5 things I have been up to lately

I can’t believe how little time I have had lately.  So, this will probably be a long post.  There is a lot going on in my life.

1. CB’s testing and such: We had CB’s EEG last week.  The neurologist was really surprised by the results. We suspected that CB was having absence seizures a couple times a week. It turns out that it is more like a couple times a day (and when he is tired or stressed, a couple times an hour).  He is now on meds. We have already noticed a difference after one week. He is more focused. He is also sleeping a lot more (and really well).  We have an MRI in December.  That will determine if there is any neurological cause for all his right side weakness. In the meantime, we will be starting physical therapy on Friday.  Everyone has expected me to be very upset about the results. So far, I just feel a real sense of peace.  CB is happy and healthy. He has absence epilepsy, but no delays as a result and it seems like the meds will work. He is growing and is cute as a bug. I couldn’t ask for a better kid. We are just trusting in God that this is all part of the plan.  On a very positive note, CB has started calling me “mama”!!  Until last week, he called me “this” if he was talking to me or “that” if he was talking about me.  He called his pacifier “mama”.  It was a little strange to hear him say, “Love you, This.”  Last week, he started calling me “moi moi” (think French pronunciation). Just last night, he finally converted that to “mama” (so now it is confusing…sometimes he wants me and sometimes he is asking for his paci).  It is so nice to hear, “Love you, mama” at night!

2. On the knitting front, I have been working like crazy on Christmas gifts (when I get a chance). I have done some more afghan squares (all are pictured in my projects on Ravelry).  I am currently waiting on the final Knitpicks order for the yarn. Once I get that, I should be able to blaze through the squares to get caught up (I hope)!

3. I got a great package from my pal in the Flat Rate Box Swap!  It had two skeins of Classic Lite Alpaca yarn, two skeins of Palette, a skein of Sockotta, and a skein of Baby Cashmerino.  She also included a pumpkin dishcloth (which CB loves, and keeps him from whining about having his face washed). I also received cocoa, two kinds of coffee, cinnamon bears, and Good n’ Plenty.  My pal, Shannon, included things for the kids too. There was some ribbon for their scrapbooks, a little book for CB, an activity book for LB, and stickers for their scrapbooks.  She also included honey from her local market (that is my littlest one’s hand reaching for the bear), soap from her local market, candles (that smell so good!), a circular needle perfect for two at a time socks, stitch markers (the kind I was going to buy myself, but could never justify it), stationary, and a calendar!  It was a very full box!!  Here is a link to a post about it with pictures.

4. I have also been very busy with church.  We are putting on a Kid’s ministry program the first Sunday of every month. I am the team leader for the greeters. I am also the contact person for the volunteers for our church (we are doing the ministry with three other churches).  That hasn’t been too bad.  I am also in charge of the planning for our annual Halloween carnival, Halloweenival (clever, huh).  It has been hectic planning, but it is all starting to come together.

5. Lately, I have really been focused on the homeless.  As some of you know, during law school, I worked in the Homeless Legal Rights Unit in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale legal aid.  Homelessness is a big issue for me (my pet issue if you will).  When I moved north and took this job, it kind of went on the back burner.  Lately, every conversation, every new person I meet, everything I do seems to put me into contact with the issue again.  Our community no longer has an emergency shelter.  Right now, I am working with some other members of the community to see what can be done about that.  In knitting related news, I decided to open a chapter of Warming Families here.  The North Florida Chapter is officially open and accepting donations! I am really excited to be doing this small thing to help the community!

Well, that is what I have been doing with my time!  I will try to be better at posting as things slow down (which I hope is really soon!)!!

