Wow, it has been crazy.

I am still alive and well, I have just been having some crazy stuff going down.

Well and a new iPad 2... did you know blogger isn't compatible with an iPad?  I didn't.  There are some major issues, like not being able to post or even scroll down.  Don't even try to talk to me on labels and other option (if that made no since you are not a blogger on blogger trying to use an iPad.)

Anyway, I am going to have to break out the laptop it seems as I have been trying everything on Google and they are no help and neither is Apple.  Seems each is saying it is the others issue!

Ok, long time, no posting. Sorry. We moved agian and I got a new iPad so there has been some learning curve. In other news, a friend of mine is letting me experiment with silk worms... Pictures to come!!!!!

I am having a Pampered Chef party!!!

Ok, so this is a shameless promotion but I do really love Pampered Chef products and I am hosting a party... of sorts...

You see I am not actually hosting in the terms of having people come over and feeding them, no, I am just handing out links and magazines and telling people to order. 

So anyway, if you like Pampered Chef I am "hosting" this party until July 20th so please look over the website and perhaps order...  (p.s. my host name is Elizabeth May... which happens to be my REAL name... and no, I am not from Canada and run for public office... that is a DIFFERENT Elizabeth May...)

Stopping a blog content thief

Ok, lets begin by saying that many people that make free tutorials are not just doing it for the fun of it.  (yes it is fun, but that isn't the only reason to do it!)  I know that I do it to help people but also to get money from my ads, others I know want readership, others yet just want the good feeling from a comment saying "brilliant!" so there are many many reasons to make great content.  In fact as many reasons as there are bloggers, so when someone just ups and TAKES whole posts at random... well something can be done.  I mean it is against the law to steal copyrighted information. Lately I have been on the victim end of this so I thought I would write a nice little "how to" on stopping the offender.

There are 4 methods of handling this issue: the pushover, the play nice, the big guns and the tell everybody.

I don't recommend the pushover at all or the tell everybody until the play nice and the big guns have been used, just saying.

The pushover: you ignore it and hope it stops.  In fact you may make more content that they steal, and never address the issue at all.  It may or may not ever end, if it does it is because someone else did one of the later 3.

The play nice: you email them.  Many times the person doesn't KNOW they are actually breaking the law (or pretends not to) and will happily change what they are doing (for your content at least).  Of course some people will just say you can't stop me hahaha and you will need to go to the big guns.

The big guns: No web host nor ad service *that I know of* will host/pay a person known to be breaking copyright law, so if you can find the ad service and make a complaint, you are all done (usually you can just google the ad service name and add on complaint form and get it).  If it is for print is can be harder, but many ad services will still pull all ads from someone breaking the law. This is especially true after The Griggs Incident.  If you know for a fact that someone else is being stolen from, this is a good time to send a friendly, "hey I found your blog because of this one... love yours by the way!" comment.  Such sites rarely just steal from 1 person.  It is often many so many can help with the shut down process.

The tell everyone:  I have not actually heard of this happening but it is basically a class action lawsuit.  The law is on your side and not the thiefs so you would win, but it hasn't EVER gotten that far that know of.

Scuba diving

Today hubby and I had a date and went scuba diving.  It was great fun.  This the 1st time I didn't get hypothermia scuba diving and that made thing much more fun.  We had 2 dives.  On the 1st we saw a shark, trumpet fish, and several eels.  On the 2nd we went to a sunk military ship (a small tug like boat, still huge but small in comparison to the ships it would have helped haul) and it had octopi. We also made the discovery that I get sea sick.  So next time we will be getting some meds for that!

It is that time of the year agian...

That is right... time to announce that we are moving... again!  7 years married and 7 different homes... I am starting to think that we shouldn't even unpack at all!

The last week...

The last week has been... well it sucked.  The kids have all been sick, I caught whatever it is and hubby did too.  And let me tell you this is a virus that makes your whole body ache and you feel super tired all the time.

So considering I am stuck at home with 3 children, what do I decide to do?  Dye yarn...
Silly me, sitting around with a fever of 102 and sick kids all in bed and dyeing yarn... it is pretty to say the least.

Already have plans for this yarn too, my daughter wants illusion heart socks to show off at school, that gives me less than 10 days to get them done!

Also check out what other fiber people have done Here!

eco Smart

Living in the tropics is lots of fun and it always lovely, but you have to live with bugs, lots of them... It is spring and the bugs are in a massive breeding season... in comes the bug spray.  Before I always bought the bad stuff that would have all the poisons and warnings not to use it near food or food prep areas.  This time I found this AMAZING stuff called EcoSMART organic insecticide.  You can literally spray it on you food and not have to worry... well unless you are allergic to rosemary or peppermint, because that is all it uses!  I will say the smell is a little strong, but it smells so much better than the old stuff i used.  In fact I am thinking of just buying it as a room spray because I think it smells so good!

