It just keeps getting worse

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 :(

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!!!

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 !!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.