed up on the armscyes, aye yi yi. Although strangely enough, the next one isn’t going to have traditional sleeves. I’m not sure what one would even call them actually- it’s sort of like a cape and they don’t connect. They’ll be ruffled or shirred though. I’m thinking 30′s-40′s glamor.

Hopefully I will have something to post up soon. Aside from the abbreviations, Lelah is up and you can download the pdf straight from the page, Sarah is up but with a link to Ravelry. I’ll be making a pdf template for future use once I get that down.

I’ll have to find a picture of the country western postcard I have with that phrase on it, it’s fun.

Life is insanely busy- and when I say busy, I don’t mean hectic in the normal sense- I mean the glued to my computer all day way!

I’m getting geared up for Nia’s 4th birthday party (oh, yes- pictures to come!). It’s at this place called POW Science! The theme is “Alchemical” and they will be making slime.

Computer stuff- Good LORD. Y’all have to be  aware that I am utterly techtarded by now. I feel like a dud robotic being. First I sift through the 80 emails from both of my classes. I’m taking TWO from Shannon! Designing 101 (as previously mentioned here) AND now Tech Editing!! First off, Shannon is amazing and I wish I could bottle her energy. I think we are around the same age, only I feel decrepit next to her. Like I’m hanging on to my walker for dear life and she’s marathon running circles around me with excitement and energy! So I am not bitching about reading my 80 emails – I LOVE reading them. Problem is they are all so educational, interesting or funny that I literally read word for word- no scanning here! Also, I should point out that the majority of these are from classmates, I don’t want you to think it’s all Shannon!

So I have assignments going on in 2 places- I also am still working on assignment 3 (yeah, we’re actually on assignment 5 now). Beautifying the BLOG. Uhhhhh, yeah. I blew up my blog like 4 times in the span of 24 hours!  This excellent chick Lindsey (from my TE class) LITERALLY cyber-held my hand via gmail chat and walked me through getting a background image on here. It was sooo easy that I really feel like I need a gigantic dunce cap. But in my defense- why is it everyone tells you what to write- but doesn’t tell you where to put it or HOW to get it on your site? Anyways, we had SUCCESS as you are observing right this moment!

I have a HUGE old post to write about my favorite sisters, The Bell Sisters Ding and Dong! I’m not going to give it away yet, I have a big reveal plannned- but let’s just say those 2 sneaky pete’s made my year! D&D- I love you guys and THANK YOU!!

Speaking of friends, I miss Helen terribly. On hold are the days we used to write incessantly to each other about everything knitting and fiber related. She’s like a ghost limb! While learning a TON, we’re both looking forward to getting back to “waffling”! (Right Helen??!)

AND- more tech stuff- my phone finally went and died. I got an I-PHONE! (And YES. Sigh. My first app was the Vogue Knitting one). This phone is amazing! I got the 3GS- WOW. I could literally stay on it and cruise the apps for hours. If only my blog were as easy. Now if I can figure out how to use the internet when I am NOT at home, we’ll be all set. Jon’s completely jealous. I downloaded him a guitar app. More on all that later- this is supposed to be an update and excuse, er.. explanation as to why you hear crickets when you come here lately.

I know there was more- oh yes. My new piece. I named it Danielian after my friend Amy. Not because it reminded me of her, I was just stumped for a name. Let’s not divulge that to her though, ok? Anyways, so far so okay. Not my fave, but hey, it fits, it’s easy and I just want to get it done so I can start on a NEW one. I already have like 6 different packages of new yarn to utilize.

Okay, Jon’s notifying me that it’s time to shut this thing down and get some sleep. (Yeah, that just means I need to clear off my ‘office’ space so he can actually get in our ahem KING size bed). It’s covered with knitting related stuff.

Good night my lovies!!

Originally, I started to post about 3 things, which turned into 4- so I’m breaking it up into separate posts. I used to write wildly and without abandon about my “personal” life. I don’t know why I stopped- Looking back at my old blog, I crack myself up! I think recently, I was like a mullet with the business up front- party in the back. That’s just not me really! I kind of like to do both at the same time so whatever, I do what I want!

For those of you who don’t already know- Jon and I are FINALLY going to get married, after like 20 years of good and bad, better and worse, sickness and health- see? We’ve already been there and done all that, repeatedly in many cases! We’re just going to make it official now, sorry but I have to say  again- FINALLY!

Okay- here comes the big saga- The adventures of Me and Jonny. He’s a huge part of my life and most definitely deserves his own post. I’m just going to warn you now, this is the abbreviated version (there’s like 23 years of history here!) so….. READ AT YOUR OWN BOREDOM! (otherwise, feel free to skip this one as it’s kinda mushy). I’m in love and I almost lost him….literally…forever.

Me- age 13 or 14.

Jon- age about 16.

