A housewife with yarn

Busy Summer

2008-07-28T15:26:00.003-04:00

I think anything involving a toddler can be categorized as busy, but I think I've been going non-stop since the spring thaw. Spike is in love with being outside. We go out and play in the shade of the yard everyday. This year we planted a garden for the first time.

It went from this:

to this:

in no time.

Likewise, my little baby is now nearly 15 months old. Like I said, he is busy. Last week he learned to scale the couch up to the side of the staircase behind the couch. He likes to be up high like the cats. Speaking of the cats, he has tried to say kitty since before his birthday but today it was clear and unmistakable for the first time. Kitty. It doesn't seem so long ago that he was just a little squirt (here he is 53 minutes old),

and here he is a few days ago, playing with the gravel at the playground.

He is the best. For the curious, yes he is breastfeeding and we are still using cloth diapers, and I wouldn't change anything.

Although sometimes I feel like it's too hot to craft, I have been making some things. I am quilting the red quilt that I pieced before Spike was born. I finally finished my baby gift for Rhett's Polly - can I get it to the post office while she is still a baby? I've knitted some wash cloths in trade for a ring sling (blue stripe here, barely used). They only have to go about 20 miles but I think it's cheaper to mail them - they can carpool with all the other packages! I'm working on more cloth wipes for a friend. I'm getting into sewing and quilting, largely by the influence of Paul's Aunt Grape, and she is planning to return to the area after living in Florida for the last 25 years so I'll have a sewing buddy. I made Spike a pair of pants with the arms from an old long-sleeved t-shirt. I bought my first jelly roll - a roll of quilting fabric strips - and I can't wait to use it. Spike did unfurl it for me though. Wasn't that nice? The colors are so bright and cheerful though, I don't know how he could resist.

I made strawberry jam for the first time with fresh, local strawberries. I don't know if I can go back to store bought.

I made pickles. They are fabulous, but tumeric does turn things quite yellow! I used this recipe from Allrecipes and my home-grown cucumbers (which Spike calls teds). For my second batch, I halved the tumeric and added a big sliced clove of garlic and red pepper flakes before boiling the liquid for 5 minutes. I got a taste for bread and butter pickles later in life (but before I was pregnant, interestingly enough) but I can't get enough of these.

In fact, I'm going to go eat some pickles right now.

Yay me

2008-07-15T09:51:00.000-04:00

You paid attention during 91% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Create a Quiz

Peaches

2008-06-13T09:54:00.001-04:00

Hey Rhett, are these peaches from your house? :)

Calorimetry

2008-04-03T09:54:00.004-04:00

As usual I'm far behind the trend. I think everybody has about eight Calorimetries by now, and I can see why!

Pattern: Calorimetry, from Knitty.
Needles: Size 8, 16" circular needles
Yarn: 25g Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool, hand dyed by me. This was the first yarn I ever dyed.
Supplies: One purple button from my Grandma's stash, two stitch markers

I cast on 88 stitches and repeated row 5 12 times - I think.

I took these photos on my phone, and they are the best I can do at the moment.

Bag Take 2

2008-04-01T17:21:00.003-04:00

The reusable produce bag quest continues. I made this one with some nylon mesh, some crochet nylon twine, and my sewing machine. I'm mailing this one off to someone who is going to try to use it to death as a tester. I already have some ideas for Bag 2.5.

An action shot of Bag 2.0.

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Spike's Cardigan

2008-03-31T10:46:00.005-04:00

When Spike was very little, he charmed some yarn for a sweater out of our local yarn store owner. She told me to choose whatever I liked, and I bought a pattern to go along. I'm finally making some headway on this sweater, now that it's spring and the time to wear it is getting very, very short!

I don't have a picture of the progress, but I'm about 1.5 inches into the cream section on the back. So, just two fronts, button band, collar, buttons, and finishing the back to go! Oh boy.

Edited to add: and the sleeves.

Bag 2

2008-03-28T10:28:00.000-04:00

The same bag, but this time with an eggplant in it. The scissors are for scale. Since I'm posting these from my phone, I'm not sure if there's a way to post two pictures in one post. Oddly, this is easier than using the camera.

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Little Cream Bag

2008-03-28T10:24:00.000-04:00

I got crafty yesterday and made this little drawstring bag. It has a knitted middle with a crochet top, bottom, and drawstring.

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Two-color hat

2008-02-25T08:53:00.005-05:00

Last September I took a two-color knitting class with Trudi, who writes Knit Madness. The class project was a simple headband or hat. I thought it wouldn't fit anyone I knew and would just stand as a monument to my learning experience, but I decided to finish it off as a hat and guess who it fit?

Taken October 29, 2007.

Spike! I know this is not the best shot for showing off my colorwork, but it will have to do for now. Spike is starting to outgrow the hat so I'll have to make him a new one for the chilly time between now and May. I really enjoy stranded knitting; I hope that after all this time I can remember how to do it. I even got a copy of Folk Knitting in Estonia for Christmas!

I cleaned up the finished objects section of the sidebar the other day, and I realized that some of my finished objects from 2007 were listed but not blogged about. Now we're in for it.

Marvel-ous

2008-02-19T10:11:00.004-05:00

Good morning! It feels like a Monday today, the beginning of a new week. As it turns out, it's Tuesday. Oh well. Today Spike and I are venturing to the post office and the store through some freshly fallen snow.

I have a quick confession - I bought a loaf of bread yesterday. One of my goals for 2008 was to begin making our bread. I planned for sandwiches for lunch this week and ran out of time yesterday, so I bought ome store bread that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup. I'm insulted by HFCS in my bread!

Of course, there was HFCS in the hamburger buns we ate Sunday and Monday night. I can't win every battle, I guess.

I do have a finished object to report! I made a garter stitch scarf out of a yarn called Marvel that I got at Jo-Ann's.

Yarn: Marvel, 100% wool thick and thin yarn
Needles: Size US 17
Pattern: garter stitch, 13 stitches wide, using the whole skein

(ravelry link)

This is the same yarn and pattern that I used to make a scarf for myself last year. That post is here.

Macaroni and Cheese

2008-02-11T13:15:00.000-05:00

With milk approaching $4.00 a gallon, I want to use every last bit. Unfortunately, there are a few cups of my gallon left and they're beyond cereal, but not too far gone. I think it will make macaroni and cheese just fine at this stage.

I've heard, now that I'm a transplant, that the base of macaroni and cheese varies. In the north, people make a simple white sauce and add cheese. In the south, evaporated milk is invited. The first recipe I ever tried that wasn't Kraft from a box involved a white sauce, and the first time it came out great. The second time I had a little too much confidence and burned the sauce, and I'm sure the more experienced among you know there is no recovery from that.

This is the recipe I'm trying. Spike is napping in the stroller at the moment; I hope it goes well.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 cup sour cream
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 (8 oz) pkg elbow macaroni
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar of choice for topping

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in milk, sour cream, salt, mustard and pepper; cook, stirring frequently, until mixture boils and thickens. Meanwhile, bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente; drain. To the milk mixture add the cheese; stir until cheese melts. Combine macaroni and cheese sauce in a 9x13 baking dish; mix well. Top with extra cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

OMGosh, Y'All

2008-02-09T20:13:00.000-05:00

This year is slipping away from me! It's already February, and not even the beginning of February really. I am close to finished with a knitted soaker that I dyed the yarn for and will be selling, yes, selling! More about that soon. Spike turned nine months old yesterday. My sweet little one is more a little boy than a baby every day.

Some snow pics from near New Year's:

A little Christmas:

Christmas with my parents in South Carolina:

Christmas with Polly and her parents:

These kids are darn cute if I do say so myself.

Snooze

2008-01-04T22:51:00.000-05:00

Spike slept for 3 and a half hours this afternoon. It seemed awesome at the time. Then around bedtime he took a 2 hour nap. Oh yes, a nap. So he'll be up for another hour (which is fine) but I wish I could unlock the mystery of babynaps! It's kind of like chemistry - you have to hit the right combo of long and short naps to make, err, soap. I know I made soap in chemistry because it burned through one of my group member's pants. It was strong soap.

Tomorrow I'll be dyeing some yarn - chemistry for yarn! Why couldn't I take THAT class?

