It all becomes clear

Bean has been almost as whiny as I have been.

Bean now has strep.

I also have strep.

Might explain the whiny, no?

Stash sale on Ravelry. If you aren't on Ravelry, I'm a horrible person but I just don't feel like updating here. I'll try to post the remains tomorrow once the antibiotics kick in.

gripe gripe gripe

Tired and cranky seems to be the order of the week. Dunno why as life is good, but even The Bean is a bit off. I think some of it has to do with our wildly fluctuating weather and the tremendous winds we've been having. I sleep long and hard, but seemingly not very well as it's all I can do to get myself out of bed in order to get Bean up for school.

Today I must go to the gym, the Post Office and I have to go to the mall to return something. At least they have coffee at the mall.

I'm not posting because it does me no good to put up a big whiny post, and who wants to read that crap? I mean really. We're all tired of winter. Even when my winter includes a gloriously mild and sunny day like today.

I'll post D another day. Maybe a side effect of the mild winter is that it'll be hot pretty soon. I like hot weather. I know, I'm sick, but I kind of miss the summers when we'd all wonder if we'd break the record for the number of days over 100F. I didn't even have central air conditioning for 7 years and I miss the heat!

Unable To Progress

Lizzy has been sitting on the coffee table with half a sleeve seamed and the needle still stuck in the fabric for a week now.

I did manage to rip and reknit a portion of one of the socks I am working on, but all that means is that I am back where I started.

The outlaws arrived this week for an extended stay. Thankfully, they will be in a hotel for a week before staying with us, but it's shaping up to be a looooooooong week.

As usual for the past month or so, I've managed to overschedule myself to the point of craziness. The only plus is that I had my hair cut on Wednesday and I look faaaaaaabulous and have a major party to attend on Saturday at which I can show off my faaaaaaaabulous!

Today, I have to buy underwear and go to the grocery and get fixings for tortilla soup. I lead such a thrilling life.

Teef

Bean has had two loose teeth for several months now. The permanent teeth (lower fronts) are growing in behind the baby teeth. Last Friday, I saw that one was about ready to come out, and I just pushed down on it and et voila! Tooth Fairy Time.

Bean remarked that she was fairly certain that the Tooth Fairy brings "golden coins". I had just been to the Post Office and purchased stamps from the machine with a 10 dollar bill. Change is given in coins.

Dollar coins.

Sacajawea dollars.

Golden Sacajawea dollars!

Mama hit the jackpot on that one and Bean was mightily impressed with her golden dollar.

The remaining tooth became the Leaning Tower of Toof and listed and wobbled but hung stubbornly for the next few days. Yesterday, I decided that I had enough wobble to pop that one out. (Yeah, cringe all you want but it wasn't half as gross as The Wobbly Fang*. Plus, I started to get worried that she was going to fall or something and that sticky-outy tooth was going to go through her lip. She already has a bruise on the bridge of her nose from some injury during a playdate on Monday.)

I was out of the house at bedtime and Daddy forgot to give her the tooth to put under the pillow. The Tooth Fairy figured it out anyway.

*If I ever open a pub in England, I think I'm going to call it The Wobbly Fang.

Vote for me!

No really, go vote here NOW please.

My sad tale is at the bottom. There are two Liz's, I'm the one who received a Fry Daddy for Valentine's Day.

I'll give you a few more details than I did in my comment.

Once upon a time, I was working full-time and getting my MBA part-time. I was a busy little bee. And I started dating this guy who was not so much Mr. Right as Mr. Right Now. At the first of our relationship, he had redeeming qualities, but over the course of the next year the redeeming qualities revealed themselves basically to be a silk dress on a pig. He was racist, inflexible and nothing was EVER his fault.

But, I really didn't see that much of him and I was just not up for what I knew would be the inevitable fallout from dumping him. So, I let things drag on and lo and behold, here was Valentine's Day.

He gave me a Presto Fry Daddy.

Now, I have never fried food at home. It's too messy and at that time I had a teensy galley kitchen original to the 1920s when my apartment had been built. The fridge was new, but I had my suspicions about the tiny range.

I'll eat fried food out, but mainly french fries. I'm just not a big fried food person.

But he got me a Fry Daddy as evidence of his undying love. Yes, he actually wrote that in the card.

He lasted about two weeks after that before I pulled the plug.

Doesn't that deserve a quick little vote?

C is for Chowder

Mmmm, corn chowder.


