Needing Haze under hazy skies

I have finished my drawings for my create along and only need to knit up a gauge swatch for the lace.....as soon as I decide what kind of lace to use......and get some Kidsilk (sigh).
I did get to the next stage in my sweater venture and have begun the decreases. I did venture from the pattern as I am knitting in the round. In the original pattern the front and back are knit seperately. I also plan to knit the sleeves and the body together instead of knitting and then joining the sleeves. I hope that it works just as well. We shall see. I can't see where it can't be modified to knit in the round and not have any seams to sew. It comes along slowly though because of this. I can't wait to be able to wear it!
Today we had very hazy skies covering the island and the surf was strangely high. I thought maybe it was just a pollution things, but we are on an island and don't get the same pollution as Las Angeles. That and it was pretty darn thick. Aparantly there is a volcano to the north of here (Anahatan) that periodically messes up the air here. It seems to be thicker tonight and I wonder if it's going to be worse tomorrow. The kids weren't allowed outside because of the poor air quality. I'm sure breathing in sulfuric acid could be bad for your lungs. I found it intriguing because it's a new experience, but I'm sure if it continues it will become a severe nuisance.
The neighborhood playground was dismantled last week so there is no place for the kids to play anyway. They tore it down about two weeks ago and the boxes with the new equipment has been sitting there since then. I'm beginning to wonder if they are going to put it together or if they want us to be content with staring at it through the plastic wrapping. I'm sure if we got together the mother's of the neighborhood we could have it put together before Friday.
Oh well, until then I'll just have to keep G and W occupied with other things. By the by, because of G I will be refering to G as Lola and W as Charlie. They are on a Charlie and Lola kick and requested that I call them by those names all day today. I like it better then just typing G or W anyways so I will yeild to the demand. I think it will make it a little easier on the readers as well.
I like the cartoon as well. I like British TV in general and I miss it greatly. They have a BBC channel here and PBS, but no British comedies. It's sacreligious! And no Travel Channel either (Anthony Bourdain.......I love you!!!!!). I do like watching the Korean channel and the Chinese channel. The Korean channel has subtitles and very dramatic programing. All the pop song videos are about a guy and a girl and one or both of them dies. The other day I watched a movie where the wife was bawling like her life was over because her husband was working as a ............housekeeper (GASP!). You would have thought he told her that he was gay and a crossdresser and she being a strict Catholic unable to accept his lifestyle choice. It was interesting. While the Chinese channel has no subtitles they do have this show (game show or talk show? or both?) and it is hilarious. I can't understand a word of it, but it keeps me laughing :-D

Wondering

I have thought about limiting myself and just trying to use what I have for the create along that I have joined. I have three skeins of Tahki in pink so really it limits me to making something for G. Something about the size of a tank or short sleeve top. My original idea though was to make her a dress. She loves playing dress up and I thought that I could possibly use Tahki as the base and then combine Kidsilk Haze with the Tahki in the skirt. I have yet to decide whether or not I want to combine or use the Haze as a lacy overlay. I have a few ideas rolling aorund in my head and I think that I'll also make footie pyjamas using Rowan Calmer. G loves footie pyjamas and she's gotten to the age where we can no longer find them in her size. I know what you're thinking........ You live in Guam!!!! Why does she need footies?.......My house is an icebox and it's about comfort. I will probably make some for myself if this works out the way that I hope.......and if I can afford it.
Meanwhile I continue in my endeavor to unpack. I don't know why I bother since I never finished unpacking from the last time that we moved. I have thought about just throwing out all the boxes that I haven't opened because it seems obvious that I don't need anything in them. Then there's that fear that I might throw out something that I think is important and I might need forty years from now. I am happy that I have only kept about 30% of everything that I have unpacked so far. The rest went off to the local Goodwill. You never realize how much junk you own until you have to pack it and then unpack it again. I know that we'll be making another move in the future and so I'm hoping to pare down now. By the time that we move I will probably have accumulated just as much as I had before, but at least it won't be double.
When moving to Guam pack only one large bag and one carry-on. We had eight bags, two carseats and two toddlers when we arrived. It was CRAZY! Let the rest of your stuff go with the movers.
Thought I might throw in a few interesting tidbits about Guam, just for anyone who is wondering. When I first learned that we were moving here I thought " Oh that sounds great.......wait....where is Guam." I had listened to a Podcast that is a radio program in Guam and it played Latin music, so I automatically thought it was somewhere in Central or South America. And then my brain kicked back into gear and I knew it wasn't anywhere near there......but where is it?
It sits below Japan, above Australia, to the left of Hawaii and to the right of Indonesia and the Phillippines. It's a big tourist area for everyone from Japan, which can be a bit of a pain for a big girl. All the stores cater to the Japanese and they are tiny, tiny, tiny. The local Chamorran women are very robust, but I have yet to be able to find where they shop. Most of them wear tees and a sarong as a skirt or the ever popular Muu Muu. The water here is clear and blue and the island is surrounded by coral making it ideal for snokeling and scuba diving, but bad for surfing. The villages here are beautiful and colorful and when I get the pics I will post them. There are a lot of dogs called "Boonie Dogs". In fact you can't drive one mile without seeing a dog and going out on your own hiking without a big stick, pistol, or BB gun is really not a good idea. There are plenty of beaches and places to hike and it's always breezy enough for wind or kite surfing. We have earthquake tremors just about every week and at least one earthquake a month big enough to rattle the walls and wake you from a dead sleep. They both excite and scare me and as long as they stay little it'll be okay. They did have a eight pointer several years ago and there was no damage and no deaths. Every building is made of concrete because of the earthquakes and the occasional typhoon that hits. There are a few tin topped houses that still stand.....surprisingly by the coastline. Ants run rampant here. In fact they will take away anything that sits for more then one hour in the same spot and my poor cat is constantly having to share her food with them.

