The Valentine's Sweater


...Is not done. Chances are good I could complete it tonight. I chugged some coffee so I could stay awake tonight and have some "alone time". I need to decompress from a few very busy days. Plus, Anthony is off of school tomorrow, so I get to (hopefully!!) sleep in until 7:00 or 7:30. His class at school today performed a wonderful play and my little man had quite the role! His expression of emotion was pretty excellent for a six year old. I think he could be a Jim Carrey in the making.

Valentine's evening was pretty good. The hubby and I hit the mall for a bit and I found some bargains that made me happy! (New shoes, skirt and top!) I have decided I don't wear enough skirts. Then, we went to see Music and Lyrics

No, Dh didn't want to go, but he ended up enjoying himself and I loved it! Both Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore were great in this part satire/part romantic comedy.

I'm off to knit and snuggle under a down throw while watching a video.

The best part of coming home is knowing that your knitting is waiting for you. I've been working on a sweater for my husband---a Valentine's gift, you know. Of course, I waited until last Thursday to decide that I needed to make him said sweater. It's lovely Tahki Donegal Tweed yarn in the Oatmeal colorway. I like the little blue flecks that appear every once in a while.

The sweater itself is a basic raglan with some ribbing at the sides for a nice fit. He's approved the project and design so far and even likes the yarn, which is a minor miracle. So far, I have 1 sleeve and the body up to the armholes done. So, chances are good for an on-time gift!

Part of my Saturdays during the cold months are to curl up on the sofa when the youngest is napping and knit and watch the line-up of cooking shows on PBS. My Anthony was snuggled up with me this weekend watching and learning and insisted we try a chocolate chip meringue recipe immediately. It was very simple to make and the cookies were quite delicious!



Here's the recipe:

3 eggwhites, room temperature
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 cup of sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar and vanilla at high speed until soft peak stage. Then, gradually add the sugar while beating. Continue beating until the meringue is at the stiff peak stage. By hand, fold in the chocolate chips.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto the sheets. Bake at 250 for 1.5 hours until lightly golden brown and firm in the middle. Cool and store in airtight container.

Hearing about the class-action sexual discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart this morning gave me tingles. For ages, I'd been hearing about how unfairly Wal-Mart treats their female employees and finally, someone is trying to do something to hurt them where it really hurts--the pocketbook.

I've stopped shopping at Wal-Mart because of their business practices. Pure and simple. I know of many others who have done the same--I wonder how many more will decide to direct their dollars elsewhere now that this lawsuit will be in the news?

If you'd like to read about it, click here

Just a little more knitting content:

A cotton sunsuit I just finished with little fishy buttons to close. I love it!

Dear Bravo:

Please fix Top Designer right this instant. It made me feel really sad to watch it. It's that bad. Please go to Project Top Design and read their critiques carefully because they are DEAD ON with what is wrong with this show.

Thank you.

Where Have I Been?



Well, for a while there, it seemed like anytime I had the time or inclination to blog, Blogger was down. So then it started to feel like it was pre-destined for me not to blog.


Anyway, it's been kind of quiet here, except I just finished a large-ish custom order. I dyed the merino yarn for the twisty scarves and used Manos del Uruguay for the Long and Skinny scarf and the felted mitts:












I've also been working on some other knitting for the store:



Now, I'm trying to screw up the courage to go down into my COLD basement and rinse off the cotton yarn I dyed yesterday. Have I told you we have a high temperature of 3 degrees today? Why did I choose the coldest days of winter to dye cotton yarn? Alright, it was mostly a diversionary tactic, trying to avoid buying sock yarn.

In the midst of the knitting and dyeing, I was watching Top Chef season 2. What a mess that show is. Seriously, I hated every single contestant except Michael. The best part was the guest judges. Ted Allen was a hoot and Eric Ripert holds a special place in my heart. Top Chef producers--take note--your viewers want some quality next season!

Happy Holidays!! A few days late...


Our actual Christmas Day was great. Looooooong but great. Anthony has reached the full understanding of presents and Santa and all that jazz and was up at 5:30 on Christmas Day. I was still in bed and heard him go downstairs to check everything out and then upstairs to try to wake his brother up, downstairs again, upstairs again...it was kinda funny.

All the gifts were enjoyed and appreciated.

