Just Sit Back & Knit

I just could not help myself, I cried

....twice!

Here are abbreviated versions of two conversations I've had with Fletcher recently:

I'm sitting on the couch working away on the Airplane sweater when he sits down next to me:
"Why do you always just knit on that?"
"Because I like to.  I want to make you a sweater."
"A green one."
"Yes, a warm green sweater with an orange airplane."
"Just stop it."
I set my yarn down and take a breath.  I must go slowly here lest I loose all control of my mean-mommy voice.
We have been having lots of ISSUES lately with Fletcher ordering me around.
"I'm not going to stop, I want to finish this for you."
"I hate it.  I hate orange."
At this point I am trying not to crack up.  From his point of view I am making him something he never REALLY wanted and I have been working on it for what must seem like eternity to him.  Also he did pick out this yarn in April and probably doesn't even remember it.
Later that night with Jim:
"Fletcher told me he hates this sweater and demanded I quite working on it."
Jim almost spits out is water:
"He said what?"
I repeat myself and go on:
"...... What should I do?  I've made so many mistakes that I don't want to try to go back and fix.  I don't love the sweater, and think he may never wear it.  BUT,  I was getting really excited about finishing my first sweater.  BUT, I have so many other things I want to finish for Christmas.  Should I just finish it and give it to him or rip it all out?"
"Don't rip it out.  Just put it away and someday you'll pull it out and be excited about it again."
Here I cry - with relief.  Thank-you genius husband, you made my day.

Conversation #2
Fletch and I have just sat down to dinner, Jim is still at work.  I made a pasta dish with cannellini beans, greens, kalamata olives, and garlic chips.  It's fabulous and Jim loves it.  Fletcher loves pasta.:
"I hate this stuff."
"What do you hate?"
"All this stuff.  I want dry pasta."
"How do you know you hate it?  You've never had it."
Age old parental intelect in action.
"I hate it."
"Just try it.  If you don't like it, you don't have to eat it."
He takes a hesitant bite
"I love it!"
big smile, another big bite.
"I have never even ever had this before!"
I'm not saying much, just sitting there with my mouth hanging open in shock.  This particular big of wisdom has never worked with my child.
"Will this help my poop come out better?"
Sorry folks, I could have left this out, but what the heck.  We had recently had a conversation while Fletch was on the toilet constipated about the fact that if he ate more fruits and vegatables, particularly green ones his poop would come out easier.
"Yes, this will help your poop come out better."
more quiet eating, he is still picking out some of the larger tomato pieces, and while looking down at his plate tending to this task he says under his breath:
"You make the best dinners."
This is were I cried, literally.  Thanks, Fletch, you just made my day.  He even let me take a picture to remind myself of this moment:

A Few Finished Objects

I've got several posts (and pictures to go with them) I keep meaning to write, but somehow, I never get around to them. This isn't one of them. I'm writing this post clean up shop, so to speak. I've finished several objects in the past few months that I've not posted about, some I haven't taken pictures of, and none of these is going to get its own post at this point. So here goes...

Felted Balls from Knitting for Baby by Melanie Falick in Knitpicks Wool of the Andes. I made these at the beginning of the summer for a friend's babyshower. I put a kitten jingle-bell toy in one, a squeaker from a dog's toy in another and just stuffed the last one.

---

I've made two more pairs of slippers from the Fiber Trend's Felt Clogs pattern. I really need to order the children's version of this pattern--the whole pattern is done in short rows so I don't feel confident trying to reduce the sizes.

Here is the pair I made for my mom for her birthday, pre-felting (I forgot post-felting picks):

Here is the pair I made for my brother for his birthday, post-felting (I forgot pre-felting picks):

my dainty size 8.5 - 9 foot shown for scale

I also made my mother-in-law a pair of slightly modified Basic Socks from Knit Socks! by Betsy McCarthy out of Cascade 220 Quatro in a pink blend. I didn't make the toes and heels contrasting and used every single bit of yarn. They were my first, and so far only, pair of socks knit from the cuff down. I knew I was cutting it close on the yarn quantity so I worked both socks simultaneously on different sets of needles, one from the inside of the ball and one from the outside. It was still such a stress inducing experience that I much prefer the toe up patterns. Alas, I did most of the knitting in the car on the way to and from Oakland that I never took a single picture.

