Gilmore girls KAL

oh sooo long

2009-02-19T23:32:00.004-05:00

Alright, so I'm guilty of the one thing I hate the most about blogs, never writing new stuff. Well I've been out living life :)

I guess not too much has happened since august but now i'm totally addicted to coupon clipping. I started a bit of a group where I ship expired coupons overseas to moms on military bases and the place I worked at burnt down. See pics above.

Well josh is about to pass out and if I want to see him at all today I better sign off for tonight but I promise I will now be more active here, well if anyone is still reading I guess ;)

super long post :)

2008-08-17T10:48:00.006-05:00

Time for a long over due update. I have recently TOLD josh he is going to marry me. He no longer has a choice in the matter. LOL. We are talking about getting married in sept. of 2010. I wanted a mexican themed wedding, food, music, tequila :) etc. I want a party. So here are a few of the dresses i like. THe black one is the bridesmaid dress my sister has picked out. She has decided that she is planning the wedding, which is ok with me since she is sooo much more girly than i am. There are only a few things i am not letting her pick out. Food, music and what time the wedding starts. I am sooo not getting married in the afternoon, I want a late wedding. There is no way i'm getting up at like 8 am just to get my hair done. I'm thinking more like noon to get the hair done maybe like a 3 or 4 start time for the wedding ? who knows i have plenty of time to think about it and have plenty of time to loose some weight :( ))) That is my double chin behind the sad face LOLI found this one on ebay for like 350.00
THese are like 184.00 A little higher than i think they should be but hopefully they will go down my 2010
I'm not sure where i found this one but I loved how it would make me look a bit more busty and hide the belly.

I went to a garage sale this week and this is the amazing finds that i gathered. She was selling all her yarn for only .50 a skein. The first day i only had five dollars so I bought what i could then went back the next day and almost bought all the stuff she was selling.
Counting the first five and what i spent the second day my total was about $22 :)

She just gave me the crochet thread.

This is red heart, i think it will make a nice fall blanket. I love these colors together. one is like a rust color while the other is a light mustard yellow.
Baby pink. I never have a reason to buy pink but i have to get ready to make some more stuff for the foster care children so i thought it would be a good idea to have pink on hand.
My free crochet thread. :) YEAHHHHHH
This is the afghan i'm doing for the ravelympics. I am calling it spiderbaby because when it is done it will look like a spiderweb.
This is my someday baby blanket. Josh and I know we want to have another baby "someday" so i figured as long as it takes me to finish a afgahn i'd better get started on it now :)

The garage sale finds included her giving me this tote. I also purchased a bag a fiber fill, some quilting batting, and two pillow forms.

This is what i bought the first day. I bought just enough to do a baby boy blanket with the solid blue and the varigated blue yarn. I thought it would be cute in the star shape. Who knows what it will end up as :)

OSU block O dishcloth pattern

2008-06-04T07:48:00.002-05:00

My dear Josh helped me design this pattern for micah's principal for a end of the school year gift. He is a big OSU fan so here is our pattern for the OSU block O dishcloth pattern. Enjoy :)

I used sugar'n cream cotton yarn in red and size 7 needles

CO41

k4 rows in garter st

1-K all

2-K3, P35, k3

3-K all

4-K3, P35, K3

5- K all

6- K3, P10, K15, P10, K3

7- K11, P19, K11

8-K3, P7, K21, P7, K3

9- K9, P23, K9

10-K3, P5, K25, P5, K3

11-K7, P27, K7

12-K3, P3, K29, P3, K3

13-K5, P11, K9, P11 ,K5

14- K3, P2, K10, P11, K10, P2, K3

15-K5, P9, K12 P9, K5

16- K3, P2, K9, P12, K9, P2, K3

REPEAT ROWS 15 & 16 A TOTAL OF 12 TIMES

40- K5, P9, K13, P9, K5

41- K3, P2, K10, P11, K10, P2, K3

42-K5, P11, K9, P11, K5

43- K3, P3, K29, P3, K3

44-K7, P27, K7

45- K3, P5, K25, P5, K3

46- K9, P23, K9

47- K3, P7, K21, P7, K3

48- K11, P19, K11

49- K3, P10, K15, P10, K3

50- K ALL

51- K3, P35, K3

52- K ALL

53- K3, P35, K3

KNIT 4 ROWS IN GARTER ST TO FINISH,

ALL GOOD :)

2008-04-18T09:22:00.002-05:00

Well to all of you who have been there for me and stood by me with words of encouragement or prayers i want to thank you. I got the call from my doctor yesterday and he says that I'm stable. He does not think that i have lymphoma. I will have a follow up appointment on April 30th but right now al is looking good.
I do have to get another MRI on Sunday to see if I am having seizures but I'm not too worried about that yet. SO here we go with another wait and see game :)
thanks,
mandie

you have to try these

2008-04-08T01:03:00.003-05:00

Mexican crepes:

We had some left over tortilla's after making taco's and decided to figure out how to make a dessert out of them.

They are super yummy, fast and cheap to make.

This is all you need:

1 pack of cream cheese

1/2 cup of powered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 pack of 10" flour tortillas

1 egg (optional)

and what ever you want to use to top dessert when done.

mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla

place mix in a strip in the center of a tortilla

roll like a burrito (roll in the sides of tortilla)

at the flap you can use the egg as follows:

beat egg and brush on the flap of the tortilla like a glue to hold together

You could also use water to do this.

Place rolled tortilla in a pan of heated Crisco on the stove (med. high heat)

Use tongs to place in oil

leave in oil for 1-2 min. until brown then flip.

Once other side is browned you can do several things:

Sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar, powdered sugar etc

top with fresh fruit, melted chocolate or jam

This is so fast and sooooooooo yummy

Let me know if you try this recipe out I'd love to hear what you think.

much love

Mandie

Bored? bake some cookies :)

2008-04-02T00:41:00.004-05:00

Well we had a great spring break. Because of all the wonderful snow we had here this winter spring break was only three weekdays long. It was a big yucky on a couple of the days for micah to go out and play so we decided to make cookies.

The first pic is of our Cool Whip cookies. They are sooo easy and super yummy. The next pic is of Galaxy cookies. They are fun and fast.

I signed up with the web site www.allrecipes.com they have everything you could ever want to make. They also allow you to have your own recipe box on their web site so you can always find what you are looking for. This is where i found the cool whip cookie recipe.

It called for lemon cake mix but we are more of a chocolate family :)

The galaxy cookies came from my moms betty crocker cook book from the 60's. I tried to make these when i was in girl scouts a long long time ago for a baking contest and i failed horribly. I vowed i would remake these cookies the right way some day and I did. Well we did, my son wanted them to be green cookies and i wanted pink so i got the frosting and he got his green cookies. What team work :)

It was a great couple of family days for us. I learn something new about them everyday.

more picks coming soon of my new knitting project :)

best wishes and happy stitches

mandie

fingers crossed

2008-04-01T07:50:00.002-05:00

With everything going on with me medically we (josh and i) were hoping for a little ray of sunlight in the form of a promotion for him at work. Well after 5 interviews and two weeks of waiting josh found out that the most unqualified of them three canidates got the job. AHHHHHHHHH. We were really counting on that pay raise. Like most of the country our bills are growing fast and it just feels like there is no end in sight. I don't know what else to do. As soon as i get my test results back we are going to know what our next move is. I know that i most likely will not be going back to work but we have to find a better solution than what we are doing now.
I've been watching what we spend, no dinners out, no movies, i clip coupons like a mad women, i don't know what else i can do to help us out. Selling on ebay is going ok but not the numbers i need to see to help josh with the bills.
Well keep your fingers crossed on this matter and add us to your prayers cuz this road is getting really bumpy.
best wishes and happy stitches
mandie

It just keeps getting worse

2008-03-05T10:53:00.009-05:00

During this god forsaken weather i have kept myself busy with lots of knitting. I will be able to finish the scarf seen above today. This is my summer skinny scarf. I loved the blend of the ribbon yarn with the mohair accents.

The other project is a pair of pedi socks for my sister. I think she will love them. I am making them with lion brand wool in olive green and a purple/blue color. THis pic does not do the color justice.

This is a view from my son's window of the neighbors yard. Late last night it was very slushy outside but not too much in the way of ice. Today however there is a huge layer of ice everywhere.

The tops of the trees are sagging with the weight of the ice. We had a few power outages last night too.

Even though it is sooo cold and gross outside it is still very beutiful to look at. I love the way these bushes look in my neighbors yard.

I am waiting for our power to go out at anytime. Just take a look at these wires coming off of our house. They are getting thicker and thicker. If we get anymore ice today these things are going to break. We also have alot of flooding too. The sandusky river is way way over it's banks and has flooded the local park and golf course.

This is my driveway last night. It is one huge sheet of ice. I really wanted to go walking around on it. :)

This is my Josh. He is cleaning off the back porch but first he had to break all the ice off of the shovel. Poor guy, he had to wear micah's gloves, We couldn't find his work gloves.

This has been a crazy weather week and it is just getting worse. Micah didn't have school today. He is soo happy but to bad it is so nasty outside he can't go out and play. We are watching the princess bride on HBO. He has never seen it and I just love passing on my wonderful movie knowledge. I want him to watch Annie. He loved the laybinth and he loves Star Wars. So far he is so into Princess Bride. We tried to let him watch Robin Hood Men in Tights but we quickly realized that it was a bit too grown up for him.

He recently started watching the Jetson's and the Flinestones.

Well i'm off to watch the movie with my boy and finish the pedi sock.

Best wishes and happy stitches.

Mandie

Oh this ohio weather :(

2008-03-04T15:45:00.004-05:00

So two days ago it was nice enough outside that my son was able to get his bike out of the garage and go play with his neighborhood friends. Today is a whole different story. It started to rain last night, that rain has since turned into a nice layer if ice and now we have snow, ice and sleet.

The picture above is of the lines going from the house to the garage, they have about a half inch layer of ice around them.

This pic was taken from my son's room, that is not rain on the window, it is a layer of ice

Again a picture from my son's window. This is all ice. School was put on a two hour delay this morning and some town's nearby even sent the children home early. Not our school though :(

There is more on the way.

Today was also the presidential primary's voting in Ohio. I'm sure this weather hurt the voter turn out a bit.
I was able to talk my mother into voting, she really didn't want to leave the house.

I voted and have my sticker now :)

I guess i will keep mum about who i voted for but let me just say. May the best MAN win HEHEHE, hint hint ;)

I actually did research on this round of voting and watched several of the debates. I was amazed at how much slander goes on via the internet. People are really passionate about who they want to win and i don't personally ever remember a time in my almost 30 years of life where so many young people were this excited about voting and the election.

I'm very happy that they finally realize they have a say and not just with what they put on a t-shirt.

Well on the knitting front.

I have started my summer skinny scarf. I made this with two yarns blended together. One is berroco glace in a deep red almost wine color and the other is a verigated fuzzy green mohair. I can't remember who made this yarn as i lost the label many months ago. I think it is coming out wonderfully. I'm making it in a K2, P2 rib stitch.

Best wishes and happy stitches

Mandie

Brand new stitch markers, super cute!!!

2008-03-03T14:18:00.005-05:00

Hey all,

I have been working on soooo many knitting projects but i have taken some time out recently to work on my stitch markers. They have been selling like hot cakes on ebay so i figured i better keep up with the demand :)

above are some pictures of my new creations.

All of the makers above can been seen on ebay.

Enjoy,

Best wishes and happy stitches

They are finally done !!!!

2008-02-28T08:43:00.007-05:00

I have been working on these on and off for what seems like forever. I started and finished the sock on the left side of the picture yesterday.

Oh how my hands hurt soooo bad. I used size 3 needles so now my fingers are permently curled.

lol

Well i think i'm going to give it another try with a super cute pattern i found.

