momsknitting

Preemie Knitting Contest

2008-09-22T14:22:00.003-05:00

Over at the new website!

The Preemie Knitting Contest sign up is up.

(Don't forget to update the RSS feed if you're following along.)

Launch Time!

2008-07-30T18:53:00.002-05:00

Technology is my friend. I think.

The website is up and functioning properly. I think.

Hop over there for the new blog!

One WIP down

2008-07-28T07:50:00.003-05:00

Good advice.

Camp is over for PeeWee. Big Brother went to DC until the 13th on an adventure with family there. I hope he's having a great time, because I am pretty sure I'm not going to hear from him. Marky Mark made it home so it has been Camp Daddy this weekend. We have a slew of projects lined up to keep us busy the next month, including a bit of travel time I am excited about.

It's a good thing because this:

is pretty much the scene here every day. Getting a little tired of it but at least we seem to be back to our normal summer rain levels. If you check the weather channel we have thunderstorms every day.

So we're doing a lot of this:

And while PeeWee naps I get time to knit!

I have finished her little tunic. I actually had enough yarn to make it a dress and still could but for now I am so sick of that little cotton yarn that I am done. I'll hang onto the other ball and be sure to keep track of it and when I feel up to it I'll go ahead and make it longer, turning it into a dress. For now it's a tunic and she loves it. Slept in it in fact. It's not blocked yet and a little lumpy looking.

I'm pleased with it. I used the raglan sweater for a 26" chest from Ann Budd's Handy Little Book of Sweaters. I use those reference books of hers all the time.

Updates on the other WIPs coming soon...

There's a lot more room in here now

2008-07-23T07:55:00.004-05:00

So, for the last few weeks I have been in that awful half cleaned house state. Where everything is pulled out and nothing is put in the new tidy space yet- Spring Cleaning a few months late.

That was how I noticed the excessive number of WIPs and UFOs around here. They were stuffed everywhere. So were balls of yarn and projects to begin when another is finished.

Yarn and needles in drawers, alongside some other weird things waiting for homes. I have ideas, just not the time for execution.

Out of place craft/idea books, I pull them out of the closet and they seem to never get back up the stairs. They're put away now.

The crafty things that get stuffed into closets, corners and drawers. These were the things from most of downstairs... when you gather them up it's surprising!

And then there's the TV room. I had a few things in there, too. Granted, except for the crewel and the cabbage needlepoint this stuff was tucked away in the drawer, so it's not like I've been actively looking at all this clutter. (Michelle, I know this is killing you...)

I figured out that I have a lot of things to frog but not so many to actually keep as WIPs. I'm hanging on to PeeWee's dress, which is going to have to turn itself into a shirt because I don't have enough of the yarn for a dress, since she keeps shooting up like a weed! PeeWee's dress/shirt is my priority right now. It's straight stockinette all the way until I split things for the raglan sleeves so I hope I can make some good progress on that. It's going to be hot here until October so she'll get wear out of it but I want to be sure she gets as much as possible.

Of course there's also the cardigan, which I won't need until October at least, and there are the cabbage needlepoint, needing the yarn for the background, and the dragonfly needlepoint, which needs a little doctoring. I'm really unhappy with the background. Ripping knitting or crochet is a lot easier than ripping needlepoint. I have to use a seam ripper for that. And pick and pick while hoping I am not stretching out the canvas. I can usually ignore something that looks off but this time it looks plain weird to have such a big background on the ornament so it is going to have to be ripped out. The crewel is about halfway done at this point. It is soft colors I would never have chosen but love. It's for Marky Mark for Christmas. It matches out room.

I promise pics of the WIPs soon. My battery is charging for the camera. So next post, the actual WIPs I am keeping.

WIPs in every corner...

2008-07-21T07:39:00.001-05:00

All I am going to say is WOW.

I am going to need a larger container....

more later...

and pictures...

Not only do I have bling..

2008-07-17T13:19:00.006-05:00

I am a winner too:

Thanks Michelle!

So the 7 blogs I'm going to send this award on to are:
(drumroll)
Moscow Daily Photo since I really enjoy the daily peek across the world to one of those places I would love to return to one day...

Christy A mis-placed Louisiana girl

Christina she skydives! and knits! and lives down the street (just about)

Beak's Handmade Blog I love this daily peek into another Mommy's world

Rhonda who I think needs all the good vibes one can get right now

Tammy who entertains me endlessly with the tales of her boys

and Sara who thinks like me.

I would give it to all my blogland loves, but I had to pick 7, which was not easy since I would have liked to have passed it on to about 27. But that's a lot of links. And If I'm reading you daily I think you're brilliant anyway.

In the creative world right now I am still chugging away on the back of the cardigan. It is my traveling/waiting knitting so it's just moving along. Nothing exciting to show. Light teal yarn.

I started an embroidery project, against my better judgement. Somehow my hands just got started. It's crewel really. And pretty. And a gift, so under wraps for now.

I'm feeling the need to start a pair of socks but am fighting it. I am going to contain all my half done projects and see what I can actually wrap up and finish. I mean opening all the drawers, containers, window seats, etc and gathering the WIPs in one place. I know the ones that are in the back of my mind and am sure there are little unfinished things tucked away that I forgot about also. I'll probably be shocked. I promise to share my shame.

I'm thinking a big plastic tub because I can not go into the attic and get out the cedar chest because it is 1) way too hot up there 2) too heavy for me to get it without a band of merry men 3) there is no where to put it, I think that's why it's in the attic. It came with the house. I may offer Big Brother an obscene amount of money to do it. He'd need a helper. Just going up there deserves a chunk of cash in my mind. I'd certainly rather look at the cedar chest than a plastic tub any day.

Yesterday PeeWee and I went to an Ice Cream Social. Since I hate to leave you without something cute to look at here she is loving her treat!

Bling!

2008-07-16T15:53:00.003-05:00

I said I was going to paint myself some ornaments, didn't I?

Here's my shiny and fun dragonfly, almost done being stitched, too. I'm going to bring the yellow out a bit more around the wings so there's not too much weight at the bottom, and because I like it so much. I had a thin outline around the tail but I figured there was simply no stuffing something so narrow and decided to beef it up a bit and it's looking like it needs it all around. This is totally something I would have bought in a shop. I've got it all charted out so I may paint up a few to see the response.

Yes, that's my cabbage pillow. No it has not lost it's allure. I really wanted to get the ornament finished so I can get it sent out through the woman who might decide to carry them. Or not. So I put it ahead of the pillow.

The huge frog? Yes, I know it is truly disgusting and in spite of my frog phobia it lives happily alongside us here. I hate frogs, they are just the nastiest things out there, they make my stomach turn and heart race but I am given frogs all the time. I kid you not. How this huge phobia has passed unnoticed I have no idea but I get frogs from everyone. This beauty was a gift from a good friend who laughed and was really surprised I have these issues. Charming, huh? And, as you can tell, huge.

Just for good measure, since it has been a while since the kids have made it on here, a picture of PeeWee. Today was a swim day at camp so off she went all dressed to go! Sassy little pirate that she is.

Christmas in July

2008-07-13T09:51:00.004-05:00

I met with a friend who has a needlepoint project for me to paint out on canvas for her as quickly as I can get it wrapped up, and I have another canvas to paint up for a friend so I also picked up some canvas for myself and I want to see how many times I can say canvas in a run-on sentence, so just for good measure, I got some canvas to make PeeWee a needlepoint rug for her doll house and I got her an adorable ladybug canvas made just for kids.

Here she is stitching away! She's watched me enough times to actually be pretty proficient. Especially for a little 3 and a half year old. It makes a mother proud. I think we'll have this one framed when she's all finished with it. The stitches are already going in every direction but that's fine with me, she's doing this one all by herself.

Next craft to teach her is knitting. I'm waiting until she is 4 for that, simply so I can actually have the patience. I want to be sure she gets it. She wants to learn, I just think she is a few stages away from being able to fully grasp the action. The last thing I want to do is frustrate her so we're leaving that alone for now.

Our tree is going to be some fun and handmade from now on. I do still pick up other ornaments but it's looking like the home made variety is going to be taking over before long. Granny is always stitching up ornaments for us as well so we get some great things come the holidays. So far I have these back from the finisher:

There are 2 more out being done. And I have the three I am painting for myself so we'll have a good amount of new needlepoint ornaments hanging this year. Not to mention the felt ones I have been making. Or the sewn ones I plan on making.

It's been a crafty day around here so far. PeeWee and I had our regular breakfast at the coffee shop around the corner and when we got back we decided that Daddy has been on such serious PeeWee patrol this week that we would let him sleep in and read and laze around, like all good Daddies should get to once in a while. More projects are up our sleeves for later today if we need to pull them out.

It's hard work to paint stars for gift tag ornaments. When these dry we'll have them for another day to paint the other sides. Eventually I'll put an eye screw on the tops and we can use them to wrap packages up for Christmas.

I know, the "C" word. I'm working on so many projects around here and I have a few things I am trying to get myself organized with for a professional idea that I am already thinking that far forward. I have plans for a hand-made holiday for my family. None of them need anything. None of them want anything. So it's hand made this year.

I'd show my cardigan so far but seriously, that would be boring. It's a whopping 5 inches of stockinette back so I'll spare you, but know that real knitting is going on here. The needlepoint cabbage, however, is heading into the home stretch. I've got two colors left to stitch and then it's all background, which I will gladly do in an interesting stitch to make sure I both stick with it and that I am not blind from poking my eyes out with the needle.

So I knit a gauge swatch

2008-07-09T07:33:00.003-05:00

A real gauge swatch. I really did! And I cast off. And I washed it and blocked it just like you are supposed to. How about that. Of course no pictures because it's a square of yarn. I like seeing everyone else's but my own, hmmm, no.

I started the Shawl-Collard Cardigan last night and was surprised at the quit knit it is starting to be. Hoping the speed keeps up but I like the drape and the style and in spite of my overwhelming urge to change the edging to a non-rolling garter stitch... I did not. No I did not make that spelling mistake in the name of the sweater but since I have a weird love hate relationship with collard greens I could not help repeating it here. I keep wondering if whoever wrote that up had some kind of experience with collard greens and had that stuck in their head. Plus I think we're going to eat at a restaurant the NY Times raves about today where one of the side dishes is collard greens. #3 on their list. Somehow I do not think low-fat will be an option.

We've been working out a few healthier meals for this house. That trip to Natchez about killed me with the excessive eating. Once you start that it is hard to curb. And I am not back-tracking. Not that I've seen much movement on the scale lately but I am not going to let it head back up. We're in gear here because we need to dress well for several parties this fall and winter. And I do not want to look like sausage girl with huge bouncing boobs. The less jiggling the better. You get the picture.

I started a needlepoint project that is larger than an ornament. A pillow. A head of cabbage, which in some way appeals to me. Um, I do see the 'greens' theme here but I'm not quite sure what's going on...

Anyway it's stitching up quickly at this point. I need lots of excitement and all the short areas of color are good for my easily distracted brain.

I finished up the socks for the orphanage. Well, got them finished off of the needles, I still need to weave in ends. They are cute. I needed the needles for the cardigan, you know. I still need to go figure out where to send these. I need to get in touch with the woman who has adopted from Eastern Europe and get an idea from her.

Lest you think I am an idle person... I also made a little summer dress yesterday out of some retro styling fabric. I am not sure if it is going to stay a dress or go the way of top and skirt yet. I need to try it on a few more times and decide.

More babble?

2008-07-07T08:03:00.003-05:00

Yep, more babble.

I've been working on some technology issues here in my house, trying to simplify things in my electronic world. I think it's working. We'll see in the long run. It's been all about how to make my life run smoothly the last few months and the ideas of that were killing me. It is time to put things into action.

My mornings start with a flip through the Times Picayune with a Diet Coke (bad habit #1 to break) and some sort of breakfast, either then or later with PeeWee. Then I get on the computer to catch up with emails and blogs, piddle around, all that. I like getting up a bit before the rest of the house to have those few minutes to myself. It makes a huge difference in my day. I need a little me time. Being ready for bed at 9pm is my trade off.

A few blogs I have stumbled on lately are really thought provoking. And not in a heavy "why do we exist" kind of way. Just simple ideas, creative or not that cause one to stop and slow down if nothing else. A favorite I'm finding is simplemom.net. She just seems to have ideas and thought that are jiving with my daily thinking right now. I like when I stumble upon that. Another one that makes me happy thinking someone is doing all the things that rattle around in my head is Posie gets cozy. I've had some weird nesting issues going on here. Reading all about the simple and basic living going on is kind of nice. I'd like to be more on top of those things but our life gets in the way. Our life is always such a whirlwind I like to look in other's windows to see what they have going on. And then there is Craft Magazine's blog. Just to make sure you aren't doing enough. Or have a long enough list of things you want to do. Or learn to do. Or like...

We went off to Natchez this weekend. Maybe it's the escaping our daily grind for something different but I really enjoy being there. We went with Marky Mark's family and it was once again a bit much but the time to ourselves was worth it. And they can put on a fireworks show.

We went to Natchez Needlearts again.

My brother in law sitting on the left, PeeWee and Marky Mark waiting patiently on the right...

That store is very well done. Very. They also offer an array of classes I wish I could find here. My long term goal is to have a place where creative business is going on. A spot where you can take classes and also purchase your supplies. And I can stay there all day and make. I'm working towards that. Coming up with lots of ideas for how I'd like it to work. A five year plan thing.

Oh! On a knitting note, I have found a pattern that both excites me and I want to start for me. Yes, for me! I so rarely find something that's going to work well with my voluptuous body that it's hard to get myself going. It's the Shawl Collared Cardigan. Lion Brand patterns freebie. I have some super soft right weight yarn I want to get going with and I think I have something to inspire! Phew! It was getting knitting dull around here.

Little yellow hat pattern

2008-07-03T10:54:00.005-05:00

As promised...

Here's how I made the little yellow hat:

Cast on an even set of 8 stitches, I cast on 32 for this hat, it's about 8 inches unstretched and since lace has a good amount of give it should fit about a 30-32 weeker. Gauge for this yarn (Vanna's Choice Baby ) in stockinette stitch is 4sts per inch on size 9 needles.

If you are using dpns or 2 circs, just be sure you have a full set of 8 stitches on each when you divide them up. I used 2 circs and had 16 stitches on each.

Here's what I did...

Cast on 32 sts, join in the round

begin pattern:

Round 1: Knit 2, yo, ssk, k2tog, yo, knit 2, repeat

Round 2 and 4: knit

Round 3: knit 1, yo, ssk, knit 2, k2tog, yo, knit 1, repeat

Simple as pie, repeat these 4 rounds until the hat is high enough, this one is a little over 5 inches, taller is always better with a baby hat so it stays on easier.

When you get to the decreases simply leave out the yo's before the ssk on the first round, after the k2tog on the next pattern round then continue without them until you have decreased enough times to draw the tail of the yarn through and finish off the hat.

Sorry for the basic instructions, I could have written out the pattern but that would mean I would have to do that and I am just not that organized this week (okay, month, I'll be honest). This hat could be made much finer with leftover cotton or acrylics in smaller weights. Or made larger just by increasing the repeats of the pattern.

I am personally used to knitting up much smaller gauge preemie hats, but I think these would be perfect for learning hat construction. I've been asked to knit with my kids' school this fall and I think we're going to stick with very basic and easy patterns while cranking out preemie hats. I plan on working out patterns which use basic math to figure out repeats required for resizing and for different gauges so the patterns can be easily converted to everyday knitting use. Seems like a good way to introduce teenagers to the idea of knitting for others. You know, provide something useful out of it. They require a certain number of volunteer hours per semester and if these kids have been going to the school the whole way through, they were introduced to knitting in 3rd and 4th grades so will have some basic skill. We'll see how it really goes.

I hope everyone in the states has a great long weekend and gets to celebrate the 4th of July in style (whatever style you want that to be). We're thinking we may run to Natchez to see my brother in law if we get it together. Even though we've been back in town less than a week? Yep, running away from home again. It is summer after all, and the holiday did conveniently fall on a long weekend... and why not?

Happy 4th of July everyone!

All over the map these days

2008-07-02T08:56:00.005-05:00

I wasn't lying when I said I got some knitting done on my trip. I actually did.

Five preemie hats and 2 hats to go to Eastern European orphanages. Also a pair of socks that need toes grafted which match the hats for the orphanages. I did nothing for us. I cast on for a pair of socks for me but I am disillusioned with them so... they may stay in the bag for a while until I decide what their fate is. It's hard to knit socks when you don't even want to wear shoes.

I know those blue and greens are a strange combination. I did go to Tulane (well Newcomb for those of you who know such things) whose colors are pretty much those right there. I decided that I wanted to make up hats for the orphanages after a lengthy conversation about my trip to Russia a few years ago. We were finding more about Big Brother's trip to Europe and I said I wanted to go to a few of the places he went and I wanted to take him to Russia. A huge tangent later and I was knitting up hats. I had those yarns on hand anyway at the house and since their only real requirement is wool yarn my choices were pretty limited. I have enough to make up a sweater even. Not sure if I am up for that task but we'll see what inspires those needles. They have a mind of their own, you know.

And now for some giving back in other ways...

Jeld-wen windows is having a contest to help restore a light house. The New Canal lighthouse here is on the list. You can vote daily and it would be appreciated. I'm hoping the lighthouse wins, or at least there's some attention drawn to it from this. It's a pretty neat little structure, sort of sitting on the brink of oblivion. It amazes me that people here, who have had their lives altered in so many ways are the source of such incredible generosity. I mean we're all rebuilding the city in our own little ways. That people can take away from their own struggles to do things like rebuild that funny little lighthouse is great to me.

I've got my own little project going on, of course. And I may as well get shameless, right? The Women's Health Services department at our hospital is currently raising money for purchasing 3 or 4 bundles of equipment for telemedicine for our satellite hospitals, saving money and time for patients who are in need of more specific maternal/fetal care than they can get from normal care. Patients for whom a problem is suspected who could get the chance to go in and have our high-risk OB's look over the ultrasound in real time, while on the phone with both the ultrasound tech and the patient and her doctor.

It's very neat technology, it's going to help so many people down the line, I would have been one of those patients when we found out about PeeWee's heart defect so this one is pretty near and dear to my heart. Just saving the price of gas to help these rural patients makes it one for me to push. Plus I am such a technology junkie it's kind of embarrassing...

Since I said I was being shameless, and I personally will never see anything about if or what or when someone decided to donate, I've put the link to the online donation form up there. The only thing I ask if you should decide you are inclined to donate is that you check off "other" and fill in "Women's Health" in the space provided where they ask the designation of your gift. If you wanted to leave a comment that said something like "sarah sent me" in the comment box that would be fine.

And, yes, again I am working on the pediatric fundraiser. I am thinking of donating some of my little kid aprons to their auction. I want to get the word out that I am making them, then I want to get them in a few stores this fall when everyone is back in school. My priority right now though is to get those doctors in the dunking booth again. So far I think we have 8 who are ready to do it? And the event isn't until October and the asking has just begun? Things are looking up for this year!

