Has it been a whole month? I hardly remember the projects I mentioned in the last post. Well, I remember the amigurumi goldfish. I've now finished three of them, but can only show you the second one, knit in Lamb's Pride (I think), with sewn eyes because I couldn't find safety eyes:






Feeling slightly guilty, and much taken with the fun of crochet, I made a cupcake purse for Baby Girl from another Amy Gaines kit:



The only modification I made was to tie the drawstring ends together without the beads. Baby Girl is only 2-1/2 (although she thinks she's 4), and has a definite tendency to put things in her mouth. She's enjoyed the purse and has used it to carry her toy animal figures around (she likes them in pairs: "I need two for a family," she tells me). Boy M tried to poach it, so now Mom is knitting him a Buddy Bag.

The only downside to all this crochet: I've hurt my left shoulder. I think it's from having to manipulate the stuffed fish body while trying to crochet the last few rounds of decreases. But I'm done with fish for a while. I've actually cast on a new project, Blue Sky Alpacas' Eyelet Cardigan. I was on gauge right out of the box--shocker!--and made it too far into the pattern before I checked ravelry and found alltangledup's modifications which make a lot of sense. I'm just going with the pattern and trying not to think about it. I also can't make the sweater longer, since I raided Mom's stash for the yarn, and only have 4 skeins. I'm just hoping for the best!

I brought my unfinished Summer Solstice sock with me for the big friends' 40th birthday trip to Las Vegas. Tons o' fun, Vegas is! Good food, great company. A little Cirque du Soleil--Ka is amazing!--and my first try at gambling! I should just light the money on fire, though I was only $11 down. I didn't get to knit much, maybe a little on the return flight--my favorite airport experience was when the TSA guy, while contemplating whether I was going to be allowed to keep my metal KnitPicks dpns, asked me, "are you going to take them out during the flight?" To which I replied, "Well, yes, if I'm going to knit." He let me pass. I guess I didn't look that dangerous.

The boys' 4th birthday party was fabulous fun and went off without a hitch. Now we're on a school break, and we're trying to keep busy all day long. Fortunately, we have excellent, almost-summer weather, which keeps us outside all day long. The plus side is that the kids are totally knocked out at bedtime; the downside is that I'm also knocked out, which is not good for project progress. Did I mention that in the past two weeks, Baby Girl has come into her two-ness?

March Madness

Ever since college, March Madness always hit hard. I went to Duke, and Duke won its first Men's Basketball National Championship my senior year. Need I say more?

Although I never imagined that my March Madness would turn into what it is today. The triplets turned 4 (!) last week, so we spent the week celebrating--loads of fun but exhausting! And the first official birthday party with friends is happening next week...I have to wrap up those last details.

Also, last March nearly killed me with everyone, not just the kids, but everyone, being so sick. We're holding our own on that front. In comparison to last March, the stomach virus was a blip on the radar. And for more excellent news, we were at the pulmonologist today, and he reported that the boys seem to be outgrowing their asthma. Hooray! Though I'm not sure how long it will take me to outgrow the fear and dread that strikes each time someone starts coughing.

My knitting has been...neglected? I'm not sure that's the right word. I've been describing my situation as "Knitting Malaise." I'm dissatisfied with pretty much everything I've got on the needles. That's no mean feat: I have 3-4 pairs of socks in progress; a knitted doll that I picked up at Stitches East intending to make it for Baby Girl for the holidays, and am shooting to finish it for her birthday at the end of the summer; a Clapotis; a Tulip baby sweater; the Blue Sky Alpaca Cropped Sweater that I frogged and need to re-swatch (not that gauge was the problem); the Decadent Fibers baby blanket that I bought at Stitches two years ago and had to basically re-write the pattern; and, I'm sure there are others that are just not coming to mind. I was doing well with the Rockin' Sock Club Serendipity sock, but I'm not sure if the sock is too tight, I'm turning the heel and have messed up the short row wraps a few times, plus I think something in the stitch pattern may have hurt my arm, or maybe that was just the chair I was sitting in. I find myself toting around 6 or 7 projects but not even working on them, instead, I'm reading knitting blogs and cruising Ravelry. Or I find myself at the end of the day being just too tired to do anything without totally messing up the project, such as wraps on a short row heel.

