Merry Merry Christmas!

Our tree finally has an angel.  Wanted to share this with you and wish you the merriest of holidays ever. 

Now finally...

My socks!

The Schlep backpack!

I finally got the pictures taken.  I finally got two more projects out of the "To Do" stage and they are now "Done."  Rah rah ree, kick them in the knee!

Socks are out of the yummy yarn I got when LMSS's little one was on the way and the backpack was my tutoring child's inspiration and request.  I carry a bag in that pattern but it has regular bag straps.  She asked if it could be made into a backpack and that's all she wrote!  She picked out the fabrics from my slowly shrinking stash (HAPPY DAY!!!) and here it is!

Thank U (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

And now for a moment of immaturity...

A friend stopped by today to drop off my kids and her daughter.  She had been watching them while I did a mad dash of grocery shopping (with kids it takes 2.5x longer) and her daughter is staying the night tonight at my house while she goes out.  Totally normal thing, a swap "this" for "that" arrangement, always is going on with mothers of young to middle age range children, the other half of the swap sometimes happening simutaneously or weeks later, all of it coming out in the wash eventually.  I was feeling totally fine until my daughter ran up to me with a huge cookie cake, all smiles, exclaiming that I needed to look at it.  I was puzzled (it's no one's birthday) so I looked at it and it just had a huge "thank you" to me on it.  I pasted on a smile, intentionally not huge, talked my way through the drop-off, went inside, put the 3 kids outside with bathing suits and the sprinkler, and proceeded to grumble my way through putting away the groceries.  I don't like cookie cakes.  I didn't want a cookie cake.  Why do I now have a cookie cake.  If you want to spend money on me, my purse needs replacing.

Let me explain myself at the risk of being ungrateful.  This is a friend who is extremely vocal about being health conscious, frugal, and knowing what everyone individually wants.  Keep this in mind and add that she brought me a greasy, chocolate chip cookie cake that runs about $28 (I know because I footed the bill for two of them birthday season) and I don't even like sweets (dark chocolate yes but 80%; Hubby is the cookie cake nut).  We as a family ARE very health conscious, on an EXTREMELY tight budget, and have to watch our sweet intake because we have certain other family members who feed us and don't care about that one bit, thus sweets get offered LOTS. 

Gifts like this causes two reactions in me, neither of which I'm proud of:
1)...the odd Monty Python-like skit in my mind where John Cleese is my dad, me saying "But Fahhhtha, I don't WAHHHNT it" and him jumping around me saying, "Yes you do.  Yes you do" and me just smiling on the outside hoping I'm fooling everyone...
...OR...
2)me telling the person "You know I don't like this."

I have done both.  The first one makes me feel like a doormat/liar and the second, I suspect, makes everyone else think I'm a b*tch.  So where do we draw the line?  Where does this get solved?  There are all those self help people who say "Be true to yourself" and all those feel good conventions that have lovely stories about how wonderful people are when they are grateful for what they have.  How do we solve this, people?

This brought to mind an episode where the Bee received something and she became upset because it wasn't what she wanted.  Hubby and I consoled her like most parents would, telling her the person didn't know and be grateful for what she receives because she doesn't have to get anything.  I told myself that, but it didn't make me feel any better.  There is still a stinky cookie cake on my counter that I'm going to have to (ack) eat or (frown) give away, regretfully contributing to someone's weight problem, hurting my witness of healthy eating and care.  There is also the issue of me facing her daughter at supper tonight, knowing that she will report everything to her mother on what was done with the cookie cake (kids are great like that; cookie cakes are their dream so isn't it every adult's?  And adults can buy them anytime they want, too!).  So I wasn't reaching much balance in this problem.  Throwing it away is also an option but that seems wasteful and would definitely get reported back.

I thought about what the friend would want me to do.  She would say that she would want me to tell the truth but I don't think she would receive it well and would feel like a failure in not making me happy.  I don't really want to deal with her constantly reminding me by trying to make it up ("oh, sorry, I brought a cookie cake for your husband so I brought a completely different dessert for you"), or making excuses ("sorry, I know you don't like this but it's all I had"), or trying to accommodate my tastes (my tastes are definitely not everyone else's and really, now that I think of it, it's not that big a deal).

Throughout putting groceries away and all this running through my mind I remembered something I have said several times: I love working with kids because they actually try to do what we teach them, unlike the parents who don't, WON'T, and should know better.  I realized that even though I might not get THE ANSWER for this problem, I should follow my own parenting advice and be grateful (even when I don't want it), don't pin my happiness on someone else's actions, and work with what I get, whether it's to keep or to give away.  Do I understand it completely?  No, but I don't want to be one of those parents who fusses at their kids to be responsible and then won't do it themselves.  I'd rather be a good example and strive for the answer than the b*tch with only my interests in mind, not considering the other person's mind state, gift habits, and/or personal guilt.

Dear God, please grant me the grace to accept people for themselves, not what I think they should be.  Please help me be happy through me, not others actions.  And most importantly, help me BE the person I tell my children they should be.  No lip service, please.

Thank you for your time.  I feel better now.

Beginners luck

Car pool is back to being my personal/sock knitting/phone call catch up time, sometimes one of the above, sometimes all of the above.  This has given me lots of time to work on the socks for me (no pics yet, alas) using the lace pattern the Bee picked out.  Totally loving using a pattern in the foot/leg of the sock; it makes the foot go so much quicker and the lace pattern I'm using is stretching out the yarn just right.  I might get 3 inches on the leg which is ideal.  I was expecting something close to ankle socks but am glad they aren't as extreme ankle as I thought they might be.  I'm a size 10 foot so there is lots of yarn going that length before even thinking about turning the heel!

The other day I had realized I had the foot long enough and was trying to figure out where in the yarn pattern to stop or do a little extra without having complications when the short row heel was finished and it was time to join the heel stitches back to the top of the foot.  I've never done this before and wasn't really thinking about the complications about the lace pattern exactly, more the past experience of not realizing how short a short row heel is and not doing the foot long enough, thus having a sock an inch too short with a heel finished and me chewing nails because I don't want to frog a heel.  (Don't ask me why frogging heels can be so daunting; I think it has something to do with the magical way some unseen force suddenly transforms the questionable tube into a sock , the knitter being only a pawn in this game of love and war, and to undo the miracle would be sacrilege.  Or at least make the knitting gods mad at your insolence and consider striking you down.)  Well, Harriet (my knitting muse) was on my side this time.  I quickly looked over everything, thought "ho hum, I'll finish this 6 row slant, stop before the knit only row so I have that knit only row to collect my sanity after doing the heel and before starting the pattern all the way round and do my heel."  Gave me a little extra length just in case and seemed to make sense. 

That evening I knitted the heel (DID forget to put the extra stitch I had on the pattern side back on the heel side so I was working with 29 sts instead of 30.  Oh well, just one little stitch) and was looking at starting the leg when I realized that not only thank the good Lord I had that "knit only" row to get everything even, I did not even think about the way things were slanting and needed to slant when starting the pattern.  I don't have much experience with lace.  Things go every which way.  I was having to start the pattern on a no pattern side and for the zig-zag to look right it needed to go left, not right, and I was so lucky to have stopped on the beginning of a "go left" slant. After some prayers of thanks (I really didn't need any progress in my life halted) I continued on and I'm almost an inch into the leg and everything is looking great.  I've been tempted to try it on but haven't.  Partially I'm concerned about stretching the lace pattern when the leg is still in it's infancy but the other is worried I've done socks too short, yet again, and I don't want to give these away.  As you can see from above, frogging is not an option, and I don't want any more fictional divine characters mad at me, vowing to wreck havoc on my mudane existance.  Or at least not just yet.

