There should be ‘oops’ written into lace patterns. Seriously, you know you’re going to do it. You’re going to screw up the lace repeat at least once while you’re at the beginning of the scarf/shawl/whathaveyou so they might as well write in the pattern about halfway through the first repeat "you’re going to screw it up, RIGHT HERE." Then at least I’d  know where it was that I was going to screw up.

I’m not even going to tell you what I screwed up, or why or how. Because I’m going to fix it and when it’s done I’m never going to let on that I had to rip back eight rows of lace because I can’t read a pattern properly. (Which isn’t even true, I can read patterns properly so I don’t even really have that excuse.)

Moving on. I’m very excited for May. Lots of fun and interesting things are happening in May.

First of all, I’m going to be teaching several classes at Knit Las Vegas. I’m going to be teaching the sock class (we’re doing toe up short row toe and heel this month.), a cables class, an entrelac class and then some of the beginning knitting classes too. I’m also going to be teaching a Girl Scout troop to knit so they can earn a badge.

On that note, I’d like to interject here: I was in the Girl Scouts for several years when I was a youngin’, and we never had to knit. I don’t even think we sewed. I think the Girl Scouts in Alaska are getting different badges. We did a lot of camping, riding horses, and surviving in the wild. I learned how to get rid of leeches, how to boil water properly so you don’t get Beaver Fever and I went on extended horse back rides through the woods. I’m telling you, going to sit in a yarn shop while a nice lady teaches you how to play with sticks and string was definitely NOT a badge option for Alaskan Girl Scouts.

Okay, end of rant. Regardless, I’m excited about the scout troop coming in. I think it’ll be fun.

On May 3rd I’m walking with my team, The Sin City Knitters, in the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure. (Have you donated and/or signed up? No! Then you should, click here!)

May 8th I’m heading up to Alaska for 8 days to spend time with my family and see my brother graduate. I’ll be back in Vegas on the 16th. Mike has been elected a county delegate for the Obama party, so he’s going to the Nevada Democratic Convention in Reno on May 16th, so I won’t get to see him when I get back from Alaska until the following Sunday night. Which is kind of a bummer, but I know he’s stoked about going to the state convention so I’m happy for him, I’m just bummed I can’t go too. He’s going to try to get a state delegate position too which will mean going to the DNC in Denver in a few months. (Which means I’m totally going to Denver too, but mostly for YARN SHOPS! and my friends Justin and Kevyn. )

Then, as if that wasn’t enough excitement for May already, at the end of the month my Mom and my Aunt and cousin (maybe other family members too, but I’m not sure.) are coming to town to celebrate my Papa’s 75th birthday. That man doesn’t look a day over 95 though. (I joke! He’s probably in better shape than most of the 20-somethings I know.)

Whew! That’s a lot of stuff for one tiny month!

June promises to be pretty busy too, but probably won’t involve any flying on my part for which I am endlessly grateful.

And now it’s time to motivate my booty into the shower and out the door. I have a lot to accomplish today before I head out to California tomorrow to hang out with my cousin, Zach while his parents take a little road trip to Vegas. (Yup, I’m going there and they’re coming here. It works out.)

Hasta luego, amigos!

So, I started teaching classes at Knit Las Vegas this week. I did the sock class on Thursday. Which was fun and it felt nice to help people figure things out and to give feedback. It wasn’t hard, each of the ladies was pretty good at what they were doing and they were all pretty far along in their socks.

I will be going over next months class schedule with Christine, the owner, early next week to see what other classes I can teach. I’ve got some ideas that I’m pretty excited about.

I also knit up a sample of the Moonset Chemo Cap to display at the store, and the pattern is being used for a charity event that Knit Las Vegas is sponsoring called the Pink Scarf Knit-a-thon. Which is not just scarves but also hats and lap-ghans. The cost of the kits are being donated to charity and then the finished products that people make from the kits will be collected and donated to charity too. So I’m glad I could offer up my pattern to be used for such a wonderful cause.

I snapped some pictures today of the sample cap and the kits surrounding it because, well, quite frankly I’m finally starting to feel like a ‘real’ knitter because other people are making my stuff! (Plus my mom wanted to see the kits and I’m sure my Godmother DeeDee would like to see a cap I designed for her be used in such a beneficial manner.)

Pictures!

Hat!

Kits!

Hats AND Kits!

I also picked up a kit for the scarf that is being done for the knit-a-thon as well, which is a really pretty lace scarf designed by the gal who owns South West Trading Company Yarns.

I’m doing mine in a real pretty green yarn called ‘Rock’ by Vickie Howell (who I can’t really stand, but the yarn is awesome.) the yarn is a milk fiber and cotton blend and it knits up beautifully. I’ve used it for coffee mug wraps in the past and it washes and wears very nice. I think this will be a beautiful scarf.

The trick now is to finish it in a month to be able to donate it. The trick to this is having it hold my interest long enough to work on it consistently. It’s not a hard pattern at all, I just have a secret (well, not so secret) hatred of scarf knitting. But it’s for a good cause!

