Thank You SP 8!

My lovely SP from SP8 sent me this super cool crochet hook holder. I love love love the fabric. I already have it hooked up with my tools (heh heh) and it rocks. No more pulling out half a skein of yarn as I grab a hook from my bag. Both of my SPs rock, I hope I'm pulling my weight with my own two recipients.





It was a very trying day today with JCC. He was just plain ornery. Below is a pic of him finger painting before he decided it was fun to clap his hands together after dipping his hands in paint. I have white walls. :( I think I'm going to need to make finger painting an outside activity.



I received an email today from a friend from my freshman year at college. It contained a link to her blog and her roommate's, both of whom were very good friends of mine at the time. She is now working on a masters in social work and the other is living on a farm in New Zealand. Neither has children.

Reading their blogs has me contemplating my own doings. It's rather bizarre as I don't think anyone from highschool or college would have expected me to end up the SAHM. I don't regret my decision to have children younger than most professional women do, but it does set me apart a bit from my peers. The majority of women I associate with are quite a bit older and wiser. I'm pretty sure I'll never go back to writing code, and homeschooling will take up much of my time in the future but I'm not sure what the future beyond children will hold for me. I have herbalist desires but that requires quite a bit of study -- it is definitely a far off aspiration.

We are having another storm. A rather strange one in that I can see some blue sky as it thunders and lightnings. I am holding off on taking pics of the garden as everything is about to burst into bloom. Hopefully I'll have some good shots next week.

New Haircut

I'm not sure what I think. I like it in the mirror but it still looks a bit soccer-mom-ish. Maybe I just have that kinda look. However I don't like the way it looks in the pic below. It's a good enough photo (minus the lamp sprouting from my shoulders) just not what I see when I see myself. Maybe it's a weird angle or something as usually I'm happy with the way I photograph. Ug. Chris is not yet fond of the new cut. JCC likes the colors but doesn't think it's short enough -- he told me he'd cut it for me. :)

29!

I am officially 29. I was thinking about it yesterday and on a purely theoretical level I felt it should bother me as it seems like 29 is an awfully adult age, but after thinking about my life I realized I'm pretty much an adult. I still have a totally sophomoric sense of humor (and husband) but otherwise I'm pretty responsible. So after I figured that out I was over any remorse at getting older.

Over the weekend we had a lovely combo birthday/beginning of summer party and then on Sunday JCC and I did some garden work and then had Thai for dinner. We are blessed in this part of Cleveland with a bunch of yummy Thai restaurants and a new one had opened in Coventry but alas it did not live up to the glory that is Mekong River. (Still good, just not spectacular.) Yesterday Chris got me a latte, some cupcakes and an iTunes card to celebrate my official birthday. (I got the spinning wheel last weekend.) I had a blast downloading songs and I do think an iTunes card is an almost perfect present -- there's nothing to dust, nothing to clean and you get to have fun listening to different music as you decide what to purchase. And on top of all that my lovely brother and sister-in-law sent me these:



They are stunning in person.

Today we had our ugly tree removed and it provided great entertainment for the family:





And some goofy pics:



Wee girl learned how to sit up last week and found her voice. Unfortunately she likes to exercise her new skills at 4am, but at least it's only for a few minutes.

I'm getting my hair highlighted/cut later today -- I'm thinking I'm going short. I'll post pics tomorrow.

Thank You One Skein SP!

I got an awesome package from my One Skein SP yesterday -- a beautiful blue skein of Cascade 220, an Oklahoma postcard, point protectors that look like socks and two homemade bottlecap magnets that actually hold up stuff! (We have lots of magnets but they rarely are strong enough to hold up JCC's artwork. These do!) And it was all wrapped up with bright shiny paper. Lovely -- thank you! The blue is wonderful too, I'll have to post a pic of our bedroom as it's that shade.

What's next is for Shannon. This is roving. It is the cleaned wool off of a sheep fleece. The darker pieces are from Alpaca. Spinning is the process of taking pieces of this (drafting) and making yarn.







This is wee girl in mid-roll as taken by JCC. He loves to take pictures but usually they are close-ups of everyday objects. They're pretty funny.