Paige opening her iPod with the help of Cosmo:



Anthony opening his one of many gifts:



Dominic playing with his new train table:



My dear, darling DH gave me a knitting journal and a gift certificate to the LYS. I went yesterday to peruse all of the beautiful yarns and came home with some of the new corn yarn "Amaizing" from SouthWest Trading Company. It's a really soft tube yarn. The color I bought is "Biscotti" and it kind of made me feel I was knitting with pantyhose. I have a dress design in mind and have been looking for the right yarn. This may be it, doubled up. Knitted single on 7's, it makes a pretty light-weight fabric.



I also came home with three skeins of Patagonia Nature Cotton in a pretty orange/yellow/pink colorway:



Knitting wise, the only Christmas knitting I managed was a Swell hatfor my grandfather.

and a set of felted coaster for my son's school secretary. I used up some of the jillions of Manos del Uruguay scraps for them so the edges weren't perfect but they still looked cute. (Sorry, I can't seem to find my picture right now.)

My kids are currently at Grandma and Grandpa's and I've been able to wrap up most of the work on the TOP SECRET PROJECT so that feels great! Plus, the hubby and I were able to do some shopping last night and had dinner out. What a treat! I slept in until 9 this morning and woke up only because I wanted to. I could get used to this....but I can't because the kids come home tomorrow. :)

It's just not fair to look this good after a newborn. I know I couldn't find my red lipstick for weeks after delivery my babies! But she is, after all, the queen of all things perfect and chic. What a cutie pie Finn is! Congrats Laura!

On the knitting front--sleeve #2 is on the needles--oh, about half done. I'm trying (not very hard, apparently, since I am wasting time blogging) to finish it today so that the sweater can be blocked before seaming. If I can seam tomorrow, it's a vague possibility the sweater will be finished by my Dec. 15th deadline--but it's not looking good folks. I'm developing aches in my arms and wrists because the sweater is very heavy on the needles. I also have a HOLE in my right index finger from using the ultra-pointy Knitpicks Options needles. I love these needles, but OW does it hurt when you accidentally stab into that hole with that point. I wear Bandaids on it to protect it, but I occasionally forget to put a new one on after letting the finger breathe.

Whoever said that knitting is not a contact sport is so very very very wrong.

Lazy Sunday

Last night, Paige had some friends over for a movie night. They watched "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". I worried considerably whether this would be glamorizing lying to your parents, stealing your dad's priceless vehicle, lying to school, faking a relative's death, driving into Chicago alone, and singing "Danke Schoen" on a float in a parade. My daughter assured me they were not taking notes or believing any of the stunts could be realistically pulled-off. Okey dokey. Just hoping parents don't call me.

I woke up out of a tentative sleep to see my 2 year old standing in the hall with his whole head and hands covered with blood. It was like seeing the scene from "Carrie" only a million times scarier because this was my kid and the source of the blood was unknown. After dashing into the bathroom and trying to keep calm while keeping him calm, I saw the blood was gushing from his nose and he had smeared it all around trying to get it off of his face. After cleaning him off and changing PJ's (both of us were by then covered in blood) I settled him into my bed so that I could finish cleaning up the bathroom and change his bedding. Then, I was overtaken by light-headedness accompanied by cold sweating and a churning stomach. I guess all of the adrenaline leaving my body took my steely reserve with it and I about passed out. I had to lie down next to my child and hold onto him for a while before attempting to stand up again.

So, today is going to be low-key. I'm ripping back a sleeve on my sweater because I realized that I measured incorrectly. Everyone is napping, so I'm going to put the "Gilmore Girls" in and sit back and knit.

Well, finally some knitting content!



I finished this monkey last night while waiting for my daughter to get out of dance class. He was not too difficult to make, the worst part was all of the seaming of the parts. I used some of the wool from my estate sale find

and dyed the light brown trim using coffee because I didn't have the right color dye to make that tan color. Initially, when I finished the monkey, I looked at him and thought he needed something extra. He looked a little naked to me. So I added the scarf. And why not a little hat, too? I can easily see myself knitting entire wardrobes for the monkey and can finally understand why the dolls and teddy bears with interchangeable outfits are interesting. However, for me, the fun is actually creating the outfits, not just putting them on. Anyway, I hope Anthony loves him and wants to play with this little guy all of the time.

