I've been thinking....

" There's no place like home....."
See, Halloween isn't the only scary thing going on. I've been thinking. The economy sucks and times are tough and who knows when I'll get to go on a vacation. So, I'm thinking it would be super cool if November was devoted to giving my readers the opportunity to go on a getaway to my town (and hopefully some other people giving me one to theirs)free of charge in the month of November.

Here's what I'm thinking. Every day in November (or as close to every day as I can get) I'm going to post pictures of the town in which I live. I'll talk about local industry, local sights, and the things that make it home. What do you guys think? Who's with me?
I need to think of a snappy little name for this. Any suggestions?

Reasons why I love my job....

1. It's closer to home. New job - 10 minute drive Old job - 50 minute drive
2. Smaller town = smaller lines at restaurants and drive thrus
3. More time to knit (see #2 and #1)
4. They totally expect the salaried people here to visit with the hourly people so that everyone has a great work environment. Old job = nose to the grindstone, no chit chat
5. I'm outside a whole lot more; therefore more need for the handknits.
6. More time with the family (see #1)
7. Flex time You need off early, that's cool, just make it up later sometime. Old job = You leave early, you take vacation.
8. I can go home and see my kids at lunch
9. Cool people (although the other job had some great people too.)
10. Did I mention the more time for knitting??


This is the sock I cast on last night. I worked on it at lunch while waiting for my food in the super speedy drive-thru.


Here is the sock just before I went back to work at lunch. See the workplace in the background?? See the tiny platform between the 2 tall things? That's where I was last week. I'm scared of heights. Add that to the things I hate about my job.
Yarn: Vesper Love Stinks.
Needles: Size 1 Knitpicks dpns
Gauge: I'm getting about 8-8 1/2 stitches to the inch.
Comments: These colors are awesome. I'm stalking the Vesper website for the update today in hopes of snagging some Wee Skeins. I love the FOs I'm seeing from these!


LittleMan is at a field trip with his Papaw today and they sent some pictures over to me. With the job being all new and such, I didn't take off for the trip. I hear they are having a blast! LM has milked a cow, held baby pigs, fed goats, and my personal fave....fed the sheep.


Things I hate about my job....
1. The hard hat and safety glasses....excuse the crappy picture. (all of them today were cell phone shots. Sorry!)

2. Heights

Have a great day!!
Melissa

Stash Sale!!

STASH SALE
Prices are under each photo. Shipping will be Priority Mail Flat Rate and I'll charge you what the post office will charge me, so obviously there will be a discount on multiple purchases. Payment will be Paypal and first come first serve on sales. E-mail me at littlemp at gmail dot com or leave a comment to purchase. My flash is terrible, so you might want to check out a website with better pics of the yarn colors if you are worried about what the color looks like exactly. THANKS!!

Lisa Souza Sock! Merino in Violet's Pink Ribbon I paid $16, you pay $10.

Koigu KPM Dye Code 3000 $7 This is more burgundy (but still purple) than my flash allows me to show you.

Knitpicks Memories Smores colorway 2 skeins same dyelot $5 for both

Nashua Cilantro Lupine Colorway (2) balls same dyelot $8 for both

Socks that Rock Lightweight Rainforest Jasper (this was a Sock Club colorway from a couple of years ago) $15

Lamb's Pride Worsted Sable colorway same dyelot. One full skein and about 3/4 or more of another one. I paid $7 each, will sell for $10 for the two.

Cascade Fixation. One ball in color 2706 and one in 6185. Both for $5.

Opal Magic Self Patterning. $12 This is a grey colorway.

Not for sale, but dontcha love the matching hats!

Stash Sale

Tonight, or maybe tomorrow, I am going to put up some items on a stash sale. First come first serve and paypal will be the preferred method of payment. I will have some Cascade, some Socks that Rock, Cascade Fixation, and some assorted sock yarns. I was going through my stash and realized that I have stuff that I'm not as in love with now as I once was.