I have had lots of knitting time lately. This has been such a bad winter. This wonderful state of Ohio has been hit yet again by a huge snow storm.
Two days of missed school and one happy little boy. My son woke up to this great big blanket of snow and he couldn't of been happier.
Well i guess he will get to use his snow toys he got for christmas.

Best wishes and happy stitches

mandie

Gothic lace pattern

2008-02-27T15:34:00.004-05:00

From a very old knitter dictionary from my great aunts collection:

The Gothic lace pattern:

Multiple of 8 stitches plus 1.

special abbreviations:

SKP: slip 1 knit 1, pass the slipped stitch over

S2KP: Slip 2 stitches as if to work knit 2 together, knit1, pass slipped stitces over

YO: Yarn over

Row 1: *K1, YO, SKP,K3, K2tog, YO; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 2: Purl

Row 3: *K2, YO, SKP, K1 ,K2tog, YO, K1; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row4:Purl

Row 5: *K1, YO, SKP, YO, S2KP, YO, K2tog, YO; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 6: Purl

Row 7: *K2, YO, SKP, K1, K2tog, YO, K1; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 8: Purl

Row 9: *K3, YO, S2KP, YO, K2; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 10: Purl

Row 11: *K1, K2tog, K1, YO,K1, YO, K1, SKP;repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 12: Purl

Row 13: * K1, K2tog, K1, YO, K1 YO, K1, SKP; repeat from * to last stitch K1

Row 14: Purl

Row 15:* K1, K2tog, K1, YO, K1 YO, K1,SKP; repeat from * to last stitch K1

Row 16: Purl

Row 17: * K1, YO, SKP, K3, K2tog, YO, K1; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 18: Purl

Row 19: *K2, YO, SKP, K1, K2tog, YO, K1; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 20: Purl

Row 21: * K1, YO, SKP, YO, S2KP, YO, K2tog, YO; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 22: Purl

Row 23: *K2, YO, SKP,K1,K2tog, YO, K1; repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 24: Purl

Row 25: *K3, YO, S2KP, YO, K2: repeat from * to last stitch, K1

Row 26: Purl

repeat these 26 rows

Enjoy:

best wishes and happy stitches,

mandie

baby sweater finally finished

2008-02-18T19:11:00.004-05:00

This wonderful little bundle of joy is Phoenix Raynes. He is so sweet and a baby punk rocker in the making. I made him this sweater fromt he "baby's first tattoo" pattern from the Stitch N' Bitch nation book.

This is his awesome mommy Morghan.

I made this for Phoenix's big brother Saige rivers. This is the "knit your own rock star" pattern from Stitch N' Bitch nation book. This is Henry Rollins.

Next on the project list is a pair of leg warmers for Morghan.

my ebay

2008-02-09T11:05:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

I've been out for the past couple of days with a killer headache. My pain killers are not working much. I try to take them as little as possible because i don't want to "need" them.

So i have decided (at a friends advice) to start selling some of my stitch markers. I love making these and i think they are super cute so i decided to put some of them on ebay. If your interested in them or know someone who may be check out my ebay store at My ebay store URL:http://stores.ebay.com/mandies-medical-fund
I think they are cute and most of them are no snag. Again, these are all handmade by me. The shipping is free and these are not an auction, they are buy it now for only $5 for the set.

Thanks,

mandie

2008-01-31T09:57:00.000-05:00

Well well well, how long has it been. I suppose i could go back and count the months but lets not dwell on my tardiness. So since we have last spoke i have had a bunch of things happen.
First of all don't you just love the new family pictures? I personally think that my boys are the cutest ever.
I had a Britney spears moment and decided to cut off all of my hair. Luckily I have a hair stylist with common sense and she stopped me. Instead she took off 10 inches of my hair which was donated to Locks of Love. This is an organization that takes hair donations to make wigs for cancer paitents. This is my third time donating to the organization. I thought i would get a ribbon or a discount on my hair cut because of this but no go. lol

I have quit my job. I was having oddles of medical problems and needed some time to take care of my body. Plus it was getting a bit difficult to travel to work everyday with the headaches i'm having. I hope to return someday but i know right now that i can not perform my duties the way they need me too.

On the health front. I was told by my neurosurgeon in august that they had found "something" in my lymph nodes in my neck. They wanted me to see an oncologist for lymphoma. It took forever but i finally got to see one. They ordered a set of CAT scans. I had these done on Friday. Monday i got a call that the scans of my cheast and abdoman came out fine. Then Tuesday I get "the" call. They said my actual thoat is fine but the Lymph nodes are inlarged. They want to wait 3 months to see if it was just an infection or if they have grown. Man i wish i would of save that hair i donated. lol.
I'm trying to be as positive as possible right now. If i dwell to much on this the next 3 months will be pure hell. Who knows what it is but i am just trying to keep it out of my little "mind bubble" lol. We have decided not to tell micah anything until we know for sure. He went though so much when i had my brain surgery and i don't want him to have to go though that again. He worries so much about me. We will tell him if we have to but fingers crossed we won't have anything to tell him.

Knitting: Oh the knittin i've done. I have just finished a cute little cable knit purse and just bought another new pattern for one. Lots of hats and scarves have been donated to the foster care children of the county thanks to the Trinity Stitchers. This is a knitting and crochet group that i started to help the foster care kids of my county. We made blankets for all of them and even gave extra for any new children they may get. The job and family services contacted us to let us know that alot of children are coming into the office without hats, gloves or scarves. With the weather here in ohio getting down to 15 degrees here in the past week we needed to do something for these kids. I'm proud of the ladies in the group. They all answered our call for help and now the J&FS have so many hats and scarves they were able to sit a box in the lobby for anyone who may need them to take them. I stopped in the office the other day to drop off more and saw a women walk out with hats and scarves for her three kids. It felt so good to know that my little obsession is going to keep some kids warm this winter.

Well I think that is about the long and short of it all. I'm trying to stay well, trying to knit lots of things and focus on my family.
Until next time:
Best wishes and happy stitches.
Mandie

to my gilmore girls

2007-11-04T18:29:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

To all of my Gilmore girls fans. I was just watching the eddie murphy movie Norbit and you will not believe this. They used the stars hollow set. The gazeboo, luke's diner, the church. they are all there.
They do alot of city scenes so you really get to see our dear stars hollow alot.
Take a look sometime.
Thanks,
mandie

sorry about the wait

2007-11-03T13:32:00.000-05:00

Finally, here is my question answer form for the coffee yarn swap. Gosh i think i am going to end up being late for my own funeral.

November 3th, 2007
1. Whole bean or ground?
Ground, please
2. Fully-loaded or decaf?
Fully Loaded!
3. Regular or flavored?
Regular
4. How do you drink your coffee?
With flavored creamers. No sugar
5. Favorite coffee ever?
I had a dark roast from starbucks, I think it had the name dragon in it but i dont go there enough to know the name. I love columbian, french and just plain old dark roast. I love strong coffee.
6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do?
Any bean will do
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee?
I love anything chocolate, Biscotti's, cookies, Dark chocolate, anything sinfull.
8. Anything else about your coffee preferences?
Nope!
9. Yarn/fiber you love?
Anything that is soft to the touch, I love soy silk by patons, and the soy from SWTC. I even like acrylics if they are soft enough.
10. Yarn/fiber you hate?
I hate mohair, and scratchy wool. I hate novilty yarn too.
11. What’s on your needles?
which set of needles. I have about 12 projects going right now. Lets see, a OSU blanket, fingerless gloves, a couple scarves for christmas, a handbag to felt, oh just lots of goodies.
12. Favorite colors?
Pink, reds, all shades of green, I love verigated yarns, lots of natural colors. I do not like purple at all unless it is in a verigated yarn and does not take over the colorway.
13. Allergies?
Unless you are going to send me medicine then none that concern my partner. lol
14. Anything you really love, really don’t like, or just need to get off your chest?
I do not like coconuts either, or lime. I love getting recipes. If you have a favorite recipe ship it here. that is so fun to try new foods that another family has cheerished for years.
The history behind something like that is just so wonderful.
I love love love, double pointed needles and anykind of bamboo or wood needles. I just like the natural feeling rather than that of a cold metal needle. I do however use my denise interchangable needles all the time. Plasitc is better for my hands than the metal. lol. I know you think i'm nuts now.
lol

Ok,
so life has been a bit crazy lately. I have been working non stop on a new client in Canada. It has been alot of fun but I hardly have any shoppers there. It is not like in California where if one person in one town can't do the shop they can drive 15 min. to the next town and do that shop. The towns i have in Canada are hours apart from each other. It just stinks.
Well it has been nice calling Canada everyday. It makes me want to be back on my vacation. I just love the accents.

Micah had a great time trick or treating this last weekend. He was a Grim Reaper kind of thing. I can't tell anymore what these costumes are.
We also had a fun costume contest at work. My team went as mental patience.
My boss went as a nurse. We had lots of fun showing our crazy side. I went at a man. My sister loved giving me a beard and a unibrow.
I came in second place for the costume contest. Oh well. Next year i told them that we should dress like the tv show "the office". I know i could do a mean phyills. Our new guy jeremy looks like ryan. lol.
That woud be so fun to turn our office into the Office.

Medical update:
I'm going down to part time at the end of November. I have to get to the doctors and find out what is wrong with me. I need to know if i have cancer. It sucks living your life and just not knowing.
Well i must go and listen to my OSU buckeyes beat Wisconsin ( I hope)
Thanks,
mandie

I forgot to mention that micah lost his front tooth. He looks so funny with it gone.

THis is my office. I'm the one in front with the unibrow and the green shirt. I was wearing a pair of joke underwear over my pj bottoms.. I also used my hospital gown as a cape.
It was fun.

ahhh the stress

2007-10-18T23:01:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

i really have missed having time to write on my blog. It really helps relax me. I have been soo stinking busy. Work is simply crazy. I have had so many problems getting my shops in South lake Tahoe California booked. I get a headache just thinking about this.

Next topic.
Micah is very excited about trick or treat night. He wants to go as a ninja. Every year he has to pick the costume that i can't bundle him up in. Last year he was a ghost but the year before that he was spider man. I just am excited about the candy overflow. Ya know, they always have stuff left over that they won't eat but mom and dad just love.

Coffee swap:
I finally have all of the partners out for the coffee yarn swap. Silly me left my list of partners sitting in my desk last night and missed the deadline by one day. Oops, please forgive me.

Head docs:
I still have heard nothing from the oncologist. I know this sounds a little strange but i think god is trying to tell me to get up off my behind and make the doctors test me. Today i got in my car after work and the radio was on a christian radio station. I never listen to this station, so this was pretty strange in itself. I was driving out of the parking garage and the man on the radio was telling a story. He was saying that one day he found a black spot on his shoulder. He ignored it for nine months. when he finally went to the doctors they told him that he had two months to live, he had cancer and it has spread to his brain.
Now if this was the only time something like this had happened i may be able to brush this off as coincidence but this has been happening alot. Every time i turn around i hear something about someone having cancer and not getting checked right away.
So i think i have gotten the point and i am going to call the doctors tomorrow and light a fire under them.

Well i think i really need to go to bed now.
I am just beat.
Best wishes and happy stitches.
Mandie

I'm a hostess helper

2007-10-07T12:17:00.000-05:00

Hey folks,

Life has been pretty busy here in little town ohio. I'm working my butt off at the office and i'm trying to knit as much as i can. I'm doing a couple swaps which are sooo much fun. I think one of the most exciting bits of knitting news is that i'm helping out on the lastest coffee yarn swap.
Knittymama J sent out the call for helpers and i offered my assistance. It has been alot of fun so far. I'm sure there will be little snags along the way but i've been having a good time matching up partners and checking out their blogs. I have even found a couple great new patterns.

