Making Progress

Finished! Crystal Palace Panda Cotton anklets in Baby Blues colorway. Very cute, very soft, very stretchy. I wish I'd done a few more rows before starting the lace ribbing. Lesson learned. I have a ton of this left over; I'll have to figure out what to do with it. Buy a skein of a contrasting color and do stripes?
Almost finished! Blue Moon Socks that Rock in Farmhouse colorway.
Slogging away on the endless denim cardi and actually seeing progress. I finished the left side, then did the pockets and got pretty far up on one of the button bands.
Here's a close up, since my full-on shots always seem to look pretty much the same: big white sweater on a blue bedspread. For those of you not familiar with the denim yarn, this yarn shrinks up 10-20% when you wash it. So although the stitches may look somewhat loose right now, it all tightens up really nicely when it is washed.

Of Silkie, Second Sock Syndrome & Slogs

See this? This is my latest rockin' sock club yarn. It's Silkie, 19% silk and 81% wool. It's gorgeous, it feels incredible, and the pattern is so cool-looking, and I can't wait to do it ... but I can't. I'm not even allowed to wind it up (because we know where that will lead, don't we?). I did let myself open the bag and touch it, but that's it. No winding, no swatching. Why the need for such discipline, you ask? Let me show you.

Exhibit A: The February Rockin' Sock. Notice I did not say Rockin' Socks. I haven't even turned the heel on the second sock yet. And it's a really fun heel to do, so you would think I'd want to do it.
Exhibits B and C: Lazy no-good socks lying about with nothing to do as they await the completion of their partners. The sock on the left is Socks That Rock lightweight in the Farmhouse colorway. The light blue sock on the right is Crystal Palace Panda Cotton from The The Loopy Ewe in the Baby Blues colorway, anklet height with a lace rib top. I absolutely love this yarn, by the way. It is so incredibly soft and squishy. I am highly motivated to finish this pair so I can wear them. They will be just perfect for this warm spring weather.
And the final exhibit: The state of the slog. I am almost done with the front. I do have the back done, too, but did not feel like dragging it out for a photo shoot. I have decided that, before starting the sleeves, I am going to do some of the finishing work on the body. Specifically, I'm going to sew the shoulders, knit up the pocket tops and sew in the pockets, and I'll start working on the daunting button-band and collar. There's a lot of garter stitch involved in the collar, so I think it would be good to get as much of that out of the way as I can before I go absolutely crazy from it. When I hit the garter stitch wall, I'll start up the sleeves. My theory is that the patterning will be a welcome change at that point.
Here how this should look when it is done and washed and the denim yarn has done its shrinking-thing. It's the Lizzie cardigan from the old Rowan Denim pattern book by Kim Hargreaves. I've been working on this so long, the book is now discontinued!I put the Lopi sweater away until it cools off again in the Fall. It's too warm here lately to work with Lopi.

I had a picture of the office to post, too, because I have also been doing some slogging for pay and for my career, but Blogger rebelled so you'll just have to use your imaginations. I have articles on climate change all over the place, along with the New Jersey ICLE books and homework. Between all this and the kids' activities, I feel like a hamster on one of those wheels. ...Which reminds me--has anyone fed the guinea pig lately?

So the Silkie yarn will be staying in the bag for a while.

C's Science Project

Anyone interested in seeing C's "land form" project for school, click here. The school also has a picture of C and her project together here.

Added October 2007: These links are no longer good. The school took the pictures off their website.

First Communion pictures

We had absolutely gorgeous weather here this weekend for First Communion. We were so lucky, everyone kept saying, considering that the horrible Nor'easter was only a week ago.
C. looked lovely and the mass was really nice. Everything went beautifully.
Here is a picture of C. with her cousin E. (I had to cut the boys out because they were blinking, but the girls looked so nice I could not just give up on the picture entirely!)

It was so nice to see everyone this weekend. Thanks for coming and helping C. celebrate this special day!

