Home Sweet Home

If you've been reading the blog regularly, you know that Army Boy has left for a major deployment, Wifey-Poo and Peanut have moved back to our "home" state, and Dollface was recently married to Snake. (If you have not been a regular reader until today, now you are pretty much caught up! Yay!)

All of these recent changes to Pretty's family, and to the status of "home" for many of the family's members, have led me to some comfort knitting. Here's where I am on the Drift cardigan, past all the decreases and straight waist knitting, ready to increase for the bust:I know, I am really not that much further along than I was last week at this time, am I? Well, there just hasn't been time for much knitting with all those changes! Even at knit night this week, I did not knit as much as usual. Again, if you've been a fan of Pretty for long, you know that there are major shop updates planned in Etsy world! There have been many long nights with polymer clay and jewelry supplies, and I have gotten much accomplished. . .but not as much as I had hoped would be done by September third (we did not expect that deployment to happen until later this month, and I lost some serious time on a cross-country goodbye).

Still, to prove to myself that I AM making headway on the shop overhaul, today I dumped all of my new beads (now made into charms and stitch markers) out onto a table to marvel a bit at my creativity, and I thought you might also enjoy a peek at some of the items that will be gracing new row counters at Pretty Knitty Jewelry this fall. . .I know! You're just speechless at my total lack of humility, right? Maybe you're thinking I'm some kind of TURKEY?Well, I suppose that sometimes I am a turkey. But at least I am not angry. . .Angry isn't an emotion that I do very well. Oh, I do just about every emotion on most days, but I'm better at some than I am at others. Lately, I have mastered feeling nostalgic. . .reminiscing about when I was a little kid, and my biggest worry was a test that I didn't study enough for. . .remembering when my children were small, and my biggest worry was a test that they didn't study enough for. . .recalling the days when we were all together, at home together, on a regular basis. . .oh, the joys of home-sweet-home!Yet, even though we don't all live together now that my family has grown, we are still family, and the love continues to grow! Our granddaughter and our new son-in-law are proof positive that the love in this Pretty Knitty Family cannot be contained. . .and so it spills out in joy, whether we are together or apart. . .love and joy that must be shared.

Home Sweet Home is more than a place, it's a state of mind and heart. Wherever life takes you, you will always carry a piece of home with you, if you so choose, and I hope that you do. Keep your loved ones close at heart, and always remember that "there's no place like home!"

Knit in Good Health!

Waiting. . .

Doctors and dentists have rooms dedicated to waiting. All through life we wait. . .waiting for Christmas. . .waiting to go to school. . .waiting to get to summer. . .waiting to grow up. . .waiting, waiting, waiting. I've done a lot of waiting in my life.

When our kids were small, I did a lot of waiting on Sweetie. Sweetie was a sailor in the US Navy, and he was attached to a "big submarine boat" (as Army Boy and Dollface called it) that was deployed frequently and with little notice. Most of the "runs" on Daddy's big submarine boat were short (a few days to a couple weeks) and there were just a few days to prepare. That left us waiting for Daddy to leave, and then waiting for Daddy to come home.

There was always an awkwardness around the exchange of responsibility that must occur when the Navy wife's husband deploys or returns. . .waiting to be in-charge-of-everything, then waiting for him to come-home-and-take-over-the-dirty-and-strenuous-jobs again. These were tricky waters to navigate, and we had a couple times that we nearly drowned in the stress and strain on our marriage, but I am happy to report that we did survive!