A friend of mine is having a baby in a couple of months so i have been trying to knit up oodles of stuff for the new little boy not to mention that i am doing a craft show next month with a friend of mine so i have been busy building up my inventory.

Well i hope now that i'm busy in swap world i will be able to post alot more on here and get back to doing what i love. I'm trying to put work a little bit on the back burner and realize that i don't need to live and breathe my job.

Well i will talk to you all soon
best wishes and happy stitiches
mandie

wow it sure has been a while hasn't it

2007-09-09T20:41:00.000-05:00

I've missed you all so much. Well let me give you a quick update.

HEALTH

I have yet to hear anything about the whole lymphoma thing. I've kinda tried to keep it out of my mind until i need to deal with it.

WORK

I still love my job. I am in charge of two accounts now. Coco's and Carrow's restuarants and Fountain tire in canada.

I've had some stress from all of the drama that comes with working with about 50 women but i'm getting used to that.

FAMILY

We just got back from a much needed vacation. This was the first family vacation for micah, his father josh and I together. We went to a very small town in canada to a cabin with my parents. It is right on a lake and soooo peaceful. No tv, phone or computer. I simply enjoyed the silence.

Pictures can be found below or at http://picasaweb.google.com/mandies2happy

All of the vacation pic's can be found here.

KNITTING

I have gotten so much knitting done. A scarf (no pic yet) that curls around itself. A beanie for a friends son with the anarchy symbol on it. She is a bit punk rock so it fits just great for her son.

I also made her son the Henry Rollins doll from the stitch N bitch nation book. I have finally finished the baby sweater i have been working on forever. I am currently working on another curly scarf. After that is done i will need to start to work on stuff for the craft fair i'm going to do in october. My friend Jeni and I are going to do our first craft fair together. I'm going to be making lots of school colored items (the craft fair is at the high school here in town), Cell phone cases, beanies, washclothes, belts, headband/ear warmers, fingerless gloves, and several kids items. I'm also going to be making some stitch markers.

All in all i've been really really busy but i'm going to make time for the blog from now on. I've missed all of you and the messages you send. It means alot to me to know that people actually read what i write about and that you care enough to leave comments.

Here are some pics for you.

Thanks all,

Best wishes and happy stitches

mandie

Micah showing off for the camera in a hat that was in a gift shop

Josh and I in a garden behind a gift shop. Micah took this pic for us

Micah's first catch of the vacation. He is pretending he is gonna kiss it.

MRI results

2007-07-29T13:26:00.000-05:00

I met with my doctor on Friday to get my MRI results. I recieved some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that everything from my surgery went really well. I am showing signs of good spinal fluid flow and plenty of room for my brain.

The bad news is that they saw something on my scans that made them worry. They are sending me to an oncologist. They think i may have lymphoma. The last thing i expected to hear is the word "cancer". I have to have more tests run and meet with my new doctors so i wont know anything for awhile.

Work is going really well, well besides the ghost thing, but that doesnt worry me to much. I love a good ghost story, so working with one is kinda fun.

I found a new video on youtube that you may find interesting.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=OoCmYjfWus8
This is an actual surgery so beware if you get sick easy. This is the surgery that i had done in august. A crainial decompression and lumbarectomy.

I will keep you all updated just as soon as i know what is going on.
Tomorrow is my Sheryl crow concert and i can't wait. It's been nice to be able to focus on something else during this stressful news.

Best wishes and happy stitches
mandie

a ghost at the office.

2007-07-28T15:49:00.000-05:00

This is morgan and kristin on the top (unused)floor of our office building. Look inbetween them and in the background. You will see a very bright circle. This was not on the floor.

Again, Morgan (showing her growing baby belly) on the top floor of our office. You will see a bright circle on her sleeve.

This one is plain to see. There is nothing on the wall by this light. The electric is shut off on this floor (4th floor) and is only used for storage. I actually took this before i walked into the room. I put my camera around the corner and snapped a pic.

Kristin by my desk. she told me to take this. SHe said she felt like if she put up her hands i would see something above her head.

The people in the office call the ghost "Bob". We just happened to be talking about him when i took this pic.

This was the first one i took. I could not believe what i saw. none of us saw anything with the naked eye.

I guess they have called in paranormal investigaters before. I don't know what they found but i'm thinking about leaving a tape recorder on my desk over night, just to see what i can find.

Well i hope i didnt scare you to much.

Best wishes and happy stitches

mandie

sheryl crow here I come

2007-07-23T19:29:00.000-05:00

Do I have a story for you. I was on my way to work last week, I was listening to the radio and they were talking about people who have stupid fears. Well i have a bit of a drive to get to work so i called in. The women asked what i was afraid of and then wanted my cell phone number. I told her about my fear of kittens, YES KITTENS. Go ahead and laugh, everyone does. After i was done talking to them i turned my radio back on and listened to the rest of the show. Then the DJ says that there is a twist to this fear thing. Just then my cell phone rang. It was one of the interns asking if i would be willing to face my fear for front row tickets to see Sheryl Crow and the Counting Crows. I said yes.

They put me back on air and asked me again. I said that i would do it.

I went into the station on Friday to face my fear. If you would like to hear what happened to me here is the link to the pod cast: http://www.925kissfm.com/cc-common/podcast.html

If you scroll down you will see the pic of a cat, clown and a needle. I really don't know why I'm scared of cats and kittens but i am. I've never been scratched and have never been bitten. I have actually been trapped in my car before because there was a cat outside. They always seem to find me.

Not a whole lot to say for knitting news right now. I will have a pic to add soon from my knitting group. we finally were able to donate some afghans to the foster care children of my county. I will also be able to post some pics of my latest package from a swap. It seems that one of the busiest women alive had me in the swap and actually was working on getting my package out. I feel really bad for complaining about the wait, she took really good care of me.

I'll have pics soon, i promise. Busy, busy, Mandie, lots of work to do.

My concert is next Monday and I'll be in the second row. If i can take pics you know i will.

Thanks all,

happy stitches and best wishes.

Mandie

New cousin, Sad day.

2007-07-15T21:33:00.001-05:00

As some of you may remember a few months ago my son's cousin was murdered in Wyoming. Well his girlfriend was preg. at the time of his death.

Well she had the baby. A wonderful little girl named Alexia Micheal. After her father. I thought that was so sweet. She looks alot like him. well here she is.

Welcome to the world baby Alexia. We all love you.

This is such a bitter sweet moment. We are all so happy that she is here and she is a healthy baby but it is so sad that her daddy couldn't be here. It just brings up so many feelings from his death. I cant get over how much she looks like him.

I'll be sending her lots of knitted items.

She will look so cute in the berry tart hat. he he.

My MRI's went well. I wont know until the 30th what the results are but I'm just glad they are over. I was in that machine for 2 hours. I've gained a bit of weight since my surgery and if you have ever been in an MRI machine you know that there is not a whole lot of room in that tunnel. I told a friend of mine that i wish i had a picture taken of me because I'm sure i looked like Pooh stuck in rabbits hole. lol.

I'll let you all know as soon as i find out what in the heck is wrong with my brain now.

Talk to you all soon,

best wishes and happy stitches.

Mandie

you have to see this

2007-07-11T19:23:00.000-05:00

I was reading some older posts from this week on a yahoo knit group i'm on. I see that someone was talking about these cupcakes. If you have not been to this blog yet you must see the pics. I copied a couple of them here for you but check out the link and take a look at all her pics and her lesson on how to make them. They are priceless.

Link for you:

http://veganyumyum.com/2007/06/knit-night-cupcakes/

On a personal note:

It looks like it back to the neurosurgeon for me. I've been having my headaches again. It feels like someone is standing on my head. It is messing up my vision and my hearing. I called my doc today and he ordered me several kinds of MRI's for saturday. YUCK. then my follow up apt. to see what he found on the 30th. wish me luck.

Best wishes and happy stitches.

mandie

Oh how i miss Lorelai

2007-07-06T21:28:00.000-05:00

Micah is in the middle of this group, he is in the brown shorts. This is his swimming lessons down at our local park. On this day he had moved up from level one to level two. A big feat since he has trouble kicking under the water.

I had the pleasure of going to see Evan Almighty. It really made me miss our Gilmore Girls. It was a really cute movie. Another GG sighting. Jess ( luke's Nephew) is in the new Fergie Video for Big girls dont cry. He is covered in tattoos but looks so good in a bad boy kind of way. He always has had that bad boy thing though.

My classes in school have really suffered with my new job. I have not had time to focus on much of anything. I am just so tired when i get home I dont even want to make dinner. I never neglect food.

well here is a pic of the fishing derby we took Micah to. He had so much fun and even won a prize. He won $25 dollars for catching this little guy. He caught him after only five minutes there. Then didnt even get a bite for the next two hours.

This is the fish Micah names Spikes.

Tonight is my towns fireworks, I cant wait to see how my digital camera does with this. It has a fireworks setting on it but i've never tried it out. We'll see i guess.

Swap problems

I have a swap question for you all. I've been in several swaps with out a single complaint. Now i'm in the spring felted bag exchange. I have a wonderful partner to send things too. she seems really nice but the problem is the person who has me. we were supposed to send two packages. one at the end of may and the other at the end of june. Well may has come and gone, june has come and gone and i still have not recieved anything from her. She keeps sending me emails telling me she is sending the first package out this week but i still get nothing.

The ladies running the swap are looking into it for me. They have been great.

I just wondered if this has happened to anyone else?

Have you been in a swap with a bad swap partner?

The ladies from the swap said that they have an angel ready to step up and be my adoptive partner if mine doesn't come through by next week. We are giving her some slack because of the holiday.

I understand that problems come up, money gets tight and bags dont felt right but i wouldnt even have a problem not getting a package if she wrote to me and said "look, i lost my job and just dont have money right now" but she just keeps saying, next week, next week. AHHHH.

thanks i just had to yell for a sec. lol.

Well i think i'm done complaining now. If i get any good pics from the fireworks i'll post them tomorrow.

best wishes and happy stitches

mandie

Work is going great

2007-07-01T00:05:00.001-05:00

Hello all,
I know you all probably think i went bye bye but no such luck. I'm still around. I am just having trouble finding a balance in work, family, and blogging. Not to mention the fact that i've also negected my knitting. My poor yarn has no idea what's going on. I've been able to work on the warm up america afghan a bit more and i should be able to finish it tomorrow. I've also been able to work on my brother in law's afghan as well.

so back to the job now. What i'm doing is scheduleing people to do mystery shops. now i know most people think it's a internet scam when they hear that but the company i work for is actually legit. They dont ask their shoppers to pay anything to become a shopper. That's when you know you've got a scam, when they ask for money. I'm really happy with the people i work with and the way the company is run. It is a very relaxed enviroment. My latest problem is now that i've actually got a job this is when my car decides that it's a good time to break down. That is just how my luck goes. I think my transmission is going out, so there goes about 1200 dollars that i just dont have. Yuck !!!!!

Well i will be back tomorrow to post a few pics. I'm going to bed.
good night.
best wishes and happy stitches.
mandie

The office

2007-06-24T00:25:00.000-05:00

This is my new office. Great isn't it. I think it looks like something straight out of New Orleans with the fountain in front. My first two days went great and i can't wait to get back to work on Monday. I'm sure all that will change after I've been there for a while but for now i like the job. Working again is strange after I've been off for so long. I feel like I'm neglecting not only my child but my yarn and Dr. Phil. Oprah understands. lol. well i thought I'd share that with you all and i should have some new pics up tomorrow. We are taking my son to a fishing derby.
best wishes and happy stitches
Mandie

I am now entering the world of employment

2007-06-19T23:18:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

Yes i got the job. I start on thursday so now the real challange begins. I will have to figure out how exactly i'm going to jugle motherhood, full time job and full time school. Oh when will i knit. I will find a way. I am very excited about this new postion, the pay could be better but it's better than the nothing i'm making now.

