A Big Storm Knocked It Over*

Sky for Sandy again. A bit different, huh?










What the big wind knocked over.




Our fence.

It was across the alley.

My husband and FIL propped it back up. Dr. Pig is at Home Despot getting concrete and a fence post hoping to fix it before the big rain gets here.



ETA: We just lost power for a few minutes. The wind is really picking up. Lots of small limbs down in the neighborhood. We'll have some big limbs down before tomorrow.
*One of my all-time favortie book titles by the late, much lamented Laurie Colwin

Today, Bean told me, "I wear glasses so no one can poke me in the eye."

She has a bit of a cold, so she stayed home from school today.

And played "Cowboy Monkey Ballerina"

About three weeks ago, she became suddenly obssessed with Halloween. I had not even thought about mentioning it yet but now we are in full Halloween Attack Mode. She's going to be a witch.

Blue Skies and Gak Attack!

Sky for Sandy.

The hot Texas sun blazing down on the first day of fall (yesterday). Because the first day of fall should always be over 100F.







The stuff "dripping" off the table is Gak, a.k.a. Silly Slime. This is a fabulous thing to make with children.

Unfortunately, I can't find the recipe right now but it's basically a solution of water with borax dissolved into it mixed with a solution of water and glue and a bit of food coloring. Mix the two solutions together and knead and you get a Silly Putty-type substance with a bit more viscosity.

For a Suessical twist on the whole thing, Bean's friend Zack came over this weekend. So, we made Gak with Zack!

Willaby Wallaby Woo

An elephant sat on you!

This is Bean's new favorite song. The next verse requires you to sing it about someone and subtitute a "W" for the first letter in their name resulting in:

Willaby Wallaby Wommy
An elephant sat on Wammy!?!?! (Yes, she injects those punctuation marks into her speech.)

A few more verses (Womatoes, Wolly - Molly the dog, Waddy. etc.) and she's cracking herself up to the point where it really does get pretty funny. Or crazy-making. Something.

I needed a new knitting project like a hole in the head but...

One-Skein Wonder here I come. I'm going to make one in the turquoise Cotton-Ease to get a feel for the pattern beause I'm not in the mood to adapt for gauge and size straight off

Then, I can adapt the pattern and make one for Bean and one in the Suede. How cool will that be?!

The CD is a band called the Ex-Husbands. Excellent country in the "Johnny Cash drinkin' and killin' and my woman done left me" vein.

Hurricane Preparation

Just received this from a police officer with Crimewatch:

> Hurricane Rita is now a Cat 4 (131-155).  The  models used to track
> hurricanes show that the probable impact will be near Matagorda.  With
> this being the general location of landfall, the strongest side of the
> storm will severely impact the greater Harris County (Houston) with
> destructive winds, very heavy rains, and tornadoes.
>
> After landfall, the track of the storm is projected to move over Dallas
> - Fort Worth area.  If the storms reach land at a Cat 4, by the time
> it reaches DFW, it should be a CAT 1.  We will experience wind gusts
> at time greater than 50 mph up to 74 mph.  The Metroplex will
> experience the affects of Hurricane Rita by Saturday afternoon. We can
> expect periods of heavy rains and possible tornadic event associated
> with the rain bands.  I would suggest that you stock up on batteries
> and potable waters.  Fuel up your vehicles.

Note that I am in Dallas. Several hours from the coast. Rita is now a Cat 5 hurricane. I have a friend evacutating here. I have other friends in Houston and the area who I hope are evacuating. Katrina was beyond scary and Rita is looking to be a bigger storm than Katrina.

I remember I was home from college for the summer when Alicia hit Houston. I was supposed to go to a Simon and Garfunkel reunion tour but we had such wind and rain in Dallas that my parents forbade me from going. Of course, the stadium is open air and now I can see their point but boy I was angry at the time.

Dolly Mama *

The Pig-Tailed Dolly from Weekend Knitting as imagined by Tim Burton. Those are the pieces of her head next to her. I still have to embroider the face before I put the head together. And I don't really embroider so, it's an adventure!


Lest you think it's all dolls, all the time:

Yep, I have finished both bands of Kepler and picked up the stitches for the back. I'm still messing about with the sizing for the top. I started at the 37" size because I like my waists with plenty of room, but, given the way cotton expands, I will be paying very close attention to my gauge over the decrease rows and making a decision on whether or not to go down to the 35" size for the rest of the body. I know I will need 35"-sized arms. I made Chamomile last year and it did stretch a bit. Not excessively, but it's something to consider since this should be a fairly close-fitting sweater and it's highly unlikely I'd want to wear something under it.

*Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hear the groans. Like you didn't know that was coming at some point.

Helloooooo?

I know there are people out there reading this blog. I have to admit I was a bit surprised that NO ONE has yet commented on Tomatoes - even if they only say, "MY God, that's really ugly." Granted she is ugly. But in that "so ugly it's great" way.

Bean is in preschool three days a week now. It's changed my life. Really. I actually have, get this, time to myself.

I remember when Bean was about 8 months old and my husband had taken her somewhere while he ran errands. I had the sudden realization that it was the first time I'd been alone in the house since she'd been born. Wild. Yes, I'd gone out without her, but I never got any time alone in my own house.

When you have a small child, you forget the restorative power of being alone with your thoughts. Of silence. Of having the time to just be.

Bean is having total fun at preschool. I have to drag her away. She's a bright child and was ready for a classroom experience. She started to hate MDO last year because it was boring. She wants to do things and not just play.

And I am finding that I have plenty of time to play at my own fun and still have time to do "chores". It's no longer an either/or prospect that leaves me feeling either frustrated or guilty. Very liberating.

It's also nice to see all my piles of stuff to get to later are now being dealt with. It's finally "later". Yesterday, I cleaned my desk and organized everything. I can actually see the floor of my laundry room. I can see a day in the not-so-distant future when I won't have to clean and organize my house area by area and room by room. When it will just be a few hours a week of maintenance. How strange is that? Maybe I'll have time to really sit down and design all those knitting projects I've been fiddling with on paper!

You Say Tomato

Meet Tomatoes.

Bean almost named her "Broccoli" so I think we lucked out on Tomatoes! Molly the dog is not going to eat Tomatoes but she looks like she's thinking about it!

Tomatoes is from the book Knitted Babes. A total blast to knit. Her dress is knit out of Limbo Mexiko because I am a total sucker. Hopefully, I have enough yarn left with which to knit the second sock. I weighed the leftovers and how much I used out of the second ball and it should be enough to squeak by. Totally worth it if I end up having to buy another ball, though.

I played with several different arm and leg ideas rather than the noodle arms but, I have to say, the noodley appendages look the best.

I've already knit her panties, a ballet top, and made a tulle ballet skirt.

I'm now working on the "Pig-Tailed Dolly" from Weekend Knitting. Bean has dictated that this dolly will be named "Pickles". And that I need to make another dolly like Tomatoes as well. That dolly will be named Petunia. I hate to break it to Bean, but Petunia is going to be mine. And she'd going to have a slightly diffferent attitude about her. Heh, heh, heh...

Baby Baby

The Knitted Babe is going well. I decided to go with the original pattern on the arms and legs and by golly, they don't look half as noodley in person as they do in the pictures. Hopefully, there will be something worth taking a picture of at some point this weekend.

I'd love to bitch about the board meeting I had this week, but I don't want someone I know to stumble upon this little exercise in self-adoration and get their panties in a wad because I made a veiled reference to the facts. Suffice it to say that I am part of a group that is not altogether pleased.

Fun?

I've had a really great week so far. We are talking fabulousness of a level I rarely attain. Yesterday, Bean and I went to the mall and ate lunch. She wanted a cookie for lunch so that's what she got. I ate my sandwich and she had a giant cookie and a glass of milk. Then we went and visited a friend of mine who works at the makeup counter at Neiman's and Betty put glittery powder and lipgloss on Bean. Then we walked all over the mall and did alot of really silly goofy walks where we'd scrunch down and walk like ducks (Walk small!) and then stand up straight (Walk tall!). I'm sure everyone thought I was some sort of maniac but I couldn't stop laughing and Bean laughed so hard she fell on the floor and couldn't get up for a minute or two. It was FUN!