Lastly, this is JCC in my helmet and apron. After I took this picture he asked to see it and then commented that he looked pretty. :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday's not until next Monday, but here is my early present:



And a close-up:



Obviously, beginning spinning was a hit. It's a Louet S15 that the instructor was selling off for $75. It's been in a middle school classroom so it could definitely use a new finish, but otherwise works fine. Especially considering a new one is 5x that price.

My first skein:



Ugly, isn't it? This is the stuff I'm working on now, I'm trying to keep myself to 15 minutes/day while the munchkins rest or otherwise I'd do it all the time.



I have the wheel going in the right direction and am getting better at drafting thinner fiber but I'm still putting way too much twist on it. I'll have 5 minutes of not wonky yarn and then it all goes to hell and I don't know what I'm doing different. But, as I have a fleece (Tunis) coming I'm sure I'll be better after spinning 4 lbs of roving. :0

Still here, still knitting washcloths

What can I say -- they're fast, fun, and usable. I sent the last one I made off to my secret pal so now I'm doing another for us. But I haven't been knitting too much -- we've been doing lots of playdates now that the weather is nice. This area of Cleveland has a ton of great playground and parks and we're trying to visit them all.

I've also been spending more time exercising -- I'm trying to hit 1000 minutes for the month. That's not a lot but I like a goal and making/filling in spreadsheets so this works for me. Who knew that Excel and an ipod would get me liking to exercise.

I'm eagerly anticipating my spinning class on Sunday! I can't wait. :)

Pictures!

We had a fun weekend -- Parade the Circle on Saturday and then lounging outside on Sunday. (Well, ACC and I lounged, Chris and JCC worked on a model airplane.) Some pics. . .


ACC lounging


JCC on his "motorcycle"


In the saucer

Continuing with my love of fast, usable projects is my first crochet project -- a potholder!


I love crochet!

The Mail Carrier Delivers

2 packages awaited me after a trip to the library and lunch with Daddy at work. First up is my Secret Pal 8 gift. She kindly included a yarn decorated note, a large bag of M&Ms, 2 boxes of Junior Mints, a stitch holder, yarn thimble, needle connectors, a list of knitting tips from her LYS, pretty blue post-its and a super cute pot holder (for kitchen knitting 201; 101 is, of course, washcloths.) What's really cool about the double layer pot holder is that on the back in purls is the word "Home". :) Very sweet. I will take a picture of it next time. Thank you Secret Pal! (Off to stalk knit bloggers and figure out who is from Fitchburg MA.)



Next up we have my new blue cover for my ipod. I've been exercising a lot (well a lot for me -- meaning daily) and this comes with an armband so I don't have to fear it plunging to its death off of the elliptical machine.

More Washcloths

but I won't bore you with more pics. This one is yellow/white and it is a small mitt (I just did a 3-needle bindoff at the top and then seemed the side) for JCC. The boy loves to clean. He happily did the dishes today using it. We made my most favorite muffins (banana chocolate chip) but I set the oven at 450 instead of 350. DAMN IT. Amazingly, this is the first burned thing I've had to show JCC. We were still able to eat some of them but they aren't nearly as tasty when they're charred.

I'm still plugging along on my sweater. I'm trying to get the other side done before I make another washcloth. :)

Small children and I have been very busy lately -- last week we hit the Natural History Museum, yesterday a cruise down the Cuyahoga and in between we've been to the farmer's market, had brunch at Tommy's, did some gardening, etc. We've also been doing a bit more cleaning than normal as our big mutt is blowing his coat. I'm vacuuming every other day or so but it looks like it's been weeks since it's been cleaned. I'm also finally washing the windows as our Black Locust (which I learned at the Natural History Museum is an invasive plant) is finally finished blooming and this marks the end of all of the major pollen dumping. I hate cleaning windows. I think it's the perfectionist in me and as I always find a streak somewhere on them -- it drives me nuts. But I'm doing a room a day and have 4/18 windows done. :)

Another Brick in the Wall or Still-life with Warshcloth

These are too fun to knit! My existing rags (microfiber) are getting kinda dingy so I think I may make a ton of these. The brick colors were unintentional -- they were the ones on clearance at Joann's.

