Imagine That

Who would have thunk it? I've got some finished knits to show off around here! And they're my favorite kind of finished knits: Baby Knits!

Pattern: Puerperium Cardigan

Yarn: Telemark, discontinued color: Leopard, 2 balls

Needles: Size 6 Addi Turbos

Modifications:None

Review: Love this pattern! It was a joy to knit, no modifications required. Very cute, very simple lines. Love everything about it. Pork Chop's best friend was getting a little brother and I knit this for him. He was early and is unimaginably tiny. At a month old he is only five pounds. I've seen him, he is darling, but I still can't wrap my head around the concept of a five pound human being.

This sweater is meant to fit a 6-8 pound baby, and it looks like it will fit him this fall. Which is rather perfect. I had intended it to be a light sweater to wear in the chilly air conditioning, but really, whenever it fits is fine. I just love the way it turned out. And the Mother seems to love it too (or was gracious enough to pretend she loves it) so that makes it a double win. I even love the simplicity of the neat little line of black buttons against the light grey garter button band.

Does knitting get any better than this?

Pork Chop

Today is a momentous occasion. It is the 11th anniversary of the day I became a Mother for the first time.

Happy Birthday Pork Chop!

My Pork Chop is by far one of the most amazing people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She is creative, and insightful, and artistic, and hysterical. She is witty, and kind, and scary smart. I adore almost everything about her. She cleans her room. And helps her three year old sister make her bed. She earns straight As and is disappointed when she doesn't earn straight A+s by one lowly regular A. She fills her bag full of candy from the pinata then gives most of it away to toddlers who didn't get to fill their candy bags full of sweets. She is by far a joy to parent and I don't feel like I can take any credit at all for raising such a delightful individual. She just is who she is and she is wonderful.

Happy Birthday Baby. I love you!

Blarg

My adorable pink knit is still unmodeled.

My soft flovable ball of unblocked knit is still unblocked.

My blue blobby WIP knit is still blobby and looks pretty much the way it looked last week.

Must be a Monday morning.

And I just realized my Knitpicks knitting deadline is not July, it is next week.

Happy Knitting!

Friday Lovin'

Oh yeah Baby! It is indeed the triumphant return of Friday Lovin'!

And I'm loving...

"Gnomeo and Juliet." I'll admit it. I rolled my eyes so hard I thought I sprained something when I first heard about this movie. But the kids were being so good I got it for them from Redbox. I don't mind wasting a dollar on a bad movie at Redbox. But I was surprised, this movie is DARLING. I adore it. I'm completely smitten with gnomes now. Which leads me to point number #2.

I'm loving....

my gnome. I mentioned on facebook that I wanted to decorate my entire backyard in gnomes a la Gnomeo and Juliet and a few days later my dear friend dropped this off at my door. Don't I have the BEST FRIENDS?!!!!! And isn't he darling?!!!! And aren't I in danger of having my house stormed by the punctuation police at any moment for my over misuse/overuse of punctuation?!!!!! But my impending incarceration for crimes against grammar is neither here nor there. Back to the matter at hand: my darling gnome. Sweet Pea named him "Fiona." When I pointed out that Fiona is more of a girls name she quickly changed her mind to "Santa Claus." I think it is a rather fitting name for a gnome that resides in our Christmas tree that lives year round on our back patio.

I'm loving....

visits from Grandpa!!!!!!! (there I go again, taunting the proper use of punctuation, what can I say, I live life on the edge!) We all miss you so much. Just the other day Sweet Pea announced her HATRED for the airport because she wanted her Grandpa but he was at the airport, so she hated the airport with all the wrath a three year old can muster (which is a surprising amount of wrath. The airport should sleep with one eye open.) Come back soon!

And I'm loving this picture....

What are you loving this Friday?

Exciting Things

Dear Blog,

Once again we have been kept apart for far too long.

Life is so busy, but the good kind of busy.

The end of the school year came faster than I anticipated.

There are boo-boos to be kissed. And games to be played. And books to read. And hours to waste swimming in the pool. I spend the majority of my day playing drill Sargent overseeing the daily chores. But the upside of this is I no long start my day by making all the beds in the house. The only bed I make these days is my own. Even Sweet Pea makes her own bed (or sometimes she cons Pork Chop into making it for her, as long as I'm not the one making her bed either scenario works for me).

Life is busy, but it is also sweet.

