Motivation

Who knew that the key to motivation regarding school, is new school supplies. Yup, that's it. Want your kids to be excited about the upcoming school year? Take 'em to Wal-mart, let them pick out new binders (try not to gag as they pick Princess, Spidermand and HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL), 10 boxes of CRAYOLA crayons (they usually get RoseArt which break easily, so Crayola was a treat), oodles and oodles of pencils, glue sticks. folders, loose leaf, well you get the picture. Benjamin wasn't even out of bed the new morning and he told me he was doing school that day. Katie promptly finished 2 or 3 more lessons in her math book. I should put in a disclaimer....this key to motivation does NOT work on a 13 year old boy. :-)
I've been trying to put together the list of what we still need for curriculum this year. I still need to order Apologia Physical Science. I think he has 3 modules left in General Science, so I can wait a bit to order still. I need a writing program. I love BJU Grammar, but Devin needs more writing help. I'm looking at Writeshop 1. I'll probably end up ordering that once I get back home. Becca has it, so I plan to look at hers first. It is so hard to order curriculum sight unseen. I'm thinking about Latin's Not So Tough. I want something for the two older kids to just get their feet wet, without spending a ton of money or time. I figure Mikayla can wait to learn it with Benjamin. :-) All I need for Mik is the new First Language Lessons book that just came out. I can't remember the exact name of it, and I'm too lazy to look. Google is your friend. :-) Oh, I will order Fallacy Detective for Devin. I guess Katie wants to try Mindbenders again. I do believe that's it. I'll probably get the Abeka Art books too. They're cheap and easy...that's the name of the game. I'm hoping this is the year that Devin realizes that school is important to his future. He's said some big words lately, West Point is one of 'em. That's a pretty big deal. Scared the living daylights out of me when he said it. I told him the fun and games are over....it's time to get down to business. He only has one more year until high school. Yee-gads!!!!!! His friend Tyler will be homeschooling this year. Tyler is Devin's bestest friend in the whole world...he lives in NY....he's very smart....he just turned 13....took the SATs...scored better than most high school seniors. Go figure! They're using some of the same curriculum, so maybe Tyler can motivate Devin. :-)
If I was home, I would share a new picture of the Jaywalkers. It's such a pain to upload to Mom's computer. I'm just about ready to start the ribbing. I could have probably knit 4 pairs of socks if I hadn't ripped the darn Jaywalkers out so many times. Finally, after deciding to forget the heel flap and going with the short-row heel, we have a winner. Fits Mikayla's foot nicely with a bit of growing room. Saturday, at o'dark thirty, I'm headed for Ocean City. I don't have to drive, so I'll have alteast 10 hours of knitting time there and back. I'm bringing the Hip in Hemp Skirt. Until next time..........

Lake Placid

I went to Lake Placid with Mom, our friend Mary and Mikayla on Saturday. It was much fun. The weather was beautiful....couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. For future reference though, I'll remember not to visit Lake Placid the weekend the Ironman competition is taking place. Yikes. The busiest weekend of the season. We visited a yarn shop called Adirondack Yarns. She had some of the yummiest Alpaca yarn I've seen. I think it's by Catalina. I'm not exactly sure though. I should have written it down. I did get another hank of Artist Fleece, in a much darker colorway. Here's a couple of photos. :-)

Just for giggles, here's a funny picture. I'm sure this "snow" is really just ice they scrape off from the ice in the Olympic Center, but it was still fun. Cold, but fun. lol

Oh, I should mention one of quite possibly the most exciting things that happened while in LP. I found a pair of dressy sandals at Bass, in size 11! We walked into the store, and there they were....my sandals...it took all of 5 minutes. They were regularly priced $70, on sale for $21 including tax!!!!! Yee-haw! I found a shirt to wear to the wedding at Vanheusen. The next time I go there, I will be sure to budget more $$ for clothes shopping. :-)

