I've got a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine: I love to use it, and it loves to turn out projects that look like a fourth grader was set loose with crazy glue and a doobie. I rarely am successful, in other words, with my sewing projects. However, a while back, I was able to make curtains for my kitchen:

And ever since then, I've been itching to do something fun. While I'm supposed to be working on my Ravelympics project (and I am! I promise!), my attention has been snagged by something else.

I intend for those fabric combinations to become extremely simple quilts for my kids; the University of Texas for my son, and the blue/brown combination for my daughter. And by simple, I literally mean that I'm going to cut a 60" x 45" panel from each bolt, slap some quilting batting between them, and then quilt diagonal lines across them in a contrasting thread color. Then, I'll use the solid colors to attempt to bind the quilts. On the surface, this seems like it will be easy, but just like anything else - I know better. I'm sure I'll learn a lot, and the kids will end up with useable blankets at the end of it, and the sewing bug will be out of my system for a while. 

But first: finishing up the sweater. I'm 18 repeats down the body, and only two skeins of yarn down so far. I'm think that I will need somewhere around 25 repeats to make it as long as I want it to be, and I've also got the arms to do, so I could possibly break into the fourth skein to finish this thing. But it looks like I'm on target to finish on the deadline!

As of 9:23 this morning, my accounting class is complete. I managed a B for that one, and an A for Statistics. I'm just thanking my lucky stars that they are both over, behind me, and I can move on to bigger and better things.

Like the Ravelympics.

That's a picture of the progress I made in the first three days of the sweater challenge - day four only added two rows (the eyelet row and the row after), so I didn't take another picture. This yarn is the bomb diggity; when it first arrived, I was underwhelmed by the colors, but man, it sure showed me up in the knitting. It's a reddish-purple overall, but there are streaks of blue and some golden browns and such that are carried along with the rest of the yarn, and the garter stitch does wonders to show that off. Two more rows and I pull it all off onto waste yarn and start the sleeves.

What, you don't do the sleeves of your sweaters before you knit the body? I can't be the only person who does that! There's just something about getting the sleeves knit first that makes me feel like I've taken a huge chunk out of a project like this. Even when I'm in the middle of knitting hell, going down the body of the sweater, I can look up and see that once I'm done with that part, I'm done. I don't get as discouraged as I would if I had to then go back and knit the damn sleeves after I've slogged through an entire sweater body. I'm not great with big projects when it comes to knitting; I tend to stick with small things, like socks, I think it's because I have a very short attention span. Socks almost push me to my limit at times.

I'm hoping to get started on one sleeve tonight - if I can do a sleeve in two nights, I think that I might, maybe, possibly pull this off.

Eight days.

That's all I have left in the semester, eight days. Two tests, a homework assignment, a lab and the third (and final) part of a class project, and I'm done with this summer semester. I cannot tell you what has made this semester, these particular classes, so difficult and ridiculous; but trust me when I say that this has most likely been the worst semester I've ever had.

I'm fortunate in the fact that my family has worked rather well to ensure that I've got the time that I need to get things done. As an adult, with a full time job, two kids and a husband, it is not easy to carve out time to study and do homework, but the children have obligingly agreed to sleep on a mostly regular schedule, and they have grudgingly agreed to take naps on the weekends. Mike takes them whenever I really need him to, and in doing all of this, I have managed to worm my way through the past 11 weeks.

Pray for me. The first final is tomorrow.

 I started this thing forever and a day ago; I began, decided to go up a needle size, ripped, and started again. The yarn was won in a contest; when I saw it, I knew that I had to do something gorgeous with it, something that put it somewhere that wasn't my feet. And the Woodland Shawl pattern fit the bill perfectly: easily memorized, portable, and perfect with the yarn. Speaking of the yarn, it is Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Sock Yarn in Sublime, the perfect balance of gold, red, brown and greens. Fantastic for something called a "Woodland Shawl".

And that makes yet another finished object. If I keep this up, folks will start to get the wrong impression about me. 

I finally got the Dream in Color Classy photographed:

It's a hard color to photograph - deep purples and reds, with black layered in for good measure. I bought six skeins because I am absolutely terrified of running out of yarn; Sarah may end up with another February Baby Sweater if there is enough left over. Although, would that be dorky? If we have matching sweaters? I seem to recall making fun of mother/daughter sets like that in a store recently...but those weren't handmade, so it doesn't count. I've been on a tear lately, wanting to start new projects - hence, this happened:

Nope, it's not just you - the picture is a bit blurry. Those would be the Crosshatch Lace pattern from More Senstational Knitted Socks! by Charlene Schurch, and the yarn is Knit Picks Essential Kettle Dyed in Wine.

As I draw closer to the end of the summer semester, I find myself losing steam in my classes. I remember this happening when I went through college the first time around; I set out with the best of intentions, studying diligently and making every effort to get that A that I so desperately want, but by the end...I find myself calculating just how little work I could do and still pull a B. I'm still shooting for that A, trust me, but it's crazy busy trying to keep track of two kids and school at the same time. No excuses, however; please, feel free to kick me in the ass if you pass me in the hallway.

Not really. You might lose a leg.