Slow but steady wins the race

AAnt's afghan is actually being worked on.  I'm using up all my old acrylics for it in a queen sized bedspread/blanket.  The yarn skeins are nice and wonderful colors, especially for him, and I'm thrilled to have the excuse to use them all up (that whole "moved on/destashing" kind of thing) and I'm crocheting them one line at a time, either single or double crochet depending on how wide I want the stripe.  It takes a while to do one stripe so I think he'll get it birthday of next year.  It was supposed to be his birthday gift last year with this year as an alternate but I've since gotten realistic and discovered how much fun reading is.  Thus, I'm doing a line whatever night I feel like doing it and enjoying watching the skeins slooowly disappear.

There's also been a sock-in-progress traveling around with me and I'm very excited about it.  It had started as another plain toe-up sock in a lovely skein I had picked up a year ago while visiting LMSS.  The yarn was so expensive I split one skein to make a pair of ankle socks but have since realized that if I throw a lace pattern on the top of the sock foot and leg I can spread the yarn out more.  The Bee (SuperGirl) picked out the lace pattern she liked and I got to work.  It's turning out beautiful and works wonderful with how the yarn's colors are placed. 

Socks in the dead of summer

 (Bear with me here.  I'm not quite sure why this is sideways but I don't feel like spending the time to try and fix it so just work with me.  :)  )

My lovely m-i-l's socks that I, somehow, finished in a whirlwind of joy at midnight last night.  I was certain I was still going to be knitting on them today, finish and rush home to wash and get after them with a hairdryer (wait, we don't even own one!) to get them ready but no.  I actually finished on my set deadline, washed them last night and they were drying on the dryer damp this morning.  They are a little crinkly (the yarn) but they turned out cute and so totally my m-i-l.  I can't wait to gift them tonight.

I hope she doesn't read this blog.  Does she?

Black cabled wrap

The pics as promised.  It's knitted in Debbie Bliss' Rialta which is merino superwash wool in whatever color number black is.  It held the cable shape superbly, making the wrap have more body than drape which is what the pattern calls for out of linen.  The wrap I own in this pattern that Mom did is out of bamboo.  I love all the varieties and this one totally fit my sis-in-law.

Sha-la-la-la, shame on you

I'm brewing a cup of tea, musing over a few people I know, thinking of things I would like to do to let them know how I feel about them and their life decisions.  The "what to do" has reached the level of me visualizing tearing pictures of them into little tiny pieces.  This is totally not mature, totally not rational, the idea that their life is their life and it's none of my responsibility/business is totally irrelevant, and the rational/mature side of me is shaking it's head, saying "tut, tut, shame on you."  But I'm finding strange pleasure in thinking this and I'm not sure I like that.  See, over the past few months I have been trying to "rise above" and mind my own business, love people but keep my head about it, and make firm, calm, fair decisions about the emotional state I'm in and the emotions I choose to show.  Do you know how hard that is once you start trying to do it consistently?  It's so hard I feel like I'm going backwards instead of forwards with it.  Maybe I only feel that way because I'm now paying attention to things.  Maybe I'm being thrown a curve ball to see how much I truly want this.  (The latter I doubt; I try hard not to think of life this way, but still.)  But whatever the reason, I know I'm better than this so why do certain insignificant things get to me like this?

Some light got shed on this, or at least a new way of thinking, at the conference I was at last weekend.  It was a wonderful trip with the fabulous co-workers I'll soon be around lots and lots to the neighboring state's preschool teacher convention.  (Those ladies can sing, I'll tell you, but I guess that could go without saying.  They are all pre-school teachers and everyone knows we sing all the time.  But I digress...)  Several of the sessions I chose to go to were about the emotional states and what teachers/parents could do about them and one quote struck me.  It didn't talk to me totally as a pre-school teacher but did more as an adult.  It's as follows:

"Our emotions will manifest, or communicate, our character, our value system, the lies, or the truth, that we've based our life on."           Dr. Robert Roberts, Spiritual Emotions

So what to think?  Am I feeling this way because I'm a closet control freak or is it because I can't stand making mistakes (ah, the perfectionist in me, eh?) thus when I see other people doing things that are 85% of the time considered by the experts to be "mistakes" I have a reaction?  On the other hand, should I stop being so self-centered about all this and turn the quote on these people that aggravate me and think "Hmm, they are feeling guilty and trying to hide their actions, thus the behavior and subsequent actions" ?  Either way, it's something to think about.  Am I really getting the quote at all?  Either way, this quote has me thinking and trying to listen to what emotional trigger I have going off so I can see what part of my mind is trying to talk to me instead of trying to change my emotional reaction to something more p.c.

So no conclusions yet but hopefully I keep truly moving forward instead of back in this endeavor.  Just wanted to share the quote and story.  My tea is ready and I'm looking forward to it.

The Life Pursuit

I have a new happy in my life.  It's a little red cd/radio that fits nicely on my kitchen counter.  It was a freebie of Mom's from some book order.  I can now listen to whatever I want while cooking without blasting everyone out of the house!  The only cd player was in the front room and I can't hear it over the vent or dryer in the kitchen; ask me about the time I was listening to White Stripes while no one else was home.  A friend biked by, on the street mind you, and said it sounded like a frat party.  I was flattered.  I don't think I ever did that 14 years ago.  But, the even better thing is I CAN PICK UP KSCL (Centenary College radio station).  I was cooking breakfast one morning, enjoying myself, radio on, and Hubby came in grinning, saying "I feel like I'm back in college."

Wrap is finished.  Pics soon.  It'll be gifted tonight.

...and a Monday holiday is for cleaning???

Today has been great so far and I'm not being sarcastic, either.  We, all four of us, have been cleaning.  Nothing was safe: under beds, floors, base boards, bins, behind curtains, blinds, everything got a once over and was cleaned out, donation considered, and appropriate action insued.  And it was totally not my idea.  Yesterday Hubby had been on a mission to find all the marbles from a birthday present given to Little Guy and got up close and personal with the condition of our front room.  "It's DIRTY!" was the comment.  All he got was a stare from me while I thought of what to say.  (In the past, every time I was fretting about needing to clean the house and life not letting me he would say "You just cleaned it.  It's fine.  Relax."  Advice that made me grit my teeth and resist screaming "You don't understand me!!!!"  I'm fully aware that our house at it's dirtiest is cleaner than 50% of all the houses we visit in a year but we have a small house with no carpet so any little thing tracked in makes lovely dirt bunnies that congregate in various spots and hold conventions.  Those are what I find when I'm opening and closing doors, trying to walk out of the house to run errands, so I am constantly reminded that while I'm cleaning other peoples houses, mine is laying to waste.  Well, maybe not that extreme, but it's sure not being cleaned.)  So I simply smiled and said that the vacuum cleaner was in a closet and he is more than welcome to clean the house.  That led to discussions which led to more discussions which led to the conclusion that everyone would help and we would take one room at a time and get everything in ship-shape order, then Daddy would come in with the vacuum and get all the icky dust up while the other 3 of us cleaned up the next room on the list.  It's worked like a charm and the kids are old enough to really get down and help so they really enjoyed it because we all were doing it together.  I'm really glad they helped because that freed me to do some extra cleaning and I found that we were having an interesting unintentional science fair experiment using our bathroom floor on what bacteria can grow underneath a potty training chair and the different smells they can emit.  I'll use Little Guy's word:  YUCK.  But it is now cleaned and washed and conclusions noted.  Who cares that we didn't have a hypothesis in the first place, all in good fun.  It was Albert Enstein who said "If we knew what we were doing it wouldn't be called research."