The pattern for this little guy is in Knitted Toys by Fiona McTague. The book has a few other cute patterns (the bunnies and the angel doll), but other than those patterns, I probably wouldn't make anything else from it.

In other knitting news, I've been working on a man's sweater in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride yarn. I've never used this yarn before and it's quite pleasing to knit with. I like how soft it is, even with the mohair. It's been very long and quite dull because I had to knit 16 inches of stockinette stitch with a circumference of 42". However, last night, I finally hit the armholes and hopefully things will pick up from here. I cannot show you a picture just yet, since it's a sample for a pattern that will be published. I sure hope all of this suspense is worth it! LOL

The deadline for the sample and first draft is Jan. 2nd. So, MY goal is to have it done by the 15th of Dec. I dunno--we'll see. The best laid plans...wish me luck. I will really need it--and coffee--and good movies to watch while knitting.

Amelia has just published her newest pattern design for sale, and I think I might need to spend my Christmas gift money on yarn to make this lovely coat. It's actually quite similar to something I had in mind to design, so now that she's done the hard work for me, I think I'll go ahead and make one of them!

OK, I'm off to knit some more wooly mohair. (It's kind of drying my hands out, this yarn is.) Have a great day!

It's a snow day today!!! Some huge amounts of snow dumped down and it's so quiet in the way things are with snow on the ground. You can't hear the slush being splattered by driving cars on the road yet.

The boys and I bundled up to enjoy the clean, white snowy fun. However, we encountered a few problems. The first--the snow came up the the baby's waist and he couldn't move. So, I started shoveling out paths for him to work through when I heard Anthony crying from behind the garage. He had attempted to climb the short hill there to sled down and got completely stuck in the deep snow there. When he stood up, his boot came off of his foot. Then, he lost the other boot while trying to make it to the house. By the time he made it inside, he was cold and crying. Not fun! Poor little guy. So we're waiting for DH to get home from work so he can start up the snow blower and make it easier for us to play.

On a brighter note! Welcome to the world little Trevor!! He is my new nephew and quite beautiful, with his little cleft chin and fuzzy head. My SIL is doing well after being induced for a pre-eclampsia scare. What a perfect Christmas gift! Here is the little man with Paige:

It's been a bumpy ride

I've been trying to recover from that funky stomach bug that is apparently sweeping the nation. It's nasty and takes forever to feel normal again. You know how you feel so drawn--as if all of the blood were drained from your face permanently? I can hear you now--Uhhh...no.

Anyway, the daughter is in serious rehearsals for this year's Nutcracker performance. She is a clown in Act II--you know, they pop out of Mother Ginger's enormous skirt? So, we've been spending lots of time down there, volunteering and waiting and waiting and waiting...but it's all so worth it in the end because there is something so magical about seeing her dance on stage. Every year sees a higher level of expertise and it's thrilling to witness.

I'm busy making business type decisions, thinking of new goals I wish to reach and deadlines for those goals. I don't know about you, but these type of decisions make me extremely skittish. However, I know they are necessary to do because it puts me in the right mindset as a business owner. It reminds me I AM a business owner and solely responsible for the growth of that business. Therefore, it's been knitting and thinking, knitting and thinking. It's overall very positive and once things get rolling, I hope it's all I wish it to be.

I realized today that Thanksgiving is only 4 days away and I will be responsible for feeding 13 people. I go to pick up the organic, Amish grown turkey tomorrow. He or she will be treated to an apple cider brine a day before T-day. I still need everything else for the dinner and have been in denial about that. Hopefully, I'll snap out of that soon, huh?

If I am not here to blog before the big day, it's because I'm stuck in rehearsals, coaxing little cherubs to smile, and cleaning my house, and trying to remove all stains from my tablecloth, and removing small fingers from my pies.

Don't Curse the Dad!

I thought that would get your attention. I'm sorry, I have had little to say and little time or energy to say what little I do have to say. **
Strike that--because one thing I promised myself was that I would NOT apologize to my BLOG for being busy.**

Today, I decided to bail out on pre-school "try out" or "practice" or whatever- you- want- to -call- it- day this morning because the thought of cutting one pseudo obligation out of my schedule this week was too tempting. (Don't get all huffy, it was basically a free- come- and- sing -and- play- in- our- pre-school to -see- if- you- like- it- enough- to- pay- a -lot- of- money- to- send- your- child- here- next- year. There is another one in December.)

