Throws Like a Girl

Fed up with blogger!

2007-12-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

I'm trying out wordpress now.

New blog link

www.throwslikeagirl74.wordpress.com

That's really what it says!

2007-12-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Negative 0.6! I really have to go to the grocery store and feed my friend's cat but the ol' thermometer is not helping my motivation. (There was a picture of the thermometer that blogger won't let me upload. Does anybody out there know how to upload flickr photos to blogger? I'm getting pretty fed up. )

On the knitting front, my sister bought a bunch of Patons SWS that she quickly found out was NOT a beginner yarn. I told her I'd make a sweater for A out of it, so I just finished the back last night. I'm also working on some mittens for myself that were originally for L. Turns out when you swatch (and I DID swatch), you should swatch in the round for things knitted in the round. I thought I was knitting at 7 stitches per inch and it turned out to be more like 6. This apparently makes the difference between mittens for a 5 year old and mittens for Mom.

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-20T09:07:00.001-07:00

Since the cards may end up being New Year's cards this year, here's a little cheer preschool style... ps L is second from the right in the first row.

The google video thing isn't working so I'm trying a youtube instead. Let me know how it works. :)

Happy Holidays!

Don't Feed the Plant!

2007-12-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

Last show was Saturday! It was a lot of fun to play. :) Sadly, the only picture I have is a slightly blurry one with a tall dude standing in front, but you can kind of see what it looked like. The kids did such a great job! I brought L to the final performance. She liked the show, but I think she liked the attention from the high school kids the most. The kid who played the plant showed her how to dance like Michael Jackson. Thanks Tim. Heh.

BTW, this is my first time posting a video. Let me know if you can see it.

Holiday Meme

2007-12-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

Picked this up from Ruth and thought it'd be fun!

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, Just copy this entire blog and paste into a new blog. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. If you play along leave me a comment and a link to your blog I'd love to see what you have to say!

1. Wrapping Paper or Gift Bags? Oh I am all about the gift bags. :)

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. We had this great artificial tree growing up that had little plastic needles clusters. Some families bond over going to the woods and chopping down their tree, while in my family we bonded over using the hot glue gun to stick the plastic needles back on.

3. When do you put up the tree? Friday after Thanksgiving. DH puts the tree together for me and that's the perfect time since he has the day off.

4. When do you take down the tree? Sometime before Martin Luther King Day. Heh.

5. Do you like Egg Nog? I do actually, except growing up we always had it half and half with milk, so drinking it straight tastes too weird for me.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Gosh. Probably my teddy bear necklace that I got when I was three. I remember I accidentally left my favorite bear in the family room and Christmas morning I came out and it was wearing a new dress (that I later learned was one of my Mom's old doll dresses) and necklace with a fuzzy teddy bear on it. I wore that thing all the time. And the bear wore the dress until it practically disintegrated.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yep! I have a great VeggieTales nativity scene that my Mom got for the kids a couple years ago. Baby Jesus is a Baby Carrot! Heh. L used to call it the Baby Cheezit. J likes to play with the cow. It flies, you know.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My husband. He works so hard, he hardly has time for a hobby.

9. Easiest person to buy for? L, hands down. She's so appreciative of everything she gets. At her birthday party this year, she would exclaim after opening a gift, "______! I LOVE _____!" even when she didn't know what it was. She opened a needlepoint set and had this excited look on her face. I leaned over and whispered "Needlepoint." and she said, "Needlepoint! I LOVE needlepoint!"

10. Weirdest Christmas gift you ever received? A long string of brightly colored chickens sitting one on top of the other. I have no idea what it is, but it's hanging on my wall.

11. Mail or email Christmas Cards? I do mail the Christmas cards. I like that at least once a year we get correspondence the old fashioned way. Now whether they get there before Christmas, that's a another story...

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Muppet's Christmas Carol. I can't tell you how many times I watched it before I picked up on the Jacob and Robert Marley joke. Bob Marley! Hee Hee Hee.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? November, otherwise I forget what I purchased.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Um yes. But only things in pristine condition that the recipient would REALLY like.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I loved Rum Balls. I haven't made them in years, but I remember making them with my Mom.

16. Clear lights or colored? Colored!

17. Favorite Christmas Song? Secular: Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas, sung by John Denver and Ralph the dog. Sacred: Tie between O Holy Night and Silent Night. I love how at the Christmas Eve service, the church is lit by candles alone during Silent Night. It brings this amazing feeling of hope and togetherness. That is until your 3 year old daughter almost lights her hair on fire. But that only happened once. :)

18. Travel or stay home at Christmas? Stay home. It's fun to travel occasionally, but I think I like staying home the most.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s Reindeer? Dude. I'm a former music teacher. Do you KNOW how many times I've sung Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?

20. Angel or Star on the top of the tree? A lovely plain burlap angel that was on top of my childhood hot glue gunned tree as well.

21. Open Christmas Eve or Morning? Morning. Our kids take after both Mom and Dad and are seriously early risers.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Crabby people.

23. What’s the corniest family tradition you do or miss doing? We watch the Muppet Christmas Carol every Christmas/Eve.

24. What’s the worst thing you’ve seen related to Christmas? I don't like this question. I prefer to look for the best things I've seen related to Christmas. For me, it makes me so appreciative of family and friends and reminds me to be grateful for the things that I have. It reminds me that gifts are not always things; that they can be actions or memories or friendships. :)

25. Which looks best, theme trees or homey trees? Homey trees!

26. Gingerbread or Sugar Cookies? I like both!

27. Do you like fruitcake? Not particularly, but I do love Panettone. My cousin sent us some a few years back when he lived in Italy and I've been hooked ever since.

That girl is too funny!

2007-12-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

New L'ism today. Earlier, her father had asked her to do something and in true 5 year old fashion, she was trying to find ways to not do it. After a couple back and forths, she said in a huff, "Daddy. You are SO oppressing me." and stormed off to her room. And of course being the dork that I am it makes me think of Monty Python. It also reminds me of when I was a little girl and wasn't allowed to say the word hate. I remember getting really angry one day and yelling, "I dislike you immensely!" Heh.

A Stocking Tale

2007-12-04T08:54:00.000-07:00

Last night as we were sitting around the dinner table, L was admiring the stockings on our fireplace. Now, she doesn't yet know how to read, but she did recognize a pattern on all the stockings. All of them had one name on it except hers which has her full first and middle names. She asked me what hers said, so I told her and those big blue eyes started to tear up and her lower lip started to quiver. L was very upset that hers was different so I tried to come up with an explanation. My mother had made all of our stockings except DH's and truthfully, I have no idea why her full name is on hers but I started in on a story about how L's middle name is the same as my grandma's and that her Nanny probably just loved that name so much she put it on her stocking etc etc... It wasn't working as L then exclaimed,

"But that's the name Mommy uses when I'm in trouble!"

D'oh!

Internet Withdrawal and the importance of Counting

2007-12-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

I've been having problems with my laptop for some time now and this weekend it finally got so bad that DH rebuilt it. Love that man. Anyway, I've actually been a busy knitty girl. I finished the Peekaboo mittens and a pair of longies for J. He'd finally outgrown his old pairs and Michael's had a sale a couple weeks ago on Patons Classic Wool, so it seemed to be destiny. I used the Tiny Bird's Organic Free Longies pattern, which is my favorite pattern and knitted flat. It just seems to fit him better than the ones knit in the round. Anyway, after I finished the mittens the other night, I had that rush that I get when I finish something and it makes me want to finish everything else. Finishitis, if you will. Well, in my hurry to finish the longies (or the distraction of Russell Crowe on that movie about the dueling gunfighter town with Sharon Stone on TV), I failed to notice that one leg was significantly shorter than the other. The kicker is I didn't notice this until AFTER I had seamed the pants. Twice. The pattern says to seam it from the crotch up, but when I did that, the ribbing didn't match at the top. So I ripped it out, seamed down and lo and behold: uneven legs. Well, it was now 11 pm and I was not about to rip it out again. Besides, I don't know to undo a bind off to add rows. So I took my dpns, picked up and knit stitches from the bind off and knit enough rows until they were even. Luckily it's a dark color and not very noticeable. Half the time it's covered up by his sock. Heh. So Hooray mittens and longies!

"Wack!" says the duck.

2007-11-26T07:24:00.001-07:00

When asked what a duck says, J grins mischieviously and says "Wack!" If you ask what a cow says, he replies "More!"

Heh.

Just to proove I've actually been knitting, here's some pics of WIPs.

Panel 2 of the Glowing Colors Afghan from Lion Brand. My MIL is knitting Panel 1 as we thought it would be a nice blanket for their new cabin.

1 and 1/2 Peekaboo Mittens from Magknits. I just had to rip it back some last night - very not fun with black yarn at night. Don't know what I was thinking. So today I'm going to try and save it.

If you can handle the cuteness...

2007-11-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

We had a photo session with StacyZ on Saturday and the pictures were phenominal!

http://stacyzphotography.blogspot.com/

I knew I brought the camera for a reason...

2007-11-16T20:34:00.001-07:00

Love it when he plays peekaboo with his cookie at Target. (Yes that is chocolate on the bridge of his nose.) Heh. He is now officially known as Cookie Boy! Not to be confused with Chocolate Milk Boy, as he's known at certain coffee shops.

