knittingqueen

Back with a Vengance

2010-06-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

So perhaps you may have noticed a longer-than-usual break here at The Knitting Queen. No reason, really. Between my new job at the bank and trying to manage all the people in this 5 acres of craziness, time has somehow slipped by. I can't say I'm accomplishing much of anything these days. My knitting is practically at a standstill, I seem to read about 3/4 of a book and then move on to the next, and the laundry is in a constant state of needing to be put away.

Stuff just isn't getting done these days. Including my blog. But just when I was beginning to wonder if I would ever have anything of interest to write about again, the mother of all stories presented itself to me this weekend.

We had a bar-b-que this last weekend. Regular old bar-b-que for Memorial Day. Just like all of you. We invited a group of people over for a bar-b-que. My first clue that this wasn't going to go as planned was the torrential rains. It has been raining here for 3 solid weeks, so I guess no one should have been surprised about rain over the entire holiday weekend, but one can always hope.

One of our guests asked to bring her dog. He's a sweet little Jack Russell mix and Nicole didn't want to leave him alone for the long day. We're not really "dog people" and, while we don't really have a dog friendly place, it also didn't seem hostile to dogs, so we told her it would be fine on one condition--Max would have to stay outside because of our indoor cats. So Max was having a grand time running around the yard, chasing rabbits, playing ball with Eric...the perfect guest.

After a bit, Benita and her family arrived. These are people I had never met and they had never been to our home. At the moment we opened the door to them, I'm thinking what is that horrid smell? They were carrying armloads of food, but the smell was positively rancid. At the same time, Benita and her family are walking into a strange house for the first time thinking what is that horrid smell and I'm sure instantly regretting their decision to spend the afternoon with us.

Because this was the precise moment Nicole hears Max yowling and whimpering. And she and my husband follow the sounds, and the smells, to the trap door that leads under the house. The trap door Mike was about to send Eric through, until I flew out of the house and shrieked THAT'S THE SEPTIC! The septic. In 5 acres, 5 entire acres, this is the one place Max managed to find trouble. Under the house. In the septic tank.

Then, in the pouring down rain, Mike has to reach in there and pull Max out. Max, the white dog, who emerged gray with sewer water pouring off of him. Who then proceeded to shake it all off and run around the porch, still shaking, while we all ran around screaming and retching and laughing until tears poured from our eyes. Benita and her family were sort of frozen in the kitchen, witnesses to the worst bar-b-que ever, while I ran through the house to find old towels and shampoo and buckets and Mike and Nicole tried to give Max a bath in the driveway in the pouring down rain while Max, who was frankly a little put out by what had happened to him, continued to shake and fling droplets of putridness all over. And my boys were scared to ever go on to the porch again, because the smell lingered for a long long time and I then had to do a load of laundry in the middle of our party because Mike and Nicole certainly couldn't carry on as they were and no one could bear the thought of those clothes not immediately being boiled.

And did I mention that these were people I didn't know? They are friends of my husband, but this is the impression made upon these people who had never been to our home and never met me.

And then my parents, who were on the mainland for the day, called to tell me they were on the ferry coming home, so I proceeded to tell them of the days events, which made my dad laugh so hard that he was unable to speak. He actually had to hang up and then call me back after collecting himself to let us know that that particular septic was for the kitchen, not the bathroom, so technically it was gray water. Which is not the very very worst it can get. It's the 2nd worst it can get. And still worth boiling water and throwing away the slippers worn by Mike during the dog washing because he was too panicked to change into shoes and still worth throwing away the mop used on the porch floor because can you really think of a reason not to replace it?

And then we all somehow managed to eat. And drank more than we maybe would have had that not happened. And a special bond was formed.

Later that day dad mentioned that, due to the house being over 100 years old, and everything in it being over 100 years old, the lid to the kitchen septic had disintegrated and was needing to be replaced. It just hadn't been high on the list. The mile long list of things that need to be done around here. Which caused me to ask how can anything possibly be ABOVE that on the list? Which caused another complete laughing fit from him when I questioned the split rail fence taking priority over THE LID TO THE SEPTIC TANK.

And if you think this story is concluding, read on: the next morning Mike, my husband with only one good eye, woke up with an infection in that one good eye. Causing all of us to panic a bit when we realized that dipping into the septic tank and becoming intimately close to a dog covered in gray water may have had something to do with that. And because I had promised my parents that I would help move my mom's antique stall from her current antique mall to the one across the street (which is a story for another day), Mike took the boat into Everett with the boys, on Memorial Day, to see the doctor and relay the story to explain his great need for antibiotics.

Folks, you can't make this stuff up.

Spring Chickens!

2010-03-17T16:29:00.001-07:00

Look what came to the farm today--14 baby chicks!

Is there really anything I can add? I mean, look at this.

Of course, in true Ryan-almost-10-year-old-tweener-angst, he refused to even touch one of the chicks. While he fully intends to reap the benefits of the egg sales, Ryan will not be holding them so quit asking him already.

Will the adventures never end?

Island Life, Chapter 16

2010-03-11T16:49:00.000-08:00

Once again, I experienced Island Life to its fullest today. I mean, sometimes it's like I'm on another planet.

I've been making friends with the owner of the local yarn shop here. It's a really sweet little shop and she has some lovely yarns. When we first moved up here, I of course sought her out right away, just sure she had a job opening with my name on it. That actually didn't work out so well, but I began popping in every so often, we started to warm to each other, and I have been able to convince her that I'm actually pretty savvy around a yarn shop.

All this to say I am now on her schedule to teach two classes this spring and I spent much of my day today working on a little website for her.

But here--let me back up for a moment. I had planned to meet Cindi at her shop this morning and, silly me, assumed she opened at 10:00. After dropping the kids off at school, I had what I thought was an hour to kill, so I took my book (The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. Have you read this book? Holy Smokes but I can't put it down) to the coffee shop (yes, the coffee shop) and happily read for an hour.

Then I packed my self up and drove over to the yarn shop. Which on a less blustery day should have been within walking distance, since the town of Langley only has two streets....but as I was saying, I drove to the shop, parked, and noticed that it was closed. At 10:00 in the morning. Closed. With no sign on the door and no hours posted, I had to assume that she was following the hours of the shop next door, which was opening at 11:00.

Fine. I have an hour to kill. So I decided to go to the library. The sweetest little small town library, across from the coffee shop and next to the City Hall. Closed. Until 11:00. Great. I suppose a less self conscience person would have gone back to the coffee shop for another 45 minutes. But not me. I ended up sitting in my car, freezing half to death while reading, waiting for the yarn shop to open.

And don't think for a moment that all the shops in Langley open at 11:00. Only some of them do. Many open at 10:00. Or so. And several are closed on Tuesdays. And some stay open until 5:00. Except for the ones that close at 4:30. It's a very frustrating system and poorly coordinated. Like the church we attended on Sunday. That was suppose to start at 10:00, but that really started at 10:15 because of all the meandering going on....Whenever I mention this faulty scheduling system to my parents they simple shrug and say "island time."

So yes, I'm going to teach a couple of classes. I'll make a couple of bucks and if all goes well, I won't cause anyone to cry.

On a farming note, it is apparently time to order baby chicks. Eric is already thinking up names. Naming dad's turkeys Lunch and Dinner made it a lot easier to say goodbye. Think Eric is ready for that lesson yet?

Well, at least I have the time....

2010-03-10T12:30:00.001-08:00

Look at my Must Have Cardigan! Isn't it pretty? Don't you just love the cables? And the yummy charcoal gray tweed? So pretty...

It's a shame that it's 2 inches too short all the way around and that, as a "professional" knitter and former yarn shop employee, I failed to do a gauge swatch (I mean, what a waste of time, right? Cascade 220 is a fairly reliable yarn...), look at the schematics, or at any point before knitting halfway up the armhole decide to compare it to an existing cardigan. I started knitting a size M. Because I'm generally an M. I rarely wear an L, so why would I possibly look at the measurements for an L?

In fact, it wasn't until I laid it out to take a picture for you that I realized that it was looking rather petite.

So now it looks like this.

My arch nemesis

Because knitting 3/4 of the back of a multi-charted cabled sweater took virtually no time at all. Once I get over my disgust and am able to look that yarn in the eye again, I suppose I'll have to knit a swatch. Mainly to determine if I've been using the right needles. It was very convenient for me to use the recommended needles because I just happen to have some size 7-24" circular needles. What I don't have are size 8-24" circular needles. Which I'm thinking may be an investment in my near future. Sigh.

And the whole time I'm measuring, swearing, and unraveling, my little pal Lily is helping me. Lily is my mom's cat. Lily likes yarn. Now, this still surprises me from time to time because I'm used to Alice--the passive-aggressive-neurotic-doorstop-shaped-like-a-cat-I-have-no-interest-in-anything-that-real-cats-like cat. Lily is 2 years old and a little friskier than we are used to. Which means Eric is in heaven. In our old house Eric regularly asked for his own kitten. As if we didn't own a cat at all. He dismissed Alice for the useless lump that she is and explained that he wanted a kitty that would play with a ball of yarn. Well kid--here you go.

Ellie's socks

The one thing I am successfully knitting are these Pagewood Farms socks for my niece, Ellie (I said successfully knitting, not photographing. In case you are wondering, they are green).

But with no job and with Dad on the mend, I apparently have all the time in the world to knit the same sweater twice.

Etsy turned me down. Not a huge shock, since I'm sure they had thousands upon thousands of applications. Really, it was an honor just to be nominated. Still, it would have been the perfect job for me. And that other job that I've been waiting and waiting and waiting on....well, apparently the hiring person was out sick for a while and, according to her last email to me, it's not dead yet. So at some point I may actually be employed. But I'm not yet. So very not employed. My resume has circled this island many many times, but I seem to be in a bit of a slump at the moment.

What a great time to knit a sweater. Again.

Random Musings from a Fake Pioneer

2010-03-03T13:33:00.000-08:00

No, really, this has been a week that has reinforced every stereotype of my life up here in Amish country.

Like, for instance, the flock of turkeys I passed on the side of the road driving the kids to school. I don't mean that this flock of turkeys was in a fenced-in pen or yard. That would be typical of island life. No, these turkeys were walking down the street. Turkeys.

Or how about the fact that I know people on the ferry now. And I don't even commute.

Or our adventures at the movies the other night. Yes, that's right, another visit to The Clyde. This time we saw Up In The Air. We sat down in our usual place and a nice older couple sat down behind us. The woman tapped me on the shoulder and said "I'll pay you not to move, since I can see perfectly over your head." So we laughed about that and got to chatting a bit and somehow got to talking about my dad and the importance of The Clyde in his life. And low and behold, we met Steve and Wanda, some random friends of my parents that I hear about all the time, but had never met. THAT is what happens here on Gilligan's Island--it all comes full circle and without even trying you become completely enveloped into this wacky little society.

Or the little barber shop Mike and the boys went to last weekend where they paid a total of $34.00 for 3 haircuts. While Ryan tried to figure out how they stuffed all the game birds that decorated the shop.

And then there is life here on the farm. My dad had foot surgery a couple of days ago. So now guess who's parents are secretly happy their unemployed daughter is hanging around the house? Otherwise, who would my dad call from his cell phone in the living room to the house phone in the kitchen to have me go shut the drapes because the sunlight was causing a glare on the tv?

Yes, that is correct. I am still unemployed. That one opportunity that I thought would pan out? It still may. But it hasn't yet. For now. In the meantime, I had completely put that Etsy job out of my head because why pin all your hopes on a job that is literally one in a million? But get this--they contacted me! Yes indeedy, they actually thought I was worth a look. They sent me a writing assignment last week, which I have completed and zipped back to them through the magic of the internet. And now we wait.

I finished knitting my mom a pair of socks last night and wound yarn to knit a pair for my niece. That, I am counting among my greatest accomplisments of this week. And now that I have taught my dad how to correctly use his tv remote, my work here is done.

Knitting

2010-02-23T09:49:00.000-08:00

Mom's vest

Today's post is about knitting. Because that is all I have to report to you. I still have no job (although something may be on the horizon, so stay tuned....), so I figured, might as well knit! With buckets of yarn and time on my hands, I should put myself to good use.

This is mom's finished vest. As you can see from this fine photography, I am the one responsible for this quality photo. Don't ask me why I chose to put this white towel under the vest for picture-taking purposes. But by now you should all remember that photography has never been a strength of mine. Anyway, let's focus on what is important here--the vest is finished. All mom has to do is pick out some buttons and then she is in business!

Must Have Cardigan

And about two weeks ago I started the coveted, ever-so-hard-to-find-pattern for the Paton's Must Have Cardigan. The Yarn Harlot knit it about a year and a half ago and I thought it was adorable. I had high-tailed it to Pacific Fabrics and purchased the last copy of the booklet, with no clue on how I would ever afford the yarn or when I would find the time to knit it. A few months later I was given a Christmas bonus at the shop and was able to purchase yarn at a considerable and generous discount for a limited time. I scooped up all of the deep charcoal Cascade 220 Tweed we had in the shop, and then ended up with this whole project in a bag just sitting on a shelf, taunting me.

Fast forward about 14 months and here we are. I am actually knitting this luscious object for me. I absolutely love the yarn and the pattern is quite easy. Not to say that I haven't made my share of mistakes, but all of them due to my inability to use that pesky universal numbering system we all like to call MATH.

Among my non-knitting activities lately are celebrating Eric's birthday by taking the boys and their cousins to Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel (everyone says how traumatized they were by The Single Ladies. Much harder for me to take was their complete butchering of Dead or Alive's You Spin Me Round) and the hugely overrated Harlem Globetrotters. Oh, so much of my life is about me these days...

I will say this--remember the person I met at Avatar who asked me about my knitting? Fast friends. We had coffee about 2 weeks ago and spent 2 1/2 hours talking, with only 10 minutes of it about knitting. Tomorrow I'm going to her home for lunch and more knitting.

So my life no long completely sucks. Now it just mostly sucks.

Happy Birthday Eric

2010-02-17T09:49:00.007-08:00

Today Eric is 7!

Newborn Eric

Eric, that stubborn kid who did not want to come into the world. My 2nd born and supposedly easier labor, did not make it easy. Eric was face up and would not turn around and come out. Eric is a cozy kid and knew, even from the moment of his birth, that he would rather be snuggled up somewhere warm, rather than get out there and do something productive. He finally did come out, but not without a fight.

Eric 5 months

But once he eventually emerged, he has been a complete delight to everyone in his life.

Eric 18 months

With those blue eyes and thick blond hair, he has become quite the ladies man. We know the names of all of the boys in Eric's class. The names of the girls are all, collectively, "I don't want to talk about it." This is especially true when we run into a classmate of the female persuasion, who bats her eyes and beams "Hi Eric!" Eric should carry a shovel with him at all times for the purpose of digging a hole to bury himself in each time that happens.

Eric age 2

Because if you were a cute 7 year old girl, wouldn't you want a piece of this?

Eric age 3

Eric is a kid who has always been perfectly content to leave his life just the way it is. I mean, why change clothes when you can wear this red Elmo shirt each and every single solitary day the entire year you are 3? And even now, 4 years later, you still think it's in the laundry because your mom could not find another way to convince you that it was time to give it up.

Eric years 3-6

The same kid who has burned through 3, count 'em, 3 Spiderman costumes. To the point of disintegration. We kept replacing them because for Eric's entire preschool career, this was a wardrobe staple. We washed these costumes as regularly as we washed his sheets. Oh, the conundrum that is Eric--the child who complains every day about the drudgery of school, yet just received a "well above average" score on his report card in math and reading, and likes to add double digit numbers in his head for fun. Eric, who loves to curl up in his Snuggie and cuddle with Grandma's kittycat, while watching his favorite fire-breathing dragon scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Eric, who makes cozy little houses for his Webkinz after a hard day of shooting bows and arrows with Grandpa. Eric, who has both The Chipmunks and Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer recorded on his DSI.

Happy birthday to our little Renaissance Man--you make us happy and you make us laugh each and every day!

Let's Play Two!

2010-02-08T17:10:00.005-08:00

Indy 500

Hey, look at that--two posts in a row.

As you can see, the boys are faring pretty well. Grandpa has several go-karts, in various stages of being rebuilt, but fortunately at least one is always in working order. What can two boys do with go-karts and 5 acres of land? Life on the farm definitely has its perks.

And the news on the job front, you ask? Yeah, I've got nothing to report. Well, that's not completely true...just nothing good to report.

Job interview number 1 was for a well established organization that pays well, has fabulous benefits, and can take over a year to get into. Yes, you read that correctly. I'm about halfway through a process that I started about 8 months ago. The good news is, I am continuing to work through this process and am making progress. The bad news is this is a job for the future. Nothing that can benefit me at all at the present.

Job interview number 2 did not go well. Again, it was for a well established organization, but up here on the island. It was not a good job--very entry level, but it would be a way to get into their system and move my way around. The problem is that I interviewed with two of the most boring human beings on the planet. Think I'm kidding? These were two women that had no personality. They were dull. They didn't smile. Or laugh when I attempted a little humor. Or give me any non-verbal queues at all. I interviewed for a job with two robots. Hard to connect with a robot. When one called to tell me that I didn't get the job, she sounded like one of those voice recognition devices. I think she may have hired another robot.

Job interview number 3 went pretty well, in my humble opinion. We clicked. We connected. She told me that I had many of the qualities they are looking for. Her son is in the 4th grade. My son is in the 4th grade. I could already seeing us having lunch together in the breakroom. I was suppose to hear by the end of last week and so far have heard nothing. The job is still posted, which means that A) she has been out sick and unable to get to the phone to offer me the job, B) offered the job to someone else who apparently has 2 sons in the 4th grade and forgot to pull the job posting, or C) the job is still open and they would rather start the whole process over again than offer it to me, even those I have many of the qualities they are looking for and my son is also in the 4th grade. Bottom line, it's not looking good.

Mom's vest

So, I continue to look and look and look....I did actually apply for a job on Etsy. Yes, that's right--Etsy. They have a job listed for a Forum Moderator. And so even though I don't live in Brooklyn, or anywhere close to Brooklyn, I applied for that job. Because I can so do that job. And I could do it remotely. Don't you think? So I applied. What have I got to lose--I mean, it's literally a one in a million shot, right?

And since this is suppose to be a blog about knitting, I will now tell you about the knitting. There--mom's vest. I have 1/2 of the button band and one cuff left. The yarn is driving me crazy. It's Berocco's Blackstone Tweed and is a wool/alpaca mix. It's a beautiful yarn and I'm enjoying working with it, but it has no strength and breaks very easily. Very easily.

Penny's socks

And oh my word I am finally finally finally working on Penny's socks. I promised them to her about 500 years ago, started working on them, lost my home and moved to a farm, had a nervous breakdown, and am now picking them up again. I'm doing the Hourglass Rib socks from my new favorite book, Knitted Gifts and using my beloved Pagewood Farms sock yarn. Yum!

That's all for now folks. Enjoy your rare double header. Your welcome.

Shopping with Sybil

2010-02-08T17:09:00.001-08:00

Eric and Grandma

I know that lately I've been writing a lot more about Eric than Ryan. It's really not intentional. I mean, aside from the fact that Ryan has turned into a big fat tweener, complete with attitude, eye rolling, and a sarcastic THANKS as a retort to every thing I say (doesn't seem to matter if THANKS even works--that's what I get. As in "Ryan, can you please put your shoes away?" "THANKS!" See what I mean?).

But Eric, well Eric is an enigma. I've said that before and I'm sure I'll say it again. Eric is a complex creature. This here is one side of Eric. All snuggled up with Grandma. Eric loves Grandma, loves to snuggle--especially in his cozy pjs, with a blanket and an armload of Webkinz. Eric loves kitties, and baby animals, and Alvin and the Chipmunks....

What I want Eric to be

Eric is also the kid who has always loved hot flowing lava. And flesh eating dinosaurs. Eric can whine like you have never heard before. And then can turn on a dime and respond to you in his biggest big-kid voice. Eric is a lazy bum who does nothing productive. Ever. And excels in school without even trying. It has taken me half of the school year to figure out that my first grader is reading at a 3rd grade level, because he refuses to read to me. He's been tired. And for fun, Eric likes to add 2-digit numbers in his head. It's a fun little game we like to call "wait--mommy needs a calculator."

This is the kid we took shoe shopping yesterday. We were at Fred Meyer with a bunch of coupons and it was a good opportunity to buy the boys some much needed tennis shoes. Ryan found his right away and, miracle upon miracles, was perfectly happy.

Eric wanted red. And velcro. And he wears a size 2. And this was a combination not found at Fred Meyer yesterday. So he whined. And flailed on the floor. And complained about every single solitary pair of shoes we had him try on. At one point we had him trying on a pair that was a size bigger and he walked around whining "they're too small." "Eric, those are a size 3." "Then they're too big..." This is a stubborn child. I know all of you think your kids are stubborn, and as a rule, I think most kids are, but Eric majors in stubborn. Eric can make a career out of being stubborn.

The true Eric

We tried. We really did. But we couldn't find the shoes Eric wanted. We're not cobblers and we don't work for Fred Meyer, so our resources were limited. Which was completely unacceptable in Eric's eyes.

With the sale price and the in-store coupon, those Nikes were honestly, truly $7.50. So we put them in the cart. While Eric is lying in the aisle at Fred Meyer carrying on about how it's just not fair and he wants red shoes and he hates laces and it's not fair and he hates the perfectly good shoes we picked out and he wants red and then, like a beam of light straight from heaven with the angels singing the Hallelujah chorus, these Converse high tops gawd-awful dragon shoes suddenly started to glow. The lights dimmed, the store became quiet, and it was just Eric and these shoes. He let out a little gasp. Then he picked himself up, wiped his nose with his sleeve, put on his biggest big-kid voice, and announced that those were his new shoes. He was confident. He was standing a little taller. He was already planning all of the times he could wear these shoes that, don'tcha know it go with everything. These were the shoes he had been looking for. These were the shoes of his dreams. And I said what any good mother would say in this circumstance. I said there is no way in hell I am buying Sybil these shoes are you kidding me? as Eric had already selected a size 2 and was putting them in the cart.

Mike looked at the sale sign, did a little quick math, and pointed out that these shoes were going to cost a total of $5.00. Which is $4.50 more than they are worth. I looked that little psycho straight in the eye and told him that he was not allowed to wear them on gym days and was not allowed to wear them to soccer and that he would proudly wear the perfectly good Nikes we picked out on those other days. And Eric puffed out his little chest, said OK! and went off to pick out valentines.

I'm meeting my new movie/knitting friend for coffee tomorrow. My mom is leery. I looked at her and said "but you met Joy at a garage sale, looking through a total stranger's crap." "Yeah" she said "but that was different." This is the same woman who called me on the phone today to discuss dinner and gave me a long detailed explanation of how to wash the lettuce. Did I mention I'm 41? I think I'll be fine at tomorrow's playdate.

Ah, I See How This is Done...

2010-02-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

Island life, chapter 18. This week at The Clyde, Avatar is showing. Mike has been watching the schedule for weeks and now, finally, Avatar is at The Clyde.

At first just Mike was going to go. Then it was Mike and Ryan. Then my dad got in on the act and invited his friend, Greg, as well. And upon hearing all of this, Eric promptly burst into tears when I explained that I didn't think he was old enough for Avatar.

So Mike consulted his "friends" (and I'm using this term loosely right now, you liars) on Facebook and asked what they thought of bringing a 7 year old to see Avatar. All of you. Each and every single one of you stated that it would be fine. Not scary. Not violent. Harry Potter was worse. If Eric can handle his brother watching Lord of the Rings on my parent's tiny little half broken tv in the brightly lit family room while he himself is only half paying attention and playing his DS at the same time, then Avatar shouldn't phase him at all.