Slogging along

Here is the current progress on the endless denim cardigan. I knit about 4 inches this weekend, then realized that I had messed up the cabling and had to rip it all out. When you put a project down for, oh, 8 months or so, you do have to re-educate yourself about the pattern. Here is the current distraction:
Lopi cardigan. Coming along very fast on size 9 needles. Unfortunately, the contrast colors do not contrast enough with each other, but it still looks good.

Some Random Pictures

The Argosy scarf was completed last month. I used 2 and 1/2 skeins Koigu Kersti #K118B-10, purchased from Loop, in Philadelphia.











Spring is finally here, judging from this hyacinth. This is one of the very few bulbs that Rudolph the Cat has not unearthed and ruined. Sigh. At least he left me some hyacinths.









On the left is my first Blue Moon Socks that Rock sock I did, using the Farmhouse colorway in the lightweight yarn. C. begged me to use this yarn to make something for her. Next time, I said, kind of annoyed that she preferred my precious BMFA yarn to the pastel-striped Trekking XXL I had purchased (on sale! yay!) for her. Oh well: girl's got taste. The rib at the top is a mock cable rib. I'll save the Trekking for some future project. I think it's cute ....

On the right is my February Rockin' Sock Club sock: "Inside Out." It is pretty much reversible as the pattern is garter stitch and ribbing, with a cable-ribbed leg. I had to re-engineer the pattern for the foot to fit my gauge, but the leg I was able to do according to the directions on a size 2 needle. I am proud of myself for sticking with the cable ribbed leg; I was *that* close to wimping out and just doing a plain rib. I ended up having enough yarn to make the leg pretty long, probably because of the changes I made to the foot. (I had divided the skein in half and decided to just knit the leg until I either got tired of making it or ran out of yarn, whichever came first. I do have a fair amount leftover, in case I need it for the other sock.) The sock is very comfortable. Now I just have to make its friend.


Earrings! C. was very determined to have her ears pierced, and very brave about having it done. More importantly, she has been very good about taking care of them so far. If she were just half that good about brushing her hair ....

Taking over the world!

Just a little funny: I was perusing the list of players for C's softball league to find out which teams all her friends were put on, and found no less than 3 Sydneys in the list of 2nd and 3rd graders: there were a "Sydney," a "Sydnie" and a "Sydnee."

Yay! Sydneys of various spellings are taking over the world, stamping out the name Cindy wherever we find it and forcing people to recognize Sydney as a girl's name.

Knitting Update

Actually, there has been a lot of knitting here in the past couple of months. First, I finished the log cabin baby blanket (a la Mason Dixon) for my friend Chrissy. Unbelievably, I forgot to take a picture. I don't know where my brain was. I think I was just stupid with the aftershock of the sheer frenzy of knitting I had to go through to finish the blanket. I am not kidding or exaggerating when I tell you that the blanket was still damp and in the dryer at 5:30 p.m. and the shower was scheduled to begin at 6:30. I bound off the edge on the baby washcloth that C. made for the baby standing at the kitchen counter, with my coat on, ready to leave for the party. "Under the wire" hardly begins to describe the last-minute nature of the whole enterprise. So maybe I should not be surprised that I forgot to take a picture. I'm just glad I got all those ends tucked anyway.

Here is the next project. In December and early January, it was so warm around here we were beginning to wonder if winter would ever come (ah, those were the days). My thick and fuzzy scarves were too heavy and warm to wear, but my coat looked naked without a scarf. I decided I could whip up a light, lacy thin scarf to wear doubled or tripled around my neck in nothing flat, and I did:
Above, my creation, using a little over 1 skein of Claudia Handpainted Merino in fingering weight. The color is Chocolate Cherry. This is nice yarn, but I don't think I will use it again. It is very lightweight. It really wasn't what I wanted for this project. I needed something with a little more, um, presence. It just needed more heft or weight to give it a good drape. But I really do like the scarf. It's light enough that I can wear it with just a sweater and it doesn't look stupid.