Baby Food

2008-01-03T22:16:00.000-05:00

I managed to separate the ham from the bone and freeze the bone today, but it was not without a price -- Spike registered his discontent. My poor baby has four teeth coming in right now and he needs his mommy.

Tonight we had roasted chicken, cranberry sauce from a can, and (organic) roasted sweet potatoes which I sliced and layered in a dish with the rest of the honey glaze from the ham. Spike has been eating organic sweet potato (plain!*), and after trying some of his I think it really does taste better. He is getting more interested in solid foods. I thought he was enthusiastic about sweet potato until we gave him a little chicken. Wow!

Since there is a family history of food allergies, we are introducing foods one at a time and a few days apart. Some common allergens will be delayed a bit more than the recommended age for kids without a family history of allergies. A regular-kid chart is here.

So far, I think rice cakes are the winning food because although (or maybe because) they are messy, they are the best toy that we let him eat.

*Just wanted to clarify that I'm not giving Spike honey. Children under 1 year should not have honey.

Supercold

2008-01-02T21:41:00.000-05:00

It's cold out there. Single-digit cold. A trip to the grocery is inevitable but I think Paul will undertake it before work. The plan for tomorrow is to dismantle the ham I made for New Year's into sandwich slices, casserole dices, and a ham bone for bean soup. We've been eating ham all week so it's all going into the freezer! For dinner I'm roasting a whole chicken (on sale this week for 69 cents a pound), making sweet potatoes (some to share with Spike!) and canned cranberry sauce. We're swapping one hunk of meat for another, but I like to roll with the sales. Maybe some bread too. I can't turn down the chicken, but a nice soup would be really great right now. We'll be waiting a few days though.

I have to say, though, that Spike's snowsuit looks awfully cozy right now.

It's 2008 - Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T11:43:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

I know that New Years Resolutions are so, well, 2007. But I rather like them, corny or not, so here are mine for this new year.

1. Be a better homemaker. This one has a few points:
a. I will try to bake all our bread.
b. I will have a garden this year, and figure out composting.
c. I will never again stand over the frozen section of the grocery at 7pm looking for dinner.
d. I will develop and discuss my housekeeping strategy.
e. No more plastic grocery bags!

2. Kick-start my business. More details to come!

3. Be a blogger.

2007 Finished Objects

2007-12-31T11:43:00.004-05:00

Marvel Scarf 2

Spike Mittens

Ballband Dishcloth

Halloween Costume

Crib Dust Ruffle

Odessa 2

Two-color Hat

Baby Kimono

Newborn Wool Shorties

Prize Yarn

Baby Bunting

Marvel Scarf

Fetching

(posted during a reorganization effort, February 19, 2008)

Cold

2007-11-08T08:15:00.000-05:00

It's cold outside and I have symptoms that point to either allergies or a cold. It's hard to say which it might be, but I have discovered that blowing my nose scares the little one. For now I'm pushing orange juice and hoping for the best, but somehow that didn't stop me from having cake for breakfast.

I can't upload any pictures from my camera during the week at the moment. But I'm doing the decreases after turning the heel on the shooting stockings and decreasing the sleeve on the easy baby cardigan. And I've made a little progress on PD's craft (Rhett's baby). It's tricky to set things up to work on it though when it's just me and my baby. Things could get very messy. Leave it to me to choose a fussy project when I am least able to deal with that!

Also, I love Ravelry. I take a look at all new Knitty issues but I somehow missed Corazon. I love these colorwork mittens (flickr pics, ravelry pics). I'm needlesnswiffers.

I hunted and finally found the Interweave Knits Holiday issue this weekend at my grocery store. I'm only halfway through it, but so far I like a lot of the projects, particularly the Sugarplum Shrug. Koolhaas reminds me of Shedir from Knitty (but it's been a while since I looked at it). I love the colors in the Fireside Stocking but who knows if it's something I'll ever make.

Today is November 8th. Six months ago in another 13.5 hours, I had a baby. I'll do a post on it when the camera-computer continuum is restored, but I will say that my baby is awesome and I can't imagine life any other way.

Eerie

2007-11-05T22:19:00.000-05:00

Paul is working on a project that requires a lot of late nights between now and Thanksgiving, so Spike and I are spending a lot of quality time together. Tonight it's chilly out and a lot of the lovely orange leaves that were on the trees are getting swept around by the wind. I like to keep the house cool, especially at night, but there's a chill that the blankets just aren't touching. Is it time for hot chocolate? I mean, it is all dark and leafy outside.

In a PD's Craft update, I finally took the noun to the noun and started verbing. Then Maddie the cat attacked the noun, and I had to put the whole thing away when I went to a friend's house for dinner. So I only verbed 4 nouns.

I hope this mystery distracts Rhett from being a 40-weeks-pregnant ticking time bomb.

November Resolutions

2007-11-04T12:13:00.000-05:00

We're taking it easy this weekend at the Yarnhaus. We've been go go go every weekend for, well, weeks, and so today we're catching up on the DVR and our (okay, my) knitting. But now some relatives are coming over. So in the spirit of rest and reflection, an-hour-in-the-armchair-is worth-a-year-in-the-field-ish-ness, this post is part of my ongoing quest to keep up with New Year's resolutions. You can see what I've said before by viewing the resolutions category.

1. Make household goals and crafty goals. The Christmas crafting list covers the crafty end of this. Household goals seem so silly when getting through a day with three meals is an accomplishment. But I'd like to make a stash of frozen baby food (yup, time to think about that!), to have emergency food supplies on hand, and to write a will. Morbid, yes, but important since we have a baby now.

2. Make time for blogging. Do I detect improvement?

3. Get out of the house a few times per week. I'm definitely doing this now, thanks to my little playgroup. I learned to make jelly!

4. Work towards making my home a better place to live. This is entertwined with #1. I feel like if I could just get it together I would be all set - but would I? I don't even know.

5. Design a budget and track spending to increase savings. I still haven't worked on this. Rhinebeck didn't help.

6. Write down the pattern for the baby sweater I designed. Knit another one in the process. Hasn't happened yet...

7. Stick to the Holiday Crafting Plan. So far, so good. I mean, if you don't count the baby sweater I started or the crochet wool baby long pants. Um...

8. Craft for charity. I wanted to make three Hats for Alex by Hallween. I haven't made a single one. So I will aim for Christmas. Anybody want to join me?

9. Knit one project Continental-style. Not yet. Maybe those hats...

10. Crochet something cool.

11. Catch up with Spike's thank you notes. I did the shower, at least, but I have some work to do. Still.

Longies?

2007-11-03T09:46:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, this is a terrible picture. But it's the only one I have uploaded of one of my WIPS so here it is - I'm making crochet longies. Longies are wool pants for babies, and in my case will be used as a nice warm wool diaper cover for Spike.

The handknit longies on Etsy are around $45 so I thought I would try my hand at this. I am reusing some Patons Classic Merino from some Fuzzyfeet That Weren't.

Link to this project in Ravelry.

I have some ambitious holiday crafting this year. First priority goes to gifts that people already know about - so I'm working on my craft for PD and socks for my father-in-law. Rhett's baby PD will be arriving any day now and while Rhett knows there is a craft for PD she doesn't know what it is. We also don't know if PD is a he or a she so crafting is tricky! And she reads this blog, so there is no blogging about it! Shhhh!

The socks are the Gentleman's Shooting Stockings with Fluted Pattern (link in Rav) in Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. I thought I blogged about these but apparently, I didn't. So here are some stats -

Pattern: Gentleman's Shooting Stockings (link to my project page in Rav)

Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks that I got in a swap probably a year ago.

Needles: 5 Clover bamboo double-pointed needles, size 1 (2.25mm) (also procured in the same swap)

I turned the heel shortly after this picture was taken (September 1) and haven't touched it since. This project is not a surprise because I can't make two socks that don't fit, so I'm going to make one sock and have him try it on and then make two socks that fit. This runs the serious risk of making three socks, but I'm okay with that.

My complaint with this book is that multiple sizes aren't included in the patterns. You get what you get, which is part of the reason that I'm worried about fit.

Time to get busy!

