Riddle me this....

How does one manage to misplace a rather large umbrella swift?

I'm sure my husband is involved somehow. Though the cats may be toying with my sanity so that they can later convince me that I haven't fed them yet. Hrm.....I'll keep you posted.

Update: It has been found....lurking in a corner of the office, hiding from little hands. And now some yummy yarn is ready for a new life. There will be pictures once I pull a Frankenstein on the camera battery and bring it back to life.

Renovations

I'm back and I'm making a few changes...as one can see. Expect more in the coming weeks.

And maybe even some post. (oh the horror!)

Today

Happy Birthday to Me.

My present to myself is to go to bed early and fall asleep with a book in my hand. I'll do that once the little dude falls asleep, which just doesn't seem to be happening tonight.

A lovely evening and an FO

Last night I got the little one off to bed in record time. By 7:30 he was bathed and in his jammies. By 7:45 his bottle was empty and he was snuggled with his Piglets and off to dreamland. I, still being fairly awake (I must confess to often going to bed right after him) decided to make a night of it. My love being at work till late, I had the house to myself. I brewed a pot of tea and settled down with my knitting, a purring cat (Loki has finally forgiven me for giving birth to my son), and Pride and Prejudice. The choice of film was to help cleanse the memory of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I read this fall. I had such high hopes for this book and was bitterly disappointed. The Pride and Prejudice was exquisite as always, a book that has a place on my list of books often reread. Zombies...well hard to go wrong there. The ninja aspect, yes I did say ninjas, was pointless, stupid, distracting and just plain idiotic. The illustrations looked like something a 15 year old boy would churn out and were inaccurate period wise. There was such potential and it was a complete letdown. I forced myself to finish it. I'm very glad I didn't waste my money on it (i borrowed it from the library). I had used my Borders gift card months before on a much better choice....I now have my own copy of Dickens' Bleak House.

Anywho...I settled in and set to work on my work scarf. This project was a re-knit as my very industrious son managed to start the process of frogging the original scarf. The scarf was group project from a get-together with ladies from a knitting forum I belonged to years ago. We all brought a skein from our stash and all had a turn knitting on it. At the end of the weekend names were put into a hat and I was the lucky winner. The scarf was knit the long way. The cast on and bind off were a bit tight causing the scarf to curl in an odd manner. I took the unplanned frogging as an opportunity to make the scarf more suitable for work. I needed it to be shorter and without fringe. When it's very cold and they have the doors open, I'll keep my scarf on while I work. It has to be long enough to tie but short enough to stay out of the paint.

This is what I came up with. I knit it the short way with a 2 by 2 rib, left out two of the yarns and didn't reattach the fringe. I purposely went with an asymmetrical look to force myself to break away from my tendency towards rigid symmetry. I don't know if this a new habit of mine but a rut I'd rather not be stuck in. So, nothing spectacular but just what I need to keep me warm. And it's a completed project. That is a feat in itself.

I'm back on the couch again tonight, watching the second half of P&P, Loki napping by my side. I think blogging will override knitting tonight, but I intend to pull together yarn for my next project.

FYI- I updated the other as well too. Check out my time lapse video.

Holy Crap it's a New Year!

When did this happen?!?!?

I think I'm going to follow the path of many out there and say that my new year starts on Monday. I'm off vacation then. It seems more like a new beginning. I'll be going back to a mess of a shop but the opera is finished. It will be a chance to clean up and perhaps do a few of the shop projects on my list. I'm heading into a HUGE show...but that's fodder for another blog. (note to self: update other blog)

I usually count my birthday as the new year but I think Monday is a better day. Wow, 2010. Arthur Clarke was WAY off, wasn't he. But then again I'm reminded of 1984, and we can never be quite sure what year it is. So for the sake of clarity we'll call it 2010.

What are my hopes for this year? Goals? Projects? and dare I say it, Resolutions???
Well, for one, I want to get back to blogging on a regular basis. (I know, I know, when the hell did I ever do this on a regular basis). I'm hoping by doing so I can switch out of Mom mode every so often. Now that the Little Dude is growing more independent, perhaps I can have some time for my own projects and have something to blog about. I also hope to do a little redecorating around my little corner of the blog-o-sphere. It will require me gaining some more computer knowledge (and I have a feeling that will involve a lot of swearing on my part) but I think it's time.