 

Christmas Spirit

It is September. That can only mean one thing this year.  That’s right…all Christmas knitting all the time.  I am in the Christmas spirit. I have been working on Christmas dishcloths, Christmas tribbles, Christmas laundry soap, Christmas blankie squares, and a Christmas scarf!  I have gotten a couple more dishcloths done. I have also gotten a couple of tribbles done. These will go in baskets with some “kitchen” goodies (measuring cups, hotpads, etc).  I also found a great recipe for laundry soap, so I have been making batches of that to give away in pint jars!  My laundry soap is 1 Bar of Kirk’s Castille soap finely grated, 2 c. washing soda, 2 c. baking soda, 3 c. Borax, and a small amount of fragrance (about 30 drops).  It smells wonderful and cleans better than anything I have ever tried. It is also diaper safe (a big deal in our house).

In working on the Christmas blankie squares I have learned a new skill.  Cabling.  I haven’t just learned to cable, but I have discovered that I hate cable needles.  I learned to cable without a cable needle!  I feel so daring!  The May square was my first attempt at cabling. I decided that I was not brave enough to cable without a needle.  I fumbled with the needle for two really badly done repeats. I decided that there had to be a better way. I had only ever seen cabling without a needle where you drop the stitches you would normally put on the cable needle, knit the others, and then pick up the dropped stitches. I decided I just wasn’t that daring.  Then I saw some reference to doing it the way that is described in the Confessions of a Knitting Heretic.  Well, I just got the book. I looked up how she did it.  Taking the example of a 4 stitch cable, she takes the first two stitches and slips them to the right hand needle. Then she knits the next two stitches. Then she puts her needle into the two slipped stitches (into the front if the stitches were to be held in front or into the back if they were to be held in back). She then slips all four stitches off of the right needle.  The two slipped stitches are now on the left needle. The other stitches are “dropped”. You then pick them up on the right needle.  They don’t hang out there. They are only off of a needle for a few seconds. That didn’t seem so dangerous.  I tried it out, and discovered that I love to cable that way!  For some reason, it is much neater and easier for me.  Not to mention that I don’t risk losing the cable needle. I ripped the first cables I tried and started over. The square came out great.

I have now done three cabled squares without the cable needle. It is making me feel so clever and daring (and as you know, that always makes me love a technique…when it makes me feel smart)!!  I am so glad I waited to do the May and July squares until after I bought that book.  I am thinking of writing an ode to Annie Modesitt since she has so transformed my knitting (or maybe that would just be weird)!!

I also got a great present in the mail, which made me think it was Christmas for a day!  I got my package for the Reducio 7 swap.  Included were a lovely little Hufflepuff sock, a travelling bag (which is lined and has a little bumblebee sewn into the lining…my pal’s patronus to protect against lost items), a train whistle, and some candy. It also had the Ribbit pattern, yarn, and a tennis ball to make a cute little frog!!  She did such a fantastic job on the package!!

 

Monkey See

I have two FOs. The first is the scarf for my niece.  It is double stranded sock yarn knit on size 8s.  It was very easy and went very fast. I love this pattern!  I have started a second of the same pattern for my niece, Marcie.  I am nearly half way done with it even though I started less than a week ago.

I also finished the monkey for CB’s birthday!  It came out really, really cute.  He is so cuddly. I think that CB is going to love him.  I am going to do another for my nephew for Christmas.  They are easy. If I wasn’t working on other projects, I could have gotten it done very quickly.  Here is a side view that gives you a view of the tail:

I also received my Loopy Ewe Sock Club installment for September. Here is the yarn:

It is Wollmeise in Guide to the Galaxy. It is really pretty.  Of course, it came with a pattern and goodies too.  The goodies are sheep notecards, a clear case for supplies, and a pattern.

 

Of scarves, monkeys, and kidlets

I finished my CNE scarf a few days ago. This is a scarf that will go to one of my nieces for Christmas.  It is made of the yarn I dyed using Easter egg dye left over from our eggs this year.  It is very bright.  I really like the pattern, but the project seemed to take forever. It was knit on size 3 needles with fingering weight yarn. I suppose that is why. If I were to knit it again, I think I would use larger needles.  The pattern was easy to memorize. I also have a fondness for seed stitch, and this scarf has a seed stitch border.  I don’t know why, but I love knitting seed stitch!

