Making Myself Crazy....Take One

Why am I making myself crayz you ask? I mean crazy. Actually I think that typo looks kind of neat.
Anyway back to the crazy.
I love to knit. I love designing knitwear. I love to teach my kids. I love to reorganize rooms. I love to have a clean house. I love deadlines. But when you stir them all in the same pot at the same time you don't get love, you get....you guessed it......crayz.
I think that for the next few months I will be doing strictly Christmas knitting.
Finish organizing my classroom area. (must be done by 7/31/08)
Finish my general lesson plans for the first 3 months of school by 8/15.

Since I can't stop cleaning my house all together I'm going to start a chart system again that lets the kids know what needs to be done and when so that mom can have some help.

There is so much that I want to do just right and I get all afraid that I am going to mess it all up but then I have to remember that God says to be anxious for nothing, but come to him with prayer and suplication and know that He is in control and He will make things work out one way or another.

What was that quote?.....
Pray as if it all depends on God and work as if it all depends on you.

I also like....
Courage is not the absence of fear but feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

God Is Good.

Dear Diary,

Dear Diary,
Tomorrow I turn 32 years old. Where did all the time go? In just 4 more years my darling daughters will be 18 years old. It seems like just yesterday that I was pregnant with my Kayla. I was so young and scared and although I now know I could have done better I also know that I didn't do too badly either. I can look back at all the things wrong I have done up until now...(like complaining about the past.....wait a minute....d'oh![smacks head] ) But I've made sacrifices and I am starting to see the fruit of those sacrifices.
Thank You, God, for blessing me when I had no reason to be blessed, and for being merciful to me when I had no right to receive your mercy and for Your grace in those times I had no right to that either....which is like all the time, let's face it. We both know how imperfect I am and how I am sure I don't know how You don't loose your patience with me.
Thirty two years of blessing and trials, and blessings through trials. I know You are not done with me yet (thanks for that because there is still so much I want to do) so although I may complain and pout (sometimes) keep using me for Your Glory!

Sincerely You Servant,
Luanda

(for those that don't know, God is my diary. I just thought you like to see a little slice of that)
Keep Knittin!

Patterns in The Works

Well, on Thursday I overnighted my submissions to Knitscene and today I got the comformation that they received it. I had everything ready a week in advance of the deadline but at the last minute I decided to hold on to some of them and I replaced them with new. It's only three submissions but I felt very strongly about them so I sent those in. Hopefully one (or all three) would be accepted but that's not up to me right now. I will be sending in some other design ideas to JCA and another source.

I am currently working on a little eye candy exclusively for my blog. I can't give too much detail but I'll be posting a sneak peak in just a few days.

In the meantime here is my finished hourglass sweater fresh from the blocking table.

enjoy!

It's Been Far Too Long...

and I have many, many things to show you! There's been quite alot of knitting and finishing going on.

First let me present to you ... Mikey's Tomten. Made in shades of grey Lopi size 10 needles (or was it 9?) The only mods I made was that I made the sleeves a little shorter (the Mikester doesn't like rolled up sleeves). I loved the pattern and I have yet to put on the green border and buttons but he likes it just like that. He just clutches it closed... as shown in the picture.

Next, is a little magic show where I (insert famous magic name here....Luanda the Great Perhaps....naaa too pretentious) take 7 skeins of this yarn

Follow this pattern.....And get these results.........

This was a sample knit for one of my favorite LYS's...Stix-n-Stitches, Montclair, NJ. Here is a picture of the sweater among the other yarns of it's kind in the shop.

I have to say it was an easy knit. The pattern was interesting and well written. The yarn was soft and yummy. The colors are not my favorite but they really work well with the sweater. It was a quick knit at 14 st/4" on size 10 1/2 needles.

Confession time....this is my very first sweater worked in pieces. I usually work sweaters in the round because I really don't like the sewing up. But I must admit it wasn't so bad. Maybe because it was new to me but I found this to be very quick for me. The whole project from swatching to weaving in the ends took me about one and a half weeks. I was tempted to keep the sweater but instead, I'll just knit another for myself. Maybe out of wool this time?