There was one deployment that lasted 6 months. Known as a "Med Run," Daddy's big submarine boat went into the Mediterranean Sea, and Daddy got a taste of real Italian pizza, real German beer, and a guided tour of parts of Israel. When it was time for the deployment to be over, and time for Daddy to come home, the kids and I made him a present:
You may be able to tell that this shirt saw a LOT of wear in it's day. This is one of my favorite pictures of him wearing that shirt. Dollface (just 2 years old here) and Army Boy (about 3-and-a-half) were so excited that he went to put that shirt on! They sat with him and told him all about how they dipped their hands in the paint, and Mommy let them put the paint on the shirt. . .
"and-den we have to wa-a-a-shhhh (and she demonstrated, rubbing her tiny hands together furiously), so da house not get all paint!"That 6 months seemed like a really long wait to all of us! It seems like the best things are the hardest to wait for, aren't they? Like waiting for a wedding. . .or waiting for weight-loss success (plugging my 40 pound weight loss over the last year - go, Pretty! Psst!, anybody need any XL hangers? lol). . .But I still think the hardest thing to wait for is for a beloved Daddy to return home from a long deployment. The reunions will be sweet, the separation is difficult at best. . . . . .but the waiting is agonizing. Peanut is now officially waiting for her Daddy to come home. There should be a mid-tour leave for her birthday, then the deployment will end next fall. The waiting. . .oh, the waiting is the hardest part.As I wait, I will pray, and I will cry, and I will knit. You're welcome to join me on the journey, and to see what comes off my needles in the form of woolen therapy, as well as updates to the Etsy store. Even though I am waiting, the world still turns. It's best that I keep on keepin' on, or I might get dizzy and fall down!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Tormented Knitting. . .

After last week's fun-times in polymer clay, this weekend is looking a little more somber in Pretty-ville. Not to worry anyone, but Pretty has been feeling a bit tormented, and her heart is just a-drift in a sea of emotion. . .so she cast on something in blue to get her through the weekend:

Drift cardigan in Lamb's Pride Worsted, Tormented Teal colorway. . .

I even tried to lift my spirits up by their bootstraps, casting on some instant gratification projects, like this little pouch for me to keep in the shower with my leftover bits o'soap tucked inside to be all used up:

Peaches and Cream yarn, stitch pattern from this cloth

Then there are these little cuties! Leftover sock yarn made into tiny socks for key chains, or just for fun. They're barely big enough to go onto my index finger, and I am thinking that they would make great Christmas ornaments (if I were to get my knitting-tush in gear and make like a gazillion of them before the tree goes up)!

Just a basic sock pattern, cast on 20sts, top-down

Of course, thinking about Christmas is sure to lift a Pretty's spirits! But thinking about Christmas also makes me think of the thing that is the (whisper it now) S-N-O-W...and that does NOT usually lift Pretty's spirits! Of course, any excuse for a new, lace scarf does lift the spirits, so I guess this was also a good project to work on a bit this week!

Mirabelle in hand-dyed yarn from Cozy Spirit on Etsy

Still, you may be wondering what has Pretty a little down-in-the-needles today. . .and this is it: Army Boy is still in the Army, and the Army is still sending Boys (and Girls) waaayyyyy far away from their families in service to their country. It's Army Boy's turn again in the very near future, and I am sad that I will not see a sight like this for many months:

Peanut loves her Daddy.

I am proud of my son's choice to be a member of the military, to defend the country where he was raised in freedom and wealth, without worry (in general) about his safety and health. I am thankful that we live in the age of accessible Internet, Skype, Facebook and Blogging. I am happy that we will be able to regularly keep in touch with just a few strokes of the keyboard on many days. But, just as Hurricane Irene weeps over the east coast of this great land, I have shed a tear or two in preparation for his departure, and I am sure that I will shed a few more in the coming days and months of his deployment.

To ease the heartache a bit (both mine and theirs, I hope), I have stuffed into these two tiny socks some photos of this beautiful family. My hope is that Army Boy, Wifey-Poo and Peanut will all be able to look at these photos regularly, wherever they are. I hope that they will smile at the memories of the first few months of their lives as parents, and I hope that they will grin in anticipation of their sweet times of reunion.

There's a little prayer in there, too.

All in all, this is not as bad as it could be. We will miss him, and he will miss his lovely wife and daughter, but I keep reminding myself how much God loves my Army Boy. Oh, how he loves us! And, if God loves him (and us) with such immeasurable love, then I have to trust that He will be watching over it all. . .holding us up when we need the support, and rejoicing with us at the reunions when they come.

So, don't be sad for Pretty. Say a prayer, if you are the praying kind, and take every opportunity to laugh and knit with Pretty! Life is for living, and I am glad that I can share it with you. :)

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

NOT ANGRY. . .