I'm determined to knock of several projects on the to-do list for the house. We've been in stasis for so long on many of them. In the last few months we have done more than in the last year or two. My love put in the new staircase to the basement and took out the old one. The transition for the cats has been slow and arduous, and they still get very confused. I hope to knock off a few big things this year (new roof, switch out the french doors, install the new exterior lights, install the new bathroom faucet, the basement plumbing fiasco). The roof we might not have a choice with, considering I discovered a new water spot on the ceiling yesterday (which I have yet to disclose to the husband). And that's in the newest part of the house. I'm looking at faux slate instead of asphalt shingles. I'm also formulating a plan for a new look for the front door. My time spent on the faux forum and The Steampunk Home have given me quite a few ideas. I also want to finish the decorating in J's room.

My knitting has dropped off in the last year or so and I intend to get back into it. I've been working on a few things here and there. My goal is to work only from stash this year. If I buy yarn it is only to supplement a stash project. I plan to dive headfirst into my stash of sock yarns. I've got some great yarns in there but I've been hesitant to use them. I'm not sure why. I need to move beyond my basic (safety) sock pattern and go for it. (though I do need a few more pairs of my boot socks to get me through the winter. I need enough to get thorough a week of work without having to do laundry)

To find myself a working space. The studio in the basement slipped away from me. (remember the damn orphan cats) Now it's becoming a gaming room, which is fine, but I need a space of my own. Plus my husband has been locking the cats up there at night, which means there is a litter box in there. I've apparently have developed an allergy to something they put in the litter. I can't be around the stuff. If the cats have just been in there, I can't have them on my lap. So the box being in there pretty much means I can't. I think I know where my sanctuary will be but won't say for the moment. My husband has the office. J has much of the rest of the house (oh did I mention he figured out the lock on the baby gates? Smart boy. too smart). I need something.

Where was I....oh there's the usual eat better and exercise. The eating better isn't all that hard. After being pregnant and breastfeeding for so long that has become the habit. I barely drink now either. I was doing well with the exercising until illness and extra jobs (yeah, I've been pulling in a bunch of extra painting jobs-one excuse for the lack of posting) cut into that. Again having a space of my own will help with the exercising. So will it not being winter. Little Dude does keep me going though. Man, he's fast.

Blah, blah, blah. I'm sure there's more but I've got a knitting pattern sitting next to me calling my name. You won't blame me for running off to start it...hey, it will give me something interesting to post about.

I'll leave you with the standard cuteness. (how could I not). You'll see my baby is a little man now.

On Borrowed time

That's what I am on at the moment.

J has decided that he only needs one nap a day (though most of us don't quite agree) so I get far far less done these days. He's faster than ever and his Go-Go-Gadet-Baby-Arms reach higher and higher. I tried explaining to my Mom the other day that I love the candy bowl she sent me, but I have no where to put it. Not, I'm not sure where to put it. Seriously no physical surface to put it on. Everything out of his reach is covered with stuff we want out of his reach. Things slowly move higher and higher in our house and we're running out of higher places to put things. And it doesn't help that I'm short anyway.

Very little knitting has been happening and even less sewing. I started another pumpkin hat for J and what should have taken a day or two is taking weeks. I've been sick for going on two months now but I think I'm seeing the end of that.

It snowed the other day. Snow. Before Halloween. NOT COOL. Kris, I love you, but that's not a good thing. It has been so cold here we haven't been playing outside much. I'm hoping it warms up some the next few weeks so that he can experience the joy of running through and jumping into the leaves. He loves leave. Every time he walks outside he grabs a big oak leaf or two and just walks around with it. They are scattered all over my house and car.

Lots on the work front and the pictures will be going up soon.

Well enough for my break. Back to the grind while he naps.

Next project?

Now that I'm done with the socks I'm trying to pick my next project. I always get stuck at this point.

I may start J's sweater. For this I picked Windsor Tyrolean by Design by Louise. I might wait another month or so to see if a growth spurt hits. He's in a weird place size wise. I've got the main color (the green I just used for the socks) and think I have some stuff in stash for the contrast colors.

I've narrowed down my shawl project to one of these three.
Shetland Triangle
Seraphim Shawl
irtfa'a faroese lace shawl

I like the back panel on the third one. I think I need to spend an afternoon with the yarn and some Jasmine tea to make my decision.

As far as sewing I've only come as far as cutting everything out.

Not much else to say at the moment.