Eventually I'll get to my knitting today.  I've got 6 days to my deadline on the cabled wrap and it's coming along ok.  Almost halfway.  The Bee has put in her vote to watch "Bye, Bye Birdie" this afternoon as my knitting movie and I think I'm all for that.  Little Guy said Thomas the Tank Engine and I think we can swing both.

Another funny story related to the cleaning up/out.  I was going through all the kitchen toys given to us that we decided needed to go into storage when Little Guy came swaggering through with his birthday light saber.

"When Darth Vader comes I'm going to fight him," he said.

"Sure, but we have to vacuum your room first," I answered.

"Ok."

Just to let you know, Hubby was Han Solo but since the gifting of the light saber has been deemed Darth Vader.  He had run across the street to his parents to return something.

Limerick

There was a big fuzzball of stress

With an insane wicked grin, none-the-less.

I asked it to tea,

Kicked it hard in the knee,

And immensely enjoyed it, I confess.

[to my fellow stress addicts, continue to kick it's a$$.  It's an amazing mental image and helps melt the tenseness away.]

Something old, something new

Life has settled into a high paced, but at least consistent, schedule.  I am at Mom's helping her rehab her knee, cook for the FabFam, and clean house while potty-training Little Guy.  (That's going great by the way; only a few minor accidents when he gets tired in the evening or too busy playing to go.  No sweat because I had kids that still did that in Kindergarten and 1st grade.  I totally got this!)  We are borrowing Mom's car to keep it active;  she can't drive anyway so I'm her chauffeur.  HaHa! City @ the Port, look out!  Hubby has our car and we aren't having to dash about getting everyone everywhere so that has been a nice change.  The Bee (who is also SuperGirl, that name just fits her better now) is almost finished with school so that's one less errand to do.  Also having her around more to play will be a nice change for both Little Guy and me.  We've missed her during the day.

While cleaning and passing the time at Mom's I have been knitting away at a s-i-l's birthday present.  It's a wrap and a lovely one at that.  I don't care to knit wraps (or scarves for that matter) because they are hideously boring to me so this has been a special labor of love, especially since she wanted black.  Why, do you ask?  Um, you can't see it.  At all.  Like the yarn totally disappears except under bright lights.  And this is a wrap with cables which kinda ups the excitement factor a bit when there is a mistake, which I tend to do because I'm usually knitting this while watching some movie or show ("Fantastic Mr. Fox" was truly fantastic but I had to rip half a row out because I forgot to cable) that I find more exciting.  At the moment it's Sgt. Cribb and I've managed to avoid disaster so far (knock on wood).  

I'm nearly halfway through it and I highly recommend the pattern if you like, or don't like!, knitting wraps/scarves.  The gauge is large enough you can see a quick growth but not so big it's a bulky piece.  The cable row is easy and happens every fifth row so just when you get stuck establishing a k-p switch pattern there's the cable to make it pretty and change it up.  Pics and a link (if I can find it) to the pattern/pattern name will be posted once it's gifted.

While making myself knit on this I've been cleaning out things at Mom's like closets and drawers.  I'm boxing up things for Snakeman (congrats on your latest addition!) and trying to work through all that's still here that's accumulated through the last 30+ years.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.   This has earned me weekly trips to Goodwill and a local used book store and some rare gems of finds, some I get excited about, some not so excited.  I won't go into details on the latter.  :)  In the fabric boxes I found some pajamas that I had cut out to sew back in '99 and a little doll dress that I wasn't sure who made it but all it needed was a hem and snaps to finish.  I took them home and am proud to say they are finished.  I wore the pajamas last night and the Bee now has another not-naked doll (4 down, too many to go).  I couldn't imagine why I never sewed up those pajamas and had wondered where the fabric pieces had gone for years.  While sewing it up and trying to figure out what needed to go where (the pattern itself I'm sure was donated years ago) I realized why I had discarded it.  I had gotten too industrious on sewing shirttail hems and had hemmed the sleeves too soon which meant they would take some extra figuring to fit them on the shirt.  I apparently didn't feel like doing the figuring or ripping the hems out (knitting I don't mind so much but sewing I HATE ripping) so I dropped it like it was hot and went on my merry way.  11 years later it took me maybe 3 minutes to figure out the difference, make it look right, and sew that puppy up in under an hour.  I make myself laugh.

Sweater!!

...and now, the sweater!  It was perfect, if not a little more roomy than expected.  I actually ended up shortening the pattern by 3-4 inches because it was starting to look huge.  I simulated the folding by safety pinning what I had already done, accounting for the 2" ribbing I needed to do and tried it on.  Crikey, I did need to stop!  It was nearly too long!  It's still roomy enough to pin in the front when it gets cooler but totally breezy enough to wear in case I get caught in a too-well air-conditioned building.  It's cotton so it's heavier than normal but I like a little weight.  It sometimes tries to slip off my shoulders but that's a minor element of design flaw.

Curtains!!

Aren't they darling!  They came to me while shopping for pillow stuffing and I had strolled by the quilting fabrics only to take a peek, not to buy, about 4 months ago.  They've been living in my closet through all the project/financial reckoning/upheaval like an illegitimate child that was fun to get but I gotta tell the Hubby some day, who cares that he had known I had bought the fabric when I did and didn't care; I still felt guilty spending money on fabric that wasn't direly necessary even though I couldn't stand the curtains that were hanging there.  What had been there were blue broadcloth gathered-at-the-top, shirttail-hemmed-at-the-bottom-sewn-only-to-get-windows-covered-but-never-no-never-were-going-to-hang-for-nearly-4-years-because-I-would-get-around-to-making-decent-ones-before-that-long.  They were made too long (accidentally), were too blue for the kitchen (honest mistake, I love blue), and just, well, needed to go.  These are perfect, bright and sunny, have green at the top with a blue accent at the bottom and ties, and were actually measured to correctly fit the windows.  I'm such a better seamstress now than I was 4 years ago.  Maybe that's why I didn't get around to sewing them until now.

2 shoe day

The sweater is coming along nicely (10" left!), I finished the alterations and will be mailing them today, SuperGirl is a little sick so I have 2 kiddos to keep me company, I actually feel like sewing my kitchen curtains (doing this allows the old blue makeshift curtains that have been there for 4 years to retire and be made into a back for Hubby's and my t-shirt quilt), and I found my saddleshoes.

http://www.amazon.com/John-Fluevog-Erika-Spectator-Cappuccino/dp/B001B2IZH6/ref=sr_1_3/184-4241859-6511710?ie=UTF8&s=shoes&qid=1274880847&sr=1-3

Any takers to buy these for me?  Who cares that I have really picky feet and have gone to Vibram 5 fingers (which are awesome by the way, especially if you like being barefoot; I call them my frog feet because I do look a bit flipper-y in my size 10 feet).  I've been dying for saddleshoes for years.  Might possibly have to find some high end store to try them on...  but buying them is out of the question.  I can admire, though!

cozy-ing up...

Knitting away and it feels grand.  That's about 13" in the picture, enjoying it's time with Little Guy's foam block building.