With Liberty and Warshrags for All

2007-11-02T09:41:00.001-04:00

ballband dishcloth 10232007
Originally uploaded by stephanie with the yarn

The Ballband Dishcloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting from the wrapper around the yarn. I used the cream from a cone and the red, cream and blue from a separately purchased ball. I've seen nicer looking dishcloths, but it was an experiment!

Well then.

2007-11-01T12:58:00.001-04:00

cat baby switch 10232007
Originally uploaded by stephanie with the yarn

I think this photo says a lot about what we've been up to lately.

Spike and I are very behind on our tv watching and the DVR is very full. I started PD's craft at last, but it's a surprise so I can't divulge much! I do have a little more planning to do too. But I'm still excited about it!

Halloween photos soon, after I shrink them down from enormous to reasonable.

Easy Baby Cardigan - True to its name

2007-10-29T17:37:00.001-04:00

easy baby cardigan 10232007
Originally uploaded by stephanie with the yarn

In the interest of blogging about this before I finish it, this is the Easy Baby Cardigan in Bernat Softee. The yellow is funny - in this photo, it looks buttery, but in some light it can look almost electric. Either way, it's a nice shade of yellow for a lucky baby. I intended to knit this for Spike, but then I would have only had something like 5 yards of yarn left, so I made the 6 month size, but it looks like that won't fit for long. So, since I know three pregnant women I knew this sweater would not go unloved and I made it small.

It's cute. Also, not done yet. I've finished the body and about 80% of one sleeve.

In other news, today I made mittens for Spike. They were needed - it's cold! I know that these days you don't knit or crochet to save money for the most part, but I think in the realm of baby and toddler cold weather gear you really can save some money by doing it yourself. These mittens took me less than an hour and were a fraction of what they would cost to buy.

Also, universe, I hereby submit my request for a drive-through post office. I know it would be all sorts of unsafe and insane, but boy it sure would be convenient for those of us with sleeping babies in the car who must be removed from their car seat into a carrier and hauled into the post office. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

The Rhinebeck Post

2007-10-25T09:32:00.000-04:00

Rhinebeck was great this year! Last year was nuts so we decided to take it easy this year, especially with the baby along for the trip. We drove down Saturday morning and got to the fairgrounds at about 1pm. Building A was the first stop to say hi to The Spinning Room and see what was left of the Socks That Rock. I got the next to last skein of mediumweight last year in gorgeous blues at about 1 on Saturday, so I didn't expect to find much - but I guess The Fold planned for more this year because they still had a good selection! I picked up two skeins to add to my STR collection... now three, untouched, skeins.

Socks That Rock in fluorite. I had to buy it! It's just so... fluorite!

Socks That Rock in covelite. The colors told me to take it home.

The next stop was food for the whole family. Paul stood in line for some lamb chili and a lamb bbq sandwich from the 4-H food vendors while I scouted out the vendors set up outside between barns and the one at the end in the yellow-striped tent. We sat down and ate our lunch (we made it a meal with some chocolate milk) right behind some beasties that I regret to admit we never determined if they were alpacas or llamas. Probably alpacas?

And that's when the Rhinebeck Insanity overtook me.

I bought some Araucania Ranco Multy in color 301 from I so don't even know where. There was another shopper looking through the selection, clearly in the throwes of Rhinebeck Insanity (RI) who muttered to herself, "But what will I do with it?" Without thinking, I responded, "Don't ask these questions now. Ask them later." That's me, talking to strangers. Clearly RI.

The spoils of that booth, wherever it was -

We browsed right past the Maple Creek Farms booth that I spent possibly an hour in last year (I don't know, time gets all screwy in that place!). Last year I settled on some green merino twist for an as yet unmade baby sweater.

And then we discovered the bunny crack.

Oasis Farm Fiber Mill in building 29 had the softest yarn I think I've ever laid my hands on. One blend was Bunny Something (should be called Bunny Crack but no one consults me about these things - something like 30% angora and 70% wool) and the other was Glamour Bunny (30% angora, 20% wool, 30% sunshine and 20% sleeping baby - okay seriously I can't remember other than it had 4 fibers and two were rabbit and wool and I want to knit a house of it and never come out). I love this yarn.

Bunny.... something

Glamour Bunny

After the bunny crack I was quickly running out of money, so I kept my eye out for a bargain. I found one at the Hudson Valley Sheep & Wool Company. They had natural-colored sock yarn, 205 yards for $5. I couldn't turn that down. Apparently neither could anyone else, because there was only one more skein after I came through. I should have bought it too.

It is hard to photograph some of this stuff.

Paul and baby Spike made lots of friends too. Spike napped a while in his Babyhawk but still had plenty of smiles for passers-by while riding in his ~~chariot~~ stroller. When we got back to the hotel, though, he demanded a leisurely meal and a nap. Except this is how he slept -

Supervised, of course (so don't call the baby police). He was wiped out.

For Rhinebeck we stay at the Holiday Inn in Kingston. We've stayed free both years by using Paul's accumulated points from working out of town. It's nice and clean, which I am extra grateful for after hearing about the Super 8.

So after a nap and a broccoli and ricotta pizza from Picnic Pizza, we headed to the Ravelry party. And what a party!! We met Cygknit, the other baby present sleeping on Cygknit, and Mr. Cygknit (who had an I-Heart-Hot-Moms t-shirt on). Check the Ravelry news blog entry for more about the party (also, Spike is smack in the center of the first crowd pic). Paul was very hapy to see the open bar, what with the being surrounded by knitters and all. Spike did enjoy the party until the last 15 minutes or so before the door prize drawing. We walked around a bit and tried the change of scenery method, that got us up to the drawing. Then Spike made himself infamous by being The Baby That Screamed after every cheer from the crowd and Paul took him outside. Mr. and Baby Cygknit went outside too where they had their picture taken by an employee of the restaurant because apparently, you don't see men holding babies outside all that often! We called it a night after the prizes were handed out.

Sunday was another gorgeous, perfect day. We slept in and made it to the fairgrounds around 11, and we left the stroller in the car. It was much easier to get around in the barns, but I was really worn out by the afternoon! We met up with some of our playdate friends from home and saw it all again. L2 bought a drop spindle and some practice wool, and some awesome baby alpaca for $1/oz. Yeah, I'm jealous. L2 had her hubby there and a friend who introduced us to Booksherpa from Ravelry. L1 had her hubby, baby, and mom with her, and L1's mom is pinehill on Ravelry. She knew all about Socks That Rock and when I mentioned Stitchy McYarnpants, she knew what I was talking about. People at Rhinebeck get it.

L1 checked out with some bunny crack too and she and her mom found some lovely alpaca. L1's family got lamb chili before the 4-H folks ran out, but sadly we missed the bbq sandwiches so we got some from the dude with the smokestack. Yummy!!

At the end of the day on the way to the wine, I stopped back in to Maple Creek Farms. I wanted some superwash wool and I picked up 8oz.

It's called sea weed.

Also, I love it.

After getting two bottles of wine, we piled in the car and came home. I'm so out of money, but I'm looking forward to next year!

2007-09-29T22:46:00.001-04:00

Go sign up to win a Dyson!

2007-09-25T07:52:00.000-04:00

I am suffering from crappy coffee. I bet it's decaf too.

Spike is watching Monk. What does this mean???

Spike and I have been out and about so much lately that I've hardly knit or hooked a stitch in two weeks! Spike's baby friends have been keeping us busy. Yesterday we went to a food co-op where we found real stone-ground grits! They also had okra, which I fried up in true Southern (Crazy Aunt Purl) style.

Well seeing as how I've been puked on countless times already today, I'm going to go get me a shower and some chocolate.

Things to Tell Paul

2007-09-18T09:01:00.000-04:00

7:58 am - One of my mom friends wants to come over for knitting help at 8:30 tonight. Since you are unreachable, I have to decide myself! Hmmm... I say yes.

8:27 am - What do you want for dinner?

9:00 am - Maddie woke Spike up. Grrrr.

9:01.42 am - Crisis Averted. Carry on.

9:31 am - Cereal wearing off. Meal planning is probably not the best idea right now, but I'm going to do it anyway. Alert the media.

10:05 am - HAHAHAHAHA. You know how we had corned beef, cabbage, and carrots and potatoes last week? It's all on sale this week. Even the mustard. Same prices all around except the cabbage. I hope you want more corned beef!

10:09 am - Son of a....!!!!!!! The remotes are out of reach!

