I got nothing...But check this...

Well, it's Friday, you know I'm Fibery (I'm eating a muffin right now!) But another blogger just made the sweetest, nicest blog, and well, it involves the ZPDK and how I feel about all of my fibery friends. So, GO!  Get out of here, go to Wonder Why Gal's blog.

It'll make you feel all warm and fuzzy, like an alpaca sweater.

Now, I've got to go slay zombies, fight dragons, and sometimes it feels like I'm beating up windmills.  Have a great weekend.  Go make a new friend, or a group.

Everyone's got something to hide...

 'cept for me and my monkey.

That song has been burning a hole through my brain for the last month.  My monkey?  No, it's not rum, wine or knitting. It's volunteering.  Surprised?  Yeah, me too.

I make rice krispy treats for bake sales, school treats and the like.

 You all know about the Zombie Prom Date Knitters adopted section of 1-94.  I mean how can you forget when I've threatened you and your next of kin if you were to dare litter.

 I also help by knitting through the Kidney Kozy Project.  Yes, even my knitting can help.  It goes with my motto "It'll fit someone." 

Ok, I didn't make this quilted one, but I did drop it off, and I do belong to the community service group that donated it.

                                                                Here are some knitted ones! I did not make all of these.

I also take time out of my busy schedule to slay zombies.  I mean, some one's got to do it, or we'd be over run by the reanimated dead.  No one wants that.

 Not so much a zombie. But I'd slay that action, Luke Skywalker style.

Sometimes I bite off more than I can chew, sometimes I say yes for multiple things on the same date.  I bitch, I complain, I say I'm never going to help again.  But I do, and I enjoy it.

Don't worry, I wasn't always like this.  But I returned the Who's gifts and my heart grew three sizes.

No, it was like this...

My Dad was born with one kidney.  Whaa, haahaa.  Sob story time, right? 

 No, he was fine, until about 7 years ago when that kidney started to fail.  About the same time, my friends Sarah and Jennifer's Dad Ray, (born with 2 kidneys) kidneys also decided to stop working.

My brother Carter was not only a good match with our Dad, but also willing to donate.  No one was a good match for Ray, so he was put on the donor list.  Ray passed away just over a year ago.  But thanks to Carter, we still have Marty.

I feel bad that I didn't even get tested for my Dad, and that Carter stepped up and did the right thing.  I feel worse seeing my friends mourn their father. 

So, what do I do?  I try to match my brother's good deed by doing good deeds, and honor Ray at the same time.

That's where my biggest volunteer item comes in... The National Kidney Foundation of Michigan.

Team Little Carter's Ray of Sunshine and WMU Players at NKF Walk 2009

We walk for Ray, we walk for Marty, we walk for Carter, and all the people who have kidney issues.  It's more common than you think. 

Want to help?  This year's walk is this Sunday, May 2 at the Celery Flats in Portage MI.

If you can't make it, but want to help my team raise money, please, donate.  It's tax deductible, and will make you feel good.  About your 2010 tax return, and yourself.

Zombies, on Spring Break?

Hardly any zombie attacks on these fronts.  Oh, don't worry, important issues other than global zombie invasion are being addressed. 

Simply Pink by St Julian's-that is for a good cause.

Like wine being chilled.  This barbaric practice will never stop, but at least we can all do our part to make that poor wine a sweater.

Trying to stay ahead of the breeders

I can't stress enough the importance of having premade baby gifts at the ready.  You never know who is going to fall prey to the cuteness of infants. 

Spun with Snot...for You!

I've had so much zombie free, free time, I've even cozied the shrubbery! 

It is nice to have some time off from zombie slaying, but remember- Zombies are sometimes useful, they keep the world free from toilet paper cozies, and they make good fertilizer.

I love you. I mean it.

Knit with Snot for You.  I've told the story of the blog's name, showed countless photos of the Snotty Pigs, pimped out the activities of the Zombie Prom Date Knitters, but now I'd like to thank you...

Dear Reader of Knit with Snot for You,

I know I'm snarky, a knitter of poorly executed finished goods, and probably a bad influence on the Youth of America, not to mention the youth that live in this house.  But thank you for reading.  I love your comments, your input, good ideas, and most of all making new friends.  I could say acquaintances, but you feel like friends.

So thank you for being fibery, crafty, and sometimes just plain fun.

Snotty

Now, back to the Snark.

Here is the baby sweater I worked on while camping. 