You've met those people who are NOT ANGRY, haven't you? Oh, they have an axe to grind or a bad attitude to share, but just ask them. . .they will gladly tell you that they are NOT ANGRY!!! (I have added exclamation points for emphasis and embellishment, but please note that exclamation points are pretty standard when one states that one is NOT ANGRY.)

I will pause here to let you know that I have not had a bad week so far. As a matter of fact, I had quite a bit of fun over the weekend. . .I played with polymer clay for hours upon hours, and I came up with a bunch of fun stuff!
Besides playing with clay, I have also tried my hand recently at the wildly popular "Angry Birds" game on my smartphone. . .and let me tell you, it's just a tiny bit addictive!!! lol All this time with the birds has even inspired some new creations that will likely appear in the Pretty Knitty Jewelry shop soon!

But the more I looked at my birds, and the more I realized that they are close but not exactly like the birds in my favorite phone game, the more I got to thinking. . .these birds are NOTsomuch ANGRY. . .they are simply misunderstood. The red guy, he's NOT ANGRY. . .he is just incredibly frustrated at my lack of slingshot skills. The little blue one? He's NOT ANGRY either. . .he has a split personality disorder. . .that must be difficult! The blackbird is NOT ANGRY. . .he's a suicide bomber on a mission for his deity, and his religious conviction is startling. Last but not least, the yellow one. . .you know what? I think he IS angry! He may deny that fact in capital letters, and with exclamation points, but I think he (or she?) is angry. . .maybe because of the genderless depiction I have chosen for him (or her?).

At times like this, I am really thankful for the sheep!

There will always be more sheep in the shop, because the sheep just belong there. Sheep and yarn go together like rama-lama-lama-ke-dinga-de-dinga-dong! And, by the looks of things, we will also see some new friends at Pretty Knitty Jewelry. . .canine friends, home-sweet-home friends, and fall friends, too!!!

The new friends will likely keep their distance from the birds. . .no matter how NOT ANGRY the birds claim to be. Perhaps I will cage them, but then I might have to finally figure out why the caged bird sings. . .that might be too taxing for my Pretty Knitty brain these days. :)

I hope that you are not over-taxing your brain, or if you are, I hope that you are at least winding down with your favorite hobby. Thanks for stopping by, friends, and Knit in Good Health! (But please don't knit angry. . .it really messes up your gauge!)

The Recovery Process

As sweet as the wedding was last Saturday (see "candy bar" preparations for reference):
. . .as sweet as it was, and as much fun as we all had at the rehearsal and wedding, the theme of this week seems to be RECOVERY. Recovery of the "hurty feet" which resulted from the too-high heels. . .recovery from the fog that has been my "wedding-brain" for the past 2 months. . .recovery from the flurry of activity that surrounds the days and moments just before (and during) the wedding and reception. . .recovery from EVERYTHING!

In the name of recovery, I have been putting my feet up and pampering them in handknit socks all week. Finally, a full week after 6-hours-in-heels, my feet are starting to feel normal again!

The brain is not so quick to recover. I have spent the better part of this week trying to remember if I have paid all of our regular, monthly, household bills on time. . .trying to figure out how much spending we actually did over the past 6 months on this fabulous (and totally worth it) party. . .and also trying to locate all of the things I had "put aside (somewhere?) until after the wedding!" Yes, I am still suffering slightly from wedding brain, but at least I can still calm my thoughts (and nerves) with knitting:

Medallion Lace Socks (designed by my friend Andrea),

knit in Destination Yarn (dyed by my friend Jeanne)

"What's next?," you ask? Well (with my feet up), I am planning some new pieces for the Pretty Knitty Jewelry shop, for starters!!! I am pretty excited about that, and the plan is to get some new pieces ready to list in September. Then I will DEEPLY DISCOUNT the pieces that have been there, to get a fresh new look in the shop!

Keep watching the blog for updates and information on special blog-reader discounts! Until then, thanks for stopping by! Oh, and Knit in Good Health!