AEP workers and friends, we love you!

Thank you to all who came to bail us out in Oklahoma last week and this week. We had a record-breaking power outage due to an ice storm two weekends ago, leaving us all (well, almost all. We won't talk about the lucky ones. Snobs.) in the dark for days. Literally. I was apparently among the fortunate ones when our power came back on Friday evening (it went out Sunday night); oy! My sister's family stayed with us until theirs came back on Monday evening, and I talked to a friend who just got hers today! Those without damage requiring an electrician are all back on now, but hundreds (thousands?) are still in the dark and the cold because of boxes and meters coming away from the house and other issues.

So there are thousands of wonderful men and women here from all over the country, sleeping on who knows what at the fairgrounds, helping our local men and women to get everyone back into their homes safe and sound. A big, huge, warm THANK YOU to you all! I wanted to bring you hot chocolate (the gas cooktop and the gas water heater were our lifesavers) when you worked on our street, but apparently I wasn't home at the time, or you didn't need to be on our actual street to fix our neighborhood. So thanks anyway!

Now, to the not so nice people at AEP, the higher ups: When there's a huge ice storm that knocks out the power for hundreds of thousands of people for days, even weeks, have a heart! Don't send out the monthly bill in the midst of everything! You'll get your money in due time, but next time, hold that stack of bills and emails for a week or so. Talk about insult to injury Friday morning, receiving a bill from a company whose utilities I was currently unable to use. Not that the outage was their fault, but the billing? Tactless and just plain mean. Especially to a mother who was at her wit's end, crying in Barnes and Noble while her two children who were supposed to be at school in the ideal world were fighting over books and accidentally knocking porcelain plates full of rice krispie treats (seriously, who was the nimrod who gave my 3 year old a real live plate, a rice krispie treat, and a PLASTIC fork??? Disaster waiting to happen as he insisted that he could cut the dessert with his fork. Yeah, uh huh.) onto the floor, shattering the plate, of course. Yeah, a few extra days would have been nice.

Last week we were all united (well, most of us. We've already mentioned the lucky ones who were out of cable for a day or so. Did I mention my temporary dislike for them yet?) as we tried to keep warm, feed our families, keep them occupied, and find them shelter of some sort. This week is another union, this time made up of moms who are scrambling to throw together tomorrow's or Friday's homeroom Winter/Christmas parties so the kids have something to do and eat; and the rest of the town trying frantically to make some sense of cleanliness and order in their homes again, Christmas shopping and mailing, and preparation for guests, travel, or both. Last week was "So is your power back on?" and "So are you guys braving the cold in your house or did you get lucky and get into a hotel before they filled up?" and "I hear there's still room at the shelter at ... church." This week is "You too? As long as the class has sugar and a goodie bag, they'll be happy" and "Oh, I know! I don't know where to start! Bills, shopping, cleaning, all of the above, all before Johnny gets out of school in an hour. You too?"

My sense of priority, lacking as it was before all of this, has taken a serious nosedive this week. NO idea what to do first! What a bad time of winter to have had all this happen! Why not in January, where all we'd be doing this week was cleaning up, sending our kids off to school each morning, and spending evenings eating soup and curling up with a good book, movie, or knitting project?

But at least I'm warm. And online. I kept telling myself all week that it was going to make for great stories later on. NOT all that comforting in the midst of it, though, I can tell you that! Lots of crying and freaking out lately. Serenity now!

On the needles....

Here's my eternally long project, the Rowan butterfly dress. I bought the dyeable yarn from Knit Picks in the spring, had to reorder it when it never arrived, dyed it and hated it, overdyed it with red and like it, and then promptly realized that I was very incompetent when it came to lace. They say this is a hard pattern, the fringe, anyway. I'll stick to that story. Anyway, I'm finally on to the dress itself after knitting two layers of fringe lace. It's not nearly this pink, but I have decided that it will get another dunking in the red dye when it's done. That'll make the overall dress a darker salmony red, while the fringe lace that you see in the lefthand corner will be more like the dress color is now. Don't dye only half a skein of yarn for a camisole then decide to switch to a dress instead. Recipe for disaster, or panic at the very least.


