much ado about knitting

2003-08-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

Done.

www.muchadoaboutknitting.net is up and appears to be functioning pretty much as intended. I will be copying archive pages there soon, but if you have this site bookmarked, you may replace that link with www.muchadoaboutknitting.net/blog.html. See you there!

2003-08-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

I've talked myself (thankfully) out of going to Home Depot. I realized that my dear one will have to work a shift before coming home, so I will be able to pick up the rest of the tiles in the city when I'm there tomorrow, bring them home, and finish installing them.

So today, I've said to myself (in the words of the boy), "I'll make you up a deal..." every 45 minutes of cleaning this place up gets me 15 minutes of time to finish working on the site. Let's see how much progress I can wring out of this artificial motivational construct...

2003-08-01T02:31:00.000-07:00

Things I should definitely, definitely know by this point in my home improvement career:
1) Measure twice (thrice?), buy once.
2) Never, ever trust my husband's judgment of what scraps are worth saving without careful examination of same first.

Yes, I am probably going to Home Depot again tomorrow. I would rather drive two hours than leave the job in the near-done state it is in. Since my man has been home once, for a few hours, during the month of July, I really want him to have a good impression of the little improvements I've been chipping away at here while he's been slaving away over there. And a 3/4 done job on the bathroom floor isn't going to bolster that impression any. It also drives me to distraction.

In better news, it should look very nice when complete, and dear husband found a babysitter for dear boy for Saturday afternoon so that we can do the big final cleanup push at the old house. Our old neighbor, the electrician, and her daughter are really fond of him and vice versa, so he should have a fun day.

2003-07-31T23:11:00.000-07:00

Well now, that was one fun ball game. And I learned that I will never again venture into the ball park without a nice vial of ibuprofen in hand. I think it's a combination of going from an altitude of 3000 feet or so to sea level, plus the noise levels, plus different subsets of allergens--but in any case, it results in one monster headache and there are no painkillers to be purchased anywhere at the field. (Not legally, at any rate.) Yow. But fun, and my kiddo got a game ball from the bench coach. I don't get to indulge my inner baseball geek often enough.

If I hadn't driven 175 miles today, I might be done with my site. (Well, as done as a site driven by a blog will ever be.) As it is, I'm not, quite, and I'm going to take a break and go lay down some tile in the bathroom. Before driving home this a.m., I stopped at the Home Despot to pick up a few more tiles to go along with the 1/2 box left over from the kitchen job. I like doing this kind of thing at night--it's always fun when there's something for the little guy to discover in the morning when he hops out of bed.

I gotta say, this whole house sale thing has put a serious dent in my knitting time. Usually when we go someplace, my husband drives and I happily knit. But he's been in the city since the 1st, so I've been doing all my own driving. Send my chaffeur home soon!

2003-07-30T01:32:00.000-07:00

Just spent most of the evening dealing with a certain item on my procrastination list. I should be able to upload my new site (not complete, but close) in 48 hours or so, thus sayeth my web host.

Baseball game tomorrow. I should double-check the start time, as I have to drive 90 minutes to get there. (Never mind; it's 7:05.) As far as I know, the park isn't selling Not Dogs, but maybe the kiddo will go for the garlic fries. We'll be right behind the dugout, so I can keep an eye on Edgar. It's only a little crush, and since we don't have television service, it's only rarely indulged. My kiddo is more interested in this member of the roster... Something for everybody, I suppose.

I've been poking around our house recently, trying to figure out the hows and whys of the dropped ceiling in the living room. Tentative analysis: it could be removed--there would be hassle involved and the east and west ends of the room would be lower than the middle, but we would gain 8-12" in height over most of the room, and, more importantly, I wouldn't have to paint the damned thing. Additionally, a troublemaker got me to wondering what was under *our* dining room carpet. (What is it with carpeted dining rooms, anyway? To make matters worse, ours is cream and tan.) I'm not positive, but it looks like floorboards (as opposed to plywood underlayment) underneath, and the carpet pad wasn't glued to them. Clearly, this is not the time to bring this up to my husband--he has been struggling with the floors at the other house for over a week. But we have successfully refinished floors in the past. (He just consciously skipped a step this time and is paying for it dearly.)

2003-07-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

It is, as they say, 95F in the shade. I took the kiddo to swim lessons this a.m. and never bothered to take off the top portion of my swimming suit. Trying to spend as much time as possible in the bedroom with the a/c.

I did finish the neck and shoulder shaping on Cashel last night, and not only did I remember what I was doing when converting the bound off to be sewn shoulders to short-rowed shoulders ready for three-needle cast off, I also learned a new decrease: slip slip purl. I'll need to refer The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques for awhile, but I love learning anything new.

On that note, choosing a very easy Alice Starmore pattern as my first aran attempt seems to have been a very good move. Controversy about copyrights and trademarks aside, her patterns really are beautifully written, and the charting system she uses is very intuitive. Now I merely have to make two more sleeves and then sew it up.

I think I'll go droop, wilt, and work on my website. I don't have to move much to do that.

2003-07-29T02:25:00.000-07:00

I am going to quickly recreate a post I just lost. I'm actually kind of happy about it, as *I* lost it, which is much easier to swallow than Blogger's routine vanishing act.

Since I've been painting instead of finishing my site, and therefore have no pictures to document my lovely new room, I'm taking you on a verbal tour of my favorite things. I'm not sure when I established the theme, but for some time, our bedroom has been the repository for beautiful handmade gifts. Seeing them all together, evidence of so much talent, careful artisanry, and love, makes me very happy.

Beginning with the bed. Right now, it's sporting the summer quilt, a crazy quilt crafted from garage sale and thrift store finds, bordered with photo transfers of my husband and I at various points of our lives. The main body of the quilt also incorporates photo transferred excerpts of our correspondence--we courted from afar for about 8 months before we lived together, and carried on a platonic exchange for many years before that. The quilt was a wedding present from our friend Wendy

When the cold winds howl, we'll switch to our beautiful winter quilt, thick purple and red flannel backed with polar fleece, made for us by my loving sister-in-law. Never will you meet someone with so much talent and such a generous heart. She also embellished a series of heart-shaped pillows in a very rich Victorian motif--think velvets, brocades, beadwork, embroidery. One graces our bed, another (with a deeply fringed lower edge) hangs nearby, and a series of three is suspended above the closet.

There's a window above the bed, where I've used an inexpensive curtain rod and brackets from IKEA to drape some old handkerchiefs passed on to us by my great-grandmother (my knitting Nana) and my husband's grandmother. There are nine of them, layered, and curtain rod is about 1 1/2" in diameter, giving the whole affair some depth. It's a little like the mantel pictured here.

Also next to the bed is a quilted wall hanging, a wedding gift from my dearest and oldest friend, made by her and her mom almost eight years ago.

On the bookshelves, there's a lamp with a round metal base and a metal arm that arcs from the base up to the socket. It once had a cerulean glass shade, but when my husband shattered it, I made a new shade from red, gold, and bronze glass seed beads and wire. The bookshelves are also home to two bears I owned growing up, passed along to my little dearie.

Atop the dresser is a family portrait taken by my brother-in-law. It's a terrific black & white shot, very funny. My husband is looking at the camera, rather seriously, I am turned toward him, speaking and laughing, and the boy is on my knee, also looking at the camera, but making a very silly squinched up face. There's also a brushed steel clock acquired with a gift certificate given my husband for his 40th birthday.

On the wall to the left of the door, there's a framed cross-stitch of the Shaker tune, "Simple Gifts." My aunt made this as another wedding gift, and not only is it a nice design, I'm extra appreciative because I know that she realized she'd made a major error when she was almost finished and started the entire piece over.

On the floor, an area rug crocheted from strips of torn fabric, a gift from another aunt. I'm looking forward to the day when I have a keen enough grasp of crochet to understand how this was wrought--it's very cool.

And last, not a handmade gift but a beautiful fabric a friend brought home from India, and which she used to wrap a nursing pillow for our baby shower. More red and purple. It's been pressed into service as a curtain camouflaging some built-in shelves.

I'm really happy with how the room looks now. The furniture arrangement has to be fairly static, but painting the canvas behind all of these objects a calm and peaceful blue, adding a bookcase, and generally spiffing things up has made it a better space. I'm declaring it another one of those crazy ideas that worked out.

2003-07-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

Just noting that I am over myself. I'm thinking I'll just post clipboard with a list of things that actually *do* need to be done next to the water shut-off :~P

On with the day.

2003-07-28T00:16:00.000-07:00

Apparently, I have been relieved of responsibility for turning off my own watering system. A couple of days ago, I just flat out forgot, and realized the following day that one of the neighbors must have discreetly turned it off. This afternoon, I turned the soaker hoses on before starting on some electrical repairs, and 60-90 minutes later, when I was finished and went outside to turn them off, only the hose to the front beds was still running.

Based on past actions, I assume that either pair of next-door neighbors could be responsible. Sometimes I wish I could sort through the BS and call them on their perceptions of us. I don't know. Maybe I'm reading too much into the dynamic, but I really wish they could take a longer view of things and realize that while I may have a big weedy mess of a lawn right now, this summer, it won't always be that way. Don't panic. And yes, I have an extremely gregarious, intense child who is not always the picture of social grace, but we have been talking about *solving problems* every day of his life, presenting him with the conviction that it's always possible. And when my lazy husband is finished fixing up the other house [while working two consecuitve 60 hour weeks], he'll be back to help whip things into shape over here.

Ugh. I shouldn't let all this get under my skin. Too much speculation on my part.

On a happier note, I finished painting, and am about to put the room back together. A few changes here and there, and a new bookcase to replace the plastic bin of kids' books, but the color is the main difference. Our bedroom is filled with beautiful handmade gifts, and we can't rearrange the furniture too radically at the present time, but erasing the ugly color and carefully returning all of the special things is enough to make me very happy. Practically enough to make me forget the silly nonsense of which I was just writing.

I'm hopeful that I'll be able to pull off a quiet morning to work on the neck and front shoulder shaping for Cashel. Lately, by the end of the day, I'm far too exhausted to take on thinking knitting. A few rounds on my sock is about all I can manage, and given my ribbing technique, even that's a stretch at times.

2003-07-27T00:19:00.000-07:00

The truest thing:

Well, if you want to be happy, you have to make me happy.
My kid, age 4

I would modify that slightly, substituting "help me be" for "make me," but he's basically got it. And this makes me very happy, because it's true, and he knows it, without ever having been told so. And it wasn't something said to be manipulative; it was just an observation.

Something my husband said to me a couple of weeks ago when we were working on the other house: "The thing is, you have these crazy ideas, and for some reason they usually work out." Which is something I didn't know he thought. I hope he is pleased with the bedroom (not that I think painting a bedroom pale blue qualifies as a "crazy idea")--I still have to put a second coat on the alcove and the ceiling, but it's perfectly lovely. It's like dissolving the roof and being surrounded by a twilight sky.

One nice thing about the amount of time it's taken me to get him to acquiesce to my color schemes is that by now, I know what color the rooms want to be. My office is a pretty lavender, and has been the only colorful room in the house for over a year. (The time to paint it was my birthday gift two years ago.) It's cool and serene during the day, and takes on an ethereal glow at night. The bedroom, also on the second floor, wanted cool tones as well. The blue I chose is a light midtone, tending toward violet. The living room will be caramel & crimson, the kitchen celadon & crimson, the dining room wants more celadon, and the bathroom whispers, "cantaloupe." My boy's room wants fancy, and I'm hoping his dad will paint him a mural next time his dearies jet off to the Midwest for Grom & Gromps' extended stay luxury hotel.

The bedroom needs a second coat of paint in the alcove and on the ceiling, a bit of touch up here and there, and then it's done. I was hoping to finish tonight, but I've been sleeping five hours at the most lately, and then working hard all day, pushing my bedtime nearly into the territory of the normals.

Unrelated to anything else, I was trying to remember my Myers-Briggs type, and couldn't (IN??). So I retook the mini-test at Humanmetrics.com, and was reminded that it's INFJ. Two profiles of my type are here and here.

Okay, I'm off to sleep in the non-fume-y downstairs bedroom. Actually, I'll read a bit more of The Dive from Clausen's Pier first, then drift off. I know, I'm supposedly reading the Leif Enger book, but I started this at lunch the other day when I didn't want to go find Peace Like a River, and I got completely sucked in.

2003-07-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from my painting for this brief rant on paint companies:

1) Hey, Dutch Boy--the new Twist & Pour container is nice, but where's my other 4 oz. of paint??!

2) And you, Behr, FYI, your flat interior paint "with improved scrubbability!" isn't flat--it's EGGSHELL.

Back to the coal mines.

2003-07-25T23:47:00.000-07:00

Realizing that my husband, of the Dracula shift, will not be home for several more days, I've decided to ignore #4 on my procrastination list (like I wasn't ignoring it already) and paint the bedroom. This is much easier to accomplish when there is only one sleeping shift present in the household. "Oh, don't mind me, honey, I'm just going to put a tarp over the bed and stand on it to paint the ceiling. You go back to sleep."

Some background: since we purchased the house, all the walls have been painted what we can generously call "real estate beige," and which I more commonly refer to as "that horrible putty color." It is not an attractive shade of anything. My husband, however, claims he likes "everything white." Well, fine, but a) this isn't white, it's a horrible dirty looking beige, and b) he liked the color present in our other house.

So, in deference to this stated preference I have been slow in sneaking color into our living spaces. However, the absence of my husband, the realization that I *can* paint a room while my child is hanging around, and the summer heat have all conspired to make me want a blue bedroom once again. My bedroom was blue for much of my childhood, and our bedroom in our old house was a lovely blue I mixed from acrylic paint, added to a glaze and then wiped onto the walls. (Note: the room was 8x12 feet, and I used much less than a tube of three colors of Golden acrylic paints, and less than one pint container of acrylic glazing liquid. This was substantially cheaper than the glaze sold with house paint, and more fun if you're not afraid of mixing colors. A terrific book on the subject is Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green, by Michael Wilcox. There are certainly color theories that diverge from what's going on in this book, but I've found it useful for actually winding up with the colors I want.)