Also I am unveiling the Popcorn Afghan (or as I fondly call it, The World's Ugliest Afghan). It was made for the Lutheran Hospice. I know somebody will like it.

Hooray Little Teddy!

2007-11-12T10:31:00.001-07:00

Finished the little Teddy! I think he needs a name. Any suggestions?

L's a big frog!

2007-11-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been 5 years! I'm sure I echo all Mommies Everywhere when I say, where has my baby gone? We'd been working all week on the concept of birthday and days of the week/month. The night before she sang, "Tomorrow, tomorrow, my birthday's tomorrow, it's only a day away!" Clever girl. She has my sister's improv ability. Her party is tomorrow. Wish us luck. Lots of 5 year old girls (and a couple boys who hopefully won't mind the princess bubble wands...) some cupcakes and ice cream. We're pretty basic when it comes to birthday parties. Once I joked that our activity was going to be let's so who can fill this bag with weeds from the back yard the fastest.....

Preschool Play

2007-11-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

Preschool is a funny funny place. It almost makes me miss teaching.
I always volunteer on the day that L's birthday is celebrated at school.
One of the centers activities was a little shopping market where the kids are supposed to pretend to buy vegetables. (I'm sure the meat and dairy council would have a fit. Grins) Anyway, I happened to be supervising over there and witnessed 4 or 5 little boys playing "rob the convenience store". Heh. I did intervene and mentioned that maybe that wasn't the BEST game they could play. The boy with all the money wadded in his hands thought it over and said, "Yeah. We should probably give the money back."

As I said, I almost miss teaching. Grins.

Now that's just disturbing...

2007-11-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

I did come up tied for Kaylee tho. Grins.

Which Serenity character are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as The Operative

You are dedicated to your job and very good at what you do. You've done some very bad things, but they had to be done. You don't expect to go to heaven, but that is a sacrifice you've made for a better future for all.

Kaylee (Kaywinnet Lee) Frye

69%

The Operative

69%

Hoban 'Wash' Washburne

63%

Capt. Mal Reynolds

63%

Simon Tam

63%

Zoe Alleyne Washburne

56%

River Tam

44%

Shepherd Derrial Book

44%

Inara Serra

38%

Jayne Cobb

19%

Teddy Bear

2007-11-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

I finished assembling the little bear today. I think he's pretty cute. It calls for black to embroider the face, but I think it won't show up on such a dark brown. Any ideas? I'm thinking tan/beige. I think I'll make the sweater and the Wellingtons too. Hee hee. Little British Bear. The pattern came from Debbie Bliss' Toy Knits. I used some Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK from my stash instead of the Rowan it called for.

My Pretty Pretty Princesses

2007-11-05T15:45:00.001-07:00

Big sisters rule! It was actually J's idea to wear the dresses while they watched Barbie as Princess and the Pauper (his idea as well). Hee hee hee! Oh the blackmail... Muhahahaha!

As for my knitting, I am actually knitting. I'm just having trouble with focus. I'm working on a scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts for a friend of mine and I'm pleased with it, but it gets boring boring boring to knit. So I started a little teddy from the Toy Knits book by Debbie Bliss. I'm almost done with it and I started it yesterday! I had to run out and get polyfil though. I was trying to be green and save all my little yarn odds and ends to use as stuffing, but I don't have enough. Oh well. I did remember to bring my grocery bags today!

Halloween Aftermath

2007-11-01T14:54:00.001-06:00

So I was inspired to clean the house. The sad part is we have so much clutter, it's hard to tell I made a dent unless you know what you're looking for. Hrmph. On the positive side, I found all sorts of things I thought I'd lost, including some crocheted toys that I have lots of fond memories playing with. I mean, really. Who's got a green pig besides me? Hmm??? My mom had a very crafty friend that she met while working in Germany in the 60's and she used to send us lots and lots of handmade items. In fact, most of my favorite Christmas tree ornaments were made by her. Some were felt animals with sequins and some were satiny balls with pearl pins and ribbon. So anyway, I thought I'd include a picture of my green pig and yellow Snoopy. :) Thanks Marian!

This is J in a sugar coma the day after Halloween. He said "I hoff oo, Mommy" today. Joy!

It's probably a good thing that they're cute.

2007-10-29T13:34:00.000-06:00

I swore to myself I wouldn't do it. We finally have both kids sleeping through the night and I swore when it came time for J to start protesting, I would be the good mommy and put him right back in bed, crying or no crying. But then I hear this little voice pleading, "Want Mama." You've got to understand that J was not a cuddly baby. Not alarmingly uncuddly, but his favorite way to show affection was a well placed head butt. So now, finally, at the age of 2 he wants to cuddle with me. So I compromised (caved) and cuddled with him in his room for about a half an hour. Back on the wagon today though, right? Grins.

Thought I'd add these pictures of J after a nap. I've definitely felt this way. Heh. In fact, I was about there today while Adorable Neice was loudly sounding her dissatisfaction with her carseat. I fleetingly thought to myself that it would be so very cool if I could order a beer in the Wendy's Drive-Thru. Luckily National Public Radio came to the rescue. As horrible as it sounds, I don't listen to NPR for it's biting commentary, enlightening editorials, or informative articles. I listen to NPR when I need the kids to calm down. Works like a charm. I really should send them pledge.

Trick or Treat!

2007-10-27T14:00:00.000-06:00

Yes, I know it's not Halloween yet, but the kids and I went over to Olde Town for Trick or Treat Street. The kids did pretty well and it wasn't as crowded as I was fearing. L got heaps of compliments on her costume which made Mama a wee bit proud. Hers was pretty much the only home made one I saw while we were there. She was a real trooper with the bucket because (strangely enough) buckets don't make very good hats and it kept falling off. There were no compliments on J's costume since he insisted on taking it off about 45 seconds after this photo was taken. His "Twick Tweet" and "Ank You!" were pretty darn cute though.

I have been knitting, just not finishing things. Heh. The Girlfriend Shrug will probably wait til after Christmas, I just finished up a hat for my IL's new cabin (thought I'd make up a bunch of hats and mittens just to keep up there.) I'm also working on a scarf for a friend as well as a Dreamswatch Headwrap for my sister. I'm sure there's another UFO lying around but I have no idea what it is. Heh.

The Whole Car-In-Backyard Enchilada

2007-10-24T16:32:00.000-06:00

SO sorry about the tiny blog entries! Anyway, here's the whole story. From the beginning.

At about 12:30 Monday evening, we were awakened by a loud thud. In my sleepy stupor, my first thought was, "J must have fallen out of bed." Which, in fact, he had. But then it occurred to me that the noise was much louder than J falling out of bed, especially since his mattress had been relocated to the floor after the last time he fell out. I went out to the living room, where I met my brother who apparently had also heard the loud J-not-falling-out-of-bed noise. He looked in the backyard and yelled at me to call 911 for there was a car in our yard. (See picture on previous entry)

Here's the yet to be proven in court theory: Kids go for a joy ride in a dealer owned BMW. It has always been a stupid teenage thing to do here to try and go as fast as you can on the hill I live on to see if you can jump the hill. Mostly it's been harmless because when I was in high school none of us could afford a car that could go faster than 50 and perhaps we were just smarter. I'm not sure. (The drivers did leave their cell phone at the scene so I'm pretty sure they weren't professional criminals.) Anyhow, apparently if you are in a German performance car, you CAN catch air. And crash into an unsuspecting neighbors yard. And apparently walk away from it. Or run away as was the case here. That's right, somehow they got away, which is pretty amazing given the shape of the car. I've heard there is a suspect in custody, but that was at 3 am on Tuesday morning and I was a little bleary eyed.

So I am grateful that nobody was hurt, not just our family, but the kids who did it as well. It so easily could have been much worse. Amusingly enough (yes, I'm at the point now where I can find humor in this), the things that probably saved our lives from the hurtling BMW were aspects of our landscape that I hated. The city owns some Russian Olives that I just can't stand that were probably responsible for tearing apart the front of the car, slowing it down in the process. Turns out Russian Olives are a pretty hard wood. Next was a giant overgrown fitzer that had taken over our backyard and we were afraid to tackle lest it eat our firstborn. It's no longer overgrown. In fact, it's pretty flat. I'm actually considering how much it would cost to have the rest of it removed by the insurance company's clean up crew.

Again, we are very grateful that the only things that were damaged were things that can be replaced. Thank God.

Hey look what was in my yard this morning!

2007-10-23T12:03:00.000-06:00

And can I get a Hooray! for a picture finally loading?

Crap.

2007-10-23T01:36:00.000-06:00

Yes. It's 1:30 am. And why am I awake do you ask? Because there's a frickin' car in my backyard. A FRICKIN' CAR! Somebody ran their BMW through BOTH of our fences and it's sitting in pieces in our backyard. I'd post pictures, but for some reason my laptop and Blogger aren't speaking to each other any more. Crap.

Little J turns 2! (No pics since blogger is having a problem. :( )

2007-10-15T20:41:00.000-06:00

So last Wednesday night my brother comes home from school with my Mom in tow. Surprise visit! Which is very very cool since she lives out in sunny FL and we don't get to see her much. My sister didn't even know. Uncle T kept the secret well! It was very special to have her here for J's birthday and little niece A's dedication (Vineyard version of baptism).