Here's my second attempt at knitting something out of the luscious Suss Love yarn that Brad bought me for Valentine's Day. I started on the Simple Knitted Bodice Sweater and ripped out the WHOLE thing when I realized it wasn't my cup of tea, and I wasn't planning on gaining 20 pounds anytime soon. When a sweater seems too big, don't keep knitting! Get out a tape measure and measure the thing! So this is a typical bottom-up raglan with slightly flared sleeves. We'll see how it turns out eventually.


Then we have the baby socks I'm knitting out of the super soft merino/silk blend from Knit Picks. I dyed this, too. Don't ask what I used; I already forget. Some combination of Koolaid and Wilton dyes. It's really pretty, though. Very shiny with the silk. The rest of the skein was a pair of socks until last night, when I frogged them because they were too big. Trying again now.


And then comes the pair of socks I'm knitting for Brad. I hate the yarn, but one can't just go out and replace it for free, so I'm still plugging away at them. I used Cascade Fixation, a cotton and nylon (?) blend. Nubby, cottony, not my favorite. Oh, well. I'll make him some wool ones next. He wanted socks, and all the LYS had was girly sock yarn or ugly sock yarn, so I took a chance on the Fixation. Nah.
Note that the top sock has a significantly shorter length of toe. Yeah. Great. I thought I was all done, grafted the toe, and looked down, and lo and behold, they were two different sizes. Crap. More to do on the hated yarn.

Knitting WIPs

Seeing as how this is a knitting blog first and foremost, maybe I should get back to some knitting posts. I've got several works in progress and several more in my mind. I tried so hard to stick to just one thing at a time, but it really helps to have different things going at once. It breaks up the monotony of hundreds of rows of stockinette on a single-colored sweater. It gives the hands a rest from the thousands of tiny stitches in a sock. It gives the brain a rest from the frustrating memorization (0r lack thereof) of a lace pattern. Yep, multitasking is great.
Okay, I'll take some pictures today of my knitting. Although, the Christmas presents will have to remain enigmatic or absent from the photo lineup. You know, in case the two people who read my blog are recipients of any said presents.

It just needs a little paint...