Of course there is fighting, and bickering. And the kids argue too. Some days I want to throw them all out the window and we are only on week three of Summer Vacation. Things aren't always picture perfect. But they're close enough that in a few years the edges of my memory will be fuzzy and all I'll remember are the afternoons listening to Pork Chop belt out songs to Rock Band on the X-box while her siblings cheer her on (she spent hours vainly trying to beat my perfect score on "Dani California" which I earned on my first try thank you very much. I jokingly tell her I earned it cause me and the Chili Peppers go way back. I can't bring myself to tell her it was 25% skill, and 75% luck). I'll only remember the lazy days in the pool, followed by late night roasting anything we can spear on a stick over our fire pit. Afternoons Pork Chop and Meaty spent huddled together plotting their anti-zombie strategies (it is a real meeting of the minds). These are the memories I'm going to hold onto. I fully intend to block the more unpleasant memories from my mind.

All this to say Summer Vacation is in fully swing, and I've been busy.

But we, my dear blog, have gotten an upgrade!

I can now sit with this beautiful view and visit with you.

A generous gift, no longer am I tied to my desktop. No excuses now! I hope to spend the early morning here, enjoying the backyard before the heat of the day descends. Visiting with you my dear blog. Because there is so much to blog about.

I've got a finished knit.

If only I could get Sweet Pea to hold still long enough to model it.

I've got an almost finished knit that is all knit and just needs blocked.

I floves this so much (and no that is not a typo, that's a rather vulgar term that I've become enamored with and just can't resist. Sorry). Wait until you see it.

And I've got something loverly on the needles.

As well as the usual kid cuteness.

I know, I know, you've heard it all before. Promises that I'll be a better blogger, more consistent, more faithful.

I'm not here to make promises. I'm just here to try. And I'm rambling because typing on the laptop is just so much fun. I see many long winded posts in my future until the novelty of my brand new toy wears off. So cross your fingers. This could be fun!

love,

me

More Love Letters To My Blog

Dear Blog,

How the universe conspires to keep us apart.

I got up at 3 am on Friday morning.

Now why on earth would I get up at 3 am on Friday morning?

The old dog is old. And sometimes she whines a high pitched whine hitting that special frequency that makes me what to drive a railroad spike in my ear just to make it stop. She was making such a noise a 3 am on Friday morning.

So I got up and took old dog down stairs and let her out to go potty. Sometimes that fixes the air leak in old dog that causes the high pitched whine. Sometimes it doesn't. On this particular morning old dog seemed to have insomnia. She peed. She checked the perimeter of the yard, ever since the ninja attack she is extra vigilant. She sniffed every single flower. I got bored watching her and waiting for her to come back inside, so I wandered off to the computer to see how many sale ads and offers for penile related pharmaceuticals had arrived at my in-box during the three hours of sleep I had stolen from the night (the official tally was sale ads: 3 penile pharmaceutical: 7). I spent a little quality time on Ravelry. I sat there letting my brain cells die until I heard the bleed inducing whine at the back door. At which time I shut off the internet to let the dog back in the house. I gave her a drink of water and we both went back to bed.

Boring story right?

Here comes the part that made me bang my head against the wall, repeatedly.

At six-thirty on Friday morning I get up with the children and I discover my Windows profile is now corrupt and I can no longer log into my computer.

Everything worked at four am when I went back to bed with the dog. Everything is broken at six-thirty when I get up with the children.

I'm blaming Memphis for this.

She is my cute but evil evil bunny.

I'm pretty sure she was behind the ninja attacks.

My profile was gone. My internet wouldn't work. My files were still on the computer, but not easily accessible. I had no idea what happened.

I know enough about computers to be really really dangerous. And by dangerous I mean stupid. So before I did anything else I knew I had to get my pictures off the computer and onto disks. Three years worth of pictures to be precise. Every time my computer does something funky I scramble to get my pictures off of it. You would think I would learn my lesson and back up my pictures monthly, but no, this is a lesson I refuse to learn.

So I spent my weekend backing up three years of pictures onto 27 disks. Then I created a new profile in windows and copied my old profile to my new profile and so far the only thing I've lost are a few of my internet bookmarks.

But see how the universe conspires against us? Just when I had recommitted myself to our love. My computer crashing? My internet failing to connect?

I hope to be back tomorrow with pictures of knitting, but I'm sure I'll be back Friday with more excuses as to why I don't have pictures of knitting.

love,

Me.

A Letter

Dear Blog,

I miss you.

The other day the children were late for school. It took me fifteen minutes and three drafts to write their letter explaining why they were late and asking that their tardiness be excused. There were ninjas involved. And conspiracies. What can I say, dark forces work against us. I'm pretty sure the office ladies get excited when my children are late. I heard the letter was photocopied.

It occurred to me that I might need a healthier creative outlet.

That used to be you dear blog.

We've been apart for far too long.

Let us never quarrel again.