10:58 am - Baby bites HURT!!

11:30 am - I'm taking a bath, dammit, and taking a magazine with me!

11:30.01 am - and the baby and the bouncer. Just to clarify.

12:39 pm - Note: Encourage child not to discuss reproduction in coffee shops. File this one for after he can actually talk.

1:55 pm - Spike woke up because I moved him to answer the phone. But it was worth it because it was a real live human who called to talk to me! Not even a telemarketer!

Career Center

2007-09-16T17:37:00.000-04:00

~~Stolen~~ ~~Borrowed~~ Stolen from Sandy -

The career meme...
1. Go to Career Cruising, www.careercruising.com.
2. Put in Username: nycareers and Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" quiz.
4. Post the top twenty results.
5. Put the careers you have seriously considered in bold.
6. Italicize any that are part of your current job/career.

Hmmmm. Well, I'm a housewife, so.....

1.	Planner
2.	Engineering Tech
3.	Industrial Engineer
4.	Mechanical Engineering Tech
5.	Federal Agent
6.	Electrical Engineering Tech
7.	Electronics Engineering Tech
8.	Environmental Engineer
9.	Environmental Consultant
10.	Office Manager
11.	Industrial Engineering Tech
12.	Optical / Ophthalmic Lab Technician
13.	Building Inspector
14.	Taxidermist
15.	Botanist
16.	Biological Tech
17.	Industrial Designer
18.	Exhibit Designer
19.	Interior Designer
20.	Veterinary Technician
28.	Potter
29.	Craftsperson
30.	Jeweler
33.	Website Designer
34.	Historian
39.	Fashion Designer

Fashion Designer. HAHAHAHA.

Well maybe baby sweaters. Ha.

Off to eat apple cider donuts until . . . I don't know when. I guess I'll run out.

WIP Week Wednesday - Mystery Stole 3

2007-09-12T21:02:00.000-04:00

Ah, the Mystery Stole.

The theme is Swan Lake. The stitch patterns are inspired by the ballet, and the asymmetrical stole features a swan wing.

For the curious, I'm on Clue 2 of 7. Yeah. I got started late, and then after the Clue 5 was released (the one where we found out about the wing) I lost my mojo. I know it's a mystery and all that, and a wing doesn't sound that bad, but I just don't think the finished product is very me. So the Mystery Stole has been chilling in a zip loc bag for a month. But as it turns out, Aunt Grape (of baby quilt fame) likes swans (the theme of the stole) and I emailed and she likes it so the Mystery is on!

See it up close.

Pattern: Mystery Stole 3 (will be available for sale soon)
Needles: Addi Turbo size 5 (3.75mm) 29" circulars
Yarn: So far, one skein Knit Picks Bare Merino laceweight
Beads: The $3 tube of lilac blend from A.C.Moore.
Mods: none

WIP Week Tuesday - Me, the boring one

2007-09-11T23:40:00.000-04:00

This is 98% me talking to myself. Feel free to skip - see you tomorrow!

Do you remember your New Year's resolutions? I let my own plan to stick to them this time (I mean it) slide a bit. So I'm getting back on the wagon, and as per my own insanity, adding a few. I know it's not New Year's. Let us not be picky.

And also, thanks to my fancy new decor and sidebar whatzits, you can click "resolutions" over there and see what I've said about these little monsters before! Sweet!

1. Be less cynical. Well I think I've done pretty dang well! I hereby declare this one done.

2. Institute lists of goals. This one, not so much. Maybe it was too vague? I don't know. But I've come to realize that I need a list of goals, again, and then found my resolutions and saw that I've already decided I needed a list... wait, is this some kind of weird time-travelly thing? I don't know. I gotta figure out what the goal of the goals is and go from there, I think. Are these resolutions my goals?

3. Make time for blogging.

4. Go outside every day. HAHAHAHA. HAHA. HA. Ha. I didn't go outside for a week a few weeks ago and I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE. So maybe outside every day is a bit much for a lady with a four-month-old. Still, the idea is sound, so it stays. Why don't we call it - Get out once in a while and maybe accidentally get some exercise and fresh air.

5. Keep decent sleeping and waking hours. HAHAHAHA. HA-well actually, you know, I do really well. Spike likes to go to bed around 8 or 9 and gets up around 3 for a snack and then sleeps until 7. I also try to keep to these hours, and for a new mom I am extremely well rested. So, I declare this done!

6. Work towards making my home a better place to live. I still haven't hit on my ideal home cleaning style. When I have a moment where Spike is entertained and I'm not taking a shower or preparing food, I'm kind of at a loss for what to do first. I need something that will work for me, and I just haven't put my finger on it yet. I am working on it, though.

7. Design a budget and track spending to increase savings. My budget spreadsheet is absolutely gorgeous. I also haven't updated it since Spike was born. Naughty me!

Now, the newbies:

8. Write down the pattern for the baby sweater I designed. Knit another one in the process. I know three pregnant women right now - chances are one of them is having a girl.

9. Stick to the Holiday Crafting Plan. Yes, I have one! And I've already started.

10. Craft for charity. I got hit over the head with the cosmic charity stick when I found Hats for Alex. To sweeten the deal, Weezalana is throwing a contest! So join me in my resolution. We have almost two months to do it. And just to add that extra touch, I'd like to donate the same number of hats to the hospital where I delivered Spike before the end of the year. Yes, that would do nicely.

11. Knit one project Continental-style. I learned how to knit Continental as a byproduct of my two-hands-two-colors knitting class, and I like it. I'd like to practice. And I think the best way to do that is to do a whole project that way since it seems to be a bit looser than my English-style knitting.

12. Crochet something cool.

13. Catch up with Spike's thank you notes. I did the shower, at least, but I have some work to do.

I'm up late... off I go!

Monday slipped away....

2007-09-10T21:50:00.000-04:00

And now Spike and I need to sleep. Tomorrow is the beginning of WIP Week!

I'm playing

2007-09-07T12:01:00.000-04:00

Don't mind me, I'm just redecorating a bit!

Laundry Day

2007-09-06T16:54:00.000-04:00

This is an old picture (from June!) but I like it.

Laundry day.

I recently made more cloth wipes, so that now we have about 5 dozen.

Spike's Great Aunt Grape (boy, I'm up to my ears in code names, aren't I?) made him a quilt. Aunt Grape, along with the limitless inspiration of the internet, is the catalyst for my new fascination with things sewn.

My posting is dangerously close to daily lately; I hope to keep it up.

Two-color knitting makes me not want to leave the house ever again (but not for the reason you think)

2007-09-05T08:16:00.000-04:00

Last night I dreamed about Endpaper Mitts. I was talking to Sarah about hers and I was planning a pair of my own. Dreaming about it wasn't much of a surprise since I took a two-colors-in-two-hands knitting class last night at my LYS.

I was only gone 2 hours and 15 minutes. I left a bottle for Spike and fed him just before I left. Paul and his grandmother were both here. But apparently about an hour after I left Spike decided he was hungry and refused the bottle. At some point Grandma went to pick him up and fell on her butt (everybody was unhurt). And apparently that last hour and 15 was, errm, loud. Now, I can't pretend to understand the whims of a baby, but Spike has only had, oh, maybe 6 bottles ever, and he's never flat-out refused one. He wanted the source and a nap please, thank you very much!

Since we all love to see Spike, here he is trying to kiss Leap.

(Just a note - Paul is about 3 millimeters outside this frame, doing the responsible parent thing and waiting to catch Spike should he catapault himself off the couch. A lot of our pictures seem to show Spike in perilous situations, inches from death, but I assure you that there is always more to the scene than the camera can see. We would never intentionally put him in harm's way, even when he cries for an hour and 15 minutes.)

2007-09-03T12:19:00.000-04:00

I don't want to pepper the whole blog with pictures of Spike, but now and then I just have to post one don't I? Even if he's not in anything made of yarn?

This is Spike and me at the horse races near the beginning of August. He enjoyed it, but the bell at the beginning of the race woke him up every 30 minutes or so no matter what we did to try to lessen the noise.

We went to a 1st birthday party this weekend for someone I can't believe is a year old already and spent time with Yia Yia and Papa yesterday. I also attempted to make hush puppies (bleck).