I only got one coat of paint on 1 1/2 walls: it took forever to actually purchase the paint--they mixed semi-gloss instead of flat, and then when I went back to get the error fixed, some poor soul was there to buy nine gallons of paint. When we got home, I realized that we had a video due back at Safeway, a corporation which I would rather not pay any *extra* money to (above and beyond inflated grocery prices). However, it's a lovely and soothing shade, and in terms of the color value, it's not that different from the horrible putty color, so I hope it continues to give DH the "light" feeling he likes.

In point of fact, DH has actually agreed to my devious plans to paint each and every room in our house...I'm just not sure that he realizes that, as these concessions were procured individually. (Okay, we didn't discuss the dining room, but he'll go along with it.)

So, that's what I'm up to. I short-rowed the heel of my sock at the McDonald's playground this afternoon, so it's on to the ribbing. And also getting back to Cashel, since I have the book, and if it turns out well, I'll enter it in our county fair. What can I say? While I never raised any animals, I was in 4-H for several years, and apparently it "took."

2003-07-25T00:14:00.000-07:00

How entirely excellent. Following swimming lessons, the boy and I drove by the recently-discovered yarn shop half-an-hour from home, and the OPEN flag was flying out front. So we stopped and,

* Mary, the owner, was incredibly friendly and down-to-earth.
* The shop is attached to her home, and not only was she happy to invite my son into their living room to play, she has an appropriately-aged child for him to play with.
* Happy bins of Cascade 220.
* The Cascade cotton that's 80% pima, 20% wool.
* Babajoes.
* Noro Kureyon in the colorway of my winterwear ensemble, so that if I don't have enough left after finishing my scarf to re-do my hat, I can pick up an extra skein.
* Addi Turbos & Naturas
* Some self-striping sock yarn.
* More.

Mary herself was best of all. She started her shop because she was a spinner who suddenly had a lot of yarn, wanted to knit socks, and couldn't find any dpn's in her town. After talking with an encouraging shop owner in another small town, she converted a room of her house. She's open on a "whenever" basis, and also by appointment. This is very refreshing to me--too many businesses in my own town *have* posted hours, which they don't keep. I told her that I wasn't after anything in particular, that I was, in fact, just snooping around, but that what I saw made me very, very happy, and that I would certainly be back. In retrospect, it was silly to have worried that the shop might lack wool, as it's called Yellow House Knitting and Spinning. As near as I can tell, there aren't too many handspinners out there heavy into acrylic.

Later, we went to visit my husband at work, since we haven't seen him since a library trip last Thursday. He hung out with us while we had lunch in the car, then he spotted our boy some funding for a trip to the toy store. After, we headed over to the library to pick up The Celtic Collection, from which I am knitting "Cashel," and which I had to return and re-request, since I'd maxed out the loan period. Here's the amusing thing: despite the fact that the library system owns six copies, which are in active circulation, I got the same copy again. How can I tell? Um, I didn't wipe the tea rings from my mug off the jacket prior to turning it in, and they're still there. I promise to clean it up before returning it this time!

***

In order to avoid having to add it to my list of procrastinated tasks, I finally fixed the last messed-up buttonhole on the jacket I was making for my nephew. (Originally begun for my babe, while in labor, 4+ years ago.) I need to get some Shout Color Catcher, and perhaps some Rit Color Remover to send along with it, and wash it and press it, but it is essentially complete. Now I can legitimately move on to a new sewing project, probably the kid pajamas in the firetruck print the kid in question picked out.

***

Fatigue is pulling me under--I was up a couple of hours earlier than usual and drove for three hours today (very exhausting for me; I dislike driving). I will knit up the last round or two of the foot of the sock I'm working on, but I will not begin to short-row the heel. I promise.

2003-07-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

As I was saying.

I recently unearthed a very common knit-related misspelling. I was proofing a novel, which made reference to a "Mobius strip." I've known what such a thing is for much longer than I've been knitting, but it was only when I began knitting that I began seeing the word regularly, as in the scarf/disaster that ensues (depending on your level of intention) when circular knitting is joined improperly. However, it's nearly always spelled "Moebius." This resulted in my flagging the word in the novel, and then checking it out later in the dictionary. What I found? It's actually Möbius. After August Ferdinand Möbius. So, please update your lexicons accordingly.

I received the information packet from the co-op preschool yesterday, and it looks like it will be a good thing. There's an afternoon session, perfect for us third-shifters, three hours twice a week. Three or four days would be better, but given the choice between a) nothing and b) driving half-an-hour each way to a much more expensive program, two days a week will be fine. Parent participation is a meeting once a month, conveniently scheduled for my husband's usual day off, plus one or two days as a parent helper each month. This nets me about twenty daytime hours free per month, an amazing thing for someone who normally gets 2-3.

The rub? Of course there is one. It's the discipline policy. It's not that there's anything wrong with it, per se. It's just that it relies on time-outs. My focus as a parent has always been on problem-solving, heavy on talking through situations and different choices we might make. If I get *really* hot, I might put myself in a time-out, i.e. flee to my office upstairs or lock myself in the bathroom to regain my composure, but I recognized early on that enforcing time-outs with my kid would create many more problems than it would solve, given his temperament. He is intensely driven to be with other people (just a minute ago, he asked if his friends could come over for half-an-hour, until we get dressed and ready for swimming lessons), and separating him from human contact doesn't provide him with a pause to interrupt his conduct and calm down. It just escalates the situation. The school policies also make noise about considering the needs of each child, so my hope is that he's old enough that I can explain this other approach to him and that I can talk with the teacher and help her to realize that having the parent helper for the day stay with him for the duration of the time out will result in a better learning experience for everybody.

Off to swimming lessons.

2003-07-24T00:56:00.000-07:00

One last thing: w.bloggar is a most excellent thing indeed! For example, I was mucking around with my template in Blogger. Results were not as anticipated. Went in through w.bloggar, and could immediately identify the problem, which was most definitely not my fault. Endless gratitude to PM even if I bolt from Blogger within the week!

2003-07-24T00:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, when my Fall Interweave Knits arrived, I was too hot to peruse it at length. Looking at sweaters was making me miserable. I couldn't help but give it a cursory once-over, but I saved my leisurely browse for late last night and early this morning, when the very idea of *warmth* didn't make me so cranky.

As it happens, I suffer from Adored Magazine Editorial Shift Syndrome (AMESS). The progression of this syndrome is as follows: I take an interest in a magazine. I subscribe, and enjoy it immensely for 1-2 years (3 at the outside). Then the editor moves on and I am in the throes of AMESS. Oftener than not, I dislike the new direction of the magazine, and if it's a really bad case, I've got a lot of months left in my subscription.

Now, Interweave Knits is my kind of knitting rag. There are a few newsletters out there which I like quite a lot, but none of the other slick magazines do anything at all for me. IK appeals to my taste in clothing, and I like the way it's edited and art-directed a lot. Hence, I was disconsolate when I learned that Melanie Falick was leaving.

Then one day, something reminded me that the new editor, Pam Allen, had been profiled in Knitting in America, a book I'd found very inspiring. And which I happened to own, as I found it remaindered somewhere for $6 or so. So I revisited Pam's bio, and came away with some degree of hope about this shift. Quite a lot of hope, actually--even though I'd been burned many times before. And hey! whaddya know. I think it's all going to be okay for me, maybe even better.

Things I liked:

--The models. The core group of women are very attractive normal looking women who appeared to be over 30 and weren't stick thin. The men were good-looking, but not in that scary male-model way. The little girls were sweet.

--Patterns I just might knit included: Chinese Sweater, the Short-Row Striped Pullover, Annie's Diminishing Cables (probably my favorite pattern in the issue), Lite Lopi Pullover, and Lace Edged Cardigan.

--Patterns I liked but am less likely to make included Cafe Bastille Cables, Indonesian Diamonds, Byzantine Bazic, Furlana Hat (especially) and Mittens (note: I have worked with Furlana, and I think that linen stitch for the brim of the hat is a very good choice), Child's Oxford Shirt, and Colorwork Hat & Mittens.

--Articles I thought worthwhile were "Geek Chic," about how various people have applied science/math concepts to knitting, and the "Beyond the Basics" article about knitting intarsia in the round. I have no pressing interest in knitting intarsia, period, but the information looked good, and the accompanying sock pattern looked like a great technique builder.

--Most compelling ad: the Dale of Norway preview of the Fall 2003 collection. #12609, the large photo in the center, will likely be the first Dale sweater I knit.

All in all, perfectly fine by me.

Went to the beach again today, and also to see a storytelling performance, so I worked another 3-4 inches on my sock. About 15 more rounds and I'll do the short-row heel; then I'll start the confounded 3x3 ribbed leg.

There's more, but perhaps it will appear as a bonus post in the morning. I keep drifting off to sleep, so I think further comments had best wait.

2003-07-23T01:33:00.000-07:00

I am trying to be really philosophical about the post Blogger just ate. True, I f’d up, but I was asked if I wanted to save the post, and I said yes, and hell if I know where it was saved. I was thinking my draft folder, maybe, not some damn Blogger guru’s grandmother’s attic.

Scratch that. I’m not trying to be philosophical. I’m just trying not to swear more than I already have.

So, to recap: Hot. I think I should like summer, because winter can be so bloody long, but the temperature rises above 95F and I just plain cease to be a nice person. Get AWAY from me. Leave me ALONE. Don’t TOUCH me. Today, however, we installed a few pressure relief valves:

1) preschool swimming lessons, taught by a singularly uncommanding young woman, providing me with the excuse to hop in the pool to help steer small swimmers around. Why they thought to give the 3-4 year olds to someone with a thin, high, reedy voice and an apparent inability to make eye contact is a bit of a mystery.

2) shopping in an air-conditioned department/grocery store with a supervised playroom. Extrovert has a blast, I wander about peering at the tags on clearance merchandise.

3) the beach. Sheer joy for a small boy in tossing rocks into the water for two hours straight, and the site has promise for our first family camping trip. An outhouse, on the beach , several existing fire pits. When I proposed this, the boy anticipated, “And have a fire? And do marshmallows? And tell stories? But Mommy, we don’t have a tent!” (Don’t worry, hon, I’m on top of it.) I’m likely to suck it up and buy marshmallows. (I’ve been a vegetarian for 13 or 14 years, and marshmallows contain gelatin.) Anyway, the beach was deserted, and all the more pleasant for it. I guess other people have “real” jobs, eh?

4) ice cream for dinner. And popsicles for dessert. Okay, I’m kidding about the popsicles.

5) air-conditioning in the bedroom. Someone come fetch me when it’s cooled down, okay?

More of the same on tap. We have swimming lessons again on Thursday, and I have promised after-lesson play time for any four-year old boys who are interested. Of course, I fully intend to extract promises of good behavior in the recently-discovered, but not-yet-visited yarn shop in return. Send anti-acrylic vibes my way. Though truth be told, I’m feeling like I want to try something silly (e.g. novelty yarns). I’ve got a very flashy 77 year old grandma who really might be into that sort of scarf-y thing for Christmas.

Okay, there was more, but I’m getting sleepy. See ya tomorrow.

2003-07-22T00:29:00.000-07:00

Idle threats. Today was an ugly day for them, to be sure. Tonight, on the phone, my husband chastised me for threatening not to take our boy to swimming lessons tomorrow when he was trying to run out onto the front porch in his underwear. As I have done without any parental assistance from him for ten days (he’s still working on the other house), the criticism was not especially well received. However, I do know that he was right, and that knowledge goes beyond the fact that, as he reasoned, I’d already paid for the lessons. He was right because it’s wrong to bully children.

Looming larger is the threat I made to lock all of the toys that hadn’t been picked up into the playroom. See, my son had a friend over to play from about 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and there was stuff everywhere. A lot of stuff, *everywhere*. Despite repeated requests to tidy up. By the end of the day, I felt horribly put upon and just plain mad.

But here’s the thing: I can be a hothead, but I am fairly rational in the end. Throughout the afternoon, I asked the boys to tidy things up on quite a few occasions. My kiddo resisted a bit, but in the end he’d cheerfully hop off, saying, “Come on, Ian! Mommy says we need to pick up!” And the other child would utterly ignore us both. In the face of his friend ~~continuing to play~~ refusing to be a good guest in our home, I do understand why my boy didn’t just suck it up and do the work for both of them. Perhaps an older child might, but he is four.

So here I am, at the end of the day, having laid out a consequence I’m not especially proud of. On the other hand, I don’t want to give the message that the situation means nothing, by biting the bullet and putting away all the toys. (On a normal night, my boy helps some, and I finish things off after he’s asleep.) So I’ve compromised: I shoveled all the toys into his room, as promised. I shut the door, but did not lock it, and I won’t prevent him from going in. But after swimming lessons in the morning, I will help him to clean it all up, and we’ll talk about responsibility and what it means to live in a family where we all try to help each other.

Not perfect, but the best I can do tonight.

As you might guess, today wasn’t replete with lofty accomplishments, but I did knit an inch or two on my sock. I’ve also been wending my way through Empire Falls, which is a thoroughly enjoyable read. My librarian hugged the book before she checked it out to me—and I understand why.

2003-07-21T01:41:00.000-07:00

While I didn't accomplish a heck of a lot today (finished the layout proof I was working on and cleaned the interior and exterior of the truck), I did spend some time tonight working on my site. It could go up this week. Still to do: adding external links, checking internal links, finishing the layout of the blog and home pages, establishing the hosting, uploading.

