Top 5 reasons

...why I haven't posted in two weeks.

1. School vacation week. Everyone home. Enough said.

2. My mother broke her ankle in two places and had to have surgery to put in pins and screws and the whole nine yards. So I took a rather unexpected trip to OH to help her figure out new ways to get around. She lives alone in a split level house, and of course it's her right foot (no driving!). But don't feel too bad for her, she broke it rollerblading!

3. My sweater has turned out to be an UGH and I haven't moved forward since. Pattern errors (of which the company who sent out the pattern still hasn't responded to my inquiries-bad, bad, bad customer service!) and just general ughedness have me at a stalemate. I'll have to make another post about it because I could keep going on...

4. Kidster #1 just turned 6. I am in party planning mode for an Under the Sea theme. Suggestions gladly accepted!

5. Construction in the house kept me away from the computer on the one day a month when the planets aligned and both kidsters were gone for a significant amount of time. Major bummer.

During my mini blogcation, a few new friends hopped in the sandbox. Welcome, and say hi!

Happy Birthday Blog!

Thank you old friends (as in been around for a while) and hello new ones. I want to thank all of you for encouraging me, staying with me, and most of all humoring me for the past year. It has been fun and I look forward to my posts and reading yours now more than ever!

By the way, this is an actual cake made by my almost sister. Her website is here!

Friday Fill-Ins

Due to a lack of sleep and antibiotics, I am doing an easy post. Have a great weekend everyone!

1. Plans and schedules are an absolute must with the kidsters.
2. I'm happy when things go according to the plan.
3. The last thing I drank was orange juice.
4. One of the most valuable things in my life is Hubster. He doesn't exactly know what to do when I'm sick but he knows when things get too crazy it's time to take over.
5. I like bacon on my pizza.
6. Dear November, if you want to be windy, that's fine. If you want to be cold, that's fine too. But keep the germs away from here will ya?
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sleep, tomorrow my plans include sleep, and Sunday, I want to sleep!

Get your Friday Fill-Ins here.

We Have A Winner!

Hooray, hooray! Congrats to Turtle, the winner of the project bag giveaway!

Don't fret if you didn't win. Head on over to Tink's Etsy Shop and get yourself one. Her prices are so reasonable you could get yourself two! I bet the Java and the Flower Power bags disappear quick, they were your favorites!

Fixed!

Thankfully my blog is fixed. There must have been a drought which caused the grass to die. I managed to put the sprinklers on and get it to grow again!

Stay tuned for the project bag giveaway winner post (I need to wake up a little more folks!). I will be using random.org to pick a post number for the winner.

My ideas are leaking out.

I feel like the Little Old Woman in the Shoe, who had so many children she didn't know what to do. Have you ever had so many ideas to post about that you just couldn't get any of them out? Or were afraid that they would rattle around in your brain so much you would forget them, or worse they would leak out? I started a list of post ideas, but then I lost it. I think kidster #2 threw it away or hid it somewhere. He's in the hiding things stage.

Hey, don't forget today's the last day to enter the giveaway!

Summer Slowdown

I have to say that now that school is over I am finding it hard to steal a few minutes to post to the blog. And I don't seem to be the only one, as more than one of the blogs I follow are in the same boat. Is it the heat that seems to be gripping the country? I wouldn't know. New England has had a dismal summer so far. We managed to get three fantastic days over the holiday weekend, but now we are back to cloudy, rainy and 70 degrees. If I get any paler I might turn translucent!

To boost my spirits and hopefully yours too, today's post will be "giveaway day". You all know about my giveaway, right? Well, in case you needed something to go in that project bag I am giving away, here are a few more from my fiber friends.

Shortly is having a sock yarn giveaway to celebrate the release of her new sock pattern.

Darcy is also having a sock yarn giveaway on her blog.

So go over and enter. It's cheaper than playing the lottery!
I have managed to finish one of the cabled handle bags. Pictures next post!

Project Bag Giveaway!

