Eek! Quick, a UFO!

I finished a UFO project for January, but apparently didn't post the picture. Good thing I took a moment and checked! It's part of a knitalong started by Kat with a K, and a darned good knitalong it is, too! As soon as I get a half hour, I'm going to figure out how to put the button up and have it go to the correct place, not just a picture on my computer. Anyway, the Hermione hat.
I love this hat so much. It's current, and pretty, with lots of stuff going on, so I didn't get to knit and watch t.v. It's exactly the type of knitting I'm enjoying right now, which is something that requires concentration and isn't just plain stockinette. (Perhaps this is why the husband's sweater is still a UFO?)

The husband's sweater is my UFO project for February, though, because if I just suck it up and knit the front, ta da! He'll be able to wear it and be warm, warm, warm. It's made of fisherman's wool, by Lion Brand, and the pattern is very simple. I shall finish this sweater! Thanks, Kat, for the motivation.

A girl of my word.

I finished the Chevron scarf, and as I was weaving in the ends, the sun came out! I grabbed the camera so fast! It's unblocked, but since my daughter will be wearing it around her neck this afternoon, I won't bother with blocking it. It will likely be in the wash by this weekend, anyway. The yarn was Encore, 75% acrylic, 25% wool, so washable. There are no names for the colors, just numbers, but they're a goldenrod and orange, orange being my daughter's favorite color. This very bright, sunshiney scarf was just the thing to pick up these last two stressful weeks, as I get out of my comfort zone and learn how to ease back into the working world. It's been nine years, folks! Well, let me clarify. I've been working my BUM off, but not bringing in an extra income. If anyone suggests I haven't been sweating, frustrated and kicked around, while still trying to do a fantastic job, I'm going to put my angry hat on. =)



I also balled up the spun yarn - first effort! - and it will await a quiet moment to go on the needles for a hat. I have to do something with it! And I know it will be worn if I make a hat, because it is cold here, people! 17 degrees, and getting colder. The bank secretary (by now, my friend) told me that this weekend there is a warning for parents that little kids could get frostbite if they're outside for ten seconds! That's cold.

No FO's

I'm at a place in my crafting where I've got nothing to show. I'm still working on the husband's sweater. I had to take a break, because he wanted socks. I have one sock done, and I'm not posting a pic til I've finished both. I'm afraid I'll lose my momentum. The Chevron scarf is nearly done, and I told the middle child that I was making it for her. (I decided that for sure last night) She smiled very big and said, "How did you know I wanted it?" Ha Ha! Good Mom Moment! I need to record these. Seriously. Far too easy to forget that I have them.

I have nine things to do today. That's a lot. Oops - call the accountant. Ten things. I was so stressed about this that I was up until 3:00 a.m. this morning. Is this helpful? Not a bit. Plus, when I'm up that late at night, I get to acknowledge that we do indeed have a mouse. Just one, right? Heh heh. And I couldn't find my knitting (!!!), so the Chevron scarf didn't get finished with this idle time. I played the kids Nintendo DS's instead, the Animal Crossing game. It was fun, but even on the game, everyone was asleep. LOL Then, when I got up at 6:00 this morning, there was my knitting bag, sitting in the hallway, bright orange yarn sticking out of it. *sigh* Well, clearly it wasn't meant to be, and if I'd knitted on the scarf, I'd have messed it up horribly. I'm very lucky to receive so much attention from the knitting fates.

Drama club today - ten more practices. Yikes! No, no. It's cool. (Yikes!!!) Deep breathe, deeeeep breathe. They're fun kids, though. I'm enjoying it more than I realized I would, even, and I knew it would be fun. Awesome! Yet again, a fates move in my favor. Karma should even things out with a kick in the pants, but maybe I suffered enough already, and this is the golden time. Let's run with that, shall we? Have a great day! I'll try to have a pic tomorrow!

Welcome to Monday!

Last night I finally got a bee in my bonnet and decided to wash my first spun yarn, single ply, very chunky =) It was fun, but I can see I have oh-so-much practicing to do. I'm hating to use the pretty green roving next, because I still need to work on my technique, but that's the only roving I have, so there! I've got to go much finer, because it expands so much after washing. Goals! I love em.

Here is also a picture of the pretty spindle I bought. It's got inlaid wood, which my husband likes, so asthetically it makes him happy, too!

Other than this news, the new business continues on a pace. We figured out last night that, because our business is on a shared server (cuz we're not making any money yet), we aren't in charge of the backups. To actually retrieve any information from a backup that the service provider performs, it's $150. Yes, that's right. And they don't let us back up our own stuff, cuz we're not paying for a better account. Guess we'll have to fix that! In the meantime, though, ouch! Heaven forbid you actually need to get your information. Boring, ay? If you want cool knitted stuff, go see Arleta's blog. She's been busy crafting for a great cause. You can, too, if you have the time. It's a very sad thing the family is struggling with.

The sun is shining, and there's snow on the ground! It's good to be here in Northern Michigan. It was two degrees Farhrenheit this morning when I got up, but let's not dwell on that, eh? It was a balmy 17 degrees by the time I got the kiddies to school. We were trying to psyche ourselves out that it was getting warmer, but the baby cleared us up on that when I took her out of the car. She said, "It's not warm! Cold!" and she tucked her hands in and buried her face in my shoulder. Yes, dear. You can't fool the little ones. =)

Chevron, continued...

My chevron scarf continues on apace. For some reason, I'm in a bad mood, today and the past several. I don't know. Not enough sun? So when I sit down to this sunshiney scarf, I feel better. And the pattern changes every other row, so I have to concentrate. I can't just grumble and knit tightly. I have to sit and be peaceful. The yarn is really soft, so that feels nice while I'm knitting, too. It is very rare that I get this sort of tactile comfort from knitting. Plus the size 10 needles make it move faster than it ought to, considering how little knitting time I've been getting.

The husband nicely let me hang the scarf on him while he was doing the dishes. So that makes him double nice =). Then the little one said, "Me, too," and even said "Cheese" while I was snapping, even though she was facing the other way. HeeHee. I really need to get the first kid to basketball practice, then maybe sit in the car all by myself and listen to NPR. But what will probably happen is I will take the other two along, get some groceries, and struggle through a play date, what with the lessons on sharing and all. It's all worth it, though, right? Right? Children take care of their parents in their retirement, right? Because if they don't, the little ingrates, my retirement plan sux. I'm smiling. Blogging is fun.

Oh, what a day...

I had such a terrible day yesterday. It was the kind of day when you just want to take a quilt to the couch and pull it up over your head. I was so done with dealing with people, even my own... I was trying to do too much, I think.

First off, I'm new to this working from home thing. I get stressed if the baby asks for something while I'm on a business call. I try to wait for her nap, and hope it's longer than ten minutes. Then someone gets a tad difficult on the phone, when I'm trying to be pleasant, pleasant, pleasant. Not fun, but okay. I take a break to knit. I didn't tell anyone yesterday, but I started the Chevron scarf while knitting with Arleta, and I hated it. It was not Chevron-ing at all. It looks, honestly, like striped yarn. I tried three times there, then took it off the needles and threw away the pattern. I have never done that before.

I tried to open a checking account for the business yesterday, but the girl who has been helping me (the one who's been leading me by the nose) wasn't there, had in fact left for the day, a fact they didn't tell me for twenty minutes. So someone else can help me? I asked. Sure, they said. Have a seat right there. Sat. After a fair amount of "busy time" by the lady, I could come in. She looked at my documentation, agreed it all looked fine, and could I have a seat, she'd be right back. I did not sit down. I was getting unhappy.

She looked and looked, and it quickly became apparent to me that she had no idea what she was doing. Okay, I'm nice. I'm nice even when I shouldn't be nice. (I have a really hard time being not-nice). I explained that I had another appointment, and perhaps I could come back after it, and sign something? Oh, she was relieved. I left my phone numbers (this part's important), and went off to order drama club shirts and pick up my kids.

Back at 3:30, kids in the car acting like maniacs, and the lady is on the phone for a very long time. My kid starts waiving at me like crazy, so I go to see what they need. Nothing, she says. She just loves her new shirt from the t-shirt shop.
........
Lady still on the phone, I leave.

I take a break to knit. In fact, I hate being beaten by a pattern, so I dug the yarn out, recopied the Chevron pattern, and tried again, in an effort to *de-stress* from the phone calling (which I don't like to do, anyway, even without difficult people). The first time I knitted it, it looked like it did yesterday.


So I tried again, with knitting one row and purling the next, thinking perhaps the pattern was wrong about knitting every row. It didn't look like the pattern, although something was now going on, and it was curling.

