Bird's Big Day!

Big day for my Panda loving Bird.

Not only did I finally give in and try my hand at this
manicure that I found on pinterest.

But I also whipped her up a new hat to match.

I used a G hook and left-over yarn from the not-hand-knit bunny slippers.  I made the hat from this pattern, but I used the ears and face from this pattern.

She is exceedingly happy, but I think I might have screwed myself.

Pork Chop is positive that a similar giraffe hat must exist.  And Sweet Pea has proclaimed that I must make her a zebra hat.

And she needed that hat yesterday.

And if she doesn't get her zebra hat stat I will suffer her wrath.

I scared to tell her I'm all out of white yarn.

If you don't hear from me in the next 48 hours be sure to tell the police to investigate Sweet Pea.

Don't be afraid to use this post as evidence against her.

Feeling Zen

The other night The Greatest found me in the kitchen, quietly weighing my yarn on the kitchen scale.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm weighing my yarn."  Because weighing yarn is what everyone uses their kitchen scale for right?   To be quite honest I don't think our kitchen scale has ever been used for any sort of kitchen purpose, like measuring food.  I'm always using it to weigh my recycled yarn.  I've got no idea what the yardage on those yarns are, but the weight combined with the wpi gives me a helpful jumping off point.  The only other time I've seen the scale being used is when The Greatest was using it to weigh Meaty's pine wood derby car.

But The Greatest must not have felt weighing yarn was such an ordinary thing because he followed his question with another question.

"Why?"

I explained to him that I was worried about running out of yarn, so I wanted to see how much yarn I had used, and how much yarn I still had left.

I had used about 100 grams.  I was over half-way through the body.  I had 160 grams of yarn left.  On paper I should be just fine.  I had way more weight total than the pattern called for.  But I have a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I'm going to run out of yarn when I knit the sleeves.

He agreed I should be fine.

I told him "Well, I really won't know until I know.  Then I'll know."

And isn't that how life goes.

You don't really know how things are going to go.

Until you know.

Then you know.

If only I could be as zen about other aspects of my life as I am with my knitting.

A Whole Lot of Nothin'

I've been trying to blog since Friday.  I just can't pick a place to start.  I can't find words or a story or an interesting angle.  I got nothin'.  So here are some random pictures with commentary.

Meaty stayed home from school today.

He and The Greatest have spent five hours playing Call of Duty something-or-other.

I'm pretty sure he is going to school tomorrow.



I've been really loving living in that tiny slice of life where it is warm enough to open all the window, but not hot enough to require the air conditioner.

This lovely slice of life usually lasts about five days.

I love having our windows open.  I love feeling the breeze.  I do not love the smell of the air when the local farmer fertilizes his field.  But I do love snuggling deep into my covers as the cool breeze blows.

I do not love going to the library and having a dust storm blow through coating absolutely everything in the house with a fine layer of ick.

On the plus side Sweet Pea is getting really good with her letters.




We had our first tiny ripe cherry tomato.

It was delicious.  It was warm and tasted like my childhood eating the sun-warmed vegetables out in the field at my Grandparent's farm.  I'm not sure we were allowed to be out in the field eating the sun-warmed vegetables, but we did it anyways.  And they were the best vegetables ever known to man.  And this is what my tiny ripe tomato tasted like.  Mmmmmm...childhood.

We also had our first plant die.  The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh.  And I'm sure the death of the plant had nothing to do with my mad watering skillz.  Absolutely nothing at all.  It isn't like I got really busy and didn't water the plants for three days in a row or something bad like that.

My boy dog likes to sit in the dog door.  I'm not quite sure what he is doing.  Is he guarding the door?  Is he watching the comings and goings of the humming birds and lizards.  Is he just indecisive on whether or not he has to poop?  I can't even begin to fathom the inner workings of his head.  But he cracks me up when he does this.

I love my baby being sweet with my baby.  Makes a Mother's heart swell with joy.




And finally my knitting.   From a humble pile of hanks...

My knitting grows...

And grows...

I'm hoping it becomes a sweater when it grows up.  But I seem to be using hanks of yarn at an alarming rate.  Since this is yarn from a frogged store sweater, so it isn't as if I can run out and get more, I really hope I don't run out of yarn.

And Then This Happened

I know it seems like I've been doing an extraordinary amount of knitting for Sweet Pea lately, and maybe I have.  But I can't help it.  She's so tiny, and it takes so little yarn to knit her something.  It is really cost effective to knit for her.  Plus tiny little girl sweaters speak to me.  I am powerless against the cute.

So a few weeks ago a woman at my knitting/crochet group was destashing yarn.  And there was the cutest pink/purple/white variegated yarn, and a coordinating solid purple yarn.  Seeing as how purple is Sweet Pea's favorite color, this yarn just screamed her name.  And since there was only one large skein of the purple and two smaller skeins of the variegated  it was simply destined to be striped into a pint sized sweater for my pint sized pea.

So I poured over sweater patterns on Ravelry.  I choose, and compared, and swatched.

Ok.

 I didn't do that last thing.

But I did narrow my choices down to one champion.

After all, there can be only one.

A little striped smocked top, with cute little caped sleeves, and just one button to hold it closed at the neck.

*squeeee* Oh the cuteness.

I die.

I knit and I knit and I knit and I knit.

And when I try it on to check the fit

She declares it needs to have long sleeves.  And more buttons.

Seriously kid?

You win some, you lose some.

I think I'm gonna go cast on something for me.

All In An Afternoon

Seriously, one afternoon.

Not even the entire afternoon.

Just, like, two episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

I was relieved/disappointed it went so quickly.

Knitting with pom-pom yarn is not for the faint of heart.  I used size 10.5 needles (the biggest I own) and cast on 10 stitches.  I knit two stitches and let the poms lay in the ladder between the stitches.

I'm not gonna lie.  I hate this yarn and it hurt my hands like nobody's business.  I think it is evil and might be a crime against nature.  Even if the scarf is so smooshy and cuddly.

I hate it.

But she is so happy.

It was totally worth it.

Unfortunately, I purchased four skeins to make this scarf.

Only one skein of yarn was actually required to knit this scarf.

I had plans to trade the excess yarn on ravelry.  Or donate it.  Or give it away.  Or sacrifice it to the yarn Gods next time I need a knitting miracle.

Only Pork Chop and Bird really like this scarf too.

I smiled and agreed it was cute.  No way on this green earth was I going to admitt that I had more of this yarn.  Probably enough to squeak out another child and a teen size scarf.  Did I mention my hands ached.  From only two hours of knitting.  No way was I going to set myself up for that kind of misery.  I can be full of hate and self-loathing, but even I have my limits.

Then Meaty piped up and announced "She has three more skeins of the yarn."

He totally sold me out.

That kid is getting coal in his stocking.  And when he looks at me with his big hazel eyes full of misery and disappointment and asks why I will tell him "You know what you did."

And he will know.

Bunny Butts