This summer has brought more than it's share of annoyances and lots of money going towards fixing house and car stuff - always a pain. And it kind of got to me after a while. But this week, I seem to be getting my groove back.

And then there's the knitting. While I like Kepler and River, they just aren't fun. Most of this is due to the fact that it's 97F outside today and I'll be lucky if I can wear a sweater by the middle of November. I've knit several sweaters over the summer and they go straight into a drawer to wait for cooler weather. There isn't much motivation for finishing these projects.

The socks, though... FUN! No, I won't wear them for ages, but I really enjoyed the colors. I decided I needed something fun to knit.

Here it is! FUN! Sure, the dolls look sort of like freaky aliens, but I think I can make a few modifications such as thicker arms and legs and embroidered faces that will make them a bit less otherworldly.

Bean is all excited about picking out yarn for the hair and the clothes and I am excited about knitting something totally goofy.

Eat This

Bertoli frozen bag dinner things. I had a coupon so I bought a couple.

Most frozen bag dinners get mushy but not this.

The sauce comes in little chunks approximately the same size as the veggies and pasta so it all thaws and cooks at the same time. So, when they say 10 minutes, they mean it. The pasta was nicely al dente, the veggies crisp, and the chicken firm. I'm not recommending this as fine dining by any stretch of the imagination, but, if you have a situation like mine in which you may need to provide a meal upon short notice and if, like me, you actually like a semblance of nutrition in your meal, this is pretty good stuff. Better than Stouffer's/Lean Cuisine and much less sodium.

Limbo Lower Now!

Yes, it's a sock! I'm knitting your basic top down pattern. I'm still working on the bands of Kepler and, between that and the River Stole, I needed something mindless to knit. Voila! The yarn (Limbo Mexiko) does all the work. And how could I resist this given the purple and green jacquard?

I'm on the second band of Kepler. I had planned to complete that band on Saturday at the Knit Out but I was conscripted into teaching beginning knitting. Unprepared. To about 20 people. Including several kids. And one woman who wanted me to teach her to knit socks. I did OK, but it would have been better had I had a handout prepared and a few swatches to show people.

I did not stab anyone with my needles.

Not even the woman who told me I was casting on incorrectly.

Lady, I stated about 8 times that there are many methods for casting on and that I am only going to teach one. If you already know another method and prefer that method, please feel free to use it but I am not prepared to teach any method other than this one. I "knit on". I was taught to knit by someone who had been knitting for something like 60 years or more and this was her preferred method and it stuck. I do know a few other methods, but I suffered a brain lock at that point and just wanted to teach my Old Faithful.

I've taught people to knit before, just not more than three at one time!

Seven Year Itch

Happy 7th Anniversary, Sweetie!

We opted for anniversary lunch, since Bean was in preschool. We decided to eat Indian food and I had a wonderfully spicy chicken tikka masala.

I just realized it's Friday

I know I've been a bit distracted of late what with the starting of the preschool (ACK!) and the Bean not wanting to leave preschool when I come pick her up and the multitudes of other crap-to-do that is piling up on my desk, but I usually figure out what day it is at some point in the early morning rather than around 4pm.

I'm thinking this mental fragmentation is due to the fact that I've only knit two rows of Kepler this week and nothing else. Obviously, I need to spend much more time knitting in order to retain my awareness that I am, in fact, awake.

Eat this

Turkey, havarti and cucumber sandwich.

YUM!

Too much of a muchness

This week has been nothing but busy. Not much knitting. OK, true confessions time: not much in the sense of two rows on the second waist band of Rudyard.*

Yesterday, I dropped Bean off for her first day at preschool (ack!). Then I dashed off for my mammogram. After the fun of being mashed flat, I got to go to a new guy for a haircut. Love LOVE this guy. He comes up to me and he has most of his hair buzzed except for a fauxhawk in back. Needless to say, much fun was had with my hair. Hopefully, I can get Hub to take a picture over the weekend. Then it was off to pick up the Bean and then last night I had my card game. I'm in the middle of helping organize silent auction items for a fundraising ball and am also helping organize a Katrina fundraiser/toy and clothing drive with my church parenting group, so today I have had meetings and yet another meeting and a party tonight. (I'll be at the party.)

Thank God tomorrow is a school day. I get to pay bills, go to the grocery, and make an art supplies run so Bean and I can turn toilet paper tubes into binoculars.

If I'm lucky, I might get to knit tomorrow night.

*Check the title of yesterday's post...

Kepling

This article from July 18th is scary.

I'm knitting Kepler in Rowan Summer Tweed. Summer Tweed handles cables fairly well and meets the gauge requirements of the pattern spot on. I've heard people who hated this yarn but I have to admit that it's one of my favorites. I love the tweedy and slightly rustic look of the yarn. I also love the fact that it's very wearable in the Dallas climate. I considered knitting Kepler in wool, but I have very little need for a wool pullover.

Here's a picture of the first cable band for the body. I think it's looking really nice. I wasn't sure about the color choice, but I had the yarn in stash. It turns out, the pink is actually very pretty and the "rustic" texture of Summer Tweed looks very much like a rough wool.

This is a fun project. I love the cables, but it's nice that the rest of the sweater is plain. I'm a smallish person and I really have to consider the scale of the sweaters I knit. All-over cabling in an aran weight yarn would make me look 20 pounds heavier and a few inches shorter.

River is also growing slowly but surely. Given the resistance of KSS to ripping, I'm trying to be fairly careful. I've found that I can't quite keep track of what I'm doing if I'm tired (or watching the horrible news these days). Oddly, the cables in Kepler are going just fine even when tired.

River Picture!

The beads are very tiny but they add a nice sparkle.

I also really like the variegation.


Hopefully, I'll get in some knitting time today!

River

I'm only 30 rows in.

I haven't been knitting much this week. I have been glued to CNN, instead. I was talking with my husband last night and I said told him that I feel really macabre watching all of this for hours on end. I think it's just that the enormity of the whole situation in New Orleans coupled with the wide swath Katrina cut through Missippi and Alabama is just unreal. I keep watching as if I'm trying to find the hole in the reporting where it's not as bad as they say it is. And it's not as bad as they say it is; IT'S WORSE.

I'm almost finished with the last part of Purple People Eater, but after I finish this sleeve, I'm going to seam it and then wait for the collar until cooler weather. I can't stand the thought of knitting a collar while holding an entire sweater that heavy in my lap.

Beanism of the week: My husband was helping her get dressed and, when they were finished, she turned to him and said, "Thank you, I'm a big fan of your work." She cracks me up.

Please give generously to America's Second Harvest. to help provide for all of those devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
And if not to them, then give to another charity supporting the hurricane relief efforts. The Gulf Coast is going to need it.

Please, pray for all of those in Hurricane Katrina's path.

I'm hoping for some sort of last minute divine intervention and that those poor people stuck in New Orleans make it. This is a nightmare.

Walken on Main Street

The Continental is running for President!*

In other news, I have finished the back, one sleeve and one front of The Purple People Eater (I had to name the thing) . I seamed them all up to see if I was on track. So far, so good although the darkness of the yarn makes an accurate picture impossible. I'm hoping to complete the second front today and have the sweater sans collar and zipper finished by Wednesday at which point I can try in on for the camera. I took a number of pictures and the theme of all of them was - The Dark Blob. The pieces are measuring out to my specs and I've had to do remarkably little frogging. Yay me!

*OK, he's not really running for President. It's a genmay joke. But man, wouldn't it be a hoot?! And the Walken2008 web site has a great poster.

When it's hotter than hell

Knit a really thick wool sweater.

Yes, I've abandoned River and taken up with the Muench Naturwolle I got for a song last winter. Because when it's 103F outside and the heat index (think wind chill for hot climates) is not to be contemplated, you want to knit a sweater that you may get to wear once a year. But, oh, how I love this yarn. Soft and thick and the best kind of squishy.


