YarnAlong: With Time Travel

Silas calls this book LlamaLlamaLlama!  We read it a lot.  It goes back to the library on Saturday, and I think it's going to end up under the Christmas tree this year.

I started another Cedar Shakes hat, this time for Ezra.  The Paton's Kroy is considerably thinner than the yarn that I used for Silas' hat, so even though I cast on for the same size (toddler), it's turning out rather smaller and with a slightly open fabric.  I'm debating whether or not to start over with smaller needles and working the child size instead.  The outcome might be the same.  Ezra at 10 months already has a head the circumference of the average child's, an issue we ran into with Silas as well.  There are some baby clothes that we literally cannot get over these babies' mammoth heads, and their little caps fit for about fifteen minutes.

Silas hat, made with a heavy fingering yarn that still had a substantial fabric on the 4's, still fits him two years later.

Assuming this kid IS actually the child in question.  Where did my little chubby-faced baby go?

Two years ago. Never mind where the cheeks went, where did the time go?

Loose ends

I've been in a finishing mood lately, though I would have thought I'd had enough of endings.  There's something to be said for closure, at any rate.

I finished the twined mittens I started back in February.  I need to take a better picture so I can upload it to the pattern page.  The technique was a lot of fun once I got the hang of it.

I made myself a hat:

It's the Star-Crossed Slouchy Beret that's so popular on Ravelry (13000+ projects - so viral I would have avoided it except I saw one in person and fell hard in love).  I had to make some mods to get it to fit my head, mostly just adding stitches and then adjusting for the increases and decreases so the cables still worked.  I love the colors in this yarn (Knit Picks Chroma in Hollyhock).  Purple and grey may be my new grey and pink.

I've also caught up on a few dishcloths.

Zig Zag dishcloth by Faith Schmidt

Simple Lines by Chelsea Berkompas

Orbital Dishcloth by Stacey Winklepleck

And my showstopper:

Petticoat Dishcloth, by Kendra Nitta

This dishcloth is just a little crazy.  You start at the outside edge and cast on 200+ stitches, knit a bit, and then on a separate needle cast on another ridiculous number of stitches and knit a bit and then join the two pieces together, cast on a third piece, knit, join, and finally knit down to the center.  Were I designing this I would have started from the center, worked out, and then picked up the stiches for the second and third ruffles so everything was worked in one piece, but perhaps that isn't as simple or neat as it sounds in my head.

The yarn is Cotlin DK.  I started this thing in April, all that ruffling in light yarn took this long to finally finish.  As long as it took, and as frustrating as it was to try and join so many stitches on a 16" cable without twisting, it was really a lot of fun to knit.  I can't even imagine using it as a dishcloth.  Right now it's sitting on my bathroom counter collecting bobby pins and hair-ties, kind of a fiber-happy take on the those catch-all bathroom trays that I've noticed we're selling in the Domestics dept. recently.

In other news, it's officially footie pajama weather.

Yarn Along

I haven't been reading much for myself lately; when I reach for my Kindle it's usually to play Candy Crush. My attention span when grieving is basically nonexistent. I still read to Silas, though.

Silas will have outgrown the last sweater I made him by this Christmas, so I've started a Sherwood for him. In fact, I've started it about six times now. The irregular rib and the odd charts threw me for several loops, and then I managed to twist the cast-on when I joined. Oy vey. The yarn (Plymouth Yarns Encore) is a wool/acrylic blend similar to Wool-Ease. The book is Harry the Dirty Dog. I wasn't familiar with it before Silas got it for Christmas, but my sister-in-law implied it was a favorite in my husband's family.

This post is linked up with Ginny Sheller's Yarn Along

Warm hands . . .

When my mom called on Thursday to tell me that Dad had been moved to a smaller room on a more hospice-like floor of the Veteran's Home building, so that he could receive more frequent oxygen treatments, I felt the old familiar chill of worry creep into my chest, that terrible feeling of helplessness and foreboding.  When she said that his hands were cold, I thought, "This at least I can fix."

I spent the next couple hours exploring my yarn bins and Ravelry, trying to find the right combination of soft, warm yarn and quick pattern so that I could have a completed set of fingerless gloves when I visited him on Saturday.  I decided that I was going to knit him lots of fingerless gloves, nice ones, historical patterns that he'd appreciate not only for warmth but for their origins as World War II artifacts, but for now I'd stick with a fast, easy pattern in bulky yarn.  I had a tiny amount of blue yarn with alpaca that would be perfect trim; alpaca for extra warmth, blue for my dad's favorite color.