A bit ago I got my hands on a few Infi-knity bags from my friend H over at the Tink-n-Frog. They are great reversible project bags, perfect for small projects like socks!

I picked these two because they reminded me of things I had been talking about here lately. The pirate bag reminded me of my latest pirate escapades. And the butterfly bag for my new cable needle necklace.

But wait! I am giving one of them away! One lucky blog reader will get to choose their favorite.

Ways to enter:

1. Visit the Tink-n-Frog Etsy shop then come back and comment on what you like.

2. Jump in the sandbox for an extra entry (those of you already playing get two more entries). Leave a comment saying you did so.

3. Post this giveaway on your blog with a link to this giveaway. Comment with your post link.

Sorry, I don't tweet, plurk, or floss. Wait, I do floss! I'm one of those weird people who actually like flossing :).

Enter now through July 15th.

Random drawing will be held on July 16th, my six month blogiversary!

I will ship internationally. It might take a while, but I would not think of leaving out some of my loyal fiber friends!

The (no so) random photo tag

Tink tagged me for this photo post. Here's how it goes:

Open your first photo folder
Scroll down to the 10th photo
Post that photo and story on your blog
Tag five friends to do the same

When I saw my 10th photo, I laughed. There's no way I'm posting that picture. But in keeping with the idea, I changed my mind. However, I am posting the 11th photo because the 10th is a little too graphic. Yes, this serves as your warning. After reading this post you will either be laughing with (at) me or running for the hills never to come back again. I hope it's the former since I've enjoyed playing in the sandbox with you.

We have two cats. One is a big huge 22 lb. scaredycat that will do just about anything for a little loving and some treats. The other one is the little 7 lb. queen. She is in charge of everyone and everything, and makes sure that you know it, every day.

The story goes like this:
Before we were married Hubster decided that he was sick of cleaning the litter box (thankfully always was his job). Not that I blamed him. He had heard somewhere that you can train your cat to go in the toilet. Yes you read it right. Dear friends, toilet training the cats was now underway.

So he joined a Yahoo group dedicated to the very subject. He researched online and began the four step process toward litter box cleaning freedom.

And it worked too. Here's a link to that more graphic 10th photo I mentioned, if you dare! The people in the know about this thing also say that you can teach kitty to flush (remember in "Meet The Parents") but we happened to have harder than usual flushers.

It was great for about 2 years. When we bought our house we spent every free moment of the entire summer ripping out carpet, installing tile floors, painting every surface, and all those things young (child free) home buyers do to save money and try to make the money pit they just bought livable. The queen of the castle wasn't too happy about not having a lap to sleep in every evening. She let us know by rebelling against the toilet. When we moved into the house we tried again to get them to use the toilet but the queen issued her edict to us about that. When the time comes for her to retire to the big catnip farm in the sky (oh, not that I want that at all), we will try again.

Are you still here?
Ok taggees, here you go!

Liz
Missus.Mint
Alexandra
the Ohio Girl
JJewelry

Why I Love Blogging

Here's a little story about why I love blogging.

When I first started blogging, I felt like I was talking to a wall. Remember that feeling? Then slowly people start peeking in. I joined the Blogging group in Rav and did the comment train a few times, which brought me over to the Tink-n-Frog blog. It just so happened that she was asking for some advice on her Etsy shop banner. Not being one to shy away from offering advice, I commented. Probably a little more critically than I would have if we were face to face, seeing as I didn't even know this person. Well, the comments turned out ok, because besides being supportive in all my blog ramblings, we have spent a few nights laughing with each other over in Ravelry, too. We have become bbf's. No, not best boyfriends. (Yes, I looked it up and that seems to be the going meaning these days.) Ok, maybe we're bbb's. Best Blogging Buddies. We're on completely opposite sides of the country but yet it feels like she is next door sometimes. She never fails to make me laugh or cry, and I can only hope to meet her in person someday. Anyway...