Next post, a few fun things I've found on the web... for now I think I have bombarded you all enough.

Birthday Boy

2008-06-30T13:55:00.002-05:00

Fifteen.

Here's what it looks like first thing in the morning.

I think I did a good job!

Happy Birthday Big Brother!! By the way... how did fifteen years pass? I mean seriously, how did that happen?!

No place like home

2008-06-29T18:29:00.003-05:00

We got back last night. I am glad to be home. Nothing like a trip to the mountains but after about a week I start to really miss being in my house, with my creature comforts and contact with the outside world. Mainly some news and a little internet would do me a world of good.

I won't deny it... a little TV too.

I need to take some shots of knitting done while up there. I really thought I was documenting the things done but that was all just an idea in my head it seems. When the rains stop I'll get some shots of the knitting done.

For now, be satisfied with a preemie hat for some sunny little head:

I have no idea the name of this lace pattern, but it's simply knitting every other round and then knit 2, yo, ssk, k2tog, yo, knit 2 on one round and knit 1, yo, ssk, knit 2, k2tog, yo, knit 1 the other round. 4 round repeats, pretty cool effect. Any repeat of 8 would work. I'll write it up as soon as I have the chance. It would make a good newborn hat. Or a good grown-up hat. I promise to get right on that.

The Vanna's Choice worked out well, but I found myself making much larger hats than normal for me. Simply bigger yarn. I know they'll get worn though. These will go into my stash for the big fall push to make hats. It's gotten my energy back for those little hats. They are simply too easy to whip up not to.

Some needlepoint was finished, lots of play time, some goofy family stuff. All in all good trip.

Much more updating when the laundry's done and things are unpacked. I'll be catching up everywhere tomorrow. Can't wait to read everyone's blogs. Today I was rendered fairly useless with a raging headache. I've been hoping to out-run a migrane and *think I may luck out this time.

well, well.

2008-06-17T13:00:00.002-05:00

Who knew being a parent was sometimes really unpleasant? Not this angel, you say?

Well, she's a demon in her own right, but Big Brother is the one giving me fits right now. I won't get into details, but when you know the thing that annoys your mother more than anything else on the planet is when you screw around with plans and pretend you didn't, maybe you should just not do that. Because she is a bitch and will make things really unpleasant. Without blinking an eye, buddy.

I bought some Vanna's Choice baby today. I'm going to be whipping out preemie hats on this trip to the mountains. For acrylic yarn, it's pretty soft and durable. It washes up nicely and should knit quickly too. I need to go dig up the color work books from the closet to bring along. Ideas are good to have on hand.

I'm trying to get back to up to date with all the blogs I follow, I've had the worst time staying on top of them with all the traveling but I'm reading! May not be commenting, but I am behind the scenes. Will probably be behind again since we have no internet where we are going, but I am there in spirit.

Hoping to have some goodies accomplished this trip and great pics of things to show off. That's the plan anyway and if I have learned anything in the last few years it is that plans go awry. We're leaving bright and early tomorrow and will be back before the end of the month. Hopefully Big Brother will redeem himself in that time. We'll see. As long as only one of them is running me ragged at a time I should be good.

It's not like I have given up stitching altogether...

2008-06-14T08:50:00.004-05:00

I've been doing a bit of needlepoint.

It used to bore me senseless. I've needed something that takes a bit of concentration lately though, so it's been a great diversion. This is the third ornament this month. I finished two last week on vacation and I am trying to get this one wrapped up before we go to have it dropped off for finishing. I am proud of the quality of my sewing but am aware that certain things should be left to the pros. Needlepoint is not a cheap hobby, but I am thinking of painting canvases again to offset those costs. I have a bunch of ideas and need to set them out and clear a little work spot for myself.

Have I mentioned here I really need a huge studio space? It's not like the things I do take up a lot of room, it's that I need to have 28 different projects going at once and the idea of having to set one aside to be able to start another just does not sit well with my creative brain. I like a cluttered work station, at least one that looks cluttered to the rest of the world but simply several works in progress to me. There are a few solutions in my head but they all take a lot of money. Why is it that's always the case?

I'll knit more when we leave town again, I'm sure of it. I'm kind of itching to do it but sort of uninspired right now. I want to work little projects these days. I may start making up some knitted ornaments or something else small and fun. It may be time to cycle into the preemie hats again, too. Color work is sounding pretty good to me these days.

We'll see what makes its way into the suitcase this time around. It'll be a surprise.

It must be the heat

2008-06-13T15:50:00.002-05:00

The last few days have been a whirlwind!

We're leaving town again this week, I'd rather wait a little longer but we're off on Wednesday to the mountains. You know, to deal with that tree issue. I have not knit a stitch since we've been home. Not one. Not sure why but it's hot. Miserably hot. I don't want to knit hot.

The kids have been bouncing off the walls. We've been a bit cooped up here. Did I mention it's hot?

Big Brother's trip to Europe was great- he loved going, I am so glad he had the chance. I hope he'll get to go again before life ties a weight to his ankle and he has a long time of 'I want to' before he has 'I am' again. I can't believe he is almost 15. Time flies.

::yawn::

2008-06-09T17:06:00.003-05:00

So it's been a really really lazy and tired kind of day.

We got back last night, not too late, but after a week with friends and the weekend with family for a wedding, I was beat.

I'm officially worn out right now. I would love to have a ton of energy and hoping tonight I get great sleep so that I do tomorrow, since PeeWee and I are going to tackle out big list of things to do, bright and early!

See this?

Yes, it is a tree on our house.

I am so annoyed. Ugh, one of those, you have got to be kidding things. The house has been on the market for closing in on three years now, something crazy to begin with and since it has been on the market, most of it has been rebuilt for various catastrophies. Remember last spring's burst pipe? Same house. This could easily have been a much worse situation, it seems the damage is really limited to the very furthest edge of the roof so we're good with that. I'm just darn tired of owning houses that get whacked with disaster. I'll be glad when this one goes flying off of the market into someone else's hands. (I know, I know, dreaming here...)

There was not much time to do much Mom stuff. I got minimal knitting done and no pictures of anything. So no fun updating here. I hardly had time in the car, which I usually have tons of for Marky Mark wanting to do the driving. This time he was happy to doze so I got to sit behind the wheel most of the way. I think that's why I am so tired today. I can't quite seem to get it together and wake up!

Crazy Woman escapes from Home

2008-05-28T16:12:00.002-05:00

Run for your lives! We're on the loose. I've been packing up for a road trip to the mountains.

I have some super secret knitting on the needles, a nifty little project that hopefully will come out like I am picturing it in my very foggy head.

I have been casting on and ripping things all week so there's just nothing to show. It's the kids' last week of school.

Big Brother is leaving for two weeks in Europe (lucky stinker) in the wee hours of the morning, and his stuff is all over the living room floor, couch and coffee table. Gotta love the way the boy packs. The biggest thing in his suitcase is lots of snack/survival food. They are on a tight schedule and the teacher running the show has them with no down time what-so-ever so running to the corner store for a little nibble will not be an option. He's worried, being a full-time grazer, that he will be hungry. So he packed up a bunch of snack food stuff and he has filled his suitcase with it. This kid cracks me up.

PeeWee has been in full swing this week. Crazy Hat Day, Crazy Hair Day, waterplay, you name it they are doing it all this last week of school. We're missing the last day, but I figure with her being 3 and all there's not a whole lot she's going to miss that last half-day so we're taking a risk and hitting the road.

Ah, the mountains. It should be fun. We have friends coming for the ride and I think Marky Mark may be in a little over his head with this bunch. Mr Quiet will have no choice but to come on out of his shell and say hello. Speaking of Mr Quiet... the other night we celebrated the fact that in 8 days both my parents turned 70. There was a late night adventure which I missed that involved taking the under-aged kids along with their Grand-Dad to see a traditional burlesque show. The one and only Chris Owens.

I missed the evening, but understand it was quite an event. It's very audience involved and not only did my 14 year old get on stage and dance, but my 70 year old dad got himself a lap dance. I have seen videos (wish I could get my hands on one) of my quiet reserved painfully shy husband shaking his booty for all the world to see. A night out indeed.

Just in time

2008-05-23T16:56:00.004-05:00

Socks for my dad's birthday. We're leaving here in about 20 minutes to go to their house. Just finished weaving in the ends and boxed them up. Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays. 4 balls Sublime, which is lovely to knit with. These will be rarely worn around the house kind of socks so I am sure they will hold up well. Dang feet are size 12s! What is it with the men I knit for needing such enormous items!?!

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy the holiday if you have it and if you are like Big Brother and have to take exams, good luck!

Feast or Famine

2008-05-21T07:10:00.003-05:00

It is all or nothing with me. I either have weeks where I am trying to find a second to come up for air or weeks where I'm hearing crickets and nothing is happening.

The last few weeks of school for the kids are always over booked. I put myself on the back burner and it still ends up being crazy busy.

I'm working in a few quiet days for myself, now while I can, but even those are being taken over. I wouldn't mind being the little munchkins who get to hang out here:

Just for a morning or two.

I'm working away on my father's birthday present socks. The Log Cabin ones. I need to grab another ball of yarn from my LYS to finish them. Quick so far but since I have until Saturday to wrap them up it's looking a little iffy. I have a meeting today and I will bring them along for that. It's at a Mexican restaurant so I am not sure they will even leave the bag unless it's a mostly business meeting. The idea of pico on them makes me shudder.

The vegetable garden here is thriving. So are our satsumas. The navel oranges have no fruit at all but these are doing pretty good.

We're going to have baby zucchinis in the next day or two. PeeWee is excited about that prospect. She has to check on her garden every single day. It's so cute how excited she gets.

Big Brother is in the midst of exams. I do not envy him. He's working pretty hard and will hopefully have a lot of good to show for his work. He leaves for a tour of Europe, thanks to his grandparents, the end of this month. I do envy him that. We're working out our travel plans for the summer, they go from exciting to disappointing in about 4 seconds. While showing Mark what was available on a trip to Alaska, the best room for us was booked. It's one of about 3 places we wants to go and is willing to go so we're trying to figure out another solution.

Any great places to go where it is actually not 856 degrees? We're open to suggestions!

Unravelled

2008-05-19T14:37:00.002-05:00

I've been on Ravelry since last fall. I finally actually went there and spent some time. If I think of it as an organizing tool it will work for me. One day this week I'll take the computer up to the yarn closet and start adding yarns. And books. And projects. I kind of like it. I can see how it works. I couldn't before. I think I can stay away from people and their Junior High nonsense I have heard about too. Because I have no idea where that stuff is.

I've started the Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays. No pictures. I am lazzzzyyyyyy. Plus they are only partway finished. I actually have two pairs of them on the needles. I started a pair for me then started a pair for my father for his 70th birthday which was the other day. Yep, both parents turn 70 within 8 days of each other. Kind of cute, huh? I must really like this pattern because I made it for my Sockapalooza partner last year. It's quick and interesting and a lot easier this time around.

Anyone else redo a pattern some time later? This one clicked this time around and last time I was keeping sticky notes with where I was the whole time, using a counter and generally fighting it the whole way. For some reason this time I just have it down. Amazing what 18 months or so of knitting will do for you abilities isn't it?

FO Sighting in New Orleans

2008-05-16T14:48:00.004-05:00

Ta-Da!!!
A mere yards of yarn left. I even had to graft yarn to one sock to finish it. Talk about knitting two socks on two needles. I was knitting them from two end of the same last few yards of yarn!

These are for my mother for her 70th birthday next week. Not only an FO but even finished early. Early!! Never happens around here. At least not lately.

Several other wads of tangled knotted looped up yarn are on needles now, teasing me that they will indeed turn into wearable garments before long. Nothing worth showing pictures of.

The other needles in my life- the sewing machine type- have been really busy lately though. I've been whipping up aprons and cute skirt and shirt sets for etsy. I have a nice little assembly line set up in my sewing room. I haven't done this much sewing since Big Brother was about PeeWee's age. And if you're wondering, she's already at that I can't smile like a normal human being for the next 14 years stage. So much for sweet smiles in pictures from now on!

About time!!!

2008-05-09T06:43:00.005-05:00

Finally. Fiber Chic's prize. I love this yarn but can not figure out what to do with it. Some Rowan Kidsilk Haze, two balls, and some Jolie, partially used up, but two full balls and two with a little from them. Send me an email and I'll get them out to you.

Soooooo, what have I been doing this incredibly busy week? This. No, I'm just kidding, but you can thank me later when you have to just try one more time. I love Shaun the Sheep so I couldn't resist passing that one on.

It has been just nuts here, but things are quieting down this week for me. I'm hoping to get in some knitting time so I have something to actually show off next week. I have projects piling up all around me calling my name and sadly I can't get to them just yet.

I didn't forget!

2008-05-08T14:40:00.002-05:00

If I could list the things I have been doing this week it would make your head spin so I'm just popping on to announce the winner from the blogiversary commenters...

FiberChic!

Details, the loot and all that soon, I promise!

Gotta go do carpool...

Got the blues

2008-05-05T07:11:00.005-05:00

Everything I am knitting is blue. Or some shade of it. Even the planned knitting I have up my sleeve. It must be because it's gotten hot. Not quite drowning while breathing hot yet but that's coming.

The socks I've been working on are tight. My mother is turning 70 in a few weeks so I hope I can wrap them up for her by then. The cable crosses with this pattern are new to me, complete with a decrease and yo in the cable, and they snugged things up a bit. I'm also gauging the yarn usage and thinking they are going to come up short so her dainty girl feet will be better suited to them than my thick manish feet. Check gauge? Why when you can always find a foot to fit?

I started a little dress for PeeWee. It's blue. And blue. Her newest favorite color. Since she changes her mind every 18 minutes lately we'll see how she feels about blue when it's finished. I always said 3 was tougher than 2 and this kid is proving my theory right lately. We went on a walk around the block last night after dinner and after deciding 32 different times which way we were going to walk the second half of the block home, Marky Mark picked her up and she screamed about wanting to go that way for about 40 minutes. We kept asking her if she wanted to go back out and walk the other way around the block but NOOoooo!!! she didn't want to go on another walk she just wanted us to know she wanted to go that way. Oh man. She is something else.

The next project is going to be using this squishy bit of yarn. Not sure what it'll turn into yet but it's next up for me.

The veggie garden we put in is thriving. I can't wait to get some harvest. The zucchini is going crazy and everything else looks ready to bloom or is working blooms for about a week now. PeeWee is thrilled with her little project. Big Brother and I always had a little pot garden but we had lots of shade so stuck with cucumbers and such which would tolerate it better. Here we have a good bit of sun. And Marky Mark was willing to sacrifice beauty in a tiny corner along the driveway for us. Asking a landscaper to fit a veggie garden in his yard when he has grand ideas? It took a little convincing and we're lucky he did the grunt work.

We're having more plumbing issues. Have I mentioned I am sick to death of this house? I love our block too much to even think of moving but I really really hate this place today. After rebuilding it you would think I would have a certain appreciation for it but instead I am ready to walk away and not look back.

The winner for the blogiversary comments will be coming shortly. Big Brother will be picking a name when he gets out of school this afternoon. Thanks for the comments. I think for now I'll stick with my random posts until I can narrow things down a bit. I'd gotten to hearing crickets when I post and was wondering if it was worth it to keep up with things. It sounds like I do have an audience so for now I'll still be here!

Cars Planes and Trains

2008-04-27T16:49:00.004-05:00

My blogiversary was yesterday. I'll pretend it's today for good measure.

I was out and about. I was in Washington DC for a weekend with friends and family. A way too busy weekend, full of family tensions and really really fun friends. Weird mix. But yesterday was the zoo with a fabulous bunch of ladies and their adorable kids.

I enjoy DC but I think I had enough for a while. I'd like to explore the surrounding area more, head out to Leesburg and surrounding Maryland and Virginia. Maybe when the leaves turn I can talk Marky Mark into it. He loves that area so it would be an easy sell.

I did actually get a little knitting done. I was keeping peculiar hours so there were a few moments when I was alone and got in a few rows. I'll show them when there's a bit of progress. For now, I have to undo the "knitting" PeeWee did on the plane on the way home. She loves to wind the Addi Turbos around each other "knitting". Clever little thing. I'll wait to undo that mess when she's in school tomorrow.

I found a new nifty web doodad, thanks to my younger hipper friends... twitter. It's pretty clever- you drop a bit of info and get to find out in a sentence or two what everyone's up to. Thought I'd show I'm not as daft as I think I am some days. A tired three year old, no stroller, way upper 80's and a lot of hills in the National Zoo will make you feel old and very un-with-it.

For those of you who are quicker than I, yes, that is a Schrodinger bag up there hiding the socks. I've decided they are the best thing. I bought that one for a gift and kept it. They are the perfect little bag for little kids too, I should tell her that... they are the perfect size for all the tiny traveling toys they like to tote if you're looking for a little kid type gift.

So, can you tell I spent the day in and out of cars, busses and airplanes? Yeah, I am both link- happy and random today. In honor of my blogiversary I'm asking for comments from all my readers. I'm trying to figure out if and when and how I'm going to keep the blog going. I've gotten a bit off track with the knitting, not posting so much about it as I'd like, or frankly, doing as much as I would like. I'm on the fence with blogging here. If I'm talking to myself there may be a problem with that... Let me know you're reading and if you are I'll keep with it. If not, I may go to simply posting knits as they come off the needles ::yawn::

Added bonus: there's a prize in it for your comments. I've got a few skeins of yarn looking for new homes (paring down!) so we'll see whose home it makes it's way too.

PS- I know who my non-knitting loyal readers are and if you win you'll get something you can use, like maybe actual finished socks!

Just in time for warm weather!

2008-04-21T14:50:00.003-05:00

Home is good

2008-04-18T16:36:00.002-05:00

PeeWee says thanks for the well wishes. We're home now and aside from a little limp where she's got a few band-aids you'd never know she'd been in the hospital. Kids are so resilient. I feel like going back to bed and she's on the go!

Yes, those are the socks in bed with her. I worked on them quite a bit but was so exhausted that I just couldn't focus one tiny bit so alas, they are not quite done. Plus, I was making a conscious effort to knit loosely so as not to have some super tight sock and that had the opposite effect. Weird pooling once again. Tough luck though.

Things went exceptionally well. They found things are functioning above what they expected and so there is likely another year before they operate again! We have some other tests they would like to do, mostly for future diagnostics but I'm not even thinking about those today.

Anxiety

2008-04-16T17:09:00.005-05:00

Feeling like I'm climbing up a greased wall around here.

I have 101 things I need to be doing but since this is the first remotely quiet moment today I'm sitting on my ass on the computer, trying to catch up with blogs and email and other goodies.