1.) When you walk in your front door, which room do you enter?
Entry hall.
2.)Do you have a dishwasher?
Yes. I wish I had two, though.
3.) Is your living room carpeted or does it have hardwood floors?
Carpet for now. Laminate wood when we update the kitchen/living room next fall.
4.) Do you keep your kitchen knives on the counter or in a drawer?
On a magnetic strip on our wall. I love it!
5.) House, apartment, duplex or trailer?
House.
6.) How many bedrooms does it have?
3
7.) Gas stove or electric?
Gas.
8.) Do you have a yard?
Yep. Good thing our next door neighbor has a lawn service. We splurged this summer and are so glad we did!
9.) What size TV is in the living room?
Um, 32"? Or the next size up. What's that, 36"?
10.) Are your plates in the same cupboard as your glasses?
Nope.
11.) Is there a coffee maker sitting on your kitchen counter?
Well, there are two French press pots and a burr grinder. Do they count?
13.) What room is your computer in?
Mine's in the dining room in an armoire of sorts. The boys have a new one (which I'm on) in the living room because pbskids.com is so addictive. I had to share with the boys until this week, and it was literally survival of the fittest each day. It pays to have an IT guy for a husband. We get all the old hand-me-downs from his office.
14.) Are there pictures hanging in your living room?
Hmm. Two framed pics on the piano and TV cart. There are empty frames hanging on the wall in our entry hall, which you can see from the living room. Hey, they've only been there for over a year. I'll get to filling them with pics eventually.
15.) Are there any themes found in your home?
IKEA? Modern, clean (the lines of the furnishings, NOT the house), minimalist (in aspirations, at least. How minimal can you be when there are four people and a boxer in a 1300 sq. ft. house??)
16.) What kind of laundry detergent do you use?
Usually, Tide with Febreze. I'm trying out their new baking soda one now. So far I'm not liking the scent.
17.) Do you use dryer sheets?
Yep. Bounce.
18.)) Do you have any curtains in your home?
Yes. Don't tell my allergist.
19.) What color is your fridge?
Black, huge, with a bottom-mount freezer. I love it.
20.) Is your house clean?
Ha! Does it count that I at least am frustrated with it not being clean?
I've decided I need to start hosting parties every weekend. That way, I'll frantically clean each week and at least have some semblance of clean. Again, four people (two preschooler boys!!) and a boxer in a 1300 sq. ft. house. 'Nuff said.
21.) What room is the most neglected?
Our bedroom. I know, I know. It's supposed to be the nicest room. It's next on my list.
22.) Are the dishes in your sink/dishwasher clean or dirty?
Sink, dirty. (Amen, Kellee. "Why would you have clean dishes in your sink?") Dishwasher, dirty. The second load for the day. When we redo the kitchen, I'm seriously putting in a second dishwasher. It's all the craze now. Okay, maybe not in a 1300 sq. ft. house, but it can't hurt resale, can it?
23.) How long have you lived in your home?
Six and a half years. I was so scared and sad when Brad said we might have to live here for 10 years or so before moving on. Now I love it. Well, not the house, per se, but the neighborhood, the close access to highways (one factor that is convenient but a detriment to resale value), etc., are cool. I'm good now with redoing the kitchen and living room and then staying for another 5 years or more....Unless we were to inherit or win a million dollars. Then all bets are off.
24.) Where did you live before?
In an apartment. Now that I drive by, I think they look like the projects. Were they then? Was I just a lovestruck newlywed?
25.) Do you have one of those fluffy toilet lid covers on your toilet?
Uh, no.
26.) Do you have a scale anywhere in your house?
Scale? No thanks! I'll just gauge things on how my clothes fit, thanks.
27.) How many mirrors are in your house?
Five?

28.) Look up. What do you see?

Cobwebs? Bambi paint. (You'd have thought I had brought in the weirdest paint swatch in the world when I had Sherwinn Williams match Walmart's "Disney Bambi" khaki paint. Hey, I didn't name the dumb thing!
29.) Do you have a garage?
Yes, and one of our cars actually fits in it! Not bad these days!
30.) Are you planning on moving anytime soon?
Again, only if we struck it rich. Otherwise, I've come to terms with my little starter home. With some alterations, I'm good for a few more years.

Fall 2007 Soccer in a Nutshell

Yeah, this pretty much sums up our soccer season. After a series of lectures about quitting in the middle of something, we quickly became tired of dragging our two sons to two different soccer games--at the same field but of course never around the same time of day(is that deliberate??)--we finally quit ourselves.

I don't know what the deal was for Aric, since he just LOVED soccer last spring. But this fall was certainly another story. After a couple of weeks of hauling him and his brother to their games only to have them sit on the sidelines or hang from the goal in the next field over, we decided it was pointless to keep trying. It was more than just a "I don't feel like it today" issue.

Now at least we have our Saturdays back. For now, until they discover hockey, football, swimming, karate, violin... Ah, parenthood's fun, isn't it?

The Hole is Full

Wow. I've got to send this one in to Letterman or Leno. What's the most hilarious is that it's on the edge of this massive valley. It's anything but full. Not full of dirt, of backfill, of garbage, of dead leaves, of ping pong balls, of popcorn, of anything!! Just looks like your average valley with a sign on the hill. Until you read the sign on the hill. I wonder what it looked like before it became "full" 15 years ago.

Yay! Fall is in the air!

Okay, maybe not literally. Maybe it's still hot (it hit 97 degrees again today), but the temperatures are gradually dropping (ever so slightly), the boys are back in school and loving it, and I have time now to overhaul my home's closets and stashes, and I have time to develop my company binkwaffle more than I've been able to all summer. I'm excited!