So all was well until Thursday, when the stomach flu fairy came and bestowed her gift upon the family. So for poor J's birthday, we sat around the table, eating Jello in our jammies while little one opened his presents.

We cancelled his party for Saturday and ended up just celebrating with the family members who had already been exposed. A balloon guy my sister knows made a bag full of balloon animals for the kids to play with. Free of charge! What a nice guy! The cousins had a great time with the balloons.

Amusingly enough, J turned 2 on Friday, had his first real tantrum on Saturday and an even worse one on Sunday. At church. AND at my sister's. AND at my sister's church during niece A's dedication. Of course. He and I ended up hanging out in the cry baby room with all the babies singing songs to try and get him to stop crying. Turns out the boy has a thing for the show tunes.

Totally OT story about show tunes: My little 2 1/2 year old nephew L LOVES the movie Annie. He watches it every day, sings along and even acts out some of the dialog. My favorite story is when one day he very seriously looked his mother in the eye and said, "I love you Miss Hannigan." Just what every mom longs to hear...

I'm in! I'm in! I'm in!

2007-10-13T20:01:00.001-06:00

I've been Raveled!

Come find me! My id is throwslikeagirl!

Same Knit Night, Different Knit Locale

2007-10-10T07:39:00.000-06:00

Last night, we decided to take a little field trip from our usual knitting haunts, packed up our needles, and headed down the street to the DNote for a little drink 'n tink. And there was both. At least I did some tinking. Darn short rows. They even kept the lights on in the corner for us so we could knit. Anyhoo...

Here are some of our fabulous ladies, Marly, Nachaele, and Mary-Kay.

We had so much fun! The Metro Jazz Orchestra was there, so there was some dancing. I didn't get any pictures of that but Nachaele did.

Claudia's husband came too. He's knitting. With one hand even. Ok. Not really. I love Terrie's scarf. I may have to make one.

I think StacyZ should model all my hats.

Hooray Baby Hat, Booties and Urchin!

2007-10-09T14:47:00.000-06:00

I made a little hat and booties for my niece, both from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I used some Crystal Palace Bunny Hop from my stash. I also made myself an Urchin from some Manos del Uraguay that was a gift from my friend Blogless Christie. It's a fun pattern, but being European it uses 7mm (US 10 3/4) needles that are just about the only size needles I don't have. I used 8mm (US 11) for a slightly looser gauge, but I'm still pleased with it. The stitches at the edges of the shortrows ended up elongated and although I like it, I'm not sure it's how it's suppsoed to be. I really tried to tighten up my stitches to lessen the effect, but it happened every time. I'm not sure if it was the yarn, the larger needles or my knitting. Hmm. It used a lot less yarn than I expected so I have plenty to make a scarf. Hooray! L was so kind as to model it for me...

Hooray Faux Cable Sweater!

2007-10-06T08:25:00.000-06:00

So yesterday both of my children took a 2 hour nap. I'm quite sure this is a sign of the apocolypse, but rather than go hide in the basement, I squared my courage and finally put the Faux Cable Sweater together. I had been dreading it because I found the directions rather cryptic and even after I did what I thought it was saying, the yarn markers ended up in useless places. Basically I ended up looking at the picture and mattress stitching until it looked the same. I did have to knit an extra 4 rows on both faux cable pieces to make it meet in the back of the neck like it was supposed to, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with it. Hope the birthday girl likes it. She's been waiting almost a year. Yes, yes, she requested this sweater for her LAST birthday. I'm a little slow.

Cider Vinegar Fly Pool of Doom

2007-10-05T11:49:00.000-06:00

The only down side to receiving heaps of lovely home grown tomatoes are the nasty tiny little flies that seem to accompany them. Now I am a fly freak. Can't stand them. The worst torture device for me would probably be to lock me in a room with tiny little flies and no fly swatter while L does her air raid siren cry. Anyway, one day I read a post on Purple is a Fruit, just about the funniest mommy blog ever, and she was talking about having a fly problem and her solution. A little cider vinegar with a little oil to break the surface tension in a bowl with plastic wrap on top. Poke a few fly sized holes in the top and voila! Instead Fly Pool of Doom! I have 9 flies already! It's probably a bit sadistic that I count. Just don't tell the DH. He's really more of a catch and release man. :)

Sometimes it's easy being green...

2007-10-01T21:16:00.000-06:00

I'm always looking for ways to satisfy my inner hippie. My latest attempt was crocheting my own Market Bag from Knit.1's green issue. I switched the direction of the handles so that I could hang it on the back of my stroller for extra storage as well. The black bags are from Safeway of all places. They now offer shopping bags made of recycled materials for 99 cents! The price was right and they hold twice as many groceries as the plastic bags. Granted they're heavier then too, but hey, my arms need the workout.

Busy Weekend!

2007-09-30T20:14:00.001-06:00

So the boys put in a new dishwasher this weekend. Is it wrong that I'm supremely happy about a new dishwasher? It's quiet and cleans dishes. Hooray! Anyway, I've also been working on a couple projects. I've finished the knitting on the Faux Cable Sweater for my friend, I just have to figure out how to put it together, which is not as straightforward as one might think.I also cast on the Girlfriend Shrug from Knit and Tonic. I'm not sure who the recipient is going to be. It sort of depends on how big it ends up. Heh. I'm using some Encore given to me by my friend Blogless Christie. I really like how it's knitting up. Girly and yet not TOO girly. :)

Hooray Stripey Felted Bag

2007-09-29T14:40:00.001-06:00

Dad sent me a picture of the Stripey Felted Bag. I'm so happy Mom likes it! They also sent a picture of a view from their backyard. Pretty cool eh?

What I learned while knitting the Tomato...

2007-09-26T07:03:00.000-06:00

Thanks for all the nice comments on my Tomato! I'm very excited about it. Wear it all the time. Heh. I meant to blog about this before, but this pattern was the most accurate pattern I've ever knitted. Even the number of stitches to pick up around the neck was what she said they were going to be. That never happens. I always worry when the model is wearing the size small and I have to make the XL if the math is going to work out. And in this case, it did! Hooray Tomato! I had toyed with doing the darts from Knitting Daily but happily the Purple Princess talked me out of it and I'm so glad! As I mentioned before, I used a million balls of Mission Falls cotton and had to size down the needles to get gauge. One good thing about knitting the Faux Cable Sweater is I finally get a break from size 6 needles. It seems like all my projects of late have been on 6's.

I also finished my Mom's birthday present and forgot to take a picture before I sent it out. I'm not saying what it was since she reads the blog, but she's under orders to take a picture when it gets there. :)

Contest Results!

2007-09-24T14:12:00.001-06:00

And the winner of the Knit Picks Dancing is.....

Prairie Mama Kim! Please email me at nicstagATyahooDOTcom with where to send it!

And since the boy wanted to help too...

Creative Process' Claudia gets some Knit Picks Simple Stripes!

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions! I still haven't decided what to make yet! I really like the idea of making some little gloves as Christmas gifts but I also like the idea of a lacey scarf!

Today I took my 40 percent off coupon over to Joann's and found this:

The animals are so cute! Click the picture to check it out over at Amazon. I will admit all these toy recalls are making me think I should knit all the toy gifts this year. Heh. At least I know the sheep aren't tainted with lead. Hopefully.

Busy Busy Day

2007-09-20T21:50:00.000-06:00

Visited my sister today and we bravely took the little ones to Chuck E Cheese. Week day visits are really pretty fun. It's not very crowded and the kids had a great time. With an online coupon it cost a total of 20 bucks for 5 of us to eat plus tokens. Split in half, that's less than it costs to eat at McDonalds.

This is the car I parked next to at my sister's place. It's hard to tell in the picture but twine is tied to both windshield wipers and strung through the windows so that you pull the string to use them. For some reason this struck me funny.

Tonight L says to me, Mom I want to be a cow girl when I grow up. This is a girl who has only ridden Shetland ponies and can't stand the smell of her brother's diapers much less animal poop. Then she points to her inspiration. Oh! A cheerleader! Cowgirl, cheerleader. You know. Whatever.

Lastly, I'll probably pick winners for my 100th post contest on Monday, so get those weekend ideas in!

In Honor of Talk Like A Pirate Day

2007-09-19T18:54:00.000-06:00

My pirate name is:

Dirty Ethel Bonney

You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

100th Post Contest!

2007-09-17T17:40:00.000-06:00

I just realized that my tiny little post the other day was my 100th post! Have I really posted that much? What a lame 100th post. So anyway, it seems appropriate that to celebrate 100 posts, I have a contest. Recently, I acquired (ok. Scrounged out of the orphan basket) 8 44 yard skeins of Silky Cashmere by Elsebeth Lavold. It's lovely stuff but I'm at a loss as to what to do with it. I need suggestions! I need the vast knitting knowledge of patterns that many of you bloggers hold! I need to know how many people actually read my blog! Oh wait. Not really. Anyway, from those suggestions, I will randomly have my 2 year or 4 year old (depending on who's most cooperative) pick out a winner. And what shall they receive Vanna? Two balls of Knitpicks Dancing sock yarn! (Hey. It could've been a bunch of Fun Fur. No really. I have heaps from a dollar sale at Big Lots when I first started knitting.)

