Kisses for me!!!!

Kiss looms that is! Mine showed up last Thursday. And I am so happy with them. It is the combo 2: 4-6 peg mods, 4-9 peg mods, and 4-30 peg mods. Here they are:

The four 9 peg mods assembled in first position with no spacers.

The four 6 peg mods assembled in the same fashion.

This is a pic of one of the 30 peg boards shown assembled in the 2nd position, no spacers.

And this is the baby doll blankie I made for Lady Tru's babies. I used the 4-9's in first position with no spacers and I used the U-stitch. And I was so excited that I totally forgot to do a purl and knit edging so that it wouldn't curl. LOL! I will have to slow down and think about what I am doing next time. But I did try my hand at crocheting a border for the very first time. I did a single crochet around the edge once then continued around the edge with chaining three, missing next stitch, then single crochet into next creating the simple picot. I have to practice on it...but I am still proud. So far, all I know about crochet is to chain and single crochet. :D GO ME!

The gauge for the blankie is 16 1/2 stitches per 4 inches using a worsted weight yarn. I like the colors of it (Jeannette, is it familiar? I have made several preemie hats with it also.)

I only got to play with my Kisses on Thursday and Friday b/c hubby and I dropped the kids off at his mom's and we took off out of town for the weekend. Our 4th anniversary was yesterday. We went to Florence, AL and stayed in the Marriot Shoals Hotel and Spa. It was very nice. A restaurant in the hotel and then a revolving tower restaurant connected to it. It was a very good weekend. Managed to get away from the kids....but then bought a bunch of junk for them. LOL!

You can barely see the hotel and 360* Bar and Grill from this shot as we left yesterday. Sorry.

Here are better shots of the hotel and the 360*. I also made a preemie hat on the way there and one on the way back, so it wasn't totally a non-looming weekend. I just wasn't gonna risk my new babies getting broken!





That last one is the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (recall
history lessons on the Great Depression and the TVA.)

And this one is what woke me up at freakin' 7am. Like I could even manage to sleep well in a bed that was actually comfy and warm, then I got woke up and I wanted to sleep in for once! UGH! It is beautiful though, isn't it?

Now I am off to work on my Fingerless Typing Gloves for the LoomClass and when I am done with those I will either work on some of baby items with my Kiss looms or I will finally do Bethany's Chill Chaser Cap! LOL!

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIT'S FRIIIIIIDAAAAAAAY!

And since my New Year's Resolution to myself was to create a free pattern and a 'for sale' pattern every few weeks to put on my pattern blog I wanted to announce that another free pattern (the Strawberry Sundae Delight hat) and a 2 for 1 purchase pattern (Short and Long Brim Ruffled Hats) are up on my pattern page, Rockin' the Loom Patterns!
Thank you so much for checking them out! I hope that everyone finds something that they can use. :D

My baby boy turns 3 tomorrow!

And really, I don't feel a bit sad. Well, that is untrue. He has called me Mom-O ever since he grew out of that baby 'mama' stage....but recently he started just calling me 'Mom' and that sorta makes me sad. Chris takes up for my feelings and corrects Thade, telling him that he is supposed to call my Mom-O. I am not the only person who has gotten a name change though. He changed 'Mamaw' to just plain 'Grandma'. We don't know why. All the other grandkids call Chris' mom, "Mamaw." He also has started calling Stephanie, 'Stephie' half of the time. The other half she is just Sissy. Oh, and sometimes when he is being short with her he will call her 'Tru' in a long and exasperated way like, "Trrrrruuuuuuuuu!" LOL!
I asked him this morning what Sissy was gonna be when she grew up and he said ballerina. Ain't that cute? Then I asked him what he is gonna be when he grows up and he said he was gonna be a cooker. Hahahaha! Yes, I corrected him and said, "Do you mean a chef?" He said, "Yeah." But it was in the 'DUH!' tone of voice. I then asked him if he was gonna have a five star restaurant? He was like, "YEAH! And cook for people!" It amazes me the things he knows about. He told me last night, while we were watching the American Idol try-outs, who sang bad and who sang good. He was only wrong on one person. So, how does my big boy know these things? He astounds me. And I am very proud of him....all the time! Have I told ya'll that he is teaching HIMSELF to read and write?! HIMSELF! Then he turns around and can't sing 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider' or the alphabet without help. I don't understand how he can't remember songs but he is so smart in other areas. Just the way his brain is working I guess.

