Happy Halloween!

I know I haven't been around much lately...one word: ravelry. Yes, I am finally in. Seems like it took forever, but really it probably wasn't so bad, compared to some. I am loving it and learning all I can about it. If you belong and are looking for me, my name is theJilly and I'd love for you to send me a quick message! Meanwhile, I'm trying to get recent projects cataloged and will start soon on yarn stash (which is really not very impressive, but at least I'll know what I have). Try not to tease poor little Jill, for not having the biggest, most expensive stash ever. I will not succumb to the pressure, I tell you.

Sadly, my poor laptop has pooped out on me! For some reason, it refuses to charge up, so the battery depleted fully this afternoon and I can't even turn it on. Brian is on the job, and will be using the regular PC upstairs to find out what's wrong and maybe order a new part or something. I'm sure that whatever is wrong with the charger thing you plug into the wall, lay across the floor where it gets kicked all around, stepped on, and picked up and dropped repeatedly, then plugs into the laptop itself is entirely not my fault. The point is, I cannot go and play on Ravelry, and I cannot even use this computer any longer, since Brian needs it to resuscitate my laptop. Humph. Finally in Ravelry, and I can't use it. Is the universe trying to tell me something? Well, yes--to knit, obviously.

Sturbridge Village

This week flew by! I cannot believe it's been a week since I blogged. May as well just hop back on the horse, right?

Last weekend we had lots of fun. On Saturday the five of us went to Old Sturbridge Village for the day, and after that enjoyed some time with my side of the family. My parents invited us over for dinner, and my sister and her family came as well. The next day, Brian's parents came to visit at our house. Rarely do we see both sides in the same weekend, so it was really great to see everyone, especially for the kids. Old Sturbridge Village provided us with lots to see and do, and I enjoyed telling Irene, Keegan and Spencer all I knew about "the old days". Hopefully, most of it was accurate. Originally our plan for the weekend was to go to Rhinebeck, but in the end we decided it was a little too far to do in one day, and all hotels insisted on a two night stay, which we couldn't do. Sadly, I had to give up my Rhinebeck dream for this year, but you better believe next year I'll be making it happen! OSV seemed a decent alternative. It's not far away. We've always talked about taking the kids there. The cost is much less than driving to New York. And we'd still be doing a "family" type of thing for the day. Every once in a while, I'd think that I was missing the yarny fun, but we enjoyed ourselves so thoroughly that I pretty much forgot about it. There were some reminders, however:

There was yarn. Hanging in the very first building we explored, an animal barn, we found these beauties...



There were spinning wheels and looms displayed:



As well as many nifty knitted items--socks, stockings, very l-o-n-g stockings, under garments, knitting needles, etc. Most of this was very cool to see and they're so delicate they truly inspired. Somehow the thought of being able to make these, or trying to make these smacked of fun, excitement even, but the thought of having to make these, every year, no-matter-what changed my tune. Seriously, those women were saints. Seriously.



We even found a sheepy friend in the kid's play area!



Of course, most of the day did not revolve around knitting at all...

We impersonated oxen working the cider press.





Helped press apples by hand, too.


You wouldn't believe how many wasps (bees) swarmed around this contraption! Luckily, they like the apple cider better than us. Brian wondered how many bees end up on average in a cup of cider...

We pretended to carry water from the well in the town center to our home.


Brian said it was surprisingly comfortable, but I did not try it myself.

We played old fashioned games of all sorts.


Probably the most fun thing we did, actually. This is Irene and I playing a game involving a wooden hoop, and two sticks each. You can see the hoop in the air. It doesn't take much to amuse me.

We even got to take a horse-drawn wagon ride!



And then we were pooped.



Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Yes. I did plan to do that when I took the poop picture. C'mon--you'd have done it, too!

Lately, I've been reading a lot of blog posts about fall (or the lack-there-of, in some parts). So I took some pretty New England autumn leaves pictures for you:

This is by the saw mill, which was pretty ingenious, really.


And a little closer, same trees:


Many photos didn't make the blog cut because they either had a bunch of other stuff going on in front of the trees that was plain ugly, or they just weren't capturing what I was going for. (Or I was in the picture and didn't look good) Hopefully these cheer up some one's day.

In knitting news, I have completed my niece Holli's hat and mitten set. The hat is the Baby, It's You pattern from the Yarn Girls' Guide to Kid Knits, and it was really fun to make. I'd lent the book to Krista, so I had to call her and get the gist of the pattern. Not a big deal, but I wasn't sure how to finish off or attach the three tassels. I think they turned out all right, but I am really wondering what the Yarn Girls wanted me to do with that...I'll check when I get the book back. It's killing me! Then I created mittens based on the Classic Mittens pattern, but incorporated the stitch repeat from the hat. What do you think?


