Put. The. Needle. Down.

Brian's sweater continues to frustrate me, but more on that later. I'd enjoy focusing on the good stuff. All right with you?

1. I finished the first Monkey sock. Yeah, just a shade under a half-year. Way to go. (I'll try for pics tomorrow.)

1a. Edited to add: More good news! It's not really half a year--it's only like 2 months. I just looked it up to link to the original Monkeys post and it was November. Woohoo. Ok, not that great, but I feel a little better...

2. Irene's Polka Dotted Hat finally has earflaps. She's pleased. I'm pleased. We're all pleased.

I tried for pics of the earflaps, but Keegan insisted on being in the shot. Here he and Irene are. Oh, and the hat.




Keegs is posing with some kind of fire engine and a screwdriver or something. As you know, the kiddo is a little crazy. I can always count on him for an interesting and fun picture...



The pompoms somehow worked, and I don't want to say too much about it. I do fear the knitting gods and I don't want to anger them. I'll just remind of you this debacle. Be sure to scroll down on the link to where Spencer "espressed" himself on my pompoms...

3. The Van socks are almost done, too. I've got maybe a half inch or so before I start decreasing for the toe, and then I'm done! Not bad. They moved along for a project that I only work on in the car.

Three good things. That's about all I've got. Now on to the sweater. I'm on the first sleeve.



Here it is on the Divan in the foyer. No, I never really call it a Divan, but Brian's Grandmother does and I think it's the funniest and cutest thing. It belonged to Bri's great Aunt Teda and it's really a special piece to us. (Unfortunately, the kids don't hold it in as high esteem, so it will have to be refinished and reupholstered one of these days. That's the price you pay for not living in a museum, though, so I'm willing to pay it.)



Spencer, what you got there?



You see the needle? Do ya?



Um, don't pull. Please don't pull it, Spence.



Oh no.



No. No. No!



Spencer is tearing at the sleeve, laughing and crying, "Pull".



Spencer--"Pull, pull, pull!"

Mommy--"No, no, no!"



Oh, shit.



I hate this sweater.

Oh boy. What a sight, right? I have to admit something. I do not hate the sweater. I DID. But I put that puppy in a time out and I feel better now. I don't hate it. I'm not fond of the sweater.

And there's something else, something I have to admit. I hate the sweater because it keeps coming out wrong. Yeah, a lot wrong. And the sleeve was WAY too damned big.

Do you see where I'm going with this? Hmmm? I had to frog the sleeve. And I was angry and I didn't want to touch the thing. The thought of Spencer going to town on it seemed funny. And you know what? It was. I now associate the frogging of the sleeve with him laughing (pull, pull, pull!) and it helped. Hopefully you, my dear friend, aren't too traumatized by my little joke here. I honestly just couldn't resist myself. You know you would have done the same. Even while he pulled, I knew I would do it. Robert Palmer, Baby--Simply Irresistable.

I'm reworking the sleeve now. I cast on 10 stitches fewer. (You think my gauge might be off?) Nah.

I'm off to knit, but I will leave you with this little gem. Kind of reminds me of a kitten... Please disregard the box of paper recycling in my dining room. There's really no excuse.

Edited--Stupid video won't work. I'll add it tomorrow as a little bonus or something. I can't get it to stick to this post. Err.

Guess who can knit?

Where to start? First of all, I am feeling much better. Still not 100%. More like 64%...but I'm functional, so that's something. Also, I just doused myself with cold medication, so perhaps I can write this without hacking up a lung. Cross your fingers, o.k.?

Ahh, my little tiny project. No, Jill, it's not a teeny tiny sweater for the friend I "see" when I use my coping mechanism. You silly. Penguins don't need sweaters. They're used to the cold! But not a bad guess.

It was this:



Loopy's Red Sock Kit. Cute, n'est pas? Oh, I had fun making this one. Irene really wanted there to be enough yarn for two tiny socks, so she could use them for her new doll, but it was not to be. I did email Sheri and she told me that the yarn is Cherry Tree Hill's Wild Cherry. Note to self: Order some to knit socks for Irene and her doll. Anyhow, after casting on for Bri's sweater 3 times, I needed something quick and easy. This fit the bill.

Thanks to all of you for you compliments on the FO list last time. You are all so sweet! I really expected for everyone to just glance right over the list. Really, I only posted it up so I could erase the tally I'd had on the sidebar and not lose all the info. I'm crazy that way.