The yarn colors are sort of murky so it was impossible to get a decent picture without the red bias in my camera turning the whole thing bright purple. The colors all have a muted, dusky quality: purples, deep cranberry, navy and a bit of black.

I'm making the pattern up as I go along (yes, I'm writing it down so the front is similar to the back). It's going to be a zippered cardigan with deep ribbing at the hem and cuffs and a really deep ribbed collar. I intend to use it as a jacket if it every gets below freezing again.

Mad as hell

I'm in Target today and the woman behind me in line sees Bean and casually remarks, "You know, someone left a baby in their car in the parking lot. The car was running but I don't think that's right."

I about had a heart attack. I mustered the security guards and we all went to the lot, but of course the jerks were gone. I also had a few words for the lady who told me all of this, namely that she should have immediately gone to the service desk and reported this and it was illegal to leave your child alone in a car. She was a few tacos short of a combo plate but I think she got the point that perhaps saying something first and going shopping after might be the better priority. I hope the person who left their child in the car, I don't care if it was running, gets theirs. Karma is a bitch, asshole.

In this heat, it is the depths of stupid to leave your milk in the car, much less any living creature in this heat. Leaving the car running is a really good way to get your car (and child) stolen. People do this all the time and iit frequently plays out like this: their cars get stolen, the theives discover a baby in that back seat, the theives abandon the car. Not running. Usually not a pretty ending.

Man, I'm pissed.

Busy Bees

It's been fairly busy around here and today is no exception. I'm about to leave the house to take The Bean to a doctor's appointment after which she will have her first "ballet" lesson. We are very excited about the ballet although last night, she got very worried about "dance class". She told me, "Mama, I have a big, big problem. I don't know how to dance." As a parent, those kinds of statements always make me so sad for her. Of course, I explained that no one else in the class would either and reminded her that she had met her teacher, etc. She was OK after that but I hate the thought of the poor thing worrying about anything this young.

I started River and did put the beads on the cast on. More about that later. I adore the Kidsilk Spray. It's gorgeous. The variegation is quite beautiful. Rowan knows what they are doing.

Crazy from the heat

It's 100F with a heat index of 105F. The worst thing about August in Texas is that you'd love to be able to take your child to the park two blocks away but unless it's 9am, it's too hot to be outside for longer than it takes an egg to fry.

What, you've never fried eggs in the sun before?

Totally a fun thing to do with the kids.

A word of advice though, don't fry them directly on the hood of your car because they'll damage your paint job.

When it's this hot, there is only one thing to do: knit with mohair! Because your hot, sticky, humid little hands will only improve the experience of knitting with Kidsilk Spray.

That's right, the new Kidsilk Spray! I'm going to knit the River Stole. I chose a pretty blue under the name of Medici. I'm hankering to know what the variegation will look like.

The beads I chose match the lighter blue in the yarn.


I'd love some opinions because I've never knit with beads before. And I'm thinking it would be very pretty to have beads on the cast on and cast off edges of the shawl as well as the knot thingie. Any advice? (PLEASE, I'm begging for advice.)

Sated

It's Restaurant Week this week. Restaurant Week is an annual event sponsored by a local radio station and benefitting a local food pantry. $6 from each meal sold goes to the food pantry. Lest you think that's not a ton of money, keep in mind that some of the posher places book around 500 covers a night. That's over $20,000. From one restaurant. And there are alot of restaurants on the list.

The draw is that you get a three-course meal for $30. Last night we went to a lesser-known Italian place. Not a spaghetti house. This is big time food. The three course were an appetizer and a salad followed by two choices for an entree. Sunday we'll be going to a very hipper-than-thou place where you get an appetizer, entree and dessert.

Last night's menu:

Roast Quail with side of gnocchi in a very light gorgonzola cream sauce. The gnocchi were sublime.
Caesar salad with a great, garlicky dressing that had obviously seen the addition of a few real anchovies.
A choice of halibut or, what I went for, duck breast in a green peppercorn-vodka sauce and two petit grilled lamb chops served with a bit of garlicky pasta and some steamed spinach.

I'm still full.

And I've started the River stole from the new Rowan.

There is quite the hullabaloo about the new Rowan magazine. I can see that there are very few, if any, really fabulously timeless pieces in the new mag. But I've found several patterns that interest me and, while the mag may not be up to Rowan's usual standards, I'll say that I was far more disappointed in the new Vogue Knitting. My opinion is that the utterly lousy photography goes a long way to making the Rowan magazine less than it should be.

Knitters want to see the garment they are supposed to knit. The picture of the River stole shows me a good view of the skirt the model is wearing but pretty much jack about the actual knitted item. Fortunately, I know that Sharon Miller generally writes gorgeous patterns so I'm willing to make a leap of faith. But, for goodness sakes, if I'm going to be knitting a sweater, can I see the model standing up rather than lounging in bed? Apparently, Rowan thinks that we should knit all of their items on faith rather than using something as trite and declasse as a decent photograph to determine if a garment would suit us.

Yes, there are some godawful items available for your knitting heresy. But, I'm not so much disappointed in the knitables as I am in the decision to substitute decent graphical representation of said knitables in favor of an ad for the Society for Creative Anachronism. Nothing against Pennsic, but I don't want to knit it.

I am a horrible person

OK, maybe only slightly.

It's no secret that I have insomnia. I blame it all on The Bean. She spent most of the first 2.85 years of her life refusing to sleep through the night. This combined with Mommy Hearing has resulted in me waking up at the slightest provocation. Last night, I was most unjustly provoked as The Force of Evil decided that NONE SHALL SLEEP.

We had a cracker of a storm including a rather big damn tree getting blown over a block away, possibly by the way too close for comfort flash of lightning followed immediately by the loudest clap of thunder I have ever heard. The dog was climbing on top of us in fear, but Bean slept on.

Of course, once the storm was past, she woke up every two hours having a screaming hysterical tantrum and refusing to be calmed. Around 2am, I came back into the bedroom and saw my sleeping husband. My lovely husband who can fall back asleep at the drop of a hat. And I put in some earplugs and went back to sleep and did not wake up until the 7am screaming fit. My husband, bless him*, got up at the 3.30am screaming fit and I slept on. It was glorious. Poor man had to go to work today but as I'm trapped in the house with a whiny, sleep-deprived 3-year-old, I'm less than sympathetic.

I swear sometimes Ambien for kids sounds like a good idea.**

My ill will towards the child is somewhat mitigated by the fact that she has recently decided that she really likes The Clash. And Led Zepplin.

I'm not sure if this is what Ferrol Sams had in mind when he referred to being "raised right" but I'm going with it.

*Not in the Southern sense of "you imbecile" but, really, bless him. I don't deserve him but I'm not about to question my luck.

**To the oversensitive who sometime send me nasty personal emails about my horrible parenting, I'd like to point out that this is what as known as a joke.

Smoke on the Water
AKA
FBS2: Electric Boogaloo
Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in Deep Purple (heh)
70" wide and 36" from neck to tip


I used 8US needles. It blocked out a bit too open for my tastes. It looks great in the pic but it's very open up close.

I love the shawl and I adore the color, but it will work better as a big scarf than a shawl.



Canteen Bag
Woolpak 8ply Handpainted
Color - Fire
Reynolds Lopi - Black
LOVE this pattern. LOVE IT! Quick and fun.


My camera has a huge red bias so I could not get a decent close-up. The Woolpak felts into a really nifty sort of boucle.



Half a Never Ending Shawl
Cherry Tree Hill Oceania
Color - Fall Foliage
68" wide by 42" deep - unblocked

My arms aren't long enough to hold out the ends in the photo.

I have 190 grams of yarn leftover from the 400 gram/1440 yard hank. That's alot of yarn. I can't imagine how big the shawl would have been had I knit the whole thing.

The second Canteen Bag. Maybe "subdued" wasn't quite the right word, but in comparison to the first Canteen Bag, well, it is subdued.
The red/plum yarn is handpainted Woolpak 8 ply doubled. The black is Lopi. Bean is at Mother's Day Out right now and it's really overcast outside so I'm hoping to finish this one today.