I'm fairly happy with how it looks so far. I'm using Dreamweaver, which rocks as far as I'm concerned. I've taught myself a bit of HTML, enough that I can get the gist of the raw code when I look at it, but DW functions more or less like a graphics program when it comes to positioning items on the page. It's also integrated with Fireworks, another Macromedia product, which is quite good for messing around with web images. I'm a neophyte when it comes to many aspects of web design, but I did do in house graphic design--and did it fairly well--in a past life (I was accounting staff; go figure), but these programs simplify a lot of things for me, and with any luck it will all look great, load reasonably well, and *work*.

Oh, and I do still knit on occasion--finally got started on the second of my Lang JaWoll socks, while waiting to pick up another copy of Starmore's Celtic Collection from the library. (I had to return the copy I had and re-request it.)

2003-07-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

As it should be. My son adds his drawings to the refrigerator without regard to whether the door can be opened or not. He has recently developed a style of drawing humans—a circle for a head, with two very long legs connected. He varies their sizes, deliberately, but somewhat arbitrarily: a portrait of his friends has the big sister big, the little brother smaller, and the baby brother, with whom my son has always clashed, towers above the other two. Hmmm, maybe that's not arbitrary at all.

The portrait of our family has Mommy, Daddy, Boy, two kitties, and Santa Claus, all inside a house with a chimney.

During the day, our house is scattered with the debris of fun: a zip-loc bag of crayons and markers dumped onto the floor, an empty ice-cream bowl waiting for a cat to lick out the sweet remains, a laundry basket pressed into service as a boat. Video tapes, an overturned trike, and a stuffed animal party on the couch.

I make my own contributions to the mess—a touch less joyful, but reflecting a way of living that pleases me, nonetheless. Everything in progress, is what it amounts to. A knitting project removed from a tote bag to make way for the more pressing necessities for a short trip. Mail set aside for my husband to review or ignore when he returns. My computer, in standby mode as I stop to make a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. Laundry, clean and folded, needing to be tucked into drawers when no one is asleep in the bedroom (no mean feat in a third shift household). Weeds half-pulled because I had to stop and accompany my son on a spontaneous visit to chat up the neighbors.

At night, before I begin again with my private work, I tuck it all away, as best I can, as much as I have the energy for. It seems alive to me—this mess of ours. Something that grows and morphs, and we do what we can to make sure it doesn’t overtake us, but continues to nourish and entertain us, day after day.

My mom recently said that she is trying to look at the messes in her house (which always looks perfect to me) as proof that she has plenty to do, much to interest her. That she is never bored.

Me too!

2003-07-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

Hot, hot, hot. I was hoping for a kid movie to take the kid to, but I don't think Sinbad is it. Animation sounds good, but more violence than I think I want to deal with. Too many people at the pool and the beach. What to do, what to do.

2003-07-19T02:20:00.000-07:00

Curses! I'm using Jo Sharp DK for the Cashel sweater, and it's lovely lovely lovely yarn. Fool that I am, I start aimlessly probing Google and find it at The Wool Shack, an on-line Australian vendor, for the equivalent of US $3.50 per ball. Thank god my checkbook is so utterly unbalanced at the moment--how else could I resist??

2003-07-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

Overcoming my telephobia, I talked to the Head Start office in the next town over. We don't qualify for the program, but I was soliciting suggestions for someplace to enroll the little extrovert. I'm not even sure we want to go the public school route, but I need "preschool" for him until he's old enough for either homeschooling groups or school. After talking with the nice woman in the office, I decided to try the co-op preschool number again, even though it wasn't functioning when I called a few weeks ago. And glory be, a recording gave me a new number, I called, and while no one was home, I left a message!

In other mid-day news, our yard looks like hell, our lawnmower is kaput, and my husband still has the weed whacker a hundred miles from here. So the neighbor mowed part of our lawn while doing his. I am trying so hard to be gracious and just accept this as a well-intentioned favor, but I just feel like crawling under a rock. :{

2003-07-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

Here is the text of a letter to the editor I am submitting to Real Simple magazine. The text I am objecting to was as follows:

"What's the worst thing that could happen if you...Don't breast-feed your child?
Most Likely: 'In the long run, nothing,' says Boris Petrikovsky, chairman of the department of obstetrics-gynecology at Nassau University Medical Center, in East Meadow, New York. When you're bottle-feeding, you know exactly how much food the baby is eating, and Mom may be less tired because Dad has no excuse to sleep through 3 a.m. feedings. 'There is also absolutely no conclusive data on breast milk's effects on brain development,' adds Petrikovsky. Worst Case: 'The biggest downside of not breast-feeding is that the mother misses out on some of the bonding," says Petrikovsky. And since breast milk is specially designed to meet the nutritional needs of infants and contains antibodies that help protect them from a variety of illnesses, 'babies who are breast-fed are more likely to have a stronger immune system and be sick less than formula-fed infants.'"

To the Editors at Real Simple:

I have read Real Simple since its beginning. I purchased the first several issues at the newsstand, and have been a subscriber since then. It is easily my favorite general interest magazine.

That said, I have vacillated between vast disappointment and outrage upon reading “20 time-wasting rules to break now” While I commend the premise of the article—reevaluating life’s unwritten laws—the information you presented about breastfeeding is at best, incomplete, and at worst just plain wrong.

To wit, the health benefits of breastfeeding go beyond bestowing a baby with a stronger immune system.
The American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statement on Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk states:

“Epidemiologic research shows that human milk and breastfeeding of infants provide advantages with regard to general health, growth, and development, while significantly decreasing risk for a large number of acute and chronic diseases. Research in the United States, Canada, Europe, and other developed countries, among predominantly middle-class populations, provides strong evidence that human milk feeding decreases the incidence and/or severity of diarrhea, lower respiratory infection, otitis media, bacteremia, bacterial meningitis, botulism, urinary tract infection, and necrotizing enterocolitis. There are a number of studies that show a possible protective effect of human milk feeding against sudden infant death syndrome, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, lymphoma, allergic diseases, and other chronic digestive diseases. Breastfeeding has also been related to possible enhancement of cognitive development.”

The Policy Statement provides citations of the relevant studies and is available online.

Breastfeeding has positive health benefits for mothers, as well: notably decreased rates of breast and ovarian cancer.

There’s the question of whether the estimated $1,100-3,000 parents could expect to spend on a year’s worth of formula could be better spent.

And, it’s not just mothers who miss out on “some of the bonding”—it’s the babies.

The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for “up to two years or beyond.” By contrast, in the year 2000, 68.4% of U.S. mothers were breastfeeding their infants at hospital discharge, 31.4% were still nursing their six-month-old babies, and only 17.6% of U.S. babies were breastfed at the age of one year.

Women need better access to information and support for breastfeeding, not encouragement for avoiding it. Characterizing breastfeeding a child as "time wasted" is deeply, deeply offensive.

Sincerely,
Just another militant breastfeeding advocate

Some sources:
http://www.lalecheleague.org
http://www.aap.org/policy/re9729.html
http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/conditions/07/18/breast.feeding.cancer/index.html
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_2_2X_What_causes_ovarian_cancer_Can_it_be_prevented_33.asp?sitearea=
http://www.breastfeeding.org/bfacts/costs.html
http://www.kellymom.com/writings/bf-numbers.html

Note: I realize that not all babies, for a variety of reasons, are breastfed. And I don't think it's useful to spend much time berating mothers who don't breastfeed a child. (In too many cases, it's the result of bad advice or information.) My issue is when authorities--expert doctors, magazines, whomever--attempt to write off the clear and convincing medical evidence that breastmilk is the best available food for babies. It makes me really, really angry.

2003-07-17T03:25:00.000-07:00

Two more things:

New toy: the Rowenta Steam 'n' Press Steambrush. Very cool. This has been on my knitting wish list, but I justified the purchase because I need to steam the remaining wrinkles out of the curtains I just sewed and hung at the old house.

Kid wisdom: He says, "Mommy, you're a great mom." I reply, "Why am I a great mom?" He grins, and says, "Because it's fun to be a great mom!" Not the answer to the question I was asking, but a perfect answer nonetheless.

2003-07-17T00:42:00.000-07:00

As another summer weekend approaches, I offer this advice to weekenders who may be visiting or passing through small towns like mine...

How to Be Nice to the Locals

1. Do not go on about how quaint/cute/rustic our town is. It's more than a little patronizing.
2. SLOW DOWN. Especially when you are *driving*. Even more especially when you are driving down a narrow, residential street without sidewalks.
3. Pick up your trash. Not just when you're camping, but when you're in town, too.
4. Leave the giant SUV with the vanity plates that read "4DACABIN" at home.
5. Be quiet. Enjoy yourself, please, but remember that your temporary neighbors may live here all week, all year.
6. Be polite and friendly.
7. If you need information or directions, please ask! I will offer asisstance, but it's weird when someone clearly needs it, should be able to tell I live here (like, I'm getting my mail at the p.o.), and is acting like I'm invisible.
8. Spend lots of money at local businesses :)
9. Did I mention you should reduce your driving speed?
10. And not drive under the influence?

I think many residents of small towns with a tourist economy have a love/hate relationship with the tourists. On the one hand, we are keenly aware of our economic dependence on visitors. On the other, the air of unreality people can achieve while on vacation can result in some really unpleasant behaviors that make it hard for the rest of us to just get on with life. There's also usually a significant disparity in income levels between vacationing urbanites and small town residents, and while we townies may be affected by envy to varying degrees--from none to extreme--it's always irritating to be treated in a condescending way.

My own favorite category of tourist is the serious weekend biker. They are courteous drivers, unpretentious (mostly), and friendly. One of my favorite memories is from my son's early verbal days--a bike rally was passing through, and he kept pointing at the Harleys, shouting "Bike! Bike! Bike! Bike!" And darn near every biker gave him a big smile and waved. While chugging slowly past, I might add. Plus Harleys are aesthetically pleasing and sound great, and this from someone who took her first and last bike ride at the age of 16.

So, to recap: we love our town, welcome. Be good while you're here, okay?

2003-07-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

Another day in the big city yesterday. We met with our realtors yesterday and watched them spin out ideas for marketing the house. Fun to watch in a way--the house is small, under 1000 sq ft, and on a very busy arterial, and currently filled with tools and smelling like mildew due to some incident with the part of the bathroom that's carpeted, BUT it's remarkably open-feeling for its size, it's on a huge city lot which has *great* landscaping "bones," and there are a couple of bonus semi-finished rooms--one in the full basement, and one in the garage. It has some good things going for it, but it takes a bit of poking and investigation to uncover them.

I was there to install curtains and this funky muslin thing I've used as a substitute for crown moulding in the past, and by the time I left at 10:30 last night, it was starting to feel like we might actually finish this project and sell the house one day soon.

Meanwhile, my own house is a wreck, but I'm feeling optimistic that I can regain control a room at a time. I'm trying to recall how well "doing it now" has worked in the past, and return to those habits. Wiping up spills, putting things away instead of merely moving them, etc.

Despite the fact that it's noon, I have ambitious plans for today--weeding and watering in the garden, having kids over to play for a couple of hours, paying the bills I pay in person, doing a few hours of paid work (which is currently reading a novel--how lucky is that?!), running an errand or two in the next town, and whatever clean-up/organization I can squeeze in.

2003-07-14T04:27:00.000-07:00

Inasmuch as it's nearly four a.m., this should be brief, no?

I spent nearly the entire day today sewing curtains for the old house. I've taken two pair of IKEA's cheapest curtains, and converted them into curtains for seven windows. Very basic sheer white tab tops, but all they really need to be (in my opinion) is fresh looking, suffused with light, clean, and uniform. Oh, and they need to camouflage the imperfect window moulding. Whomever buys this house would be well advised to just suck it up and install all new vinyl windows, but I've always been good at fantasy-spending of other people's money.

Tomorrow, my dear Viking sewing machine will get a further workout when I hem endless strips of unbleached muslin which will then be stapled to the very outer edges of the ceiling in lieu of crown moulding. There's another project for our future homeowners.

I'm too tired to spin out my entire train of thought, but I was thinking tonight of the empathy I usually have for my boy when he is in the midst of a situation that is difficult for him in some way, and which is resulting in unpleasant behavior of some variety. I have a different idea about parenting than most people I interact with on a day-to-day basis--in a nutshell, I think my job is to help my child learn to solve problems, think creatively, and successfully pursue his own interests. So people who have a shallow (if any) understanding of that probably tend to see me as lenient, or permissive. And therefore my empathy for his distress is reflective of that. In reality, I'm not condoning the difficult behavior. I'm defending his right to learn the things he needs/wants to learn on his own terms. When I resort to coercion to silence a problem, I see it as a failure on my part. The better solution is to help him regain his composure and look for ways to work through the situation. Unfortunately, that can look like "coddling" to some people. I don't much care, except for the ways that point of view can build a false fiction about *who my boy is* in those same minds.

2003-07-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

This morning, I hear a little voice from the bedroom.

"Four, five, six, seven...ready or not, here I come!!"

I'm ready, kiddo, and I sure do love you.

2003-07-13T00:50:00.000-07:00

Still here.

It’s been almost two weeks, and I haven’t knit one stitch, I’ve read approximately 10 pages in a novel (if that) and flipped through a nearly obsolete IKEA catalog, and have checked my e-mail precisely once from a library terminal with “twelve minutes remaining in this time slot.” I have also done no paid work, and have scarcely cooked anything.

What, pray tell, *have* I been doing?

To set the scene, imagine that upon moving to a small, semi-rural town, you retain your urban dwelling and rent it out. Imagine that your first tenants are truly spectacular people, who leave the property in better condition than when they move in and are a delight to deal with.

They leave. You rent the house to a friend/former co-worker. Or should that be “former friend/coworker”? I’ll let you decide.