So back to the sweater from hell Brian's sweater. I'm up to the armpits. And no, I hadn't ordered the book yet. Errrr. This garment is becoming an irritation. I broke down and ordered it today through Knitpicks. Shewolfy, thanks for your tip on Amazon, by the way. I do use them a LOT, but this time I had a reason for ordering from Knitpicks. An unfortunate reason. Here's how it went down...

I keep the sweater, yarn and needed tools in my knitting bag. I keep it hanging on the doorknob to the hall closet. It's just a handy place, easy to reach but out of the way. And Brian gets jumpy if I leave knitting bags on every surface. (What's with that?) Inside said closet are the children's coats, my purse, etc. No biggie. Directly to the left of this closet is the door to the basement. Inside this door are more hooks, which hold Brian's and my coats. How to explain? For some unknown illogical reason, I seem to have left my knitting sticking a little bit out of the bag. Just a little. Like, maybe only the tips of my working circular needle. OK? Somehow, in my haste to grab a scarf from inside the basement door and lug three small children out the door to school drop-off, I managed to make a mistake. It went unnoticed. I did, however, notice it later.

I tried to open the closet door for the boys to hang their coats back up upon our return from drop-off. It was stuck. I looked inside and figured a coat or fleece or scarf or bag was stuck. Nope. Mop fell over and got caught in the hooks? Nope. Hmmm...what could it be? Why won't the door open? OH. I see. My needle is caught in the door next to the closet. But of course! And why wouldn't it be, right? I start to panic, expecting my sweater to be half off of the needles. I grab the needle out of the door. No, actually, I try to. Doesn't work. I try harder. I start tugging like a maniac, freaking out and starting to yell at the door. I finally have to unlock the door and open it up most of the way to get the needle out. And yes, the needle has seen better days. It is...crimped. Yeah, that's the word. No. Maybe the right way to say it is that the stinkin' needle is Fu-bar. So I ordered another Options US 9 tips set and the book. The good news: no stitches fell off the cable. Miracle of miracles.

Now I wait for the book. I'm not sure if a raglan sleeve works the same at the bottom as a regular yoke sleeve. By that, I mean, I'm not sure what Elizabeth Zimmermann's percentage system says to cast on. For the yoke sweater, it's 20-25% of the Key number. As much as I want to cast on and get started instead of waiting for the book, I'm not sure I will. I'm not certain that I can bear to frog another huge chunk of this project. Perhaps I will wait to see what the book says.

Knitting drama aside, I'd like to show you who can knit. I showed you the cool book I got from Suzanne over the holidays, right? Well, we're looking through her knitting basket and she's taking out some (very!) old WIP's and telling me all about them. Brian finds a blue and white scarf and it turns out...

It's HIS! As in, he made it. (Well, he was working on it...it's not finished, of course.)



This is the back. The word is that he was just choosing stitch patterns and using them for a while in different stripes. And get this! He picks it up and starts knitting on it!!!



No word of a lie. Can you believe it?! I think it was the coolest thing ever. Naturally, I became excited and jumped for the camera. "You're not going to put these pictures on your blog, are you?"

Um, duh.



My husband, the knitter. Wow.

Irene starts asking him questions. Guess what?

Uh-huh. You know it. He shows her how to knit.









And she's pretty darned good at it. All right, go ahead and call your hubby in here to see Brian knitting. Go on. You know you want to.

2007 -- What a knitting year

I think I'd like an official "what I knit in 2007" post, mostly for myself. Considering my readership, I almost decided against it, since you probably already knew all of it. Sadly for you, my friends, I am apparently rather selfish and I don't care a bit if I bore you. You might have guessed this already.

Completed in 2007:

My Tiffany Mittens
Maura's Fetching Mitts
Dad's Coffee Sleeve
Holli's Percy Pullover
Irene's Polka Dot Mittens
Irene's Polka Dot Hat
Keegan's Striped Socks
Brian's gray Socks
Holli's Mittens
Holli's pink striped hat
Keegan's Mittens
Keegan's Fair Isle Hat
Fetching Fingerless Mitts
2 Market Bags
Saartje's Booties
Felted Slippers
Spencer's Mittens
Spencer's Jester Hat
My First Socks
Irish Hiking Scarf
My V-neck Sweater
Irene's Hooded Cardigan
Audrey's Stuffed Bunny
Elena's Baby Blanket
Brian's green Scarf
Irene's Hat (Big Wool)
Irene's Sweater
Spencer's Hat (Big Wool)
Keegan's Funnelneck Sweater
Keegan's Hat (Big Wool)
Spencer's Pullover Sweater

I think this is a whole heck of a lot, considering 2007 was the first year I've ever knitted seriously. Well, thanks for bearing with me putting up with my crap. On to the new stuff...

