Astonished
The Mister has recently been buying books and gathering supplies for a new hobby… one that doesn’t require other people (like World of Warcraft, D&D, or Warhammer…). I’m being really quiet about it because I don’t want to frighten or startle him. Misters in the wild learning new skills is something you do not want to interrupt or upheave.
I’m really liking the idea of him having a solo hobby, something that doesn’t need other people around for him to do and have fun with.
________________________________________________________
I finished the Spring Beret I mentioned in the Wednesday post. I really like it alot. I substituted some Caron’s Simply Soft instead of using cotton, and followed the Extra Slouchy version of the pattern. It turned out smaller than I expected… which is good because it turned out the size that I wanted. Simply Soft’s elasticity pulls the hat in. I’m really digging it.
I’m still debating on adding a little more something to it… we’ll see. I’m still looking for the right yarn for Surplus.
________________________________________________________
And just because… Check out this link… its an Apocalyptica video featuring Adam Gontier from 3 Days Grace. There is nothing finer in this world than F’ing Metal Cello (or finer than F’ing Metal Cello Players). Yet, because I can’t go too long on this blog without some dark brooding male hotness… same song set to images of Guy of Gisborne from the BBC Robin Hood series… (you can pick which one you watch… err listen to)
Wednesday
Sam’s cast was removed yesterday, which is nice since now he won’t have to start school with a cast (which was something I was worried about). He sat through the whole thing, calm as can be.
__________________________________________________
Went Letterbox searching yesterday with the whole family. Sadly, the box could not be found, we’re thinking someone may have taken it since the stump it was supposed to be in is now all broken and in pieces. We were excited since the box was about a mile or so away from our house.
In any case, it was nice hiking the trails with the Mister and the Diaperinis. It was a beautiful day…
__________________________________________________
Knitting wise, I’m currently working on the Spring Beret (ravelry link, pattern is not on her blog) by Natalie Larson. Although I made a mistake during the first repeat of the lace pattern (and kept it) I have since been doing it right and its relatively easy. I didn’t use cotton, and instead used some Caron’s Simply Soft. Its looking good so far.
I also have an army surplus wool blanket to make this with. Now I just need to decide on which yarn to use for the sleeves instead of the Berroco Trilogy… something a little more affordable in the event that I end up hating it. Right now, I’m thinking KnitPicks Shamrock, which is one of my favoritest yarns to use. So it would end up being about $28 (w/ shipping) for the sleeves and edging, rather than $56 (w/o shipping) for just the sleeves. So far, the hardest part of this project is finding an army surplus blanket that wasn’t over $20 (if you are keeping count the original project specs would be $76, still not including shipping and the cost of the yarns for the edging). My wool blanket is grey, I may give it a bath in some blue dye though… just to change it up a little so it isn’t so GREY.
Something Funny Is In The Air
I mean, aside from the whole it already feels like the end of September kind of weather.
In two weeks, Sam will be starting Kindergarten (On the 2nd). The New Year Of School Jitters that I used to get as kid have resurfaced, except now they’re for Sam. Its not like Sam has never gone to school before, he and TJ were going to full day preschool before we moved. My nervousness is half that he’ll be going to school with the kids around us (some of them are… shall we say… on the early road to future delinquency), and half how we’re going to work all of this out.
While they went to whole day preschool, Sam will have half day Kindergarten. In addition to that, the Kindergarten kids only get bused one way. They get bused to school for AM class (and you have to pick them up), or they get bused home for PM class (but you have to drop them off there). Not really a problem on Monday and Tuesday when the Mister is off work. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday however, when the Mister is at work with the only car, I’ll have to walk Sam to school.
The school is a mile and a half away from my house with hardly any sidewalks. Ordinarily I wouldn’t balk much at that (even though I would have to walk him there regardless of the weather). What has me digging in my heels is that I’ll have to carry Danny on my back and take TJ with me… every day… there and back… regardless of the weather… a 3 year old and a 1 year old taking a daily 3 mile hike. That’s where I start balking.
When I discussed this with the school, they said I should find a parent around me who’s kid also goes to the school for PM kindergarten and pay them money to drive and drop my kid off with theirs. So far, the parents around me either have too old or too young children. The one that I found who’s kid is in Kindergarten is going the AM class route… so no luck there. Besides, I’m always nervous when it comes to other people (who aren’t family) having my kid in their car.
Now, I’ve been looking at Google maps to attempt to plot a way there that’s safer than walking on the side of a no sidewalk road with kiddies, that I’ll be able to take regardless of the weather, but isn’t going to take hours. Then I’ll have to test walk it, hopefully before he starts school.
—————
In other news, I got my hair cut…
Of course it doesn’t look like that right this minute, since I don’t own a hair dryer yet( I know! Madness!) I can’t straighten it like that. And for whatever reason, it wants to go curlish… not exactly curly… but curl like (it does this on its own)…
But, the Mister is happy with it whichever way it is, he always hated when I wore it up or in a ponytail which was pretty much… always after I started growing out my then boy short hair.
I really like it, though I end up fiddling with it more.