G's Blanket

I have been having fun with this modified pattern lately.As you can see it is a lizard ridge stitch with a mitered square.  I will be transferring the mods I have made from my projects page to this blog soon.  I am not sure if this counts as a new pattern or not... should I make a pattern page on Ravelry or not?

What has been happening

Sorry for not posting.  Hubby is working nights this month and well, a change in schedule that large has made the kids REALLY act out. 

I have been working on the doom project, but I have yet to finish another row... I have tried 4 different yarns so far ang have found I have enough yarn foe everything but the last 3 or 4 granny groupings... and since I REALLY want all the rows to actually have only 1 yarn so I have been ripping and restarting that row.  i know I sound a little OCD, but it is my project and I want it right!

The flower power project is kinda coming along.  I really want to focus my efforts on the Doom project though so the flower power project is being therapy for when I get angry at the Doom project.

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Doom...

So the Doom project is coming along.  I measured it last night and it is 47 by 47 inches.  according to this site I am doing pretty well.  I think I could call it a queen in another 10 inches or so (20 inches as I am adding to both sides...).  After that I need to find an edging.  I don't know what edging to do... complete loss there...

The factor tree.

I got a free invite to try out the factor tree, and did.  I am not lying it was pretty good but my daughter doesn't like it.  She plays on it bor about 5 to 10 minutes and then she wants to do something else.  On top of that, when she is playing on it she needs my constant supervision as she doesn't have the spelling or reading skills answer the questions.  It would be much better is instead of the program asking how many rectangles there are it had a picture of a rectangle and a colon. 

I am a bzz-agent and am getting promotional material  so I can give an accurate account of my experiences with the product.  The thoughts and writing are my own and not that of the factor tree.

Redbox promo!

 Ok, so i love free and well I found something free.  For every person that rents via my link I get a free rental.  If it is your 1st time renting from redbox you get a free rental.  So please click and get a movie!

Startitus

I have been really starting a lot of projects lately.  Don't know if it is a spring thing or what.  Anyway, the last thing I started is G's blanket:

More dishcloths.

I have been making more dishcloths for my daughter.  She loves them.  I am seeing how many of these I can get from 6 skeins of cotton.  So far 6 cloths in total.  These are the newest 4.

Now back to the Fiber Arts Friday Blog Party, Fibers on Friday and Crafty Fridays!

Growing...

The blanket is really growing.  I added 2 rows last night and am working on a 3rd one.  Just looking at it laying out flat makes it look impressive.  It is laying on a queen sized futon so as you can see it touches the edges.  I forget how big a queen is when it is a square so I am going to look that up tonight.

Progress report

So with the knot gone I am adding to the granny square. I have gotten about 1 foot done sense the last photo.  I have been asking random kids which yarn should be next and am just going with it.  I still have a bunch of yarn left so I should be able to get the queen size I am hoping for.  I am quitting at queen size regardless.


 The texture on this blanket is fantastic with every row being so different from the others.  So the question is what sort of edging should I do?  I am kinda at a loss so if any reader wants to suggest something I am all ears (links would be helpful...) 

The Doom project...

I know that several people have asked me what happened to my Stash busting blanket of DOOM... well here is the reason for it being put on hold:

Yep, a big ole knot. So today I tackled that knot so I can work on this again.  It only took an hour but that was an hour that I was unable to watch children as, unlike knitting and crochet, you can not actually watch the kids and work on it.  So now I can work on it again and as such will be loading a pic of progress tomorrow.

Flower Power blanket

I made quite a few of the African flowers yesterday (well except for the single crochet edge).  As you can see they are made from all sorts of scraps and weights.  I am planning on buying a superwash wool and making a double crochet row and doing the "join as you go" method by Heidi Bears.  Seems better than actually sewing the things!  I haven't yet decided if the single crochet row should be a uniform color or not.  Uniform color would mean a uniform yarn and less changes in weight of yarn, but what color to choose as every color is being used somewhere... On the other hand I could also do the single crochet border in scraps yarns as well, but may get some really off combos and different weights which may mean a 2nd double crochet row in the joining yarn to compensate for slight size variations.  I am not really leaning toward either right now and won't decide for a while yet anyway. 

More crochet.

So I have startitus. I started another project. This time scrap yarn and the African Flower motif. I am randomly pulling yarn out of a bag and adding it. Makes for some odd flowers... sock yarn, Extra bulky, sock yarn... yea, that is odd. I am having fun with all the novelty yarns I have received over the years.