A few weeks ago, I bought some of Tink's Infi-knity bags because I'm planning a contest/blog giveaway in a little while here (hint, hint!). So instead of sending me the beautiful bags I wanted, she sent me the beautiful bags AND a ton of goodies to go along with it! I felt like it was my birthday all over again. See the little knitted acorn cutie? I got a kick out of this. It goes along with the acorn award! Oh, and if I turn into a sock addict we will all know who is responsible.

I'm Baaaaack!

Yes, I am back from my little mini vacation. I missed the kidsters' kisses and hugs and smiles. Missed that from Hubster too. I didn't miss the screaming and fighting amongst brothers. Luckily they missed me too and were super tonight, even playing together for a bit.

The concert was fantastic. Or, to use a phrase used around here far too often...wicked awesome! I scored a nice concert tee shirt so I am representing in style. I could go on and on (an on, and on, and on) about it I loved it so much. Maybe a separate post about it soon!

I am so far behind in reading all your blogs! I'll catch up with all of you over the next few days, I promise. And I have a bunch of posts all lined up (in my head) for all of you dear readers. It's going to be a little difficult for me to get them out since school is over and everyone is always here (aka no time to myself), but stay tuned. I have something interesting coming!

My Knitting Checklist

I found this knitting wish list on mamakass's blog Knits in a Lively Breeze. Please use it and pass it on then leave me a comment so I can go check out your list. I'd like to see what you've done, want to do, and what you want no part of!

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing:

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip-stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity Knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/Doll Clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…
knitting socks- or other small tubular items- on two circulars
Dyeing with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Olympic Knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/Felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegated yarn
Stuffed Toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Free-form knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm-warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a Loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Win a laptop!

Well, I'm not even sure you can call it a laptop since it's so small and lightweight! It's the HP Mini Vivienne Tam Edition clutch, and you can win it by going to the Blissful Style website.

Yes, I am in a bit of a contest mode lately, but only for stuff that I really need (like this), or want sooooo badly (like this). Plus there hasn't been any knitting, so I thought I'd at least let you know about something exciting. Thanks to Missus Mint for the tip off. Good luck to all of us who enter!

Win Knitpicks needles and yarn!

Things Moms Like is giving away four balls of cotton yarn and a set of Harmony Needles! Wow.
But today is the last day to enter, so you better head on over there right away! And if you don't enter, cross your fingers for me because I would love those needles. And I can think if a few things to do with the yarn too!

This blog itches

Yes, this is my made-over blog, with the header I wanted, that I had formatted with what I wanted, and that I finally got released not even a whole month ago. But it seems too busy. Like wearing a striped sweater with polka dot pants. I'm thinking that I want now is a nice white or neutral background. But I already know that once I do that I'll want some color and texture back. Alas...maybe I'm just making this up as an excuse to spend more time at the computer?

It's ironic because my first pattern project was pink, and now my second pattern project is green, and they seem to just blend in with the blog instead of stand out. Even my latest yarn purchases were pink and green. Does she have any other colors, you ask? Yes! I have a six foot tall by four foot wide stash of plactic bins (and yarn!) just waiting for me. I think I'll do turquiose next. Should clash nicely with the blog colors:(

I have a new look!

Taaaaaaaaa Daaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Welcome back to the new and improved Knitting in my Backyarn!

Summer and I have been working hard on this brand new look. Well, she has been working hard, I've been making a lot of changes!

Roam around a little and then grab my button for your blog. Leave me a comment so I can go check out how it looks on you!

Do you get the pun? You know, me talking about knitting in the setting of my backyard? I hope it works for you. And if it doesn't, it's still cute, isn't it?

Tidbits of knitting

Like a lot of bloggers that don't get a chance to post every day, I do create daily posts in my brain. The problem is that when the time comes that I can actually post, they are all mumbo-jumbo up there. It doesn't help that right now I have a tab open in ravelry, a tab open in facebook, and a tab open in my Yahoo, and a tab open in whatever. My "I only get an hour a day to knit" also transfers into my other favorite pastimes. Add to this the fact that it's Friday night, my kids are asleep, my husband is down the street, and I've had two beers (!!), and you can see how I might have a little problem focusing.

