Heading out to the hospital. Back after lunch!

Whee! (I'm so excited it's just pathetic.)

Funny stuff

Bean's interest in phonics has progressed to sounds including two consonants. As in band or chip, etc. And then she got into the "s-h" sounds. And the inevitable happened. And I'm still laughing, much to her bewilderment. Plus, it's hard to explain to her why we don't say that word when you are collapsed in hysterics on the floor.

Ch-ip
Sh - ip
Sh...
that spells!!!!

Just call me Blinky!

I'm still working on the baby sweaters. Knitting has been sporadic at best because I've been spending all my time working on a charity dog walk that happened last Saturday. After 14 hours in the sun and wind, I spent the next three days recovering from the allergies from hell.

I'm bound and determined to complete the sweaters this weekend because I don't know how much I'll be able to do next week.

I'm having eye surgery.

More precisely, eyelid surgery. I have "floppy" eyelids. The muscles don't keep them open as wide as they should. I'm pretty careful about posting good pictures, so you probably won't have noticed unless you know me in person.

I'm going to have it fixed on Monday. No more seeing the world through my eyelashes!!! And just in time for looking spooky on Halloween. I've had to tell the people I see pretty often, so they won't think there's been a domestic dispute or something when I show up looking like I've been punched out!

Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well and there aren't any complications. I'm not particularly worried about it, but any time you have to have surgery, a bit of prayer doesn't hurt.

Jeffrey won!

I'm pleased with the decision.

Completely disregarding personality, I loved Jeffrey's runway show and would be happy to wear a number of things from that collection. I also loved Laura's collection, but I knew they wouldn't give it to an evening wear collection in a million years. Michaeal's collection, unfortunately, sucked. It had alot of potential, but when they said the "taste level" wasn't there, they weren't kidding. Even Dr Pig (who has surprisingly good taste, but rarely cares) commented that he felt like he was watching the new looks for streetwalkers.

I liked Uli's collection, but, as pretty as her dresses were, I have to agree that there was a unified flow at the beginning of the show that devolved into a collection of pretty "Uli" dresses that had nothing to do with each other except that she designed them. She would have been better off going with the same outfits but a graduated color palette.

I also think there were specific reasons Jeffrey was chosen. The first winner, Jay, has been very slow out of the gate and was not interested in any of the prizes. Chloe has no interest in leaving Houston or doing anything different from what she has been doing.

Michael is too inconsistent to win. Uli and Laura are pretty much this season's Chloe's - they both have very specific points of view and are not interested in changing at all. Sure, Uli said she'd move, but given that she's spent the whole show being all about Miami, it's kind of hard to believe. Being specific is not a bad thing, it's just not what PR is looking for.

Jeffrey is a proven businessman who is looking to broaden his audience. He changed up his collection a bit while still keeping his point of view and, the addition of the two more flowing dresses showed that, while those didn't work, he is open to expanding his view. Sure, he's got a nasty streak a mile wide. But, Michael Kors doesn't exactly strike me as Mary Poppins.

As for the "cheating", first, 200 bucks isn't that big a deal. It would have been completely different if he'd gone over by $750 or something. Second, if all he had to was drop the wigs, I don't have a problem with it. The wigs were a styling choice rather than an actual garment. As for whether or not he sewed everything himself, if Laura could hand bead and hand feather those garments, I see no reason why Jeffrey could not be equally capable of sewing his garments. After all, having a production line, he has access to professional machines as opposed to something like Michael's tiny little cheap-o number.

So, overall, it was a pretty good season - much better than last year.

And now I get to watch Top Chef!

Buzz Buzz

Been busy like a bee.

I have a tendency to over-commit myself. I am on the steering committee for a huge fundraiser that takes place this Saturday (pray for no rain because it's OUTSIDE). I am on the auction committee at Bean's school (need my volunteer hours so I can get the tuition discount!). No time to knit or blog because hey! I'm cooking dinner for a friend who just had a baby.

Someone make me STOP!!!!

Fair Play

Yesterday was one of the most beautiful days we have had in quite a while. The sky was brilliant blue. The morning began a bit chilly and topped out in the low 70s. We rarely have weather this nice until Halloween. Especially during the State Fair. It's usually hot as hell during the Fair.

At Halloween, it's either hot or pretty darn cold, depending on the nature of your Halloween costume. Because if you are going as a pretty ballerina, it's gonna be cold and damp and your mother will have to scramble to figure out how to clothe you so you don't have to wear a coat over your costume.

My husband and I looked outside, looked at each other and decided to ditch. He called in for a day off from work, I called school and told them that Bean would not be there, and we went to the Fair.

We ate the best corny dog in the whole world: Fletcher's. Oh, there are other corny dog vendors at the Fair, but any seasoned fairgoer worth their salt goes for Fletcher's. Then you have to go to the Midway and get the corn roasted in it's husk from Darn Good Corn. They only have one stand, it's always on the Midway; accept no imitators.