The first time I remember meeting him was at a hardcore show, at the old Living Room in Providence. I was with my friend Mel, he was with Eric Tyler. They came up to us and were trying to pick us up. Jon’s big brother Chris was in this excellent band back then called Verbal Assault and they were playing an all-ages show, I can’t remember who was headlining. I DO remember this skinny kid telling me he could get me in for free (I had already paid to get in) because his BROTHER was the LEAD SINGER for VERBAL ASSAULT, blah blah! Mel and I, I think were more concerned about watching some great music than being bothered by 2 guys obviously cruising. That’s MY first memory of Jon. He doesn’t remember this, but I think that might be “selective”!

Maybe a year later, I was dating his friend, Jon was dating someone else- and he always brings up the story about how he fell head over heels the first time he saw me (THIS instance being the “first” time he saw me).  He remembers exactly what I was wearing, how my hair was, everything I said and felt bad because he wanted to be my boyfriend (awww!) but since I was with his friend… I, of course remember very little about this, but did always think he was cute. Apparently I asked him why he was always wearing black jeans.

Eventually Chris and I broke it off, and I think Jon and I re-connected at a big keg party (so 80’s!) in Narragansett. I told him that I wouldn’t go home with him or anything unless we were “seriously dating”. That seemed to work for him, and we went on to date for some time.

I fell irreversibly in love with him on this one warm summer night, I guess I was probably 15 at the time. We went to the drive in movies, then went swimming in this awesome reservoir in Newport. I can still remember the stars and it started to rain, but the warm, good kind of rain. That night seemed to last forever, I guess in order to last forever in my memory. BEST. DATE. EVER. And then it was all over for me.

Then we broke up, of course. The first time of MANY times to come.

Fate struck again at a show he was playing when he broke his guitar and a huge shard went flying across the room and right into MY shin. He was a freshman at college then, and embarrassed to pick me up from high school because he always thought that the older dudes picking up their girlfriends when he was in high school were losers. (for the record, he DID come to get me a lot, in his ghetto sled of a car which trust me, was waaaaay more embarrassing for ME then him)

So we dated in that dramatical end all be all way you go through only when you’re young (and subsequently) dumb. It was amazing and horrible all at the same time.

For a while, I moved in with him when I was 17- in a freezing house right on the beach. We were SO POOR! And COLD in the middle of winter. And it was mostly great (in that way it only can be when you’re young).  We were both extremely jealous- he couldn’t stand it if I even talked to a guy (but it was OK for him to talk to whomever whenever) and we fought over stupid things all the time. One time, it was snowing and I ran out barefoot down the beach and he followed me the entire way. For all the stupidity, we were also extremely close, and I think that may have actually been the weakest link. I think maybe we were both scared of that and grew suspicious that the other could possibly feel the same way. One of us had to love the other MORE, we couldn’t possibly love each other equally! . Personally, I could never live like that again! At this age now, I could NEVER re-live that and be happy, which I think in a way is kind of sad, but am mainly just glad to have had those experiences.

We all ended up moving to the city. Things changed, we argued more. Jon was dumb back then as far as I am STILL concerned. I would have married him regardless had he asked. We broke up because Jon was uhhhh- well he was a musician and there was no shortage of admirers on his end and you get the drift. Don’t worry though, there were no shortage on my end either! – I left him for Mark Arm (Mudhoney) which definitely was a hit below the belt to him even though it was not a petty or revenge relationship (Mark and I were pretty serious, I even moved to Seattle and in with him, now HE was older! By 11 years!). In a way, I was glad for him to see that someone who was constantly touring still managed to write me 20 page letters every day, call me every night (and talk until 4 am), and basically treat me the way that he just… didn’t! Jon lived down the street, but he was “busy” a lot. Let’s not even go there.

Jon actually came to visit me in Seattle and we got back together again for like 4 seconds. It was another wonderful and sad thing. To just KNOW something is right, but never going to work.  Then I moved back and we were on briefly then off again- this time for many years. We both met and married other people. Still, I always had secretly hoped that I would have married and had kids with Jon. And apparently, he felt the same- we just never thought the other one ever would. I remember it being pretty hard when I heard he was getting married, and to be honest, I just didn’t “get” it. (But, I actually am pretty great pals with his ex and we try to hang out every few months!) I am surprised that she put up with him for as long as she did, I sure wouldn’t have at that time.

No matter how much I tried, he always crept back into my life, my head and worst of all- my heart. His sister and I have always been extremely close, so I suppose that didn’t help…. always hearing about whatever he was doing at the time. Seeing him out was always like having a huge dagger in the heart too. I tried pretty hard to run in different circles. Him in Newport, Me in Providence- worked for most the time.