But on Sunday, when I found myself at my mom's for several hours without a project, I raided her stash for something to cast on--thereby breaking my unvoiced intention for the year to not cast on a new project until I finished something on the needles. Instead of palming some cashmere, or one-of-a-kind handpainted fabulousness from her mini-yarn store, oops, I mean stash, I went for...crochet. Amigurumi, to be exact. This Amy Gaines goldfish, but a kit.

The goldfish is, obviously, adorable. The kit is so cute--it comes in a Chinese food takeout carton with yarn, safety eyes, fiberfill, sewing needle and a crochet hook. The pattern is clearly written and gauge seems to be irrelevant--great for a "jump in blindly" project. It's load of fun, except for the incredible splittiness of the yarn, which means I crochet really slowly. But there's plenty of room for forgivable mistakes. Like not weaving in the yarn tail from the beginning ring of the body. And mildly understuffing the body. And putting the safety eyes in asymmetrically. And sewing the tail on horizontally instead of vertically (mental note: check placement of eyes before sewing tail to body in order to determine proper alignment). And the best part...Boy E keeps asking if he can have it, and the other boys want one too. I guess I'm not doing that badly.

So, because I need to look at the fish to crochet it, I decided to rustle up a project I could work on while watching Dancing With the Stars, the last element of my March Madness. It's my number one guilty pleasure! So while the children were watching the Curious George movie, I re-swatched and cast on the Decadent Fibers Creme Puff jacket--I purchased the pattern from the Decadents at Stitches this past year, and the yarn from Karida at Neighborhood Fiber Co. It's superbulky--2 sts/inch on US 17. Maybe I can finish it relatively quickly and still wear it before it's seriously warm out. But I found a typo in the gauge: it said 2 sts/inch, 9 sts/4 inches. I did the math based on the finished dimensions and found that it is definitely 2 sts/inch. The directions for the back are a little confusing so I'm kind of revising them and hoping for the best. I'm knitting in the waist shaping and am hoping it works out. If not, and I have to rip it out, at least I'll feel that I only spent a few days knitting it instead of months. Oh, and in finding the link, I'm noticing that the Decadent's yarn does not seem to be thick and thin like the yarn I'm using. But my sister the style maven and Karida both thought it would work, so we'll see. Otherwise, I'll have to do some sort of pullover, but I'm not there yet. And as an extra treat, I'm using the perfect tote that I received in a swap from KaKi.

Hopefully, I'll get the knitting back on track. If not, it may be time to finish a sock monkey blanket from the Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet that I made about two years ago. I just have to seam the squares, which is ridiculously easy and fast, and crochet a few sock monkey faces. Mom needs to help me with that part, though. I've also been thinking of getting Babette out of storage, which, now that I see it's from the Spring 2006 Interweave Crochet, means that it's been in progress since Spring 2006. Oh boy. Did I mention that I have a Mountain Colors sweater in progress upstairs in storage in the attic? And that I bought it at the first Stitches show I attended in, oh, 1996 or so? Let's not go there.

Vacation? Did anyone say vacation?

Yeah, that was me. I got a stomach virus instead...for the whole family (except my husband--the one time working all the time actually works out). My parents won't even come over--and I agree with that. Yesterday, Mom was at Barnes & Noble and picked up some things for the kids and said she was going to drop them off at the front door. I asked, "What? Are you going to ring the bell and run?" And sure enough, the bell rings, my husband opens the door (I'm snoozing in bed) and I hear Mom shouting to him from the car in the road. We're set back at least 50 feet from the road! Seriously!

It started with Baby Girl in the middle of the night on Monday. The most plaintive and unusual cry of "Mommy" at 2:30 a.m., so perplexing to me that I went running in without my glasses. I can't see without my glasses. Pretty much blind. Really. So in my half-asleep and blind state, I made the mistake of reaching into the crib without looking. Enough said. Five minutes later, I had her in the bath. She was better by Tuesday night, and we were all in the clear until Thursday night, when I was felled by the bug. I spent the night on my cold, cold, tiled bathroom floor. I came to in the morning with blocks of ice for feet (mental note: when feet become ice, try sportweight instead of fingering weight hand-knit wool socks) and back and knee pain. I croaked to my husband, "You must stay home today." He took care of school drop-off and pick-up. Fortunately, I had an extra babysitter Friday afternoon, and my nanny was pre-scheduled to stay through Saturday morning because my husband had a meeting and I was supposed to make up my last sewing class. (Oh well, looks like I'm teaching myself how to sew a tote bag.) The bug hit Boy E at 4 a.m. on Saturday, Boy J at 9 a.m. on Saturday, and Boy M at 10:30 p.m. Saturday night. I am an expert at late-night bath. And the saddest part: Boy M had missed me so, he was happy to be sick and getting a bath alone with me at 10:30 at night. That is, he was happy until he got sick again. And again. And again.