So, we're home, the two-year old and I, for the first day this week. I get a few things done around the house so that it looks better. I had a scary realization the other night. I was walking through my kitchen door and noticed a bug on the trim on the wall. It was a box elder bug and where we live, they come out in the fall and try to live in your home. Anyway, I couldn't tell right away it was a box elder bug because attached to it was a huge giant dust bunny. It was at the same time amazing and embarrassing. I did consider running for my camera but decided that it would be wrong to document the fact that BUGS find it a little dusty on my wood floors.

My excuse is, of course, the fact that I'm busy. In fact, each week seems to get worse. I'm not sure how or why this is, but it is. It requires some looking at because I have not had ample knitting time to bring me down each night before bed. It's also trashing my creativity and I sorely need that to make it through this existence as a taxi-cab-driver mom.

I've had some exciting news this week--news that still has me poking it once in a while to make sure it's real. I am going to have a knitting design published in a BOOK!! Every once in a while, I remember it and go, "OH! Yeah! That is pretty cool." Then, I resume driving again. So, more details on that later.

And the reason for today's title? Dominic wanted a grapefruit and I only bought the grapefruit because my husband asked me to get some. I am not a grapefruit fan because I end up spending half a day in the kitchen preparing the grapefruits for the kids and prefer quick and dirty fruits like apples and bananas and oranges. Anyway, Dominic was asking for one during a time when I was particularly pre-occupied and I said with all the flair I could muster, "Curse the Dad and his grapefruits!!" Just as a joke, you know. However, Dominic is now marching around saying, "Curse the Dad!". I can't wait to hear the husband's reaction to that.

On a final note to this admittedly CRAZY blog entry, please go to the Fiber Arts Avengers store and see if there are any goodies to tempt you. Things are running until the 12th, so please go check it out!

The Fiber Arts Avengers are at it AGAIN!!

First, let me say how much I adore being a part of this group of vibrant, strong ladies who KNOW that when you put your Fiber Arts powers to good use, amazing things can happen!! Kudos to my friend Pamela for brainstorming this fabulous way of raising money for charitable fund-raising.

Now, on to the serious matter. My friend Marnie has a sweet daughter who is friends with a little man named "The Professor". He was recently found to have a brain tumor. My mama heart quakes at the thought of something similar happening to any of my children. I know YOURS is doing so, too, right now. He came through the surgery to remove the tumor fine, but is recuperating for the long battle ahead to ensure he has plenty of years to play with his friends.

The Fiber Arts Avengers are currently in the process of fund-raising for The Professor's family because as you all know, it's expensive to have a loved one ill and meals on the road, traveling, bills, etc. add up quickly. And money is not what you want to have to worry about while your little one is fighting a brave fight. So please, go to www.FiberArtsAvengers.com and see what you can do to help. If you are a fiber artist, consider joining our cause! If you are a parent, check out the amazing wares that will be offered for auction or drawing--all proceeds are 100% to the Professor's family. If you want to donate directly, that information is available at the website, as well. Even if you could just take a few minutes a day and send positive, healing thoughts to Natty, that would be appreciated and FELT.

Here's the link to all of the goodies: http://hyenacart.com/Charity_raffles/

Thank you so much for reading!

A hole, a hole!

Last week, Cari showed us a pretty sock that had developed a huge hole in the heel. Now it's my turn to mourn my first pair of hand-made socks. They are my Koigu Falling Leavessocks. Both of them developed holes in the ball-of-the-foot region at the same time. On one hand, I'm a little disturbed that the Koigu didn't wear that well. On the other hand, I like that the Koigu isn't long-lasting because well...handmade socks are special that way. Maybe if I gift a bunch of Koigu socks this Christmas, all of my friends will want to remain my friends because they will need their hand-knit wool sock fix.

Halloween is hard on the parents.

True that, you think? I have three children. My eldest wanted to be a fairy. I managed to find some pretty wings and found some beautiful purple tulle to match and promised to make a tutu. (It's hard to find tutus for 13 yo's without paying an arm and a leg). Ay yi yi. She ended up re-sewing her tutu last night!! Poor thing.

The middle child is six and wanted to be a pirate. His entire costume came from things we had around the house. We had a leftover eye patch, hat and earring from a few years ago when the eldest was a piratess. I went to his school costume parade today and he was the ONLY one with a homemade costume. Can you believe it, folks?

