FO - Baby Hooded Cardi

Here's the front:

Here's the back.

Of course, we're our own worst critics. I just hate how the seams showed on the finished item. If you ask J, he says it looks great.

I knitted this using the 2 year instructions. It looks more like an 18T to me. I attribute this to using a sport weight yarn (verses using the boucle).

I also had to go up on the button size. The pattern said to use 5/16" and I ended up with 9/16". The 5/16" buttons just weren't keeping the cardi closed.

The final recipient is VERY happy with the final result - which makes me happy, too. I've decided to make a custom baby item for my daughter's school auction since this has been received so well.

Dieting porn

I opened my email this morning to be faced with this:

While I know nothing is forbidden on Weight Watchers, this Sundae looks like it would cost SO much in points.

Stupid diet. Stupid email.

Like Father, Like Daughter

J writes computer games, so we play a lot of games around here. Puzzle games, board games and card games - to name a few. We don't play a whole lot of video games.

M came home the other day from school with a picture of her own board game. According to M, you use your fingers to trace the stuff on the board. If your finger slips off the stuff, then you die - for pretend.

Just thought it was cute.

Happy Birthday to my Blog & OTN

Just checking to see when my blog was "born" and - surprise - it's today! I've been keeping it up to date for a whole year!

That's nothing compared to J's blog. He was blogging before the term blog was even coined: Saturday, March 28, 1998.

OTN: Baby Hoodie Cardigan


I have the front and back done. Now I'm working on the first sleeve. I have the second sleeve, the hood and the button border to go - not to mention sewing this puppy up.

I'm not using the Bernat Baby Bouclé yarn as suggested. I'm using the Bernat Baby Coordinates yarn instead. It has a nice shine to it compared to the Bouclé. I don't think it's going to be a problem.

Some progress

I joined Curves about three months ago. I'm taking it slow by trying to workout three times a week. Like my WW leader says, you have to make sure that you find something sustainable - What you do to lose weight will have to be something you will continue to do while you keep the weight off.

Curves seems to be just the thing for me right now. I feel good after I work out, it's quick, and I'm not sore afterwards.

While I've only lost 7 pounds over the past three months, I have lost a total of 9.5-inches all around my body. My clothes are feeling loser and I noticed the other day that getting up from the floor is much easier. I think I can sustain this.

I was tagged.

Seven favorite songs - this is tough for me as I really don't listen to adult music anymore. It's all kid oriented. When I get time to listen to the radio, I find that I'm a NPR kind of gal. Sorry!

Seven Blogs:

1. Crooks and Liars
2. The Code Zone Bargain Basement Blog
3. Whip up
4. Geek of All Mothers
5. Noni Knit-a-long
6. Kiddley
7. civil3D.com

Too much sewing

I love the way this little guy turned out! Just love it!

I made him with dried black-eyed peas and even filled the ends of the feet and the mittens with them as well. When I initially filled the legs/feet, they stuck out and I knew that anyone will want the feet to dangle.

Needle size: US 2

Yarn: Toytime DK Flesh for the face, Cascade 220 for the hat and body - Red, Green, and White. Sirdar Foxy - Ermine.

I will heavily modify this pattern the next time I knit it because there is entirely too much sewing involve. A lot of this can be knitted in the round.

Yuletide Bowling Pin

I'm trying to get my Yuletide Gnomes done for a charity auction for my daughter's school. Here's a photo of the front:


Here's what the back looks like. I mattress stitched this.

There's a beanbag in the bottom part of the body. The pattern calls for 3 mm needles - which is really a US 2.5. After talking to my fellow knitters, I decided to I use a size 2 needle and I'm glad I did. I've found knitting toys tightly is very important if you don't want the stuffing to peak through.

One thing that I would do differently, though, is to knit this in the round. I've knitted enough toys to be able to cobble together my own version of this. If I do, I'll post the pattern here.

Oh, I used the Sirdar Toytime DK Flesh tone for the face and some left over Cascade 22o green that was left over from another project.

Finished - on to #2

Well I finally finished the hand towel from hell.

I looks very pretty, but I just didn't enjoy knitting it up. I just could not get the pattern down so I could just get into the knitting groove. I am working on a second one in yellow. This one is a stockinette hand towel with a monogram "W" on it (my own design).