SICK.

That about sums it up. I am sick today. Now, don't get my wrong, I'm o.k. I'm not hospitalized, or on my deathbed or anything. I just feel terrible and it's much worse than yesterday. You guessed it. I had to cancel on Krista and not go to WEBS. Please, calm down. I know cancelling our pilgrimage is a drastic measure, but I do assure you that I am fine. Now you know why I prefaced with some reassurances, right? Oh, I am so sad about it. And worst of all, I still don't have the book I need to complete Brian's sweater.

I do know enough to be able to knit the sweater in the round all the way up to just under the sleeves, and possibly make a stab at casting on for both sleeves. Hopefully, I'll get my hands on the treasured EZ book before I get to that point. You know me, if I put the sweater aside for a while (say because I ran out of yarn and have to order more, maybe? Think blue v-neck sweater) I will be unlikely to pick it back up before next winter. So I'll try to get that book. I just hate to pay shipping for it when I can just get it at a real store and have it in hand, you know?

Speaking of the sweater, I have made some progress. By that, I mean that I've knit back up to (and beyond) where I was a few days ago before I frogged the damn thing. But I'm not bitter.


Here's the sweater in the front, my knitting bag behind, and my coping mechanism in the back left.

O.K., I am kidding. Honestly, I rarely have a drink if I'm knitting. I make enough mistakes when I'm sober. Don't you think? Seriously, though. The bottle was just on the counter, left over from my In-Laws' visit last weekend, and I couldn't resist throwing it into the shot. And no, it hasn't been touched since then--even ask the sweater.



I'm making a lot of progress. This yarn knits up lickety-split.



This is the Harlot's Unoriginal Hat that I cast on a couple of days ago. Really, I needed something to take the edge off of my visit to the frog pond. The Debbie Bliss Cashmerino SuperChunky feels like I imagine a cloud would, so silky and soft. I'm about halfway there.

And finally, I started a little bit of something else. Any idea what it is? (No, it's not listed in my projects on Ravelry--don't bother looking. Cheaters.) One hint: it's very cute and fun. What do you think it is?



Hopefully all or at least most of this post makes sense. Being sick has taken a lot out of me today, but I'm trying. Plus, if the post doesn't jive when I look at it later, I can just blame the cold meds.

Road Trip, Baby.

Oh, yeah. Krista and I are going to make the pilgrimage to WEBS on Saturday, and I am pretty psyched. She made the cutoff for the SAM5, so she needs some sock yarn, and what better place to get it? I am only slightly bitter that I didn't get in myself. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

Now, I have a few things to mention about WEBS. The first thing is that I did go there over the holiday season, and I never really posted what I got or any of that. The second is what a small world it is sometimes.

So here's the scoop with the first visit, over the holidays. After my Mom and sister Ann and I left Webs on my first visit, we hatched a little plan. I had been dying to pick up some yarn and make a sweater for Brian. Well, I'll just say that there wasn't really money left for that. Ann said that she would want to go in on the yarn for a sweater with me, if that would help. Hmmm? Sounded pretty good. Then she talked to my Mom about it, and they both agreed that would make a great gift...they buy him the yarn and I knit the sweater. Long story short, we chose some Zara yarn for him, in a nice dark charcoal color. I knew he liked the color and had seen the yarn before and loved it. And we made sure to choose a yarn he could return if he wanted to.

Part of Brian's gift for me was to take me to WEBS and we'd piddle around and I got spend X-amount of money. You get the idea. Wow, good gift, huh?! Anyway, we brought his yarn along with us, just in case. (Now I seem to have totally spaced and I never really got a picture of the yarn. It was gorgeous, though.)

I cannot begin to tell you how much fun I had there. We really enjoyed ourselves, and even better, no kids with us. Brian finally found the yarn he wanted for a sweater, after much pattern searching, yarn perusing, gauge explanation, and sweater touching. My guy's got good taste, too. He went with Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Chunky in a great two toned beige-tan color. And we got a few other things, too...

Here's the sweater yesterday:



You can see that I did a hat swatch, a la Elizabeth Zimmermann, like a good girl.



And in this shot you can see my new 24" and 40" cables and US 9's and 7's Options Tips from Knitpicks. Love 'em.