I have few pics for ya. first is a trial run of the pic i'm gonna enter for the knitty.com calendar contest. They want you to knit one of the patterns off their web site then photo it and if your pic wins it will be in the 2008 knitty calendar.

I borrowed my cousins son to model a pink tart hat. i think i may need to find a younger baby. I think he looks a bit to old for the idea I had in my head.

This is baby aidan

the next bunch of pics is from our family day out. we had a picnic at the town resevour then got some sparklers and had a bit of fun with those.

Guess who has an interview, hehe

2007-06-18T22:45:00.001-05:00

I finally have an interview tomorrow. It is with a corporate research company and i would be doing the scheduling. I'm very excited. This sounds like something i really could be good at.
wish me luck and I'll let you all know as soon as i know if i got the job.
Oh and some new pics tomorrow.
best wishes and happy stitches
Mandie

finished it today

2007-06-15T19:39:00.000-05:00

I finally finished a blanket i've been working on. this is my very first attemt at crochet. I figured if i taught myself how to knit then crochet should not be a problem. I made this for my grandmother. she had a spill and had to have surgery on her arm a while ago. While she is sitting in her recliner she likes to have a blanket to cover up with so this is for her. I hope she loves it. I loved it so much i fell asleep with it today.

This is made with Lion brand Jiffy and i think this is called a shell stitch??? i dont know much about the names of the stitches yet. I do know that i did alot of double stitches.

if you knit shawls you need this book.

2007-06-14T00:33:00.000-05:00

a knitting swap buddy of mine just released a book. It went on sale the other day but I think internet orders must be pre ordered. Check her out on amazon and target.com to buy the book.

here is her blog
http://spindyeknit.com/
she is very talented and really really nice.
best wishes and happy stitches
mandie

pawfest

2007-06-12T15:00:00.000-05:00

This weekend at our local park the humane society held the annually "pawfest" dedicated to raising money for the shelter. The dogs have a costume contest, run a obstacle course and they have a dog walk, where everyone walks their dogs around the park. well we couldn't bring our dog since he just had surgery but we went anyways. my son loves dogs so much. I think we were the only ones there without a dog. Here are the highlights.

Micah found some kids to play with.

a random dog owner playing with his dog

My friend Toni brought her two Bision Frise puppies, this one is Lilly. Micah loved them sooo much. I tried to hide one in my purse but Toni had a close eye on them.

My friend Krista and her dog chewy. she let Micah walk chewy during the dog walk, well until chewy had to go potty then Micah was done with him.

Finally some pics for you

2007-06-11T01:38:00.000-05:00

I had to post all the pics as individual posts because blogger was not working with them all together. well Saturday i talked Micah's dad into taking me to the knitters connection down in Columbus. I couldn't afford to go to the classes but i still wanted to go to the yarn market. It was amazing. lots of booths and lots of yarn. wow. I met the Creator of yarn love yarn. She was really nice. you can buy her stuff at http://www.shopyarnlove.com/. I didn't have but five bucks on me but i think i made out pretty good. I came home with two skeins of yarn and some charms that say "made with love" so you can knit them right on to a project. That is a funny story how i got the charms.

I was wearing my GG shawl and the women running the fiberworks booth asked me about the yarn i made it out of. She had just began to carry jojoland melody yarn and liked the way it worked up. I told her what a great deal i got on the yarn from eBay and she said that i bought it cheaper than what she pays. YEAH for me!!!! I told her I always hunt for a good deal. I let her know how cheap i got my Denise knitting needles and she said she was gonna cry. Then she said that i should do all her buying, lol. Just then a women came up asking about the Denise needles. The lady running the booth just pointed to me. I let the customer know how much i love the needles and showed her how u can link them together, I pulled mine out of my purse (project on the needles) and she said "sold". She bought the set right then and there. I laughed and said "hey, I should get a commission off of that sale", lol. The women behind the counter said yes and threw something at me. It was a bag of twenty of the charms. I really didn't expect anything but was very grateful, how nice of her.

Before we left i wanted to head back over to the HBC weaving booth so i could get his card and write down the name of the yarn i fell in love with. When i asked josh to go get the yarn for me he brought it back and said "why are you gonna write it down?" I told him i want to order it later (really it's just cuz I'm broke and the yarn cost 29 dollars). He said "well here now you wont forget the name" and he put it on the counter. I was so shocked i couldn't stop smiling. He bought it for me. I was just so happy he brought me but to buy me yarn too. wow.

I did have a women comment several times how great it was that he would come with me to the yarn market. she said her husband never would of came, and she would say again what a great guy he is to come with me. I could see his head swell but he did deserve the attention. Not many men would do that.

He always surprises me, just not always in a good way like this weekend. lol.

well enjoy the pics, I'll have some new ones tomorrow from our trip to the "pawfest" for dogs (how strange for people without a dog).
best wishes and happy stitches
Mandie

2007-06-11T01:27:00.000-05:00

I finished my Gilmore Girls shawl. I did my binding off on the follow week after the show ended. I was so mad. i had been so good at trying to only knit on this during the show and then the show ends before i get it done. oh well at least it is done. So i actually got my son to model for me. He didnt want me to show his face since this is a girls item. I told him to be glad i didnt knit a dress, lol.

2007-06-11T01:18:00.000-05:00

the knitters connection took place at the hyatt regency in columbus ohio. now for the top pic you have to turn your head to the left and look sideways. I couldnt seem to rotate this pic. it is a pic of the hotel from my car window.

2007-06-11T01:13:00.000-05:00

sincerity yarn from yarn love booth. it is a brushed mohair blend. i just love the color of this.

2007-06-11T01:05:00.000-05:00

this is the yarn that josh bought for me at the HBC weaving booth. I am soo in love with it. He said i have to make something for myself with this yarn but i just dont know what to make. I told him i'm just gonna knit a cover for my pillow so i can be close to this yarn all the time. lol

2007-06-11T00:59:00.000-05:00

HBC weaving booth, this was the find of my day. just soooo soft to touch. I dont know how he does it but he makes this yarn soooo soft. I bought one called precious, half merino and half silk. I'm in love. you can buy it at www.handpaintedknittingyarns.com

2007-06-11T00:56:00.000-05:00

showing off the new spinning wheel. I was so jelous. i want one.

2007-06-11T00:52:00.000-05:00

yarn love booth

you can buy her yarn at www.shopyarnlove.com

she has some wonderful stuff

2007-06-11T00:50:00.000-05:00

again the fiberworks booth, she was so nice.

2007-06-11T00:46:00.000-05:00

fiberworks booth

I'm soooo happy

2007-06-06T00:20:00.000-05:00

Yes i know i haven't put up the new pics yet. I'm still fighting with my camera and those darn rechargeable batteries.

Now on to some exciting news. I made deans list at school. this is a first for me EVER!!! I've never been on honor roll or any kind of academic list. I almost cried when i read it. I couldn't believe it. I'm still fearful they are going to say it's a mistake.
In elementary school news, my son graduated first grade today. I cant believe i have a second grader now. Do they ever stop growing???

On the needles right now. I had to frog out a fingerless glove today because the cable went crazy somewhere in the pattern. I'm doing some felting tomorrow of a hand bag. I'm also working on a hand bag for a felted bag exchange.

Also tomorrow I'll be sending out two packages for swaps I'm in. I cant wait until they get them so i can tell you what i sent. I don't want to spoil the surprise.

talk to you all very very soon.
Mandie

I'm back,

2007-05-31T08:52:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the wait for a new post. I am being completely consumed by school. This is my final week for my marketing class and i cant wait for it to be over. this has been one of the worst school experiences i think i have ever had. First my teacher not having a mic or a power point for class ( i take classes online), then her not actually reading my paper, then Saturday my small group project was due. They put 6 of us together and gave us a project to do. Normally this is a difficult task for a real world setting but it is almost impossible in an online school. Out of six we had four papers turned in, which sounds great but one of the papers didn't even mention the product we were supposed to be writing about then the other seemed to be copied. When we turn anything in to the school it is put in a data base to compare it against other students papers and published articles to ensure no one copies. A normal similarity score is anywhere from 0% to 11% one of the papers a group member turned in was a 69% similarity score. When she would not give us a reference for her information I refused to use her paper in the group assignment ( i was the group leader). This set me on a course of back and forth emails with her and another student "Gabe" who by the way was a complete god send. If not for Gabe i would not of been able to finish the paper. We pulled together and wrote what the other students would not.

I thought that was the end of my hair pulling, oh I was so wrong. We also had to turn in a small individual paper called a discussion board. part of our grade is to read other peoples discussion boards post and comment on them. I was reading one when i got a nasty surprise. We had to write about two things we had bought, one large purchase and one small. I wrote about my car and a ring tone for my cell phone. This classmate of mine wrote about an adult sex swing for her bedroom and a cleaner for her adult toys. I was shocked and disgusted. This was school not some frat party. I have filed complaints with the deans office and my instructor, I'm not sure how far that will go but now other students are calling me prudish and i seem to be getting attacked verbally a bit.

Needless to say I've been a bit stressed. I got my camera and memory card back so later this afternoon I'll be finally posting the pics of my finished Gilmore Girls shawl, My lasted swap package and who know, maybe a glimpse of a special gift I'm making for a friend. I'll talk to you all later today.
thanks for sticking with stressful little me.
best wishes and happy stitches.
Mandie

Update on Lion brand report

2007-05-25T11:25:00.000-05:00

I'd first off like to thank Ilana for the comment on my last post. I would love to send the report to those of you at lion brand. I just hope that i did the company justice. We had to write a time line in the report and it was near impossible to find exact dates on some of the info so i did the time line in decades. Just let me know who and where to email it to and I'll do that asap.

Early this morning i got an email from my professor. She regraded my paper and gave me a 92% A. It's not the 100% I'd hoped for but I'll take it. She never said anything about why she had made this mistake or why she had not read the paper the first time. I would of liked to go into more depth about my devotion to Lion Brand but I'm limited to only a certain number of pages and almost a whole page was taken up by this time line that we had to do. I'm not a time line kinda person. I'd much prefer to tell you why i love something but i guess it is a marketing class and they want facts.

Well Ilana if you are serous about wanting to see the paper let me know and its yours. As for everyone else i hope you have a great holiday weekend and lots of great BBQ food. Don't forget all the great knitting you can do while sitting at a cookout.

best wishes and happy stitches
Mandie

I miss my camera.

2007-05-24T07:58:00.000-05:00

I hate not being able to post pics on here. I know i dont like reading a blog without pics so i dont expect you to do it either. my aunt gave me my camera back but needed to keep my memory card so she could get her pics printed.
I am stressed beyond belief today. As you may know i am attending a online school. I have really enjoyed it until late last night. I spent six hours researching and writing what i thought was a "A" paper. this was for my marketing class and we had to write about a brand product that we are loyal to. I wrote about Lion brand yarn. My professor gave me a 88% B, now some wouldnt have a problem with that but i want to get on deans list and i cant do that with B's. In her comments my instructor said, " while your history about healthy choice deli foods was good you needed more details about why you are loyal to this brand". I wrote about yarn. I did mention that i am loyal to several product such as Mt. dew and healthy choice turkey breast but that was only in one sentence at the beginning of this three page paper. SHE DIDNT READ MY PAPER. How can she give me a B and not read my paper.
I told my sister that next time i should write an amazing first paragraph and then for the rest of the paper just type out an episode of oprah and see if she catches it. lol
I'm catching a cold so i'm sure that doesnt help the situation any.

On the knitting front. I started a handbag for a friend, I'm working ont he last glove for a friends fingerless gloves and numorous other projects. I need to figure out how to crochet some knitted squares together, that doesnt seem to be going so well for me. I'll get it sometime.