Really? Not one of you remembered the significant battle scene at the end? And all the giant arrows? Not to give anything away, but guess what the giant arrows were used for. No one remembered the freaky attack dogs? You all glossed over that fact because you were so mesmerized by the magic that is James Cameron? The man, who with all his trillions of dollars, can and should clearly be able to afford a watch?

Ok--for the record, Eric wasn't phased at all by the movie. He loved it. All those freaky creatures and giant flying pterodactyl things? Loved them. I, however, have issue with the fact that you all thought this was a movie for children. Liars. We won't mention the language used in the movie. All of the clearly enunciated four letter words still don't bother me as much the exploding people. You all saw the same movie, right?

Yes yes yes, I went too. And it was a great movie. FOR ADULTS. But a great movie nonetheless. I really try not to support much that James Cameron does, but I'll hand it to him--this was pretty good.

Being the only show in town, we had to arrive early to get seats. So it should come as no surprise that I arrived prepared for the wait with knitting in hand. As I was sitting there waiting and knitting, I felt a tap on my shoulder. The woman behind me said "you're knitting!" and asked if I knew of any yarn shops in the area. She is apparently new the the island looking for knitting help and support. I told her about the the little shop that is just around the corner from The Clyde and she told me that she's a pretty new knitter and is really intimidated by the "round kind of needles" I was using. I told her that, to be honest, I'm actually fairly good. And before I knew what I was doing I was giving this perfectly nice and normal person my name, email address, and cell phone number. Mike just looked at me and said "and now you know how your parents are always making friends at the gas station".

Lazy

2010-01-25T16:21:00.003-08:00

I have had all day to write this post. All day. When I say all day, I mean I had this 100 year old farm house to myself for 6 uninterrupted hours (unless you count the phone call my mom made to me, from work, to tell me my husband might like me to go to the store and buy him some lunch meat. Mike has said zero words to me about this, but apparently it's a slow day around the ol' library--slow enough for a woman to think about what her son-in-law has for lunch) and I spent about 5 1/2 hours of it thinking that, wow, this would be such a great opportunity to write, being completely alone and all.

But no. I squandered my time. When you have no job and no life and no attainable goals, it's easy to let all productivity fall by the wayside. The fact that I had to actually leave the house to retrieve my kids from

Snowbird

school apparently gave me a sudden burst of energy. So let's go with it.

See that pair of mittens? That is my biggest accomplishment in quite some time. If I could bottle the amount of concentration and energy it took to knit these things, all of our problems would be solved. But alas....

Snowbird

And I'm delighted to say that it's about 50 degrees, so wearing these mittens is pointless. In other words, these mittens could not be less useful in every sense of the word. But you can't say they're not pretty....

Tahki Vest for Mom

And while we're on the subject of big huge wastes of time, let's talk about mom's vest. Or rather, my ability to correctly read the directions for mom's vest. Yarn, fabulous. Pattern, fine. My reading skills, worse than Eric's, apparently.

I was zipping right along and getting into the shoulder shaping for the back when I picked up the pattern and read in horror--I had been doing my decreases all wrong! Aacckk! So I quickly ripped back about 5 inches of knitting, tried to sort out where I was suppose to be, and realized that my only "mistake" was in momentarily looking at the directions for the left front. In other words, I ripped out 5 perfectly good inches of knitting for no good reason. So I threw that in my basket in disgust. Because one thing I do know about myself --when I reach a certain level of exasperation, it is in everyone's best interest that I put the knitting down.

Mom's socks
Lorna's Laces Mineshaft, ala Jane

Ok, so I'm doing quite a bit of whining here. I have no life and I live with my parents. Humor me. I actually do have a full week ahead of me--three, count 'em, three job interviews. Just think how much my life is going to suck when none of them pan out. But I will say, they are for three well established and reputable organizations--none of this flaky-meet-a-guy-in-a-bar-and-have-him-get-annoyed-that-you-didn't-update-his-Ebay-store-as-promised-even-though-he-never-gave-you-the-copy-and-also-forgot-to-pay-his-Ebay-bill business. These are real job interviews for real jobs. And I can really get turned down. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

On the bright side, I get to see the Harlem Globetrotters. Don't I seem like the kind of person to want to sit front row at a Harlem Globetrotters performance/game/whatever you want to call it? We were given some Christmas money and put it in the bank, not sure of what to do with it. Then a few weeks ago we saw the commercial on tv. Mike was about 7 when he first saw the Globetrotters and has always wanted to take the boys--when the commercial aired, Ryan was completely fascinated. And how excited am I that we get to sit in the front row? Think they'll notice if I knit?

Oh Look--A Blog Post About Knitting!

2010-01-17T13:07:00.001-08:00

Scott's socks

Alright people, I'm back with the program. In between trying to heat an unheated house, driving through the woods to bring my kids to school and shopping for used books at the 27 places that sell used books around here (think I'm kidding? I've probably purchased 25 books since moving up here, and paid about $6 total) I actually have been knitting.

These socks have been sent to our friend Scott in Bozeman, where I hear it is about 10 below. They are from the ultra fabulous Knitted Gifts book and made from Alpaca Sox.

Snowbird

I've also been making some serious progress on my Snowbird mittens. Unfortunately it's now 50 degrees every day, so I don't see myself wearing them anytime soon. But at least I'll be able to say that I finished them...

Mom's Tahki vest

A couple of weeks ago I dragged my mom into a yarn shop. My mom does not knit. Has never held a knitting needle in her hand and seems to have no desire to try. But it was very interesting to see her in the yarn shop--she was fascinated. Mesmerized. Was completely drawn to the fibers and the colors. She found this Berroco Blackstone Tweed and had to have it. Really--she could not stop thinking about it and had to have something made from this yummy wool/mohair/angora blend.

She started looking through my books and magazines--I even showed her how to use Ravelry. And then she saw an ad for this vest in a Vogue Knitting magazine. This was it. She had to have this vest. And you know, it is actually the perfect weight for this yarn. We ordered the booklet and the yarn and I am now about four inches into it.

I have to say, I do love this yarn. I really do. And I love the fact that my mom has projects in mind, will buy the materials, and then let me knit them for her. This is a very nice arrangement. She has also found a Debbie Bliss sweater, all kitted up from Knit Picks, for a fraction of what it would cost in a store. She is pining for this sweater and is still in disbelief that, if we purchase the book from Knit Picks and their yarns, the whole thing will be about $40.

Now, I'm conflicted about this. I support my Local Yarn Stores. I worked in an LYS. I understand how the internet is undercutting the small business owner. I support the small business owner. But I'm broke. And my parents are not exactly wealthy. Debbie Bliss yarns are $8-9 a skein. This sweater, plus the book, would cost $130 in a shop. So when you combine a love of knitting with a virtually non-existent budget, Knit Picks starts to look pretty desirable.

Besides, I'm saving my money for my next trip to Main Street Yarn in Mill Creek. Holy Toledo that is a beautiful shop with an enormous inventory of beautiful yarns. 20 minutes of looking with a husband breathing down my neck did not satisfy me on my first trip.

And how is life on the farm you ask? Rural. Tree-filled. Inundated with rabbits. 1/4 tank of gas away from anything. Brown.

Time to go. Keith Urban is about to be on Ellen and I need to give him my full attention.

click here

2010-01-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

See, this is why I love country music:

http://www.cmt.com/videos/jaron-and-the-long-road-to-love/467605/pray-for-you.jhtml

...and sometimes material presents itself.

2010-01-06T17:27:00.003-08:00

I included the 1940 International Harvester
tractor in this picture because, well, do you
have to ask??

How many of you were waiting for the blog post about the day the well pump broke? I mean, we live on a freaking farm--at some point there has got to be a story about a well, right?

Today is your lucky day.

The pump broke. That means no water. Turn the faucet on--no water. This happened at the end of a day that included no internet service because it drizzled. Stupid farm.

I won't go into the details of how the 35 year old pump that is 150 feet under ground broke, but I tell you this--I know a lot about wells now. You would never read this blog again if I filled it with my knowledge of wells and pumps and how to fix them. But I could...

I'm sure someone looking at this
will think it's cool.

That truck is owned by the repair guy and the giant crane attached to it is what pulls pipe out of the ground, 20 feet at a time, to get to the broken pump. My dad got over the fact that the well was broken pretty quickly when he got to see these guys in action. He even instructed me to get Ryan's new camcorder to tape the riveting action of pump repair. He said it was for the boys, since they were in school and had to miss it. Mmmm hmmmm.

Late this afternoon I was reminded of another, shall we say feature of small town life when Bruce, the neighbor, stopped by. Bruce used to own my parents' property, subdivided it, and built his current house in the back 5 acres. My parents share the well with Bruce, so Bruce stopped by to talk to my dad about the repairs.

Here's the thing. People are always stopping by. All. The. Time. Just popping in for a visit. No calls, no warnings. Barely any knocking. One day I found John in the kitchen, just letting me know that he was here to pick up his moose meat. Yeah, you heard me.

On Saturday John's wife stopped by. She was on a walk, so she thought she'd drop by for a visit. Apparently this is perfectly normal around here. Which is why I see Joy about once a week on her way home from work, standing on the porch. I'm cooking dinner and suddenly there is a rap on the back door. Joy. With something random for my mom. It works the other way too. I've unwittingly inflicted the pop-in on people when traveling around town with mom. And 90 minutes later we're back on our way....I'm learning to say no when mom asks if I want to run a few quick errands. I just don't have that much time.

Tonight the well is in prime working order again and all is right with the world. For now. I need to start dinner, which means Joy should be here any second.

Found it!

2010-01-04T08:08:00.001-08:00

The Farm
When I talk about The Farm,
this is what I mean.

Found the cable to my camera. Don't ask me where it was. I don't know. So now I have a whole smattering of pictures to share with you, which I will do as I tell you about life here on an island that has no central heating.

The town of Langley is five miles from my parents' home. It's a sweet little town--it has a little library in the cutest building (and it contains about 8 books), it has a post office, it has the Useless Bay Coffee Company (which makes the best cup of coffee I have ever had), a bunch of little boutique-y type shops, eateries, and a ton of bookstores.

Farm Sweet Farm

Really, a lot of bookstores, given the three streets that make up downtown Langley. One shop sells new books, and at least four shops, all within a one block radius, selling used books. Of course, there is a yarn shop. And there is The Clyde movie theater.

My new office
Piles of yarn behind the couch
in my mom's family room.
Handy, convenient, and attractive.

The Clyde has about 250 seats and gets new movies that are on their way out of the mainland and are finishing up at all reputable movie theaters. It's great, actually. The tickets are $6, and $4 for a weekend matinee. Each movie is shown for about 3 days, and then the next one is brought in. Each month The Clyde puts out a schedule, which is the calendar by which my dad plans every other part of his life. A large popcorn is about $2 AND they let you bring in your own food. Like the fish and chips I walked in with, outstretched in my hands and not hidden away in my purse like I was smuggling gold.

Speed Racer
This is Eric's go-kart.
That my dad, McGuyver,
fashioned out of 3 pipe cleaners,
a lawn mower engine, and some dental floss.

And it's very apparent that my dad is not the only movie officianado on this island. Downtown Langley at 4:15 on a Saturday afternoon is the place to be.

Mike and I went to see The Blind Side (of which I cannot speak too highly, including what a cutie-pie that Tim McGraw is). We went early to park the car and walk around a bit (hitting 3 of the used bookstores as well as the yarn shop. I mean, they're right there...). We had been warned that, for the "good ones", you need to line up 45 minutes early. Mike is not one to heed my mother's warnings, but he also knows I'm a child of my dad and like to select my seats early.

Baby hats
See, I've been knitting...

Sure enough--4:15 and people were pouring into this teeny tiny little theater.

Mike and I sat in our (excuse me, MY) carefully chosen seats, eating our dinner, watching Langley night life spring into action. This theater is clearly the highlight of everyone's week.

In any other movie theater, the patrons come in two by two, everyone talks in hushed tones, and it's a very insular event. Not here. At The Clyde, people come in groups. In packs. There were clusters of people all over the theater who had been planning this event together. And wouldn't you know--they all knew the other clusters of people. So it was like a big cocktail party before this movie began. It was loud, people were standing up at their seats as well as in the aisles visiting with each other, and Mike and I were feeling both smug and isolated at the same time that we were the only people in this theater that didn't know all of the other 248 people there.

Ringo
Eric's Aunt Tiffany and Uncle Marcus have
recently acquired Beatles Rock Band. Guess
who gets 98% every time he plays....

Until we heard "Hi Mike!" and, as luck would have it, we actually ran into an acquaintance with whom Mike use to work. The one person we know on this floating piece of land.

And just like that, we hiccupped our way into Island society just a little bit.

Harpo and Halo
Ryan and his friend, Ben,
as surfing angels in this
year's Christmas paegent.

I'm starting to understand how my parents can meet someone for the first time standing in line at the post office, and then 8 years later spend a night on the town with these now good friends, seeing the 5:00 matinee at The Clyde. This is going to happen to me, isn't it?

Angelic
Eric, 2nd from right,
getting ready for the
Christmas paegent.

I mean, the most successful job interview I have had so far has been with this guy, Tom, who I met at Cozy's bar, and he handed me his expensive camera to download some pictures for him (don't worry, I know what you're thinking--he sells golf clubs) and start updating his Ebay account. The interview consisted of Tom having a couple of beers, asking me to take his camera home, and of me writing down my name, phone number, and email address, because at some point he was going to sober up and realize that he just handed off his $300 camera to a complete stranger.

Tom and I are still working together and to date he is taking me more seriously than the bank and the phone company. But again--this is life on the island. Not exactly corporate.

My Little Bum
Eric, the day after Christmas.
Wearing his new pj's, new sweatshirt,
playing his new Band Hero on his DS,
with no intention of moving.

That's all for now, people. Hats to knit, chickens to feed...this place doesn't run itself, you know!

Broken

2009-12-19T10:04:00.001-08:00

Still haven't found the camera cable. Well, to be fair, I haven't looked for it. But since it hasn't magically appeared, I consider it still missing.

Today's theme is Things That Are Broken In My Parent's House. This is a quirky place. There are a lot of rules. Sometimes it is hard work living here. Let me show you what I mean:

1. The washer and dryer. As you may recall, a couple of years ago I bought a brand new Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer set. They are front loaders with the ever-so-important sanitizing feature and I love them. LOVE them. Now they are in storage and I am using my mom's Kenmores. I loathe these machines. The washer is constantly off balance. As in every single load. And the dryer....oh the dryer...the door won't stay open. So, you're trying to get the cold wet clothes out of the washer, and somehow re-open the dryer door that keeps slamming shut. And then you find yourself sticking your right leg inside the dryer to keep the door open while trying to get the clothes out of the washer and that is very hard to do because this washer is very tall and you are only 5'3". And all of this is happening in the space the size of a telephone booth.

2. The dishwasher. There are rules about the dishwasher. Apparently I have to completely wash and dry the dishes before putting them into the dishwasher. And I can't pull both racks out at the same time or it will tip over. And I can only fill it 3/4 full. And my mom seems to have an unspoken rule about only running it when I am trying to watch tv.

3. The oven. This oven, like the rest of the house, is an antique. Right out of the set of I Love Lucy. It has the two mini doors instead of one normal sized oven space to fit things such as, oh, I don't know, a pizza...or more than two baked potatoes....and when turning the oven off, I can't actually turn it to the OFF position. I have to very carefully turn the dial to just before the OFF position until I hear a tiny little click. If I go too far then apparently we can never turn it on again.

4. The internet. My dad is all hooked up and his computer seems to work fine. We bought a wireless card, to feed off of his wireless router, so that we can have our own computer in our own space. All of this works fine when it is not raining. Any moisture in the air and our connection goes down. My dad's connection continues to work fine, but our wireless card is apparently extremely weather sensitive. A bit of a bummer up here on this blustery island. In Western Washington. In the dead of winter.

5. The propane stove. Randomly loses the pilot light. All the time.

6. Alice. Yep, she's still around. And still broken. We brought her with us because she's our cat and we didn't know what else to do. My parents have a 2 year old female cat named Lily, who has the run of the place, so letting Alice loose in the house didn't seem like a good idea. We tried finding a humane shelter for her, but no one is taking animals right now. We also tried finding a new home for her--surprisingly, no one has been interested in a 16 year old passive aggressive female cat who pees in random places just for the hell of it. I even went so far as to make that bad vet appointment, but then canceled it because I just couldn't go through with it. So she is living in our room and it's going ok. Not great. But ok. She is using her litter box, except for those times when she chooses not to, and that means our room smells like Alice's litter box. Great. I can tell she is getting feeble, but she also seems somewhat content being locked up in our room, so we're going with it for now.

7. The lights. The lights are actually fine, but my dad has this thing about turning off all the lights that, in his opinion, are not being used. Even if you are in the room. And then he will leave for the day with his tv on.

8. The phones. My parents are the only people left on earth who do not own a cordless phone. Or have caller-id. The especially comes in handy when my mom wants to talk on the phone during my tv show. Right next to me.

Other than that, we seem to be settling in up here in Amish country. I had a job interview yesterday that was very funny. It was a group interview in which four applicants met with the hiring people at the same time. Very strange dynamics. Two of the applicants seems nice. The third had clearly decided that he was going to stand out, ahead of the rest of us, and make his mark in the interview. At the beginning of the process, after introductions, they asked if we had any questions. I asked a question, the two nice people asked a question, and then I said that I had one more question. Mr. Pushy announced that I had already had my turn and that he was now going to ask questions. I have to say, that stunned me for a second. After he interrupted me and demonstrated his true customer service skills, they turned back to me and asked me if I would like to continue my question. I found the whole thing very amusing. And then again, after the interview, I ran all of my mom's errands for her. I think she likes having a wife.

I got a call back and have a one-on-one interview on Tuesday. I'm thinking Mr. Pushy maybe did not get a call back.

Have to run now. Mom has big plans for me that involve nothing I am actually choosing to do.

It's Monday

2009-12-14T08:49:00.001-08:00

And where are the pictures you ask? In my camera. I have the cord to download the pictures onto my computer, somewhere.......could be anywhere, really. I know I saw it recently. In the house. I believe in this corner of the house....I'm sure it will turn up. In the meantime, you'll have to use your imagination when I write to you about life as a nomad.

I should be in the car, driving the boys to school right now, at this very moment. But no. Today there is a two hour delay because somewhere in the state of Washington it snowed. Not here, mind you. Not one flake can be found as I look out over the great expanse that is Waxwood Farm. However, it seems that South Whidbey is not immune to the insanity that grips Washington State when anyone, on any news station, utters the word snow. So now I'm getting to spend more quality time with these beings.

Currently Ryan is reloading the nerf gun that he somehow ended up with after our Dinner Group white elephant party (I say somehow because it actually wasn't part of the gift exchange. So now Henry is the proud owner of Michelle's green furry pimp hat and Ryan has one of Henry's nerf guns. And now I'm not sure who got the worse end of this deal--me or Henry's mom). And Eric is having a productive morning yelling at his DS and would be swearing at it right now if he actually knew any of those words. Which brings me back to my main point--they belong in school, because Eric's going to start picking up those words pretty quickly if he spends much more time with me.

I actually have been knitting. Not that I can show it to you, but I have. Mike came home from work about a week ago, begging me for a hat to keep him from freezing to death on the ferry boat. And I finished Dave's birthday socks, that were only 29 days late. And I'm in the middle of making Mike some fingerless gloves, and apparently my hats are flying off the shelves at my two shops, and I still have Heidi's chicken to finish. But all of that will have to wait until these creatures go to school and I have a chance to go to the good grocery store, which is next to the good pharmacy, which I will bet does not have snow.

Baby, it's cold inside!

2009-12-07T19:43:00.000-08:00

Ok people--it's COLD here. COLD. Now, I know Western Washington is experiencing a cold snap this week. I get it. We're all cold. When you step outside in the morning, you say "brrr" and give a little shiver before getting in your car. Here's the thing, folks--this house, this 100 year old farm house, this 100 year old farm house on this island IS NOT HEATED. I'm living in a demented version of Little House on the Prairie. We get up in the morning to no heat. So, whoever gets up first has to turn on the propane stove in the family room, and then build a fire in the living room so we all don't die. I have to say, I would make a pretty good boy scout, now that I'm a month into this.

And often we fire this all up (no pun intended), the house becomes nice and toasty, and then we can turn the propane stove off for a while. Not this week. This place is practically frigid. 24 degrees outside and about 26 inside unless you are standing directly in front of the roaring fire that I built, thank you very much. You know which rooms are not heated at all? At any time of the day? All the rest.

Today I had my job interview. So I dusted off a skirt, found a pair of nylons that would stay up past my thighs, and then sat around shivering all morning because that was just about the dumbest outfit I could have selected to wear up here on Walton's Mountain.

And how did the interview go? Meh...it's a good company and I am totally and completely qualified for the job. I think it would be a great job, actually. If they can recognize the random and bizarre questions they asked and note that I gave the best lame answers of all the lame answers they heard today from the schedule of interviews they had.

After my interview, I had about 90 minutes to kill before picking the kids up from school. So I ran all of tomorrow's errands. Which is easy to do since the little hamlet I was in had all of my errands conveniently located next door to each other. Seriously. First I went to the craft store to get my mom a glue gun (don't ask). Then I went down the street to the grocery store. Packed up the car with groceries, then walked next door to the pharmacy to get mom's prescription. Then drive across the street (literally, across the street) to my mom's antique mall to restock her booth. Hmmm...as I write this, I'm thinking my mom is secretly starting to like having me around....and then I drove up the highway to the kid's school. Which is located in the woods. Their school is in the woods.

This place is like a time warp. It's Sense and Sensibility, with mud flaps.

Notes from a Small Island

2009-12-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

So--I've been missing for a bit. Perhaps the 4 of you who tune in regularly have noticed that. We've had a pretty significant family crisis and blogging about knitting (and actually knitting, for that matter) seemed trivial in light of recent events. But now that things are beginning to stabilize a bit, I thought I'd let you know what's going on. I mean, we're friends, right?

So here goes. We have moved in with my parents. On Whidbey Island. An island. Land that you can only get to by boat. Living with my parents on an Island. I am 41 years old and I'm living with my parents. On an island.

It's been no secret that things have been tough for us. Our finances have been a mess for quite some time and then there was that whole unemployment fun that went on for too too long. All that, combined with a recession and some dumb things we have done add up to the fact that we can't afford our house. And the bank has been very quick to point that out to us. We can't afford our house. We can't afford to make up our back payments (it's a BIG) number and, even if that BIG number dropped from the sky to catch us up, we can't afford to stay current. We have other debts, taxes--it's just a huge mess that we are literally unable to fix. Unfixable.

The house has been a sore spot for a long time. I've always had a love/hate relationship with it. For the past 2 years I have fought tooth and nail to save it. Because it's a Cape Cod with a big front porch and dormers in the bedrooms and a stone fireplace that I designed and a pumpkin colored dining room with plate rail and a garden that I planted. This was the only house my boys have ever known and they were suppose to grow up with Emily-the-neighbor-girl and we were going to live there happily ever after.

But now I'm ok with leaving. It's a relief to no longer think about my broken garage door and the peeling paint and the 25 year old gutters and the half finished bathrooms and the deer--oh the deer! Remember the deer?!? I'm not saying I'm not sad about this. I am. I've been devastated by this. This has changed my whole world forever. This guarantees some juicy material for my boys in therapy. And we've become THOSE PEOPLE. The people you hear about on the news each night. The people who have lost their home. And that's not humiliating at all....So I spent 2 weeks straight crying. And now we're trying to start over. Not sure what that means. But that's what we're doing. Starting over.