I know I said August was going to be Small Projects Month, but I might have cast on for a new sweater.

Saffy from Rowan's Denim People.

You cast on 377 stitches and then decrease over the next two rows to your regular number of stitches creating a big ruffle at the hem. It's so dark outside I had trouble getting a decent picture, but there is a medallion pattern. I am really enjoying this pattern.



And I ordered a little something for myself. And another something similar in blues.

I blocked the second Flower Basket Shawl but I'm going to have to wait for some sun for a decent picture. I will say that I should have swatched some of the pattern on this one because, even though Silky Wool calls for a 6US needle and I only used an 8US for the shawl, it's a bit too open and you lose some of the pattern. The Cathay version came out a bit better although I felt like it wasn't loose enough. I can't win.

I'm not unhappy with FBS2; it's just not quite perfect. Which means, at some point, I will have to knit FBS3. But not any time soon.

I found someone to teach me to spin!

That thud you heard was my husband.

Until I reminded him that my hobbies don't add up to his girlfriend, the Corvette LT-1.

Yet.

The felting bunny strikes again! I'm working on a second Canteen Bag from Interweave Knits. This one is a bit more subdued.

A liberal application of Elmo and Leapfrog have allowed me to get my FSB2 issues sorted out and I'm back on track and now into the 8th repeat. We normally don't watch this much TV, but Bean had a bad night and is cranky as hell today. If a bit more TV than usual is what it takes to sooth my savage little beastie then by God that's the plan.

I talked to a friend earlier today who advised me to make her take a nap. That's what got us into this mess. Yesterday, we spent the morning on the McKinney Avenue Trolley with a group of friends (no air-conditioning and 100F+ heat - whee) and Bean took a nap about 3. At 5.30 I went in to check her vitals and was confronted with my child in Stage 4 sleep. I did everything but bang a pan with a spoon to wake her up. We went out with friends last night and Bean pretty much refused the babysitter's suggestions for going to be and got back up when we got home. What, I ask you, is the point of a babysitter if not to escape having to put your child to bed for a night? Ah well, it was hardly the sitter's fault. We could see our fate before we left but had hope. At any rate, it was close to 11 freaking PM before we could get her near the bed and we could hear various wails and moans from the room at points during the night. She's not napping today so we can get her to sleep early tonight.

As far as FBS goes, I'm not sure if I'm going to do 9 repeats or not. I'm fairly sure I have enough yarn, but I'm getting a bit antsy on finishing the sucker. I may complete the 8thh repeat and then put it up for a while to marinate. I'd hate to have put all this work in and be disappointed with the size.

Friday is for Tinking

I seem to have screwed up FBS2 in the exact same part of the pattern sequence I screwed it up last time around.

I am a bit annoyed at myself because I knew there was a problem about two rows back and blithely ignored it. The problem with lace, unlike sweaters, is that you can't really ignore extra stitches. Ah well, apparently Friday is for Tinking.

In small project news, I finished two ungodly novelty yarn scarves that I was supposed to have given as gifts last year. I tend to want my goofy knitting only in felted bags so I really put off knitting these scarves. Fortunately, the recipients did not know they were coming so I can just give them this year. That leaves me with a small lace scarf and one more novelty scarf to go. The other completions for this month are the Oceania Never-Ending Shawl (Boy howdy did they name that one correctly) and FBS2. I'm on a completion binge and I'm trying to take advantage of it because once it stops, I'll end up with the pile of sweaters on the dining room table again.

Warning: Wear Sunglasses

I warned you these were some bright pictures.

My whole life is bags right now. Yeah, the felted ones, too. But mostly the ones under my eyes. I've had one decent night's sleep out of the last 5. I've been up since 2:30am. As the Bean would say, that is not a good idea.

The bag on the table is my own design - Lamb's Pride Worsted doubled. Most of 4 skeins.

The bag handing off of the chair is the Canteen Bag from the Fall 2005 Interweave Knits. Being constitutionally unable to knit a pattern as written, I messed around and knit it in Cascade 220 doubled on 13US needles.

I added a bit of Crystal Palace Squiggle to the trin on the flap.




I ran out of the green Cascade after the trim on the flap and had just enough to do the first green section on the handle. The green at the top is leftover Lamb's Pride. I originally planned to just knit the whole handle in the Lamb's Pride but although it is really close, it's not an exact match so I decided the way I did it you couldn't really tell the difference between the two. As obnoxious as this bag is, I'll definitely use it because I find it hilarious.

I'll knit the Canteen Bag again. It's a fast and fun pattern. The next one is planned in the handpainted Woolpak 8ply I bought in Fredericksburg in June. I'll double that. The trim will be black Lopi (not doubled). The handpainted yarn should turn out somewhat heathered. Paired with the black, it will make a nice fall bag in a more sophisticated color palate.


Pattern notes on the canteen bag: The pattern tells you to pick up 96 stitches around the flap for the flap trim. This will produce a ruffled effect on your trim. It's only a bit noticeable in the IK picture. Granted, my double yarn probably exacerbated this effect, but I'll probably pick up fewer stitches on the next go 'round. While I like it on this bag, I'm not sure I want it ruffled on a plain bag.

The second note is that it's a good idea to match up the front and the back of the bag and use removable stitch markers or safety pins or something to hold the front and the back even while you knit the side trim around the bag. I ended up getting way ahead of myself on one side of the bag and having to frog part of the side trim because I didn't notice until I was "finished".

Smite, Smote, Smitten?

How do you conjugate smite bayond smote?

This weekend, Bean was distressed to see ants near her sandbox and commanded the Almighty Daddy to fix this problem immediately, if not sooner.* Daddy said, "I'll find something to kill the ants." Bean replies, "Let's get a shovel!!!" You have to imagine the excitement in her voice. It was a killer. Where she got the shovel thing I have no idea. Of course, my husband runs with it and teaches her to say, "We must smite the ants with a shovel!"

*Unfortunately, Bean has inherited my sense of patience. My problem with immediate gratification is that it takes too damn long.

In knitting news, I was badly bitten by the felting bunny. There are two felted bags drying in my laundry hall. (I don't have a laundry room per se, more like a laundry hallway on the way to the garage,) I'm too lazy to take a picture right now but trust me, they are bright. You'll need glasses.

And now I will wax somewhat philosophical. I have decided that August is going to be Small Projects Month. I have a whole bag full of little scarves and this and thats I have been meaning to knit for a long time. This month, I'm knitting them. I'm also going to finish FBS2:EB and Oceania. That will set me up for September feeling a bit less oppressed by my stash and back in the mood to knit some sweaters!

I love a parade

Especially a parade of finished objects.

When I finished knitting Soleil, I put it on my dining room table to await my weaving in the rest of the ends (I'm about halfway through) and crocheting the neckband and armholes. And I counted the other projects on the table. Final tally: Triada scarf, Ines, Cookie, Lollipop, and tiny tee as well as a couple of other small bits and pieces.

I've been knitting and knitting but have wondered where all the finished objects went. Apparently, my dining room table has become...

The Black Hole of Finishing (dum dum dum)

I was sufficiently freaked out to finish finish (as opposed to finish in the sense of "I'm done with the major knitting but need to weave in ends, fix something, add a neckband" finished) a number of items.


The red one is the Cotton candy sweater
Knit from Pinguoin Corrida something (5 I think?) that has been in my stash forever.
Pattern from Midnight Knitter.

The pink one is Cookie from Rowan's Miss Bea's Rainy Days knit in the 3-4yr size in pink Cotton-Ease.

The red sweater is very stretchy and fits Bean now. Cookie, well, there's always next year!



For me

Ines
Rowan Linen Print book
Rowan Linen Print Blush (MC) and Refresher and Crush (CCs).








Meanwhile, I'm through the sixth repeat of FBS2: EB.

This means I'm about ready to cast on for another sweater. I'm thinking about the Wizard Sweater from Miss Bea's Dressing Upin turquoise Cotton-Ease with white stars. Cotton-Ease really is a perfect inexpensive substitute for Rowan's All Seasons's Cotton. I'm going to knit the edging in the main color rather than incorporate a third color as it specifies in the pattern. That will give Bean a pullover that will fit her this fall, since Cookie will be a bit big.

