The Frog Princess

Good morning, Blogger (and blog readers)!!! It has been an interesting couple of days in the frog pond. . .you see, on Thursday I could not find anything that I wanted to bring to knitting. I was losing my motivation to cast on a new project GASP! I mean, I have new yarn just waiting and begging to be knit into sweaters, but I could not start one. . .I thought and I thought, 'til my thinker was plum thunk out, but I finally figured it out.

You see, this knitting princess has made herself several sweaters in the last couple of years. That's good. Furthermore, she has at least three sweaters in her current wardrobe that she loves-beyond-reason. That's also good. Add to that the fact that the princess is particularly proud these days of some recent weight-loss success. Now, that's tremendous! Unfortunately, the sweaters the princess loves-beyond-reason. . .
. . .all knit in yarns she scrimped and saved for. . .well, they are all knit in a size that no longer flatters the princess's figure. . .and she is sad and confused. . .but, she knows what she must do! So, she brought all her sweaters to knit-night, with plans to frog them (rip-it, rip-it, rip-it out!) and reuse the yarns she loves so dearly. "Honestly, how long could it take to rip out three or four sweaters? Surely four hours is plenty of time!," thought the princess. And so she poured herself a cuppa coffee, and took pictures of her three favorite sweaters (the fourth did not photograph, or wear, very well. . .it was not a favorite, but she still liked the yarn). The first, in soft pink Tamaty Tweed cotton, was her very favorite. . .two years old, it had seen lots of wear, and the princess planned to re-knit the same pattern in a smaller size. Seams were carefully, in a painstakingly slow process, cut and ripped back. . .ends were carefully, in a painstakingly slow process, un-tucked so edgings and sweater pieces could be ripped back. . .and the yarn, with accidental cuts and unexpected breaks, was carefully, in a painstakingly slow process, wound into many soft pink balls of various sizes! There was much lost yarn, which might have caused the princess to pause, but since she will be knitting the new sweater in a smaller size (yay!), she is not too nervous! Still, pink fuzz was everywhere, and when all the knitters decided it was time to call it a night, to get home before the start of the winter storm that the weather men had predicted, the princess packed up her pink balls. . .. . .(and three full sweaters, not even touched during the evening) into the knitting bag to go home. True to their word, the weather men provided the predicted storm, and the princess awoke to this (thanking her lucky stars for the handsome Prince with his shovel)!
Even though the princess had plans for the day, she did not live on a lily pad in a warm climate, and so she found herself making new plans from her sofa, plans that did not include venturing into the frozen tundra. . .plans that did include a less-than-favorite green sweater in cotton yarn, now frogged down to this. . .

. . .and while she was at it, why not this favorite shapely tee sweater, in a yarn that called her name from across the crowded yarn shop last summer? After a trip to the frog pond, that sweater, too, is reduced to colorful balls of cotton yarn. . .

The fourth sweater, that coral number up there, has yet to pop into the princess's pond party, but it's days are also numbered. However, for today the Frog Princess is going to take a break from the pond to work on replacing her favorite pink sweater! Here I come, knitting! Don't start without me!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

The difference a day makes. . .

Sooo, another winter storm in the land of COLD, gave me this on Monday morning. . .
. . .it totally looks just like a Monday, doesn't it?

True to the gray skies and icy sheath on the world, my Monday was pretty sucky. I don't usually let the weather get me down, and I work really hard to not let crappy circumstances ruin my positive outlook, but I was low on Monday, and I was tired by the time bedtime rolled around. I didn't even knit. I prayed alot, and that helped my attitude. . .and a better attitude helped me to behave a little better. . .and sleep a little better. Even if the only thing that changed is my attitude, I'm good with that. After all, the only person under my control is me.

As if in answer to my prayers, my Tuesday morning looked like this:

All of the issues in my life were still there. All of the difficult people I may have to deal with this week are still there. The stuff that makes life hard was still there, but the outlook was way brighter. Thanks, God! You are good, all the time.

And after all of the sunny, shiny, sparkly goodness that was revealed to me on Tuesday. . .

I feel like knitting today! I worked a little on my fingerless glove pattern this morning, and maybe I will knit something with beads soon. . .I wonder if I can mimic that wintry beauty with beaded knitting? I suppose it's at least worth a try. . .I'll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, I hope that your skies are blue, your hearts warm, and your dispositions sunny! Thanks for stopping by, and knit in good health!

It was a Marvelous Night. . .and Day!