Best shot with the tassels


"What in the world are these?"


Holli approves.
"Thanks Auntie Jill!"

Isn't she sweet? The mittens are a little longer than I planned, but I didn't like the stripes if they were cut too soon, so I went with this. At least she has room to grow...

Updates on Brian's sock coming soon. I've turned the heel and finished the short rowing, so I should be done soon. Oh, and don't worry--the wasps (bees!) seem to be gone.

What's the Buzz? (-ing)

All right, we have been finding some "bees" around here for a while. I say bees because I see yellow and black and flying, I think bees. That's all there is to it. Apparently, Yellow jackets is the correct term. Brian made sure I was getting it right tonight at dinner. I said, "Whatever, I just call 'em bees, but I get it, they're hornets." No. Not hornets. (Implied look at dinner table: Jill, you're a bonehead) They are wasps. Probably by now you're as bored of the whole conversation as I was. It's o.k., though--I still love ya, Bri!

Anyhow, we have been finding lots of bees (WASPS!) around the house, and I have been assuming it's because of the cold weather. They're just trying to get out of the cold, and I have an old, drafty house, so there are lots of little crannies for them to sneak into. Can't blame them, really--wasn't I just saying how cold it is around here the other day? Well, some turned into lots, and lots turned into a really yucky situation. I am blessed with a first floor laundry room, right off my kitchen. I was in this room on Tuesday, polishing the silver...
Just checking if you were paying attention. I was doing laundry. (I never polish silver.) Still with me? Good. I'm switching out my loads of laundry, which of course are never-ending. I hear the familiar buzz and start to look around. It's pretty loud, so I'm assuming that it's exceedingly close to my head, but hoping it's loud because the room is so tiny... I look to the right, to the left, down and all around. Then I look up. Up. That's when I see it. There is not a bee (wasp) flying around my head. It's in the light above. The drop ceiling has a fluorescent light with a large square of plastic. He's up there, IN the light. With about 30 of his friends.

Yup, there are a lot of them. And they are pretty pissed. It would seem that insects do not appreciate being trapped in light fixtures. Who knew? The buzzing is loud because the hornets (wasps) are swarming around above my ceiling. Discomfort overcomes me, and I don't know what to do. I can't really say I was afraid, on account of their being trapped. Instinct still told me get the heck out of there, though. I told Brian (who'd taken the day off to work next door) and he came to see. It's satisfying to report that I believe he was more freaked than I. We decide this is it and we really need to call someone. Instead of finding the occasion stray bee (wasp) trying to escape impending Winter, we found an infestation that appeared to be in our ceilings, under the floors, and most probably in our walls as well. Yuck. That's all I can say.

I left the light on in the hopes that the heat would pretty well fry the buggers, and it worked quite well.

Here they all are, dead.

The guy didn't come to deal with these "guests" until today, and boy, was I glad to see him! So now, we're all set, and I haven't seen any since maybe 11 am or so. We found 2 upstairs right after the man left, but I think they were just limping away, trying to escape. My sons and I captured them until two empty glasses from my bedside (good thing I didn't clean them up yet, right?) and left them for Brian. Kids enjoy looking at trapped bees (wasps) while they buzz around, attempting escape. I'm crossing my fingers that they're all gone, now. The worst was when I looked over at my son in his highchair at breakfast yesterday and saw one about an inch and half from his face, walking on his chair! Upsetting. Yes, upsetting is the word.

I wanted to update with some finished objects. And it's more pleasant subject than crazy, buzzing bees (wasps) so I'm ready to move on...

Spencer's mittens are finished and I did manage to get him to model them. Well, barely. People under two years old have difficulty with the idea of "showing" specific items. Here's the best I could do:



When I couldn't get him to hold out his hands and show off the mitts, I tried a different approach. I suggested he clap his hands. So I have lots of super cute pics of him, with his hands either together, not showing the mittens, or with his hands outstretched (pre-clap) and out of the field of vision. But he tried. And he said "clap", so that's something...



Another technique I tried was having him put his hands down on my leg, so I could take just the hands. He wasn't catching on. My daughter tried to help, by patting my leg, saying to lay them down right here. He put his head on my leg. I'm still laughing. Maybe I should put that pic in, too? Nah. Anyway, he finally got it. Both hands on my leg. I snap the picture! ...but not before he takes on hand away.