What we've been up to.....

Last weekend we participated in our town's first ever Relay for Life 5 K. Here's LittleGirl...

And here is her brother...He biked over 1/2 of the 5 K and walked the rest. I was really proud of him.

Here we are when we finished...

We had a great time and will definitely be doing this again next year.

Last week I finshed the matching hat for LittleMan to match his Uncle Scuba Steve.

The flash really screwed up these colors. This is the Flames Lorna's Laces colorway. There is no hot pink in it. And by the way, you can get 2 Boyfriend Hats out of a skein of Shepherd Sport with no problem, in case you were wondering....

And there was some baking for the school's Fall Festival, who I'm happy to report cleared over $17K for the new playground!!

There was also the Fall Festival at our church yesterday. Do you think he had fun??

LittleGirl won a cute glow wand...

And here is LittleGirl modeling a cute had made with Lisa Souza Fat Bunny Angora. That stuff is heavenly. This is the Wild Things colorway.

On the agenda this week?? Halloween parties and I am working on another hat for Lucky Husband, then I think I'll be on to socks. Lots and lots of socks.

I also taught Lucky Husband's little 14 year old sister to knit this weekend. I think she's addicted now. She's working on a scarf and wants to learn socks eventually.

Have a great week!!

Melissa

Just a bunch of pictures

I decided to post some pictures that have been lingering around on my camera. First off, our fireplace all decorated for Halloween. LittleMan helped a little with the webs....

LittleMan dancing on a stump on the main highway in town. I work probation every now and then for my dad and on this Saturday morning, the kids and I were hanging out at the probation office and had no one coming in to pay, so we went outside. And he danced...

And he took pictures of me and LittleGirl.....

Here he is working out of his Highlights magazine....

You can't help but smile at this one....

Doesn't she look deep in thought??

Have a great day!!

Melissa

A Finished Object!!!

I did it. I finished something!! It's a hat for my Father-in-law. Maybe for his birthday (in December) or for Christmas.

Here it is modeled by LittleMan:

Pattern: Boyfriend Hat

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Flames colorway

Needles: Knitpicks Options US 7

Notes: Awesome pattern. Super fast knit. Loved this. In retrospect, US 6 needles might would have made a better fabric, but I love this hat and I have enough yarn left over according to my handy dandy lab scale at work to make another hat for LittleMan. The yarn was a gift from the best Secret Pal ever, Marisol.

The father-in-law should have surgery in the next couple of weeks and start chemo again for 4-6 months. This chemo is supposed to be pretty high dose stuff, so I have the hat ready for when/if he loses his hair.

And, some kid pics...

So, what do you think? Maybe she looks like me just a little???

But she definitely looks like her brother...

Melissa

LittleMan Strikes Again.

Me: Hey, can you bring me a washcloth from the living room. (where the clothes are in the process of being folded, but I digress...)
LittleMan: Sure. Here ya go! It's got a ship on it!! (It is one of his obviously, with a little sailboat on it.)
LittleMan: Ya know what the ship's name is??
Me: What?
LittleMan: Scholar. It's a scholar ship

No idea where that came from.

Fluttering Around

Check out our little dragonfly!!

Update

No knitting, but here's a child update.
The baby is cutting her 3rd tooth and pulling up and trying to stand. She's not even 8 months old yet!! Why is she in such a hurry!!!
LittleMan is getting more and more mature every day. It's scary. He asked me the other day if I knew Cooper's cell phone number so that he could call and say hi. (Cooper is our 2 year old cousin!). I guess he assumes everyone has a cell phone!
He has a friend in his class named Lanie (Not sure if that's spelled right) whom he absolutely adores. Turns out that Scuba Steve has started "coaching" the local 4H shooting team and her brother is on the team. So, when we went to watch Scuba Steve the other day, he got to play for a few hours with Lanie. He was in heaven!
That's about it. Maybe I'll have pictures soon!

Melissa