(Seriously, if anybody wants that fun fur, let me know. Heh.)

Hooray sweaters!

2007-09-16T12:36:00.001-06:00

So the only up side to DD's bout with pink eye (woo.) is that I had time to be a knitting machine! Here they are!

The purple one is a Trendsetter pattern made with ScoubiDu for a good friend of mine's baby to be!

The blue one is a Debbie Bliss from Cotton for All Seasons. I used Plymouth Encore.

Lastly, is my Tomato! I used Mission Falls Cotton instead of the Blue Sky Alpaca and I'm very happy with how it turned out. I'll take a picture of it worn soon.

So here's a question. J's Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs have an option where you can play it continuously over and over. Why on earth would I ever want to do that? Seriously.

So close...

2007-09-13T17:06:00.001-06:00

I'm so close to actually having some FO's so no blogging till I'm done! Whew.

I am sad. :(

2007-09-10T11:56:00.000-06:00

Today I learned that Madeleine L'Engle died. I adore her books. I have all my life. One of my earliest reading memories is reading A Wrinkle in Time in the bedroom that I shared with my sister. I remember being so engrossed in the book that I didn't want to play, eat, or even watch TV. I probably read that book at least a hundred times and as recently as a year ago. I've read pretty much most of what she's written, including some of her autobiographical and religious essays, but I have to admit my favorites are still her fiction. When I was in the eighth grade, we had an assignment to write our favorite author and she wrote me back! Not a form letter, but a real honest letter, just like one my grandmother would have written me, telling me about her day and her dogs and how nice it was to hear from a young person who also liked to write. I'm still a little teary. I might be that way today.

Hooray Crocheted Market Bag!

2007-08-30T20:47:00.000-06:00

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Getting used to L's new preschool schedule, enjoying time with an extra toddler, and trying to get all those baby sweaters done. Heh. So I did what I've always done when I've got a deadline. Work on something else. So instead of finishing the blue baby sweater for the party on Monday, I crocheted my first bag. The Market Bag from Knit.1 green edition. Lots of times I think the stuff in Knit.1 is kinda weird, but i really liked this issue. Lots of cool bags! So anyway, hooray Crocheted Market Bag!

And Hooray Popsicles!

Everyone should have a Popsicle now and then.

Mmmm. Popsicles!

Ravelry. So I caved.

2007-08-23T13:47:00.001-06:00

Once again, I am a joiner.

You are #28,093 on the list.

17,908 people are ahead of you in line.

There is 1 person behind you in line.

I don't think I've been so far back in line since waiting for Pearl Jam tickets back in college that actually sold out before the TicketMaster at the UMC opened. (Yes I was a grunge girl. Some days I miss my flannels.)

It's been busy. Saturday was L's back to school open house at the preschool. Did I mention they have ponies? How cool is that?

I've also been working on a couple of little sweaters. I had to put the purple ScoubiDu one down, since the recipient of the blue one's birthday is in a couple of weeks. Instead of using Debbie Bliss cotton, I substituted Plymouth Encore and am happy with the results so far.

This post contains actual knitting content.

2007-08-15T15:55:00.001-06:00

So in between running around to kid attractions, I have actually been knitting. And acquiring things to knit with.

First, the needles. The antique orange ones with the lovely stitch markers were a yarn crawl favor from La whose visit inspired The Great South Denver blogger yarn crawl of Aught Seven which I was too sick to go because I caught something on the plane on the way back from Georgia where I purchased the hand turned needles at a place called Two Stix in Decatur. Whew. Long sentence. I'm also excited to have received my KnitPicks DPN's. No more teeny bamboo to snap mid-sock!

Next, there is the yarn that I happened upon today at The Recycled Lamb. Well. OK. I was actually driving around trying to get J to fall asleep and I just happened to drive by and saw they had yarn out front. Yes. I know. They always have yarn out front. I'm trying to justify here, OK? Anyway, they had some Hempathy on sale and I've been dying to try some out so I bought all that they had in this pretty blue. While I was paying, I had to look in the orphan bin, right? And there were 4 skeins of Noro just calling to me. I'd be crazy to pass up bargain cashmere Noro, wouldn't I? Wouldn't I?

Lastly, I've been working on a cabled baby sweater for my friend in Albuquerque in my favorite purple Scoubidu. :) It's going much better than the last baby sweater I made out of this yarn (See Not Bamboo Baby Frankensweater).

Airquotes, McDonalds and other L-isms

2007-08-14T07:46:00.000-06:00

So I have to write this one down before I forget. The back story is, my kids are not good sleepers. They just don't like to sleep. So even though it is getting better, bedtime is a struggle. The other night, L was experimenting with air quotes (or bunny rabbits as she calls them). I'm pretty sure she has no idea what they are, but imagine how hard it was not to laugh when she said, "Mama, it is now time for J and I to start "sleeping" in bed." DH and I nearly fell off the couch since it's so true.

Caught this on the news the other night and in an article today.

McDonald's Story

Children actually believe that stuff wrapped in McDonald's wrapping taste better. I think I'm going to start saving the wrappers and introduce the kids to our new friends McBrussel Sprouts, and McBroccoli. Actually did serve brussel sprouts last night for kicks (I hated them as a kid!), and both kids ate them, especially J. L ate them but had to take them apart leaf by leaf first. Funny children.

And speaking of funny children, DH asked L this morning if she had big plans for today and she replied, "Nope. I have little kid plans."

My name is Nicole and it's been a little over a week since my last yarn acquisition.

2007-08-11T17:19:00.000-06:00

Bad blogger. BAAAAD blogger. I've been meaning to write so much lately and it never seems to get out of the out of my head stage. So here's the quick version.

School starts in a couple weeks and my teacher friends have to report back on Monday so I've been doing a crap ton of kid activities. You name it I've probably been there in the last 3 weeks or so. Children's Museum. Check. Soda Beach at Bear Lake. Check. Twice. Georgetown playground. Check. Zoo. Check. Rocks in Boulder Check. Tiny Town. Check. Nonalds (that's how J pronounces the Golden Arches) Check ad nauseum. Kittredge Park. Check. Cherry Creek Mall Food. Check. African Drumming concert. Check. Mr. Sunshine concert. Check. So many things I can't even remember and I don't have pictures for them. Check.

This last weekend I flew to Atlanta to hang with my college girls and see the newest tiny CU alum. SOOOO cute! Made Dream Swatch head wraps for all of them but found out I can only make 3 in a weekend full of eating, drinking and merry making, so I finished the 4th one last night and will get it out in the mail on Monday. The Dream Swatch model is my friend Lindsey who is one of the best people to knit for on the planet. She truly makes me feel like everything I make is really cool. She even stole my Booga Bag! Truthfully it was too small for a diaper toting purse carrier like me, so I'm glad it's getting appreciative use. :)

Lastly, I visited Stitch Therapy over at Posh on Thursday and had a blast. Sadly no pictures, but they were a very fun group and of course the constant going around the circle reciting our names reminded us of other obsessive behavior groups. Knitting? Obsessive? Get out. :)

Figures.

2007-07-30T17:06:00.000-06:00

Stole this from Leann.

Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

Knit Knack Night

2007-07-25T19:57:00.000-06:00

Had a wonderful time at Knit Knacks (she's have a sale soon, you know). Cathy had an extra special night with some purty yarn by Mary-Kay.

Got home and found this sight in the hallway. Must have been a rough night. And yes, that is HP 7 on the floor in front of my DH. :)

Things you thought you'd never say...

2007-07-23T19:29:00.000-06:00

Said to L this evening, "Well, can you go get a purse for your brother to play with then?"

Also love this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLd22ha_-VU

I was/am a huge Pearl Jam fan, but man, the boy needs some serious enunciation work.

So I dorkified my car....

2007-07-19T17:07:00.000-06:00

with this. Heh. I love it! Got it at Knit Knack. You should get one too! Join the knitting dorks! It's almost as good as bowling shirts.

Where did this week go? With the blistering heat, I spent a couple days up in the mountains, just looking for anywhere 10 degrees cooler. Tuesday we went up to Bear Creek Lake in Evergreen and had a nice picnic.

Yesterday we went up to Kittredge, but sadly I have no pictures. L played in the creek with her friends but J refused to do anything except sit whinily in Mama's lap. Ah well. Maybe next time.

In between car trips, I've been working on my Tomato. I'm excited for how it's turning out. Leann convinced me to leave the stripe where it is as written, but I think I might try a seed stitch border instead of ribbing. We'll see.

The Purple Black Hole Couch Part II

2007-07-13T19:38:00.000-06:00

First you must read The Purple Black Hole Couch Part I which is back on my Yahoo 360 page. I have been looking for my helmet liner to give to Ruth for the contest for about a week now. Tonight, L found it in the couch. Figures.

Ah the simple joys of motherhood...

2007-07-12T15:36:00.000-06:00

After a nocturnal visit by L at 3 am Wednesday morning to proclaim those little 3 words, "I have barf" and watching pretty much every Disney film we own (Thank you NetFlix for bringing us "the Backyardigan's" so we had some variety!) I've actually gotten a decent amount of knitting done on my Tomato. I'm on the last row of raglan increases so we'll see how I do on the next part.