Then I ripped, asked the kids Oh-So-Nicely to be quiet (yeah, right), as mommy was getting a bit of a headache. I tried again, and it seemed the colors just weren't showing up, though bringing the yarn to the front when slipping did make it look somewhat like the picture. I yelled at the kids again (why do they have to be so loud?), threw the yarn down and went to make dinner. (Perhaps they needed to be fed?)

After the loud dinner, where my daughter cried because I didn't care who got to sit in the favorite seat, as long as someone did, I started getting that couch feeling (see above). I was marginally interested in reading stories, so I got to play a get-out-of-jail-free card and laid on the couch, vegging. When I got up this morning, I realized that my scarf looked like this:


I do believe it's chevron-ing, even if the colors aren't as contrasting as I thought they would be. Must have been why I just couldn't see it yesterday. I like it. It's made from Plymouth Encore washable yarn, and it's soft, soft, soft. And see how happy the kid is? Apparently I don't upset them as much as I worry I do. She seems fine, and even as adoring as yesterday. Phew.

Oh, and finally, here is what happens when mommy works and leaves the two-year-old to do her thing for a bit....



In case anyone has read all the way down this far, I got my checking account today. Apparently the computer was down yesterday (and they could have called me. See why the phone number leaving is so helpful?) Instead of working around the baby's schedule, I brought her in with me today and let her create havoc until they managed to get me out of there. Hooray! Business checking! Today seems to be going better. =-)

A Present! For Me??

Last night, on a whim, I called my mom and asked her to dinner. My excuse was, I already had to go out for bananas and butter, why not throw in a margarita or two? She agreed with me, and I escaped from the children and headed out for an awesome steak burrito and drinks. When I went to pick her up, what did she have for me?



Presents! This is a knitting bag, of her own design. On the outside are nice long narrow pockets, to hold my straight needles all in one place, and on the other side are shorter, slightly fatter pockets to hold the dpn's. (I still haven't found the ones I lost over the holidays) The inside is nice and roomy, lined with a pretty blue, with inner side pockets to hold some skeins of yarn or scissors, tapes, all the usual stuff you can't find when you want it. Not only was this incredibly sweet of her, but she made one for my friend! I'm so impressed/geeked out/humbled by her "Who needs a pattern?" attitude. Very cool. Thanks, Mom!!

I didn't blog yesterday, as I was in recovery from drama club. Ten people wanted to sew, and five people thought they'd give acting a go. That means there were three adults for five kids acting, and, um, me. For ten kids sewing. Some of whom had not sewed before and thought that sewing fast was comparable to race car driving. "I win! Did you see the way I went around that corner? I cut three seconds off my time by cutting in so far - haha!" At least there were no injuries. Some of the kids were very dedicated to doing a good job. It's just that for five seconds I was helping someone pin a pattern down, and when I turned back, a kimono was taking on a new shape. I'm going to see if I can pick out the stitches, but the fabric really frays, so I may just make another trip to the fabric store. I'm starting today, so we'll see.

Other surprising news? I had to get a tax I.D. number from the IRS yesterday, and they were nice, helpful, transferred me quickly to the right department... I had to gear myself up to make that phone call, and afterward I was so happy that I escaped unscathed. The IRS was nice to me! Now, I realize I wasn't trying to explain why I couldn't pay my taxes this year, but still, it was a happy experience. Remember "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire" on t.v., and it was the guy who worked for the IRS who won the whole kit and kaboodle? He was so cocky, wasn't he? Wasting his lifeline on the last question, just to inform his dad he was about to win. I thought Regis was going to have some fine words for him, but somehow he held back. (Paycheck, perhaps, or the realization that the guy could have him audited every year for the rest of his life?) Well, I've held that impression of the IRS dude in my head ever since, sometimes just shaking my head as I drove the kids to school. How conceited! How sure of himself! Well, thankfully, he doesn't answer the phone for people who are hoping to start a new business. Phew!

Today will be much the same as yesterday, with me slogging through the house and hoping people will call instead of visit. I'm going to get this place cleared out eventually, I just know it.

What I Did With My Evening

I made a kimono! A practice run for the drama class today, where we will be attempting to sew more of them. I have two spare sewing machines, birthday presents that need to be given a test run, anyway. The sleeves are what make this different, as they go all the way to the floor. This child's kimono took almost six yards of fabric! As it's just a costume, I didn't line it, because that would have been twice the cost, fussy and heavy. However, this satin frays like crazy, so lining it would have been a good thing. I just zigzagged the edges, and it'll work. The flash on this picture is unfortunate, but it's 5:00 in the morning, so there's no sun. Why is my kid up at 5:00 in the morning? Don't know. Sometimes it happens, but thank heavens, not often. She's gonna be crabby by tonight! Oh, and she says to explain that the first picture is her saying "Konichiwa."




The Husband's sock is lurking in the picture, trying to make me feel guilty, but I'm making black-bottomed cupcakes today, cutting out more pattern pieces and taking care of the two-year-old, so Mr.'s sock will get some attention this evening, most likely. I know you'll all realize how easily entertained I am, but I love working on little purple needles. Click, click, click, it just makes me happy.

Well, the early riser is looking bored, so I'll go give some attention there. If anyone has figured out how to clone themselves, would you toss me an email? I'm really desperate for this contraption, and I just know it's out there. Otherwise, how does everyone else make getting things done look so easy? Notice the cropped pictures? Messy house. Help! Cloning Machine! Cost No Object! (That last part's not true, but you tell me about the cloning machine, I'll make you a servant to work off the cost.)

Finally, Mittens!

My husband is laughing right now, because my 2-yr-old just tried to grab my scissors, and I told her no. So she looks at me and says, "But I just want to hand them to you, Mommy." 'kay. I let her. She stabs me in the hand with them. *sigh* I should have seen that coming.

Anyway, mittens! I should never type "mitt pics tomorrow", because, as country singer Garth Brooks would have it, "If tomorrow never comes..." That's a terrible quote, and nothing to do with the song, but it keeps running through my head as it takes several days for me to get all the mittens together for a picture. They're little party animals, apparently, and it's hard to pin them down. Clearly, I'm not going to get the red pair of mittens my mom made (she also made the black and yellow ones), so I might as well post pics of the three pairs I have. Also, my husband's sock-in-progress snuck into the photo, so apparently it wants to join the fun, too. It's ready for a turned heel, then on toward the toe! Just a K2, P2 pattern, so lots of stretch for a sure fit. Now, with the mitten knitting done, I can go back to the husband's sweater, and I'd like to start a scarf for my Christmas knitalong. You make one little item a month, and hey, won't I look awesome at Christmas?? So the scarf I'm thinking of is a Chevron scarf, from Creative Knitting magazing, July 2006. Looks like fun, and very do-able.



We took the kiddies sledding yesterday, which was much fun. It was only 20 degrees out, but there was no wind, and lots of sun, and we all ended up hot. A good time was had by all. Even the little one liked sledding, and last year she just screamed when I suggested it would be fun. And yay, we all got outside! We are definitely a computer family, and it was nice to breath fresh air and get away from artificial lighting. Also, I was the mom who brought hot chocolate for everyone. It's so rare that I can take care of a little detail like that, and it makes such a difference in the day, that I felt pretty good about myself as I pulled out the thermos. Actually, the husband trotted and got it for me, so he was part of the "make it happen" action, also.

A quickie.

I've been waiting to blog so I could post some mitten pictures, but since that's going to be tomorrow, here I go. I went to our elementary school the other day and asked how they were doing for warm stuff for the kids. I saw a huge box of hats, but the secretary said they had no mittens left. For some reason, even though the weather is below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, kids are coming to school with bare hands. I don't know the situations, poverty, lost them and didn't tell mom, whatever, but the kids have to go outside to play anyway, mittens or no. So they're standing around with their little hands scrunched up or stuffed in their pockets. So my mom and I went to Wal-Mart yesterday and bought some gloves (for the marketing world, it's spring, so they're really on sale), and have been knitting the last few days. I take a day to make a mitten, so it's a little slow. =-) But I'll post mitts pics tomorrow. Together, we'll have come up with ten pairs, and then I'll get back to my regularly scheduled knitting. The school probably needs more, but this is a start.

A half day at school today, so I get to try out my World of Warcraft Burning Crusade edition today. Yahoo! That is, if I can wrest it away from the kiddies. New bad guys, new places to explore. Honestly, people, you wouldn't believe the graphics they can do on computer games now. It's like watching a movie. Sometimes I just sit there and marvel at the scenery =) It's nice of them to put in such beautiful backgrounds. I think I'll visit the desert with my mage today, just to take the chill offa me. Seriously, I've been chilly for days. I'm trying to save the planet (can't do it alone, folks!) by keeping my heat turned down a degree or two more, and apparently I was right on the edge of warmth to start with. And we sit in gloom so much now, but I think we can get used to turning the lights off. I was listening to NPR the other day, and they said that people were acting like electricity was free, when it's really 25% of our global warming problem. As I sit typing on my computer. I'm spoiled, spoiled.