Love,

Me.

Random

Every time I hear The Greatest's miter saw make its scary miter saw noise all I can think is "Someone is going to lose a finger. . . and it's going to be Meaty."

For the safety of his ten perfect fingers that I worked so hard to grow all by myself, Meaty is no longer allowed in the garage.

Crumb

So this morning I was getting dressed to run the children to school. I was just dropping them off so it didn't really matter what I was wearing. I just wanted to be warm. So I grabbed a sweater from The Greatest's laundry chair.

I suppose I should take a moment to explain the laundry chair. Let me go find picture of what my bedroom is supposed to look like. I know I have one.

Here's my bed.

And see those chairs?

Those are suppposed to be our "hide from the children and talk about our day" chairs.

But instead he has turned his chair into his laundry chair. On any given day it looks like this.

Some of those are clean. Some are not. I let him make the distinction. Notice how the laundry is no longer confined to his chair, but has made a hostile take over of the coffee table as well. I have my bunny holding ground on my chair but I fear it is only a matter of time before he tries to take my chair as well.

Three picture and five paragraphs to say, I was cold this morning and I took a sweater off The Greatest's laundry chair to wear to take the children to school.

It turned out to be the sweater The Greatest wants me to copy for Evil.

HOLY COMFY!

Now I get it. Now I get why he wants fifty more of this sweater. It is a perfect sweater. PERFECT. Usually I change after I take the kids to school and really get ready for my day. But I just want to wear this sweater all day long. I loves it so much. I might go ten rounds with The Greatest over ownership of this sweater. But I would lose cause he's got muscles and all that super special tactical training. So I guess I'll stick to stealing it when he's not home.

*sigh* I suppose I'm going to have to dig Evil 2.0 out of the corner I've hidden it in and finish knitting it after all. And take better notes while I do so I can then knit Evil 3.0 in a girly color. Cause man, this sweater is awesome.

Crumb. I hate when that man is right.

A Boy

And his dog

Should dogs watch tv?

That Time of Year

This can only mean one thing.

ITS HULA TIME!

And I've gotta make costumes.

And with an out of town guest coming this week, and all the cleaning that implies. And a Knitpicks deadline looming. And sick children (it was Pork Chop's turn to puke today). I am busy.

But I learned a new skill today

I can now make hula headpieces from flowers and raffia. Go Me!

There is something about making stuff, when you don't know how to do it the making seems like magic. Especially the making of the bottom headpiece. I thought I might be able to pull off the braided headpiece on my own. Maybe. But it wouldn't have been as nice. I know that for a fact. But when they showed me the red flowered piece and assured me it was simple you just "wrapped it" I felt queasy. And I was sure the queasy had nothing to do with our recent problems with a certain stomach flu. I follow direction well, but sometimes I need directions. And Auntie was kind enough to give me directions. And now I know something new! GO ME!

Two headpieces down. Only one to go. Plus three pau skirts, two dresses, one conch shell turned horn, and an ipu heke to go. And we'll be all ready for the Aloha Festival.

And we've got to learn the dances.

Not much.

Plus my cleaning.

And my knitpicks deadline.

And my sick kids.

It's that time of year.

The time I give up sleep.

Stocking Up

Cause we keep taking turns throwing up.

Today is Meaty's turn.

Just because I own a camera...

So I'm trying to take pictures every day. But I never seem to have my camera ready when I really need it. Like the other day when Meaty was playing with his beetle and our dog came to see what he was doing. They were so cute, the two of them together. I was right there, camera beside me. But by the time I turned it on I *almost* got the shot. But not quite. The dog moved on.

Or last night. We watched Jurassic Park for the first time with our children. Remember when the T-Rex eats the guy sitting on the toilet. He just leans forward and bites hims, and kinda shakes hims around. Meaty and Bird were sitting at the kitchen table behind me eating pizza. I turned around to check on them, because it was an intense scene. And I wish I had possessed the foresight to have had my camera ready. The look on Bird's face was was priceless. Her eyes have never been wider and her hands clasped over her mouth. I think she was afraid to move lest the T-Rex should spy her through the tv. It would have been a great shot. And don't worry. I took her upstairs for some "Wonder Pets" distraction and she slept through the night just fine last night. She is no worse the wear today.

Or Sweet Pea gently pretending to give tea to my toy bunny. It was so sweet. She was framed by the light from my sliding glass door. She was dressed all in pink. I'd even managed to brush her hair that day. Would have been a perfect shot. But my camera wasn't even on the same floor we were on.

Gotta be better with the camera.