I am getting into organizing my house, which is well, to say the least is in bad shape... very bad.

G did the dishes this morning, which is so cute.  Three year olds think they can do everything... I had to re wash them but bubbles are fun!

I am glad that I have such wonderful children.

Gratituesday's at Heavenly Homemakers.

African Flower Washcloths

So N has been my very good dishwasher lately (G washes too but he needs much more supervision and doesn't actually "wash" anything) and as such I thought I should make her dishcloths that were pretty.



I have been looking at the African Flower motif for a while and N saw it and liked it.  I belted out 2 last night. These are just the right size for a little girls hand.  She is really excited to wash dishes today.  I bought 6 colors and am just grabbing colors at random.  Looks like a have a new travel project...

The house that cleans itself...

I have been on a cleaning rampage.  I bought 4 books on house organizing/cleaning and am working on book number 1: The House That Cleans Itself by Mindy Stams Clark.  I am trying to not read ahead so as to not overwhelm myself.  So far I am halfway through the 1st chapter and think that this lady really knows her stuff.  We will see.  I am hoping that this book helps with the military/constantly moving lifestyle we have. 

I have been trying to be really on top of buying things before I need them.  I already bought everything for the kids Easter baskets and have assembled them!  There was also a sale on Sugar and Cream cotton yarn... 3 for 6 dollars... so I bought 6 and am going to make dishcloths. 

Craft wise I have been crocheting and repairing some knits.  My daughters pink blanket has gotten some holes so I am sewing in lifelines and going to rip those rows and sew them back.  Lots of work there.  The Doom Blanket is still coming along.  I need to post pictures... badly.  Will do that this week.

Organizational fatigue?

I have been going through stuff... and it has been messy and hard and I am super tired of it.  You see I tent to keep things tetris style.  I like "conserving" space.  But then you have no idea what is going on or where something might be.  Since we are always moving packing boxes are usually packed in the tetris style but a home needs a different style of organization.  So I hit the pantry.... and after pulling everything out, it looks like I am getting ready for the end of the world... I mean I have 61 cans of green beans.... I know they were on sale but... really? I know the kids like green beans... a lot, but still seems excessive...and why do I have 6 cans of pumpkin?  I had no idea I had 6 cans... 1 or 2 sure, it is nice to bake with but 6 is extreme.  I am just glad I didn't stock up on something that would attract bugs here like pasta. 

So after 2 days of going through my pantry (I am not sure if that is because we have that much food or I am THAT disorganized...) I am spent.  Fully spent.  I feel mentally exhausted. 

We all fall down...

This last month has been... hard.  Very hard.  As some of you know, J was in the hospital for 2 days.  He is better now, but it scared me.  It also showed me how much of a disconnect hubby and I have.  I would go into detail, but my hubby is a very private person and well, he would not appreciate it.  Lets just say we are on the rocks... Very on the rocks.

Dying self striping yarn with Kool-aid/food coloring!

Ok, 1st of all I am going to tell you that I am super excited about this post.  Why?  Because I am going to share with you not 1 but 2 secrets that I have figured out.  one is the self striping thing, which isn't really all that hard and others have blogged about, they other... how to dye with Red#3 and ALWAYS get perfect results... that is right prefect as in no bleeding... ever! Interested?  I knew you would be!

To start with the dyes used:
Lemonade Kool-Aid
Pink McCormacks
Yellow McCormacks

The lemonade is the "acid" needed to bind the dye but yellows only need very little so one packet can be enough for the yellow plus added yellow.  I'll get to the pink later.



I made self striping by wrapping around the 2 sides of my bread cutter.  It is rather easy and if you don't have one you can always just take 2 boxes and wrap around one about 10 to 30 times then go to the other box and wrap 10 to 30 times on that box.  you effectively make 2 skeins with a few strands connecting them.  Tye each half with way more tyes than you think you will need... the tangles with self striping are way worse than with normal skeins... don't ask how I know...



The yarn soaks in a crock pot and is heated before I add any colors or acid.  You will need to soak the whole think even the part linking the 2 colors or you will not get the red 3 to strike... ever.  As you see the yellow powder is just dumped in, and I swish it around with a spoon (hot water), but only just a swish, heat helps move the dye faster so I just don't want the dye sitting ON the yarn or it will be unevenly dyed.I did not add acid to the pink... I let it just sit, some areas actually have slightly acidic water and this can be enough for the red 3 to strike the yarn... I don't have that, but all the same the adding of acid directly can screw up the dyeing process.