The boys are enrolled in school here, I'm learning where the 2 grocery stores are, and Mike is using a ferry boat, train, and bus to commute to work each day. I've started knitting again. I'm looking for a job on this little dot of land and have actually secured an interview for Monday. And I've decided to write about this adventure. For a couple of weeks, the thought of sharing this was horrifying. The blog was over. Dead and buried, like the rest of my life. And then little things would happen throughout the day that were just funny. Island anecdotes. Quirky things that could only happen on this strip of land (like the fact that my mom runs into people she knows at the grocery store. Good friends that she met at the gas station or the post office. And now they're hugging and making a lunch date because 8 years later they are best pals). My first instinct was to write to you about these things but then that meant explaining why in the world I was on this godforsaken floating commune and that opened up a whole can of worms that I was unable to communicate.

But now I'm ready. I'll still write about knitting. But I'll also write about the 2 storage units we're sharing with my parents and the fact there is no central heating in this 100 year old farm house and the fact that Mike and Eric both learned the hard way that you must wear shoes or slippers at all times on Grandpa's unsanded fir floor and the lengths my dad will go to in recycling and all the roads around here are named after the people who live here and my mom who refuses to use her dishwasher because she thinks it's a waste of time to load it and unload it but has no problem washing all her dishes by hand....

Ready for the adventure? Stay tuned!

Things that happened in October

2009-11-02T16:56:00.001-08:00

My Arch Nemesis

Yep, I'm really that lame. It's November and I'm just now writing my next post. People, I'm busy! For instance, I have to take care of these beasts which continue to haunt my back yard.

Leo

And I had to get Ryan ready for his Masquerade Bash at school. Since Ryan is in the Science/Tech program, the class project for Halloween was for each kid to come up which a famous scientist, get it approved, and then write clues so the rest of the class could guess who they were. Ryan was Leonardo Da Vinci, wearing Daddy's bathrobe.

The Boys and Baby S

And of course I still have Baby S with me 3 days a week. Every Halloween Gilman Village has Trick or Treating for the kids. Which is great for families, but frankly, a nightmare for everyone who works there. Mara and I spent 3 hours, not selling yarn, standing in the freezing cold doorway handing out candy. Both of our Mikes brought the kids by for a visit.

Earflappy Hat

Of course, throw in about 74 loads of laundry and you can see I've got my hands full these days. I did manage to clean my master bathroom today. That, wow. It had been awhile.

I'm using my extra-awesome photography skills here to show you the baby earflap hat I'm making for a friend. They also want matching mittens, which I think will be cute. But I honestly don't know if I've ever actually made baby mittens before....can't be that hard, can it? The great thing about baby mittens--no thumbs!

Snowbird Mitten

Last, but not least, here is my crowning glory. The left hand part of the Snowbird Mittens.

SnowBird Mitten Palm

I have to say, I'm pretty stunned that I was able to do it. Once I block it, I think it will look great, and it actually fits!

I'm still working on my 3 different pairs of socks, all for 3 different people, who should know me well enough to know that I have WAY over-committed myself here, what with the chickens and baby hats and scarves and everything else I'm knitting. I've been blatantly honest about the shear number of projects I have going, so if these 3 sock people are reading my blog (and I believe they do...), then they've hopefully done the math and realized that I'm a bit behind. I just continue to work on projects as the spirit moves me and somehow they all eventually get done....although I'm thinking I need to have a no new projects policy until I'm able to check a few of these outstanding items off my list.

If I intend to write this post and publish it in one sitting (and I believe I do), then the time for me to go is now. I have to fix dinner and present it to 2 boys who have no intention of eating it. They can't start whining until they see what I'm making, so I'd better get the show on the road!

It's October!

2009-10-20T16:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday from Jane!

...and do you know what that means? It means I haven't blogged since September! How did THAT happen? Let's see--what have I been doing with my time? I truly have very little to report, but here's the lowdown: laundry, watching Baby S, abusing my children by forcing them to do their homework, humiliating my eldest by talking to his teacher on the phone about his homework, laundry, running my "vacuum" over the carpet and pretending that it is sucking up dirt even though I can visibly see that the dirt remains on the floor, drinking Diet Coke, laundry...you get the picture.

Honestly, it has taken me 3 days just to compose this post, and after reading to the end you will undoubtedly say THIS took her 3 days?

October also means BIRTHDAYS around here--Mike and I are now officially 41. In our 40's. Old. Sunday my dear friend Jane gave me more sock yarn, under the guise that it's my birthday month. So how can I say no to that logic? More Pagewood Farms...yum.....

Finished Shedir hat!

I've been in a bit of a knitting slump lately. I finished my cousin's hat (which looks very cool in person and someone with greater camera skills than I would have actually been able to capture that), and now, what to knit....

I mean, I have things to knit. I always have hats. And I currently have 3 pairs of socks going. And I still have Heidi's chicken to start. And Mike's sweater, and my scarf... But nothing is reaching out and grabbing me these days. I need inspiration.

Snowbird

I have been making slight progress on my Snowbird mittens, but they require a lot of attention to detail. And my post-its keep falling off the chart. For my birthday Mike ordered a magnetic chart keeper for me from Knit Picks that is currently en route--I keep telling myself that my enthusiasm for this project will pick up after I've employed my new chart keeper. Because a gadget will improve my knitting, don't you think?

Honestly, I'm not one for gadgets and have very few knitting "tools". I mean, I have the basics--I have what I need. But I don't go for all the point protectors and row counters and special tension thimbles and all that. We sell lots and lots of gadget-y items at the shop that I do not own. However, I do think this chart keeper is a must have. I am so tired of trying to follow a chart and keep track of which line I am on with post-its that lose their stickiness factor after being moved 3 times. My only regret is that I didn't order about 4 of them....

Ryan w/ his stack of books to be signed.

In non-knitting news, Mike took the boys to the UW Bookstore on Sunday to meet author Jeff Kinney. Ryan is a huge Wimpy Kid fan (being kind of a Wimpy Kid himself....) and brought the entire collection to be signed.

Author Jeff Kinney

Eric got his own copy of the first book, which he is now reading, and they both got their books signed. Ryan is so excited to have these autographs that he is re-reading the series (which is so amazing to me--he has no time to do his homework, no time to do his 40 minutes of assigned reading each night, no time for his book reports, but has managed to carve out a significant amount of time to re-read the entire Wimpy Kid series. I plan to use this against him during our next "discussion" about homework. In about 10 minutes).

Well, unless I want this post to linger into a 4th day, I believe I will wrap things up. Let's see if I can return before November!

Yeah, I'm still here...

2009-09-29T08:57:00.001-07:00

Shedir Hat

Listen folks, I'm BUSY! I don't mean to blog once every 21 days, but lately it just happens. I have things to do. My husband keeps asking me for clean underwear, and I often have to give it some serious thought before I can answer him. I have these boys that continue to need a mother. Again, the clean underwear question....and Ryan, who is currently writing a screenplay to send to George Lucas, keeps trying to tell me that he is incapable of writing a book report for school. Eric is practicing for the Wii Sonic Unleashed World Championships and it is serious work trying to bring that kid back to reality. I mean, he has too much homework and it's not fair that he has to read for 10 whole minutes every day. It's just not fair. So I spend all afternoon being the heavy to ensure I'm not raising two illiterates.

I have Baby S here three times a week, I have baby hats to knit each week, I have my job at the shop each weekend, I have boys to cart to and from Kid's Choir, and apparently we'll be playing basketball again...people, I need a personal assistant. Preferably one that can knit and will also pay me for the privilege of basking in my company each day.

In fact, the only reason I can do this right now is that Baby S went home sick today. And so while I'm very sad for 3 month old Baby S and his daddy who had to come pick him up, hooray for you because now you get my undivided attention!

I have been doing some knitting in the evenings. My two chickens are done, and I still have the original chicken, for Heidi, left to knit, but now I'm thinking of blue and white with yellow accents. Which means I need to buy some blue. Because I truly don't think my attention span can handle a 3rd black, white, and red chicken.

This Shedir hat is for my cousin, Lora. I picked this pattern because I wanted to make something pretty, and I'm using Debbie Bliss Prima (80% bamboo! and 20% wool) in black, which I thought would be a great color for Lora, but is clearly going to be the death of me. Ever tried to knit multiple cables in black? At night? It has now become a personal challenge and I Will Knit That Hat.

Again, just to mix things up and challenge myself, I am knitting these little court jester hats out of my leftover sock yarns. Because I need more challenges in my life. I have a whole bag of sock yarn remnants and it seemed like a fun idea to no only use up my stash, but try to sell them at one of my shops in the process. And to knit something other than a cupcake. You know I love my cupcakes, but I need a little variety now and then.

Felted Snowman

...and why oh why has it taken me so long to get on this project?!? I think I bought this pattern two years ago. The arms are beaded, there is a pattern book for all the little accessories...what have I been waiting for? I actually think they are going to be somewhat labor intensive, but holy smokes people, these snowmen must be knit!

...and more socks

And of course you all know me well enough to know that I have some socks on the needles. Always and forever, knitting socks. The pink socks are for Penny, my dear friend who moved away and now lives in North Carolina. And I promised her a pair of socks an embarrassingly long time ago. She chose pink and I love knitting with pink! Pink Pagewood Farms wool and bamboo sock yarn! The gray Alpaca Sox socks are, again, for Scott. I really need to get back to those...

That's it folks. That I'll I have to tell you right now. I have three hours that I can call my own until I have to get those little hooligans from school and remind them once again that I did not assign the homework so yelling at ME about it will get you nowhere but I would be happy to discuss your refusal to do the homework at your parent/teacher/student conference oh you don't want me to do that? And please tell your father to hunt for his own clean underwear because I'm busy fixing you all a dinner that is designed to ruin the rest of your evening because I'm secretly trying to poison you.

The magic never ends.

Weekly update...sort of...

2009-09-17T16:11:00.003-07:00

Scott's socks
mmmmm...Alpaca!

This babysitting business is getting in the way of my blogging time! Don't get my wrong, Baby S is a cute little bugger, but between babysitting, knitting hats, and cruelly forcing my own children to do their homework, I haven't had much time to blog this week.

So we'll do this in one fell swoop. First off. Scott's socks. Made with Alpaca Sox. Yummy! I'm doing a broken rib pattern from the Knitted Gifts book, which I think is very masculine. Should keep him nice and toasty during those Montana winters!

KAL Chicken
This is my sample chicken for the shop!

Second, I'm on to my next chicken! I delivered Chicken #1 to my cousin the other day and it was well received. Her life really sucks right now. Really sucks. And so it made me happy to see her giggle when I gave it to her.

This next chicken is for our Knit-A-Long at the shop. I hope people do it. It's a fun project and the goal is to "borrow" the finished chickens and display them all. I need to get this thing done to rouse some excitement about my brainstorm.

Third: School. School is good. Both boys love school. However. Ryan has lots of homework. Which he knew about when we agreed to sign him up for the Science/Tech program this year. And in theory he still understands that it's his responsibility to do this homework. Except for all the excuses he comes up with each and every day. So now I've taken the tactic that all homework must be done before any other activity because he has proven that he can't be trusted to get it done in the evening. Because then, you know, he's tired. And it's not really fair that he has to read for 40 minutes each night. And it's also not fair that I'm forcing him to be alone when he reads because Ryan is fully capable of reading chapter books while the tv is on and his brother is playing the Wii and mom and dad are talking....I'm really mean.

At the Tacoma Dome
Wow. We look like we're almost 41.

Fourth: My husband was a nice guy and took me to Tacoma to see Keith Urban, as a surprise. Now, I'm not usually one for surprises, but this kind of surprise, well, he can show up with those tickets anytime he wants!

This nice couple asked us to take their picture, and then they offered to take our picture. And it turned out like this. Two people who look like they are about to turn 41.

Keith Urban Concert

And then we went to the concert, which was one of the loudest events I have ever attended. Including the last Keith Urban concert we went to. But it was very very fun. And again, Mike had to secretly admit that he had a great time.

Of course, part of Mike's enjoyment this time was the crowd of people in our immediate area. Sure there were plenty of people our age, and plenty of young blond girls who shriek a lot, but, and we still can't figure this out, there were several senior citizens in our section. Not just one or two. Several. And by senior citizens, I mean people you would never expect to see at this concert. Honestly, several people in their 80's. They had canes.

The couple right next to Mike, well, they had to be well over 80. And they sat still, not moving a muscle, the entire opening act (Little Big Town) as well as the concert itself. The wife put the binoculars to her face when the lights went down, and sat in that position for 3 hours.

The couple with the cane, same thing. The woman in front of us was the best. She was old. Old. I'm not trying to be offensive here. Truly--this woman was 85 years old. And she was having the time of her life. She boogied the night away for 3 solid hours. She was having way more fun than the 55 year old next to me who complained about everything the entire night. Everytime she wanted to get out, she let me know how inconvenient it was to have me there, she got mad at the people behind her for touching her chair, she got mad at the people in front of her who stood up when Keith came out on stage, and she ended up leaving early with her daughter, who I think actually wanted to stay.

A real treat, that one was.

Well, apparently I need to wrap this up. Ryan has been waiting all afternoon to play RuneScape on my computer (yes, the boys have a computer, but we have computer issues right now. Ryan has my old computer which has sound, but no wireless card. Eric has the world's oldest working computer, and it is connected to the internet, but for some reason it's not today, and you can't actually do anything on it anyway, and my new computer works great but has no sound at the moment and apparently Vista or whatever I have won't let me open certain email programs for no reason and I can't print....) and I seem to be ruining his afternoon, on purpose, by using my very own computer for my own personal use. So, any issues you have with this disjointed post--blame Ryan.

Look What Just Hatched!

2009-09-10T11:01:00.005-07:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year....

2009-09-09T08:59:00.001-07:00

3 Screwballs

Before I dive into why I do a little dance each morning as my children get on the school bus, I have to show you all this picture. A few weeks ago we spent the day at Blake's house, babysitting, and the boys watched Shrek in 3-D.

I wanted to show you this picture that very day, because this is a picture that must be shown, but it was being held hostage inside my cell phone.

This picture has nothing to do with anything I want to share with you today, but just look at those 3 boys for a minute.

Completed Socks!
Kristin's purple Narragansett socks and
Tiffany's New Year's Lights socks

Anyhoo--as I was saying, school is back in session. And having my boys spend 6 hours a day, apart from each other, in different classrooms, is the best thing that could have happened to our family right now. For the last couple of weeks, they have done nothing but fight. They are sick of each other, sick of me, sick of their best friends the neighbor kids who they saw every single day this summer, sick of this house....they are both loving school. And then they come home completely exhausted and by dinner time are fighting again. Perhaps boarding school is the answer?

Eric is becoming much more confident in his old age, being a big 1st grader and all. He has been standing up to his bossy older brother a lot lately and laying claim to what he feels is rightfully his. And Ryan doesn't like that at all. No siree. Things were much easier around here when Ryan ran the show.

And recently they both ramped up the dinnertime arguments, complaining incessantly about each and every single solitary thing they are served. Treating us as if we poisoning them. Cries of despair. Every. Single. Night. And we're talking about pizza. Tacos. Spaghetti. Not the liver and onions I had to endure at their age. So Mike and I lowered the boom and no one is allowed to say ANYTHING about what they are served. Not a word. Eat it or don't eat it. But say NOTHING. Unless you want to say "thank you mom for the delicious meal. May I have more?" you are not allowed to utter a word about the completely appropriate kid-friendly meal I have served you.

So yes, having both children in school full time--things can only look up from here.

As you can see, I did manage to finish 2 pairs of socks!

Hee hee hee hee hee

And holy toledo look at this chicken! It just needs eyes and a tail and then Lora, it's all yours! This chicken pattern was a lot of fun. So much fun, in fact, that we're going to use it as a Knit-A-Long for the shop. Which means I have to get going on my shop sample pronto. I envision a whole display window of chickens and it makes me giggle. I hope customers think it's as compelling as I do.

And in other happy news, my husband was a sneaky guy and bought tickets to the Keith Urban concert for this Saturday night. He bought them months ago, when we were jobless and destitute, so I have no idea how he pulled that off. But he did. And it was suppose to be a surprise, but he spilled the beans when I started reminding him about the dinner party we're to be hosting at the exact same time. So now dinner is at a different house, sans us, and I'll be hosting next month instead. I am actually very disappointed to miss this time with my dear friends, because I had to miss last month's dinner group as well, but with a ticket and license to drool, you won't hear me complaining.

I started babysitting 2 month old baby S yesterday, and he's lying here on the floor next to me right now, having a little conversation with me about how much he likes to kick his skinny little legs. So I better wrap this up before we have to walk to the bus stop and get those cranky boys. It's evil half-day Wednesday you know.

Day 1 of Freedom

2009-09-02T08:33:00.001-07:00

First Day of School!

Getting the bus number tatooed on his hand

Ryan, Eric, and Philip
Philip is Eric's buddy from kindergarten. You will notice that Philip is 2 heads taller than both boys. I'm not sure if this showcases how tall Philip is, or how short my boys are!

Cluck Cluck

2009-08-28T07:06:00.003-07:00

Chicken #1

My first chicken in hatching. That's right, my first chicken. Ok, first of all, how I can knit just one of these things? B. My cousin weighed in and expressed extreme interest in a chicken of her own. And 3. I'm starting to think my mom may need one as well.

Again, this girl who developed the chart is pretty darn clever. I am enjoying knitting it (although, truth be told, it's best done without too much wine). My only real disappointment is that she created the chart for the smallest of the three sizes. I was hoping it was for one of the larger chickens. And a smarter, braver, math-ier person might be able to convert that, but I know my limits. It's going to be small chickens all around.

Very little progress...

Leah's socks have been finished and delivered.

Mom's socks, finished and delivered.

Emily's coffee sleeves, finished and delivered.

Kristin and Tiffany's socks--inching my way along on sock number 2 for each of them.

Snowbird mittens--a whole 3/4 of an inch!

With free sock needles, I'm getting the itch to start more! It's all I can do not to allow myself to begin Scott's Alpaca Sox pair, especially now that my circular needles are again free. And I have piles of Jane's Lorna's Laces calling my name....Actually the only reason I haven't started the socks for Scott (husband to Kristin) is time.

With my husband working a 2nd job at night four nights a week, and then with me working on the weekends, I spend a lot of time dealing with things around the house all by myself (except for the giant dead rat in my driveway. That I waited for Mike to deal with. There are some things I JUST WON'T DO). But between the laundry, school shopping, refereeing Lego ownership, the laundry, convincing Ryan to eat his lunch, cleaning up popsicle drips off the kitchen floor which is interesting because I have a strict popsicles-only-outside-policy, the laundry...well, you get the picture. I'm not complaining, mind you. We're very grateful for the work. There are still a lot of people out of work, or waiting for the ax to fall. And finally finally finally, we are no longer those people. But as a result, my bathrooms don't always get the attention they deserve and my garden....oh dear. Well, fortunately, most of my beloveds will continue to grow even if I don't have time to tend them.

In less than a week I will officially have a 4th grader and a 1st grader, I will be able to rid myself of the giant pile of school supplies sitting on my dining room table, and peace will be restored to my kingdom once again. Between the hours of 8:00 and 3:15. All I need is some cold rainy weather and my joy will be complete!

Making Progress...

2009-08-19T10:15:00.003-07:00

Leah's Lilypad Socks

Hello people--I'm back. I have several things to share with you today, so prepare to be impressed!

1. Deer update: it seems the deer have taken my threats to murder them in their sleep seriously, as they appear to have moved on to greener pastures. Which means my tomato plants are laden with tomatoes and my rose bushes are short, but in full bloom. Any deer reading this, be for- warned--I shoot to kill.

2. I suck as a photographer. Jared Flood says that knitted items look best when photographed in natural lighting. So that is what I did today. I took all of the items I wanted to share with you outside and photographed them on the deck. Which apparently I did wrong because the sun was too bright and everything looks washed out. Whatever. If you squint real hard you can see Leah's finished Lilypad socks (see Leah, FINISHED).

Socks for Mom

3. I'm getting close on my mom's Mixed Berries Monkey Socks,

Socks for Tiffany

4. I'm starting on sock #2 for Tiffany...

Socks for Kristin

5. ...and I'm making good progress on Kristin's socks. Whew! That's a lot of socks! I'm a little embarrassed to tell you how much sock yarn I have left, thanks to Jane, but I will tell you that it's somewhere in the neighborhood of a baker's dozen....

Coffee Sleeve #1

6. I'm especially proud of this picture, being the worst of all the photographs I took today. Wow. This one is truly bad. But you still get the gist. My sister Emily has been hinting about coffee sleeves. Emily is a hairdresser. And more importantly, she is my hairdresser. And the irony is, she is one of those weirdos who never wears socks. Ever. Dead of winter--no socks. Here I am, oodles of sock yarn coming out my ears, and no point in gifting her with the only way I can afford to pay her (did I mention I never have to pay her?). So when she mentioned coffee sleeves, I remembered that my new Knitted Gifts book has a pattern for a great coffee sleeve. This first one I did in a charcoal gray Cascade 220 tweed (which is well hidden by the beauty of this natural lighting).

Coffee Sleeve #2

...and this second one I am doing in a brand new yarn called Brae Tweed, which is a merino, llama, and bamboo blend. I'm putting cables in this one, just to mix things up. This is a fair trade for a cut and color every 5 weeks, don't you think? No, I don't think so either, but it's a start!

One Step Closer

7. And finally, the piece d'resistance--I bought the pattern for the chicken this week. I think I shared this with you a few months ago, and it has been on my short list ever since I laid eyes on it.

Now, the original pattern, by Blue Sky Alpacas (and let's be fair, Susan B. Anderson) is fine. Cute, but not compelling to me. But when I saw that someone actually created this design and knit it up in these striking colors, well, there is no WAY I'm not going to make this thing! This has my friend, Heidi, written all over it. Between Christmas and her birthday, this will be gifted to her. And I can say all of this loud and clear on my blog because she will never ever read it.

Heidi is a dear friend. One of my best friends. And I don't believe she has ever read my blog. To be fair, I don't think she has ever read anyone's blog. Heidi cares less about technology than anyone I know (although she may be neck in neck with my mother, who can't find her own daughter's blog). So I can talk about Heidi and the gift I'm going to make her all day long on this site and she will never ever ever know of it. When I give it to her, she will be totally and completely surprised. Heidi Heidi Heidi Heidi! See--she can't hear me.

This particular chicken is made out of Cascade 220, which is so completely affordable. The pattern cost me all of $5.50, and the chart was generously made free by ElleM, who, let's face it, is a genius.

And now, I have 2 hours left of freedom before picking up my boys from their playdate. Then the fun will really begin when I take Eric to the doctor during rush hour to confirm his case of Fifth Disease (don't freak out people who have been around Eric--it's NOT contagious. I repeat, mother of Blake, NOT contagious). But since his rash currently makes him look like he's gone 6 rounds as a prize fighter, I'm thinking someone with an actual medical degree should confirm the diagnosis that I came up with via Shirley-the-neighbor and Cori-the-nurse. Rumor has it, the rash from Fifth Disease can last for weeks. Good thing they moved school pictures up to September 1st!

I'd love to stay and chat all day, but I don't want to. I'm going to bask in my last 2 hours of solitude.

The Knitting Queen's Excellent Adventure

2009-08-11T15:24:00.001-07:00

I've done it again

It actually wasn't that excellent. It was fine. But indeed I have been on a 24 hour escape from the tedium that is my summer.

Yesterday at noon I dropped the boys off at Mike's sister's house for a sleepover. I need to emphasize this: this was completely 100% Tiffany's idea. I of course needed no convincing, but I do have to set the record straight that in no way did I foist these beings upon her.