Today we're taking Spike's inflatable duck tub to the backyard for some splashing. I have lots of crafting to talk about too.... soon.

My Hederas

2007-08-21T13:42:00.000-04:00

These socks were on hold for so long that when I picked them back up, my gauge had hopelessly changed. I am unsure whether or not to proceed...

Hmmmmm... if I frog, and I have to say I probably will, I WILL make these socks. It just might take another year.

I got my Ravelry invite! Come be my friend - I'm needlesnswiffers.

WIP it good

2007-07-16T08:34:00.000-04:00

I wonder how many times people have made that joke?

After Stephieface mentioned a star baby blanket pattern, I decided this was a fantastic way to use up the assorted scraps of yarn I have lying around the house. This star was made with all the non-girly colors I own.

I actually finished it yesterday (I'm blogging from the past!!) but there are no finished pics yet. These will have to do!

I've seen it all before

2007-07-16T08:30:00.000-04:00

I'm going to warn you, this entry has a bittersweet ending.

The last time I experimented with dyeing yarn, I had a little accident involving 3 dye colors and water that boiled. Whoops. Well, I started knitting a soaker for Spike (while I was still pregnant) with that yarn.

Check it out!

After I knitted a complete soaker that turned out to be too small by the time I tried it on, I decided to measure my work in progress.

On this baby (book for scale).

No way. Off to the frog pond!

Bliss

2007-07-10T14:17:00.000-04:00

Fresh blueberries on chocolate brownie ice cream.

May you all be as satisfied as I am right now.

(yarn coming soon!)

Lots of Random Things

2007-07-02T20:30:00.000-04:00

So, Stephieface tagged me, like, forever ago with the 8 random things meme.

Then Sandy tagged me on a 7 random things meme!

I could hold out for a third tagging to complete the random trifecta but I'm afraid the meme gods would have upped the ante to 21 random things or something, and although those that know me know that I have WELL IN EXCESS of 21 random things about me, there are only so many that I'm prepared to admit and put out there on the internetses.

Why don't we shoot for 15 (8+7, natch) and see how we do.

The rules:
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. Since May 8, it is safe to assume that any time I am online or typing or otherwise using a computer that I am nursing at the keyboard (NAK). It takes just shy of forever because I am often using only one hand. I try, though. Sometimes he's just sleeping on my arm, which similarly handicaps my typing speed. At best, there is a sleeping baby on my lap. I started this entry June 4th.

2. I am currently working my dream job. I always knew I wanted to marry Mr. Right and stay home with the kid(s). With a combination of hard work and a little luck, it became my reality.

3. Gas prices aside, I think nothing of hopping in the car and driving 4-5 hours. I like driving and road trips are fun! Of course, who can afford them now? And, there is the small matter of the baby. He requires preparation. But I'd really like a getaway.

4. Spike is 100% breastfed and probably 95% cloth diapered. We have about 20 disposables around, mostly for toting in the diaper bag. I absolutely LOVE breastfeeding and cloth diapering, and can't imagine me wanting to do it any other way. I wish every woman had access to the breastfeeding information I have to make it work if they want to.

5. The older I get, the more concerned I am about the impact of daily life on the earth. Hence the cloth diapers. I'm slowly working on getting more wholesome foods in our diet and minimizing processed foods. Ingredient labels are scary, and a balanced diet is so important.

6. I'm a breakfast eater. Occasionally I'll pass on the breakfast, or wake up so late that breakfast is now lunch (who, me??) but 97 times out of 100 if I miss breakfast I am CRANKY.

7. I love baking bread. I think it's because breadmaking was portrayed as some kind of very difficult activity by my mom growing up, and when I tried it I seemed to be good at it! Ideally, I'd bake bread as often as needed. Right now... it's hot. And there's a baby sleeping on my lap.

8. I have lots of great ideas and sometimes a very slow follow-through. I hate that about myself.

9. I love Netflix and forget to use it nearly as often as I should.

10. If everybody paused and thought about what they say before they say it, the world would be a happier, more peaceful place.

11. I love yarn. It really inspires an emotional reaction. To my surprise, beautiful fabrics are starting to do the same. Hello, sewing machine! I do not have time for you at the moment but someday I will!

12. I love to create food. I can almost always get something that tastes good, but visually I am almost never satisfied. It would help if I liked a red food other than pasta sauce and ketchup.

13. I fantasize about starting different careers and travelling to exotic locales. I'll spend a week considering and researching, and then I usually forget all about it.

14. I love Harry Potter. I'm turning off the internet and TV on July 19 at night and not turning them on again until after I finish reading the book. I REFUSE to have the ending spoiled. I have reread all the books before each new book's release since book 5, and I haven't missed an opening day at the movies. I question the feasibility of both at this stage. :(

15. I watch way too much tv. I have it on simply for noise much of the day every day, but I still watch too much. We got DVR this year because CSI and Grey's Anatomy went head to head and we couldn't miss either. We also watch Heroes, 24, NCIS, House, The Unit, Bones, Criminal Minds, Ugly Betty, and a whole bunch of other stuff. TO BE FAIR, I am knitting or baby tending through these shows. Sometimes both.

Okay, how's that for random? I have to go watch the baby sleep now. And read some Harry Potter. And work on my current ... crochet... project. OOooOooo....

Flippin' Fantastic

2007-06-30T23:45:00.000-04:00

You Are the Middle Finger

A bit fragile and dependent on your friends, you're not nearly as hostile as you seem.
You are balanced, easy to get along with, and quite serious.
However, you can get angry and fed up with those around you. And you aren't afraid to show it!

You get along well with: The Index Finger

Stay away from: The Pinky

What Finger Are You?

Nonsense!

2007-06-22T14:13:00.000-04:00

Your results:
You are Robin

Robin		72%
Spider-Man		70%
Superman		65%
Iron Man		65%
Green Lantern		65%
Catwoman		60%
The Flash		60%
Hulk		60%
Batman		55%
Wonder Woman		54%
Supergirl		44%

Young and acrobatic.
You don't mind stepping aside
to give someone else glory.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

Six Weeks

2007-06-19T15:38:00.000-04:00

This is not becoming a baby blog, I promise. In fact, this is actual KNITTING CONTENT.

I made the baby kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting.

Here it is blocking, in January:

Here it is, modeled by Spike at 2 days old:

And at four weeks:

Freeze!

I mention this because it is now too small, mostly due to the sleeves. If I had it all to do again, I would have made short sleeves.

(For those inquiring minds, the diaper is a Happy Heiny's size small in a monkey and palm tree print. Too cute!)

Edit, later in the afternoon:

Debbie asked how I fastened the kimono since I didn't use the pattern's suggestion of a ribbon. I bought two dinosaur buttons at Jo-Ann's and used the eyelet edge of the kimono as button holes. I just sewed them to the appropriate spots on the other side of the kimono so that when the kimono is on the holes line up with the buttons.

Five Weeks

2007-06-12T11:56:00.000-04:00

Everybody says that the time flies, and it does. I can't believe my little newborn is so grown up already. Last Wednesday, at four weeks, he weighed 10lbs 11oz, up from 8lbs 5oz at birth. He's already outgrown some of his clothes and smaller cloth diapers.

Including the soaker I knitted.

I thought it looked big, so I waited to try it on him. By the time I did it barely fit! So this was the first and last wearing. I guess I'd better get cracking on the next one before it's too late.

Coming soon... random meme.

I dyed.

2007-05-19T13:10:00.000-04:00

I actually dyed a while ago at this point, but please refer to my prior two posts as to why I haven't mentioned it.

On the left, an oceanic type thing for Stephieface. On the right, cotton candy-esque business for Radmama. They're both 100g of merino sockweight.

Then there's this accident. I tried to dye three colors at once in one pot. It was working until I let the water boil (whoops). The yarn didn't felt but the colors mixed, and it doesn't look that bad despite the change in plans.

A while ago I sewed cloth wipes for little Spike, as we are cloth diapering. So far, we love it!

This one of Spike's friends modelling a newborn chinese prefold diaper held on with a Snappi - the newer alternative to diaper pins.

This is what we've done all week

2007-05-19T10:21:00.000-04:00

What knitting? Who has time to knit?

Introducing....

2007-05-12T10:35:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the world!