*scary music interlude*

So here's my great parenting story of the week. J is going through a screaming phase. Not just a tantrum stage, a screaming at the top of his lungs so loud that when asked what was going on by DH I replied, "Why I'm sticking him with hot pokers. What did you think I was doing?" Anyway, DH had to work late Wednesday evening so I had to put the kids to bed before he got home. Never an easy task. L actually went to sleep pretty easily but I figure it was the lack of food and the virus that helped knock her out. J, on the other hand, screamed. And screamed. After about 20 minutes, I checked on him to make sure he hadn't hurt himself and he immediately stopped, gave me the big J smile, and said, "Mommy. Uppease?" So I did the mommy thing, put him back down and said, "It's time for bed now. I love you.". And so the screaming ensued. After about another 20 minutes, my doorbell rings. And it's my neighbor. Not my next door neighbor. The one 2 houses down ACROSS the street. She had come to make sure everything was ok (which I actually appreciated. I think we live in such a nuclear society that it's nice to know if something sounded wrong from my house that someone would come check it out.) I explained the whole tantrum thing and as mom herself she understood completely. But talk about awkward.

So when I put him down for his nap today, I closed the window.

Heh.

If you want a good cry today...

2007-07-11T11:40:00.000-06:00

go read Crazy Aunt Purl. I'm probably the farthest thing from a cat person there is but it is such a moving story, it transcends my cat feelings and you really get a sense for how special pets can be.

Hee Hee Hee!

2007-07-08T19:16:00.000-06:00

You Are Wonder Woman

A true goddess, you have the strength and skills to rule the world.
You're one sexy amazon... all of the superhero guys are fighting over you!

What Superhero Are You?

Hooray Booga Bag!

2007-07-06T09:05:00.000-06:00

All done! I had hard time poking the holes with the 10 1/2 needles so I sized up to the 13's and that seemed to do the trick. I thought about felting it a tiny bit more, but I was afraid then it would be too small to even hold my wallet. Heh.

Look Ma! I'm swatching!

2007-07-05T17:21:00.000-06:00

For the third time. Sometimes I tend to dive in to things without thinking it through. For some reason I thought using a larger needle would give me more stitches per inch. Duh. So what am I swatching you ask? Well I joined the Tomato bandwagon. Though mine is more pale frosty blueberry than tomato. I'm using 1824 Mission Falls Cotton that I got over at Posh. I wasn't sure about the nubby texture at first but I'm very excited now that I've swatched it. I'm a little nervous because I think a girl of my figure probably needs to do the darts that I've been reading about on Knitting Daily and I'm a little apprehensive of changing a pattern I've never done before. Too many new techniques in one project you know? (See Gigantasock Disaster of 2006).

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. DH and I took the kids over to Stenger to watch the fireworks and they loved them!

Booga Progress

2007-07-03T13:51:00.001-06:00

It's funny how a project can start out one way and end up another. As it turned out, I had a lot more of the purple yarn than I thought I did, so instead of simple striping I thought I would take the opportunity to practice some stranded knitting. I didn't really plan out the designs, so it's not perfectly even, but I figure I'm felting it so who cares?

TOO funny!

2007-07-03T12:15:00.000-06:00

Browsing around today, I found this. Now that is one creative papa. I was a huge Star Wars fan when I was a kid. I actually won the Jedi Master's Quiz Book when I was in 4th grade, beating out all the boys. Heh. This pretty much solidified my social standing as geeky tomboy for many years to come.

I will take a picture of the Booga Bag soon. Just have to find the camera.

Just had to share

2007-07-02T16:50:00.000-06:00

Took the kids to Kiddie Kandids today. Those people are amazing. J was in no mood to get his picture taken. We're talking full on melt down and there were 3 other kids to coordinate, a 5 week old, a 2 year old and a 4 year old. So after talking him down and getting the other kids to play along, this is what we got. Heh. I happen to love it actually. PS there was a "normal" shot too, but my house if full of normal shots. This one has character.

The World's Biggest Stash and Jazz at City Park

2007-07-02T06:25:00.000-06:00

I was browsing my blog feeds this morning and came across this at Mochimochiland. I think we're all a bit jealous now, aren't we?

Last night, I took the kids over to City Park for a Jazz concert and it was pretty fun! I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm not sure if the heat scared some people away but it was perfect (in the shade, it was brutal in the sun.) My friends had staked a claim out under a tree and we just hung out, eating good food while there was some fun music going on. Of course I have no pictures but by the end of it, most of the babies were stripped down to diapers dancing in the grass while L "entertained" some very cute puppies that another party had brought. Since I had never been before, I wasn't sure what the etiquette of a 4 year old entertaining other parties was, but I was happily surprised that we were surrounded by kind folk who fortunately thought L was the cutest. Luckily for me L was full of the Force last night and didn't waver to the Dark Side. Unfortunately, J did. But, at least it was already loud and nobody seemed to notice except me and my friends who are used to J.

Booga Bag progress:

I found that I had a heap of that purple yarn so I'm going with purple and ugly brown. Instead of simple striping, I've been practicing my Fair Isle. It may not even show up after felting, but at least I got the practice in.

Working on the Booga Bag

2007-06-30T09:02:00.001-06:00

I'm using up scraps from my stash to make a sort of kitchen sink booga bag. We'l see how it turns out.

Hooray Helmet Liner!

2007-06-28T16:29:00.000-06:00

I finally finished it! Bob was so kind as to model it for me. Actually I had to do it pretty quickly before J noticed. He's pretty attached to Bob when he first gets up from his nap. Anyway, I just wanted to thank Judy for donating the yarn! It's so nice and soft and very nice to work with! I used a cable cast on for the bottom ribbing and a knitted cast on for the hat portion. Now that I've got the hang of it, I think it's a pretty easy pattern. Everybody should make one and send it to Ruth!

Frak! I wonder if their name is Adama?

2007-06-27T18:23:00.000-06:00

You may have a to take a few sentons to click on the picture to get the full effect, but I thought it was funny. Heh. I caught this one at the gas station. How does he turn that thing?

Today after a walk around Sloan's Lake (man that lake is big), my friend, my sister, and I took our kids over to Clare Gardens. What a lovely place! The kids had a ball playing with the equpiment. Since we live on a hill, it was nice to be in a place where the kids could ride trikes and big wheels without fear of road rash.

On the knitting front, I'm finishing up the helmet liner and getting ready to cast on the booga bag. I figure I should do at least one bag since I signed up for the Summer KAL/CAL Roundup and I think they look cool.

Hooray Crocheted Baby Blanket!

2007-06-25T07:39:00.001-06:00

I finished the baby blanket! I'm actually very pleased with how it turned out. (Yeah, I know. I always say that.) This was actually going to be another Log Cabin, but after talking to my sister I decided it still might be too hot for Georgia, so the extra holes in the crochet will make it cooler I think. It didn't hurt that baby boy was born a bit early and I hadn't started it yet. And it's true what they say about crochet. It's heaps faster. I started this blanket Thursday night over at Marly's. (BTW, a big THANKS to the ladies of the virtual SnB who helped design the blanket!) I did find that I didn't chain enough in the beginning so it was too narrow, thus the wide cream colored border. I was planning on putting a border on it. Just not that wide.

So yesterday we packed the kids in the car and made a trip up Lookout Mountain to Buffalo Bill's grave. The view up there is pretty spectacular. I love that kids under 6 are free too. I like cheap family fun. L and J got to play cowboy and we had a nice picnic.

WIPs and chains...

2007-06-24T17:17:00.000-06:00

Crochet chains, that is. Please laugh at my attempt to be clever.

So I realize I haven't posted for a bit. We've had a very busy week with swimming pools and playdates and I just haven't gotten around to it. L said the funniest thing the other day as we were making a Target run (June has at least 4 birthdays and we are very behind in gifting). The clouds were gray and ominous and the wind was blowing something fierce and she said, "Mama (I love it that she calls me Mama!), why does the wind always come with the rain?" I said I didn't know so she replied, "Maybe they're best friends and always have to come together." :)

So I have been knitting. AND crocheting! Marly invited me to be on her podcast for the virtual SnB which was heli-fun (to borrow one of her expressions, borrowed from Cartman I believe.) I'm still working on the helmet liner (there is a story about that on the podcast) and I'm almost finished crocheting a baby blanket. (The baby was born 3 weeks early!)

Pictures on next post.

Keens!

2007-06-18T15:17:00.000-06:00

Not one to usually wax poetic about a shoe, I find that I will talk and talk and talk about my Keens. (I had a couple of inquiries about the new purple shoes!) I have a horrible time finding comfortable shoes that don't make my toes fall asleep. When I was pregnant with J, I saw a pair of bright red Mary Janes with a sporty sole that I fell in love with. (Link is not my pair, but similar.) They were Keens. And they were the most comfortable shoe I'd ever worn. Next I bought a pair of blue Portolas which I pretty much wore when I wasn't wearing my Mary Janes. Unfortunately, both pairs wore out this year and I had to replace them. I was happy to find a brown pair of Bronxes and my new purple Venice H2's on sale in the span of a week. SO HAPPY! Ok. Wild raving about shoes is now over.