I'm fighting the sharp pain just below my shoulder blade as I move my mouse and type this, trying desperately to get some more cards done for the site, trying to ignore the sign that I should be in bed instead of working. Alas, I can ignore it no longer, so the rest will have to wait. But I'm excited about getting the word out about binkwaffle, and I've come up with some products that will cater to everyone (well, almost everyone), not just pregnant women wanting to announce the birth of their babies. Broadening my customer base, I am! So stay tuned for more products the next couple of weeks.

If you know anyone having a baby or with kids or who even know kids, let them know about binkwaffle for me! Free shipping on the announcements, and they're fun and modern, something that's surprisingly hard to find. Good for me! :-)

I leave you with two new cards; the first is my style. The second is a stretch, but I'm trying to stay modern yet out of my own personal taste, in order to appeal to more people. Variety is the key, right?

One theory never considered...

Me: Man, Madison, I asked Oma for an Easy Bake Oven and never got one. You're lucky.

Evi: (other niece) Did she hear you? Maybe she was on the phone.

Never thought about that one!


*My niece Madison just got a new Easy Bake Oven for her 6th birthday. I asked my mom for one for years but found out as an adult that she had thought that I'd be happier using a real oven, so she just let me help her bake. NOT the same in a little girl's mind. Those cute little packets of mix? The freakin' light bulb??? LOL It's okay,Mom, how were you to know the illogical mind of a child? Hope I don't do it with my boys, too.

Summer Shots

As much as I'm not a fan of summer, it sure makes for some awesome pictures. Here are a few from this summer:



Now, I've got enough pics for a while. Where's the cold snap?

How to Raise Money for a New Car, Idea #112

The PGA tournament is here in Tulsa this week. As we're driving along next to the golf club, dodging the pedestrians walking through the August Tulsa inferno to the country club entrance, Aric (fixated on buying a new minivan/SUV so that we can carry more of his friends around with him) asks me this:

Aric: Mom, what's that?

Me: It's the golf tournament. The best golfers in the world come here and play against each other. The one who wins gets all kinds of money, prizes, etc. And he gets to say he's the best golfer in the world for a year until someone else beats him.

Aric: I want to do that someday...(long pause)...Mom, is Dad a good golfer?

Me: (picturing Brad's dad's dusty golf clubs in our garage) Uh, no.

Aric: (sigh) I wish he was. Then we could get a new car.

Good luck on that one, buddy! I think we'd better come up with a better plan for a car!

Technology, how do I love thee???

Oh, my gosh! What an awesome thing technology is! On our trip to Seattle, the boys were mesmerized by Dora, the Wonder Pets, and Diego as we flew in the plane, drove all over creation, and waited in the car for Mommy to run into a store or two. The Nintendo DS's are at the top of the "to buy" list now that their new friends August and Hazel introduced them to the modern-day answer to the handheld Atari games I had as a kid. Three of those games kept five kids quiet and in their seats for an entire rehearsal dinner, at least an hour and a half long. And during the reception, too! If only we'd remembered one of the two for the wedding ceremony, then Brad would have gotten to see his brother get married.*


*Note to wedding planners: when you have out of town guests, especially, plan something for children who don't know a living soul in the city (or state, for that matter) whom we can hire (and trust) for babysitting!!! I had childcare at my wedding and have NEVER seen it since. What gives? Brides, take note, too! And if you don't provide anything, don't shut the door on the groom's brother when he has to take his 3 year old just outside the door partway through the wedding.

Benadryl and Babysitting Don't Mix

Sunday afternoon, I took Aric with me to the Y and to Barnes & Noble to let Brad and Aidan take a nap on the living room floor. Brad had taken Benadryl for a rash he developed from a medication he was on, and apparently he fell asleep but Aidan didn't. When we got home two hours later, Brad was asleep in the living room and Aidan was hiding under his bed munching on a half-eaten cucumber. That meant that he'd gone into the kitchen, dragged a chair over to the refrigerator, climbed up to reach the produce drawer (our fridge has a bottom mount freezer), gotten back down, put the chair away (merely to cover his tracks, not to put things back where they belong, of course. Clean up? What's that?), climbed under his bed in his room (a feat in itself, since the thing is only about 8 inches off the floor), and ate away. All while Daddy snored away in the living room.

