Facing Reality

I've know this for a while. Nobody reads my blog for the knitting. I know it. I try to deny it. But you're all really here to see cute pictures of my children, and to read about how such angelic looking creatures shaved the cat. I will no longer fight it.

My proud Seven Year Old...

The Comedic Stylings of Meaty...

The Dance Stylings of Bird...

And my tiny peanut...

The Greatest is sure he sees a peenie in this picture. I think it is too soon to tell. Meaty wants a boy and a girl. When we explained that we could only have a boy OR a girl he settled for three boys. Thank goodness he isn't getting his way.

My children have been surprisingly subdued and well behaved lately. No cat food, no shaving cream. Even the new markers are mostly used on paper. I think they feel sorry for me because the smallest of them all is kicking my butt. I know they are plotting something. I just haven't quite figured out what yet. I think they know this little one will be a force to be reckoned with. He/She isn't born yet, and look how it's worn me down into absolute submission already. I fear the children are just trying to decide once the baby is born if they shall gang up against it and squash it down before it becomes too powerful or recruit to their side. If they choose the latter may God have mercy on us all.

You are so going to want to knit this....

I'm in love with knitting again! I love knitting! I love the rhythm of the needles, I love the flow of yarn through my fingers, I love watching something being created before my very eyes. Socks suddenly exisiting where before there was only potential. And I love not red yarn!

The Bee socks are buzzing along. We've hit a few snags. But every design must evolve right?

The first incarnation

Super cute isn't it! But alas, it was enexpectedly stretchy. Turns out the bee stitch is very elastic. I cast on 60 stitches using sock weight yarn and could fit it on my daughter's head. (Should have taken a picture of that. I'm a bad blogger.) My feet are not small, but they're not that big either.

The next incarnation

I did a gauge swatch! And Math! And I even tried to account for the super stretchy-ness of the bee stitch. Not bad. I liked the way the colors knit up in the first try better, too much orange here. And where did the green go? But there is a kind of cool plaid effect going on. Overall? Not too shabby. But Katrina pointed out the pattern stitch was upside down and she liked it better right side up. I must confess I thought this upstanding mother of three was smoking crack. But the more I stared at my sock and flipped my sock this way and that I realized she was right. The pattern stitch was most definitely upside down and it didn't look as nice. There was only one inescapable conclusion that could be drawn from this.

The sock would have to be knit *gasp, shock, horror* toe up.

So toe up I knit.

I still prefer how the colors knit in the first sock, but this isn't too bad either. Still too much yellow and orange. And I swear there used to be green in this yarn. But the sole of the sock is super cute.

What can I say, I secretly love flashing. Don't hate me. These socks are going to rock.

So in total I have started this sock three times, and I'm still in love. You are so going to want to knit this pattern!

The Crisis is Over...Sort Of

I know this is a knitting blog. It's all about yarn, and sticks, and the intersection thereof. It's all about sweaters and patterns. Sure there are some cute kids thrown in, but really this is a place to show off my handiwork. Because let's face it, no one in my real life truly appreciates my knitting like you do. But the time has come, I can't hold back any longer, I must say it...Yarn...blech. Really can't stand the stuff. The mere thought turns my stomach. It's been weeks, and the sight of the red sweater still make me gag. Honestly, my baby will probably never wear a red hooded cabled sweater. He/She will probably out grow the thing before I can bring myself to finish it. He/She may not even be allowed to wear red in general.

I fear I may have to burn the sweater as a sacrifice to the Knitting Gods, or the Pregnancy Gods, whomever I have angered. Who knows, it might be the Parenting Gods, or the Good House Keeping Gods, maybe the Blogging Gods...I don't know. I'm slacking all over the place lately. Could be anyone. But a sacrifice will be demanded.

Since I am not really knitting lately The Greatest is starting to eye my stash and wonder out loud if we can sell it on eBay for the diaper fund. He has also mentioned a time or twenty all the room he'd have in the office if my yarn weren't taking up so much space. I don't know what he'd do with that imagined room, but he's fixated on all the hypothetical room he'd have if only my yarn were not standing between him and his dream. Sometimes he's really not that Great.

But do not worry. All is not lost! It's Katrina to the Rescue!

We have this random habit of creating the world's smallest knit-a-longs. Just me and Katrina. It's a lot of fun. Trust me, you all wish we would let you knit with us. It started with the Pirate Knitting. Then we knit a poor little sock called Tatiana's Revenge, that never did get a button, or a blog mention. And if truth be told, neither of us ever finished the Tatiana socks. But we're not going to let a little thing like an unfinished pair of socks stop us! We've got a new knit-a-long...Bee Socks.

I am the first person to knit a Katrina Original Pattern. She sent me supplies

You will notice that the provisions included not only the yarn for the Bee Socks (Socks that Rock Lightweight in Sherbet), but an assortment of knitting patterns, and some lovely fawn colored Cotton Ease (Hooray to Lion Brand for bringing back Cotton Ease. Shame of them for discontinuing it in the first place).

How can anyone resist knitting when there is Sherbert colored Socks that Rock yarn? The yarn is unusually soft for Socks that Rock. Cheek rub soft. It's wool, but different from the red wool, I don't get red wool flashbacks when touching this yarn. And best of all, in all those crazy colors there is no RED! There is pink, and darker pink, but no true red. I can knit with this. No gaging, no dry heaves, no stomach turns. Just an irresistible craving for Skittles.

I've been on the receiving end of Katrina's love before. Courtesy of Katrina I am the proud owner of the entire Cookie A Spring/Summer Sock Pattern Collection. And when her knitting guild had a shop hop, she didn't forget me. She sent me a swag bag. Trust me, you all wish you had a friend like Katrina!