Wow, after that I was wiped out! Thank goodness that my older son is the model for the next pictures. So I get Keegan all set with his new winter hat on, although I still didn't get bells. Honestly, it's starting to grow on me without the bells. "OK, Keegs, let me take your picture so everyone can see your hat..."



Cute. Why do boys do this? And you can't even see the hat. Humph.
"All right, Keegs, tilt your head down, so I can see the hat, o.k.?"



Seriously. What a crazy kid.
"Can you turn your head to the side, so I can really see it for this one?"



Tongue still out!

I know you've seen the hat, now, but I have to continue...
It goes on like this...and I deleted a few, too! Check him out, it's bizarre--



And the tongue is always in a different spot, doing something different...
Astounding.



By this time, I'm cracking up. My camera will hardly stay steady, and the tears are rolling down my cheeks. But after all this, I've got to make sure I have one for the blog...
"How about one LAST one, from the back this time?"



His tongue is STILL out!!! Keegs kills me. He really does.

One thing I wanted to mention about the hat is that I did one thing differently. When I did my Tiffany Mittens, I found that the point where the round started did funny things. I didn't like the fair isle with the little jog. You know the way stripes make a jog when you're knitting in the round? Like that, but it made the pattern really odd to me. So I attempted to do a jog less stripe, in a sense. I knit the last stitch of the round with the stitch under the first (next) stitch of the round, so that it would pull the same row together at that join. I didn't look up how to do this before I started, although I know I've read it several places. (tsk, tsk, I know) I winged it, and this is how it turned out:



It's not perfect, but it's better to me. I will keep working on it. (And maybe look up exactly how to do it next time.)

The Walk

Well, thanks to many of you, I made my fundraising goal for the walk. So Sunday morning, I set off to meet my mom and sister feeling pretty darned pumped. It was a little early for me to be showered, dressed, and ready on a Sunday morning, but I did it. OK, it was 7:02 a.m. when I walked out the door, but I swear that's some sort of record for me. Not that I'm not up by then, I'm just unprepared to leave my home at that time...or take out the trash...or God-forbid someone knock on my door... I managed, though--granted, I had two (yes, I said two) travel mugs of coffee in my hands, but that's beside the point. To top it all off, I actually beat the two of them to our rendezvous point! That never happens. The stars were in alignment.

So, we drove to the closest station to catch the T into Boston. Kind of annoying--we couldn't go to the one 20 minutes from my house, because it's a commuter rail and, like me, doesn't get moving that early on a Sunday. So we drove 45 minutes to Riverside station. Of course, the station was very busy and there was line, but I'd expected as much. I did NOT expect that there would be only two machines. I did not expect that one of the two would be out of order. What?! I did not expect that the 20-some high school girls in front of us would hold up the line for 30 minutes while no one could figure out how to get a stinkin' pass out of the machine. All right, I am not crazy or super impatient. I realize that that's a lot of tickets to buy, and that they had to coordinate, etc. Seriously, if you were there, you'd have wanted to punt them. I did. But I was quiet. I did not say anything....I just made fun of them later. (I know, I'm a bad person.) It did not help things that they were coiffed up and plastered with makeup like they were some sort of NFL league cheerleaders. And no, they weren't cheerleaders; their shirts said ____ Soccer. (I will keep the poor town out of it, it's not that place's fault they were annoying.) Anyhow, we finally did get our tickets (quickly, I might add--we're very courteous) and get on the train.

Here's my mom and Ann at the station, waiting for a train. I won't tell you how many came and went while we were waiting in line for our tickets...


Here are the three of us in the train, on our way. I tried a new technique for self-photography. I held the camera up really high, like directly over us, so as to eliminate the double-chin effect I usually get when holding a camera as far out as I can while leaning closer to the other subject(s). I think it worked:


We started out for our 6 mile walk around 9:30 or so. All in all, I thought it strange that my 1 hour commute to Boston turned into 2.5 hours. At least we made it. The walk was fun, but a little quiet. (Even after all that coffee?) Beautiful weather--not too cold, not too hot, no rain. Or snow, this is New England, after all, so I think we were lucky.



By the end, I was awfully tired, but feeling good. One sad thing did bring me down from my "doing good for others" high. While we were crossing the finish line, the announcers on stage started talking to a little girl who was apparently lost. They told her to come toward the sound of their voices, and described how she was dressed, her name, etc. This upset and saddened the three of us to the cores. I looked around, but I didn't see anyone who matched the description or looked lost. Talk about the scariest thought you could have as a mother. You child lost in the middle of 40,0o0 walkers, thousands of volunteers, in the middle of Boston. I wish I knew if they found her. The voice in my head keeps saying they must have, but I believe it's just self-preservation. It's sort of just too horrific to think about, someone snatching your kiddo up while you're doing a fundraising walk with her. I came home and hugged up my own kiddos, very tightly.