That river does run wild

The baby who gets this sweater will be blessed with the love of adventure, and have an inexplicable of hate buttons.

This was a part of Fiber Arts Friday, with your host Wonder Why Gal!  Click in, link in, enjoy the awesome.  Make Fiber a part of your day.  I mean you could eat a muffin, but really, this is more fun.

Scouts...

Camping.  Why do I do it?

Even with the cold, the wind, and the lack of plumbing, I love when the Pigs say stuff like "I helped build the fire!" or "Oatmeal isn't too disgusting." But the best things to hear are "Thumbs Up to camping!" and "It was AWESOME!!"

Last weekend Pigs 1 & 2 and I camping with the Boy Scouts in celebration of 100 Years of Boy Scouting.

The Main drag in Marshall

Our Camp Site

The Calhoun County Fair Grounds Midway was all set up for fun.  There were activities, bouncy things, a climbing wall, and Remote Control Cars.

My favorite, by far, was the Beat the Crap out of your Buddy area, hosted by Mormon Youth.

You think I make this crap up? Elder Thomas can kick ass, if he wants to.

Here was our mess tent.  Due to high winds while putting it up, we lost a few scouts.  They turned up one county over.  We told them they were the lucky ones, because they got to go Parasailing.

What do I do at Scout Camping?

I hide in my tent and KNIT!

No, I do all the Scout activities.  Ok, not so much the climbing wall, or the Mormon Fistacuff ring, but all the other stuff.

Scouts on Parade...

See, I really do all the stuff Scouts do!

Marshall really went all out for the Scouts.  The shut down the roads and let us run amok.  It was an awesome sight seeing all those Scouts roaming the town.  No, No, I wasn't worried about zombie attack, it seems that Marshall really knows how to keep the zombies at bay. 

Zombies Hate Fighting Chicks in Prom Dresses

For a final photo, I'd like to show my tent.  Please note that it is whole, in one piece, not covered in pee, and not down a hill. 

When's our next camping trip?

We're Normal, Like You

The Zombie Prom Date Knitters have often been referred to as "that weird knitting group."  Sometimes we've heard comments like, "I wouldn't associate myself with a group with zombie in the name.  What's a zombie?"

We do plenty of the same things your group does. Lap robes are Kidney Kozies in our world.  Hats for babies, not usually our gig, but homeless people, we've got their heads covered. 

Being big on good deeds, our group decided to Adopt-a-Highway.

Like everything else we do, it's done with style.  OK, flair?  Flair. 

Personalized Safety Vests-Check!Sassy boots-Check!

It's not a real knitting group event if there isn't YARN. 

Besides what else are you supposed to do with this recycled robot ass glow in the dark, will last through end times neon day glow stuff besides Yarn Bomb with it?

Turns out, the sign's legwarmers from last year are still in great shape.  They just need to be washed. 

Here is the official report of this year's clean up from our great leader Spinsanity. 

Official trash pickin’ report:

Sat. April 10th-- 11 peeps, 5.5 hours (including lunch break), 79 bags (I was mistaken, there are five packs of twenty bags in each box, not ten of ten)
Thurs. April 15th-- 4 peeps, 2.5 hours, 28 bags
  Sat. April 17th-- The Spring adopt-a-highway clean up is officially DONE. We had 5-6 peeps, 5 hours and filled 52 bags today for a grand total of 159 bags. Thank you so much, Team ZPDK, you all rock my world!

Why do this?  Camaraderie, fun, time together, exercise, the beloved smell of auto exhaust.  We're good people.  Let's just stick with that.

Now, as a reminder, if you feel the need to piss in a bottle, dispose of your meth making waste or drink an Arizona Tea, please don't throw said items out the window of your car. Give a hoot, don't pollute. Because if you do pollute, and a ZPDK sees it, you may find yourself being chased down by a shovel wielding knitter who is used to slaying zombies.   

See, the Zombie Prom Date Knitters aren't a weird, we're  a caring, environmentally thoughtful, knit group.  We're just like you.

Ok, so maybe we are a little different.

I want Fiber

It's Fiber Arts Friday for most of you, but today, for me and the Pigs it's "Holy Shit I hope it doesn't rain, we are going Camping Friday."

Ok, Pigs 1 and 2 do not say Holy Shit, but if Pig 3 was here, he would be all over that. 

Have an excellent weekend, be all fibery, and may the force be with you.  I'm sure I'll have a lot of exciting to share Monday.  If we live.

