My Mind is Officially Blown :)

Something really amazing popped up in my WordPress notifications, even if it is a week or two old I wanted to share!

Are You Sure About This?

I cannot believe that this is right. I mean, really? Since March 13th my little hope of having a knitting blog has come to alive. I am totally awed and so freaking humbled it is scary! Who are you, my dear friends and neighbors, who find me even slightly interesting? I spend my time devouring your words, your photos, the little bit of your life that you wish to share. Now, it seems, that you are kind enough to afford me the curtsey of doing the same.

I hope this isn’t annoying or showy, but I wanted to share all the stats with you. It seems that since I quit staring at them daily that they’ve changed a bit.

• Total Followers on WordPress: 525
• Most Visitors in One Day: 344
• Total Visitors: 13,519
• Total Comments: 2,730
• Total Posts: 120
• Total Tags: 964
• **** **** **** ****
• Total Instagram Followers: 359
• Total Facebook Page Followers: 68
• Total Twitter Followers: 37
• Total Tumbler Followers: 45

I wish that I was in a place financially to give something away, something as awesome as I feel right now! There will be a time, sooner than later I hope, that I can share my appreciation with everyone that puts up with this little blog. It’s strange though, even if no one read this I have learned so much from you in the past six months – more than I can ever express my gratitude for.

So thank you friends and neighbors, you have made my week!

One Lovely Blog Award!

One Lovely Blog Award.

Receiving blogging awards is still such a surprise to me. When I started this blog almost 18 weeks ago I never imagined anyone would read it let alone recognize my existence with an award. This particular lovely came from Movies, Silently. I love her blog, it was in fact one of the first blogs I started reading when I started my blogging adventure. Silent Movies are her specialty, but it doesn’t stop there. She’s cunning, funny, stylish and her posts are always a fantastic read. Seriously, do yourself a favor and pop over there – I will wait. 🙂

So, down to the rules of the award.

• Add the “One Lovely Blog Award” image to your post (Check!)
• Share seven things about you (Check!)
• Pass the award on to seven nominees
• Thank the person who nominated you and add a short blurb about them.
• Inform the nominees by posting on their blogs 

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** So, 7 new (and supposedly interesting things about myself) **

1. I met the love of my life when I was 17 years old…on a blind date. We both worked for the same chain of movie theaters and a friend thought it would be the perfect set-up to get Trevor to run into her arms (we really are that different, and difficult ;)). Eight months later we were engaged!
2. When we moved into our condo in 2004 our next door neighbors were meth addicts. These were the scariest moments of my life! When their cat wandered into our yard with infected wounds from being punctured by needles Trevor and I gave them two choices; 1) Give us that cat and go away or 2) we are going to call the cops and have you arrested. Fatty never liked us, but I think we gave him the best (and last) 3 years of his life.
   

   With his Lick ‘n Kick.

   

   Very Fat Cat Under the Table.

   

   Hungrily Eyeing a Piece of Bologna.

   

   Seriously…Kitty was HUGE!
3. It has become a good luck/ family tradition for the men in the family to get heat stroke on their wedding night. My grandfather, my dad and my husband were all incapacitated on their wedding night. We got home, I put my husband to bed with Advil and Gatorade and went downstairs and ate the white chocolate fondue pot he had prepared 😉
4. When I was I was working at the hospital in college, I was going through the ER to get to my car and saw a man self-canabalizing. That’s right friends and neighbors, he was eating his own fingers. I dutifully told the nurse what was happening in the hallway and the proceeded to go get my own lunch.
5. In high school I was running after my crush after a concert. Being that I was in high heels and a skirt (and horribly clumsy) my shoe got stuck in-between the sidewalk and the grass propelling me, and my skirt, forward. After recovering from my humiliation ( it didn’t take long, stupid crap like this happens to me all the time) we realized the foot was in fact very broken. On the plus side, my crush carried me to the car, ER and home. Then made a joke to carry me around all the time. I was elated – and that feeling never changed, even after I found out he had a crush on my brother.
6. My all time favorite band is The Smiths. You may think it’s music to wallow in, but I love it!
7. I have an unnatural love for horror movies. After my OCD made normal things in life seem terrifying, watching a horror movie – and being scared and something you SHOULD be scared at – makes sense. There is not a lot I haven’t seen – and Martyrs is the best/worst of them all.

Okay. Done! Now for my nominees!

1. A World Created – Hannah, until we started conversing I thought that all internet friendships were supposed to be creep and weird. Now I know that a true bond can be created out of kindness and passion for your craft. Every post seems better than the last.
2. Traveling the world….and much more – Your blog shows your deft hand with your craft and a sharp wit that makes your posts a pleasure to read. Bonus, you were the first person to really help me make the Katniss Shawl for my niece – I am indebted to you!
3. Lottieknits – You know why you are getting this, your kindness knows no bounds. For the rest of you – go read this blog! It has snippets of everything you would ever want to read about. It has been a constant source of inspiration to me.
4. lollyknits – Just another blogger that I desperately wish was my next door neighbor. Decisive and funny, her posts are a joy to read. Her pictures make me jealous (this is a good thing and a compliment) and again – another kind soul that is always willing to lend a hand.
5. MonsterYarns – Although it seems like everyone already knows this blog, I am going to suggest you quit reading mine and go straight over yonder to MonsterYarns. The post is fabulous, the writing superb! Not to mention that some of the comments I have received from this blogger are hilarious!
6. Rob’s Surf Report – A great writer, blogger and friend. There is always something to heavily consider after reading his posts – and not commenting doesn’t feel like an option. I am inspired by the free way he writes and voices his opinions.
7. Creative Writing with the Crimson League – This is a newer blog (for me) that I’ve started following. Do you have a blog that you just cannot skip, even if you’ve been up for 20 hours? If not – head over, you shant be disappointed!