The youngest has two costume choices: a hand-sewn dinosaur costume (I did not make it, it was a garage sale find.) or a giraffe. NEITHER one will he put on.

So, tell me--why do we celebrate this weird holiday which is nothing but a money and time suck? Every year, I TRY to be a good mom and get into it, but all that happens is I'm reminded of why it's such a ridiculous celebration.

So what did you do this weekend??

Friday night, I went to see Marie Antoinette. Oh wow, did I ever love this film. I love how it wasn't all about the Revolution but about HER. I also love how they didn't have Kirsten Dunst talking in some hideous accent. I also love it that the actress Shirley Henderson (she portrays Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter films) is in this film because her distinctive voice is her biggest asset in that role. Of course, I love it that music by THE CURE is in this film in quite a shivery, emotional moment. I think I'll go see it again soon.
Saturday, my parents had their 23rd wedding anniversary and came over for dinner. My brother and his wife and daughter came over, too, and it was a lot of fun. Afterward, hubby and I took off to Barnes and Noble for a cup of coffee and quiet. In your town, is your B&N THE place to be on Sat. nights? Ours is always packed.
Sunday, I stayed in my jammies and ignored the Jehovah's Witnesses who were knocking on our door. Whispered things like, "I don't think she's going to answer." were cracking me up.
I knit most of the day with the Cascade 220 project. It's turning out pretty well, I think.

Today, Dominic asked me to do a puzzle with him. This one happened to be 100 pieces and quite ugly--dinosaurs--but I said, "OK."

It started out fine until I realized the puzzle was kicking my ass and it was a good thing the six year old wasn't there to witness me struggle to put the puzzle together. After a few minutes, of course, Dominic decided cars were more fun than the puzzle, but he would play with them next to me at the table for moral support. I hunkered down and told him we couldn't do anything else until Mom finished the puzzle.

Eventually (notice I'm not saying how long it was?) Mom finished. See the proof?







I stopped at an estate sale the other day and walked out with about 9 skeins of natural colored wool yarn for $6.00. The rest was mostly some really hideous colors that I thought I would never use. Until I put my brain to it and realized that I could overdye them and probably come up with some decent colorways that way. So, I called the lady and asked to come over and see what was left. She was obliging and I met her yesterday. I staggered out this time with a garbage bag full of yarn for $20. Then, she stopped by my house 10 minutes later to refund me $5. Wha? She over-charged me, she claimed. Oh my goodness. I felt like a highway robber. She insisted on hugging me and told me to call her anytime I want. I still am in awe of her and her generosity.





More finished objects--

another felted dress to test my pattern notes:



The FAA socks are done:



What's next? Here's a pile of Cascade 220 that arrived today. I'm not a huge fan of this yarn, but I needed something not too expensive, easily found that is available in all of the colors I wanted without dyeing it myself. It's a suprise, so that's all you'll hear about that right now. It's all wound up and ready to go, so I'm off to knit!! Enjoy your weekend, everyone.

Another freaking countdown



In a year of lackluster movies, October 20th is the day Marie Antoinette finally opens in the US. I've been waiting forever for this one to open. I LOVED Lost in Translation passionately and have very high hopes for this new one from Sofia Coppola. Who else would pair rock and roll music with the doomed French queen? I'm not a huge Kirsten Dunst fan, but in the previews I've seen, she looks perfect.

"DATE NIGHT" is scrawled on the calendar in huge red letters because I am not waiting another day to see this one!

Only two more days
Until the Project Runway winner is revealed!! I think at this point, it's still too hard to say who the winner will be. I do think my buddy Michael will not be winning, though. His collection was a disappointment to me. And with all of the drama over Jeffrey and Laura...I don't know.
Halloween is coming up and I am NOT one of those super moms who makes the most amazing costumes for their kids. Basically, because I think Halloween is a waste of time and money. How's that for Bah humbug? It's too bad for Anthony because he friggin loves Halloween. I try to be a good sport, but I definitely don't go overboard.

It's been unseasonably cold here lately and I've been living in flannel pajama bottoms, warm socks and sweat shirts at home. Hand knit wool socks definitely take the cake for keeping the feet nice and toasty. So, after I finish the pair for the Fiber Arts Avengers auction winner, I'll cast on another pair and probably keep a sock on the needles at all times until spring.