Stitches South – Atlanta

March 6, 2009 · Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (1)

I am getting all ramped up for Stitches South (April 23rd, 24th, 25th)! I have a bit to do to get prepared. Something exciting is in the works and a vendor asked about highlighting my patterns in KITS at their booth. I’ll have more details later but this involves my knitting 4 samples for them to display. I’ve enlisted the help of a dear friend to help me knit them in time for the event.

I had intended to have preschool out prior to stitches (and it will be available before then) but I have actually decided to release it as my first FREE pattern! It will be available on this site and Ravelry as soon as I put the PDF together, and also this weekend as it is all shiny and sunny I will be able to have a proper photo shoot! I still need to get some little leggings to go with it (or tights). So I would be even more happy with myself if I could have another pattern released prior to stitches, but I am not setting a goal as I don’t want to get in over my head (which I am sure has already happened). I also need to print out a large number of patterns to go into the KITS that will be sold and I have some spelling corrections to fix and some other minor tweaks I wanted to make to perfect things (no errata’s though, yay!).

So for Stitches South I have already signed up and even reserved a night at the hotel (group rate, sweet) so I can avoid Atlanta traffic and also just to give myself a mini vacation, 1 night in a hotel room isn’t usually going to get me much more sleep then usual but I have not slept in past 8am in well over 18 months so I hope I can somehow manage to sleep in a bit.

I signed up to go to the fashion show and dinner (Joe from SWTC says it rocks) and then for 2 afternoon classes. I wanted to take the crochet steek class but it was already sold out

Long & Short of Knit Alterations (following a recommended to take this class by the AKG newsletter, it’s already sold out too!)
Friday 04/24/2009, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Intarsia Basics Techniques (I have wanted to try this for a while, I could teach myself but this will be much less stressful I think!)
Saturday 04/25/2009, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm

So all of that, along with a special summer project, and I am swamped with knitting activity. Let me know if you will be at stitches, I was thinking about getting some more pixie purls magnets and pins to hand out. I can’t wait for Stitches, 2 days of yarn and knitting with no interruptions or worries (except maybe what to eat, as that lately is always of concern). I also heard a rumor that raverly will be there (via a comment on the Stitches South rave group, but it was not from anyone official) and if there is I will be there!

‘Sponsored conversations’ and Knitting Blogs

March 3, 2009 · Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (4)

There is a lot of talk going on lately about “mom bloggers” and how most mom bloggers who are trying to make a living off of it are under-estimating their own worth. These mom blogs have been exploding for a while now and are another internet sub-culture in blogging the same way the knitting blogs are. I am guessing there are more mom blogs then knitting blogs and as it is at its height right now I am sure there are loads (I would say the knitting blogs hit their max in 2006, or around then).

The first “mom blog” I ever read was Dooce.com the famous blogger who got fired from her job for blogging about work (even though she never named them or even said where she worked). When I started reading her she had her daughter Leta who was I think around 1 year old or so. I always found her writing very funny, and enjoyed reading about her daughter even though at the time I didn’t have kids (I think her daughter is 5 now).

She has a real aesthetic and a great sense of style. In the past 2 years as her home life has seemed “happier” her blog isn’t as fun to read I think because she is less angst-y. At the same time she as far as I know runs her website and blog full time and supports the family with it. I think her husband does web design stuff as a part of that. I had noticed a lot of entries about “stuff” she had purchased (or I could only assume she had purchased) and after a while I got suspicious she was being paid to talk about this stuff, and I un-subscribed, not because I minded the reviews, but because it got to be to much of that vs the other content I liked. I can think of two instances off the top of my head of purchases I made because of her blog.

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18 Months & 18 Weeks

March 1, 2009 · Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (14)

I wanted to wait until I had more impressive photos to post, but lots of rain and overcast so it will be a while so I don’t want to wait.
We are 1 week shy of 18 months, and BG had a BIG month. About 2 weeks ago she got tubes put in her ears. I meant to take some photos at the outpatient center with my phone but forgot. It was a very nice place, and it was very quick. She had her first popsicle after the surgery, and it was the only thing that would stop her from crying. I did not like seeing her gassed, it was fairly horrible but I felt like I should go back with her as she seems to find more comfort in me then anyone else. I could have done without hearing her cry turn into a freaky whine that seemed to never end. Ugh.

Sense the surgery BG has of course had a cold, within 2 days her nose was running again, and then a week after that I caught what I can only think is the flu. I am on day 7 of it right now, and feeling a bit better but it was a doozy. I *think* the ear tubes worked because despite the fact that she has been sick, she’s as happy as a clam. That’s the girl I always knew, who even when sick was happy as can be. It was the ear infections that made her so tantrum-y most of the time. Besides her trying to grab my glasses, hair or the dogs hair we are fairly tantrum free. Lately she grabs Toby’s paws and holds on to them. Not very nice. I am always surprised by how much Toby puts up with, in most cases he doesn’t even try to flee, he just takes it and looks a bit nervous (rightly so).
I keep waiting for him to nip her, as he’s done it to me before. I try to keep her away from his head so if something did happen he would get her in the butt or arm. So far he’s very tolerable and sometimes we have to put him up to get her to leave him alone. Not terribly fair to him but goodness when BG is in a mood to be bad she grins at you like wild and WATCHES you as she does exactly what you just told her not to. This is usually late in the evening when she’s wound up from the day.
This month she started putting words together like saying to my husband “Mama, please” or “Hi, Dada!” but mostly she will say something with please which she uses very well. I can’t get her to say two words together on demand, but she says them on her own and I’m always waiting to hear what she will put together next. I’ve always meant to write about her funny little particulars. For instance one cheerio stuck to the bottom of her sock can cause quiet a stir. While eating if something sticks to her finger funny she will hold it up to my face and say “help” while waiting for me to clean it off (despite the fact her face and hands are covered in applesauce, that one crumb needs to be removed!). Help is another word she has mastered, so when she is playing with stickers she wants specifically to remove then and re-stick them and will ask for help if one won’t come up, or sticks to her finger. One of my favorite games is to put fuzzy socks on her hand/arm and she uses it like a puppet and has fun asking me to put it on, then wanting for me to take it off so she can put it on.

(modeling my newest knit design, “preschool” – I need to find some cute leggings/tights).
So she is sick again, with a very runny nose but it doesn’t bother me in the least because she is *herself* and I can tell. A runny nose and cough aren’t a big deal if they progress, and you can see change, and no ear infection muddled in to make things really miserable. I hope the tubes keep it up and that we have come around the bend. It’s been a rough 2 months here, not only because of the usual sickness, surgery and my being sick, but because BG is going to be a big sister in August! This means I am extra tired, irritable and just not as on top of things as I like to be. I don’t have as much energy and then I’ve been sick now 2 or 3 times by catching stuff from her and her daycare.

I am now 18 weeks as of this monday, very exciting and lots to do this summer! I don’t know how BG will do, as she has a little fit every time my husband kisses or hugs me, or even touches me. We make sure to do so in front of her often and ignore her little fits about it. I often will hold her dolls and feed them etc and she finds that very fun, so it may be isolated to just mama/dada interactions. I think once the baby is mobile they will have loads of fun together.