That's it for this morning! The kids are clamoring to get to school early (must have great teachers), so off we go! Keep warm!

I fell off the edge...

... and to be honest, I didn't even know there was a cliff nearby. I visited my aunt's yarn shop this last weekend, and the plan was to use a gift certificate my mom had given me for Christmas. I walked in, and what did I see but a load of very pretty spindles, just like the ones my friend Arleta showed me one day. These had in-laid woods, and you could spin top or downside with them, which I thought was pretty cool. So I thought, well, I'll give it a spin (haha), and see if I like it. I bought two rovings, a practice one and a green one for when I got good. Oh, all you spinners out there are laughing your arses off. I hear you.

I loved this spindle so much. I didn't know I would. The traveling sock was ignored so totally I left it at my Grandma's. I spun thick and chunky, then broke it off and tried for thinner, then got too thin, then thought about two- and three-plies. Somewhere in this thought process, it occurred to me that someone should write a book about how to use a spindle. I mean, I didn't have anyone showing me or anything. I was probably doing 800 things wrong. And, if you know me at all, I am all about the books. When I found out I was pregnant, someone should have bought extra stock in Borders. When my daughter was suspected of OCD or also awfullism (no fun), more books were bought on-line. (Can't shop in person so well now that I have three of the little darlins)

So then I was checking out blogs yesterday, and happened upon the Knitterguy. Huzzah! He was talking about a book on handspinning! This was so appropriately timed that I know it was meant to be. I do not stand in the way of cosmic events, and I do not question very much if life seems to be leading me in a certain direction. I was meant to do this, and it all started when I was 13, and picked up my first skein of yarn. I am a happy girl. (Oh, and thanks, mom, for helping things along. You're wonderful.)

Plus also, I can let the younguns use the spindle, and that is quite enjoyable. I will take pictures as soon as I replace my digital camera, which got broken when one child got upset because the other was trying to take pics of her in her panties. I did NOT get upset at the child who slapped the camera to the floor. Now, sadness, I can't even show you the beautiful spindle I bought, or the chunky purple and red yarn I am spinning, or how much I am looking forward to washing it. Yes, my yarn is overtwisted. I don't have any training. But I'm spinning up that green as soon as possible for some knitted wrist warmers. Too, too fun.

Just a moment in my life...

Me, sitting at my computer, reading your blogs.

My daughter: Mom, I want a drink of water.

Me, not looking, still reading: "So? Get a drink of water."

Daughter: Sigh.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the lower lip start to poke out. I'm strong, and reading Enchanting Juno, so forget me turning into a serving maid any time soon. I take a sip of coffee, and my daughter gives a little cough. Mmm Hmm.

Daughter: Cough, cough.

Me: How's that drink going?

Daughter: I'm okay. Cough. Sigh. Cough.

Having lost my concentration, I look at my daughter. She's pale, possibly dehydrated, gasping for a sip of water. Some small effort on my behalf will prove yet again that I love this child more than, say, my computer, which I have been accused at bedtime of not doing. I get up to get her a glass, and tell myself I'm not raising helpless little people, I'm raising determined little people. This is a skill they will need when they grow up to be world leaders. Plus possibly there will be someone there to get them sips of water. I wouldn't want a stranger taking better care of my kids than I do, would I?

By the way, thank you, everyone, for your kind advice and acceptance of my little problem the other day. There were some very good suggestions that I can't wait to try out. I'm fairly sure I'll get the opportunity soon. And also possibly I'm not smart enough to figure out how to get the time stamp correct on these posts. I can only say that it is a very rare occasion that I post at 3:00 a.m., but you wouldn't assume that, so I have to tell ya.

The Book Meme

My friend Arleta tagged me with this Meme, which was cool, because I have to move on from the last post. Just move along, people. Don't look. Here 'tis:

The Page 123 Meme
1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, look down to the 5th sentence.
3. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog.
4. Include the title and the author's name.
5. Tag 3 People.

"Linda hung up, set the phone on the floor, and rose from the couch. She looked at Larry, and the longer she looked at him the more she expected him to move; it seemed to unnatural for him to be so still, so silent - he had always been in motion. Early in their courtship she pictured him as a hummingbird - a large, gawky hummingbird - but lately she saw him as something else - perhaps a mongoose."

February issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Good stuff. Short, usually eerie stories make for great bathtub reading. So I'll tag Kat with a K, Issues with Knitting, My Life's a Marathon and Black Dog Knits. Hope they don't get mad at me! I think these things are fun and interesting. If you guys don't want to, just tell me to cut it out =) I will.

We may have a problem....

My two-year-old daughter is a nipple pincher. I admit it, it's our secret shame, but the child won't stop pinching her own nipple. At first, I thought it was just a comfort thing, and yes, that's probably what it is. But it looks like a really painful comfort thing. She pinches that little thing til it's purple. We put vaseline or lotion on her chest, and she gets so, so mad! =-) Mostly we whisper to her, "Shirt down, shirt down!" Every once in awhile, she loudly proclaims, "I don't WANT shirt down! I want to pinch my nipple!" Very clearly, folks. There is no mistaking what the child is yelling or doing. I will flee a room when I can no longer pretend that she just has an itch. (I bring her with me, so she can't shame me while I'm not even there) Recently, I've begun carrying a bottle of lotion with me, in case of emergency.

We went to a Way-to-Grow playdate this morning, and I was a little nervous. I grabbed the lotion, put it in my pocket, and sent up a quick prayer for no self-mutilation at playgroup. We did really well, for about two hours, then I started to get VERY nervous. So nervous, in fact, that I finally just packed up before storytime. Nothing like nap time, a story, and a little nipple pinching to relax, ay? So I didn't even risk it, and we just left. This cracks my husband up no end. But really, wouldn't you be embarrassed? Just a little??? My older children did comfort things like rubbing this hands over the lines their socks left in their skin, or twirling their hair into knots. I didn't know how good I had it. I promise to never again try to stop a child from engaging in a comfort habit, so long as it doesn't make me flee the room.

In the meantime, though, does anyone have any good suggestions on how to stop this child from doing this? And what kind of people are going to hit on my blog site now that I've typed in nipple, pinching and lotion? I shudder to think.

In other news, I am crazily knitting on the husband's sweater. I've done the back, one sleeve, and am halfway up the other sleeve, which means that I will definitely finish the front when I get there! Then, without guilt, I can start that burnt orange sweater I've been eyeing the yarn for since before Thanksgiving. The pattern on the husband's sweater is VERY easy, and he says he's going to like it when it's done, so I soldier on. It's good knitting while I'm listening to NPR or waiting to pick kids up from school. Still, knitting a sweater for a grown man is a lot different than what I usually knit, which is for the children, or socks. Here's a picture, and then I'm off to watch Go, Diego, Go with the little darling....





Pretty easy pattern, no? The whole thing just looks like lots and lots more of this.

Scary Pajama Moment

Did you ever put on pajamas that were so unflattering that you couldn't even wear them? That somehow make you look wider than longer? I will wear baggy Spongebob Squarepants pj's around the house, and I don't care a bit. Last night, though, I put on black yoga pants, and I was cold, so I added a long-sleeved shirt with a Parisian logo. I looked in the mirror and choked. Honestly, I was hideous! The shirt color was unflattering, and my hips did this weird bulging thing at the side. My first thought was, "It's okay. I'm just going to nip into bed, and when I get up in the morning, I'll change quickly." Then the hubby wouldn't have to see the weird morphing his wife underwent, and my marriage would stay on the scale where we think the other one is pretty rexy. But I couldn't do it. The thought that I might have to get up to turn off the light when we were done reading, or have a bathroom emergency, or heaven forbid, sleep in, undid me. I flung off the Parisian logo shirt, and put on an extra large t-shirt that flowed, rather flatteringly (but maybe that's only in comparison) around my curvaceous hips. (It's all in how you sell yourself, folks) Then I went to bed and wondered about the whole event, and why I cared what I looked like, when I was just planning sleep. Oh, well, okay. So looking good should be its own reward, I'll grant you that. But I haven't changed clothing sizes, I put on maybe 2 or 3 pounds all told. Why was I so hideous?

It's okay. I have a theory about this. Six months ago, I was a size 16, and I wasn't thrilled with it, but I didn't shudder when I looked in the mirror. Then I dropped to a 14 (Nutrisystem, thank you) and thought I was a pretty hot mama. I happily pulled on shirts from the back of the closet that were a little tighter and a little shorter, and I was really proud of myself. Then I quickly dropped down to a size 12 (NS again, thanks), really in just another week. New clothes were bought, and I got a lot of compliments. I stopped Nutrisystem, for Christmas, don'tcha know, cuz one thing I like about the holidays is the abundant candy everywhere you look. Well, I think I've gotten used to the size of the new me. In the spirit of perfectionism in my life, I'm not now satisfied with how I look. Have you ever noticed how women feel guilty when we eat a candy bar? Don't you think that's a perfect waste of a chocolate moment? So that's one theory: I've gotten used to this size, and I want more (less). Also, I am absolutely surrounded by people skinnier than me, and what's that going to do to you?