New tenant loves house/property, and proposes that s/he* buy it. Upon examination of the ramifications of this, you decide it’s quite a good idea. Advisable, in fact. Tenant can’t enter into a sale agreement for about a year, but wants to make some changes right away at hir own expense.

[*Gender neutral pronouns in use to protect the not-so-innocent. And also because I’m just like that.]

(You see where this is headed, right? Because you’re smarter than I am. And you’re disinclined to extrapolate from one fantastic experience with renting that all will be well.)

Long story short: tenant backs out on purchase, we give hir notice to vacate by July 1 so we can prep the house for sale. S/he says s/he will be out and have cleaned by Monday evening, and will return on Saturday to finish the improvement project begun months ago in the garage, as we have agreed to reimburse for materials if the work is completed. We arrive Tuesday to begin work to find move-out incomplete, filth everywhere, etc. etc. Eventually we get most of that out of the way, and I

--patch many, many holes in the walls
--recaulk the bathtub
--paint the living room and dining room with a very subtle and lovely faux technique
--re-line kitchen cabinet unit
--make god only knows how many trips to the hardware store
--plan curtain treatments and crown moulding alternative (these are yet to be sewn)
--install baseboards in two bedrooms
--paint a bedroom (two coats)
--help paint a utility room
--install most of the new flooring in the kitchen and utility room
--clean the oven
--shop for and plant perennials around the front stoop
--feed the neighbors’ cat, parrot & rats over the weekend, plus administer anti-biotics to one of the rats
--attend a 4th of July party
--spend three days with a wicked throat infection which leaves me unable to eat, drink, sleep, or speak (“Mommy? When will you be able to talk again?”)
--visit wading pools daily
--paint miscellaneous trim
--entertain a small boy

Meanwhile, my husband does a year’s worth of unattended yard work, installs a storm door, touches up exterior paint, and takes an entire truckload of accumulated yard waste and trash to the transfer station.

We are getting close to being “done,” whatever that is. I’ve come home to do the sewing projects, DH has stayed on to finish kitchen flooring, painting trim, and will sand and re-coat the wood floors.

I’m now feeling overwhelmed—by the prospect of finishing the remaining work, doing the project accounting (right now, this is merely a huge stack of debit card receipts), returning to my regular groove, getting things back in order at home….

On the other hand, it was really satisfying to see how much we were able to accomplish with a concentrated burst of effort. I’m hoping similar energy can be applied to our own home, though it’s much harder for us to rationalize the expense of making improvements merely for our own enjoyment. But paint has always been cheap, and I learned that I actually can paint with my boy near at hand. The flooring we installed is a good value, and would vastly improve my enjoyment of our kitchen. And I learned that my husband hates to measure things, which is enormously useful information, and knowing that could help me to jump-start our fencing project. (You negotiate lot lines, and I’ll measure, baby…)

And while I’m annoyed beyond all measure at our former tenant, that annoyance is offset by my ever-deepening appreciation for neighborly neighbors. Back at the old house, our electrician neighbor with the extensive tool selection loaned us whatever we might need, and she and her 11-year-old daughter periodically invited the junior socialite over to play. Here at home, the neighbor family who looked after our kitties not only kept them in kibble, but the dad fixed our front door jamb. (Yes, really.) And although I didn’t make any arrangements for watering our garden, I return to find everything alive (following an impressive heat spell). This could be due to the kindness of the same family, or any of three other neighbor/gardeners.

Returning to the old house, and to the city, evoked some degree of nostalgic longing, but in the end, I love my home. A house needing a bit of this and that, but very well-suited to our needs. A sleepy town populated by folks whose personalities you have a sense of, if, in fact, you don’t actually know them. Evergreens all around, and the rhythm of changing seasons. A movie theater where your dog is welcome. I extoll the virtues of my little town pretty regularly, I suppose, but after a couple of weeks away, I’m feeling them keenly tonight.

2003-06-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

It wasn't much, but I do wonder what happened to the post I wrote yesterday.

I've been diligently working on getting my new site ready to upload. I'm perhaps 60% done with the gallery pages, and could finish tonight, as I don't have any paid work on tap.

However, I will go missing for a few days beginning Tuesday. We're headed to our old house to "camp out," and make repairs. We may meet with a realtor--probably depends on how far we get with the work. And I'm feeling a bit guilty, as I can't be fully helpful, since my chief responsibility is about 3 1/2 feet tall and very busy. He can be quite helpful, but not, I suspect, with the sorts of things that need to be done. In any case, I can be the errand gal, and there are a number of jobs which do require my gentle touch.

I probably won't be takiing my laptop, since I trust the neighbor across the street about as far as I could throw him (and he's 6+ feet tall and 200+ lbs). I may be able to check in from the library, but who knows.

Oh, I'm soliciting ideas about how to spiff up some railroad ties at my home (the one we're keeping, not selling). I have a small planting bed edged with them in front of the house, and then they form a very small retaining wall in front of the veggie patch in the back. Ideas, anyone? They are pretty heavy on the creosote, so I'm not sure how well anything would adhere to them. And for now, my preference is rehab over replacement.

2003-06-26T15:57:00.000-07:00

Well, my blog has just been migrated to the new version of Blogger. At present, I am working on site design for a new, improved blog (WITH PICTURES, PIONEER MELISSA). Not sure if I will continue using Blogger and FTP it, or just write the pages.

In a series of Y chromosome incidents, I have learned that my husband, while conducting clean-up and repair activities at the house we are about to sell 1) left the nearly new lawn mower in the backyard, from whence it was stolen and 2) weed-whacked most of the Joe Pye Weed, at least some of which was slated for transplant to our current home. Trying hard to look for the silver lining, I have already made it clear that we will be purchasing a lovely new reel mower, and that any complaints about the expense will be cheerfully disregarded. Our previous tenants moved out because the juvenile delinquent across the street was operating an eBay scam using the house as a drop while they were at work. He's still living across the street, so I'm a bit puzzled as to why the mower was left out.

But I'm trying hard to get over myself. Really, I am.

Oh. And I'm a bit stalled on the Cashel, for no good reason other than it's 86F outside, and I know I will be puzzling out the shoulder/neck shaping very soon. Maybe I'll start the winter scarf I never made last year to go with my hat and mittens so that I have something straightforward to knit at the movie tonight. (Finding Nemo again with my boy.)

2003-06-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

Never mind. One would have to have guests who actually come when they say they are coming in order for such negligence to make any difference. I can deal with it, but my little extrovert was *not* pleased. Harrumph.

2003-06-22T13:47:00.000-07:00

Bad Host

A friend and her 14 month old are arriving in ~2.5 hours to spend the night, and rather than making up a bed, cleaning the bathroom & kitchen, running to the store, emptying the trash, and planting the rest of the hanging baskets for the porch I am finishing the cabled medallion on Cashel and blogging about it.

I must go repent.

2003-06-20T00:17:00.000-07:00

With all the editorial/creative changes happening at Martha Stewart Omnimedia, I have one lowly suggestion:

Henceforth, all references to "pate brisee" shall be replaced with "pie crust". It's a good thing.

I am still not happy with the buttonholes, despite relentless futzing all day. I should definitely not have slit them open. (File lesson for future reference.) I'm thinking I may pick them out yet again, iron in some fusible interfacing and have yet another go.

Ah, but a fine knitting occurrence transpired today: I discovered that there really *is* a yarn shop in the college town 25 miles off. I'd already tried my boy's patience in the sewing shop, so I didn't stop in today, but soon! It's called "Yellow House Knitting & Spinning," and it's in a lovely, cheery, bright yellow house. I'm hoping to find at least some good basic wool--anything else will be gravy.

And just so you know, my Weather Pixie's hair ought to be extremely windblown...

2003-06-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

Tension is the Secret of Life

This epiphany occurred to me last night as I was beating my head against my solid metal sewing machine, trying to learn how to make a decent buttonhole. Turns out that the top thread tension is the key.

So if it applies to knitting and sewing, can we just extrapolate to life in general? I think we probably can.

I still have two more buttonholes to make, but the little jacket is awfully darn cute. To give you a sense of what the alphabet fabric is like, here is a sampling of the illustrations for some of the letters:

G Grasshopper, Geranium
H Hula girl
J Jacks, Jellyfish
E Eiffel Tower
Z Zebra, Zodiac
R Radish, Rocking Chair
P Poodle, Palm Tree
O Olive
W Watermelon, Whistle

You get the idea. I'm really a fan of alphabet books, etc., that go a step beyond A is for Apple, B is for Boy, C is for Cat...

2003-06-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

The ~~Futility~~ JOY of Housework

I have decided that housework will be much more fun if I take my trusty Sharpie marker, and inscribe the following phrase underneath the use instructions on all containers of cleaning products:

REPEAT AD INFINITUM

I have done this with the dishwashing detergent, and I feel better already.

I failed to crow about my excellent thrift store finds yesterday. The boy and I happened upon a newish Goodwill, which was a tiny bit overpriced, but most excellently stocked. If I had been actively looking for sweaters, I'd have bought armloads of terrific stuff in great condition. As it was, I found an alpaca boucle cardigan in a deep gold color. Vintage, but in flawless condition. And an olive green zip-front cabled cardigan. The cabling is confined to the sections flanking the zipper--the back is stockinette--so it's not at all bulky. Wunnerful wunnerful.

2003-06-18T02:10:00.000-07:00

Today brought yet another fabulous road trip to da big city--tagging along while my dear husband attempts to restore order to our former house so that we can sell it. At this point, I can't be much help, as El Nino needs much tending to--the house is on an arterial street, posted speed limit 35, actual average speed of 40-50. BUT, we are planning a "camping" trip after our tenant moves out. I'll get one of the neighbor boys to feed the kitties, and we'll go roast marshmallows over the electric burners at the old house. Maybe I'll try to repair the air mattress. And in this scenario, my jobs will be: 1) cleaning the interior and 2) gardening!! Whee!

I was able to start the cable medallion on Cashel today, and even though I engaged in a (ahem) learning experience behind that, it's loads of fun. Given the yardage I estimate this sweater will require, I'm a little over half-way there.

I also finished the reversible jacket last night, and bought buttons for it today. Okay, actually, I still have to make the buttonholes, which I've never done, but besides *that,* I'm done. In a serendipitous turn of events, it works out that although I cut out the pieces for this project while I was in labor with my son, and fully intended it to be for my kid, there are illustrations of jacks (the little metal game pieces) on each front chest/shoulder area. And my nephew, who is the recipient of this project in its revived form, sports the nickname, "Jax." How cool is that??

Off to read a bit more of Happenstance, by Carol Shields. Despite my laziness in updating my blog template, I've actually finished The Hours, started and finished Entering Normal (by Anne L. Something), and read a good chunk of Happenstance. Part of my current work project involves garnering info from independent bookstores, so my reading list is revitalized.

And please, no one tell the metro library system when we sell the house, okay?

2003-06-15T18:57:00.000-07:00

Things I have learned (thankfully, this is not an all-inclusive list):

1) Per the general public, TWO is the correct number of kids to have. Any deviation will be noted and remarked upon at length.
2) DO NOT use any kind of deep heating rub immediately upon exiting a hot shower. It is remarkably painful.
3) If you are a landlord and live 90 minutes from your rental property, do not assume that your tenant is doing a lick of yard work, even if it *is* spelled out in the lease.

The weather here today is astoundingly lovely. However, I've been inside all day with a little boy who has a fever. Poor sweetie. He's a night owl like his parents, and he's already gone off to bed, at the merest suggestion from me. I suppose I'll be sneaking up on him to check his temp all night.

2003-06-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

If you liked Kerrie's Finger Puppers in Knitty, check out Lindsay Packer's work at Lana Mano for further inspiration. What a great way to use up odd scraps. Lord knows I'm a woman who likes to work a ball of yarn until there's maybe a yard left...

(I actually made a teeny little rug--maybe 1 x 2"--for a fairy house my boy and I made using only yarn snips I collect in a ziploc bag...)

2003-06-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes progress is not.

I was waffling about the tension of the front of the Cashel sweater (maybe 4" into the main stitch pattern), wondering if I could block it a bit more evenly, when I discovered a mistake. How, precisely, one can make a mistake on a two-row knit pattern--one row of which is knit across, the other of which is *k1 p1* repeat from * to * end k1--is a bit beyond me, but the error sealed the deal, and I'm back to having just the border knit. 'S okay. I'd rather have it right, and I don't think I have competition when it comes time to renew the library book.

Took my boy on a shopping junket about 1.25 hours from home yesterday. Finding Nemo toys for him, sewing supplies for me: a cutting mat, an acrylic ruler, a foot for my sewing machine, a women's pj pattern for me, and some fire fighter print fabric for a small boy (chosen by him) ate up most of the budget. Saw some nice lavender flannel for ~$2.50/yd, but decided to work on summerwear from long-stashed, thrift-scored fabrics first.

Oh, and in a rather disturbing turn of events, I brought my ironing board up from the depths of the basement. I scare myself.

2003-06-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

Ends woven, hat has been worn. I adore it. It does, however, really want to have its stockinette side out, so unless I achieve some blocking miracle, it will have the 3 needle bind off ridge on the outside. Not the end of the world. Slightly stylish, in fact.

I've continued slogging away at the Cashel front, but I've still a ways to go before I get to start that cool cable on the chest.

I've also been breaking in my sewing machine, constructing a reversible baby jacket that I started for my son when I was in labor. I cut out the pieces, then took a four year break to have and begin raising the babe. My current goal is to finish it for my nephew, in hopes that he might be able to wear it a bit this fall. It's flannel; one side a nice, deep red, the other a vintage-looking alphabet print. So far I've learned that a) I still know how to sew b) changing to a new needle can be a truly incredible thing and c) ...what was c? There was a c. Oh well.

