365.191 Just as you are. Right now. Today.

365.191 Just as you are. Right now. Today., originally uploaded by zzwhitejd.

Mary Heather (rainydaygoods on Ravelry) posted on Flickr a super sweet photo of herself for Operation Beautiful. Like quite a few of us who do the whole project 365, I was quite taken with it and decided to do one myself as my 365. I scrawled out a quick sign on Dory's art paper with her crayons and dashed out the door with Jack to the park where Dory was in camp to pick her up.
Once I had her, I set up the camera, set the timer, let the lady sitting at the table behind the camera stare at me all puzzled, and made the mad dash back to the kids before the timer set off.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. What a wonderful thing we women need to be reminded of!
However, unbeknownst to me until yesterday, this photo became my very first to hit Flickr's Explore! I'm in shock. Floored. Who knew? I won't begin to try to understand why or how the Explore really works with it's mythical 'Interestingness' factor... but I'm so honored. So I just had to share with you!

See?!? Here is page #22:

O hai, Ohio!

Oh, how I am SO glad to see you...


The trip up... ha.

Near Death!!

YIKES.

Okay, let me back up... we had a great drive to Ohio yesterday. The kids *didn’t* squabble in the back, they played nicely with their lap boxes and few new toys. I tell you, those were a freakin stroke of genius on my part! I will TOTALLY toot my own horn on that one.

Anyway, I even convinced Dory to take a nap by telling her it would make the time pass quicker and the two of them took a nice nap while it rained, no - torrentially downpoured for a few hours.

It was a good thing they both slept. A really good thing.

I couldn't see more than about, oh, 30’ in front of the car. Complete whiteout haze and rain. So, when the white truck in front of me that I could barely see stated fishtailing and hydroplaning... well, I paid attention. Of course it didn’t take more than a split second to see why... a tidal wave of mud and dirt was flinging itself across the road in front of me coming from the left. It was if a giant machine was digging and flinging it as hard and fast as it could - but I couldn’t see it. Between the whiteout and the mud wall flying at me I am amazed that we came out the other side to see a tractor trailer coming to a halt in the center median, folded in two, in my side mirror.

It jackknifed right in front of me. Had I been 50’ further up the road... we would have been toast.



But, we weren’t. Whew.

I got off at the very next exit, in Corbin KY, in an attempt to calm my nerves. It was nearly 15 more miles until I was able to do that. My teeth were chattering as if it were 32F outside.



I called John and told him I loved him and called my Mom to tell her THANK YOU for the safe travels prayers.

We didn’t have any other issues the whole drive. All except for those few moments of terror were long car ride unheard of bliss.

Now, was it worth it? I’m not sure I wouldn’t have preferred screaming the whole way. Really not sure....

That said, we had a fun/cute little lunch stop. :)

More knit designing news!

I won another contest. Ok, I think I might get it now... I'm not too shabby at this. Blue Sky Alpacas ran a design contest for their new yarn line release, Spud & Chloe. I entered, and was one of the winners! (Ravelry link, sorry Non-Rav peeps) The contest was for a design with any of the regular BSA line, in anticipation of the S&C release... with a arm full of the new yarn as half of the prize. My pattern will also be highlighted on their website for a month sometime soon.
I have already released Traveling Bivalves over on JonquilMom.com as a free download.


Also, as I hinted at a few entries ago, I have agreed to license several of my patterns to Buffalo Gold. In order to switch gauges and pattern nuances over to their yarns... a sweet box of sample yarn landed on my porch this morning from Ron at Buffalo Gold. (Pretty sure the yarn will be my 365 today... how could it not be?!?!) Since I didn't feel like I could ethically license one of the patterns they were interested in, I'm cooking up a new pattern for the Mythology Series. :) I'll let you know when it's released and it will be available from me as well.

Anyway, I'm a wee bit excited with the recent career path that seems to have come from thin air.

Tea Time!

A good time was had by all!

Savannah!

It was.... a trip in almost every sense of the word. More on it tomorrow.