---

A couple of weeks ago, on a Friday night, one of my husband's good friends suggested that I A) Abandon the idea of having the baby while squatting behind the couch (he's worried about us having a homebirth) and B) make him a hat for his birthday (which was that Sunday). He didn't think it was likely that I would take him up on either suggestion. So I whipped up this Hot Head Hat from Stitch N Bitch with my in the round modifications in exactly two hours. Cast-on began at 12:21 PM on Saturday afternoon and finishing ended at 2:21 PM. The yarn is Noro Iro held single strand throughout. I think I cast on for the largest size but didn't swatch or check my gauge (just used my husband's head a few times to check the length before beginning to decrease).

---

And finally, a failure and a learning experience all in one. Remember the Misti Alpaca Chunky scarf I was working on? Well, I finished it (just the one skein) and took some crappy pictures of it before (on the left) and during blocking (on the right), and loved it. Until I decided to wear it to work. I put it on and immediate itchiness attacked my neck. I'm not kidding this stuff is brutal. Is it all alpaca? Don't try to tell me it isn't, I think I'm scared off of Alpaca (although maybe I would try felting it) for quite awhile. It will be frogged. Someday.

---

And finally, a knitting project that isn't one of mine. Well, it is now, it was a gift made for my little one-in-waiting by Sara (fletchersmama). These are from one of Little Turtle Knit's wool soaker patterns and they are so darn cute! I love them. Thanks Sara!

Don't Call it a Comeback

I love L.L. Cool J.  I can't help it, I really can't.

So, I'm back, again.  I have tried posting a few times lately, but get so upset with my computer and slow uploads of pictures, I have walked away cussing each time.

I have decided to keep it short and sweet, and make a commitment:  to post at least once a week, even if it's too short. 

Barb, I love your meme (which I plan to steal) and your randoms thoughts, which I paln to copy!!!

I do have injuries that prevent or at least really slow down my knitting!!!
******WARNING******** the following picture is graphic and gross:

   
these injuries are well on the way to healing.  I was walking down the drive-way just over a week ago holding Fletch (We were going down to "see what the worker guys did to our street") when I slipped and fell forward taking all the weight and momentum on my left (thank-you, thank-you, thank-you) hand.  It was nasty and hurt worse than childbirth (I kid you not).  Fletch started crying right away, but once he saw my hand and my face he stopped.  He was so sweet and helpfull.  I stayed on my back on the driveway for at least five minutes.  Then slowly made my way up the stairs, across the porch and inside to my living room floor, taking breaks to muffle shouts and wimpers.  Fletch got the phone for me and I called my sister who left work to clean my hand, pick out the pebbles and bandage me up.  The whole time I was unbelievably whimpy.  I'm not sure how she put up with it.  She did though, patiently and sweetly - that's what sisters do.

I'm back to knitting now, still just a bit slowed down. 
Fletch is asleep, Jim is out. 
Tonight it's just me, the t.v., my knitting and Turkey day leftovers. 
I was so excited, then I did this:

burned my yarn-tension fingers while heating up my dinner!!!!!!
This may be the night I look into continental knitting.

random thoughts and pictures:
Thanks to my MIL for being here this weekend.  Having her around to knit with inspired me to get back to work on Fletcher's airplane sweater, and past my problem of getting my in-the-round sleeves joined and not looking TOO sloppy for words:
  I still don't love this sweater, but, I still want to finish it.  I want to get my first sweater behind me and I do love the airplane and FLY above it.

Kathy gave me some beautiful yarn and a pattern from her stash.  I will start it soon - a new SKP!  I will make it for myself!  This is really very exciting because I never want to spend my yarn money on things for me, I always want to get things to make for others first, thank-you Kathy.

Just before I burned my fingers I finished a scarf for
my little (who is taller than me by lots) brother Matt. 
 
This scarf was modeled  after a scarf my Stepmom, MaryLee, bought from a friend. 
Matt picked the colors and I got to work.  Again I wasn't crazy about it as I was
working on it - I'm not real fond of the super bulky yarn. 
Once I started sewing on the pockets I fell in love. 
I think it will look awsome on Matt and hope he likes it as much as I do.
I'll post a picture of him wearing it soon.

I just have to mention how disapointed  I was in the movie The Davinci Code.
I loved the book and hated the movie. 

I think Fletcher is an amazing person.  He makes me laugh all the time with his quirky humor.
During conversations - i love conversations with my three-almost-four-year-old-  I am ofter struck dumb by the complexity of his thinking process. 
I'm not trying to say I think he extra-ordinary in comparrison to other children.  I mean he is extra-ordinary to me, but I just think children are amazing and he constantly reinforces that knowledge. 
It's truly exciting. 