As luck would have it, winter arrived the week after I finished the Claudia Handpaint scarf, so I put it away and pulled out the Serious Scarves--the Heavyweights. Coincidentally, C and I were in Philadelphia for a Girl Scout event on the first really cold and windy day. When we were done, I dragged her to loop. I've been wanting to go there for so long, I practically whined to C in the car as she begged not to have to go a yarn store after a long cold day of museum-touring.

At loop, (sorry kid: we did your thing, now we're doing mine) I found myself transfixed. They had Koigu. Lots of and lots of Koigu, in fact.

I've seen Koigu in magazines and on the web, but Iv'e never been in a store that carries it. I've heard from local stores that Koigu has a five year waiting list, and that they just can't seem to get their hands on any. And there I was: facing an entire wall of it. It was too much; it was overwhelming. What to choose? I bought myself some Koigu Kersti, which seemed to be exactly what I wanted for the aforementioned lacy scarf project.

And then--get this--they, gulp, wound the hanks into balls for me. C and I were both transfixed this time, watching the swift and the ball winder do their thing. Wow. Hours of handwinding accomplished in between 5-10 minutes Must. Get. One. Of. Those.

Here is my progress on the Kersti scarf. After messing around with a lace mesh stitch, I found the perfect pattern to showcase the colors of this yarn: Argosy from the latest issue of Knitty.com. I saw Argosy mentioned on the Mason Dixon blog and realized that it was exactly what I was looking for. Doesn't it look cool? In sock news, I finished the Austermann Step socks, which I love. I finally finished the second of the Regia Silk Color socks--which I don't love--the other day in the waiting room at the car dealership. I love the feel of the Regia Silk, I just hate the colorway and I hated my decision to top the sock with 6 inches of ribbing I did not enjoy working with it. The leg of the second sock took me months. Yes, I know that the striping patterns on the green socks do not match up perfectly. I don't care. I actually kinda like it that way. And no, I have no idea why the foot on the zebra socks looks so long. I guess I have big feet. Both pairs fit me fine, and that's the important thing.It may be hard to belive, but we have been doing other things in our house, besides knitting. We got a First Communion dress for C; we went to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences with her Brownie troop; we've been selling (and eating) Girl Scout cookies; we bought and put together a new elliptical trainer; we found out immediately thereafter that it is defective and needs repair; I started doing physical therapy for my hip and finally am feeling better (limp free!). I am still editing for the Journal, but I also am going to be doing a large assignment for Rich's firm, which will help out a lot with things like summer camp expenses and school tuition bills.

Next up: I want to finally use the Lopi I've been saving for several years. Here is the pattern I would like to make, from The Best of Lopi. We'll see if I can get gauge--I had trouble before, that's why this pattern book and the bags of yarn have been languishing in my closet for so long....

New York: It's a heckuva town

It's a town where dolls get their hair done.
And don't my ladies look lovely?
We took the kids to New York city this week. It was their first time ever in the Big Apple. We did all the usual Christmas-time stuff. The boys went to FAO Schwartz to see the amazing stuff there, while the girls ooh'ed and aah'ed at American Girl Place. Then we went ice skating at Rockefeller Center. After a walk through St. Patrick's Cathedral and a delicious lunch in the theater district, we took a cab down to Macy's to see the windows, which were spectacular. Then we caught the train home and C. fell asleep in the car as we drove home from the station. New York wore her out!

I give you ... the Potholder Loop Rug

The kids talk a good game, but, in the end, I was the one finishing up this project. I had to. I ruined the rug I previously had in the powder room when vacuuming. Hey--how was I supposed to know it would fuzz up like that? I possibly could have saved it with extensive shaving, clipping or something like that, but it was easier to do the last few inches on this thing.

We all think it looks great. It is VERY soft and squishy. A testimonial: the other day, after I had not seen the cat for hours, I searched the house for him. I finally found him sacked out on this rug in our tiny powder room. The cat never goes in that room. So there.