The spirits are not amused

So being a mom has opened a whole new world for me. I am aware of a whole different plane of existence. I am now very aware of which bathrooms have baby changing stations. I shop new aisles at the grocery store and spend a lot more time at kid stores.

In the last several trips to Toys R Us I've noticed a new and disturbing trend. By now most of you know my motto is No Pink Without Skulls. It seems that companies are taking this trend of pink for girls to a whole new level. Almost every toy has a pink "girl" version. Even Tinker Toys. Yes , pink TINKER TOYS!!!! (because girls wouldn't want to build anything unless it was pink) This has even bled over in to the realm of board games. Pink Scrabble and pink Life but what really got me was this:



Seriously? Pink Ouija. Somehow I don't think the spirit world is going to be too keen on this.

Random stuff

This summer hasn't progressed exactly as I had hoped.
Frequent rain and thunder storms thwarted many outdoor plans. Weeds have once again infiltrated and overrun my planting beds. June 26th a tornado went through my town as I was driving to get my son from daycare. It was small and short as tornadoes go, but here in Connecticut we aren't very used to them. We were incredibly lucky. We lost leaves and branches and power for about 24 hours. The hail did a lovely number on my hostas and the rhododendron is several feet shorter. Others were not so lucky. Six houses had to be condemned, one of which was bisected by a tree. Many old and large trees did not survive. Some look like snapped toothpicks, many others toppled, their roots giving away with the wet ground and high winds. Amazingly no one was hurt. I was in the car during the brunt of the storm and was completely terrified. My son, who I was desperately trying to get to, fared much better. While the other kids at daycare were crying during the storm, he was in the jolly jumper bouncing and laughing away. Did I mention he shows signs of being an adrenaline junky?

The Opera job that we do every spring turned out to be a much longer project, cutting into my summer free time. Once that was on the truck, we then took a road trip to visit family. I've learned much on the road with a 10 1/2 month old. I've also gained a new skill...the car seat diaper change which is done while the child is still strapped in and the car still in motion. (note: this only works on pee diapers. Do not attempt on poopy diapers!)

One of the highlights of the summer has been the Green Day concert. I cannot gush enough about this. It is up there with last years NIN concert in the best I've ever seen. The Bravery opened and then Green Day played for THREE HOURS!!!! At one point Billie Joe (*sigh*) pulled a girl out of the audience and had her play guitar on Jesus of Suburbia on his own guitar. I was hoarse and deaf and very, very happy at the end of it all. The concert was a much needed release. It reminded me why I used to go clubbing. There are no good clubs here and now I've got a very active little boy who keeps me rather busy. The whole night just added fuel to the fire of my fan-girl crush on Billie Joe Armstrong. I'm insanely jealous of my friend Lisa who is the head scenic on the theatrical version of American Idiot. If I were only closer...

I have managed to get a bit of knitting done in the midst of work, home improvement projects, and running after my little dude. I finished 3 socks on the road trip; a second sock for my husband and a pair for my physical therapist.



The blue ones are for my husband, who wanted some more warm socks for work. The green ones look much, MUCH better in person. I'm having a hard time photographing them and getting the real color. I'll keep trying. The blue ones are Patons Classic Merino and the green are Cascade 220.



I also made a shower gift for a friend of mine. This picture doesn't include the blue ribbon over the elastic but you get the idea. What I love best about this, besides being a very fast, easy knit, is that the yarn is called Seduce. I find that absolutely perfect for a bridal garter. The pattern is

Courtney's Bit of Blue by Susan Valent. The yarn, Seduce by Berroco.

I've been attempting to do some sewing as well. I'm not making much progress. I'm working on seat covers for shopping carts and restaurant high chairs for the little dude. I've only gotten as far as washing the fabric and cutting it out. Isn't this the best flame fabric you've ever seen though?

I plan on incorporating this into his room with the dragon theme. I think it works as dragon fire.

I want to offer a moment of silence for John Hughes................
His death came as a shock and brought about much discussion and reminiscing. The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Weird Science and Sixteen Candles are among some of my favorite movies and all bring back fond memories of my youth. Ferris Bueller is responsible for my crush on Matthew Broderick.