And so, here are a few recent pictures of him:
These are from our two most recent outings
with our home-schooling group.

building a shelter:

trying out the shelter:

face-painting with rocks (this is from the week after halloween, he
was a SCARY GREEN VAMPIRE BAT and wears the costume at
least once a week):

inside a replica of an early native-american dwelling:

I think I am done for tonight.  I am excited I took the time to contribute, and want to say thanks to you Barb for starting this blog and inspiring me each time I read your entries.

One last image:

This is what is left of our Thanksgiving pies and goodies I must, and will throw out first thing tommorow morning in order to stop eating them!!!  I made the pumkin pies from scratch this year, it's the second time I've done it.  There were very good, and I must say I make a mean crust.  However, when I bit into my dad's apple pie, I realized I've still got alot to learn about crust-making.  Nothing beats my dad's pies.

Sick Day

I stayed home from work today because I thought I might be getting one of my old migranes (the kind I haven't had since the beginning of my pregnancy). The headache hasn't developed, but isn't completely gone either, however, I have been spending an uncomfortable amount of time in the bathroom today, if you know what I mean. I don't feel like writing any of the many posts I've been meaning to write (mostly about finished projects) but was able to take some pictures of what I've been working on recently.

Secret Knitting Project
This project is secret out of necessity (since it is a gift for a friend who may or may not read this blog) so I've tried to disguise what it is. I tend to stick to projects that require no seaming because I'm not good at it and hate doing it. So now I'm stuck on this project because I need to seam two bound off edges together and each time I try it looks like poop. The directions say to use mattress stitch, which I haven't had much success with in the past, and this time the seed stitch makes it even more of a challenge for me. I almost modified the pattern to allow me to kitchener the edges together, rather than binding them off and seaming them, and now I wish I had.

Misti Alpaca Scarf
When I became stuck on the above project, I cast on for a simple garter stitch scarf out of a skein of super-soft Misti Alpaca Chunky in Natural Brown (Color 410). I'm knitting it on US #9 straight needles for a tight stitch that I'm really pleased with. It's going very quickly, but I'm realizing that this is going to be one short scarf if I don't either block the heck out of it or buy another skein of this yarn. I'm leaning toward more yarn because I really like the weight and look of the scarf as it is and don't want to change that by blocking it for more length.

Simple Baby Socks
Last night I received a baby shower gift from a friend who lives in Sacramento and was unable to come to my baby shower since she has a six week old baby of her own. Receiving the gift from her reminded me that just after her daughter was born I had started knitting a simple pair of baby socks for her out of some Sirdar Snuggly (purchased for the fact that it can be machine/washed and dried) I had in my stash. So, this morning, wanting something more challenging than the scarf and less stress-inducing than the secret project, I found the sock and was able to knit what remained of the foot, turn the heel and knit the cuff including rib pretty quickly.

\

Now I have to complete this sock with the tubular bind off from The Knitting Answer Book by Margaret Radcliffe (the more I use this book the more I love it) and cast on for the other...hopefully I'll be able to finish the second sock sometime today or this evening.

10 Minute Break

I've returned to the land of bad cell phone pictures.  I'm no longer able to resist the call of the yarn while at work.  Fortunately, I've managed to restrict myself to knitting on my breaks.  For the most part. 

Let's Try This Again

Okay, this time I have a better excuse for my long absence. Just a day after my last post I got a new job that keeps me away from home in front of a different computer for forty hours a week. On top of that, we are down to one computer with an internet connection here at home and I let my husband play online poker to his heart's content while I knit rather than post.

So, seeing as today was a holiday for me but not my husband, and I had all day to do what ever I wanted, I promised Fletchersmama I would post. And here it is, time to make dinner, and I am just starting. So this might be quick and have a lot more photos than text...

First of all, I hate my face in pictures, especially when I smile, because it looks so round and my skin is such a yucky color. But, since I have this wonderful little one inside me I thought I would start with my five month picture...

Let me just say that I took these pictures quickly and they are no works of art!

Baby Blankets

Moving right along (and keeping those of you who want to see only pictures of handknits in suspense), I made a flannel receiving blanket. It was very easy--I used the green color for the back and the purple for the front and added the green stripes on the front for fun.

The knitted baby blanket I began back in June has only grown a couple of inches and waits patiently in the bottom of my knitting basket for attention. I've been working on so many other projects, and it is still warm here, that I'm going to let it go until the winter comes and I can snuggle under the growning blanket as I work on it.