Well hopefully i can post pics again.
I hope everyone found something to fill their lives with on tuesday. I just enjoyed american idol and i will be replaceing that with so you think you can dance. I did just hear that they cancelled several of my favorite shows. here is my short list of what they tv people killed off.

the class
the weddingbells
the winner
the war at home
thank god your here
studio 60

I'm not real happy with what i read about new show for the fall line up. come on i cant even stand the caveman commercial and now they get there own show??? what next, i'm afraid to ask.

best wishes and happy stitches
mandie

b day got better

2007-05-21T15:58:00.000-05:00

Hello folks.

As you may know i'm gettin on in my years and am now a 29 year old women. UGHHHHH, let me rephrase that one. I'm a 18yr old in a 29 yr olds body. Yeah!! i like that better.

Well my birthday really was starting to go down the toliet, no one was home so i sat and zoned out on law and order. I mean first my gilmore girls go away and then every one else does too. We ended up celebrating my birthday on sunday instead of friday. My son, his father (josh), my sister and her husband went to olive garden and then to see Shrek the Third oh and then to cold stone creamery. I had to have the peanut butter perfection but i got it with dark chocolate ice cream instead of milk. Now for someone who is extremly lactose intolerent you would think that i would stay away for a ice cream shop but i just think the cold stone is worth the pain. All in all it ended up being a pretty good birthday. I have a feeling to make next years a good one it's gonna take alot of tequila. lol

On the knitting front i just finished my gilmore girls shawl. My aunt borrowed my camera so i will have to post some pics as soon as i get it back.

best wishes and happy stitches

mandie

happy birthday to me

2007-05-19T09:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my 29Th birthday. It was not what i had expected. I guess I'm always waiting for some big deal birthday and it just never happens. As a mom i think we tend to put ourselves last and make sure everyone else gets what they want or need, i guess i was just wanting someone to do that for me on my birthday. On the up side, everyone was gone so i was able to sit and knit in peace. I guess i should be thankful for that.

I was knitting a pair of fingerless gloves when i was ready to bind off and found a critical error. I forgot to add the thumb. AHHHHHHHHH. I had put a pretty cable on the front so i had to rip it all out. I'm not so good at finding my place in a pattern when i frog them.

I'll post some pics soon. I'm off to my marketing class.
best wishes and happy stitches
Mandie

no luck

2007-05-17T13:48:00.000-05:00

well i went to the blog today to see who had won the photo contest. It wasn't me. I do have to say that i enjoyed the pic who won but the second winner was a poem not a pic. Both did a wonderful job. Oh well.

So has everyone recovered from Tuesday night yet. I'm still amazed at what a wonderful job the writers did. I'm going to have to check out Gilmore girls. org and see what they had to say.

The dilemma on the table this week has been to home school my son or not. We are looking at home schooling or a school for gifted children about a half hour away. what to do??? we have alot of thinking to do before i make my final decision on this one.
wish me luck
Mandie

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do not read if you have not seen the last episode, i'll ruin it for you

2007-05-15T20:12:00.000-05:00

I really don't know what else to say but wow. As i sit here wiping my eyes I'm trying to find the right words but that's all i can come up with.

For not knowing for sure if this would be the last episode i think they did a great job. Full circle ya know. Lore and Luke, Rory and her career, Emily and Richard taking the steps to stay in touch with lore. I just couldn't be happier. They really did the show justice. I kinda thought that Logan would show back up wanting Rory to take him back but i think she is better off without him. Ya know now that i think a bit i would of liked to see Rory end up with Jess, he is enough of a free spirit to be OK with the travel she will have to do for her work. well last i had heard they were dating in real life so at least i have that. lol.

Speaking of dating, Can you believe Luke put that tent together by himself. Now that is love & what about that line he said "i just want to see you happy". Oh i was crying when i heard that one. That was perfect, they didn't make a big deal out of that, the kiss or the necklace, It just seemed as if everything fell into place.

Now let me know what you think, I'm dying to hear.
thanks for staying with the show and stopping by to see me. Like i said i will still be here writing and knitting away as long as you show up. I've enjoyed all my time spent with the Gilmore Girls and I've learned alot from them. As a single mom myself Lore has been a inspiration to me. I just hope my son turns out with the drive that Rory has.

Best wishes and Happy stitches
Mandie

P.S
So much was happening during the show that i was only able to knit two rows of my Gilmore Girls Shawl. I will finish this thing but i will reserve myself to only knit on it during GG reruns.
I'm committed to this process what can i say.

one more day :(

2007-05-14T21:22:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

I just thought i would drop by and remind all to watch tomorrow night to see the last Gilmore Girls EVER. I think we will all miss sitting back and watching our favorite girls every tuesday night. I guess now i have to make it a mission to get all the box sets. Friday is my birthday so maybe if i'm lucky i'll get another box set. I recieved the fourth season for christmas.

I'm posting a pic that i took to enter into a contest for a swap i'm in. I am taking part in a coffee/yarn swap and they are holding a contest to see who could take the best still life photo of coffee and yarn. I wanted to see what you folks thought of the pic i sent in for the contest.

I hope you all enjoy our last GG episode, I've read the spoilers and i'm not sure what i think just yet.

Best wishes and happy stitches

mandie

my 2 cents

2007-05-11T17:01:00.000-05:00

I have taken a few days to let this episode sink in. I wasn't really sure if i liked where it was going. I personally think that Logan will make a final appeal to Rory in the last episode. I cant see them ending the show with out them being together. I dont think they will be engaged but i think they will be dating again. Logan needs her. I was not a big fan of the talk with Rory and lore in Rory's apartment. I think that being raised by a forever single mom Rory is just following moms example and feels its best to go it alone. Now please remember this is being written by a single mom so no hate mail please.

I think the best thing they could do is give us an "update" ending to the show. When they ended the show six feet under they gave us the best ending i think i have ever seen on TV before. They played a wonderful song and followed each of the main characters thru there lives. It really gave the show closure. You were able to see them get married have children and see there children's wed, and also they showed some of the characters deaths (that is what the show was about anyways). I would be soooo very happy if GG would do something like that. I'd love to see a future shot of Rory on her wedding day or at a big newspaper and Luke and lore together at the diner.

Oh well i guess it is only a wish right. We will all see on Tuesday.

best wishes and happy stitches
Mandie

Well...

2007-05-08T23:01:00.000-05:00

She made the wrong decision. She should have said yes. What does she have to stay in New England for? I suppose the fact that she didn't spend the rest of the show devastated and depressed means she didn't really love him enough. But I stick to what I said. Wrong decision.

I think the series finale will be a huge let down. Doesn't look like too much excitement will happen. In addition to last week's disappointing episode maybe it is time that they let the show go. Ever since Lore called it off with Chris the show has been slow... mellow... boring. I guess I would rather say goodbye now, loving the show and always loving the show, then having several seasons of disappointment and coming to hate it However, if Rory were to say yes to Logan and move west it leads to a natural series finale.

Now that all of that is said... I teared up when Lore was clapping at the ceremony. Lauren Graham does a fabulous job of contorting her face when Lore is upset and trying not to show it. She always makes me tear up. I look forward to seeing her in Evan Almighty and I think I'll go through the IMdb.com and add some more of her movies to my NetFlix list.

Its really over :(

2007-05-08T14:54:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry to bring you bad news today. It was announced that Gilmore Girls will not be back for a 8th season. You can read more info on www.gilmoregirls.org This was announced last week but I had not visited the site for a while so this mornings news was abit of a shocker for me. After reading the email from the gilmore girls.org founder i realized i too am faceing a decision. Do i keep my blog up and running. I have decided that i will, as long as there are people who want to visit, share there knitting projects and just talk about gilmore girls i'll be here. We now only have two more episodes left. Two more weeks to enjoy all that stars hollow has to offer.
I say let's make the best of it and enjoy them while we can. These last two episodes will be packed full of exciting things ( i wont spoil them for you) for us.

Again i'm sorry to bring you the bad news
i'll be back tonight to discuss the show
thanks
mandie

trying to find a pattern

2007-05-07T10:20:00.000-05:00

Hello all,
I'm trying to find a pattern similar to this one. This was my fav sweater but it got felted. I love the neck line and how the sweater would hang. the cuff's used to hang a bit too. I guess they call this a ballerina top? i'm not 100% sure. The only ballerina top patterns i have found are wrap around, and that just wont work with my body type.
any help??
please let me know
thanks
mandie

sorry so late

2007-05-02T21:05:00.000-05:00

I too was able to call last nights episode. I am having a hard time with the new writers. I know that they had some big shoes to fill but they must think we are stupid. I have given up on reading the spoilers, i don't need them. I think i can even tell you what is going to happen in next weeks show. I'll keep it to myself, but i think i know what is coming. Regardless of being able to see the future i still enjoyed the show. I like how they showed a calm Layne. She was so scared when she was preg. and just freaked out a few times. now they have showed her as a great mom and a very understanding and loving wife. speaking of babies, Dula is MIA... I love how TV shows can make a character disappear.

So Logan wants to marry Rory, hummmm!!!! I smell trouble. Now is when Chris is gonna reappear and Luke is soo gonna run into him. OK that's it no more predictions. sorry for that one. I did enjoy Rory's dream of the future and a bit of the past. I like Paris living in Rory's house, she has always ran to that house for comfort.

So recap. Layne's man is going on the road sans wife and baby, Rory now has an apartment in NY, Logan is moving to San Fran, Logan wants to marry Rory, lore is having a heart attack at the thought of Rory moving and getting married, Rory is going to graduate in next show, Luke has no April/ boat, and lore is singing love songs. OK I think i got it all. well now that i write it all I'm not sure if I really did like the episode. I think i like that it is Gilmore Girls, and it's new but as far as GG goes it was not my fav. I guess alot of nothing happened. strange how after writing about it my true feelings come out.

I'll stop babbling now. thanks all
Mandie

Watched GG with my Mommy

2007-05-02T11:08:00.000-05:00

So my mom has never seen GG and is unfamiliar with all the complexities of the story line but she sat down and watched it with me last night while she was visiting from out of town.

When I heard about karaoke, I looked at my mom and said, watch, Lore is going to sing a cheesy love song and Luke will walk in. When Logan came to talk to Lore, I also looked at her and said, I bet Logan wants to drag her to like California or something. Even though I called these things, I still liked the episode.

I find myself constantly worrying about what is going to happen in Season 8 (if we do indeed get a season 8). I need to chill out and just watch the show :)

In knitting news, I have one button band finished on my Cardigan, Branching Out continues to progress. I haven't worked on the baby cardigans sleeves. I'm a bad girl.

some works in progress

2007-05-01T12:17:00.000-05:00

here are some works in progress.

This will be felted soon. I just thought " how cute would a British flag be on a felted bag". I was right. the Jamaican flag is next.

I'm not sure if you all remember me telling you a few months back about my son's cousin who was murdered out in Wyoming. well his girlfriend is having his baby girl, she is due in July so now i have a reason to make something pink. I decided to make the baby tart hat from knitty.com. I may enter this in the calendar contest they are having.

Spring cleaning. All this mess on my bed is going to be donated to a local school that is having a rummage sale. This school is for mentally challenged children and all the money from the sale goes to funding new and existing programs for them.

well i'm sure i'll be back later tonight to post about our favorite girls. Talk to you all soon

mandie

2007-04-26T20:50:00.000-05:00

Here is my ever so helpful boy. He made a deal with me to get his nintendo DS back. Instead of being grounded from the games he had to do a bit of community service, ie: all the dishes and one load of laundry(start to finsh, that includes folding and putting away the clothes). well besides being a bit camera shy he loved doing the dishes. He wants to do them everyday. I wonder how long that will last.

