Who me?

So lets face it i am an addict! Addicted to yarn like so many knitters I can't seem to control myself! So now that I am in some-what control, I have started trading! Yep Trading my lovely yarns for more! Thanks Trek !

I have been procrastinating about posting my Yarn Aboard box I recieved from Cynthia on Saturday... I have to admit it is a famtastic haul and I am so glad to be apart of this neat swap....When I saw the drill box arrive I was dancing. My husband asked what's the big deal? Oh when he saw all the goodies I got he understood! ;)

Do you see all the goodies? Thats right Koigu! Remember I was wanting some in just my last post? Yeppie! I also got some stitch markers from her but I am using them right now so they are not pictured ;)

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Knitting Spirit!
So only two people have entered this contest! can you believe it? Debra, who doesn't have a blog sent me a great story about her bag she carries...And Trek just posted hers Here! It's not to late to post about yours and tell me so I can enter you into the drawing!

I was in knitting group last night at Yarntopia and Amy and Cheryl asked me if I would teach a Magic Loop class. When I knit in the round for small projects I ALWAYS use magic loop..... I actually own 2 sets of DP's, thats it! But, I have 40" addis from 0-11 just for ML!
I am super flattered and very excited about teaching some classes! I am trying to think of a good project to do.. I guess socks would be the best, but you can do anything in the round with ML method.

Ijust discovered my next project! of course I have to do the socks for mothers day, and the felt clogs for fathers day...but after that I WILL be doing THIS! I think its wonderful and I will make it a tank too. Lets face it I live in texas its HOT here!
y'all take care... I will be staying up late reading blogs ;)

Cascading Leaves in Spring?

Yep! I finished the first sock and I have just finished the ruffle on the second... I like the ruffle, its girlie I know but it adds a little something to it, don't you think? The varigation hides the lace pattern a little..But I don't mind :) I had to stop short on my toe B/c the sock was getting too long! Well, ends up the sock is a little big for me so I will wrap up both when finished for a Mothers Day gift for Mom :)

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Health Update
Chris and I went to see the Liver specialist (Hematologist)and he didn't seem to concerned about those lesions on his liver...Good News? yes in a way..But Chris's evelvated liver blood tests are a concern and he asked Chris a series of questions to try to pinpoint the cause...No red flags came up.. Chris shows no symptoms of any type of liver ailments! At all! So Chris goes in for a CT scan on Tuesday morning and they took blood again to rule out, Hepititas A,B,C ..Diabetes, And Autoimmune Diseases... If all the tests come back normal and the blood liver is still elevated then they will have to biopsy... Lets hope it doesn't come to that ;) Thanks for putting us in your thoughts and prayers, we're not out of the woods yet...but close i hope!

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Projects and more
I hope to be starting some sort of Tank top soon.. I really can't decide what it should be? I don't mind purchasinga pattern....Can you suggest anything... I have sport weight yarn and Worsted wieght as well! a summer cardi would be nice too.. so feel free to suggest those too ;)

I am going to try to make the day lily socks for my MIL for Mothers day, depends if I end up having time left! I have the perfect DK yarn that my needle Exchange pal so generously sent to me!

I will eventually work on socks for myself. I have my yarntopia sock yarn and was one of the first to join the Posse! We in the posse have all summer to come up with out create sock patterns and then were them to an end of summer party at yarntopia! Doesn't that sound fun :) Alot of out of state people have been joining even though they can't come to the party.. Look here for more info!

I bought this pattern and plan to make these for myself some day soon too.....I was going to use Koigu, (p122) just like the picture but then I saw Heather's new batch of freshly dyed superwash and and I now know I need to make it in one of those :) I do want to actually use Koigu! really I do!!! I ave 2 skeins waiting for me in the stash, but I crave more Koigu...Yarn is a sickness ;)

Take care, and I swear I am getting to my Bloglines slowly but surely :)

Leaf Lace Shawl: revised

Leaf Lace Shawl Pattern by Fiber Trends
Start: 4/2/06 Finished: 4/15/06
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill DK Silk (Serengeti) 2 hanks =630 yds
Needles: 8

My favorite knit yet! I am a shawl/sock-aholic!

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I forgot to mention that this shawl is unblocked! the length is already my arm-span and the point ot the small of my back... i am guessing it will be a bit larger after blocking :)

Anaphylactic Shock?

Did I misspell that?

