Mama loves her some cake!

Here we have some little yarn cakes. I LOVE yarn cakes. If I had all the leisure time I wanted, I would spend a little time each day rewinding my balls into little cakes. They're deeply satisfying, and calorie free. (Actually, if I were to eat them, they'd probably have calories, given the nature of most things.)
Anyway, I borrowed a scale and split my hank of Bearfoot and my ball of A Piece of Vermont into two equal cakes. Yarn cupcakes!



I will cast on for my little socks whilst waiting for the doctor (well, for the nurse, really) to jab my son repeatedly in the thigh with long needles. We both love that Oh So Much.

Socky socky socky schmoo

(Hmm, I wonder what this post is about?)
Last night I finished the ribbed socks in my hand-dyed cotton sock yarn! Those have been a long time in the making, and I can say with complete honesty that I'm glad they're finished. They are snuggly to wear, and I can't wait. (I really really need to get some shoes that show off my hand-knit socks. Suggestions? And no, clear plastic clogs will not go on my feet.)


I'm not exactly sure why my feet look so stumpy in that picture, but I DID take it on WTF Wednesday...
Pattern: Basic toe-up by Wendy, with some ribbing thrown in to entertain me
Yarn: Cotton/lycra mix that I dyed myself and can't find anymore in the wild
Time: OMG I don't want to think about this. Um... May 1 (OMG how sad is that) to Sept 19. Oy.

Also, SOCKPAL SOCKS IN THE WILD! Hooray!



In Montana it was finally cool enough to wear them, and they were wonderful and so snuggly. Thanks again, Des! I can't wait for another sockapalooza!
ETA: I showed them to my MIL, who knit in a former life, and she said, "Wow, look at all those color changes! Those must have been really hard to knit!" LOL She was amazed at "what they'll think of next" when I told her about the self-striping yarn.

Sheesh!

I go away for a few days, and Blogland explodes! What, you people wait until I leave to post? You can't post while I'm at work, being bored?


Anyway, it was a lovely trip. There was cold, there was rain, there was snow, there was moose poop. There was cake, and lots of it. (Not in the same location with the moose poop.)

Bug loved the grass, the trees, the puppies next door, Gramma, Grampa, Buttons the Dog, his cousins, walking on the river, flying in the airplane, running like a maniac through the airport... Here is a brief photo essay of our trip.






Sunday sky, a few days late





You had to know there would be yarn.

Running away

From the heat!
Tomorrow we take the Bug on his second-ever plane ride to see his grandparents. DH and I are practically dancing to get out of town, and of course, the Bug has no clue that anything is different. (Well, except for the slight shrillness that creeps into our voices when we say, "Are you going to see GRAMMA soon?!" He must think we're nuts.)
It's supposed to be rainy, with highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s. I am planning to do some river-walking anyway. Eddie can play in the grass if it's wet. The thought will jar his gramma to her very core, and she will fret ad nauseum that he might get cold. If a kid can't play in the rain, though, then I give up. I HOPE he gets a little chilly, just to know what it feels like. Most of his life has been spent in the inferno that is southern Arizona in the summer, and our last winter was particularly mild. His great-gramma made him a quilt, just like she's made for all her other great-grandchildren, most of whom live in Montana. The quilt is so heavy we've not used it yet. Maybe this weekend!
In the grand tradition of overestimating my abilities, I will again be taking Tendrils AND Frill. This time I hope to get two repeats on Tendrils and a few inches on Frill. I'll have my sock for the plane ride and the long layover in Salt Lake. Since I have the patterns for both memorized, it shouldn't be hard to knit a few stitches here and there, and maybe I'll make some noticeable progress. I threaded two more balls of yarn with beads last night, which should be plenty.
Work? what work?

Walkin' fool

I have finally captured photos of the walking Bug.



He melts my heart all the time, but I especially love the stomping sound he makes when he's truckin' down the hall or something. I'd give him anything just to see him smile. I am so screwed.

It's all been said before

So I won't say it again.
Read.

