Well, it's lunchtime and I've been awake for eight hours already. Thing 3 is having the kind of stomach disturbances that non-parents don't even want to hear about, and parents don't want to recall. Big sister walked with the dog to the local minimart to buy some soda pop for him, and he's sleeping on either the floor of the bathroom or my bed, depending on what feels best.
Thing 4 just dialed 911 (emergency, for those of you not familiar with the U.S. system) for the second time. For the record, it's not on speed dial. She dials the three digits somehow. Now all of the children have done that, at least once -- most more than once. It's protocol in our town for a cruiser to be dispatched so I can show myself and the children and prove that we weren't forced to hang up by some crazed person. Pity the officers; it's raining very hard.
No pictures of the Green Meanie today. I'm two rows away from the neck shaping on the back, and I've just noticed one of those subtle cable errors that makes me stone crazy. The intended recipient said it didn't bother her, but the more I looked at it, the more I could hear it muttering at me, so out it goes. I may redo the other cable, the one that has a one row error in it, just to make myself feel better.
Next time, sleeves, I promise. Now the police are here. Gotta go!
Monday, March 20, 2006
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Fits and Starts
Most of my accomplishements, day-to-day, are transitory and eminently reversible. Vacuumed floor? Doesn't last. Folded laundry? Look in the basket for the next load. Books read to children? That "lasts," in a sense, but they always ask for more.
Maybe that's why I knit. I make things -- albeit painfully and slowly, with many re-dos, but I make things that last. As I was knitting last night, I remembered how much I love the feel of yarn slipping through my fingers, pulling out another length and watching it loop into more rows of fabric. I told myself, not for the first time, "I love this. Why don't I do it more often?" And that's the way it goes. Days and days where the closest I get to knitting is to move my pile of stuff so I can vacuum or dust near it, and then a few very productive days.
It probably shouldn't be such a pleasant surprise that the front of the green sweater blocked out to exactly the dimensions I'd planned, but it did. I wish this yarn wasn't so anonymous, because it feels wonderful. A perfect hand for a classic sweater, and I love the color. I want more, more, I tell you! Confession is good for the soul, they say, so last night I told my spouse that the real reason I want to knit faster isn't just to shower the people I love with knitted goodness, it's so I can buy more yarn. Knit more, buy more. Seems logical to me.
Per the name of this blog, I love to read, certainly I do, and I do it at every opportunity. Lately, much of my reading time has taken place in front of the laptop, blog addiction being the terrible affliction that it is (Bloggers Anonymous, here I come).
I do, however, engage in the delicious pastime of reading to children. Thing 3 has been specializing in Where the Wild Things Are lately (guess why a four year old boy would love this book), and Thing 2 has been listening avidly to Black Beauty, even though I've warned her that I always cry near the end. My life has been enriched marvelously by having a daughter who loves to read as much as I do, and if I ask nicely, she'll read from Pride and Prejudice out loud to me. Talk about payback of the very nicest sort!
But I am even more blessed. My spouse will read out loud to me at night. Lately, we've been going through the Discworld novels in order, because everyone needs some light diversion in their lives. So when the children are tucked in, we settle down in bed (remember, our house is cold enough to keep food fresh when left out on counters) and begin to read.
When I'm really fortunate, I have a knitting project that doesn't require all of my attention, just enough to keep me interested while I let my mind rove over the story unwinding in that much-loved voice. If the pattern is too complex, I end up asking things like, "Who did that?" and he gets annoyed, rightly enough.
Last night was a good one. We're at the end of the "Death" series, and I am enjoying Pratchett's musings on education, human nature, and the general silliness of the stories. I'm also liking what I've got on the needles:
Since today is homeschool park day, I have high hopes of at least getting to the armhole shaping. The ball of yarn is getting suspiciously smaller. I may have to wind it in half before I start the sleeves, just for insurance.
But that's a worry for another day. Today, I'm going to just knit in the moment. Based on everything I know, that moment won't last, so I might as well enjoy it.
Maybe that's why I knit. I make things -- albeit painfully and slowly, with many re-dos, but I make things that last. As I was knitting last night, I remembered how much I love the feel of yarn slipping through my fingers, pulling out another length and watching it loop into more rows of fabric. I told myself, not for the first time, "I love this. Why don't I do it more often?" And that's the way it goes. Days and days where the closest I get to knitting is to move my pile of stuff so I can vacuum or dust near it, and then a few very productive days.
It probably shouldn't be such a pleasant surprise that the front of the green sweater blocked out to exactly the dimensions I'd planned, but it did. I wish this yarn wasn't so anonymous, because it feels wonderful. A perfect hand for a classic sweater, and I love the color. I want more, more, I tell you! Confession is good for the soul, they say, so last night I told my spouse that the real reason I want to knit faster isn't just to shower the people I love with knitted goodness, it's so I can buy more yarn. Knit more, buy more. Seems logical to me.
