Yarn It: My life as I Live It and Knit It

Moving Day

First of all, I want to thank all of you for your sweet comments on Cassidy.  I am really enjoying the sweater and have worn it a few times in the evening.  It will get much wear!

Moving Day has FINALLY come!  We are moving tomorrow.  Scott and I are excited, the kids are excited, and we are all looking forward to being in a new place and starting new and happy memories.  I can't wait to share some pics of house with you.  It is really cute and we have a gorgeous view of the woods. 

I probably will not make another post for about two weeks.  It will be over a week before my internet will be hooked up and I will be busy unpacking and getting settled.  Knitting will probably be on the side lines for awhile too until we get settled. 

So until then, I hope you are all doing well and that you have a safe and happy Halloween!

Cassidy

First of all, I have to say that this is my FAVORITE sweater.  I may have said that before about other sweaters but this one is most definitely my favorite.  I will wear this all the time.  I will probably wear it around the house a lot just to keep warm because I am usually cold when nobody else is.  To me, Cassidy is the perfect sweater.  Wearable, warm, cozy, stylish, and everyday. 

Pattern:  Cassidy  from Chic Knits

Yarn:  Berroco Ultra Alpaca

Needles:  US 6 for ribbing and US 7 for body and sleeves

Modifications:  None!

Size:  38"

Sophie just lost her third tooth - so when she smiles her tongue sticks out of the little hole where her tooth is missing.  I couldn't help but mimic her - she is just too cute.  She always wants to get into the pictures with me - is a super poser for pictures! 

Now you can really see the cute little smile. 

Ok, back to Cassidy.  This is a very classic sweater.  The cable repeats are very easy to memorize and the pattern is very easy to follow.  I made the 38" size because I did not want this sweater to be fitted.  I wanted it to be looser and comfortable and that is exactly what I got.  It is a perfect fit without being to fitted.  I would certainly recommend this sweater to anyone.  It looks much more challenging than it is.  Once you get the cable repeats memorized then you only need to pay attention to the row counts for decreases and increases.

Tonight my three younger kids went to a Halloween Party at our gym.  So here is a picture with my little ones dressed up:

I have no idea what my little lady bug is looking at, Sophie is looking at her dad, and Davis wouldn't smile because he is a scary ware wolf and apparantly they don't smile!?!?  Sophie is Miley Sirus.  On Halloween she will be Hannah Montana - she already has the wig but didn't want to mess it up tonight.

Here they are before Sophie had her change of clothes. 

Camille has a friend spending the night and all I hear right now is Vanessa Hudgins blasting from her room.  I think Camille and her friend are in her room dancing because I hear lots of clapping and giggling going on.  I remember those days.  In fact, I think I have pictures of me acting out Madonna - and they are deep, down in the depths of my basement.  I have some really cool pics of my from the '80's too.  I love 'me.

This is probably the last FO you will see until we move.  We are moving next weekend and have found a really nice house a little further up the mountain.  Further than we would like but it is the perfect house for us for now.  It is very private and overlooks a green belt of pine trees.  It is also full of deer and about 5 bucks are sharing the front yard right now.  I am sure they will go away  once my dog is in their presence!  From now on, the pics of my FO's will be in a different setting.  And it is a good thing.

Back To The Good Stuff....

It feels good to have some real knitting content to blog about!  I finally finished Cassidy (Ravelry  link)  and I am so thrilled with how it turned out.  I can't even tell you.  I might just wear this sweater almost everyday because it is that versatile and comfortable!  I will take pictures of me wearing the sweater tomorrow.  This afternoon I was playing Taxi Cab - like all afternoons - between volleyball practice, volleyball games, ballroom dancing, and karate I practically feel like I live in my car in the afternoons.   After the running around I had to drop the kids off with their dad and Camille is the appointed photographer.  We just didn't have enough time today.  She was never even able to come home after school.  So this is what you get for now.

I can't wait until I can wear this.  We have had our share of cold days but the last two days we were in the low 80's with warmer nights again!  But as you can see from the picture, the fall leaves are on the ground (and now all over my sweater), it should be wear-able soon.

I have yet to mention that I am also knitting Not-A-Poncho City Cape (Ravelry link)  from Wendy Bernard's book, Custom Knits.  I have only knit one poncho - which I really should post about sometime.  I love it but never wear it.  This was attractive to me because it buttons down the front so you don't have to pull it over your head to put it on or take it off.  This allows for wearing ease when in public if you feel like you want to take it off.  Also, it has slits for your arms so you don't feel constrained!  I think it is genius and considering the fact that I don't like to wear jackets, this little cape thing is perfect for me.  I may just finish it tonight (the knitting portion at least) but I also have some modifications to make which I will mention when it is complete.  So far I love it though. 

Sorry about the flash.  As I said, my appointed photographer is not here tonight.  But looking at this you can see my first issue - the arm hole is too high and too long.  I am going to fix that.  I should have taken into account that I have long arms but I just didn't think about it.  I don't mind where they end though - I just don't like where they start.