For dinner last night the meal proceeded as follows:

Pour glass of wine.  Make cheese sandwich for Bean..

Make salad for myself and my husband.

Try to eat salad.

Spend next 5 minutes trying to get Bean to sit at big table and
then decide that the three of us will sit at her little table.

Put cod in oven.  Cod and sweet potatoes will not both fit in World's Smallest Oven. 
Take potatoes out as they have been cooking for 75 minutes and are surely done.

Cook cod.

Try to cut open potatoes and discover they are curiously resistant to
heat and are still mostly raw. Put sweet potatoes in microwave.

Pour more wine.

Cod is done.

Eat cod while sitting on the floor.

Manage to convince child that fish is not contagious and it's OK to eat next to us.

Potatoes are done.  Eat potatoes.

Listen to child expound on the disgusting nature of sweet potatoes and then sing
"Sister Suffragette" from Mary Poppins.  Wonder what child would do with David Bowie's
"Suffragette City".  Decide that as that song contains the phrase "Wham Bam Thank You
Ma'am" it would be best not to find out.

Remember salad.  Pour more wine and eat salad for dessert. Do not feel European at all.

Pal o' mine

My secret pal rocks! Get a load of the booty. I feel pretty spoiled. There is a bar of Dagoba chocolate - a big favorite. A game. A little tin of groovy needle sizers. A rock that says Hope and has the kanji symbols for hope on it as well. And, of course, yarn.

Doodle the Poodle is shown at the right coveting the pink yarn.

Now, based on some emails we've traded, I'm pretty sure my SP had felting projects in mind when she sent me all of this glorious yarn. But, I looked at the pinks and the variegated and immediately started thinking up a sweater for Bean.

After she's done with it, then I can felt the yarn! Two gifts in one! The turquoise will be felted immediately!

AND, if that's not enough, the most adorable little knitting charm that depicts a ball of yarn with two needles stuck in it. I can't get a good picture but trust me, it's beyond cute.

How to seam. Notice the rest of the table covered in projects that need to be finished.

Tune in tomorrow to find out if I:

A.) Finished a major portion of those projects.







B.) Stuck them all in a closet and pretended they were finished so we could use the dining room table.

C.) Got drunk and went nuts with the scissors.

Bandwagonesque

I seem to have joined the lace craze taking the knitting community by storm.


I started FBS2: Electric Boogaloo*. I am starting the fourth repeat today. I'm really liking the Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. It's yummy! This FBS will be a bit larger than the Cathay version. I have three skeins of Silky Wool (175m per skein) so I know I can easily knit 8 repeats and I may knit 9 depending on how bored I get at that point and how much I want to cast on for the next project.

It's extremely hard to get an accurate representation of the color. Trust me, it's very nice.



I also knit up to the point in Soleil where I divide for the front and the back. I'm going to finish the back and then worry about the front as I've decided to alter the neckline. As a short person, deep v-necks are often way too deep for my comfort. I'm also still going with the flow on the striping. Whereas the FBS is in a sophisticated color, Soleil is flat obnoxious. And I like it!

I'm trying very hard not to cast on for anything new until I complete Soleil.

I'm on the home stretch.

Must. Not. Knit. Denim. Yarn.

Must resist siren call of Rowan Memphis that really wants to become a sweater. Must.

*Someone wrote something about not being able to say anything "2" without adding Electric Boogaloo after it, and I have to admit that I have an embarrassing tendency to do the same.

How Big Is Long?

The Cherry Tree Hill Oceania Never-Ending Shawl is progressing along nicely. I'm about 1/3 finished with it. It measures 37 inches long and around 50 inches wide at this stage. I'm trying to determine how much longer I'm going to knit on this sucker. The issue is that, while it is very long, it's not terribly wide. When I do the finishing triangles on the ends, the width will increase a bit. I guess I'll keep knitting until I am too bored to continue ;>

I will say that this has been a very relaxing knit. It's not the lovely lace of the FBS or the other fabulous things that the Summer of Lace is producing, but it's been a great mindless knit for a hot and overly busy summer! And it's going to be fun to wear. There is a little bit of angelina in the yarn that provides some fun sparkle without being overly "bling-bling"*.

You think this is a picture of a couple of tape measures, right? Not to the Bean. These are How Big Is Longs. About a year ago, she took one of my tape measures and walked around the house measuring things. She told me she had to find out how big is long. So, whenever you pull out your tape measure to measure something, remember to find out how big is long.

God help me I just used the word "bling".

FBS and Cocktail Weenies of Death

The Flower Basket Shawl is complete! A bit over three skeins of Debbie Bliss Cathay.

I gave it to my mother. I'm a bit underwhelmed at her response but that's the peril of knitting for others ;>

The Cathay blocked out beautifully and the points on the shawl are staying nice and pointy despite my worries that the cotton would present a problem.

Yesterday, I bought some Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in a blackberry color to make an FBS for myself. I thought about just going for black, but black is so hard to knit and I knew I'd just get lost in the lace. This color is nice and dark but with enough color to be easier to see while knitting.

Looking at Ann's platter of Pigs in Blankets reminded me of a fabulous party recipe. The recipe originates with my mother, but I've tweaked it a bit.

Cocktail Weenies of Death

1 cup ketchup (I can't answer for the results if you use other than Heinz)
1 cup brown sugar slightly packed
1 cup of bourbon (Weller is our house pour)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 or 2 tablespoons sirracha chile sauce or Tabasco
2 pounds cocktail weenies

Put first five ingredients in a crock pot (or a large saucepan on meium low to low heat) and mix well - get the sugar dissolved. Drain package of weenies and add to crock pot or pan. Heat in sauce for around 2 hours. Stir every half an hour or so and make sure it's not bubbling too much. Take off the lid and avoid the stampede. Needless to say, this is not a child-friendly dish.

My milkshake is better than yours

You need approximately 4 ounces of chocolate milkshake to dilute the (admittedly nasty) flavor of 2 1/2 teaspoons of griseofulvin to an acceptable flavor for a three year old. I now need a beer to wash the nasty taste tests out of my mouth. The things I do for my child.

More fun ringworm facts: while ringworm on the body can be easily cured by the application of something like lotrimin, once it's on your scalp, it has pretty much invaded your body. That's why ringworm is not a big deal for most people. But no one in my family does anything halfway! The good thing is that they gave us a precription shampoo as well and between that and the medicine, she can still play with her friends and everything. At least it's not The Summer of Confinement.

In Bean Knitting News, I have some pretty duck egg blue Debbie Bliss Cotton Silk Aran. I'm thinking about Poppy again.

This starts me on my rant of how there are a few too many Debbie Bliss patterns that look really similar and have very similar construction. Two examples:

Poppy, Molly, Bolero, Fiery Bolero, Shrug

All of the above are boleros that look pretty similar.

Lola, Lara, Mia

The above three as well as Molly and Fiery Bolero (I haven't read the Bolero and Shrug patterns, so I'm not sure about how they are knit) are all knit in one piece from sleeve to sleeve.

I'm not saying they aren't good designs. After all, I've knit Lara, I'm knitting Fiery Bolero, and I'm about to start Poppy. I'm sure you could come up with a similar theory for Rowan patterns but, if so, it's at least not half so obvious to the casual observer. But, Rowan has a number of designers so, while the work may have similarities within the porfolio of a designer, overall there are enough different designers to make it a bit more interesting. To me, Bliss is starting to get repetitive enough to where a few other designers under her umbrella might help. Alternately, I guess you could think of these as her "signature patterns". Or, maybe I'm just overthinking the whole thing as usual.

Medicated milkshakes and Cookie crumbles

The first dosage of the ringworm medication went down with a heaping helping of hysterics. I feel like the worst kind of dog making my child cry and utterly helpless at knowing that we were going to have to go through this every freaking day for the next two months. Then, my brilliant husband saw the trees through the forest and told me to make milkshakes. Now I'm on a quest to figure out the minimum amount of milkshake needed to disguide the taste of this nasty medication. And hoping like hell that the Bean doesn't get tired of milkshakes!