Lots of Good Stuff Going On!

Ok so my last full day of work was on Friday......YAY! so there are lots and lots of plans being made around here. I had alot planned for this week and little by little am getting it done. Today I spent the day with my mom and we went over curriculum for my daughter that she has been homeschooling. My youngest son and my youngest daughter will be home with me for now and my oldest son and daughter will be starting homeschool in September.
This week since my other two have off from school I decided to make it a week vacation with lots of work planned and field trips to parks and museums and libraries..... I love it!

On knitting related news.... I have not purchased yarn since November (for myself...I did for swaps thinking that didn't cound against my yarn diet but...well, that was cheating and that's that) Anyway I have been really good until this Friday and Monday. On Friday I went to Stix-n-Stitches just to pick up a book and saw sale yarn.....good sale yarn. So I spent about $50 on good sale yarn. I will be posting pics soon.
This week end I showed my sweater in progress to my hubby and he suggested that he thought it would look nice a little longer (my impatience has caused me to knit short sweaters for myself and others...he is so tactful, I love him for bringing me back to reality) I then told him that I didn't have enough yarn to make it longer ..I mean I had exact yardage. So he said words that I never thought would come out of his mouth...."Don't worry, just get some more" So I headed down to AC moore to pick up 2 more skeins of cotton ease in Stone and lo and behold what did I see?
Sugar-n-Cream was on sale for 99 cents. So I purchased some to make seat covers, rugs and place mats for my kitchen and dinning room. So there went another $50. That was exactly the amount I was going to allow myself for my birthday in June.....I almost made it to my birthday...so close and yet so far!
Well I told my husband what I did because we have agreed on full disclosure on all spending and I said that I was going to return it (I clearly wasn't thinking clearly with all those project ideas and yarn on sale distracting me) He was really good about it and told me to keep it but in the future stick to buying what I had on the list only.
I so don't deserve him. If the circumstances were reversed I don't think that I would have been half so gracious. I have alot to learn.....Ain't no man going to be more gracious than me...I've got to start working on that ASAP!

On the Road Back to Where I Belong

I have truly been blessed! I am not totally caught up with my bills but I am getting really close to paying off my debt and living on a cash basis (no credit for me, thank you). My last full day of work will be Friday April 18th. (Can I get an Amen?) I will still be working somewhat mostly from home so that I will be able to have a little income for the family (Can I get an AMen?) I'll be able to get my home to rights. (AMEn) And the best thing of all I will be able to start homeschooling again in September (AMEN!!!)
The days are full of promise! It's been very hard these past few months and I must say it was really in a fog for what seemed like a long time. I must admit that I was loosing faith. How stupid of me to ever doubt my Lord and Saviour. He loves me and I just needed to wait for Him to work his miracles in my life. Me being so impatient almost missed the blessing.
Until next time my friends, I now go to do some curriculum research.

Some Things About Me

I have been reading some of my favorite blogs and I came to the realization that there are some things about myself that I would like to share.
My darling step-daughter is an artist! She has always been a sketcher and a dreamer. Well, my mom has arranged to have her take art lessons from an artist friend whose work has been sold around the world.
I was a little concerned about this out come because of finances and the lack of dedication many children show when presented with these kind of opportunities. However, it's been a blessing to see my daughter come home after an art class and display her work proudly to us. She has produced many wonderful and beautiful things above and beyond what the teacher has assigned. She had been lacksidaisical (sp?) about it at first always claiming that she didn't have the time but once we set a time every day to work on the techniques taught to her she has surely blossomed. That girl is very much like a little child in a 13 yr old body (by little I mean 5 yr old) in that she is very forgetful and her though process is not what you would expect from someone her age. I sorely want to see her happy and successful as an adult and I think we've found something she really enjoys and is really really good at. Of course the las thing I want is to limit her to any pre determined vocation (this is a problem that many times produces unhappy, unproductive, rebelious kids, right?) however I think that the qualities most needed in any occupation is attention to detail, determination, and pride in work done well)
Alright so maybe the above narrative is not about myself but we all are proud when someone we love and have worried over is doing well, aren't we?