Everything But

Everything but knitting that is. That seems what I've been doing lately anyways. Korn was a blast! We rode the motorcycles out to Biloxi and spent the night there. It was a beautiful ride. The concert sounded great although I haven't been thrilled with Korn's latest album they did play a lot of their older stuff so it was good. Forgot the camera though, sorry no pics. I'll have to find out if I can take the camera to Rage on Friday!

I also had my first Stampin' Up party! It was a success and everyone had a great time. We made Christmas/Holiday cards like the one over in the picture there. I also got my own Stampin' Up website, please check it out and let me know what you think.

Things have been very busy lately on top of concerts and stamping. Remember way back in March when I told you about the fiasco that was our electricity situation? Well, we finally passed the electrical inspection. Only to have the electric company back bill us $1800 for all the electricity we've used since January. This is on top what we have paid for the work to get ready for the inspection and for the inspection fee itself. We still haven't passed the gas inspection because we found out that we have a gas leak under our slab and had to have our gas lines rerun. We are almost ready for the that inspection but now we know that they are going to back bill us for that too and with the leak who knows how much that is going to be.

I also tried to vote on Saturday only to be told that my registration was never received and that I'll have to wait and re-register after November elections are over. I've still been struggling with my migraines. The Topamax is helping but I'm struggling with side effects again even at a very low dose. But I have gone from daily headaches to less than 1 a week which is a huge relief.

Then my motorcycle was acting up and running bad and sweetie finally got to work on it this weekend and worked some on his bike too and then we went for a ride on Sunday and he picked up a screw in his back tire. When it rains it pours, and yesterday it rained so hard it started pouring right in our back door! That was a mess to clean up. Anyways, I'll stop whining now, just wanted to let you know why I don't have any new knitting to post about. It is only supposed to get into the 60's today so I'm dying to cast on for some new sweater or shawl or just about anything at this point! Hopefully I'll have more knitting news next week!

Moving Swiftly

It's been almost two weeks since my last post! I have been busy! Last week we found a used motorcycle for sweetie. So, we've been busy getting it legal and riding! I also found a new dining room table on craigslist which I love! We have tickets to two concerts this month, Korn in Biloxi on the 14th, and Rage against the Machine at Voodoo on the 26th. I also decided to become a demonstrator for Stampin' Up and have been busy with my starter kit and getting ready for my first party! So, if you're looking for any Stampin' Up products be sure to let me know! There has also been knitting. I'm about halfway done with the Chevron scarf now and I've done a few more repeats on the Maltese shawl too.

Then on Friday I got my new tattoo! Check it out! What do you think? For those asking why would I get a devil fighting a rose, here's the story. My parents got tattoo's together when I was very young. My mom got a rose on her chest and my dad got a little Hot Stuff type devil on his hip. Can you see where this is going now? Well, after almost 25 years of marriage my parents got divorced. When my dad saw the pic his response was, "Well, if I'm supposed to be the Devil I see you got my pot belly right, but you sure made me ugly enough didn'tcha." My Mom hasn't seen it yet (Hi Mom).

Ima, asked about how to make a DIY swift. Yes, I built my own tabletop swift. Actually I've built one and half. I built one in California following Craft Diversion's directions and it turned out wonderful. Then somewhere in our move back to New Orleans the top half of the swift got lost. So, I ran out to the hardware/lumber store, grabbed a couple pieces of wood, assumed I remembered how I did it the first time and got to work. Not such a good idea and I'll show you why.

The first time I made it, I carefully measured and remeasured using the directions I linked to and cut everything perfectly. The old saying, "Measure twice, cut once," that was my motto. I sanded everything smooth. It turned out perfect and it was balanced and sturdy and stable. When I put the yarn on it, it spun beautifully. The second time I made it. I figured I had done it once, I knew what I doing now, right? Wrong. My measurements were off. It turned out lopsided. See the end there with marble taped to the end of it. That's my improvisation to get it somewhat balanced. So, yeah, I still use it but it's not nearly as nice as the first one. It shakes and rocks and goes crazy, but it'll get the job done until I get the time/money/energy to go get more wood and remake, yet it again, and do it right. So, what I'm trying to say, is that it's not hard to do but follow the directions, you can subsitute type of wood or whatever you need to get it to work, but remember, "measure twice, cut once." I've included some more pics of everything so you can see how the bits and pieces all fit together and how you can break it all down for storage too if you don't have a lot of room. I like to set it up on my ironing board because then I can set it out in the middle of the floor without it banging into anything. Here it is winding up some Socks that Rock lightweight in the Covelite color into two balls for socks that I may or may not be casting on for some monkey's soon.