Yarn souvenir from Creative Corner in Des Moines, Iowa!

Opal Handpainted!

Cookie is seamed and complete minus a collar.

I tried the sweater on Bean.


It's a bit big.

You're thinking that this "mistake" could have very easily been avoided if I'd taken her measurements properly. Ah, but I did take her measurements. You know how sometimes you want a big. sloppy sweater to hang out in? And, although it's way too wide and long. it still looks good? I knit Cookie too big to see just how big it could be before it was "too big in the wrong size sense" rather than "just a bit big and sloppy". Because children's clothing only fits for a short time and, while I want the things I knit to look nice on my daughter, it certainly doesn't hurt me if it fits her for a couple of years.

I knew it would fit at some point, so it's not like it was wasted effort. I've dicovered that I need to knit the 2-3 year size in the sweaters in the Miss Bea's books and add a bit of length to extend their lifetime.

I may wait to knit the collar until the sweater is closer to fitting her.

Now I have to start another sweater that will fit her this year ;>

Just turn on a fan

Yesterday afternoon, we had a whopper of a storm. An hour of hard rain and about 20 minutes of marble-sized hail. The power went out and didn't come back on until almost 9.30pm. It's funny how bored I got last night when it was too early to go to bed. My husband and I started laughing and I said, "Gee, I guess we could talk to each other or something." I wasn't quite up to knitting by candlelight. I'm all for romance, but I needed my arm to fan myself.

I called my mother to let her know about the storm. Oddly, they live 10 minutes away and didn't get the storm at all. I told her about the power being out and said it was getting a bit hot and she said, "At least you have fans to keep you cool!" Uh, yeah. I have a magazine and my arm...

For some reason, my mother always thinks that if the air conditioner is off, that it's broken. She forgets the whole I don't have any electricity part of having no electricity. We have this conversation every time my power goes out. I live in a neighborhood where storms seem to concentrate and there are tons of trees - the power goes out alot.

I made the mistake of leaving the light switch on the Bean's room and after the power came back on, I tried to sneak in and turn it off but she woke up and told me, "That wasn't very nice of you to wake me up." She kept admonishing me and I started laughing. "Don't laugh at me!", she said. I told her, "I'm not laughing at you; I'm laughing because you make me happy."

This morning was the pediatric dermatologist. Bean has ringworm. (I knew it.) The treatment is TWO MONTHS of oral antifungal antibiotic. The only good part is that the medicine needs to be taken with fatty foods, which means I'm going to give her a bowl of ice cream when she takes her meds. I just need to remember that I am not being medicated and I do not need ice cream . I can just see it, "Child gets ringworm. Mother gains 20 pounds."

Edited to add: Woohoo, IT'S back! Now, if only they'd have it on cones!

Lucky after all

Yesterday, Bean and I were supposed to go to playgroup. I kept her home because we were both tired and because I don't know what this mysterious, baldness-inducing rash on her head is, but if it does turn out to be contagious, I'd rather not have to call everyone in playgroup about it. I was talking about the whole thing with a good friend on Thursday and saying, "At least if it is contagious, it's not very contagious or we'd all have it. And Thank God it's not something awful like lice."

Last night, my friend calls me. One of the mothers at playgroup found lice yesterday afternoon on both herself and her child. At least I'm not having to deal with that particular drama.!!!

Tripping Pt1

Since Bean is now three, we decided to try and travel light. Dr. Pig and I used to be the sort of people who could take one small suitcase and a daypack for a long weekend trip. Having a child changes that because not only do you need all of the child-related items, it's a good idea to pack a few extra shirts and such for yourself because of the inevitable Attack of the Jelly Hands (or Yogurt Face).

I asked Bean to help me pack. I told to pick three toys to take with her and we picked 5 videos. The Dr. and I decided that we wouldn't let her know we had the travel VCR until we really needed it. The only packing problem came while we were in Iowa and Bean realized she did not have any dress-up clothes with her.
"But I want to be a priiiiiiiiinceeeeeeesssssss."
"Sweetie, you are always a princess."
"I can't be a princess in shorts."
Fortunately, I had packed an extremely twirly dress that sufficed when combined with the ballerina slippers.

We didn't leave until around 1pm on Friday, but made it to Carthage, Missouri in reasonable time.

We got a king bed for all of us.

I used to have some nostalgia for all the time The Bean spent in utero elbowing me in the ribs and digging her feet into the sciatic nerves in the left leg (she was transverse). After the reanctment that was staged Friday night, I think I'm over it.

Saturday, we had the choice of going to the Precious Moments Chapel (only with tongues firmly in cheeks), but decided instead to make the Annual Pilgrimage to Cabela's in KC. For the uninitiated, Cabela's bills itself as The World's Foremost Outfitter. They have a great selection of cute t-shirts and "sporty" clothes and we always get a few things. They also have several huge fresh water aquariums with sport fish in them and a disturbing number of taxidermied wild animals around the store. The Bean thought it was great. While I would have given quite alot to be able to go into KC to eat a burnt ends sandwich at Arthur Bryant's*, that would have extended our trip by an undoable amount, so I had to make do with a grilled chicken salad at the Cabela's restaurant (the place is seriously huge). Bean was able to get a bowl of Cheerios and a cup of yogurt, so it was probably a better deal because there is no food at Bryant's that we'd be able to get her to eat.

We didn't make it to Iowa until dinnertime. Notice I haven't mentioned the VCR yet! And I did not spend the whole time entertaining her. Instead, I finished the back of Cookie!

The 4th in the Dr's hometown is always filled with alot of fireworks and visits to old friends who still live in the area. The people across the street from my in-laws had some serious fireworks going on. I don't know how much money they spent, but I'd estimate into the serious hundreds. Of course, we had a few as well, but nothing like the semi-pro set-ups across the street. Bean was most impressed and not frightened at all. I've learned that the main thing is all how you sell it. Last year, I told her the fireworks were "pop-pops" and it was just noise. She accepted that explanation and found it all fun this year. She doesn't like the really loud stuff, but she just covers her ears and laughs.

Later: the mini-midway, the parade, the catfight, pictures, and yarn.

*I will always be loyal to Texas barbeque over other versions, but I have to admit that the burnt ends make me seriously consider alternate barbeque religions. Thank you to Poppymom for continuing to torture me about my failure to accomplish the mission this trip.

Because you were all waiting with bated* breath

Went to the grocery store. Have food. Tummy happy.

Made anti-baldness appointment with pediatric dermatologist. Recommended doctor is in a teaching hospital and only sees patients on Tuesdays. Other recommended doc had no appointments until two weeks from now. By which time, I imagine the side of Bean's head would be pretty damn bare. So, at the horrifyingly early hour of 8.15 am next Tuesday, I have an appointment. I say horrifying not because 8.15 is that early, but because I will have to leave the house at around 7.15 to get there on time. Which means I have to wrangle the Bean out off the house at 7.15 am. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that until kindergarten.

Bean's favorite new movie is Mary Poppins.

Must not forget to pick up dog from vet's in about an hour.

Requisite knitting content: Over the course of the trip, I finished the pieces of Cookie, knit a great whack of Fiery Bolero before discovering that my row gauge is waaaaaaaaay off, and knit a few inches of Soleil. Am currently trying to decide if I should just finish the bolero and enjoy a roomy fit or set the project on fire.

* Yes, it is bated and not "baited". I always cringe whenever I see "baited." And imagine that person with fish breath. For more info, go here.

Take a deep breath

Whenever I get back from I trip I get all frantic about unpacking and doing all the laundry and sorting the mail and and and...

It woon't kill anyone if I don't vacuum today even if there is dog hair on the floor.

It's OK to get all the laundry done and put away, but I don't *have* to unpack the suitcases today. Really, they can wait.

I should go to the grocery store because food is a nice thing to have in the house. But, we do have milk and bread and a bunch of frozen veggies so if I don't have time to go today, Dr. Pig and I can order out and I still have food for The Bean. Because she's three and she's Picky.