Sad Clown & Happy Poodle

Here are our sad clown and happy poodle. A. was so unexcited about getting his face painted. Guess that's a sign he's growing older, hunh?

The Moorestown Christmas Parade was this past weekend. The theme was "The Circus;" all the groups participating had to do something in line with the theme. C.s Brownie troop were a troop of trained pink and white poodles. They jumped through hoops and sang all the way down Main Street. The Webelos Cub Scouts were clowns. Our sad clown claimed he would rather have been a pink poodle, but we think probably not.

The Bag is Done

I'm considering sewing the swatch to the inside to serve as a pocket. It is fuzzy, though, and I did not see electric clippers at AC Moore today. Will try Joann's or wait for my sweater stone.

A. turns the big One-Oh!

He so excited he's riding a fish! I'm not sure why. Because it was there?
We were in Charlotte for Thanksgiving, when A. had his 10th birthday. He had a really great weekend. Aside from the aforementioned fish-riding ...
...there was ice skating--in short sleeves, no less, although it just seemed so wrong to be ice skating in such warm weather. The balmy temperatures and bright sun resulted in a not inconsiderable layer of cold water on top of the ice--water C. got up close and personal with quite often because she was not quite comfortable on the rental hockey skates (no toe pick and weird sizing!).
And nothing says "birthday" like some rock climbing. Again, I am not sure why. Whatever--it was lots of fun! We checked out the brand spankin' new U.S. National Whitewater Center near Charlotte, and it turned out that there were some rather cool rock climbing walls there. I wish I could have gotten a good picture of A's smile after he reached the top on his first climb. :o)
Here he is at the top.
C. will not be outdone, and climbs some pretty good walls herself.
Here she is, at the top!

What we've been reading ...

We had to go get this at the bookstore the day this was released. A and I each finished it within a day. It took C a bit longer. Then we all had to listen to the audiobook version, just because we love Tim Curry's readings so much.



We took this on the trip to the mountains. Rich got it all to himself while I had to slog through the awful book chosen that month by my book club. Every time he laughed out loud while reading, I would get envious. Having read it now myself, I can say it is probably good that I did not read the discussion of bear attacks before our night of camping. But it was a very enjoyable book overall. I learned some interesting things about the Appalachian Trail.

C has flown through every Disney Fairy book, gobbling them up faster than Halloween candy. She can read one in a day. I wish I could persuade her that she is capable of reading harder books on her own (i.e., without a parent sitting next to her and taking turns reading paragraphs).


I recently "finished" this book--I can't say I read it, because I actually listened to it. I downloaded the mp3 from audible.com and kept a section of it on my little Rio player at all times. It took me several weeks of playing it in the car, during walks around the neighborhood, etc., to get through all 18 hours of it. Now that I am done, however, I have started it all over again. It was that interesting. The writing is very good--he takes some rather arcane science and makes it very accessible for the non-scientist. And the reading is good as well. A and I both really enjoyed it.

A has been working his way through E. Nesbit's work, and liking it very much. So far, he has read The Enchanted Castle, Five Children & It, The Phoenix & the Carpet, and The Story of the Amulet. He also re-read Kate DiCamillo's The Tale of Despereaux for today's meeting of the library bookclub.

And Rich is still working on the biography of Churchill.

Knitting progress report

Toasty toes, in my wool socks. They are machine washable (the socks, of course), and I let them go in the dryer for about 15 minutes on low, before pulling them to finish drying on the side of the bathtub. I love 'em.

About a month ago, I became completely obsessed with the felted purse pattern in the latest "issue" of knitty. It was so different from anything I had done before. I had to make it. Making the swatch was, um, an interesting experience, but I was not deterred. I changed from worsted weight wool to bulky, and then proceeded to splurge on size 13 and 15 Knit Picks Options needles (not the whole set!) to make the darn thing (love those needles, btw).