Per the name of this blog, I love to read, certainly I do, and I do it at every opportunity. Lately, much of my reading time has taken place in front of the laptop, blog addiction being the terrible affliction that it is (Bloggers Anonymous, here I come).
I do, however, engage in the delicious pastime of reading to children. Thing 3 has been specializing in Where the Wild Things Are lately (guess why a four year old boy would love this book), and Thing 2 has been listening avidly to Black Beauty, even though I've warned her that I always cry near the end. My life has been enriched marvelously by having a daughter who loves to read as much as I do, and if I ask nicely, she'll read from Pride and Prejudice out loud to me. Talk about payback of the very nicest sort!
But I am even more blessed. My spouse will read out loud to me at night. Lately, we've been going through the Discworld novels in order, because everyone needs some light diversion in their lives. So when the children are tucked in, we settle down in bed (remember, our house is cold enough to keep food fresh when left out on counters) and begin to read.
When I'm really fortunate, I have a knitting project that doesn't require all of my attention, just enough to keep me interested while I let my mind rove over the story unwinding in that much-loved voice. If the pattern is too complex, I end up asking things like, "Who did that?" and he gets annoyed, rightly enough.
Last night was a good one. We're at the end of the "Death" series, and I am enjoying Pratchett's musings on education, human nature, and the general silliness of the stories. I'm also liking what I've got on the needles:
Since today is homeschool park day, I have high hopes of at least getting to the armhole shaping. The ball of yarn is getting suspiciously smaller. I may have to wind it in half before I start the sleeves, just for insurance.
But that's a worry for another day. Today, I'm going to just knit in the moment. Based on everything I know, that moment won't last, so I might as well enjoy it.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Wool Dreams
My dream life is active and, er, somewhat bizarre.
This morning I woke from dreaming that I had a yarn shop and only I knew about the big closeout sale. All yarn was $1US a skein. Whoopie!! I bought a shopping cart full. I could even recognize one of the yarns I chose if I saw it now. Even in my dream, I found the salesclerks weirdly pushy about sock yarn. "Don't you want sock yarn? Here, buy this skein. It makes a feathery top on your sock! Buy some sock yarn -- no one can have too much. Here's cashmere sock yarn!" I caved and bought some sock yarn.
Then, while I was trying to pay, my cart rolled into the street and was hit by a car! Yarn everywhere! My reaction? I was embarassed.
And then I had to go and pick up all of the yarn. It wasn't much damaged, and people were very helpful.
Next, either I or my spouse or my eldest child had enlisted in some branch of the New Zealand military. Cute uniform and all. And what was the new recruit's first task? Why, to learn to spin, of course.
What that says about my priorities or my thoughts about New Zealand are best left to dream analysts, I suppose.
This morning I woke from dreaming that I had a yarn shop and only I knew about the big closeout sale. All yarn was $1US a skein. Whoopie!! I bought a shopping cart full. I could even recognize one of the yarns I chose if I saw it now. Even in my dream, I found the salesclerks weirdly pushy about sock yarn. "Don't you want sock yarn? Here, buy this skein. It makes a feathery top on your sock! Buy some sock yarn -- no one can have too much. Here's cashmere sock yarn!" I caved and bought some sock yarn.
Then, while I was trying to pay, my cart rolled into the street and was hit by a car! Yarn everywhere! My reaction? I was embarassed.
And then I had to go and pick up all of the yarn. It wasn't much damaged, and people were very helpful.
Next, either I or my spouse or my eldest child had enlisted in some branch of the New Zealand military. Cute uniform and all. And what was the new recruit's first task? Why, to learn to spin, of course.
What that says about my priorities or my thoughts about New Zealand are best left to dream analysts, I suppose.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Arrrrrrrrr. . .
. . . which is the punchline to my current favorite joke, or "What kind of movies do pirates like?"
Sewingsuzee asks where I've been, and no, I haven't been trying to protect my seedlings from frost (it was 41 degrees farenheit in the house last night -- woo hoo), but I have begun to protect them from birds, with the expensive netting I mentioned earlier. We actually saw the dastardly sparrows hopping around the ex-pea bed.
But the reason I haven't been posting is that I've been knitting frantically. And the good news is that I made this:
See the pretty eyelet leaf pattern? See the wavy side cables? Pretty yarn.
Here's the not-so-good news. Can you spot the reason I'm going to rip this cable down for the second freaking time? I can!
It's supposed to reverse directions every 20 rows, not whenever I misread said directions. Hence the pirate noise. I cannot understand how I can repeatedly make this sort of mistake.
The really good news is that the front, as knitted, weighs 88 grams according to my scale, and the rest of the ball weighs 339 grams. Probably enough to make a real, long-sleeved sweater.
Assuming that I can figure out the cable patterns. I might be done by September.