Happy 4th

Remote bloggin from Iowa. Oh, do I have some stories to tell you when I get back. for now, a few teasers will have to suffice because this is dial-up.

Cat Fight at the town parade. Grown women walloping each other. My regret is that I had no video camera to cature the event and send off for Cops. Maybe I should have gotten that camera phone after all.

The proposed visit to the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri was scrapped in favor of the Annual Pilgrimage to Cabela's.

This afternoon is the family picnic. It will be a nice, mellow picnic punctuated by more fireworks than I think Dr. Pig will be able to set off in the next two days. You would not believe the fireworks that get set off here by the residents.

The pictures will be worth it.

Orange Whip?

I just dyed my hair orange.

Usually, I use the Deeply Brown Feria every few months or so (OK, more like when I remember and then get around to it) to cover the gray. It's a reasonable approximation of my own dark brown hair and it's not all red like most brown hair dyes. But I thought I'd try something new. I thought that Deeply Bronze Brown would be like the picture on the box - Deeply Brown but a bit more golden. Maybe a bit more flirty summery fun.

I wasn't expecting brown with an ORANGE GLOW.

Damn you, Feria.

Thank God I have some basic ash brown emergency backup Preference in my medicine cabinet*, because I'm leaving for Iowa this damn morning and I'm not going with orange hair. My hair will be fried, but that's what they make conditioner for, right?

Take note: when Feria says bronze, they mean copper pot.

*Yes, I have emergency backup hair color on hand. It could be worse. When I was pregnant, my husband woke up to me sleepwalking and going on and on about how we'd forgotten to take the emergency backup dog out of the closet to feed it on schedule. I was under the delusion that we had two dogs and kept one in the linen closet. Every two days, we'd switch them. Those hormones are fun things, boy howdy!

Edited to add: Oh, to hell with it. Dr. Pig (aka my husband, but that's a story for another time) says it's not that bad. Granted, he's red-green colorblind, but I'm having faith. Plus, his cousin owns a hair salon (written up in several fashion mags for their excellent color work) so I might just get Cousin to fix it. Cousin went into hair to "meet chicks." He's an interesting guy. God only knows what I'd end up with but I'll bet it would be fabulous.

Gone Daddy Gone

Name the band.

We are getting ready to make our annual 4th of July pilgrimage to Iowa. My husband hails from Iowa. We are driving. I am somewhat less than excited about making said drive with a three-year-old.

My current projects had quite the dust-up over who gets to go on the trip. The winners:

Soleil

The Artyarns silk is striping. Now that I'm out of the lace repeats, the stripes are fairly narrow so I'm letting the yarn do what it wants. I'll figure out how to keep an approximation of the same striping when I divide for the top.

Cookie
I can finish this one on said trip.

Fiery Bolero
Soul-crushingly boring. Perfect for knitting while driving through the wasteland that is Missouri between Joplin and Kansas City. Seriously, there ain't nothin' between Joplin and Kansas City unless you feel like a side trip.

I finished the Flower Basket Shawl. 4 rows to go and I had to buy an extra skein of yarn. Grr. But it's pretty and will look great after a good blocking. I'm usually pretty lax about blocking my sweaters. I take out all my blocking aggression on lace projects.


I might have bought something


Alot of something. Something being 1440 yds. of Cherry Tree Hill Oceania in the Fall Foliage colorway (the toop pic is more accurate). The yarn is a wonderfully springy boucle with just a touch of shiny in it. Already on it's way to becoming The Neverending Shawl (their name). Or, rather, a smaller version of said shawl. Their version uses the whole 1440 yds and measures 73 inches from this way to that way and 52 inches from here to there. I'm only 61 inches tall. I think it might be just a tad long on me.

The two cakes stacked on each other are connected. I wound the first smaller cake of yarn and then thought about it and got a bit irked that even though it's one skein of yarn, I was still going to have ends to weave in because no one has a ball winder that big. So, I wound a big fat cake from about half of the remaining yarn and then found the other end and wound from that direction. The downside is that this is not a portable project. But hey, only two ends to weave in!

Fresh hell update

Yes, it's Dorothy Parker. Said in response to the doorbell ringing.

Bean's toe is fine - I have to soak it a few times a day. OK, the ped actually said,, "Just take her swimming or something." I almost asked if I could come over and use his pool...

He has no clue what the head rash/bald thing is and said to use dandruff shampoo for a couple of weeks to see if it gets better that way. The treatment for ringworm on your scalp involves an ungodly two months of oral antibiotics and he's not convinced that's what is wrong. So, dandruff shampoo and, if it doesn't improve, a visit to a pediatric dermatologist. She's already got the pediatric opthalmologist so why not, hey.

And it's 96 in the shade.

On the bright side, I'm almost finished reknitting the sleeves for Ines. Seaming is going to be a bitch but it will be fun. Like a puzzle.

What fresh hell is this?

Bonus points if you can tell me who said that and why!

I know I've been whining alot lately what with the wreck and the water heater and all the other crap that has rained down upon us lately. But I'm beginning to wonder about the sheer amount of small things that can go wrong. I'll be spending tomorrow at the pediatrician's. Bean has an ingrown toenail. Then, she starts scratching her head and I take a look and there is a bald spot with a rash. Lovely. How we missed that to the point where she now has a quarter-sized bald spot I'll never know. I brush that child's hair several times a day. It's probably ringworm caught from school. At least it doesn't look anything like lice. Plus, she was sick with a cold this weekend and my husband now has said cold.

This is getting ridiculous. Are we wearing big signs on our backs that says CURSED or something?

Please, God, whatever I did I'm sorry. Really. No, REALLY. We do heartily bewail our manifold sins and wickedness.

Now, can I have a nice week?

Let the sun shine!

Soleil is certainly brightening my day! I cast on last night, totally screwed up the join, knit a few rows and ripped. Redid it today and I'm up to Row 6 on the first lace chart repeat. It's going to be interesting to see what the Artyarns Regal Silk* (color 127) does in this pattern. Right now, it's pooling, but in a very nice way. I'll put up a picture when I have a bit more knit. Right now, it's a thin line that would photograph like hell.

The front of Cookie is also underway. It looks like the back...

* When I bought the yarn in February, it was called Royal Silk. On the Artyarns web site, it's now "regal" silk.

Is is Friday yet?

Damn, I'm tired. And I just spent a truly ungodly amount of money on a new water heater and a few other plumbing issues. The good news, I realized that the water heater was on it's last legs before it actually failed.

Hubster had to be at work at 6am today. Because he is a lovely, considerate man, he slept in the guest room and laid all of his stuff out so he wouldn't wake me up at 4:45am. Because he is has a PhD, he forgot half his stuff necessitating several trips into the bedroom anyway. So, I've been up since 5am. I was looking forward to a nice nap this afternoon and had Bean talked into a nap as well when a good friend of mine had something rather traumatic come up and needed to come over. They stayed all afternoon and I cooked dinner for everyone. It was fun and she has certainly been there for me when I needed it, but I am beat like a rug. It's going to be an early night for Liz. This has not been a week conducive to knitting.

Dogs for sale

Yesterday morning, Bean and I were going to SuperTarget (Motto: It's Shopping Crack!). I open the garage door and up trot two Australian Shepherds. My husband and I corner them, put our dog in the house and the loose dogs in our yard and call the owners. Guy comes and gets the dogs. Bean and I go back out to go to the store and here comes the older dog again, all ready to move in. We finally got her settled back at her house and went to the store.

Yesterday afternoon, Molly, our dog, starts going ape in the living room. I walk out and see a yard full of beagles. With no humans in sight. OK, it was only two beagles but if you've ever been around beagles you know that two pretty much equates a yard full. We corner these dogs and I get two leashes. We call the owners who don't answer. One beagle has an address tag a few houses down so I take the beagles down there. I ran into my neighbor's friend who owns one of the dogs. Guy was very grateful but I think he thought I was a teenager or something because he offered me a dollar for my trouble.

Husband decides that Father's Day must be Leave Your Gate Open Day in another country.