After I finished the scarf, I cast on a Monkey 2.0 for CB for his birthday. He turns two at the end of September.  We are trying to wean him from his paci, but I really feel like he needs a comfort/security item to replace it. He loathes blankets, so that is out.  I think he will love the monkey.  The pattern for this monkey is really clever. It eliminates a lot of the sewing by being knit in the round.  I really am enjoying knitting this. I also think this yarn is completely perfect for this project. This is the Kindred Spirits yarn I got in the first Flat Rate Box Swap.  It is supposed to be fair isle/stripey yarn. In the legs of the monkey, it has almost a “galaxy” effect (like the Regia Galaxy yarns).  Also, the legs and body all started in exactly the same point of the color repeat.  I could not have done this on purpose so perfectly if I had tried.  It is such a fun, happy accident.  This monkey is going to be very, very cute.  I also love that it is knitting up really, really fast.  I am thinking that I may do one for my nephew for Christmas since I hadn’t decided what to make him.  I may also do one for LB for his birthday (late December).

I have also started another new scarf (another Christmas present for another niece).  I decided to make it out of the Spritely Goods that I got in a trade some time ago. The colors just scream to be made into something for this particular niece.  I decided to knit the One Row Handspun Scarf by the Yarn Harlot.  I doubled the yarn and am knitting it on size 8 needles.  It is a huge relief after knitting the previous scarf. It is knitting up so fast!  Part of that is the completely addictive nature of the pattern.  A row doesn’t take long. I can’t seem to knit a single row. I keep saying, “Just one more…ok, just one more…maybe one more…”  I am enjoying this pattern (and how quickly it is knitting up) so much that I may do another for my last niece.  I just have to check the yardage on the yarn I have for her.

I am actually pretty surprised at how much knitting I have gotten done over the last week or so.  We have been dealing with a lot of kid stuff.  LB started pre-K this morning. We have been trying to prepare him for the last week or so for the change in routine. I am not sure why we worried so much. He is such an easygoing kid. He adapts to new situations with amazing ease.  I actually cried a little when I dropped him off. He started by telling me that I didn’t need to take him into the building. Thankfully, they require that parents sign their children in, so I had a really good excuse to go in with him.  He went in and started playing immediately.  I spoke to the teacher briefly, and then told LB I was leaving.  He said, “Bye, Mom” without even looking up from his toys. I said, “Can I maybe get a hug and kiss before I leave?”  He heaved a huge, long suffering sigh, and then gave me the fastest kiss and hug on record before returning to his toys. I got all teary eyed and looked at the teacher. She said, “He will be ok, mama.”  I said, “I know. I think that is why I am crying!”  I couldn’t believe how big and independent he seemed!

We have also been dealing with some health stuff with CB. While we were in Wyoming, my mom asked me, “So, how long has CB been walking like that?”  I had no idea what she was talking about. I turns out, he walks with his head tilted.  I never noticed.  She had to point it out and tell me it wasn’t normal.  Then, CB had one of his “spacing out” spells. Sometimes he just spaces out.  My mom noticed and tried to get his attention. She couldn’t.  She asked me how often he does that. I had no idea because we leave him alone when he spaces out. We have always just assumed that he was such an internal child that he just needed space sometimes. We thought he was just very good at tuning us out, so we don’t really try to get his attention when he does it.  My mom was very disturbed by it. She suspects that he is having absence seizures.  At first, she told me just to mention it at his next appointment at the end of September.  After thinking about it and considering that his head is abnormally large, my mom asked me to call the doctor immediately. The doctor diagnosed CB with mild torticollis (for the “tilt” when he walks). He is going to start physical therapy (again). She also expressed concern about the possibility of absence seizures combined with his head size. She decided to send him for an EEG and neurology appointment. I spent all week setting all the various appointments up (in between court, office appointments, jail visits, and all the other mom stuff I do).  All the appointments are spread out over the next month.   As I said, it amazes me that I got any knitting done at all!