Ok, this picture is AMAZING... why? because this is the REASON I do not have to worry about red 3.  I supersaturated the yellow water... WAY supersaturated it with dye... in fact there is so much dye in it I do not even need to MOVE the yarn and the yarn not covered in liquid is being dyed yellow.  This is because the liquid (and the acid in the liquid) is being wicked from the higher water level to the lower water level.  Once the the water level is equal no more adjustment will happen and the wicking will stop.  The red 3 is really touchy and will strike the yarn when the acid is JUST right and won't get to that too acidic stage.  Now a word to the wise, you will need to add more acid (vinegar in my case) but ALWAYS add to the yellow jar (or any other color so long as it isn't red 3). 



(I did supersaturate on purpose to demonstrate the movement of the liquids... no need to do this yourself unless you WANT to wash a bunch of yellow or whatever color down the drain when rinsing... you don't?  Then move the yarn to get the dye on it...)

Want to see what I made with this yarn?

Of Pink and Yellow

So N saw a babydoll dress on Ravelry and she wanted it.  I figured, why not, lets teach her to dye yarn and I will knit it. After some fits and starts I figured out that the baby doll this lady owns is a little bigger than ours was so it is a new pattern that happens to look a lot alike on top.  N also wanted a "ruffle skirt" so we got that too.  Pretty sure the skirt can be modified to look like the other, but you are on your own!  (Also by accident I found this dress fits TY beany baby bears.)

So on to the pattern!

Of Pink and Yellow

Yarn: Sock yarn/fingering weight yarn.  I uses some superwash I got as a gift and then dyed it with kool-aid.

Needled: 3.25 mm ciculars (magic loop it!)

Gauge:6 stitches/inch and 8 rows/inch.

stitches used:
cast on:CO
purl:p
knit:k
make one: M1 (I used yarn overs for this but I like lace...)
cast off... This is the same as Bind off.  

CO 60. connect into round
rows 1-5: *k2,p2* repeat inside stars for all 5 rows.
row 6: knit
row 7: *k1, m1* repeat inside stars for whole row.
row 8-15: knit
row 16: cast off 30, knit 30, cast off 30, knit 30.  reconnect
row 17-27: knit.
row 27 and 28: *k1, m1* repeat inside stars for both rows.
row 29 and on: knit all.

I made my skirt 18 rows because I ran out of yarn.  More would look good too.



Also, if you want to know how I dyed this yarn... check out this post...

On wedding rings...

When we got married, I designed the engagement ring and hubby designed the wedding rings.  I like them.  Sadly, I as not in the habit of wearing them.  They fit but I was in my last year of college when I married and was a ceramics major, so unless I wanted them lost in clay... well you get the idea. So the habit never formed.

Hubby is in the same boat, he worked in a place that needed sanitary conditions (he was product control with injectionables, so those with diabetes could stay healthy) and then went into medical school so well, again need a pretty clan environment and wedding rings harbor germs.  It is kinda interesting, considering that we both really don't think of it as a big deal about neither one of us wear our wedding rings all the time.  I know MANY women that would just assume he is cheating because the ring was off, but I know my husband and I love and respect him and he knows me and loves and respects me.  At least we try to... we are human after all.

So what is the point of this post?  None, other than me wanting to show off a picture of my rings.

What do your rings look like?  Comment below with a flickr link, blog link or something.  i love looking at wedding and engagement rings... the creative the better!

Book Review: A Year with God

About 3 months ago I got a book from booksneeze titled A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst.  The book is about only finding verses that actually have God talking (and no, that doesn't include the Son, Jesus or the Holy Spirit, just God the Father and his decrees).   You can learn a lot about God just by looking at what He says and does. 

I haven't actually finished it but am at about day 40 and like it.  The reflections over the scripture is by far not the only thing to be gleaned from the scripture but it is a good starting point.  The Author sections what God says into different subjects like "Love and Hate" and "Faith and Doubt" and then goes more in depth with the subject.  This is nice because if you feel the need to study "Forgiveness and Anger" then you can just jump and start there.  Now, Would I actually go and BUY this book.  Unlikely.  It conveys Biblical truth but I feel I don't have the time to follow up with it every day on top of my normal Biblical routine.  This is a GREAT book for you if you are trying to get into reading the Bible everyday this is a good starter as it feeds you and then allows you to go deeper as you feel.

As always I got this book fro free via Booksneeze so I could write a truthful review about it.  I don't get any other compensation other than the book I am reviewing and well maybe I get found by search engines when people search the book title... but I doubt that last part. Also if you would like to get FREE Christian Books to review on your blog you can sign up for free too!

Swag Bucks!