Yesterday evening, Molly goes ape again and I jokingly comment that it must be another dog. Jokes on me because it was another dog. From across the street.

You'd have to be Wes Anderson to get away with making a movie of this shit.

Knitathon

Clap On


Clap Off

Hideous pun I know, but I couldn't resist. The fabric the Artyarns Silk was producing was not sturdy enough to show off the dropped stitches. I could have gone down to a 5US, but there was something about it that just was not working. I find it interesting that Artyarns recommends a 7US needle for this yarn. I can't see it. I think it will work divinely for Soleil (which is knit with US5). I realize that I am not discussing gauge at all here and that gauge is more important than needle size. But I usually knit fairly true to gauge on a yarn so it's really odd for me to have to go down two needle sizes to get a fabric I like.


A cap sleeve top for Bean. Knit out of some Pingouin Corrida something (3 or 5 I can't remember) that has been marinating in my stash for a long time. Long enough for Pingouin to go out of business!


The back of the Cookie Sweater. Also for Bean. Knit in Cotton Ease. I knit the largest size which is supposedly a 3-4 year. This sweater is 32 inches around. That's one big 3-year-old. I added 6 rows to the stockinette section to balance the width out. This will be rather large on my daughter this fall, but I hate to put in all this effort for something she can only wear for one season. And she's growing like a weed. She's gone from a size 7 shoe to a size 8 in three months.

Panic button

Go read this. Warning, put beverages down before reading.

Dude, typing whilst under the influence of sake is really freaking hard. I spent the better part of this afternoon having the worst panic attack I've had in quite some time. Sake is a good cure. I may regret it tomorrow, but I'm in a really good mood right now!

I think I'm going to rip Clapotis and use the Artyarns Silk to make Soleil instead. I'm not feeling the love on the clap this time and I hate to waste yarn. Much less really lux yarn. The ripping will probably occur tomorrow but I'm betting it's going to be a while before I start again.

It's my party!

Although I have no inclination to cry. It's my birthday today! I was greeted with my recalcitrant child telling me that she didn't want me to come get her but rather Hubster. She made up for it by later singing a very nice rendition of Happy Birthday to me.

I promised knitting pics yesterday and didn't quite get to them. Here they are:


A sock for the Bean. I'm calling it the BroadBean sock. It's an adaptation of the Broadripple sock I modified it to work with sportweight yarn and to fit a toddler and also so that the pattern on the top of the foot rather than all the way around. I find that patterns on my soles bug me. I thought Bean and I could put some puffy fabric paint on the soles and she could wear these as "slipper socks" this winter.


The Flower Basket Shawl for my mother. I finished the sixth repeat. One more repeat to go and then the edging!


The Artyarns Silk Clapotis has been pulled out of the "later" basket. I'm still not sure I like this yarn as Clapotis, but I can't think of anything else to do with this yarn and I am definitely enjoying knitting with it. I wanted to come up with a lace pattern. I couldn't really find anything I thought would work and the colorway needs a pattern that shows off the variegation.


Pieces of the felted bag from the kit Maureen made up for me during SP4. I haven't knitted with Lamb's Pride before. Very enjoyable. I'm having fun deciding on a color pattern.

I'm also to the heel on the Beige Dad Socks for my Father. And seaming Ines, although it will be too hot to wear her until this fall.

So far, it's a very nice day.

There is knitting going on. A sock has been completed. A heel has been turned (on a different pair of socks, natch). The Flower Basket Shawl has been allowed back in competition and it's sixth repeat has been completed. Much other knitting as well.

Pictures will have to wait until tomorrow because Birthday Week is commencing with dinner out with a few of the girls tonight. In my neighborhood playgroup, four of us have birthdays in the next 10 days! We're going out for Thai food. Nevermind that I went to a party last night where Thai food was served.

I think maybe sushi tomorrow.

Grumpy

There are a few other dwarves around here along with some of the Duffs as well.

The Biddy Who Hit Me (you can substitute another word of one syllable for Biddy if you so desire) has cooked up a story that we were both changing lanes at the same time. While this is patently untrue, there are no witnesses and no physical evidence on either car to prove either story. Ergo, her insurance is going to give me zip to get my car fixed. This means I either have to cover the costs myself or go through my insurance. I have a $500 deductible and the major damage to the car is a bent rim ($129 to repair) and a dent in the door that might cost around $500 to fix. Yes, there are scratches down the side of the car, but I can fix that myself. There are scratches all over the damn car, so I could care less as long as they won't rust.

What irks me is that TBWHM is being such a jerk about the whole thing. She was easily in her seventies and looked at me (dressed in workout clothes) like I was some irresponsible teenager. She decided it had to be my fault. Lady, I'm going to be 41 on Tuesday. You never expressed the least bit of concern about my health or the health of my child. You can tell me all you want about how you were going to your church group, but it's words not deeds, honey and your actions show that you haven't the slightest clue about what it means to be a good person. Here's hoping you come back as a cockroach. I've got Raid.

The second half of our trip. We travelled back roads so one of us always had to navigate so there was very little knitting time.


Friday night we stayed in a caboose! There was a picnic table and a nice gas grill outside. Not that we cooked. We drove into Marble Falls and had a noteworthy meal at Cafe 909. You do not expect a restaurant of this caliber in such a small town. I had sweetbreads to start and had to restrain myself from licking the plate.


The view out the front door of the caboose.


The interior looking back from the front door. In the very back is a queen bed. To my immediate right are two tiny bunks and to my left is a small loveseat. There was a tiny kitchenette where the wood paneling ends, the world's smallest bathroom is behind the paneling, and, opposite the kitchenette, you could climb up into the cupola into two tiny benches.

Saturday we drove to Fredericksburg when we went to the Fredericksburg Herb Farm where I bought "Sniffle Relief" shower gel, lotion, and a candle. This stuff honestly works!

My indulgent husband also let me stop in at Stonehill Spinnery.



Two skeins of mohair from El Coyote Ranch. Yes, I know, I hate mohair. It makes me itch. It makes me sneeze. But this is not a really hairy mohair and it is a sublime color with a sublime sheen. I had to have it. And it's from a small Texas producer which makes it even more fun.

Also, a huge skein of handpainted Woolpak 8-ply. Not sure what I'll do with this. Stonehill doubles Woolpak as their main felting yarn. I think the variegation would really be pretty in a bag.


And, I succumbed. I bought an Ashford drop spindle and a bag of roving. I also learned why they call it a drop spindle at which point Hubster and I decided that we needed to carry out further experimentation at home on the carpet rather than on the restored floors of a 1901 Victorian hotel.

Then we went to Becker and Fall Creek wineries. Fall Creek makes excellent wine and the best mustard I've ever had. Becker makes award-winning wines that are beginning to get national notice.


The Becker Winery


A small house on the property.

Curses!

The woman who ran into me has decided that I was changing lanes at the same time she was, which is why we collided. This is patently untrue, but no one was kind enough to take time out their busy day to stop and be a witness, so it's her word against mine. Which means I'm screwed. I'm trying not to be bitter but with only moderate success. I almost always stop to give the people in an accident my name and number. It's irksome when karma refuses to return the favor. I guess I could track down the number of the bus next to me, but I'm not sure that would help.

The good thing is that, although the estimate was $2000 worth of damage to my car, most of it was minor scratches, so there is just one big dent and a bent rim that I would have to fix. If worse comes to worse, I'm going to get an estimate on those two things and see what it would cost for me to get them fixed myself rather than going through my insurance. I really don't want my rates to go up because of a bunch of scratches on my car. I can live with scratches. The car is five years old and already has a ton of scratches.

I alternate between wanting to cry about the whole thing and then realizing that it's just a damn car. I'm fine and, even more importantly, my daughter is fine. I'm blessed by that. Oh, to hell with it, I hope the old bat is affflicted with incurable and highly embarrasing personal itching.

Now, if only I had a few minutes to sit down and KNIT. Hubster doesn't get home until late and Bean goes to bed in half an hour. After she goes to sleep, I'm going to pour a glass of wine and get out a sock.