We have to be at the hospital with PeeWee for 6am. It's one thing to get up at 6am but to be somewhere? That's a stretch. Thankfully my brother volunteered to be in charge of Big Brother tonight and tomorrow, who is going to be in for a rude awakening getting up early enough to catch the bus! Not quite the 5 blocks from school life at their house. It'll be good for him. Build character, right?

I have my knitting set aside and hope I don't forget it tomorrow. The nurse told me it will be 2-3 hours for her cardiac catheter. I ought to get pretty close to done with the sock in that time. While I like the yarn, Marky Mark asked me what the hell I was knitting and could it please not be for him!? Yeah, buddy, I'm really in the habit of making you mostly pink squishy socks. Big Brother said 'yeah those are really ugly'. Hey, at least I know there will be no stealing of these! (too distracted to make a link, but the same socks from a few posts ago, not ugly to me!)

Just to show I am not all doom and gloom, here's another bit of recent crafty ADD to show. It's the dress I whipped out the other day. PeeWee loves it. She says it is like a princess dress. Not quite, but close enough! I've got another on the sewing table ready to be hemmed. Today did not pan out to be a sewing day, as Marky Mark could not take off early enough for me to do much of anything, so it was just PeeWee and me. As you can clearly see, she is a miserable wretch and absolutely no fun ever to be around.

I am a domestic goddess

2008-04-13T17:14:00.006-05:00

Or a really good fake.

In the oven right now is banana bread, mmmm, it smells good. We went down to the French Quarter Festival this morning and when we got home the bananas were looking a little worse for wear so I decided that banana bread was just what we needed for breakfast tomorrow and whipped some up.

I've been in domestic mode this weekend. I got a bunch of tea towels and have been stitching away.

Yes, the floorcloth in the kitchen is polka dotted. It goes with the whole seriously retro kitchen theme.

This one is a little bit of yellow linen I had laying around. I like the chickens. It needs hemming next. I think Wednesday is going to be sewing room day, unless we keep PeeWee home (keep reading for more on that)

More polka dots in the background! This one is the traditional stem stitch, not as happy with it as with the backstitch I used for the others. I think I would need to be stitching with much finer threads than I am using to get the effect I should be getting, so I abandoned that idea.

It's been fun and a nice change. Being able to whip up something so simple which just makes me happy is a nice change of pace. I've been trying to work up some patterns to use. These towels I picked up are a really good size- 33 inches square and the patterns I keep coming across are a little on the small side. I plan on adding more fruit to the last one, a work in progress. PeeWee wants me to add a pineapple to it. Thank goodness for water soluble ink! I have some ideas for designs which run the whole hem, too.

I went to the book store Friday with a gift card and I picked up a books on redwork, pebble mosaics, household item softies, Hawaiian quilts and a general design book. I think I have a touch of crafters ADD. Maybe it's spring in the air. Maybe it's me being incredibly adventurous.

I have my sock in the car for waiting around knitting. I'd get a picture of it but I'm trying not to put anyone to sleep. I will probably get it finished this week with several chances to wait in doctors' offices. I get to go for my follow up to my physical, which to me is a silly waste of time since I have already gotten all the follow up information from her, except I've got this laryngitis thing so it's good to have the appointment lined up. Thursday PeeWee has a cardiac catheter, a normal follow up for her general cardiac care. I'll be so glad to get this test behind us, it will give us a bunch of answers we've been waiting for. It also means several hours of sitting in a waiting room. So I might do some light reading too. (Like I said, all over the map these days.)

Simply because...

2008-04-10T17:06:00.002-05:00

I promise yarny goodness is coming soon. Until then enjoy this bit of goodness. If simply for the shoes... (figured you couldn't miss the hair, impressive as it is)

Back in the days of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Red Army had an official choir composed of male soldiers and musicians. It still exists. The Red Army Choir performs throughout Russia to this day.

Now consider the Finnish rock band called The Leningrad Cowboys. A little while ago, they held a concert in Russia, in which - to the screaming applause of Russkie teen-agers - they got the Red Army Choir to join them on stage for a performance of "Sweet Home Alabama." In English. You couldn't make this up.

Technical Difficulties

2008-04-07T14:24:00.003-05:00

I'm chugging away on the sock I showed the other day. I got most of the foot finished while getting my hair colored this morning. It was good timing too because it was a serious grey hair weekend. Whoa! Big Brother... well, he was being an irked 14 year old. We're good now but it was a little rough there.

No pictures. I am having technical difficulties. There is more memory on my ipod than my laptop so I am having trouble accessing things right now. Should be taken care of by the end of the week when the new computer arrives and I unload a lot of stuff onto that. I can't even export photos now because of the memory issue. A transfer then big delete is in order. I ignored the notice that the memory was filling up.....

Anyway. The sock is chugging along, I made then embroidered a very simple A-line dress for PeeWee, and I started another needlepoint ornament. I ordered some tea towels to embroider too. Lots of gifts coming up soon. I am overdue for a house warming one too. I wish I could show off some of this stuff! It'll just keep you coming back to look if I make you wait, right?

Rare Pink Dog Sighted

2008-04-04T06:46:00.003-05:00

I bought some patterns from Aerie Designs. They are some cute. This one is the mini greyhound. I decided to tackle this one before the life sized greyhound. (I know I had a rant about crochet patterns, but I do crochet. I just don't want to think I am getting knitting patterns when I am actually getting crochet patterns.) This one came with some little outfit patterns too. It was well written, impressive with so many parts involved. I used some Cotton Tots for this, a yarn I really enjoy. It's easy to find, super soft, inexpensive and gets better with age. I used a ball and then some.

I'm sitting on a huge backlog of creative ideas here. Yarn, paper, and fabric are all calling my name.

I have no idea where to start. I'm actually a little overwhelmed by the choices. I am hoping to have some good things to show off soon. I did some updating at the Etsy shop. I've got more to list but I must be picking busy times of day to try, the picture uploading has been sluggish for me. I know, it sounds like shameless promotion, but I'm just mentioning it for looky loo reasons- you can see what non-knitting things I am up to. Not that there's been much knitting to show here...

Clicking Needles Heard in Suburban House

2008-03-31T09:32:00.003-05:00

I guess it is sort of disturbing that our house is still considered the burbs. I mean we're really a city to ourselves here two blocks from New Orleans proper. Eh, whatever.

There has been knitting going on here recently. Not much, and not really worthy of much mention but it is indeed happening.

It's a sock. I'm not showing off the whole thing because it has to be ripped back to the heel. I am really not happy with the weird pooling going on. It's actually more like a long stripe for some reason. So it's got to go. I'll simply do an all stockinette foot. This yarn is Fiesta Boomerang, seriously lush squishy and nice to knit. One of my favorites.

Spring break is over. Marky Mark is driving my car an hour to the place where it will be serviced (reason enough for me personally to get a new car but the bank account disagrees) And it is quiet. I can hear the appliance noises, the breeze blowing, things I thought had simply stopped. For scheduling reasons we were unable to go anywhere during the break but next time I am not going to waste the chance to get out of town.

I'm off to attempt to clean up around here a bit. Rabid monkeys must have broken in here and done all this mess. It surely could not have been anyone in this family. Everything is out of place. And I so want to get something creative done. Oh well, I know the housework is not going anywhere but this week is shaping up to be a busy one and the disorder has already gotten under my skin so I guess I better at least attempt to make things civil.

I think he likes it

2008-03-26T07:51:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was Marky Mark's 47th birthday.

He complains at any and every single event that I should not waste money buying him anything. Making him things, however, is okay. I could tell he was disappointed that this one was not done in time for Christmas. (Christmas morning here was kind of ugly, he was seriously out of sorts and it was no fun) He had hinted that he needed a blanket when I told him there was something I had made under the tree. Since it's been put away for over a month it was a case of out of sight, out of mind for him.

I think he forgot about it, although part of that makes me chuckle because he watches the evening news with his feet on the huge-ass apple butter making copper pot that this has been in since August and did he notice it has been empty? Probably not, but now he will and he'll put it all together. (His focus is on the outside world, plants and dirt so when he's done digging for the day he comes in and plops down with out realizing what's changed around him some days.)

He really was happy when he opened the blanket, and I am glad.

Marky Mark is a man of few smiles.

Yep, it's long enough!

This one? I guess he was a little giddy! PeeWee wanted to make a tent with it right away. They ran off to her room and made one. It was pretty darn cute. She's as happy as he is it's finished!

Spring break here this week, not much other stuff going on. Lots of laying around, lazy lazy lazy. I am itching to get things moving in the new sewing studio but with a houseful of kids that's not happening right now. I'm hoping for a little Daddy/Daughter time before Monday and then hopefully I will have something (anything) new to show off.

And how did he get to be 47? When did that one happen? Then again, when did I get to be 39...

Color can be subjective

2008-03-21T15:26:00.007-05:00

In one of my printmaking classes in college the professor told a girl her print looked like a WalMart shower curtain. Keep in mind that in the late 80's that could not be taken in any way other than completely negatively. WalMart, KMart and the like had no designer stylists at all. I think I remember both the print and the comment because it was so scathing. So keep this lovely black and white in mind when you think about my "ugly couch" knitting. Because it really is ugly. The kind of ugly you just have to love, like an ugly baby.

This puppy turned out big. Over 6 ft both wide and long. This round table is 6ft and I smooshed the blanket to keep it on there. It really does need the additional edging. The curling is not working for me. The finished look of white all the way around is going to bring this one from "ugly couch" to cool ugly. At least for me it is.

I hope Marky Mark has a good birthday Tuesday. Having forgot one a few years ago, I feel the need to shower him with love. He's not big on gifts and this blanket having been in the closet for the last few weeks will be completely in the out of sight/out of mind category. Good thing I am married to the absent-minded landscaper!!

I like it. It may fit the ugly baby category and feel free to speak up about that. The yarn was on sale. I most likely would have chosen something quite different but I really like this one. And it's basically big enough to use on the bed, though it's meant for couch cuddling. It replaces a somewhat ratty crocheted mess, well loved but seriously in need of retirement.

I knit this with some close out Classic Elite Two Two yarn, which is both soft and lovely to knit with. I have no idea what the colors are, but I used a lot of this stuff. I bought 54 skeins of it at less than $2 a skein and used most of it.

So there. Finally some knitting. And a FO at that. I have some socks I started but instead of jinxing my progress on those I'm keeping them to myself for the time being.

Grrr

2008-03-20T18:30:00.002-05:00

I'm cranky. If you want to go somewhere happy, go ahead.

Why is it that some knitting websites and magazines are full of crochet projects? It really bugs me. When I want to crochet, I'll look for crochet, thanks. Not cruise through knitting patterns, (and dangit, especially in magazines and books!) looking for something to knit and finding only crochet. Grrrr, it really bugs me. I'm cranky, did I mention that?

Marky Mark's blanket has stalled. I think it is simply done. With the kids off of school until they go back on the 31st there's not likely to be much time to sneak in knitting. And the entire month has snuck away from me. I want a do-over for the last few weeks. I've been too busy to even think straight. Getting that edging done before Tuesday is just not likely. It'll be fine though. And I promise a picture of it. Should be doable tomorrow, if Marky Mark would just go away from this house. He's been working on our yard for almost two weeks now. If he could do this without being underfoot, I would be thrilled. With him home all day the conversation is running thin. And trying to sneak in either secret knitting time or even a picture has been about impossible. I'm trying here. Tomorrow I will run him off for a while. I really need to.

Not Knit

2008-03-18T07:42:00.004-05:00

I've been stitching here lately, just no knitting worth showing. I think starting and ripping back the same sock 722 times does not make it worthy of a photo. I can't seem to get a good pattern going and am not interested in knitting up a sock in a pattern I just don't like. So there. I guess I am simply in knit rut land. Eh, that's okay.

I did manage to set up my sewing studio. You have to use your imagination here in tie picture because there is a table and sewing machine in the spot PeeWee is occupying. And some shelves with fabric along the right. Very happy with my set up. Not sure Big Brother is though, he had spread himself out pretty good in there. I had to round up his goods and take over. His stuff is still in there, it's just contained now, something I am not sure he is thrilled about. Sorry buddy, we have to share this house.

This room makes me happy- its a tree house kind of room, those windows are great. I do look out at a sea of rooftops but am okay with that. You can tell from this picture this is a 20's house. Oozing with charming little things while the wind whips through those windows in the winter and heats up that room in the summer. This time of yearr here and I am ready to go get the screens from the attic.

And look at what is new to PeeWee's wardrobe thanks to the new sewing setup! Yep, very happy with this new setup indeed. My friend Robin thought out loud that the birds from the quilt would be too cute on a t-shirt so there they are. I'm working out the kinks with this but mostly happy with the whole idea.

PeeWee wore the green outfit on St Patricks Day. Marky Mark's family is Irish and we're Scotch-Irish, so while a true Irishman might way we're not Irish, I know it means some time in Ireland even if we're Scottish. I mean the group who moved there did it in the 17th century, so I guess there's got to be some Irish in the mix. (I've now written Irish enough times it looks like I spelled it wrong, so if I did, please excuse that.)

Must Knit Socks

2008-03-16T10:25:00.002-05:00

I dyed this yarn a while back with Christina for one of our crafty days. I cleaned everything up in my yarn closet a while back and it's been peeking through it's container smiling at me for a while now. Even though it was in the 80s yesterday I still want to knit wool socks. Must be something wrong with me. Today it's cool and dry and gorgeous, perfect spring weather.

I'm planning on winding this up in a bit and casting on something fun. The yellow to red combo reminds me of warm weather and spring flowers. PeeWee and I planted our nasturtium seeds a few weeks ago and they have sprouted much to her delight. She's going to go crazy when they start to bloom! Nasturtiums are my favorite thing to plant. We grew up with them in our front flower beds, and my parents have them still every year.

Today is the St Patrick's Day parade in our neighborhood. It is completely something I can absolutely do without but I think we are going. We were invited to a crawfish boil across the street from my in-law's house, where we lived next door for a few years. So I do feel obligated. And here I was looking forward to a lazy day with just me and my sewing machine. Darn.

Delicate balance

2008-03-13T11:43:00.003-05:00

Has everyone had a few weeks like I have? Kind of winging it but it's somehow working? Much harder to do anything than it should be? Whew, I am beat.

No knitting. Knitting plans in place though. I'm trying to sneak in secret knitting time to finish up Mark's blanket without him seeing it. He knows it exists, but his memory is not exactly focused on things like that so I am good to be able to please him with it.

Finished the second needlepoint ornament and dropped it off for finishing. Needlepoint seems to be soothing and distracting enough for me right now. I'm not proficient enough at it to be able to let my mind just wander while working yet.

Crafty Wednesday was plaster play. That was fun. Nothing is complete yet, so another picture free post here. We haven't actually gotten together since Thanksgiving and we all needed it! Messy messy messy, we're going to wrap our stuff up before Easter so pics then, I promise.

Maybe I'll throw this in just for fluff:

A post with no pictures is kind of boring, I do know that ;-) And I do love ruins. This is from a destroyed house open for tours of it's incredible house ruins and gardens, Afton Villa in St Francisville, LA.

So what's coming up around here? I'm not even sure. I've left lots of open free time on my calendar. I'm hoping to work in a lot of creative time to keep me happy. I'm in the mood to watch a lot of movies, hang around with the kids and stay as relaxed as I can.

It's still stitching...

2008-03-11T16:05:00.003-05:00

So I finished one needlepoint ornament, which I sent off for finishing without a picture and I am working on another one, a New Orleans icon from back in my day, Mr Bingle a very cool guy indeed. Needlepoint, while never a favorite of mine, requires a lot of concentration. The only thing I ever finished before Katrina was a pillow which flooded before I could send it off to be finished. I figured that was a sign. I've already mentioned my mother had more than one needlepoint shop in her many careered life and I have been known to paint a canvas or two to pay the rent in college, but stitching them was never my thing. I'm happily working away on these now, just to keep my brain busy.

I'll be casting on for some socks this week, I'm on the hunt for the perfect pattern right now, with a few on the short list. I just enjoy the socks too much to not be working on some. I never meant to discard knitting with this break, I just wanted to keep my brain very occupied. I have set up a little sewing studio in part of a room and have some plans to whip out both the art quilts and some summer wear for me and PeeWee.

Much better than my kitchen counter set-up!

Ah, to have a real working studio. One day.

Thanks for all the good thoughts and well wishes for PeeWee. She is finally on the hospital's calendar, though we are waiting to hear if we are traveling to California to another hospital for this procedure. That would be up to the surgeon, so if he says go there, we will. It's called a cardiac catheter. It is invasive and but we've done it before and it was relatively complication free so I am keeping my faith in the doctors that this one will also be. (not an easy task) It's the first step towards her next open heart surgery, which will likely be within the year based on what they have seen in the last few months. This test will tell us much more information they need to determine that date.

Knitting break

2008-03-06T13:03:00.003-06:00

While I dearly love knitting, I have been itching to do some other needlework lately. It's starting to get warm already and while I have a few projects lined up I am ready for a bit of a break from the knitting. Not to say that doesn't mean I will post this and go cast on for a new project, just that in general here at Mom's house things are in a rut.

I signed up for an online class from Joggles.

It's a small art quilt class, and aside from the fact that I now have more fabric to store, I am so far enjoying it. I have another few classes I am up for, including one that begins today, all of which focus on different stitching techniques.

I'm hoping to come away from this refreshed. Things here are moving a bit too slowly for my taste. We've been sitting for two weeks waiting for PeeWee to have some tests scheduled, frustrated that it has to be done at a different hospital than we go to for safety reasons. Not that our hospital is anything but the best, she has to have a pediatric cardio-thorasic surgeon in the building for this one, since there is a small risk of them needing to open her up if something goes wrong. Our pediatric cardio-thorasic surgeon moved about a year ago and there is some down time when recruiting a great replacement. Which leads me to the fact that this test is the first step towards her next open heart surgery, which will be coming up soon. She's doing great, but she has grown 30+ pounds since they fixed her so there is maintenance that needs doing.

Not to worry, that's all down the line, and a huge tangent I just went off on. My point is I need some extra mental stimulation. Knitting, while soothing, doesn't always engage my brain in a way which lets me lose focus and forget things I have no control over, which you just can't help but worry about. So the classes are hopefully going to get me moving in a different creative direction for a while.

The sand was cold on my toes

2008-03-03T14:21:00.003-06:00

Nothing like a few days away to restore my faith in mankind.

Destin is a great getaway spot. Lots of relaxing, beautiful beaches, the constant breeze, the works. Not a bad place to wrap up two pairs of socks and Marky Mark's blanket. I was glad to have brought just what I did, the rest would have been in the way.

I promised pictures...

First thing in the morning! I love a sunrise and on the water? Yep, it makes me happy

Sock 2 of the first pair, good around the house socks, so cozy. Gryphon's traveller yarn, so cushy and comfy. They are finished now but I was too busy relaxing and doing nothing that I never got a beach picture of them all done!