Recipe adapted from Real Simple

6 slices of thick cut bacon
1 large yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of black pepper
1/2 tsp of paprika
dash of cayenne pepper (according to how hot you like it)
20 oz frozen corn
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk (whole or 2%)
salt and pepper to taste
sliced scallions for garnish

In a 5 qt casserole, fry the bacon. Chop/crumble the bacon and put aside.

Pour off the fat and add back 1 1/2 tablespoons. Do not wipe out pot! Add onions and cook over medium heat until soft. Add the garlic, paprika, salt, pepper, and cayenne and cook for another couple of minutes, stirring often. Add corn (still frozen is fine) and cook for another couple of minutes. Add broth and milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes with the lid off the pan.

If you have a stick blender, use this to puree the soup to your desired consistency. I like it fairly smooth will small bits of corn. You can leave it pretty chunky, or puree it to be totally smooth. If you don't have a stick blender, let the soup cool until it's just warm and then process in batches in the blender. DO NOT put hot liquids in your blender as the top may come off and spatter your kitchen with chowder.

Serve topped with bacon and scallions. You'll notice there are no scallions in my picture because the scallions at the store were all pretty nasty looking.

This soup freezes well. I usually put a little baggie of crumbled bacon in the freezer along with the soup.

Tired and cranky is the new black

I'm overcommitted, as usual. And under-rested.

Last night, Bean suddenly developed the screaming heebie-jeebies that burglars were going to break into her room and take stuff. She saw a shadow on the wall (a tree) and, quite simply, freaked the hell out.

I ended up letting her sleep with me and Dr. Pig slept in the guest room. Normally, this wouldn't fly with us, but she was terribly upset. I put her to bed in our room and went back later. When I got into bed, she pretty much wrapped herself around me and slept that way. (Well, she slept. I don't sleep so well with a leech attached.) That alone lets me know we made the right decision on sleeping arrangements, because she's never, ever done this before. Normally, if she has a bad dream, she'll get into bed with us for a few minutes and then go back to her own room.

Hopefully, she'll get over it today, because the whole sleeping with Mom thing is not going to become a habit. Yeah, yeah, famous last words and all that, but I sleep poorly enough as it is. I'm not inviting a hyper monkey to sleep with me. The way she flips around in her sleep, you'd think she was spring-loaded.

So, if anyone has any advice about how to get a small child over the fear of burglars (extensive discussions of the fact that we have a locked gate on the backyard, a dog, and a burglar alarm were to no avail), I'd appreciate it.

Breakneck speed

Bean has a doctor appointment this afternoon and I'm picking her up a bit early from school because, although I remembered that her first soccer practice is tomorrow night, I completely forgot that she might need oh, say, sweatpants since it'll be in the 30s and maybe some cleats and, you know, soccer clothes. Somehow I don't think pink polka-dotted tights, a flippy skirt, cowboy boots and a princess cape will cut it on the soccer field.

Tomorrow and Friday, I get to have some extended "me time". I'm going to a two-day class with Fiona Ellis!!! The cable portion sounds fun, but I'm really looking forward to learning more about fair isle and sweater design (one whole day on how to design your own sweaters!).

You've heard of sick and tired? I'm tired of sickness.

Bean has a persistent cough; no fever just a bad cough. She was treated with antibiotics a couple of weeks ago for "walking pneumonia". I had the cough as well, but my doctor just gave me hallucinogenic cough syrup. We were both doing better until Dr. Pig came down with The Cough. I nagged him all week to call his doctor. He still hasn't done it and now the whole family has The Cough again.

I had to sit Dr Pig down and explain to him that no, it's wasn't a piece of toast lodged in his throat, the fact that he swallowed wrong, or anything else that was causing the cough because those things make you cough for a few minutes rather than TWO WEEKS and that by not getting it treated, he was reinfecting the rest of us thankyouverymuch. So, now I have to make an new appointment for Bean and call my doctor. I did manage to convince Dr. Pig (obviously, he's not a medical doctor) that he needed to call his doctor ASAP today. I swear a PhD just pushes every single bit of common sense straight out of the brain.

Poetry

Lines and Squares

by A.A. Milne

Whenever I walk in a London street,

I'm ever so careful to watch my feet;

And I keep in the squares,

And the masses of bears,

Who wait at the corners all ready to eat

The sillies who tread on the lines of the street,

Go back to their lairs,

And I say to them, "Bears,

Just look how I'm walking in all the squares!"

And the little bears growl to each other, "He's mine,

As soon as he's silly and steps on a line."

And some of the bigger bears try to pretend

That they came round the corner to look for a friend;

And they try to pretend that nobody cares

Whether you walk in the lines or the squares.