So, you are thinking to yourself, 'Is she just gonna go on and on about her brat that is fixing to turn 3....or is she gonna post something loom related?' Number one, I could go on and on about my nearly 3yo brat, but that is why I have another blog that is MUCH more protected and that is where I discuss the very personal things about my life. :D Number two, YES I am gonna post something loom related.
Pictures of the hats whose patterns will be posted on Friday. :P
Here are both of the Ruffled Hat patterns that you get as a 2 for 1 deal ($4.50).

A close up of one of the one with the shorter brim.

A close up of the one with the longer brim.


And here are pics of the free pattern. Strawberry Sundae Delight. It started out as a dud, but turned into a pretty cute hat!


Ya'll come back now, ya here?!

Hmm, no pictures?

No, there are no pictures in this post. I am working on the pattern for a ruffled edge hat...that has spawned more ruffled edged hats. So it is going to be a package where you get more than one hat pattern with the purchase. And I didn't want to post pics and give it away. I was hoping to have the pattern up for sale yesterday, but we were super busy and barely even home on Thursday and yesterday. I have only had time to loom up the hats, but no time to do the patterns. Since Fridays are the days I have chosen to post my patterns, you will just have to wait for next Friday! :D

On Thursday we got our taxes done. Well, it is really Chris' taxes but I get to spend some money too! And yesterday we got a check for most of the money (that is something offered by the accountants we use).
I told Chris that I wanted to order an EFG oval sock loom from DA Looms along with the Kiss Loom Combo 2 Modular Unit that he promised me. He said OK, and I am using some of the money I have made over the past couple weeks to purchase the cables booklet that Isela had released in December. So, when I was on the DA Loom site trying to narrow down what loom I needed I decided the EFG oval sock loom looked like a good candidate that wouldn't use up too much money. But then I saw the Wonderloom in the small gauge and I want that too! Ever since I saw it I have been coming up with more and more ideas for patterns and I don't even have the darn thing! So, I added that to my wish list hoping that he will tell me to go ahead and order it as an early b-day present b/c we never have money when it is my b-day. Keep your fingers crossed, Ya'll! I want it, and I want it NOW!
Sir Thade is excited to tell ya'll that, according to the pediatrician office, he is 41" tall, weighs 36 pounds, and his b-day is this upcoming Thursday. He will be three and he tells me everyday that his birthday is soon. :D We are getting him a $150 kitchen set from Toys'R'Us b/c he loves to pretend to cook. And he also wanted the table and chairs that comes matches it. So, the kitchen will be a belated Christmas gift (Chris and I couldn't afford to get the kids anything for Christmas, but don't fret....God and family and friends gave the kids a wonderful Christmas!) And the table and chairs will be considered Thade's b-day present. :D He is gonna love it. And we bought his booster seat yesterday. He is so excited about that!
As for Lady Tru, she is 32" and 21.5 pounds (at 15 months old) and she got a porcelain baby Princess Aurora doll that she thinks is a regular baby doll and can't figure out why Mom-O won't let her take it out of the box. Princess Aurora is her favorite princess and we have a bunch of the dolls around. She loves baby dolls!
Ok, that is enough rambling and filling up space. :P

LATE BREAKING NEWS: I have just went loom shopping crazy (hubby told me to do it, so don't freak!) and purchased the DA Looms EFG sock loom, Wonderloom, a wooden handled pick tool, and Kathy Norris' 'More Knitting Wheel Fashions'.....the cables booklet was out of stock. :( Then I went over to Kiss Looms and ordered the Combo 2! OMG, I am so excited to get these looms in. I want to hold them and love them and squeeze them....then yell 'OUCH' b/c I am sure that those pegs and pins aren't too comfy to squeeze. LOL! I can't wait!!!! Yippee!!!!!!!