Anyway, here it is. The picture above shows the purse and I-cord strap before felting. The picture below shows it in the midst of blocking--stretched around a three-volume set of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and toasting by the fire. Although I am very satisfied with the way it looks, it's rather fuzzy and I think it could benefit from the sweater stone. I just sent away for a free one. :o) Here are my other finished objects. The washcloths are going into teacher gift-packages for Christmas (need 3 more of those). The black/brown sock is for me (I am only halfway up the foot of the second sock), and the colorful sock is a going to be a gift (I am halfway up the foot of a second sock in that pair as well). The first was made with Regia Silk Color, and the second is with Cherry Tree Hill Farms Supersock Handpaint, supposedly in the Champlain Sunset colorway, but my skein looks nothing like what the website says.
Meanwhile, A. has asked to be taught how to cast on. When I taught the kids to knit last year, I did not teach them how to cast on. He and another boy at school who knows how to knit apparently are upset that their respective knitting teachers (their moms) never taught them casting on. A. says he wants to make his school teacher's washcloth for her Christmas gift basket and he wants to do it completely--from start to finish. So ... we had our first casting on lesson last night.

Oy, what a challenge! He is very nimble with his hands, so that's not the issue. With practice he is going to be fine. But it was incredibly difficult for me to take something that I do almost without thinking and break it down into explainable chunks for him. Anyone listening to us last night would have thought that I was an idiot: "You take the tail ... and then your thumb is here, no the other way ... wait, let me think, no you go left to right, wait, no, yes, hold it, let me try that again. Yes, left to right, but then right to left...." You get the idea. When I thought he had it under control, I left him to read for C's bedtime. Big mistake. When I came back, he was nearly in tears.

We'll try again tonight. I promised I would stay by him for all 45 stitches.

Esquire!

Does anyone know what this picture means?

The BarBri bar review books are being returned to George and Chrissy, the friends who lent them. Rudolph's checking the contents of the bag.

Meanwhile, the pmbr Bar Review cds are being prepared for listing on eBay.

I passed the New Jersey bar exam. :o)

Climb every mountain; ford every stream....

Well, we're back. We had a lovely, although tiring, vacation. A. totaled our hiking miles during the car ride home: 23.6 miles, he says. Frankly, it feels like more than it sounds. And it doesn't include the 1.4 miles we walked through Luray Caverns and the mile or so we spent going back and forth through the Garden Maze, but maybe that's getting a little picky.

We only had rain one night. Of course, it was the night we were in a tent. Nevertheless, I'd rather have rain while I'm sleeping (or trying to sleep) than when I'm hiking. And the days were not nearly as cold as we feared. We were very comfortable in our sweatshirts and jeans, layered with turtlenecks and long undies. SmartWool socks are awesome. Love 'em. May just start wearing 'em for fun.

I am proud to report that C. only spent about 25% of her hiking time complaining that she was tired. At least 50% she spent happily skipping or singing or just enjoying the scenery. The remaining 25% she was stoic, although probably tired. A. was terrific: very little complaining at all. Our longest hike (Rapidan Camp loop), was 7.4 miles long, with a grueling 3+ mile ascent in the middle. It was quite steep for a while there. A. talked during the entire climb. It was enough for me to keep a good pace going while breathing--carrying on a conversation was pretty much out of the question. Clearly, he is in pretty good shape to be able to talk more or less non-stop for this entire ascent. There's something to be said for that, hm? Plus, I think his talking and C's singing kept any bears away.

C. took two of her Littlest Pet Shop animals on each excursion--whether it be to the lodge for dinner, to Luray Caverns, or to the summit of Hawksbill Peak. She was quite fair, and every animal got to go somewhere interesting at least once.

The Lodge at Big Meadows was wonderful. We really enjoyed hanging out in the Great Room before and after dinner. You can play games there, read, or just relax by the fire while admiring the views. A. usually would work on the huge puzzle they always had going. The rooms have no TVs, which is pretty neat. We brought The End, the last book in A Series of Unfortunate Events, on CD to listen to at bedtime.