—————
And yet something else completely unrelated… I just got my Knit Picks catalog yesterday… and it has this really awesome thing in it called a Sock Yarn Dye Blank. Its basically a knitted tube, knitted with two yarns held together. You take the tube and dye it however you want. After you are done dying it, you just knit two socks at once straight from the tube (using the tube as your ball of yarn)… and you get pretty much the exact pattern you dyed… and your socks match. That is just the neatest thing I have ever seen. Really.
The Pratchghan
In December, a few of us (if you can call about a hundred knitters and crocheters from Ravelry’s Ankh-Morpork Knitting Guild a few) decided that after hearing that our favorite author, Terry Pratchett, was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers we should all do something to show our support. Different ideas were bandied about, and then it was decided we would all contribute a square to an afghan… which soonly was named the Pratchghan.
The rules were simple, a 6 inch x 6 inch square with anything you wanted on it. It could be plain, or discworldy, it just had to be made in washing machine safe fibers.
All of the squares were sent to one very determined lady, cherryred (as she’s known on Ravelry… or just Shirley to everyone else) in Scotland who collected all the squares, sewed them together, and backed the whole Pratchghan. She added more rows when more people wanted to join in, and kept careful count of how many squares she had- that alone is pretty impressive.
At the Beginning of August, the Pratchghan was finally finished…
Then, on August 16th, something really really awesome happened… Shirley was able to hand over the Pratchghan to the Pratchman… in person… (at the Edinburgh Book Festival)…
And then a great giggle was shared by all as Shirley tried to fold it up…
Then the letters we had all sent with each square and the Pratchghan were all put away with Terry…
And after he signed Shirley’s copy of Thud!, he left to go get miked up for a reading, but not before saying “I still aten’t dead” (which seems kind of morbid if you haven’t read his books… but I assure you its very very funny).
Now that we know the Pratchghan resides happily with the Pratchman, we happily dream of him slumbering beneath it. We giggle when we wonder when he’ll discover that the Luggage square MamaGrouch made actually opens and has clothes inside. We’re curious if he’ll show it off to his friends, or if he’ll tell people about it. But most of all, we all now feel as though we have massively group hugged a man who is important to us all, a man who has made us laugh, a man who has made us dream, a man we hope the world never has to do without.
* Pictures used with permission from Shirley/cherryred. If you are a non Ravelry user and would like to see a closeup of some of the squares, go to the Pratchghan 2008 flickr site.
Stingy Bees
When I was 23ish, I discovered that I was allergic to bees when a wasp flew down the back of my shirt and proceded to sting me several times. I didn’t know then that you find out if you are allergic to bees on the second sting, and after having been stung once as a child… this terrible occurance would in fact have been Sting #2. 20 minutes after the stinging I was being taken to the hospital where the nurses chided me for not owning an epi pen and not being more careful (how could I when I didn’t know until moments before?).
So I’ve taken great care since then to avoid bees, and their asses.
About a year and a half ago, Sam was stung by a wasp on a walk down the hill (at the old house) and I immediately ran him to the hospital there in South Side. I worried because I was allergic, and it was there that I learned that its the second sting that tells you.
So, I’ve been waiting with dread for the day that Sam gets stung a second time, knowing that it will happen at the most inconvienient of times (when I’d have no car) or I’d be in the most inconvienient place.
I didn’t have to wait for long.
First there was the whole to do when Sam came in screaming that he was stung, and after searching for a sting and not finding one while trying to talk through his tears. We learned later that he was bit by a bumblebee, so no issue there. Yesterday though, he came in screaming that he was stung, we checked where he said it was… and lo and behold he was stung. Luckily, our friend Ben was visiting so he checked the internets for signs and such while I wrangled the screaming crying Sam.
We did discover that Sam is not allergic to bees, yet we did discover something else.
Why.
We discovered why he was getting stung.
Apparently, after a conversation with the Mister about bees and stings, the Mister relayed to Sam about how if Mommy gets stung she has to go to the hospital because the sting could make her really really sick. Since that day, when Sam was outside and saw a bee he would step on it or kill it in some other fashion so they couldn’t sting me… even though I was in the house… because he didn’t want me to go to the hospital.
God bless his little heart… his awesome little bee murdering heart.
Horny
You know, I have waited ages so that I could use that as a title… seriously.
Anywho, still working on the horn factory…
… here are some in various stages of getting painted. To the bottom left there you see my jeweler’s scale so I can see how much each set weighs. We haven’t hit an ounce yet on any of them… and this is good generally when you are gluing stuff to your head… lighter means they’ll stick better.
Generally though I’ve been working on those. I finished up a sharf (a shawl/scarf) before the Ravelympics are slated to start so that I am knit project free for the beginning (I’m in the Sock Put event). The sharf was super easy. Size 10 needles, JoAnns Sensations Rainbow Boucle yarn (in a since discontinued blue colorway…. though I may make another in the grey/pink colorway) and a simple pattern of:
R1: Knit
R2: K1, P to last stitch, K1
I was nervous to use the yarn, since I had heard less than glowing reviews about it from people I know, but I soldiered on and found I actually really like it. I didn’t have any problems past the CO row (disregard the tank top).