On the knitting front. Today i finished another square for warm up america, and finished the duplicate stitch on my british flag hand bag. Photos to come. Tomorrow all i need to do is felt the bag and the handles, oh i guess is need to make the handles too. opps.
I tried my hand at mobius knitting today with very little success. i guess that will have to be for a day where i can focus a bit better. I'm getting my headaches back and they are making up for lost time. I am having trouble seeing well enough to type to you all so i will make this short. The headache today has decided that the most comfy place in my head is behind my left eye. so that is where it has stayed. I am also catching a bit of a cheast cold. So goes life in the ever changing weather of OHIO.

thanks all
best wishes and happy stitches
mandie

OHHH I'M SOOOO HAPPY

2007-04-24T20:22:00.000-05:00

I just loved it. Tonight's episode was simply amazing. The return of lore and Luke. Well not officially but still i think we could see them returning to each other a bit. What a show ending, Rory not getting the New York Times fellowship. That is gonna leave a few marks. I think we may see a return of the Rory that we saw when she left Yale. So very lost. Did i catch a reference to a ring during the preview for next week. My DVR shut down the show before i could see the last part of the commercial.

I'm glad that sookie and Jackson talked things out. I personally would of made him suffer for a few more months but that is just bitter little me. I think you can tell she is preg. for real this time. Her face looks different, Something about her nose, swollen a bit.

So car shopping with my ex doesn't sound like fun, Lore is just a nicer person than i am. Then again if I had a ex that looks like Luke i may make an exception. LOL. I thought it was so cute when she was smiling as he was yelling on about her little quarks. I think she may have been asking for that one, hehe, she is sooo sneaky. OHH and how cute is it when he showed up at the house after doing all that searching for a car for her. uhhhh!!! I want a Luke. If anyone happens to have a friend, cousin, brother that is sooo Luke, I'm looking, send'em thisa way. lol.

I have heard tell that we are getting some shows for a season 8 but it is not 100%. I read that the CW wants a certain amount of shows and the GG people want another. I cant tell you what a relief that was to read. They could end this season very easily as the final season, they are wrapping things up very nicely to end it all. I can only hope and keep my fingers crossed. As soon as i find out about the season 8 thing i will post it here.

Thanks all.
best wishes
Mandie

P.S
Tim, I usually don't try to read into anything IE: songs, videos, movies. I'm kinda a blunt person but what is with the doll house. I mean first a maze and now a crushed doll house. Whats next? I'm afraid to ask. I miss the old writers, they gave us credit and let us use our own brains. lol.
anyways, i just wanted to know what you thought of this one. Maybe I'm wrong but it is just a little strange, right after the maze.
thanks

sorry for this folks,

2007-04-24T08:19:00.000-05:00

I joined a felted bag swap and they need me to post this on my blog. It is knit related but not Gilmore Girls related. So again sorry and bare with me.

1. How long have you been knitting or crochetting? How did you learn?

i started in august of 2006, i taught myself from watching knitty gritty on the DIY network, i had to have brain surgery and needed a hobby i could do while in bed.

2. What are your favorite yarns to knit\crochet felted bags with?

i love cascade but i like trying new yarns.

3. What are your favorite needles to knit\crochet with?

i have a set of denise interchangable needles that i'm soo addicted to. also love bamboo

4. What are the last 3 bags you knitted\crochetted (include URL for Yahoo! or flickr album or your blog if you have them!)?

You can also link to patterns if you don't have pictures of your finished objects!my other blog has lots of pics, http://gilmoregirlskal.blogspot.com

5. Do you carry the bags that you make, give them as gifts, or both?
both

6. What is your favorite felted bag that you have made for yourself?
a cable knit celery colored green with bamboo handles and cream ribion. i just love it

7. What are your favorite colors? Do you like bags in these colors or choose other colors?
I like crisp colors for my own bags, nothing real crazy but for others i love crazy yarn. I dont think there is a color that i dont like. my favs right now are different shades of green.

8. Chocolate: White, Milk, Dark, or not so much?
dark
9. Coffee, Tea, or Milk?
coffee, dark as well.

10. Do you prefer sweet or salty treats? What kinds?
dont they go together? i love them both. i just dont like any nuts except peanuts.

11. If you went into Bath and Body Works and could only come out with one item, what would it be and what would it smell like? I have very little sense of smell. I can only smell a few things, it just so happens that one of the things i can smell is "amber" from bath and body works. I'd get it in a spray or body gel.

12. Do you enjoy any other crafts or hobbies? Do you collect anything?
I collect yarn. I also try to crochet but i'm teaching myself that hobby too.

13. Are there any bag patterns you have not yet knit, but hope to someday?I have a pattern for a bagette handbag from NONI

14. What is currently OTN (on the needles) for you?way to many things. a shawl, a to be felted pearl jam handbag, baby sweater, british flag handbag, fingerless gloves, scarf, i cord, Oh i know there is more i just cant think this late.

15. What is your most recent finished object before that?a felted handbag for a friend

16. What's cutest: Puppies, Piggies or Pixies?pixies, i'm not an animal person.

17. Do you enjoy reading? Books, Magazines, or both?if its about knitting i like them both.

18. Do you have any children? (kid-kind or pet-kind apply!)one, a 7 yr old boy

19. What are some of your favorite yarns for other projects?jojoland orange and green wool, berrocco glace

20. And for the final question, one I see debated all over: Novelty Yarn: Love it! Hate it! or It depends!I started knitting with funfur but i'm not much of a fan now. I think that it is ok for certain projects but i think it looks really bad on the rim of a hat or handbag.

2007-04-23T14:38:00.000-05:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/mandies2happy/FinishedKnittingProjects?authkey=h-qiNtXe1tw

If i did this right this link should take you to a album of the knit work finished. I'll post it and we will try it out.
Thanks
mandie

http://picasaweb.google.com/mandies2happy/BeautifulSpringDay?authkey=tu3JtLcMm0o

here is one more.

Brenda's handbag

2007-04-23T12:17:00.000-05:00

what i've been up too

2007-04-23T09:24:00.000-05:00

First off, My camera is all better, YEAHHHHHHH. so now you will be hit with mass amounts of pics that you prob have no desire to see, you can send hate mail to the comment box,hehe.

I've been a knitting machine. I have way tooo many projects going right now. I think i'm on number 13 and about to cast on number 14. Yes i truely think i have A.D.D. I get bored to easily. lol. I've done something knit wise that i swore i would never do, i've beeen working on my GG shawl and i was not watching the show (slapping my own hand)i just couldnt help it. This shawl has proved a bit bigger of a project than i thought it would be. so here are some pics, and i guess we will talk after the show tomorrow night. I cant wait.
enjoy
mandie

grandma pulling micah's tooth.

He couldn't wait to put that tooth under his pillow. Teeth prices went up since i was a kid. He got 2 bucks, i always got 50 cents.

My sister and I were hanging out outside yesterday and i snapped a good one of her laying in the grass.

our dog harley. He looks so cute when he perks up his ears. He just had surgery on his left ear so if he has one that looks bald you'll understand.
micah and his mound of legos. This is a queen size bed sheet. I have found this to be the best way to keep his legos in one place. We wrap up the sheet when he is done playing and we can put them away.

I am having trouble uploading my knitting pics so i'll have to try that on a different program. look for another blog posting today hopefully with the pics.

best wishes and happy stitches
mandie

this ones for Tim K.

2007-04-20T07:29:00.000-05:00

Hey Tim,
I just watched your video on your page. I agree with you to a point. I agree that this episode was alot about Logan and where he is going and the connection to what lore did when she left the money life. I feel the maze is a huge metaphor for several of the characters. When Rory and Logan walked into the maze there was a split in the path. They paused then chose to walk the path together. I feel that was a big metaphor for their relationship which was in question when she was applying for the new job. she didn't know where to put Logan on her pro/con list.

When it comes to lore and the maze I dont feel she is meant to seem lost in the maze but look more like she is on a journey alone. She has always been great at taking this journey (her life) completely solo but sometimes she has to remember that others can help. I think the important thing in this scene is not so much Luke helping her out of the maze but how they said they are sorry for the past. They both were doing so many things in their life (during their engagement) alone. They needed to lean on each other, I feel they did this in the maze. Finally. They said what they had to say, she took his advice and started on her solo journey once again. Who knows who is going to be around the next corner but at least she knows now she is on the right track.

Just my two cents.
thanks for your thoughts, it was great to see your page and your video.
Mandie

need some ideas

2007-04-19T01:51:00.000-05:00

Ok folks i need some imput here.
I've been thinking about hosting a swap. coffee and music or maybe just coffee, to mark the end of season 7. I just want to get an idea to see if this would be of interest to you all. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think, good and bad. I thought it would be fun and very gilmore of us, lol.
thanks
mandie

Thank GOD

2007-04-18T21:23:00.000-05:00

I'm so happy to have Gilmore Girls back. So Mandie is 100% right about the maze symbolism. Could they have made it anymore obvious? It was a bummer that I could see the end coming a mile away.

What is funny is immediately before last night's episode I watched the season finale for Season 6. OMG! that was a very very good episode. I'm glad Luke and Lore are talking again.

I wish Logan would do something. I don't know what, but something. Oooo he needs to propose. Wouldn't that kill Lore if Rory got married?

Oh i'm sooo happy

2007-04-18T01:36:00.000-05:00

I got my gg fix and wow am i happy. If you haven't seen tonight show yet PLEASE don't read this, I'll spoil everything for you.

I love how they are slowly bringing Luke and lore around each other again. I do think the whole maze thing had a bit too much symbolism here. they didn't mask it very well. SO here is the big question on my mind. Why in the world did they give Layne's babies such bad TV names. I mean TV names because they are no Rory or Logan, come one Steve and Qwan??? I expected something a bit more rock and roll out of those characters. That let me down a bit. I enjoyed seeing lore turn into her mother for a moment when speaking about Logan to Suki. She seemed to be dressed a bit more Emily too. at least during that scene. All in all i think it was a great show. we got to see most of the main players, April came back for a visit, Paris and BF, Suki and family, Taylor, we weren't missing to many folks at all. No word yet if we will get a season 8 or not. We will know in may. Keep your fingers crossed. I cant imagine what I'll do with my poor half done shawl if i don't have new episodes to watch, not to mention the extreme amount of withdraw like symptoms that will ravage my body.

Well enough with bad thoughts
I hope you all enjoyed the return of our girls, let me know what you thought.
best wishes and happy stitches
Mandie

is it tuesday yet????

2007-04-16T01:01:00.000-05:00

The moment we have all been waiting on is almost here. I cant wait to watch the new show and finally work on my GG shawl. I have held true to the KAL and have not touched this shawl since the last new episode. I'm not sure if that makes sense, "the last new episode"? Its late and i'm getting tired.

I started knitting a british flag handbag tonight. This will be my first project done in the round on circular needles. I have used the double pointed for several projects but always seem a bit lost when it comes to the circulars. I use them all the time for staight knitting but not joined in the round. I got to use my new stitch markers too.

This week started my Warm Up America project. I was so nervous about no one showing up at the first meeting but i had five people show up. I was soooo happy. I think that we will have lots more people join us once they all start to see what good we are doing. We are thinking about holding a knitting sit in. Our church holds three services on sundays so we are thinking about sitting in the lobby in between services to grab attention toward our cause.

Last but not least. My camera is fixed. Silly me was using the wrong kind of batteries in the thing. once i put in rechargables the thing started right up. so now i will be overloading you with plenty of pics very soon.

talk to you all on tuesday.
best wishes and happy stitches.
mandie

Netflix Season 6

2007-04-11T10:56:00.000-05:00

So last night I sat down and watched 3 episodes of season 6 including Lane's wedding. That wedding looked like a great time. I missed almost all of season 6 when it came out and I was confused as to most of Luke and Lore's relationship but it is all beginning to make sense now. Is it just me or were they just barely a couple through their entire engagement. Luke is so distant. I know it is just his nature, but Lore can't live like that. From day one Lore was keeping secrets, then Luke was keeping secrets, then Lore has to keep more secrets to pretend she doesn't know about Luke's secrets and it just builds and builds and builds until all your time together is pretending to almost be an entirely different person than you are. Even those the original "secrets" aren't terrible things, they grow into terrible roadblocks.

