Three Things on A Tuesday

The good news is that instead of "celebrating" my birthday at work today, I am at home.

The bad news is that I am at home because my youngest threw up in the car on the way to school.

Thankfully, she is not terribly ill and she is managing to create My Little Pony and Princess Barbie vignettes throughout the house without problem. Which means that I was able to find a few minutes to take and upload pictures.

1. Handspun
I have been working on this skein forever, as I haven't had much time to sit at my wheel. But I am happy with the end result. It is not the most perfect skein, but for once I did not underply to the extreme.

The fiber is "Real Vermonter" roving from A Piece of Vermont (Hi Jessie!). It is 60% Romney/Corriedale, 30% mohair, and 10% Alpaca. I fell in love with the colors and bought it on a whim, and I was not disappointed! It is not the softest yarn, and I may have spun it a bit too tightly, but I think it will work for a light scarf.

2. Coriolis II
Even after my struggles with my first pair of Cat Bordhi's "Coriolis" socks, I cast on for a second pair. It's all about the challenge. My first attempt at the heel was a failure, but I'm now on the second try and I'm optimistic. I made some changes to the pattern that I will eventually detail on Ravelry.

The yarn is Araucania Ranco Multi, and I am absolutely loving it. I also love Bordhi's whirlpool toe design. Easy peasy, looks nice, no pointiness.


3. Hope springs eternal, especially when it's time to plant the tiny garden. This year we hope for peas, mixed salad greens, purple carrots, cilantro, basil, morning glories, and sunflowers. The tomato plants will go in a different garden bed.

Coming soon: pictures of a fabulous birthday present!

10 Random Things, From Tombs To Tunes

1. I find it rather surreal that I, the non-Christian, spent much of yesterday evening creating a model of Jesus's tomb. It was a prop that I needed for teaching "The Story Of Easter" in the SpiritPlay classroom at our UU. I contemplated making one out of wool (knitted and then fulled? needle felted over a foam shape?) but I did not leave myself enough time and had to resort to Model Magic clay and some gray paint. The bad: I had some traumatic flashbacks to a sixth-grade science project that involved making a volcano. The good: while painting I had time to try to think of how this could be turned into a blog post title: Tomb With A View? Tomb Much To Do? So many possibilities.

What's even funnier is that after being handled by many children, the model needs a small repair; so item number six on my "To Do" list for this week is "Fix Jesus's tomb." Can any of you top that one? (My sister's response to this was, "Hey, don't fix it up too much, he isn't going to stay there long.")

2. Thanks for the interesting comments on my previous post about cars. When I lived in a more rural area, I never questioned having two (or more!) cars for two adults. But it just seems that, in a more urban area, it should be possible to be a one-car family. Clearly I am living in the wrong city (in oh so many ways). That said, I love my new wheels and I think we chose the correct time to purchase a car that gets 30 mpg.

3. A finished project: Coronet hat, in Valley Yarns Sugarloaf (wool/microfiber blend), made as a chemo cap for a friend. It's modeled here by my daughter and now she wants one of her own!


4. Another finished project: Capelet for Grandma, who is 96 and still going strong. Pattern is a capella with some mods, yarn is Lion Brand Homespun.


5. The other night my four year old marched up to me and announced, "Mama, I know a new word!" I braced myself for something interesting, like a good curse word, and asked, "Oh, really? What is it?" My little drama queen spun around with a flourish and sang out, "Exquisite!" She apparently learned this one from a Max and Ruby episode and had no idea what it meant, but she loves to sing it twenty times in a row to the tune of any Disney princess song.

6. Any of you remember my grand plans to create a craft room, to be completed in the fall of 2007? HA HA HA! I'll be lucky if I'm done by the fall of 2009 at the rate I'm going. Here's a current pic of my slow progress.
Isn't is lovely? Those swirly lines are the glue from the fake wood paneling. I have now stripped all of that wallpaper, but I haven't patched and painted the walls yet.

7. If any of you have kids under, oh, nine or ten, you should check out Spare The Rock, which is a local radio show of indie/hipster/fun kids' music that isn't painful for adults. You can stream recent episodes from the blog page, which works perfectly for us now that my wonderful husband has connected the computer to our home audio system. (This also means that I can now enjoy Pandora in a whole new way.)