I worked on them for the rest of the night, eschewing laundry, dishes, cleaning, and forgetting to eat.  When I told my slightly exasperated husband why, he immediately understood.  Here was the one small thing I could do for my dad - keep his hands warm.

I went to bed late that night, and late the next, trying to finish them.  I had to rip out the end ribbing on both gloves and knit fewer rows, because I ran out of the blue yarn right before the cast off.  I finished the gloves but for the ribbing minutes before we were out the door for the long drive to Marshalltown.

I wove in a couple ends while we ate lunch with my brother, but there were still several left when we paid our tabs and headed for the Veteran's Home.  I was confident I could finish them up during the course of the visit, and Dad would be able to wear them before we left.

Nothing went as planned.

Afterwards, they told us that it must have been very quick.  He couldn't have suffered - he was almost certainly gone before he hit the ground.  His heart just gave out, unexpectedly, suddenly, and sometimes these things just happen.

It's cold, cold comfort to the children who found their dad lying on his bathroom floor, to the son who tried vainly to give CPR, to the daughter who ran screaming for the nurses whose station was only a few feet away from his room, then held tight to his icy hand and prayed for him to wake up.  Those prayers didn't seem to leave the room.

The chill that settled into my chest when the nurses asked us to step away was familiar, though not the same one from before.  This was a chill I had felt while lying in a dark radiology lab, watching the silent screen of the ultrasound and its flat white line.

I felt my heart turn to stone again.  My brother fell apart and I envied him the release of tears and oblivion, but I clung to the cold, hard feeling in my chest like a pillar, and it kept me standing.  I followed directions, I called my mom and told her what was going on with remarkable coherency, I calmly thanked the nurses when they brought us water and tissues.  I took care of my brothers, I made Phillip call his fiancee.

When the nurse told me, "I'm sorry, he's gone." I said, "Okay, okay," and thanked them again.  I told Phillip, I called Mom, and I was infuriatingly unable to allow myself to cry.  If I could have had a moment to myself, the tears would have come without effort, but instead I comforted my brothers, I made phone calls, and I wove in ends, and had to stop myself from laughing, because it was such a futile task, but I couldn't leave them unfinished now, and I had to have something to do with my hands.

They're finished, and I suppose nothing I could have done would have allowed them to be finished in time to actually warm my dad's hands, but I tucked them beside him when we said our last goodbyes, before they closed the lid and draped the flag over him.

My dad was buried with full military honors, because he was a veteran who loved his country, and he was buried with a pair of grey and blue fingerless gloves, because he had a daughter who was a knitter and loved her dad, and wanted him to be warm.

My dad died today.

I was knitting gloves for him, because my mom said his hands were cold.  I had them finished but for weaving in the ends, and I was all set to have him try them on and do the finishing while we visited him today.

Nothing went as planned.

Not enough time in the day

Drive-by Yarn Along post . . .

Good news: finally got around to starting the Star-Crossed Slouchy Hat that I have been desiring to make for ages. (Yarn is Knit Picks Chroma Worsted, Hollyhock)

Bad news: Can't get dpns big enough to get proper gauge.

Good news: I can do math, cast on more stitches, go on my merry way.

Bad news: Didn't figure this all out until well into the hat, had to frog and start over.

Bad news: Stepped on reading kindle, totaled it.

Good news: Kindle Fire working again!

Bad news: Carrying tablet kindle around at work much more nerve-wracking than carrying the reading Kindle, as the former seems more likely to be stolen than the clunky old one.

Good news: Reading "Villette" by Charlotte Bronte

Bad news: Bit dry so far.

Good news: It's Charlotte Bronte, I have no doubt of things getting interesting.

Good news: Took a picture of knitting!

Bad news: Terrible picture.

Weekly Dishcloth, loosely defined

I know I've been afk for a good several weeks; I developed a thrush infection that has made nursing a nightmare, and when the thing you're doing every two or three hours around the clock is excruciatingly painful, it kind of takes over your life.  I seem to have it mostly licked now, though, so I'm getting back to some kind of normal.

I counted, and I'm actually on schedule dishcloth-wise, thanks to the extras that I made for swaps and holidays and whatnot, despite my month-long hiatus.  I'm hoping to crank out a couple more this week ('cause I'm nothing if not full of delusions of productivity).