The boys adore that baby, Blake, and Blake is mighty fond of them as well. There was much squealing involved when they greeted each other. And then there was some squealing of my own as I drove away at record speed.

My plan was this: 2 yarn shops, the bead store, the paint store, dinner with my husband before he went off to his 2nd job, and then hours upon hours of time to knit. I'm not sure where all those extra hours were going to come from, but that was the plan.

The first yarn shop, Village Yarn and Tea in Lake Forest Park, is a favorite. I oo-ed and ah-ed for a bit and really did intend to buy something fun, but of course since I actually had the time and some money, nothing jumped out at me. I then went to Acorn Street Yarn in the U District. I have not been to Acorn Street in quite some time and I always forget just how crazy that shop is. Crazy good. Crazy-floor-to-ceiling-shelves-of-yarn-and-a-library-ladder kind of crazy. Crazy as in they apparently carry every single solitary brand of yarn, do-dad, gadget and book one would ever need for knitting. Ever. All packed into this tiny crooked hexigonical shaped corner building.

And that is where I found Louet Gems Fingering Weight. The exact yarn needed for the Snowbird mittens. Because I'm disturbed and want to knit them. And I almost almost bought the pink and brown Lorna's Laces for the Sonata mittens. It was in my hands (because, again, this shop is amazing and they had SHELVES of Lorna's Laces sock yarn) and I walked around with it for a bit. See, a few days ago I (gasp) ripped out the Sonata mitten I had been making with the Cascade Heritage. I love Heritage and really wanted to make it work. But it wasn't working. On size 2's my stitches were uneven and on size 1's the mitten was too small. And I knew I would never make that 2nd pink and brown mitten. So I almost bought the correct yarn to give it another go. But I didn't. Couldn't pull the trigger. I think I may be over those mittens for the time being. But I did escape with my Louet Gems and I am itching to get started on those Snowbird mittens. Itching, I tell you.

I then went to the bead store, which was rather uneventful, and then went next door to Bellevue Paint to get a big pile of paint samples. See, I have 2 unpainted bathrooms and a 6 year old's bedroom that apparently needs to be any color other than the yellow we picked out for that room 10 years ago before he was even a sparkle in my eye. And I haven't been painting these rooms because destitute unemployed people don't throw good money around on paint. However, marginally destitute employed people with steady paychecks can throw good money around on a can of paint. So I'm beginning that process. Then, after traveling all over kingdom come, I went home to knit before meeting my husband.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Aunt Tiffany was unable to put Blake down for a nap because he didn't want to miss one iota of the party going on in his house, and my boys, who discovered her supply of Goldfish, kept telling her they were hungry, and naive new mom that she is, Tiffany kept feeding them said Goldfish to the point that, come dinner, they weren't hungry (to be fair, they also ate cupcakes).

I then met Mike at Jimmy Mac's Roadhouse where I had a great big ol' margarita and threw my peanut shells all over the floor, sent him off on his merry little way, and went back home for an evening of solitude.

Blake, ornery little stinker that he is, apparently didn't sleep most of the night because, again, the party (even though my boys were zonked out by 9). The boys then had donuts for breakfast, played some more Wii, and then I came to rain on their parade by taking them back home where they belong.

But of course, why go straight home when you can stop by Fred Meyer to look at their shoe sale and deals on school supplies? Which is great if you are Ryan and they have the exact pair of Sketchers that you have always wanted your whole life. And it sucks if you are Eric and they have several suitable pairs of Sketchers Z Straps and Super Z Straps and whatever the hell they are called but no Luminators which is apparently the shoe of his dreams. So it's a good thing I chose to go shoe shopping on the way home from a sleepover, because that left Eric with no coping skills with which to process the concept of going to a different Fred Meyer on a different day to look for these magical shoes.

We then drove through McDonalds and Eric was accidentally given 2 straws (2 STRAWS!), which is apparently worse than being given no straws, or even leaving the shoe store with no shoes. He complained about my choice of music the entire way home, and is currently in the living room, watching Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas and plotting my demise.

And people, this is why my shopping cart at Fred Meyer contained not only a pair of shoes, some bargain school supplies, but also a nice big juicy bottle of wine.

And now it's August....

2009-08-06T11:32:00.003-07:00

Tiffany's sock

Since the temperature has literally dropped 30+ degrees in the last week, I am now able to return to my computer without melting. Today I'm wearing jeans, socks and a sweatshirt. And I'm still slightly chilly. And that is just the way I like it!

So, my little experiment with Tiffany's sock kind of got away from me and I'm nearly ready to start on the toe. For whatever reason, this sock practically knit itself. I almost feel like Mrs. Weasley with this sock, it has been so effortless.

Leah's never ending socks

Unlike, say, these socks over here for Leah. These are the socks that I can knit and knit and knit, yet they never grow. And when they do grow, I get ladders, weird misshapen stitches...Somehow the yarn I'm using for Tiffany's socks got all the mojo and these Lilypad socks, with the darling picot cuffs, are completely void of any mojo. I have had to reknit each sock for different reasons and, seriously, the will not grow. Both yarns are Lorna's Laces, I am using the exact same needles for each...I have no explanation.

I was at Leah's the other day and warned her that there seems to be a curse upon these particular socks for her. So, when she gets a hole in one and then slips and falls and breaks her leg the first day she wears them, she can do so knowing she had full disclosure. But they're pretty darn cute at least....

Yes, I still have 1 1/8 of my mom's Monkey socks and 1 1/6 of Kristin's Narragansett socks. I seem to have gotten a little carried away with the sock knitting, if I do say so myself.

Juliet

And just because I truly think there is something wrong with me, I finally found a use for my beloved Tilli Tomas yarn. And I started that project too. I've been thinking of trying out the Juliet Scarf from Lousia Harding's Knitting Little Luxeries. And I'm really liking it. It's a lace pattern, but it's not your typical repeating lace picture. There are several different "stripes" going down the scarf, which I think is fun. And it really shows off the yarn. Ok, this picture doesn't show off the yarn, but the glass beads are great in this pattern.

Knitting aside, we're sort of in survival mode here. With Mike working two jobs, I just don't have enough time to get everything done that needs to get done. I mean, I'm working too, just in opposite hours at the shop, and then when I'm at home, I'm trying to knit baby hats, keep up with the house, laundry, run all the errands, and oh yeah...spend time with my kids. So, while we are so very grateful for jobs and for the ability to actually pay some bills on time, I can't say this summer has actually been fun (ok--the part where all four of us got to see Harry Potter--that was pretty fun. I'll give you that).

When school starts I will begin babysitting a newborn. It's a situation that sort of fell into my lap and it actually works out nicely. I'll keep the same number of hours at the shop, and then pick up more income here at home. The hours will be from about 9:15 to about 4, which is really manageable. But again, no free time. Don't get me wrong--this job couldn't be more convenient. For someone looking to earn more money and still be available for her kids, this definitely fits the bill. And spending time with a newborn actually is appealing to me, since my babies are no longer babies anymore. But I keep thinking that, now that I can actually afford to paint my two unpainted bathrooms, I have no time to do it!

Mike keeps telling me that all of this will eventually work out. I'm not sure why he is so confident of that (he is sleep deprived, so some of it could be delirium), and I keep thinking that we can't keep this up, working 45 different jobs....but that's the situation we're in right now, so I guess we'll go with it.

Wow--I sort of ended this with a downer. You can blame the heat.

Royal Update

2009-07-28T09:43:00.001-07:00

Actual Rose Buds!

OH HEAVENS TO MURGATROYD IT IS HOT THIS WEEK. Ok, fine. I know I complain about the heat all the time and I'm always telling you about THE HOTTEST WEEK OF THE YEAR. But this time I mean it. No, really. Seattle is in for record heat. Tomorrow it is suppose to reach 101 at SeaTac. And that always means a good 5 degrees hotter where I am.

People, we're not equipped for this here in Seattle. We have no air conditioning. We have no swimming pools. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we live by the water and can go to the beach.....THERE IS NO SHADE AT THE BEACH AND IT'S GOING TO BE 105 DEGREES. I can't cope with this weather. It makes me yell. The inside of my house reached 91 yesterday. That is with all the doors and windows open and the fan blowing. Currently it is 10:00 am and it's already 81 inside my house. Last night I actually sent my boys to bed with ziplock bags filled with ice.

I could complain about this all the live long day, but I do have other news to report. Namely, the deer seem to have disappeared. Perhaps they died of heatstroke. We can only hope. Actually, I have noticed their absence for the last few weeks, but didn't say anything in case they read my blog and were waiting for me to report that I have actual roses on my rose bushes and tomatoes on my tomato plants. Truly, now that I have shared this news with all of you, I will not be the least bit surprised if I wake up tomorrow morning to find that they all came back to the Keene breakfast buffet. I really do hate those deer with the same intensity as the hatred I have for the heat. Which proves my theory that they are creatures straight out of hell.

It's Here It's Here!

I'm telling you--nothing makes me crankier than a thermostat that reads anything over 72.

I do have some happy news to report: my beloved new book arrived! It came early and it came to me free of charge--how much happier could that make me, I ask you?

Hobby Horse

I just have to show you some of the projects I plan to make the next time money drops from the sky into my lap and the space/time continuum opens up and gives me 5 extra kid free hours each day.

Can you believe this Hobby Horse? Does this not have that baby, Blake, written all over it. Ok fine, you don't actually know him, but if you had a baby boy in your life, don't tell me you wouldn't be thinking of making this for him.

Gentleman's Scarf

I know it's hard to see the texture of this scarf from your vantage point, but trust me when I say, this scarf is stunning. They knit it out of a fine gauge cashmere/silk blend. We have some Blue Sky Alpaca Silk in a sport weight at the shop that I think would be equally beautiful. I do have a couple of men in mind that I think would actually wear this.

Texter Gloves

How funny are these?

Ballet Flats

I don't see myself making these anytime soon, but I just had to show them to you to give you an idea of how beautiful this book is.

Animal Crackers

Truly, I would have taken a picture of each project in this book, but my fingers are starting to fuse to the keyboard. There is a baby blanket that is flat out beautiful. There are great socks. Even the hat and mittens on the cover--a must knit for my niece Ellie who loves light blue hats.

I mean, honestly, when will I ever knit these things? But at least validate me in that this book is a MUST HAVE. And a girl can dream, can't she?

Today I'm taking the boys to see Ice Age, purely for the 2 hours of air conditioning. It will be a nice break from listening to the bickering over the slip 'n slide and the placement of the sprinkler.

For the moment, I'm going to try to get some knitting done before the yarn self combusts in my hands.

I'm a liar

2009-07-22T10:10:00.003-07:00

Cousins!

That baby Blake came over with his mom yesterday to spend the day. Since it was 500 degrees out (well, 95, but after a certain point, does it really matter?), the big boys played in the sprinkler while Blake played on the deck with bowls of water and ate his first popsicle. And then played with his popsicle in the bowls of water. Tiffany and I then drank diet coke all afternoon while a nearly naked Blake emptied out my tupperware cupboard. It was entirely too hot to do anything else.

No Will Power

I also showed Tiffany the sock yarn I had ear marked for her. Several weeks ago I had described the sock yarn from Jane and she had been pretty excited about Black Purl (which is in black and various shades of purple). Yesterday I showed her all of my sock yarn and she quickly switched from Black Purl to New Year's Lights. She was really excited about it.

And so even though I told you I was not going to cast on any more socks, I lied. I have no will power and I wanted to see how these would knit up.

Help!

I can't help it. Each skein of Lorna's Laces knits up differently. Each one is a surprise. You just don't quite know what kind of pattern you are going to get. It's too compelling to patiently finished up the 3 pairs you are working on before starting a 4th. That, and I'm a bit unstable.

And I needed some success. I'm trying to knit a pair of socks for our friend Scott. And I've learned that you truly need to cast on more stitches for men. Mens legs are, how shall I say this...not dainty. Unless you are my son Ryan, who is the width of a toothpick, most men require a little more girth around their calves. There. I've said it. Men have big calves.

So I've tried two different Lorna's Laces for Scott--Baltic Sea and Forest. Both very manly and both, according to the many finished products I've seen on Ravelry, designed to stripe. I am unable to make these socks stripe. I think they would stripe if I cast on my usual 64 stitches, but again, the dainty calves issue. At 70 stitches, they won't stripe. I get this weird random warping color way. And I don't like the way they look on size 2's. I'm a tried and true size 1 sock knitter.

I did find a member of Ravelry who knit Forest for a man and they striped beautifully. But of course, she didn't log in the details of how many she cast on or what size needle she used. I emailed her, asking for insight, but alas, have not heard back.

My fall back is to use some beautiful charcoal gray Alpaca Sox from my stash, as soon as I get my Knitted Gifts book in August 1st. It has a pretty great men's sock pattern that I think would be fun. In the end, Scott will end up with a fabulous pair of socks, but the fact still remains that I have Lorna's Laces in two different male-oriented colorways that will only stripe in women's sizes.

Today Ryan's best friend Zach is here and Eric has spent the better part of the playdate whining and crying that they won't include him or do anything he wants to do (such as sit with wonder and awe as he dazzles them with his Mario Kart abilities). I then have spent a lot of quality time with Eric, explaining that no one wants to play with a kid who cries and whines. Want to be treated like a big kid=acting like a big kid. Which has produced more whining and crying. It's a vicious cycle. After some valuable alone time in his room, contemplating that, just because being a little brother sucks, doesn't mean life for the rest of us has to suck, Eric has emerged with the attitude that he doesn't want to lose yet another day of the Wii and perhaps Ryan and Zach's ideas aren't so horribly offensive after all.

And he wonders why he can't have a 9:00 bedtime like his older brother....

Back in the Saddle Again

2009-07-20T11:01:00.001-07:00

Jane strikes again
New Year's Lights
and Forest

Wow--the last three weeks of my life have been out of control. Truly, this is the first moment I have had to sit at the computer for any length of time since the beginning of July. And today is only possible thanks to a handy playdate I arranged. I have 3 boys upstairs in Ryan's room as we speak. They are being awfully quiet, so I better make this quick....

Oh, where to begin....well, my husband got two jobs. Yep, two. One regular full time Monday through Friday job that we are very happy about. On the news the other night they announced that unemployment in the state of Washington is up to 9.3%, which is the highest it has ever been. So indeed we are feeling very very blessed with this job. And then he got another one. He is working swing shift about 4 evenings a week doing computer installs in different offices (where was this job 3 months ago?!). And so between the two, Mike is home for about two waking hours each day. Which kind of sucks in a I-don't-have-a-moment-to-myself-and-have-to-do-everything kind of way, but we're certainly not ones to turn down extra income right now. So Mike plans to keep up the 2nd job for a while so we can try and catch up.

And then, during the hottest July on record in Seattle, baby hat sales are at an all time high. Really? Knit baby hats in July? Whatever. Again, who am I to turn down income. So in between dealing with my kids all the livelong day, running 98% of the errands, and throwing my hands up in the air because I can't keep up with the house, I have been knitting like crazy.

Severe case of 1-itis
1 Sonata mitten,
1 Lilypad sock for
Leah, 1 Narragansett
sock for Kristin, and
1 Mixed Berries Monkey
sock for mom.

And this last week I worked close to 40 hours at the shop. So here we are. In a dirty house, in a city where it will hit at least 90 today, where I have traded poverty for single parenthood.

All of which accounts for very little blogging and an inability to finish a pair of socks or mittens.

Now, if we want to talk about knitting for a minute, you should know that crazy Jane has gifted me MORE sock yarn. Truly, I will never want for sock yarn again. I have some of it earmarked for people (should I ever get around to finishing my current sock projects. I'm not opposed to starting another pair--it's just that all my sock needles are in use), but I have several skeins just waiting for inspiration.

Must have...

Sock knitting aside, I still have about 3/4 of Mike's Town and Country sweater to go, 100% of my Must Have Cardigan to go, projects from my Estonian Lace book, a list of mittens and gloves I absolutely must make, and then there is this book. This incredible fantastic new book.

Our shop just got the new Interweave Knitted Gifts book in. And just sold out. It is fabulous. Some of the patterns are simple indescribable. And guess who has a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card burning a hole in her pocket? Technically this book is not available until August 1st (so why we got it and were able to sell it, I don't know). Come August 1st, my list of Must Knits will have grown by leaps and bounds.

Alrighty people. Time to go accomplish something. That baby Blake is coming tomorrow, so better pick up the Legos.

Big News!

2009-07-03T22:50:00.000-07:00

No time for a real post, but wanted to let you all know that the husband accepted a full time job yesterday. He starts on Monday. Your thoughts and well wishes along the way of this journey have been so appreciated. Maybe now I'll get back to blogging about knitting!

Who Who!

2009-06-24T10:02:00.001-07:00

Who Who!

Well, look at me blogging again! That's twice in one week! Don't get too use to it.

I finished up these two Who hats that I found here. Pretty darn cute, don't you think? One is for that baby, Blake, and one is for Mara's baby that apparently will never come out.

Quick deer update: No sign of the evil one. Don't know if the Irish Spring is actually working, or if the creatures of darkness are haunting another neighborhood this week. We shall see...

Quick summer break update: So far my boys have spent almost all of their time outside, which suits me just fine, until they come in at the end of the day so filthy that I need to hose them down on the deck. Keith next door is nearly finished with the tree house his is building and rumor has it that Ryan and Eric will be packing their bags and moving into said tree house as soon as it's done. Again--I have no problem with that.

Quick job update: SphericalDave, husband of My Pink Toes, generously loaned Mike a laptop that, wait for it wait for it, works upon booting up. Each and every time. So that is making life a bit easier for the man who is spending every waking moment searching for jobs, applying for jobs, and networking with people who have jobs, all the live long day. Mike continues to apply for everything that moves and soon will have applied for every job posting in the world. One of those has got to work--right? We do have a couple of things we are a little more excited about than the average nameless faceless job, but we continue to wait and pray.

That all for now. Over and out.

Bob's Mom's Funeral Salad

2009-06-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

By popular request (well, from 3 of you), here is the recipe for Bob's Mom's Funeral Salad.

About 40 years ago my dad's best friend, Bob's mom, died. More specifically, she took her life. And while that event in itself is tragic, this particular story is a little funny.

At Bob's mom's funeral, some anonymous person had brought this salad. My mom thought it was great and wrote down the ingredients. Since she never did figure out who brought that salad, we have always and forever called it Bob's Mom's Funeral Salad. Every summer, for the last 40 years, she has made this salad. And ever summer for the last 20 years, I have made it.

Several years ago Mike and I were sitting around my parents' kitchen and the subject of the salad came up. And suddenly my dad said "you call it WHAT?!?". My mom looked very uncomfortable and said that she had always called the salad Bob's Mom's Funeral Salad. "Really? This is how you have always referred to this salad?!?" Well, yes..... and suddenly, with a gleam in his eye, my dad exclaimed "It's suicide salad!"

So, without further ado--here is the recipe for:

BOB'S MOM'S FUNERAL SALAD

1. Cook one package of small sea shell pasta

2. At the same time, boil eggs (I use a tried and true method--put cold eggs into a pot of cold water, salt, cover, and bring to a boil. When the water starts to boil, turn the burner off and let the eggs sit on the burner for about 15 minutes. Voila!).

3. Drain the pasta and add the following: chopped celery, chopped sweet pickles, a couple of small cans of sliced black olives, and about 3/4 pound of shrimp.

4. Mix it all up with some mayo and salt and pepper.

5. Slice the boiled eggs and lay them over the top of the salad.

6. Refrigerate, preferably over night. The salad is best when the pickle juices and olive juices can really soak in.

Enjoy!

Weekly Update

2009-06-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

Catawampus Hat

Hello All. I'm back again--this time with the pictures I promised. I have several updates for you, none of which is job related. We are STILL waiting to hear back from that interview. Apparently a key person was out of town for the week. Which is a very valid excuse for not calling my husband for a second interview and offering him the job with buckets of money. However, it was a long week waiting to hear that information. So we continue to look, and apply, and wait....

The scene of the crime

The deer. Sons of Satan. Masters of evil. Behind those soft brown eyes and fuzzy nose is the face of a killer.

So, I built this little fence out of the deer netting my friend gave me, but it seems it was not tall enough. Woke up one morning to find the tops of my roses and tomato plants gone. Fine. Need to build a taller fence. Keeping in mind of course that we're broke. Mike and I rummaged through the garage and found several pieces of spare molding that are quite tall and stuck those around the roses, draping the netting over them. It looks hideous. It looks awful. And I still don't think it's working.

Tuesday I went out in the garden for a bit to weed. I noticed one rose bush, closest to the house, actually had 3 roses on it. This bush is, honestly, not 10 feet from the big glass door which opens to the living room. It's right there. And on the other side of that door is the couch. The couch where I sat that afternoon to knit, with my back to the rose bushes. Later on that day I went outside to cut some peonies and thought I might as well cut those 3 roses while I'm at it.

Gone. The roses were gone. In broad daylight, just feet from me, while I had my back turned, they disappeared. The netting is still intact....72hours later I am still baffled. Roses there in the morning, gone in the afternoon. All I had to do was just turn my head. Now, you have to know, I have a big back yard. Any deer coming into my yard in broad daylight is walking several yards to get to those roses. And walking up onto the deck. That deer was 5 feet from me and I was completely oblivious to it. Lately I've been keeping that door wide open--I can only imagine how fun that would have been....

See that planter? Right there.
That is where the deer was.

My next trick is to remove the netting and place pieces of Irish Spring soap all around the rose garden. I've been told the strong scent is unpleasant to the deer and keeps them away. I'm not yet ready to let my husband pee in my garden, but I'm getting closer.

Who!

The knitting: I finished the Catawampus hat for my nephew Jack. I think it's a pretty awesome hat--just perfect for an 8 year old boy.And I'm nearly finished with Blake's owl hat. I just have to find little buttons for the owl eyes, to make them really stand out. This was a fun hat to make. I had a couple of skeins of Debbie Bliss Wool/Cotton in my stash (and where that came from, I'll never know!) and it was an easy knit. So fun, in fact, that I think my manager Mara will get one for her impending kid as well.

And I'm making Kristin a pair of Narragansett socks from A Fine Fleece out of the Pagewood Farms sock yarn that Jane gave me.

Narragansett Socks

Things that are broken at my house: Car window is fixed, Ryan's eyes are not. He had a thorough eye exam and they were not convinced he needed glasses. Apparently the eye doctor has seen a lot of kids lately who are complaining of blurry vision, and she thinks it might be the stress of the end of the school year. Perhaps that goes along with the fact that he has been pure evil lately. I'm suppose to bring him back in 6 weeks to see if there is any improvement.

The tv: Yes, after 8 months, Dish Network and our ABC affiliate finally came to an agreement and we now have ABC again. Actually, we have no idea how long we have had it back, since Dish didn't actually inform us of it. Mike just stumbled upon it a couple of night ago. "Hey, look at that--channel 4 is back". THAT is customer service, I tell you. No apologies, no notifications, in fact, no communication whatsoever. Clearly Dish is run by men. And what do you bet they remove the free channel they gave us for robbing us of ABC? Dish had given us The Hallmark Movie Channel as a special prize to make up for losing the ability to watch Lost, Desperate Housewives, The Academy Awards and the NBA Finals (when I emailed to ask if they planned to show The Academy Awards on The Hallmark Movie Channel, they didn't actually give me a response). I don't particularly want The Hallmark Movie Channel and don't really care if it is part of my package, but it would be just like them to try to charge us for another channel that is clearly costing them nothing, now that we've gotten access to ABC again.

I think the president of Dish Network is a deer.