2003-06-09T02:12:00.000-07:00

One of the many, many things I like about knitting is that I can make things that *I* like, that *I* would wear (and I don't have to exploit foreign labor to wear such things). Case in point, my Bucket o' Chic. Okay, I never say "Oh my God," not for religious reasons, but because I'm just not that effusive. But Oh. My. God. My Bucket o' is so cute. Due to not having the pattern close enought at hand (laptop upstairs, DH asleep), I didn't start the every round decreases until I'd decreased the top every other round for about 10 decreases. (At that point I panicked about running out of yarn and started decreasing every round for that reason alone.) The result is that the top of the hat is a bit fuller than Bonne perhaps intended, but then, my head is perhaps bigger than intended, so it's all good. It's just ridiculously sassy and cute, and I can't wait to weave in the ends and wear it.

(Disclaimer: I've been drinking a bit of wine while working the decreases this evening, so at the moment, I *am* that effusive. Do forgive.)

In any event, if you happen upon this yarn, nab it. It is a dream to knit with, and makes a superb lightweight tweedy fabric. I worked it on 3mm needles, and it's somehow stretchy with lots of body at the same time. I like it enought that I've just enquired as to whether my original source has more in the sale bin.

Notes on my sidebar: I finished The Hours, and concluded that I have read it before. But when? It was published in 1998; I'm reasonably sure I didn't read it after my boy was born the following year, and my major Virginia Woolf kick occurred a few years before that. It is a lovely book.

I read some movie review lamenting the decline in quality of Pixar films. Okay, what *could* equal Toy Story? I've seen it over a hundred times, I'm sure, and I don't cringe when my dearie puts it in the VCR. I originally saw it with my DH, back when we were unmarried, childless heathens, merely shacking up. But Finding Nemo is magnificent. I think there is a way in which the very fact that the action mainly takes place underwater makes the pace seem slower. But visually, it is beautiful. It's like the Beach Boys--you may just register it as well done popular culture, but then you pay attention for a moment and--click--you realize the craft of it. And emotionally, if you're a parent in the way that I'm a parent, it's actually pretty accurate and powerful.

Plus, it's really cute when you walk into the bathroom, and all the bath toys have been pressed into service to recreate the story line.

(I really am this parenthetical in real life.) (My husband will attest to this.)

2003-06-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

Today, I seem to be working on the Bucket o' Chic. I mentioned earlier that I'm using a finer weight yarn, meaning I ended the crown section with 40% more rows than the pattern as written. Ask me how much fun I'm having picking up 40% more stitches to knit the top and brim!!

I've also been swatching the Softwist. It will be a challenge to keep from splitting the yarn (it's a rayon/wool blend), but it's a very nice fabric. And the color is right up my alley.

Sweetie has a stomach bug, probably his second ever. He was a little slowed down by it this morning, but seems to be bouncing back well.

2003-06-07T00:16:00.000-07:00

Oh my. I have a copy of Folk Vests checked out from the library, and I know what I want to try with the crimson Berroco Softwist, namely the Clock Vest. There are quite a few other vests I was quite taken with, so this is probably a book I will try to find at a good price used.

I'm nearly done with the first step in the Bucket o' Chic, and I started (just barely) the front of the Cashel sweater. This despite an amazingly frustrating day of trying to find a level patch of ground to set up a wading pool on (only partially successful), and then helping my boy play with the neighbor kids. I'm anticipating a challenging summer, as my child is a born extrovert, I am most decidedly *not*, and he is still little enough to need *lots* of help coordinating and negotiating his play life. I love him dearly, and want to help, but unless you already get it, I probably can't come close to explaining how exhausting it is for me.

2003-06-06T00:10:00.000-07:00

Graph paper and pen in hand, I figured out what I needed to do to end up with the same result as the pattern, less the stair steps. As it happened, I started with the wrong side--i.e. my first short row was at the end of the row that would have been bound off at the beginning. Hence my confusion. So, at the point where I got stuck, I needed to bind off the neck stitches, knit up the wraps in pattern, then break the yarn and knit up the wraps of the other shoulder on the wrong side of the fabric. As near as I can tell, this left me with what I was supposed to have: two shaped shoulders of the correct height with the stitches still live and a bound off neck. Now I get to start the front, which has a lovely cabled medallion type thing in the center of the chest.

I bought a wading pool for our dearie tonight, so as long as I can stay far enough away from the splashes, this may afford me some primo outdoor knitting time.

I don't think I've noted that I started a Bucket o' Chic, using Filatura di Crosa Salvia. It's much smaller gauge, so I'm getting in some good arithmetic practice. It's gorgeous yarn, though, esp. the reverse st st side, which will probably be the right side for my purposes.

2003-06-05T00:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, every time I turn around, I hear/read that someone nearly always uses three-needle bind-off with short-row shaping for shoulder seams. This seems like a fantastically logical approach, and so I am using it for the first time on my boy's Cashel sweater. But I've got to a point where I'm mildly confused, and when I go looking for bleeding idiot instructions *somewhere*--anywhere!--I come up with almost nothing. I've googled. I've consulted all of my knitting books. I've gone through my IK back issues. I finally found a pattern which may have shed some light on the procedure, but I think I still need to graph it out to see if I'm on the right track.

(I'm confused by the row where I should be knitting up the wraps--trying to figure out whether/where I need to break the yarn, and so on.)

Sewing machine turns out to have needed a $30 part, but I'm still feeling good about the transaction. The fix-it gal confirmed that it's a very nice machine, and in good shape except for that one part.

2003-06-02T00:25:00.000-07:00

I've been watching the sewing machine auctions at eBay (YES, I *do* have better things to do), and I'm very happy with what I got for my bid. For whatever reason, I won my auction at approximately half the winning price of comparable machines. I'm having it serviced, which will set me back a bit more, but I have every reason to believe that I am going to end up with a much better machine than the one I bought new in 1999.

The lace scarf is really lovely in its blocked out glory. There's more lace in my future, I tell ya. I also sewed the buttons on the little jacket, so I can send off her gift tomorrow. And during a long session at BK's play room today, I knit another couple of inches on the back of Cashel. It's pretty cool--my very socially motivated child is really catching on to what works and what doesn't work when it comes to playing with other kids, so I'm having to run interference in those situations less and less.

2003-06-01T00:56:00.000-07:00

Hey! How come nobody told me *how much fun* it is to block lace?? I finished the little neckie-doo-dah for my sis, and blocked it to 30" x 4", which should be okay. I really like how the ribbon lace turned out. I can imagine doing a shawl, although I have no idea where I'd block it out. The floor of my office/study would work if not for the cats.

I should pay bills and continue cleaning up my room, but the mail doesn't go out until Monday, and I don't have any work assignments for next week, so perhaps I'll go sew buttons on the baby jacket and knit a bit on Cashel instead.

2003-05-31T01:40:00.000-07:00

I took my machine to be serviced today, and I want to move to the fix-it gal's house. It's a vaguely Craftsman style bungalow, largish (by my standards, anyway--I think our 1300 sq ft house is huge), with the most amazing front yard. There were several swings and hammocks, kids' toys, windows in the doors, a horse, chicken(s) in the back yard, at least a couple of dogs, and then the farm out back. I waffled between taking it to the semi-official Viking service and her; my decision was based on wanting to support the microeconomy, and send business the way of another work-at-home mom.

The errands of the day also included picking up buttons for the Baby Surprise. I failed to bring it with me, so I bought two different sets of buttons. Either would work. And I discovered, after holding the pre-entry discussion about How to Behave in the Fabric Store that they actually have a wonderful kid's corner. So even though the shop is geared toward quilters, and doesn't have an especially huge selection of fabric, they will get at least my business for notions. The woman working there was also *nice* to the kiddo, which counts for a lot in this mom's book.

Beyond all that, my knitting seems to be rather invigorated. Just in the past couple of days, I've worked 11" (of 17 or 18) of the Cashel back, which is the largest and most boring piece of the sweater. And tonight, I tried a new lace pattern for the scarfette to match the Baby Surprise, and I think I hit on a good one. It's the Lace Ribbon Stitch on p. 284 of Barbara Walker's Second Treasury. I knit up the first mini-ball of yarn, which is about 35-40% of what I have left, and I'm quite sure that when I block the bejeezus out of it, it will be plenty long.

Oh, I bought 800 yds of Berroco Softwist in Alizarin on eBay. Wool/rayon. I'm soliciting suggestions. It knits to 5 st/in, and I'm trying to let myself think it might be enough for a vest. If not, it can always be a kid garment, but I really like the color and the potential drape of the fabric.

At least the KBTHers bought up all the Louet Elements at Elann, so I don't have that tempting me any longer. (Though I'm kinda kicking myself...)

2003-05-29T23:36:00.000-07:00

My Viking Husquvarna 6440 sewing machine arrived today! My favorite type of eBay auction/thrift score/yard sale find is outrageously cheap goods in perfect condition just waiting around for me to stumble on them, with no competition. This machine comes to me from my second favorite category: terrific value on excellent quality in an item that just needs a little TLC. Which is a way of saying that the machine is built to run forever, is missing a couple of presser feet, was filthy, and needs a tune-up. I am looking for the feet, already cleaned it up, and got quotes on a tune-up ($40-50).

Immediate projects I have in mind are a roll-up case for my dpns (I already made my version of The Circular Solution), and finishing the cute reversible flannel jacket I was working on while waiting around to have a baby. The last time I seriously worked on it was the night before my son was born. If I recall, I was making the 12 month size, so it's no longer for *my* baby, but if I get my act together, my new nephew may be able to wear it this fall.

When visiting my dear, dear, wonderful sister-in-law on our CA trip, my boy was really enchanted with her lovely and inviting sewing room. This led to a session of sewing with auntie. As you might imagine, from the four-year-old perspective, the interesting part of this was pushing down on the foot pedal to make the machine go as fast as possible. So, when he saw me pull mine out of the shipping box, he gave it a kiss. When I asked why, his response was, "Because it's lovely!" Yes indeed.

2003-05-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

I am fantasizing about a zip front cardigan made from that rich red color of Rowan felted tweed.

Also, I take back the comment about not having any mindless knitting--it just depends on where I am in the Cashel pattern. There are big stretches of the main pattern which is:

Row 1: *K1, P1* repeat from * to *, end K1
Row 2: Knit

I can handle that in most circumstances.

2003-05-28T12:36:00.000-07:00

You know, if I had more money than I knew what to do with, I would hire someone to make phone calls for me. I really would.

2003-05-27T23:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, my new project is Cashel, a child's sweater from Alice Starmore's The Celtic Collection. After the all-garter stitch Baby Surprise, this is like Stunt Knitting, even though it is only one star in the Starmore difficulty ranking. The yarn is *amazing*--I'm using a Jo Sharp DK I picked up on eBay, and it's a brilliant cobalt blue. The little person who has a claim on this sweater (and who showed the beginning of it to one of his little 4 yo frieds this afternoon) has brown hair with red and blond highlights, and this will be just lovely on him. Stitch definition rocks. My gauge was off by less than 1 st over 4", but I was vascillating about which size to make, and I'm off in the "right" direction, so no worries. Row gauge was off by 2 rows, but I have to adjust the garment length anyway. Presently, I'm at the halfway point on the border pattern for the back.

I also messed around with the neck scarf for my sis last night. Started with a 36 st pattern (tumbling blocks lace), but decided I would run out of yarn all too soon, so I will try again on something with fewer stitches and more air space.

I need to cast on for a sock or something. I definitely don't have a brainless project going at the moment.

2003-05-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

Larry's comments on my post directly below made me check my copy of The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques by Nancie Wiseman, which is easily one of the most useful knitting books I own. Here's an excerpt on how to make left and right slanting raised increases.

"Right raised increase (used at beginning of row): Work to the stitch where the placement of the increase will be on the right side of the stitch. Insert the right needle, from front to back, into the right edge of the knit stitch from the row below, being careful not to pick up two strands of yarn. Knit the stitch from the row below, then knit the next stitch on the needle. On the purl side, work in a similar manner using the right side of the purl bar from the previous row, except purl the stitch from the row below, then purl the next stitch on the needle.

Left raised increase (used at end of row): Work to and including the stitch where the placement of the increase will fall on the left side of the last stitch knit. Insert the left needle, from front to back, into the left edge of the last knit stitch from the row below, being careful not to pick up two strands of yarn. Knit the stitch from the row below and continue across. On the purl side, work in a similar manner using the left side of the purl bar from the previous row, except purl the stitch from the row below, then purl the next stitch on the needle."

This makes more sense with the illustrations, but the explanation is pretty clear, all things considered.

A great thing about this book is that it gives you info on mirror images whenever possible, and also gives a LOT of information on where to--and where *not* to--use various techniques.

2003-05-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the Baby Surprise jacket.

Some changes: I used a centered vertical decrease (I'll have to figure out which version) instead of the recommended slip 1, k2tog, psso. I worked it so that the ridge is inside the jacket. (It's not in an irritating spot.) I think I would revert to the original in future.

For the increases, instead of the matching looped M1s, I knit into the stitch below the stitch before and after the marked stitch (wha...??), as well as the actual stitches before and after the marked stitch. When I worked this pattern last time, I had a hard time with those M1s; felt they were a little too--holey? The trade-off is that the increase I used isn't an absolutely squared mitre. However, it's kinda cool, in that it gives the front corners of the cardigan rounded edges.

For the shoulders, I picked up the stitches and did a three-needle bind-off.

I-cord bind off, and applied i-cord around the neck.

I used most of two hanks of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, held double, in Green Mountain Madness. Initial plan was to make a matching neck scarf for the baby's mom (my sis), but I may or may not eke a short one in lace from the leftovers. There's not as much left as I anticipated.

