sherriknits

I am supposed to be getting ready to go to Olympia, birthday shopping for the little imp….but…………

Shipping is amazing!  I ordered it Thurs., shipped Friday from Massachusetts and it’s here this morning!  Love it as much as I thought I would.  The picture shows the green a little yellower than it is.

No one but those on Ravelry will get this and not all even then.

I’ve been longing for a Ravelry tote bag since before the Rav mini-mall opened up.  I can’t tell you how many times I missed them when I was watching for them to be added to the inventory.  It has become like a craze on Ravelry….liken it to the Cabbage Patch dolls where people are stalking and waiting, afraid to do anything lest they miss it.  I’m serious.  I got such a kick out of reading some of the threads.  One lady actually considered keeping a rental car an extra day just so she could stay home and watch!

For once, I made myself just calm down and wait.  I figured if I got one someday, great.  If not…I could certainly live without it.

Well, last night I caught that they were being put out there a few at a time and it seemed that they were being stocked in the middle of the night for us west coasters.  I have to confess that I had to get up at 3 a.m. and I actually logged in and looked to see if they were there.  Thankfully, they weren’t because that would only have made me lay awake, I know myself.

This morning, I was actually sleeping in but something woke me up so I came downstairs, turned on my computer, did a few things and came back….I thought hmmmmmmmmm, I should just check.  Oh so calm I was.  Until……………….I logged in, there were 49 in stock!  Oh my gosh!!!  I started filling out the cart info and almost clicked send…then I thought hmmmm, I remember Bunni saying the other day that she was interested in one, maybe I should get her one since she doesn’t have paypal.  I backtracked and then my calmness went out the window.  LOL   I couldn’t type for anything and in just that minute or 2 the stock was down to 44.  I got the order filled out, had a horrible time getting logged in to Paypal and ta da!!!!!  I had successfully purchased them.  I called Bunni immediately to ask her if she really had wanted one and she jumped over to the mini-mart and said there were 33 left.  This is just minutes later.  Then I got an email from another good friend, she casually said she’d order one on her lunch hour.  By then there were 22!  I told her and within a few minutes, she emailed me and said she’d gotten in under the wire.  In minutes, they were all gone!

Now, someone help me with this.  I am feeling so bad for the people who were sitting there doing the F5 thing (which I didn’t know about until Ravelry!) and they did things like…went for a short walk, talked to hubby while he ate breakfast, fell asleep, did a chore..whatever…and they missed out.  I feel bad, but…….

I am so excited cuz now I have one! 

The lesson?  I am so tickled that for once, I laid down my wild desire to stalk the store and Casey’s posts in the forums and realized…I can live without this tote, my life will continue on just fine and I won’t even feel bad if I never get one.  It was true.  I think I’ll enjoy it all the more because of it.  I got it because I like it but it isn’t such a huge thing to me as I have gotten obsessed about other things.  But hey, don’t try to take it away from me now!

I’m not dragging along hanging my head, I really am fine…but what I love is that people stopped to pray for me! 

God has never failed me yet and He’s not going to do it now. 

I got my Ravelry order today!  I ordered it last Saturday afternoon, very shortly after the store opened.  I’m really bummed that I did’t get the canvas bag, I really wanted one and do hope they get more in.  But I love the bag I got!  I also got the t-shirt but I didn’t take a picture of it.

And see my cute pin?

I got the daily dose of fiber tshirt, too…and I love the color!

What is that mess of tangled yarn?  (well, I guess you can’t see the tangles, they are out of sight)…but I am learning a new method of two stranded knitting.  Lauri ever so patiently tried to teach me how to hold both yarns but I was getting quite the tangle and twist and we both got distracted helping another friend get pictures for Ravelry that I forgot to have her show me again.

So tonight, I visited Philosopher’s Wool and watched their video and their method is really fun!  I’m just going to practice it on a small project and see what I come up with.

Gosh, my head is just full of thoughts tonight.  We went to a wonderful wedding tonight and saw old friends. 

The wedding was beautiful (in spite of the fact that the poor bride and groom both had the flu over the last 2 days…we’re talking sick!)  You sure couldn’t tell.  She just glowed.  I have watched her grow up.  When we first started going to our church, she was the cutest little girl with little french braids and big dark eyes.  Her mama and I have been friends for a long time…we did a Bible study years ago that started out being about 15 women and ended up after many months of being just the two of us.  We were friends before, but that just really cemented it.  She is a good friend and her children are beautiful. 

We visited with friends who have moved away and I just marvel at how touching it is to meet up with people and feel like you can just pick up where you left it and still feel a bond.  We’ve all walked different journeys and life has taught us a lot, has shaken up our thinking, hopefully making us better for it.  If we can’t learn from the hard stuff and let it shape character in our lives, then what’s it all about?  I hate to ever waste a hurt…but want to learn what I need to learn and move on to becoming that person I was created to be.