SaturdaySunday sky

Well, Saturday escaped me, and Sunday has run past too. Why do the weekends speed by, but the days at the office just drag?
Anyway, the sky. A combination of dead battery and pure laziness prevented me from taking the pic yesterday, but it looks much the same.



I have been knitting away on both Frill and Tendrils. I thought I'd post a few progress photos.

Here's Frill. The ball in the photo is about half gone, and I think I have another half ball attached to the second frill.



That thing is about 41 inches long, and I have another 11 inches of frill waiting to be attached. The pattern suggests 87 inches in length, but I'm not sure I'll knit it that long. I'll see how I feel about it when I finish this ball.

Here's Tendrils.



A cable-y close up. (Click to embiggen, as always.)



I love the pattern. I love the texture of the yarn; it's soft as soft. I HATEHATEHATE the way the colors are knitting up. I thought it would look less mottled when it was knitted up, but no. It's still splotchy and ugly. I will be overdyeing this puppy with a dark green dye when I'm finished. I hope it makes the yellow and light green plies turn dark green, and leaves the dark green and blue plies alone. That would even it out, but still give it depth. All I know is, I'm not giving it to anyone in its current color incarnation.

More progress: Bug's hair!



He looks a little less thrilled about it than Mama, but he warmed up to it later.

Glorious Friday

Today has started out as nice as yesterday did. We got a brief rain shower this morning,



I had time (and milk) to make my coffee, and the Bug played quietly in his crib while I took a shower. I even had time to knit a row on Tendrils! I know, I know, Selfish September says I should knit for me first, but I sorta was - I like Tendrils better right now than the two projects intended for me. Also, I'd left my sock at work, not thinking I'd have time to work on it before I got to the office. Anyway, I'm just shy of three repeats! Yeah, so the five-repeats-a-week thing isn't going so well right now...

The babies abound! Grumperina has been making baby gifts for what seems like ages, on and off, and even Alison got in on the fun! Go wish her congratulations.

Here is my little baby, sporting his new shoes.



He's not sure about them yet, but next week in Montana it will be cool enough that he'll need them, so he'd best get the practice in now.

Rainy day somethings?

What's the opposite of the blues? What do you have when you're feeling good?
Anyway, this morning has started out in a lovely fashion. I was awakened a little too early, 5:30am, by the Bug. We got up to find his daddy and went outside, where it was actually a little crisp. We sat there with DH for a few minutes, and it started to rain! YAY! It's been going ever since. (When I got to work, the marquee on the bank out front says it's 66. We haven't seen that low temp for months and months, even at night!)
I was out of milk for my lattes, so I went to Starbucks and got a giant Pumpkin Spice latte! YUM. Now, I know lots of people hate Starbucks (why do we hate companies that succeed? I mean, it's one thing to hate big corporations that pollute and oppress, but SB is supposed to be a good corporate citizen, right?) but in a pinch they'll do. Their coffee is usually too weak for me, but with the pumpkin flavoring, I'll suffer. ;-) I must hunt some of this down myself for my regular morning lattes. Yum.
To top it all off, I had a conference call this morning, and I knitted on my sock! I must have gotten 5 rounds done at least. This may not seem like a big deal, but in the last two months I think I've probably only knitted 5 rounds total on that sock. I so want to get it done, both so I can wear them and so I can start a new one. I think next time I knit socks I will do two pairs at once, to keep myself entertained. A plain green 3x1 rib sock is not the most exciting thing out there.
I have accepted the fact that Sonnet will not be done in time for Montana next week. It should be cold enough, however, to wear my Sockapaloooza knee-highs, finally! Looking forward to walking by the river, and visiting with the family, and showing off the Bug! They haven't seen him since he was about three weeks old, so the change will be amazing.