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go knit...

This is terribly serious!

I want to thank everyone for the kind words and well-wishes. It is wonderful to share happy news with those I love. And I do love you, all of you. To be honest I'm quite touched that so many people are still checking my poor little blog. Even my own Father gave up on it a few weeks back.

While I am thrilled to be having another baby this pregnancy does not seem to be shaping up the same as my other pregnancies. I was feeling fine for the first week or so after I took the test. Life was good. The Greatest loved his job, my children were happily living in the kiddie pool turning into brown sun babies, and I had a new baby to knit for. Not just any new baby. A WINTER baby! This means hats, booties, and sweaters of all kinds.

I became enamored with the idea of a hooded cabled sweater for the baby. I wanted to knit a little cabled sweater. I have the most wonderful cherry red wool that either sex could wear. It has great stitch definition and would make the cutest cabled sweater. I could feel it in my bones. I had to knit a tiny red cabled sweater. This obsession with a cabled sweater had absolutely nothing to do with the fact the I received the Vogue Stictionary Volume 2: Cables for Mother's Day.

I picked out a simple cable pattern.

Please excuse the bad photography. It's called French Cruller. Because who doesn't like to think of pastries while they knit. I know I do.


The Greatest decided that I should knit tiny baby booties into the sweater. *shrug* Not loving this idea, but I love the Man. And this is his baby too. So textured baby booties I knit.

Again, forgive the bad photography.I'm thinking of adding little yarn bows to the booties to make them stand out more. But that is neither here nor there.

I sailed through the back of the sweater with no problems. I was feeling good. Life was good.

Then we were struck with the flu. The Greatest brought it home, and it wasn't long before Pork Chop and I were infected as well. Even Bird had a mild case. Only Meaty escaped this plague. It was an especially bad bug that stayed for a week. As I laid around and sipped seven up I knit the right front of the sweater, then the left, then the sleeves. I sewed the shoulders and still felt crummy. I knit the button bands and still no relief. I started the hood but nothing made me feel better. I felt so bad I abandoned knitting all together in favor of lying in bed and praying for death.

Finally there was hope. First Bird perked up, then Pork Chop and finally The Greatest felt like himself. But I still laid in bed and waited to feel better. The children had free roam of the house and I didn't care. They ate all 12 packages of Pop Tarts from the big box in one day and I was just happy they did it quietly. Pork Chop learned to run the DVD player and instead of worrying about how much TV they were watching I said prayers of gratitude. Algae grew on the abandoned kiddie pool. The situation was dire indeed.

My flu had morphed into full blown morning sickness.

My other pregnancies were not like this. No morning sickness at all with Pork Chop. A little queasy with Meaty, a little worse with Bird. But nothing like this. I've tried every home remedy known to man, and a few I made up myself. Only vitamin B seems to help a little. And I wouldn't swear in a court of law that the effect isn't psychosomatic. It works because I desperately need something to work.

I'm feeling a bit better and as long as I am careful and take it pretty easy I can function. But here is the bad part. Yarn makes me feel queasy. It's now forever linked in my memory to those first weeks of illness where I just wanted to die. I have no desire at all to knit. Red yarn makes me instantly dry heave. I can not even look at the tiny unfinished cabled sweater. I get hot flashes and have to throw up. I THROW UP WHEN I LOOK AT MY SWEATER! The sweater The Greatest and I designed together for our much longed for baby! Now you know why the pictures were so bad. I could hardly stand to take them this morning. This is serious indeed.

Tell me that like the morning sickness, this too shall pass.

Secrets and Lies

Don't you hate it when a blogger you love just disappears off the face of the earth. Just *POOF* gone. No explanation. No warning. No good-bye. Just gone. You check their site daily hoping for word, pithy writing, cute pictures of children, maybe even some fabulous knitting. Yet day after day there is nothing but the same fuzzy shot of some slightly ugly socks.

Yeah I hate that too. So I'll pretend I didn't just do the same thing by going silent for a month with no explanation. Because honestly there is a good explanation.

I've been sitting on a secret. And I don't do secrets. I can't keep them. Well, that's not entirely true. I can keep other people secrets. I'm very trustworthy with YOUR secrets. But my life? It's a bit of an open book. What you see is what you get. And I don't do secrets. They feel too much like lies. So I'll tell anyone anything they want to know, and a few things they didn't ask about. I've learned to accept this about myself.

It was so hard last year not to talk about moving when we were planning our move. I didn't want to say something too early and jinx everything. But it felt like a lie of omission by not talking about it. And we all know how I feel about liars. It was terrible feeling like an unintentional liar. I felt guilty every time I blogged. All I could think about was the move, yet I kept changing the subject in my internal dialogue so I could think of other things to blog about. I danced around this huge elephant in the corner that no one knew was there but me. It wasn't fun. So this time, when I had a secret to keep, I chose a different tactic. I hid. I hid from my phone, I hid from my blog, I hid from the world. If I didn't talk to you I wouldn't have to dance around my secret. I couldn't accidentally reveal it. And best of all I wouldn't be lying, by omission or otherwise, if I didn't talk to you.

So there you go. I've been keeping a secret from you. It feels good to just put that out to the universe. Now you know.

What...did you think I was going to tell you the secret?

I'm not ready for that yet. It just feels good to be honest and tell you I've been keeping something from you. But I will not leave you completely empty handed. Since you took the time to visit I will reward you with pictures of my adorable children, whom I am sure you all have missed very much.

OK, so I did share my secret. I told you I couldn't keep one.