Most of my time not working is spent babyproofing and chasing the little dude. I should have forseen things with all the movement in utero, but I still wasn't expecting to have a 10 month old who walks. And shortly after his first solo steps he discovered he much prefers to run. Now at 11 months he's increased in speed and experimenting with climbing. The cats, much to their dismay, are of incredible interest. But perhaps they will finally lose some weight. J is a ball of curiosity and laughs. He took great delight in my ball winder, working it quite adeptly. We'll have needles in those hands soon enough.

A dainty dish to set before the King

So I thought I would share a few of the things that have kept me from blogging.

On of the biggest has been J's foray into solid foods. It sounds simple enough but I swear I did less research in the whole of college. There is so much to know about what foods they can have at what age, reactions to look for. We make our own baby food for the most part (except peas. I HATE peas and they are a pain to make so we get that jarred) We are attempting to keep him organic as possible so that has meant some extra hunting for just the right foods. Luckily we have a fabulous local organic farm that does online ordering. They email me a food list, I reply with what I want and then Friday evening I go pick it up. Urban Oaks...check it out. I think more neighborhoods need something like this. A fabulous plan for those empty lots.

This site: Wholesome Baby Food
and this book: Super Baby Food
have been my bibles as well. This is where I've been getting the bulk of my information on what to feed him when, and how to make it. I freeze the food in ice cube trays and thaw them as I need them. It's very convenient and I know what's going into his little body. And so far he's liked everything (though the last few days he's been rejecting the green beans). He's just starting to get the hang of finger foods. We have to give him one Cheerio at at time because it takes great concentration to pick one up. Otherwise they are all over the floor.

I also spend a fair amount of time on the American Pregnancy Association forums. These ladies helped me through my infertility, miscarriage, pregnancy and motherhood. They've been a big help with my early struggles in breastfeeding. I'm not one of those psycho breastfeeding Nazis and I'm not going to lecture here. I will say that it has been one of the most difficult but most rewarding things I have ever done. J has been breastfed from the start and I can proudly say he's never had formula. (not that there's anything wrong with formula feeding. It just is important to me to avoid it if I can. And so far, we have). Here's a few sites that I found immensely helpful in this particular journey:
La Leche League International
Breastfeeding Online
Drug safety during breastfeeding


And now what you've been waiting for with this post...cute messy baby pics.

Holy Crap...a new post!

I figured I'd say it first.

A lot has happened since my last post. Shortly after posting we went through a 3 week run of illness. J had croup and a few cranky days after his 6 month check up vaccines. Then he developed a double ear infection paired with pink eye. My little guy was sweet enough to pass along the pink eye to me, and then I got strep throat. My husband just escaped the strep. It was a yucky horrible time for all. Oh and J cut his first two teeth at the same time.

From there I had to deal with more theatrical fiascos...anywho. Life happened. No posts.

Here I am. With some fiber related content.

Last Saturday was the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool festival. It was a lovely day with my knitting ladies and my little one. Da (as we now call my husband) had to work so the little guy went to his second S&W. (the first was the Connecticut S&W...not much to write about. Didn't buy a thing) Amy brought her little girl who is a few weeks younger than J. They got along swimmingly. He kept trying to hold her hand during lunch, it was the cutest. I have pictures of the day but they are on an actual film camera, which means I need to take them to be developed.

I do have pictures of the yarn I bought...which I believe is the first yarn I've bought in nearly a year. (holy crap indeed). We went to Webs after the festival and I scored some skeins of Cascade 220 for a great price due to the anniversary sale. These are going to be thank you socks for my physical therapist. I also bought the pattern for the Blue Sky Alpaca Audrey Coat. I hemmed and hawed on the pattern but the girls talked me into it. I adore this pattern and hope that I'll actually get enough knitting time in to make it...some

My big score at the actual S&W was some Super Sock from Ball and Skein. I really love their colorways. This one is called Bramble Berry. The picture doesn't do it justice. It is rich and subtle and luminescent. It is destined to be a shawl for me. I have it narrowed down to about eight different choices:
Sagittaria Shawl by Vilma Vuori
Seraphim Shawl by Miriam L. Felton
irtfa'a faroese lace shawl by Anne Hanson
Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark
Spring Things by Susan Lawrence
Pangea Shawl by Sarah-Hope Parmeter
Midsummer Shawl by Renee Leverington
The Clovers by Sylvia Cannizzaro

Any opinions??

OK, that's enough for now.I'm hoping it won't be several months before I post again. Oh and here's some more cuteness...

And the answer is....