The color changes are looooong, as you can kind of see in the second picture. In a smaller project I would be really annoyed. The sharf is about 10 inches wide and almost 6 feet long, so the color changes go really nice with it. I may make more for the shop… but I’m not overcommiting myself just yet.
On the shop front, I made a new banner and avatar for it…
I figure that I needed a shop spokesperson and this little chicky I made works just fine, when she behaves that is…
So that’s where everything is right now.
A Very Fruitful Weekend
This weekend started out pretty shitty. On Friday, we were pretty sure that Sam broke a bone of some sort. We took him to the emergency room where they gave him a sling and told us to bring him back on Saturday. Saturday, he and I get up at the ass crack of dawn and get to the hospital before the orthopedic guys are slated to start so we don’t have to wait (much)…. 5 hours later, we leave the hospital with Sam sporting a brandy new cast for his fractured wrist and possibly fractured elbow. The cast comes from the hand, over the elbow, and halfway up the bicep.
Currently, he is using a US size 0 straight knitting needle to scratch inside his cast. Poor baby.
On the way home, we stopped at the Sewickley farmer’s market (link lists a lot of PA farmer’s markets with dates/times/etc) and took a spin around. This past weekend they were doing something special, and had this huge garage they have there opened… and full of garage sale stuff (they also had stuff inside the church’s cafeteria where its hosted at). As Sam and I perused the items we found this cute little green table, that held a surprise inside. I introduce to you…. my $5 purchase…
A sewing table, with machine (that works!) inside. We saw it and Sam said, “Mommy, you should get that so you can sew”… and who am I to deny the broken armed kid?
Then on Sunday, the Mister was going through some boxes (still unpacking!) and came out with a package of clay stuff… so we started to play around and started making horns…
I made both sets here, but the Mister painted the grey tall pair in back and I painted the blue set in the front.
Here is a close up of the Mister’s painting abilities (look! we’re doing crafts together!)….
And this is a set I’m currently working on (so they aren’t done yet)…
I’m having a good time with them. I sit on the living room floor and paint them after the kids have gone to sleep and I’m watching Horatio Hornblower (with Ioan Gruffudd as Horatio- and, if you are a Battlestar Galatica watcher… a really young Jamie Bamber [Lee "Apollo" Adama] talking with his natural London accent).
The Mister and I plan to sell them in my Etsy shop (after we’ve made a few sets). We’re pretty proud of them since we try to keep the weight of the whole set under an ounce (and in most cases under half an ounce) so that you can spirit gum/medical adhesive them to your head… instead of having to tie a string around your head. Pretty neat, huh?
Color Me Embarassed
Today I received a text message from my sister informing me that its been over a week since I last posted.
As I chuckle, I check, and she is right. I actually had no idea it had been that long since I last posted, and its not like I’ve been super busy and couldn’t make it to the computer.
I’ve just been finishing up a sock swap for the Discworld group on Ravelry, and working on some projects and patches. I’ve been trying to build up some stock to sell in the shop again since its been painfully empty since when we were planning to move initially… back in Feb (we just moved in June). I’ve been working with Danny since he’s trying to walk, but he’s so scared he won’t let go of things… like the table or my leg. I’ve also been chasing after TJ, since he got his face covered in poison ivy yesterday, to get him to quit scratching.
None of these things is super overwhelming… there’s just enough that I keep forgetting to post. The “I keep meaning to’s” developing into “just never get to’s”.
I’ve also been battling with the neighborhood raccoons trying to get in my trash, one of whom is a peeping Tom. I know this because his fat raccoon ass keeps crushing the lid of my trashcan in as he tries to peep/break into my house through the window.
I did remember that I haven’t updated you guys on something. Remember on July 4th when someone shot through my window? The very next week about 10 or so cop cars pull around a house on the street behind me for a few hours- the only house in the direction from which the bullet could have come from. So, that’s good. As well, the township is planning to install more cameras in to my neighborhood, which is awesome… though I would prefer more street lights on my no street light having street before cameras. They don’t even have to be big ones, they can be those little almost decorative ones that you see in some yards… just something more than what we have currently.
On the working out front, I’m feeling really good and sticking with things. I don’t drink pop at all anymore if I can help it, and am starting to phase out non water drinks (its slow going though, I do love me some iced tea). I do get jealous of the Mister occasionally. We have no scale, and that’s awesome… I won’t feel pressured by numbers. However, he has a scale for paper and such at his work and weighs himself often on it. So he knows that he’s lost 7lbs… where I have no clue if I’ve lost anything at all. That can be a little frustrating. Then again, this past weekend, the Mister and I (and our friends Russ and Brad) were all camping out in the woods (sans childrens) and I easily had the most energy of everyone there. I went to bed as the sun was coming up (I was working on a sock), slept for two hours, got up before everyone and started getting breakfast ready. I hiked more than everyone, walked all over the gosh darned place, and found myself unable to sit still and feeling good.
I guess the yoga and pilates is doing me good! (this is my favorite pose so far)