I haven't swatched yet, but in looking at the measurements for the Starmore Cashel sweater for my little dude, I can hope my row gauge is off. He's super long-waisted, like me, and while the smallest size would be fine as far as the chest measurement is concerned, the length would be a peek-a-boo tummy affair. Which is more endearing on a 4 year old than, say a 45 year old guy, but still, if I'm gonna knit the sweater, I'm of the opinion that it oughta cover all the body parts it is designed to cover. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

As for the owie, he's doing fine, and should get the stitches out in a week. He's tolerating a huge gauze patch taped to his eyebrow rather well, I think.

2003-05-25T00:37:00.000-07:00

Bad day.

My little boy tripped down about three stair steps. He was playing with some mailing tubes (and I was about to redirect him to play with them elsewhere), and had his arms stuck into them. He couldn't break his fall and gashed his eyebrow on our cast iron propane stove. My DH had just arisen to shower for work; within three minutes, he had dressed, I'd put a cold compress on the wound, and loaded my sweetie into his car seat. We flew through town to the ER, which was a madhouse. But within about 90 minutes, sweetie had 2-3 subcutaneous stitches and 9 surface stitches. He was amazing--cried only at the beginning, then did exactly as he was instructed (for once!), and was popping off with questions and hilarious observations throughout the procedure. Announced he was hungry *while* getting stitched. Noted that "the other doctor's office" (i.e. the regular clinic) has TOYS.

So. We got lucky, and all seems well. The novocaine would have worn off hours ago, and he insists it doesn't hurt. But I don't want to do this ever again. It was awful, and it will take awhile to get the image out of my head, if indeed I ever do.

2003-05-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, here is the deal: if I finish the surprise jacket, I can swatch for Alice Starmore's Cashel from The Celtic Collection (using the Jo Sharp DK I bought for my kiddo). Even though I still have to finish (alright, *start* and finish) the matching cravat for my sister.

Maybe I even get to swatch before I do the applied i-cord border. That seems fair, doesn't it?

2003-05-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

The sewing machine I decided on is a Viking 6440, largely at the recommendation of my lovely sister-in-law who has been sewing up a storm on her Viking for the past 19 years. Like, daily. I bid on one and was the high bidder at $163.50, but didn't meet the reserve. I then bid on the same model and won the auction at $76. The first machine was relisted and still hadn't met reserve at $250. So I'm pretty pleased. Also impatient.

Incidentally, Joann.com has 40% off one item through 5/28, using promo code MEMDAY32 at checkout. I'd tell ya what I bought, except it's a gift.

I've had a *very* low-key day, which was sorely needed. I planted seeds and a few starts--lots of greens (mesclun, spinach, chard), peas, blue potatoes, onion sets, a couple of cukes, and some green bell peppers. Also marigolds. Returning from last year were some chives and parsley, hollyhocks, and a few sunflowers.

Started incorporating the new toys into the kiddo's room, and jettisoned the totally excessive packaging. Food packaging has improved in many respects, IMO, but all other packaging *sucks*.

And I knit some more on the little jacket. It's nearly done. I need a visit from Bonne Marie's Slump Buster, though.

Off to help the boy to sleep and get some work done.

2003-05-19T23:44:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to my little sweetie, who turned four today. We were out at the grocery store, just the two of us, at 2:55 pm, the hour of his birth. Which was kind of sweet.

We hung streamers and balloons for him, gave him a couple of gifts in the morning, took him to Burger King for lunch (which in his case was fries and a milkshake, and a whole bunch of running around). The afternoon featured some recreational bathing, playing a game on his daddy's Game Cube, and then dinner out. We hadn't mentioned that there were a bunch of additional presents, and he was beside himself when we got home and brought them out. Then birthday cake (complete with runny frosting courtesy of yours truly, who has resolved never again to attempt to make frosting--it just doesn't work!), playing new games, and off to bed.

He had really wanted "a kid party," which I couldn't wrap my head around pulling off. His friends in the neighborhood are all from families which are a) much larger than ours and b) in a more precarious financial position, making the whole gift situation sticky. So I've suggested an alternate plan: to have a non-birthday kid party sometime this summer. He seemed to think that was an okay alternate.

My knitting is moving along really slowly. In part because I've been obsessed with locating a vintage sewing machine on eBay. In part because I have houseguests. And in part because I have paid work to do. I did, however, get in a few rows today, and received new catalogs from Websters (Ashland, OR) and Patternworks today. Saw some new yarns I thought looked interesting (and was vaguely appalled that I recognized them as new on sight--before reading the copy). An alpaca boucle particularly caught my eye--too expensive for a sweater for me, but another scarf and hat set are a definite possibility.

After Wednesday, life should return to normal. Even though I enjoy spending time with my parents, I found myself *really* wanting to be ALONE for a spell this afternoon.

2003-05-16T23:58:00.000-07:00

This New York Times opinion piece describes the plight of some of the many women in developing countries who are affected by Bush's decision to withhold funds which Congress appropriated to the United Nations Population Fund. If you are moved by what you read, visit http://www.unfpa.org/about/index.htm to learn how you can help.

I think the President's actions are evil.

Oh, and I did get the surprise jacket going again. As expected, it wasn't hard at all.

My folks have arrived safely, and it's incredibly fun to have them here.

2003-05-16T02:38:00.000-07:00

I seem to have a magazine subscription curse, wherein every time I sub to a magazine I *really* like, there's a change of editors, and it's all over. I have been fearing that about Interweave Knits, since learning that Melanie Falick is leaving, but Knitter's Review reminded me that the new editor, Pam Allen, was profiled in Knitting in America, which I own. I re-read the piece about her, and I feel much better now. I remember the first time I read the book, I thought she sounded like someone I'd really enjoy knowing. (Which is saying a lot, as I am incredibly introverted.)

My husband says he's fine with my color choice for the bathroom. I think this is, in part, because up until now, the bathroom has easily been the most butt-ugly room in our house. If you count the back entryway, it might move up a notch to second-ugliest, but we all know it needs *something*.

Right now, the house is semi-presentable, and since we need to leave the house by nine to retrieve my mom and dad, I don't expect that it will devolve into chaos before the arrive.

My little sweetie's comment on the snow: "Look! It's Christmas again!" Harumph.

Off to bed.

2003-05-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

If you were to have a gander at my Weather Pixie right at the moment, you would notice that she is wearing her winter overcoat and standing in the snow. Now, at times, this can be misleading, as her stakeout is actually about 500' in elevation higher than my home, but in this particular instance she is quite accurately reflecting the weather.

I would have a better attitude about this if I hadn't just planted all the container plants two days ago. So now I've moved the very heavy planters into our back entry way, where they may perish anyway, as the cats have shown *considerable* interest.

The painting project is nearly done. The vanity is terminally ugly, but it does look better. I'm fantasizing about painting the walls a nice cantaloupe color, but am working on gruding acceptance from my DH. I'm often encouraged to throw caution to the wind and just start painting, but inasmuch as he does live here, I figure he should have the opportunity to grudgingly acquiesce.

Pact with self: If I have *any* time left tonight after cleaning up and doing a bit of work, I will AT LEAST figure out where I am in the Baby Surprise. Honestly. I'm refusing to start a third project until I at least get the jacket back on track and cast on for the second JaWoll sock. Even though I bought a couple of balls of really yummy yarn I'm yearning to turn into a summertime Bucket o' Chic.

2003-05-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

Scenario: my parents are coming to visit (from a couple of thousand miles away) tomorrow. We returned to our house from vacation late on Saturday. The house was sort of picked up, but not especially clean. We had a wheelbarrow full of mail, about ten loads of laundry, and some very pressing outdoor chores to attend to upon our return. So I need to be--want to be, even--cleaning things up, making them pretty and nice, right?

Enter the Sidetrack Circuit of my brain--the synapses that misfire at the worst possible moment, and leave me convinced that some ancillary task is the only thing I could really possibly be doing.

This is where I decide that after at least a year of our bathroom countertop delaminating that I must peel up the remaining formica, and paint the countertop and vanity. Oh, and the six drawer built in that houses all the bathroom miscellany.

Also where I remember the fabulous thrift store fabric my DH gave me as a gift a couple of years ago, and conclude that I must make my own Circular Solution. RIGHT NOW. (Note: this is really easy to make, but if you use a fabric which is a lighter weight than the cotton duck used in the official version, expect to do some problem solving to get it to remain flat. Mine curves in a bit, as the circs do, but I think I can resolve this by heavily weighting the hem channel.)

I did, however, restrain myself from painting the bathroom walls that nice cantaloupe color, and from starting a roll-up case for my dpns. Tracy has a nice pattern here.

Well okay. Back to our regularly scheduled procrastinating.

2003-05-13T23:14:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that the previous post was written only 13 1/2 hours ago. I am so beyond wiped out.

2003-05-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

I am stuck. While on vacation, I was working on the baby surprise jacket in the car. I messed up a stitch count noticeably. I ripped out my work, but wasn't in the frame of mind to figure out the exact row I ripped it back to. And, apparently, I'm still not. I'm trying to tell myself that this is one of those things THAT IS NOT THAT HARD. I mean, it's really not. So I just need to get over myself already.

Last night I worked on organizing my office/studio, which involved rounding up my small, but apparently growing, stash. I will catalog it shortly.

The backlog of mail waiting for me at the post office included the Summer IK, and I really liked a lot of it. Some of the designs featuring openwork through the bodice aren't something I could really wear, as I am at 47 degrees north latitude, and elevation 2266 feet. The spring walk in the woods stole is *gorgeous*. And there was other stuff I liked. Then I looked at the new Woodland Woolworks catalog briefly, and bless their hearts!--it's full color, and the print quality seems good enough not to distort the colors.

Today is about a bit of gardening--I bought plants for the larger containers yesterday. (Aside: my DH, who is still on vacation until Thursday, went to the neighbors with our son to retrieve some playmates, came back to our house, announced that he would hang with the kids, and sent me on to our mini shopping mecca 25 miles away. When I returned and the kids left, he then did most of the cleaning up. He is a very sweet guy.) I want to put in some vegetables, but this seems like a lost cause in some respects, as the location of the kitchen garden makes it ultra-tempting for a young "construction worker" I know. Perhaps if I bring out the sandbox and fill it, and site it slightly away from the garden, I can achieve peace for the seedlings. We'll see.

2003-05-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

As I mention from time to time, I live in a village. The population is just under a thousand people, we have a tiny downtown ringed by houses that date mainly from the late 1800s/early 1900s, and have approximately the same number of bars and churches. The postal service doesn't deliver door-to-door, so everyone picks up their mail at the post office.

Outside the lobby doors is our community bulletin board. It features a small enclosed case for official announcements from the city, a clipboard with job postings from the university located 25 miles away, a "now playing" flyer from our movie theater, for sale notices, for hire notices, death announcements, you name it. It's one of my major news sources, along with a daily scan of headlines on the internet, and a few hours of All Things Considered each week.

Along with the informational notices, people will post commentary & opinion--usually anonymous--on the board from time to time. Today, I noticed this quotation, typed up and stapled amongst the other flyers:

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

--Theodore Roosevelt

I haven't knit on anything today, as post-vacation laundry has nearly eaten me alive. I do want to finish the surprise jacket this week, however, as my parents are visiting us beginning on Friday, and following that, my sister, brother-in-law, and new nephew are visiting them. If I finish the jacket for baby and cravat for my sis, I can send them back with my folks. The motivation of free shipping.

2003-05-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

We are safely home, and happy to be so, even though the final leg of our trip was amazing. After a lovely visit with my wonderful sister-in-law and brother-in-law, we drove up the northern California portion of Hwy 101 through the redwoods. Just as the light was beginning to dim in the forest, we were traveling down the Avenue of Giants; when we emerged, we continued driving along the coast in the setting sun. It dipped out of the last pink and golden clouds into the ocean just before the highway begins to meander slightly inland again. After spending the night in Crescent City, CA, we drove the Redwood Highway (US 199) back to I-5. The images on the page I just linked are decades old, but the scenic views are intact.

Once we returned to I-5, my darling husband drove like a bat out of hell for the express purpose of getting me to Woodland Woolworks in Carlton, OR before they closed at 4pm. Despite some navigational challenges, he did deposit me on their doorsteop at 3:30pm, and I spent the next half hour fondling yarns. I bought a skein of Mountain Colors Weavers Wool, along with some Addi Naturas, the winter 99/00 issue of Interweave Knits, the Wonderful Wallaby pattern, an issue of Twists and Turns, and some odds and ends. If you're anywhere near Portland, it's well worth driving out beyond the suburbs, into the farmland for a visit.

As expected, I didn't get a huge amount of knitting done, but I did finish one of the socks. I'd used 3x3 ribbing for the entire cuff, and blissfully figured out how to do a kitchener bind-off on it. It made me hugely happy, actually--to realize that not only do you possess a skill (I can kitchener bind-off on 1x1 and 2x2 rib), but that you understand it fundamentally and can apply it to other scenarios.

So that's enough of an update for now. I'm clearly trying to avoid the overwhelming job of unpacking, laundry, restocking the refrigerator...etc. etc. etc. At least I can't retrieve my mail until Monday, and therefore can't be distracted by *that*.

2003-05-05T00:11:00.000-07:00

I neglected to specifically mention that I'd be incommunicado for 10 days or so. We're off visiting with my in-laws, with sporadic internet access.

I brought along a sock project and the Baby Surprise #2, but haven't had a tremendous amount of time to work on them. Keeping an almost 4 year old occupied and out of trouble in other people's homes is challenge enough. Fiber-related travels have thus far only included a stop at The Websters in Ashland, OR--lovely, but overwhelming. I was *sorely* disappointed not to make it to Woodland Woolworks in Carlton, OR on our first day of driving, but our return itinerary makes it quite likely that I'll be able to negotiate a stop.

