Knit Devotion

came today!!!!! Yeah , this is my LOOT from my first swap, The Day of the Dead Swap. It is a fantastic present. I love it. Lindsey aka PixieThief did a wonderful job. On this swap she kept herself secret which was fun. She painted the Russian dolls (i think that’s what they are called) They are the dolls that hide in each other. Then in the last doll was a little skull (see 2nd picture) I think I’m going to make a stitch marker out of that. It’s too cool.

My favorite is the yarn (see 3rd pic). It’s bamboo. She spun it herself. It is lovely and feels wonderful. She has my approval (like I’m an expert or something) and the color is spot on! Thanks Lindsey you put a very big smile on my face.

Lindsey also gave me skull hair ties. These will have to be hidden from my daughter when I’m not wearing them. She shares my love of skulls. The golden box is chocolates that didn’t last long and they were great. They are or were from a shop in Knoxville The South’s Best Chocolates. mmmmmm chocolate.
The multi colored sheet in the back is Ms. Babs Hand Dyed Silk Hankies (See 4th pic) . Very interesting. I will have to try my hand at spinning now. Oh no, another hobby I will get hooked on. Lindsey also sent me her mom’s recipe for Honey Cookies. I think this is the 2nd best part of this package. I love getting recipes that are special to other people and introduce them to my family. It’s just a great feeling I get when I share the love with my family than looking them up in a cookbook and doing them. People always share the best recipes. You never know what you will get when you look them up in a cookbook.

Again, THANKS LINDSEY. YOU ARE THE BEST!

HAVE A GREAT HALLOWEEN AND DAY OF THE DEAD!
CELEBRATE THE LIVES THAT HAVE PASSED AND CHERISH THE ONES WE STILL HAVE!!!!

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I have decided to change up my store a little. It’s going to take a while but I think it will be for the better. And maybe not.
While my first store will now become my store for bags called Rocka-ma-bag. My new store Rocka-ma-baby, will be for clothing. I think it will help keep some interest in the stores. I don’t want to have a couple of bags in the mix and have people not look all the way through my store for more clothing. I like the name, it’s catchy.
So my first bag was a computer bag. I have some more of those to come. I also have a knitting bag that I have blogged about. Actually I think I have blogged about both. I am working on in my head an Ipod case and maybe small purse. I want to make myself a bag and that’s going on in my head also. Really scary isn’t it. My head is actually being used for something other than a punching bag for my son. Well, back to the drawing board.

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I wish I could sleep like this again. Not really, but it would be nice to be able to hold my head like that and not have a neck ache for 2 weeks. My son will sleep like this in the car every afternoon if we took a ride. He has the same routine. He will get really quite (which is so unusual for my kids) then he will do a deep yawn 3 times about a minute apart. Have you ever listen to a baby right before they fall asleep? They have this deep sigh/yawn right before they nod off. My son never lost it. The next thing I will do is look in my kid rear view mirror and he is like this. Well, this position or laying his head on the seat belt like a pillow. He will sleep like this until the car turns off. Sometimes his head falls off his hand or his head bobs back and forth. But he always ends up like this. Asleep.

My shop has picked up lately. I have had two sales on my hospital gowns , a baby crossover onesie, booties, and my skull outfit this month. YEAH!
In case you don’t know, I have a maternity hospital gown that you take to the hospital with you so you don’t have to wear theirs. Cause you know…that’s gross. Yeah they wash them but still. Would you wear someone elses underwear? They are clean…I washed them yesterday! See, same thing.
Check them out!

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Follow this link. This has to be the most disgusting thing I have yet to read. It makes me well…check it out for yourself.

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that I designed a computer case. This is what I have been working on. Well, one of the things I have been working on. I can’t tell you some of the things because it would spoil my swap spoilee surprises. Say that 5 times fast. Anyway, I love this bag. It unzips almost all the way around which helps getting the computer in and out easy. The outside is a great fabric. I found it at a sewing expo I went to in February. That was fun and another story. It’s a combination of denim and linen. So, it has the strength of denim and it softens up when washed like linen. The inside is a great print which looks like a 60′s print to me. It has pockets for cds and pencils on the inside and a pocket on each side (outside) for the power cord and other items. I put a heavy duty zipper on it to handle the weight of the laptop. That would really suck to be walking along and have your zipper break and your computer drops 3 feet to the floor or better yet concrete. Did I say that I love this bag? I love this bag.

It’s the second week in October and I have already made 2 pumpkin pies. Actually it was only 3 days into October and I had made 2 pies. I can’t help it. I also made a surprise for my spoilee and the famous potato cookies. Ok potato cookies sounds gross but they are so good. My parent’s Sunday school class used to do a bake off auction every year. Each person would bake something, bring it to class and auction it off. There would be a “fight” over these cookies. I have seen them go for $100 or more. They are that good or at least I think they are that good. I haven’t had the recipe, until now. My mom’s church did a new cookbook and it was in there. Yeah. I made them and my family loves them. I love them. They are dangerous.

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of the ultimate search machine. My husband can find anything on the internet. Just ask his boss. I could type in exactly what I need into google and not find what I’m looking for. He will type in the most ambiguous words and find exactly what I need in the first find. It’s so obnoxious. He’s got a computer for a brain. No, I mean a real computer. He’s great and I wouldn’t have him any other way. He also can fix anything…just ask his grandmother. To her, he hung the moon.. It’s quite funny to be around her and have someone ask him to fix something. She’ll come right out and say,”You know, he can fix anything.” She also thinks he can find anything on the internet. She’ll call saying she heard this song and it goes like this. And ask him to find the cd for it. The funny thing…he hasn’t NOT found it for her. Like I said he can find anything. I love him!!!