The garden looks great but it just rained and of course I didn't get a photo before hand. I have blooming my climbing rose, the peonies, rhodie (still), veronica, compact viburnum (which is decidedly not compact at 7 feet tall), exberry azalea, and all of the annuals. It's very colorful.

A Finished Object

The Snake Scarf is done (at a little boy length so I have enough to maybe make him a matching hat or another scarf for someone else.)



My crochet swatch. The resulting fabric is so much stiffer than knitted fabric. I'm not sure what I'm going to tackle first. I really want to make the bathroom rug in One Skein. I did buy DMC floss and size 0 and 2 hooks to make the flowers on the front of Vogue Knitting's Knit Simple but that's just too small for a first project.



Happy Boy in the sun. We started off with the sprinkler but mud proved more fun.



Wee Girl enjoying the day with us.

And lastly I got Mason Dixon Knitting via the library. I LOVE this book. I am warshcloth knitting away. :)

Garden Pics and Lots of Parenthetical Comments

These are some of the annuals (Shasta daisy, some other daisy JCC picked out and salvia -- man, do I love that orange/lilac color combination) amongst the monster rhododendron. There is some sort of disease (my gardening knowledgeable FIL says it's a fungus) getting rhodes and azaleas (and I've lost half of what I've planted to it, branch by branch) but these old guys seem immune. I bonsaied him a couple of years ago and he's bigger than ever.



This is the ugly half-dead Silver Maple on our tree-lawn (interestingly [at least to me] tree-lawn is an idiom only used in NE Ohio. There is a great Harvard study on colloquialisms. This is the best link I can find.) Anyway, in our wee city (the Cleveland metropolitan area is divided into many baby bureaucracies that suck the life out of you via heavy taxation) the forestry division is responsible for anything on your tree-lawn. After reading this I happily called up and scheduled Mr. Tree an appointment. They will be taking him down in the next couple of weeks. We are also ENTITLED (in caps just because I find it such an interesting thing in which to be entitled -- I guess this is those tax dollars at work) to a new tree if we so desire. I was thinking I wouldn't want any stinking tree they would have for free but a neighbor just told me that her neighbor got a Serviceberry.

Mom, please note how nice the formerly peach house in the background looks in its new sage colored paint.



Chris's lovely edging work on the back bed.



Irises!

A Busy but Uneventful Week

JCC amazed me by not even mentioning Cyberchase this week. He's still watching a lot of videos -- both ones we own and ones from the library but all of the fussing about missing a show or when does Cyberchase come on is gone. Next week we will work on decreasing the video amount. I keep us all pretty busy with playdates and errands so I'm not sure how to fill the need of his to just sit and veg. He doesn't play well by himself at all. Maybe it's time to learn to read?

I bounce back and forth in my homeschooling idea, not doing it vs. not doing it, but in how much structure is ideal for my children and me. I don't know about wee girl, but JCC and I both seem to do best with a pretty well laid out plan. The Classical mode appeals to me greatly (e.g. St. John's aspirations) and I am really enjoying The Well Trained Mind copy I borrowed from the library. However I don't know if I'm ready to start playing school yet.

On the knitting front I am still plugging along on my sweater and JCC's snake scarf. I also got the Debbie Stoller Crochet book and I love the patterns! Now I need to save up my Joann coupons to get some crochet hooks.

Finally Some Pictures

I disconnected our tv's rabbit ears yesterday -- this means that we can watch movies, but no broadcast television. So far things are not too bad but the fallout will come tomorrow when JCC figures out that this means no Cyberchase -- his favorite PBS show. I am bracing for the reaction.


Half of JCC's snake scarf. I just love Morehouse yarn!


Wee house and gardens.


Newly expanded bed along privet hedge.


Giant bleeding heart that is taking over my bed.

Still Raining. . .

And still no pictures. During this lovely rain the following things have bloomed (and looked horrible): tree peony (looks like a green plant with pink tissue paper clumps stuck to it), new orange poppy (small smudge of orange tissue paper), pink azalea (still looks good!), and a variety of sodden irises. I am ready for some sun.