I feel like the theme of my day is appreciating who God has put in my life.  I had so much fun this afternoon at my shop with two good friends who I would never have built relationship with if I didn’t have the shop.  We took pictures for Ravelry and marveled at the excellent knitting.  I aspire to be anything close to these two.  But it’s not just that.  Isn’t it fun to get to know people and find that area that you share and build relationship from that?  I feel like my life is so rich with friends, good people.

And then there are the people I have met here.  It’s good.

My little imp was not interested in posing for a picture tonight.  He’s a teenager, what else can I say.  lol

I have so many busy days ahead and so much to do between now and then….gosh.  HELP!   I need to slow down, take a deep breath and take one thing at a time. 

Still working on the Lucky Lurker sock…progress is good but I got a little off this afternoon and stopped for awhile.  I didn’t get much knitting time in today but was too busy talking so I decided to work on the sock later.

I did start a ’swatch’ on a sweater.  For all the knitting I do, I have nothing to wear other than socks.  I am not going to put pressure on myself, but I fell in love with the Minimalist Cardigan in Interweave Knits and tentatively started it.  I love this deep red in Cascade 220.

(yes, I was too lazy to go find somewhere to take the picture so I just did it in my lap.)

Lauri started a group in Ravelry for Fly*dyed Fanatics.  She graciously let me be a moderator.  I went over to her house tonight and we made a banner and a badge for the group.  There are others out there because within no time, 3 people had joined the group.  The other day I started a group for my shop, too.  There is no end of fun over there at Ravelry.

Before I started my sweater, I spent an evening looking at all the sweaters others have done, read their comments, looked at what yarns were used and what people liked and changes they made.  It’s amazing how people will share their experiences and how easy it is to find the information!   Oh!  And until October 15, you can order the Beta t-shirts!  My order is in!

It was a beautiful day even if it was cool.  We were supposed to get rain but it never came.  Of course, I forgot again to get a picture…but the moon really was beautifuly tonight!

It wasn’t quite dark even though it looks like it was.

We had fun last night.  The bride-to-be and fiance and #1 son and girlfriend all met us in Olympia for dinner.  We had pizza and fun.  We were finishing up and who should walk in but the fiance’s family….he comes from a family of 9 kids.  They had just been to the movies and had never been to the pizza parlor we were at.  They had seen our car on the street and thought we were at Pizza Hut next door and they thought they’d just go to Brewery City Pizza and let us be.  It’s funny because our kids had never been there either.  (good pizza and nachos!  great salads, too.)

Yesterday afternoon, 3 of us at work decided on a whim to go get our nails done rather than lunch.  Two of us went over first because they scheduled us for 3 and 3:30.  I went 2nd and he started on mine and buffed a bit and then said I needed to soak (remember my taking off my nail tips myself a few weeks ago?  and remember I said it wasn’t a good idea?)  He got out a bowl, filled it with stuff and stuck my hands in the bowl with a towel over the top and left me to go do my sister’s nails.  I felt like I was in trouble.  He indicated to my sister that I was.  lol.  Sooooo…they got their nails done and there I sat, learning my lesson, and they got to sit and talk under the drying light while I got mine done.  :(  I opted to get tips again and then when they get to the point my last ones did, I will have them removed (properly) and give my nails a rest for awhile.  I love the tips and wonder if I should ever have gotten started on it. 

What a wild few days and a few more to come.  I am not sure I can even remember yesterday.  I do know we ran errands all day long but I seriously cannot remember what I did.  I do remember coming home, though, and as we drove up were greeted with this!

Batchelorette party in action.  Each girl took the bride to a place that had meaning to her.  We were excited to get to see part of it. 

Here is this memory being shared.

And off they go.

Today we spent much of the day decorating.  Getting tablecloths on the tables was a bigger job than I thought.  Lots of help, though.

Everyone helped.

The little guy disappeared.  There is very, very rarely a time that we aren’t aware of where he is.   When the farm hand came in and asked if he could take him for a tractor ride, we were all so amazed.  He’d made a friend, which is not unusual.

Can you see how the gentleman is showing the little guy how it all works?  He had a ball!

I think he didn’t mind so much that he had to spend the day here!

We didn’t make it back to town in time to go get the soft-serve ice cream machine (an hour and a half away)  but we did go back to the bulk grocery store an hour away to get all we needed and hubby has to get up early and be at the rental place at 8.  When we got back to town, we went back out to the ranch and look what we walked in to see.

She had turned all the lights on and was sitting there alone just looking at it all.  I forgot to take a picture from the back showing the chairs.  Everything is still in the rough stages, but we have lots of help arriving tomorrow.

As we left, it was so beautiful.

I can’t believe I have the energy to post this but needed a quiet time to myself. 

Oh!  I almost forgot!  I got my Ravelry invite today!  I signed up for it when they first announced it, but hadn’t heard yet and heard they were letting people in in big chunks so I re-signed up.  Not sure which one I finally got in on, but it’s pretty cool!  I really don’t have time to check it out yet, but go look!