Hooray Dream Swatch Headwrap!

2007-06-18T08:01:00.000-06:00

It is really hard to take pictures of yourself by yourself! Anyway, I'm pleased with the way it turned out. It matches my new shoes! :)

Hooray Not-Bamboo Baby Franken-sweater!

2007-06-14T21:38:00.001-06:00

I finished it! And it actually doesn't look half bad. It looks good enough for my sister to take to a baby shower at any rate. So here's the stats:

Bamboo Baby sweater from One Skein Wonder

Needle size: 6 US

Yarn: 3 balls of Scoubi Du 50 percent cotton 50 percent acrylic

Adaptations:

1) Added 5 garter rows on either side of the back panel using Log Cabin technique

2) Increased the picked up arm stitches from 24 to 28

3) I used a crochet seam for the shoulders and a modified mattress stitch for the sides. I say modified because I continued to use the mattress stitch even when the garter stitch edge was paired up with a bound of edge, just picking through the loops on the bound off edge as if it were garter. Since the pattern gave no instructions for seaming, this seemed to make the most sense.

I found the cute little duckie/chickie buttons at Knit Knack. I'm just glad it's done. I was so afraid it would be horrible. Hooray!

Yeah. I'm Hufflepuff.

2007-06-13T20:03:00.001-06:00

Took the Sorting Quiz from Yarn Thing's page. I'm a Hufflepuff. Though I'm pretty close to being a Ravenclaw.

The sorting hat says that I belong in Hufflepuff!

Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot, and treat them just the same."

Hufflepuff students are friendly, fair-minded, modest, and hard-working. A well-known member was Cedric Digory, who represented Hogwarts in the most recent Triwizard Tournament.

Take the most scientific Harry Potter
Quiz ever created.

Get Sorted Now!

Man! I hate that when that happens.

2007-06-13T15:34:00.001-06:00

In the midst of working on the Dream Swatch and the Not-Bamboo Baby Frankensweater, I thought I'd actually start the helmet liner for Ruth's contest. After knitting a few rows of 2 x 2 rib I realized that the gauge was not right. I took a second look at the ballband and found it was DK weight not worsted like I thought. So now I have to go back to the store and get some worsted weight yarn. The pattern calls for 100 percent washable wool. Question to ponder. Doesn't that mean that it can't be 100 percent wool?

Bamboo Baby!

2007-06-11T15:05:00.000-06:00

Mine isn't made of bamboo so maybe I should call it Scoubi Du Baby. I like knitting with it; it makes a nice baby sweater without actually being a baby yarn. I took advantage of this project to try out my Boye Needlemaster set. I love my Knit Picks, but I picked this up for half price at Hobby Lobby and you just can't have too many needles. So far, I like it. I haven't had any unscrewing problems and I really like that now I have some shorter cables should I need them. (They have 12 in. cables where the Knit Picks only goes down to 24 I believe.) There is a slight angle on the cables that I thought would drive me crazy, but so far hasn't been a problem. I got this pattern out of One Skein Wonders (not the One Skein with the ball of yarn on the front. The OTHER one.) which I think is a really cute and handy book for those odd bits of yarn we all accumulate. My only issue so far was that the errata page was REALLY hard to find. And it's a BIG errata page. 17 pages big. The missing instructions for the Bamboo Baby sweater were enough to make me crazy until it occurred to me to look for a corrections page.

(Ok. Funny aside. J is running back and forth clapping his hands and giggling to the Disney's Hercules credits. Who knew the kid liked Michael Bolton?)

So I got sucked in to the Tonys

2007-06-10T22:01:00.000-06:00

I haven't watched the Tonys in years but for some reason I tuned in this year. When I was younger and was going to be a Broadway star (hee hee) I would watch every year to see the different musical segments but after my life moved off in another direction, I quit watching. It seemed for a while that all of the musicals were revivals and nothing new was coming around. Well now I am very intrigued by Spring Awakening, the Tony winner this year. The story is from a play written in 1891 but the music is very modern. The energy in the little bit I got to see on the show was amazing! I may have to run out and get the soundtrack if it's available. Of course, I'll probably only get to listen to it on those rare occasions when I'm in the car without the kids. Heh. It's already disturbing enough that L knows many of the words to the songs from Rent (don't worry, I skip the inappropriate stuff!) Warning: There is cursing and suggestive content (It's about horny 19th century teenagers.)

There's gold in them thar hills!

2007-06-10T11:03:00.000-06:00

Well. Not really. But we did have a great time at the Gold Strike Festival. L got to weave on a loom, pan for gold, and meet an Alpaca! J's favorite thing was to run up and down the ramps of the stores and dance to the brass band. Of course I had to stop by Knit Knack and pick up a couple things. And of course the kids were MELTING by the time I wanted to go there. Quickest trip to the yarn store ever. Anyway, I got some Scoubi Du in purple to make a baby sweater for my sister's friend. I'm impressed with how it knits up and it's SO soft. I'll post pictures soon.

Switzerland

2007-06-08T09:44:00.000-06:00

It's been bugging me since yesterday and I finally had one of those moments where a bit of knowledge that had previously been tucked far back away in my brain popped forward. I wrote that Sojabama was probably Soy Bamboo in Swiss. It dawned on me that the Swiss speak primarily German and French (and some Italian I think). So it's probably German then. I had a friend in college who was a piano major whose ancestry was Sri Lankan/Swiss and I remembered that she spoke German and French (as well as some other languages I don't remember). I do have to admit I took a peek at Wikipedia to make sure I was right though.

I used to be smart once upon a time.

Speaking of smart, a good friend of mine wrote an article over on Helium and it's now one of the top articles at the site. Lindsey's article is in response to an article that said that there is no such thing as good or bad music. (I'm not sure I've ever written the word article so many times in just two sentences before.) I guess real magazine editors often read helium.com and people have gotten jobs from it before.

Dreamy Swatchy Goodness

2007-06-07T08:11:00.000-06:00

I am working on Knit and Tonic's Dream Swatch Head Wrap. The pattern calls for a 100 percent bamboo yarn but I'm using a soy/bamboo blend called Sojabama (which I suspect means soy bamboo in Swiss though weirdly enough the yarn is made in France) by Schulana which I got over at Knit Knack. I had a little trouble with switching the elongated stitches but I seem to have the hang of it now. As usual, I tried to go too fast. :) Bamboo soy yarn is very slippery I'm finding but oh so soft! I can't wait to wear it!

Hooray Log Cabin Blanket!

2007-06-05T17:32:00.000-06:00

Today was fun day as little Throws Like a Girls and little Yarn Things had a playdate over at the Apex Center. We then braved the Free Burrito with Can of Food deal over at our Chipotle. Well actually Yarn Thing braved most of the kids in her car watching a movie while I stood in line with a wailing J for 45 minutes for our food. We decided to come back to our house and eat. I'm so proud of myself for only eating half a burrito! It was hard I tell you. So anyway, the kids played as we sat down and got a little stiching done and voila! Blanket is finished! Hooray blanket!

J's Baptism

2007-06-04T07:24:00.000-06:00

It was memorable to say the least. :) J hates hates staying the nursery but he has also discovered that the church echoes so rather than have him yell "GA!" at the top of his lungs through the first half of the service, we opted to have him play in the nursery. My in-laws also stayed with him to try and keep him calm which was nice. During the sermon I popped over to the nursery to put J in the baptismal gown. It's over 100 years old and had belonged to my grandfather. Of course J wouldn't let me take off his blue sneakers and I decided there were worse things. Besides, if it made him feel more normal in that frilly dress, then so be it. Putting on the dress wasn't too bad but the closer we got to the service, the more agitated he became. By the time we started the baptismal part of the service, he was in full melt down mode. Luckily the priest has a great sense of humor and just started saying the words louder. A mom in the front row ran up and gave him a butterscotch which I thought to myself might not be the best idea, but it stopped his crying and I figured I would get him to spit it out before the rector picked him up. Well, of course, he choked on it just as he was getting picked up for the water part. I turned him over and gave him a good whack on the back (which I have now been told is not how to do the Heimlich on toddlers) and we assumed he swallowed the candy for we couldn't find it anywhere. I assured the congregation that if he could cry he was OK, and they chuckled a bit. The rest of the service went beautifully. Luckily for us, J LOVES water and thought that part was great. We got him back to the pew and immediately took the dress off to try and save it for future generations. Of course, then he wouldn't let us put his clothes back on so he spent the rest of the service in blue tennies and a diaper. At least he was happy. :) It was his day after all.

Epilogue:

As we were going into the parish hall for cake I realized that something was very sticky in the front of my dress. At first I thought, "it is a new dress and maybe I washed the tag." As I tried to discreetly fish down the front of my dress, I found the offending butterscotch stuck firmly in the elastic of the empire waist. At least he didn't swallow it.

Another mom came up to me after the service and said that her daughter had exclaimed, "That was the most exciting baptism I've ever seen!" I replied that my family had been entertaining the congregation at the church for many years and it was now J's turn. :)

The End.

Heh.

2007-06-02T08:41:00.000-06:00

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know.
You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems.
Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green.
Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

There will be real blog content soon, I promise!