But only the sillies believe their talk;

It's ever so portant how you walk,

And it's ever so jolly to call out, "Bears,

Just watch me walking in all the squares!"

B is for Bernice

A new toy

My first ever sewing machine. A Bernina Bernette 82e. Dr. Pig keeps referring to it as a "Bernice".

Because I really need a new hobby.

I hemmed Bean's Girl Scout sweatpants. They had been previously held up by that iron-on tape stuff and the force of my will. Now, maybe they'll actually stay up!

I going to take some beginning sewing classes so I can learn to read a pattern and how to really sew something. My hope is that I can learn enough to make a few simple sundresses for Bean for this summer.

The last week has been Seattle weather combined with seriously strange San Francisco type fog. I can't get decent pictures for the stash sale until I get some sun, so it's postponed for a few days (hopefully).

A bad case of stripes

On the left, a Jaywalker in Madelinetosh sock yarn in Peony. On the right, a plain 64 stitch stockinette sock in STR in Hard Rock. I have no idea why I suddenly had to find a sock for both of these yarns, but I had to and I had to yesterday. (Seriously, I was up until midnight because the Hard Rock was going to behave if I had to stay up all night.)

It took me ages to find a pattern and needle size to get both of these yarns to behave reasonably well. My first attempts resulted in socks that were pink on one side and brown (or gray) on the other. Not exactly what a knitter wants to see.

The Hard Rock was especially worrisome after trying and failing with a Jaywalker. Eventually, I ended up with 64 stitches on size 1 needles as the magic bullet. I'm knitting the Madelinetosh on size 1s as well. I'm a bit worried about that, because that yarn is thinner than the STR. However, the Jaywalker pattern produces an extremely firm fabric, so I'm hoping it will be fine. I'll probably go down to 0s on the foot and hope for flashing rather than pooling.

So much for finishing a few items before casting on for more. At least they are socks and not sweaters. And, I did say I'd knit 10 pairs of socks this year...

Teaching

My mother has a friend who is knitting caps for Army members in Iraq. Mom knitted a little bit quite a while ago, but never really picked it up so I'm teaching her.

It's been interesting. She's really eager to learn and a good student, but she's terrified of messing things up. Right now, I have her knitting a swatch. I told her that once she could knit more than five rows without me needing to see her work, I'd get her started on the hat ;>

I gave her the pair of In Vino Veritas Monkey socks. The more I saw the color develop, I sort of knew that those socks would be for her. They ended up the tiniest bit long for me, so they fit her perfectly. She was delighted and could barely bring herself to take them from me - although once she put them on she changed her mind!

I don't do well at knitting for others on a deadline, but I have no problem giving away a finished item. I start out knitting almost everything for me, but at some point, I'll start to feel a slight distance from the project. It's not a "crap, this is not going well and it's pissing me off" distance, it's just that I think my subconscious realizes that the finished item belongs with someone else.

I've been sorting through my stash and am planning a stash sale for next Monday. Rowan Kid Classic, Rowan Cork, Cotton Ease in the original bright colors, Alchemy Lone Star, Seacoast Handpainted sock yarn, Trekking XXL, Koigu, and lots of Socks That Rock including some 2006 Sock Club kits - yarn and pattern. There are probably a few things I'm forgetting, as well. Buy my stuff!!!

Getting it done

At long last, I finished the collar on Bookworm.

The collar instructions didn't make any sense to me, so I changed them up so the cable cross on the collar was a bit higher up. The collar is a bit short, so for next year I'll take out the bind-off and do one more repeat of the cable cross for some additional length. I'll probably have to lengthen the sleeves for her as well, so it'll all work out.

I knit the 2-3 year width and then knit about two inches longer than the 4-5 year length. It's a bit long this year, but it looks cute. I've found that many Rowan children's patterns are extremely wide, so I always size down in width. What I love about the Miss Bea's patterns is that they are very easily adapted for a larger child. I can see getting another 2 or 3 years of use out of my Miss Bea's pattern books. And, since many of the patterns use Rowan All Seasons Cotton, my stash of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease comes in very handy! For this one, I had a large stash of All Seasons Cotton (17 skeins for $40 on Ebay a few years ago).




I started a new sock, as well.












Embossed Leaves from Interweave. The yarn is Handmaiden Casbah in Seafoam. This yarn is indescribably luscious. The color variegations are light enough that they don't obscure the pattern. Normally, I loathe mint green with a passion, but it works here.

So, that's one more sweater off the WIP List and the second pair of socks started out of my 10 pair that I will knit this year. (I am trying to knit 10 pairs of socks, rather than a bunch of sad singletons as is my usual wont.)