Now that I can see them headed for a downfall, it makes me wonder how I feel about Lore's single situation in recent episodes. She still loves Luke, but could it ever work? Christopher has become a much better person in my eyes than he started out, but she doesn't love him. At least not like either of them deserves. I am beginning to think Lore doesn't need a man, she just needs a new baby and another relationship just like Rory. Like it was just the two of them the whole time Rory was growing up. She needs some one at home, but not a lover.

I really don't know what I am talking about, just tossing the drama around in my head.

I started knitting top down raglan cardigan based on the one at this site, but I am knitting it back and forth rather than doing a steek. I would want to do a crochet steek, but can't find enough info on the internet to make me comfortable cutting into a sweater and I don't have any books that mention it. Besides, if I don't have to steek that is even less finishing right? and I sure do hate finishing. Anyway. It will be only two or three colors. I have a bunch of Paton's Classic Merino Wool Laying around (about 7 skeins in three colors) and I really need a cardigan for casual, non work (my work clothes are grubby) purposes.

I don't have a pic today, because their isn't anything to show yet, but I'll get you one soon.

One more week

2007-04-10T13:47:00.000-05:00

We have one more week until the new episodes start. I have been reading the spoilers since i cant wait to watch the show. Yet i think this makes me want the new shows more. Its a vicious cycle. I posted a new pattern in the "Fav Patterns" on the left side of blog. I may get a chance to post a few more today.

So i need you all to do a little favor for me. I applied for a job, a very good job and i'm worried i wont get it. This is were you all come in. Say a little prayer, cross your fingers, drop a penny in a wishing well, ask budda for help. What ever it is that you do for luck, pass a little my way. This job would truely change my life as well as my sons. Right now we are living with my parents and being 28 this really makes me go crazy, so if i get this job my son and i can move out, start over. pray for me. thanks all
mandie

my poor little camera is broke :(

2007-04-08T22:07:00.000-05:00

I'd first like to say i'm soooo sorry i havent been around. I started back to school a couple of weeks ago and it is taking over my life more than i thought it would.
So today is easter and like every other mom i was trying to take a picture of my son looking in his easter basket when my camera goes dead. I quickly put in new batteries but still nothing. So now i get to wait to hear back from the camera people who recieved a not very nice email from me. Hopefully this is not a big problem and i'll have pics again soon.
As for knitting. I have recruited another friend into my knitted web of fun, lol. I tell ya all of my friends will be buying yarn soon. lol.
Thursday is my first meeting for the chapter of Warm Up America i started. I cant wait. I've been collecting yarn from estate sales and such for this meeting. I am worried no one will be there but i guess i should have a little faith.
I hope you all had a wonderful easter and i'll write soon
thanks
mandie

A must see knitting comic strip

2007-04-04T00:13:00.000-05:00

http://www.gocomics.com/luckycow/2007/04/02/

This one goes out to all you male knitters. I thought this was sooooo cute.

Knitting:
I started a wavy scarf today for a friend and a felted handbag for another friend.
well must go do some stitches.
talk to you all soon
mandie

is it april 17th yet?

2007-04-02T23:27:00.000-05:00

From a little research on www.gilmoregirls.org i have found out that we will not get an new episode for another TWO WEEKS. yuck, yuck. Now dont get me wrong i love repeats just as much as the next person but who doesnt love a new one more???

On the knitting front:

I went yarn crazy today. I went shopping with my mom and my sister and my mother has an addiction to the goodwill. I tell ya, that women can go in there blind folded and find the best deals and really cute clothes. Anyways, i hit the yarn jackpot. I found four bags (about a grocery bag size) full of yarn. One i put back right away cuz it was just yucky yarn but the others were so wonderful i had to buy them. I spent a total of 13 dollars and walked away with. A huge cone of teal mohair, a ball of the coolest color mohair (black, teal, red and burgandy), 9 hanks of gold 100% virgin wool, 2 pink 100% virgin wool, oh you get the pic. I also received a couple other boxes of yarn in the mail. I just love ebay. so here are some pics. If you guys have any idea on what in the world i do with all this gold please let me know.

Oh wonderful mohair

lots and lots of wool

colinette yarn, this pic doesnt show how awesome this yarn is, the colors are great

pink, chocolate and coral. these are going to be a set of winter hat, fingerless gloves and scarf. I got several balls of each color.

my new yarn from www.jagsfunkyfibers.com I just love the yarn she finds. she has 50 new yarns coming soon.

Now for the yarn diet.

Thanks all

mandie

I ordered some new toys...

2007-03-29T19:03:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

My friend toni has a friend who makes jewerly and i asked her to make me some stitch markers. I got these pics in my inbox today and i am in love. These are perfect for me. I like things that are very simple. I dont know what all the gemstones mean that are on it, but i think it is wonderful. This is her website if anyone wants to see or order some of her stuff. http://www.birdstogems.com/index.htm

I'm sure if you email her that she would make some markers for you too. I'm not sure yet how much they are but i think its worth it.

i hope you like um

thanks

mandie

We Lost :( :( :(

2007-03-26T20:47:00.000-05:00

well we lost, 87-85. It was a good game and they almost had it but man was it hard to see them lose. My son had a great time at the game. I think he just likes the hot dogs. lol.

On the knitting front, I finished my friends felted handbag and am working on the finishing touches of my OSU buckeyes bag. Sorry to tell you but tomorrow will be yet another repeat for our beloved gilmore girls. I urge you all to take a moment and vote to save our GG. here is the link, it only take a few seconds and every vote does count.
http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/blog/index.jsp?uuid=52af6b98-eb72-45a0-b27b-7798e6bf906f
save our Gilmore Girls and vote now. we need another season.

Here are a few links that show some pics of the game. I will no longer bore you with basketball well unless OSU makes it into the final four. lol. talk to you all very soon.
mandie

Links to upper rams basketball game pics.
http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/sports/stories/2007/03/25/boys_D2_game.ART_ART_03-25-07_E14_UF66CGU.html

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/SPORTS06/70325009&SearchID=73276178706828

We won!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-03-23T01:35:00.000-05:00

Tonight I took my son to the boys high school basketball game. We had such a good time and to top it all off we won the game 89-58. It was an amazing game and i'm so glad my son and I were able to share this together. Since we had tickets to tonights game we were able to buy tickets to the state finals on saturday. I cant wait. Oh and the buckeyes won too. yeah..... I know, I know, it is a bit strange to talk about basketball on a knitting blog but i'm just so proud of all the hard work they have done. The "star" player Jon diebler played tonight even though his grandfather passed away last night. I just cant believe the emotional strength this boy must have.

On the knitting front i was able to finish my school sprit scarf and add a matching headband. Here are some pics. GO RAMS!!!!!!!!!!

projects in the work

2007-03-22T09:44:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

I am holding my breath waiting for a new gilmore girls. On the knitting front i'm currently working on several items. Here are some pics for ya.

This will be a felted Ohio State Buckeyes handbag. I will do a duplicate stitch over the top of it before i felt it.

The boys high school basketball team in my home town have made it to the state final four. They play in columbus tonight and i'm taking my son to the game. Our colors are orange and black so i need a scarf to show my "school spirit".

I paid a visit to my new favorite yarn store in columbus ohio the other day. Knitters mercantile has everything i have ever wanted in a yarn store. I picked up the yukon print to make a cable handbag like my green one i posted on here. I'll be making it for my baby sister. I picked up the hempethy black hemp yarn to make handles for a "bob marley" handbag i'm going to felt and the cascade was on sale so i just couldnt pass it up. I'm thinking about making the scarf that brani posted on here, the branching out scarf. I think these colors would make a perfect spring item, but please suggestions are always welcome. when i get new yarn i never know what to do with it. The women at the store was helping me look for yarn and she asked me what i was making. I had to laugh when she gave me a look to my response. I told her i didnt know, i said, " i'm a bit of a collector, i never buy more then one skein of the same color or brand". she looked at me like i had just commited a cardinal sin of knitting. lol..

Of course i'm still working on that baby sweater, but at least i'm getting ready to put it together.

then i have the crochet afghan for grandma (who is doing very well now). and random small projects like a head band for a friend. a head band for me. and my last attempt at a felting project for a friend.

Best wishes all.

mandie

Speaking of St. Patty's Day

2007-03-21T19:02:00.000-05:00

This was how I spent my St. Patty's Day Weekend, you may recognize a few of my knitted items making appearances in here :)
PS... I'm in the glasses and sometimes my entrelac scarf

i missed a few pics , here they are.

2007-03-18T23:45:00.000-05:00

my cousin candee, yes we made her wade out to this park bench which normally is several yards away from a pond but now is part of the pond.

read the date of death, this one is crazy!

great day for photos

2007-03-18T23:13:00.000-05:00

Today was a very busy day for me. It started with me, my son and his grandma going to the local hospital to take part in a wonderful program called the "teddy bear clinic". At this event children can bring in a stuffed animal to tour the hospital so that way if the child is ill the hospital wont seem like such a scary place. They also get to give their animal a fake shot and bandage them up. Micah had so much fun.

Afterwards my sister jess, my cousin candee and I went to the local park to take some pics. It was a bit cold but the lighting was so nice we had to go. Locally we have had a ton of rain so the park was a bit flooded but it made for a fun day. we also had a chance to go visit a friends grave site and we found some amazing statues. I just feel such a sense of peace at cemetaries. Strange i know. I stoped by a locally "famous" tombstone. I'll post the pic of this famous headstone, check out the date on it. No one really knows why this date is the way it is, whether it is a misprint/typo from the carver etc. they are not really sure.

On the knitting front i am finishing up a friends purse, this time i have to get the pattern right, i'm running out of that yarn.
enjoy

mandie

my st. paddys day hair tie

my little sister jess

one of the many statues we found at the cemetary

st paddys day save

2007-03-18T01:49:00.000-05:00

Not being a real big person on the topic of st. paddys day i completely forgot it was today. I had promised my son that his father and i would take him up to bowling green (which is about an hour away) to visit his grandpa. On the way up there my son decided it was time to give mom a nice big pinch on my arm. Ouch. I was not wearing any green. Lucky for me i happened to have some green yarn in my "knitting bag" that i brought with me. I quickly knit up a hair tie in I-cord. I'm happy to say that i did not get another pinch the rest of the day. I'll post some pics tomorrow to show you all my "life saving" green yarn. lol.

Happy St. Patricks Day
thanks
mandie

product mentor

2007-03-15T19:01:00.000-05:00

Tonight i received a call from kelly the creator of knit klips. I have been tossing around an idea for a new knitting product and i contacted her to see if she had any advice for someone looking to do what she has done. Here is a link to her web site and info about her product. http://www.knitklips.com/ She had created a wonderful product to help when seaming a item together. She called and was great, she answered all my questions and gave me some great info. Not many people would do what she did for me. Some people in the business industry would bother to help someone else who is trying to get into there field. So a big thank you to Kelly for all her help and advice. Please take a look at her site when you have a chance. you can order straight from her site or you can check with your local yarn store to see if they carry her product.
best wishes
mandie

perfect day for a kite

2007-03-15T18:53:00.000-05:00

My son and i had a wonderful outing yesterday. I have not been to fly a kite in years and we had a wonderful windy day. So after school my son and i went hunting around town for a kite (which is harder to find than you would think) and went to the park. we had a great time after we both learned what we were doing. I took some pics so sorry to bore you with non knitting pics but i just had to share them.

Hi!