We saw Elsie and Beauregard.

Bean got to go fishing for catfish at the Toyota truck display (disn't manage to catch one).

We had a ball.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the pictures are on the non-digital camera. And we didn't go to see any of the fiber exhibitions. Bean was tired and they are never going to top the crocheted hamburger and all the fixin's from a couple of year ago.

Yacht rock and log cabins

My old college buddy Lex just posted a link to this genius series. I think I may have broken something while laughing like a complete maniac. Long live the 70s!

The Log Cabin socks had a few rows added to them last night.

And I started something else. In a fit of efficiency in camera card management, I deleted the picture before I posted it.

I'm test-knitting the mini size of Casino for Anne Hanson. This one is for Bean. She's been wanting a shawl, just like Mama's. Of course, this also means that I'm going to have to get my hot little hands on some cashmere laceweight so I can have one too. (I love my child but I'm not completely stupid with it. At four, she's getting superwash sock yarn for her shawl.)

While I've knit quite alot of lace, Casino is my first big effort in working both sides in a lace pattern. True, I've knit a number of shawls that had a small section of lace patterned on both sides of the work, but this is a whole 'nother ballgame and it took me a while to realize that, "Hey, I'm knitting lace patterns on both sides!" Yeah, I'm really on these days...

So, I enjoyed the hell out of myself, knitted away at another truly brilliant Knitspot pattern, and got to the end where you undo the provisional cast-on to pick up the stitches for the top border. And then I took a good look at what I had done so far. User error abounded. I finally figured out that I had knit a row twice without realizing it (lace and wine=WHINE). So, the whole thing went to the frog pond and I'm starting anew.

Meanwhile, two friends have had their babies a bit earlier than anticipated.

Knitting two baby sweaters at a time. The garter stitch wrap top from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight. I cast on for the second sweater on the same 40" needle because I was at a meeting and didn't have the pattern with me. I'm using Plymouth Dream Baby because, although I love the special baby knits, Dream Baby is so easy to care for which makes it perfect for a new mom.

Anyone still there?

My break was a bit longer than intended. I developed a minor case of crud last week while Dr. Pig was attending his conference in Tokyo and I am still a bit tired. I also picked last week to give up coffee.

Ultimately, I'm a fairly lazy person. The reason I never drank coffee before I was married was because in the mornings I was too lazy to make it. I didn't even have a coffee maker. Or, rather, this is my coffee maker.

A Drip-O-Lator.

My father took this to Korea during the war. It makes fabulous coffee, but only two mugs at a time.


You boil the water, put the coffee in the little filter contraption, put the top back on and pour the boiling water into the top. You can leave it over a low burner if you want to keep the coffee warm, but I hate doing that as the coffee always tastes burned to me.


Dr. Pig's coffee maker is a Bunn and it's one of those dealies that keeps the water hot for the next pot, so I can never get the water/coffee ratio exactly right, the way he can.

So, I just went without. I'm sure the withdrawal added to the crud, because, even though I only drank about one small cup of coffee a day, I felt like hell. At that point, I decided that anything that could make me feel that bad, needed to go. I'm turning into my mother, but my body is slowly starting to adapt and I've substituted a cup of green tea in the mornings.

I didn't even knit last week. I don't know why, but I've been feeling very burnt out lately. I've had a very busy fall and I have realized that I am somewhat overcommitted and it's making me mentally too tired to concentrate on knitting.

Well, that and the fact that I don't seem to want to knit anything but lace. And I have baby things to knit.

So, given that it's Socktoberfest, I pulled out one of the many incomplete pairs of socks in my knitting basket and set to.
Oak Ribbed Socks
Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
Regia 4-ply something or other (can't find the ball bands) in Party
Size 1 Crystal Palace bamboo needles


I adore this pattern. The completed sock fits wonderfully and the ribbing adds some interest. The color variagation is fun and the grays are a great contrast to the reds and pinks. I've been knitting on these suckers for the last three days, so today I start the toe decreases and then kitchener!

Next up - the perfect color for Socktoberfest. My long-unfinished Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays. I started these last January and someone commented that had expected Log Cabinning and not cabling! It's going to be several months before it gets cold enough to use these, but after the State Fair is over, the weather will start to cool down. It was gorgeous and cool and fall-like last week, but then the Fair started. And now it's in the 90s again. Happens every year.

I'll leave you with a picture of a toy that Dr Pig bought Bean in Japan.

Hello Kitty Kaiten-Sushi!

It's hysterically funny. You press a switch and the little plates of sushi rotate on a conveyor belt.


Bean has spent hours "cooking" sushi for us. She takes orders and then rushes off stating, "Now, I must make the food swirly and turly!" (I have no idea what turly is but she was quite adamant that it is not the same as twirly. She's giving Samuel Johnson a run for his money.)