Meeting the Big Man

Oh, a very important evening in the life of children. Santa came to Irene's school. Now, I know this is a little bit on the "late breaking news" side, but I'd like to share it anyway. Bear with me. Or skim down to the knitting stuff later and pretend to admire the pictures in your comments. Whatever.

So before the holidays, obviously, Irene's school had a special Read to the Kids night, and it was pretty cute. The kids attended in their pajamas, and did some coloring before hand.



Then someone from the school read a book or two to them. Santa was to show up right after that, but apparently he was running late (big drama at the North Pole, I'm sure), and so the kids sang some songs into the microphone while they waited--adorable!



There was a "Cookie Walk" fundraiser for the PTA, for which parents were asked to bake and donate cookies. Yours truly did her share, of course. I baked two different kinds of bar cookies, and delivered them warm. Yes, that's right. I am a crazy at-home-mom-JuneCleaver-type...I cannot seem to help myself. However, since I'm no fool, I also kept a decent amount for our own consumption as well. Anyhow, we could purchase a coffee tin to fill with cookies for a couple of bucks, and we did. My thought was that I'd like to have some different kinds on hand. Well, I should have looked first. Don't get me wrong, now. Some of the cookies were quite good, but generally, I was not super impressed. Several kind of the cookie dough you buy in a tube with the little wreath or reindeer inside, and that sort of stuff. Brian pretty much complained whenever he ate one that all the cookies looked good, but once you taste them, they're no good. Ah, well. I guess we can't all be June, right?

When Santa finally showed up, we waited our turn in line. We were number 11. The kids complained. "You mean we have to wait for 10 other people first?!" I said I thought it would go quickly, and they decided it was worth the wait. Our friend Dawn said her girls were like number 38. I suddenly became grateful that we'd gotten there early and colored for 20 minutes.

I know this is probably somehow un-American or something, but this was the first time my kids had done the sit on Santa's lap thing. Got a hold of yourself yet? I'll wait. Now? Good. I explained that the Big Man was going to ask if they were good all year and maybe what they wanted for Christmas. I didn't want them to freeze, so I figured I'd get their minds a thinkin'...

Keegan went first.



He was skeptical, but a real trooper.

Spencer was next. Um, he didn't really want to. Yes, I sort of made him. He was o.k. with sitting on Mrs. Claus' lap. Not sure if it was that a woman was somehow less threatening or if it was the handful of lollipops she was holding, but I didn't really care...



Then Irene went. She wasn't really into it, either, but she may have gotten the idea that if you snub Santa, he doesn't like to bring you presents, you know? No clue where she got that idea, by the way.



Is he kind of a little grabby on her butt to you? Or is it just me? I started to wonder about the whole idea of doing this ever again. Call me Scrooge, but it was kinda weird.

All right, my favorite part. I asked the kids what they said to Santa up there, and I expected a long list of all the stuff they wanted. They surprised me. Irene said she wanted a baby doll. That's it. Not bad, huh? Keegan said something that brought tears to my eyes. He said that he told Santa a surprise. "You surprised Santa?" No. He said he wanted a surprise. That's it. Doesn't matter what, but he'd like a toy that's a surprise. I thought that was really something.

Let's take a break from catching up, shall we? Here's some new and current knitting.

Calorimetry, intended for myself in Knitpicks Andean Silk, Mustard. Not sure, now that it's all done, I wasn't sure it was "me". But I know someone it would be perfect for, so I think it may become a gift, instead. Not sure if she reads the blog, so I will wait to divulge more. I think it turned out cute, though. Several of the short rows in the center were left out, because I thought it was getting too wide, and it turns out it was a good choice because I nearly ran right out of yarn! close call, but all's well that ends well...



I've been working on the Monkey socks, too! Look, I've turned the heel!! Woohoo!



Here are the van socks I started. I'm not sure if I've mentioned them before. The idea is to have a go-anywhere project that I don't have to concentrate on very much and can do in the car while I wait for Irene at school, while we're in the car (and I'm not driving, of course), or anywhere, really. So I cast on with Jana's TVyarn in Fried Green Tomatoes and am using the Harlot's Basic Sock Recipe from Knitting Rules.



They're coming along nicely, and I'm into the second sock. Maybe a tiny bit big, but I think they'll be o.k. This yarn is to-die-for; I love it. I'm sure my pics don't do it justice, but I'm digging the striping a lot.



Um, notice anything different?

snicker, snicker

Why yes, those sock blockers ARE new! Funny you should notice.



These are from The Loopy Ewe, courtesy of my in-laws, and I adore them more than I can say. So does Spencer. He kept stealing them from my present pile and pushing them around on the floor, saying, "Vac. Vac." I about died laughing. But I kept stealing them back. Yeah, seriously.

Seems that I'm into socks right now. I'm not sure what the draw is, but I justify the plain socks as traveling socks, so they don't count. Then I sort of needed something to finish before the next big project (tell you about it later, but I will say it's for Brian) so I started some more socks.

Well, no, it doesn't seem to make sense, but it does--really. These are sport weight. You know, so they'll finish faster. I'm trying my first toe-up socks, and though I cast on Monday, I'm already into the second one. Boy, sport weight is a different story from fingering, huh? They're Wendy's basic toe-up sock pattern, using TVyarn in Love Actually, which you might remember from my December sock yarn club shipment. This picture is truly terrible, but the socks are really nice.



I stopped at the top of the first sock and just put it on some embroidery floss. Then I started the second from the other end of the yarn ball. When I get to the same point, I'll knit them row for row so that I can use every last bit of yarn and know I'll have enough for both to be the same length. Wish me luck!

Next time, Irene's birthday pics...