Week 18-21 (Knit Picks Week 19)

Fishbones, by Marjorie Dussaud
Lily Sugar'n Cream, Daisy Ombre

I love this happy yellow and white colorway.  The dishcloth pattern is easy to memorize and mindless without being too boring.  It made for great knitting in the car.  I don't know how practical the floats will be with use and washing, but I'll let you know.

Week 22

Gingham Dishcloth
Peaches & Creme, Forest Green, Rosemary, Ecru

More tapestry crochet, oy vey, the single crochet . . . I do like how the gingham is translated.  I fell in love with gingham in my tweens, because instead of the Spice Girls and Britney Spears, my idols were Laura Ingalls Wilder and Anne of Green Gables.  I lived a sheltered life, what can I say?

V is for...

Vehicular knitting.

Don't knit and drive

More and more I'm appreciating the value of keeping a knitting project in my car. Just in the last week I've gotten a lot done while waiting for the line to move in a drive-through, waiting for the pilot car at a stretch of road construction, and while waiting for my husband to bring me a jug of coolant when my car overheated just outside of town. I wished my friend had some knitting in her car while we were stuck in the parking lot for an hour at work waiting for the all-clear from the fire department, but she isn't a knitter (yet). If our purses weren't locked in the building with the gas leak, we might have gone to the lys and I could have remedied that pretty quickly, but then, if I would have had my purse I would have had some knitting.

Of course, if I'm not the driver, I can get prodigious amounts of knitting done in the car, so I almost always bring two projects if my husband is driving, just in case I finish the first one, as I did this weekend when we were driving all over creation to celebrate two birthdays on opposite sides of the family. Of course, I forgot to bring scissors or a darning needle, so I still haven't officially finished the first project, but the knitting at least is done, so it will be my W post today or tomorrow.

Patterns I love that start with V:

Vauvan Sukka - textured baby socks (free!)
Verde - reusable shopping bag (free!)
Viburnum - lacy moebius cowl (free!)
Viceroy Butterfly Shawl - crochet
Victorian Lace Scarf
Vintage Hankie Washcloth - knit washcloth with lacy crocheted edging (free!)
Violet Beauregard - crochet skirt
Vivian - stunning cabled jacket with hood

R is for...

Read to me.

They tell me reading to your kids helps them develop reading and language skills. They also say it's important for your kids to see you reading.

E-readers count, right?

I grew up in a house full of books, watching my dad read in every free moment. My mom isn't as voracious a reader as he, but she too loves books, especially biographies and of course the Bible. She read to us often and loved taking us to the library. She also taught us to look for words everywhere, on signs and the sides of vehicles and the backs of cereal boxes.  I'm trying to do the same with Silas, and even Ezra looks very intently at the pictures while I'm reading to Silas.  I would show you a picture of this, but there's no good way to juggle a camera along with a three year old and a nearly five month old and a book.

Ezra devouring a good book

I still like to be read to, as my love of literary podcasts and audiobooks will attest.  I hope my kids will let me read to them for a long, long time.

Books that Silas loves for me to read to him:

This Train
The Little Red Caboose
Moonpowder
Go, Dog, Go!
What Do You Say when a Monkey Acts this Way?
The Foot Book

O is for...

Organization

If there were a D in my name, it would be for Disorganized. As it is, my acrostic looks like this:

Messy
In over my head
Cluttered
Heaps of laundry
Every dish we own is in the sink
Losing my keys in a purse full of receipts, tissues, and pens
Losing my mind
Eh, I'll clean tomorrow

One corner where I've managed to get my stuff sorted is my closet, because it was necessary in order to get ready for Ezra. All of my yarn is organized into bins, milk crates, and a set of plastic drawers in there. All of my straight needles are in a holder my in-laws got me years ago, all of my DPNs are in a purple tin pencil box, my crochet hooks are in empty mini M&M's tubes, and my circular needles are in a Ziploc until I come up with a less tangled way to manage them. I keep my small notions in Altoid tins.

Someday, I'd like to have a cozy little room just for knitting, sewing, and crafting, but for now things are working out in my closet.

How do you organize your hobby equipment?

Patterns I love that start with O:

Oink - flying piggy (free!)
Onodrim - fingerless gloves with a lace and cable leaf-motif
Old Shale Shawl - (free!)
Owlings - I never jumped on the owl-motif or Fetching bandwagon, but together...
Olivia's Butterfly - child-sized crochet cloche, easy to size up or down (free!)