Um. Ok.

2007-05-31T21:30:00.001-06:00

Throws Like A Girl --
[noun]:

A person with a taste for acorns

'How" will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Well. I have been watching Chicken Little WAY too much.

Helmet Liners for our troops

2007-05-29T05:43:00.000-06:00

5 element knitter is running a contest/helmet liner drive for our currently deployed troops. Regardless of politics I feel that if we can do something to help our men and women who volunteer for our country, then we should. Anyway, the liners should be made of a soft, washable wool. Ruth has links on her site for patterns and more information on the contest. Check out her blog!

Been a little AWOL

2007-05-26T20:58:00.000-06:00

I think I spent most of the past 7 days in the car driving back and forth from Parker. But can you blame me? Isn't she the sweetest? My new niece (whose blanket is still in the works. Maybe I'll get it done by her 1st birthday.) I had to laugh that it didn't even occur to L to ask to hold the baby. She's not exactly the most maternal kid. But then neither was I and now look at me. We used to tell this great story about L right before J was born when she was really into her baby dolls. She would lovingly wrap her baby in a blanket, give a sweet kiss, and then roll it down the stairs. Actually she was and is a very cute and helpful big sister. Except when J is in her stuff. I actually caught her TEACHING him how to make a mess the other day. J is actually quite neat for a toddler and likes to put things back and here she is showing him how to throw cereal in the air. The last picture is of some yellow roses I found while mowing the lawn today. We didn't plant any, but I did get some as a gift once and my brown thumb and I left it outside for dead a while back. Apparently the seeds moved on. Maybe they'll kill all the dandelions. We have raspberry bushes in the front yard that migrated in a similar fashion after we removed them from the backyard. I like to call our landscaping "Chaos Gardening".

Knitting Meme

2007-05-23T13:59:00.000-06:00

I lifted this from Purple Princess Knits.

Mark with bold the things you have knit at least once, with italics the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest. It's kind of fun to see all the things I've done in a little over a year and also gave me some ideas of what to try next. :)

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on 2 circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

I haven't finished anything.

2007-05-22T15:34:00.000-06:00

I'm plugging away at the log cabin and a pair of child size ankle socks, but they look pretty much like other pictures I've put up so instead I'm going to share L's artsy pictures. These were all taken with the Fisher Price camera.

Knitting with the girls

2007-05-20T06:43:00.000-06:00

I took L over to Knit Knack yesterday to go knitting. She tried for about 5 minutes total, but had much more fun using the needles as pretend people.

I also finished the little baby socks. :)

Ack! I've been tagged!

2007-05-17T07:41:00.000-06:00

I've been tagged by Marly!

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write on their blogs 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and need to read your blog.

Ok. 7 random facts.

1. The person who tagged me, Marly, and I have two weird coincidences in that our husbands are both named John and our youngest sons are both named Joe (sort of, Joe and Josiah).

2. Both of the kids are named to honor relatives, but their names also have literary ties to my and my husband's favorite books. Lizzie is from Pride and Predjudice while Joe's initals spell JEM from To Kill a Mockingbird.

3. I actually still have a friend that I've known since we were 4 years old and our mothers met while we were at dance class. We talk on almost a weekly basis.

4. My little sister's birthday is the day before mine so we actually celebrated our birthdays together as kids. I think my mom was nuts having these giant parties with two distinct age groups. Now I appreciate it though and we still sometimes have a party together.

5. Just about everybody we know has trouble remembering which birthday is which. Including our family. Since I'm older people tend to want to make my birthday first. Hee.

6. Before taking up knitting, I have never really had a hobby.

7. When I was in college, a couple friends and I competed in the Anderson Voice competition. What was odd about this is the competition was usually made up of performance majors and all of us were Music Education. We were out to disprove the old adage, "Those who cannot do, teach." So there.

So I guess that's 7. Now I'm tagging Cathy, Claudia, Leanne, Betsy, Suzeq22knits, Judy, and Allegra.

Baby Sock!

2007-05-16T13:11:00.000-06:00

I finished the baby sock and am about halfway done on it's mate. I think I might actually make this one correctly. It seems that every time I do the short row heel I find a new thing I did wrong on the previous sock. Last night, DH told me he would wear knit socks! So of course I took that to mean I could buy more sock yarn. Hooray sock yarn! The Knit Picks I got with my order of cables so I can finish up the Log Cabin. Of course I just had to get the total high enough for free shipping! Heh. Anyway, the Trekking Natura I got at Posh today in a manly enough color for DH to wear. The bag I got at this little boutique I like to call Target (pronounced Tarjhay of course) in the dollar spot. I love the dollar spot. Is it sad that one of L's first words was Target?

Hee Hee Hee

2007-05-14T15:23:00.000-06:00

It's hard to tell in the picture, but L is dead asleep. In that position. Legs crossed and everything. Heh.

Teensy!

2007-05-14T14:46:00.000-06:00

J looked like this.

So I put him to bed. Is it bad that I'm hiding out in the backyard with my baby sock so I can't hear him over the traffic? For some reason, I thought making a baby sock would be easier than an adult sock. I realize now that it would be true if I'd picked a pattern that used larger needles. Heh. Oh well. It's all good practice.

Hooray Sock #2! and a Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T15:04:00.000-06:00

I finished the socks yesterday! I almost thought that I'd blown it too when I realized halfway through the kitchener stitch that I was doing it backwards. Luckily I was able to painstakingly lift the loops back on the needle and unthread the yarn. Bleah. All in all, I actually enjoy making socks, but man, if I can't even make it through stocking stitch ankle socks with a world of problems, what hope do I have for lace?!? Heh. Anyway, I'm using some of the leftover yarn to make baby socks for a friend of mine. Size 0 needles are TINY!

Anyway, hope everybody is having a nice Mother's Day! Here are a couple of pictures of my quirky nephew and jolly son that remind me why parenting is so much fun!

America's Top Toy Model

2007-05-10T16:35:00.000-06:00

So we got a call last night for L to participate in a photo shoot today for a toy catalog. She did it last year (She's the Moses Basket Girl for the My Twinn Baby Doll.) How she got the job last year is sort of a funny story. My sister and her friends were all taking their kids and she really wanted me to come along, so I packed up the kids as is (crooked pony tails and all) to the casting call. So here was L in all her uncoiffed glory next to girls who had sequins and curling iron curls. And she got the call back. This year they just emailed us asking us to send a picture and of course L was sick for the first three months of the year so getting a good picture was sort of a trick. So anyway, we got the call and went in this morning where she spent 2 1/2 hours pretending to hand a play Happy Meal to a cute little boy through the drive thru window. She was a trooper because that's a long time to keep doing the same thing. Especially when you're 4. Here are some pictures of her getting ready and waiting in the wings.

Hooray Sock!

2007-05-09T07:33:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I finished my sock! It's not perfect, but it's definitely wearable (unlike the gigantasock disaster of 2006). I think this particular yarn would do better on size 2's instead of 3's and that's why the yarn overs on the heel seem larger than I'd like them. Anyway, I'm excited to start sock #2.

Last night we celebrated Leanne's birthday over at Knit Knack and of course, I forgot to take a picture. I did take a couple of other ones though. :) Here's one of Karen working on her dishcloth. I was trying to get a picture of Leanne, the Sock Queen, showing Mary Kay a new technique, but my stellar photography skills failed me. Nachaele was taking pictures (hopefully better than mine) and Christie was working on a shawl that she purchased at the Creative Arts Festival.

Marly dropped by with her family, but I forgot to take a picture. Again. She and I met earlier today for a Mommy SnB at the Apex Center and she taught me how to single and double crochet. Woo! I'm such a yarn geek. Next thing you know I'll be learning macrame and everybody will be getting flower pot hangers for Christmas. Grins.

Knitting Loves Crochet

2007-05-07T12:46:00.000-06:00

So in between the never ending garter stitch of the Log Cabin
and the never ending stocking stitch of my sock, I have gotten the urge to learn to crochet. I've always been curious about it and love the way it looks as border, but ever since Yarn Thing showed me how to single crochet the edging on the Hippie Soaker, I've been obsessed. (Yes this is where the obsessiveknit thing comes from.)

I even bought Interweave Crochet (most of the patterns are so over my head!). I have to learn!

I have to make this sweater!
(I also need to make this sweater!) I've been playing around with some old acrylic trying to figure it out, but I think I'm going to have to ask for some help.

So funny story. We went to church yesterday (Sunday #2!) and they were video taping the service. Well, J chimed right in with his new ability to screech at superhuman pitches (he discovered the church echoed last week) so DH took him into the glass walled baby room while L stayed with me in the service. We were sitting in the back for a sneaky escape should we need one, so when communion time came around we were the very last people to go up. I received the bread and L got her blessing, but when it came time for wine, the server turned around and started packing up. So L and I are alone up at a the altar as some giggles started in the congregation. I leaned forward slightly and quietly said, "Psst!" Well our poor deacon saw me and was mortified and nearly ran across the floor bringing me the bread, which I'd already had. I quietly shook my head as she then waved the wine guy over. So I got my communion and the church got their morning giggles. The funnier part is that my family has been responsible for many many many congregation giggles since we were children. My brother had a habit of falling asleep when he was acolyting, my sister almost set her hair on fire (darn those 80s bangs!) and I had a habit of ringing the bell a little too loudly almost causing the poor elderly people in the front row to fall out of the pew.