 

Random things on my mind

I haven’t been posting a lot, but I have had a lot I have thought about posting.  Here are just a few things that I have been doing and have been on my mind.

1. I did the third January square. I am on target with my Christmas knitting right now. I have been thinking a lot about my next scarf project, but I want to finish my shawl first.

2. I am on the 13th pattern repeat of my shawl. I was almost done with the repeat when I dropped a stitch. I really couldn’t see where it was dropped. I just knew I was missing one. I ended up having to pull back to my lifeline (inserted at the beginning of the pattern repeat). I am so happy I am using lifelines!! I  am still trying to decide if I am going to do 15 pattern repeats or more.  I can’t tell how big the shawl will be when it is blocked.  I may do 20. I don’t think I could make it too big, but I would hate to make it too small!

3. At Christmastime, we tried LB on dairy again.  He didn’t react.  We then had CB tested for allergies. We learned that he had also outgrown his dairy allergy. Right now, we are dietary restriction free! It is such a wonderful feeling not to have to worry about labels and monitor food all the time.  Unfortunately, LB doesn’t like most dairy items.  He went for four years without them. He just never developed a taste for them.  We are working on getting him to eat more dairy.  CB, on the other hand, has started gaining and growing like crazy now that he can eat dairy (and drink milk).

4. I have been a single mom this week. DH was in Orlando all week. I don’t know how single moms do it!  My kids slept terribly all week. I am so exhausted!  DH is going to take them for some time on Saturday so that I can catch up on sleep!!

5. CB is teething. He also has a yeast rash on his little bum (due to teething). He is a cranky baby!  He has also started biting.  He would be a holy terror if not for being such a cuddle bug!  I can’t wait for this stage to pass, but I hope the need for hugs and kisses doesn’t go with it. He is too cute when he is soooo cuddly.

6. I started Weight Watchers in January. I weighed the same as I did when I delivered CB (which is way more than is healthy).  Since then I have lost 15 lbs. I am now at my pre-CB weight and in my pre-CB pants.  I have a long way to go, but I am definitely happy. My reward…maybe some Malabrigo. I am heading to Hanks on Saturday!

7. Paperback Swap: It is a website where you can exchange paperbacks with people all over the US.  You post your books. People request them. For every book you send, you get a credit that you can use to request books from others. I have a ton of paperbacks and love to read. I love this site!

8.  I listen to podcasts all the time. One of these days, I am going to list all the podcasts that I listen to with a brief “why I like it” blurb.  Keep an eye on the Pages for that list!

9. My new church. We started going to a new church in June. We feel so loved and accepted there! I absolutely love it. I am the Kids program director. The pastor and his wife are our age (early 30s). They have two girls very close in age to our kids (5 and 3).  We feel very loved and supported there.

10. I am getting something new tonight!  I will post about it tomorrow, but I am super excited.  It is not yarn related.  Can you guess?

 

Yarn and a yarny book

Last weekend, I got a wonderful package in the mail.  My order from Knitpicks came in!  I wanted to post about it, but I had a trial this week.  I got three skeins of the Merlot Heather Swish yarn for the February Square.  I have two of the squares done and the third started.  The February Square will be the same on all three blankets (unlike the January Squares…they are all different).  It was another really simple pattern.  Incidently, the squares are supposed to come out 11 x 11.  Mine are all 9 x 9. I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t be consitent, but they are!

The other new thing that came was a book…It Itches! by Franklin Habit of the Panopticon.  It was wonderful!  I laughed really hard.  My DH looked at a few and thought that they were very funny (he is a non-knitter). He kept saying, “This is so you!” If you can get your hands on it, do!  I am keeping it in my knitting side table. I keep picking it back up.

 

Lots of FOs

I have been participating in the Reducio Swap on Ravelry. When I went on hiatus, the group was taken over by some very enthusiastic knitters. They have kept it going wonderfully, so I get to just be a participant (how fun!)!!  This is one of my favorite swaps.  I got my package from my pal.