It's knitting up fairly quickly as I'm halfway done. Good thing, too. I need to get it done by tomorrow to get it in the mail so it'll make it to Colorado in time for the wedding. I'm knitting them with Plymouth Yarn Wildflower DK. It's a Cotton/Acrylic blend which means they can be machine washed and dried.

Oh, and today is my great-aunt Myrtle's birthday. She's 100 years old today! That's so old. I love my Aunt Myrtle. She's the one relative I met and found relief that there is indeed a reason why I'm as practical as I am. I'm sure every one feels like they are alien to the families they are born into - then you meet the relative who is really the most like you and it just clicks. That's who my Aunt Myrtle is for me. One of my favorite stories about her is that she broke her hip when she was 90. Usually that's a death sentence for folks of that age - I think the statistics for people who die within a year of breaking their hips at that age within a year is pretty high. When I called her to see how she was doing, she said that she was doing just fine and that she told the therapist to give her a walker right away because she was going to walk out of that hospital, thank you very much. And she did. :)

There was a ten year difference between her and my grandmother. My grandmother never did know her father as he died when she was 3 months old. My Aunt Myrtle was basically my grandmother's second parent. They got along really well - I know they spoke on the phone with each other at least once a week. Considering that Aunt Myrtle lives near Defiance, Ohio and my grandmother lived here in Texas, I think that was really wonderful. I don't even do that with my own sister - and she lives 17 miles away (which is close in Texas terms).

I hate this knitting project

I started knitting a dish cloth for a friend who is getting married on September 23rd. I am using the Mason Dixon Moss Squares Dish Cloth pattern and I hate knitting it. I have to get through it and I'm up to 8 square (of 12 total) rows. I can't wait till I'm done with this. The only problem is I can't just give away one dish cloth. I have a second one that will be knitted in yellow. I'll find a pattern that I like better than this one. I just want to be knitting on my Hex coat.

Five

What is SO special about turning five?

I remember when my nephew was four and five just seemed to be a magical age. He could do anything at age five.

Well, we're experiencing a little of that here in our house now that M is four and a half.

She's wearing size 7 clothes now as she's grown quite a bit over the summer. I commented on how long her legs were getting this morning. She said, "Come here, Mama, and let me tell you a secret."

I lean down and let her whisper into my ear, "The reason why my legs are getting long is because I'm almost five."

We also have passes to Six Flags this year. As long as we stay away from buying food, it makes for a very cheap afternoon as everything is paid for - parking, admission, etc. . . Anyway, any ride that M feels is a little scary is always put off till she turns five - because she'll be brave enough then.

Today while I was dropping her off at her school, she saw her new friend, R. M was excited to see him until she realized that I was walking towards R and could even, gasp, talk to him. She starts to get really upset that I may tell R something that she doesn't want him to know. Once we get out of the street, I knelt down to talk to her - because by this time she has tears in her eyes.

"I don't want you to tell him. . ." she sobs.

"You don't want me to tell him what?" I ask.

"I told him that I am five. I don't want you to tell him that I'm only four and a half."

I smile. "Don't worry, M. I won't tell."

I remember being in a big hurry to grow up at this age, too. Now all I want is for time to slow down again.

Buh - Ridges NOT Rows

I finally understand that I knitted the Absorba wrong. I didn't read the instructions as closely as I should have. The pattern calls for specific ridges versus rows. I'm still new at all this knitting stuff, so I can understand why I flubbed this.

I'll get it right on the next one.

General Life stuff

Well, M got sick earlier this week. She ran into the living room one night yelling that she was really cold. Sure enough, the poor girl had goosebumps all up and down her body. We went back to her bed to try to get her warm - then she said she was feeling sick. We made it just in time to the bathroom (one of the few times that I didn't end up wearing throw up). She was so cold that her teeth literally were chattering together. She finally got comfortable and we ended up sleeping together out on the couch. She was fine the next day.

Then the next night M got to have a sleep over with Grandma and Grandpa from Nashville in their hotel room (they prefer to stay in a hotel room instead of in people's homes). M had a wonderful time and I think so did Grandma and Grandpa. We ate at the local Waffle House the next morning while sitting on the bar stools. M was in heaven.

J's foot is feeling fine - he's wearing closed-toe shoes now. The poor guy is suffering from allergies now. It seems like he can't get comfortable, poor thing.