Here is some of the rest:



OK, I got EZ's Knitting Around because I needed it for the sweater. Brian's yarn is not in the shot, but boy does it take a lot of yarn to make a man's sweater. The blue/grey yarn on the left is for sweaters for Keegan and Spencer. It's Classic Elite Inca Print. Very nice. And of course, there's lots more, but I just put in the one hank. The creamy colored stuff is for me, it's Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Super Bulky, and I'm not sure what I'll make with it, but it will be for me, and be along the lines of mittens and a hat or earwarmer, I suspect. And finally, the multicolored sock yarn. Oh, did I forget that? It's only my most coveted sock yarn, the one I saw on Heather's post on the SNB forum and I HAD TO HAVE some. Mmm, yummy, yummy.

Oh, yeah--little teaser for you. The red book behind the EZ book? It's this:



McCall's KNITTING with step-by-step instructions for beginners. Book 2 On the cover, it says 75 cents! So cute. I got this from my Mother-in-Law, Suzanne (who loved her scarf, thanks for asking) while we were there for Christmas. I will go into that visit later, there were lots of surprises, and I do have pics. Next post. Inside the book are all kinds of cool things, including a Barbie dress and coat, doll clothes, and some stuff that's actually back in style! Crazy. Suzanne pulled it out of her knitting basket while we were there, and she told me I could have it. Pretty cool.

In the end, I didn't really get much that day at Webs for myself, because I mostly bought for Brian and the boys. So I did finish my "X-amount" at The Loopy Ewe. I'll save that for later. Let me go on to the second thing I wanted to share about Webs.

Now you know I'm in Ravelry, right? Well, there are all kinds of forums and boards on which to chat, discuss, and ask questions. And I've been seeing someone's avatar on the boards and thinking that they looked familiar. But people are on there from all over the globe, so chances are, it's just my imagination. But I keep seeing her. So I peek at her profile, and she's from Western Mass (and I grew up in the central Mass area, so it's not far). Hmmm...weird coincidence. I see she has an Etsy store and dyes yarn, so I think, why not take a peek? Oh, pretty yarns, by the way, take a look. Did you look? Yeah, her store is called "KEEGAN Lanes Yarns!! Same name as my son...weirder. I decide to take a quick gander at her blog, just to see if her son's name is Keegan, too. I read and read, and then I see a picture. And it clicks! She works at WEBS! Yeah, that's right--she's the girl from the store who gave us the tour and was so sweet and nice!! (If you click on the link above about my first visit, you can read about it.) I am sure of it, and I can see the store in the background of the picture, too. Isn't that cool?

I was a bit nervous that I might sound like a sort of crazy-stalker-type, but I sent her a message on Ravelry. And I sort of explained who I was, and just said hi. She was so cool!! Melissa remembered me (probably from jumping up and down in the back room while clapping my hands like a 4 year old). So I just had to share that experience, because it's really neat. I was kind of hoping she's be in on Saturday when Krista and I head to the store, but sadly, she's got the day off. Or maybe she's calling frantically right now, demanding, no--begging for the day off, so she won't have to see this "crazy psycho" from Ravelry? Hey, you never know.

Finally, a quick update on Brian's sweater. I think the universe is trying to tell me something. When I tried to get the EZ book at Webs, they only had the Knitting Workshop out, so I about gave up. Then I asked someone for some help and got the right book. They're awesome about that, by the way...always ask. I get home, look through the book. Yeah. Wrong book. It's the one they had on the shelf that I actually needed. Hence the trip on Saturday, for the right book, the original book. Later, we measure Brian and he decides the size sweater he wants based on a fave sweatshirt. Fine. I get the yarn, do my swatch, do the math and cast on. I knit a row or two and he digs out some sweaters. Indeed, the same sweaters I asked him to try before. Anyhow, he decided he needs a different size. 49" instead of 46". Fine. I rip it back, I cast back on. I don't complain. I say I want him to be happy with his sweater, and I'm glad he checked, so I didn't knit the sweater too small. I knit and knit. I knit about 8 inches on the thing, and I put it onto two cables and have him try it on. As I suspected but tried to ignore, too big. I measure it. Three inches too big. I'm getting 52". No. No. No.

I check my gauge some more, because I usually tend to loosen up, and I seem to be right, but obviously, it's too big. Wanting to give Bri the right sweater, I rip it back again. Sad. Even Brian was sad. And apologizing. A lot. He helped pull while I rewound...THREE balls of yarn. Ugh. I cast back on. Yes, you know it--the same number of stitches I had cast on originally. Darn Universe. I'm still not listening, but morale is a smidge low.

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...

"Let me es-splain".

"No, there is too much...let me sum up."