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Dianne is just plain awesome. We got more good pictures that I can figure out what to do with. Thanks, Dianne! Nobody would know the boys were crying more than they were smiling during the shoot. It was the promise of ice cream after the photos, along with a cookie with lunch for three days straight, that finally got them to tolerate the camera. For a few seconds, at least.
Now it's off to the printer's this week, and I'll actually have Christmas cards done and sent before Christmas this year! I don't think that's happened since kids!

Take 4... or is it 5? 58???

I've no real reason for not posting on my blog in almost FOUR MONTHS, none really. Other than life. So here we go again with another attempt to keeping this thing up. We'll see. More later.

powered by performancing firefox

my cards

gavin
Originally uploaded by binkwaffle.

Brad's designing the website right now, but I want to make my cards visible somewhere. So here they are for the moment. Just click on the image at the right, and you'll be taken to the rest of the cards at Flickr.com. If anyone is interested in them before the site's up, by all means let me know.

All of the cards can be tweaked, customized, etc., even the colors of the envelopes. I used envelopes from Paper Source, an awesome paper company in Chicago, so I'm "limited" to their colors; but because they have awesome colors, I'm okay with the limitations. If anyone knows of any other companies with cool envelopes, let me know and I'll see if we can add them and their colors.

Building a cart and site for a customized thing like a baby announcement isn't as easy as setting one up to sell "regular" products where you just have to type in your quantity and then check out. Especially when you web developer has a day job. And evening jobs like taking out the trash, putting little boys to bed, and so on. But Brad's awesome and has been pulling some late nighters and staying late after work to get binkwaffle.com going. So hopefully we'll have something soon. Until then, email me for more information on any of the cards you see here and like.

Ahhh, Tranquil Summer.

I think that I'd be okay with summer if it was shorter and not nearly as hot as it is here. Maybe. Someone said yesterday, "Isn't this weather wonderful? It's not so hot!" (as usual) Hmmm. So very relative, that sentence. Wonderful compared to 3 weeks from now when Tulsa becomes a literal oven, yes. Wonderful compared to 363 days a year in just about anywhere north of here? Not hardly.

I'm so very much a cold weather lover. The concept of summer's great, but it never seems to work out the way it's appearing in my head.

Take, for instance, the Country Time Lemonade commercials of old. The kids run to the end of the dock, jump into the lake and swim, and Mom brings them a huge honkin' pitcher of lemonade. Serene, relaxing, just what summer's all about. Throw in a handful of fireflies and a croaking toad or chirping cricket...

Yeah, now picture it the way it really is. The kids scream at Mom until they break down her resistance to the mess and possible dangers of swimming in the back yard (be it a pool or a lake, the mess is similar), add in the loss of time working on something important in the house because Mom has to be present at the dock for safety reasons. Mom gives in, the kids tear through the house for 15 minutes, yelling that they can't find their swimsuits, which Mom finds in 15 seconds for each child. Towels are hunted down, inflatables are found and pumped up (with Dad's air compressor in the garage, which they don't leave the way they found it), and the kids are yelled at by Mom to "stop! You forgot the sunscreen. Come back up to the house!" After the sunscreen, they hurtle toward the bathwather -- referred to as a lake in cooler seasons -- and jump off the deck into the fish-, snake-, and turtle-infested muddiness, shifting midair to avoid falling onto the branch that's fallen off of the big oak tree the night before and is now floating in the murky waters.

