MY LITTLE BOY IS GROWIN UP

It's really shocking to me that my son has graduated middle school already. I am nervous and anxious for him because he will be starting high school. It's reallY difficult to be a "parent". Seriously, where is the damn manual? High school is just as much my responsibility as it is his. He needs constant encouragement and guidance. I myself am gonna need a martini!

baby items

I have two baby showers coming up so I have been knitting away at baby items. I have knitted two baby blankets ( the first one is blogged below) the second one is the big bad baby blanket from stitch and bitch. It was an easy no nonsense pattern that lended itself well to knitting with company! It was fantastic to bring to my mcknit meetings. I also accomplished my first baby sweater. This was a fantastic pattern. The pretty baby sweater is a pattern that has been around forever.Easy to follow and really cool in construction. IT's knitted all in one piece and the sleeves are knitted and casted off til one left then crotcheted back. All and all I am pleased with it. I probably could have done a better job on the sleeves but It's my first sweater so I will be a little leniant in my criticism.

stitch markers

These are the fantastic stitch markers I recieved from my partner,Celena. She's the bomb. I love these and can't wait to use them.

quote

"IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN."

SWAP

I am so excited to do this swap. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed to actually have a positive experience. The last swap experience was not a good one. I love the whole process but hated that I never recieved my yarn or project. I made my bff a set of stitch markers last year and she loved them. I don't even have a nice set for myself. At least now if I make them I will be the recipient of a brandy new handmade set of my own. MY SWAP PARTNER HAS IT EASY! I love all kinds of beads, any color , texture OR material they would ALL work for me. I love anything animal print, punk, diva AND JUST about anything eclectic. i LOVE THE COLOR RED BUT REALLY DON'T DISLIKE ANY COLOR. Abercrombie AND hOLLISTER give me the hives! I LOVE THINGS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT AND NOT COOKIE CUTTER. I HEART TATTOOS AND ART AND DIY.

first baby blanket done! yay!

Here is the baby blanket I have been working on for my friend Maryanne. She is due in September so I got a jump on it. I used caron simply soft because I know it will have to take a good washing ....like all the time! She is a total clean-o-holic! The pattern I found on the net. I loved the simplicity of it. I made some modifications by changing the border to a seed stitch. I love the look of the seed stitch but it does slow down the knitting. I learned to knit with out a cable needle for this one and for this it was easy peasy. I will post when the hats are completed to match. i am going to do a cupcake hat in the leftover yarn and maybe some maryjanes.

top 100 books....The ones I have read are in bold

Look at the list of (100) books below. Bold the ones you’ve read. Italicize the ones you want to read. Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. Movies don’t count.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)(in the process)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible (partial, not all the books of the bible)
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

I have no idea where this list came from, but I thought I would join in this one. Feel free to copy and paste the list and make you own adjustments