My children!

Well we had a wild wild weekend! I'm not quite sure why it is that I can never find time to relax. Not sure if we really are that busy, or I have some weird Mommy guilt complex or what, but I'm tired and need a weekend to recover from my weekend! Here respectively are Em, Lilee, Cowboy and Nan. Cowboy has been assimilated into our family very quickly and might even be higher on Mr. Outdoor's priority list than I am. He called home from work yesterday to "check" on Cowboy twice! LOL.

Not much knitting, but lots of picture taking with my 35mm, however none of it of knitting.

Because the Soaring Eagles Project takes up so much of my time (I'm either knitting, updating the blog, emailing people, etc) I'm falling more and more behind on my holiday knitting for my family. So I have a new system. I will knit a hat, then work on a major piece like the back of SIL's sweater, then I"ll knit a hat, and so on. I'm really really really really hoping that it works!

Winds of change...

Well, that particular puppy that was posted was not meant to be ours. He was found dumped with his brother. We got a call the very next day wondering if we would be willing to find another dog because a lady came in and wanted to adopt him and his brother together. I said it was fine, but was a little sad. I had seen the SPCA's website and hadn't seen anything else that I was really in love with. I looked after the phone call and I saw him and I knew!

We can't decide on a name so we will let Mr. Outdoors do the honors. He's 3 months old and will be ours and neutered tomorrow. He was a new dog that had just came in to the shelter the day before. Em saw him and said, "well I thought the other dog was "the One", but this one really is!" LOL.

On another note, I went to a workshop today so workshop=knitting=YAY! I knitted two bulky hats today and started on a 3rd! I'll be taking pictures soon! I promise! I haven't had the time to figure out what in the H#ll is wrong with my digicam so I'll be taking pictures with my 35mm and then scanning them for awhile I think.

This weekend plans to be big as Nan's preschool carnival is Fri night as is a trick-or-treat event at our library. We get the new dog tomorrow. The Outdoors family has a funeral to go to. We have soccer on Saturday, trick or treating w/Lilee at a Howl and treat event, then we have "trunk and treat" at the church across the road that night, then our own church, and family pictures with BIL's family on Sunday (i'm taking them). IT will be crazy busy, but for the most part it will be fine! Oh and soccer, we can never forget about soccer!

Stress....more stress, I need stress! LOL

Not much knitting going on here. I'm trying, really I am, but with all my regular responsibilities and the Soaring Eagles Project (which is going FANTASTICALLY) and then the dog, and Mr. Outdoor's great uncle (close to him though) passed away this afternoon, I'm just not finding much time at all! LOL. But that's ok because I'm pretty sure I"m a stress junkie and can't do without it.

On a positive note, I'm feeling better and I think this cold is on the upswing and doing much better (knock on wood please!).

Adding to our brood....

Well, so far there is me, Mr. Outdoors, Em (7), Nan (almost 4) and our furry child Lilee (about 8 months old). We are looking to add to our family and find a new brother for Lilee. Mr. Outdoors was adamant that we wouldn't have Lilee as she is a Jack Russel Terrier and he wanted a "huntin' dog". Well, not only do we have Lilee, but she sleeps on a doggie couch in our bed, goes to work with Mr. Outdoors everyday in his truck and is spoiled rotten. Mr. Outdoors has his 31st birthday next Monday. He is going pheasant hunting in Nebraska and leaves on Friday. Hopefully, one of these puppies (currently at the local SPCA) will be ours. They are Labrador Retriever/Golden Retriever mixes and are the only two left. BONUS is that our SPCA is having an "adoption sale" on all black dogs. They are $50 instead of $75. SPCA is closed today, but the girls and I will definitely go tomorrow morning and see them.

On the knitting front, I'm home sick today, because I'm still sick and Nan now has the vomitting diarhea stuff. So I've been busily cleaning and disinfecting the house this morning so that I can sit with Nan on my lap and get some knitting accomplished. I have so many things that need to be done.

• Hats for the Soaring Eagles Project
• My red scarf for Norma
• The Perfect Sweater for my SIL for CHristmas.
• Baby and Toddler hats etc, for India.
• and a gaggle of other CHristmas projects for my family.

YIKES!

Wow, has it really been over a week?

HI all! I'm still alive and barely kicking!

It's been a busy busy and crazy week over here at Chez Procrastiknitter. It started with a "routine" root canal that ended up not being routine and taking 3.5 hours on Wednesday. Followed by the COMPLETE painting of every room of my house, which is still in progress but 75% finished. A weekend of soccer games, and now a WONDERFUL cold that has decided to move into my chest and sinuses! THe digicam is also on it's last leg refusing to take any pictures for me. THe Soaring Eagles Project is really taking off. We now have a few buttons

and quite a few pariticipants are jumping on the bandwagon. We can always use a few more though! I really really really really want to see this come to fruition. Just think about receiving a thank you note along with a picture of the child who received your hat/scarf/headband. Even if you can't or don't want to participate any exposure we could get would be great. I'm also looking for anyone who would like to donate a prize for some giveaways I'm doing for the project. Please email me at theprocrastiknitter@yahoo.com

What's the deal?