So here's what I'm doing, and my daughter reads this blog, and I never lie to her. It's criminal to not be satisfied with your body, when we have so many options, and so many people in the world don't. My size is a good size, because I got here by being healthy. Not everyone can look like a supermodel, or should try to. You know, those models can't really eat, can they? So that's that. I'll keep being healthy, and if I never get smaller, it's because this is what my body wants to be. HaHa, yoga pants! May your bulky saddlebaggy sides not scare me or anyone else! Let's all raise an orange juice to just being healthy, and for body acceptance! HaaaaHaaaa!

But the evil Parision logo shirt has got to go.

Let it snow, let it snow...

Oh, my goodness! Finally, eh? Not that I love snow, but I sure hate thinking that global warning had reached the "there's no snow in winter" point so quickly. But after attempting to drive my kids to school, I had to turn around. We're pretty rural, and no snowplows had been out. After I almost slid into the other lane, then another car nearly slid into my lane, I cut my losses, turned around and came home. The kids will be late.

Here's the little artist! She spent a lot of time that day creating pictures for the blog, and this was by far the most detailed. A bunny, presents, balloons, cake... Happy Birthday party! That flu didn't let go of her, either. It lasted right through the weekend. Is it just me, or does the flu hit harder every year? And how do they know which strain of flu to make the flu shot for? I'd like that question answered, thank you. I'm going to add it to my list of questions to look up when I get some time. If you know, I'd love to hear about it.

There's too much work to do today to do any crafting, but I bet I'll have something to show tomorrow anyway. Hehe. I'm a rebel that way. Bundle up, peoples!

5 Things People Don't Know About Me

All rightie then. I had some blog ideas, but I didn't quite know what I was going to do. Then my friend Arleta tagged me (or suggested I might be tagged, if I wanted to play - she's very polite) for a meme called 5 Things About Me Others Might Not Know. Well, okay. You KNOW that is going to be easy, on account of I'm not so much an open book.

1. I have never believed 20 pounds one way or another is noticeable on a person.
2. I relish getting up at 4:30 a.m. for an hour and a half by myself before the day starts.
3. Every evening, I spend a few minutes reviewing whether or not I've scarred my children by yelling too much, or if I've given them happy moments.
4. I very much wanted to be a journalist
5. or a language interpreter for the United Nations.

Either one of those last ones would have worked. Wouldn't that have been cool? But I get to write just a bit, and I'm working on writing more. And I do get to teach sign language, which is difficult enough for me now, what with all the little life obligations flyin at me. Oh, and the 20 pounds thing? Let's all pretend I'm right. Less pressure.

Feel free to pick up this meme and do it yourself! It just takes a minute, and it's nice to share. My daughter stayed home sick Friday, and spent serious time making art for me. I took some pics with it, and she'd like me to share them with you, cuz she's so proud of them, and she thinks a blog seems so nifty! So that's tomorrow's blog entry, plus a pic of the finished Hermione hat. One down for the gift-a-month-along. Into the cupboard it goes!

I've Lost My DPN's!!!

Not just some of them. All of them. Yah, I had quite a few, eh? And I know I'm not the only one who has cleaned my house and then lost things. But how does one lose at least eight packages of double-pointeds? Grr. So here is my Hermione hat, one of the many UFO's that I brought over from 2006. (I know it's an awful picture, but there you are. Pretend you need glasses) I have started decreasing for the crown, but I can't switch to double-pointeds, so I had to go to two circulars. Just as I'm feeling pretty clever about knitting, and how knitters can solve any knitting problem thrown at them, I realize I still have to cable. So the #5 circs I'd been using to cable, since I can't find my DPNs, I'm now using as part of the hat, and I had to find my #4 circs. Then I'm struggling with all the hanging points, and I just had to take a picture. I think the hat will be done today, which will take care of my first UFO and my "make a gift a month"-along. I love this hat. I love the color, and the wool, and the bobbles, and the pattern... That knitting can make one so happy ... *sigh*

Also included is a pic of the hubby, wearing the sweater I made him last year, and the Christmas socks he thought were boughten, because how could I have time to knit socks on the sly? heehee. All I can say is, the bank lady got many updates of the sock, as I knit waiting for her to give me back the banking slips. The pattern was from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks book. My husband also suggested he'd happily wear knitted pants - no, dear, that's not happening. But doesn't that speak well of the comfort of the socks? I need to make him another sweater. He wears this one all the time. What a guy. It makes me feel pretty guilty that I swiped both fortune cookies from last night. However, here are the fortunes that we are "sharing". "Everyone enjoys your radiance," and "You are capable of building a thriving business venture." The people who play my on-line game will understand my concern about the first fortune. I have a character named Radiance, and I'm off to change my account password next. The business venture is a great fortune, as we are starting a business, and going through the maze of incorporating right now. It's not really a maze. It's just something I haven't done before.


Oh, and the final pic? My daughter asked if she could run her DoodleBear through the washer. I looked at it and said, "Why? It looks perfectly clean." "Yeah," she said. "It's the invisible ink kind."

......

Bring it on, 2007!

Well, rats and frazzle. I got up this morning, and there the dirty dishes were. Apparently my request for a dish fairy for 2007 has been denied. Again. Gah. Well, forget it, family. I'm taking one of the kids clothes shopping instead. Four hours of sleep on a child who hates clothes shopping (well, any shopping) on the first day of the new year. It's either that or dishes. I couldn't come up with a better list than this??? Haahaaahaaaa. The New Year's baby is giggling at me.

But I'm excited. I'm hopeful. I'm starting new things. I get out of the house more every year that the children grow, and I think that makes me a better person. In fact, I know it does. Every year, I feel more and more like the person I used to be. My husband is probably happy, too. All work and no play make Carrie a dull girl.... *giggle* We've got the drama club, we're going to work more on the house, this year I'll get Christmas cards out... I may start that one now. I like to set attainable goals for myself. I'm now the co-leader of our on-line group of friends in World of Warcraft. I don't know what that means, but I'm sure it has to do with me having some serious power - mwahaahaaa. (Where does that laugh track keep coming from?) My mom and I have a business idea that looks fun, and my husband and I actually started a business. Children are nearing adolescence, one step at a time. Plus I have a plan for keeping track of my knitting projects. I envision this year with me swerving and moving from one fun activity to another. Momentum keeps me happy. Sitting and doing nothing bum me out.

So, right now, nothing to report, since nothing has happened yet besides me killing the first cup of coffee of the New Year. But I'm ready!

End of 2006, Hello 2007!

New Year's Resolutions, New Year's Resolutions, New Year's Resolutions... Surely a girl who has so much to fix in her life has some New Year's Resolutions. Lose ten pounds - good one. I'll list that. Body clutter is always a good thing to get rid of, and you're healthier when you're done. I don't even care if losing weight as a resolution is a cliche, because cliches are true statements made many, many times. (I should weigh negative 30 right now, I guess) I'll declutter the house a bit, too, and maybe - no, definately I'll put in a new deck on the house. Excellent. I'll try to get out of the insular community I live in more often. Very much a good one - makes for a well-rounded character. Oh, crafting stuff? No problem. Losing some stash, working on UFO's, making a gift a month. All set on having stuff to post on knitting, peoples.

Ever notice how selfish New Year's Resolutions are? I mean, people are bound to be getting knitted stuff from me, but losing some stash saves me some money. So, let's see... don't be selfish, Carrie. I am going to try to be a better person. Change your actions, the thinking will follow. There are so many wonderful things in my life. For me, here's how to let go of bad things and feel good: Appreciate! I'm totally in love with and lucky to have my kids and husband, my mom who is always there for me, the supportive friends I've found in the last few years. The planet and life around us are friggin miracles, and I love noticing that. I love the cycle of family, how my kids are doing what I used to do, and so I know they will appreciate things as they grow, like I have. I was showing my daughter the moon and stars the other night (while thinking about how some other race is watching us ruin this place), and my daughter said, "Mom? It's getting cold. I think it's time to go inside now." That sounds like when we were kids, my brothers and I, and my mom would take us for Sunday drives to see nature. We'd say, "Mom? That's another tree. We've seen them." Eh, my kids will appreciate the miracle of the galaxy as they grow older and less Id-ish. Maybe that's the key to letting go of negativity for me. Maybe I need to be less me-centered, let my Id go. Refocus and appreciate. That's my theme for 2007. I knew if I stream-of-conscious typed enough, I'd get there. Thanks for playing with me!