Blue Dolphin...adventure!

Last night was another successful Zombie Prom Date Knitters outing. 

 I say the outing was successful. Many zombies spotted in the downtown Kalamazoo area, many zombies eliminated.  KWAK says she really shouldn't run over zombies because her car just got washed, but I think it's because she prefers hand to hand combat.  

Oh, and I say event for a reason.  When you have this many ZPDKs in a room, it's always an event.

Here is incarnation 2 of the Boheme baby sweater. 

This time the size is right, but due to all of the OPA! that was going on last night

I missed a button hole.

Outing 1, Knitting 0

3 slammers, and 1 sipper

Maybe the knitting didn't go so great, but we did get a lot accomplished.  Accomplished without getting thrown out.

Fat Cat, we've got your week PLANNED!

Outing 2, knitting, sadly still 0

This was part of fiber arts friday.  Please visit Wonder Why Gal's our host of Fiber Arts Friday for more fun.

Wordless Wed...Yeah, Right

It sure isn't Wordless Wednesday here.

As Pig 3 would say "I hate it when it's quiet, then I think my brothers are planning something."


Not to worry little Pig, it will never be Wordless around here for long.

The words being spewed early this morning were mostly four lettered, and various incarnations of.  Why the cursing on such a lovely day?

Impending doom.

storm damaged tent                                               replacement tent, storm damaged

We're going camping.  This weekend.  THIS weekend.  Above are two fine examples of what happens when I go camping.  Needless to say, I'm a little nervous, therefore the swearing.

Well, Pig, you're right, those brothers are planning something. Planning to have a wonderful weekend camping, while you stay warm and dry.

No Rainbows and Unicorns-Just Pigs

I was all heart full of rainbows and unicorns yesterday as the three Pigs played together in the back yard.  They played tag, were swinging on the swings, sliding down the slide.  It's what a parent dreams of happening when the build that big wooden swing set.

My unicorns were soon slaughtered.  The youngest Pig began taunting the older two, and the next thing you know, the older two caught Pig 3, and threw him down to the ground. 

But wait!  There's more! The Pigs, being clever, brilliant, and well on their way to Evil Genius status, noticed dog crap near the incident.  So they picked up Pig 3 and threw him down again, into the dog poop.


One the knitting front, no unicorns have been slaughtered.  Patterns maybe, but no unicorns.

I started the Boheme baby cardi thing by Allegra Wermuth.  It's available on the lovely site of great information and free patterns Ravelry, and also at Fiddlesticknitting-which come to think about it is also a lovely site of great information and free patterns.

I'm using the actual called for Socks that Rock yarn.  Because for some reason I have a large amount of sock yarn, and no desire to knit socks.  It was like the coming together of two great ideas.  My love of purchasing sock yarn and then a nice way to dispose of it. 

Snot of the Titans

 The Ogre took Friday afternoon off to take me to Clash of the Titans.  Not theHarry Hamlin in a short skirt version, the new one.  You know, with the Avatar guy in a short skirt.

Right off I was excited by the casting:

Avatar guy!  As mentioned before, in a short skirt, technically a tunic.  I took it upon myself to do a panty shot count.  It was a close call in the begining with all that swimming and laying on the remains of his family home/boat.  But no dice, or undies.

Oh, the wrecked boat?  Lord Voldemort totally showed up and smashed the hell out of it.  I know right?  Voldemort took time off from harrassing Harry Potter to beat the shit out of some fisherman.

Next up Liam Neison dresses in King Arthur's shiny, shiny suit of armour and bitches about lame people.  Voldemort tricks him into setting free the monster from The Empire Strikes Back to unleash some whoop ass on those pesky non Gods fearing men.

Totally serious.  The Rancor from Jabba the Hut's lair of desert doom.

Rancor + Kraken=Godzilla

Avatar guy takes up with extras from 300, who by the way are seriously into guyliner now.  Jay and Silent Bob tag along as hunters/comic relief.

Andromeda does not get out of a bath and show her behind.

Avatar guy does show his panties upwards of 4 times.  He enjoys tight red underwear.

The Singer from the Spin Doctors shows up, burns his arm, and says "Little Miss Can't be Wrong must be fed to the Kraken, or I will start singing!"

Eddie, the old Iron Maiden mascot, got a new gig as the Ferryman to Medusa's house.