Maybe toilet seat covers aren't such a great idea....

The more I think about it....the more I think that the toilet seat cover isn't such a wonderful idea. It would get awfully filthy and you would have to wash it constantly. A comment left on my last post suggested a wooden seat b/c those don't get cold! Good idea and a lot easier to keep sanitary. LOL!

As for my Plushy House Socks (umm, SOCK)....well, the first one is finished! I don't know if it was the yarn I used or what but when I got the toe all seamed up the sock seemed boxy looking. I put it on and it fit perfectly on my foot, but not around my ankle. Every slipper I have made on the blue KK doesn't fit around my ankle so I am assuming that my ankles are just too small for the loom. :D Easy fix will be to take some elastic thread and weave it in and out of the cuff of the sock. No big deal! So, you wanna see the sock? HERE IT IS!!!!!

And I wore this lone sock on my foot for about 2 hours before we went to bed last night. Chris thought it was funny. But I think he sorta understood. After all, he wears the slippers I made him for Christmas every day. He gets home from work and takes off his shoes and puts the slippers on. :D I would have never imagined that he would wear them so much. I am so proud. LOL!

Well, I am off to work up some patterns today....after I get the always dreaded dishes out of the way (and I guess it is close enough to lunch time to get the kids fed and Lady Tru off for her nap! That is always good b/c I can handle one kid bugging me while I am looming, but with her....UGH! :D)

Oh, I almost forgot to mention.........I SOLD MY FIRST PATTERN LAST NIGHT!!!!!!! Uh-huh, oh yeah, go me, it's my birthday!

It was MY afghan!!!

Let's start off this post talking about a needle knit afghan that I had made myself with Red Heart Light and Lofty and size US 19 needles. I made it back in the beginning of October and though I had cast on 60 stitches, ended up with 70 stitches only a few rows in to it, then had to get back down to 60 stitches, and the final product ended up with 55 stitches I just loved my very first afghan. It might have been too short for my tall frame, but it was great for watching tv. Not so great for when I was looming b/c the afghan kept catching on my looms. But, I felt special even though I made it for me.
Well, it is no longer MY afghan. Garfield (a.k.a. Fat Cat) has claimed it and has slept on it nearly all day, every day for the past week! He gives you this look of annoyance if you come anywhere near him on the blanket. I have now moved it to the back of the couch where he liked to camp out the most and guess where he is at this very moment. I was gonna make the cats and my dog some sort of 'pet tent'/'pet sack' but I guess he thought I was taking too long. If I didn't feel bad for taking so long to make his own, I would snatch it back......but he can have it, now. Covered in cat fur anyways! Nyah!
And for good measure, here is the baby (8 months old), Yang. Notice the look of annoyance on his face as if he is pissed that I haven't made him a blanket yet and Fat Cat won't share the one he claimed. LOL!

And here is a pic of one of my other towel toppers from the class. I decided that you didn't need to see both b/c they look identical....and my camera battery was about to die. I need a new digital camera....the batteries can charge all day and you only get a few uses out of them. But the problem is not the batteries themselves b/c you can put brand new batteries in the camera and you are lucky to snap three pics REAL quick. That is if the camera even turns on. :( I used to take so many pics. Like 20 a day or so. But the camera started messing up on the day of my daughter's first b-day party. So, my mom ended up taking most the pics with HER camera and my camera was so much better.