The UPS got a good scare this evening as he opened our back door to put in a package (One Skein) and got met with one big woofing dog. Of course this was as I was putting both babes too bed. Luckily they kept on sleeping. I like One Skein, of course I want to make the baby bolero and baby hat. The kids cardigan is cute too.

I'm starting Don Quixote tonight as part of my St. John's education in a box. (I applied, got in, but just couldn't afford it. They don't give ANY merit scolarships. Bastards.) This is just more procrastination. . .

We're Back!

We drove back last Thursday. Man, did it suck. First there was a ton of traffic all the way from Bmore to past Hagerstown (it usually thins out around Frederick) and then the torrential rains started and then once I finally got through all of that the poor babe decided to be miserable. I ended up giving her a wee touch of Benadryl so we could make it home. It calmed her down within 5 minutes and I made it from then on without stopping. All together I think I stopped about 9 times. For comparison, when it was just JCC or just me, I would stop 1 time. I had thought about going down to NC to see my Grandma but I just don't think I can do another drive by myself until she's older. Bummer.

When I got home I found my garden had exploded. Little man and I planted the plants we bought at the PA nursery and from my mother on Saturday in between the rain storms. I bought 2 coral bells (one a gold, the other a very patterned maroon), 3 lavenders to replace ones that have died, cilantro, chamomile, basil, rosemary, another herb, 2 limelight Artemisias for my big pots, a red poppy (which I have horrible luck with, I don't know why I'm trying again), and a gaura (this is take two on this one too). All for under $30. From my mother I got a very early daylilly, some of a Heavy Metal grass, more blood grass, tarragon, geum, and turtle heads. I haven't had a chance to get any pictures rain free but I will definitely be taking some as soon as it stops. I have a bleeding heart (old fashioned) that's around 6 feet across. Everything looks enormous. It's wonderful, but the weeds are doing just as well.

Tonight I wound up the rest of the 100purewool for my sweater along with the silk and a skein of worsted merino I bought from Morehouse. I've been busy knitting on a snake scarf for JCC in a rusty variegated sport weight yarn. The Morehouse yarn is interesting -- it looks like a single ply with the fluffiness of the Merino. Wound it also looks bigger than it is, e.g. the 2-ply (sport) looks like a worsted until you knit with it and the 3-ply (worsted) looks like a bulky weight. Pics coming soon!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday. I got a variety of gifts (new headphones, a pink/orange shirt & hoodie set and a potential ipod) but my favorite is a new pair of Birks! My old ones (two pairs -- purple suede and black leather, both Arizonas) need a complete overhaul. I've had them 15 and 13 years and I have worn them to pieces (literally). The new ones are with thinner straps and have a blue/green print to them. I didn't even know I wanted a new pair but I love them! The gifting was just a small part of a fun day. We went to lunch at Tommmy's (local veg restaurant), hit the Children's Museum and had coffee. Thanks Chris -- it was a pretty perfect day. :)

More Trip Pics

ACC pushing up. I have JCC in the same pose at the same age. :)



JCC in his fishing hat.



My Dad made this cool copper garden structure, I'm petitioning for one for my birthday.



Munchkins and I at the Railroad Museum of PA. We also took a ride on a steam-engine powered train. Pretty sweet! My back is aching from all of the baby slinging -- I usually hold her in it for errands and a nap but down here it's been a festival, a train ride, and every nap. I think I'm going to need a visit to my chiro.

Still in Bmore

We were supposed to come home this evening but have decided to stay another day. Little Man is currently outside planting flowers with Mommom and is planning on doing some fishing later. Wee Girl is crashed out. She learned how to roll-over this past weekend and is now doing it with skill. As is the usual for when I leave Baltimore, I am going to have to de-caffinate myself when I return. We basically drink coffee all morning and then have some water in the afternoon and then switch to Sangria in the evening. It's a good life. :)



This is a pic my aunt took when we visited her on Monday. Too cute. My aunt has requested pics of our house so I'll do a virtual tour when we get back home. Our house is the polar opposite of hers. My mother deems our style minimalistic and that would seem to be a good definition with an added emphasis on strong colors. I guess my aunt's is country antique. It's gorgeous -- she's the artsy type so everything looks put together -- but there's a lot of stuff and not a lot of bright colors. Think shades of old paper.