The sock enjoying the view... it was gorgeous. The weather was chilly but mild. Perfect winter getaway style.

And the second, finished, sock from pair two. These are the Colinette Jitterbug sockettes, short little ankle things. Wore them already.

Another 'know I am thinking about those of you in 16 feet of snow right now' shot. Yeah, I am a brat.

We were serious stitchers this weekend. Everyone was either needlepointing or knitting and lots of projects were finished. It was fun. Hanging out in PJ's and eating takeout what just what the doctor ordered. And just what I needed.

I'll have pictures of Marky Mark's blanket but I must be stealth about it. He's working home this week and I want to surprize him with the finished product. I still need to pick up and finish the two sides of the blanket's ribbing, something I figure I can sneak in before the end of his month and his birthday. But dang, a blanket that's over 6 ft wide and over 7 feet long? A lot of work and a lot of satisfaction in having it finished. I want to spread it out to get the full shot. Soon, soon, just let me finish that ribbing.

I try

2008-02-26T09:19:00.003-06:00

Working on getting it together around here. I've had lots of waiting room fun, which equals lots of knitting time. But sadly a lost camera cable is causing me grief today.

I'm almost done with some socks out of yarn from Gryphon's shop . It's her traveller sock yarn and I am loving the sproing! quality. I am so happy that it is not doing any funky pooling or striping but the colors are just spotting around like a good handpainted yarn should. Very happy with it. (No pictures!? Nope. I will find the cable for the camera somewhere in this house. Big Brother was using it last and he's in school, so we all have to wait to see.)

The pink and purple socks are riding in the backseat of my car right now. Being neglected. I'm at that boring long stretch of the foot and got distracted by the fun lace of the other socks... so... not much happening there. And since I can't exactly show progress, all is good.

Thursday I am running away from home. I have it all planned but it feels like running away! My long-time-childhood-friend-stitching-group is going off to Destin Florida for a girl's weekend. I'm going to win the prize for the biggest haul of stuff because I am bringing along all the big almost finished projects to wrap up. Mark's blanket, the pinwheel jacket, and those socks. I think I can get a bit done on them all. I would love to wrap up at least one of them. Hoping the 5 hour drive is enough to finish the socks. I'm carpooling and in the passenger seat this trip. Ahhhhhh. A whole weekend with nothing but knit time.

And if I run out of things to do? Well, of course there is a place to restock my bag, Unwind with Yarn. I have to make a comment here about craft store names. When you try to get creative it can sometimes bomb bigtime. All the good ones are taken. My mother, not sure what she was thinking, opened a shop in Highlands NC years go when she was a full-time resident. She named it "Needlepoint... is pretty wonderful". Complete with those "..." in the legal name. We teased her about it a lot. When she sold it to her employee she promptly renamed it "Needlepoint of Highlands". It was a thriving business though so I guess a name is just that.

I got tagged

2008-02-21T06:23:00.003-06:00

Kaya, over at sisterly knits tagged me. The Power of Seven. So here goes...

1) Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog. (check!)
2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. (see below)
3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. (hoping these will play along)
4) Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. (done)

Seven things about me:

1) I drink way too much Diet Coke. I have a small caffeine addiction. I must have the stuff in the house. I go to the grocery when we are running out. (I fasted today for my lab work for my physical and as soon as I gave my blood I went to the machine at the hospital. It's that bad.)

2) I have a degree in printmaking. The fine art kind, not the poster or book making kind. If you are wondering has it come in handy? Never. But I finally went and got several things framed not too long ago. I'd really like to have a working studio one day. I had one of those instructors who did not believe in A+'s but I got A's. So I was good. I like to think in the negative that way. Doing it backwards is a challenge.

3) In spare time I use graph paper to design house plans. I'm kind of a freak about it. I love to flip through home magazines and would miss HGTV if it went off the air.

4) Give me a challenge and I thrive. Every day stuff, not so much. If it's one of those situations I'm your girl.

5) I am a horrible house keeper. I do not understand the joy people get from the act of cleaning. I like it clean and want it done but I am terrible at it and can ignore the small stuff for an embarrassingly long time.

6) I'm a huge procrastinator. I'm always the wait til the last minute to do it girl. Must be some how related to needing a challenge.

7) I like being alone. I need to be alone. I love my friends and family and need them too, don't get me wrong! My ideal day though is alone. I get a lot done when no one else is around. I always come out of a day with a lot of time to myself a whole lot more pleasant.

So who's tagged?

Rhonda

Can't wait to knit

2008-02-19T17:51:00.002-06:00

How long does it take to knit a short row heel? As long as I waited for the doctor and then a few rows more. And who knows what ick I may have picked up while waiting in there surrounded by people with all manner of coughs.

I had three people ask me what I was making, not counting the nurse. One man actually moved closer to carry on a conversation. He was intrigued that I was not looking at my knitting. My doctor's office is located off the hospital atrium with a wall of glass, so there is good people watching. And the place was packed today. He was nice enough and very interested. He was telling me how his mother once knit a blanket, which when she switched to longer circular needles she accidentally went up a needle size too and the thing is trapezoidal. He said she still uses it though. He went on to tell me all about his father who knit a sweater and a hat and never knit again. He wanted to know how I knew how to do "those rows that don't go all the way across" Yeah, it was a long wait.

he also told me a funny little joke:

There's this preacher who just does not have the knack for reaching his congregation. His wife takes up knitting and brings it to church and all of a sudden his sermons are amazing. This goes on for months until his wife is called to help look after the kids in the nursery one Sunday. The preacher panics, looking for his wife. When they tell him where she is he announces no sermon today. Turns out she wasn't knitting at all, she was using sign language to feed him his sermons.

(Well, I thought it was cute.)

Impatient? Me?

2008-02-19T09:54:00.003-06:00

Wow, for some reason these colors uploaded funky. All of them have a weird overcast washed out quality on my computer. Huh. Oh well, the colors are much prettier then what I'm seeing.

On to the knitting... If I could unfurl this baby right now I would be doing a happy dance. I am almost there. These last few rows are so much bigger than the center of the pinwheel that they are just taking me forever. I like the bit of red on the edge. It's some fun. This may be about the most obnoxious bit of knitting to come off my needles. It's loud and colorful.

I picked up the yarn for my next project, a cotton top. Not entirely set on which top, but I am thinking a lacy tee that I can wear over a tank. I like these colors, thinking edge with the darker blue to give it some sass. We'll see when I actually start the knitting.

Also picked up some Fiesta Boomerang. Man that stuff is lush. Big fat around the house socks for me. Goofy colorful things.

And last but not least, in case you had forgotten about that blanket for Marky Mark, it's still in the works. I've been avoiding it for a while now, it's gotten so big it it ungainly to work on. And heavy. I have to get it in just the right spot to be able to knit comfortably. It's calling my name though. About 2 more feet and it will be done. It's over 4 at this point. Just a little bit more to go.

**I have no idea what is up with Blogger today. Weird colors, unintentional underlines, text in funky colors, so please excuse the weirdness. I normally would not post this bit but I'm full of myself so I like to share just about anything**

Peek into my knitting bag...

2008-02-16T06:17:00.002-06:00

Another color done on the Pinwheel. I actually got to the next color last night, aqua. This is fun to knit up. I've gotten to the point where there are enough spaces between the increases so I might need stitch markers. If you are looking for fun and quick this one definitely is that. I think I may use the leftover yarn to make another for PeeWee, I have enough to make one that almost matches. Much skinnier stripes for hers.

Yesterday I picked up yarn for a cotton tank top and I swatched for socks. I'm not starting another project without finishing the Pinwheel Jacket. Behaving myself right now. The pink and purple socks are slowly moving along. I'm just knitting a bit on them here and there. It's a nice traveling sock. A few rows while waiting here and there.

Not much exciting here knit-wise. Hopefully the sun will come out today so I can get some pictures. It's not looking promising though. The clouds are thick and grey already. Good hunker down and finish that jacket weather.

Knit

2008-02-08T15:04:00.001-06:00

Colinette Jitterbug sock-ette, aka short ankle socks with a short row heel. The stripes are making me happy, I like a bright ugly sock. I rarely find I am cold enough to wear wool socks out and about here in New Orleans. Lacy ones, yeah, I wear those a lot and I think my next pair will be lacy. These are knit on Addi Turbo 2's, smaller I should be using, this fabric is tight. They should wear like iron.

The Pinwheel Jacket in action. Well, sort of, because my printer is way the heck upstairs and I am too lazy to bring the laptop up there these days. So I sort of skimmed over the directions and am hoping it turns out. More overly bright colors in action. I can wear them with the socks. It looks like a Rasta hat right now bunched up like it is.

The spiral is cool. I'm really uncertain how this is going to wear, but I am enjoying the knit itself. I'm ready to put the stitches on hold for the sleeves and keep moving on to the finish. This is surprisingly quick to knit. This Noro Cash Iroha is delightful to work with. It's wooly but not harsh in the least. The cashmere content makes it soft and springy. I love the color ways with the other Noro yarns but I just can't get past the scratchy feel in the skein. Too many choices out there for me to pick up scratchy yarn.

The kids have been out of school for the week for Mardi Gras, which was fun. (I know- a week? Marky Mark can't understand it either. Hey, it means I don't have to be dressed at 7:20.) We were a family unit, my favorite kind of costume. PeeWee picked out Super Hero Princesses, yeah baby. It was a whirlwind from my birthday until now, and honestly I didn't realize it's Friday. Lots of catching up this part of the world. Holidays always seem to throw me off a bit.

Everyone left the house so I'm off to pick up that jacket and get some more work done on it. Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday to ME!

2008-02-02T08:48:00.000-06:00

So I am sitting here in bed, having eaten my breakfast in bed, had Big Brother bring me my computer in bed and I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

What's on the needles? The pinwheel jacket- it's not making much progress as I have not had a whole lot of free time the last few days. There have been crazy schedule changes mid-stream, the norm for us it seems. It's sitting in a bag on the couch. PeeWee has decided she is not going to sit by and watch me knit, so the time has been really limited.

The socks however have been all over with me this week, one is done the other started. I really enjoy using the Colinette Jitterbug. This is my third pair with it. I like having the knitting to go stashed in my bag to be handy all the time.

Tonight I am off to a Mardi Gras ball, which means dressing up completely, something I do so rarely I had to go shopping to get the goods. Seeing as this is the birthday celebration this year, I decided fun was the word of the day. So as not to have a post with no pictures here it is:

I feel like a bit of a fraud in this getup but it is fun. The dress was a bargain and the shoes are my birthday gift to myself.

I know this is supposed to be about knitting. I'll be catching up with all that this week, as my resolutions kick in today, one of them being regular actual knitting posts, how about that? Why no knitting pictures today? Well, I would have to get out of bed and I am not ready yet!

How old am I? I graduated high school at 18 in 1987, you do the math, it's not a milestone, that's next year.

Links to goodies I am loving these days

2008-01-25T07:40:00.000-06:00

Sorry... no pictures today, it's dreary and cold out....

I started the pinwheel jacket with some Noro I bought when cheating on the yarn diet. It's fun and really really fast! I need to go pick up a bit more yarn, I ran short on the third color band. Which also means running short on the larger bands. So a trip to get what I need to finish things up is on its way!

Also cast on some traveling knitting, socks in Colinette Jitterbug, simple stockinette ankle length socks.

My friend Andrea turned me on to this fabulous website, a year of crockpotting. For those of you who need easy recipes or ideas, the kitchen challenged, like me. She's doing some interesting stuff in hers, like cornbread. Worth a peek if you want some new recipes for yours.

Gryphon has friends who lost everything in a fire which consumed their business and devastated them. She is donating 50% of what is selling in her shop to the family during this month. So if you are looking for yarn, now is a good time to help a family while you are stocking up on some goodies for yourself.

Also, there's a cool site for online classes here. Fiber arts stuff that looks really fun. The kind of stuff which might suck precious knitting time away but that I am interested in no matter what.

Just a quick post to say I am still alive. Next time lots of pictures...

Pat me on the back

2008-01-23T10:18:00.001-06:00

Yes, indeed, the periwinkle sweater is done. Finished. All wrapped up and off the needles. I love it.

I am still very happy with the yarn, Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. The colors have numbers, this one is their periwinkle blue. I'm happy with the way it fits. I altered the whole thing a lot, lengthened both the sleeves and the torso, changed the number of buttons, the length of the ribbing, lost the pockets, pretty much everything about it. The color is a bit richer than what's showing on my monitor.

It's not often I finish something that I know will get a lot of wear other than socks. It doesn't get too cold here so things other than wraps are not used regularly. I haven't got the patience for much finishing, I usually rip it out before I am done. Knitting for PeeWee makes it hard to knit something big enough for me. It is way too easy to set it aside and start something nice and small which will be done in no time.

What's next? I have no idea. I'm hoping to finish Marky Mark's blanket before his birthday at the end of March. It's gotten so large that I have to sit in the chair and knit it like an old grandma. It's over 4ft now though, so it's more than halfway done. I'm just going to knit until I am either so sick of it I want to cry or until I run out of the yarn.

I may do a pinwheel jacket next. Mulling it over at least. I have a great mix of yarns I want to work with. But I also want to work on something quick and sassy, maybe a scarf/hood combo. Who knows, I did my happy dance when I cast off the last stitches of the sweater yesterday. I may ride on that high for a few days and decide what I really want to invest my time and energy on this time.

The house that yarn built

2008-01-17T11:35:00.000-06:00

When I leave the house I am usually rewarded. Today was a winner. I was running errands and I passed a man wearing a kitchen timer as a hat. I was not brave enough to snap a picture, when I glanced back he glanced back at the same time or I would have. It was on like a little bell boy hat. Fabulous.

A while back I was rewarded with the giant Elvis head man.

I'm wondering... should I worry about PeeWee? Seems like she may have issues with Big Brother, since that's what she has named this guy...

At least he bathes.

Do you want to help rebuild New Orleans? Hope over to The House That Yarn Built team Make It Right NOLA. It's Brad Pitt's rebuilding effort and a great thing. We gave donations for Christmas gifts. If yo can donate, make sure you choose the house that yarn built team from the choice of team pages so it gets the credit. The goal is $10,000, but I think we can do more. As in build a house.

Hop on over to Christy's blog to get all the info, make sure you drop her a line if you donate, she's got a contest going on if you participate. Even if you can't be a part of it, will you spread the word? Thanks. Check out the details on the Make It Right page, I think this is a good thing. The property owners are very involved and it's bringing lots of good to the area. Ellen Degeneres has a team up and I think it would be great to give them a run for their money. Look at the Yarn Harlot's Medicines sans Frontiers.

I am a big whiney baby.

2008-01-12T07:29:00.000-06:00

There, I said it.

We've had house guests who I barely know for the last few days and it has turned our house upside down. I'm a bad hostess, I know it. I really need a bit of down time every day. Call me a baby but I like having guests I know who are happy chilling out for a bit of time, I get worn out when someone is 24/7 and I don't know them. I like having house guests who would understand if I said- I am burnt out, it's cereal for dinner or here is a list of good places to go. See ya. (90% of our house guests are like this, they know me) Staying up late and eating out has made me cranky. And in a series of bizarre offers from Marky Mark and strange planning on their part, he is driving them home the 9 - 10 hour drive. Don't ask, he's not even sure how it happened. So next week is going to be ultra quiet, no guests and no husband!

I have not knit one stitch in ... who knows how many days. I'm not even sure where the bag with the almost finished periwinkle sweater is! How's that for a crazy week? I did get a minute to work on some little hearts. And I have come up with a great idea. I have to keep it under wraps, because the execution may not be a simple as the idea and it may flop. Plus, I tend to jinx things if I let them out of the bag too soon. But the idea is in my head waiting to get tested out.

I think I have arthritis in my finger. Anyone know how to find out for sure? It's been hurting a while now and good and stiff. It's not essential to knitting, so don't get too concerned. Is there anything that can be done?

So any bets on when I can get back to knitting? I finally secured a few minutes last night to catch up on reading everyone's blogs. Not too big on the commenting because I was tight on time but I sent mental vibage out to those who need it. I know by the end of the day I'll be backed up again but hoping to be a better commenter and catch-er-up-er. Bloglines makes it easy to not comment when I am rushing, anyone else find this to be true?

Eh.

2008-01-05T14:15:00.000-06:00

If you got a minute hope on over and vote for Christina for January Knit Girl.

I know she'd appreciate it!

More later when I get the house to myself, maybe Monday when school is back in... Until then, happy Twelth Night tomorrow! (I know that's spelled wrong but man my brain is frazzled...)

Two Thousand and Eight

2008-01-01T08:12:00.000-06:00

Well, I hope everyone got to do and have the New Year's Eve they were wanting. We stayed in but amazingly did stay up into the New Year. We could hear lots of fireworks around but never could figure out where they were coming from. That's okay.

Resolutions? Nope. Although this month is get it together month so when the resolutions hit on 2/2 I am headed in the right direction. I'll be kicking into gear the yarn diet. I started out with a bang and have managed to lose and keep off 8 pounds of it, making last year's loss 14, something I am happy with, though there are many more to lose. Then it tapered off, but no gain so I'm motivated to kick it up a notch.

The Commitment to Loveliness lost some ground during Christmas. Yesterday was a big organize and rearrange day here at Mom's house. In fact we brought in the movers. That big a day. Now Big Brother has a dresser from his grandparents (who conveniently own the moving and storage company and offered it to us when it was landed in their laps- man you would be shocked how much nice furniture ends up with movers, they usually will end up with what you need if you are not too picky) a big piece that was taking up space in his room and had no function is now in the living room, and PeeWee's dollhouse extravaganza now has a home in a new quiet cozy play nook. So things are looking up for us.

We'll be warming it up with a rug soon, and it's not as empty as it really looks- the acrylic furniture is in there, you just can't see it unless you click on the pic and make it a bit bigger.

Grampa had a big day moving stuff. He earned this nap.

And, Whoa Nelly! A picture of knitting. Yeah baby. I have a bunch of headbands up on my etsy shop. A few more things to wrap up and I'll feel like I have an actual shop over there, not the one lonely listing that was left.

I'm still wearing my headband a lot, it's really comfy. The seed stitch gives it just that stretch without the distortion you can find with knitted headbands. I'm having fun with these quick knits.

Don't forget to eat your black eyed peas and cabbage today! And enjoy the new year! Hope it's everything you want and nothing you don't need.

Back to the grind

2007-12-28T10:01:00.000-06:00

I keep thinking the holidays are over and the break is over and that we're all back to normal on Monday. Not so. Another week off, which we plan to keep as quiet as possible.

We've had family from both sides in town and it's been hectic to say the least. Throw in a funeral and the planning headache becomes a little too much. Poor PeeWee is so off her schedule that Marky Mark is passing on the visitation this afternoon and going to be home with her, until the next round of baby sitters this evening. It's been a very busy week.