How could I resist?

I didn't get much knitting done at all. Sort of a shame, since I did so much travelling, and I'd lugged Brian's sock all around RI and MA, but I'm dealing with it. I did cast on for a pair of mittens for Spencer, to try out a new pattern and see how the fit is. I finished the first one yesterday, and the fit is perfect. Almost too perfect--I think if he grows at all, they might be too small. Ah, I don't want to think about it. He's the baby--he's staying small forever. If I keep saying it, I swear it will come true. Tonight, after this, I will go and finish the second mitt. All that's left is the thumb. And I love the pattern, too. It's Classic Mittens from Free Vintage Knitting. My favorite part is that the pattern has directions for both 2-needle and in-the-round mitts (I went with in-the-round), and variations for different looks, like stripes and cute duplicate stitched snowmen. And I'm using Knitpicks Swish to match their hats, of course. Ribbing on US 3's, stockinette on 5's. Pics will be coming...maybe I can get him to model them. He put the first one on this morning and would NOT take it off. I tried to confiscate the mitten, but Spence started screaming, so I let him play a little more. Can't remember how I managed to get a hold of it again, but I'm guessing it might have involved some M&M's or something.

Keegan's hat is done, but for the bells. I will get some soon. Then I can start on my niece's hat and mittens, but I'll need another color for the pattern. Better get shopping!

Ps. For those of you who are thinking it's early to be knitting woolen mittens, I'll have you know that Monday when my daughter headed to school, I had to dig out her winter coat from last year. It was only 40 degrees outside!! Winter is coming...around here, at least.

Oh yes, one final thing (this is it, I promise!) the prizes have been sent out. I hit the post office today, so be on the lookout...I think for the most part they were all 2 or 3 day delivery, so you should all have them by Friday or Saturday, for sure. Start stalking the postman!

Contest WINNERS!

All right, the moment you have all been waiting for...
I will be announcing 5 prizes from my blog contest. Before I do, the announcement has to be made--

I have reached my goal and raised over $1,500.00!!!

Here we go--





The grand prize:



2 hanks of Shibui Knits sock yarn in SH Orchid colorway,

donated by me





Goes to...









Krista!





-------------------------



Prize 2:



An not-yet-for-sale pattern by Wendy Knits, herself

Hearts for Heidi sock pattern, donated by Wendy





Goes to...









Megann!





---------------------------------



Prize 3:



440 yds of hand-dyed superwash sock yarn

In Pink Ribbon colorway, donated by Qutecowgirl





Goes to...









Jo Ellen





-----------------------------------



Prize 4:



Set of 7 Jade Stitch Markers,

donated by Ann





Goes to...









Sara!





--------------------------------



Prize 5:



Set of 6 Flower Stitch Markers,

donated by Mary





Goes to...









Linda!









Congratulations to all of you! I sent emails out to all of you, asking for your address so I can mail these out to you promptly. Thank you all so much--I wouldn't have reached my goal without all of your help. You are all wonderful--feel proud today!

And special thanks (again) to all my prize donators--you are the best!

Only thing worse than a sick kiddo...

Is a sick husband. (snicker, snicker) At least it's not that bad.

You guessed it, one of the kiddos is sick. Poor Keegs has swimmers ear, on top of a double ear infection. (I thought they were the same, but apparently swimmers ear is when the ear canal is infected, too? Not sure on this one.) Anyhow, lots of fussing this week; no one slept well; everyone was stressed and irritable. I'm happy to say that we now know what is going on. That helps. And our little buddy has all the meds he needs, and I think he's on the mend. While he's all right with the oral medicine, he is NOT a big fan of the ear drops. Can't say I blame him...fluid in the ear feels so awful, plus you know it's darned cold! He's been a sport though, so I started a hat for him.

This is a hat I've been planning for him for the winter to match his coat. We've chosen the Halton Crown Hat from Cabin Fever's Kids' Knitted Hats. It's Knitpicks Swish superwash wool in Red Pepper, Dark Navy, a grey (can't remember which color), and Dublin green. And of course, Keegan's favorite part is that it will have bells on the top. Any suggestions for bells that won't rust? Hmmm...I'll have to look around.