Mission Possible

My goals:

1. Finish Something Red. All I have to do is knit the neck and fronts, but there it sits.
2. Reknit the top half of Soleil into something that fits.
3. Finish CeCe
4. Knit Anne Hanson’s Twinings Stole for my mother.
5. Figure out where I went wrong on Bless and reknit that part and finish it.
6. Finish the Lace Wings scarf.
7. Finish Vintage Velvet scarf.
8. Finish the Log Cabin socks.
9. Knit 10 pair of socks
10. Knit Simurgh
11. Have stash sale
12. Knit fair isle vest from Rowan (can’t remember pattern name)

This is a fairly modest set of goal, since many of the projects are at the halfway mark or beyond. However, the 10 pairs of socks and the stash sale are musts. I have some lovely yarns that are too heavy for Texas (Rowan Kid Classic and the like), the wrong color for me, or things that I am just not going to knit. As for the socks, I have lots of sock yarn relative to the number of socks I have completed.

However, to that end I present Drunk Monkeys!


It's a lousy day, so I had trouble getting a bright shot, but in this one, at least the color is accurate.








The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy and the colorway is In Vino Veritas. I was a bit iffy on the colorway at first, but now I love it. I have plenty of socks in bright colors, so this is a bit of an antidote.

I love knitting this pattern because it goes quickly and the pattern is quite fun in a wide variety of yarns.

And the Oscar goes to...

Last week, Bean came home from school very, very tired and had the subsequent meltdown. During which she hit me on the arm. I told her that, if she did it again, she'd be going to her room. Predictably, she did it again and was sent to her room amidst much wailing and gnashing of teeth and door slamming.

After listening to piteous sobbing for a few minutes, I took her the kitchen timer so she'd know when she could come out.

I open the door and she's got a framed photo of the family in her hands and she's touching my picture. She turns to me and, between sobs, says, "I'm just trying to remember what you look like when you smile."

To my eternal credit, I did not laugh.

Until after she went to bed. At which point I laughed so hard I scared the dog.

A is for Anticipation

And Alchemy!




Alchemy Synchronicity
Rich Berry

What will it be?

Dizzy Lizzy

While I'm working up to face the Bless debacle, I decided I needed to cast on for a quick bit of gratification.

I've loved the Lizzy sweater in Naturally Noro since the book came out.

It has all of the characteristics I like most in a sweater. It's mostly stockinette with one key detail, in this case the ruffles, providing a bit of a punch. It has 3/4 sleeves!

I was very interested to read Stephanie's post about good quality yet inexpensive wool. It got me thinking about how I choose my own sweaters.

I'm short and I don't like bulk in my sweaters. No worsted cables for me. It isn't very cold here so, as much as I love wool, I have to be really careful about the design of the wool sweaters I knit. I've been knitting for 17 years or so and I have yet to knit a pullover sweater in wool. I need to be able to let the front hang open or I'll bake. Several years back, I bought enough Noro (color 124) to knit Butterfly. Then, I started hearing about how warm and toasty the sweater was. And this was from people who live in actual cold weather! Made me think twice. Ergo, Lizzy. It only uses 7-8 skeins of Kureyon.

Here she is!











I have the fronts and the sleeves completed. The fronts mostly match. I tried to pick two skeins of yarn that started pretty identical and got lucky with the rest. The color sequence changes at the top where I had to add a skein, but it's similar enough to not bug me at all.

This is pretty much instant gratification as far as the main part of the sweater. It's been soothing to have something quick. Even the ruffles look pretty simple. Only 5 rows! And it's SO much fun to watch the stripes emerge.

Ignorance is Bless

A few months ago, I dug Bless out of her hiding spot and seamed her up. Then, she went back into hibernation, awaiting only a collar and her ends.

I knew the sweater wasn't fitting quite right, but I told myself all it needed was a good blocking. I tried it on yesterday. Blocking isn't going to fix one arm being two inches shorter than the other. Rats!














See where the right side looks a bit shorter at the collar and the armhole doesn't look as deep?

The hopeful person thinks, "Ah, it's just laying funny."

The hopeful person deludes themselves into thinking, "All I need to do is put a collar on this sucker and weave in the ends and Bingo!, new sweater."

I'm facing the reality that I'm going to have to diligently count every row on the good sleeve and then figure out if the problem with the bad sleeve (Bad sleeve! No biscuit!) is in only in the raglan (I know at least part of the problem is there) or in the sleeve as well (Next on News8! When sleeves go bad!).

Sigh...