Other wildlife includes the pretty yellow geckos, green lizards and the toads that sit on my back porch like they're waiting for a cab. For a small island there are a lot of places to go and lots of things to do. Three malls, a HUGE duty free shopping mall in the Tumon tourist area and of course all the beautiful beaches that you could ever want to go to and all the days out of the year to do it (barring any typhoons).
That's all I can think of for now and I think that I've blogged enough for today.

Hello and Welcome!

Wow! This is my first time EVER doing a blog and I am a little nervous. Being a novice I'l have to ask that you bear with me and any suggestions on how to make links and download things to make my blog nice and informative. I really don't know how informative I can be. I'm a knitter and that's what this blog is about. My knitting adventures. I actually created this blog out of a need for a blog name for a create along hosted by MindofWinter. I have been knitting for a little over a year now although I did more than once pick up needles in an atempt to learn the craft in my younger years. It was only over the holidays last year that I got completely sucked in and hooked. I thought I was alone in my addiction, but have since learned that there are others out there and some who are worse then me........but not many. I literally can not go a day without knitting. It can be sad at times. My hubby doesn't understand the yarn fetish and the coveting looks that I give my Addi's. Luckily my children love the fact that I knit......probably because most everything I knit, I knit for them. I do this for a few reasons......one being that it breeds fast results, instant satisfaction if you will,.....the other is that I have yet to be able to justify the cost of yarn that it would take to cover my big girl frame. I did break down over the holidays and order almost $200 in yarn and got enough to knit myself a pullover sweater in a silk/cotton blend that I've been eyeing for months. I found the yarn on sale........$3 a skein for the Classic Elite Patina, and so less tehn half of that $200 went towards the 20 skeins that I purchased for the sweater. The rest was spent on a huge cone of a linen/cotton blend that I'm still wondering what to do with. I may be a yarn ho but I'm a thrifty yarn ho although I did just recently spend $12.50 a skein on some yummy looking Farmhouse Lumpy Bumpy (it really looked very, very yummy). I'll have to see how yummy it really is once it gets here. I'm starting to rebuild my nerve in order to buy some Koigu KPPM for my first sock set. Yes I said my first sock set. I have knit a sock or two in the past, but have yet to produce a set. I'd like to try it as one of the first things that I knit for myself because I can't see myself being too disappointed with the look of a sock on my foot.
I do live on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific far away from the States mainland, Guam. There is no.....I repeat NO....... LYS here. At all. None. Zip. Nada. I suppose it's because the local Chamorrans never took up knitting as a necessity since it is always 80 degrees or above during the day and never dips below 70 at night. The coldest I have been is in the house or local malls and they so sometimes tell you to pull out your sweaters because the forecast calls for temperatures in the lower 80's (no I'm not joking, you really do see people bundled up outside against the horribly cold 82 degrees). I see no need for jeans and sweatshirts in any temperature over 80 and the humidity here keeps it warm at night too. Inside is a different matter and we have all had to battle against the evil chill of the AC in summertime. I think one sweater and some socks will work just fine. My son is happy with his fuzzy nylon cap and his basic drop sleeve sweater that I made him before we left chilly Virginia in early December. My daughter profits from my love of skirts. I love skirts but I never wear them. I usually remember this halfway through a skirt pattern and wind up taking the front half, sewing the sides together and adding straps to make a cute summer dress for G as seen in the picture.
When I'm not knitting I'm reading. I LOVE the Harry Potter books ( I am on the edge of my seat from now until mid July), which features knitwear, I might add! I am also partial to the classics and mostly young adult award winners. I just resently finished A Single Shard and I recommend it highly to anyone looking for something short to read. I have also picked up The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan and have reread throught the entire Harry Potter series in the week after the publishing date for the seventh (and last- sigh) was announced. If I could I would spend my days in our local book store, reading, sipping lattes, knitting and listening to my IPod. That's the ideal form of relaxation for me.
I must add thought that another reason I decided to blog was that I have no one around me that understands the life of a knitter because no one I know knits. I get a lot of comments about aging myself before my time, " You're not a grandma yet, and you're not pregnant." That is until they recieve one of my "gifts" and come to see how invaluable knitwear is. They never say it but usually the derisive comments stop at that point. Want world peace? Then gift some knitwear :-)
If only it were that simple.