Seriously, though. Where do I start? Right before I fell off the edge of the Earth, I was knitting and crafting a lot. Mostly stuff I couldn't blog, because the items were gifts that hadn't been given. At this point, I think it's all fair game, so I will recap some of the knitting for you.

I made this awesome pattern for my Dad, with a Dunkin Donuts gift card inside. (He's coffee crazy, just like me.) The designer is none other than our very own Heather (on Crafter she's "MissKnittyPants") who won the last prize from my contest. Small world, huh? Anyhow, I love it, it was easy and quick, and I think my Dad was pleased, too. Plus, his fingers won't burn through his cup, so that's a bonus.



Holli's sweater was finished in plenty of time for Christmas, but I believe I didn't really blog the finished product. Here's the picture:





And on Holli, so sweet!



Finally, I also knit up some Fetching fingerless mitts for Maura. These are so gorgeous, in Knitpicks Andean Silk. The yarn really is fabulous, and I think this Lettuce colorway is my favorite of anything right now. I did run a little short on yarn. So I cursed a bit, and then started ripping back the second one. I wasn't short by much. In the end, I had to use a button hole style thumb to save on the thumb yarn, and I did the "body" of the mitts with two fewer rows each. Then the rest worked out, with like, none to spare. Whew! In past days, I would have just either given her something else, or ordered more yarn and waited until it arrived. Poor Mo would have had to wait for her gift, too. Thanks to a little more experience knitting, and the many helpful people on KnitHappens and Ravelry, I had a few tricks up my sleeve and could adapt the pattern to the amount of yarn I had on hand. Gotta love Knitting Friends!

Here's a pic of the mitts--finished, finally.



With the gift knitting completed, we started the festivities...

First off, we went to my parents' house for Christmas Eve. Well, it's also Spencer's birthday (awwwwww) so we had a special Christmas Eve/Birthday celebration dinner at my sister's that evening. She and Don really did quite a job. Ann was in charge of a cake for Spencer, and she made this for him:



As most two year olds are, he is very into Elmo. Didn't she do a great job?! I loved it, and yes, it did taste as good as it looks. Dinner was amazing, too. My Brother-in-Law, Don, was in charge (you might know him as "Holli's Dad"?) and it was delicious...my favorite part was the cheesy twice baked potato casserole type thing. Not sure what it was, but I want to make a house out of it and live there until I eat the entire thing. Oh, so good.

It took Spencer a second or two to figure out the cake was Elmo...


...but I think he approved.


I can't believe my baby is not-so-much a baby anymore. Sort of sad, but he's a wonderful kiddo and I've very proud of him. We all had a great time at his little party, and I think we succeeded at making it more "Spencer's b-day" than "X-mas Eve". Here is my favorite photo. You can actually see wrapping paper flying through the air:



How funny is that?

Tune in next time for more pre-Christmas fun (meeting the big man) and an update on my latest knitting (Calorimetry).

Baby Steps

Here I am. I know you were thinking that I might have fallen into my yarn and not been able to find my way out, right? No, Silly, I don't have nearly enough stash for that, but I'm working on it...

I've been having fun with family and enjoying the holidays to the fullest. Unfortunately, I guess I seem to have forgotten to keep up the 'ol blog. Please, stop crying--I know it's been hard. No? Not that tough? You've been busy enjoying your own family and friends? Well, I suppose I can respect that.

The funny thing is, all the while I've been slacking not keeping up with the blog, I've been doing a kind of "mental blogging". Yeah, the men in the white coats are coming to talk to me later today, why do you ask? As things happen, I think about pictures I'll need for the blog and the things that I want to say, but I just haven't been able to get my butt into my chair and write it all in. Anyhow, it's been bothering me that I haven't written and that there's so much to catch up on. Then I realized that I should just start.

While I was ignoring my own blog, I also lost touch with some other knitters' blogs that I read pretty much religiously. First step to procrastinate blog-writing to get started was obvious: read my friends' blogs and see what they've been up to. Of course I did just that, and something interesting jumped out at me. They were behind, too! In fact, many people didn't post nearly as much as usual during the last couple of weeks in December. I didn't feel so bad! Suddenly hopeful, I resolved to get right back on the blogging horse and start right up immediately. tomorrow. sometime very soon.

So here I am feeling badly again, when Brian says to me, "You're just gonna have to Flylady it." Wow. Sound advice. Very sound. He's right, of course...I just have to start, and then it will all fall into place.

This is the first baby step. I will be back, but for now, I just wanted to start. I feel better already, and I can't wait to tell you all about what I've been up to.

Ps. Happy New Year!