8. I read in our local newspaper that if housing prices fall another 15-20%, then more than half of American homeowners will owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth. More than half! And if the subprime mortgage crisis does not make you anxious enough, then check out this article in the March 2008 Atlantic Monthly: "Fundamental changes in American life may turn today’s McMansions into tomorrow’s tenements."

9. I just listened to episode 61 of Cast On, and after listening to the song "Exactly" I hopped on the computer to check out Amy Steinberg's Myspace page. (The song will play as soon as you open the page.) "I am exactly where I need to be, I need to be exactly where I am, I am a blessing manifest...." Amazing.

10. Daylight Savings sucks, and March is about 31 days too long.

A Good Ending To A Tough Year

Our holidays were wonderful and remarkably uneventful: no illnesses, no crises, no tragedies. There was eating--oh so much eating!--of cookies, chocolates, and homemade raspberry pie; shrimp and spanikopita; lemon martinis and all sorts of other treats. There was wonderful, 98% drama-free time with extended family, and one of the biggest gifts my children received was four crazy days of unstructured play time with five of their cousins. We missed my father terribly, and there were many teary moments, but overall it was all good.

Best gifts I received:
My sister had a silver and pearl necklace made for me, with my children's names stamped on the pendant: very unique and funky, and I absolutely love it.


And my sister-in-law gave all of us prints made of pressed flowers from my father's funeral. There was not a dry eye in the room when we opened them.

I received only one knitting related gift, which was Knitting Without Tears, but that was plenty. In lieu of fiber gifts, I had requested a Sansa clip mp3 player (which is already loaded with audiobooks) and a purple Haiku bag (which is already loaded with a sock knitting project, in addition to all the usual purse related items).

Best gift I gave:
My mother loved the finished Morning Surf Scarf, which came out great--and which I forgot to photograph! I will have to get a picture the next time I see her.

Holiday happening most likely to be remembered by my children many years from now:
My brother is hard to buy for, because he is well-off and he buys whatever he wants for himself. So last year I started the tradition of making him a raspberry pie for Christmas. My grandmother used to make wonderful ones, and he really misses them, so that is a gift that means a lot to him. In September I went to a local farm and picked the raspberries and froze them, and then I brought them to his house to make the pie on Christmas day. I hate making pie crust (sorry, Carole! The feeling of flour on my hands drives me crazy!) so I use the premade kind that comes already laid out in a foil pie pan. I made two pies (one raspberry, one raspberry/apple) and put them in the oven; then I almost forgot about them so I got a little panicky about getting them out quickly before they got too brown. I got the first one out, then grabbed the second--and as I was moving it to the counter the pie pan bent in half and I dropped it: SPLAT! Hot raspberry pie all over the floor, the cupboards, etc. Thankfully no one was standing nearby to get burned--but the kitchen/great room was full of people and there was just this shocked silence. Then everyone started trying to console me. I didn't cry when I dropped the pie, but as soon as everyone started being nice to me the tears of disappointment started. After a few minutes my SIL came over to start cleaning up the mess, but my brother yelled "No!"--and he grabbed a spatula and scooped the main part of the pie back up onto a plate. He said, "I've been waiting for this all year and I'll gladly eat it off the floor if I have to!"

And he did eat it, with vanilla ice cream, and he said it was great, and with tongue firmly in cheek he noted that there weren't even too many dog hairs in it. (Blecchh!) He ate the leftovers for breakfast the next day, too. That's true brotherly love for you. DH and my other BIL ate some, also, but the rest of us politely declined.

I guess that next year I'll actually follow the directions on the package and put the foil pans on a baking sheet. There will be pie jokes in my family for years to come!

So probably what my kids will remember from this Christmas is that Mama dropped the pie and cried. But what I will remember is that we all enjoyed being together, and that we cherished every minute, acutely aware of the wonder and the fragility of it all.

Clearing Out The Cobwebs

The last six months really kicked my butt. Prior to the loss of my father, there were several other situations that were slowly sucking bits of joy out of my life, and then--well. The summer was awful. Now I mostly feel tired and scattered and overwhelmed, and while I am currently managing to keep track of the kids' activities and the laundry and the grocery shopping and oh, right, going back to work after nine weeks off, I certainly don't have much energy to spare. (And I certainly have not been keeping on top of the housekeeping.) I juggle and I juggle and I keep waiting for the balls to drop.