Recently I found Swag Bucks and it is really cool.  I have made an account and downloaded the toolbar and just been searching.  So far I have earned enough for 3 Amazon 5 dollar gift card... All in 3 weeks.  Think about all the stuff you could buy if you got 5 dollars free each week just searching for stuff like you normally would... yea... that may pay for a rather large chunk of Christmas next year... or just let me buy crazy stuff I want to own... like more stitch dictionaries...

On that  note, if you JOIN Swagbucks through my link I get EXTRA points meaning more free stuff!  So please, if you don't have an account... well, click the picture in this post and get one?  You can be earning  GREAT cool stuff too (though the Amazon gift card is the best deal per point... math nerd me figured that out.)

Speaking of which, I am also now an Amazon Associate.  That means if anyone out there loves me they can come to my blog and click through the link to Amazon and then search whatever they want and I get money when you buy it!

(Yes, I put a link to a stitch dictionary... I like them ok? and right now I am into lace, with how in Hawaii it is always hot and all...)

Public Service Announcement

I could so dance for joy and throw caution to the wind tonight!  My almost 3 year old son, G, has willingly gone potty in the potty, not just once but 2 times tonight!  I don't know if it is the M&M's instead of Nestle Morsels that I am bribing with, but 2 dry diapers and 2 pees have occurred.   I am DEARLY hoping that because I blogged about it I have not jinxed the situation....

To homeschool or not to homeschool that is the question.

This last week N went back to kindergarten and her frustration level has skyrocketed.  Seems that over winter break we jumped from learning our letters and letter sounds to fill in the blank and sounding out words.  N has been having trouble with sounds the letters make from the very beginning and now she is being given a picture of a cat and the letters C_T and being told to fill in the missing letter.  She can say C-A-T sounded out but when asked which letter makes the A sound will tell you whichever letter comes to mind first. 

With this new development they are now telling me that there is a 100% chance of her repeating kindergarten (while before they were "hoping" that she could catch up with the rest of her class).  She is beyond frustrated with this.  After talking to the teacher, I found out that NO other child has this issue or is going to not progress into 1st grade next year.  That is right N is the only one.  They haven't "said" learning disabled but it has been mentioned that if she doesn't get some progress by the end of the year that they want her to get tested.  The teacher has even recommended that G get tested and see if he should go into the public school's preschool program for children that are behind as these thing run in families.

The issue is that I want to homeschool next year.  N is REALLY interested in art, music, math and science but is lagging in reading and writing much like I was at that age.  She may not be developmentally ready to read until 5th grade just like me and I don't want her to feel like she is being singled out in a bad way like I was for not being able to read or write for so long.  What do you do with a child that can understand fractions and algebra in 5th an 6th grade but can't read "The Cat in The Hat"?  Hold them back, push them forward?  The schools here don't have a learning center so sending them to a classroom to get special instruction is not an option.  I have been working with her after school but more than 15 minutes a day and she just breaks down into tears (though on weekend she can work with me for 3 or 4 hours throughout the day).

This year we are in a REALLY good school and next year we are hoping to stay here and stay in this school, but we are military.  What if we do move?  What happens if the next school we are in just ignores her learning issues because she a "good girl" and they have trouble makers they have to deal with instead?  I could  start homeschooling when we get to that school, but I know me and I know that I could not start homeschooling and move at the same time.  I could continue, but starting would be out of the question.  I have moved 6 times in 7 years of marriage and I know what it takes to move and adding "figure out how to homeschool" to that would be like a bullet to the head.

Some people are really against me homeschooling for many reasons, but the truth is that the elementary schools (yes there will be multiple) we will be attending are NOT the school we attended as a child.  My school district as a child was the Rolls-Royce of school districts with a full time art teacher, a full time music teacher and a full time PE teacher.  I WISH I could have that for my kids, but the reality is that is not going to happen.  My kids have a very large chance of getting a 4 wheels and a key education at some point (think one step up from Kansas City Missouri's School district, and yes I have looked up the top 3 places we will be stationed next and the schools are NOT someplace where I would send N).  Would I want my kids in a school like that even if it was a "social outlet" for my kids or "homeschooled kids are socially awkward"?  Would we be able to afford private school for 3 kids?  What if we have more kids?  I would have to work full time. That would mean day care... and day care is NOT a place I want my kids to go.

So right now we are acting on the premise that I am going to homeschool next year.  I am researching like crazy and have been utilizing my mother in law (who homeschooled her kids) in going over different curriculum to buy or use and have been reading bunches of homeschooling blogs like Educate Freely to get a handle on what is out there.

I am not going into this lightly.