Stationary

Still feeling unwell. My tummy hurts when I move. So I move as little as possible. This translates into lots of sitting still on the couch for me. I decided it would be a fine time to finally finish a little project a I started ages ago.

My friend wanted a hat.

So I knit her a hat.

Then it sat in my drawer waiting for the ends to be woven in for months. The longer she waited the guiltier I felt.

So I knit her another hat.

And it joined the first in the drawer, waiting for the final finishing work. Months passed. Guilt grew. I found the perfect pattern for some purple yarn I had purchased with her in mind.

I knit another hat.

But this time I finished all three hats. I've even taken photographic proof that I finally finished knitting for her (because she didn't believe me until I showed her photographic proof). But you must promise to ignore my un-brushed hair and lack of make-up. As I've already stated I'm feeling unwell and moving as little as possible. Brushing my hair would have required a larger commitment of going upstairs to find the hairbrush, and I was unwilling to move that much. You're lucky I got off the couch to go take some bad self-portraits in the bathroom mirror in the first place.

I'm feeling unwell, and that makes me lazy, so I'll just give Rav links to patterns for anyone interested. The first is a Sockhead Hat. I loves this pattern so much. The second is a Jovie The Elf Knock-Off Hat. And I lied. That's not a Rav link. The last one is my favorite, Bertrand Louis. It is a cowl that can be worn as a slouchy hat or folded into a beanie. I'm going to have to make one for myself very very soon. Since I'm still feeling like sitting on the couch is all I'm capable of doing I might go cast on for one now.

A Beginning

Teaching her all my bad habits.

Bragging

Cause this is the place where I can.

Progress Reports came out today.

Pork Chop

Meaty

Bird

Dang, my kids are smart!

Ooooooh Knitting

Knitting posts have been a little thin around here. So I'm gonna do another lazy show-off of something I've knit.

Pattern: Aunt Maggie's Slippers

Yarn: One Strand Wool-Ease? (I threw the ball band away, I'm so bad lately, I don't know what's gotten into me) and one strand Red Heart

Needles: Could not tell you if my life depended on it. Maybe 9? Maybe 10? I know what's happened to the careful note-taker I used to be.

Modifications: I know there were some. I used someone's notes from Ravelry but I don't remember who's notes. And I can't find them. What has happened to me? Can I blame this lack of memory on the fourth child? Or my new meds? Cause this is really bad.

Review: These slippers look big. Cause they are. They're not actually mine. I made them for The Greatest. He'd been complaining about how cold his feet were. We're finally fully acclimated to our new climate and the winters are now bitterly cold to us. We can never return home, people would mock us and point at us. Plus, we'd die from the cold. I've always been one of those annoying people who is "always cold". Cold in the winter. Cold in the air conditioned summer. I hated that about myself. I loved living here and never feeling cold. But now I'm back to always being cold. I wear layers upon layers once again. My children wear layers upon layers. My daughters always have tank tops on underneath their shirts. My son never goes to school with less than three shirts on. We are considering another move closer to the equator so I can once again be warm. I am really looking forward to the triple digit summer. Please come soon summer. But I digress. I'm supposed to be talking about slippers.

The Greatest had cold feet. And they ached. I love The Greatest. And I did not want him to have feet that were so cold they ached. I wanted to buy him a pair of slippers. But we have a budget and The Greatest did not want to budget money for a new pair of slippers. He felt our resources were better spent elsewhere. I worried for days. I stayed up at night thinking about this. I contemplated buying the slippers anyways. I contemplated working the slippers into the budget next month, but that meant a whole month with cold feet. The matter weighted heavy on my mind. I did not want his feet to ache. And then I had the dumbest of "I am so dumb" moments. I am a Knitter with a Capital K. And I have lots of yarn. Let me refer you back to this post for my yarn. I could KNIT HIM a pair of slippers. *face palm* Cause that's what knitters do. We make things to keep people warm.

So knit I did. One strand of wool for warmth, one strand of red heart for durability.

And today I am COLD. So while The Greatest is at work I am wearing his slippers. And I'm not gonna lie. They're pretty awesome. I might need to knit a pair for myself. A better fitting pair. In prettier colors. Cause I'm not gonna lie. These are kinda fug.

Again?

They stay busy with art supplies while I lie in bed and pray for death. I have the stomach flu. Again. Didn't I start the month sick? January was not kind to me. 2011 is not looking like my year.

Don't break the spell

They're not arguing. Had to take photographic evidence. And had to take said photographic evidence through the window so as not to break the magic spell some kind fairy obviously put on them for my benefit.

P.S. do you see the pickle jar?

More on the Boy

Someday someone is going to have to explain to me how carving a car out of a block of wood is going to turn my son into a fine upstanding citizen.