L is for . . .

Lavender.

Besides being my BFF's favorite color, the first name of a character in Harry Potter, and in Anne of Avonlea, and a wonderful thing to do to Earl Grey tea, lavender has a reputation of repelling moths.

I may have a moth problem. I may have a carpet beetle problem. Whichever, I keep finding skeins of yarn in my stash with broken plies and strands, which is incredibly irritating and disheartening. So I am vacuuming out my closet, bagging all my yarn (hooray for Ziploc!), and booby-trapping the bins with lavender oil-infused soap until I can get some sachets made. I plan to use this pattern from Purl Soho.

Silas is very in favor of this lavender business. He keeps following me into the closet and asking to smell the bars of soap. I oblige him, because it's cute and lavender is supposed to be soothing, and I am in favor of calming my energetic and occasionally high-strung toddler down from time to time.

 I also really like the idea of having lavender-scented yarn for soothing myself during stressful knitting sessions, either when I'm using knitting to try to de-stress or when the knitting is causing me stress.

Patterns I love that start with L:

Lace Leaf Pullover
Laura Star - beautiful vintage doily chart (free!)
Limberlost - fingerless mitts
Lingerie - lace-patterned socks (free!)
Little Spare Time - boys' sweater, definitely plan to make this for Silas soon
Luna Lovegood Scarf (free!)

K is for . . .

Keeping up with the Cardassians

It's no big secret that I am a huge geek. It's right there in the title of the blog, for one thing, though I think a lot of people miss that it's a Disney reference.

We played the Throne Room and Finale theme from A New Hope as the recessional at our wedding. I can't imagine what his side of the family thought, but my family may have applauded. It was my one quirky moment in an otherwise very simple, classic wedding. My mom told me later that she was about to break down, and then, "The Star Wars music started, I started laughing and I knew you were going to be okay."

As young as I was when my parents rented Star Wars for my brother and I for the first time (probably six or seven, and they billed it as a movie with cute robots), I have even earlier memories of my dad watching Star Trek, and it's definitely had an impact on my hobbies.

I've always liked Kirk's green shirt best

And since Netflix has all of the series available for streaming, my kids are going to have early memories of me watching it, as well.

Right now I am keeping up with the Cardassians, as I'm working my way through Deep Space Nine (the one with the black Captain, as my non-Trekkie husband knows it). The series starts with Commander Benjamin Sisko being given command of a space station recently abandoned by the Cardassians, who had been occupying the planet Bajor and enslaving its people. The Bajorans, a deeply religious people, managed to overthrow their oppressors and reached out to the Federation to help protect them from a possible return. The Federation has been at war with the Cardassians, and has only recently come to an uneasy truce. Sisko is tasked with keeping the peace, furthering negotiations to bring Bajor into the Federation, and playing gatekeeper to the nearby wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant, which has opened a passage to an area of space that otherwise would have taken seventy years to reach. Matters are complicated by the fact that the Bajorans believe that the wormhole is the Celestial Temple where their deities, the Prophets, reside, and that Sisko is the long awaited Emissary. He isn't the Bajorans first choice for the role, and he isn't pleased about it himself, but the beings who built and live in the wormhole, divine or otherwise, exist outside of time and have chosen Sisko, like it or not, because they've seen that he will affect the fate of Bajor and pretty much half of the galaxy by extension.

The series has its ups and downs and takes a little while to really get into its stride, but once it does it turns into a really fascinating study of politics, race, religion, destiny, and morality. The characters, good and evil, all develop and grow, and overall I think it's one of the most interesting and well-plotted Star Trek series, and it really explores a side of the Star Trek universe that you don't get to see in the other series, a darker and more complex side.

So when that other show came out I latched onto the obvious pun and nothing else.

Basically

Patterns I love that start with K:
Kathy Kelly Cabled Capelet (free!)
Kensington Mitts
Knotty but Nice hat - Men's cabled beanie (free!)
Kicking Horse Mittens
Knucks - embroidered fingerless mitts (free!)

J is for...

Juggling

Not juggling chainsaws, mind you, but juggling responsibilities. Juggling two small children, a full time job, and still trying to find time to knit, blog, and occasionally shower or do dishes.

Finding time to knit is particularly challenging, because I need two free hands. I used to get a fair amount done at work on my breaks, but now that time is fully devoted to pumping milk to keep my supply up and provide the milk that Ezra eats at daycare or when Ryan is home with him. That's a juggling act in itself.