He gets it from his mother

2009-06-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

This is an essay written by Ryan in its unedited form. I found it in a pile of papers he brought home from school yesterday. Bad parents that we are, never have we laughed so hard. And yet it's a little frightening that even in his writing, Ryan takes after me. Only Ryan can write about his favorite day in a way that makes it seem like torture.

Easter Sunday

Have you ever took an hour just trying to get home from a ferry line in Whidbey Island? I have. It's not much fun. That is what happened at the end of the story.

This is what happend first. First I packed up about a million things to go to my grandparent's house in Whidbey Island. We went there because it was Easter. We drove from Renton all the way to the Ferry Boat close to Seattle. When we got off the boat we took about five minutes getting to my grandparents house.

Next we got in and ate lunch. For lunch we had baken, orange juice, and cinnamen roles. I loved the cinnamen roles!

Then, my cousins came. We all said hello. The worsed part of it was this: haircuts. It was a good thing I didn't get my hair too short! All my cousins , my brother, and I played hide-and-seek. When we finished playing Hide-and-Seek, my cousins and I got out swim suits on and jumped into my grandparent's hot tub. It was very fun!

Last, like I said it is very boring sitting in the car waiting to get on the ferry boat. Luckily my family got to see my cousins on the boat! We went outside and watched the boat move.

That was my favorite Easter Sunday.

Thursday News

2009-06-11T10:10:00.003-07:00

Ellie's Koolhaas Hat

Hello people--yep, it's Thursday again. My unofficial blogging day. Let's see, what's new in my world. A whole lot of nothing.

I did finish my niece Ellie's Koolhaas hat, which I think is pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. And I know she will love it, so I'm very excited to give it to her. Even my husband, a person lacking in all details, commented on how much he liked it.

What's new on the job front, you ask? Well, Mike had his job interview a week ago. It was a screening interview, which he thought went well. And what have we heard since then? Zippo. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. Goose Egg. So the hunt continues. We are still hoping to hear from this particular company, but until an actual offer presents itself, the search must go on. And on. And on....Don't I sound optimistic and hopeful? I'm just a bright ray of sunshine these days. In fact, if you ask "how are you?" in just the right way, I may burst into tears right in front of you. Just ask Tiffany's mother-in-law. Oh yes, I'm just spreading happiness and joy where ever I go these days.

Glenwood Socks for Caroline

I did finish my sister's socks, so that can be considered a worthy accomplishment.

I also have a couple more hats I am making, one for Ellie's brother, and one for that baby Blake, but naturally I forgot to take pictures of them before beginning this post, so you lose. We'll try for next time, ok?

And now it's time for a really fun segment called ALL THE THINGS THAT ARE BROKEN AT MY HOUSE:

1. The garage door. Yep, still broken. Apparently those things don't fix themselves.

2. The front window. See #1.

3. My tomato plants and roses. The deer fencing I put up apparently was not tall enough, as I discovered the other morning. Bastards.

4. My Blue Potato Vine, the crowning glory of my front yard. A helpless victim of this last winter's prolonged subfreezing temperatures, now an ugly brown stump. In my front yard.

5. My husband's laptop, i.e. job-hunting-machine. His monitor stops working periodically. For significant periods of time. Very helpful when you're at Starbucks for the day researching jobs and in the middle of an on-line application. That's not frustrating at all.

6. Alice, the passive aggressing neurotic peeing cat. She seems to be irked at us again. For any number of reasons. And is taking it out on our comforter. Again.

7. The sucking/dirt picking up power of my Target vacuum.

8. Ryan's eyes. Apparently he can't see anymore, so he gets to go to the eye doctor tomorrow to determine if he needs glasses. That doesn't sound expensive at all.

9. And the newest addition to ALL THE THINGS THAT ARE BROKEN AT MY HOUSE: my car window. Yep, that's right. The driver's side window to my van. Which I stupidly opened yesterday while waiting in the car at school so Eric and I wouldn't suffocate in 80 degree weather. As I started the car I tried to shut the window and heard a loud CLUNK. Which is the sound of my window being stuck inside of the door. ARE YOU &#@!*@& kidding me?!? That was an actual fist-shaking-to-the-heavens moment for me. Really. The car window. Two days before it is suppose to rain. The ONLY thing that kept me from completely losing it with a car full of kids is the fact that my brother-in-law owns a garage. Guess he'll get a pair of socks too. That Jane has no idea how her sock yarn is blessing the people in my life.

The broken window comes on the heels of our dead 4 year old refrigerator (according to Sears, this was our fault for failing to vacuum under our fridge on a regular basis and so the dust that collected overheated the motor. Seriously, that is what the Sears repairman said. First of all, that is never going to happen. Second of all, see #7). So you can see why I'm feeling especially cursed these days.

You may now refer to me as Mrs. Job.

Global Warming Is Trying To Kill Me

2009-06-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

Hi People. Short blog today. It is approximately 1 million degrees out and my brain can't function when I am on fire. Seattle was never meant to be over 75 degrees. When Seattle was invented the highs were 75 and a little overcast. I don't know whose idea it was to crank it up to 90+ this week, but it was unauthorized, I assure you. When I find out who did this, I am writing a letter to their manager. 95 in June is just flat out UNACCEPTABLE. Do you hear that? UNACCEPTABLE. We don't have air conditioning because we live in Seattle. Which means my newest form of exercise is running around the house at 7:00 am and opening up all the windows while it is still below 85 (and I know there are those of you out there who prescribe to the "make your house into a cave by shutting all the blinds and pretending no one is home when someone knocks on the door" theory. We can't do that because we don't have blinds on all our windows. If I shut all my windows and hid behind the couch like you do, I would just fry like an ant under a magnifying glass).

Here's a quick recap of life at the castle:

--Today is Mike's job interview. In about 8 minutes. It is 105 degrees out and he is wearing wool gabardine pants, a wool blazer, and a tie. Blech. Good thing the interview is at 9, before he has time to melt.

--Ellie's Koolhaas hat is really fun. I would take a picture but that involves me getting up and finding my camera. More physical energy than I am capable of right now.

--Now that I have defiled my garden with deer netting, there has been zero evidence of deer. Of course. But you know I can't take it down because the second I do they will all make a beeline for my yard and start pushing and shoving for a place at the front of the line. Much like a certain kindergarten class I know.

It is suppose to rain this weekend, which makes me practically giddy with excitement. Perhaps I'll be able to write more then, when my fingers are no longer fused to a melted keyboard.

Q & A with the Queen

2009-05-28T11:10:00.005-07:00

Ryan's party

Yep, it's time once again for Q & A with the Queen!

1. How was Ryan's party? I will say, out of all those kids you see there, Eric (the only kid who refused to turn around and be in the picture, the little booger) was the loudest. Eric is the consummate little brother: "guys guys hey guys listen to this guys!" Ryan has a nice group of friends, and he adores his cousins, Ellie and Jack, so it was a good group.

At the movies

2. How was the movie? We saw Night at the Museum II. Which contained 2 monkeys, rather than just the 1 from the original Night at the Museum. And if you are are 9 year old boy, 2 monkeys are always better than 1.

After seeing this fine film, which I'm sure will go down in the annals of movie history, we came back to the house where everyone played soccer with Ryan's new soccer ball. And alienated all of our neighbors.

Spring has sprung!

3. What's new on the job front? Oh, my favorite topic. Thank you for asking. Mike actually has another interview a week from today. So we are very excited about that. And we continue to apply for jobs, along with 59080923 of our closest friends in the greater Seattle area. Our city currently has a 9% unemployment rate. How encouraging is that!

4. What is that gray post in the middle of your garden? Oh that. Yeah, that is what is left of my bird bath. I'm sure a deer took it out. They are out to get me. I bet one of them dared the other to sneak up to the house and tip it over. Actually this part of the garden is not as appealing to the deer. I didn't take a picture of my roses or tomato plants because it would make you too too sad.

Today a friend gave me some deer netting. I've been toying with the idea, but let's face it--not attractive. But since I didn't have to pay for it, I've decided to give it a go. So my rose garden, which is directly outside of my large living room window, is now surrounded by a wall of deer netting. So pretty. Pretty pretty. It does cause much less emotional damage to my children than waking up to a dismembered deer carcass and seeing their mother trying to get bloodstains out of her pajamas, so we'll try this solution first.

Caroline's socks

5. Knitting anything lately? I'm in the home stretch of Caroline's socks and Leah's socks are becoming pretty darn adorable. I tried to do a couple of fun things with Leah's Lilypad socks, but nothing looked right. In the end I decided that the striping was just perfect as it was. I did leave the picot cuff because it is just too precious. So, sorry Leah. I still want to make you those Biological Clock socks, but we'll have to pick a solid color yarn for that.

Leah's socks

Ellie's Koolhaas hat

6. Whatever happened to those Sonata Mittens? Oh, those. Well, I was right. Knitting them on 2's was not going to work. My stitches looked too uneven. Cascade Heritage is really meant to be knit on 1's, so I started over and that is what I'm doing. I know Kristin and/or Meghan is wanting a pair, but I think we'll have to do them in mail-ordered Lorna's Laces to get the gauge right for your man-hands.

7. Have you abandoned Mike's Town and Country sweater altogether? I know it looks that way, and for a while that was the case, but I did pick it up the other day and knit several rows. In all my spare time.

8. Please tell me you haven't started any other new projects. Well, I did begin a Koolhaas hat for my niece, Ellie. Ellie is 11 and loves light blue. And hats. I had this Cascade Superwash just doing nothing in my stash, so I selected several patterns for Ellie to choose from and this is the hat she wants.

9. And speaking of new projects, have you seen Susan B. Anderson's Knit Chickens? Oh my word. You have no idea. Actually the regular old chickens from the pattern are cute, but not terribly compelling to me. HOWEVER. I then saw what someone did with them and now I MUST knit this chicken once I rejoin society. I know. I've said that about a rather long list of projects. This blog is full of projects that I plan to knit someday. Someday....people, when I am rich and famous, I will knit all of these things I keep telling you I plan to knit.

10. Say, isn't it about time for Bob's Mom's Funeral Salad again? Yes indeed, it is that time of the year when I start making vats of Bob's Mom's Funeral Salad. About 35 years ago my dad's best friend's mom died. The friend being Bob. Story goes, at the funeral, there was this fantastic pasta salad that my mom couldn't get enough of--shrimp, pickles, olives, celery, sliced boiled eggs...not knowing who brought this salad, my mom replicated it the best she could and made it every summer when I was growing up. And we have always called it Bob's Mom's Funeral Salad. When we were dating Mike had some that my mom made and it was love at first sight. The salad, not my mom. He affectionately just calls it Funeral Salad and his eyes light up like a kid on Christmas morning when I have THE BIG TUPPERWARE sitting in the fridge, ready for him to dive in.

Well, must run along now. My children have been especially, shall we say, challenging (i.e. evil) this week and I'm starting to get the vibe (i.e. yelling) from their father that things are starting to disintegrate again. Ta ta for now!

Milestones

2009-05-24T18:43:00.001-07:00

Eric's first missing tooth!

Apparently eating all those apples and Frosted Mini Wheats without milk paid off!

Sometimes it's hard to be Queen

2009-05-22T08:56:00.001-07:00

My little Mordecai

I'm currently reading The Other Queen, by Philippa Gregory. Historical fiction about Mary Queen of Scots. You know, things don't seem to be going well for her, either.

Ryan and I are also reading Peter and the Shadow Thieves, and Molly and Peter have just arrived at the Tower of London. Where I believe my dear friend Mary will be a guest soon. Molly tells Peter about the Bloody Tower and I ended up giving Ryan a little history lesson on Richard III, Queen Elizabeth I, and the song London Bridge is Falling Down, which is a sweet little nursery rhyme about the beheading of Anne Boleyn. All this to say, as far as queens go, there are others who have had it far worse.

Back here in the 21st century, Mike and I continue to tag team the job search. I spend a fair amount of time searching the job boards and Mike spends all of his time applying for those jobs, contacting people he knows at those companies, and driving around looking for help wanted signed to earn cash while we wait for the perfect job to come along. Or the not-so-perfect job to come along. Honestly people, we're flexible! And in my spare time I knit hats, do laundry (I keep forgetting that the warmer the weather, the dirtier the clothes. Apparently my boys have a pact with the neighbor kids and they are all digging a giant pit in my back yarn. Have you any idea what 5 small children look like after they've been digging for and hour and a half? Unrecognizable.), and I'm rediscovering the joys of Mike's Hard Lemonade.

And how are we surviving all of this? God. Seriously, God. He's apparently not quite ready to give us a job yet, but is continuing to provide us with very random ways to pay the bills and eat. Miraculous ways. Mike and I just look at each other in disbelief, unsure of how to react to anonymous gifts of cash and gift cards. I'm telling you, if you don't believe in God, come spend the day with me. We're becoming the Miracle on SE 137th Place. We pray and pray and pray, and somehow, some way, God takes care of us.

And now it's time for a new segment in my blog called Random Things This Week:

1. Ryan played Mordecai in the play of Esther at church this week. This was a much bigger part than he has ever had and, I have to say, he memorized his lines beautifully. Now if he can just work on delivering them with more inflection than a robot...above is a picture of my little pipsqueak, on the right, next to his buddies Ben (King Xerxes) and Paul (Haman).

2. On Monday Ryan turned 9 years old. We celebrated by taking the boys to see Star Trek after school. The monster on that ice planet was just about the freakiest thing I have ever seen.

3. Dear sweet Jane gave me more sock yarn this week. This time it was the beloved Pagewood Farms, one in purples, and one in springy greens. My friend Kristin will be getting some purple socks in the near future.

Lily Pad Socks for Leah

4. I've started on Leah's birthday socks. I had planned to do the Biological Clock socks from The Eclectic Sole, which has a strand of DNA down the sides. But this yarn is just to variegated to show it off. So instead I'm doing this sweet heart pattern down the leg, from last year's Stitch 'n Bitch calender. I LOVE the picot edge and the striping is perfect. I think these socks are going to be quite adorable when finished.

5. Mara was mean to me. Yesterday she called me at home and left a message telling me she ordered some new sock yarn that I would love. She strongly hinted it was cashmere. She had me seriously thinking about this luxurious new sock yarn and I was so excited to see what it was. The yarn is evil and I honestly truly with every fiber of my being can't understand how this yarn, by Austermann, sells enough to justify remaining in stock. She was sent the color card and, rightly so, thought it was so offensively atrocious, she decided to have some fun with me. I told her she has lost my trust forever. But this yarn, I must share with you because it is, in a word, horrific.

6. Eric has his first loose tooth and it is becoming quite wiggly. He has declared that he can only eat crunchy foods, in order to loosen it more. He refuses all soft and squishy foods because they are counter productive and do nothing to help him achieve his goal.

That's all I have for you. Random musings. This Monday, Memorial Day, we take Ryan and his buddies to see Night at the Museum II for his birthday party, after a chicken nugget lunch at our house. There has GOT to be a blog post waiting for me in that event.

There is a method to my madness

2009-05-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

I was right. No News is not good news. It is the news that someone else got the job. And not Mike. But look at how prepared I was. When I was given the news, I was already miserable, so it was a very short trip to the lowly state I am in now.

I'm actually not going to write more--I'm on my way to work. But there are 3 or 4 of you waiting for this news, so here you go. It's ok. You can say it. You are free to tell me my life sucks. I won't hold it against you. I say it all the time.

That Old Adage Is a Crock

2009-05-13T09:18:00.000-07:00

"No News Is Good News" my ass. Know what No News means? It means NO NEWS. It means we know nothing. It means I have oodles and oodles of time to allow my brain to fill with thoughts of Why?! Why haven't they called? What are they DOING over there? They said we would hear this week, which means I was expecting a call first thing Monday morning. Because I know that if I were wanting to offer a job to someone as perfect as my husband, I would want to call AS SOON AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. It is now Wednesday. Clearly they have given the job to someone else and we will wind up jobless and homeless, living in a tent. Perhaps they found out about his inability to sweep. Maybe they caught a glimpse of the inside of his car. I know that would scare me off. This job is now dead to me. Thinking that will allow me to go on.

People, welcome to my brain. Enjoy the preview into the workings of an anxious, glass-half-empty, neurotic, fear-based 40 year old. A little sneak peek into my constant conversations with God, in which I ask, beg, plead, cajole, bargain, reason, and pretty much drive myself crazy with my inability to understand why we have been living our own mini version of the recession for the last two years and why it will never ever ever end and I will be forced to spend the rest of my life as a basket case because I wasn't suppose to spend this much time with my husband until he retired. And the day he retires I plan to get him a lifetime supply of golf lessons. WHICH I CAN'T AFFORD TO DO WITHOUT A PAYCHECK. So you see my dilemma.

To recap, Mike has applied for 489084989890284938787598043 jobs. He adds to that list daily. He has "networked" and "connected" and "Linked In" and "Facebooked" with every person he has ever met in his life. Think I'm kidding? This is a guy who connects with people he knows from elementary school on Facebook. And communicates with them regularly. There is not a person in his life that does not know that Mike is looking for a job. Any job. A way to spend 40 hours each week making money. So we can not only continue living in this cracker jack box we call home, but we can replace our dead garage door, our broken front window, and replace our disintegrated gate to keep out the deer that continue to eat my roses and tomato plants. I would shoot them but I can't afford a gun.

And then here comes a fabulous job. Really. This job is fantastic. This isn't just a way to kill 40 hours each week. This is not only a job for which is well qualified, but it is a job he would like. A lot. And he actually gets an interview. And it goes well. He is pleased with how he did. He thinks he has a shot. And I actually start to dream of the day I can purchase my own bb gun and pick off those rat bastard deer that suddenly think my back yard is an all-you-can-eat buffet. And then, because my brain has the special ability to always look for the absolute worst case scenario, that is where I have taken up permanent residence. I am a lot of fun to be around right now.

I know that in the whole scheme of things and the entire spectrum of problems I could be facing, this is manageable. A lost job can some how, some day be remedied. My next door neighbor just learned that he has Parkinson's. My 46-year-old-father-of-2-neighbor has Parkinson's. They are waiting to get in to a specialist, and while they wait he is getting to experience a whole myriad of symptoms that involve the inability to use half of his appendages. To put it mildly, they are freaking out. As well they should. So I do recognize that things in my life could actually be a whole lot worse. But people, I am done. DONE.

There. A picture of something I knit. Now, back to me. Today I will spend the entire day staring anxiously at my husband, who has this illness that causes him to remain calm in the face of danger and adversity, I will probably clean something, I may knit a baby hat, I will once again curse Dish Network for continuing to withhold ABC from their paying customers (well, mostly) on Lost night FOR NO GOOD REASON, and then I will go to bed in pretty much the same frame of mind in which I awoke this morning. And this is why wine was invented.

D Day

2009-05-07T09:21:00.001-07:00

Sonata Mitten

I planned to throw you off and blog on Tuesday. I took these pictures on Tuesday and thought HA--I'll surprise them with two posts within a week! Tuesday came and went. Yesterday also had blogging possibilities, but then I got all wrapped up in laundry and parenting and baby hat knitting and freaking out about my husband's interview, so Wednesday was a bust as well.

And so here we are, back to Thursdays. Well, you can't say I'm not reliable.

Today is my husband's interview. Today at 3:00. Pacific Standard Time. 3:00 pm. I have an entire army of people praying. Mike got a nice haircut and beard trim, so as to not scare the people interviewing him. He has clean shirts from the dry cleaners. This morning he started to put on his interview clothes and I looked at him and said really? You're going to wear that all day? And eat lunch in it? My point was well taken when Mike dropped a can of Diet Coke in the kitchen before heading out the door. He will be back at lunchtime to change. People, I've done all I can do. If I thought it would help, I would pace outside of the building with a sign reading HIRE MY HUSBAND, but something tells me that may be one step over the line. At this point, the best thing I can do is work myself up into a small panic and eat an entire bag of cookies. I promise to hold off on the drinking until after dinner.

As promised, here is a picture of the Sonata Mittens. Pretty darn cute, if you ask me! I'm frustrated because they are laddering a bit. I'm using size 2 needles, when I think I should be using 1's, but I honestly think they would end up too small on 1's. I hate this--I can have perfect tension for too-small mittens, or perfectly fitting mittens with wobbly tension. And I don't even know what I'm going to do with them. They were just too cute not to make. But I haven't decided if I'm a pink and brown girl. I may auction them off to the highest bidder.

Caroline's socks

I've also started on my sister, Caroline's socks. This is some yarn she picked out from Jane's stash. Lorna's Laces called Glenwood. I have started these socks about 5 times, each with a different pattern. I wanted to do something fun for her, but each pattern just looked weird. Lorna's Laces has a reputation for pooling badly if your gage is not perfect and I was finding all kinds of strange color patterns as I knit. I finally gave up and decided just to do a K3 P2 rib. And voila! Perfect striping! Who knew?

My socks

And these are some Lorna's Laces socks I just finished for me. I love the colorway (although I don't know what it's called), but I think Jane was sent two different dye lots. Look at the striping on each foot. And look at the pooling on the gusset. Not uniform at all. It's fine. They are for me and I still love them. But that Lorna is sure finicky!

That's all for today, people. I have Junie B. Jones to read, hats to deliver, 7968 cookies to eat, and, if I don't stay organized I won't have time to start my nervous breakdown . My life is so full.

Show and Tell

2009-04-30T09:18:00.001-07:00

Mom's finished mittens

Well, apparently I blog on Thursdays now.

First, the Tell: Mike has a job interview next Thursday at 3:00 pst. We are very excited about this job. It is an organization he likes, it is a job for which he is well qualified, and it is very close to home. For most of his working life, Mike has had terrible commutes. Awful commutes. Anytime you have to go from the Eastside into Seattle, and then anywhere in any part of Seattle, you're in for a bad commute. This job would be 10 minutes from our house. That, in itself, would be reason enough to work at this place. But this is a job he truly wants, so that would be just the icing on the cake.

I am very nervous about this interview. It's just too perfect. I refuse to allow myself to get too excited about it. But you have my permission to jump up and down behind my back.

And now the Show: I finished my mom's Druid Mittens for Mother's Day and I finished Pat's socks.

Pat's Slippery Socks
I twisted the left sock
to try to show you the
stitch pattern.
I don't think my
camera can handle
fine details. But trust
me, these socks are
very cool.

Both of these projects were very labor intensive and required a lot of cabling. I am quite ready to be done with cables for a bit, which is really too bad for Mike's sweater. But I have to say, it was quite a sense of accomplishment.

Woolly Chick
These have Leah
written all over them.

I've moved on to the Sonata convertible mittens, also found in the Vogue Fall 2008 issue. Of course, I forgot to take a photo, so that sucks for you, but picture this: they are pink with vertical brown stripes on the cuffs and the flap, and each finger of the gloves is edged in brown. I had Mike's leftover Dream in Color Smooshy yarn, which I am using for the brown, and I got some very inexpensive, yet utterly perfect Cascade Heritage sock yarn from work (the pattern calls for Lorna's Laces. And in case you are wondering, yes, Jane actually does have the pink, but she is saving it for herself. I suppose that's fair).

Yesterday I was up in Edmonds helping Blake's mom (Mike's sister) with her broken arm. Yep, she fell down the stairs and broke her arm. So I spent the day taking care of Blake and doing things for her that require the use of more than one hand.

