Hoggetown Medieval Faire 2010

We visited the Hoggetown Medieval Faire yesterday and had a wonderful time as a family. It was also Josh’s birthday.I was quite surprised that he wanted to go.

When we arrived there was no parking available at the fair grounds so we had to park about a mile away and take a bus. Our son had been napping in the car and seemed a bit confused by this. Finally we arrived and the first thing we saw was a friendly brown goat. He was pretty young, but really sweet. Josh Jr. was extremely shy about petting him, but him then ran back to me to hide his face. Then we walked through the crowd. Friday’s rain must have forced everyone to go on Saturday, so we walked slowly through the crowds, stopping to see the elephant, camels, horses and ponies.  We were starving upon arrival, anticipating the highly addictive and artery clogging “fair” food. I had my heart set on the few gluten-free items I enjoy… Turkey legs and french fries… Oh yummy! Since I was carrying our kiddo we stopped for Josh to get food first, he had some buffalo shrimp and french fries, then we got in the line for my barbaric turkey leg. Kiddo was devouring french fries and they were gone by time I got my turkey leg goodness… so the boy and I sat down to eat while Josh went for more french fries. Josh Jr. loved the turkey which amazed me. He kept insisting that he could bite it himself. Josh returned with some fries and a pretzel, so the boys munched on both.

Baby's first Turkey Leg <3

After satisfying our fair food desires, we decided to wander and take in the atmosphere as well as track down the two beer tents. Josh Jr. was just in awe and so excited over everything, he loved it. We found a beer tent and Josh had a Copperhead Ale from Swamphead Brewery and I decided to try the Mead wine again. I have had it before but was not very impressed. Well, this time I was equally unimpressed but it seemed much more drinkable to me. It was sweet like a Riesling, but not as sweet as I remember. I think the gluten-free life is wreaking havoc on my palette. (I am just happy that I could have a good time in a medieval faire environment without spending half the day starving and complaining– or eating something that I know will make me sick.) We sat there on the hay bales enjoying the nice weather and watching the folks in costume. Our favorite was the 4-5 frat boys in big giant fluffy pink pig costumes. Very much out of place, but quite popular among the crowd. I only wish I had gotten a picture.

Dancing at the Faire

Watching the dancers in awe.

We found out that the other beer tent was on the other side so we meandered that way, this time letting the kiddo walk. He does pretty well. He was having a blast since I gave him my empty mead cup… it was about 2 inches tall so he was in heaven. He loves anything small like that. So he was clutching his cup, screaming “YAAAAH” all the way. He is pretty amusing. We made it to the 2nd beer tent. I walked up with kiddo and ordered another Mead wine “shot” (since it cant be more than 2 oz) and the man joked about “Anything for you, Sir?”  to my son, and I told him how much he loves the little cups. The man handed us a fresh one and he said”Must be luck, I just dropped this one.” So I had a super happy child, with TWO cups. We sat down again and he just ran around us in circles cheering and holding his cups up. When we were finished, we decided to call it a day, since even though it felt like we didnt do very much we had spent big bucks and it had been nearly 3 hours. So we wandered back towards the front– much easier this time since most of the crowd had gone home. We got to the middle area and the little parade/dancing thing they do started. May pole, big puppet-things on stilts, music, belts made from bells, dancing-dancing-and-more-dancing! My son was in heaven and if it had not conjoured up another big crowd I would have let him dance it up so I could take some pics, but I was afraid he might get crushed. After the dance-fest we kept on the path out and decided to buy him a wooden sword on the way out. For $6 it is solid wood and he loved it. He has not yet beaten the dog or broken the television so I dont regret getting it for him yet.

24th Annual Hoggetown Medieval Faire (2010)

All in all, what a great day. Josh and I got along and the kiddo was in a wonderful mood. I love that he is finally getting to the age where going to events is actually fun (as long as they do not involve sitting) and we all have a good time. Now I am looking forward to going to some outdoor concerts this spring and summer if the University has any.

Today? Today Hank’s is the plan and I have now taken over groceries as my personal mission, since the boy has no desire to sit in a cart for longer than 10 mins. I am looking forward to having a nice leisurely day and ending it with the Super Bowl… I am a little disappointed that kick-off is at 6:30, I would have preferred 7:30 or 8pm. How can I enjoy a football game when I am bathing my kid, wrestling to get PJs on him and reading  Goodnight Moon? Jeez NFL, Thanks a lot. Thankfully I dont care for either team and the half-time show seems positively ridiculous. I dont even people who liked The Who are looking forward to it. I was hoping for Lady Gaga or something interesting– but thanks to Janet Jackson we are doomed to having “nursing-home” style half time shows forever. GAG. I do not even think seeing her boob was worth it. So, I guess I will halfheartedly be watching the game, cheering for the Saints, since they are the under-dog and gorging on wings during the half-time show, perhaps I will flip it over the the puppy-bowl.   At least I am positive that I will get some knitting done.