Green

That title has nothing at all to do with anything, but I couldn't think of a snappy title. I guess it's a little appropriate, since we finally got a bit of rain from John and all the dust has been washed from the trees. I think other parts of town got more; some of the washes are closed on the northwest side of town. We got just enough to dampen everything and put a slight nip in the air after the sun went down. It was a very pleasant evening.
I did very little knitting yesterday. DH left before I got up and didn't get home until after 8pm. The Bug had a rough day of falling down or getting fingers pinched, and didn't nap or eat well, either. He struggled mightily to keep himself awake until he got to see Daddy, and that struggle included much shrieking, whining, moaning, chasing dogs, and kicking me. Oy. He has sharp toes.
I didn't sew in the sleeves of Haiku, either. I need good light and time to concentrate, and I had neither of those yesterday. A friend came over Sunday afternoon and brought her almost-four-year-old daughter. Haiku would have fit her perfectly. This is not good, as the little girl I'm making it for is eensy. Tiny. Wee, even. Oh well, someday it will fit her. I still love it.
Now I have a dilemma. I don't want to knit on my socks at SnB. The HPT requires too much yarn and I am hesitant to be seen with it in public anyway. Sonnet is easy SnB knitting, but it won't get me any closer to being done with my Christmas knitting. That leaves Frill and Tendrils. Hmm, Tendrils is less complicated, so I should probably take that. The weight of the beads on that thing make it so that very soon it will be too big to knit anywhere. Yeah, Tendrils will have its day in the sun night in the coffeehouse tonight.

You big tease

Oy, it's hot. I guess it's not terribly hot - 86, with 46% humidity, but it looks hot. John is a big tease at my house so far. The weather channel talks about big time rain, flash flooding, warning this, severe weather that. I look out my window and see fluffy white clouds with blue sky. It's the kind of sky, though, that feels heavy and hot. If it were cold, they'd be snow clouds. It's not, though, so they're just holding in the heat. I feel oppressed. I also feel weird that it's only noon. It feels late. There must be clouds elsewhere blocking the sun, because until I just looked at the clock I figured it was abou 4pm. (Hooray, more knitting time!)
I have been knitting on Frill today. Holy crap, I know, but it's true. I worked on Tendrils most of yesterday, as the Bug allowed, so I wanted a little change. Turns out I'd rather work on the albatross of knitting than seam up a baby sweater. This does not bode well for the future.
The Bug has recently discovered the TV. He always knew it was there, to scratch, touch, bang on, and lick, but now he's seeing the pictures.



It's kinda cracking me up. There's a chime noise that happens when the scene changes, and even if he's gotten interested in something else, his head whips around to see what the new thing is when he hears that chime. It's a tad Pavlovian.

Holy cow, when did it turn to September?

Cuz I'm still in April or May.
Hello new subscriber!

Rabbitch mentioned something recently about Selfish September. I don't know if that is the appropriate title, but the gist is that each day in September, you knit a little on something for yourself, before you knit on gifts. I can do that. Two rounds or so on my little green sock, here I come. Hopefully to be done while I sip some coffee each morning.

It's Saturday, and that means I need some sky.
Here is the standard landscape from my back step.



Turn just a little, though, and ...



Hello, John.

John is making it a little cooler here today, for which he has my thanks. I'd appreciate it, though, if he'd consider laying off the people in Mexico. Wondering if your shanty or tar paper house will still be there when you get back from the shelter sounds like a heinous way to spend the weekend.

DH is off working this weekend, saving the world, one badly-done house at a time. (The house he's remodelling now was bought for a (relative) song, because some of the features added to the house by the previous owners were so ugly no one would touch the thing.) I will be knitting as much as the Bug allows. Tendrils continues, and despite misgivings about the color of the yarn, I like it. This is what I did last night.



The Harlot had a piece on how to do that recently, and it worked very well.

In other news, Sweden recently pledged $5 million to help rebuild Gaza and get the people there an economy back. This sounds like a lot (especially after other countries added to the pot), until I think about something else. A few years ago, DH helped build a vacation home for The Ks, a very wealthy couple from out of state. Including the land, they spent more than $7 million. It was mostly built to house their art collection, but they intended to send the kids and the nanny a few times a year. I have no qualms about The Ks spending their money the way they see fit. But ONE COUPLE spent more on one unused house than a WHOLE COUNTRY pledged to help rebuild an entire region. That's crazy in so many directions, I'm not even able to entirely wrap my head around it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be off trying to finally get video of the Bug walking.