Alfred Hitchcock it is!





The resemblance tends only to be there when he's sleeping. At least it is a celebrity I admire. Hitchcock is one of my all time favorite directors. For those of you who don't see it, here is a comparison.









No knitting yet. This evening will be dedicated to packing up and baby-proofing thhe living room. Someone figured out today that he can roll to places, even if he can't crawl yet.

celebrity look alike

So you know how some babies can look like celebrities. Well, J does at times. For example:

This is J sleeping:


Who do you think he looks like? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

No rest for Mom

It has been very crazy here. Work has near imploded due to a putz of a designer, and our household was recently struck with the stomach flu. My love has been working lots of long hours (too bad he's salary) which means I'm on my own with the little dude. That leaves no time for knitting and even less for blogging. So to distract you from my blogging neglect I will blind you with sheer cuteness.

This is important, people!

I'm not one for pushing issues but this is very important.

Due to all the lead laden products coming in from China, especially childrens' toys, our government decided to react. And in typical form it is wide sweeping, over the top, legislation that will kill small business. I'm all for safer products (I won't get on my soapbox about toxic chemicals in everything around us) but to not consider all the small homegrown businesses, especially in this economy, is highly irresponsible. So please click the link and help save the creative people on Etsy and elsewhere.

Learn more here and download a letter to send to your legislators.

when art imitates life

I recently noticed a color theme in my work shoes and the piece I was painting. Apparently I'm in my yellow-orange phase.



Check out more photos and the process of the drop here.

merry christmas to all

Holiday Meme

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Depends on the complexity of wrapping the gift and how late we are to the party.
2. Real tree or Artificial? I love the smell of real but I can't bring myself to murder a tree for mere decoration. Plus we use our fireplace and that's too much of a fire hazard for me.
3. When do you put up the tree? My love won't let me do it before December 1st, so the first chance I get after that. I usually want to do it following Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take the tree down? Depends...some years not until New Years day, some years the day after Christmas
5. Do you like eggnog? Not especially, but I like the rum I thin it with.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I would have to be the year I got my play kitchen. It even had a little water dispenser in the door.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My husband's family
8. Easiest person to buy for? My little brother
9. Do you have a nativity scene? no...I do have the one from my childhood in a box somewhere waiting to be repainted.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail...I usually do handmade too if I can swing it.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? apparently I've blocked it out.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas or Die Hard
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Far later than I should
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? maybe
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? cookies...certain ones only get made this time of year.
16. Lights on the tree? Yes. All one color or separate strands of single color. I abhor multi-color lights on a single strand.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Traditional: Silent Night
Parody: Twelve Pains of Christmas
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? It depends
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? yes
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning...after tea, before breakfast.
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Being a child of divorce the fighting over visiting who when and the fact that it seems everyone dies this time of year.
22. Favorite ornament theme or color? Blue and white/crystal
23. What do you want for Christmas this year? I don't know.
24. Angel on the tree top or a star? Really cool vintage star that has spinning color action.
25. Favorite Christmas dinner? Goose or Roast beef of some sort.

What we've been up to...

I did finally finish the Baby Yoda Sweater. I had to sew the sleeves in twice. Next time I'd make the sleeves shorter. The yarn is Moda Dea Washable Wool. I scored a bunch of it on clearance at JoAnn's a while back.


This is the Sally Melville scarf that I knit as a thank you for my doula. I couldn't have gotten through the birth without her. It's knit out of Berroco Comfort. I liked this pattern so much that I'm knitting myself one out of some lone Malabrigo in my stash.













And I finally did something about my hair. Saturday was spent at the Angry Chair going from this:


to this:


What you really can't see in this photo is the purple hilights. Yes, I finally dyed my hair purple and I love it. I also got a job out of the trip. I'm going to be repainting the salon and they're giving me free reign.

And if you didn't notice in the picture above my little one is wearing his NIN onesie made by Jenny.












And because he's just too cute here he is in his skeleton sweats (thank you Rachel and Jack).

Inspiration

I'm almost done with the Yoda Sweater. I'm in the process of seaming it at the moment. I hope to have it finished tonight.

My husband directed me to this YouTube video and it completely blew me away. I love John Williams...I really wanted to walk down the aisle to one of his pieces but the priest was not so keen on that. My old priest, who died several years ago, would have loved it. But anywho, enjoy and then wrap your mind around how much work this must have taken.