The link to the pattern is below.  You'll probably have to join Lion Brand to view it but it's free and they have great patterns.

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/90687AD.html?noImages=&service=801&letterId=55418

Everything's not lost

It's all go at our place.  The house is being re-plumbed, I did NOT have to baby-sit a friend's kids at 8 am (It's in another week; got the dates wrong.  Good thing I called her first while heading to her house; she was a little confused as it was and had a house full of out of town family so two more people showing up might have been a little much at breakfast time), I did have to call another friend to make sure she could watch Little Guy later in the morning (get to clean-out classroom at new job!  Exciting!) and in exchange I'm watching her two kids while she runs to the bank, I have alterations to do but not possible due to needing to steam iron and there is no water but yes plumber in the middle of my kitchen, and I've suddenly rediscovered knitting.  This afternoon is still watching all the extra kids so we'll see how that goes if I still have no water.  Lucky thing the in-laws live across the street; we'll still get showers tonight without crashing Mom and Dad's house even though I know they wouldn't mind!

But about the rediscovered knitting thing.  It came as a slow, but sudden, surprise.  I was worried I had burned myself out totally but I couldn't bring myself to "get rid" of anything.  The knitting stuff didn't want to be ridded-of.  It bore me not ill will.  The yarn, the needles, the two WIPs left were sitting there tucked away, not feeling neglected, just patiently waiting for Harriet to visit me again and show me what they wanted to be made in to.  I had to take a breather.  In the end I've come out better.  I'm not tempted by new yarn like before.  That's a REALLY good thing for a person on a budget.

But I digress...

I had frogged that cotton cardigan and put it away but it stayed on my mind.  I wasn't sure why, especially since I had had such relief when I frogged those other projects months ago.  This one wouldn't go away.  It sat there wimpering, wanting desperately to be made.  A few days later I had some time on the computer and started going through Ravelry's shrug pattern index.  I had thought maybe there was a free pattern somewhere that just might work and it was worth a look; I wasn't losing anything if I didn't find it.  They have a great selection, by the way.  Totally worth joining Ravelry.  They also list right off if the pattern is free so you don't have to go to the pattern to check.  We need free.  We like free a lot.  Paying for a pattern means waiting till the truck sells and that's driving me batty enough as is.  I was amused with myself because lots of the patterns I liked from the pictures ended up being free anyway and a majority of them were from Lion Brand.  I didn't think I liked Lion Brand's stuff that much.  I ended up finding 2 patterns that were perfect in the first 12 pages of the list.  I printed out both, figured the yardage I had and what I would need, one worked and one didn't, and I got to work.  It's a simple, slightly loose shrug, knitted in a 32" by 38" rectangle, 4 sts=1" gauge, 2" of 1x1 ribbing on CO and BO edges, and 2 seams to sew when finished (fold it in half matching rib so is continuous, exclude 7" on fold side for sleeves, and sew up!).  It's cool enough to carry around this summer if I get caught in a cold office, washable so I can wear it to teach school, and warm enough (and big enough) to wrap up in and layer in the winter.  I thought the 34" of stockinette in the middle would wear me out but I find it nice and zen-like this time around.  The yarn is happy, the needles are happy, the pattern is following deminsions perfectly, and I feel like a cat purring making biscuits when I'm knitting it.  I already have 7" knitted after 2 days.  Crazy!  2 days!  And one of those days was half occupied doing those alterations I needed to do.

I am still thinking about selling/giving away some of my books and magazines though.  I've moved on and would like them to go to good home.  Any of you who are interested and remember something I have you would like, email me and let me know.  The only things not going are Elizabeth Zimmermann's books and a few of the sock knitting books.  Just let me know!

Open up your eyes

Well, the sweater didn't even make it to the final stages.  The pattern called for picking up only 60 sts on the whole left front side and there was no way that would happen even if it was the length the pattern called for.  I tried the Ravelry thing and no one posted any problems so that meant 1) I was the problem or 2) the pattern was one that everyone could spot the issues to begin with and didn't attempt it in the first place.  I washed the pieces as they were and the darn thing didn't even shrink (better quality dishcloth cotton than I thought!) so it's going in the frog pile and will make a nice cotton cardigan sometime.  Just not now.  And I'll need a completely different pattern.

So everyone, when your project looks like it will fit an elephant and it's not supposed to, don't rely on the shrinking/blocking theory.  Quit and start over.

The fabric of our lives?

I've been taking a break from knitting which means there is only 2 things in the works:  a sock for M-i-l's birthday and a light, cotton, mostly sleeveless sweater for me.  It's knitted in 3 parts (back, left front, right front) and I've finished all but the right front.  For some reason, it's taking me the time equivalency to do that one than the back and the other front.  I have several theories why:  I've actually burned myself out on knitting (the horror!), I have other things to do that are more important (the HORROR!), and when I sit down in the evening or go somewhere I don't want to be carrying yet another thing I have to finish (YE GODS!  WHO IS THIS WOMAN!!!)

So anyway, LSU is playing baseball badly, we are at the I-Ls (in-laws), and I am determined to finish this thing and sew it up within the next week at most.  Why?  Because I really need to wash it and make sure it's going to shrink as much as I thought it would.  If it doesn't, I got another too-big sweater to give away and I'm sure there are several readers of this blog who would love it.  Me?  I might just cry.

Sing a Simple Song

Cleaned out the cds today.  Little Guy had done a number on their order system these almost 2 years he's been mobile and it had gotten downright impossible to find anything other than the cds we had bought since the last time he "rearranged" everything.  I've kept my musical plethora (is there any other way to put it?) in 2 identical cd shelves all these years since college and they've been living next to my side of the bed in our bedroom (no other place to put them in the house) along with my knitting WIPs and yarn stash. When Little Guy could crawl and felt like visiting me (usually I was folding laundry or something) he soon discovered this and, totally ignoring the yarn and bags thank goodness, he proceeded on numerous occasions to take cds out and put them back.  Sometimes they went on the same shelf, sometimes not.  Sometimes they were upside down, sometimes labels didn't show, and sometimes they were stacked on top.  Sometimes they were left on the floor for me to find.  NEVER were they in the same spot or organized genera.  NEVER were they in any way shape or form anything but chaotic in their order.  He never tore them, took the cds out, or threw them; he only wanted to arrange them.  I did try to stop him on several occasions but due to the evidence above, didn't hold to it because, well, he really wasn't hurting anything other than my need for order and it kept him busy while I did whatever it was I was doing.  So what if I couldn't find my Lovin' Spoonful Greatest Hits when I needed to get that "You Know You Gotta Make Up Your Mind" song out of my head.  I at least knew it was there somewhere.

In the midst of all this financial redo-ing I've been cleaning out (I know, I never needed a financial situation as an excuse to "clean out") and it had hit the point where everything had been gone through.  Even the two storage boxes of random electronic junk had been cleaned out 4 months ago when we were on the search of the Sirius satellite radio (a search that continues to this day).  All closets, Christmas decor, dishes, cabinets, shoes, kid clothes had been organized and cleaned out at some time in the past 6 months and the WIPs had been dealt with, including stash stuff.  Even my fabric was organized.  All had been distributed, donated, and anything not being useful was gone.  I kept thinking that there was something else I wasn't cleaning out, possibly avoiding, and it didn't come totally clear until I cleaned out the truck of all the cds what that was.  The music collection.  It had to be next.