I had a wonderful time at my grandmother's the last few days, and got to see my nine-month-old neices. Twins, and beautiful little girls to boot. Plus, they liked me on sight, so they're clever little lambs, too - good judges of character. HeeHee! You want to see something really cool? There's a busy baby belly video, on this nice knitting lady's site. Really, this video is astonishing! She'll birth this little girl soon, and we can see her move in person!

Happy New Year's, all. If I'm lucky, we'll stay home tonight and goof around with just us family. But there may be a party we'll go to, and that will be fun, too. See ya in 2007!

From a kid's view

I am always handing my camera to my kids and seeing what they'll snap. Hey, I'll hand my camera to strangers' kids. I've had to replace two cameras, but lemme tell ya, they just love when someone gives them a big responsibility like that. My very best payoff from it, though, was when my daughter took a picture of the dining room table, and you could see the underside. It suddenly struck me that this is what the world looks like to them. My two-year-old will come up to give me a hug, and her head is right at my bum level. Poor kid! That's what a hug means to her, and she loves me so much, she keeps on doing it! Anyway, I thought it was really interesting, the perspective they look through. Can you imagine how scary I must be if I yell at them, or just yell because I stubbed my toe (again)? I keep this very, very in mind when I'm feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes I give myself a time-out, not them. It's just as useful, really, if all they're doing is being kids, and someone needs to calm down. Yup, that would be me. (Oh, and I jinxed myself. Silly me, I was just thinking yesterday that Blogger hadn't given me a hard time in quite awhile. Now it won't let me upload the kid perspective picture)

I spent the first four years of my daughters' lives wishing I could find that danged mom manual. I knew there must be one out there, and I was sick of people telling me that every child was different. Now I'm feeling pretty confident, right before the teen years! They really are different, but I think there could still be a manual. Of course, I haven't been out meandering the book stores, so maybe there is. At this point, shopping means searching amazon.com, so I guess I'll go there.

I got many nice comments on my FakeIsle hat, so I will gift it to my daughters' Girl Scout troop leader. She doesn't get many thanks from me, because I'm usually struggling with a hungry two-year-old when I pick the kids up, but I sure do appreciate the independence she tries to teach my children. We're pretty sure that if they were starving, and their sandwich fell to the floor, it would be touch-and-go if they'd live. I also started the Hermione hat, as part of the third blog-along for 2007 that I've joined. This blog-along is from Spinnerella, and I was planning to do it anyway. Get a teeny start on those Xmas gifts for next year! Knit from your stash, work on Xmas gifts, finish UFO's. Can you tell I'm trying to get organized? I want to be one of those moms I have been envying, but so far I haven't been able to put my makeup on consistently in the morning... that's overrated, right? =-P

Four down, One to go!

Last Christmas party today - hooray! As a kid, holidays used to just wear me out. My parents divorced, and we lived a long way from extended family, so there was much traveling and too many Christmas parties! Can you imagine a kid being tired of opening gifts and going to parties!? Well, that was me. It's easier now that I'm an adult. After New Year's, it is nice and calm until my daughter's birthday in February and my friend's baby coming in March. A whole month of calm! Imagine it! Something is bound to come up... that's just our karma in action over here.

I have a new lurker from that game of games, World of Warcraft. Too much fun, peoples. It actually took me away from Sims, and I refuse to get a PlayStation because there just isn't time for so much gaming and still pretending to have a real life. Hi, Lauri!!! My sweetie and I decided we'd game together, since kids preclude us from going out to the movies. =) The one time we snuck off to see a movie, after 45 minutes of driving chillen to the babysitter (in-laws), it turned out that we saw Rollerball. I know, you're crying in sympathy for me. The other time we got away, a year later, we ended up seeing The Mummy. So now you're probably getting an idea of why we pay thirty bucks a month to stay in.

That's it! More news, but nobody will let me sit here and type. It looks too much like I'm working, and I'm sure these small people are bugging me because they want me to have fun.

Well, it just goes to show you...

... you can't know what your yarn is going to look like. I thought the skein I bought was beautiful, and yes, I still loudly proclaim its softy goodness. I finished the FakeIsle hat that I was saving for the 2007 UFO knitting, because once you start this pattern, it's really hard to stop. Each round is so engaging. I made the smallest size, while my friend Arleta made the larger. I do believe, thanks to the tricky, misrepresenting yarn, that my hat is significantly larger than hers. I say 'my' hat with only the proprietary sense of - I don't know whom I'm giving it to yet. Who has a larger head than mine? That's the household question going on. The yarn colors ended up being darker, less contrasting with my deep green that I was using for the contrasting yarn, so the knitted pattern isn't as clear as I would like. It's a very pretty hat, I know, but oddly disappointing as I watched the colors come off the skein. Yet I kept knitting, because I knew it was still going to be pretty, if not what I had imagined at the beginning. Some people rip, but not I. It is, after all, just a hat.





I have finished my Christmas knitting, and I have a weird feeling of incompleteness. I know it's because I'm so used to the energy and stress that last-minute knitting requires. Surely something has been forgotten! This year has been wierd, since I finished my shopping so early, then my knitting four days before Christmas. I do believe I've lost some of the magic the holiday normally gives. Next year I'll have to procrastinate to get things back to normal. Today I'll wrap presents and try to keep the kids spirits up. They're sick, and will be missing our third Christmas party today. And I have no oven yet, so no, I can't bake treats to distract them. Perhaps some fudge will do the trick.

To the neighbors, we delivered cookie mixes which my kids put together and decorated with fabric and a Christmas card label. This is something we have done for four years in a row, not necessarily mixes, but cookies or homemade candy. (See above for why it was a mix this year) It's funny, because the neighbors are still completely floored when we come over with the gift. HeeHee. They'll get used to us some day. It's the sort of neighborhood where no one brought us cookies when we moved in, and I had to actually stalk them by peeking out the window at all hours until I found them outside, then I quick grabbed the baby and went for a walk so I could meet them. I used to live in the country, and the neighbors were always great friends, lots of visiting. Then we moved to a suburb in Minnesota, and the stalking began. People just weren't that interested in meeting their neighbors. Then we moved here, back to the country, and I'm sorry to say the isolated feeling has followed us. I know it's a crazy world, but it seems we should fight that by meeting our neighbors, not pretending they don't exist. You! Reading this! This summer take a book outside and look open to conversation. (Unless you live in a dangerous place) I'm really nervous about all the badness in the world, but the people I meet are generally very good. That helps me fight the Go-live-on-a-mountain mood watching the news puts me in. I've met some great people in the blogging community, so that's been a really fun avenue for me. Good job, peoples! Thanks for being nice knitters!

There. That's my theme for 2006, and 2007, too, because it's a good theme. Put goodness into the world! It needs it, it can only help, and hey, it feels good, too. And seriously, the people who aren't pleasant to be around? They're definitely hurting themselves. Don't let them hurt you, also. Ignore them, feel sorry for them, pray for them if you can. That actually helps me not feel so angry or hoping for a dark street and no witnesses. See? I'm a dichotomy. I get angry. It's not easy for me to follow my own advice, but I'm working on living it, because it's the right thing to do. And it's working. Very slowly, I admit, but it is working.

Happy Holidays, all, and may you find much goodness in the world, and help bring peace to others. Merry Christmas!

A Coupla Chilly Characters

These fellows were my Christmas presents to two of my blogging friends, Arleta and Cindy. I happened to see one as I was walking by our little yarn shop, and I had to pop in and ask about it. Apparently, it is the most sought-after pattern from Hershnerr's. Anyway, from first sighting, I knew I wanted to make one of these fellows. It was not complex at all, so another got made! Yay for Christmas gifts! My daughters were quite sad to see them go, though, so I shall have to make another before the snowy season is over. And I hate to admit it, but thanks to global warming, snowy season hasn't gotten a proper hold on us yet, so we don't have any real snowmen going on.

I did indeed cast on my projects last night. The Trekking XXL sock yarn got put on two circular needles, the FakeIsle hat was set on a # 6 circular, and my friend's daughter's mitten got put on #4 double pointeds. I have no serious affiliation with any type of needles. I like all that I have tried. If they have a sharp point, they're my friend. Having no discerning tastes regarding needles makes me happy, so please don't try to persuade me to one camp or another in the comments. Bopping from click to click either allows no one to sneer at me, or everyone is sneering at me. Don't know and don't care = happy! My husband suggested that casting on projects wasn't exactly in the spirit of the whole UFO knitting, but clearly he doesn't understand my fear of failure. Just off the top of my head, this gives me six projects now to knit on, that I know of. I shall have to dig through the stash at some point, and I'll likely find some acrylic mess from the 80's. Should be fun!