So now we are back. I have to vacuum out my pit of a car, do many loads of laundry, get the guinea pig back from C's friend, make A's Halloween costume, and go to teacher conferences and Girl Scout leader training and Book Club this week. C. also has a double-header soccer game on Saturday.

HELP.

Flower Power

Only a cat who is completely secure in his masculinity will settle down for his afternoon nap on the big pink flower pillow.

And another long break between posts!

It's been over a month! Whoops! I guess my only excuse is that I've been busy actually doing the stuff I should be writing about. Well, here goes:

1. School Stuff. A. loves his new Montessori school. I do wonder exactly how much he is learning there, but he is definitely having a really good time. Meanwhile, C. says 2nd grade is "really hard." It's not the level of the actual work--she says that is easy--it's the time- and book/paper-management with which she is having trouble. There are so many papers, and this is the first year where they have to take sole responsibility for writing down the homework assignments in their "planners," and then remembering to bring home the necessary books and compositions books. In case you all are wondering, for the month of September, C. only batted about 500 on remembering to bring the right books home.

By the way, these assignments are nothing to sneeze at! Last Monday, she had to write out definitions for 16 social studies words. SIXTEEN. The test on these words was not until Friday, while they were required to write out all the definitions Monday night. They also had spelling homework that night. All told, she spent an hour (maybe more) on homework, after a 6.5 hour school day and a 1 hour bus ride.

These kids are only 7 and 8 years old. I'm just sayin'.

It is especially hard for C. to see that A. is getting no homework assigned from the Montessori school. I'm going to have to give him some assignments at home , not only to make sure that he continues to learn but also to keep the peace!

We started back up with Latin last week, doing the review at the end of Henle Unit II, and I was impressed with how much he remembered. I want him to start reading more history as well, and I want him to write letters to people. They let him spend whole days on science at math at school. No wonder he is having so much fun!

2. Knitting Projects. Okay. Garter Stitch Placemats are boring. There, I've said it. I have 3 done, and would like to have 6. But I'm taking a break and I'm doing some socks again. It's short attention-span knitting theater.

I finished the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock wool socks, and hey! they are just in time to keep my feet warm in the mountains next week. The color is #38, Mixed Berries. They don't look quite as bright IRL as they do in this picture. Maybe it's my monitor.

And here is my start on the next pair of socks, this time in Regia Silk Color, shade #183. This yarn is a machine washable wool/silk/polyamid blend. It is incredibly soft and very nice to knit with, but I must admit that I'm not crazy about the colorway. Not the most subtle stripe, is it? It's not regular, but it's not exactly random either.

I think I am going to do a mock cable rib for the leg. I really don't want to do another k2p2 rib leg.

I followed the directions for the yarn-over short-row toes and heels that you can find here and had great success. It was much easier than the wrap-style short-row, and the results look great. (You'll have to take my word for it; I can't get a good close-up.)

Up next: a felted purse. Maybe.

3. Birthday Girl. C's 8th birthday was "the best ever," she says. She had a slumber party, for which I kinda regret giving the green light, even though she had a great time. 6 girls came; 3 got picked up around 10:30 by their parents, while the remaining 3 stayed over. The girls "slept" in sleeping bags on the family room floor, and I "slept" on the couch in the living room while repeatedly hissing "Shhhhh's!" at them. I know C and one friend were up past 1 a.m. Needless to say, there were a lot of tired people around here the next day. But she had a wonderful time.

4. Mountain Plans. We are so excited about our upcoming trip to Skyline Drive. We are planning our hikes, breaking in our boots, etc. We have one night of camping, followed by 3 nights at the Big Meadow Lodge. Aside from hiking, we are also planning to check out Luray Caverns again, or maybe some other caves nearby. Pray for good weather for us--this is our only vacation this year!