Yesterday the two of us played hooky from work in the afternoon and went to see a movie. Little Miss Sunshine. It was a hoot. Alan Arkin was a great crotchety old Grandpa and Greg Kinear (who to this day I'm surprised has a movie career as I remember him from his Talk Soup days) was a great schmaltzy Dad. Each member of the family has great character development and the end of the movie (I won't give the ending away) was just priceless. I laughed out loud and that's a rare thing these days while watching movies. Go see this movie.

OTN: I'm trying to finish up the Mason Dixon Moss Grid Hand Towel for a friend of mine who is getting married on September 23rd. I have to hurry because I want to make a second one, too. I'll post a photo after I get it done. Instead of the Euroflax, I'm knitting it in a cotton/acrylic blend - it looks nice, really. I just didn't want to give something to my friend that couldn't be washed in a machine.

I'm currently debating about what I need to do on the Hex Coat. I'm getting a little nervous that the bottom comes in as much as it does (the pattern called for size 6 needles for the ribbing - I hit gage dead on with the size 8's for the Moss stitch). Since I'm shortening it up a bit, I also don't know where I want to stop. Part of me wants to start over and add some stitches to the bottom to allow it to flare out a bit - a little like a swing coat. But the other part of me HATES swing coats. I guess I'll just have to keep on keepin' on. I hate uncertainty. I do love the way it's knitting up, though. I think I'm going to go and look at some colored yarn to see if any would look good for the hex's.

The Greater Absorba

I finally finished the Mason Dixon Great Absorba Bath Mat. It took me a bit to get the hang of Log Cabin knitting and I frogged this thing at least three times in the process.


I made this out of Peaches n Cream Potpourri double worsted weight (I ordered directly from Elmore Pigsah) yarn. In hindsight, I wish I had ordered the colors that were describe in the MDK book as I think they'd be nice neutral colors and would make great gifts. The pattern calls for the mat to be tiny, so I ended up adding a significant number bars to the mat - so I guess it's more of a rug than a mat. I really like it and know that I'll make two more for my home. Very quick knit, BTW.

This one is destined for my sister-in-law, who ironically, lives in Nashville. It's a birthday gift. I hope she likes it. I'm also going to send her some nice smelling foamy soap.

Started the Hex Coat

I have almost 10 inches knitted on the left panel for the Hex Coat. I love the Renolds Lite-Lopi yarn. It's Dark Gray.

I've learned how to do the Noregian Purl and it allows me to knit this up a little faster than I've done in the past. Here's a close up on the seed/moss stitch.

Here's a close up of the indentations where the Hex's will go. They're a little smaller than I had envisioned, but that's fine.

SP8 - the final chapter

Well, I must admit that I enjoyed participating in Secret Pal 8. It was my first SP swap and it was fun. I would keep up with my pal's blog and try to think of things she would enjoy receiving. Then I'd receive something, too!

Here's what was in the final package my SP sent me:

Bath flakes, bath fizzies (for M), some Cascade elastic cotton yarn for socks, a nifty crossword puzzle to identify who my SP is, and a neat little card with a poncho pattern.

M immediately insisted that she was dirty and needed a bath. The yellow ducky is no more. M proudly announced that her bath water turned yellow - she thought that was cool.

I think my SP is Ceallach. If so, thank you so much for a great SP experience. I'm looking forward to getting to know you through your blog. Purple is my favorite color - how did you know?

To my SP recipient: If you've figured out that I'm your spoiler, please know that you will be receiving a package some time next week. This past few weeks have been crazy - I haven't forgotten about you - truly.

He's baaaa-aaack

Yay! J is back home! No super nasty bacterial strain (but it was nasty enough). One toe nail short, two nights in the hospital, and a new pair of flip flops later, J is one happy camper just to be HOME! First thing he did was to take a shower - first one in three days.

I'm really glad he's home. It's so nice to have him back.

Update

Well, J is still in the hospital today. The lab results have not come back, so the doctors don't know if he has the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (or MRSA) type of bacterial infection. That's the same type of infection that that woman who died from a pedicure got - thus, the reason why the doctors are being cautious.

Poor J, though. He has not access to the Internet and I know that's really hard on him.

We're doing okay holding down the home front. Today is M's first day back to school and she's incredibly happy to be going back. She wanted us to do our normal school day routine in the same order as we did before. She wouldn't brush her hair before she had her breakfast because, "Momma, we brush our hair AFTER breakfast, silly."

I asked if she wanted me to bring her into school or to drop her off at the curb. She wanted to be dropped off at the curb. She really, really likes her school routine. Miss M (her teacher) mentioned that M may be put up into the Primary class (which is essentially Montessori Kindergarten) since M has been reading. We'll see. I really don't want to push her, but she is SO ready for Primary work.