Enough talk on digital cameras. Hopefully I will get a new one in the next month or so. :D
Let's talk about one of my latest pattern designing ideas. Drum roll, please..........................A TOILET SEAT COVER! Not a lid cover, but for the toilet seat so that my poor bum doesn't fight me b/c it doesn't want to sit on the frigid toilet seat. You guys would bust a gut laughing at me if you saw my face when I have to sit down on the seat! ROFL! Really. It may not get so very cold here in Mississippi as it does in the northern states, but I can tell you that when you only have small electric heaters in the kids' rooms, 2 in the great room, and one small one upstairs in your room, the rest of the house is frigid. Somedays, the old thermostat in the hallway doesn't even register numbers (the lowest of which is 50) so going in the bathroom and sitting on that seat is murder. I usually hold it, if I can....but everyone says that isn't good for your bladder or urinary tract. :( Sir Thade and Chris are so lucky that they can stand up to pee!
So, requirements for the toilet seat cover (or multiple ones depending on how quickly it becomes filthy) will be: easily washable, durable yarn, easily removed and put on. I can see a whole coordinating set coming from this. The seat cover, lid cover, tank lid cover, and a floor rug (to be used later when Sir Thade's aim gets better!) Might even do the toilet lid cover in a fun fur with some eyes and stuff on it. That sounds funny! But....the kids might get scared about a Potty Monster so maybe not a good idea. Hmmm, a tongue coming off of the bottom of the lid cover. Yeah, maybe I could get away with it. After all....I won't put teeth on it! But then again, I wanted to do that bathroom in a dolphin and whales/underwater theme and furry Potty Monsters really don't fall in that category. Upstairs bathroom is frogs so maybe a froggy face and long tongue will work up there!

I had a mild heart attack when I sat down to start on my Ravelry Loom A Long Plushy House Socks. I picked up the skein of yarn (Baby Bee Lambie Pie by Yarn Bee) I chose to do it with since my Hobby Lobby did not carry the brand used in the pattern. I though the yarn was a thick kind that would be perfect for some house socks, but when I pulled a strand out it looked more like thread with a bunch of soft fuzz coming off of it. I was sure that even using two strands there would be holes everywhere. But I decided that 'you don't know until you try' and I started my socks. I can see absolutely NO holes in it and they are so soft. I can't wait to get it off the loom. It was my first attempt at short rowing also and I did it perfectly fine with no issues (accept for having to put it down b/c Lady Tru wanted to be held and she likes to try to loom with me and I didn't want her to mess up my short rowing, so I marked where I was in the pattern and set it aside). I still have a long ways to go with the foot part of the sock b/c I wear a 10 to 10 1/2 size shoe. Now I am nervous about the Kitchener stitch for the toe. Isela says there is a tutorial on her site...so I need to go check that out and watch it a few times before I actually need it. But other than that, these should turn out pretty cool. That is, after I buy another skein of the yarn b/c I didn't buy enough in the first place.

Another Loom Class project!

I finished my Loom Class 'reversible dishtowel toppers' taught by Christine Clauto. Well, two of them. I still have another two to go. I will be using red yarn for the other two. :D These were so easy and useful! I had been wondering if there was a way to put a loom knitted topper on towels b/c I get furious when Chris or Sir Thade move my towels from the drawer handle by the sink! Thankfully, Lady Tru hadn't figured out she can pull them off the handle yet. Chris is afraid to wipe his hands on my new towels. LOL! He said, "I don't wanna wipe my hands on your new towels b/c I am afraid you will fuss at me for getting them dirty." I laughed and said that they were meant for function and not aesthetic purposes. Of course, those words were too big and I had to scale it back to about kindergarten level speak. LMBO! My hubby is not quite the brightest crayon in the box and I tend to forget that. :D

I also finished the second initial scarf and Chris ran off with it this morning before I got to take a pic of it. I should have taken a pic yesterday, but oh well. At least that is finished!
Now to finish my other two towel toppers and move on to my plush house socks that the Ravelry Loom A Long is doing! I couldn't find the right yarn at Hobby Lobby for the project so went up and down the two aisles of yarn searching for a close enough texture and weight. I ran across Yarn Bee Baby brand called Lamby Pie that is soft and plushy only to get home and look at the pattern again and realize that I need about 90 more yards of it. So I guess after the dishtowel toppers I will work on ONE sock and use a 40% off coupon to get another skein so that I can make my other sock. I am sure I will be sad and walk around in just one sock until I get the other skein though. They look so warm and cushy on the pattern! :D
Well, I think that is all I have for today! Talk to ya'll later!