Not much time for knitting here at mom's house. Just trying to clear out the old to make way for the new. PeeWee scored and the loot from Santa is a bit much. But she's happy and you are only three once. Big Brother is still in New York City! for the next few days, returning to us Monday, just in time for the New Year. For which I never ever make a plan. I'm the in bed at 10 type. I just don't get the hype. I usually hop up out of bed when I hear the fireworks begin though, those are fun! But I'm not into crowds and noise and drunks so I tend to hang at home and watch from there. Better view anyway.

Today I hope to pick up the needles again, at least for a short time. A few minutes might improve my mood just a smidge. Funny how doing anything creative lifts the mood. I get cranky if I am not creating something. Anything will do. I sewed up a little heart pin to add to my stash of things that need to be photographed so they can be listed on etsy. I have a few things to add over there.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T11:49:00.001-06:00

I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas has a great day!

I must post about kids

2007-12-20T06:51:00.001-06:00

Just a little update on PeeWee and our life-long love affair with the doctor's office. This time the cardiologist. You can see she waits patiently.

We went in had the checkup, they did some different thing with her echo and EKG which worried me, of course, anything different will do that to a mother. We waited for the doctor to come in and as soon as he walked in the door another nurse brought him an emergent EKG. This poor little kid was having big problems, and PeeWee's doctor called the doctor who faxed the EKG and gave him some info then told him he'd call him back in 2 minutes. Yes! Two minutes meant there was no way they were going to tell us we needed to do her repeat surgery. Huge relief, we go back again in 6 months, with some extra testing and a more likely to be needing the surgery visit.

Weird thing? That EKG turned out to be my cousin's child, very sick and in the hospital. (what are the odds of that?) With HIPPA I had no idea who it could have been, blacked out name and all, but when my sister in law told me about my cousin's child having this "thing" with his heart, I called my cousin and sure enough we were sitting in the appointment when our cardiologist was called into his situation by the doctor they were seeing. It's a weird small world.

Both kids are fine, I am glad to say. I for one am thankful for medical science and all its advances.

I knocked out the headbands for the teacher gifts and have started more to put up in the shop. Which is being neglected since there has been virtually no free time around here. I have a plan for some phone covers too, it's all in my head until I have a chunk of time to devote to making things.

Crafty Wednesdays went on vacation until kids are back in school, we start up again mid-January. I miss those few hours a week to sit and just be creative. My sewing machine is under our couch slip cover, which I need to bring in to be dry cleaned, the annual 'show off the red couch' weeks are here. I have been itching to use it. I have big plans (again, these plans are in my head).

I wrapped things up and realized I am a little short. I have a sitter this morning and am going off to a few big box stores for a few last minute things. Glad I got a chance to check early.

Can someone please tell me where I stashed the Koigu mittens I made for my niece!?! I have looked in all logical hiding spots. I have no idea why I even hid them, she's in college across the country. Instead, I think I put them away. Kinder way of saying I lost them. Darnit. Any ideas?

And since PeeWee was so silly last night...

Pictures!

2007-12-18T08:51:00.001-06:00

First, just so you don't think I have given up knitting (or documenting it) completely...

An ornament that is knit from some Kool Aid dyed yarn from a sweater for PeeWee, little leftovers.
In this picture I can pick out 8 ornaments we made, and one that's been decorated after the fact by us. We have an eclectic tree and I like it that way.

The tree trimmers in action.

And this weekend I did something really dumb. I went to bring PeeWee to a birthday party on the wrong day. It was a friend of mine, whose child is a classmate of PeeWee, and boy was I embarrassed. After an impromptu playdate at their house, we had a small meltdown leaving because there had been no birthday cake. I was feeling like a pretty awful mom at this point so I pulled out some mix we'd been saving and whipped up a Christmas Cake to satisfy the three year old sweet tooth.

Yum.

Time Warp

2007-12-15T06:19:00.000-06:00

I am not one of the unlucky who stress about the holidays. Christmas is fun for me. I usually start out with grand plans then they dwindle and we do something a little less dramatic.

This year Big Brother is leaving on Christmas Day. In fact, I think he's on the same flight my sister and her family arrive to visit us, the turn-around plane thing airports do. So he'll get to see his cousins for exactly 5 minutes until he boards and goes back to where they live. He's excited about this trip but I am not. At least they got a few extra days off for the break since they didn't have to use any hurricane days in the school calendar. Planning them in seems to be almost enough to keep those guys away.

I had all these plans today to bake and deliver cookies to the neighbors and all that great stuff today then I realized there's still another weekend before Christmas. Yes, I just publicly announced what a ding-a-ling I really am. So I'm totally relaxed about Christmas, I have a whole week I found! We live on one of those blocks where everyone bakes for each other, it's a friendly group, and this year we are making Joy of Cooking's Butterscotch Brownies.

Here's the recipe:

preheat the oven to 350, grease a 9x9 pan

melt in a saucepan:

1/4c butter

stir in until dissolved:

1c brown sugar

cool these ingredients then add:

1 egg

1t vanilla

sift then measure:

1/2 c all purpose flour

1t double acting baking powder

1/2t salt

stir these into the butter/sugar mixture

I never do but you can add

1/2 to 1c chopped nuts

or 3/4 c grated coconut

I like them just plain

*whoops, you do bake these for 20-25 minutes, the oven's not on for just fun!

I am including the recipe here because my Joy is the old, unhealthy version. Somehow miraculously spared from the floodwaters. It is dirty and crumbly and marked with sticky notes and scraps of paper, little pencilled in instructions in the margins, all that. The pages I use most open up on their own, which makes me happy.

I have finished two of the four headbands I wanted to make. PeeWee has decided there's no knitting time allowed while she is anywhere in range. These are a super quick knit so I am not too worried about getting them wrapped up by Tuesday.

I went, I saw, I conquered.

2007-12-13T13:18:00.000-06:00

I went to Target. I managed to get that elusive gift Big Brother wanted, purely by chance. One of those high tech gadgets that's on the 'endangered until the holidays are over' list. I thought... it can't hurt to check if it's here can it? ... and was rewarded for my patience.

I went to the other mall. I parked. I found gifts. I wish I had thought to go back in but I was beginning to panic. I'm not big on crowds and as 11:30 was coming up on the clock the people were starting to fill the aisles of the stores and I was done. Walking back to the car I was accosted by a woman who wanted to follow me to my car so she could park. Well, lady, do what I did and get here when they open and you should have no problem. But don't follow me in your car like some kind of freak. Because I will do what I did today and tell you I am parked way on the other side and turn and head that way. So you can take your colorful language over in that direction. Besides, when I got to my car there were three hopeful parkers waiting. It was insanity. I am done for this year.

I came home and finished filling up a box and I am off to the post office shortly. I feel so accomplished today.

I am casting on today for a few of those headbands for PeeWee's teachers. But no knitting to show today. An inch of progress on that sleeve just doesn't cut it. So scroll down and look at yesterday's picture for excitement. Because I must recover from the mall now.

Two posts in two days?

2007-12-12T18:49:00.000-06:00

Yes, it's me, I haven't been taken over by aliens or anything. Just showing off today's handy work.

I made a headband. It was some leftover yarn from some socks from ages ago, shipped off to Kathleen in a Rowan yarn exchange. It's Cherry Tree Hill yarn and I love the colors. A little i-cord widened into a little 'V' which went into seed stitch band and back down into another 'V' and finishing with an i-cord which ties nicely into a headband. Simple as pie! I wore it all afternoon and forgot it was there, a nice thing with a headband. They usually bug the heck out of me and end up in PeeWee's playbox.

I also started a mitten with the prize yarn. Not that we need mittens around here, but they are light enough that when it's chilly and I walk to go get coffee I can keep my hands warm. The self-striping is making me happy. The colors are so me. And they match the house, an all important thing in my world. I was going to make socks, but I wanted to be able to look at them when I wear them. I am easily amused. These may take a while because they will be my traveling knitting. And on DPN's they must be hidden when PeeWee is in range.

I am down to only huge home bound projects so I really did need to start something portable. They say it's going to get cold so I need to pick up the pace with my sleeve. I'm about 3 inches into it, so I have some work left. It may be the next cold snap when I get to wear this sweater.

Tomorrow I am going out into the world to do some shopping. I need to gather some storage containers for the yarn closet organizing I am doing so I am going to brave the world of holiday shoppers and leave the house. I figured I will hit the mall too while I am in the neighborhood. It depends on if I find a parking spot though. My main criteria this time of year. I usually avoid any shopping unless it's really required but some twisted part of me wants to go to the mall. Huh. I must be coming down with something.

Once upon a time

2007-12-11T19:13:00.000-06:00

I used to actually consider myself an artist, way back before Big Brother came on the scene. I haven't done much at all in the last few years, especially since PeeWee made her entrance. Mark was out in the shed (yeah, nice) and came across a bundle of drawings and a few prints, the most recent being 1991. Which says a lot about how little work I have done in recent years.

I'd love to have a studio but we're short on space and it's not in the budget to rent one. Someday I'll get to have a space to play in where I can leave things out and go back to my real life.

I have to now do things which are portable and also easily picked up when the kids enter my zone. I spent a few hours today making our Christmas cards, something I usually have done around Thanksgiving, but which I put off for a while this year. I had trouble getting motivated but I ordered some goodies from Christina's shop and am really happy with what I got. The cards have a smooth finish which I really liked working with. I got the cards done quickly, I thought it was going to be a two day event but they are wrapped up now and all I have to do is get them addressed and out in the mail! And all this before I picked up PeeWee!

Since I have been either decorating or sorting through old bundles of paper or making cards I have done very little knitting. I finished the first new sleeve on the cabled sweater I am chugging away on and got a little worried because I was down to one ball of yarn. I'm not sure where my brain was because I forgot I have an entire sleeve to tink and work with. Phew! I immediately cast on for sleeve two and am done with the ribbing, working my way up! If we get the least bit of cold weather I'll slap this baby on. It has only a ribbed edging to do for finishing when I get this sleeve knocked out. Of course no pictures, this is one long lasting knit. If you've forgotten, it doesn't look much different from this. I love the Cashmerino Aran, it's so nice to have in your hands, especially after working with a bunch of cotton for the preemie stuff.

And just because...

This is the yarn I won from Rhonda. I have been meaning to post a picture. I have about 6 things in mind I would like to make with it, so now I have to narrow it down. I've got an appointment tomorrow with some knitting time so I plan to bring it along and get something started. I'm thinking a simple ankle sock with a ruffle at the cuff. Something fun just for me.

Other ways to use yarn

2007-12-04T15:20:00.000-06:00

This is cool.

I made several ornaments for The Green Project's auction this weekend. It felt good making them even though I really pushed it back to the last minute. I may be on time getting places but I really procrastinate. I meant to take pictures but I got sidetracked. Since I am getting good at asking you to use your imagination, I knit up some balls and stuffed them with polyfill so they look like a glass ornament, complete with the curved loop on top. Used leftover sock yarns. Part of the recycle theme they so fully support, in a way.

I think we've all recovered around here. It was an exciting day Sunday. PeeWee's refusal to eat or drink anything the whole weekend landed her in the ER getting an IV at 4 in the morning Sunday. She perked up completely and has been herself but we are still recovering from the exhaustion of a sick toddler. She likes to scare us to death.

We have her cardiology appointments coming up soon and all I kept thinking about as I watched her feel worse and worse the weekend through was that dehydration can really mess with your heart rhythm. It made me one anxious mama. The ER staff was wonderful, helpful and very nice to us. I think the appearance of a 3 year old at 4AM was an unusual event for them. And when she started wailing so loud you could hear her practically out on the street everyone stuck their head in to see how they could calm her down. They were a nice bunch.

We have a winner!

2007-12-01T09:24:00.000-06:00

Actually we have three. But first allow me to apologize for the delay in announcing the winners. I know a contest that ended two days ago with no prizes announced yet is a serious offense. But we've been up to our eyeballs in sick kids here and this afternoon I finally got a chance to get photographs and get online for more than a millisecond.

PeeWee picked names for me in two groups, those who knit and shared their knitted items with me and everyone together.

Monique, who also happened to also be the busiest knitter, won the big prize of the Cherry Tree Hill yarn, it is luscious. Scrumptious. I hope she can turn it into something absolutely beautiful.

The second name PeeWee picked from the active knitters was Christina who wins this lovely lace weight yarn. This stuff is seriously soft. It should turn itself into something gorgeous.

The third winner is from the entire group and PeeWee picked... Kenyetta! She wins these really nifty See Jayne Knit stitch markers. I want to keep them for myself. They are darn cute.

I am very fond of all these prizes and am glad to send them off to their new homes. They are things I want to knit with someday so I hope they are well loved!

I had a lot of fun with this one and I am going to try to keep doing the contest. Hopefully we'll have even more participants in the future. I made the commitment to be making preemie things this time of year when PeeWee was released from the hospital and I know I will keep making them for a long time. If you have any preemie knitting that needs a home and you would like to send it to me email me. I'll be happy to wash and deliver things through out the year. I bring them in a few times a year, when I have enough to wash and pack up. I'll be bringing these in next week, since I am going in for a meeting at the hospital.

Thanks again to all of you who made someone's day a little brighter by making a tiny little hat or other goodie for the littlest babies we ever get to meet!

Oh I wonder

2007-11-29T14:18:00.001-06:00

Have you ever had those weeks where you think you have caught up on everything and all of a sudden you realize how far behind you are?

It's almost December. I can't show you any of my finished knitting because it's all gifts and I am not willing to spoil the surprises.

I am in no way shape or form ready for the holidays. At. All. I bought something for Big Brother. I finished two other gifts. Marky Mark keeps saying he's going to go get us a tree. But he's about as behind as I am.

I need to have an ornament ready for Sunday and I have two kids home sick. I think PeeWee may even have the flu, in spite of her flu shot. Poor thing has been up in our bed all day dozing off and on, whimpering when she's awake, and watching cartoons when she's coherent. Her little fever just won't break and it is killing me. I remember the comfort in being up in your parents bed when you were home sick though so I am hoping that's some comfort to her. She's a stinker when it comes to taking medicine, she spits it out and fights it completely. So I can't even get Tylenol in her. I'm just doing what I can to make her comfortable. Poor little chicken.

Big brother was sick yesterday. And I let it slide today. He woke up feeling cruddy but is now catching up on all his homework. He's going to school tomorrow no matter what. Because if you are really sick you don't ask your mother to pick up sushi for lunch. While you are watching TV and up and dressed. I should have made him go in late but it really didn't matter today. Tomorrow when he goes back in he has a detention. So he'll start his day at 7am. He'll be working in the kitchen. Because he did something so stupid it was jaw dropping and opened up a can of worms and even though he undid the stupid thing, it opened the door for someone behind him to do something even stupider and blame it on Big Brother. Confused? Well, it was the workings of a 14 yr old boy's brain. I'll leave it at that. Because I am a mom and I refuse to use the language he used when typing something onto his teacher's computer which was projected onto the big screen at the front of the room when they got a 5 minute break. He deleted it but someone else came in behind him and wrote something with a bit more flourish and said he did it. (sigh) The joys of high school.

It's not all bad

2007-11-26T11:01:00.001-06:00

Proof that I didn't leave the laundry room the way I showed it yesterday:

And that the living room WAS picked up:

There may be hope for me after all.

Clever girl

2007-11-25T06:49:00.000-06:00

I had this dream. I figured out a very clever new way to knit. I mean, revolutionary. So amazing that it was going to change lives. I have three things I am working on for gifts this year and this was going to be how I knit one of them. It somehow involved knitting flat then not having to seam up. There were just yarns you pulled and it seamed itself. Too bad I can't begin to remember. It made a great hat.

I have been slowly working on about 50 things around here so there's almost no progress on anything. The cleaning and organizing is going great. I really do want to commit myself to loveliness . It doesn't sound like a chore, it sounds like an indulgence. I am working on getting the downstairs of my house organized and in working order. I've been making my way through the drawers in my kitchen. Out of 10 drawers, 3 have become junk drawers. That's nuts. I bought drawer dividers and things are even tidy in the junk drawers. I have always been one of those people who's clutter is not hidden. The insides of my cabinets are very orderly, so getting something as simple as the utensils all sorted has made me very happy.

The laundry room was the worst offender and I tackled it and have kept it clean. It's been about ten days so the keeping it clean part really IS a big deal.

It makes me so happy that last night I went in there, worked on something for an auction coming up, put everything away in it's handy place and walked away.

(use your imagination here, Blogger is being cranky about uploading the good pictures of the lovely clean laundry room. I will update when Blogger sees fit)

Normally I would have just left it all out since it was a mess anyway. But I need a space to do what I need to do where I don't have to step over piles of junk to do it. Mark loves that he can go in there and iron his shirt and not have to drag all the equipment out into the hallway where there's more room.

The living room is in order for when we go up into the attic and pull down the Christmas decorations.

(insert your own imaginary pictures of a super tidy and organized living room. Darn Blogger.)

But I am waiting to do that until I get the dining room in order. It's now the worst offender. I'll be sure and get before and after pictures of that disaster too. I pile all the mail in there and then never do anything about it. And the few things that were homeless after the great laundry room takeover have moved into temporary housing in there. A little FEMA trailer for a dish rack and a fish cooker and the wrapping paper.

Any knitting pictures? Well, no. The only thing worth showing the progress on is a gift and I don't want to spoil the surprise. I have luckily moved my knitting energies over to finishitis. A rare and wondrous thing. Mark's blanket is back in the works, I have added about another foot. This thing's huge and I may be knitting it until Christmas morning. It's a quick knit but when you are three feet into a six foot blanket it sure doesn't seem like a quick knit. Not being portable the progress is slow. But I love it and think he will love it. And if for some reason it is not finished by Christmas his birthday is in March.

I am all about wrapping it up around here. I want all my knitting bags and needles empty. I want to wrap up all these challenging or boring knitting projects and be able to use them!

Wrapping up this week is the Preemie Knit-A-Thon. If you are a part of the contest but haven't let me know, now's the time to leave a comment or email me. Be sure to include how many things you have knit up. If you need a place to drop things off, let me know, you can mail them to me. It only takes about an hour to knit up the tiny hats, any pattern sized down a few needles works great. PeeWee's head was about the size of a tennis ball and quickly grew into an orange if you are wondering what size to make. I'll be setting aside the knitting going on right now to make as many hats as I can in the next few days. And with my absolute desire to wrap things up that's going to be a challenge. Contest ends Thursday so Friday when I get up and check for any new emails or comments I will gather the names and draw one. I have a few goodies here that are ready to go out in the mail!

And finally... I won something! Over at Rhonda's blog I guessed within seconds of the winner that she was knitting an Einstein Jacket. I was second to guess but we were guessing at the same time so she very sweetly sent me a consolation prize. Some beautiful cotton sock yarn! Thanks Rhonda! (again, it's imaginary yarn we're seeing here)

Dang this blogger. I'll update the pictures later.

Gobble Gobble

2007-11-22T06:42:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I went to bed early and have been up since 4:30. So much for lazing around in bed this morning.