Before I was into much anything I was in to music.  Not all kinds but I've always enjoyed good music.  And I bought a lot of it.  It never bothered me much because everything I bought I listened to a lot.  Now times have changed, tastes have changed (but some are the same), and some things get collected for the sake of collection, not for true listening appreciation, and those things needed to be weeded out and moved on.  I needed to take off the rose colored glasses and be perfectly honest with myself on what I will continue to listen to and what I have not and WILL NOT listen to ever again.

It was a little wistful, a little painful, and a little dirty.  They had gotten dusty.  The Beatles were hanging out with 1995 Boys II Men and Prodigy (I told you he did a number on my organization) and Coltrane was lost in the middle of Bob Dylan.  I did find Lovin' Spoonful and now have that song stuck in my head again.  And I was reminded yet again of my crazy fascination with 60s rock and funk.  LOVE that stuff!  It's kind of funny how rock has kinda gotten back that way and those are the current bands we are listening to and own.  I could tell what we had fished out and listened to because they were in stacks rather than lined up in rows and in even a crazier order but at least were more current.  Gnarls Barkley and the Raconteurs were staying cozy with Flight of the Conchords and Frank Sinatra could still hold his own (that's Hubby's cd; I was always a Bobby Darin fan).  But I digress.  I found the old high school cds that helped me through teenage wasteland and the college cds I bought because it was cool to listen to them and anyone with music sense did, who cares that I didn't really like them.  I found my year of Phish, Rusted Root, and Talking Heads and my long love of Belle and Sebastian (Hubby steers clear of that collection).  I found those cds that I really liked them but HATE now because they became so over played (Paula Cole, leave us be.  Please.) and I found those that I'm not sure why I have them but I still think I need to keep (help!  "Blonde on Blonde" and "Highway 61 Revisited"!  I only listen to "Nashville Skyline" because Bob sings on those, I only like a few songs on the others.  I turn in other cds for that, do I hang on to these because it's Bob?).  I realized I only truely liked Radiohead through "OK Computer"; Kid A spoke a totally different language I knew others appreciated but I'm never going to listen to by choice.  I also have a bigger collection of jazz and swing than I thought (really nice surprise!) and my classical collection is slowly filling out as we broaden our horizons and need the genius of those.  And I'm a harpsichord nut.

So now there is a stack of cds to go now (I think I'm going to wait until I visit LMSS and subject her city to my rejected music tastes; plus there are some pretty good cds in there, I just don't want them anymore), a stack to listen to to make sure I don't want them anymore, and the 2 cd shelves still nearly full but now with things I know we want to keep.  I feel ok about it but I still feel like I could go through it again and weed out more.  Oh well. You gotta start somewhere.  And I'm keeping Sly and the Family Stone to help me through it.

    

Fresh air

It's funny what people ask God for.  It's also funny how God answers.  Sometimes it's somewhat the way we expect it to come where the miracle comes out of the blue and BAM! everything works but sometimes it's not that easy for God.  See, God has to deal with us PEOPLE and our little people ways.  He knows that too.  He knew that I was praying for some kind of answer to our financial stress.  He also knew that hitting me over the head with some answer would only knock me out cold and have me waking up a few hours later not remembering a blessed thing, thus no progress and a painful bump on the head.

It's funny in what ways the answers come.  Ours came in the form of my little brother who got his finances right 6 months ago and decided he wanted to do the same with us because he knew what a load it took off of his mind.  We thought we were ok so I didn't think too much of it until he just happened to plug in our numbers one day a few weeks ago.  What I saw made my jaw drop and brought tears to my eyes.  The only thing he was able to say was "Um, is there ANYTHING you can cut out?" and the only thing I could think was "How in the world have we survived this long?"

We got real.  We tightened our belts and got to work on what we really could live without.  We finally got the emotions out of the way and thanked God that nothing was hurt and no damage was done, we were simply living outside our means.  We had fooled ourselves into thinking we were fine because we're not lavish spenders AT ALL.  So now we are the proud owners of the car we had been leasing and are selling the truck.  We have no tv service (our pediatrician would be proud) and are learning how to really enjoy eggs and peanut butter (not at the same time.)

And it feels great.  Sad at times for giving up the truck but great that we only have a few years of this and everything will be fine.  In fact, everything is fine because we are finally where we need to be: stable.  And that's what I was praying for.

One day we'll forgive you, Georgia Nicholson

I have turned a new corner in my knitting.  I say new corner because I'm not a new knitter anymore, I've knitted the heck out of anything that would sit still long enough to let me for a while now (thus able to read and produce most patterns), and what I'm doing is nothing like what I've usually done.  Hubby calls it "burn out," I call it "re-prioritizing."

Everyone knows of the "Knitted Christmas" that just passed in which, thankfully, everyone appreciated what they got.  Everyone knows how that carried into January and February, trying to catch up on other gifts I said I would do or just thought they were a good idea.  Then there was the frogging of the sweater and baby blanket that not only liberated knitting needles and supplies, but my personal sense of accomplishment.  In the past month I have been knitting on one pair of socks (that's it.  No new sweater, no nothing (um, anything), and I wasn't getting any inspiration and enjoying it) and I was getting sick of it.  Not just sick of the project, but sick of knitting.  I was (finally) looking at the stack of books at my side of the bed thinking "those look interesting."  I was gazing outside thinking "Playground.  That sounds like fun."  Those things have never happened.  So here it is.  I am actually playing outside with the kids again.  I still carry a sock or knitting project to car pool and various appoinments but not to the playground.  Gosh-durnit the kids are only little once and they love that Mommy goes down the slide and plays chase.  I haven't quite caught up to the reading but I'm working on that.  The regular schedule still isn't allowing sit-down time longer than 5-10 minutes but it should soon.  Hopefully the stressors then continue to be eliminated and we aren't running everywhere hauling everyone at all times.

But I digress.  To sum it all up, I discovered that I'm addicted to stress and I'm going to cut that out.  I know it won't be easy, especially since I do get a sadistic thrill of piling on the projects and responsibilities, but I've decided I've had enough.  I'm saying no to anything new and only sticking to the few things left that I can't get out of.  Anything new isn't limited to knitting, it involves lots of parts of my life and the great thing is everyone understands, even if they are a little curious to what all really is going on.  I just say it's nothing that no one hasn't been through before, no one's hurt, nothing serious, just lots of little things piled on at once and I've hit my breaking point.  I don't like going into all of it because compared to most everyone else's problems, mine sound like a whiny little pig.  And I'm also trying to cut out the complaining.  :)

In all this, I also discovered that everything I knit I give away.  I like only a few knitted things.  Everyone else seems to enjoy my knitted stuff more than I do at times so, yes, I will finish my special, for-me-every-day-wear dark blue cardigan one day but the pattern hasn't shown up yet so I will wait until that prince comes.  I really do love knitting and I'm reclaiming it for myself by choosing NOT to do it all times just because I felt like I should be busy at something.

I also had a laugh but a thought while reading the last of the Georgia Nicholson books.  She was talking about one of the teachers she has who's single and a little out-of-touch with the "modern" life.  This teacher had been the one supervising after-school detention and walked with Georgia out to the gate of the school and Georgia was not just appalled to be seen talking to a teacher, but that this teacher was wearing a knitted hat with (of all horrors) BOBBLES!!!  She didn't want to be associated with "knitted people" ever!  I had a good giggle, thinking of all the knitted things I have, have knitted, and people adore but then paused when I realized I hadn't worn much of anything knitted in a while.  I have 2 wraps I wear on Sundays, sometimes as big scarves, and a short-sleeved cardigan I wear once in a while but the hats, the scarves, etc. only came out in the real cold we had this season because it was so darn freezing.  Otherwise, Hubby and the kids wore theirs all the time but me not so much.  Am I really a knitted person or do I just like making things?