And since I was in the neighborhood, I had to stop by Village Yarn and Tea on my way home. Now, given the fact that Tiffany lives, literally, across the street from Spin A Yarn in downtown Edmonds you would think I would pop in there instead. But that shop is weird. Seriously. Weird. They organize everything by color. And the shop is in an old house, so there are multiple rooms. You can't find anything in that shop. Say you are perusing the pink yarn in the pink section and you find a great yarn for your project. And then you wonder what other colors that yarn comes in--most shops will have all the colors of the yarn in that particular line all right together. Not Spin A Yarn. You would seriously have to go on a scavenger hunt all over this old house looking to see if they carry the exact same yarn in any other color. And I suppose I could ask an employee, but since they are always hiding upstairs and I could back a truck up to that place and load it up before they ever figured out I was there, that doesn't seem to be a viable option. And being a yarn shop employee myself, I honestly don't know how they can keep track of the 46 different locations of their Cascade 220, since turning their shop into a rainbow seems to be more important than selling yarn. So I don't shop there. It makes me dizzy. And angry.

But I digress. I went to Village Yarn and Tea. I do love that shop. The employees are very nice and they carry beautiful yarn, all displayed in a logical and organized fashion. Really beautiful yarn. I had a hard time not buying any of the really beautiful yarn (my shop also carries very beautiful yarn, but Village has a different inventory, so some of it I was seeing as if for the first time). Being destitute does make things easier though. No money=no yarn. However, I did spy this on the counter. Woolly Chick by Marie Mayhew. It's a felted chick with glass bead feet. Honestly, did you really think I could leave the store without that pattern?

Capillifolium Baby Bonnet

And then I found this. Village had a model of this baby hat on display and that was the clincher for me. The model was in deep greens, yellows, and reds, which showed me how stunning it can be in a variety of ways. I actually sat in one of their chairs and read through it, and then started to shop for the yarn before I came to my senses and realized that I would have to hold my own telethon to raise the money for this yarn. But I bought the magazine because, mark my words, I will make this hat. Blake may be wearing it to college, but I will make it.

Well folks, that's all for now. I have a 6 year old in the other room who has been begging me for lunch since 9:30 this morning. Perhaps I should go back to being a parent now.

Still Here....

2009-04-23T16:50:00.005-07:00

His Father's Son

Still here. No job news to report. Just thought I'd get that out of the way up front. Still searching for jobs--check. Still applying--check. Waiting ever so patiently for SOMEONE TO CALL US WITH AN INTERVIEW--check. Oh, sorry--was I yelling just then?

Other than that, life around here is, well, we're all still alive. The boys see Emily, Daniel, and Connor every single day. In fact, Connor is here right now as we speak. He did give us the courtesy of ringing the doorbell before entering and completely making himself at home this time. So that's something.

And it's all Pokemon all the time. The other day Ryan used his allowance to buy himself a Pokemon magazine with a master checklist in it. And being the son of a baseball card collector from way way (way) back, Ryan very systematically and methodically went through his entire collection of Pokemon cards and checked off each and every one with that skinny little left hand of his.

Sock Hat
Made with leftover
Mini Raggi sock yarn

I'm knitting baby hats for the shops by day (well, when I'm not folding everyone's laundry. And vacuuming up the dirt from my carpet from the entire neighborhood running in and out of my house 500 times a day. And picking up Pokemon cards from every surface of my home) and knitting for fun at night.

This is a baby hat I made for a pregnant friend out of leftover sock yarn. Pretty darn cute, if you ask me!

Lorna's Laces for Me

And this sock is for me, made from some of the Lorna's Laces my dear friend Jane gave me. Much of the yarn she gives me is going to others in the form of socks, but this colorway was for me and me alone. I'm hoping to make the mate someday.

Mom's Druid Mittens

I am so close to finishing mom's mittens,

Pat's Socks

and Pat's socks are coming along nicely.

More from Jane
Black Purl, Baltic Sea,
and Lily Pad

On Sunday my dear friend Jane showed up at the shop with more sock yarn for me. This is the 3rd time she has gifted me from her crazy stash of Lorna's Laces. I protested. She insisted. I reminded her that the Black Purl is her favorite. Apparently she had 4 skeins of it. It seemed to genuinely make her happy to give it to me.

Lately Mike and I have been the recipients of many such gifts. Random and unexpected gifts from people who feel led to help us out. Cash, clothing money (and I'm delighted to tell you that I have new spring pants to wear to work. In the spring. New spring pants. And it was no small feat finding those pants, being the size of a normal human being who is 40 and bore two children. Who ARE these people shaped like sticks who are buying these clothes?), plants for my pots, Safeway gift cards, picking up the tab for dinner...this seems to be a season when we are suppose to be receiving blessings from others.

I don't know about you, but I'm a pray-er. And these days I've been praying A LOT. And even though God isn't quite ready to give us a job yet, He does seem to enjoy blessing us through other people. So I accepted Jane's gift of yarn, because I have no money for yarn and it made her so happy to give it to me. And even though she doesn't know the half of what's happening in my life (apparently she doesn't do computers, so reading my blog is out), she is a blessing to me. She blesses me with her company every Sunday afternoon, and even though she knows how delighted I am by the sock yarn, she has no idea of how much it means to me right now.

I want Mike to get a job for many reasons. Many many reasons. I have a list a mile long of reasons why my husband needs a full time job. But high on that list is the ability to bless others the way they have blessed us. And honestly, before this big mess of unemployment and destitution, I'll admit that giving to others wasn't high on my list of priorities. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a horribly selfish person. I don't think I was stingy. I just was sort of looking out for #1. But seeing how people have been so incredibly generous to us--now I can't wait for it to be my turn.

Now I have to send Connor back from where he came and then figure out what to make for dinner for two people who have no intention of eating it. Maybe one of these days someone will bless me with a housekeeper and a cook. Now THAT would be a miracle!

I survived Spring Break

2009-04-16T19:01:00.001-07:00

Seattle Center

Spring Break: Yes, I lived to tell about it. I was actually able to pick up a few extra hours at work, with the husband at home full time and all, and in the end we all did survive.

On Thursday of last week I took the boys and Emily-the-neighbor girl to Seattle Center for Whirlygig. They turn the Center House into a giant bounce house for about 3 weeks each spring and it's very expensive. Except on Thursdays when it is free. All three kids ran around the Center House in their socks for hours (blech) and stood in lines that were often longer than the end result. I took that golden opportunity to explain that the boredom they were experiencing is the exact same boredom found in the long long lines at Disneyland. The looks on their crestfallen faces has definitely bought me some time on the whole Disneyland issue.

We then walked over to the Fountain, which Emily and Eric had never seen. And they were fascinated. Completely enraptured by it. In fact, Eric declared that his next birthday party is going to be at the Fountain. Which it is so not going to be since his birthday is in February. But we have 10 whole months to forget about that dream.

Raha Scarf

The Job Search: Next topic. No, really, there is nothing to tell you about. Really. I have nothing to report. Zip. Mike continues to apply for jobs in numbers higher than I can count. He is continuing to network and schmooze and all that and it is getting us NOWHERE. We have a friend who really wanted to help us with our resumes and, clearly, mine needed much help. In fact, I want a do-over for all the jobs for which I have already applied since I clearly sent them the wrong resume. Aaaccckkk! Our friend has been incredibly helpful and has made me completely paranoid about each and every potential employer who has our incorrect, uninformative, loser resumes.

The Knitting: I finished the Raha Scarf from Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia for someone very special. I used some Jaeger Matchmaker 4 ply merino from my stash, and I have to say it turned out very well. And I'm cracker jack at counting to 27 since I have now done that about 8567954 times.

I have one sock from about 4 different pairs and I'm trying to finish up my mom's Druid Mittens by Mother's Day (don't worry--she never reads this. No. Really. She never reads my blog. She keeps forgetting I have it). My knitting is rather unexciting these days, but it keeps me out of trouble

The Neighbors: With the spring weather finally finally finally here, the boys have spent a ton of time with the neighbor kids. They simply adore Emily and Daniel and see them almost every day. And on the other side we have 5 year old Connor. Eric and Connor are good buds and their conversations are filled with all things Pokemon and Bakugan. Connor loves being with the boys, and is the kid we always see peeking in our windows to see if we are home. Connor is the kid I found eating breakfast with the boys one day last summer when I wasn't paying attention. And Connor is the kid who apparently came over yesterday afternoon to play. When he opened our back door he discovered we weren't home. So apparently, just to make sure of that, he checked all of our bedrooms. And then went down to the kitchen, made himself a snack, and then went back home. I found this out today when his dad, Keith, came over to apologize for something I knew nothing about until he told me. And maybe my attitude about this is all wrong, but it just makes me laugh everytime I think about it.

That's all for now from job hunting headquarters. Pretty dull. Assuming we still have electricity, I'll write again soon.

Q & A with the Queen

2009-04-06T17:38:00.000-07:00

Mike and the boys have left for a trip to Target, where the boys are planning to spend the money they earned picking up pinecones in Walter's yard, and feeding the other neighbor's dog, Ginger, over the weekend. Which means I have time to answer your burning questions!

Any news on the job front?
That would be a No. To date, Mike has applied for approximately 5498751987845784 jobs. Roughly. He's making good contacts, blah blah blah and I'm sure God has a darn good reason why interviews are not filling up Mike's dance card, despite my repeated requests. I would be delighted to know what that reason is. In the meantime, we're pressing onward in the job hunt. What did we all do before the internet? That is what I would like to know.

Does Eric really use The Snuggie?
Each and every day.

Seriously?
Seriously.

So Mike is done working his temporary job?
Yes indeedy. And, lucky me, this has started during Spring Break. I have ALL 3 BOYS here with me this week. It's like a family vacation gone bad. No one in this house is doing what they are suppose to be doing. Mike is not rushing off late to work, I'm not trying to convince Eric to get dressed for school, I don't have my designated Baby Hat Knitting Time while the 3 mess-makers are where they are suppose to be....today I spent hours in the yard while the boys ran themselves ragged all over the neighborhood (after picking up Walter's pinecones. In which he is sorry he agreed to 2 cents a pinecone since he apparently shelled out much more than originally budgeted. But since most of it went to his own daughter, I find it kind of funny). In fact, I was surprised to see the phone guy show up to fix our phone line that was apparently gnawed by small animals outside the kitchen window (perhaps the same animal that broke my birdbath. I'm developing a deep hatred of small animals. And big animals. But I digress) because it felt so much like a Saturday. But no, it's Monday and no one is where they are suppose to be. NO ONE IS WHERE THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO BE. I know that is grammatically incorrect, but it is SO TRUE.

You worked in the yard today? Does that mean is has finally stopped snowing?
Yes, 4 days ago it snowed, and today it's in the 70's. Both boys got sunburns and begged to play in the sprinkler. And by the end of the week it is supposed to be cold and rainy again. Seattle has apparently moved to the midwest.

As The Knitting Queen, are you actually knitting anything these days?
Let's see...Mike's Town & Country sweater is currently in a big heap. I have completed 1 Duet sock, 1 sock for Pat, 1/2 of a sock for Caroline, 1 mitten for my mom, and 1/2 of another Lorna's Laces sock, courtesy of my dear friend Jane. I think I'm too preoccupied with Mike's job hunt and our impending doom because I seem to be unable to finish anything I start these days. I have so many half finished projects that I really think I need to restrict myself from starting anything else. But as any knitter will tell you, the lure of the new project is always there. Especially when you actually have the yarn and the pattern. I could probably start 7 or 8 more projects. There are times when my stash calls to me. Loudly. But my knitting is so schizophrenic these days that adding one more project might make it spontaneously combust.

Did you know Keith Urban has a new album?
Oh yes. And guess who actually had enough money in her itunes account to get it....

Is Eric truly into Junie B. Jones?
Oh yes, that Junie B--she makes us laugh. Currently we're reading Junie B. is a Cheater Pants. Eric, that kid, is an enigma.

How is that baby, Blake?
We babysat Blake the other night. He has teeth, crawls, eats food--all that real baby stuff now. He is 10 months old (I think...is that right? Maybe 9 1/2. I don't know. I'm preoccupied, people!) and pretty darn cute. The boys and I read books to him before bed and that baby sat on Ryan's lap and listened to all of If You Give A Mouse A Cookie and Donald Duck and the Case Of the Missing Peanuts with more patience than Eric has.

I think those people will be returning at any moment. Sigh.....if I can magically make them all disappear again sometime this week, you may see me again. If not, then you'll know that I've smothered by the mess that can only come from 2 boys and their father during a week at home.

2009-04-01T21:55:00.000-07:00

Update on Mike's "interview": turned out to be a scam. Seriously. 40 minutes into it he realized that they were trying to sell him something. There was no job. They were hoping he would drop $15,000 for training from them. Rat bastards. Surprisingly, the rest of my day seemed to go downhill from there.

I'll be sure to let you all know if any actual employers call.

No News Is, Well, No News

2009-04-01T09:49:00.001-07:00

Mike's Smooshy socks

If you've come here looking for the job update, I'm sorry to disappoint. I have very little news for you. We are still waiting anxiously for a couple of organizations to contact Mike with interview possibilities. I even saw one of my special contacts last week, the day after the application processed closed. We were not in an appropriate place to discuss it, so I erred on the side of caution and did not bring it up. A decision that is killing me right now.

I too am waiting to hear about a couple of things, but I'm not holding my breath.

Yesterday Mike did receive a call from a company we have never heard of before in our lives. They do software training for corporations and private individuals, and they somehow got his name and resume. He has an interview with them this morning. Since this is one of the few jobs he did not actually apply for in the Seattle area, he's not sure what to expect from them or even what the job is. So, this could be fantastic. Or just a chance to make sure his suit still fits. Either way, it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Yesterday was Mike's last day of work, which means today is his first day of being in the house, looking over my shoulder while I type, and showing me a little glimpse of what retirement is going to be like. Mike not working could be hazardous to his health.

In knitting news, I finished Mike's socks! I really do love the Dream in Color Smooshy yarn. It's soft and the colorway is so pretty in person. I also finished the red scarf and I will show it to you if and when I ever get around to blocking it. Both items can be attractive and warm when worn by the recipients. Or can be very useful in strangling an out of work husband who moonlights as a pack rat. Other than that, my knitting news is pretty ho-hum right now.

Dog Hunt

In fact, it's downright boring compared to what has been going on in the neighborhood lately. On Sunday afternoon the boys were playing outside with Emily-the-neighbor-girl when suddenly a couple of police cars showed up on our street. And the cops started walking up and down the street with giant rifles, ordering everyone inside.

Turns out there were a couple of vicious dogs on the loose and someone called it in. Everyone was to stay inside while these cops searched all the yards for these dogs. The kids were completely fascinated by this and sat in front of the window the entire time, until the cops got a tip that the dogs had moved on to a different street.

I never did hear a gun shot. And we never received any kind of confirmation on whether or not they actually found the dogs. So between the deer that eat my roses, the creature that knocked over my birdbath and broke it in half, and these dogs, it sounds like I should start packing heat.

And now it is time in our program for something completely unrelated: the other day at work I noticed Shannon working with some new sock yarn that I had never seen before. Turns out she used a Louet Hand Dying Kit to dye her own yarn. Now, I have never had a desire to dye my own yarn. I don't understand how it is done and, frankly, it just looks like a daunting task. Until Shannon explained it to me. She dyed her sock yarn to be self striping, and it actually worked. She explained to me what a warping board is, which I believe now I must own, and suddenly it all became crystal clear. It was amazing! And so easy! I have to do this. HAVE TO. I have to dye my own sock yarn.

Granted, I have no money to do this. No money and no time. So really, this is a cruel trick because now I have something else to add to my list of things to fix, replace, and buy when my husband get a full time job. But I am so completely entranced by this idea and the fact that it is truly easy to do. I'm already making a mental list of people who will be getting hand dyed socks from me. Of course, they'll be receiving them when I'm 60, but a girl can dream, can't she?

That's all from here. Keep the prayers coming for Mike--not only for a job, but for his safety, should this take a while. Remember, I'm packing heat.

The Fun, It Never Seems To End...

2009-03-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hello faithful readers. I'm back. Taking a break from the job search to give you an update on how little else is happening in this house right now (except for Eric, who is doing some serious reorganizing of his Pokemon cards, so at least something important is being accomplished around here).

And here is what I've discovered. Mike and I studied all the wrong things in college. Because 20 years later his Marketing degree and my English degree are doing neither of us any good (well, to be fair, I think we all knew that English degree was never going to take me places). In doing my daily job searches, it appears that nursing, occupational therapy, and anything ending in -ology is where the jobs are. You know, there are some jobs you can fake and embellish on your resume. Urology is not one of them. And by the way, I find it a little bit disconcerting that there are notices for Neurologists, right next to part time bank tellers and cashiers at K-Mart. Do they really need to advertise for Neurologists on job boards? I kind of assumed that something like that would be part of a closer circle. Like rocket science. Or UN delegate. Can I really just submit my resume and write in "Neurologist" when they ask which job I'm applying for?

Here is what we know: Mike's job is ending in a few days. And he has applied for roughly 5 kazillion jobs. There are a choice few that he is very very excited about. We have contacts at these jobs, we've been told very unofficially that he has a good chance, but as of yet, no interviews have been scheduled. And as much as I would like to call each of these places and go over my calendar and pile of bills with them, I'm thinking that may hurt Mike's chances a bit. I would bake each of them a plate of cookies, but you know how much I hate baking cookies.

I've applied for a fair amount of jobs as well. Not nearly as many as Mike, but I have been applying when it makes sense. Yesterday I found pretty much the job of my dreams and I did apply for it. I know my chances are slim to none, but I truly think I'm qualified, and it's a part-time-work-from-home-on-the-internet (and don't worry mom, the company is legit) job that would be so perfect it makes me ache. I could stay home with Eric, keep my Cultured Purls job, and earn some more much needed cash. With my luck these days, I'm sure I'll never hear from them again, but in the off chance that every other applicant falls off the face of the earth, I think I may have a shot.

How did the craft show go, you ask? Well, I pretty much sold nothing. My loss is Willow & Blooms gain and I will have a healthy pile of hats for them tomorrow. And how is the knitting coming? Well, remember the update I gave you last week? You can review that for a current update.

My plans for today include finishing up two more hats for Willow & Bloom, taking Eric to the library to pick up some Junie B Jones First Grader books, since we're just finishing up the kindergarten series, picking Ryan and his best bud Zach up from school for a play date, and then trying to find more jobs that don't involve blood or other bodily fluids. Because I can't think of a worse job right now than a Phlebotomist. Unless it's a Urologist.

Update from the Castle

2009-03-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

So, I'm giving you all an update. Not that I feel like writing about how much my life sucks right now, but I do have a couple of people who actually read this. And if I want you to continue reading my blog, I should probably update it every now and then.

But I haven't felt much like writing these last few weeks because my life is all consumed with helping my husband find a job. And, as Plan B, finding a full time job for myself (but you know what I've discovered about that? When you've been out of the corporate world for 9 years, you're not qualified for much. There is software people expect you to use that I've never even heard of before! And when I WAS working, I was making a fraction of Mike's salary. So I don't see myself getting a 6 figure salary offer anytime soon. I mean, when I left my last job, I was making about $34,000. Would someone pay me even close to that now when I've done nothing to hone my skills in the last 9 years? So, yes, I'm looking for myself, but let's be real about this...).

My book group is meeting tomorrow night to discuss the book I selected. I have about 300 pages to go to finish this book. My book. I'm doing a small craft show on Sunday (yes, this Sunday) that I am ill-prepared for. The woman running it was so sweet and offered to sell my hats for me since I have to work at the shop. And she is a friend of Mike's cousin Audrey. So I want to do this. But I should probably have some hats for her to sell. Hats that I have knit. Which involves spending time knitting them. And none of this is working out because I spend every waking moment looking for jobs.

And I'm spending all this time because Mike is still employed through the end of the month, so he has no time to search for job. So I spend hours finding jobs, email them to Mike, and then he reviews them in the evenings. It's a fun little system we have. Only it's not fun. My house is not getting cleaned, my children are not getting cleaned, emails are not returned, lever shocks are not being sold (well, to be fair, I'm still selling them. It's just that no one is buying them), and--now brace yourself--the knitting is suffering. Yes folks, as talented as I am, I have a hard time knitting cupcake hats and using the mouse at the same time. Apparently that is I where I have to draw the line.

And, to add insult to injury, that annoying know-it-all Dr. Nancy Snyderman from the Today show informed America today that women who drink wine are going to get cancer and die. Apparently men can drink all they want, but women who drink wine will get cancer and die. I hate her. AND Matt Lauer was absent today. See, my life sucks.

My life is so bad right now, I'm actually watching The Golden Girls. I Love Lucy had the 1:00-2:00 time slot on the Hallmark channel, which made my life bearable. I watch Lucy while knitting hats, and then MASH (I'm not a bum people, but knitting does involve sitting down, so I might as well watch some fun tv while I'm at it), and then I pick the kids up from the bus. But the Hallmark Channel has replaced Lucy with The Golden Girls. And since there is nothing else on, including my local ABC affiliate STILL, I have succumbed. I blame Dr. Nancy Snyderman. She is a killjoy and I'm pretty sure she moonlights at the Hallmark Channel, as President In Charge Of Bad TV.

How many jobs has Mike applied for this month? Oh, about a kazillion. He's lunching, he's coffee-ing, he's Linked In-ing, he's Facebook-ing. He actually does have a couple of jobs he is very very excited about and we've done some major networking to give him an edge for those jobs. And now we wait.....Let's just hope Dr. Nancy Snyderman is not involved.

Weekend Update

2009-03-09T14:29:00.005-07:00

Pat's Socks

Fine--it's been a bit longer than a weekend. I have bigger fish to fry here.

First of all, before we get down to it, I need to express my alarm and utter dismay that we got 3 inches of snow this afternoon. Today, March 9th, we got 3 inches of snow. It stopped snowing for a bit, and, looking out the window, it has started up again. The schools were so caught off guard that I had to pick Ryan up from school because his bus got stuck on a hill somewhere.

And now back to your regularly scheduled blog.

Life here around the royal residence is, in a word, stressful. The King's job is ending in 3 weeks and he is desperately trying to find another one. And since I hate for him to have all the fun, I've been searching for him, while he is at work. So now we have 2 of us frantically searching for something, anything that will pay the mortgage. If it turns out to be the job of his dreams, FABULOUS. If he ends up bagging groceries at Safeway, we'll take it if it means we can eat.

I'm convinced that we'll end up living in a tent somewhere because this job market is pretty dried up. So I'm spending my precious blogging time (and knitting time, and cleaning time, and being nice and friendly time) helping Mike look for a job. Because you all know how much I hate camping.

The little time I have been spending knitting, I have been making these socks for a friend at church. This is some of the Lorna's Laces that Jane gave me and I am loving the pattern. Tons of cables, but it's a fun knit. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Mike's Smooshy Sock

I have one of Mike's Dream in Color Smooshy socks finished. I tried this twisted rib pattern and it looked awful. I then tried this retro diamond pattern and I made a ton of mistakes in just the first pattern repeat. Now he's getting garter rib and he's going to like it.

Caroline's socks

This is some more Lorna's Laces from Jane and my sister Caroline claimed it. I'm trying to find a fun sock pattern that won't make me crazy, but so far I'm not having much luck. I have been given so much fabulous sock yarn, I have this obsessive need to knit it all right now. You don't need to remind me that I'm in the middle of 2 pairs, still owe my mom a mitten, have Mike's sweater to do, and all the baby hats. And I'm also working on this:

Raha Scarf

This is from the Estonian Lace book and I'm using some stash yarn (because jobless homeless people don't buy much yarn). It a very simple pattern and it would be knitting up quickly if it were not for all of the mistakes I keep making. This is the easiest and smallest project in the book and I have had nothing but problems with it. You would think I had never read a chart before. You would think that counting to a number higher than 21 was a foreign concept to me. Because this simple little 21 stitch lace pattern is winning a game that I didn't even realize we were playing. This easy scarf I was going to whip up in a couple of evenings has turned into my arch nemesis. Which sucks because there are more things in that book I want to knit. And I already have the yarn in my stash. This does not bode well for my temper.