But. Small steps bring me forward. I laugh with my kids. I make time for a date with my husband, for an evening of knitting with a good friend. I try to keep things in perspective. I breathe deeply and try to stay in the moment. I do not feel hopeless. I try not to feel guilty about the cards I have not written, the thank yous I have not said, the good things I meant to do but didn't. I will get there, eventually.

Overall, my life is good. I just have to get back to living it.

I Was Expecting Locusts Instead

Thank you so much for all the kind comments following the death of my father. It really does help to know that others are thinking of you during difficult times, and I appreciated each and every note.

Although the past few weeks have been sad and draining, they also included many moments where I laughed through my tears. My father was a renowned smartass and I heard several new stories about him from friends and family members. His funeral was standing room only, and our many gatherings after his death were truly celebrations of his life. He was not a saint, but he was a wonderful husband, brother, and father. And I am lucky in that my grief is uncomplicated by bitterness, regrets, or unfinished business.
Now it's back to the minutiae of daily life. Everything is different, and yet everything is the same. I seem to be operating in a bit of a fog, but it's not unlike the months of sleep deprivation following the birth of a baby, and I have a track record for surviving that with only a minimum of psychosis.

Unfortunately, daily life lacks no excitement around here. A week after my father's funeral, at 10pm on a quiet Friday evening, my enjoyment of the audio version of Book Seven was interrupted by a loud popping noise followed by some rustling and a huge thud. I looked out my front window to see what was going on but my vision was obscured by a rather large oak limb.

Rather impressive, wouldn't you say? We are incredibly lucky because it did not damage the house at all, and no one was hurt. The arborist who came a few days later told us that the tree itself was healthy, but that this particular branch had developed a rotten spot that no one could have seen prior to its break. Just a random, scary thing. Since we already had to pay for the tree removal, we did choose to have that same arborist come and remove dead limbs from three of our oaks.

So. You would think that after a cancelled vacation, a volunteer commitment from hell, the illness and death of a family member, crashing tree limbs, and the as-of-yet-unmentioned-here death of our second car, the rest of my summer would be smooth sailing. But that would be a lot to ask. I joked with my sister that I was expecting locusts or plague next.

We got a bat instead.

He (or she?) showed up on Wednesday evening. DH and I spent several hours trying to direct the damn thing out of one of a multitude of open windows and doors. To no avail. At 1:30 a.m. he finally disappeared into a hiding place behind a built-in cabinet that even the "bat guy" could not access on Thursday (exorbitant fee notwithstanding). On Thursday evening Mr. Bat made another grand entrance and we THINK that he did fly out the door around 9pm. There were no witnesses but he has not been seen since.

Let me just note that I can handle many things, but bats are not on that list. There was much freaking out and anxiety, and possibly the beginnings of a nervous breakdown. I am on the edge, I'm telling you, and the rest of August better be kind or who knows where I will end up.

On a final note--and one that is actually knitting related--there are socks and a scarf in progress. This photo is several weeks old; I have now turned the heels on these "tiger socks" for my seven-year-old (in colors to match her favorite Webkinz).

I have also mostly finished the scarf below, which is knit from two skeins of my handspun. This picture was taken partway through when I discovered a small problem with my yarn; can you see what it is? More info and the details on my correction in a later post!

No Replacement

Three days after I got my driver's license, at the ripe old age of sixteen, I was in a minor fender bender. It was arguably my fault although I still deny that. Luckily, no one was hurt, but the front end of my parents' car was a bit mushed in. My dad was out of town that week, and so my mother helped me to sort out the immediate aftermath. But after dinner she gently told me that I needed to call my father and tell him what happened.

Now, my dad was known for having a bit of a short fuse, as well as a bark that was worse than his bite. And I never liked to disappoint him or make him angry. So I may have whined and sobbed a bit while my mother dialed the phone. Nevertheless, she handed it over to me and I choked out the story of what had happened, tears streaming down my face.