Do you see all the goodies?  There is a mini-sock (I was in Slytherin this time), a snail, a slug, tea, drinking chocolate, chocolate bars, M&Ms, scrapbooking stickers, Fort Dodge Magazine (which my pal does much of the photography and writing for), a scrapbooking calendar, and a cat toy.  There are also scraps for my blankie. It is yarn that she dyed herself and the socks she knit with the yarn got second place in the state fair!  What a cool memory.

Here is a close up of the “Care of Magical Creatures” themed knits (just ignore the dirty window sill):

I have also been doing some knitting for my own pal.  I made a mini-sock for my Slytherin pal.  It is using the Knit Picks Essential sock yarn (so soft). 

For my Care of Magical Creatures item, I made a dragon. He is supposed to be a finger puppet, but he came out small.  Now he is a “wand pal” (or a pencil pal or a knitting needle pal).  He is pictured on a knitting needle.

I have also gotten two January Squares done. These are part of Hanks 2009 Year of the Afghan.  I plan to do three squares a month.  For Christmas, these will be gifts for DH, CB, and LB.  I have ordered some more yarn to make the third square for January and the three February squares.  As soon as the yarn gets here, I will get caught up.  I am making these with Knit Picks Swish Worsted. I love this yarn!  It is super, super soft.  I also like the colors.  It is a pleasure to work with.

I made a mistake on the blue square. It has a repeat over 6 rows instead of 8.  As a result there are 10 repeats (instead of 7). I think I like the green one better.  They both came out about 9×9 instead of 11×11.  I am going to wait to do any blocking until I have a few more squares done.  I want to see if the squares for the other months will be the same size or larger.

 

Mom’s birthday stuff

Friday, I had to take the kids to the doctor (just their well checks).  Afterwards, we went to Jo-Ann’s. I needed some cord and a cord stop for my little bag that I made. I also decided to get more fabric since they were having a big sale.  More bags for more WIPs!

After that, we went to Hanks to meet Hank and pick up some soap. My mom’s birthday is today and she loves the handmade soap from Hanks. LB was fascinated by Hank. He talked about him all the way home.  I put the soap in my purse, and now my purse smells lovely!!

When I got home, I decided to make my mom a bath puff.  I had looked at some of the patterns, but hadn’t done one because my crochet is not so advanced.  I finally took a good look at a pattern and realized how easy they are.  I used the Pricilla’’s Crochet pattern.  It took me about 3 hours to do.  It would have gone faster if I could keep count.  It would also have gone faster if I didn’t have to keep setting it down (kids…they can really interrupt a lot, even after they are supposed to be in bed).  I love this bath puff!  It is so soft!  I also love that it is quick, easy, and inexpensive to make.  Even greater, it is machine washable.  DH is begging for one in “man colors” now.

It took just one skein of kitchen cotton to make a puff the same size as the 99 cent ones at Wal-Mart.  Of course, this puff is nicer and won’t fall apart in a month (and it can go in the washing machine).  The color in the picture isn’t very true, but that is what happens when you take pictures at night. The color is actually a deep wine color.  I can’t wait to get it sent out to mom.

I am thinking I am going to whip a bunch of these up for birthdays for my secretaries this year.  I may also make up some homemade shower gel to go with them (still deciding on making it or just buying).

 

A little of this and that

This is sort of a catch up post. I have had a lot of things on my mind and have done a lot of things, but haven’t had time to post it all. I am just going to put it all in one post.

1. The Sock-it-to-me scarf for my niece is completed. This will be a Christmas present and has gone into the Christmas Present Box.  I got the yarn (Trekking XXL) in a swap. It is not exactly my kind of colorway, but it is perfect for my niece. She is going to go crazy over the scarf!  The yarn was scratchy to knit with, but it softened nicely after blocking.  The pattern is a really easy pattern (from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders). The only thing that I don’t like is that you kitchener the two pieces together. I love doing kitchener stitch. That isn’t the problem. I just don’t like how it looks with this patterned yarn.  I think I should have gone a little farther into the yarn to a solid color. I might have liked it a bit better.