Dory's 5th Big Day

A Day at Grandma Debbie's

Table tent, originally uploaded by zzwhitejd.

What could be better than playing under a tent converted table with boxes and blankets AND Grandma? Beats me. :)


We headed over to Mom's now that she has left her job on Monday morning after the monthly food delivery. We needed out of the house and had a great time.




The kids helped pull corn stalks out of the garden until Jack was determined to pet the neighbor's cat and went tearing through a MASSIVE red ant mound. You remember the red ant attack of '08 with John, right? Could have been soooo much worse. We abandoned the garden after stripping Jack down to his skives right there in the back yard.




Later, Jack found my (I think, maybe was Tricia's) old Casio PS-6080 and quickly found the demo tunes. Dory and Jack commenced bickering. Dory won. I almost got so lost in nostalgia that I brought it home... I DID come to my senses though. Into a 'toy for Grandma's house' box it goes. I can't believe the batteries still worked. They don't make things now like they used to.......

Kinda' a Surprise

:) I love my husby. He's so good to me!
Last night was the (overdue) 30(1)st 'surprise' party. I say 'surprise' because I had to bring the ice and keys so he could get into his office and cake knife... lol. Also, Dory knew... and well, she's a great secret keeper, I tell you! All week long it was, "There is NO PARTY, Mom."
However, the scope was a surprise, who was a surprise, etc... and may I say, it was wonderful...
I had the BEST cake I have had since my wedding cake. Period. To boot, it was GLUTEN FREE. AMAZING. I made myself absolutely sick on the sugar. And then had more when we got home.

Anyway, I'm rambling - and a picture is worth a thousand words.

365.22 New Shoes!

365.22 New Shoes!
Originally uploaded by zzwhitejd

We had a pair of Mary Janes custom made for Dory, and they were dropped off today. Can you say love? She is barely taking them off! I'm thrilled they don't have big pink hearts or purple flowers cut out in garish ways. Grizzly bear hide! I wonder how much a new hobby would cost me...

365.19 'brown', can you sign it?

365.19 'brown', can you sign it?, originally uploaded by zzwhitejd.

Sign Language part 2 started this morning. Grandpa couldn't make it so Jack went to class with us. I was impressed with how well he did... Can you make the sign for 'brown'? (We worked on colors today.)

Mmmmm....

1:55AM



Chocolate Torte!

Year in Review: Knits

1. Cliodna, 2. Baby Bailey, 3. Jack attack, 4. First Socks, 5. Hello Washcloth, 6. Mmmm, 7. Beaded Neckwarmer, 8. TitBit, 9. Sophie, 10. Chimera, 11. First Pattys, 12. Jack Attack, 13. Whelk's Mobius Cowl, 14. Hemlock Blanket, 15. Silky Squares, 16. Sooo, what's in there?, 17. Vine Lace Pot Cozy, 18. You go girl., 19. 365.6 FO, almost., 20. Tricia's gloves, 21. Chimera in Mal Vaa..., 22. Mitten Girl, 23. Calorimity, 24. Baby Bonnet, 25. Matching Neckwarmer, 26. Soaker #1, felted, 27. FP Cozy, 28. Jack's Sweater, 29. Beaded Mitts Test Knit, 30. zinnia, 31. Vaa Cap 1, 32. Chip off the 'ol Block, 33. iPod Lanyard, 34. Sig Cover, 35. Calorimetry, 36. nano cover

I caught Santa!! (kinda)

The kids are never going to believe me...
We were watching Santa's progress all day long. After they went to bed, I had work to do wrapping their gifts. (nothing was wrapped) John, Grand and I were quite busy until Grand was about to leave and Daddy had already gone to bed. (he's under the weather) I double checked on Santa's progress and sure enough.... HE was HERE! Well, in Charlotte anyway. I had to check on Jack after Grand had left, and Santa apparently didn't want to see me either since he dropped by while I was upstairs.
So, I caught him on the satellite, but not in person. Drat. I'll just have to try again next year.

;)

Kitting for Kiddos!