My father listened and then there was a silence while I braced myself for his response. And then he spoke to me calmly, without anger or annoyance. I don't remember the exact words that he said to me, but it basically boiled down to this: "Cars can always be repaired or replaced, but people can't. The important thing is that you are all right."

This was a man who had his priorities straight.

My father passed away early this morning. Unlike my banged up car, he can never be repaired or replaced. But the essence of those words that he spoke to me over twenty years ago will live on in the values that I pass along to my children. There was never a day that I doubted my father's love for me; there was never a time that I was not secure in the knowledge that he was there for me. This is the kind of wealth that can't be measured, and I am so lucky that he passed that on to me.

An Abbreviated Vacation

I'm back from eight days away, and re-entry sucks.

The first part of the week was about salvaging our family vacation time. We ended up spending Saturday to Wednesday near No. Conway, NH, where we visited Storyland;


explored Diana's Bath;
played mini-golf; and ate good food at the Moat Mountain Brewing Co. (I had the "New England Quesadilla", which was filled with pureed butternut squash, cheddar cheese and chicken, and then topped with apple chutney and cinnamon sour cream. Mmm.) We also did some letterboxing, which deserves a blog post of its own.

It wasn't a relaxing vacation, but it was enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the second part of the week entailed me spending thirteen hours a day at Dartmouth/Hitchcock hospital, where my dad was a patient, while DH did the single parent gig at home (2.5 hours away). I had four days without my kids--the longest time I have ever been away from them--and I even had some time to knit...but it wasn't exactly a vacation. The good news is that my dad is now back in rehab and doing better, although there is no cure for the many things that ail him (congestive heart failure, diabetes, possible Parkinsons, etc.)

My return home has been a bit rough as my girls seem to be punishing me for abandoning them for four days. Getting this package in the mail did help:

It is my spoils from winning a contest on Jessalu's blog. She sent a copy of Charmed Knits, plus navy and gray sock yarn for some Ravenclaw socks, plus a size 1 Knitpicks circular needle, which I'm looking forward to trying. She also included some chocolate (Godiva for me, kisses for the kids) and a gorgeous notecard from the Blue Moon sock club. Thanks, Jess!

And opening this box reminded me that I opened another box right before my vacation, one that I forgot to blog about. It was my prize from a "funny pet story" contest on Bev's blog:

She dyed the roving herself, and I am anxious to try it out once the weather is a bit cooler.
Now I have to go and figure out what a 941 form is and how the hell I file it. I am currently hating my volunteer responsibilities!

Regrouping

Thanks for all the kind thoughts and ideas. (Carole, the Craig's List idea was particularly good--I never would have thought of that!) We are now officially regrouping and moving on. As I told some other Internet friends, I may be a whiner, but I'm a resilient whiner.

The current plan is that we will head up to the White Mountains in NH and spend a few days there. One of DH's coworkers nicely offered us the use of his ski condo, which is about five minutes from Storyland (kids' small theme park). There are also some kid-friendly hikes and lots of outdoor things to do in that area. From there we may meander north to see my family, or we may head to Vermont to visit some friends. It will be a week of wandering about and "playing it by ear", which is a challenge for my planning-obsessed self, but it has the potential to be good. Not what we planned, but good. (Any yarn store recommendations for that area? I might need some souvenirs.)

I am still sad because this was the first family vacation we had planned that felt like it really would be a vacation for ME. As many of you know, "vacations" with young children are often just "parenting in a place where you don't have all your stuff" and they can be more stressful than relaxing. So I was looking forward to Star Island because I could be with my children, and enjoy them, but also get lots of down time where I could sit in a rocking chair on a big porch, look out at the ocean, and knit. It's hard to let go of that. So yes, I am counting my blessings and I am thankful that we can plan a nice alternative vacation, but--well. I'm done with the whining.

The somewhat funny bit is that I am renowned among my family and friends for having "cursed" vacations, beset with inclement weather, sick children, and lack of sleep. So today I looked at the weather forecast for home and it was lovely.

The weather forecast for New Hampshire? Rain.

Hey, at least Storyland won't be crowded.

Vacation Disappointment

For months we have been looking forward to spending a week--NEXT week--on Star Island, as part of a Unitarian Universalist Family Camp/Conference. We just received word that the conference is cancelled due to some structural/fire safety issues. DH and I are devastated, and I don't even know how to break the news to my six-year-old.