I let the kiddos out to play early Thursday morning...I had to get Lunch started and they were on my last nereve...at 10 am already! I was on the phone with my momma and I heard screaming! Brandon was screaming bloody murder, I said to my mom "oh the kids are fighting again" while rolling my eyes! I calmly walk out to the back yard.... I approched Brandon and I couldn't figure out why he was so frantic! Then he said "no" "FOOT"! I looked down and his left foot was COVERED in fire ants! I yelled "OH Sweet Jesus!" and my mom knew instantly, "ants? get him in the sink"!

For those of you who don't know... my childern they are allergic to every insect you can think of! Hillard has always run fever and swelled like a ballon with bites. Brandon, poor sweet Brandon is worse off then Hillard when it comes to fire ant bites...

I counted atleast 14 bites on the top of his left foot alone! I was tearing open the benadryl while calling the Doc.! I really thought the benadryl would stop any bad reactions... boy, was I in for a surprise!

Inconsolible cryng for over and hour, fever came , hives and a rash came, then his eyes lids started to swell! I freaked out! eyelids don't swell do they? The Doc. wanted to see him immediatley! Lucky for us my quick reaction of nearly overdosing my toddler with benadryl probably stopped his throat from swelling! So LUCKY!

To make a long story even longer ;) His foot and calf are twice the size they should be, and he can't put any weight on that leg without screeching in pain... so we have been carrying him everywhere this evening... He has had a second reaction already, hives,red spot rash, fever, more eyelid swelling, and did I mention that he keeps obssesively scratching his scalp? Thats a wierd symptom.....

we gave him a dose of steriods, and some perscription stregth benadryl (ana-something?) He is sleeping somewhat peacefully... I am guessing tomm. is going to be a tough day!

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Knitting news! here are some pics of what I did last week.. Everyone is sleeping so I don't want to disturb thme by taking more up to date pics ;) So these will have to do! I will be done with the Leaf Lace Shawl by tomm. and The first sock is more that halfway done! I am so pleased with both of thes projects! They have been really fun! I will post the Leaf Lace FO on sunday, with some easter pics!

Now your just showing off!

Okay, I was aware that Brandon had a few more verbal skills than other toddlers his age...But, at the age of 22 months he can count 1-12 in english and spanish? Yep.. You can imagine our surprise when he blurted out; uno, dos , tres, and so-on until he skipped 10 and went stright to eleven and tweleve.....Dora has taught him alot, so has Blues Clues... yes I admit my Kiddo is a T.V.-holic! He enjoys watching his 5yr old brother watch T.V. and I guess he has picked up a few things? Not to mention he knows 9 different colors and has letter reconition....Chris taught him that stuff... Never knew he knew what pink was until he got home from his grandmothers house! .... He doesn't understand blue... to him it's azul.. you guessed it, more spanish :)

Don't get me wrong I am not trying to show off at all! Honest! It just amazes me how kids his age are like little sponges. Hillard (my 5yr old) is autistic, and his toddler yrs were very different form others. He was our first child so we had no clue what he should and shouldn't be doing... His obsessive habits, the constant meltdowns, no eye contact, now I actually have an idea how serious his situation was, and still is!

This month is Autism Awareness month...And I would like to share our story with you:

Hillard was 14 months old when I began to worry that he wasn't progressing like he should. His cousin (Thomas) was only 4 months younger than him and began to point and speak simple words... We thought Hillard is just running a little behind and he will grow in his own time.. 16 months rolls around and still his meltdowns were worse and still nothing! I brought him to our Ped.Dr. and she said we should wait until he is 2 to take any action. That was absolutely unacceptable in my book, we dropped her like a hot potato!
I thought maybe Hillard needed contact with childern his age (I was a stay at home mom) so I got a job at a local day care and signed him up! Oh it just got worse! He had no interest in his peers and just sat in the corner by himself and did repetitve behaviors that we now know is "stimming"... The teachers obsereved that he maybe deaf because he didn't respond to their voices..He was almost 2 yrs old and still didn't know his own name ..I knew he wasn't deaf because if he heard something he liked 3 rooms away he went running! He was sooooo different from all the other children, it was painfully obvious that something wasn't right.

I accepted something was wrong is when Hillard stopped dancing... I am tearing up as I write this part.. Hillard always responded to music by dancing, and one day he just stopped. He had slipped away.
I knew Chris was ready to accept something was wrong when we visited my sisters house and Thomas smiled and looked at his dad and pointed to the moon and said "MOON!" Richard (Thomas's father) smiled and said "yes, your right thats the moon!".... The sadness in my husbands face crushed me!
These two moments will always live forever in my mind.....And I cry evertime I think of them.