The good news is everyone is on the mend and is bouncing back better than me. Unfortunately, I have to be off my GI meds until Friday, and I have to call my primary care doctor to see when to restart my antibiotics for the burgeoning sinus infection I was so proud about nipping in the bud last Monday.

Suffice it to say, I don't have any knitting content to report. I just have not been up to knitting, for obvious reasons. I did catch up on my blogging today, though, and just bought this awesome sock kit at Unwind thanks to Lime & Violet's Daily Chum:

“The Red Thread” refers to this Chinese proverb:

“An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet,
regardless of time, place, or circumstance.
The thread may stretch or tangle,
but it will never break.”

Those simple lines have come to be the heartstone of many families adopting children from China.

The owners of Unwind apparently adopted their daughter from China, and 20% of the retail price will be donated to an organization that provides training for orphanage workers in China. How could I resist?

And for Lici: Yo Gabba Gabba is on Nick Jr. at 11:30 a.m. (I think) and this weekend was starting on Noggin (I didn't catch the time for obvious reasons). We TiVo it on Nick Jr., and my only issue is that the TiVo captures commercials, real commercials, which I don't like the kids to watch; there's no real commercials on Noggin (I don't count sponsorship messages or commercials for other Nick Jr./Noggin shows). Also, I may be taking liberties, but check my comments and email the Minister of Sparks and Lightning if you want to be on the blogger email list.

And for the rest of my day...

So, by about 2:30 p.m. yesterday, I was mostly recovered from my gym experience--still freaked out by it, but pretty comfortable I wouldn't pass out on the three-minute trip to pick up the triplets at nursery school at 3 p.m. I left the house at 2:50 so I wouldn't be rushed and to account for high-school traffic (it's about halfway between my house and nursery school), and as I drive down my street, I'm muttering to myself about all those reckless high-schoolers speeding down our side street and swerving out of the middle of the road (again, feeling old, but this time, not in a bad way). As I'm sitting at the stop sign opposite the high school driveway, looking right and waiting to make my right turn, I hear the punch of a collision and look up to see a white car hurtling toward me. I was speaking to my mother on speakerphone and shouted, "There's an accident, I have to go" and braced myself for the collision with my car which, fortunately, did not happen. What did happen is that the teenager in the white car shot out across the main road and did not see oncoming traffic and was broadsided.

I called 911 and then debated whether to hop out of the car or try to get to nursery school on time. I checked on the teenager, she was crying, on the phone with her mother, and the driver in the car behind her was sitting with her. I told her I called the police already and head back to my car, only to see a very elderly lady, limping, get out of the other car. Fortunately, she wasn't injured (apparently the limping was unrelated to the accident), but she wanted to see the other driver--oh, and she said her heart was racing. Great. No way I could leave before the police arrived. I kept trying to get her to wait in the car but she insisted, and when I crossed the street with her, another driver almost hit us--I had to pull her jacket to get her out of the way. Are you kidding me?!

Anyway, everyone was fine. The police were there in about two minutes, and the officer let me go once I told him I had to pick up 3-year-olds. And of course, I was freaked out all over again. As was my mother, who thought I was in an accident, although I did call her once I got clear of the scene.

Fortunately, I had my knitting to rely on. I'm really enjoying my Woolgirl Valentine's sock kit. It's more White Oak tv yarn in sport weight--great colors and a fun pattern. But I've noticed that despite knitting the cuff shorter than called for in the pattern, I seem to be running out of yarn. Check this out (and please excuse the poorer-than-usual picture quality--I had to use my iPhone because my camera memory card is full).

Sock 1:



and Sock 2:


And not really related to the topic, but irresistable to include: the socks in my super-cool Piddly bag from Piddleloop:


Back to the socks. I clearly do not have enough yarn to knit the remaining 5-6" of the sock and have been lying to myself for days. I didn't want to contact Jen at Woolgirl because the same thing happened to me with the Halloween kit, except that time I used a pattern other than the one in the kit, and I finished the socks with about three yards left in the skein. But Jen is the coolest! She said that someone else had the same problem and she was having the dyer dye more yarn, but it would take a few weeks. Hooray! Now I'm freed up to start my Rockin' Sock Club socks (already swatched), unless I go for the Woolgirl Sock Club February sock--Zen Yarn Garden and a cabled heart pattern!