While there is really nothing that can replace the experience we were planning, we are desperately seeking some other ideas for our vacation time. Given that it is the 4th of July week, our chances of finding an affordable rental on the Cape (or anywhere else near in or near New England) are slim. If any of you have ideas or thoughts, PLEASE please let us know.

And even if you don't have ideas, please keep us in your thoughts. While this is a small disappointment in the grand scheme of things, it is a huge disappointment to me. The past few months have thrown some curve balls my way and I was really looking forward to a week of relaxation, with all my meals prepared and programming in place for my kids. I'm feeling pretty low at the moment.

The Good, The Bad, and The Sheepy

The Sheepy
I made it to the MA Sheep and Woolfair in Cummington on Saturday. Unfortunately, I was herding some hot and unruly children, so it wasn't the most relaxing day for me. But it was fun to run into some blogging friends and to fondle all the fiber. The girls made some felt balls, and--with help--my eldest spun some yarn using a CD drop spindle.
Believe it or not, I bought no fiber. Not a bit. But I picked up a pair of small hand cards because I want to experiment with doing some fiber/color blending for some felting projects.

The Disappointing
I couldn't make it to Cate's blegger because I had to go to Home Depot. On a Saturday night. Why? Because my bathroom looked like this:
Yes, it's phase two of the bathroom renovation, and of course it's taking about twice as long as we planned to get everything done. This picture is actually from Friday. By Saturday DH had ripped out the cabinet and vanity and the rest of the ugly blue tile, and by Monday he had most of the drywall up. Next weekend he'll work on the wainscoting. Good times. (Did I mention that this is our only full bathroom?)

The Fabulous Get-Up-And-Have-A-Dance-Party Day
Anyone recognize the guy in the green jacket?
If you don't, you clearly aren't the hip parent of a child between the ages of two and six. Yep, that's Dan Zanes, and we saw him perform in Burlington, Vermont last week. My kids loved the show, and the new musicians that are performing with him were great. One of my "mom" friends who attended the concert with us noted that his music is the current soundtrack of her family's life, and I must admit that his songs accompany a lot of our activities as well.

The Mouth Watering
I won a copy of Simply in Season Children's Cookbook in a contest on Liz's blog! The girls loved looking through it and they are now so excited about going to the farmer's market this year. I always enjoy reading Liz's blog; not only have I learned a lot about the politics of food from her posts, but I have successfully made yogurt and started tomato plants with her help. Go check out her recent post on making mozzarella cheese, because you'll be reading more about that here soon.

The Bad
Allergy season. Love the flowers, hate the pollen.

The Great
I have arranged to take eight unpaid weeks of leave from my job this summer, with the goal of being home with my kids and taking some time to relax and Just Be. (And maybe knit/spin/play the ukulele.)

The Bad
Part of the reason that I took leave is that my father's health is rapidly failing, and I anticipate many drives to northern NH in the next few months.

The Utterly Overwhelming:
I have been a member of a lovely private pond/swim club for seven years. We have about 160 families that share a fabulous property. It is completely volunteer-run, with lifeguards being the only paid staff. This tiny beach area has been a lovely oasis in my life, both physically and mentally. So last year I joined the board. Which was good. This year I was talked into being vice-president, which has also been good. But then there was an ugly situation and the president of the board quit suddenly in mid-May, two weeks prior to opening weekend. I am now unexpectedly in charge of....well, everything: taxes, audits, insurance, property management, payroll, and about thirty other things that I do not know how to do. I know I have the skills to do all these things, but I do not yet have the knowledge, and I feel completely overwhelmed and anxious. Thankfully the other board members are great and we are all pulling together, but this first month is going to be very difficult. I have lost a lot of sleep over this, and I have spent a great deal of time sorting through the 50 years of files that arrived at my house in a jumble looking like this:
This is so NOT how I planned to spend my summer vacation.

And, Last But Not Least: The Thank-Goodness-I-Get-A-Night-Out-Tonight
Am heading out with a friend to see the Yarn Harlot in Northampton. I'm not the one driving, so look for me near the cash bar.