Makes you think, especially with the kind of money it's easy to drop on certain hobbies.  Georgia Nicholson is by no means an authority on anything (but very entertaining series to read) but here she unintentionally exposed a personal possibility.  I'll keep contemplating but there's one thing I know no matter what, I love you knitted people.

SBJ camoflauged... with duckies!

 

And I am very happy to say the mommy was thrilled.  She's put in an order for knitted footie pajamas.  I said sure.  Next year.

Recycle day

There comes a time in everyone's life when they have to clean out the dirt in their lives.  Sometimes that's literally what is going on but sometimes it's in reference to the dysfunctional relationships hanging around like a grease ball at the prom.  Mine came in the form of those projects I started knitting nearly a year ago, knowing full well I was knitting enough as it was, and they were still sitting in their bags with all the supplies I had desperately needed for other projects (since finished, regardless) no where near completion.

Like the previously blogged conversation, this has been brewing for a while.  It came to a head last night when I was knitting away at the "Amazing Technicolor Dream Cardigan" while watching "Lost in Translation" (she was knitting a scarf in that, briefly!)  I looked at the WIP and started thinking, "you know, this looks way too small to fit an adult."  I slipped the sleeve stitches on ribbon and tried it on.  Guess what.  It was a little too small.  Getting it over my bust was literally a stretch and the bottom with all the cabling had drawn up so much it was barely seen from the front.  This led to me trying to bend my mind around any way to salvage the project (wider button bands...?), sleeping on it (not literally, of course), and an early morning phone call to LMSS to get the knitting shrink's opinion.  She said frog it, frog it, and don't look back, trust your mind and don't resist.  Stop before more time is wasted, time wasn't wasted because you learned so much from the project, rewind the yarn and use that knowledge to find the RIGHT pattern for it.

So I did.  And I feel so good about it.  I loved the cables but HATED the bobbles and the stripes were all off on my body lines that I wanted to accentuate.  Frogging that led to me taking the other long-a-waiting projects out (just 2 more, thank goodness) and looking at them without the rose-colored glasses.  The Calming Wrap was saved (good construction, good quality pattern) but the baby blanket that resembled a Muppet wig was laid to rest.  It took me an hour to frog that thing and rewind the colors (I considered just throwing it away) but I did it and I FEEL SO GOOD.  It's like finally cutting ties with that loser college boyfriend who was only dating you to cheat off your papers:  there's always hurt and regret but once the weight is let go you feel like you can fly.

My list is updated and it's holding less "to-do."  I'm almost finished with one of the paying "to-do"s and that will be crossed off today.  I have nothing to add to the "to-do" and I'm not letting myself find anything either.  Keep it simple, stupid, I keep telling myself.

And I feel so good about it.

Face-off...?

Had a conversation with myself today.  This occurred after the usual weekly rant to Dad about how I'm tired of certain unchangeable situations in my life followed by the universal question of "when can I have a break?!?!"  Dad, like the wonderful person he is, totally sympathized with me and reassured me like he always does, leading the conversation to me identifying what I can control and simplifying those things until the other situations pass.  That is what sparked this inner monologue that has been brewing for some time, I realize now.

My inner cool, calm, and collected self has been tapping me on the shoulder for the past few weeks, saying "ahem, ahem" (she wears a suit jacket, skirt, and glasses and the color hair I USED to have, looking suspiciously like my husband's sexy librarian fantasies) and pointing to a certain "to-do" list.  This list is a knitting to-do list and not only do I have everything written down in the order to be knitted I have it marked in my pocket calendar on the months it needs to be knitted by.  Not only that, I also carry a mental image of it everywhere I go.  Just as a reminder.

She is not liking this.  The conversation went something like this, Colbert-style, only the frazzled me never wears a suit:

Her:  What's that?

Me:  What's what?

Her: THAT.

Me: Oh, that?  That's my knitting to-do list.  Isn't it great?  It has everything I need to knit or sew for the next 10 months!  I know when the deadlines are and...

Her:  I...MEAN...THAT.  That.  That pair of socks for that person that's due next month.

Me:  Oh, those.  Yep.  Her birthday is next month.

Her:  So you are going to KNIT her SOCKS?

Me:  Yes.

Her:  That takes forever!

Me:  Well... yes.

Her: Why?  You've already volunteered to knit some old lady socks you hardly know, which you should be knitting right now instead of fooling with your daughter's quilt IF you are truly following this to-do list.  Why this one right after it?

Me:  'Cause I want to?

Her: Why?  Has she made you anything?

Me:  Um, no.

Her: Does she make anyone anything?

Me: Yes, all the time.

Her: Does she know you are going to knit her socks?

Me: No.

Her: Has she ASKED you to knit her socks?

Me: No.

Her: Do you even visit with her on a consistent basis?

Me:  Maybe see her 2 times a year...

Her: So let me get this straight:  you are going to spend 20+ hours knitting someone socks who has never made you a thing, has not asked for socks, does not even know you were going to knit her socks, and you see her about as often as you see the dentist, shoving you into the crazy zone when all these socks stack up, causing the things that people DO know about, are paying you for, and you said you would do to be rushed, cussed, and not be one ounce of pleasure to you at all.

Me:  [long pause with uncertainty and a hint of realization that comes with a cast-iron pan blow to the head] Yeess....

Her:  Let me ask you something else.  Who DOES make things for you?

Me:  SuperGirl.  Little Guy.  Hubby...

Her:  Who DO you see all the time?

Me:  Um, the same.  My family.  Some of my friends.

Her:  I only see a few of them on this list.  [sharp eye]

Me:  I think I get your point.

Her:  I hope so.  I'm getting enough gray hair it'll match yours.

Me:  Touche'.

So there you go.  The yarn is going back in the stash bin and it's being taken off the list.  I'll knit socks for her someday (she is a person dear to my heart) but this day isn't it.  Maybe next year or the year after when there truly is time.  I love making things for people but I need to be true to myself and not feel like I need to make something for EVERYONE.  Keep it simple.  And keep the inner self happy.  Simple as that.

Love is in the air

(the pictures are backwards; still haven't figured out Blogger's order reasoning no matter the order I upload the pictures)

SuperGirl's quilt was pieced and stacked yesterday. We took a day off, as in we stayed home because SuperGirl and I were tired and Little Guy still hasn't shaken whatever virus he's caught. I got caught up on the laundry, some cleaning, and moved more projects closer to completion. This quilt was one I was wanting to make some sort of progress on, especially since SuperGirl was home this week for Intersession and I can finally make her sit down long enough to give me an opinion on what she wanted. The above is the result. It's Moda's "Love is in the Air" 5" squares (can't think of the term for them ; they are the little 5" square stacks of sample fabric in a set/theme) cut diagonally and sewn with same size triangle flannel (the purple flowers on white). Pattern is sort of "Broken Dishes" (that was my thought anyway) and I bordered it with some leftover fabric from one of my baby slings. The pink and red plaid was perfect and I really wanted to use it as the back too but SuperGirl insisted on the blue flannel with the bunnies (see Picture #1). It's reversible!