Sewingsuzee asks where I've been, and no, I haven't been trying to protect my seedlings from frost (it was 41 degrees farenheit in the house last night -- woo hoo), but I have begun to protect them from birds, with the expensive netting I mentioned earlier. We actually saw the dastardly sparrows hopping around the ex-pea bed.
But the reason I haven't been posting is that I've been knitting frantically. And the good news is that I made this:
See the pretty eyelet leaf pattern? See the wavy side cables? Pretty yarn.
Here's the not-so-good news. Can you spot the reason I'm going to rip this cable down for the second freaking time? I can!
It's supposed to reverse directions every 20 rows, not whenever I misread said directions. Hence the pirate noise. I cannot understand how I can repeatedly make this sort of mistake.
The really good news is that the front, as knitted, weighs 88 grams according to my scale, and the rest of the ball weighs 339 grams. Probably enough to make a real, long-sleeved sweater.
Assuming that I can figure out the cable patterns. I might be done by September.
Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Making Way and Odds and Ends
Well, I managed to make what for me is significant progress on that lovely lovely green sweater. So far, the design is pleasing and I think it will be flattering when done. I'm enjoying the yarn so much. It's springy, not splitty, moves nicely over the needles and please please oh please will be enough for one entire sweater.
The intended recipient just had a big day. Not only did she turn 11, but her Destination Imagination team took first place in their category on her actual birthday, and now we get to go to the state competition and see them do it again. It was neat watching them go from being apprehensive about the whole process to really enjoying strutting their stuff.
This is a ring into which you place the same number of candles as the child is turning on their birthday. Any remaining spaces are filled with the wee little woodland folk. I think the idea is that the amount of light increases as they get older. I can't believe that in a mere year, all of her candles will be lit. We spent dinner on the birthday night coming up with wishes for her next year. Party this weekend. Fortunately, she has wonderful friends and it will be a pleasure to see them and their families for a little get-together.
I'm cleaning the house a lot, both for the party and because my parents are coming to visit. Fun and stressful all at once. The invasion of the Middle Ages Men isn't helping one little bit.
Doesn't he look fierce? Tonight, he and his sister spent about 30 minutes "styling" each other's hair. With the vacuum cleaner. It was one of the most delightful funny things they've come up with, and they didn't make any messes. A miracle.
Duct tape is my best friend. An entire case of it, in different colors, would be about the best present any parent could wish for. And no, not to do things like taping them into bed, either. You can make entire outfits out of it. If I had enough, I'd make armor for them.
I've gotten about half of the garden swathed in bird netting. Not much fun in a brisk wind, holding a baby, but we'll see if the perpetrators can get through what I rigged up. If it's birds, probably not; if it's a squirrel, well, we'll see. It should keep the neighbors' cats from using the beds as luxury litter boxes, too.
I know it's spring because we had a visitor in the basement.
This picture is after I carried the formerly-trapped one outside. Haven't seen him or her since. Anyone care to identify it for me? Figure out how it got inside my basement?
Knitting? You want knitting?
As I said, I ripped down and redid the 15-18 rows of messed up cable. For me, this is a big deal. I'm an averagely competent knitter, but also quite able to make pretty large errors. Instead of compounding my problems here, causing many rows to be ripped, I got the cable to wave nicely like the other one (in mirror image, of course). Then I marked up the pattern very clearly so I could read the cable pattern as though it were two separate cables.
Now I need to take some more measurements for sleeve placement, since tonight we decided that saddle shoulders would fit the planned leaf insert on the sleeves better than any other kind. I'm not completely certain I'm up for it, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess.
Tomorrow I'll find better bull riding links. Yee haw.
The intended recipient just had a big day. Not only did she turn 11, but her Destination Imagination team took first place in their category on her actual birthday, and now we get to go to the state competition and see them do it again. It was neat watching them go from being apprehensive about the whole process to really enjoying strutting their stuff.
This is a ring into which you place the same number of candles as the child is turning on their birthday. Any remaining spaces are filled with the wee little woodland folk. I think the idea is that the amount of light increases as they get older. I can't believe that in a mere year, all of her candles will be lit. We spent dinner on the birthday night coming up with wishes for her next year. Party this weekend. Fortunately, she has wonderful friends and it will be a pleasure to see them and their families for a little get-together.
I'm cleaning the house a lot, both for the party and because my parents are coming to visit. Fun and stressful all at once. The invasion of the Middle Ages Men isn't helping one little bit.
Doesn't he look fierce? Tonight, he and his sister spent about 30 minutes "styling" each other's hair. With the vacuum cleaner. It was one of the most delightful funny things they've come up with, and they didn't make any messes. A miracle.Duct tape is my best friend. An entire case of it, in different colors, would be about the best present any parent could wish for. And no, not to do things like taping them into bed, either. You can make entire outfits out of it. If I had enough, I'd make armor for them.