Lunch is at my aunt and uncle's house at 1pm. We're middle of the day Thanksgiving eaters. And not football watchers. We dress, too. I'm hoping to get a good picture of the kids all happy and smiling for the Christmas cards. Last year we did that and it worked really well. It's cloudy and supposed to rain today so this year's picture may have to be a bit more creative. Last year we totally amused the neighbor- she watched us trying to get "the picture". Wish me luck!

I am bringing creamed spinach- my own extremely fattening recipe, lots of cream cheese and an added crunch of sliced water chestnuts. Mmmmm. I'm winging it but basically I'm planning on sauteing a white onion, adding garlic, butter and cream cheese, adding the spinach and then some sour cream if it's too thick. Then I will top it with shreaded swiss and pop it on the oven. It's a one dish wonder too- I will be doing it all in my big red pot- the great oven safe one :)

At dinner today there are going to be 11 people I have never even heard of. And 8 of family. Because 8 people is not enough for Thanksgiving according to my aunt! We've done extra "family" before and it can be very interesting and nice or very interesting and horrible. But always interesting.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day! Thanksgiving is a favorite of mine, and we have so much to be thankful for this year. Even though it has been a tough one in many ways, we're all much closer as a family, and coming out whole is always the best thing to be thankful for.

"wooly balls"

2007-11-14T11:19:00.000-06:00

Crafty Wednesday this week was felted balls. Pretty simple, you think. Kind of fun, I think!

I did a sample last night out of some brown roving, something which I wouldn't have minded messing up and wasting too much. Mark was proud (he said). Big Brother suggested something a dung beetle might be rolling ahead of him. Not too attractive, but it worked.

A little roving, a little water, some tossing around and a pile of nifty little woolen balls! I think I am going to save these for stocking stuffers. PeeWee is itching to get her hands on the wet ones.

I am all over the place with crafts right now. I haven't been this scattered with projects of all sorts since college! It's kind of a treat to give myself the one day a week to just play.

In the process the house has gotten really out of hand. We have had a cleaning service the last few years, since I was pregnant with PeeWee and told to do nothing. They do a great job, but lately it's been just about impossible for me to get myself organized enough to have their cleaning be as good as it should be. As a result we end up with a bunch of things stashed away instead of really out away. I have taken myself off their schedule for the next two weeks and will be trying to knock the place out in that time. So it's organize central around here. I have to do it before the holidays get in full swing or we'll be living in the midst of insanity until about February.

If I could just figure out a good way to organize all my crafts I would be set. (wouldn't we all?)

Jinxed?

2007-11-11T13:30:00.000-06:00

We all know I have a "thing" with water. I had no idea how deep it went until this weekend. We ran off to the country to get some good relaxing in with friends. We all wanted a break from the city so we made a weekend of it.

When we got there we unloaded the car then instinctively I turned on the icemaker. After a while I noticed nothing was going on. Huh. Ignored it. Sometimes those things are picky and I just wasn't that worried. I was thinking there might be a switch I didn't know about that needed flipping.

When I went to turn on the dishwasher it was also doing nothing. Kind of fishy, I thought I better find out what the trick was to these things. So I picked up the phone and made a quick call to my father. Well, the icemaker was broken already so I was off the hook with that. The dishwasher had a trick to closing it right so I did and it ran for hours and hours before I thought it surely had done something and the dishes must be clean. Nope. SO I tried it again. Nothing. No water ever ran into it. Weird.

Around the same time we noticed that the alarm was beeping and said "trouble". Went to pick up the phone to call and see how we fix that and the phone didn't work. We hadn't yet realized the dishwasher was broken for this call. Good thing I could find a little corner of the house to pick up cell service. Turns out the phone was wishy washy and that was the reason the alarm was blinking.

Later figured out the dishwasher was indeed broken, so I washed a weekend's worth of dishes for 8 people who thought there was a dishwasher. That's a lot of dishes if you are wondering. I was trying to knock them out to be able to sit down with knitting and teach my friend while she and her husband kept the kids busy. That didn't happen. It took me forever to get them all cleaned.

While we were getting ready to go home my friend stripped the beds and rounded up the wet towels and I loaded the washing machine up and turned it on. No water. No kidding. And it's a little mini euro thing and there was no opening it to get out the wet towels we decided needed the first wash. I left with a car full of sheets and towels to wash and bring back out to the country. I hope the wet towels locked in the washer are not a giant molded mess by the time someone can pop that sucker open.

We decided that since the house was built 11 years ago that every single warranty had run out and things were just crashing. But really? The ice maker, the dish washer, the phone and the washer? (For once it was about no water instead of an excess of the stuff. For that I am thankful.)

If you're wondering, my father joked with me to please just stop touching things. The last call I made to him he answered the phone with "what now?" At least he has a sense of humor about it.

Knitting in Action

2007-11-09T12:44:00.000-06:00

It's been chilly the last few days...

PeeWee modeling her soft and fuzzy sweater

And me wearing socks

PeeWee in her sweater outfit, you can barely see my sock poking out

It's back in the 70's again but that quick blast of cold air made sure the knits got some use this fall!

Thank you all for the good vibes for my friend, she did well with the surgery and is in a lot less pain than she was expecting.

Busy work

2007-11-05T13:58:00.001-06:00

What do you do when your friend tells you she has breast cancer and will be having a double mastectomy on Wednesday?

Knit socks! I'd knit her a tit bit but she's having the whole reconstructive tummy tuck done at the same time.

Green for healthy growth, healing and life. I could have used pink but I thought about it and well, it's just the obvious breast cancer color and when I think of this spring green I think of rebirth. Plus, after the initial shock of the diagnosis hit me it was Sunday evening and I had to find somthing in the stash (no yarn diet rules here, just no open yarn shops) that was A) washable B) bulky enough to knit quickly so it could be finished before her surgery and C) a color she likes.

I still have to pick up my other yarn from dyeing but I am very happy with what I have. I want to cast on socks right now. I'm holding off though, I want to wrap up my sweater.

Want to know what I love about my daughter? She sees things.

WOW! You made me a puppy! No, don't look at just the sock, look at the whole picture. Pretty cute puppy. I love the way kids' minds work at this age. It makes the absolute screaching fit when it was bath time last night worth it.

It still looks more like a reindeer to me.

Down to business

2007-11-03T11:08:00.000-05:00

This week we went on a field trip for Crafty Wednesday to Christina's house to dye yarn. It was great. My yarn is still hanging to dry, some was cooking at her house when I had to leave for carpool, so I will get it at least by Thursday for the knitting meetup. I am ready to make socks with what I did yesterday though. She had all the goods ready for as, great explanations and we had a lot of fun! Thank you for getting it together for us!

My sweater is chugging along nicely. I'm into the second front piece now and will be redoing the one sleeve when I knit the other. Sort of annoyed at the length of the sleeve, but I know this sweater will get good wear so its all good with me. I am usually not about redoing anything but this one's good. The color of the yarn? 300601. No name for it but it's a really nice periwinkle. Tha pattern is the Office-to-Casual Cardi from Creative Knitting May 2007. I have lengthened both the body and the sleeves. I rarely follow a pattern and usually make my own, so it's not unusual for me to alter them a lot when I find one I like. My middle-aged belly is not something anyone wants to see in a cropped sweater so I made some modifications.

The contest is open for a few more weeks, so if you are interested make sure you leave a comment. My preemie knitting is going well. I copied more or less a little t-shirt we have, I was going to write up the pattern but I did things that I am not sure can be easily written out. Weird flip-flopping and stuff. The shirt works but I think it's going to be a one of a kind. It's a kimono-wrap style shirt, they need lots of access to bellies in the NICU so things which open easily are good.

Thank you all who have been working on preemie items, spreading the word about the contest or finding other ways to support this. Here's a heel flap preemie sock pattern from knittyauntie I have been meaning to link to. She changed the short row heel to a flap and the pattern can be found under September 25th. I realised looking back over some posts that I had not included the link! Oops!

Any more delayed answers to questions? I've got a three year old punching buttons on the computer alongside me so I'll have to give a good look back and get to those answers next post!

There are no pictures today because I keep getting errors, so bear with me, I'll have some when Blogger allows.

Knitting? Actual knitting?

2007-10-28T15:28:00.000-05:00

Yes, knitting.

I seem to have gotten my groove back with this sweater. I love working with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, especially the Aran weight, it's so soft and it shows stitches so well, it's got nice spring, too. This color is lovely for me, I'm looking forward to having it all wrapped up and being able to wear it. I was walking to get coffee today and I was wishing it was finished up, I was underdressed for the chilly morning breeze.

I have finished the back, one front and one sleeve. I basted it together lightly to check out the sleeve length and I need to knit them longer. I've got monkey arms and they seem less than 3/4 length. And we all know, if the sleeves bug me I'm not going to wear it. I like the increases and how they work so I am just going to have to rip back the cap decreases and work in some length, saving me an entire sleeve to redo.

We've had just gorgeous fall weather this weekend, it's been a real treat. Mark and the kids were gone the whole day pretty much and I got a good chunk of time to myself, during which I realised the reason there's been so little knitting going on is because I absolutely can not knit with the kids around right now.

Big Brother has been on a moody teenage boy kick and I am having to talk to him about something that he wants to argue about even if I agree with him- pretty much constantly, I feel like I am riding him for everything while trying to remember just how cruddy being a freshman in highschool and having a bad day can be. When he's in a foul mood it is bad. No one warns you of it. They say girls are tough but he's been a lot of work lately. (I'm feeling pretty lucky that he's generally a very good kid. A night at Grandma's house has hopefully improved the mood a little. Keep your finger's crossed for me.)

PeeWee just wants to grab ahold of the yarn, smile an evil smile, and say "I need that", causing me to stuff away yarn and needles almost instantly. My weekdays have been packed with daily chores, with only a little down time for crafts, which has been overtaken by other endeavors. Getting a good chunk of time to myself I feel like I got a lot accomplished.

And a much improved mood too.

Boo!

2007-10-26T09:46:00.000-05:00

So I am a really bad blogger. I'll go sit in the corner.

We lucked out and the water didn't get into the house again. Phew! I am not sure I can say how relieved I am about this. We're in the plans now to replace our mismatched driveway and install much better drainage. I really hope that's going to solve our wet problem.

What have I been knitting? Pretty much nothing. I finished the first sleeve, kept it 3/4 length and will have enough yarn for the sweater no problem. Yeah, one of these days I'll take a picture. Can you tell I am having a love/hate relationship with the knitting needles right now?

I cheated big time on the yarn diet, I went to that great shop in Natchez, the owner is my brother in law's neighbor, a sprightly 82 year old woman who had not only an incredible selection of yarn, she had some great books too. It is a great place if you ever get to Natchez. The kind of yarn shop I too would like to own one day... bought some mohair and some alpaca... I am stuck at down 6 pounds, I needed that candy bar to get me back on track. I'm going back to the gym to jump start this old metabolism and get myself back on track.

We're completely in Halloween mode right now, maybe it's why I haven't been knitting. I took us a while to get it together but we finally made it to the pumpkin patch the other day. The kids had a great time getting their pumpkins.

Hope everyone is well! I'm trying to get it together and post more regualrly, maybe next time there will be actual knitting to show.

Rain, rain go away

2007-10-22T18:43:00.000-05:00

We had water. Again. In the house. And it's still raining, starting up again right now.

Darnit.

We have a small drainage problem over here. Our backyard is higher than the front by about 6 inches, just enough to rush the water towards the house when it rains. Normally not an issue, but when it rains really hard and we get several inches and there are toys and debris in the driveway, we get seepage under our back wall. Grrrrr.

It's weird how it somes in, under the corner of the end of the hall, not the door like you would imagine. I'll be laying down towels and making sure things are picked up before bed. I have a feeling Mark will sleep down on the couch on edge waiting for the water. We're supposed to get quite a bit more rain this evening into morning. Pulled the cars into the driveway, hopefully they won't block the water flow out to the street.

Send me nice dry vibes, will ya?

I spent the day recovering from the insane weekend, we were in the car for too much of it, dealing with family dynamics and basically having too much everything. The rain today was well timed, I was completely in the mood for a rainy day! I about flipped when I saw that familiar puddle water creeping my way across the floor. I jumped up and grabbed a pile of pool towels, pulled the furniture from the wall and mopped it up. Not my idea of a relaxing moment, but I did get a bit of knitting time in on the sweater I have started. I decided that I will go ahead and knit up a sleeve to see how much yarn it takes since I don't own a kitchen scale anymore. Weighing it would be a lot of work, I'm going to guesstimate yardage by the balls I use up. It's coming along, but I am too darn lazy to put it out and get pictures. I'll do it as soon as I have something good to show though!

The preemie knitting is coming along. I'm making up some mitts. The little things you stick on baby to keep them from scratching their faces. I'm trying to mix things up and make different types of clothes for the bitties. I've made literally hundreds of hats so I am branching out a bit.

Here's to a nice dry house tonight! Hopefully I can update next post without pictures of wet towels. Yes, if you've been reading here for a long time, this is NOT the first water in this spot since Katrina baptised the place. Seems like that first wave through opened up a flood gate and now we've got water issues. Reading along for a while you may have gotten that picture. Burst pipes, leaking bathrooms, Katrina funk-water. Seems like we've had it all here.

Now they are forcasting 2-3" an hour through the night off and on. Good grief. Gotta go lay down the towels. Wish me luck...

Ahhh, Nightlife

2007-10-19T08:10:00.000-05:00

Let me begin by saing I really do like my husband's brother. Very kind man. Mechanically inclined? Not at all. This is the man who misunderstood the instructions to turn the water off and instead of turning the water off at the main to the house, he turned the water off. As in turning the water off that runs in the sink. He went around and checked them all. He was very confused at the request to turn the water off, he asked if he had ever accidentally left water running before. Come February and a cold spell and burst pipes and a rebuilt house and another missed season to sell the place. Nuff said. But I really do like him.

Usually night life is all about going out on the town, late nights, dancing maybe, music, drinking, parties. Not here in this house. Night life is unfortunately the glaring streetlamp in the backyard. Seriously it is a streetlamp. My dear sweet brother in law told us it was a city streetlight when we asked him how on earth we could turn the thing off. We can't find the breaker box or we would have remedied the situation ourselves. Mark wanted to cut the wire. They recently bought this house, and I will repeat... not mechanically inclined. Um, the wire for this lamp leads into the wiring for the outside deck lights. It's on some kind of photo cell. It's mounted on a tree in their backyard. It shines into the house to light it up like a prison yard or something. We haven't slept through the night yet. Yesterday they came to install blinds. No help. My brain is a little fuzzy and I can't wait to go home and sleep. I'm going to the drugstore today to buy Mark and me matching eye masks.

But first I have to wait for my clothes to dry. I always overpack when I travel. Somehow I didn't do that this time. We washed a load and put it in the dryer and when the buzzer sounded to announce dry clothes we searched the closets for hangers to hang the wet stuff up to dry. Not mechanically inclined, they had not even washed a load. So now we have sheets and towels to bring in town to the laundromat. It might explain the remains of a laundry line in the very well lit yard. The one thing they took down.

It's the Natchez Great Mississippi River Balloon Race this weekend. Purely by chance we're up here for it. It's pretty cool though and I'm glad I am here. All over today there will be balloons flying overhead, a few passed the house a minute ago! Last night we got to see the balloon glow, when they set up the balloons and they have them all turn on their gas and glow. We thought it was going to be across the river and since they weren't it was a little hard to see them, but you get the idea.

There were also fireworks. They were a great show over the Mississippi River.

And this morning my brother in law and I ran out into the street in our pj's to watch the balloons go right over the house. Pretty cool.

They fly pretty fast, you can see the edge of the house but by the time I snapped, the balloon was moving out of the frame! It was exciting.

We were supposed to be on the road right now, heading back to New Orleans, but Mark's other brother called him with extra tickets to the LSU game so we're going to be stopping and going to the game. I am just ready to be home, but we're not getting back until the wee hours of the morning. (Not a good idea for someone who likes being in pj's about 8 o'clock!) Since my Saturday plans were already shot by the late leaving plan, we figured we'd take him up on the tickets and go. There's always tomorrow.

Natchez, Knitting and Nightlife

2007-10-18T20:35:00.000-05:00

I know, it's been quiet here.

After we recovered from PeeWee's birthday weekend, I had our pediatric fundraiser to work, which turned out to be a huge success. Glad it is wrapped up for another year and now that I am almost a week out, I am feeling the love again and I'd be glad to do it again next year.

We earned a break, our first vacation since PeeWee was born. We needed it after the last several years! We decided to take up my brother in law's generous offer to use his house in Natchez, Mississippi. It's not a bad drive, and we got to see some great stuff on the way. One of my favorite places is Afton Villa, the burned ruins of a plantation with incredible gardens:

Natchez is such a pretty town. I haven't been here in about 6 years or so and it seems to have been well maintained and improved in that time quite a bit. A lot of the downtown looks like it's been and being rebuilt and renovated and there are a bunch of cute restaurants and shops I don't remember. Maybe they were there, but I don't remember!

Partly because I grew up in New Orleans and partly because I am married to a history nut we always go to cemetaries when we travel. I've always appreciated the old tombs and graves and enjoyed the quiet beauty of them. I was blown away by the Natchez cemetary, it's HUGE. Giant. Sprawling. Everywhere you look you see these beautiful iron fences around little families who are together in their beautiful white marble homes. The hillside is covered with them. It was an amazing site. (Click on the picture for a better idea of how vast it is.)

All of the gates seemed to be open. Can anyone tell me if there's a reason for that? We couldn't figure out if we'd seen that before. We also couldn't figure out if it was just because they were old and had just swung open. Any guesses?

My brother in law spends a lot of his free time eating out and he gave us a list of places to try. My favorite so far?

I mean, how could you NOT stop and check it out? I wish there were more places like this left on the by-ways. It must have been fun to drive them back in the 40's and 50's and stop in places like that. Plus the pie was just too good.

I brought along a sweater for me that I am working on. I've been knitting away on it the last few days. The preemie knitting was left at home with the kids. Since this vacation is just us, I gave myself permission to be selfish and knit something for just me. It's a little cabled number, pictures will come later when there's something to actually show. I tweaked the pattern a little and am hoping I have enough yarn. It's looking good so far. Another question... when you fiddle with a pattern how do you determine the amount of extra yarn you will need? This one I have about 200 yards more, but I lengthened the torso several inches, it was cropped, not a good look for me. I am almost finished with the back and about to start my fourth ball of 100 yards. Can I safely guess it will take four balls for the front? It's a cardigan, but v-neck. I decided to start a sleeve next to see how much yarn I use for that. Plus, it will keep me off of sleeve island! I was thinking of lengthing those a little too, but I am going to see about the yarn and how they look as 3/4 length. Suggestions? Ideas? Am I the only one who just wings these things?

Nightlife? Next post. We're off to go get some breakfast right now...