2. DH’s Panopticon Monkeymen socks are coming along.  The pattern is so similar to the Monkey socks, that I had it totally memorized before I finished the first repeat (I am doing the version with purls).  The only difference is yarn overs are replaced by make ones.  I really love the colorway too! It is amazing. The striping is my favorite part. The photo was taken indoors with no flash, so it is blurry.  That is what happens when it gets cold and rainy here…no outdoor photos.  Despite the really bad photo, you can see the cool stripe effect!  The Lorna’s is so soft too.  I really, really love this yarn.  By the way, these socks are knitting up super fast despite being really big!  DH will never get plain, vanilla socks again. Patterned socks are so much more fun and so much quicker!

3. I got to go on a Girl’s Night Out this weekend!!  I went to a bridal shower. Afterwards, several of the girls were going to the movies.  I haven’t seen a movie in a theater since LB was 2 months old. I haven’t been on a girl’s night out since law school (at least 6 1/2 years ago).  I had a blast. We saw Bride Wars.  It was cute.  The best part was hanging out with some girl friends.  I really, really need to do more of that. I have been fairly isolated since moving here after law school. All of my friends have been male or “work friends”.  I didn’t realize how much I missed having girl friends until recently.

4. It is cold.  Admittedly, not the kind of cold that I experienced growing up in Wyoming.  That kind of cold is intolerable!  However, it is cold for Florida.  There was frost on the ground this morning.  Things were frozen (fortunately not our pipes as we ran a tiny bit of water last night).  I hate cold.  That is why I moved to Florida!  I miss it at Christmas time. This weather would have been welcome then (instead it was 80 degrees on Christmas day). I am seriously thinking I need a scarf and some mittens, but I want them now.  Unfortunately, by the time they would be knit, I wouldn’t need them. I am putting knitting a scarf and mittens (or maybe some handwarmers) on my calendar this fall so that I will have them for the next time it gets cold.  Today, I am wearing my first monkey socks.  They are warm. I am sure it is a horrible fashion faux pas as they don’t really match what I am wearing, but I don’t care.  I wanted warm feet. Only handknit wool socks will do when it is cold!

5. My shawl is coming along (although I don’t have new pictures). I finished another repeat last night (7 repeats are done).  The pattern calls for 10, but I am thinking I may want around 15 repeats.  It is so wonderful to work with. The silk content makes the yarn so soft!  The only thing I wish is that my needles were sharper (I am dying for the Harmony options).

6. I am not going to talk about yesterday, other than to say that it was a really terrible day in court.  I really dislike being in front of a certain judge.  Court drags and this judge treats me very badly.  I had court with that judge yesterday.  It sucked.  I couldn’t wait to get home and knit. I handle stress so much better with knitting.  I think I am going to claim a medical necessity and ask to knit in court. If all else fails, I could stab myself in the eye with my needle to make the day less painful (just kidding…although I really think that might be less painful sometimes).

 

WIP update

I have several works in progress right now.  The first is Shay’s scarf for next Christmas.  I finished the knitting, kitchnered the two pieces, and wove in the ends.  It is blocking right now.  The picture above is unblocked. The picture below is while being blocked.

I have made some progress on my shawl too. I have completed 6 repeats. I am thinking that I will need around 15 pattern repeats to get the size that I want.  Here are a couple pictures. Lace doesn’t look like much in progress (mostly it looks like a blob of string). It is still pretty cool. I love the yarn colors.  I wish I could really get a good picture. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get a really true picture.

I am also making progress on dishcloths. I have half of another one done. I haven’t taken any pictures of that. I also cast on for DH’s socks.  There isn’t really anything to photograph…yet.  I will post pictures soon. DH and I are both excited. I love the yarn. The color transitions are so beautiful.