Finished Projects!

1. My six-year-old and I decided that having a cast should never get in the way of being fashionable.

2. I succeeded in an attempt at purposeful spinning. The yarn is what I had planned and envisioned, which is not always the case for me!
Details: 2.9 ounces of Navajo-plyed Corriedale, from a Grafton Fibers batt, approximately 250 yards sportweight. There are scarf plans afoot.

3. My husband finally finished tiling our (only!) tub and shower, which was last seen on the blog looking like this. He did a beautiful job. The second photo is a detail shot of the accent tile we chose.

Now we just have to tear out the rest of the bathroom ....

Unusual Use For A Crochet Hook, #37:

Scooping out the small toy that my (supposedly bright) six year old stuck under her armcast for "safekeeping."
Sigh.

Raising Her Up Right

6yo (reading magazine while eating breakfast): Mama? Don't you think it's kind of mean that the female lions have to do all the hunting?

Me (distracted): Umm...yeah.

6yo: It's not fair. It's like they are the servants for the king of the jungle. But they are lions too, just like him.

Me (paying more attention): Right, that does seem unfair.

6yo: If I was a female lion, I would just stay home with the male lion and let the other lions do the hunting.

Me: You would?

6yo: Yeah. Well, no. Actually, I would tell all the other females to stay home, too, for like a year, while the males hunted. After that we could take turns.

Eye Candy Friday: Lion Family With New Cub

Syracuse (NY) Zoo--12/28/06

One Nice Green Leaf

I am guessing that most of you are familiar with the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle, but for those who aren't, here's the scenario. A cute little caterpillar is born and he spends a few days eating some nice leaves and fruit, and then one day he goes on a binge and eats through a pile of crap: chocolate cake, ice cream, salami, lollipops, etc. And he winds up with a stomachache. The next day he eats through "one nice green leaf" and then he feels much better.

Shortly after we arrived home from a week of holiday meals and treats and travels and sleepless nights full of coughing children, DH poured some raisin bran and some vanilla soy milk into a bowl and he told me, "I'm having one nice green leaf." I knew exactly what he meant.

And so, my New Year's resolution is to eat some nice green leaves: literally and figuratively. Amidst the stress and the responsibilities and the treats and the chocolate, I'm going to be sure to leave room--no, to make room--for the healthy and the moderate and the simple.



And, oh yes--I'm going to learn to play this.

It is green, after all.




~More details about Flea Ukuleles can be found here, although this particular color can only be found on the Dan Zanes website.~

I Spy Happy Holidays

'Tis the season for squinting. ;) **(Click on photo to enlarge a bit.)

Can you spy, with your little eyes,
Some things from our family's past year?
A toy plane represents our cross-country trip
And a coaster our visit to Mt. Rainier.
Lots of small clues show the things that we like:
Find Katy in a beach chair and Jim up on his bike.
There are girls in a bike trailer, a pencil from first grade,
Simba from Broadway's "The Lion King,"
And a special mermaid.
A seahorse light from the Tacoma Zoo,
Knitting needles, Friendly's crayon, and Scooby-Doo.
Now look again and you might see
A small gap where a tooth should be!
Bunk beds for big girls; rockin' crocodiles;
Dance recitals and happy smiles.
As the light in our chalice shines bright and true,
We send the happiest of holiday wishes to you.

**Idea from Family Fun

The Good, The Bad, And The WTF

The Good: I'm still here! And I'm fine!

The Bad: I've been a pretty sucky blogger this year.
I hope that Santa will still bring me some knitting stuff.

The Good: During my blog absence, there has been some knitting and felting and crafting. Woo-hoo!

There are cotton chenille washcloths to be gifted.

There are snowmen to share with friends.

There are ferocious mittens that ate my daughter's arms. (Hopefully they will soon be felted into docile mittens that will fit my coworker's hands.)


The Well-Intentioned But...
My final gift from my Secret Snowflake at work. (AKA "What happens when nice Muggles buy yarn--and random needles--instead of gift cards.") The stitch markers and the double points will be useful, but the yarn may continue on to a new home.