2003-04-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

Well, earlier I stopped myself from finishing a stupid, semi-outraged post about Melanie Griffith's blog, which I poked at briefly after reading an article about celebrity blogs in the Seattle P-I online. I decided it was supremely unimportant, and the only reason I mention it now is that I started thinking about my own hypocrisy as I was making jabs at "Mrs. Antonio Banderas," given that my email address is zayzmama (at) myisp.com.

So I'm going to comment on that. I first got internet access at home shortly after my boy was born. I think I first had six months free from Earthlink, then went through a couple of free dial-ups. I had a couple of different addresses before I got a yahoo account, and the one that was immediately before that was a combination of my last name and my husband's. Ironically, when I landed on zayzmama, it was partially an effort to make it clear that it was MY account, and that family/friends sending mail to my husband should not expect it to be immediately read by him. (This did not actually work.)

But more importantly, it was a reflection that having a child rocked my world. We'd been married for three years, together for five, when the prospect of parenthood unexpectedly presented itself. We decided to proceed, and I thought that I adjusted to the idea rather well, and quite quickly. Then our boy was born, and my heart split open. I'd had *no* idea.

I've had a consistent sense of self since I was a very young child, and I retain this, but motherhood changed some of my fundamental perceptions. About what I am made of, about what's important, about the ways people interact, about morality. And so, the email address came to be.

As we've gone along, figuring out how this little family of ours works, and as my boy has grown into his own unique and wonderful personality, I've decided that the time to retire my address is coming. Someday soon, I'll be ann (at) muchadoaboutknitting . net. Assuming, of course, I actually bust through my languishing list of to-dos. (Which I will; I've just been working part-time at night.) But I'll probably hang onto zayzmama as a private address--it means something important to me, even it seems so terribly...what?...negating? I guess. In reality, it's been anything *but* that.

Today: knit knit knit. Rip out about eight rows. Which I was actually happy to do, as the ability to spot and fix errors delights me. A year ago, I probably wouldn't have known. Perhaps six months ago, I might not have known what to do. Now, I see, and gleefully frog it back to set things right.

Learning is good.

2003-04-25T00:43:00.000-07:00

One thing about the Baby Surprise is that it's a different kind of knitting drama. Say you're working on a "normally" structured sweater, or a sock. Act I: The ribbing. Act II: The cuff. Act III: Heel flap. Etc. With the Baby Surprise, it's knit knit knit knit knit...hmm, this looks weird...knit knit knit...whoops, lost count, let's rip back a couple of rows...knit knit...OH! *That's* how it works!

So, today, I knit knit knit, and only ripped out about 1/4 of a row.

I also ran about a zillion errands, did endless laundry (I have no idea how three people generate so much), tried to put out various fires, and so on. At the present time, the division of labor at our house is pretty traditional--Daddy goes off to work, Mommy keeps things running at home, Boy plays and helps out in his own sweet way. It hasn't always been this way with us, but this is good for now. HOWEVER, when it comes time for vacation--or shall I say "vacation"--I can quite easily get myself into quite a snit. I clean, pack, get the car serviced, score provisions for a two-day drive, arrange itineraries, e-mail friends we might see, plan routes and diversions, print maps and so on. Then we get there, and it's me helping a four-year-old navigate an alien environment. It's me trying not to get bent about the little misunderstandings that crop up when there exists the intimacy of the family structure, but, as the "outsider," I don't have the historical reference for dealing with it all. It's me not having the private space that my introverted little heart craves, and which I've carved out in my regular life. But. Once we move through this omigod-we-are-leaving-in-five-days phase, it will be fine. I will chill. I may even have fun.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

2003-04-23T23:41:00.000-07:00

Thrifty tip of the day: I occasionally buy wool sweaters au thrift for the purpose of transforming them into swank felted goods. Today, I purchased my second GAP sweater for this reason, and developed the theory that I should actively keep an eye out for more. The lambswool felts easily, and it seems that many GAP shoppers do not perceive a difference between "hand wash" and "machine wash with extra agitation" (thereby sparing my washing machine from wayward fuzz). This lovely is a raglan sleeved striped affair, a very pale green and a deeper artichoke, and it is going to be stitched up into a protective sleeve for my laptop. All this requires is a double line of stitching just above the body ribbing, slicing off the sleeves along the raglan lines, folding one side in (I'll have to look at my other bag to see how I secured it), and then making an envelope style flap. I have a bag that I did with a button and button hole, but I may velcro this one. Presto! Perfectly sized protective sleeve, and very funky, too. I may use the sleeves to make smaller bags for the adapter and surge protector.

I meant to note that on this Baby Surprise, I've substituted a different double decrease. I'm doing the Double Vertical Decrease (?--I think) as illustrated in the big Vogue book. It's this: slip 2 together knitwise onto the right hand needle, knit the next stitch, pass the two slipped stitches over the knit stitch. Very tidy.

I knit about one row on the JaWoll sock today, standing in a cart corral at a grocery store, kid in the cart, waiting for the shop to call and tell me my vehicle had been cleansed. (This was 3.5 hours after I'd begun an entertaining afternoon on foot with a four year old. We were tired, and loitering in the cart corral actually seemed like a good idea.) If I'd had our digital camera with me, I'd have photographed the inside of our radiator cap. I am no longer doubtful about the need for radiator flushes.

2003-04-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

I've started another Baby Surprise jacket--my plan is to make this for my new nephew and make a matching cravat-type thing for my sis, whose birthday is soon. (Though not perilously soon.) I'm using Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, held double for this outrageously spongy fabric. I've knit 16 160-stitch rows, ready to begin row 7. (Extrapolate.) My sis is a self-professed "Matchy Matchy Girl," so she will dig the mommy-baby thing. Thank goodness she had a boy. We wouldn't want to go too far in that direction.

(Although I have to say, IK has had at least two adult/kid sweaters modeled by "grandmas" and "granddaughters" that I thought were outrageously sweet. In particular, I''m thinking of a cardigan with a peplum worked up in chenille--something I would not in a million years wear--but it was perfect on the models.)

Oh, my new desktops were retrieved from their retail source by my wonderful DH (who commutes an hour each way to work, and agreed to make this three hour round trip on his day off). They are about 6" less deep than I had intended, but it's not actually going to be a big deal. Prior to this, I've had my own office/study space, but only a computer desk, mainly taken up by the monitor. Now I have a good space to draw, sew, do crafty stuff, etc. Christmas gift $$ took care of this--hard to imagine a nicer gift than creative workspace.

2003-04-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

It's done, and it's very pretty. I don't have any buttons about, and am unlikely to get anywhere with an interesting selection until the road trip, but I do have a pretty silver bar pin with a small round piece of amber set in the middle, and it looks lovely as a clasp.

Then, because I often like to use up all the yarn at once, I knit up a hat. Seed stitch border for 2.25" in the handpaint, then switching to the periwinkle and stockinette for the crown. Thinking of the hat Ivete knit recently, I short-rowed the back twice. I ssk'd the decreases, starting with K5 K2tog on 49 sts, and continued, working a plain round in between, all the way to the end (7 sts). Then I decreased down to three stitches, worked some i-cord for a while, and tied it in a top knot. I suppose I shouldn't call it done, but it will be as soon as I weave in the ends.

I have a very small amount of yarn left, and I'm thinking I will swatch and felt it, just to see how the thick-thin structure felts. Which reminds me: this is very, very, very gentle care yarn.

So the end result from 4 skeins of Labrador? 1 adult woman's vest, size medium, tri-colored; 1 adult hat, bi-colored; 1 pillow top, 14" square, single color. All knit on 9 mm bamboo circs. A secondn thanks to the b-day gifters is in order.

2003-04-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

I finished knitting the Gimme 5 vest last night, and have been weaving in this morning. I changed colors three times (eggplanty color for the lower section, then a handpaint in purples and greens and blues, then a periwinkle for the plain garter stitch section at the top. I've tried it on and like it, and think I will like it even more once it has been blocked.

It's easily do-able in the advertised five hours, even when working 50% more stitches (as I did, due to yarn substitution). Three skeins of Labrador is plenty--two *might* be enough if you were using one color. I think I have enough left over for a simple hat.

I completed it last night while watching Star Trek: Insurrection (verdict: fluffy and formulaic, but fun, and oh how I love Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, and LeVar Burton, in that order), but didn't have time for the extra-credit math problem: estimating the difference in size if I knit Kathy Zimmerman's Age of Aquarius at 19 sts per inch rather than 18. The pattern is sized for men, so I think that if I work up the medium, all will be well, though I will conduct some basic math to confirm this.

Back to weaving in.

2003-04-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

I am past dividing the vest at the armholes. The left front is done, and the back is close. I should be able to finish this off tonight, esp. given that I don't have to work. I will have plenty of yarn, and I think the sizing is correct. The jury is still out on the matter of whether or not I will *like* it, but I think that washing and blocking it will do wonders.

I've been poking around a bit in the interest of a trip itinerary, and found this excellent resource. It's the Traveling Knitter Sourcebook, listing yarn shops by state, fiber festivals, and farms. There's a section for the armchair traveler, separated into mail-order and online retail. I realize there are other pages like this out there, but this appears to be quite a bit more thorough and also up-to-date. Brought to us by Interweave.

2003-04-19T02:11:00.000-07:00

Ack. I haven't reached a final determination, but I think that the vest may be a bit too wide. I could be wrong. I'm not sure what I will use this yarn for if it won't work for this project. The three colors I have are lovely together (sort of an eggplant, a periwinkle, and a green/purple/etc. handpaint). It's an interesting challenge--trying to put raw materials chosen both in substance and quantity for you by someone else, and turn them into something as cohesive and lovely as this yarn deserves to be.

Tomorrow's project is to research all those yarn shops DH inserted into our itinerary. Plus whatever else looks fun. Need to look for outings in the East Bay, too, as we agreed that leaving his brother's house periodically would be good for the sanity of all. They have a basically good relationship, but have very different temperaments and interests. His boys are a few years older, and "closed ranks" a bit against our dearie last time we were there, so good to have tension-relieving back-up plans at the ready.

2003-04-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

I am having myself a day!

--It's my husband's b-day; this a.m. I wrapped gifts and made a chocolate cake. From scratch! And it is light and moist and delicious!
--The furniture store guys came to replace the arm on our newish sofa, which had had "issues"--now it be beautiful.
--I fetched the adirondack chairs out of the basement, and in so doing, found the shirt to my favorite pair of p.j.'s, which has been on hiatus since we moved in December 2000.
--It's looking like I may not have a work assignment for tonight, so I get to knit and watch Star Trek: Insurrection, which appears to have met with underwhelming acclaim, but how bad can two hours of Patrick Stewart be? Also, while I love the TNG cast, I really don't take Star Trek *that* seriously. It is, after all, Star Trek.

So that's that. I'm hoping to get far enough on the Labrador vest to see if my modifications to the pattern are on the right track.

2003-04-17T23:19:00.000-07:00

My husband, proving once again that he is both very funny and sweetly indulgent, returned an e-mail copy of our road trip itinerary I'd written up for his family to me, replacing 75% of the destinations with "yarn shop." I guess he's on to me.

I have knit naught, due to taking care of pre-trip auto maintenance. However, I did realize, when wandering the aisles of the grocery/department store nearby that a DVD binder would store circular needles nicely. Someone, somewhere, had mentioned CD wallets in this regard, but the DVD binders have pages which are a bit taller.

2003-04-16T23:13:00.000-07:00

I had a bad case of Christmas Morning Syndrome this a.m.--in bed at 4 or so, eyes wide open at 8:46 a.m. If we had a porch swing, I'm sure I'da been sitting on it, legs crossed at the ankle, kicking my feet back and forth. The FedEx guy put me out of my misery around noon. (A note on our climate: we are far north and well-elevated enough that the UPS and FedEx drivers actually wear *ankle* length pants for a noticeable portion of the year.)

So, my laptop is here, it's lovely, it's not fully configured yet. Took at least half an hour to delete the "complimentary" crap they'd loaded it with, and there wasn't nearly as much as on some I've seen. I've transferred my programs, now it's just my files, e-mail account, etc.

I started the drop stitch vest in Labrador last night. The version in Knitter's used Colinette Point 5, which is beefier, so I swatched, and also took a look at the wpi's of each and decided to multiply the medium numbers by 1.5 and see how it goes. The row gauge I will have to play by ear. Found out early that it is exceedingly important to make sure the extra wraps are on the thickest part of the needle *not* the tip. Gads, that was a pain.

Also got a haircut today, and got in quite a bit of sock knitting while waiting for my boys to return to pick me up. Little guy ran up to me and said, "Oh Mommy! Here I am!" followed immediately by "Your hair looks silly." (It doesn't, really, it's just quite a bit shorter.)

Off to do some work, as I realized today that, not even counting the laptop, I've spent an outlandish amount of money lately*. So much for my winter thriftiness.

*But today's outpouring included $8 to Schoolhouse Press for color cards, which are a bit like my own small-town equivalent of fondling at an LYS.

2003-04-15T23:55:00.000-07:00

Or then, I might start a pair in Lang JaWoll, so I have something easy to work on in the dark at the movie theater. Noticed this afternoon that our small town theater* was showing Spirited Away, so we decided to have popcorn for dinner, as we three are Miyazaki fans. My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service rank right up there with Toy Story in the kiddo's book (and I should note that he originally chose Totoro at the video store, before he turned three). Unfortunately, Spirited Away was a bit long, a bit scary, and not quite as little-kid-friendly as the other films (i.e. the PG rating is correct). But his da and I enjoyed it. Leaving the theater, I eavesdropped on a small gaggle of pre-teens: "This was the weirdest anime I've ever seen!" and "Academy Award winner?! Hmmpf."

*Our town is *really* small--right around a thousand people. But we have a lovely movie theater which shows nearly first run movies, features an adults-only balcony outfitted with recliners, serves Not Dogs at the concession stand, has a big pile of firm pillows to use as boosters for little kids, and charges six dollah. It's housed in what used to be the town mortuary. Three people can actually go to the movies AND have popcorn and sodas for just over twenty bucks. It is a treasure, for sure.