Last night I stayed at the church to scrapbook with some friends. It's a monthly activity, and it's fun to spread out all your paper and pictures and pages on tables where your good friends will see them and occasionally remark about just how cute your kids (or your family) are! Bonus!: there are no cats at church to "help" with the crafting by batting your stuff out of order, off the table and into the next room! I had a great time, but I ran out of sticky stuff, so I went to Michael's for more. . .it was just past sunset, and the moon was rising, still low on the horizon, bright and full. . .magical! The kind of moon that makes Van Morrison play in your head, and stirs the soul to find love. . .I half thought about heading home and scrapping the scrapping to seek my Sweetie!

I tried to capture the moon with my amazing 8 megapixel camera, the one on my Droid, but I was highly unsuccessful. So I just went back to the church, and I put together 3 2-page layouts for the family album. . .then I went home and went to sleep. . .because that's what you do after 6 hours of scrapbooking, especially if you are a woman in the middle of life, and you are getting home after midnight!

This morning, I tried to recapture that magical moondance feeling. . .but "the night's magic seems to whisper and hush," and morning sounds are often a little more harsh. . .the sounds of hungry kitties chasing one another around the bed, then pouncing with claws and teeth that elicit mews and growls from the partner cat. . .I tried to settle in with some knitting, to still my soul. . .
. . .but even my fingerless mitts were seeming less than magical. You know, on a normal wintry Saturday, I like to spend my day like a cat. Sometimes perched on the sofa, looking for something to happen. . .

. . .sometimes stretched out in the warmth of a sunny window, waiting for something to happen. . .

. . .sometimes snoozing, not really caring if anything happens. . .

But today, the day after the magical moon, 'neath the cover of February skies. . .with Old Man Winter starting to finally melt away. . .

. . .well, today I was itchy to get back to it. Back to the warmth of spring and summer sun. Back to the routine that was a walk every weekend in the park. I am such a baby in the cold weather, and I am soooo ready for winter to be over. Sweetie must have felt it too, because even though today's daytime high temp was scheduled to be 36 degrees F (!), Sweetie suggested a walk in the park. . . I won't lie, I balked at first. Then I bundled up and off we went. . .and look what I found:

Yep! The magic is still out there! Even though the moon isn't out, the sun is making up for it today! It was a cold walk, and I have yet to knit a single stitch so far today, but I feel full of magic and promise. I wonder if the moon will give us another "fantabulous night" tonight?

Either way, tonight I will count my blessings, and look forward to whatever comes next. . .oh, and I think I may knit a bit! Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Wordless Wednesday

Knit in Good Health. . .and cuddle a kitty today!

Love is in the air. . .

"L" is for the way you Look at me. . .

. . .sometimes it's for the way she looks at him.

"O" is for the only One I see. . .

. . .even when you take me to the vet.

"V" is Very, Very ex-tra-ordinary. . .

. . .I'd call a reversible cabled scarf extraordinary, wouldn't you?

"E" is Even more than anything that I adore!

JAZZ HANDS!

Well, maybe that's not exactly what the songwriter had in mind. . .

. . .says the cat, with a disinterested, sideways glance.

But I love knitting. . .

. . .and pattern writing. . .

. . .and I love blogging. So, I guess it is what it is. . .right, Snake and Dollface?

. . .and I love these kids!

Happy Valentine's Day (a little early)

from Pretty, Sweetie, Snake and Dollface!

Go hug your Valentine, and Knit in Good Health!

Super Sunday!

I know, I know. . .Sunday was a few days ago. But when the blogger blogs on Saturday and Wednesday, well, it's like Sunday was just yesterday for me! And last Sunday was certainly SUPER! There were super snacks. . .

. . .Super Socks (finished during the game! Yay!!!). . .

. . .Super Sisters, sitting beside one another. . .

. . .and Super Friends, you know, the kind that you wish could be your actual sisters sometimes. . .

. . .and Super Fruity beverages that were Super Tasty!. . .

. . .and Super Solutions to rescue the fruit from the bottom of the glass!

Knitting needles to the rescue!!!

Oh!, and there was knitting!, and there was football and funny commercials! It was a Super Sunday for me, even though my squares did not win in the pool (my first football pool!). . .still had fun! I hope your Sunday, and Monday and Tuesday, were SUPER, too!

Knit in Good Health!

PS - Thanks for all the "congrats" on my last post! I didn't really mean to brag, but I was pretty thrilled to get some new wardrobe pieces!

Saturday Shopping

Overheard in the fitting room next to mine:
Very young person: "I like that top, Mommy!"
Mommy: "This is my top..."
Very young person: "But it's green and pretty!"
Mommy: "Thank you."