Back from the swamp

Okay, it really wasn't a swamp, but the thermometer said it was 110 and the humidity made me wish I had gills. Ugly, hot, nasty.
The Bug LOVED his first plane ride.



We got to sit in the first row for most of the Going, and when we stopped in Albuquerque, Bug got to watch the guy load the kitchen stuff from the cool truck. The kitchen guy even walked over to the edge of his loading platform to knock on Bug's window, which thrilled the little guy to no end.
The Bug also got much love from his older half-sisters, one of whom hadn't even met him yet. They hit it off right away.




Before we knew it, it was time to go, so we climbed into the car we bought and drove away. It is a long boring drive through western OK and north Texas. It only started to get interesting after we got into New Mexico.
Did you see Contact? When she hears the alien signal on the Very Large Array? We drove right through it. It was the coolest thing. We popped over a hill, and suddenly there were 20 or 30 of these monster satellite dishes out in the middle of a field of daisies and mallow. I wanted to take a picture, but the Bug was sleeping and DH didn't want to risk waking him. Four states is a long long way for a little guy to sit in a car seat.

Remember when I said I was only taking three projects and expected to make progress? NOT. I got a few rounds on the sock, and a couple inches of Tendrils. That's it, that's all. I need some serious knitting time to finish even the Christmas knitting I've already started. ...sigh...

Oh yeah, and YEEHAW! On behalf of women and girls everywhere, BITE ME, WARREN.

Sooner and later

Tomorrow we are off to the Sooner State. (That's Oklahoma.) I don't have the foggiest idea what a Sooner is. Okay, I looked it up - it's basically a cheater. I guess the U of O people don't really want to think of it that way, though. Anyway, I don't really care, I'm going there to see two of the Bug's half sisters. We're buying a car while we're there and driving home, so that's the part I'm looking forward to. I love a road trip with the DH.
For the occasion, which entails 1000 miles and a whole lotta Bug breaks, I am packing two pre-beaded balls for Tendrils, Frill, and the Sonnet sleeves. I will probably bring the green sock on the plane, although we're holding the Bug on our laps, so I don't know how much knitting I'll really get done. I hope to get a good portion of the other projects done in the car. The two Tendrils balls are only 96 yds each, so I can see that I might get those both knitted up. Sonnet is stockinette, so I can probably do that in the dark. I just need to buckle down and work on Frill. I associated it with exercise once while thinking about riding the stationary bike, and I haven't been able to pick it up since! It's for Haiku's mommy, though, so I need to get it done and out of my psychic space. It's weighing me down.
And on a different note, should I be worried that my horoscope for the day says I'm not saving enough money and I'm going to need it soon?

No more Saturday

Well, I blew off my Saturday Sky duty. I did take a Sunday Sky pic, just seconds before it started to rain. Aaaaah, rain.



This is the tree in my back yard. I always thought it only bloomed during monsoons, but amazingly, it started blooming when it started raining. Amazing what a little water does to a plant...



In knitting news, I have little. My beads arrived from Earth Faire the day after they were shipped. It seemed like such a small package to hold so many beads. I spent a little time running my fingers through them after I put them in a tupperware. I strung two balls today - I am using balls half the size of the ones called for, so I strung 300 on each. I think that's way way too many, but I'd rather have too many than too few, right?
Haiku sleeve 2 is going. Same ol', same ol'.

In Bug news, because you care, he's having a weekend of firsts! First balloon, first tantrum over a toy (he was shopping with Daddy), and, ta da! First steps! The Bug has decided that he must go faster and get into more trouble than is available to him while crawling. My baby boy isn't such a baby anymore. Damn, soon he'll be a toddler. ...sob...
I have yet to get a picture or video of the walking, because he likes to stop whatever he's doing and stare blankly at the camera whenever I have it out.

Partial FO?

I finished sleeve one of Haiku last night.



I have a sleeve, some blocking and some making up to do. Since I've never put a sweater together, I find myself a little trepidacious. (Oooh, big word. I've always liked that one. Say it out loud, it's kinda fun.) Anyway, I have my Montse Stanley and my Encyclopedia of Needle Crafts or whatever it's called, so I shall be fine. If not, the recipient of the sweater will have outgrown it before I finish it anyway, even though I added an inch to all the measurements.