Finally, we have the best baby blanket ever. When I was a year old my grandma made me a blanket and matching pillow that I have always called my "Blue Blankie" and "Blue Pillow." After nearly thirty years, and lots of love, the blankie and pillow were hurting. So far I have fixed the blanket. I took it completely apart and backed each piece with an off-white flannel sheet. I added two layers of new cotton batting and made a binding out of the flannel. There were several holes in the blanket and rather than try to hide them, I cut them into shapes and folded the edges under so the flannel was exposed and zigzag stitched around the opening. I turned the biggest hole into a heart and embroidered "Blue Blankie Grandma Evelyn - 1977 Mom - 2006" inside of it.

Knits

I made a hat out of Noro Iroha to match the Child's Placket Necked Pullover from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts I knit when I first found out I was pregnant. Here are a few of the knitted objects I've completed during the summer...
I don't know that the hat and sweater will fit the same
child at the same time...but oh well. The ear flaps and ties are knit in seed stitch to match the edging on the sweater. I then did the fancy spiral decrease thing but added a purl just before each decrease to highlight the pattern. I think it goes well with the seed stitch, too. And thanks to Nala, our kitty, who helped me by modeling the hat for the picture...but then he didn't want to let it go!

I also made another sweater, this one a slightly modified version of the the same pattern I used before. The new sweater is made from Noro Silk Garden and has nearly matching arms (I knit three arms and used the best two), snaps instead of buttons and a ribbed edge instead of the seed stitch edge. This pattern is so quick and easy!

And since it is now several hours after dinner and these pictures take so long to load, I am going to leave you with this final picture. It goes with the baby & Noro theme I've got going here, and I'll save the rest of my knitting for another post. Oh, and another matching set that I'm not sure will fit the same child at the same time....Noro Kureyon for those of you who want to know...

Little Montsers

Alec and Drew on their 5th birthday!
I love these hats, they were frustrating
to make, but fun and I am now working
on my 5th and need to make at least one
more.
They are from New Knits On the Block
and I think the pattern is written wrong
It calls for 2 skeins of Crystal Palace
Squiggle.  I think they are supposed
to be held together throughout though
the pattern does not tell you to.  As a result
I had enough yarn to make two out of each
color!

Fletch and Dad

Me and my Snuggle-Bunny
 

Fletcher's first fishing trip and first fish!
 

workin' nine to five....

...not really.

I LOVE Netflix!   I get to watch one to three new movies a week, depending on how little sleep I need.   I recently watched Brokeback Mountain.  I was sad for about three days afterwards. I could just  imagine how many gay people have gone though what these men went though, and maybe how many still do - I felt heartbroken.  This was the saddest love story I've ever seen.   I thought the acting was amazing, and not just Heath Ledger, I really thought it was all great acting.

I think I have well over 100 movies picked and ready to be watched, it's so exciting!  I also get t.v. shows, one of my all time favorites being Columbo.  For Fletch I get the Imax movies, we just sent one back about Nascar - which he has taken a recent intrest in.  I am looking forward to watching the Imax movie Everst.  I just finished John Krakauer's book Into Thin Air.  I was breathless just reading and can't imagine watching it.

Last week I finished knitting a hat, scarf and purse set for someone at my sister's work who requested it as a gift for a friend.  She liked one of my purses and wanted the hat and scarf to match.  Wouldn't you know I could not get the same yarn.  I bought something similar and so she decided to take the original purse and have me make the whole set out of the new yarn also:

the one on the left is the new one,
which I happen to like better.

My gorgeous sister, Harvest agreed to
model for me.

When Fletch saw  what we were up 
to he wanted in on the fun,
and, being a three year old....

he then wanted it all to himself!

This is a felted hat I finished yesterday.
This is a wool/sythetic blend: Foliage
from Berroco which I bought for a
sweater and decided was not right.
It is bulky and so I tried to use it for
a bowl pattern out of One Skein.  The yarn
just wasn't bulky enough and did not
felt to a sturdy fabric. 
Abracadabra!  It fit my head!  I really
dig the colors.

No Brain = No Title

First of all, a correction. In my last post I said

but I don't like it as a hat because the hat isn't big enough for the hat to repeat.

when I meant to say

but I don't like it as a hat because the hat isn't big enough for the stripes to repeat.

So the hat starts out with the light greeny colors and then has a dark black stripe right at it's waist line (if hats had waists, which I guess they don't) then goes into the darker greens & browns. To me it looks like a hat with split personality disorder. Two different hats smooshed together with a black stripe dividing them.