2007-03-14T18:39:00.001-05:00

Hi! I am Sarah! Thank you so much Mandie for letting me join the wonderfull knit along for Gilmore Girls obsession with a little knitting thrown in! I am so excited to be here! I think that my first project for the knit along will be a baby gift for a couple at my church. I want to knit the scarf Lorelai wore in the show, but it is getting a little hot for scarves down here in good ole' Bama!

Sarah
lacerox.blogspot.com

mama's got a brand new bag.

2007-03-14T13:58:00.000-05:00

First of all i couldnt believe it last night when there i sat, knitting in hand when i see a rerun. I had no idea that last night was a repeat episode of GG. Well at least american idol was on. I finished a few projects last night that i am very happy about. I finished a set of fingerless gloves for a friend and a handbag for me. I still have to do the lining on the inside but i am just in love with it. I got this yarn from an estate sale. it was tucked away inside a suit case. 5 hanks of 100% virgin wool in this wonderful shade of green. Its almost a celery color. I toped off this cable knit with a cream colored ribbion. Instead of running the ribbion around the top of the bag i wove it thru the cable down the center of the bag and back around to the other side. I hope you like it as much as i do. I'm trying to get permission to publish the pattern but if i dont hear back i may just set up a link to it on here.

thanks

mandie

Branching Out

2007-03-13T23:53:00.000-05:00

So even though GG was a rerun, it was one I haven't seen so I watched and worked on Branching out from Knitty.com. It is a KAL for a local group I belong too. I'm having fun with it although I really do have to pay attention because it is my first lace project.

I'm still watching

2007-03-12T23:47:00.000-05:00

So I wasn't feeling great on Sunday and watched several episodes of Gilmore Girls on DVD from season 6. While doing so, I managed to finish my sister's leg-warmers. Yay. No picture today. I will be seeing her this weekend and hope to get a picture of them on her to share with you!

baby sweater on its way.

2007-03-11T21:15:00.000-05:00

I have way to many projects to count at this point. The one i'm enjoying the most right now is a baby sweater ive been working on for a while. I have promised the pics so here they are. I'll be done with two handbags and two sets of fingerless gloves by the end of this week. Hopefully the baby sweater by the weekend. i hope you like it. I'll post pics of the other projects when they are done.

thanks all

happy stitches and best wishes

mandie

P.S... i almost forgot. I wanted to post a couple pics of a painting my sons grandfather has painted of him. I'll post the original pic and the painting. I can believe he does this amazing work from just a picture.

what no baby pics???

2007-03-08T22:04:00.000-05:00

I was so happy that poor layne had the babies but i really thought they would show more of it. I couldnt believe that they didnt even show the babies pics. That would of been a great ending to the show. I guess i was pretty happy with how it did turn out. I think it is nice that lore walk in her moms shoes for a while. I like the fact that she is finally saying she is sorry for walking away with rory all those years ago. So i must say "i'm sorry" as well, i have been trying to get around to post the pics of my first ever sweater and i've been soooo sick i havent done it yet. I went to the docs today and he told me i have tonsilitis and laryngitis. I'm having trouble talking, swallowing, well just about everything. I've had a bit of a fever too. so i'm done here tonight, i'm going to go crawl back under my pile of blankets and shiver and not swallow. i'm on meds now so i should be feeling well enough to get those pics up soon.
thanks
mandie

trying my hands at a sweater

2007-03-06T15:23:00.000-05:00

I've decided to try to make a sweater. It was going sooo well until i got to the neck shaping. nothing in my short knitting career has prepared me for such a project. I have had to turn to my friends at a knitting group on yahoo for some help. I'm going to post some pics this evening after i finish the sleeve. I'll put them up with my gg post. Cant wait for tonight. I have read the show spoilers for the show and without giving anything away. I'm happy with what they are doing. But i do agree, i feel like they are preparing to end things. I hope they dont but i guess good things cant last forever (oh how i miss you knots landing, lol) .
well i will talk to you all this evening.
thanks
mandie

Programming the VCR

2007-03-02T12:20:00.000-05:00

So last week, I programmed the VCR but didn't know it had to be turned off to work. This week however I figured it out. I was so excited when I came home and there was something on the tape I sat down right then to watch it.

Didn't that episode feel like they were starting to close things up? I finished the episode depressed. Something about it just felt like the beginning of the end and I don't like it one bit.

I also got season 6 disc 2 from Netflix this week and watched three episodes last night. One of them was Rory's 21st birthday party, back when she was not going to Yale, living in the Pool House and not speaking to her mother. It was so sad to see. I hated that Rory didn't know about Paul Anka or the hole in Lore's house. I know they get fixed eventually, but still. So Gilmore Girls has been leaving me depressed lately.

I have been finishing some projects pictures will follow this weekend.

Lucy on top model

2007-03-01T01:56:00.000-05:00

Ok, so i was watching Americas next top model premiere tonight. They had a challenge where the girls had to go to a goodwill and have a fashion show. while they walked the runway they showed some of the people in the front row (well the only row really, there was maybe 30 people there) and they showed "Lucy". Rory's friend from yale. i couldnt believe it. she was just sitting there they didnt even mention her. Tell me i'm not alone in spotting her.

Do you have a loreali Gilmore?

2007-02-28T23:15:00.000-05:00

I have a little one. My aunt linda. As a child i always wished that she was my mom. She is just so cuddly, and always had cool crafts. She is the kind of aunt that would do out of no where fun stuff. Once while spending the day at her home in the country my sister, aunt lindas two daughters, aunt linda and I went outside to lay on a blanket and eat popcorn ( which she put in rolled up newspaper) It was soo very dark outside and we were fun scared, just before we were about to go in (due to freddy kruger movies) aunt linda told us to look up. That is when i saw the most wonderful meteor shower i had ever seen in my life. To this day i have never had a moment where i felt so small yet so big at the same time. Tell me about your lorali gilmore that has given to your life.

As for the show. As you can tell it had an impact on me. I think we can all agree that logan is going down a very slick slop and i think that rory is going to have to team up with his dad to plan his future. He just cant do it for himself. I cant wait to see laynes babies. Goodness knows what they will name them. Did you all see the little lore and luke moment outside the baby shower, i love it. i just cant wait to see what else they are gonna do.
thanks all
mandie

i just cant get the color to show

2007-02-26T17:56:00.000-05:00

I'm attempting to show you the pics of the Gilmore girls shawl i'm working on and i just cant seem to get the colors to show right. This is a wonderful orange and lime green color wool. I got from jojoland yarns, i found this on ebay but you can order directly from their web site. this is amazing yarn. i had to wind two balls together to get the right thickness for the shawl but i am soooo loving this project. The pattern is on a past post it is the "cozy" shawl from www.knitty.com . I havent made alot of head way with it since i really do only work on it during gilmore girls. at 8 i start and at 9 it is back in its bag. i'm starting on ball number three. so six skeins total so far. I think i may have to order more.

The next pic is of a crochet blanket i'm working on. I just love the way this feels. I'm using lion brand Jiffy. I like how soft it is and the fact it is machine washable sold me on this yarn. I'm doing this in a deep purple, a tan, hunter green and cream layers. I should be done with this by next week.

On an entirely different subject. I have been selling a few of my items here and there and a friend of mine told me that i need a company name. This was of great debate with my friends. I had them giving me all kinds of ideas. Well i have settled on two that i need to choose from.

#1---- 5 Flare

#2---- Mandies2Happy

Please tell me what you think. I know the mandies2happy thing seems kinda expected but it really did take someone else suggesting it for me to go "oh yeah, i like that". silly me.

I have submitted my projects to a consignment company on the net and I have a few local leads. So let me know what you all think of the names, i can use all the help i can get.

thanks

mandie

pardon the pause

2007-02-25T17:58:00.000-05:00

Sorry i havent been keeping up on the page as much as i would like to. My son just keeps getting this flu that is going around and today was no different. It seems he gets it, gets over it, and gets it again the next week. He is resting with a nice dose of meds and his fever is finally going down so mommy had time to write. I'll be posting a few new pics tonight of the gg shawl i've been working on and a crochet blanket (number two, the first one was torn out) the has really come a long way. I'm also working on a pair of fingerless gloves for a my friend Jags of www.jagsfunkyfibers.com (link at the top of the page). Who by the way will be posting some new yarns to her page later in the week so keep checking back. as i said before, it is recycled yarn from sweaters, it is washed, torn apart, put in hanks and sold for about 2 dollars for 100 yards. Now you cant beat that deal.
So keep an eye out for the cheap yarn on jags and the new pics on here.
REMINDER:
if anyone is working on the part two of the free yarn contest please post a coment and let me know other wise I may be tempeted to break into the stash i set aside for the contest. I just love the yarn i put in there and i'm not sure how much longer i can wait. lol.
thanks
mandie

I got my smileys yarn, yeeeaaaahhhhh

2007-02-21T22:49:00.000-05:00

On my blog i have a list of my favorite places to buy yarn. One of which is smileys yarn. They have a 40 dollar min. order. well my friend jeni and I decided to go halves on a order. we each went to the site and picked out our 20 dollars of yarn. Well it came today. Jen went with mostly the dollar sale section ( she is new to knitting and is still building her stash). I decided to go with yarns that i havent worked with before. I am just in love with this circus yarn ( and it's only 1 dollar) it comes in great colors and it feels like prima cotton but with out the price tag. I really suggest next time you need a bulk order to go to this site and check it out. they have a great selection. new patterns here i come. so of course i have pics to show you. so here they are.

last nights show

2007-02-21T10:20:00.000-05:00

First of all, my grandmother surgery went very well. she is coming home today. she has some pins in her arm and she is sore but other than that she is fine.

Now for gilmore girls. I completly missed dula's hat (I'm sure i am mispelling that). I'm going to have to watch it again. They always have the greatest knits on there. I was so happy to see lore and emily share a real mother daughter moment even if it was alcohol induced. lol. I think lore really needed it. I did feel so bad for her in the morning when reality sunk back in. I guess nice emily can't last forever. Also I can't wait to see where this logan thing is gonna go. I know rory would love him even without all the cash but i dont know how that would effect him. Depending on what dear ol' dad does with the "deal" falling thru this could be the end of them. I really hope not. I like them together. So am i the only one holding my breath for a luke and lore reunion (pardon me as i turn blue, lol). I like how they brought his sister in to put it right in his blind face about lore or i mean the "hen". I think with last nights show they opened alot of doors for the show to be able to end this year or continue. They added a few story lines that can end very fast or drag on. I guess we will have to wait and see.
If you ever go to www.gilmoregirls.org you will see they are holding a bit of a letter writing compaign. it is called the great8mandate. They are trying to convice the network folks that we need another season. but it looks as if alexis ( rory) may be leaving the show on her own. According to the gossip loop that is what is holding the network up on making a final decision.
lets all keep our fingers cross.

Next week we get to see preg. layne take a very strange trip to the hospital on a bed rolling down the center of stars hollow. Looks like a good one.
I'll post some pics of dula's hat as soon as i can find them on the web or take a pic of my tv.
thanks
mandie

tonights show

2007-02-20T09:17:00.000-05:00

hello all,
I wanted to let you know that i will be posting ( and watching) tongihts show very late. As you read in the last post my grandmother fell. she broke her arm and had to have surgery on it. Well they couldnt do the surgery in our local hospital so she was taken to a bigger hospital about an hour away so i will be there visiting this evening and by the time i get back it will be after gg. So i'll be using the wonderful Tivo to tape the show and watch it asap. Please feel free to leave any show coments on this post for this eveings episode. But for those of you in a different time zone this should work out nicely for you. I'd like to add an i'm sorry for that time difference thing. After i watch an episode the first thing i do is go to the comp to post about it. I forgot that other havent seen that evenings show yet. I will try to wait to post from now on as not to spoil anything for you all.
thanks
mandie