Here on the blog, he will be known as Spike. Spike was born last Tuesday, May 8th, at 10:19pm. He weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. As you can see, he's absolutely adorable and perfect!! We're all doing well too. We've been home two nights and the first night was pretty rough, but last night Spike slept for four hours straight! It was fantastic - that's the most sleep I've had in a stretch since Sunday night. I went into labor during dinner while watching Jeopardy on Monday night, making Spike a 26.5 hour production... plus the other 40 weeks or so.

Stalked

2007-05-01T11:59:00.000-04:00

I am 39 weeks pregnant.

I assure you, no one is more anxious about the birth of this child than me.

So, all you relatives who think it's cute to call and email me every day - it's not. It's annoying. As if I don't have enough to worry about, I now have to consider whether it will stress me more to answer or ignore your contact.

STOP IT!!!

I have knitting to do for goodness sake!

Of course, none of them read this so I'm just preaching to the choir. :-p

I'm not the only one expecting.

2007-04-19T15:37:00.000-04:00

Stephieface - 2-3 days
Radmama - 4-6 days

Now you know... so when you get that package, rip it open!

I hope you're as pleased as I am with my dyeing.

Baby Bunting Bag

2007-04-08T08:33:00.000-04:00

This has been a good year for reporting my finished objects thus far - as well as creating them! Here is one of the latest:

It's a baby bunting bag, sleep sack, whatever you'd like to call it. A prior entry on the subject can be found here. The sleeves, despite their appearance, are the same length. I promise.

Details - This is made from Simplicity pattern #5720. I also made the hat. I don't have any complaints about the project other than it was my first sewing pattern since circa 1992 and I didn't have any helpful folks around to tell me what things meant. I either had to wing it or scour the internets for assistance.

The zipper was quite a feat, and once it was in I decided it was good enough for a first try; the collar is a little crooked as a result. I'm still not sure what the instructions wanted me to do with that bias tape at the top, so I took matters into my own hands and I think it looks pretty nice. I don't think I pre-washed my flannel on hot so both this bag and the matching hat shrunk a little more in the wash. I'm sure that Spike won't mind any of these things though.

Speaking of Spike, he is creating a ferocious nesting urge here. So much so that I'm anxious for Paul to wake up so that I can vacuum. Spike's nest is coming together nicely so far, considering it is still without furniture. The furniture story is such a saga that it should be only repeated in three-part harmony with full orchestration with shovels and rakes and implements of destruction, so perhaps it is best to simply say that one way or the other, a week from today there will be a crib, changing table and rocking chair in that room. Until then, the pack and play sits quietly in waiting, ready to be called into service.

I've been busy

2007-03-28T17:20:00.002-04:00

red quilt top
Originally uploaded by stephanie with the yarn.

I finished piecing the top to my very first quilt ever this afternoon. I have thorough instructions but since I don't have a local guru I'm pretty much doing this on my own. The front looks pretty good for a first try, and the back doesn't even look that bad! I managed to press the seams the right way and only a few got turned the wrong way under the sewing machine foot so since they weren't bad I left them... shhhh... don't tell.

The next step is basting the layers together. That should be interesting!

Quilt in Progress

2007-03-19T22:34:00.000-04:00

I finished the teal blanket for my mother-in-law while my mother was here visiting. Of course, in my glee at finishing and my zeal to send it home with its new owner, I forgot to take any pictures. I intend to fix this at my first opportunity.

I also finished the bunting bag. I have no excuse for not photographing it excessively. Please don't shoot me.

I do, however, have a picture of the quilt I'm working on. In fact, I have several progress pictures. But here is the quilt top so far:

Other than what must be cutting and sewing errors compounding to make these blocks 6.25 inches square rather than 6.5, it's going well so far. The directions have you piece each row into pairs (well, 1&2, 3&4, then sew 2 to 3 and 4 to 5) to complete rows before sewing the rows together. I know I'm committing some sort of quilt blasphemy but I'm sewing 1 &2, 2&3, etc and then row 1 to row 2 before starting row 3. It helps me keep the seams where they need to be, especially since that whole business with all the blocks being the same size is more of a suggestion than something that actually worked out.

Did I ever show you this?

2007-03-07T15:29:00.000-05:00

It's Fetching from Knitty. I used just over 1 skein, and made a few modifications. I decreased in the top cable section to make the part around my fingers a little tighter, and skipped the picot bind off. I know I used a tighter bind off recommended by someone, somewhere for this pattern, but I can't remember what it was. If anybody is dying to know, I'll try to figure it out!

For the People

2007-03-05T16:58:00.000-05:00

Since I've actually won four lotteries lately, I thought I'd share the wealth of my latest win with all you lovely people! Don't spend it all in one place now okay?

CONGRATULATIONS!!!We are pleased to announce to youthe draw of the IRISH LOTTERY onlineProgram held on Saturday 3rd March,2007.Your e-mail address attached to thewinning ticket number: 56475600545 188drew the lucky numbers: 10,13,24,24,25,36,41,08which subsequently won the JACKPOT.You have therefore been approved toclaim a total sum of 1,967,932 Euros.To file for your claim, you are to fillthe form and contact our authorised claimagent on the details below:1. Full Names....2. Age:...3. SEX:....4. Telephone Number:....Mr.Brian Hunt.Tell:+447011128829Email brian_fiduciary@earthlink.netSincerely
Rev. Clerk Philips.

Probably not the last poop blog

2007-02-27T13:26:00.000-05:00

But the real question here is, why is California not adequately treating its sewage?

Poop the First

Poop the Second

(Seriously, I want to know. If you find the answer please alert me.)

I'm on a schedule here

2007-02-26T22:00:00.000-05:00

When I had to be hospitalized and reinflated with fluids last November, I got behind on my bloglines subscriptions. In fact, I've been pretty terrible overall since I got pregnant, but I don't think I've caught up completely since November. For a little perspective, I currently have 1261 unread new blogs in my knitting folder in Bloglines. (Remember - these are all people to whom I am a stranger. I do keep up with people I know!)

So, it should come as no surprise that I just read this entry from ring around the rosies and realized that I missed the biggest baking trend of late 2006 - Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread. Step one involves throwing ingredients together and ignoring them for 12 to 18 hours, so the next step might be the hardest for me. I have to remember that there is a bowl of bread dough on top of the refrigerator. This could make for a nasty surprise next week if I'm not careful.

The blanket crocheted in strips is coming along. I have four strips completed and joined (they are joined halfway through the last round) and one strip nearly completed. I'm supposed to have eight. The birthday is Thursday, but it seems that I have a repreive until Sunday when the party happens, at my house no less.

Stitches of another color

2007-02-21T13:30:00.000-05:00

I've been sewing.

I had some issues with tiny little technicalities, like when I bought a remnant I didn't know if it was 44 or 60 inches wide, and as it turns out I chose wrongly. So I had to go hunting for more flannel.

How could I resist? Look at that face...

I thought I'd start small, since the only sewing I've done in over a decade was a set of curtains last week (on the snow day). The results?

For you technical types who want to see the guts of every project (uh... me):

The darn cats don't "do" hats so I can't get any modeling pics.

I'm working on the bunting bag (that would look like either of the two views above that don't have legs). Zippers are, errr, trying. Not to mention zippers involve pinning (getting good at this) and pressing (again, I am an ironing goddess) and basting. Basting. I can baste a turkey, but a zipper? Yeesh.

In other project news, I have two projects on the needles with deadlines. It's always the deadline projects that throw me off. One is a scarf and one is a blanket, and both are supposed to be birthday presents. To finish the blanket in time, I need to complete 0.71 strips per day. I don't know what that means exactly, other than I am going to be crocheting a lot for the next week.

And then there's the scarf... but it's a ladder yarn, and garter stitch on size 15 vampire stakes. I think I'll make it.

Remember when it snowed last week?

2007-02-20T13:00:00.000-05:00

We had a heck of a storm on Valentine's Day. Overall we got about two feet of snow, and it snowed from midnight 'til midnight. Pretty cool, and my very first "real" storm here in the Cold Place.

This picture was after about 9 or 10 inches had fallen. Paul was trying to cut a path for the mailman, who never had the pleasure of using the path since by the time he came and Paul tried to cut the path again (as it was completely gone 4 hours later) the drift by the road was too high for our snowblower.