Today has been somewhat of an adventure as well. Last week, we forgot L's backpack for preschool and she'd had to use a plastic bag. This week, we made a point to make sure it was in the car. While I was strapping L in, I smelled something horrid but couldn't quite figure out where it was coming from. It had rained on our trash so I thought it was just the garbage smells drifting over. When we arrived a school, I remembered to check her backpack to make sure it was empty. It sure wasn't empty. My little nephew had been playing with it last week and apparently had left his sippy cup of chocolate milk in there. Which now had exploded sour milk all over the inside of her backpack. It was a lost cause. L had to use a plastic bag again and J and I made a trip over to Target to get her a new one. I felt I deserved a Starbucks even just to get the smell of sour milk out of my nose. We weren't in the store 10 minutes before I dropped my coffee all over the floor in the middle of the electronics section. The sales lady was very nice about it, but I felt very bad. Like they really needed to have to clean up somebody's mess in the middle of stocking the shelves. AND I lost my coffee. Sniff sniff. Hopefully the rest of the day perks up.

Mochimochiland

2007-05-04T08:45:00.000-06:00

Ok. These have to be the funniest knitted toys I've seen in awhile.

Sleepy Snake and Mischievious Mouse

I'm seriously thinking of making the hippo.

Backwards Yarn Over, Schmackwards Yarn Over

2007-05-04T07:54:00.000-06:00

I am not, by nature, a quitter. So last night during CSI until about the midnight showing of the classic Twilight Zones on Sci Fi, I worked and worked on my ankle sock. I switched yarns to some Trekking I picked up at Yarn Art down by my sister's house. I really like the colors as they're knitting up. Anyway, as I, once again, worked the yo short row heel, I had an epiphany. There is no such thing as a backwards yarn over. At all. There is a knit side yarn over, and a purl side yarn over. I think where I got confused is the designer calls purl side yarn overs backwards and inadvertently wrote "backwards" on the knit side. If I had looked at the pictures more closely and disregarded the backwards part, I would have been better off. I finally figured out that wrapping the yarn around backwards (or clockwise, which was how I interpreted it) on the purl side causes the stitch to be twisted. So the heel has a couple funky parts but not enough to frog. (I just couldn't rip it out again!) And now I'm pretty confident that I understand how to do it for the other sock. Hooray ankle sock!

Psychedelic Soaker and Riata

2007-05-03T08:50:00.000-06:00

I tried and tried and tried to get a good picture of me wearing my new vest yesterday but I just couldn't get the lighting/angle to get a shot of what it really looks like. It's so weird how things can look so differently on film than they do in real life. (Or perhaps I'm deluding myself and that's what it really looks like but I prefer to believe the former.)

So anyhoo, here's Bob the Bear modeling the finished Psychedelic Soaker (sounds better than Hippie) and some lovely Brooks Farm Yarn that Knit-Eat-Sleep brought me. I think one of my favorite things about becoming a knitter is the wonderful people I have met in the last year. (Prepare for a little gushing.) Knitters truly are some of the most fun, generous and yet diverse people I've ever come across. (I hear there are even Republican knitters! Heh.)

It's so nice to have people who completely understand the quirky things that we knitters do.

Like knitting at stop lights. Trains. During lectures. During sport events. At the mall.

Almost being late for an appointment because you're in the middle a particularly difficult bind off.

Understanding that there is a definite relationship between coffee and yarn.

The sharing of new techniques (or old ones for us newbies).

Support for steek cutting!

And many more things I can't think of this morning. Not enough of the above mentioned coffee.

Uh oh. J is wandering around the house shouting "Baa! Baa!" I'd better go give Bob back. Ah. Much better.

Mommy SnB

2007-05-01T15:44:00.000-06:00

I met Yarn Thing over at the Apex Center for a little knitting and kid playing. She's so fun, a great addition to our Arvada Knitters. Since I apparently think I'm the Bionic Woman, I walked there, pushing the kids in the double stroller. I shouldn't complain though because the walk really is beautiful and I really needed the exercise. It's funny how dandelions can be pretty when they're not on OUR lawn. I'm also glad I got out this morning because now the rain is a coming down. Time to get back to my Log Cabin, though I think I'll finish up a little soaker for my friend's new baby first. I had some leftover Paton's Merino, so I'm making her a hippie soaker.

Blogging Backwards Today

2007-04-30T16:57:00.000-06:00

So no TV week is over and we've already fallen off the wagon. But look what they want to watch?!? Rachel Ray has quite the toddler appeal. L wants to make everything she cooks.

and

Look Mom! The kids are wearing church clothes! No, I didn't go to church just to get my mother's approval. But it doesn't hurt. Grins. We're actually (finally) getting around to J's Baptism. We seem to have a habit of waiting until they are past their first birthday. Besides that it just feels good to be going. It's pretty cool when you walk into a place and the ushers greet you with "Welcome Home!"

On Saturday I met the Arvada Knitters (we should make bowling shirts that say that!) over at Knit Knack where I got this...

It's made of soy and bamboo! Bamboo bamboo bamboo! (Too many VeggieTales!)

I can't wait to make the Dream Swatch Head Wrap. http://www.knitandtonic.typepad.com/dreamswatchwrap.pdf

Hooray Yarn Ball Winder!

2007-04-27T17:05:00.000-06:00

OK, I have some observations today.

#1 Tofutsie Yarn has shrimp in it!?!? How weird is that? Do people with shellfish allergies break out?

#2 My First Bubble Blower is the coolest toy in the world. (If you're 1 1/2) (and 4 apparently)

#3 Upon receiving Yarn Ball Winder I instantly had the urge to wind just about everything I could get my hands on into nice neat little yarn cakes. Hooray Yarn Ball Winder! Now I have no excuses for not starting my socks. Again.

Pictures!

2007-04-26T16:40:00.000-06:00

Apple Blossoms from the back yard.

My vest blocking.

Log Cabin Baby Blanket

This tv thing is weirding me out.

2007-04-26T09:05:00.000-06:00

DH put on a movie for L this morning so I could sleep. When I got up, Mademoiselle Grumpypants had returned. When the movie was over, I turned the TV off. Shiny Happy Daughter came back! TOO WEIRD.

So the reason I needed a little extra ZZ's was not J's nocturnal howls, in fact, he's been a member of Binky's Anonymous for about a week now and doing well. I stayed up to finish the sweater. I have no pictures yet as I'm blocking it, but I'll get some soon.

I realize I may not have been clear on my previous sweater post. Cheryl broke my sweater TO fix it. I only had to machine stitch a couple places where the thread was loose. No big. It was just funnier and more dramatic to say she'd broken my sweater. (And we wonder where L gets her dramatic flair as she theatrically tells me, "I am NOT dramatic Mommy!" The girl channels a good Judy Garland, I tell you.)

So now I'm plugging away on a log cabin baby blanket for my neice, pictures to come soon.

Cheryl Oberle broke my sweater!

2007-04-25T13:54:00.000-06:00

Now that I've got your attention. She actually did. But it was a good thing. It turns out when you steek you're supposed to stretch the fabric VERTICALLY instead of horizontally as I did. It caused the fabric to bunch up in places which made the neck lie strangely. She said that if she hadn't broken it, it would have broken when I first tried to wear it. It's actually very nice to have someone who can show me this stuff. I read everything that I could find on steeks and nowhere did it mention the vertical stretching. I have a few ideas on how to fix it and the neck does look much better.

So I'm now on Day 4 of no TV and I'm noticing serious behaviour differences in my oldest child. I may not have written about it but I have a theory that preschoolers are bipolar by nature, one minute the sweetest thing in the universe and next so scary Rosemary's Baby would run away. Well since we instituted the television ban, not only has L been more sweet, but she's doing things that I've known she can do for months but fought with her constantly to get done. It used to take 2 hours to get her ready for school and even then she still didn't eat breakfast. This week she has been dressed and fed a full hour and a half before we need to leave. We used to joke about how grumpy she is in the morning. This morning, as I got ready to take a shower she said to me, "Mommy. I need to see a smile!" "That's better. No more sad face" Which she then demonstrated for me and ran to get dressed herself. J's behavior hasn't changed at all but then he's not really that attached to TV. I think we will continue to have a No TV in the Morning rule. It's making things run so much smoother. There's even been less whine. I realize it may be coincidental and all fall apart next week, but hey, I'll take it.

I did a closer read of Alison's Ankle Sock and the sock pattern she used as inspiration. There is no such thing as a backwards yarn over on the knit side. It's a regular yarn over. Which means, I WAS DOING IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME! Except I probably messed up the knit togethers. Triple Argh. To make myself feel better I bought some new needles and pretty Tofutsie (sp?) from Posh. She's having a sale, you know. And then I went to the Recycled Lamb because I needed a size 5 16-inch circular to finish my sweater. And then I had to have these two thick and thins from the clearance bin. Oh look! It's raining again. Woo.

Added note at 4:16 pm. I was able to fix the sweater. No problem. :) Now I'm working on the arm holes...