Mom ignores all the "Mom, I'm thirsty" whines for a while before trudging back up to the house to make Twenty Lemon Lemonade. Hauling a tray full of glasses and a glass pitcher (Glass? A new improved version should really more wisely show Mom with a sippy cup or two, or maybe a Solo plastic cup stack and a Thermos.) back down the hill, Mom stubs her toe on a toy left in the yard and is glad the kids are too far from her to hear her reaction. Cursing the grass that's getting too tall again and wondering if she's bought that refill string for the weedeater that died on her last week, she finally plunks the glasses down on the ant- and dust-covered picnic table. After the kids drink their lemonade, they swim a while, then the family hikes back up the hill, Mom schlepping a load of dishes and two loads of towels to wash after bedtime. Oh, and there's a bottle of Calamine lotion to rub onto everyone because they forgot Off with the sunscreen. Looks like the fireflies aren't the only bugs out in the summer. Huh.

Yeah, I know you could say the same thing for the fall or the winter, but at least I'd be able to breathe, I wouldn't be sweating, and I could watch the boys in the back yard with my door flung wide open without fear of air conditioning the whole neighborhood and owing the power company my firstborn. Gimme snow instead, please!

Of course, the summer photo ops are awesome! Nikon D50/70, I'm saving up for you. And I'll never look back after I get you, I promise!

What if my kids turn out normal???

No, seriously. What if they do? I've come to the realization that I actually want my boys to be a little different. Maybe it's the artist or the musician in me. Maybe it's something altogether separate. But I don't want my boys to end up being the totally clean cut, short haired, preppy, khaki-wearing kids. Now I have my limits, such as Goth or effeminate looks, but want a mohawk? Go for it. Blue hair? Can I help yo do it? Aside from the ones that indicate or are used for things that we don't believe in as a family, piercings are fine. Not for my four year old, but my teenager someday would be fine.

I suppose I'd prefer that it be a somewhat temporary thing, that they not have gaping holes in their earlobes after having those plugs in them for a while. And a 30 year old with the skater look is different than a highschooler. But even then, if they're in professions that allow for those differences, (not the holes. Please, boys, no apparent body altering things like that) such as music, art, or anything else that's accepting of that style by that point in the future, then it's okay.

Life's too short to worry about things that just don't matter, like my preteen wanting to dye his hair green for school spirit day. Or just because.
I began to think about this when we considered cutting the boys' hair for the summer so that they'd be cooler. Their hair's on the longer side, no longer than most of the kids in the ads these days, and we finally decided we just couldn't part with the look. That's when it hit me that someday we might have to give them buzz cuts or something else short if they don't follow in our artsy music-world mindsets. Military looking buzz cuts, okay. But typical kid-gets-his-ears-lowered cuts? Yikes. What if that's what they want someday??

I am evidently a pretty laid back wife, too. Brad told me the other day, "Thanks for letting me be myself and not telling me that I can't do certain things." I try to remind Brad of that fact as often as I can. Brownie points. Among all of our friends, only one other friend would allow her husband to get an earring, and he's not really in a position to do it right now with his job. Most of Brad's friends can't get motorcycles or get tatoos (He hasn't done either but wants to do both. At least the motorcycle.) We watched the season finale of Scrubs last night and Carla wouldn't let Turk do certain things because she was pregnant and couldn't do them, so he couldn't either. Okay, while I certainly have influence on what Brad does most of the time, I don't allow and disallow things, either. He's not my child; he's my husband, my equal, my partner. What business of mine is it if he wants an earring? Do I consult him on a new haircut? Well, yes, bad example. But you get my point. How is it that husbands are not "allowed" to do certain things when they really want to do them? Would an earring really hurt anyone? It would most likely fizzle within a matter of weeks or months, anyway. I could understand "Honey, I really just don't like them. But you're a grownup and can do what you want. Just know what my preference is." But "Hey, honey, can I get a tatoo?" "No way! Out of the question!" What's that about??

So I hope I get to stand out with our boys. Personally, I dress to blend in; maybe there's an issue there to be resolved. Maybe I'm living through them and the ability to help them be different! Hmm. A thought to ponder.

While I'm dyeing their hair blue.

Almost done!