Anyway, between the popcorn and reassuring my little one, I didn't do that much knitting--maybe 5-7 rounds. I also realized I was making mistakes, as I had just switched from the reinforced toe to the plain portion of the foot, and didn't have the "feel" of the yarn yet. I am happy to report that all of my errors were fixable.

2003-04-15T14:55:00.000-07:00

Oooh oooh oooh! FedEx has my laptop and should bring it to me tomorrow!

In much less exciting news, I *finally* finished the baby mexikos. Deciding whether to start the Labrador vest, the CTH Supersock baby surprise, or, most likely, both :)

2003-04-15T01:16:00.000-07:00

Lo hice! I always feel so clever when I finish doing the taxes. Of course, in our case, this is not an entirely unjustified feeling. I was just aiming to assemble enough information to file the extension, but I managed to complete them in full. Check that one off the list!

2003-04-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

Hey Larry, I printed out my tax forms from irs.gov...does that count? ;~)

2003-04-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

According to Dell, my laptop has been built and is proceeding to "boxing"!

2003-04-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

As part of yesterday's day on the town with my little dear, I spent some quality time knitting at McDonald's play space. The realization that I will see my sister-in-law in just a few weeks has spurred me on toward finishing the baby socks promised to her in trade. So. I was working on a 36 st baby sock in the Fortissima Mexiko left over from my recent pair, when a woman stopped to ask what I was doing as she and her family were leaving. I told her, saying that I'd had enough left over from my socks to make a baby pair, lifting my pantleg slightly because I was wearing my Mexikos and, well, I gesture. She said, "You made them??!" and called over her clearly uninterested husband to see. "And this?" pointing to my neck, as I was also sporting my cravat.

The thing about all of this was that her tone was one of...astonishment. It wasn't as if she was particularly impressed, just astonished. That this could be done. It amused me.

So, anyway, that's what I'm working on. I'm digging the toe-up factor generally; for baby socks, it *totally* rocks.

Kidlet and I had a nice day yesterday. Our bigger dear works about an hour from home, much nearer metropolitan (well, suburban, anyway) life, and we occasionally tag along with him when he works swing shift, then merrily drop him off at work and tool off in the car. Yesterday's mission was to find some new pants for the kid, as pants for his size person are simply not to be had in thrift stores. Presumably, like his, they are all shredded at the knees. We were successful enough on that count, picked up a toy or two, went to REI for some cool colored Nalgene water bottles (glacier blue and firefly yellow), and poked around at Target. Learned a new route to avoid one of my least favorite freeways. Nearly sideswiped another car. (But can I just say it would really be helpful to me if, generally, lane markings had been painted in the last five years or so?)

We've been at home for most of today, but I did at least sketch out a possible itinerary for our road trip. I've requested a stop at Woodland Woolworks in Carlton, OR, but need to research my other options.
Since kidlet came along, m husband is pretty mellow about stopping whenever and wherever on driving trips.

2003-04-09T23:09:00.000-07:00

I finished the Leaf Cravat with 20" of yarn to spare! It was a little nerve-wracking there at the end, but I love having just the perfect amount of yarn. So, for future reference, 2 balls of LL shepherd sport will yield one Baby Surprise jacket and one Leaf Cravat (both of which I would happily make again).

I love the cravat--I wore it for awhile tonight, and it was perfectly soft and cozy. Very pretty, too. Teva Durham's site is here.

2003-04-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

Following much chasing about of older girls at Burger King, my little sweetie just fell asleep on the couch while watching a movie. Before 9 pm!!!! This is unheard of. And while he was nodding off, I was ordering up a laptop. Estimated ship date April 16.

I finally finished the Peace Fleece socks--wearing them right now, as a matter of fact, along with the cardi. I reinforced the heels by weaving through the purl bumps. They are just a teeny bit too big, but I have enough experience with this yarn to know that I can throw them in with the laundry, and that will either a) tighten them up just enough or b) do nothing at all. Not c) shrink them down to an unwearable size.

Upon finishing the sock, I weeded out my main knitting basket a bit--moving leftovers from recent projects to deeper storage. When considering the short term fate of the cranberry LL Shepherd Sport, I decided to go ahead and start the Leaf Cravat. I've done one of the leaf ends and three repeats (of a probable 12) of the lace pattern, and not only is it very pretty, I predict I will have plenty of yarn. Well, enough, anyway.

Pondering my IK's, thinking about what I want to do with the KFI Gaelic Aran. There are some definite contenders, but I perhaps I should wait until I can actually swatch, or at least determine the wpi's of the yarn before I get too committed???!

2003-04-07T00:30:00.000-07:00

Now this is some purdy alpaca!

2003-04-06T20:48:00.000-07:00

Doing the right thing... Yeah, right, I can't go down a needle size. Except that I have my beloved 3 mm Bryspun dpns. That concave tapered tip is just the right thing to dig into a really tight stitch. Re-ribbing is coming right along, and looks much (*much*) better.

Had me a little shopping spree this afternoon--picked up this on eBay. I only shop on a going going gone basis. There was quite a lot of interesting stuff, but I liked the color of this, and I have a ball of KFI Gaelic, which I like the feel of. It's a little woolier-feeling than some superwash wools. I'm also toying with the idea of buying some of the Gypsy cotton Knit Picks has in their "try it you'll like it" section. We've decided to have a "real" photographer do a session with the kiddo around his b-day, and I'm thinking I'd like to knit a simple pullover for the occasion, and he looks good in blue :)

2003-04-06T01:07:00.000-08:00

Hallelujah! The deadline for the book project I'm working as a reasearch assistant on has been moved from May 10 to October. This makes life much better, and notably, removes most of the stress over scheduling a visit to the California in-laws. Also, it means I will have this job, which I like, for longer than I originally thought.

Finished one of the PF socks--just have to do the ribbing on the second. I'm not totally thrilled with the ribbing, as I really couldn't go down another needle size. Using 3.75 mms with this yarn is pushing it. The socks (well, sock) is really snuggly and warm, though, and it hasn't even been washed yet!

2003-04-04T18:31:00.000-08:00

True Confessions

1. A while back, I was bitching about not receiving a thank you note for a gift I mailed in response to a baby shower invitation. In the spirit of full disclosure, I did get one last week sometime.

2. I have always thought that people who claimed to knit while walking were a bit...off. But I've done it a couple of times now, and I can understand the appeal. Especially when your walking companion is just shy of four and truly needs to stop to inspect every stick, rock, puddle, etc. etc. Knitting helps me to be much more patient than I might otherwise be. Prime example is the scene at BK/McD's playspaces. I always hear parents telling their kids that they can play for FIVE minutes or TEN minutes. Whereas we can usually stay for upwards of an hour, so long as I've got my knitting (and maybe my Palm Pilot) with me.

I'm eyeing the Leaf Cravat from the Winter 02/03 issue of IK, and wondering whether I have enough cranberry Lorna's Laces Nearly Solids to make it. I really wish that one-ball patterns that don't tell you to knit until you run out of yarn would give an idea of the the yardage actually used for the project. Anyway, I like this, and it seems like something I would wear in lieu of a t-neck (my neck *has* to be warm, or I'm miserable)--but I also wonder if I don't just want to look a little like this model, generally.

PF socks are nearly done--tonight is a possibility, but it depends on how productive I feel my research session is. Last night I worked until 2:30 am, coughed and gagged until 3:30 am, and then got poked awake prior to 9 am*: "Mommy! It's time to go downstairs!" Marilyn's phrase--what fresh hell is this?--may have been the first to cross my lips this morning...

*I never said we weren't night owls around here.

2003-04-03T17:47:00.000-08:00

P.S. Contrary to what Ms. Weather Pixie says, it is NOT snowing, and the sky is NOT brown.

2003-04-03T17:42:00.000-08:00

Went looking for a cheap throw pillow to use the Labrador pillow top on. Found one that was so close, and only $7, but the green was a bit off, and I have enough of my mother in me to reject it on that basis.

Cruising along on the Peace Fleece socks. These are definitely boot socks, but I wear my Danskos for about 9 months out of the year, so that's not a problem. My goal is to have knit myself enough socks by the end of the summer to feel just swell about throwing out all my commercial wool socks that have big holes in 'em. Big, non-darnable holes. And yet I wear them.

The mohair blend yarn I bought on eBay arrived yesterday, and it is a good match with the sofa upholstery. I have my doubts that I can get a throw out of it, and I'm not so wild about the hand of it anyway. BUT, I'm thinking that maybe some kind of valance for the windows might be good. At present, our window treatments consist solely of white miniblinds, and I despise miniblinds. (The blinds were part of the realtor overhaul which apparently occurred before our house went on the market. Other "features" of this makeover included the arbor vitae I just dug up; planting of a weeping birch in front of the porch, right where the snow slides off; a top to bottom paint job in the ugliest real-estate-beige you can imagine; etc. You get the idea.)

However, I think the next project may be the Point 5 vest from the Fall 2002 issue of Knitter's. I think the three skeins of Labrador I have left from my b-day gift will work for this, and I like the look of the thick-thin yarn in the dropped garter stitch.

2003-03-31T23:44:00.001-08:00

I've been prematurely shopping for a laptop. In approx. 2-3 weeks, I should be able to swing it. The improved performance will be sweet, but will it be as sweet as being able to haul my work all over the house?

A bit more gardening today, plus some errands, and I finished the pillow top I was making out of Crystal Palace Labrador. Through some knitting miracle, it ended up being exactly square, using exactly one ball of yarn. It's about 3/5 seed stitch (which I really liked knitting, oddly enough, considering how much I do NOT like 1 x 1 rib) and 2/5 stockinette. Now I just have to find an appropriately sized and colored throw pillow to stitch it to.

2003-03-31T23:44:00.000-08:00

2003-03-30T21:53:00.000-08:00

The Sweater Sampler is done. The techniques included were: garter st, st st, 1x1 ribbing, 1x1 twisted ribbing, 2x2 ribbing with stripe, sweatshirt pocket, knit-on cardigan border, knit belt, paired increases (3 ways, none of which I liked much), purl stripe, raised stripe, paired decreases (4 ways), two-color lice, two-color stranded pattern with duplicate stitch accent in a third color, i-cord through lacing round, cast-off in lace, cast-off in 2x2 ribbing, i-cord cast-off with i-cord loop, and initialed hem. Oh, and with all the stripes, there was plenty of weaving in to do. Knit in the round on a 16" circ.

Today was another warm day (65ish?), and we mucked around outdoors for a bit. I dug up the dead arbor vitae in the front of the house, which I'm sure improved both the curb appeal and the feng shui of the house. And if not, it made me happy, since I don't much like arbor vitaes when they are alive, much less dead and awkwardly placed. I also fixed one wind chime (there's another to do), and found the soaker hose and readied it for action. So perhaps tomorrow, the kid and I will plant some peas and greens. A thrifting trip is looming, too, unless by some miracle I actually locate my existing mosaic supplies. We have city-issued house numbers which definitely need some added pizzazz, and I was thinking of mounting it on a mosaic plaque.

2003-03-29T18:21:00.000-08:00

I'm reading Party of One, and my god, does this woman have an axe to grind! I'm a confirmed introvert, and I don't disagree with her analysis, really, but I am hoping she develops a hint of a sense of humor sometime soon.

I've also been checking out Sally Melville Styles, and I'm totally intrigued by her "knitting as warp" idea. I also really like the energy she conveys in her writing about knitting. Overall, this is a book I can easily imagine picking up later on in my knitting career, when I've stockpiled more odds and ends. I'm not as inveterate a packrat my husband, mother, or mother-in-law, but I do hang on to my bits of yarn. Up to and including the wee-est snips, which I intend to put out for the birds, for nest building. In fact, I recently knit a teeny tiny rug for the fairy house the kid and I made entirely out of 5-10" scraps I'd saved. (It was a little nutty.)

I'm nearly done with the sampler--I think I just have the initialed hem, the afterthought pocket, and weaving in to do. One point of confusion for me came while working the lace edging--I need to research how to work YOs. I'm not sure how to knit into the stitches when they come 'round again, since they are seated backward on the needle.

2003-03-27T21:27:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure why, but all of a sudden, I seem to be able to do two-handed color knitting. Maybe because there was no way to avoid it *and* finish the sampler according to the directions?

Meaning, I can knit continental, though I'm still faster and my tension is more even knitting English.

Weird.

Here's one of our favorite kid books--the refrain is: "sometimes, even mamas make mistakes."

2003-03-27T01:37:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm just roaring along on the sweater sampler, due in part to a 2 hour roundtrip drive to see Jungle Book 2. (We aren't really well enough to have anybody over, but we were all a bit stir crazy; hence the road trip.) (And as to the oh-so-rotten (19% fresh) reviews at rottentomatoes.com--lighten up, people! Go see it with a little kid, k?) (And going for a new record in parenthetical asides, it was really cool to watch my kid laughing at things he thought were funny, not at laughter.)

In any case, it *looks* like I'm nearly done with this, but the reality is that all the fussy parts are at the very end of the project. Which is fine. The sweatshirt pocket is fun, but I do not like the bar increase for paired increases. I'm a Libra, okay? M1R and M1L will serve me just fine. Symmetry is the way things have to be. (Hmm, I should hunt down that CD.)

I also experimented with refining my ribbing strategy. I generally wrap the purl stitches clockwise, and purl into the backs of them on every round after the set-up, which has made my knit stitches look less messy. Well, it occurred to me that in K2P2 rib, I could purl the first one clockwise tbl, and the second counter-clockwise normally, and it does appear to be an improvement upon an improvement. Now, if I could just temper my tendency to want to stop ribbing three rows before I really should.