I read a great blog today… I like a lot of the parts in this blog, a girl on my Facebook had “shared” a post from the blog and I went surfing through it. This blog post in particular really caught my eye and it actually opened my mind. Here, you read it. Okay, now… the reason I liked it so much is because I was sort of distressed to know that there was a call for donated breastmilk in Haiti, but I would not be able to help them out for several reasons. Now after reading this I realize that my thinking was with good intention, but had I actually been able to donate I would have done more harm than good. It is easy to lose sight of things like this when you simply want to help. The point is excellent though and I hope more people get the word out.

(Edited to add: I am just loving this blog… I found this article too about a study that says breastfeeding longer than the “minimum” amount of time leads to improved mental health, including less aggression, depression and anxiety… read it here.)

I read some other things today… this article scares the hell out of me and makes me really uncomfortable. How on earth can this be legal? I do realize that the government can do whatever they want, but this seems to make our children vulnerable  to much more than descrimination from health insurance companies. With so much emphasis on forensics and DNA evidence in court rooms today, this makes me feel like every sample in this government DNA bank is a possible “get out of jail free” card for any wealthy person who can afford it. I am also terrified of cloning. Perhaps this is a screening process to create some kind of super army? *Shivers*  My paranoia is through the roof right now!

Tea Leaves (petite) Cardi

I was insure about the separating for the sleeves on the Cardi, so I took it over to Hank’s (he’s dreamy) and I proceeded to do this part in a safe knitting environment.  I had a safety net of 3 ladies… Lorena, Sharon and Ginger. It was simple, just as I had hoped, but somehow I knew that if I tried to attempt it at home I would be in cuffs on CNN as the world heard a story of how my partner died of complications from multiple knitting-needle stab wounds. So in a sense, the ladies of Hank’s saved a life today.

Now that I am actually finishing the yoke and stuck in the boring stockinette section of the Cardigan I am happy to see it take some shape. It is funny, since this is my first “adult” sweater, however it really is not that much bigger than the Wonderful Wallaby hoodie I made for my son! HA! This yarn is incredibly hard to photograph, but this pic came out pretty close. One day I will take it outside and try to capture it in better light.

I was again reading obsessing over the project notes for this Cardi on Rav and I notice everyone complains about how it turns out too long after blocking, so I intend on combating that problem by finishing a little short. At the rate I am moving I might just finish this before the Ravelympics… which are going to help me fix my WIP problem. I need to finish Amanda’s gift and also I am ripping out Josh’s socks and instead making some for myself.

Speaking of Josh… we are getting along a bit better recently. We start counseling on Friday afternoon. I think it will be good for us both and besides that we have a sitter so we can grab some food after the fun-fun-fun shrinkage session. For now, I am just moving forward with each day. Trying to keep the damn drama to a minimum and trying to maintain a level of happiness for myself.

Hank's famous "Sock Monkey" sock yarn

I was excited to see this on the shelf at Hank’s… I have been eye-balling it on Ravelry since it came out in the sock club last year… This yarn is why I joined the sock club. Its a very cool color combo and it’s SOCK MONKEY! How can you resist it? It was hard to choose between merino and bamboo base… I went with Merino in the end, so my colors are a bit brighter. I really want to make the Cookie A. Monkey Socks with this, but I am not sure yet… I may decide to do something else… so for now this lovely is going to hide out in my closet.

FL Gator-- Tebow Commemoration Pants 2009

You can hardly see this pic, but here is my son wearing the Tim Tebow tribute pants. The self striping yarn came out nice with this project and I have a whole skein left. I think it will become a hat. I love this yarn. It is from Little Bo Peep Knits on Etsy and just looking now to link to her, it looks like she has no yarn for sale…

Allie loves the shawl!

I mailed the shawl to Ms. Allie all the way up into the frozen tundra called Maine. Here she is modeling it and I think it looks nice! The color is amazing and I think she wears it very well. I think I might need to buy her a shawl pin or two, since she loves it so much. Not only is she a great model, but she is my #1 reader, commenter and certainly my fave cousin. She is currently working hard going to school and working at the local hospital in her spare time. She also knits, which is pretty rad… I just dont know how she has time! Thanks again, Allie!

