Just curious... do I still have any followers?

So... it's been five years. A few things have changed. A lot of things haven't. I still knit, but my mojo went missing for a while. It's back now, thank goodness! I've completed three projects recently and I've just started another. And I'm working on writing up two patterns, with more ideas swirling in my head.

I still homeschool my daughters, but only the younger two, because the oldest(18) is in college! Angel's name is Theresa, and she's a sophomore at Oklahoma Wesleyan University, studying youth ministry. She was on the Dean's List both semesters last year, and is on track to do it again. She joined the choir and an intramural ultimate frisbee team. And she just auditioned for and got a spot on Chapel Teams, which means she'll be helping lead worship for chapel occasionally! She's thriving, and I'm so proud of her.

Theresa, aka Angel (Photo by Assassin)

The daughter formerly known as Princess(15) informed me several years ago that she didn't want to be Princess anymore; she wanted to be Assassin. I agreed, but told her she's not allowed to kill anyone, so she's The Assassin Who Doesn't Kill Anyone(and if anyone understands the reference, you're awesome). She's a junior in high school, and she's taking two online classes through a local community college. She's super close to earning her black belt in karate; she and the youngest have been training for almost three years. She loves photography; she got a fancy camera for her birthday last year and has taken thousands of amazing photos with it! I'll put one of them at the end of this post.

Assassin, breaking a board with a flying side kick(photo by mom)

I haven't called the youngest(13) Kitty in years; she's usually Weirdo or Goofball(don't worry; those aren't insults in our family). She's in eighth grade, and she has developed good coping mechanisms for her dyslexia; she's reading and writing well, and she's actually ahead of her peers in math, she's started Algebra 1. She loves art, especially the kind she can do on her own body; she does amazing FX makeup, as well as very glamorous makeup. She is a brown belt in karate, so she's roughly a year away from earning her black belt. Even though she started karate at the same time as her sister, she was in the younger class for the first year and a half, and the younger kids work at half the speed of the teens. So she is three belt ranks behind Assassin. 

Weirdo/Goofball (photo by Assassin)

This is one of my favorite photos that Assassin took. I love how she captured the reflection in the window of the campus coffee house at Theresa's college. OKWU is a beautiful place.

Another pair of February socks!

I made a pair of socks for Hubby! He shrunk the last pair I made him, so I made these extra long.

 

I used two skeins of I Love This Wool Naturals, US5 needles, and my favorite pattern: Hunter Socks. The yarn is not superwash, and I wouldn't normally use it for socks, but I'm trying to destash by using up yarn. I doubt I'll buy this yarn again; it's not very soft, and there were lots of little bits of grass in it, that I had to pick out as I went along.

I knit these socks in just six days. I had planned for them to be my March socks, but I just couldn't put them down once I started. So now I need to pick another project for March. 

Oh, hi there... again!

So... I'm still here. I didn't realize it had been this long since I'd done any blogging. Looks like I need to update a bunch of things around here...

First of all, my girls are now 13, 10 and almost 8. We're still homeschooling, and loving it. We still live in the middle of nowhere in North Dakota, but we're trying to have a good attitude about it.

I still knit, though I didn't knit as much last year as I had in previous years. I'm back at it, and I've decided to knit at least 12 pairs of socks this year. So far, I'm off to a great start...

January Socks for my sister

Slippers for Princess - February Socks

Slippers for Kitty - February Socks

Slippers for Angel - February Socks

I've also finished two baby blankets of my own design: 

For my sister's baby (no name yet)

William Alexander

I'm no longer focusing on weight loss. I started lifting weights at the gym in August, and now I'm more focused on what my body can do than on how it looks. As a result of bulking, I put on fifteen pounds. Most of it was muscle, but some wasn't. Even so, I'm pretty happy with my new muscles, and not so concerned about the added fat.

Oh, hi there!