I'm going to hand quilt it eventually (shouldn't take too long; it's only 45"x45" and I'm going to freehand a heart pattern) and bind it in the purple flower/white flannel. I was really excited when I stacked it because I was able to use two big pieces out of my batting leftovers, thus helping shrink that stash bin also! No necessary shopping and another thing on the conveyor belt of progress!

at SuperGirl's request

SuperGirl had asked me back during Christmas why I hadn't knitted her any socks. I reminded her of the conversation we had 6 months previous where I asked if she wanted anything and she said "No thanks, Mommy. I have plenty knitted things." She said "Well, now I want some socks."

Regia brand sock yarn, really fun to knit, toe-up (trying to write a basic pattern with help from a book), kid size, short row heel (which I'd never done and like; I maybe still prefer the heel flap version but this went quick) on circular needles. This is the first sock and I'm going to start the second one tonight once I stop getting distracted by my sewing machine (but I made another really great schlep bag for Mom!)

I'm really liking the socks on circulars. My laddering issues are almost nil as long as I'm paying attention to it at the needle breaks and it seems to go faster because less needle transistions (I'm guessing). It's really easy to use with regular double point patterns too because the Needles #1 and 3 are now all on one of the sides (when knitting with a circular you have only the top foot side and bottom foot side). I also solved my "ssk" issue with the socks. Instead of "knitting 2 through the back" like I had read somewhere to do or "slipping 2 individually knitwise and knitting them through the back" like my sock book said it's (and pay attention because I love the way it looks, it truly mirrors the "k2tog") "slip one knitwise, slip one purlwise, knit them both through the back." I have celebrated by changing my normal sock knitting pattern and go telling it on the mountain. Yippee.

Checkmate

I finally got a few minutes to download the pictures of that baby blanket for Crochet Queen's newest little one. Congrats, CQ!

I designed this to originally be 5x5 blocks but the 4x4 turned out to be such a nice size (and time constraints were getting really tight) I left it at this. All the blocks are knitted the same way but the green are WS to the front (i.e. cream are RS, green are the negative image) to add a little subtle interest. I seamed them together, picked up all stitches on all sides (around 104 each) and at each corner did 1 yarn over for corner space. It worked for these corners because the border isn't too wide but I think I'll plan a little more on where to do the yo if I do this on a wider border because the yo holes didn't go in a diagonal. I can't quite explain what they did do (went more lateral if that makes any sense?) but the great thing is it still looked great.

The Snowy Day

2010 is already proving to be something out of the ordinary. It snowed here last night and I have the pictures to prove it. Funnies are going around on Facebook saying "The Saints won the Super Bowl and it's snowing in Shreveport... is hell frozen, too?" The kids were bouncing around everywhere at the idea they'd get to build a snowman then once they got outside the first thing they said was "it's cold!" We are back in the house with 2 snowmen in the front yard (well, one snowman and one snowbaby; I'm still campaigning for a "Calvin and Hobbes"esque two-headed monster. Maybe when the 9 year old gets here...) having our hot chocolate and I'm trying to structure my day. I actually have some work to do (yippee!) so that's on my list, I have a birthday present to finish (give me 3.5 more hours and it will be!), and I have bills to pay (gag) so I'm going to try my 15 minute interval trick to see if I can get it all done and me still feel normal.

I had briefly considered this Knitting Olympics thing (briefly, very briefly) that has been going around Ravelry and blogs lately. Every Winter Olympics you get a project that's challenging, cast on when the torch is lit and work to have it finished by the times the games commence. I admit it was tempting: plan a full project and work like heck to actually have it finished and then have it finished to forever look at, wear, and say "I did the Knitting Olympics!" Then I thought of the budget, my loving family and the monster that would turn me into, and the fact that my own special Olympics (the Knitting Special Olympics... hmm... but wouldn't you have to be missing fingers or something? Knitting Para-Olympics?) would be trying to get 5 of my already existing projects finished by game commencement. Much easier on the budget, relief to my project stash, still heck on the loving family. So I'm just saying no to the Knitting Olympics and plodding along on my little "to do" list that has all projects scheduled for the next year (no kidding). I'm not allowed to add any more and I've already verbally agreed to 2 new knitting classes I'm designing (which made Hubby twitch slightly) so I'm good. Maybe in 4 years I'll take it on. Maybe projects will be more controlled then. Maybe I'll also have a stationary bike to ride at the same time so I don't turn into a tub of lard the 2 weeks I'm glued to the couch knitting. We'll see.

Homespun

Here is the picture of the "Muse Hat" I knitted. It's supposed to be more lacy but this yarn was slightly too thick to really show off the holes. I still love it. It's perfect, it's me, and the yarn was spun by one of my former sock students from her own llamas. How can you get any better?

I did knit another (see "two for them, one for me") out of baby alpaca but that yarn was a finer gauge. The holes showed up better and she loved it. It was perfect for her. (She told me later that they tried on their hats and scarves immediately when they got home to see how they looked even though it was 78 degrees outside!) I found the pattern about a year ago when I was doing a random search of knitted hats. It's fairly easy and quick and a great way to use up that one skein of really nice yarn hanging around in your stash.

Stepping out

SuperGirl modeling the French Press Felted Slippers. She didn't want to take them off either.

Adventures in felting

(... or I should call it "where in the h*ll is that &*%$ing tapestry needle!?!?")

Excuse the language. I just had a serious lesson in "Don't Believe it Will Necessarily Be a Short Piece of Cake When Everyone You Find Absolutely Loves This Pattern and Doesn't Have Any Problems With It." It's not even that I had any real problems with this pattern. It could totally be the fact that I don't like seaming things, I'd never felted before, the instructions were rather vague for someone in this situation, I kept losing the yellow tapestry needle under my rear on a colorful bedspread, and a 2 year old was trying to help. All that combined doesn't make for an easy process.

The pattern is "French Press Felted Slippers." You can find it on Ravelry and buy it on Etsy. I even follow the blog and you can find references there. In all honesty, the pattern is nice, true to size, could use some clarification on what "m1" technique to use (along with a mystery stitch marker on the sole that's not mentioned in seaming directions and only 1 stitch marker on the top while knitting but 2 stitch markers mentioned in seaming directions), and since it's felted you can just about totally do whatever and knit horribly and everything looks fine in the end. That being said, along with my personal situation statement above, I am refraining from any more criticism of it because the reason of my frustration might just be me.

That morning wasn't going well anyway and I realized first hand that not only did I have lots of curly noodle looking things (see Pic. 2) that were 2x the length and width of a foot (ah, the magic of felting), I had them in 2 colors because I was knitting 2 pairs. (I don't recommend knitting 2 of anything the first time you try it out.) It was nice because I used one pair as a "trial and error" pair and the second was "lessons learned" but even after felting they looked pretty much the same. It took several days for the slippers to dry once felted which was not my brain's allotted time for this to take. The brownish pair you see above is a demo for the knit shop and I had told her they would be ready Tuesday. I was doing all the seaming Monday, another lesson in not thinking in real time, not to mention allowing for the unexpected to happen. The needing to dry for several days was written in the pattern, I just didn't read that far when planning. Oops.

This one I had to pull out chocolate to make it through. For that I might thank it. I did finish the last few steps this morning and the puffy paint pattern on the sole for a non-skid bottom is now what is drying. Will have the final pictures up soon.