That's all the news around here. All job search all the time. If anyone wants to hire a very nice man who drives a messy car, has a secret crush on Elizabeth Shue and is married to a frantic woman with a dwindling yarn stash, you know where to find me.

Questions for the Queen

2009-02-25T11:32:00.001-08:00

Best Buddies

Oh yes, it is time for me to answer those questions that have been keeping all of you up at night:

1. How is that baby, Blake? Our nephew Blake is 8 months old new and precious. And he adores Ryan. Blake is getting to the age when he's a little wary of me if he hasn't seen me for a few weeks. But one look at Ryan and he's all smiles. And I have never seen Ryan take to another human being like he fawns all over Blake.

2. How did you like the Academy Awards this year? Well, let me tell you, you have no idea how close I came to disaster this year. We have discovered that both Dish Network and Fisher Communications are run by the devil. ABC is being held hostage by these greedy capitalists and Dish appears to hate me. Dish has assured me that I can expect an entire $1.00 credit on my next bill for the pain and suffering I am experiencing from missing Lost, Desperate Housewives, and the greatest television event of the year, the Academy Awards. And they know just what they can do with that $1.00. Because I told them. I came home from work on Sunday night, prepared to spend the evening encased in a black shroud. And then my husband, the love of my life and my reason for living, put himself to good use and discovered some dude named Justin who lives somewhere on Planet Earth and was streaming the entire show onto the internet, which Mike downloaded onto his laptop and then connected to our tv. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the miracle of modern science. We still have to download podcasts of Lost each week that mypinktoes' husband uploads for us to keep us from completely sinking into total and utter despair. I'm thinking of creating a Dish Network voodoo doll. Any ideas?

3. You don't seem to blog very often these days. What is wrong with you? Well, you can see that watching tv at my house takes much more effort than it should. So there is one reason. Let's see....hmmmm....you've met Eric. There's another reason. I feel compelled to do laundry on a semi-regular basis, I'm still selling lever shocks (and by "selling" I really mean spending lots of time on ebay uploading information and then selling one thing, and then flinging myself onto the floor in total agony at the amount of hours and fees it has cost me, then I pick myself up and do it all over again. It's a pretty good workout), and I drive to and from school about 25 times a week. I don't know. I'm busy, people! Things to do, people to see, places to go!

4. How is Mike's job search going? Watch the news much lately? It's going about like that.

5. Does Eric seriously use that Snuggie? Every day. Every single day. Not a day goes by that the Snuggie is not put to use. I even caught Mike using it one evening on the couch with his laptop--just like the commercials. That was...not pretty.

6. Knitting anything fun these days? Well, I'm working on a couple of pairs of socks, Mike's sweater, my mom's mittens, and I began a scarf from the Nancy Bush Estonian Lace book, that finally arrived from my Amazon gift card purchase in December, out of Jaeger 4 ply merino wool that I had in my stash. And baby hats. Always the baby hats. Things at Venue have really slowed down (not just for me, but for the entire shop), but Willow & Bloom is still going great guns.

7. Can we get an updated list of the broken things in your house? Oh yes, delighted to share that with you:

Front window--still broken.

Garage door--deader than dead.

Greenhouse window in the kitchen--slowly sinking into the ocean. Apparentely the lifespan of a 30 year old greenhouse window is about 29 years.

Speedometer on the van--broken, and then miraculously brought back to life through the power of prayer.

The interior of Mike's car--scary. Ok, that's not really broken. What IS broken is his ability to recognize the layers and layers of crap and the rattling of empty diet coke cans as they roll around the floor of his car. And the rear windshield wiper and one door lock on his car is actually broken.

Underdog DVD--missing. We have the case but cannot for the life of us find the DVD. Anyone know where it could be?

Mike's laptop monitor--broken and will die, looking much like what happens if we try to watch ABC, if you touch his monitor at all.

My new vacuum--stair attachment broken in two. Well, that makes sense, with me trying to use it and all...

There--don't you feel enrich with knowing all of this updated information about me? I for one feel much better having gotten it all off my chest. And now, since Ryan is home sick for the second day in a row, I have to go watch Shrek. Again.

I know you've been waiting for this!

2009-02-17T10:52:00.001-08:00

Officially 6 years old today and all Snuggied up with his brand new birthday Nintendo DS.

Tonight--dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, at the request of this little bum. And then I think Eric can die happy because after eating at the most awesomest restaurant ever, Eric will have achieve everything he ever wanted in life.

Always aiming for the stars, that Eric.

I didn't think I would have to worry about this for a few more years...

2009-02-11T15:15:00.003-08:00

Yesterday when I brought Eric to school I noticed his friend Sam (and by friend, I mean girl friend. As in, she is a girl. And his friend. And he really likes her. And she really likes him) was practically beside herself in nervous anticipation. Sam is a chatty giggly thing anyway, but yesterday she was unable to contain herself. And Eric was amused by this until he realized why she was all atwitter.

Sam had written Eric a love note. And was holding it in her hand, jiggling around, saying this is for Eric but I'm too nervous to give it to him but I want to give it to him I wrote him a letter I need to give this to Eric because I like him and Eric immediately pretended that Sam had completely vanished from the premises and would make no eye contact with anyone until his teacher opened the door to let them into the room, which allowed him to make his escape from The Line.

Never have I been so anxious for that child to return from school.

I love you. I am
turning 6 in May 10.
I like your fossil. Sam B!??

When he got home, Eric opened the letter and then had me decipher it, which I have to say took some doing. And clearly the fossilized sharks tooth that Eric brought to show the class made quite an impact on that brazen little floozy.

Eric then hid the letter in his secret lab, which is a carpeted crawl space in the dormer of his bedroom, decorated with Pokemon cards and signs that say Kepe Out.

Already a heart breaker at the age of 6. Must be those blue eyes. Or the 9 cowlicks in his hair each day. Or his devil-may-care attitude about his wardrobe choices.

Yes, while Ryan is busy collecting his Student of the Month award for quality work and hobnobbing with the Principal, Eric clearly has other priorities. And all of this begs the question--has Ryan ever received a love note? And why don't I know about it? I mean, if this illicit activity is going on in Kindergarten, surely the 3rd grade has a few of these things floating around. But then again, the fact that Ryan has not already dug a hole and buried himself in it could be proof enough that cupid's arrow hasn't struck room 203. However, he does seem to get really angry whenever I mention the name Willow...

When I am not occupied with invading my childrens' privacy, and sharing it with you, I have been doing some knitting. These are the Druid Mittens for my mom, out of the New England Shetland. It is a much much stiffer yarn than the KnitPicks Essential Tweed and is, frankly, kind of a pain to work with. But it does make a beautiful mitten.

And speaking of KnitPicks, I just received some needles from them. Everyone raves about KnitPicks needles, but I've always been a little skeptical because they are so inexpensive. But I have to say, love them! I bought 2 sets of double pointed metal sock needles, which are fantastic, and just what that New England Shetland called for. And they were only $3.99 a set. Seriously. Four bucks. I also bought a new size 7 16" circular. Fabulous. Better than my Addi Turbos. $5.49. Addis are $16.00. I mean they are really nice needles and I completely support Skacel, but how do you argue with $5.49?

And I've started on Mike's Town and Country Sweater from Lisa Lloyd's A Fine Fleece, using the Cascade 220 I ripped out of the how-not-to-knit-a-sweater-for-your-husband sweater.

Not that I'm doing any knitting today. At all. Today, well, nothing about today is for me. This Saturday is Eric's birthday party as well as dinner group. At My House. Yes, you heard it right, folks. 2 parties on the same day at my house. Today has been about ordering a Spiderman cake. And watching Eric try to select a pinata. And cleaning the boys' rooms. I mean, I even dusted up there! And after fixing a dinner that will be rejected by at least one child, I get to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play basketball.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I keep a bottle of wine in my fridge.

Finished!

2009-01-30T09:53:00.001-08:00

After insisting I seam it up before school, and begging me to finish, he refused to let me take his picture (which is why he is slouched in a most un-natural pose) and then refused to wear it to school. Eric informed me that the sweater is for non-school days only.

His wife is going to be a lucky, lucky woman.

Sock it to me!

2009-01-28T10:11:00.003-08:00

Lorna's Laces

Every Sunday at work I have two ladies who come in and knit. Jane and Sharon started to make this their Sunday routine long before I began working at the shop and, after a couple of months of breaking me in, they have now accepted me as one of their own.

They are each old enough to be my mother and in some ways it is an unconventional relationship that we have formed. But I truly look forward to them each week. They are both friendly, funny, and generous. I love to tease Jane about her fastidious and unbreakable habits (the woman irons her sheets!) and last summer Sharon presented each of us with a different heirloom tomato that she picked up at the farmer's market on her way to the shop every week. They know about my family, they ask about the kids, and Jane is very concerned that The Snuggie is going to be way to big for Eric (I have assured her that since Eric has plans to do absolutely nothing while wearing The Snuggie, size will not be an issue. She's not convinced).

For quite some time now I have been hearing about Jane's sock yarn collection. Like me, she is a sucker for sock yarn and buys a fair amount of it. Until recently I haven't seen her actually use the sock yarn, but she continues to buy it. She has told me about the vast amount of sock yarn that she has stashed away at home and I humored her, assuming she was exaggerating a bit.

Until she brought it in. She needed to choose some yarn to knit her sister-in-law a pair of socks and wanted our help. And I think she wanted to make me laugh, because she brought in a suitcase sized bag, filled to the brim with sock yarn. Jane has enough sock yarn to make 40 pairs of socks. We counted. Jane was discovering yarn that she didn't know she had. And then she started to give some to me. I protested because it was really beautiful Lorna's Laces (that I have always worshipped from afar since we don't sell it) and she spent her hard earned money on it. But she insisted and assured me that she'll never get around to knitting it all. Which was not a hard argument to make. So I am now the proud owner of four socks worth of Lorna's Laces, which I have promised Jane I will use enthusiastically.

That Jane is becoming a bad influence!

I then added it to my own sock yarn stash. I'm up to 10 right now. I have some Pagewood Farms, Alpaca Sox, Frog Tree Alpaca, Shi Bui, Duet, Happy Feet...some of this yarn I have had for a long time. The Duet and Pagewood Farms have already become victims of failed sock patterns. The Alpaca Sox was to become my Druid Mittens, but it ended up being too soft--when my Nancy Bush Estonian Lace book comes, I may use it for a scarf. The Shi Bui was a steal from the Village Yarns New Years Day sale, and the Happy Feet was a birthday treat to myself.

I don't know how it happens, but sock yarn seems to grow. Kind of the antithesis of the socks-in-the-dryer theory. Once I started really looking at my own sock yarn stash, I started to have a little more understanding of how Jane got so carried away. But only a little--seriously, even after her gift to me, the woman has enough yarn for 36 pairs of socks. And in case you are wondering, yes, she is single.

Oh, and I forgot to add Mike's Dream In Color Smooshy socks--I guess that makes 11.

In other, less disturbing knitting news, Eric's Harry Potter sweater is being blocked. It may be ready for me to seam up today. I'm working my way through my mom's Druid Mittens, making a scarf for Tiffany (it's a long story), and I've finally allowed myself to start on Mike's sweater. You may recall that a few months ago I ripped out a hideous example of how one should not knit a sweater, washed the yarn, and rewound it. I found a gorgeous pattern in A Fine Fleece and then, because I found myself with an extra 5 minutes the other day, decided to start.

Case in point
This is Eric on a school morning

Mike is still on the prowl for a new job and we have yet to hear from that company he spoke with a couple of weeks ago. He is not worried about it, but that is because there is something wrong with him. A normal person would be a nervous wreck, like me for example.

Clearly Eric takes after his father. I give you Exhibit A.

The Little Bum
...and after convincing him to
get dressed. Despite
my constant
requests that he
find something more
creative to do, this is
what happened everytime
I turned my back.

There is no other way to say this. The kid is a sloth.

We mailed his birthday party invitations today. Do you think knitting lessons would make a fun party activity? I could put a skein of yarn into each goodie bag. Wouldn't that make me the worst mom ever? I think I'll mention it to him, just to see him squirm. It will be the only physical activity he'll have all day.

Snuggie Up A Little Closer

2009-01-26T12:31:00.001-08:00

I think I've told you this before, but nearly-6-year-old-Eric is a snuggly kid. Eric would wear pajamas every day for the rest of his life if we let him. Eric is always wrapped in a blanket. Always.

Eric has no long term goals, longs to do nothing productive with his life. Truly, Eric would morph right into retirement if that were even a remote possibility. He loves to lounge around. In short, Eric is a bum. Now, don't get me wrong--Eric's a smart kid. He is doing well in school, is starting to read, and can actually add and subtract double digit numbers in his head (honestly, I can't add and subtract double digit numbers in my head). And for all that talk about sedentary kids, Eric is far from obese. When he chooses to be, Eric can be very active. He loves to ride his bike and loves to run around the cul-de-sac with the neighbor kids playing superheros. Gym and recess are Eric's favorite parts of school. But given a choice, Eric would like nothing more than to lay all wrapped up in a blanket and watch tv or play his gameboy all the live long day.

You've seen the commercials for The Snuggie. I know you have. This thing nothing short of hideous. And Eric wants one. Eric is dying for a Snuggie. Everytime he sees the commercial he tells me he wants the red one. In his warped lazy little 5 year old mind, this is genius. There is actually someone else out there in the universe who appreciates the art of total and complete slothfulness as much as he does. He can picture himself enveloped inside The Snuggie, with both hands free to do....absolutely nothing for hours on end. Living in The Snuggie, Eric would have a perfect existence. Put a brand new birthday Nintendo DS-Eric-has-been-asking-for-one-ever-since-Ryan-got-one-last-May in his hand and he will have achieved Nirvana.

So we did it. We bought him a Snuggie for his upcoming 6th birthday on February 17th. Bad parents that we are, we actually purchased The Snuggie for our 6 year old child. Partly because he will truly honestly completely absolutely love it and use it every chance he is not at school, and partly so I can blog about it.

We really need to get out more.

I heart Jared

2009-01-19T10:50:00.001-08:00

Druid Mittens

I have finished my Druid Mittens! I have to say, I feel quite a sense of accomplishment. 90% of this pattern requires strict attention to detail. Other than the three rows of purling and 2 rows of knitting on the cuff, there is not one stitch that cannot be knit without referring to the charts. Five different styles of cables, bobbles, stitches slipped with the yarn in back, stitches slipped with the yarn in front...this was crazy business. And I love them so much, I've dived right in to the pair I'm making for my mom, in chocolate brown New England Shetland.

And my mom, zany gal that she is, will love the fact that the yarn is called New England Shetland, even though she knows nothing about yarn. Or knitting. But the fact that it is from New England, (or even if it had been made in Peru and just called New England, which it's not, by the way) is enough to make her happy. And I already know that she will love them because when she saw mine in Knit Picks Essential Tweed, she immediately asked for a brown pair.

Yesterday at work a couple of girls came in and bought up a bunch of the New England Shetland for a Latvian mitten class they are going to take. When I professed my love for the yarn and proudly announced that I just finished my Druid Mittens, they told me that Jared Flood has a new pattern in the brand new Vogue Magazine that has not even hit the shelves yet. Cabled gloves. GET OUT!

I actually made the customer look them up on her IPhone for me. Because I'm that crazy. These gloves--you have no idea. Even the fingers are cabled! I must have that magazine. I must make those gloves. I will make those gloves. That Jared Flood will be the end of me.

And I still have a list of other mittens from the fall '08 Vogue Knitting that I am compelled to knit. Just because they are so fabulous. What I'm going to do with six pairs of mittens, I really don't know. But they must be knit.

I'm nearly done with the 2nd sleeve of Eric's heinous Harry Potter sweater. I'm finished knitting the bag and one flower for Heidi's birthday purse. I reknit the toes of my Nutkin socks and wore them to work the other day. My feet looked and felt fabulous. And I've started knitting a pair of Dream in Color Smooshy chocolate brown socks for Mike. Oh yeah, and I have those baby hats to sell.....

Speaking of the love of my life and my reason for living, Mike did have his phone interview last week and he felt it went very well. And we have heard nothing since. It took them a few weeks between interview #1 and interview #2, so I guess we shouldn't be too anxious that it's been almost a week and interview #3 has not been scheduled yet. But it sure would be nice to have that on the calendar!

In honor of MLK Jr, I have 3 little boys in my house right now. This was not in my plan, but what can you do when Connor the neighbor kid treats our home as his home and walks right in? And then my kids start jumping up and down like Conner has just returned from his trip around the world, when in reality they saw him yesterday. And the day before. I am also raising my glass to MLK by washing every article of clothing my family owns. I get no mail and I'm stuck with my kids. I'm not sure this holiday is working out the way it was originally planned...

New Hats

2009-01-12T18:59:00.003-08:00

Blake's Earflap Hat

I don't have a lot to share today, but I just had to show you the two new hats I made for Blake. They are both made out of Cascade 220 Superwash (which I am not liking for the boys' Harry Potter sweaters on a 7, but is perfect on a 6 for these hats!). I think they are pretty darn cute!

Blake's Stocking Cap

Tiffany picked these colors out, so I had fun playing with them to make a couple of cozy and super cool hats for that little dude.

I also finished my Nutkin socks, but I am incapable of taking good pictures of socks. I need one of those fake mannequin feet, which would be weird, but I can't think of a better way to take a detailed picture of a sock without showing you my own leg. And no one wants to see that. That, and I'm frustrated with the finished socks. I hate the toes. They are very uncomfortable and I'm thinking it's because I decreased too much and did it on two circular needles. And I had to add a new ball of yarn and it ended up on the ball of the foot which is very uncomfortable. This will bug me until the end of time, because that is about how long it took me to make those socks in the first place, so I think I'm going to re-knit the toes. As soon as I am able to free up one of my two sets of size 1 double points.

I know you don't want to hear about the laundry, or the vacuuming, or my clean playroom, or the fact that I had a hotdog for dinner, but I will tell you that my husband has a job interview tomorrow morning that I am very nervous about because it could be so perfect for him. So say a little prayer for Mike at 10:30 if you're thinking about it.

And, to take my mind off of the impending interview, Mike and I will watch all 4 hours of the new 24 while I drink a second glass of wine and knit some mittens. I bet Jack Bauer would be a great knitter.

So, what do you want to know?

2009-01-07T09:30:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve

I'm back. It's been two weeks, in which I've accomplished virtually nothing, but now I'm back. The snow has come and gone, come and gone, come and gone. And now we have torrential rains, wind, and flooding. In Seattle, that is called JANUARY.

I did almost no baby hat knitting, no lever shocks, and clearly no blogging. Know what happens when you take two weeks off? You find yourself two weeks behind. And what did I do with myself during that time?

Well, we had Christmas.

What a great idea
See that ball on the left?
That would be the one that bounced
down the stairs and broke my front window.

The boys made out just fine. They got new basketballs, Nerf guns, a build-your-own-Clone-Wars-lightsaber, books books books, DS paraphernalia, Hot Wheels...you know, a bunch of boy stuff.

...and they got Nerf guns

Santa brought Eric a copy of Kung Fu Panda, which has greatly increased the amount of times Eric has talked about his tenders. And Ryan is so excited to have a stack of new chapter books--he now sleeps with a pile of books in his bed each night. Which I suppose is more comfortable than the basketball Eric had been sleeping with until we made its permanent home the garage after the window incident.

Gettin' Down with Grandma

Santa also brought our family Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, which is just about the funniest thing we have ever seen. Between watching my mom try to pick up the dance moves to "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" and realizing that, yes indeed, there is a game in which you pee in the garden...well, it just doesn't get better than that, now does it?

Cousins
Grandma Keene bought the
boys and Blake matching
Christmas pjs.

We had our traditional Christmas Eve celebration with Tiffany and Marcus on New Years Day, due to the vast amounts the vomiting and snow. It took us awhile to make our way up from Renton to Edmonds that day, since we had to do some New Years shopping. First, Daddy had to get a much needed and long overdue free haircut from my sister. Another casualty of the snow. After the boys were able to recognize their father again, they begged him for their allowance and then immediately went next door to Barnes and Noble to spend it. Which is why Ryan and I are now reading Inkheart.

I then ordered them to take me to the New Years Sale at Village Yarns, where I purchased some ShiBui sock yarn (I'm a ShiBui virgin, but I hear it's worth the wait) and some chocolate brown Shetland wool to make my mom a pair of Druid mittens which she requested after seeing mine. And I stood in line for over half an hour to make my purchase. Half an hour! I'm sorry, but I they really should have been offering a lot more than 20% off for that kind of a wait. I love that shop and the ladies that work there are very sweet. But sllllllooooooowwwwwww.........

But we finally made it to see that baby (oh yeah, and his parents). Now tell me--is that not the most adorable creature you have ever seen?

Blake's Earflap Hat

And look what I am making for that baby. A little stripey earflap hat. Tiffany says he needs hats and well, if she's buying, I'll knit anything for that kid. He's also getting a cabled hat, which I think will be in the blue with a blue, green, and brown pompom on top.

Eric's Harry Potter Sweater

And let's see...what else have I done with my time? I'm back to working on Eric's Harry Potter sweater, I've learned how to play Boom Blox, I read Bunnicula, and I am actually caught up on my laundry.

Mike won a $100 Amazon gift card, which he lovingly split with me, and I bought for myself the Interweave 25 Favorite Socks book, which I have been coveting for quite some time now. I also bought the new Nancy Bush Estonian Lace book. Now I am not a lace knitter and, mark my words, I WILL NEVER KNIT A LACE SHAWL. EVER. That being said, this is an exquisite book and it has stunning scarves in it. Stunning. Again, I need to point out that I am not a scarf knitter. NOT A SCARF KNITTER. Beyond Knitting 101, I have never understood the habitual scarf knitters. Branch out, people! However, and this is a rather big HOWEVER, the scarves in this book are not merely scarves. They are works of art. They are challenging and gorgeous. So I treated myself to the book. And since I had a couple of dollars left over, I added a little bonus of the Casino Royale DVD. Merry Chrismas to me.

Eric has asked me about 45 times to come play Boom Blox with him, so I guess I should go pay attention to that person I am legally responsible for. Although since he recently requested that I no longer walk him to class and would prefer that I remain hidden in the car where no one can see me, I'm taking my own sweet time wrapping this up.

Where is our 15 minutes of fame?

2008-12-24T10:04:00.003-08:00

Snow-geddon '08

Snowstorm #4 here. 4th storm in 2 weeks. In Seattle. We are having Duluth, MN like weather in Seattle and are completely ignored by the media. Watching the Today Show, they are all about the snow in the midwest and the east coast. OOO--Detroit has 10 inches of snow...See, SEATTLE has a FOOT of snow. On Christmas Eve. Snow in Detroit is not news. That is called December. And really, a little snow in Seattle is not news either. We get snow. I have lived here for 40 years and I can tell you, we get snow. And since Seattle is built on 7 hills, unlike Detroit or Minneapolis, which have, um zero hills, there are reasons the city shuts down when we get snow and subfreezing temperatures.

But here's the thing. This is our 4th storm in 2 weeks. Our snow never went away. It just keeps growing. We don't get Buffalo, NY white Christmases. I'm used to a rainy Christmas. Or a couple of flakes. Or 50 degrees and overcast. A foot of snow on Christmas in Seattle? That is worth a mention on the Today Show, don't you think? Stupid east coast bias.

This is a picture out my back door. I have nearly a foot of snow on my deck and it comes right up to the back door. Those swings in the background? They are touching the snow. The ground has risen up to the level of the swings.