This is a shot of the corner. The plows hadn't been through in a few hours at this point.

The next day I took a picture in the street (see, I go out into the street for you people!).

And here's the path to the shed. The shed is elevated, so what you see is a little deceptive - there are about two feet of snow on the ground.

Ghost in the Machine

2007-02-19T19:35:00.000-05:00

The DVR is possessed and won't let me record Heroes. It says I'm recording 3 things at once (not allowed) even though it's the only thing I'm trying to add. I'm even compromising already because I'd like to record 24 and Heroes and IT HATES ME.

I bet you'd like to see some pics of the crazy wild snow we had. We got about two feet here on Valentine's Day. It wasn't really that bad, we just stayed home and Paul got to exercise the snowblower a few times. The cats are not amused and would like their grassy lawn back.

So on our day trapped in the house, Paul moved my sewing machine out of the corner of the room at the end of the house to the living room and I made curtains. The instant gratification of sewing is practically droolworthy, and today I'm working on another project.

Pictures of all to come, after I finish playing at the sewing machine...

Resolution Check In - February 2007

2007-02-07T09:38:00.000-05:00

Let's see how I'm doing on my New Year's resolutions! I mean, it's all well and good to say I want to do something, but I'd really like to do it so unless I revisit them periodically I'll forget all about them.

1. Be less cynical. This one is hard to quantify, but I think I'm doing it. Perhaps Paul will chime in here?

2. Institute lists of goals. Boy, I started out so strong on this one. The lists didn't work through January, so I will find and execute another multi-level goal accomplishment structure just like I promised. I was making lists on "stickies" on the mac laptop. This month I am going to give paper lists a whirl.

3. Make time for blogging. This is going okay, but I know I can do better. I've definitely been posting more pictures. So to nudge this one along, I'm adding blogging to my lists in #2.

3a. No guilt for getting behind on blogs. I still keep up with those of you that I know and that I know read this. I still feel a little guilty though.

4. Keep a food journal. I used babyfit.com and yeah, I did it! I found where I need to make some dietary improvements, and I'm making them. A definite success.

5. Go outside every day. This one has improved, but I still don't make it out every day. It did get awfully cold lately though.

6. Keep decent sleeping and waking hours. This has definitely improved. I feel great!

7. Work towards making my home a better place to live. I've worked on this, and it has improved. Revamping the lists though will help, and I think the nesting instinct is starting to kick in. I have made great progress in organizing the stash.

New Additions!

8. Design a budget and track spending to increase savings. I made an awesome spreadsheet last night when I finally realized how to handle a biweekly mortgage and paycheck and monthly bills. It's based on Crazy Aunt Purl's pretty pink budget spreadsheet. I set up date ranges in a row across the top in 2 week intervals and visually separated the biweekly in and out, monthly bills in and out, and flexible expenses like food and yarn. When we pay a monthly bill we don't have money from later in the month to do it, we have what we have so monthly bills are just added to the payperiod in which they are paid. I have separate sheets for things like groceries, eating out, money in and out of savings, miscellaneous expenses like yarn or clothes or haircuts, and there's even a category for one time expenses and things I can't remember (like that $7 trip to Wal-Mart). All the separate sheets get a total every 2 weeks and the total is linked to the biweekly sheet. I download my bank transactions and separate them into these categories and whammo! Money tracking!

Scarftacular

2007-02-01T10:56:00.001-05:00

scarftacular
Originally uploaded by stephanie with the yarn.

Lookit! I finished a scarf. The yarn name is Marvel, it's garter stitch and quite cozy actually. More of a description on the photo's page.

Also, today I'm taking a few tips from the Harlot. I wonder what I could be up to?

Merino Twist

2007-01-26T11:59:00.001-05:00

merino twist
Originally uploaded by stephanie with the yarn.

Every time I see this yarn in the stash, I fall in love love love with it all over again. It's slightly shaded behind the twist, and it will make a lovely baby sweater for the Monkey* when he gets here. I bought this at Rhinebeck. It is 100% merino wool, worsted weight, from Maple Creek Farms. The woman working at the booth was a real pleasure to chat with, which I sadly didn't find everywhere at Rhinebeck.

*I'm trying out nicknames. He needs a "name" for my birthing class, which starts next week. Other contenders: Squirt. I'm not good at this.

The Before Picture

2007-01-22T12:54:00.001-05:00

DSCN2350
Originally uploaded by stephanie with the yarn.

This is a crochet blanket abandoned because apparently I can't make squares the same size, much less sew them together to make the same size. I have a ton - a TON - of acrylic lying around and this certainly wasn't going to do anything while trapped in a doomed project.

So - what shall I do with it? It actually feels softer than I expected so actually using it is a possibility. I don't know how much yarn there is, but I would think probably 2 skeins of lt blue here and 2 skeins of dark. Oh, and there's probably more in the stash boxes somewhere.

Apple Hill Handspun

2007-01-20T11:03:00.001-05:00

apple hill handspun
Originally uploaded by stephanie with the yarn.

80% wool, 20% silk bulky weight. I picked this up at Rhinebeck in a clearance bin! Oh, how delicious!

Sometimes I wonder if maybe I like to buy and have the yarn more than I actually want to do anything with it.

Oh, and it finally got cold

2007-01-17T14:57:00.000-05:00

The high for today is 16 degrees. That's Fahrenheit in case you wondered.

A few days ago we had an ice storm that dressed up the bushes in the backyard for winter.

Now the bushes are all naked again. When will we get some decent snow?

I know I promised to tell all about the secrets of glucola, but fortunately (?) they scheduled the test for a week earlier than it can be done. For those keeping score at home, this means I have to eat scrambled eggs twice now. While my OB/GYN practice is great in many ways, it also reminds me occasionally that the best health advocate is YOU. I am sure that when we get around to discussing birth plans, I'll be repeating myself a lot. I don't lack confidence in their ability (I don't need to write "DO NOT REMOVE" on any limbs or anything) but they all seem to rush in and be in dire need of a cheat sheet.

I am doing fine and I'm right on track. Yippee!

Cotton's Ease

2007-01-11T08:54:00.000-05:00

Today was like any other day, except I have a doctor's appointment where I get to do the fancy smancy glucose blood test to make sure I'm not in some sort of blood sugar tailspin and drink the magic kool-aid, until I woke up and decided to check my email.

Apparently I am the last person on Earth to be notified that Lion Brand has brought back their insanely popular, insanely easy to wash (and dry) Cotton-Ease yarn.

Well, sort of. It is back, but the colors are different. There is no information about fibers or skein size, but it retails at 50 cents higher than before ($5.49 for ? vs $4.99 for 3.5 oz). My newsletter says it is machine washable and dryable. And although the colors are nothing like the vibrant colors of the past, there is a lime green. They may live.

Tomorrow: a review of the reviled Glucola.

A New Resolve in 2007

2007-01-02T10:47:00.000-05:00

So I went digging through archives both here and yon looking for last year's resolutions, and as it turns out I didn't make any. We were in the process of moving, and it was crazy freaky wild, and there were a lot of boxes and a lot of money going out.

Sad to say there are still some boxes, and still money going out, but we are doing pretty well. We make more than we spend. When the baby is born, our debt should be one student loan that is actually less money than it cost us to move and 3 years left on the car we bought 2 years ago. Not bad. Oh and the hospital costs, whatever those may be. I fully support homebirth but if the goal is comfort I would be better off going to the hospital and checking out early if I want to for baby #1.

Anyway, back to some resolutions here. Here they are, in no particular order.

The theme for 2007 is taking charge of my own destiny.

1. Looking back made me realize that I used to be funny (read the January archives!). Not to put a label on what I am today, but funny is not the first word to come to mind. So I will work on being less cynical. Even the cats will be happier.

2. I think about things to do, and then I don't do them. Why? So to solve this, I will institute lists - lists of weekly, monthly, and more long term goals. I will be reasonable, but I will do something and gain a sense of accomplishment. If the lists don't work through January, I will find and execute another multi-level goal accomplishment structure. Because I need structure.

3. I like blogging, so I will make time to do it. If I don't participate, I am just lurking.

3a. I keep up with blogs of people I know. I will not beat myself up for getting behind on blogs though - it sucks the joy right out of reading them.