My biggest news is that I won a blog makeover!!! I won the blog makeover contest by inspired mama musings, which is a blog makeover by Summer's design blog! It's funny, you know, because I finally found peace with what I had. I guess that's life! And don't take me the wrong way, I am totally psyched to see what we can come up with!! And if you can't tell, count the number of exclamation points in this paragraph. Ha!

I do have a cast on to report! I started a hat for my sister in law. She is a fixture in our family. She is my kids' #1 aunt, playmate and friend. She is our A1 babysitter and all around fun person. Even better, she calls us her "fun family". How great is that? And being a teacher, will be doing some sitting for us this week! Anyway, she has this favorite orange fleece she wears and I thought it would be fun to make her a hat to go with it. She liked my Hannah hat and wears a pony tail too. Not like me who wears one every day, but often enough that she would be able to get some use out of it. So I have this yarn. It's probably the first yarn I ever bought. You know, that cheap almost pretty stuff. It looks very orange. It has some nice other colors in it, but being a thick and thin I wasn't sure that I would ever be able to make anything decent out of it. I've finished the rib section and was pleasantly surprised to see that it self stripes, sort of. I'm not too thrilled that all the other colors (pink and ochre, yeah, ochre) seem to show up more than the orange. Unfortunately I'm going to have to hurry up and finish it before I decide if I like it enough to gift it. I would like to finish it this week, as a thank you for the babysitting, but can't really gift that ugly thing, can you? I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Oh, did I mention that I won a blog makeover?!?!?!?

Yup, it's the beginning of school vacation week. That means that hubster and kidster #1 are home, and that our "normal" (ok, I'm trying to stop laughing, really I am) routine is completely thrown to the dogs. I probably will not get my computer time, and I'm going to try real hard not to let that me get too grouchy. I'll let you know how that goes.

Now I can get on with some knitting!

I managed to put a collage together from Picassa that I'm happy with. I had to download Picasa because the web based one didn't have that function. While I'm not happy about having yet another photo program/service (hmm, Phanfare, Photobucket, Flickr, Picassa, anyone missing?), I can see the usefulness for making custom photo headers. This was one of my collages that I had to keep shuffling the pictures so I could get the three I wanted in a row. Boy, did that take a while.

I thought about making the header seasonal, but I was so depressed with the snow pictures that I had to put something up there that I would actually want to see.

So, without further adieu, here's my new header with actual pictures of my backyard. The dark green background might not stay, but the header will, at least for a while. I find it inspiring!

Blog obsessed

I have been so obsessed with my blog lately that I can't seem to get anything else done. Forget starting the taxes. I haven't paid bills in at least a week. And don't even ask me about the state of my house (I have two young boys, so insert mental image here). I decided that I didn't like the Blogger template as is, so set out on a search for a new template. Well, forget about that! I would need another week just to hit all the sites, let alone preview all the templates I thought would work. Then I came across a blog from Liz, Knitting is my free Therapy, while on ravelry (another obsession of mine, but I'm sure I'll get into that later). She was talking about how she changed her regular Blogger template into three columns. I thought, "Yeah! That's what I need to do!". She was kind enough to send me the link to the instructions (which are here, if you want to know) and I worked on it. I like it well enough, but I'm not sure if I'll keep it. I think the real problem was the pale green background I had before. It made it seem like it had a nuclear reaction going on. Not the natural, easy-going feeling I was looking for. So I changed that and now it's ok. The real thing I need to do is fix my header picture. I know what I want but I just don't know how to do it. I like the picture I have (it really is my backyard!) and would like to keep it as a larger rectangle in the middle, but want to add two other pics I have on each edge, as squares. I don't have any photo editing software so I'm not sure how to go about this exactly. This is my next obsession...

Maybe then I can get some knitting done, huh?

Win a blog makeover!

Inspired mama musings is having a giveaway on her blog. It's a blog makeover by Summer's design blog worth $100. Go to inspired mama musings to enter!

The best of luck to all of you who enter, but I hope I win!