It's been a while! I didn't mean to, but I ended up taking the summer off from blogging. I also took the summer off from knitting, and schooling my kids. I helped our contractor in the basement, and schlepped the kids to summer sports, and not much else got done. It was a busy summer.

Today is our first day of school. So here's our "back to school" picture...

Yep, we were just getting ready to read our Bibles together. Angel is now in seventh grade, Princess is in fourth, and Kitty is in first. Today was a pretty light day as far as schoolwork was concerned; we had some errands to run in town.

But anyway, about summer... we got the bedrooms and bathroom done, and the man-cave is nearing completion.

Kitty's room

Princess's room

The girls' bathroom

Sorry, I don't have a good photo yet of Angel's room. I was all set to take one, and then we had a natural disaster. The basement flooded. Most of the water came in through Angel's window, and we had to empty her room and pull up her carpet. We got the carpet cleaned and put back down, but then it was time to head out of town for two weeks to visit my family in Kansas. Which was awesome. So anyway, don't let me forget to post a photo of her room soon.

I've continued (very slowly) to lose weight. Here I am wearing a knitted pencil skirt that I finished while in Kansas. It took me about two weeks to knit. I've already started another one...

I still have about 25 pounds to go to reach my goal weight. I'm planning on doing that before the end of the year. I want to start 2014 NOT thinking about my weight. 

So yeah... I'm hoping to find more time to blog now that summer is officially over. And more time to knit...

Basement-in-progress

We're finishing our basement. And by we, I mean the contractor and I. :) Three weeks ago, it was one big, open space, with the stairway basically cutting it in half. Now, we have framed three bedrooms, a bathroom, a utility room, a photo studio, and a half-bathroom. Electrical and plumbing work is almost done, and drywall is up in most of the rooms. The contractor started mudding the drywall on Friday. We haven't started yet on the man-cave part of the project; we're trying to get the girl-country side done, so we can move the kids downstairs.

I've learned a lot so far. I've done some framing before, but with this project we had to make the framing fit around the existing ductwork, so that was a challenge. And I got to set all the walls, which meant drilling down into the concrete, and using special bolts to secure the framing to the floor. I didn't do any of the plumbing myself, but I watched. I did do some of the electrical! I pulled wires, and attached them to junction boxes, and on Friday I wired a bunch of electrical outlets. Don't worry, none of those wires were hooked up to breakers yet. Drywall is not as easy as it looks, but it's also not complicated. I haven't done any of the mudding, yet; I've just watched. There's something about mudding.... ever since I was a little girl, I've found it mesmerizing. I liked to watch my dad when he finished the basement in our home, when I was about 10. Maybe I'll give it a try on Monday...

My hands are not happy about all this contruction work; they're very rough, and all my nails are broken. But oh, well. Nails grow back, and I'll pamper my hands when this is all over. I haven't knit a stitch in three weeks, partly because I've just been too busy, and partly because I don't want to snag the yarn with my rough, dry skin.

I'll post photos when I have some; I've been so busy working that I haven't been documenting the process with my camera.

Halfway

So... yeah, it's been a while. Since my previous post, I've finished a few projects, started a few more, taken a trip to Kansas to visit my family... and reached the halfway point in my weight loss journey!

That's right, I've lost 30 pounds! Here is me, at 150 pounds, on June 1st.

I'm liking my legs much more this year, so I'm planning on wearing a lot of shorts this summer. And shorter shorts than I used to wear too!

ONWARD!

Next post, I'll talk about my latest project, which actually doesn't include knitting needles.... but tools. Ah, I love the smell of sawdust in the morning!

Unconventional

My Unconventional pattern is up! This pattern comes with two versions; both use short rows for shaping, and one has cables. It's a tricky pattern, and not for the faint of heart. If you choose to knit it, you should first have a solid grasp of cabling and short rows, as well as reading your knitting. Because it's very easy to get confused.

 The pattern is available on Knit Picks, for $4.99