BTW Hank’s also featured my beautiful shawl on their blog… in case you missed it, see it here!!! If you are local, they are building a new HUGE Publix across the parking lot from Hank’s so you might want to start shopping over there.

Boo-Bear Picasso

Here is my little artist, coloring his heart out. Little does he know, but I plan on saving every single picture he draws. I actually bought the crayons last year, but he is just now getting into it. Shortly after creating this masterpiece he decided to throw all the crayons on the floor and sketch a bit on one of our floor tiles in “blue”.  Taking after his mom with this artistic ability, I am ever-so proud and I look forward to more works of art.

And it is January 31, 2010… this ends the first month of the year. I am hoping the next 11 months go a little bit better! I look forward to the big giveaway with Hurried Homemaker this March. We have a huge bunch of things ready to giveaway! I am very excited and hope both of us gain a bunch of new readers in the process! I have had a great month as far as stats  were concerned! Dont ask me why, but on the 26th I had 138 hits, but I did not even blog that day! I always find it amusing when things like that happen!!! As always though, thank you everyone for reading. Lets all get ready for the Olympics and the Ravelympics! W00T!

My winnings from eatsleepknit.com

Finally I am able to post some pictures… So why not go crazy.

Tea leaves cardigan

Starry - Dream in color

Shrug I made for Miss Teagan

Why I am behind on laundry...

First off I want to thank everyone who has sent me tweets, notes & comments recently. I appreciate the support! I have been in an emotional and stressed out state of mind since the holidays and I am now getting back on track to feeling better. Josh and I start counseling next week and I am looking forward to it. I try to be as optimistic as I possibly can.

So my congo is closing. I have to say I am not really surprised. The girl running it did not even have a store herself, so I am curious about what she actually thought she would get out of it. I think she expected to actually make a profit. When it comes to WAHM (Work At Home Mom) businesses it is hard to actually make much of a profit. I will explain why:

Let’s say for example you knit wool baby items, like yours truly. Wool baby pants (aka longies)  cost anywhere from $40-$80 depending on size and type of yarn. A pair of longies for a newborn generally take me about 5 hours.  If I want to make minimum wage for my work… I already have to charge $25.75.  Then you have the $8 or so you paid for the yarn… $33.75.  So if you charged $40 for that pair you have made $6.25 profit.  Oh wait– no, not quite… we forgot to add fees for listing the item on Etsy (3% of the price of the item) or Hyena Cart ($5 per month, more with web design) then paypal fees and of course I usually stuff a small little gift or trinket in with the item to encourage repeat business. In the end… reality tells me I made about $3.00. I am aware that I made $5.15 per hour to make them, but this also means my time was dominated and I was not able to knit anything for myself, clean my house or drink too much wine.    … You have now had your basic economics lesson!!!  This is exactly why American companies lay-off and fire American workers… so they can go to China and run their factory where minimum wage and handmade personal touches are non-existent. Of course, then we import the items back from them and our children’s items are tainted with lead and other toxins. This is also why American hand-made items are so expensive. Humans are not as efficient as machines. It boils down to what you prefer… baby items like cloth diapers with wool covers toys and blankets made by mothers who have children and need income in AMERICA or machine and  factory-made items from CHINA… where lead-inspections seem to be lost in translation. Dont even get me started on the disgusting amounts of chemicals in disposable diapers… THEY NEVER BIODEGRADE. Seriously. One day we will be living on planet P@mpers, not Earth, since Earth will be buried and smothered with disgusting filthy diapers. Okay, if anyone is still reading this– just know that I am proud to say that I did not mention any politics or specific politicians in that rant! *Patting self on the back*

So back to the original subject, the congo is closing. I will no longer list items on Hyena Cart at this time. I would like to list there in the future, but I am unsure when that will be. I will simply be running the Etsy shop and I always consider any email request for customs at BattleofKnits@gmail.com. The reason she gave for shutting it down was because  the Mama running the “Loverbugs” shop was ripping people off, by accepting paypal payments and never sending out the items purchased. Karma is a funny thing… and I suppose if you really have to rip someone off for $50 then, I hope you spent the money well. I just hope her children have other role models available.

Alright, I am signing off now, it is time to watch Fringe.

CIAO

(PS Wordpress, I hate you right now, since I cannot upload pictures. Do not force me to go back to Blogger. Please.)