Not that I'm complaining at all, but I'm just loving the fact it seems that lately people are giving out free patterns. First the Mason Dixon girls and now the Yarn Harlot has her 1 row scarf pattern. YAY!

Hat knitting is coming a long, but slow. I have been in the middle of meetings and work and grading papers and more curriculum meetings and teaching and then that little thing I call "family". The girls and I are taking a little rest and relaxation tomorrow to my grandparent's house at the lake. No swimming, but plenty of fishing, paddleboating, and hanging out with the family. Hopefully, lots of knitting will occur as well!

New info about Soaring Eagles Project...

Please check over to the project blog to see what's new and absolutely FABULOUS!

Woo Hoo!

There is a local group called RSVP here in town that is going to work with us to help make hats for the Soaring Eagles Project and they are looking at doing more scarves than hats to help accomodate us! YAY!

The Soaring Eagles Project and Actual Knitting Proof...

Ok, we now have a blog and a plan for my little charity knitting idea. Follow THIS LINK for all the details!

And FINALLY some knitting progress pictures.

Em's recycled yarn sweater. 100% merino wool sweater. Yarn was bought as a men's sweater at a garage sale for 25 cents. I unraveled the sweater, dyed it using pink lemonade and strawberry K*ol-Aid. I still have 2 pounds left for Nan's sweater that she wants for her birthday in December. We shall see if that happens or not.

This is the newly started back of the 3xs chic sweater from Knitty. It's for my SIL for Christmas. She is a tiny little thing that wears an XXS, so the XS sizing will make a big comfy sweater for her. I'm just making it out of Lion Brand Jiffy. It's fun to knit and rather quick too.

If you are looking for the Perfect Sweater pattern, Mason -Dixon Knitting has figured it out and is giving out the pattern for FREE!

My dishcloths were mailed to a wonderful Aussie that I just adore. Hopefully she'll get them in 7 to 10 days. At least that's what the post office said! LOL.

*()@#^*(@!#()*@#!!!

Ok, so I finally have the time to post some fabulous pics and proof of knitting that is happening at my house and then my digicam decides to go all PMS on me and won't upload the pics. I didn't have much time over the weekend to mess with it as it was Em's 7th birthday on Saturday. It all started with a family party with Mr. Outdoor's side on Friday night and my two nephews 9 and 11 decided to stay the night with us (up until 1am). Saturday morning was soccer, the rushing around getting ready for the slumber party. Had the party, took the girls bowling, had pizza came home and weirdly enough I had to entertain them constantly. I collasped on the couch (couldn't even make it to bed) at 1am again on Saturday night. The girl friends went home at 10am and then we jumped in the car and drove to BA to see my mother and have my side's birthday party for Em there. We came home at 5pm, cleaned up the house, had dinner, and then put the girls to bed and I finally got some knitting done.

Whew! I need a weekend to recover from my weekend! LOL.

Besides starting to knit some beanies in my spare time (*snort*) I am working on the 3x's chic sweater in an XSmall for my SIL for Christmas. This is a neat sweater that knits up quickly.

OK, my heart is so full right now!

Wow, I'm so thankful for the comments and i also received a few emails from local knitters that would be willing to make this dream come to fruition.

Last night I was thinking about it and I realized why a knitted object would be such a gift. It is all about VALIDATION. They want to know that someone, somewhere thinks that they are worth the time and effort to make something for them. I LOVE doing swaps because it's the same principle. While you are making something for someone, there is another person thinking of you and making something just for you. It's a great feeling.

Now I think this is going to be a go. I need some feedback though.

1. I know I'll need to make a separate blog for this and I'll do that.
2. I need to come up with a name......since we are the Eagles I was thinking something about Soaring Eagles or something, any ideas?
3. We need a deadline! I would like to be able to pass the hats/scarves, whatever out to the kids all on the same day so no one gets left out. If I give some to 1st grade, and then wait and give some to 2nd and so on, it's not the same. I would LOVE to get these out before Winter Break, but I'm thinking that if we did that that it would defeat the purpose because they might get lost at home or something, so what about sometime in January? I don't want to wait too late as the kids might not need anything later on in the year as at times it gets warm early.
4. Once we get this going we need to be visible and to talk it up.

Anyone like to help me with this? Even if you just have a suggestion, anything is great because I'm feeling overwhelmed at how big this could be....but excited and nervous all at the same time.

As far as the teaching the kids to finger knit or do it themselves, it's a time constraint issue. The children already have BoyScouts and GirlScouts that take them out of the classroom (we have it during teh school day here so the kids are sure to be able to be involved) as well as countless other organizations that take time away. I was ASSURED last night by my principal that I could take a day once a week at the end of the day for Knitting Club. I'm very excited, but it won't start until January.

Also as far as the local knitters I have contacted some groups in the area, but also posted on the Oklahoma Knitting Groups. Let's see if they bite?