Then one night, after both of our marriages had taken a digger- I had called him just to say “Hi”. I swear! But- that was it, and we’ve been inseparable since. The next day he called at least 25 times. This time though, everything was different. Better. GROWN UP! …..except…..

When we first got back together though, he was a big drinker. He’s a pretty well known and respected musician here and basically did what many do- drink and play, play and drink. So realizing that it was a more serious issue literally brought me to tears. It was very painful to go through seeing someone you’ve loved for over 20 years shaking in the morning. I’ve never really been exposed to that side of anyone, never mind Jon.

Being a mother- I basically told him if he couldn’t stop, it was over. It’s not like he was any different, he was very functional, however- I just couldn’t deal with it. He cut way down on drinking, he went to detox- he really, really tried. One day his stomach hurt and gradually ended up doubled over. I took him to the emergency room, they gave him tylenol and prilosec and sent him home. Around 4 am, it was to the point he was seeing double. He said he felt like someone had shot him in the gut. I had no idea that he was THAT sick…. but he was diagnosed with  pancreatitis and almost died. The doctor’s told us “zero percent” chance of making it. I don’t really like talking about it too much- it’s still really fresh and tender and makes me incredibly sad. Below is a photo taken by his sister, in the hospital.

So he did pull through and is great now! He hasn’t drank since Nov last year, is handling sobriety excellently, and is the guy I always knew he could be and so desperately needed him to be . I know he kinda sounds bad on paper, but honestly- He’s amazing – you just have to meet him to know. EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE here loves him to death. He’s very nice and charismatic- always listens to everyone and genuinely cares. He’s the first to offer a hand to help even an acquaintance. He’s terribly smart, handsome and funny. If you don’t believe me, CHECK THIS OUT- He made the front page of the paper this weekend and yesterday we both  interviewed for another. So we both made the cover of the same newspaper – here’s mine (I’m on the right in red)

I have always been and will always be head over heels for him. And I’m blessed and lucky that he feels the same for me. I don’t think I could ever manage without him and wonder how I ever did before without him. I also never thought that we would ever be able to repair anything romantically, and yet I trust him with my life now. I think it’s a great and rare example that things and people really can change- for the better. And that if you want something, really want it- it can happen.  Maybe it’s not easy, but definitely worth it. Maybe someday I can sell the rights to Lifetime, who knows, so what, who cares! I’m glad that fate dealt this out in this time frame, we never would have made it before. I still am in awe that we’re back together, period. And minus all the drinking then almost dying stuff, I wish that everyone can have their own “Jonny”- I think it’s sort of rare and magical.

Fun photos of us below! (Someday, I’ll get round to scanning the reeeealy old ones and we can all have a laugh about me and Jon as punk kids in  the 80’s- also Jon’s teeny tiny frog legs in his pastel Vision skating shorts, or my many different colors and styles of shaved hair)

I bought my domain finally, only to realize that I need to move  wordpress.com to the .org version. I didn’t realize that when you have the .com version you can’t really do what you want appearance wise!
This is classic ME. I can not tell you how many times these sort of things happen to me. If it weren’t for bad luck, I would have none at all!
Sure, there are 85 templates I can choose from, but they are so… let’s just say “not me” or “not for me”??
I’m a bit anal about how things look, and I like what I like. Now, being technologically retarded, nothing ever looks the way I want it to, but I try to make it as close as I can.. So I am about to embark in another grey hair inducing lesson in life and blogging.
Once the hosting is ready (should have been last night, but ummmm where’s my email?… that luck thing again) I am moving the blog (and it’s contents, thank god there isn’t much) and placing it in a different set up. Now HOPEFULLY, things have changed since my last wordpress blog in which I had to beg and borrow from friends to help set that up. I hear these days you don’t have to know a ton of code. What would take a normal person maybe a few days to do, inevitably will take me a few months.
And that’s providing I can get everything over to the new one smoothly!
Luckily, the address will stay the same- the look of the blog won’t- thank god!
I’ve had a crappy week with the exception of Easter- I keep looking up at the sky asking “REALLY? No, really??!!”. I’ve had a shitty few years, and am waiting for it all to come to an end finally. The weather is keeping me intact, finally some warmth and sunshine.

Well, the 101 class has certainly lit a much needed fire under my ass! Our 1st assignment was concerning branding and making a pattern style sheet, something I had been sorely lacking and feeling guilty about for some time.
I really didn’t think that I would be able to figure out so much tech-related stuff in such a short amount of time, but I found that MS office is excellent and ended up using a bunch of features I had no idea were even there!
I slaved over this, literally for like a week- I even made my first chart! I stayed up until 5 am trying to get it just right. Sure there are a few things that I will do a bit differently next time and I am sure I forgot some stuff on there too!
Anyways, I hope you like it! So much thanks to Lelah, Carrie and Knitrawr, and of course Helen, my partner in crime. Also to Brandee, The Bell Sisters Ding and Dong, and most importantly to Shannon for everything. I’ve got such a wonderful support group that encourages me in the best way. Speaking of Shannon, I have NO idea how in the samhain she can manage all the stuff she does, that girl is a workhorse. I’m really looking forward to her new books that are coming out- one of them is going to be on tech editing!!! You can pre-order The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design if you click on THIS. I can’t wait to read this. Umm, ps- Cooperative Press is also hers. I’m telling you, she’s a busy bee.