I have FRACKIN' FINISHED SOMETHING: 

Self striping socks simply aren't my thing, normally, but thanks to the fantastic dye job of one indie dyer, I can make self striping socks that I actually like. These only took three weeks to complete, which is virtually a miracle dropped down from the heavens. I cannot explain why, but it takes me forever to finish anything (hence the worry over the upcoming Knitting Olympics, and thoughts about my level of sanity for signing up for an entire sweater (I AM STUPID)). I have enough yarn to keep me knitting for the next five years at the rate that I knit, but lucky for yarn stores, that sure as hell doesn't keep me from buying more. Regardless, these socks are THE BOMB, the color combinations are obnoxious, and I couldn't be more pleased that they are finished and ready for public view.

It's late on a Monday, and my husband is working late (rather unexpectedly), leaving me home alone with the kids. Neither of whom are cooperating; my son is chunking toys at his sister's head, and my daughter is unhappy that I won't let her play with a plastic bag. I've got a 7 am meeting tomorrow that I'm presenting at, I need to prepare, and yet, I just can't bring myself to do it after wrangling these kids this evening.

Over the weekend, we made our first trip as a family: we drove to Houston to visit a friend of mine from the first time around in college. She has three children of her own, so we let the kids have the run of the house, along with some other families that were over, and it was relaxing. I can't believe a trip with my kids can be termed "relaxing", but so be it. We had a good time - everyone slept when they were supposed to sleep, played when they were supposed to play, and ate when they were directed to. We returned feeling happy and grateful that this is a possiblity in our lives; we can leave the city and not end up hating life by the time we return.

So right now, sitting here typing this, is a hard return to reality. Bryan did not nap at all at school today, so we're dealing with an overly tired preschooler and an almost-toddler (yay for standing up all by yourself!) who is constantly frustrated by her brother, who yanks toys out of her hand, tries to pull her away from things that she's interested in, and basically tries his best to boss her around as much as he can.  But this is the day to day stuff that you push through, that you deal with, in order to have the fun times. This is normal, even if it is hard to handle when I'm still tired from the traveling and from a day of work myself.  This is the true test of being Mom. 

I'm pretty sure that I've gone insane. In about four weeks, the Knitting Olypmics starts up again, and I'm actually signed up to make a sweater.

A SWEATER. I can barely knit a pair of socks in two weeks. 

But it's not just any sweater; it's the grown up version of the February Baby Sweater (aptly named the February Lady Sweater). I have some experience with the pattern, as I made one for my daughter a while back, but still. TWO WEEKS? Thank God it's seamless, because otherwise I'm positive that this project would be a giant FAIL. I ordered some Dream In Color Classy in Gothic Rose, but I'm rethinking the color selection; Happy Forest is such a fantastic color, and I really love it to peices. Still, I can make this one in the red and then go back and make one in green, I guess. It's not like the world will fall apart because *gasp* I CHOSE A DIFFERENT COLOR. And even then, someone else has already done it in the Gothic Rose, and dude. DUDE. Totally stunning. 

Now all I have to do is finish up these two damn classes and I'll be set. Cast on actually starts before the semester is officially over, but I am LIVING ON THE EDGE. 

I survived my birthday - the world did not stop spinning, I did not explode into a pile of aging goo, and no one is pointing and laughing at the artifact that is walking among them. So no different than before. This birthday did make me realize how many fantastic friends I've got, though; birthday cards and email arrived from all over the place. I stood back Monday night and took a good look at all of the people that I've surrounded myself with, and I have to say, they all kick ass. So thanks, y'all, for doing such a great job of making me feel like a million dollars. Age IS just a number.

And according to the Wii Fit, I'm 28 anyway, so suck it, Father Time.

Life: 1 
Blog Updates: 0

Sarah's party went really, really well. We bought too much food, which is pretty normal for us (I seem to be in constant fear that we're going to run out of food for some reason, like everyone will swoop in and demolish the food and then be all, HEY, WE ARE LEAVING NOW, YOU LOSERS) which means that we ate hot dogs for two days afterwards. No matter. Sarah was gifted with mounds of clothes and plenty of toys, and everyone had a blast. The Wii Fit was put to good use in entertaining some of the older kids at the party.

The bakery did a fanastic job with the cake; I was very impressed that they were able to do all of that from the napkin that I handed them. She did the dantiest cake smash ever; I gave her a corner peice, and she picked the little pink edging parts off and stuck them in her mouth one at a time. She had a little icing on her mouth and her hands, and that's about it; it's like she knew we were giving her permission to be a total mess, and she decided to do the exact opposite. And she refused to eat any of the actual cake; she would only eat the icing.

The combination of school and work and kids and husband and...well, LIFE, is kicking my ass right now. Time is at a premium. I'm not sure what happened, but somehow I'm scheduled solid from the time I wake up until the time I collapse in bed at night. I just keep telling myself that I can get through these two classes; but there are days when I stop and think about how stupid I was to take them at the same time in a shortened semester. There is nothing I can do about it now but muddle through as best as I can, but next time I come up with some hairbrained scheme to "knock out those two classes", please pick up the nearest heavy object and wail on me thoroughly. With gusto.

I was a part of a fantastic stitch marker swap on Ravelry, and somehow I ended up with the greatest assortment of stitch markers ever. My girls did a FABULOUS job; each set was made by hand, and will be put to good use if I ever get out from under my life. 

There is one additional set that I can't show you here, because y'all, this is a FAMILY SHOW, and two of the stitch markers may be shaped like a part of the male anatomy that rhymes with SCHMENIS. And others are a little more gross than that. I had a picture of it up on Flickr, but I took it down for fear that it would violate their terms, as well it should. Dirty, dirty stitch markers that I'm not sure should ever see the light of day.

Next up: the BIG BIRTHDAY. Of which we do not speak. But I think I did just speak of it. Crap.