And then, tonight, I had my latest freaky experience. I ran out to Target after putting the kids to bed, anticipating that the predicted snow tomorrow will make getting out nearly impossible, and of course, our need for a new iron and ironing board is so desperate we cannot wait until the weather clears (that's what an afternoon playdate spent printing Yo Gabba Gabba iron-on transfers and trying to transfer them to t-shirts with a lukewarm iron while six Yo Gabba Gabba devotees aged three and under are waiting teaches you). I had additional items on my shopping list, so while cruising the toy aisle for birthday gifts, I reached for a toy and grazed my hand on the underside of the shelf above it, and felt something wet. I snatched back my hand and saw blood, and immediately started to freak yet again--now I had someone else's blood and blood-born illnesses seeping into the very dry skin on my hand. I went racing to the opposite site of Target looking for anti-bacterial hand wipes, trying not to bean anyone, especially myself, with the large ironing board in my cart. In no time at all, I was vigorously wiping my hand, trying to remove all traces of the contaminated blood, only to discover...it was my own blood. I can't even explain how relieved I was (except when I began to worry that there wasn't enough alcohol in the wipes to kill any germs because the cut, actually, a skin split, didn't sting when I wiped it). I then went across the street to Nordstrom's and bought Kiehl's hard-core moisturizing lotion...in the 8-oz jar.

I think I need a vacation.

How to feel old

So, a group of my college friends are turning 40, and we are taking a celebratory trip in April...to Las Vegas (I'm slightly younger, but they thought I should be included anyway). For the past six months, I've been meaning to get myself to the gym on a regular basis, and thought, hey, we haven't seen each other in years (holiday cards don't count), why don't I get a jump start and work with a trainer. I've had to cancel twice (you know, kids), and today was my first day...and I almost passed out about 10 minutes in. I mean, for real pass out--sweating, slightly nauseous, laying down on a weight bench, drinking Vitamin (sugar) Water--and enough so that the trainer didn't charge me for the session. Crap.

Happy feet!

Nothing like a new pair of socks to cheer you up after a colonoscopy!

I'm ok, but still kind of shot, so here are the details:

Yarn: Vesper Sock Yarn in Dragon's Blood
Needles: KP Harmony dpns in 2.75 mm
Pattern: Knitting Pure & Simple Beginner Mid-Weight Socks (7 sts/inch)

The yarn is a treat, so soft and cozy. LOVE the color! They are a little loose, so next time, I think I'll use a pattern for 8 sts/inch. The pattern is really easy, and I wanted a mindless stockinette so I could enjoy the color. I think I'm going to keep a stockinette self-striping sock in the works in my bag--perfect for the doctor's office, etc.

We're doing another family project for a friend's baby, a baby blanket. I think it's from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms, but I could be wrong. I was assigned the two stockinette squares; the consensus was that I would be most likely to mess up knit/purl patterns (I've been known to fall asleep knitting and to mess up stockinette when I'm too sleepy). I took advantage of my post-anesthesia state to start one of my baby blanket squares and will finish square one tonight.

I've started my Woolgirl Valentine's sock kit, and also want to dive into my new Socks That Rock kit, even though I have lots of projects still on the needles. I'm just not in the mood to pick up those projects. In fact, I spent some of yesterday culling my working project basket in my bedroom, and sent a lot of things to the attic. I'm actually thinking of destashing, but I've got to get to it. In the meantime, I'm not buying any yarn. My exception is Wollmeise, but I didn't make it through the Loopy Ewe update, so I broke down and ordered direct from Germany. I think I ordered sport weight, but I'm not sure. How bad could it be?

Where does the time go?

It's been a month since I last posted? Well, let's see...

We thoroughly enjoyed our first family vacation. I brought along this project:



It's Vesper Sock Yarn in Dragon's Blood. I'm using Knitting Pure & Simple's Beginner's Mid-Weight Socks pattern, a basic stockinette pattern, so that I can enjoy the self-striping of the yarn. I'm knitting on Knit Picks Harmony dpns 2.75mm. I'm actually liking the wood needles and TSA didn't blink an eye. The yarn is wonderfully soft and I'm not bored (yet) by the stockinette. I think next time I use this yarn, I'll drop down a needle size for a slightly firmer fabric; it feels a little loose in the hands, but when I try it on, it just feels wonderful! I definitely need to drop down a needle size for the ribbing, though.