White Christmas Eve

No idea what this means for our Christmas plans. No idea. Our Christmas Eve plans have already been cancelled, thanks to the fact that Marcus the Opera Singer threw up 5 times yesterday. NOTHING will entice me in to a house where someone has thrown up. Nothing. Not Christmas, not getting my hands on that baby, Nothing. 5 TIMES? Forget about it.

As for tomorrow...don't know. My family is to come from all ends of the city. And they have most of the food. Which means if our family Christmas is rescheduled, we'll be eating corn dogs and chardonnay for Christmas dinner.

On the furnace front, I got an early Christmas gift. The other day I noticed what I thought was a gas leak. And Mike, who thinks I overreact to everything, actually called Puget Sound Energy to come and check it out. They said there was no leak, but they did trace the issue to our furnace and explained that because it was taking our burners too long to fire up, too much gas was being expelled into the air. And that the safety mechanism on our furnace was what was keeping it from turning into a giant bomb in our laundry room.

As I was thinking about revising my will and leaving all of my yarn to science, the PSE guys called out their furnace expert, who took the whole thing apart, made some adjustments to our burners, put it all back together, and declared it fixed. And the only cost to me was having to listen to him wax eloquent to the other two PSE guys about the glories of being a furnace fixer. And football. But the furnace is fixed, the house is warm, it cost me nothing, and when this house does go up in a blaze of glory, it won't be from that particular issue.

Eric refused to be in the picture
because Ryan touched the
carrot without permission.

That's all for now from Knitting Queen central. The gifts are wrapped, the cards are finally addressed, the wine is chilling, I'm on round 2 of making little snowman ice cubes from my new snowman ice cube tray, the outside snowman is built, and I'm ready to start on Eric's Harry Potter sweater sleeves. Church was cancelled on Sunday because of Storm #3. Cancelled. We're suppose to go to church tonight, being Christmas Eve and all. Can't really see that happening at the moment since it has been snowing steadily since I got up 5 hours ago. But we're safe, warm, and happy.

Merry Christmas from The Queen, The King, and our two court jesters!

On the road to crazy town

2008-12-22T09:52:00.005-08:00

10 inches!

Week 2 of Snowpocalypse '08 here in Seattle. We've had the 14 degree temperatures, we've had the near-blizzard winds, and we've got the snow. Major thoroughfares are shut down, schools are closed, hair appointments are canceled again.

I did work this weekend. Saturday, a day that was a break in the Winter Hell '08, was insane with the yarn people. It's my favorite time of year at the shop. Not only because it's so festive in The Village, but I love to see the bewildered husbands approach us with their lists. We can sell those men anything. "My wife likes green....do you have green yarn?" DO WE HAVE GREEN YARN. How about this lovely Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk? And showing those husbands the ball winders and swifts...Look! It's mechanical and it moves really fast! SOLD!

Yikes!

After our Saturday night blizzard, I went to work yesterday for a bit. After Mike and I spent some quality time together putting chains on the car. In sub-freezing temperatures while kneeling in a foot of snow. Talk about a marriage builder! Nothing like the friendly exchange of obscenities to start the day. Again, those nutty knitters came out to shop. After first calling to see if we were open "Are you open today?! I've been stuck in my house and I'm out of yarn! I'll be right there!" That's a direct quote, right there.

But alas, today I am home. Buried under 10 inches of snow. And 10 inches of laundry. And unwritten Christmas card addresses. And unbaked cookies. And boys. The Queen with time on her hands is not a happy thing. I am a scheduler. I like routine. I don't do well with oodles of time on my hands. You would think this would be the perfect opportunity for me to get things done. You would think my house would be spotless, laundry done, cookies baked...I have had days and days and days at home with "nothing" to do, but that is not a motivator for me. In fact, the more empty space I have, the less organized and motivated I become. I work better under pressure. I'm much more efficient when I can look at my day in organized chunks of time. Knowing that I have unlimited time and that the possibilities are endless means I wander aimlessly and end up accomplishing nothing.

My sister Caroline is the exact opposite. She is thrilled with all of this time off. She has lists of things to do and she is ticking them off one by one. She is not bored. She is not aimless and overwhelmed by the vast amounts of time and space that 2 weeks of snow brings. Her cookies are baked, her laundry is folded...She is an efficient person and isn't going to let a few snowflakes or a house full of kids get in her way. Also, she is not hosting Christmas Day in 3 days. But guess who is....

Druid Mitten

I will say this. I have given myself permission to stop knitting baby hats for a few days. There is no way to drop them off anywhere, the shops where I sell them are probably not even open. I have instead spend some time on my fun knitting.

I'm almost done with Druid Mitten #1. I just have the thumb to do. Although I did have some issues with the decreases (mainly because he charted the decreases and I'm more comfortable reading the written directions) and I've never done a saddle closure before. But now that I'm done, I have to say it looks really good.

I've been knitting socks and have made serious headway on Eric's Harry Potter sweater. Otherwise known as the last time I will knit this sweater in a long long time because I'd sure like to knit something different in the future.

Eric's Harry Potter Sweater

So, rather than doing something productive today like catch up on baby hats, or dust, or actually finish my Christmas cards before Christmas, you are getting the worlds longest blog post.

In the meantime, it is suppose to snow again tomorrow. And maybe Wednesday. And maybe even Thursday. And we are suppose to go to Tiffany and Marcus' house for Christmas Eve, which is about 40 minutes away. My entire family is to come to our house on Christmas Day. Currently the main road to my sister Emily's house is closed. My parents have a 2 hour drive. And Caroline lives near Tiffany. None of us know what to do because this is unprecedented in Seattle. Oh, sure we get snow occasionally, but not like this. And never on Christmas.

In happy news, our furnace is working again. Not that we know why--it has been randomly not working, and now it is working fabulously. My life would be so much less stressful if I stopped trying to figure it out.

Weekend Update

2008-12-16T08:41:00.005-08:00

Druid Mitten

First of all, I just have to say, IT IS FRIGGIN COLD IN MY HOUSE. It is a balmy 15 degrees outside right now. And about 16 inside. Because my furnace has taken the day off. Again. We have a fairly new furnace. It's only about 4 years old. And for the first 3 1/2 years, it worked fine. But these last few month it has decided to take a vacation. It just flat out decides to put itself into safety mode and go to sleep. For no reason. We have had Ryan's-best-friend-Zach's-dad-Tommy, who is a furnace guy, look at it twice. He has taken it apart, cleaned it, inspected it, and CANNOT FIGURE OUT WHY IT RANDOMLY GOES INTO SAFETY MODE IN THE DEAD OF WINTER. The motor works fine, it produces heat, the gas readout is normal....we thought we had it fixed and then after about 2 weeks of blissful warmth, it is shutting itself down again. And so what I have to do, at 6:30 in the morning when I check the thermostat and discover that it reads 57, is go into the laundry room and flip the little switch to restart the furnace. And then it fires up, brings the house to a livable 69, and then goes back to sleep. And when I can't feel my fingers any more I check the thermostat again, discover it says 62, flip the switch again, and continue to go about my day. That is how I spent yesterday. My entire day. And then around 2:00 the furnace got off it's lazy ass and decided to actually start itself up and heated the house all on its own for a few hours. Until it got lazy and didn't do it any more. I think Tommy and I need to have a little talk at basketball practice tonight.

When I'm not busy dying a slow death from hypothermia, and lugging piles of laundry from one end of the earth to the other, and sweeping up sand from the laundry room floor that we sprinkled on the outside steps so we wouldn't fall and break our necks just getting to the car, I'm knitting. I'm knitting cupcake hats , I'm knitting socks, and, when I've been especially good and deserve a treat, I'm knitting my Druid Mittens.

How adorable are these mittens?! I'm using Knit Picks Essential Tweed sock yarn and size 1 needles, and each and every row of the pattern requires strict attention to detail which means that if I don't go blind they should be finished by next winter. But I love them. I love the little slip stitch pattern on the palm and I love the intricate braids up the sides and I love the fact that there is not one single solitary patch of straight boring old stockinette stitch anywhere on this mitten.

Nutkin

I've also finished one Happy Feet Nutkin sock. Which I would love to wear right now to keep my toes from falling off, but I only have one. So I'll stick to the double layer of socks that I'm wearing right now and hope I can keep the dexterity in my frozen fingers long enough to finish the other one.

Artistes at work

We did actually venture out and do some fun things this weekend. After our Dinner Group family Christmas party, Mike and I unloaded the boys on our sitter and punished ourselves by going to Target. On a Saturday. Before Christmas. After surviving the nightmare that is the Target toy department, we rewarded ourselves by seeing Quantam of Solice. And I have to say, I felt nicely rewarded. Two hours of Daniel Craig is a Merry Christmas to me.

The next day, while I was selling yarn to the masses, Mike took the boys to see Santa. While at the mall, they noticed a portrait artist had set up shop. Ryan was thoroughly fascinated by this and now we have a dual art studio set up in our playroom.

Today I have to deliver some hats and then do some Christmas shopping before the next round of snow hits tomorrow. Most of my shopping is done. Cards, finally ordered this morning. Decorations. Pretty much done. Outside lights, next year. Number of gifts actually wrapped? That would be zero. Baby steps, baby steps.

A.W.O.L.

2008-12-10T08:34:00.001-08:00

The elves

Oh, where to begin. Every day I wake up thinking about everything that needs to be done, and then I make a mental list of what absolutely positively must get done, and let it trickle down from there. All the while aware that each time one task gets attention, another one falls by the wayside. Like, for instance, my blog. And the actual folding of the laundry. There is plenty of clean laundry in my house--I wash it all the time. But sorting, folding, and putting it away, well, that's not happening. And I think my family is still under the delusion that a gnome shows up every so often to do this chore, because the fact that they have to navigate around these heaps and dig to the bottom for matching socks on a regular basis is a fact they seem all too ready to accept. It's as if they think the gnome is buried under the mountainous piles of clean laundry and they assume he will eventually find his way out again...

But I digress. I've made blogging my priority this morning, so let's get to it, shall we?

Christmas 2008: Ever spent the holiday season with an 8 year old and an almost 6 year old? Every single solitary thing that comes out of their mouths has something to do with Christmas. Eric has been walking around the house for weeks with a little notebook, constantly updating his list. And he reminds me frequently that he needs to bring this notebook to the mall when we visit Santa. Which we haven't done yet. Which Eric reminds me of regularly.

Cards, not ordered. Gifts, half purchased. Tree, picked out by husband while The Queen was at work. Decorations, done in stages. At the rate I'm going I should be putting the finishing touches on right around the time my family shows up on Christmas morning. Baking, ha ha ha hee hee HA HA WHOOOO WHOOO WHOOO HEE HEE HEE Oh, excuse me while I wipe the tears from my eyes. Ok, where was I? Oh yes. I'm not ready for Christmas. Unlike say, Todd and Margo...

The second it gets dark, their Christmas Bizarro Land springs to life. They have 5 blow up monstrosities this year, and, as usual, everything--the fence, the shed, the deck, the house, the weird island of plants they have in the middle of their yard--it's all covered in lights, each coming from a completely unrelated set and each one blinking to its own beat. Rapidly. And the trees play Christmas carols while spinning and blinking so fast it looks like they're about to shoot straight up in the air like rocket ships. Nothing celebrates the birth of Christ like Santa on a musical teeter-totter.

One down, one to go

The Knitting: Harry Potter sweater #1 is finished. Ryan loves it and is actually wearing it to school today. Which makes me feel good basically because the child removes his coat once he gets to school and doesn't put it on until he goes to school the next day. No coat at recess and no coat on the bus. And since they are actually truly talking about snow later on this week, I like the fact that the kid is wearing something that may keep him alive. Since he has no body fat to speak of.

Eric's sweater is in a heap in some bag somewhere. Because the last thing I want to do is knit the exact same sweater twice. I'm not fooled by the fact that it's in a different color. It's the same sweater and I don't want to knit it. That and the fact that I have been knitting 38908093402984 baby hats. That is all I do these days. Knit baby cupcake hats. I just gave Willow & Bloom the last of an order for a big show she is doing today, which is the only reason I have time to do anything else. I have half of Heidi's sock, half a Nutkin sock, 1/4 of a Druid mitten, and no time to finish any of them up. Now mind you, I'm not complaining. Business is booming and it's great. But I would really like to knit something fun right now. Something different. Something new. Something that reminds me why I love knitting.

The Lever Shocks: Suddenly I've never been so popular. I've received enough good feedback from the evil-spawn-of-Satan Ebay that people are now taking me seriously. Let's just say this--I've completely funded our Christmas with last week's take. And I have another round of auctions ending later on today. Organizing all of these car parts, posting them, and looking up strange numbers in my dad's big binder full of random car things is actually very time consuming. But it's paying off, so who am I to complain?!

2 Reward Winning Books

Life with Eric: living with a kindergartner is never dull. I remember this from Ryan's kindergarten year as well--the amount of learning and growing they do is amazing. Eric has become amazingly independent these last couple of months and we can see the gears of his complex little mind working all the time.

Eric has asked me to start reading Charlotte's Web to him. Partly because he loves animals, and partly because this book has a shiny sparkly "reward" on the cover. And then we had to go through the house and find all of our books that have received rewards. And because that wasn't enough, Eric taped a quarter to his new journal, to give it a reward as well. This is Eric's secret journal that he purchased with his allowance. And I'm not allowed to look inside of it. But because I'm nosy, I did it anyway. It contains about 45 drawings of Spiderman and he has written several words that he recently learned to spell.

There. That's my life these days. I'm going to wrap this up now because it's a lot longer than I intended and I'm sure you stopped reading about 3 paragraphs ago. I need to spend this morning cleaning up the rest of the Christmas boxes. And then, because it's evil-1/2 day-Wednesday, I'm taking the boys to get haircuts. And then I have to bathe them. It's been awhile. And then Ryan has to do his homework. And then I have to feed them a dinner they won't eat. And then I have to take them to Ryan's dress rehearsal for his Christmas play. And then I have to bring them home and explain that they can't have anything to eat because it's 8:30 and past their bedtime and they wouldn't be so hungry if they had eaten the dinner I placed before them at dinner time.

Ah, the magic never ends.

Weekend Update

2008-11-24T08:55:00.003-08:00

Monkey Socks

I finished my Monkey Socks, using my luscious Pagewood Farms merino/bamboo sock yarn. I don't understand how people can take pictures of their work and show off the intricate detail. These socks are actually very cool. The pattern is a series of lacy interlocking V's and it really shows off the variegation of the dye pattern. But in my picture, they just look like dark blue blobs. Trust me on this--I did a fabulous job on these socks and I love them.

I also tried the short row heel on my Nutkin socks 3 times. 3 TIMES. And now I know that there is no need to do short row heels. No need. Heel flaps work nicely, thank you very much. I actually did complete the short row heel and it actually did look pretty good. But then you are suppose to start knitting around again and there was going to be this big hole on the gusset. And since there were no stitches to pick up, there was no way to close it up. And I probably could have researched it and tried it 500 more times and eventually figured it out. But I just didn't care that much. Look, I'm doing the socks-on-2-circular-needles thing and pretty much enjoying it (and Mara, if you are reading this--zip it), so I think I've branched out enough.

Several months ago my bookgroup read the book The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I enjoyed the book, but I take issue with part of it. A character in the book was a knitter and each time she accidentally turned 2 heels on a sock, someone died. Here's the thing: a knitter would NEVER accidentally turn a second heel. Never. After wrestling with the same short row heel 3 times and then changing back to my familiar comfortable old heel flap, let me assure you that the creating of that sock heel wouldn't just slip my mind. Diane clearly is not a knitter.

The Nightmare Continues

On the Todd and Margo front, Todd was busy this weekend. And it appears that he and Margo did some shopping. That Santa teeter-totter thing? New. Tacky and new. I know he's not even close to being finished with this monstrosity yet, but we were treated to a little preview last night. Late into the evening. Around the lattice and teeter-totter, flashing multi colored lights. Around the house and shed, flashing white lights, that are in no way in sync with the flashing multi colored lights. Those snowflakes along the side were doing something crazy last night, too. And the psycho singing trees were at it again, with a rhythm all their own. He has been testing the blow up things, but hasn't formally introduced them to the neighborhood yet. Clearly it's only a matter of time.

But I spent my weekend in a yarn store. So life can't be all bad.

The Todd and Margo Report

2008-11-20T18:19:00.001-08:00

News Flash: A larger than life blow-up chimney has just arrived on Todd and Margo's front lawn, accompanied by Charlie Brown and Snoopy. There was no giant red blow-up Snoopy chimney last year. I would have remember that, just as I remember the other blow-up chimney they used to decorate last year, with the Santa that bobs up and down, and the blow-up Harley with Santa straddling it. The one that fell off their roof more times that I can count last year. Oh yes, I would have remembered.

I knew they had something up their Griswoldian sleeves.

Sometimes material presents itself...

2008-11-18T08:21:00.001-08:00

Druid Mittens

I've been thinking about what to post....do they want to hear more about the lever shocks? My escapades with the laundry? My lack of progress on the boys' Harry Potter sweaters? And then, sometimes material presents itself:

Last night, November 17th, 10 days BEFORE THANKSGIVING, "Todd" and "Margo" began decorating their yard for Christmas. Last year, as you may recall, they created their garish winter nightmareland on Thanksgiving Day. This year the psychotic singing blinking trees have already been assembled. My question is this: what have they done? What cockamamie plan is in the works that involves an extra 10 days to complete? Clearly they are planning to take it up a notch, if that is even possible. I am so incredulous at what they did last year--is it possible that they could actually make it worse? Stay tuned, I guess...

Back in the land of the sane, my KnitPicks green tweedy sock yarn arrived! And I have to say, I love it! It's soft and pretty and only $3.50 a skein. So of course I abandoned everything else I've been working on and started the mittens. And now I think I have to rip it out and try some size 2 needles because I think the 1's are a bit too small. And I also tried my very first short row heel on my Happy Feet Nutkin socks, which was actually working out but I chose to ignore the strong suggestion that I use markers, because I hate using markers, and then of course I lost count about 3/4 of the way through. Which would not have happened if I had used markers. So, between those two projects last night, I wasted about two hours that I can't get back

Leah's bag!

But look at what I've accomplished! Leah's felted bag is finished! Poor Leah, I told her she was responsible for attaching the flowers and handle because, well, that involves sewing. But look at how precious it is! I think I may have to make one for Heidi for her birthday in blues and browns....she was practically teary eyed when she saw it, because it is so darn cute.

There are no words

On the subject of Keeping My Family Alive, rumor has it that my sister has a carpet cleaner that she's sending my way. I am very excited about this. My carpets need cleaning so badly and hiring the pros has not been in the budget. I used to have Chem Dry come twice a year because we have fairly new carpets. But in trying to be both hygienic and frugal I've decided that it makes a lot more sense to have my own cleaner. So I've been saving my pennies. I mentioned this to my sister last night and apparently she has one she is not using. Who knew? How old and matronly do I feel that a Bissell Steam Cleaner can make my day?

And want to hear something else that made my day? Get this--in the 2nd grade I had a pen pal named Angela. I use to watch this tv show called The Big Blue Marble (don't even ask me why or how I remember this) and you could contact them to get set up with a pen pal. So I did that and corresponded with Angela until about the time we went to college. We lost touch for a variety of reasons--college, marriage, life--but I have thought of her throughout the years. A couple of weeks ago, she contacted me! We haven't been in touch for 25 years and the other day I received an email from her. That's pretty amazing if you ask me.

So, that is the news from this dusty, unvacuumed lair. When I'm not watching The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D with these 2 little maniacs, I'm knitting baby hats like a madwoman, trying to sell more lever shocks, and spending weekends working at the shop. And writing to my pen pal.

Talk to you later

2008-11-11T09:10:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow readers. All 4 of you.

I will not be blogging today because I have to celebrate Veteren's Day by not sending my kids to school and staying inside with them all day during a rain storm. This celebration will include refereeing the Wii, cleaning up the cat vomit on my living room carpet, folding laundry, wrestling with my furnace that has decided, after Tommy worked on it twice, that it still does not want to work today (and my furnace is a big liar. After Tommy's last visit, it worked great until today. Liar.) and in general, NOT GETTING ONE SPARE SECOND TO MYSELF. And I ran out of half and half.

And tomorrow Shirley and I will play Hot Potato with the kids while we take turns attending school conferences. It's really nice that Ryan and Eric's conferences are 3 hours apart. That is so convenient for both Shirley and for me. So, I will not be blogging today. Since these 2 measly little paragraphs have been interrupted by my two pajama-clad Veteran's Day party-heartiers about 4 times.

I will say this. Classic Elite Alpaca Sox--not great for Jared Flood's Druid Mittens. I was so excited about using the Alpaca Sox! I splurged and spent birthday money on it and have tried the mittens twice. There is no substance to that yarn. It is soft and fuzzy and beautiful and luxurious, and I think I may strangle myself with it if I try those mittens a 3rd time. I ALMOST ordered the prescribed Jamieson's 2-ply spindrift. I was this close. And then, flipping through Ravelry, I saw someone make the mittens out of Knit Picks tweed sock yarn. I've never ordered from Knit Picks before but people seem to love their stuff. And the tweed sock yarn was only $3.50 a skein. $3.50!! So, I'll get back to you on this topic in about a week and tell you how my tweed mittens are working out.

I believe it's my turn for Super Mario Galaxy. Sigh....

Mommy said a bad word

2008-11-05T08:06:00.000-08:00

3rd grader Ryan has been really interested in the election. The only president he has ever known is George W and this is new territory for him. He has asked several times why "the girl" wasn't going to be president and it's opened up dialogue about the election process on numerous occasions.

The boys both knew that yesterday was a big day, but the "firsts" involved in this election have been lost on them. In a good way. We live in a blue collar neighborhood. My boys attend a very racially integrated public school in a run down building. One of Ryan's closest friends is Latino. Eric's is Asian. And neither of them has ever mentioned this. Yesterday afternoon when I turned the coverage on, Tavis Smiley was speaking. Ryan looked at the tv and asked "is he African American too?". My first thought was can't you SEE him? And then I realized that, in the right way, he just doesn't get it. He doesn't see it. The labels that generations upon generations have been using are not making a lot of sense to my kids who are growing up in the midst of inclusion and integration.

But with history about to be made, I thought it was important for Ryan to understand a bit more about these issues. We drove home from our Love and Logic class listening to McCain's gracious concession speech on the radio. And even though it was past his bedtime, I told Ryan he could stay up to see Obama's speech. I wanted him to always remember this moment and to appreciate the rare event he was witness to. And after the speech was over (and after I complained that, with Brad Pitt reportedly in the crowd, why do they keep showing Oprah?!) Mike and I explained part of Obama's speech to Ryan.

Obama referenced slavery. And civil rights. And the causes for which Martin Luther King Jr. died. And although Ryan has learned about Martin Luther King Jr., he really didn't get it. He has known that Abraham Lincoln was a great president, but never really understood why. So we told him. We told him what slavery was and that, even when Black people were technically free, they still couldn't eat at McDonalds. Can you imagine not being able to eat at McDonalds just because of the color of your skin?!? And Mommy used a bad word. The word STUPID is a bad word in our house and that is the word I used to describe our country and the choices that we made in treating African Americans. Ryan did a double take as I said this to him. But what other word can you use to describe the actions of our country in the treatment of anyone NOT WHITE? To an 8 year old, is it not STUPID to tell someone they can't use a drinking fountain? Or ride a bus? Or have an important job?

I hope both boys continue to grow up blissfully ignorant of racial issues. I hope that seeing different races and genders in the White House becomes normal. And expected. I hope we can stop being STUPID.