Besides that, I have a few other knitting things going on which I will no doubt talk about soon.  I also joined SP 13 and I am so excited about it.  I have participated twice before and had amazing experiences.  It has been awhile since I participated so I am looking forward to it. 

***Edited To Add***:  I am taking Keana's advice (see her comment) and am not going to waste my blog space on the negative stuff anymore.  It is a waste of energy anyway.  Plus, I think she is totally correct in all the things that she said (YOU rock Keana!).  So I am done with it.  I will continue to blog as I normally do and continue to focus on my wonderful family, sweet children, and of course....my knitting. 

Open Minds and Open Hearts

Many of you know that I made a post yesterday regarding a negative comment that I received on my blog.  I posted the comment and my response to the person who did not leave their name nor a valid email address.  I decided to take the post down because I think it was creating too much negativity in my own mind.  Many of you have read the post, even though I deleted it, because it shows up on your RSS feeds. 

I want to thank each and everyone of you who have emailed me privately in response to the negative comment.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support and your kind words.  I know there are so many good, kind, loving, and non-judgmental people out there and many of you read my blog and offer your support.  You are all amazing women and I feel lucky to have formed these on-line friendships with you.  Thank you.

I have decided that I am going to monitor the comments for awhile.  I have no problem with people having opinions - but I refuse to be personally attacked and judged.  For good reason, I have not disclosed the very private and painful reasons that have led to the demise of my family.  I will say that I believed in my family and I fought tooth and nail to keep my family intact.  However, after many many years I decided that staying in my marriage was more harmful to me as a person and I am better off not being in it.  Making that decision took a good three years and it was sad, painful, and heartbreaking.  I have no regrets.  I now am in a wonderful and loving relationship and my children get to witness that love and respect.  For the first time in a long time I finally feel like my future can be happy and bright.  It is a good feeling.  I refuse to let anyone take that away from me.

I have amazing parents.  One thing my mom and dad always taught me was to not judge other people.  I have always been so grateful to my parents for teaching me that it is important to have an open mind and an open heart and to not judge.  We are all human.  We all have feelings.  And we all know pain.  We never know what people are really going through on the inside or behind closed doors - just as you did not know what was going on in my life behind the blog until I disclosed just a small amount of it. 

We all have our own belief systems and not everyone is going to fit into it.  However, just because someone does not fit into our belief system it does not mean that they are a bad person.  Judging is part of human nature - but being open to accepting people as they are, regardless of your own beliefs, makes us better people.  It also makes us more forgiving.  Attacking someone because they don't believe the way you do is not only narrow in view but is mean spirited. 

So, my negative commenter, I am not going to judge you.  If you can't handle the contents of my blog then please don't read it.  Try to restrain yourself from attacking others who are not like you or whom don't believe as you do.  I hope, if anything, that you find the peace and love in your life that I have found so that your heart is more open and loving to those good people in the world whom don't fit your standards.  That sort of open mindedness comes with being happy with who you are the inside. 

I will personally respond to all of you who have emailed me personally.  It will just take me a sometime because I want to do it thoughtfully.  I can't tell you how much your kind words mean to me.  Your emails brightened my day. 

As for knitting - I will be posting about Cassidy tomorrow and I can't wait!  I love, love the sweater!

A Quick Note

I seriously think about blogging everyday - and I never get around to it.  Life has been crazy.  That move I talked about?  It didn't happen.  I mentioned it was an old home - it had some deferred maintenance but we didn't realize how much until we got the keys.  And when we got the keys?  I had to do major cleaning - I am mean really gross cleaning.  Their standard of cleanliness does not even come close to mine (and I have four very messy children).  The garage wasn't cleaned out and it was full of rabbit poop.  I am not kidding.  After they did clean it out it smelled so bad I gagged every time I opened the door.  Not all the stove burners worked almost all the kitchen lights were out, the carpets were not cleaned, the bathrooms were dirty and it just left me with a sick feeling inside.  Besides all that, the owner's were not responsive and Scott and I didn't feel like they would respond in a timely manner is something broke.  So we had no choice but to put a stop payment on our check and hand in the keys.  I couldn't live there and couldn't move in with my children.  I hated doing that but I didn't want to get stuck in a house I wouldn't be happy in.  This happened a couple weeks ago and we have been on a serious mission to find a house since.  I live in a small town and it is very difficult to find decent four bedroom homes here.  We are choosing between two right now.  One we have for sure and the other we are waiting on - and that is the one we want.  So we will see!  Scott has moved into my current house because he had to be out of his place and we are in total limbo.  I will feel much better when things are settled.

As for knitting.  Cassidy is almost done.  I am finishing the hood and then just need to start the button bands and it is complete.  It is perfect though.  It fits just like I want it to and it will probably be the most worn sweater in my wardrobe.  No kidding.  Other than that I have also been working on my mom's stole, which is coming along beautifully. 

Someday, my life will get back to normal.  I can't wait until it does.