Onto other things. Day light savings time just isn't fair. Especially not this year. First, I lose and hour which makes getting out of bed that much more difficult. Then I started my period yesterday morning and that's no small thing for me. I know there are people out there for whom getting their period is nothing more than an annoyance, but for me it's a sickness. I'm exhausted. I don't sleep well. From my rib cage down I feel swollen & like my circulation is half-way cut off which makes sitting in a chair all day a real pain in the ass (literally). I get cramps that feel like hot iron bars with spikes on them are stuck through me from back to front and some evil little gnome is twisting them back and forth so the spikes grab onto my muscles and tear them up (corn bags are my only friends at this point). My tummy hurts. Maybe from all the ibuprofen I take to get rid of the iron bar carrying gnome, but still. I'm thirsty and no amount of water helps but it sure does make me have to pee every half-hour. Last night it was so bad that I climbed in bed at seven o'clock and didn't even feel like knitting! I did knit, of course, but it was lackluster, required knitting--none of the spark and pizazz of I LOVE KNITTING & CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT knitting. I really just wanted to lay in bed and moan. You know, like in When Harry Met Sally when Harry and Sally are each at home in their beds talking to each other on telephone (and watching Casablanca, see? it really is one of my favorite movies> and Sally asks Harry what he'll do when they get off the phone and he says he'll just lay there and moan. Then he practices on the phone for her. That was me last night. Only I moaned and knit really sloooowly. And you know the worst of it? I know there are people out there (the kind for whom a period is an annoyance, a slight inconvenience) who don't believe me. They think I'm exaggerating. They think I'm a whiner who can't handle pain. And you know? They just piss me off. Period.

Onto project updates. Matilda's bear still lacks a face. I'm on the second version and am taking meticulous notes in order to write out the pattern and I'm actually almost done. I'm kicking myself a little, though, because I should have taken better notes the last time even though I did the weird shoulder thing that I don't want to repeat. If I had notes from that part I could just change them rather than make up a new way. But, I'm working on the head (and the pattern starts at the feet) so I'm close. I am thinking of trying to make dog ears for this one so it can be named Theodore. But I'm also thinking of making a bear ear and a bunny ear and a cat ear and attaching them to the body so I can see how they felt & then I'll just cut them off. Oh, and also I'll make tails. Then I'll just knit up a little sweater to cover up the scars.

I ripped back the messed up short rows on my dad's sock and knitted them up again easy-peasy. Now I've moved onto the ankle/calf tube of the sock and have about three inches of 2x2 ribbing done. And either I have one strange looking sock or I've discovered the reason that people always post sock picture with a foot in the sock or they sock laying on it's side. Cause handknitted socks look funky. Or at least this one does. But the closer I am to finishing this first sock the happier I am that I already have the toe of the next one done. Smartest knitting thing I've ever done. Once I'm done with this one I can just pick up the next one and knit in the round for 7.5 inches rather than having to start over with the tough stuff. Yipee! Easy knitting ahead!

I've gotten a little work done on the "My Computer Sucks But At Least I Can Knit Scarf." This has become my carry-along knitting project. You all know how I feel about scarf knitting. So between Olivia's choir performance on Friday, Jason's poker tournament at Outlaws on Sunday and a power outage at work yesterday, I've added on about a foot. Or maybe nine inches. At least seven.

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words...Or So They Say

Matilda's Nicholas Bear
First of all, Matilda's bear has been felted! He still needs a face and clothes but I think he's so cute! (I say "he" because he's the same color as Ted & I have therefore dubbed him "Nicholas" after my dad's Nick-Name (ha-ha) for Ted.)

Here's Nicholas pre-felting (Snoopy too, for scale):

And post-felting:

And because I think he is just so very, very cute:

You may have noticed that Nick has strange shoulders. This is due to my creative attempt to do fancy knitting. It was totally unnecessary, time consuming and, obviously, not very effective. I am in the process of knitting another bear (or maybe a bunny! it's all about the ears after all) so I can re-write the pattern without the crazy shoulder shaping.

Ill-Fated Hat of My Own Design & Better Pictures of the "My Computer Sucks But At Least I Can Knit Scarf"

Here's the hat I designed for myself. I've lost it (or Jason's been putting things away again!) but when I locate it I am tossing it in my stash to be frogged. This is the same yarn as Jess used for her purse but I don't like it as a hat because the hat isn't big enough for the hat to repeat.

Self-portraits can be difficult to take (and I have LOTS of eyebrows!):

Better:

With THE scarf & Denise Needles:

And Artistic-Shot of Scarf in Tree:

The Coolest Thing Ever
I stole this idea from Streets & YOs (the blog of a knitter who could make us all green with envy!) after reading the May 5, 2005 post:

I'm almost done!

But...My Husband's So Cool & I'm Kinda Dorky

And, finally, because a photo-filled post just wouldn't be complete without Ted & Special Guest Star: Nala!