Ha! In a grand return to blogging, I thought you might like to see some recent pics of Jack and his brand new sweater that has sat in the sidebar for what feels like forever. He was not thrilled with my photo session since he had just woken up from the nap he took on the way home from Church on Sunday. I am so stinking proud of this thing. I think it looks great. One of my favorite things about it is the buttons. They are of the 3 billy goats Gruff, Puss in Boots and Rumpelstiltskin! Completely cute little boy troll fairy tale buttons. I got them at Purls in Asheville.
There were a ZILLION ends to weave in. It will be a long time before I do anything striped again. That was murder. What possessed me to think a striped sweater would be a good FIRST sweater? GAH!

--
Bob sweater, by by Kim Hargreaves for Rowan
The Fibre Co. Savannah DK, doubled, in Lime, Bleu Marine, Linen, Marigold and Rum Raisin (a linen, cotton, wool and soy blend)
US8 needle
--

This just proves there are pictures to be had, even if I have been bad about putting them up! More to come, I promise. Think fall leaves.

Cliodna: Mythology Series #2

I am proud to also finally debut Cliodna, also entered into the Malabrigo contest with Chimera. Much more reserved in structure, but with a similar beautiful pattern, Cliodna is available in two sizes, snug and loose. It is a quick knit, using about half a skein of Malabrigo Worsted.
Also available in my Etsy shop.

Via Ravelry with PayPal

Chimera Won! (and finally debuts)

The Chimera pattern was selected by my fellow Malabrigo Junkies on Ravelry as one of several winners for the Designing Junkies 08 contest.
What does this mean for you? IT'S NOW FREE!!! See? We all win. :D
Click through the title link for the Ravelry Download of the PDF -or- click the PDF image below. (There are benefits to using Ravelry directly, of course.)
It is fully charted, with chart overview and 3 pages of ready to print zoomed charts. 6 pages and full color.

Christmas Knitting

Wow, I ever understood why knitters started their Christmas Knitting (yes, uppercase 'K') months in advance. Mainly because I had never thought about it in any real sense. I didn't really intend to knit for people this year, but then, well, money was tight and I figured handcrafted goods would be well, good!
So far, it's coming along nicely, but I have no real drive to get it all completely finished right now, which is NOT GOOD. Especially with only a few days remaining. I know I am over half way here though. So, I truck on. Of course, there will be pics here after the gifts are given, but if you are on Ravelry, feel free to click through the links as I am adding pics as I go behind the pretty wrapping.
<3 Jen

A log with a hole.

Dory was fascinated by this hollow trunk. She practically wanted to climb in with whatever was hibernating.

A log with a hole.
Originally uploaded by Jonquil Mom

2nd haircut

Before...



And After...


Does it say anything that both pics are of him strapped down? lol

Halloween 2008!

Jack as Bam-Bam Rubble... and he would not leave the costume on.


Dory as a Monarch Butterfly, she would barely hold still. She is keeping a look out for Ba and the kids so we can head out!


Off we go, Dory flapping in the wind.


Bam-Bam and a hatless cowboy.


The men are organizing the attack. They did a great job!


Patiently waiting for the door to open. All night Jack refused to say 'Thank you.' Dory did well, but Jack got off with it being cute due to his age. The boy will have to learn.


Jack's very first lollipop. :)

All in all, a really good night. Dory traded her candy out for a knitting kit. She was pleased and is doing well with it. I think it is just a great tradition that Ba and family come with us, it makes it so much more fun. I also love that we have such a great neighborhood for going door to door. Dory's costume stank though, who knew the smell of a magnum sharpie wouldn't air out in a day? It gave us all a headache once back at the house, so she was stripped of her wings. By the end of the nigh Jack was *finally* saying 'bam-bam' and bopping the bat on the floor. He had earlier been quite determined that is was indeed a baseball bat and needed to be swung. Apparently he's a natural at that, John should be thrilled. Maybe he'll go as a Yankee player next year.
:) Yeah, it was good.

UPDATE: Ba posted some more of the kiddos here. :)