The Good: The bathroom renovation continues, and now includes running water!
The Bad: But no shower.
More Bad: Or, um, tile.
DH really planned to get the tiling done before now.
But then the dryer broke and he had to take it apart.
And the bunkbed ladder fell apart and had to be repaired and glued.
And--oh right--he had to take care of the kids so that I could go to spinning guild. (Which is WAY more important than finishing the bathroom, right?)

Maybe Santa's elves know how to install tile?

The WTF: My 6-year-old came home from school today and proceeded to tell me all that she learned about alcohol and drugs today in her health class.
I guess I should be glad she learned about them from the gym teacher and not from her peers, but since when do they talk about drugs to first graders?
She now plans to count every drink I have over the holidays.
Sigh.

Scenes From Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a quiet Thankgiving this year. It was the first one we've spent at home in eight years. I generally like going to family holiday gatherings, but I was looking forward to a long weekend without traveling and obligations. And having no plans turned out to be a good thing, as both kids came down with illnesses on Wednesday evening (one with a cold, one with a stomach bug). So I cooked a big dinner for DH and myself, and we've been eating leftovers for two days. Yum. ;) I have also spent lots of time puttering, organizing, making holiday lists, knitting, and needle felting, while simultaneously listening to the audio book of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. There is much at my home to be thankful for this year, and I am trying to take some time to appreciate that.

Zoe with her cupcake creations, at a pre-Thanksgiving dinner

On Friday we went to a local balloon parade. The weather was fabulous, and the crowds were large. Below is the new Hello Kitty ballerina balloon:

And here is The Cat In The Hat, bowing low to get under the traffic lights:
I hope you all had good holiday celebrations, whatever they included.

One.Word.At.A.Time

Stolen from Etherknitter:

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.

No.
Explanations.

1. Yourself: exhausted
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse): exhausted
3. Your hair: rumpled
4. Your mother: lovely
5. Your father: generous
6. Your favorite item: ????
7. Your dream last night: none
8. Your favorite drink: coffee
9. Your dream car: chauffeured
10. The room you are in: sunroom
11. Your ex: long gone
12. Your fear: regrets
13. What you want to be in 10 years? healthy
14. Who you hung out with last night? MIL
15. What You're Not? perfect
16. Muffins: bran
17. One of your wish list items: vacation
18. Time: short
19. The last thing you did: yawned
20. What you are wearing: sweats
21. Your favorite weather: crispy
22. Your favorite book: audio
23. The last thing you ate: pie
24. Your life: busy
25. Your mood: relieved
26. Your best friend: blessing
27. What are you thinking about right now? spinning
28. Your car: moneypit
29. What are you doing at the moment? this
30. Your summer: beach
31. Your relationship status: comfortable
32. What is on your TV? nothing
33. What is the weather like? gray
34. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday

The Search For The Perfect Mittens

In New England, kids definitely need warm mittens. Up until this winter, Zoe (age 3.5) has relied on store-bought ones made of Polarfleece. But as she is definitely old enough to spend more time actually playing in the snow this year , I decided that those would no longer suffice. Wool mittens were required. I remember, all too well, days of sliding and skating wearing pretty hand-knit--but acrylic--mittens, that were freezing cold once wet. As a knitter, I could not possibly wish this upon my own child.

I could have just made some of the fulled mittens that are made with nice thick yarn and then shrunk; those knit up quickly. But I wanted something a little more--ahem--"difficult" looking. (I'm sure that there are no other knitters who have such ego issues, but I'm trying to be honest here.) So I dug out my old copy of "Fox and Geese and Fences" and my new copy of "Knit Mittens!" (both by Robin Hansen, and both wonderful) and pored over patterns until I found one that was relatively simple while appearing fairly complex.

For those of you who are not familiar with these "Maine mittens", Robin Hansen refers to them as "double-knit", but this does not mean that there are two layers of knitted fabric as is the case with true double-knitting. Rather, these are more like fair-isle using 2 strands of wool, so that there is always two layers of yarn. The result is a thick but pliable mitten, with a pretty pattern to boot (to mitten? hmm).

After an initial gauge disaster (no, I did not swatch--so I take full responsibility for the frogging that ensued), I am now on track, and hope to finish these up before the cold weather! (And the Yarn Harlot should take note--these are, indeed, being knit on old Boye colored needles.)