So when does a full time mom find time to knit?

On my days off I can get some knitting done between chores while the boys are napping.

In the evening, once the boys are down (Silas for the night, Ezra until the next feeding), I knit while Ryan and I watch something or other on Netflix, or if Ryan is playing a game, I plug into my iPod and listen to podcasts while I knit.

I bring my knitting on car trips when my husband is doing the driving. As long as I don't have to study a chart, I usually don't get carsick. I always keep a sock in a baggie in my purse, too. I can crank out a few stitches or even rows when I am sitting at a train crossing, a drive-through line at the bank, or any other unexpected long waits.

 Recently I went to a program at our library about aprons (more interesting than you would think). Afterwards I ran into a friend and fellow knitter, and while we were chatting she mentioned that she was sure I wasn't knitting anymore. I said nothing but just held up the bag with the mitten I had been working on while I listened to watched the presenters. There's always a little time to knit, you just have to learn to juggle.

G is for...

Guilty Pleasure

A guilty pleasure is something you enjoy in spite of itself. You know it's not good for you, or cool, or high quality, but you keep coming back to it. Be it funnel cake, Lady Gaga, or "Twilight," it does nothing beneficial for you except make you smile.

Conversely, it might be something you really can't afford, but you treat yourself to now and then, but I'm really thinking of the embarrassing little secret loves right now.

Netflix is an enabler. I have two big guilty pleasures on Netflix right now, "Murder She Wrote," and "Reign." The latter in particular is like Pixie Stix for me; no nutritional value whatsoever, but strangely addictive. It's eye candy, it's historically inaccurate, it's engrossing, it's a teen soap opera, it's insane, and I just love it.

Reign likes to pretend that it's about Mary, Queen of Scots.

It's really about WB teen drama . . . In the PAST!!!

I can only knit garter stitch when I am watching it, because I can't tear my eyes from the screen for the majority of any episode. The costumes range from Renaissance adjacent to questionable prom dresses to whaaat???? but they're almost always pretty, and I like pretty.

I appreciate that the language, though not appropriately Shakespearean, is at least formal and not Buffy-speak.

I feel like my taste should be better than this, but that's the guilty part, after all. The most delightful aspect of this show? Evil Anne of Green Gables...

E is for . . .

Ezra

Where did four months go? 

I have been shockingly negligent about knitting for him, but as he has all of Silas' handmedowns it hasn't been a priority.

Of course, I knitted him a stocking.

And a hat.

But that's as far as I have managed to this point. It's tricky to knit for your own babies, because they are often in need of your undivided attention, and working on projects here and there when you have a spare moment doesn't work well when they grow faster than you can knit. 

Patterns I plan to make for Ezra (if I ever have the time):

Anders

Gansey Booties  (free!)
Pembroke Vest (free!)
Nursing Necklace - crochet (free!)

B is for . . .

. . . My baby, the birthday boy.

Silas is 3 today. He is my little ball of energy, always go, go, go. He's the subject of many blurry photos.

He attracts dirt like a brand new white carpet does.

He loves his baby brother.

He is brave.

That is a real, live, very tall, moving horse that he's sitting on so casually, with only one hand on the saddle horn.

He's got the beat.

Obviously, I'm pretty smitten with my beautiful baby boy, not so much a baby anymore. He really is getting to be a big boy now, but he'll always, always be my baby.

Late Weekly Dishcloth: Not for lack of trying

I was so close to getting this one done on time. I was casting off on Saturday evening when I was slammed hard by a random, unprovoked wave of adrenaline of the sort that I haven't had since right before I started pushing to deliver Ezra; I started shivering like I was freezing, and despite flannel sheets, two quilts, and a heated blanket could not get warm. No fever, no other symptoms, but it did lead into a headache that lasted well into the next day, and here I am.

Lydia's Lily Pad, by Joyce Fassbender
Knit Picks Simply Cotton Sport, Golden Heather

It could use a little ironing

It's almost too pretty to use. It was definitely a delight to knit. The start is VERY fiddly, but once you get going it's such a lovely bit of lace, no purling, and the chart made it so much easier to keep my place. Also I found that working on wooden needles with organic cotton put me in a divine summery place, despite the very indifferent March weather we've been having. Golden Heather isn't a color I would have been drawn to myself, and this line of yarn has been discontinued, so I feel very fortunate to have been gifted it. Thank you, stranger on Ravelry!