Alright friends and neighbors, two posts in one day again but totally worth it. Signing off for a bit and I will see you tomorrow….unless something else decides to flood. 🙂

Holy Crap Batman!!!!

I am on my way!

I never post twice in one day but this is pretty exciting news for me, so I want to share. It has been a rough weekend and the week isn’t looking much brighter, but you have to find the joy in things or you’ll end up curled up in the fetal position, eating your own hair. This is good news friends and neighbors and I just couldn’t wait to share! Thank you so much for all your support and for reading my rants, I’m still awed!

 

OH HAPPY BLOGGING DAY!

Stitch Week 7 – Heartfelt Thank You’s & Photo Editing Mishaps

Before I get started today, I wanted to say thank you to all of you that commented, liked or simply read Please Don’t Tell Me What I Cannot Do. It was overwhelming to see that the blogging world actually cared about my circumstances, and the outpouring of support and encouragement left me a bit dumbfounded. I’m still surprised that something that personal poured out of me, obviously it needed an outlet. Infertility, especially miscarriages is something that most people want to sweep under the rug, like seeing it in the daylight would solidify it in reality. It felt like a weight lifted off my shoulder to just write about it, to purge my mind. So thank you so much. Thank you.

* * * *

Perhaps white was not the best yarn color to try to photograph, but live and learn and play with photo editors! So with no further adieu, I humbly present Week 7’s Stitch Pattern!

Hello Week 7!

I will tell you that knitting this was a delight – a little confounding do to my dearly departed GG’s handwriting- but once you get past that it seemed to knit itself. When I started taking pictures of the dishcloth with my iPod, they were horrible! No joke, it was like the image just disappeared in the picture, which gave me the opportunity to play with both Instagram and Vintique . I haven’t done much editing with these applications, but playing around with them last night was a blast. Whether it was successful or not, I shall let you decide.

Sharpened and Hi-Light.

Super Duper Sharpened with Lo-Res Filter

Aqua Filter

To be honest, I am feeling the Epic Fail with theses. On the plus side, I was introduced to all the fun filters and sophisticated things that can be accomplished with an iPod; something I foolishly used (until just recently) to listen to music and check the weather. Silly me!

With the filters on my iPod not giving me what I wanted, I pulled out my trusty Canon and decided to go old school – if you can consider digital photography and Photoshop to be old school that is. I was pleased with the result;, this could be because of the abject failure of the first attempt but hey, I am still learning! Most people who work in hospitals aren’t well versed in the fine art of making their pictures not suck. Or maybe that is hopeful thinking! Anywho, here are the shots from the Canon.

Before Photoshop Close Up

After Photoshop, Thank you Hi-Pass

Full Frontal

Stitch Pattern Dishcloth

Magnified Close Up

Much Better!

So GG, what did you have in store for us this week eh? Well, once again there was no name to the pattern, no punctuation, and a very odd Cast On number. Well Week 7, you haven’t disappointed me!

co38 – Cast On 38 Sts. (Feeling Pretty Good)(Why yes, I am a smart a**!)

R1 correct, kall- Row 1: (RS) Knit all Sts. (Seriously, sometimes when I read these patterns I think of the movie Nell and her secret language!)

r2,pall – Row 2: Purl all Sts. (Nice, nice)

r3 p2 k1 end – Row 3: P2, K1 to end of row (This would have been simple, but there are 38 sts and that definitely is a multiple of 3! Eh, don’t fight it Rachel, just see what happens).

r4 k2 p1 end- Row 3: K2, P1 to end of row (Well at least we are being consistent with the whole incorrect number of stitches dealio. Again Rach, just breath in through your nose and out through your mouth).

rep to end, fin. – Repeat Rows 1-4 to desired length, BO loosely. (Dear God, Please let this work out ok!)

Well, it ended up working out better than ok! The pattern was almost spa like in its interwoven bumps and ridges. I would even go so far as to say it felt luxurious! With this in mind, I got on Ravelry and started my scavenger hunt for dishcloths and facecloths for something similar. The closest I found was from Anne Mancine listed under Spa Day Facecloth, which was the same pattern, just outlined with a seed stitch border. What I found a bit confusing though was that the pattern contained a Copyright – how is this possible? GG wrote the pattern (or more likely copied it down from a magazine or a book) circa 1968. Thus I remain confounded by the whole Copyright thingamajigger. Well, it is something new to add to the every compounding list of things to learn.

Thank you again bloggers for all your support and encouragement. Feel free to leave comments, questions or insights….your knowledge is priceless. OH, and Max says Hiya:)

Hiya Bloggers!