The Older I Get .......

The other day, while in the middle of knitting a sock (of course!), the Muse decided to visit me after an absence of ....... well, years. I decided to finish the pattern repeat I was in the middle of. The Muse wanted me to write ..... NOW. No, I was going to finish this pattern repeat first. Nope, I wasn't ....... she began to scream, holler, kick the walls of my mind, until I couldn't concentrate on anything else ....

Here's what she was so intent on my writing down:

The Older I Get

The older I get
the more I regret
that I cannot reach out
and touch

My sons and my daughter
my sisters, my brothers,
my friends all across
this world.

The older I get
the more I regret
the love and the laughter
I never shared.

The places I never went,
the time I never spent,
enjoying my children's
growing years.

The older I get
the more I regret
the trips that we
never took.

The days that were wasted
in work that could have waited
while my children
were young and at home.


The older I get
the more I regret
the words that I
never spoke

To tell those I love
how much I cared,
of the place that they held
in my heart.


The older I get
the more I regret
the energy wasted
in hate

I hurt not just myself
but my family, my friends
while those I hated
never cared.


The older I get
the more I regret
the dreams that died while I
wasn't looking.

So much I have lost
that could have been mine
to make my life
so much richer.


As older you get
so you won't regret
the life and the love
and the laughter

That might have been yours
Reach out,
Speak up,
And touch.

::sigh:: Blogger is not allowing me to post this as it was written. Each line should be indented a bit from the one above it in each 4-line repeat. Blogger doesn't want to do this. Ah, well .......

Grandma Beth hit town!

Went to the Farmers Market this morning and what did I find? Grandma Beth!!! We both got lots of hugs, her grandkids are not only adorable but polite! And we exchanged a few gifts, as well. I've already put everything away & I haven't taken pictures but I got my Yule swap granny squares (the afghan these will, eventually, go into will be donated to the local Animal Welfare League to raise funds for their spay/neuter program); a couple of fiction books that revolve around knitting; my gift for getting the most points last term (a skein each of Gryff colors in Grandma's fav yarn ... it really is soft, too!); and a very, very special set of stitch markers ... she bought individual charms and made a set of six markers ... I've got the Hogwarts engine, Trevor the toad, a dragon!, Mrs. Norbert, a thestral, and a cunning ball of yarn with 2 needles stuck thru it ... all in pewter on the leverback earring findings that I can use for either knit or crochet. Too cool!!

Grandma, it was a blast meeting you .... and I'm already looking forward to seeing you again in July!

Wee Tiny Socks!

I've been having SO much fun lately!! A new friend, Meg of Blogless No More has started a Wee Tiny Sock Club ... and I've been lucky enough to get to do the test knitting for her darling patterns!! I've also been involved in what will go into the kits themselves .... it's been an exciting time here lately!

She's giving away one membership in the premier Summer Sock Club ... you'll find the give away here, on Darcy's Knotty Knitter blog http://darcyknottyknitter.blogspot.com/ ... so get over there before the deadline on June 7th and enter to get 3 fantabulous packages in June, July & August.

If you'd like to see one of Meg's designs, and you belong to Ravelry, use the Pattern tab to search for Wee Tiny Elf Sock. If you don't fall in love with it .... well, you will!

First Reducio swap received!!!

My very first swap in the Reducio Mini Sock Swap on Ravelry came in today!!! I'm SO wound up over this, it's ridiculous!!! This has been a *great* swap - if you like knitting, come join us and try miniature knitting!!

The swap theme this time was Herbology .... so the swap had to include at least one item that was Herbology-themed and a mini sock in the House colors of the person you were mailing to. This swap is a 'blind swap' .... you know who you are mailing to, but not who is mailing to you.

Well, I got so lucky!!! My 'receive from' partner lives in England .... where Twinnings Tea is made! Oh, so lucky! I got five, count 'em, FIVE!, different Twinnings Teas! I am currently sipping on my Christmas Tea, and later I'll drink the Herbal Revival (cherries & Madagascar cinnamon, what more can you ask for?!). My daughter will probably steal the English Breakfast teas (her favorite) and we'll fight over the English Afternoon tea. ::grins::

Cattiekins found, and subdued!, a piece of Devil's Snare, then managed to put it on a trellis so it can't escape and sent it to me to mark my place in my Harry Potter books. Also, a pygmy puff .... the little darling can watch out to make sure that Devil's Snare doesn't work its way off the trellis!