Two for them, one for me

For some reason Blogger is turning the sock picture on it's side. I'm not sure how to change it (and I don't feel like finding out at the moment) so just lean 90 degrees to your right and you'll see them a little clearer. The rainbow effect is still there and they look even better in person, as in a little brighter. It's Crystal Palace's Mini Moochi sock yarn: part merino wool, part nylon, very silky, and so far great wearing. When I was knitting it I was concerned that it would be too fragile for socks due to the single ply slight fuzziness. Once knitted it's much stronger and doesn't show any sign of problems.

These pictures have me considering full spectrum light bulbs... I had a full detailed conversation with LMSS's Hubby about those over the holidays. Probably not the best idea cost-wise and I could always start taking pictures outside anyway.

The other picture is a scarf for a friend of ours from church (I did a Noro hat for him last summer and he wanted a scarf to match) and the hat is for his wife (she has no idea about this; I felt she deserved some sort of surprise after knitting so much for her husband) out of [sigh] baby alpaca. She had admired my hat done in the same pattern out of the llama yarn spun by and given to me from one of my former sock class knitters (will post soon; that was the picture with Hubby unintentionally exposed) and I had a single hoarded skein of this baby alpaca with no idea what to do with it. It is a dream to knit (so so soft!) and I can't wait to see how she likes it.

Glorious!

The paperwork is finished. It is in order, filed, and the files have been purged allowing everything to fit in one filing cabinet. Anything that allowed me to go paperless I and anything I haven't needed since 2006 is in the bin to be shredded. (Don't worry, I kept the major stuff; I know better than to do away with past tax returns.)

Anyway, it is a load off and the air has cleared in the house. I'm still a bundle of nerves but that little kernel of chaos has been shaken out, ironed, de-knotted, and put away neatly with everything in it's place. I told Hubby that it's been a gremlin sitting behind that door for the past year, giggling at me everytime I walked past. He simply nodded and asked me what the next gremlin will be, he was sure I'm going to find one. I said probably cleaning the floors.

In the meantime, I am taking deep breaths of everything being fully cleaned out and nothing remaining. I can honestly tell you where everything is in the house. Well, except for that darn car satellite radio. Still can't find that thing after all this! Grits and gravel! But I finally have a system of dealing with the paperwork immediately and it should work as long as I keep up with it. (Isn't that the case with anything?) But really, I think this one will work. For one thing there is no crate for "to be filed." That gets me in so much trouble because it allows me to put it off. There is a crate for "to be shredded" and that is on top of the one filing cabinet we are down to where everything fits. As mail comes in they go in the "to be paid" space or immediately filed if they need to be kept. As receipts come in along with the paid bill statements they go in a bag for me to look over and throw away/shred when I pay bills and reconcile the check book at the beginning of every month (I dispose of it only if it clears). Whatever is left from that gets filed immediately. Whatever is tax deductible has it's own little file folder next to the "to be paid" space. I am so visual I have the "tbp" stack in a spot that is under my nose most of the day so I can't forget about it.

Hopefully this all works. I would like to put that timer on for 15 minute intervals of whatever projects I need to get finished rather than book keeping. You know, that's a great idea: 15 minutes of knitting the baby blanket, 15 minutes of that hat, 15 minutes of the quilt I'm planning. That just might move things along...

(By the way, found out who Venus D'Milo is. I also found out my Art History knowledge is lacking.)

Monday, Monday

What is it with folding laundry being paired with 70's game show reruns? "Match Game" was on this morning and, speaking of that, who the heck was Venus DeMilo?

Did I mention that I had put off the previously discussed paperwork a whole year? I had thought it was just 8 months. Never again. This is way too stressful. I start again with my 15 minute intervals at 0:900 hours.

Hubby's closet decided it needed to be cleaned out yesterday. It convinced us under the disguise of us trying to find the satellite radio. The satellite radio (last seen when we traded in the old car for the current car) was not found but now I have a house where every nook and cranny has been cleaned out/gone through and dealt with within the last 6 months. Hubby's closet is clean and has more room than our bedroom and everything to donate is having a party in (where else?) the dining room with my paperwork.

The kids are home and it is 9:00. Time to start. I also have a stripey Noro Silk Garden scarf calling my name (the 3rd I've knitted so far; they are so pret-tee!) waiting patiently for those 15 minutes off.

Ready, steady...go!

Medusa in the house

So, it's a new year and that means actually organizing that paperwork that has been sitting around in crates behind the 2 year old's bedroom door. I hate that stuff with a passion, especially with how volatile the last year has been, and now it's time to face it, clean it up, and move on. When it's over, it still means meeting with my tax accountant but at least everything will be in order and she only tuts over us some.

The paperwork was waiting for me, sitting in the dining room in it's crates while I was trying to sit on the couch and work on my knitting. I had moved it in there because I knew I needed to do it: New Year's Day was over and reality hath set in. There were still craft projects to do but this was the priority now. It being in the dining room made me face it every time I walked through the house and it was making me cranky. I was having a hard time dealing with it being there, even starting the process, and it was making things in the house tense. The good thing is there is still a rational part of my brain telling me quietly a better way to tend to things and thank goodness I finally listened to it. I am following the advice of a smart woman (Snakewoman, actually) and setting my timer for 15 minutes, working on the organizing really hard, and when the timer goes off I set it to another 15 minutes and do something I enjoy. As a result I have things in smaller piles: personal, bills/tax docs, to shred, office supplies; and a rainbow colored sock that is halfway through the foot. My stress levels are still elevated but not to the degree that I'm eating rocks and spewing pea soup at anyone who asks me "what's wrong?"

It's really sad because I'm going through all the stuff when things were easier financially, all the recipts of the trips, the dinners, the shopping fun, the school purchases for SuperGirl's first day of Kindergarten, everything. I remember how I loved my job, I loved the travelling I did this summer, loved the times I spent with everyone. The beginnings of the projects are there, the finishing of our quilt, the Christmas gifts, everything in it's entertwined creations. During this, I'm fishing out the not-so-nice things to remember: the surgery, the doctor's visits and emergency room visits, the larger than normal bills, the reminders of how things were going to have to change whether we wanted them to or not. We did change, and did the right thing, but there are some things in there I didn't feel like looking at. Those recipts are tax-deductible at least. The fun-time recipts are the ones being recycled. Hopefully that means so more fun times are to come because that's what we are putting back in the mix.

So that's what is going on. Knitting is going on too, but not at the pace I would like it to. I've started a new sock knitting class and I think that will help the birthday present for Ph-i-l be finished in time. I have a pattern to puzzle through and figure out the mistake for my Quilting Knitclass Lady (she's the one who quilted for me and I met through one of my knitting classes I taught; I'm now helping her with some of her knitting projects, i.e. knitting lace.), a baby blanket (the blocks are so cute! Can't wait until it's gifted and I can finally talk about it!), a baby sweater, a s-i-l cabled wrap to start, rainbow socks nearly finished, and all those other projects still sitting around enjoying each other's company. I actually took the yarn for the block baby blanket to "The Princess and the Frog" earlier today. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked (knitting in a movie theater is tricky) but I did enjoy the knitting time and really enjoyed the movie. Didn't think I would but I really did. I recommend it, especially if you have any ties to Louisiana. I also relate more to that heroine than any of the other Disney heroines but don't get me started on the subject of Disney. I'm not every nice when it comes to it.

I did have pictures to upload and talk about but... um, Hubby took them and I didn't realize that in the picture his bare torso showed up REALLY well in the mirror behind me. (he did have his pants on, at least!) Those pics have been trashed (even though he's pretty nice to look at!) and I'll be taking new ones with no possibility of reflection anywhere.