Last night was Stitch n Bitch night and I was very fortunate that one of my neighbors was gracious enough to watch M. She loves going over there. I didn't stay long as I had to get little girls into bed for school the next day. I showed off my finished yarn bag. I initially started to crochet it for my SP8, but then fell in love with the idea of having my own. I'll still send it to my SP with some yarn I got for my reveal package. I'm also going to send her the Flying Spaghetti Monster with some instructions on how to make it.

Here's the finished yarn bag. I love the yarn - it's really coppery and gold-ish.



I'm definitely going to crochet one for me next.

While at SnB, I had started my knitting guild homework for a child's fair-isle hat using some of my stash cotton. I guess I'm stressing a bit with J being in the hospital. He's always around the house and I miss him terribly. I had a heck of a time sleeping last night so I finished the silly hat.



I'm also using the cable needles MY SP sent me. Here's a cotton dishrag that I'm knitting. My more experienced SnB knitting friends told me that I was crazy for doing cables with cotton. I wanted to try cabling and I haven't figured out what I'm going to knit with the great super wash wool I got from my SP yet.

We've had a bit of a scare

Well, J has been a bit of a butt all last week. He was sick with allergies and I generally try to avoid him when he gets sick - and that's really what he wants - to be left alone.

Yesterday I had had enough and told him that I was going to call and make an appointment for him with our doctor. He refused to go, so I didn't make the appointment.

Scan to later in the day . . .

He started to have some trouble walking and mentioned that his in-grown toe nail was starting to hurt. Okay. Another thing for me to avoid, I think.

We went to the parents orientation last night, so he had to walk on his feet. We came home and he took his shoes off. His left big toe had started to swell. So we elevated it, I gave him some Tylenol PM and a baggie of ice to try to get the swelling down.

He went to bed and was really, really uncomfortable. He got up and went into the living room so he wouldn't bother me. About 4 am he came in and asked when the doctor's office was going to be open. I told him around 8 am, but it may be longer as I didn't know when there would be an open appointment for us to go. J limped back to the living room.

Well, it was 4 am and I didn't want to get up, but my big clue that he was really not feeling good was that he WANTED to go to the doctor's office. J does NOT like to go to the doctors and will avoid it at all costs.

I went into the living room and turned on the light to look at the toe. It actually was twice the size I saw from last night - and let me tell you, it was BIG last night. This time, however, the toe had turned all sorts of different colors - yellow, purple, blue. It was really, really colorful and looked incredibly painful.

I told J that we weren't going to wait for morning. I had visions on him not being able to get up and stumble to the car, so we went to the emergency room.

Once we got there, the ER doc immediately said that he was going to be admitted and that he had a bacterial infection that has spread to J's blood stream.

WOW!

Turns out, J didn't have an in-grown toe nail. His toe cuticle had become infected which in turn traveled up into the blood stream. What really has the doctors concerned is the speed of the infection. It traveled FAST. He's going to get a podiatrist consult to make sure the other toes don't do this, either. We're also waiting to find out what type of bacterial infection it is - it could be one that is very tough to get rid of. If not, then it's just a simple course of antibiotic pills and he can go home tomorrow.

M got a little teary this morning after the doctor said we could go home. Last time someone she loved was in the hospital was Grandma. She was a little scared about her Dad being in the hospital. J picked up on why and was able to get her calmed down. She still worries about her dad, but we visited him today at the hospital and he's remarkably much more comfortable than when we initially left him at the ER.

Did you know. . .

that Blue's favorite number is 100 - just like M's favorite number?

Yes, I'm babysitting my kid with the television for a few days because she's home. No summer school, no swim school, no school period. School starts next Wednesday and it can't come any sooner.

M loves watching television and I feel somewhat guilty for using it to babysit her - but I can't get anything done if she's under foot upstairs in my office. We usually have her hopping from event to event, so this down time is just fine - or so I'm telling myself.

I'm fairly happy with what she's watching. Noggin has no commercials and neither does PBS. Occasionally we'll watch something on Nickelodeon or Disney and she'll ask for everything that's being advertised. The quality of children's programming has improved so much since I was a kid.

Tying Shoes

M came up to my office yesterday and was very proud.

"Mama, I tied my own shoes!"

I think it's time to teach her how to tie shoes. . . after I get these knots out.