I don't have time to blog about our visit to camp on Sunday, but here is a teaser picture....there will be more pics to come later. :-)

Ribbit, ribbit

So, I frogged the entire Lorna's Laces Jaywalker. Thankfully, my ball winder came, so I just wound it back up into a neat little cake. That thing is too much fun by the way. :-) I cast on a.g.a.i.n. last night. I finished the toe. This time, I'm just going to do a plain old short-row heel. Not as fancy as the heel flap version, but obviously, I can't figure out how to do a toe-up Jaywalker with a heel flap. lol. I also wound up one of the hanks of the Artist Fleece Mom gave me. It looks so much different once it's wound into a cake. I can't wait to knit with it. I think I'll use the Cross-hatch Lace pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks. That'll be pretty with that yarn, eh? :-) It's taking me about an hour and a half to complete a stripe on the Hemp skirt. That's a long time to knit 4 rows. lol. Thankfully, I think I only have 3 or 4 more increase repeats. So, it shouldn't get much worse than it is now. I'm hoping to have it done in 2 or 3 more weeks. We will see. It's not really portable right now, and I've been driving everywhere we go since I've been in NY. So, there has been no knitting time in the truck. :-)
We're planning to go to Lake Placid tomorrow. I drove through there the other day with Dad, but I didn't stop anywhere. Can you believe I drove by TWO knitting shops AND a scrapbook store without stopping? I knew I would be back up there with Mom and Mary....that was the only reason I didn't stop. :-) I just love Lake Placid. Mike wants to come up here for a week or so next summer when he gets back. I'm hoping he and I can get away for a night and head up there. It's such a quaint little town. Totally amazes me that the Olympics were held there. I just can't imagine that many people on the streets up there! We toured the Olympic sites about 4 years ago. It was amazing. Mike even rode the bob-sled. He said it was a blast! :-)
Tonight, I'm taking Devin to the little historic theater in town to see Transformers. He's already warned me, the pop-corn up there is nasty. I guess that'll save my diet, eh? lol. He went last week with his buddy to see Evan Almighty. You know, even though I always say I'll never retire in NY, I just love it once I get here. It'll be super hard for me to go back to the GA heat, that much I know. We've actually had cruddy weather since I've been here, but it's cool.....makes it all worth while. :-) Until next time............

Stash Builders, Finished Knitting Projects and Progress

Let's just say this post will be fairly picture heavy. I should have just thrown all of my new yarn into one photo, but what fun would that have been? :-) First up.....the long awaited photo of Liberty wearing the never-ending Girlfriend Shrug:I tried to get a cute frontal shot of her, but she wasn't cooperating. She didn't even want to model the shrug tonight. I had to make her. :-) Please disregard the clothes that don't match. Sometimes you've just got to let them dress themselves.

Specs:

Knit Picks Pallette, KP size 2 needles....or was it size 1? I can't remember right now. I'm sure I speficified that detail on another post. I totally love this shrug. I can't believe how much different the yarn feels after it's blocked. I started this shrug in March, and wove the ends in right after I got here. We'll just say it was sometime at the end of June. I wanted a shrug that she could wear over her sleeveless church dresses, and this fits the bill perfectly. I would totally knit another Girlfriend Shrug, but on say.....size 9 needles? :-) Up next....finished socks.....
These socks feel awesome on my feet. Please forgive the nasty white legs....who has time to sun bathe with five kids? :-)

Specs:

Knit toe-up, magic loop on KP size 1s.

Yarn is from Crash Into Ewe. Yummy, yummy yarn. I have a couple of more color-ways at home. This particular color-way is Brown Eyed Blues, but I don't see it on her site right now.

I did a basic foot, with a K3P2 rib leg. For the heel, I used a heel from wendyknits.com. I'll have to check my notes and see which one. :-) Next....