I've gotten about half of the garden swathed in bird netting. Not much fun in a brisk wind, holding a baby, but we'll see if the perpetrators can get through what I rigged up. If it's birds, probably not; if it's a squirrel, well, we'll see. It should keep the neighbors' cats from using the beds as luxury litter boxes, too.
I know it's spring because we had a visitor in the basement.
This picture is after I carried the formerly-trapped one outside. Haven't seen him or her since. Anyone care to identify it for me? Figure out how it got inside my basement?
Knitting? You want knitting?
As I said, I ripped down and redid the 15-18 rows of messed up cable. For me, this is a big deal. I'm an averagely competent knitter, but also quite able to make pretty large errors. Instead of compounding my problems here, causing many rows to be ripped, I got the cable to wave nicely like the other one (in mirror image, of course). Then I marked up the pattern very clearly so I could read the cable pattern as though it were two separate cables.
Now I need to take some more measurements for sleeve placement, since tonight we decided that saddle shoulders would fit the planned leaf insert on the sleeves better than any other kind. I'm not completely certain I'm up for it, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess.
Tomorrow I'll find better bull riding links. Yee haw.
Monday, March 6, 2006
Knittin' and Rippin'
Because at this point I'd rather blog than knit, here I am. I have been knittin' and rippin' the same 15-20 rows of this sweater for, oh, now three, four days? I think I am at the point where I'm goin' to have to either chart out the wavin' cable or rewrite it as Cable A and Cable B because I'm messin' it up in new ways over and over and over.
Needless to say, no pictures. I'm feelin' Very Grumpy.
Plus, it's raining. I spent $100 freakin' dollars at Home Depot buyin' bird nettin' and PVC pipe to keep the horrid little birdies from beheadin' every single seedling that has the temerity to pop its head up in the garden.
Why no "g"s today? Because of my new guilty pleasure: professional bull riding. My spouse stumbled on it the other night and I've been completely hooked. Rob Smets injured? I know about it. I'm learnin' the names of the top bulls -- how can anyone not feel interested in giant animals with names like Cat Man Do, Yellow Jacket, Pasture Master, and Spin Doctor? Tiny 18 year old cowboys who get spun across arenas in front of shriekin' fans, men who in their mid-30s should know better, limpin' away from just one more ride. Horribly addictin'.
Oddly enough, I'm a bleedin' heart liberal from way back. Hug trees, don't eat meat, etc. etc. But somethin' about this. . . I'm just lost. Maybe when I work out the twists on my cables, I can work out the kinks in my tv viewin'.
Needless to say, no pictures. I'm feelin' Very Grumpy.
Plus, it's raining. I spent $100 freakin' dollars at Home Depot buyin' bird nettin' and PVC pipe to keep the horrid little birdies from beheadin' every single seedling that has the temerity to pop its head up in the garden.
Why no "g"s today? Because of my new guilty pleasure: professional bull riding. My spouse stumbled on it the other night and I've been completely hooked. Rob Smets injured? I know about it. I'm learnin' the names of the top bulls -- how can anyone not feel interested in giant animals with names like Cat Man Do, Yellow Jacket, Pasture Master, and Spin Doctor? Tiny 18 year old cowboys who get spun across arenas in front of shriekin' fans, men who in their mid-30s should know better, limpin' away from just one more ride. Horribly addictin'.
Oddly enough, I'm a bleedin' heart liberal from way back. Hug trees, don't eat meat, etc. etc. But somethin' about this. . . I'm just lost. Maybe when I work out the twists on my cables, I can work out the kinks in my tv viewin'.
Saturday, March 4, 2006
Sweet Days
Every once in a while, a family member or friend will reveal some heretofore unsuspected side to them. For instance, my spouse told me once that he actually liked -- to the point that he wanted one -- the '69 Camaro SS396. Muscle cars weren't anything that I expected from him, and it kind of made him even more attractive -- he could suprise me still.
Today (I hope) I suprised my middle children by fashioning a full set of armor, shield, helm, and sword out of cardboard and duct tape. [I have pictures but have misplace my camera cord. I'm not feeling overly organized right now.]
My spouse says my newfound interest in professional bull riding surprises him. Truth be told, it surprises me a bit, too. Generally I watch no television. I'm just too busy and usually have better things to do. The other night, though, we stumbled across some on the "Outdoor Living Network"
Today (I hope) I suprised my middle children by fashioning a full set of armor, shield, helm, and sword out of cardboard and duct tape. [I have pictures but have misplace my camera cord. I'm not feeling overly organized right now.]
My spouse says my newfound interest in professional bull riding surprises him. Truth be told, it surprises me a bit, too. Generally I watch no television. I'm just too busy and usually have better things to do. The other night, though, we stumbled across some on the "Outdoor Living Network"
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