I stuffed it into this Piddleloop Piddly bag I was fortunate to score when the first Piddly bags were posted in November (I bought it using my iPhone, what a trial, the wifi connection kept dropping):



Now, don't be fooled by all this progress. I cast on right before the flight, and did not even finish the 10 rows of ribbing at the top until after we got back. Seriously, what could I expect, traveling with three three-year-olds and a two-year-old? Though they were just delightful on the flight down to Florida--they slept!

The other distractor was a garter stitch baby blanket that is another group project for a pregnant friend. My mom and sister Elizabeth roped me into knitting a strip of seven squares, but something happened when I did not do an official swatch. Rather, I cast on and started knitting, and Elizabeth checked the width, and it didn't match the other strips. So I dropped down a needle size. It still didn't match. So I dropped down two needle sizes--good to go! I then spent half the vacation knitting four of the seven squares in the strip (definitely beating Elizabeth in the race to the finish), only to find it was too narrow! It must have been sabotage! Suffice it to say, we ripped it out, the three of us took turns knitting my strip; I knit maybe 1.5 squares of it and mom and Elizabeth finished the rest because Elizabeth seamed it while she was in Florida. Maybe I'll be able to get a picture.

We all enjoyed our vacation so much, we're working on making plans to go back. The children loved the opportunity to play outside and at the beach, and everyone was happy and tired every night. I was able to put the boys in camp at the resort. Boy J missed two days of camp due to a fever, and then we had to pull him out because of some toilet-training regression--UGH! But the boys and Baby Girl all got quality individual time, too, with Grandma, Grandpa, Daddy and Mommy (me), and Titi (Aunt) Elizabeth. We had family dinners, even in a restaurant! We're getting somewhere, I think, on this going out business.

We would have never made it there and back without my parents and sister. They flew down with us, and then stayed on after we left for their vacation (yes, you need a vacation from the vacation with us), but came with us to the airport for the return flight and helped us to the gate. The flight home was good as well, except Baby Girl and Boy J can no longer sit together: the two of them poked at each other for nearly the entire flight (two hours!), and Baby Girl knows just how to get on J's nerves. But we lucked out--our flight arrived 35 minutes early! And on the return, I didn't have to install 4 car seats in a rental car!

So now that we're home, and my babysitters are on winter break, I can get some time to myself. I've made a lot of progress on the Dragon's Blood sock. I'm also thinking of not buying yarn for a while and winnowing down my stash. I'm sticking with the Woolgirl and STR sock clubs and didn't renew my others. I'm also thinking of destashing, but I haven't even put the children's summer clothes in storage yet, so I definitely don't have time go through the stash yet.

In the meantime, I do have unblogged knitting acquisitions. Here is the yarn I got for Hanukkah from my mom:



It's PennyRose Yarns in City Socks. It's nowhere near as dark as it looks in my picture; try looking here.

What else do I have going on in yarn? here's the latest installation from the Woolgirl Sock Club




and STR



Oh, and before I went on vacation, I picked up the Tulip cardigan again. I must have been really foggy to not be able to think through navigating the corner with the applied I-cord because it was easy and fun! I'm now working a sleeve:



Here's another Piddly bag that was a gift from Mom, stuffed with (I think) sKnitches Syncopation self-striping sock yarn in Wicked from my stash (I actually thought I might finish the Vesper socks and need to start another pair for the flight home).


And just arrived, fresh out of the shipping box, is yarn I purchased at Stitches from Karida of Neighborhood Fiber Co..



They are three of the biggest yarn cakes I have ever seen! The shipping weight was 5 lbs.! Of course, when I took out the pattern I bought the yarn for (a cardigan for me), the pattern is misprinted and is missing page 2 of 3, which page must consist of instructions for the right front. So, right now, other than the pattern info (yarn weight, gauge, etc.), my pattern instructions begin with: "LEFT FRONT: Work as for right front, reversing all shaping." Not particularly helpful. Fortunately, the other sister bought the same pattern, so I have a call into her.

Other updates:

1. The stolen earrings were returned, unannounced, by being deposited in a flower pot by my front door. Are you kidding me?! I'm just glad to get them back.

2. Boy J got a clean bill of health. No evidence of a hernia, but if he has one, it will show more as he grows because these things don't heal by themselves.

And remember those Woolgirl Halloween socks? Here they are!




Happy new year, everyone!