So about Lelah- I left blanks in the directions for you to fill in your math. I included the measurements you need to make and the math you need to do in order to fill in those blanks! I really think I made the process extremely simple, so tell me what you think!

It may be helpful if I include the link to Lelah (the top), yes?   You can get it HERE in the free patterns page or on Ravelry  HERE!
Also, would you like to see more patterns set up this way?
I’ve been toying with the whole pattern writing thing and different ways of going about writing them.
2 ideas!
One- when possible (ie for less complicated items) I’d like to implement the same set-up as for Lelah, where I give you the math tools to make something custom fit to YOU.
Should I still include sizing? This would mean extra pages though- but you can always set your printer to print pages x, x and x to avoid ink wasting!
Secondly- What about keeping sizes separate? That way you only have to print YOUR size and won’t get lost or lose your place in the x{x, x, x, x} brackets- also an ink saver!
In some patterns, this may actually be an easier, more concise way- especially if the different sizes have differing directions or slight variation in directions.
In other news, after much frustrations, I finally registered as a .com. Even though Word Press now has a bunch of my money in credits that I probably can’t get back. Oh well. I am thinking about buying a theme thingy where techtards like myself don’t need to bother with insane coding just to change my background color.
Next, I’ll try to set up a shop and free patterns page! Wish me luck and cross your fingers for the techtarded one.

One last nice bit of news – Brandee keeps getting her submission accepted all over the place, so YEY! BRANDEE!!! (I’m very proud of her!)

I have fabulous news to share! I have been chatting with the fabulous Shannon Okey of Knitgrrl and have somehow fanagled her to agree to teaching a DESIGN 101 class for people like me, who are stuck!

So you make your own stuff, that’s the sort of easy part- but what do you do with it? How do you take it a step (or 2, or 3) further? How do you write a great, concise, easy to follow pattern? How do you grade correctly? What about creating pdf’s, branding, selling, self-publish, shop to companies, and a zillion other questions you might have, that I have??!!

I find myself getting lost often with no real plan- I need a sort of “life coach” for knitting, hopefully you do as well. This will be an ON-LINE class and it is only going to cost you 65 dollars- How many books have you bought?? How much time and energy have you spent (and even wasted) researching, reading, trying out on your own? The cost of the class is less than it would take you to make a sweater!

I will be posting some more information shortly so stay tuned!

I’m still in a state of semi-shock myself over the incredible amount of LUCK I just stumbled into!

I have a lot of yarn. I do swatches with different size needles. I know some people like to do individual swatches with different needle sizes, but I like to use all of my yarn and to be honest, I’m lazy.

So the 3 tips and tricks of the day is……

1) I knit a good size swatch, about 4 x 4″, then successively go up a size, up a size and so on but I separate the size differences with a purl row. Also, this way I don’t lose swatches- it’s all right there on one. The swatch should be as big as you can stand for the best gauge, but that’s true for any swatch. I know if I started with a size 4 for example- and if there are 4 purl rows I know it went 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8′s.

2) Speaking of misplacing things, when I am done with the swatch, I BO until there is one stitch left- I pull the working yarn out to make a big loop and then I simply pass the yarn through this loop and then tighten (but not to the point where you can’t pull it out again!)- And then I have my swatch AND my yarn in the same place. When it’s time to knit, I take note of the gauge, frog it and cast on. Obviously I only use the loop-tying method if I am not going to knit with that particular skein immediately- I have lots of these laying around.

3) And if you would rather still BO your swatch, you can save it somewhere in case you need to use it for darning, if you run out of yarn for seaming, etc. It’s good to pin a piece of paper (or even the swatch onto a piece of paper) indicating which needle size you used and what the gauge was in that size.

Side note- I find it amazing that today is the very first day ever that an image of those wildly popular swatch watches came to mind when thinking of knitting swatches. You’d think that would have happened before now.

ANOTHER side note- I JUST got Sweater Design in plain english  (like 5 minutes ago, I kid you not) and aside from her opening page (which I easily could have wrote myself, it was so accurately close to my experiences)- I literally just read she uses the same method as me for the swatches! I was worried that people would be like “how can you get a true gauge” well MAGGIE did! I wrote this post as a draft March 6th, btw. I was about to publish it, but then made lunch- then got my package and how weird is that??