I promised pics of my skirt. They don’t do it justice. It is so comfortable. I washed and dryed it. It really softens up and starts to fade with the first wash. The yarn is really cool. I did the body of the skirt longer because everyone said it was suppose to shrink 1 to 1 1/2 inches. It hasn’t yet. I also adjusted the skirt so I could wear it on my hips. I hate wearing things around my waist. I’ve been like this since the late 80′s. Everyone thought I was weird but it’s so much more comfortable. Anyway, if you thought about this yarn, definately use it. It is worth it.

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I hate sand. I live in FL and I hate sand. But when it comes to my kids I will bite the bullet. It’s the mom thing. But my kids love the sand, surf, and sun. You couldn’t pull them out if you tried. Well, they like the pool too. To get them off the beach, we bribed them with the pool. To get them out of the pool I had to tell them their lips were turning blue and it was too cold to be in the pool anymore. Haha!!!

Before when we have gone to the beach, the kids will spend 2 minutes in the water (more like toe in the water) and the rest of the time in the sand. My daughter this time wanted to go deep. The water was rough and the undertow was kicking. But she still wanted to go. She’s a daredevil like her mom. She doesn’t understand undertow. She does now. I made sure she felt the pull when we were deep enough. The water is beautiful but most dangerous. If she is going to be a fish like her mom, she needs to understand the beast. She now understands. She held my hands and we jump the waves. We ran back and forth from the beach to the 2nd sand bar and back. She loves the water… like her mom and she

loves the sand…unlike her mom. She’s still young.
My son, on the other hand, was more skeptical still he followed us a little way out. He really wanted to play beat the waves with a shovel. He’s a boy, what can I say. “If you can’t figure it out beat it up” (Russ Rollins) . He’ll come around too. Probably next year.

The water should still be warm but the cool nights we’ve had lately has cooled the water down quite a bit. I was surprised. But all in all it was a good day. Hey I finally finished my skirt. I will post pics tomorrow but for now

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I am not a coffee person. Ok, let me restate that. I was not a coffee person until last week. I was in Target (stop laughing, I know I’m always in Target) and as usual I go to Starbucks to get a Chai tea. I don’t like coffee, none of the kids in my family like coffee. We all drink cokes to get our daily dose of caffeine. Back to the story, I order my Chai tea and John offers me a taste of their new coffee drink, Pumpkin spice latte. If you have read my other post today, you would know that I love Pumpkin pie and therefore love Pumpkin pie spices. So much so that when I make Pumpkin pie I put in 3 to 5 times the amount of pumpkin pie spices that are called for. So the idea of a pumpkin latte just hit me right that day. It was good. It had whipped cream on top that “milked” down the coffee more but it was still good. I couldn’t believe it. The next time I went to Starbucks I ordered a Pumpkin Latte. I made a big mistake, I totally forgot about the taste of regular milk and pumpkin spices. It’s just gross. If you like regular milk with Chai or pumpkin spices, you need to try it with soy milk. I know what you are thinking….gross. But the nutty flavor of the soy make those spices taste better by far. I didn’t enjoy that latte that much. The next time I was in Starbucks my husband was with me. He didn’t notice I had ordered coffee. My new drink…. (Starbucks speak) tall soy sugar free vanilla latte.
I am officially a coffee drinker. I even bought some coffee to make at home. My lovely husband makes my coffee for me now. Until I get the hang of the coffee maker we have. My mom and dad would be so proud. I am the first to go over to the dark side.
My spoilee for my Day of the Dead Swap sent me an invitation to a Starbucks n Yarn Swap. How perfect. I love it. I didn’t even think twice about signing up for this. The swap started this week and I have my spoilee. Her name is Trisia. Check out her blog at http://knuttyknitting.blogspot.com. I am just starting to stalk (spoil) her. Gotta find out all I can on her.
BTW, I love my spoilee with DotD swap. We have so much in common. It’s like finding a long lost friend. Don’t forget her blog here. She has great posts and a great stash of yarn. I am so jealous. Plus she is going to a weekend retreat to knit. All weekend. Oh, to be able to sit and knit all weekend with no interruptions. Only in my dream.

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No not the fish. But the pumpkin pie I made this afternoon. Fall is in the air. I can’t believe it’s so nice here. (if you don’t know I live in Central FL….Mickeytown) It’s been in the 80′s this past week, that NEVER happens. It usually is 90′s still and the high 90′s at that. We are actually having a fall. Can you tell I’m excited? I opened the doors and turned off the air the other day. It’s been in the 70′s (low) in the morning. That’s winter weather for us. I’m talking January. Yay!!! Let’s do the happy dance.
I haven’t been showing much knitting lately. Not great for a blog named knit devotion. Well, I have been working on a skirt from Interweave Knits Spring 2007. The Indigo Ripples skirt, it’s beautiful. I first saw it on Eunny’s blog. I’m doing it in Rowan Denim yarn. I love denim. Everyone has said that this yarn wears like denim. I can’t wait to wear it and wash it a couple of times. But I have hit a snag. My beautiful crafty mom gave me a set of interchangeable needles. They are from the 50′s or maybe the 60′s but they are still great. Tonight, while I was using these fantastic needles and working on my ruffle on the skirt (yes, almost finished), I was trying to move the 500 or so stitches around my circular needles and I broke my needle. I actually broke the threads on the cable where it goes into the needle. I can’t believe it. I was stunned. I also lost around 50 or more stitches off the needle. So I have to go buy a new 6 circular needle so I can finish the skirt and I have lost my long cable on my interchangeable needles. I am so bummed. Crap!!!!!
Later
C