Pig 1 says Medusa doesn't look too bad.  I think he's waaaay too into this whole Greek Mythology thing.

Voldemort goes to the UnderWorld via lightening bolt sword, and then King Arthur talks to Avatar and they all live happily ever after.

Those photos are used without permission from The Empire Strikes Back and Clash of the Titans 2010.

Zombies and Knitting-So a regular Tuesday

Things have been busy around here.  Violent groups of zombies went through and did a lot of damage.

Yes, a silo.  Zombies demolished a silo.  Leads one to wonder, "What the hell were they keeping in that thing?"

Not only did they knock down a silo, but they managed to break down some of our home's defenses too.  I tell you, the Evil Scientists must have gotten a government grant because it's zombie-rific around these parts.  I heard that one of them even got a part in Titanic-The Musical.

Why all the zombie talk, this is Fiber Arts Friday!

                                                            Storm Cloud Shawlette
Here's my latest knitting project.  The Storm Cloud Shawlette by Hanna Breetz of ever green knits.
Fuzzypaws has made probably 6 of these.  Each different, but awesome in it's own way.  I, of course, was jealous of her mad skillz and had to copy her.

 Now I know why she's made so many.  It's a super easy pattern, fun, and makes up quickly.  It also works out really nice with hand spun yarn. 

One last bit about zombies. I am glad to report that the Pigs are in training to continue defending the homestead. 

For more Fiber Arts Friday blogs, please visit Wonder Why Alpaca Farm.  Probably more with the Fiber and less with the zombies, but still awesome.

Hey Pig! It's your Day!

Today is Pig2's 8th birthday. 

He says I'm a boring mean Mom, and that sometimes he thinks I don't like him. 

Pig 2 at Hearty Hustle 2009

Pigs pointing out where they slept on a sub                  Pig 2 playing with fire.  Ok, cooking.

Well Pig, I love you and I'm looking forward to another year of adventure with you.  I'm still going to make you brush your teeth though.

Alpaca, I like you

Alpaca.

I like them.  I like knitting with their fiber, I like spinning up the fiber into yarn to knit with.  I don't even mind scooping their poo.

I do not like removing dingleberries from their bellies before a walk in the show ring.  Sadly, I didn't say I hated it, I just don't like it.

This is more my speed.  The store end of it. 

Chicago, with Pigs, and Zombies!

Last week there was a lull in the online adventures, because we hit the road!

Here's the beginning of my Storm Cloud Shawlette.  Ok, sure no knitting to be seen, but I was working on it.  This is from my hand spun yarn.  It's a blend of Alpaca (of course, I have a dealer!) and the yellow and orange is merino.  All of the raw materials are from Marty and Alice.

Our first stop was at Navy Pier.  Of course we went went there were Super Heroes afoot.  Although the Pigs were pissed that Marvel and DC heros were both at the same event.  They are particular like them, bless them Stan Lee, bless them.

When on vacation with 3 Pigs and an Ogre, it's always good to treat your self.  Ok, my ass is not thanking me, but my mental well being was.  Yes, M&M's do go well with Pinot Grigio.

There WERE zombies at the Field Museum.  Or the Shelly Field Museum as the Pigs call it.  But we eliminated those zombies ASAP then carried on with our day.  I especially loved the Ancient Americas Exhibit.  It was really well done, for both kids and adults alike.  Lot's to read, but also a lot to touch. 

Unlike the Diamond Exhibit.  I grazed a case with my finger nail and was almost taken down with a flying tackle.  Luckily, because of all my zombie defense techniques, I saw the guard approaching in the the glasses reflection and was able to step clear of his attack.

We decided as a family that our new thing would be to pose like Ninja's in front of all the places we visit.  I can't wait to get a family Ninja shot infront of the Washington Memorial. 

Brookfield Zoo

At the zoo, my favorite is the swamp.  The birds are enclosed, and it doesn't reek of aardvarks.

Here we have the Smart Home at the Museum of Science and Industry.  If they ever need a family to live on the Museum grounds, I would volunteer us.  It was the most amazing thing.  Bamboo floors, recycled oven door counter tops, green roof, it was SWEET!  Also, we were proud of the Museum for their use of a giant museum size water cisterne.  Not only were they talking up water conservation at the Smart House, but also putting it to work around the Museum.  Good call! More information from Michelle Kaufmann...

Smart Home at Science & Industry

So, recap-We fought zombies, and learned how to save the environment.  Awesome.