Cause I'm not seeing the straight line logic on that one.

Meaty had his very first Pine Wood Derby today and I must confess I was dreading it a just a bit. But it was actually tons of fun. Tons of fun that I forgot my camera for. Bad Blogger, no cookie for me. There were ten boys in his troop and they wanted everyone to get to race lots of times, so instead of doing a tournament elimination style race they had each boy race each boy, twice.

Meaty's car raced inconsistently. It really liked one side of the track and won on that side of the track every time. But it didn't like the other side of the track, and it was hit or miss on that side of the track. He had a really good time, which is the important part. He did a little "yes" with a arm movement when he won, and he just looked forward to his next race when he lost. He didn't place in the top three, but we think he came in fourth by the "Father's" unofficial calculations. (All the Fathers migrated to the end of the track studying the cars, predicting who was going to win each race, calculating who was winning overall, who wasn't, what they could do better for next year, it was hysterical).

This year, being our first year, was a learning year. We got the lay of the land. Learned how things work, what doesn't work. And next year, It IT ON. The Greatest and Meaty are already planning their design.

I've got to be honest. And I could be burned at the stake for saying this out loud, much less putting it in writing for all the world to see. This is even worse than when I confessed to loving my Knitpick Needles more than my Addis. It is that bad. But you know me. I keep it real.

I'm not in love with scouting yet.

I fear it is going to take over our lives.

At least I've only got the one boy right?

And he's so happy. How can I deny him anything that makes him so happy?

Boys

He wants a pet beetle. This is why I have three girls and only one boys. I don't do pet beetles. I'm a good Mom. Not a spectacular Mom, but a good Mom. I let him have his pet beetle. It currently lives in a pickles jar on the back porch and is not under any circumstances allowed in the house (a spectacular Mom would let him keep it on his dresser, see, not a spectacular Mom, and I can totally live with that, good is good enough, don't want to set the bar too hight for his future wife). He gave it a spider to be his friend (so now it really really can't come in the house). I can't decide if the beetle is going to eat the spider or if the spider if going to eat the beetle, but either way I hate setting someone up to get eaten alive. I know it's "nature" and all, but is it really nature if it happens in an old pickle jar on my back porch? It just seems like a horrible way to die. I don't want to be eaten alive. Girls never make me ponder my own death. This is why I have three girls.

Big Girl

No longer content to dress herself, she must now do all her personal grooming. I guess she got fed up with all the pigtails. So if you see her out in public, you'll understand what's going on with her hair. *sigh* She likes to do things herself.

You'll notice my blogging has been nothing but my random Project 365 pictures. And since I spend my days with Sweet Pea, she is often the subject of my 365 pictures. I hope to someday have time to type actual words. But not today.

Exhausted

Wish I could still fall asleep wherever, whenever, however.

Youth is wasted on the young.

Intervention Time...Again

I can't deny it

The pigtail obsession can not be stopped.

And I've eaten nothing but chocolate chip cookies today. I'd better go find something with protein. Or maybe something leafy and green.

Better

Some days are harder than others.

But

Pigtails. . .

Chocolate Chip Cookies. . .

And a new projects for Knit Picks. . .

Somehow makes everything better.

A good nights sleep and a shower helps too!

My Trend-Setter

I just can't convince her

that leg warmers go on her legs. Maybe she'll start a new fad.

Does this count as showing off a FO?

Is so it is a really pathetic attempt. I'm pretty sure I used a pattern from Ravelry, but I can't seem to find it now. The yarn is Red Heart from Wal-Mart. Fancy stuff around here. Remember the good old days when I thought I had outgrown using Wal-Mart yarn. "It was good for beginners but....." Yeah. I'm so funny. We should all laugh at me. And then immediately write letters to Wal-Mart demanding they upgrade their yarn aisle STAT.

Just a basic ribbed pattern with an easy peasy cable down the center.

And she likes them just fine...as arm warmers *shrug*

I think I knit them on my size 6 Knit Pick Harmony Options Interchangable Needles.

Which brings me to the saddest tale of sadness I have ever had to tell.

It it simply too sad. I can't bring myself to tell it.

I'll just skip to the end and show you pictures instead.

I am beside myself with grief. R.I.P. my beloved size 6 Knit Pick Harmony Options Interchangable Needles. Your colors were gaudy, but your finish was so smooth, your cable so flexible, your joins so seamless, and your tips so perfectly pointed you won my heart. I prized you above all my needles. Even my Addis. You were my favorites. I would knit things on size 6 needles just so I could knit with you. I learned magic loop just so I could knit with you more. I will miss you forever.

Or until I can order a new pair.