A Few FO's

I'll be going back to work on Monday.  I'm a little worried by the fact that I'm not more worried about this fact.  I have a vague notion of getting things in order - I've been packaging up lunch-box friendly portions of cut-up veggies, leftovers, and breakfast items that will be easy to eat on the run, I've downloaded extra podcasts for the commute, I'm getting my milk-transporting supplies in order and pumping in between feedings so that I'll have a fresh batch ready and won't have to dip into the emergency stash in the freezer.  I'm looking forward to getting back to work and having a set routine; I tend to be very disorganized and unmotivated if I don't have a schedule to adhere to, but I'm not looking forward to the milk-production grind.  Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful that I was able to keep up my milk supply for 13 months with Silas and that we never had to resort to supplementing with expensive formula, but it's a big time and energy commitment.  There were also times when I didn't wonder if I was spending as much on batteries for the pump as I would be on formula anyway, but on the other hand it just means that I was spending money on providing healthy, all-natural, ideal food for my son (and losing weight while I was at it), so given the choice, that's certainly where I'd rather my money was going.

At any rate, my blogging time is going to be even more minimal than it is now, so enjoy it while you can!  Here are a couple of things I made in January that were never blogged about:

Outlier, by Laura Aylor

This was a mystery knit-a-long; the designer posted a small set of directions every day, and we didn't find out exactly what it would be until we were finished. It's meant to be somewhere between a cowl and a poncho (and also to be worn by a smaller person, methinks), but what it turns out to be is a great nursing cover.  I've only used it thus a couple of times, and it would be terrible in the summer, but for nursing in public in the winter, it works beautifully, besides being delightfully colorful.  I used Ella Rae Seasons, which is a wool/acrylic chain-plied bulky yarn, very affordable with a very generous yardage, especially for a bulky weight.  I didn't have to think twice about grabbing two skeins (and when the colorway is "Rainbow" you know I'm going to have to buy at least one).

Poppy, by Justine Turner

First of all, the pattern is an absolute joy to knit. Short-rows are my potato chip knitting. It's knit flat, but entirely seamless. It's as cute as a button.

Alas, it is also decidedly feminine.

It's not a beanie, it's a cloche. It isn't as obvious when Ezra is wearing it for now, but I put it on Silas (it is very stretchy), and it is definitely a cloche. If I put it on Ezra so the edge of the button tab is towards his face, you can tell that it's a cloche. I have very pretty babies, so this kind of thing can lead to some confusion. It's not a big deal, but it's annoying. I really wanted it to be a beanie.

The yarn is RHSS Camo, colorway Dress Blues. A very handsome monochromatic variegated yarn, excruciatingly scratchy until it went through the washer and dryer, now it's quite acceptably soft. Definitely planning on making more things with it.

In other news, is there anything more delicious than getting a skein of buttery soft pink bulky yarn in the mail?

It was on sale.

Bits and pieces

Ryan introduced Silas to Pokemon today.  It was unnerving.  Silas rarely 'watches' TV so much as he occasionally glances at the screen and shouts whatever noun appears for the few seconds that he's looking at it; "Elmo!" "Monkey!"  "Dog!"  "Train!"  However, from the second the episode started playing Silas was glued to the screen, eventually whispering "Pikachu" with each appearance of the character.  At the end of the episode, this being Netflix, the next episode automatically started playing, but I grabbed the remote and shut it off.

"That's enough for one day," I said.

"Why?" Ryan whinged.

"Look at your son!" I said with a gesture towards our progeny.  "It's only been half an hour but he already has the zonked out expression of a child who is watching too much TV!"

Ryan's response to that was a smirk of all-knowing condescension, as he doubtless remembered how much TV he watched as a child, which in no way affected his activity levels or variety of interests.

"Silas," I prodded, "Do you want to go color?"

"No."

"Do you want to go outside?" I upped the ante.

"No."  He paused, clearly considering what it was he did want.  "Pikachu!"

I glared daggers at Ryan, who laughed but with an embarrassed expression that suggested he realized the implications of what had just happened.

I am happy to report that a minute or two later it dawned on Silas that he had been given implicit permission to go outside and we had to chase him down to put shoes and a clean diaper on him before he escaped (he's becoming terrifyingly good at opening the front door without assistance), but the incident remains peculiar.