And then, on a return trip to the same fitting room,
same young mommy next door:
Very young person: "Mommy, I I love you this. . .I love you like the OCEAN!!!"
Mommy: "I love you, too!"
Very young person: "Can we go to the toys now?"


I think this little girl may be in training for sales. Still, eavesdropping on this pair brought a smile to my face, and I hope that Mommy knows what a lucky mommy she really is. If she was ever looking for career advice, I would suggest that she record the audio from today's fitting room experience, load it onto a keychain player, marketing it as "Mom's Favorite Shopping Buddy!" I mean, when I am in the fitting room, I often battle against my inner self. While my outer self is trying to convince my hips and thighs that the smaller jeans do fit, my inner self is laughing wildly, offering bon-bons and throwing the "W" sizes in my direction...

Luckily, my baby girl (now 20) still likes to shop with me, and so does Sweetie, and they make me smile as much as that sweet 3-year-old did. Today, I was shopping for a pair of gray pants to wear to church tomorrow...the choir is singing (I made it!), and they are wearing gray or black pants with solid colored tops. Lately, I have been working on the Eating Better and the Losing Weight, and it is working. It is very slow, but it is happening. This is good. However, all of my gray and black pants are now too big, so I needed a new pair, and we all needed a few other things. Sweetie and Dollface encouraged me to try on many things, and we walked out of that store with quite a haul!
Bonus! Many of those "for me" items are in a smaller size than I bought the last time I shopped at this store. . .the pants are "technically" the same size, but I was able to drop the W.

Now that I have shopped, I have some hemming to do, for I am a short shopper, and then there is the knitting. . .look left to see how far I have come on the scarf for Dollface! I think I will be finishing it tonight, in front of the tube. . .yay!

Once the scarf is done, I can start her flap mittens to go with, then I can knit the gray flap mittens I want to make for me, then I can work on the new pattern I am writing up, then I can start a new pair of socks and perhaps a wedding shawl, and then I have yarn for another baby sweater. . .

So much knitting and so little time! I can't believe I took time out to go shopping. . .but it was worth it. I think the only place that pants are ever optional is in the bathroom, so new pants are a no-brainer on my get-healthier trek into 2011.

And, I got to drop a W. Wahoooo!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Snow and Ice, Ice and Snow. . .and knitting!

So, I have mentioned that I occasionally live in a snowglobe. That's ok, because my sweetie handles all of the snow shoveling. . .he says that I do it wrong, and perhaps I do. . .we have different methods, to say the least.
I am very thankful that Sweetie shovels snow for me, but on days like today, it doesn't always help. There's just not much you can do with a layer of ice, topped by tiny ice pellets that are not quite snow, but not rain or sleet either. . .they just sit there, looking like they might provide some traction, but I know better!

I wore my Yak Trax in to the office today. They slip onto my shoes, and some of my co-workers joke that they are little snow tires for my feet. . .chains for my shoes, if you will. I don't mind them poking fun, though, because I did not slip or falter at all while walking into the office. And when I looked back, I saw that the ice was so thick that I did not even leave tracks behind me!

That tells me how thick and hard the ice was under my feet, because I am a grown adult, and I usually leave distinct tracks in snow and ice! And, now that I am here, it is STILL coming down, the ice and snow, snow and ice!

All of this ice and snow makes me glad that I broke out the Tinkertoys while Sweetie was shoveling on Saturday.

No, I did not build a ferris wheel or a cool car. . .knitters make Tinkertoy Swifts with these fun toys! (I have not included a tutorial here, because that link takes you to see how it's done!) Here is my swift:

And you are correct in assuming that this is a photo of the swift loaded with yarn. . .alpaca yarn from my friend Charm over at That'll Do Farm! There is a bonus to making a swift with toys. . .Tinkertoys come with Nostepinnes right in the can!

See that? A notch at one end to secure your tail while you wind that center-pull ball. . .pretty sweet! And here is the final product of my labor: a ball of yarn to work some fingerless gloves with when I get home to settle in for the evening! Yummy, Yarny goodness, for sure!

I need to start a new project, because I have finally finished the Ski-Trip Socks. . .

. . .and the Starry, Starry Socks!!!

Of course, I am still working on the scarf and mitts (Scarf of Green Cables) for Dollface (formerly College Girl, what do you think of the new blog-name? Thank you, queenoftorts!). I am more than half-finished with the scarf, and I look forward to the mitts, but for now, I am just feeling more charmed by the black yarn. . .it is what it is!

If you live in the lands of Ice and Snow, today or ever, I hope that you will be safe when you go out, and curl up with yarn when you are home. Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Today's blog post is brought to you by Snow and Ice, Ice and Snow. . .and knitting.