The FakeIsle hat is much further along now. The yarn is so buttery soft and nice to work with that I can't seem to put it down. I'll have to soon, though. Christmas parties at school!

UFO Challenge 2007

Kat with a K had a great idea, that works so well with my knit-from-the-stash joining from Wendyknits. Work on one UFO (unfinished object) each month in 2007 - and more than just a token row or two. Or if you hate a UFO, frog it. That counts too. Great idea, ay? Think of all of the guilt I'll be getting rid of! I signed up. I also bought three skeins of yarn today, but it was a new yarn shop, and I've been wanting to try the Trekking XXL yarn, just to see what all the fuss was about, and I needed blue for a friend's child's mittens, and I needed the variegated for the FakeIsle hat.... phew! I feel so much better now that I've confessed. I'm going to cast them all on tonight so that I can use them for UFOs! HeeHee. This is going to be easy....and fun.


Oh, and I bought these cute little bamboo needles, size 1 U.S., because I thought they'd be fun for socks. Budget, Carrie, budget... does anyone have a dictionary? Well, I'm pretty sure no one was getting me needles for Christmas, so if you could all just join me in the "I Wish Me a Merry Christmas" song, I'd appreciate it... or hum a few bars. I'm not picky.

More pics tomorrow, hopefully of casting on!!!

A Weird Meme...

This is a meme about what is weird about you (actually, me), but I was really pleased to be asked to do it. I've been watching it move around the Internet, and I really feel a part of the group now =) Do you people know how long I've been waiting to be a part of a group??? Sorry... ahem.... Anyway, this is definitely a weird one for me, because one way I have always fought off trying to feel odd or out of place, is to tell myself that I'm very ordinary, as normal as everyone else, and underneath, we all worry about the same things. So I had to come up with six weird things about me, and I thought I wouldn't be able to do it. After all, I'm perfectly normal! But rolling this one around in my head, it's funny how stuff has started to come up, as I'm doing the dishes or whatever. For instance, it occurs to me:

I started dating my ex-, because I felt sorry for him, because no one liked him. Oh, and me? HELLO! What was it about this that you didn't figure out???

I make sure that there is a little piece of the sticker price attached to a gift, in case the person wants to know where to return it. That way they don't have to say, "How cool! Where did you get it?" I see through that every time.

I always tell people something the opposite about myself, I think to see if they will tell me it's not true or at least get to know me well enough to not believe me. Is that crazy stupid or what??

Eating Doritos with chocolate chips, or Milk Duds with popcorn is absolutely divine...

My mom is my best friend, and most people think that's weird. I think it's awesome. Who knows me better? Of course, she feels completely at ease to pick on me about embarrassing stuff, but I think that's true with any best friend, right? Right??

I didn't see the point of blogging at first. Let me do that one again. I didn't see the point. Like 56 million people doing it didn't suggest to me that it's fun?? It's a blast. Love it. I'm loving all the people I'm connecting with, and getting to share in the special things that happen in their lives. It's so awesome.

Oh, and a seventh thing, because I didn't want to delete any of the above. When my babies were small, I once didn't leave the house for a whole week, not even to get the mail. That was so weird, when I next stepped outside and saw the sun...

See? I came up with seven things, when I didn't think I could come up with any. What if there's more stuff that's weird about me? Yikes! I'm going to go deep breathe, and pass this on to seven more people, since I came up with seven weird things. They have to list the six (or so) weird things about themselves, and pass it on again to another six (or so). My seven are Kat with a K, Issues with Knitting, AmpuTeeHee, Stranded on Fair Isle, Jeanne Knits, Black Dog Knits, and Mortal Clock. I've sent them e-mails, so they know it's coming. They're supposed to do the same to their victims - errr, friends, I mean...

Knit From Your Stash (?)

Wendyknits has decided, with her friend, to knit only from her stash in 2007. Since we here have run up against a wall called, "We can't possibly make our bills without hitting our credit card," I think it's a good idea to do the same. I'm not sure if I have enough stash to knit for an entire year, but it will be interesting to see how far I get. Their rules are as follows, and if you decide to do the same, you can change the rules for yourself. Here they are:

Knit From Your Stash 2007: Guidelines for L-B and Wendy
1. The Knit-From-Your-Stash-a-Thon will start January 1, 2007 and run through September 30, 2007 -- a period of nine months.
2. We will not buy any yarn during that period, with the following exceptions:
2.a. Sock yarn does not count. What? You think we are made of stone?
2.b. If someone asks for a specific knitted gift that we really and truly do not have the yarn for, we may buy yarn to knit that gift.
2.c. If we are knitting something and run out of yarn, we may purchase enough to complete the project.
2.d. We each get one "Get Out of Jail Free" card -- we are each allowed to fall off the wagon one time.
3. We are allowed to receive gifts of yarn.
4. Spinning fiber of any sort is exempt.

I'm glad that sock yarn doesn't count. I've got enough for several pairs, but not enough for the whole year. Has anyone seen Trek Casts On and her sock count? I think that's awesome. So far, she has knit up 24 pairs for 2006. What does she do with them??? She must have the best-clad feet ever.

For Teacher's Gifts this year, I have decided to donate to the Yarn Harlot's cause, Doctors Without Borders, for each teacher. My oldest daughter approved, and she takes the teachers' request of No Gifts, Please very seriously. I think it's a wonderful cause, and whenever Stephanie writes about it, I get teary. I won't start on all of the hurt in the world, but gee, can't we do better? Anyway, it's a great organization, and if you know anyone who has everything, consider giving a gift like this. I think it's a feel-good for everyone.

I'm getting close to the end on my Christmas knitting. I think I'll finish right around, oh, the 25th or so....

My first Christmas gift!

My computer is making a little clicking noise, over and over. It's like a little person is in here, trying to tap their way out. Or my computer is trying to get my attention. What with all the money flyin out the window for Christmas, and the bank charging me thirty bucks every time I make a little mistake, I'm really hoping that there's a little person in there. Come on, sweet little silver laptop, give birth or something...

I told myself I am not doing holiday stress this year. I finished my shopping first thing, planned on just playing with the kids this month and making memories, you know? But there was the Christmas program at school, helping out at church, family party to travel to this weekend... well, I'm just not wrapping fast enough. Just remembered I have to ship gifts to Florida for the nephews. Think they'll make it? Ya think? Well, I haven't wrapped them yet, either, so that should slow me down some.

Got a terrific gift from my friend, Arleta, though! It's a felted soap, very soft for my dry, dry hands, and a beautiful entrelac dishcloth! She put in one red square for me, because I like red. It makes my heart go all warm and a smile spread across my face. I may not get the Christmas cards sent, but I've done something right this year. Yay for friends! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Now I've written to all of you that I need to get on top of the wrapping, and I'm maybe just motivated enough to do it. You guys keep posting, though, cuz I'm getting short on time...

Diversionary Knitting

Well, I've reached the point in my Christmas knitting where I can no longer knit in front of people. But I want to knit something, so I've incorporated the idea of diversionary knitting. I know I'm not the first knitter to have thought of this - not even close - but I'm still pleased I came up with the idea. For reading with the kids, sitting watching CSI: Miami, meeting with my friends at church, I'm starting a pair of cotton socks. I don't need them, but I bought these cute little size 1, purple double-pointeds, and it seems like a very good idea. Otherwise, I'm sitting there holding my hands, and they say, "What? No knitting?" Sure, I think. There's lots of knitting going on, but none that you can see. Actually, there's so much knitting going on that I don't have time to sit and talk. Thanks for making me think of it. Instead I will get out my sock and say, "How do you like this foot thingie I'm knitting?" Diversionary... no one will ever suspect the frantic racing that goes on 'til midnight, with only 14 days left before the big day. I can't wait to see them open their gifts and say, "When did you do this? How do you find the time?" HaHa! Waving around a little sock will surely blind them to all of the bags of half finished projects laying in corners around the house. Pardon me while I gloat.

I did finish the wristlets, and managed to learn something in the process! (Yay, me!) I carried the yarn much further up the wristlet when I changed colors, and had less than half the threads to weave in when I was done. I sucked it up, though, and wove the ends in first thing, or I'd have been doing it in the car on the way to the Christmas party. Just hate weaving in those ends... I still need to block these, though. Other than that, I finished an appliqued pillow as a gift to my quilt group, but of course I wrapped it before I took a picture. Rats. It was very pretty, too.

Tonight - drama club! We have to move to another room midway through the class, and we've got a game where, with no words, the kids have to "pick up" and act the emotion of the next person entering the room. And as that emotion is traveling through the room, the next child will enter with the next emotion, which will hopefully again travel through the room without words. (Beginning to see why I like this game now? HeeHee) Some of the kids are incredibly animated during playtime, and stiff as wood when they're saying their lines. 16 more practices 'til the play... plenty of time, right?