On the knitting side of life, I'm working on a pair of socks for a travelling sock swap, and therefore there can be no pictures without spoiling the surprise for the recipient, but I will say this - a smooth join from cable to needle is really critical to success with Magic Loop, otherwise it's a hair-rending experience that makes me dread working on the project.  Addi Turbos = excellent in this regard.  Knitter's Pride Dreamz = surprisingly and disappointingly less so.  I love my Knitter's Pride needles, but the size 1 I bought for this project is snagging just enough to set my teeth on edge and drive me to other pursuits that I can't talk about because they're for a swap too . . .

There was a bit of crochet, though!

I apologize for the terrible, low-light picture; it was taken at the last minute with my phone around midnight, because it was a very last minute project finished around midnight, because for some reason it didn't occur to me until two days before she retired that my lovely coworker Julie would really, really appreciate having something handmade by me.  I sacrificed a skein and a quarter of my precious Lion Brand Amazing yarn (colorway "Pink Sands"), mainly because except for the odd pale olive drab portions, the colors were entirely her, and slightly because I knew the long color repeats would be an easy way to get the most bang for the time I had to spend on it.  The pattern was a fairly easy pick, too - crochet = fast, crochet flowers = pretty and entirely to the taste of the woman I was crocheting for, pattern that looks complicated while in fact being mindlessly simple (without being mindlessly boring) = best bang for time available, and this pattern in particular = extremely well suited to yarns with long color repeats.  She absolutely adored it, and we both enjoyed showing it off to everyone we thought would have the inclination to ooh and awww over the pretty handmade.  I do wish the thought had occurred to me, say, months ago when she announced she would be retiring in October, so that I could have invested more time and money and perhaps knitted her a shawl, but this scarf was made with all my love and good wishes, and that's what I really wanted to give her.  She may not ever know how loathe I was to part with the yarn, but she knows I was thinking of her when I chose it for this project, because I know she loves pink and yellow and blue and color in general, and I hope when she wears it she remembers the many conversations we had about clothes and color (and Silas and babies and recipes and so many other things), and that she feels fabulous because the woman loves to put together a great outfit!

Trying to get back into the groove, UFO Thursday

Hey, remember when I made that resolution to blog more regularly, and then I disappeared for 9 months?  Yes, I did get pregnant, but that's not why I suddenly vanished.  Our internet source vanished, and while there once was a time when I could go to the library and blog while Silas sat behind me on the floor and played with my keys (those halcyon days before he could walk), those days are long gone.

I'm back now, though!  With internet, with a computer, with a camera!

It's Thursday, so that means focusing on the looming pile of unfinished objects that haunts our house.  This week, I actually finished one of them!  The mittens that I started for Silas way back in February.

In my defense, I started them with the intention of his wearing them this fall/winter, so there was no rush, and they were basically done except for the weaving in of ends, sewing on of buttons, and crocheting of the cord.  I finished the knitting in a bit of a rush back in Feb, because in the rush to get out of town for a funeral, Ryan managed to leave the house with the baby without including a jacket, hat, shoes, or mittens (I was at work all day, blithely thinking that surely my husband could think of those things without prompting, since it was February and all . . .).  I had one and a half mittens at that point, and I managed to finish the second the morning of the funeral, so between a blanket, my hat, and a pair of shoes bought at Target on the way to the service (we made another mistake in sending Ryan in to buy the shoes - they were two sizes too small, but by then we were late enough), Silas was at least reasonably covered, even if ornamented with dangling yarn ends and unable to walk.

The pattern is Heart Strings Mittens by Crystal Guistinello.  The blue yarn is Cascade 220 Sport, color Blue Velvet, leftover from the Eleanor Romper that I test-knit for Kate Boswick, which in browsing through back-entries, I find I never blogged about in any depth.  I will have to remedy that soon!  The red yarn is the same Red Ranch Wool-Ease that I used for the cowl of the previous entry.  The pattern called for a simple chain stitch cord, but I wanted a sturdier line, so I slip-stitched back along the length.  The result is a bit like a two-stitch-wide icord, but less fussy to accomplish in my opinion.

I really like the shape of these mittens, nice and round and roomy.  The pattern actually calls for fingering weight yarn, but even having gone up three needle sizes and using a heavier yarn, I don't think the size ended up too far off.  The cord is buttoned on to facilitate tangle-free washing.

The vest was a thrift store find that I just could not pass up for my train-obsessed little boy, though we are not in general supporters of the puffy vest look.