Hillard never acknowledged the world around him.. If a bird flew by, he didn't notice, if a plane was flying above he didn't notice....He just didn't seem to care about the bustling world around him.. He was missing that part of his brain that makes toddlers want to learn! And that was just the begining... He started developing typical "Autistic Characteristics" as he grew older, and still to this day.
Hillard is now in a great autism program with our local public school district and is doing well... He is still considered non-verbal because his speech is still spuratic and minimal. He is very smart and does a few savant things with letters and numbers. He has always given big bear hugs and always likes to smile.....

We will be taking him to a new doctor for Autism this summer in Baton Rough LA and look forward to what she might say.

I didn't want to focus too much on the bad behaviors in this story b/c they are very depressing and I can't afford to get down... We as a family have tried to stay positive and happy, it is our only defense against this horrible disorder.

If you want more information about Autism please give these websites a look-see :) This first one is my favorite.. it is an ESPN commercial and it make me and Chris cry every time we see it.

ESPN Commercial

Surfers Healing


Symptoms/Characteristics

More info

Share Time!

I am officially HAPPY! Seems like things have been crazy around here lately with all the health problems the both of us have been having.... But, really its the small things in life that make me happy :) To name a few: my husband and childrens love, security, and........

Yarntopia opened today at 10 AM! You all know I had to be there! I brought them some lunch so that it would be one last thing they had to worry about on opening day...... I had planned on subway sanwiches, but couldn't find the local store... So I had to grocery shop anyway and picked lunch up from there. This is seemingly "nice" of me? Not really, I got them Chicken Tortilla soup along with their sandwiches... it was refrigerated so the jokes on me I didn't realize these lovely ladies didn't have a microwave handy... Hope they enjoy it when they get home ;) Mary Ann (amy's mom) was a sweetheart and entertained the babies while I shopped! Of course Chris sent me with a specific amount of cash that I could spend... and boy did i spend it... some-what guilt free too :)

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Here is the damage! Fleece Artist Galore! I got some superwash sockyarn in their "shop colors" brown, bright blue and reddish... Rosegarden, and Forest.... I picked up some of Handmaidens Sea Silk yarn 500 meters of loveliness...I couldn't pass it up ;)This also is in the "store colors"

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Brianne sent me my needle exchange package last week and it was a haul!!! I am so excited I have never owned cashmere yarn or brittany needles befrore! I got a candle that boasts a scent of "Duck Farts" and it is the best smelling candle EVER!!!! She also sent a really soft yarn from JoAnn's selects... it was sent for Hillard... He really likes soft stuff! I also got purse handles! yeah! you guys know i like to make my bags! This really was a great modge podge box of goodies. Thanks Brianne!

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Dr. Frank... of The Mr. T Experience (MTX) my favorite band is releasing his first book, King Dork. I saw on his blog this moring that he will be having a release party in Oakland CA on the 11th of April... Oh how I wish Chris and I could go!!!!! We pre-ordered the book and can't wait for Amazon to send it. We will have to fight who gets to read it first ;)

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I finished my Sockapaloooza Socks on Saturday! Here they are in all their glory! Ashley, my sock sister wrote an update on sunday morning so I replied to here ASAP that I had indeed finished my pals socks! I also informed Alison... So thats it on May 2nd I will be mailing them out to my pal! Here is a sneak peek!

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So Since I finished the pals socks I had to start a new project! I give you the Begining of a Leaf Lace Shawl! Isn't it purrrrty! The yarn is the Cherry Tree Hill DK Silk! I was stuck at the 27th and 29th rows... I have the correct amount of stitches on my needle but the pattern isn't working with it...Lucky for me Jenn has already done this pattern and the pattern is written WRONG! ugh!

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SOCK WINNER!
CASCADING LEAVES WINS!!!!!! So here it is...... I went and bought the yarn today at Yarntopia. I couldn't resist making it out of fleece artist superwash sock yarn... the color is Forest... Sure it's varigated but I don't think it will hide the lace pattern too much! Thank you all for voting! I was kinda of wishing this would win ;)

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I had a lot of fun visiting the new store and I know I will be a frequesnt presence there! I will post more next week, and I am hopeful these projects will be almost done :)
I think that about covers the past week! See? Happiness :)