Now, I realize this is a rather terrible picture, but for some reason I can't do any better today. No idea why. The red is just going crazy, but I assure you it's not quite that loud in real life. It is pretty loud, but much less. Really, the colors look nice in front of me, but the pic makes them look so awful I wanted to frog the whole thing the first time I saw the rendering. Luckily, when I picked it up to rip, I saw how pretty it actually is...whew!

I am hoping to finish over the weekend and get a chance to pick up some bells for it, but we will see. Pretty busy weekend ahead of us. In true "child" spirit, my little feverish, double ear infected, run down little boy wanted to run out to the store and buy the bells this afternoon--just in case I finished soon. Made me laugh, but there was no way he was leaving the house, much less infecting the entire northern RI area.

I have also been working on Brian's socks, but they're not coming along as quickly as I would like. This particular go-round, I'm finding the tiny needles painful to work with for too long or too often. Luckily, when I suggested the grey socks for Brian as my Grey's Anatomy KAL project, I made the disclaimer that I might only work on it during the show, because I have a lot I need to do. Brian agreed, so I think I dodged a bullet there. Here's what I've done so far--they're plain, but I like them. And the grey is really sharp looking.


That was supposed to be more artsy, but I guess I have some work to do, huh? At least it's interesting.

The miles of stockinette are making me feel like I may never be done. Positive thinking would be helpful here, but it seems to be evading me. It occurred to me that if it was a glove, I'd be almost done. See for yourself:



Stitchin' Mary's stitch markers arrived yesterday. They are gorgeous. I've never seen this style before, with the flexible wire. So I hid then under my fridge and I won't give them away. All right. I will. But I don't want to!


The pic is a little dark, but it's the only shot that showed the flowers in the flat beads properly. Nice, aren't they?

OK, as far as the contest goes, I have finally gotten the program to randomly pick the winners to work. The winners have been determined and (you're going to kill me) I will be posting them tomorrow. --ducking to avoid needles, scissors, and wool of all sorts being thrown at me-- I promise it will be up tomorrow. You're going to have to live with it. Well, maybe tonight if you ask nicely. At this point, I have 5 of the 6 prizes in my possession, so I can only announce those winners. I will announce a sixth winner when the last prize donation arrives. I'd just hate to get someone's hopes up and then not be able to follow through. My plan is that the last one arrives in the mail tomorrow, so that's why I am really waiting. Cross your fingers...

Well, the contest leads me to the walk. It is on Sunday, and I am so pumped up for it! The last time I checked my website (I'll be honest, it was like a minute before I started this post) I was
99% of the way to my goal!!

Isn't that something? I can hardly believe it myself. I am literally FIVE dollars away from reaching my fundraising goal. I can't thank you all enough--even my wordy self can't think of what to say, exactly. Now that I'm not so worried about the contest and whether I'm going to make my goal or not, I am thinking about the walk. About the feeling I had last year. About looking around at all these people who are there to help fight! About the way my skin tingles, being a part of something so big--so grand. And I'm thinking that I can't wait to walk. It should be great. I will try to remember to bring my camera with me and take some photos, and I'll be sure to share all about it.

I've also made some fingerless mitts for myself (in case the walk's chilly) from the yarn I received from Qutecowgirl. I wanted to try out her Keri pattern, but I needed something I could work on without thinking too much, and I seem to be genetically predisposed to fail at lace. Go figure. Maybe next time. This time, I used the Fetching pattern from Knitty.



Now, the question is--what to make with the leftover yarn? I figure I have probably over 100 yds left or so. What do you think?

I wonder if it would be enough for a hat?


PS...I have notified all the winners, but the official post will go up tomorrow. If you are a winner---shhh!

It's now or never...

Just wanted to make a quick mention about the contest. As originally announced, the contest will end tonight at midnight, so get your entries in while you can! All you have to do is visit my Making Strides Against Breast Cancer fundraising website and make a donation (any size). I will give you one entry in the contest for every $10 you donate! Woohoo! Do it now, before you forget...

Refresher of prizes:

2 hanks Shibui Knits sock yarn


1 currently unavailable for purchase sock pattern
from Wendy Knits, called Hearts for Heidi


Hand dyed yarn from Qutecowgirl in Pink Ribbon colorway


Set of green Jade stitch markers from AnnieBananie


Set of flowered stitch markers from StitchinMary


and combination of one set of ABC's stitch markers and one Butterfly Row Counter bracelet from Aimee



Thanks so much to all of you who have donated so far, and especially to my prize donators--you are the best! I am so excited to pull names for these prizes tomorrow and send these terrific items out to the lucky winners...