Also, I have a nine hour flight on May 8th and May 16th (to Ak and back from AK) that I’m pretty sure I can knock most of the scarf out during those flights alone. If it’s the only thing I take on the plane to knit, I’ll get it done in no time. 

So, in other news: I turn 26 tomorrow. This is the first in several years that I haven’t felt like a complete waste of flesh on my birthday. The last few years I go through the all too familiar circular thinking of "I’m another year older and no farther along in my life. I’m not married, I have no children, I don’t own a home, no degree, no career…I’m pathetic."

Now, you’ll note, I still don’t have a degree, a wedding, babies or a home of my own BUT I am doing fairly well in what could be considered a career. I recently left, on very good terms, a position with ADHD Knitting that paid me well to do things that I loved and allowed me to learn a lot about running that kind of business as well as let me learn at the elbow of someone who I consider to be a fantastic knitter and my own personal mentor. I am now teaching knitting at a very nice yarn store, located in a beautiful neighborhood. I have the opportunity to sell my finished products at a few places around town and I’m designing my own patterns now that other people seem to enjoy. I think I can say that I am successful at what I’m doing, even if I’m not making a ton of money at it right now.

My health is good, I am still in love with a wonderful man (even if we aren’t married yet.) and I live in a nice home (even if it isn’t my name on the deed). I have two beautiful dogs and a very fluffy cat (so what if my kids have four legs instead of two?) and I’m considerably closer to a degree this year than I was last year. And hopefully this time next year I’ll be fixin’ to graduate.

It’s been a very good year. Full of lots of learning and obstacles and challenges. I’ve met great friends, (some of whom are coming to spend the evening in my back yarn grilling various things and enjoying Mike’s patented Dani-ritas) and have had opportunities presented to me in this year that no degree would have ever earned me.

All in all, I’m quite pleased with myself as I prepare to roll into year 26 of the Great Dani Adventure.

We’ll see how I feel when we get close to 27….

So a few things just to keep everyone up to date and a longer more in depth post will be coming soon.

First of all I’m sort of working out of Knit Las Vegas now. I’m teaching some classes and helping out around the shop.

Second of all the Moonset Chemo Cap pattern is up on both Raverly and in the patterns section here on the site. It’s free of course and it’s a real pretty PDF now.

And lastly; I hate Spring. My allergies are trying to kill me and no amount of allergy medication seems to help.

More soon! I’m off to teach my first sock class this morning.

On Monday, amidst the running of errands, I popped into the Bellagio to take a gander at the flowers they do seasonally in their garden area. I heard they had butterflies, so I had to go check it out. The butterfly part was depressing as hell, but the flowers were beautiful.

I didn’t take my good camera because I didn’t expect to be over there so the shots I did get were with my BlackBerry. Not bad photos for a phone camera, but I’d like to go again with the real camera.

This was the only decent shot I got of a butterfly. They were in a little glass garden shed thing, and several of them were dead. There was some really beautiful blue and red ones, but they moved too much.

This frog was pretty interesting, and I managed a decent shot of it. I like the brown wart like lumps they did on it. Very realistic.

This was my favorite photo of the day. The sun came in just right and lit up these flowers.

Less vibrant but equally pretty flower.

I had hoped that this photo would turn out better, but sadly it was a little hazy.

And last but not least:

A snail made from roses, almost poetic.

All in all, I spent less than 20 minutes there because there were far too many people to really enjoy it. Not to mention I’m allergic to anything that blooms, so by the time I left my whole face was red and itchy and I could barely breathe.

It certainly was beautiful though.

We closed the My Ex is Full of Knit contest last night and voting has officially begun in the ADHD Knitting forums. To share your two cents on who you think should win all that fabulous loot, click here!

We had some wonderful entries, and of course, nearly half of them came in the last 24 hours. Showing once again that knitters will absolutely wait until the last possible moment. I have a theory about this too, I’m guessing most of these have been almost done for a while but the knitter who was making it did one of a few things:

1. Did all the knitting and felting and stared at the blank face for a few days trying to decide the best possible way to decorate it.

2. Finished the whole thing in one big she-bang, but then wasn’t pleased with the results and fiddled and tweaked it until they ran out of time.

3. Waited until 11:30 p.m. Sunday night to even start it and then knitted on it until 4 a.m. and took a nap while it dried before doing the face while eating their breakfast before work on Monday.

Now, if it were me, I would have done option 3, because that’s the kind of person I am. My mother in law is the kind of knitter who would probably do the second option. Just goes to show, even among knitters it takes all kinds.

Speaking of taking all kinds, if you haven’t seen the Gallery yet you should definitely check out the great entries we got. We have quite the diverse crowd over there, we’ve got ex-husbands, ex-bosses, physical manifestations of things that make people miserable that people want to expel from their lives…everyone really took to the true spirit of the pattern and the contest. I am incredibly proud of every single entry that came in, they are all very thoughtful and brilliantly executed.

Voting runs through April 5th, and from there we’ll pick a winner out of the top 5 popular votes. You can expect a blog post on the ADHD Knitting Blog early next week with the winner and the loot we’re sending out to them.