My sock? It's in Gryffindor colors, of course!, and I am pretty sure she used perle cotton and size 0 needles to knit it! It's on a keychain, so guess where it's going as soon as I'm done posting? Then there are TWO mini-skeins of Sunshine yarn .... Dumbledore and Phoenix. I love both Dumbledore and Fawkes, so these yarns are really something special for me! I happen to have the Fawkes Mini Sock pattern, so tonight I'll take a break from everything else I'm doing & knit up a mini sock. Not quite sure, yet, what pattern I'll use the Dumbledore yarn for, tho.

Then there's a notebook, with a matching patch!, for taking notes (well, duh! ::grins::) .... the notebook is going in my purse. Not quite sure, yet, what to do about the patch ..... .I think I'm just going to have to make myself another purse to put it on so I can show it off!

Oh, they've gotta post soon for the next term ..... because I am SO going to be part of it again!!!

Muggles Studies ... frogged

:::sigh::: After putting in quite a bit of time on this sock, it is, sadly, too small. Besides which, I hate the yarn with the pattern. The pattern (Rivendell) has a reverse stockinette stitch background against which the pattern is meant to pop out. Instead, the bumps of the reverse SS make the colors blurry and muddy ... and the pattern is lost.

So ....... it's been frogged ...... and a new yarn will be found for this pattern.

HPKCHP - DADA

I've finished my first project for this group - a pair of socks to keep my feet warm while working in the dungeon classroom. The colors will also help my spirits up.

OWL sock supplies

Okay .... I've lost my mind. Totally. I've signed up to do 3 pairs of socks for my OWL in HPKCHC. One of them isn't too bad, except that I'm not real familiar with the cross stitches used to make the pattern. I don't think they'll be too hard to do. I hope. That's the red & gold yarn.

The second pair will be out of my head - based on Ron's dress robes. That's the black & ivory yarn.

It's the last pair that's likely to drive me to ....... something. There's this really cool pattern over on LeakyCauldron.org that is meant for a sweater. It's called Hermione's Fair Isle Sweater. I'm going to attempt to make socks using an extended version of that pattern. That's the last set of four colors. The blue/green yarn will be the basic sock. The cream, silver and red will create the pattern. I hope.

Harry Potter Knitting/Crocheting House Cup

Whew! What a mouthful for this newest swap thread I've joined! And ::thoughtfully:: I think I actually left a word out .......... nope, used Hogwarts instead of Harry Potter, which was why it didn't look quite right.

:::dusts off corrected title:::
Yep, looks better now .......

Okay .... am currently joining 2 classes ... DADA, making socks for myself and Muggles Studies, making the Rivendell socks my daughter wants.

My own socks will be done in a random ribbing pattern using size 1 needles. This is a favorite of mine. There is no pattern, as you make up your own ribbing pattern on the first row. This makes every sock unique, and less boring to knit. The only rule here is that you cannot use more than 3 knit or purl stitches in a row .... after all you are doing ribbing, not stockinette stitch here. I'll use fingering weight yarn from my stash, but since I got this in a trade for stitch markers, all I know is that it's superwash. I've no idea what manufacturer or a name for the colorway. It does have my Gryff colors in it, but it also includes Ravenclaw colors. Unfortunately, there is no black nor does it have Slytherin green in it. But it's soft & warm, and that works for me. The yarn for my socks is the bottom picture. (Hey, I put it in first ... who knew it wouldn't *stay* first? ::sighs::)

For my daughter, I'll be using Pixie Dust, from KnitPick's Imagination line, and size 1 needles again. The pattern is Rivendell, named for the great Elven halls in LoTR, probably my daughter's favorite movie(s) ever. Once they are finished, I'm not sure if they will ever leave her feet ....... they may need to get washed daily in her shower! ::laughs::