As far as I'm concerned.....I'm almost done with all my UFOs just have to finish the Branching Out Scarf and then I'm finished.

Validation....

Ok, so things have been rather heavy around here lately. I've been taking life quite too seriously. On a VERY happy note I finished my last dishcloth for the swap while stuck in morning traffic (yes, I am THAT lady who is knitting in her car while in a traffic jam).

I've been struggling at work. Not with the kids, but still with other people. On Monday I won the "Anderson Pride" award with the best behaved class at an assembly. While this is not shocking, the fact that I won with teh usual WORST class in the school is. I'm learning every minute of every day with these kids. When I came in I thought that they were out of control, and I had to be in control of them and there was lots of negativity on my part and almost losing my voice to hollering and general nastiness. How did the kids react? MUTINY on the Bounty to the full extent! LOL.

In past month or so I've been taking a different approach and it's working beautifully. I am a "mean momma" as they put it. I no longer raise my voice unless there is imminent threat to someone's safety. I talk to them in a nice stern voice, but always with respect, never control. I make a point to be the bright spot of their day. It's working..... I hope I'm not jinxing it. However, when they are rowdy I no longer scream at them to be quiet, or blow my whistle. Instead I sit in my chair in the middle of the room, pull out my knitting and I wait for them to chill out. Sometimes I wait for less than one row, other times I've completed 1/2 of a dishcloth! LOL. Through my knitting they are quieted down, they are intrigued.

I have realized that this new technique with them is not about me just being nice to them, but it's about the students feeling validated as a human being each day. If nothing else they feel as though they matter in this world. While I was working on Emalee's sweater and talking to them one day during some down time, a 3rd grader said, "Mrs. H, your daughter is the luckiest person in the world to have a mom that will knit her something. I wish I had someone who loved me that much." It broke my heart. Knowing her story which is a very sad one and has her living in a foster home situationmade me start thinking.

I know there are TONS of knitting for charity situations out there. I myself have made some things for the Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and for preemie projects. However, I'm working on something here. I'm not sure if it will be able to me implemented this year, but I think that having something handmade by someone else and knowing that they are being thought of in a positive light is essential for these children. Our school dynamic is that 100% of these children in our school are FAR below the poverty line. There is no reduced lunch, it is all free for everyone, including free breakfast, food bags to go home and other various services. While their physical needs are met, most of their emotional needs are not.

Like I said I'm thinking. If you have some suggestions let me know. I've tapped into looking at other services to help, but what I'm wanting to do is have one knitted object for every child in my school which right now is 398 children ages 4-12. Am I crazy?

Updated to say, if you are interested in contributing to something like this please post and let me know. You are not committing just giving me some feedback.

Frosty the Snowman....

Here is the Snowman bag I was talking about. It's from Creative Knitting the November 2006 issue. It really doesn't take as much yarn as I thought that it would!

On another front, the sweater is done and being blocked. I just need to "clean" it up a bit and I'll be finished. I'm very excited as it is my 1st sweater that I've done and completed. I'm in quite a mood to get my UFOs done. I'm rather sick of having many irons in the fire. I'm almost finished with my last dishcloth for the swap and then they'll be on their way to Austrailia by the end of the week. I apologize AGAIN for no pictures. I'm trying I really am, but I'm in crunch time trying to get a few projects done as well as just trying to keep up with everything at home.

Felting, glorious felting...

I finally remembered today that it is October 2nd, which means.....A new MagKnits is out!
I LOVE this bag! I have a pattern for a snowman one. Now I need some for the rest of the seasons. Maybe a heart for Feb, a turkey for November?

Promises and Deadlines....

Hi! Yes, I'm still alive. Mr. Outdoors got me a cheesy card that stated he would "help" me buy a laptop, which is his way of getting out of buying me anything and well I could go on and on because I'm mad at him right now, but I"ll be over it soon....maybe! LOL.

Last week, at the beginning, I didn't get much done. Thursday night I realized that Em's 7th birthday is on the 7th of October. I PROMISED that I would have her sweater done by then, but had taken an almost month long hiatus from it because I was annoyed and bored with it. As of THursday night I had just the front and back done, as well as 3/4 of the 1st sleeve. Well, as of 10:30pm on Sunday night I have it all together and just have to finish sewing the other sleeve on. It's coming along nicely, but now I'm pressured since she looks over my shoulder and says, "It doesn't look done, remember a promise is a promise!". So I'm pressed to have it done by her family party on Friday night. Which will be interesting to give her a wool sweater when the predicted high for the entire week is 95 degrees F or above.

In other knitting news, I have finished two dishcloths for the swap which have to be out by the 10th to a lovely lady in Austrailia.

My MIL decided to be very kind and reveal a secret that was hiding in her closet. 9 sweaters. She gave me 9 wool sweaters. 7 of which are 3XL men's for FIL that have never been worn, let alone the tags even taken off. I'm looking forward to pulling these babies apart soon. But that will have to wait for the scarf to be finished and the two other sweaters I have waiting in the wings!