Party on PeeWee!

2007-10-07T06:59:00.001-05:00

PeeWee had her third birthday Friday, and it has turned into the birthday weekend. Who knew three could be so busy?

She's thoroughly enjoying herself. We went to a great spot for her party, Storyland. If you are ever in New Orleans with kids, it's one of those hidden gems the locals are keen to which is a great place to go play and burn some energy.

Hmmm, knitting... well, very little time here to be honest. I have a hat almost finished up out of a really soft fun baby yarn. But, yeah, not much else happening this weekend.

October turns into the busiest month for me. Now that we're past the birthday, I've got the hospital pediatric fundraiser coming up next weekend. I'm thankfully not chairing it this year, boy was that a lot of work, but I am in charge of the dunking booth. Which means following around a few doctors, rounding them up and putting them into a bucket of cold water. Hey, it's for the kids! This money raised this year goes towards financing families who have to travel long distances to be at the hospital with their children, a service we took advantage of- the meal card vouchers and such- when PeeWee was in the hospital, so I am more than happy to help out and return the favor. When this event is over I have just fun me stuff going on.

Yeah, I know, no pictures again? Blogger is giving me errors, I'm going to try again in a bit... Next post will be plenty to make up for it.

Hello! (echo, echo, echo...)

2007-10-04T08:37:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know, I'm slacking here.

I made a cute little preemie shrug though! Pale pink baby yarn, I hope they have a tiny graduate they can give it to! PeeWee was smaller than our model Teetsie when she came home, so I know it will fit someone.

I had never made a shrug before and the construction is so peculiar to me. One of those weird mistakes which turned into a pattern, I guess.

Here's my Crafty Wednesday finished project. I really like the way it turned out, the colors are just my style, the stitching was quick and easy yet required a little thought, I am all around happy with this one. And how nice to have a finished project! One of the group told me how good I was at finishing things. If she only knew.....

I also made a little ornament and finished it using some leftover sock yarns. I love the way the variegated yarns stitch up this way. I have a new use for the odds and ends of yarn around here now! Always glad to be able to use up stuff.

Yes, for the astute among you, it IS hanging on a vine growing inside the window. I was told my new curtains were really nice. When you are married to a landscaper, you leave those things until he gets them. And that's usually when someone teases him about it. Or when his mother is horrified at his wife's housekeeping skills. It's the one time I can really point out it's not my job.

And then just because...

Halloween is coming!

Yes, that is candy corn soda. Sounds absolutely horrible, but we're having our annual block party for Halloween and I couldn't resist. Besides, Big Brother and his friends will drink it up.

::cough cough::

2007-09-28T09:11:00.000-05:00

All things here at our house have slowed to a crawl. I was feeling a little run down and uncharacteristically called my doctor for an appointment. Turns out lack of sleep is not the only thing running me down. It's also the sinus infection, the fluid in both my ears, the laryngitis and the bronchitis.

But yes, I am a mother so I ignore it. I'm glad I went in because we've got an awful lot of planned events in the month of October which I either can't or won't miss. The multiple prescriptions have me feeling more human already.

Not much knitting going on in my world with this cold. Crafty Wednesday was more crewel.

I now have a tidy crewel box in my studio. The organizing is continuing. Slow and steady, I'm not over doing anything with this phase, there's still plenty of chaos in my house, don't you worry... I found Lock & Lock storage containers and have fallen in love. I am still gun-shy about flooding so I am happy to be filling these goodies up with my craft supplies. They hold a good amount, are easy to stack and see through. Moth-proof, water-proof, two biggies in our house.

Sorry about the lack of photos. I will get on it and next post will be picture-licious. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Mirror mirror on the windshield

2007-09-25T09:08:00.000-05:00

I ordered a Mirror Yarn Ball from Bezzie's Etsy shop, and I love it! It's great to have a bit of whimsy swinging from the rear-view mirror. PeeWee loves it, Big Brother told me he thinks I have an Etsy "problem" but it's cool. Big words from a 14 year old boy. Bezzie you should be proud.

I am in the midst of a organizing frenzy. I am keeping my fingers crossed I get it done today, as tomorrow is Crafty Wednesday and I can't be bothered to do any housework on such an important day. Last week we did needle felting, it deserved no pictures until I finished something into a nifty Christmas ornament. (it's a small chair, not a huge ornament)

I rather like the silly little thing and since our tree is one of those full of handmade goodies, old ornaments and glass balls it couldn't be a better match for me. I like a bit of folk art on my tree. Tomorrow I have no idea what's in store for us, we're off to someone else's house for the weekly adventure.

Here's a picture of a very basic preemie hat, modeled by our very favorite Teetsie.

As you can see the decreases on the crown of this one make three triangles, kind of a cute touch.

How was it made? I cast on 60 stitches using some Paton's Grace, a great big box store substitute for some much pricier cottons, joined in the round, knit 7 rows of garter stitch for the edging (remember this was football game knitting, knit until it was almost 4 inches tall and began decreases. I had divided these stitches on three dpn's so I just decreased at each end, k2tog at the beginning of the needle, ssk at the end. I decreased every round with this one, so being cotton it's a tad bit looser than I really like, but it turns into little lacy bits so that works design-wise. I drew the yarn through the remaining stitches when I got to 6, wove in the ends and done. A good simple pattern.

A while back I joined the Harmony Semi-solid Sock Yarn Club and yesterday this lush yarn arrived in the mail.

Lush! No better word for it comes to mind! It's so incredibly soft! The color ranges from an almost salmon to a raspberry. I find so many patterns fight the yarn and they are both overwhelmed, I am on the lookout for a pattern that will do it justice, any suggestions?

Sport Knitting

2007-09-23T08:05:00.000-05:00

I think it is safe to say I was the only active knitter in the stadium. And it was full of fans. See the sea of purple and gold? There were 93,540 of them in fact. (they announce it after halftime) LSU has a huge stadium. It was fun. It also poured down rain.

While in the car on the way there I worked away on the camisole. I got about another inch finished, and am at the change needle size point. Finally something different. I goofed the lace pattern again, but I figure it will just not matter. That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

I asked Mark on the way there if he thought I could bring knitting into the stadium and he said 'not that big thing!' (great, the camisole now has the nickname that big thing...) I told him I had brought along a tiny little bag filled with preemie knitting, and best of all purple yarn, he was impressed and told me to leave the scissors but the rest should be fine.

About 5 minutes or so into the game I decided I would cast on. (I got a lot of looks) I was not entirely sure how my brother in law was going to react, and it was pretty comical. He turned to my husband and said through clinched teeth 'what. is. she. doing.' He had gotten us bazillion dollar seats in the stadium club where there is free food and cokes, you can buy alcohol, but there's more food than you could eat in a lifetime offered, 50 yard line seats out of the rain. And he had just told me how the last time he brought his daughter she sat and studied in the restaurant area the whole time- what a wasted ticket. That's why I waited 5 minutes to actually cast on. Mark told him 'oh, don't worry she doesn't have to look while she knits, she'll be watching the game.' I love my husband, just when I think he never notices anything he pulls something like that out.

I turned to my brother in law and showed him at least it was purple yarn! He laughed, all was okay.

By this time it was pouring down rain.

That's our nephew out there in the very wet band.

Can you see the rain splashing on the railing? It was so humid the yarn was sticking to the needles.

By the end of the third quarter I had finished the hat, but alas no pictures, I still have to wrap up the end of it. Tomorrow a simple preemie hat picture and pattern.

Mark insisted that I show off the socks I made him a few years ago, reserved especially for LSU games. He keeps them neatly folded up in a corner of his sock drawer. They were the third socks I ever made, and I finally got all the parts and they work.

He was telling every stranger who looked at them that I knit them. And showing them off to people who we knew. (a lot more than I would ever had guessed were there) What a cheerleader! Especially since there were some fine costumes to be seen.

Nothing like college games.

*** yes, they won

Touchdown!

2007-09-22T07:23:00.000-05:00

Mark and I are heading to Baton Rouge to go see LSU play today. It means prime knitting time for me. Over an hour drive there, with game traffic. About an hour home, without. I plan on bringing my knitting with me into the stadium, I can't remember if they will actually let me though, we'll see how that works. Lord help me if I can't, I will be bored out of my skull, not a football fan at all. I'm going to meet the new love in my brother in law's life more than anything else. (I understand she's lovely, and didn't get the warmest reception from his mother...) We're also going to be in the fancy new part of the stadium, a real treat! I haven't been to a game in years, Mark loves to go. We have an all day baby-sitter for PeeWee, a huge job in itself, yikes!

I have a nifty knitting bag to keep my preemie knitting organized while on the road today.

It's one of Schrodinger's bags, from her etsy shop. I love it! It's the perfect size for travelling knitting. (Next to it is a pear I made years ago, I thought it was funny that is has got yarn labels all through out. So I didn't move it.)

Got a tomato hat done:

It's a cute one I have done a bunch of times before. My mother makes the full sized tomato hats for kids all the time, there are patterns out there, and I promise I didn't knock the pattern off, I don't have it in my stash, I just made this one up. It would be really cute in purple as an eggplant too. Or a yellow lemon. Or an orange, you get the idea.

Questions! Answers! Another FO!

2007-09-19T16:21:00.000-05:00

For everyone who is interested in knitting for preemies and has questions about your hospital's requirements, just give them a call. I am sure they will gladly give you the requirements for their particular needs. If you want to enter the contest leave a comment here.

Preemies have incredibly sensitive skin, so be sure yarn is not an animal fiber (possible allergies) and is nice and soft. Plymouth makes a great baby yarn which is super soft. I like the Sirdar I just used for the socks too. Caron and Bernina make several very soft inexpensive baby acrylics, which are available at craft stores and big box stores.

Our hospital doesn't require us to individually bag hats, socks or blankets, but some may. It would make it easier to distribute them, so it might just be a nice gesture.

My experience with washing the clothes PeeWee wore in the NICU is where I got my sterilizing guidelines. If you have questions or are not sure you can properly wash the items for whatever reason, check with your hospital, there will likely be other knitters who you can bring your knitting to for washing and delivering. If you don't have a hospital near you and want to send things this way, just get in touch and we can arrange it.

There are preemie patterns all over the internet if you need one. I'm writing down what I am doing as I knit up pieces and will post here what I have done. If you have a hat pattern, knit it with smaller baby yarn and needles and its a preemie hat. Even if your hat looks like it would fit a newborn or larger, there will eventually be a baby it will fit. I find preemie hats are great ways to try out new stitch patterns and techniques. And gauge just doesn't matter.

The best preemie things we used and which lasted us the longest were nice and stretchy, something to keep in mind. Again, thanks for all the support with this!

Even with a very busy week I managed to finish up my socks:

Koigu, no idea what the color is but I love it. I love these socks. Did I say I love these socks? Well, I do. I will wear them out. They are ankle socks, it's not the funny angle in the picture. When someone comes up with a way to take a picture of a sock which is flattering, will you pass it my way? I'd love to be able to do that...

A little motherly pride... I went to Big Brother's open house last night and discovered he's in several sophomore classes. I had no idea. I am very pleased about it, because his grades so far have been really good. A bit of a struggle with math the first few weeks, but his teacher said he's pulled himself out of that tailspin. (We have a great tutor lined up if we run into trouble.) I hope his excitement about school keeps up. I made it really clear if he wants to be able to do cool things like play gigs with his band (boy does he have a big one lined up, but I'm not saying it out loud so I don't jinx it) he has to keep the grades up. Keep your fingers crossed it works. I really don't want to have to be Mean Mommy and start saying no to him.

UFO Sighting! (Unheard of Finished Object)

2007-09-18T06:06:00.001-05:00

Never mind it is the size of my thumb, it is finished.

Last night I went to hear the Yarn Harlot speak. I am thrilled she finally made it down here and hope she can come again! It was an intimate crowd, but it was definitely a very happy bunch. I cast on for the preemie socks above right before I left the house and had finished until I had to graft the toes (did that as soon as I got home) when she was done. That's how long it takes to knit a pair of preemie socks for those of you wondering. I did short row heels so I could actually pay attention to Stephanie speak. I am all for heel flaps, but since she came all this way I really didn't want to be thinking about my knitting, I just wanted to knit. (I love that I got to go hear someone speak about the charms of yarn and knitters while knitting. That should happen more often.)

Christina came and brought me some completely adorable preemie hats for the growing collection, the picture taken here at 5:30 AM on the red pillow does them no justice, but they are cute as can be and thanks for knitting them up!

If you'd like to try your hand at the tiny preemie socks, here's what I did:

~Sirdar Snuggly DK baby yarn color 0223, size 2US needles (gauge? I didn't check, but I knit fairly tight and it really doesn't matter for preemie stuff, it'll fit one of them)
~Cast on 24 stitches, using backwards 'e', so it is very loose for the babies, I divided them on to two circular needles so I was doing the same thing, you could do them on dpn's, but it's so few stitches on each needle you might be spending more time moving from needle to needle than actually kniting
~Knit in 2x2 ribbing for about an inch and a quarter
~Short row heel- knit across 11 sts, turn, purl across 10 sts, turn, knit across 9 sts, turn purl across 8 sts, turn knit across 7 sts, turn purl across 6 sts, turn, knit across until you reach the gap, pick up a stitch between the gap and k2tog, turn, purl across until, pick up a stitch between the gap and p2tog, repeat until you have worked your way back to the sock.
~on the top of the sock continue in 2x2 ribbing, knit in stockinette on the bottom of the sock.
~when the sock is about as long as your thumb, begin toe decreases every other row as you would with any other sock, knit 1, ssk, knit across the top until 3 sts left, k2tog, k1, repeat on the bottom, knitting an even row between decreases until 6 sts left on toe, graft with kitchener stitch.

For the record, these would have been a bit big on PeeWee, but feet grow quickly!

These socks are not nearly as tiny as Rhonda's mini earring socks, but they are good to fit a preemie. This pattern knit on larger needles would be the perfet size for a newborn, the ribbing gives them nice stretch over baby feet. And a matching hat would be a super quick knit to make an adorable set if you have procrastinated until the last minute of labor for coming up with a baby gift.

Remember to check out the contest if you're interested in winning some lucious yarn.

Contest yarn (and other bits and pieces)

2007-09-12T08:43:00.000-05:00

Here's yarn one for the contest:

Cherry Tree Hill 100% silk fingering weight. It's lovely, 666 yards of it, too. Blues, greys, aquas... the picture is showing up darker on my monitor, it's clean clear colors. Go leave a comment to have a chance to win it! If you just want to support me but not knit, that's fine, I need cheerleaders! Spread the word about the contest, there will be more yarns popping their heads up until November 29th.

Hat finished this weekend modeled by PeeWee's my size doll, she was tiny indeed!

On to other stuff.......

Don't you hate it ...when you go to do something and what you need is not there!?!

So much for hooking up my iPod and finally kicking out the clutter that was piled up to the ceiling when I came home Sunday. The little cord is gone. Which means someone- ahem, Big Brother!?!- had to unhook it from behind the stereo and take it.

This house is a crazy disorganized mess (again) the cleaning people come tomorrow so I am doing my best to de-clutter today so it's really easy for them to clean, and it gets done better. And I don't feel so bad that I am paying someone to make up for my extreme lazyness.

Also, when you tell a 14 year old boy to 'take this rug up to the playroom', would you think he would get it into the right room? I would have thought the only room upstairs without a rug in it is where it would have gone, but instead I now have two rugs in the front room, one of which just doesn't match (and is piled on top of the other rug). But it does match the only room up there with no rug. Mysterious. And this was what he was doing for me while I baked 3 batches of brownies for his freshman bake sale today. Umm...

Tomorrow the kids are off from school and I have 800 things to do, all at the same time. Good planning skills in action. I have to blow off the first thing to do the second, but the first thing is supposed to be finished for the third thing to happen. But the third thing overlaps with the second, which I can't blow off, so I have to skip the third thing, or at the very least, stop by late for a minute and drop off the first thing, which I don't have time to do. The fourth thing is picking up something else after the third thing, which I may not make it to. Seeing a pattern here? It doesn't help that things two three and four are all in the same place and yet I still can not do them all at once. I hope no one's counting on me here. Especially since my ideal day would be blowing off things two three and four and taking my sweet time doing thing one.

Here are some pictures from the weekend, as you can see, we went all out, it was very strenuous, physically taxing indeed!

This is from the porch- there used to be several houses across the bayou, now there are just open lots and slabs (that's not a road you see, it's slabs)- it was a very strange thing to not see what we grew up seeing.

Preemie Knit-a-thon Contest!!!

2007-09-11T08:07:00.000-05:00

When I was pregnant with PeeWee our worlds were rocked almost every time I went to the doctor. She loved to surprize us with something new and unusual each visit. Which meant many visits to the doctor. Around 16 weeks we found out about her heart defect, so they decided that even though they were already watching me closer than normal, I would be cautiously monitored from there on out.

At my visit on 31 weeks and 1 day, I was rushing and running late, when I arrived on September 29 my blood pressure was higher than normal. They figured it was from the rushing to arrive and since they were set to monitor me for an hour anyway, they hooked me up and watched it. Watched it rise out of control. Went down the hall to my OBGYN and it had risen even higher. Up to the danger zone. They admitted me to the hospital, made phone calls to round every one up and we waited. I was loaded up on medications but since they knew about her heart defect and she was a tiny munchkin at that point, they risked it and decided to keep me pregnant for as long as my body would keep her in.

31 weeks and 6 days, things seemed to have calmed down and they felt confident that I would be a long term guest in my lovely hospital room. I was pretty well pampered, had the same nurses each shift and was well looked after. 32 weeks and my exam and daily ultrasound looked good, the baby had grown a lot and they felt like when she said it was time they'd take her. A c-section was planned from the beginning to avoid any unnecessary trauma during birth, so we were set and just waiting it out. About 15 minutes after the doctors had come by my placenta abrupted and PeeWee needed out NOW.

Fast forward to the surreal delivery, the recovery, and then her hospital time, which included a trip to California to have open heart surgery among other adventures too numerous to list.

When she was born at 2lb 15oz, she was smaller then most dolls I had seen, a tiny little thing, smaller by about a pound than they were predicting from her measurements in fact. She was closer in size to a baby running about a month behind. My mother started knitting, like an insane person she knitted tiny hats for PeeWee to wear, to dress her up. To match her outfits. I managed one teensy hat in my four days still in the hospital, knitting loaded up on the drugs made me cross-eyed.

Some days we came in and found PeeWee in a tiny hat we had not knit for her. Blankets showed up out of no where. Tiny little hand made clothes, tiny hospital gowns, all sorts of things which were delights to find each day. Preemies are just like regular babies, they spit up and poop and everything else on their clothes and need several changes a day. Plus they have spills or their things hit the floor and need to go home to be sanitized before they can be worn again.