Hmm. I think I got the wrong color of zipper. Whatcha think? LOL I emailed zipperstop.com the picture and asked them to help me pick a better color this time. Oh, well. At least Madison loves aqua. She'll just have to get another sweater from her aunt Holly sometime down the road with the bright, bold zipper above. Not to mention the fact that I'm not sure how long this sweater is going to fit her. They come to visit in a week and a half, so I'll see then. I've been trying it on the boys to see how it fits on them. My poor boys! Notice that the sweater has a zillion-stitch steek in it that has yet to be cut. It's my first steek, so I followed someone's recommendation to do several stitches. Now I'm not sure why, since it's not like I'm going to cut it down the middle. With the applied I-cord already on there, I'm still going to have to cut along the edge, so I'm just going to chop off 4 of the 6 stitches anyway. Oh, well. We'll see how it goes.
ANYWAY, my poor boys have tried on the sweater with the hood still stuck together! One freaked out that his face was covered up, the other thought it was quite fun. Boys. So, I'll hopefully get a better colored zipper Monday or so, and I'll take a crack at sewing it in. Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm adventurous or foolhardy. Both?

Spring Break's of the devil!

Okay, not really. But a mom can pretty quickly get used to her preschoolers going to school a few hours a day, 3 days a week. Really used to it. Same for the boys, who'd much rather be at school with their friends and teachers than with boring old Mom.

I've really got to write more often. Yikes. Okay, my new pledge for the spring. Spring Break's officially over today, Daddy's home all weekend, the boys go back to school Monday, and I'll have more than 30 seconds a day to sit down at the computer again. Yahoo! I'll break out the camera this weekend and get some shots of my latest projects.

My current projects

I'm eagerly awaiting the Uruguayan merino I'm using for my niece's cardigan, so I'm killing time with projects I'm not really that into. I started the chevron scarf for my sister's birthday, coming up in April, but it's SO slow going that I'm already losing my patience. And it's a scarf! I've got quite a way to go! It's the fact that I can't just knit away without looking that bothers me the most. With 3 separate strands of yarn (I think 2 plies each) all rolled together, it's hard to keep up with so many parts when doing things like K2tog and ktf&b. But I got new needles today that are pointier, so they're making it go a tad more quickly. A tad.


The striped atrocity is Aric's. He has growing pains, I guess, in his legs off and on, and I put him to bed with a hot water bottle. But it always makes me nervous to do it since I just wrap a towel around it or stick it into a pillow case. How to make it hot enough to last a while, yet cool enough to not burn a child who's asleep and oblivious to what's touching his legs? So we decided to make a cover. He picked out my favorite yarn, of course. It's the Malabrigo/handpaintedyarn.com merino worsted that I used on one of my very first knitting projects. I have to admit having tried to pull what the Yarn Harlot tried in one of her stories. I tried to talk him into the "crap yarn." He didn't fall for it any more than Steph's daughter did. Oh, well. He picked the yarn colors. I'm not liking the coral-ish stripes at all, but hey, it's his hot water bottle cover. (It's the leftover yarn from my hourglass sweater below) Gotta let the 4 year old start making his own decisions when his life's not on the line. Wow, that's hard to sit back and let a child make his own choices!

I can't wait to get started on my aqua merino! It's the merino from Uruguay that's identical to Malabrigo's, only half the price now that Malbrigo's skyrocketed. I used it on my Hourglass Sweater and love it. Her colors are so pretty, too. Both companies have their own set of gorgeous colors. And Sandra's so sweet and helpful. Of course, if you pay standard shipping, your needles you bought from Hong Kong will arrive before the yarn, even though the yarn was shipped a full week and a half before them. Huh? Is it traveling through Uruguay by burro?
I'm doing a steek, a hood, and cables on this sweater, all things I've never done before. Logic would say to take the rest of that HG sweater yarn and start swatching, since they're identical. But have I done that yet? Of course not. Maybe I'll go do that now. Or maybe I'll go finish the Yarn Harlot book, which is absolutely hilarious! Even non-knitters would find this book funny. Well, at least non-knitting crafters.
Off to swatch! Or read. Hey, I wonder if her book's on tape yet!