Above mentioned aunt has requested a pair of felted slippers so I will be putting them on the list (I need to make Chris and I new pairs too as we wore through ours -- I'm going to buy soles for the next ones.) While down here I cranked out a sun hat intened for ACC but it did not shrink as the pattern said it should (and of course I didn't actually knit a swatch and wash it) so JCC now has what he calls a fishing hat. I'll post pics if I find the card reader to get the pics off my mother's camera.

And here's a pic of the three of us:

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival

Man, was it packed. I read that it was busy, but I had no idea that it was this busy. My mother was in shock at the number of people that turned out to see a bunch of sheep and yarn. It was about 45 minutes from when we got off of I-70 until we were parked. It was quite a hike into the festival grounds and we were glad we hit the food stand when we did as we had a *short* 15 minute line. We were both glad that JCC chose to stay with his grandfather (boating, fishing and airplane visiting ensued) as it was packed and there wasn't much of interest to little ones beyond the livestock. Wee girl was in the sling (and was ogled) and we were fine going through the displays but you would not be able to get a stroller through there. It was truly packed. Luckily it was perfect weather -- 75 and sunny.

I did pretty ok shopping wise -- a skein of silk (200 yds), and another of merino (500 yds) at one place and then I hit the Morehouse Farm stall. I Love their style -- simple designs with beautiful soft yarn and I managed to escape the stall for just under $100. I got a signed copy of the book, a snake scarf kit for JCC, a shawl kit for me (in a colorway that will match my camel hair cape) and one skein of heavy worsted merino that I just loved. I saw tons more gorgeous stuff but I am happy with what I bought, especially considering my trunk full of yarn at home.

The rest of the Baltimore visit has been nice!

Secret Pal Answers

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I love the merino from 100purewool (ebay seller.) I'm not a big fan of novelty yarns or acrylic in general.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

I have a Denise set and then just some dpns that live in a side pocket in my knitting bag. Nothing special.

3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I've only been knitting about 1.5 years but am probably on the intermediate or above level. Just about every project I try and learn something new.
4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

Nope.

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

I am addicted to the orange creamsickle smell -- I've never found any bath products like that and the candle company stopped making it. :( But I like anything citrus-y.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

I have a huge sweet tooth. I love chocolate -- Junior Mints are the current fave.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I'm taking a spinning class this June so that's definitely on the horizon. I'm thinking of taking up crochet too. Other hobbies include photography and scrapbooking (but that's really just to document my children's lives). I am an avid gardener.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I have very varied music tastes -- from dancehall to blues to modern rock. I can play MP3s.

9. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?

I am currently in love with blue and brown together, as well as pink and orange. I love strong colors. Really, just no beige/taupe/mauve/peach.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I am married with two children, a 3.5 year old son and a 3 month old daughter. I have 4 obnoxious cats and 1 huge mutt of a dog.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

In Cleveland we are fond of our cold weather gear! Though I don't think I'm the poncho type. (But I do have a cape!)

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

I really like knitting stuff for my kids -- I can try out new stuff and still have a quick sense of accomplishment. Mainly I knit stuff to wear.

13. What are you knitting right now?

I am making the Drop-Stitch Cardigan from the Fall 05 IK for me!

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Yes!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I prefer circular needles. I knit mainly with my Denise set -- I haven't explored much outside of that. I do know I don't like metal DPNs.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

I own both.

17. How did you learn to knit?

From the SnB book and online videos.

18. How old is your oldest UFO?

I don't have any. If I don't like it I frog it.

19. What is your favorite holiday?

Any of the summer ones -- 4th of July, or Labor Day. Really I just like having outdoor parties and they are a good excuse.

20. Is there anything that you collect?

Nothing besides yarn.

21. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I subscribe to IK. I am looking to get One Skein and Mason Dixon Knitting but I may order them soon. :) I love Lornas Laces but have never bought any.

22. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

Oh, I'm always looking for something new. I think spinning is going to be my next technique.

23. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I am not yet a sock knitter. Though I do have some yarn in my stash awaiting the day.

24. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)

June 26th