My Bug is 11 months old. ...sob...

No pictures today

Sunday I did very little knitting, but it was still a pleasant day. Lots of running around with DH, a little nap-time, and dinner with good friends.
Yesterday when I woke up, I felt like death warmed over, and DH convinced me to stay home after running the Bug to daycare. I had most of a day to relax and knit. It was glorious, even with the cough, headache, and leftover cold guk. I knit a good portion of one of the Haiku sleeves before realizing that it would be much too long, so I ripped and reknit that too. I'm about 1/3 done with it. I hope to finish the sweater before we run off to Oklahoma next week to visit the Bug's sisters. We're driving back to AZ (about 1000 miles) so I plan to take Frill, Sonnet and Tendrils (plus the green sock) for the trip home.
I just ordered the beads for Tendrils today - that was a nightmare. Even the shop that Sivia Harding pointed me to didn't have the beads she called out, and they were out of the beads they'd substituted. I had to substitute the substitute. None of my local bead shops had anything even close. :-( I figure I'll string a couple of balls of yarn and cast on while I'm home, then take it with me. No way I'll finish all the projects I'm bringing (maybe the sock and Sonnet's first sleeve) but it will be nice to have a selection.
(ETA: the shop does have the beads, just in bulk. You have to write and ask them, instead of buying a bunch of little tubes. You even get a discount because they sell the big bag by weight, instead of taking the time to parcel them out into said tubes. If you're doing Tendrils and you want the beads, use the Contact Us form and ask for them. Very accomodating, even switching out my other order for the real substitute.)

Saturday sky

A short little post with one little pic.



It's only 72 degrees this morning at 6:45, but the humidity seems like it's going to be ugly today. The perfect day to sit under the AC vent and knit, yes?

Ennui-free!

I guess it was just SnB that did it, although I was feeling pretty gross on Tuesday. (Actually, I have a head cold that keeps getting worse, and I'm pretty durn tired of it.) I don't even remember what I worked on during SnB, although I suspect it was Haiku. That little sweater is just zipping along, even with the ripping I've had to do. That's my own fault, too - it's an easy pattern so I've been knitting from memory and counting rows to match the other side, and I missed a whole 2" section of garter stitch.
Anyway, last night DH had to work late, and the Bug nursed himself to sleep immediately after we got home, so I ended up with several hours of all-to-myself time. I ripped and rewound and knit, and cooked dinner in shifts (brown meat, knit 10 rows, add sauce, knit 10 more rows...) The only sound was the occasional snore from one of the dogs, and the click of the Knitpicks needles. It was blissful, even with the drippy nose and stuffy head. I'm (re)approaching the second armscye on Haiku. I'd like to finish the body and start the sleeves this weekend, and I think that's entirely possible. I suppose it depends on how nice the weather is - DH will finally be home for a whole weekend, so we have plans to take the Bug to the park for his first ride on the swings. I can't wait. We race him up and down the hall in his wheeled high chair, and the look on his face is pure bliss. I hope he enjoys the swings that much.
Hey, what's the best way to sew up seams in a sweater?

ennui

Boredom.
World-weariness.
Languor.
Tedium.

It hit me. That something that wandered around Blogistania (I love that) several weeks ago. Everyone complained that knitting didn't excite them, their spinning was boring, they felt blah... I didn't feel it then. I felt peppy, ready to knit mountains out of mohair and make wonderful things and spend my free time industriously wrapping my loved ones in knitted warmth.

Now I have it. Last night I felt too lazy and blah even to go to bed. DH and I sat in the dark and watched one of those motorcycle shows on Discovery. No knitting, no cleaning, no blogging, nada. Maybe it's the humidity, finally getting me down. Maybe it's the pain-imposed knit-free week I had. Maybe it's just my body telling me I need a break. Maybe my brain has moved on to fall and my body is still stuck in summer.

Whatever it is, I'm not a fan.