And now I need to go wave my needles around, while using the Jedi force: "You are only seeing socks. Nothing for Christmas is being knitted."

One down...

... and much end-weaving to go! I like the pattern, but I know that I will like it a lot better once the ends are woven and the wristlet is blocked. It went quickly, because there are only 41 stitches in a round, but I had to pay absolute attention to it. So no reading and knitting at the same time! Which is an art I perfected when I was 13, and I can hardly knit or read now without the other activity. Which is good for Christmas gift completion, because I love to read.











Here's another picture of my punk rocker, so I guess she's not too old after all! HeeHee. I didn't even know this picture was on my camera, so I missed a kid moment. Who knows where I was? Cuteness goes on without me cataloging it. I'm just glad that the camera fairy was there to record the moment.



And, yes, it's messy behind her. There are candy orders from Girl Scouts that I keep forgetting to deliver. I'm thinking now that I'll just pay for them myself and have candy on hand for the holidays! HeeHee. If everyone else is as busy as we are in this house, no one will notice a lost candy order.... mwahahaaa.

Well, whoops.

Well, this looks all right, doesn't it? Except that I don't usually knit two things at once. I'm sure some people do, but this is my first time. *blush* The problem is that I started changing the colors from what the pattern wanted, using what I had. That's why it was okay to make for a $10 gift, you know? But of course my charcoal grey and dark green were absolutely indistinguishable from each other. Also, my light color was Wool-Ease, and everything else was Galway 100% wool. The two yarns had a different feel, so I'm off to the yarn shoppe to buy two skeins of wool. HeeHee. That would, of course, put me over the ten dollar limit, but I don't think anyone down there reads this blog, so how will they know? Besides, I won't use all of the skeins, so I can make a hat for Rabbitch with the extra.

I went out to dinner with the husband last night for his company Christmas party and - hooray for me! - I only had one glass of wine, much coffee, and a glass of port with dessert. (That was very good) You know what this means? I don't have to be embarrassed the morning after the company Christmas party!!!! Yay!!!! Let's not even consider how many years I haven't been able to say this, but I think I've finally learned. Now maybe I'll get a new nickname, and will eventually stop being referred to as "that fun girl." Ho Ho. Ho.

Some Christmas knitting I can show you!

If only I had my digital camera. Left it at my mom's yesterday, when she was letting me use her oven to make Christmas cookies. (Thanks, Mom!) But I will be knitting these for my daughter's cousin. She drew her name for Christmas, and the gift has to cost less than $10. This gives knitters serious options =) My daughter will help knit on them, of course, but she really hates to purl, so I'm doing the ribbing.

The Christmas party is in one week, so I'm sure you all won't be bored as you watch these beautiful wrist warmers fly off of my needles. Since I can't post a pic right now, imagine me, knitting like a fiend, and the grey wool flying...

Trapped...

Should I be frightened of the future? Heehee. Apparently, she's been watching too much Nick at Night, or something. Now, she's never been the traditional kid, playing with baby dolls or reading a lot. She much preferred drawing pictures and building things, so - an artistic type. Once, she told me she felt like a boy in a girl's body. I think we all feel like that a little bit. At least, I do. It's a big irksome irritant to me that if any dialogue needs to happen with workmen, it's better that my husband handles it. He's busy. He works all day at a job with a 45-minute drive. He does the kind of work that his bosses look at and say, "Could you go faster?" (Computer programming, folks, and there's no way to pretend that you worked that day.) Yet if I want something to get done the way I want it, I have to engage his help. Why are men more respected in business matters than women? I have literally had workmen answer my questions while looking at my husband. It stinks. I feel just as capable of explaining what I'd like or questioning what they're doing as he does. So, if that's the case, then yes, sometimes I too feel like a boy trapped in a girl's body.

I was driving with my oldest daughter one day, and I said, "In my next life, I'd like to be a workman, a mechanic, a builder, something. I'd like to know what's going on when things go wrong or break." She looked at me and said, "Mom, there's still time." .... ouch. She's right. Knowledge is power. Frustration is limiting and makes me head for the Ativan. Learning how to fix the dryer, or at least know what questions to ask, would help. If only there weren't these obvious telltale signs that I am not a man, I am sure I'd get much more information from the mechanic. There. That's my grump for the day. It must have been lurking there, or why would the cute picture of my punk rocker kid (with a Playschool toy, for goodness sake! HeeHee) have brought it on? Sorry.

In knitting news (you knew there would be some), I finished another Irish Hiking Scarf for the knitalong. I started a third, and I don't know when I'm going to get tired of this pattern. The cables pull it up into such a warm scarf! I love it, love it, love it. I think it's going to be THE gift scarf for 2006, at least from this house. I need to fringe this one, since it's for a female, and then I'm on to my dad's, in a forest green. This blue scarf was knitted from Caron, blueberry colorway, no dye lot (gotta love that). The yarn is shiny and soft, yet feels really warm. Better yet, it's washable! The girls used one of my sweet, fuzzy-yarned scarves last year on a snowman, and it ended up outside all winter. No, it wasn't ever the same. I've been knitting with really good yarn for awhile now, but now machine washables are beginning to make their case with me. Must be that I'm giving them as gifts.




Oh, and hey, this kid won an art contest today by drawing the 2nd place Christmas card! Huzzah! See? Artistic. Like I said.

The scarf went on and on...

And got too long! I was knitting a little scarf for a little something I'm making for the holidays, and it was supposed to be 21 inches of seed stitch. Now, from my heel of my hand to the tip of my longest finger is six inches, which is my measuring device when I'm knitting and can't find (again) a ruler. So I've been eyeballing it with my hand and knitting on while I'm reading blogs. It's kind of irritating knitting, k1, p1, and so I'm fine with just picking it up here and there. So my daughter (she's 2) came up to me and said, "That's MY ladder to Heaven! Mine!" Huh? Could she have listened to "Stairway to Heaven" or something? Now that I have little ones, it's Nickelodeon all the time around here. Plus, though her 2-year-oldness explains why she would claim it as hers, why would she want it? Oh, because it's mine. Forgot that for a second there. My stuff is interesting to them, therefore it must become theirs. Okay, I decided to stand up and measure it, see where I'm at. 24 inches! Apparently my hand, from base to longest finger, is 7 inches. I'm going to have to rethink some assumptions I've made in the past...you know, like how far down I knit a sock before I turn the heel. What were you thinking? Anyway, while the 2-yr-old princess is saying, "Gimmee MY ladder to Heaven! Gimmee MY..." (well, you get it, I'm sure) I'm casting off, and I hand it to her. What does she do? Wraps it around her head so we can play Where's Baby? HeeHee. Don't you just love when kids think, since they can't see you, you can't see them? Life provides one constant set of chuckles though my day with moments like these. Look. See? She's smiling in this picture. She's happy. I'm not denying her sight, folks, she thought of it on her own. Give me credit. I didn't let her climb on the chair like she wanted to. And that's Blue's Clues behind her, so I'm likely scarring her in other ways. *shudder*

Is that a crochet hook?

I caught my reflection in a mirror last night. I had a tiny little crochet hook behind my ear, my hair was styled, I was still wearing black from the drama class. I was moving around during a break from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart when I saw me, and I had to smile. I have been a stay-at-home mom for 9 years, and the last baby is big enough now that I'm starting to look around me, and I'm realizing, "I am so uninformed." Politics? What the hey is going on? Oh, a lot of people hate America? The last time I checked in, we were loved. I read on-line business articles now, I try to catch the news when there are no small people around to scar with it, and yet, here I walk with a tiny little crochet needle behind my ear. I like the dichotomy of me. There are so many ways to dismiss people that we run into. First impressions give us a gut reaction, that we have to change once we actually start communicating. You may meet someone on the street who is overweight, slovenly, unkempt (please say hi to me). Forced to stand next to them, you make chitchat and realize they're nice people, with stress about the mortgage, or they're looking for an errant kid, or maybe they're embittered, opinionated haters. Either way, you now know something you didn't know a few minutes before about them. In the reverse, if I were to have dinner with Angelina Jolie some night, I would hope that I could leave my preconceptions at the door, also. Even though I've loved her acting since before she was famous, and I love the work she does for charity, and she has a husband that I believe would be hard to hold onto, I know that she wouldn't want me to come to the dinner with all of those opinions. I would try to shut them off and concentrate on talking to the real person sitting across from me.