Jaywalkers. Oh, the beloved Jaywalkers. OK....I love the pattern. They're so easy to knit, and oh so pretty. I should know....I've knit the same stinkin' sock oh.....atleast 4 times? I started out using KP size 2s with Socks that Rock. I LOVE the STR.....but, the Jaywalker didn't love STR. I'm using Natalia Knits toe-up Jaywalker pattern. Honestly, after much thought, I think it's the heel. It takes about 4" to complete the heel. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, I dunno. But, they socks end up HUGE! First off, here's the STR Jaywalkers. I just can't bring myself to rip 'em out again, but I think I have no other choice. I should have put them side-by-side with the new pair I'm making, but I didn't think of it until just now. Sorry. :-) The yarn is so pretty,
isn't it? I just love it. The new Jaywalkers are in Lorna's Laces. Very nice yarn to knit with. I'm knitting these with size 1s. I started out making them for Katie, then thought maybe Mikayla. But, since I didn't realize it takes 4" for the heel, they're long enough for me. I'm not sure they'll be wide enough to go around my ankle though, as I knit them with only 64 stitches. At this point, I just want to finish the stupid things. I figure Katie will someday wear a size 11 shoe too, so I'll just save them for her if need be. HA! Here it is....I'm almot finished with one.....

Last but not least (as far as progress pictures go), Hip in Hemp. I totally love this skirt. Katie asked me to knit it for her as soon as she saw the pattern. I'll put in my disclaimer though....she picked out the colors. :-) I must admit, I'm liking the colors more than I thought I would. I had to order a longer cable from KP, so I haven't worked on it in a little over a week. I've been working on the blasted Jaywalkers. :-) As soon as I finish the Lorna's Laces sock, I'll pick the skirt back up again. I'm nearly at the feather and fan part....I think one more repeat.

Stash Builders.......

Fleece Artist. Mom and Dad brought this back for me when they went to Lake Placid the other night. I cannot for the life of me find the colorway name on the labels. They must be hidden somewhere. I just love this yarn though, and I cannot wait to knit with it.

Claudia's Hand-Painted Yarn. Color Passion Fruit. I had planned to order this yarn from the Loopy Ewe. Maybe not this exact color-way, but it turns out they're out of stock in the color I wanted. So, Passion Fruit is the next best thing. I cannot believe they had it in the yarn store we went to!

Last but not least, Cherry Tree Hill in Earth. The lady at the yarn shop was nice enough to wind this for me. I don't think the colors show up as well once it's wound into a cake though. This is fairly manly, but I still love it. :-)

I bought some Sockotta in purple too, but there's nothing overly exciting about Sockotta. I plan to use it to make Mikayla a pair of socks. I figured it wouldn't do any good to spend a bunch of $$ on her socks, since the sock monster would probably eat one of them. Until next time.........

Finished Projects

I finally finished the Girlfriend Shrug. It felt so good to finally get that thing off the needles! I'll try to post a picture later, but I'm not on my own computer right now, so we'll see. I have started the cuff on a pair of socks I've had going for a while too. I've got about 4" left, then they'll be done. I'm waiting on the longer cable from Knit Picks before I can work anymore on the Hip in Hemp skirt from knitty.com. I can't wait to post a progress picture though. It's pretty funky, but I love it. In yesterdays mail, I got my yarn to start a Clapotis. The yarn looks a bit different than it did on the monitor, but I still like it. I got some new stitch markers too! Oh, and a letter from my dh! It was a good mail day! :-)
Things are going well here in NY. It has been unseasonably cool, so we're a bit chilly, but it's a nice break from the sweltering heat of GA. It's supposed to be in the 80s by the weekend, so maybe we'll actually be able to go to the beach! I probably shouldn't mention this, for fear that it'll jinx it some how, but Katie has started her 6th grade math book....all on her own. I think she's up to lesson 9 or 10. I had told her before we came to NY that the sooner she finishes the book, the bigger a prize she'll get. She's hoping to complete all 130 lessons while we're in NY. I don't know if that'll happen, but it's a valiant effort anyway. :-)
Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans!
Until next time..............