When she was discharged the day before her due date (a small miracle considering the setbacks then leaps and bounds the kid made) I decided I would do my best to give back to the hospital's NICU down the line. I've done that in several ways over the last few years, but my favorite thing is the preemie knitting. I've made a marathon out of it from the dates I was admitted to the hospital until she came home. So this year, I decided I would start early. I'm cheating on the yarn diet to buy a few balls of super-soft baby yarn, I am out of it since my last knit-a-thon, the 43 hats, if you've been reading for a while.

Yarn required for this must be acrylic, cotton or microfibers. It must be very soft and gentle. It must be wash and dry safe. No animal fibers or scratchy stuff, nothing that could cause a rash or discomfort for the babies, whose skin is extremely delicate. My hospital asks that the hats are washed in loads only with NICU items in Dreft with a second rinse, completely dried then bagged. You must wash your hands before removing them from the washer to the dryer, then again when removing them from the dryer straight into zipper bags which are sealed closed to keep the hats as sanitary as possible. This keeps them from the germs we just have around us to protect the babies as much as possible.

PeeWee's head was the size of a tennis ball. When she came home it was about the size of a grapefruit. I try to make my hats in this size range, but they need and use whatever sizes come in. Our favorite hat we were given was a 2x2 ribbed thing with a big old pom pom on top, knit out of pink and blue yarn. I have brought hats in to the NICU that were fair-isle, intarsia, striped, solid, square, with tassels and pom poms and cording on top. We're talking let yourself go wild with silliness, it's so fun to get to the incredibly depressing ward and see a big goofy thing perched on your baby's little noggin.

If you would like to be a part of this leave a comment and you'll be part of a multi-prize contest. The knitting is going to run from now until November 29th, at which time I will pick winners from those who leave a comment here. Spread the word, if you mention this on your blog you get another entry for some luscious yarn, just let me know the link to the mention. Post a picture of your preemie knitting when it's all finished (again, leave me a link) and you get another entry. Send someone over and have them mention your name for another entry. You get the idea. The more the better. If you've done an amazing job making up the tiny things, there may be a bonus in it. If you can't knit something, but have yarn to donate, give a shout out here and hopefully someone will be able to use it. Email me at sarah(at)momsknitting(dot)com with your email, blog links and anything you're not comfortable posting in the open comments. I installed Haloscan comments so I can get back in touch with you. I hope it's going to work well. (I lost all my old comments when I did this though, I do have my old template saved if I run into issues)

Before you knit something crazy, please get in touch with your hospital's NICU and ask them about yarn requirements, some may be more restrictive than others. Most yarns that say baby in the name, are soft and washable, and do not have animal fibers should be safe. If you don't have a NICU near you but want to knit something, you can mail things to me, just let me know and I can get you the address to ship to.

The prizes are a surprize for now, I'll be sneaking in pictures along the way though. Some fun hats I have done in the past included tomatoes, yellow smiley faces, pumpkins (and jack-o-lanterns) a little horned devil, some santa hats, lots of color work, whatever struck my fancy at that moment. The hats are quick to do, an evening if you are fast, it's great TV knitting. Don't feel limited to hats though, this contest is open to all sorts of preemie things!

Thanks for helping out with this one!

***ETA being a part also means just being my cheerleader!***

Girl time

2007-09-10T18:49:00.000-05:00

The girl's weekend was a hit. Lots of drunken dishing, catching up, staying up entirely too late, and knitting. The stuff I like. It's a group of girls I rarely see because even though we live near each other and have (for the most part) known each other for all our lives, we have different worlds when we are home and forget to make the time to hang out. So it's really fun when we do. We get loud and raucous and talk and drink too much, telling stories on our husbands and kids and getting our fair share of serious giggles out. It was my only night away from PeeWee since she came home. Almost three years without a night off. I slept great.

I got the ends of PeeWee's sweater woven in and finished up a preemie hat to drop off at the hospital. (Preemie knitting time is coming up. I am starting it early this year. Details to come soon if you want to join in.) I also got most of the way through the socks I was working on.

Today it was back to real life. I have all sorts of meetings and appointments this week. Nothing I really feel like dealing with. It's going be a treat to have the whole family together for a change.

I have yet to unpack or upload pictures or anything remotely productive. I was sort of protesting being back. Marky Mark took the day off so we could visit since he was gone for two and a half weeks and came home just in time to let me leave. We haven't seen each other much lately and we were glad to have a day to find out what's going on.

Pictures and details tomorrow...

Wowza

2007-09-06T19:42:00.000-05:00

Two posts in a row about finished objects. Imagine that.

PeeWee loves her new sweater. She pulled it off after about 10 minutes of running through the house rubbing the fluffy yarn, oooh'ing and aaah'ing, and sweating.

I'll bring it with me to weave the ends in this weekend. I have no clue what else I am packing, it'll be whatever strikes my fancy in the morning. I'll get the luxury of not having to rush out the door first thing, Mark is on carpool duty now that he is back in town. That will give me a bit to get things together before I go to the airport, pick up my sister and then come home to meet my sister in law so we can head out for the coast!

A finished object!!

2007-09-03T14:40:00.000-05:00

Yes! The mittens are done. Cute as can be. Will make a great gift for my niece. Koigu sock yarn, almost two balls of it. Color- who knows? One of the long lost ball bands that will be found one day when the kids are sorting through my debris.

I'm starting some socks. I need a portable project. Simple little pattern, kind of fun, not too competitive with the yarn, which I love! Another Koigu, the ball band is out with the ball band from the mittens, having coffee or something, no idea what color they are, but I love the citrus fruit look.

And I have managed a few more repeats of the lace. Taking this one very slowly. It seems to want nice and slow. The soft red is great. Maybe I can wear it for the holidays. If it's done by then. I like the yarn, working with it is easy enough, and I'm blowing through stash with the yarn diet! **

I'll be sorting through yarn tomorrow to find just the perfect goodies to bring along on the Girl's Stitching Weekend. I think I will bring the camisole yet leave it in the bag in case it calls my name. It demands my full attention and I am not sure I will be able to devote the love it requires with a drink in hand. Several almost done WIP's are in line to get packed.

**the scale is stalled, but a much calmer week is ahead, so I am keeping my fingers crossed we get it moving again

Crewel-ty

2007-08-31T19:03:00.000-05:00

Crafty Wednesday was Crewel. I haven't done much embroidery in a very very long time, I am not patient and so I have a short attention span if things are taking too long. Explains all the WIP's around here.

I had never done crewel and it is another fun one for me! My friend baked us mac and cheese (she makes the best) and a great salad and when we were done we got out the kits and started. She had picked up retro kits somewhere- these are great, the colors and style of mine is so 1972.

Simple seems to be what my very over-taxed brain is craving right now. I managed to get two repeats of the camisole's lace, time has been scarce and it's a pretty good stretch over 193 stitches. Considering it's a 4 row pattern, I am not bragging, I struggled to get that much done! Not my normal knitting style, I LIKE to count, have repeat patterns, to think about my knitting. But lately there have been so many distractions it's been difficult at best to knit.

I am also working on some mittens, getting close to finishing the second one. Christmas gift to put away. That's simple knitting, but time around here has been scarce. These are my portable knit. Simple little basketweave cuffs, something I will do again.

The first few weeks of school have been very busy for me. Lots of meetings, open houses, parent dinners and all that. It has been fun reconnecting with everyone, meeting some new faces and socializing. It should calm down a bit mid-September, and Mark will be home next week, giving me my girl's stitching weekend! A break I totally need. What a treat after the crazy last few weeks.

Unfortunately with my too busy life, the scale has not budged. I'm surprized it didn't actually go up, this week or so has been a doozy, and I am a big stress eater. I need to get moving, that's this week's goal, especially with the big weekend coming up. I'll have to show rerstraint to not blow it. (I want yarn though.)

"Step away from the needles"

2007-08-29T10:18:00.000-05:00

The knitting police need to come arrest me.

And lock me in a padded room. Take away my needles and let me rest.

For reasons which I am having great, great trouble figuring out, the camisole has kicked my butt again. It seems that a 9-stitch repeat over 193 stitches (+ salvedge stitches) is just more than my brain can handle. I cast on, I counted three times, not including the counting stops while casting on. I knit each repeat as a unit, stopping in between. After 82 stitches, I thought to myself the needle looked a little on the small size, better go get my needle sizer thingy and check. Yep, the wrong size needles- this pattern uses three sizes to increase and decrease. Not a big deal, I was not even half way across the row. I have a feeling this little break was when I did something wrong. Because in spite of all my slow precise knitting, I was really distracted because I could have sworn I had the right size needle and where the heck did it go!?! I was continuing the row with the right needles, figuring it would work itself out and barely show in the end. And since this one's not going to be examined too closely when I'm wearing it, well, I don't care, and since I had finally gotten the right number of stitches cast on and it was going so well, I better not jinx it again.

This yarn does not want to be a camisole. Or it was trying to tell me I was using the wrong needle. Something beyond my control completely. Certainly not user error.

So, I have set it aside. It's in timeout on the couch and I will pick it up again and make another attempt to get the pattern working properly. I ended up a stitch short, counted again and had the right number of stitches, so somewhere there is a decrease to be made to make it work. This time I am going to round up all the stitch markers I can find and place a freaking marker every 9 stitches. Because I seem to be horribly challenged by this one.

In New Orleans news we are sitting on the anniversary of Katrina. Can it be two years? I've been in a time warp. Lots of pictures of our personal progress if you feel like browsing through the archives for the blog. Here's last year's post if you're interested. That lonely dangling ball of yarn really does me in. I mean, that thing sat there through all the demo. I should print out that picture and hang it by the window...

Also coming soon to a Border's near me is the Yarn Harlot. Should be an entertaining event. I'm confused if she'll be talking about her new book or what, but hey, a night out of the house with knitting in hand is always a good thing, she could be talking about motor oil and I'd go. I'll be taking full advantage of Marky Mark the next month in it's entirety. His plans changed due to circumstances beyond his control and he will be gone another week. So he's said he will be Mr. Mom as well as Completely Involved Daddy to make up for the extra time away.

Curious are you? Well, it's kind of gossipy, but, I'll share...

Mark had about as much drama last week as a strong silent type can handle before he blows. And blow he did. He's been dealing with the last of the repairs and had a Handy Man head up to the mountains to work. He brought along a helper, things went well for about 48 hours then man, did they disolve into sludge covered bits of Mark's sanity. Turns out Handy Man has a drug problem Mark was unaware of. His biggest reason to head to the mountains was to detox. It turns out that is not a good thing to do. Handy Man was calling me at all hours to yell about things I had had no communication about. So I mentioned this to Mark who had a talk with Handy Man, which, I understand to have been quite explosive, and Handy Man left in the wee hours of the night. Left his helper with Mark, who relayed the explanation of Handy Man's over the top mood swings. He also left his tools, which Mark's hanging onto for another day.

So Mark will be gone an extra week so we can just get that stupid total headache of a house finished, sold and out of our lives. So, I'll have lots of free time once he makes it back home. Until then I'll be sneaking in knitting moments when PeeWee's not looking.

Since I have no pictures of knitting or anything knitting related, I'll cheer things up here a bit with the new 'do. I was looking a bit tired and raggedy around the edges so when I went for my regular 'highlight so the gray blends in' appointment I gave my stylist a thrill and told her she could cut the goldy locks.

Before:

After:

I've been told I look 10 years younger...

Third time's a charm... I hope

2007-08-26T08:17:00.000-05:00

So twice now I have cast on for the camisole. 193 stitches. Twice I have ripped it back. It's the world's simplest lace pattern, I have no idea what I am doing wrong! I did the math, there are no pattern mistakes, no corrections, just me and my challenged brain. I should have finished it by now, but I can't even get it cast on. Oh well. Third time is sure to be the one. I am determined to get this thing done now.

Mark is still out of town working on the final bits and pieces of the flooded mess in the mountains. Sounds very close to the finish line. Which is good because our house here looks like a band of rabid monkeys moved in. Big Brother's band has a paid gig next weekend (!) and they switched a flaky band member for a more reliable one, whose parents I had never met before. Well, his poor mother had to walk through our house. Ahem, I was overly apologetic. We live in an interesting house, I will admit to a great flow and neat floor plan. Bright colors and some fab pieces of furniture (thanks mom!) one of those places people like to look around, and face it when you've never been somewhere before, you want to check it out. Unfortunately when the dining room table has a huge pile of junk on it and the family room looks like you have sextuplets with no rules, it's not a great time to bring in new people. Plus, we're the low rent house in a pretty nice neighborhood and I think people expect those kinds of houses to be slightly tidy. Pair the fact that I hate housework with the almost three year old demanding every minute of my day and you get the picture, not a clean house. I would rather play with the kids than clean up any day, but I was a tad bit embarrassed, ya know?

PeeWee is making any sort of knitting very hard. With Daddy gone she's been glued to my hip. Not that she wants my attention when I put away the needles, just when I am occupied... SO there's not much progress around here. We're just waiting for a break in the weather...

Yarn-a-licious Fun

2007-08-23T08:19:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Crafty Wednesday with one of my recently retired girlfriends. I like how she words that. She took a very demanding part-time job last summer which turned out to be a whole lot more than she bargained for and nowhere near part-time and decided this summer that she would be better off taking an early retirement for a while.

She came up with what I think is a brilliant idea for us to pick up some new creative skills every Wednesday afternoon. Yesterday we met at my house so it was my craft. I was totally thinking something messy involving plaster cast strips then the reality of the weather in my little alley off the kitchen at 2 in the afternoon hit me and I decided to head off to the craft store and find a more suitable airconditioning friendly project.

Since the idea of this was to try something new to us I went off through the aisles looking for needle felting supplies, which I found but not THE tool I was looking for. I figured I would keep looking and stopped when I saw the punch needle kits and supplies. Something I was a little intimidated by but still wanted to learn how to do.

Wow. I love it. Of course I want to make a rug or something equally over my head RIGHT NOW! We decided we could do embroidered pillowcases and throw pillows, rugs, whatever, we both decided this one was a winner. It was easy and we could do it right away, no down time learning how to do it, you just thread the punch and go to town. We got some giggle time out of our efforts, which AFTER reading the instructions improved greatly.

This is unfortunately another 'not around PeeWee' type project, sharp needle, threads that can be easily pulled out with one wrong move, all that. But it is a good bring the kids to the dentist, sit in the stands for sports events, induldge the husband in a movie he wants to rent kind of craft. If you can thread a needle and jab a pokey thing through fabric, you've got it made.

Since I last updated here (what 5 days!?!) I have started a few more snazzy knitting projects. I think I have to keep knitting out of control since I am not buying any new yarn for another 18 pounds down I have this irrational fear that my stash is going to dry up. Those gnomes in my studio who like to hide that last ball of yarn from me are also part of a clever conspiracy to make sure I run out of yarn. The faster I knit the less likely I am to run out. I do this when I think I may be short for a project too, I am sure I am not the only one, I keep going really fast thinking if I work faster the yarn will be less likely to run out. I don't know WHERE that comes from!

Anyway... Joan McGowan-Michael is pretty darn clever. One of the things I started is a panty from one of her patterns. I changed it a tiny bit to be sure it covers my derriere a bit better and I am using a cotton yarn instead of the silk it calls for. I'm planning on casting on for the camisole as soon as I get a few wrapped up projects actually finished. I'm going to have a weaving in of the ends party sometime this weekend.

Search and Rescue

2007-08-18T13:02:00.000-05:00

I started a sweater for PeeWee, I grabbed two balls of yarn I had bought a while back (sticking to my diet!) and quickly knit up half a sweater. I went into my studio...

And panicked. I could not for the life of me find the other two balls of yarn. I looked all over the place, was really annoyed with myself for this- really why would I split up the balls of yarn in the first place? I went through every bag and box and container. Nothing. I was ready to call it quits, set it aside and hope the yarn tumbled out from somewhere in the great beyond, returned to me by the yarn gnomes who stole it in the first place, little demons!

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a giant Ziploc I had not noticed, hiding under some other debris. (follow the yellow arrow)

A bag of random balls of yarn. ::sigh:: I was hopeful! And indeed, I was rewarded for my massive effort. I found the two other balls of yarn. Phew! This is a quick knit, a top-down raglan bulky fiber, Patons Rumor, which is a nice blend. I love the Moonstone Heather colors. They are PeeWee-tastic! She is all over this sweater. If the temperature would just drop below 95 I might be able to try it on her. Until then I am going to have to be satisfied that it fits. I mean she's grown, but not THAT much!

**For those of you following my yarn diet, I am down two pounds! I really want to be able to shop outside my stash for my Christmas knitting, so I'm sticking to it!

Weekend plans... weather permitting, that is

2007-08-17T08:25:00.001-05:00

I finished another preemie hat. And I set it down on my little messy corner of the kitchen until I got out the scissors and needle to finish the ends and looky here what I sat it down upon...

An invitation to an annual girl's only, no children weekend of drinkin' and stitchin'. Coming up in September. Most of the stitchers are needlepointers pulling a last weekend before it's too late to have projects finished for the holidays, but I'll be there with my needles in hand. My Hurricane Sock Party sock in fact, I've been waiting for this weekend to pull it out and finish it up.

The first weekend my friend planned I was pregnant with PeeWee, I happily went and was the designated driver to and from all the meal pickups since it was a lush-filled weekend. We were in Pass Christian, MS, a weekend place for a lot of New Orleans folks. We were in a newly built house for the weekend, watching Hurricane Ivan inch through the Gulf of Mexico, thinking surely it will miss us, they always turn the last minute. We were like Weather Channel junkies. We all went home, packed up for another evacuation and got in our cars to go inland a bit. A long weekend for the kids basically.

The second weekend, PeeWee was just a tiny tike, about 9 months old so I just zipped over to the Pass for the day, being a nursing momma and all. Once again there was trouble a brewing in the Gulf, looking much more like big trouble than some others before it. Little lady named Katrina you may have head of. We all went home, packed up for another evacuation and got wiped off the map. Pass Christian was the direct hit.

I think a lot of people think it hit New Orleans, but baby, we were on the GOOD side of that hurricane. It veered off to the Pass and we got the less rainy side. Had it been a direct hit, New Orleans would be slightly less rebuilt than it is now. I will not get into all that now though... because after the storm Pass Christian was pretty much destroyed. It's rebuilding though, and we're heading over there for another weekend. Fitting since this weekend a hurricane is supposed to make it's way into the Gulf.

Last year, for reasons I don't think need mentioning, there was no girl's weekend for our group. Instead we took our turns hosting stitching nights in town, my turn no one seemed to mind we were halfway through the renovations here, with plywood counters and no bathroom door. We're all family. I had a toaster oven to cook my roast in! I got good at it too.

Of course, we've got some time before the weekend's here, but keep your fingers crossed we still have a house to go to by then. We're all watching the Weather Channel while mentally making the lists of what's going to fit in the car this time around. I myself have a little evacuation tub filled with important papers, negatives, and disks of pictures. (And don't forget the bottle of Xanax) What's your plan?