So if you see someone like me, in her husband's sweatshirt, hair pulled back in a wrap, struggling with a kid screaming, "I don't want to!", please keep in mind I've probably had a bad day, and my kid has likely decided the car seat is for babies and she isn't going into it. But if you think, "Oh, my gosh, get that kid under control," don't worry. I won't judge you. I've done it myself. I am a work-in-progress, a lady teaching young kids about confidence, trying to figure out how badly we as Americans have offended the world, with a crochet hook behind my ear. It's there to help me pick up the stitches that I drop, which are many. But I'm working on it.

I stole this..

But I'm sharing it with you. Does that make it okay? Heehee. I found this on a blog today, and I just had to share it. I thought it was really beautiful, and I need more reminders of how precious life is. I take too much for granted.

"Each second is precious. It could be the second that you see your first perfect circle rainbow (I saw one in a plane… it was cool.), the second you see a baby born or the second you cure cancer. It might be the second that you truly become aware and wake up to the world around you. It could be the second that you recapture your childhood wonder or save a life or taste the perfect cup of coffee. These perfect jewels of possibility called “seconds” are showered upon us to the point that we stop even noticing them and look further and further into the future toward a more perfect satisfaction. Unlike real jewels though, they are only collected if they are used. Of course all seconds are used. We are always doing something. It’s what we fill the seconds with that gives them their value.Time is precious because it has the potential to be filled with wonder, love, peace, fulfillment and any number of other amazing things. What’s even cooler is that we get to decide what to put in it. Wow."

Wow, indeed.

Santa, may I have a toaster oven?

Saturday we had my in-laws over to do Christmas-y things. As you know, we made ornaments, had homemade soup with noodles my kids helped make, and decorated gingerbread houses. It was all very nice. When things went awry was perhaps when I decided I'd like biscuits with my soup. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was then. I heated the oven, whipped up some biscuits with lots of butter in them (Mmmm, layers upon layers in my biscuits), and stuck them in the oven. Then I went to read to my youngest. An undetermined amount of time later (no, I don't know how long), I realized I had put biscuits in the oven. I dumped the kid unceremoniously on the floor and ran for the kitchen. My biscuits were hard little things, not burned to a crisp, but I needed more. After all, you don't serve hard little biscuits to the in-laws, do you? So I whipped up some more, as they chuckled about timers and croutons, and I turned to put them in the oven. The oven that was set to 425 degrees. That's important. As I opened the door, the inner glass of my 6-month-old, very-out-of-my-budget oven shattered and made a huge amount of noise in doing so. Ahhhhh! <--- that's what I did. I have no idea why it shattered, but we ate the hard biscuits/croutons.





Now I have to try to get a new oven from the manufacturer, which likely won't happen before Christmas. I mean, let's be real. It's hard to even find the right person to talk to. It should all work out okay, but in the meantime, we're back to stovetop cooking. I did that for several months during the first part of this year, as I saved and pinched for my new, wonderful convection oven. The convection went out the first month. My oven doesn't like me. I haven't poisoned anyone that I know of, and I try to make healthy meals, so I don't think it's any oven karma coming to get me. I do, however, feel that this time I will get a toaster oven while I wait for a new oven. The kids get really tired of Hamburger Helper and hamburgers and pasta and microwaved chicken, and all things that can be cooked in a crockpot.

So cross your fingers for me! At least I had witnesses that I was baking, and not deliberately sabotaging my oven so I could get a new one, since the convection went out. I'm not saying anyone would accuse me, because I'm sure human nature will be in my favor. Yeah, that's right. I'm sure of it. It was my suspicious mother-in-law who thought I might need witnesses....

Thank God Knitting Helps Me Think

I love how knitting gives you time to think. I'm sitting today with my daughter, and it's just too crazy snowing outside to go anywhere before I have to. I can't say I'm doing nothing, because I'm knitting, which is allowing me time to think like crazy. I started off thinking about how my step-mother will like this scarf. That got me to thinking about my step-brother, whose daughter I nearly forgot for Christmas last year. We don't see them much. Then I realized - yikes! - he had a second daughter this last summer. (Well, no, his wife did. Don't get excited) This would have been a huge error, to forget the new baby! Even if we don't see them much, it's not excusable. So, see? Knitting has saved me from a very nasty family situation, where I'm trying to wrest a toy away from my youngest to give to the new baby. I'm intimated before how well she shares.

I need to go into town early today, because I'm not sure how I'm going to get home from the school, what with all the snow, but I really don't want to wonder how I'm going to get there. If I have the kids with me, hey, the world is my oyster. My worst situational fear is they're stuck there without their mummy, who is trying to shovel the car out of the snow, with a screaming kid inside, adding to the pressure. If I've got all of them with me, and it's not smart to go anywhere, we've got options. I'm not above pulling up a piece of floor and sleeping at a friend's house, at church or even at the school itself. Just don't put my kids somewhere and me somewhere else, and then create a problem with us getting together. My husband and I have agreed, even though we love each other so damned much it's scary, that if we ever did separate, we'd have to live up- and downstairs from each other. The custody battle over the kids would be too ferocious to contemplate.

Yeah, I think about all kinds of things when I've been knitting. Some day a really good book idea is going to come upon me. Or maybe I could write a situational book of things Carrie would do if she were forced to be separated from her kids? It could be about a SAHM (stay at home mom) who climbs Everrest, commandoes into school, shinnies up a neighbor's tv pole, all in the interest of retrieving the little brood she's birthed. Eh, I'm working on it. =) Keep warm and safe! (No oven story. I can't face it yet. Soon.)

We made more stuff!

It was a nice and busy weekend. We made Christmas ornaments with the in-laws, and the girls made some gingerbread houses. There was a house of candy and a house of frosting. I have a girl who only likes frosting. The sugaryness of it makes me long for coffee, but I'm glad she's happy. The candy house was beautiful, too, and they were happy girls. That's totally worth the ten bucks at Wal-Mart for the houses.

I need to fix the date on the camera still. Life can't be that busy, can it? Oh, and I needed a break from Christmas knitting, so I swatted out a pair of mittens this weekend. It has gotten so very cold here, so quickly. It was 22 degrees yesterday, and who knows what with the wind chill? So mittens called out to me. It's back to being good now, though, and knitting for Christmas again. I picked up some cute size one needles the other day, though - purple! - so socks may be cast on soon. Technically, I can't think of anyone that needs hand-knitted socks right now, but I read that the YarnHarlot has made hundreds of pairs of socks, and that frees up my guiltiness over knitting something without a recipient in mind.

I'll blog later, with pictures, over the insane thing my oven did, but you'll have to wait for it. It's snowy, and I have to get small people to a learning center soon.

Domestic Arts

No, I'm not talking about knitting. The picture is very blurry - sorry about that - but does anyone know what this is?

No? Here's another hint:

The kids were home from school today, and we made homemade noodles (!!!). To go with the homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, because it really does make a difference. I can't wait to serve this tomorrow. Gotta make soup the day before if you can, so the flavors can meld together. Mmmmm, soupy goodness. (And why does my camera say Nov. 30? I could speculate, but who wants to look at me making a mistake? I don't...)

Since we were home, unable to go out because of the inches and inches of snow delivered on us today, we also made apple pie. I'd show you a picture of that, too, but it was so warm, and the weather was so cold - all that I could really show would be some crumbs. But it was good. Mmmmm.

A food blog? Maybe! But I also got tired of Christmas knitting for a bit, and knitted up one mitten. I'll show a picture when it's a pair. This first mitten was very, very slow, because my daughter thought it needed to be longer, so I knit 6 more rows before the decrease. Then it was too long (of course), so I went back four rows. She tried it on - too short. Okay. Ripped again and knit in two more rows, so I'm now only two shorter than when it was too long, but I guess now it's good. Anyway, it had better be, cuz that mitten is done. The second one should go faster!

So tomorrow I'm having the in-laws over, and we're going to make Christmas ornaments with the kids. Doesn't this sound nice? It does... and it's because I finished my Christmas shopping, friends! Yes, I'm hoping for a more relaxing December this year, with only Christmas knitting left, and gift certificates for those I don't get finished knitting for. Here's hoping I can get life back on track enough to enjoy December, instead of last year, when I spent a large part of the month glaring at my husband, who, after all, only had to show up for the gift opening. This year I explained better my need for help, then went and got all the shopping done early. HeeHee. So here's hoping I get to enjoy the eggnog.

Ping!

Hey, you bloggers and lurkers! Here's a fellow, college student, trying to do a report on, of all the cool things, the Internet and blogland! So jump to his site, acephelous, and check him out. Then link to it in your blog if you have one, and hit the box that says "Ping"! This will help him track the progress of the traveling meme, which this is, and he can do a report on it. And, as I understand it, results will be discussed at the 2006 Meet the Bloggers panel, which is pretty neat, even if I don't know where the panel info will be posted... Anyhoo, give it a go, will you? Help a fellow human out. Pass some goodness along. I'll post in a bit about the cool snowed-in stuff we do... Well, I think it's cool!