4. I eat well, but I would like to keep tabs on just how well to better make up for any deficiencies. So for January at least, I will be writing a food journal. This is more of a goal than a resolution, but it's January so here it is.

5. I will get outside of the house every day. The air is better out there.

6. I will get up at a decent hour in the morning and go to bed at a decent hour at night, every day. I would like to get up and spend time with my husband before work and not have to worry about drop-ins while I'm still in PJs, so maybe we'll start with "decent hours" and go from there.

7. I will consistently work towards making my home a better place to live. This means that a lot of those lists are going to involve developing better cleaning habits.

2006 Finished Objects

2006-12-31T15:45:00.000-05:00

These projects were completed in 2006.

Branching Out
Felted Noro bag (no real picture)
Salt and Pepper scarf
Basic Cable Hat
Anarchist Easter Egg Wool
Jaywalkers

(Posted during a reorganization effort in March 2007.)

Trogdor Pumpkin

2006-12-16T11:56:00.000-05:00

trogdor pumpkin
Originally uploaded by stephanie with the yarn.

What could be more appropriate on a pumpkin than a fearsome dragon-man? He burninated for many nights in our window, striking fear into the cats, at least.

Not Quite a Month

2006-12-15T15:34:00.000-05:00

I can't be declared legally blog-dead until I've hit a month, right? Let's operate on that theory for a moment. (Note: I wrote this going off of the date on my blogger dashboard, telling me that I had altered my blog in a month; turns out I missed it by a day. So call me resurrected.)

I'm in between Tums eating sessions and yesterday we found out that the baby is a boy so I can call him a he instead of an it now! Even though I told Paul I thought he was a boy from the start, I'm still rather surprised that I was right even with a 50/50 chance. And HE is kicking me. So I can use my blue yarn!! I have some yellow and green Baby Teri that I'm anxious to get going on, but in my defense I only just figured out that the yarn I bought on super sale for "our baby" is now being called into duty. I'm not in denial, it's just that I think the baby is possibly eating my brain.

I made whipped shortbread cookies on Wednesday. They are light and airy .. shortbread. Much better on day 2 than they were straight out of the oven! I'd promise a picture, but that never goes well. So I may post a picture. But I really want to make more cookies instead.

I also feel like knitting again. I've been operating on a limited scope of yarn projects for Christmas - everybody is either getting cat toys or potholders, and if they think I am kidding they are going to be sorely disappointed. I really have more yarn than should be legal and so much of it is aquired acrylic that has a few specific destiny options. One of the quicker options is becoming potholders. Merry Christmas, cooks and cats.

Okay but there is one scarf I need to make, and I need my other vampire-killing size 15 bamboo stake needle. If you see one wandering around looking lost, please send him home. His twin needs him to get anything done.

**UPDATE**: The needle was found cowering beside a bookcase. It's no wonder; he's been cold and lonely for a few months now. Poor baby.

Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies

2006-11-14T17:18:00.000-05:00

Well we finally decided what we're doing for Thanksgiving. Since both factions of Paul's family are close by (the Montagues and the Capulets) we weren't going to travel anyway, since my family might as well be in Timbuktu considering our current desire to pay for gas. I don't care if it's down to $2.30 a gallon, I'm still combining trips out and not going anywhere without a reason.

Anyway, we've been invited to dinner with friends and of course, the Montagues and Capulets. The Montagues are undergoing a family reunion of sorts, so that not showing up at all is not even really a possibility in their minds. We couldn't possibly have anything more important going on in our lives. The Capulets invited us to dinner, no guilt, no strings, just come if you'd like. The Montagues presume too much. The Capulets attraction is in their hands off attitude.

Naturally, we're going to both the Montagues and Capulets. There simply will not be time to also see the friends (sorry Sarah :( ). We're going, we're probably bringing something, we'll eat far too much food, some of which will be delicious and some that will be terrible. But the most important thing is that we're telling them that we're not doing this ever again. Next year, we'll have a baby. I don't care if the baby is too young to eat turkey when Thanksgiving happens. I don't care if it would be easier to pack up everything and go to someone else's house than to cook and host either the Montagues or Capulets here. I don't care about any of that because our family is intact, and my child is not going to suffer the consequences of a divorce that was not even between his or her parents (this is assuming Paul does not divorce me before next year, natch). So Paul's parents got divorced. If they could have each taken a half of him, they would have, but instead they had to continue to share and fight over him until... oh wait, they still do. Now they just fight through him. I married him, knowing that to a certain extent he is both Paul Montague and Paul Capulet. I am too. But our child will not be playing this little game.

So mark your calendars, because this year is both the beginning and the end of the Montague and Capulet Traveling Freak Show.

I want my time machine

2006-11-08T19:30:00.000-05:00

Do you ever have one of those .... months... where you wake up and realize that for a minute there you thought it was still summer and August and then you realized that unbeknownst to you, it is now November? Yeah. I had one of those.

I can't believe Rhinebeck was two weeks ago. I took my loot pictures and would love to post them, but I can't due to some technical difficulties. I can post this though:

For those of you interested in this sort of thing, this pic was taken at 12 weeks. Baby is currently measuring a week ahead of its age and doing well.

So this weekend, Paul and I played in a Monopoly tournament benefitting... something... and then went to the mall (where I chanced the salad bar for the first time in years), had dinner with friends and played some poker with some other friends. Apparently, unbeknownst to me at the time, I also picked up a stomach virus that left me so dehydrated by Monday afternoon I needed an IV. I wound up spending the night in the hospital with some fabulous fluids and a very sexy hospital gown. It was really quite nice and relaxing (and rehydrating), and since I've never been to the hospital and expect to return in the spring under happier circumstances, I learned a few things to make sure I handle then. Like exactly how I feel about hovering, cell-phone using visitors who show up right when I'm getting hit hard by the drug knocking me out. Also, I need to pack a hairbrush.

Lesson learned.

In case you're wondering, yes I did get my on-bedrest-self out to vote yesterday. Civic duty and all that.

Celebrity Jeopardy.... Oh my gosh. I have to turn this off before I start yelling at the screen.

HAHAHA. A-HAHAHAHAHA!

2006-10-29T15:39:00.000-05:00

What kind of knitting needles are you?

You are "turbo" charged.Fast moving and classy, you get things done with power and grace. Your expensive tastes can be deceiving, since what you really value is quality and efficiency. As you're careening around those corners in life, finishing a dozen knitted objects each month, stop and smell the roses. Don't miss the beauty of process!
Take this quiz!

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Watch this Space

2006-10-26T16:11:00.000-04:00

Rhinebeck was a learning experience.

The first lesson of Rhinebeck is that only the strong survive. The second lesson is that only the truly intrepid actually remember to take pictures. The third lesson was that opaque shower curtains crank up my morning sickness like no smells ever could, and (lesson 3b) that no amount of merino therapy will make me want to play Bingo after that. So I kinda crapped out on the Bingo. But the first day was fun!

Photos of loot to come - and oh, there was loot - but tonight's agenda is dinner with relatives and then making cookies. I'm too tired to take pictures yet.

Until then, let's play a game. Why were we late to Rhinebeck on Saturday? Let your imagination run wild. We got there around 11.

Rhinebeck Rhinebeck Rhinebeck!

2006-10-20T10:54:00.000-04:00

Rhinebeck!

It's tomorrow! How did it get to be tomorrow? How can it possibly be here already? It seems like just yesterday I was looking at all the pictures from Rhinebeck last year and making Paul promise that if we moved to the northeast, he had to take me to Rhinebeck. Well as Paul is a man of his word, since I reminded him at every opportunity for the past year, we are going to Rhinebeck. Although I suspect Paul is going for the wine, since what with my "condition" we are short of wine here in Chez Pregnant.

Speaking of pregnant (as though I have needed an excuse to talk about this for the last month) I am so so so close to the end of this first trimester that supposedly will end some day. For anyone keeping score at home, we are at or near the 12th week, which is the end of the third month if you think a month is 4 weeks and therefore a pregnancy is 10 months. Since there are a few different ways to count this beautiful time in my life.... or whatever they call it today..... I am not sure which day I can expect to feel the weight of a 24/7 hangover lifting. I will let you know. But I will say this: the prospect of cleaning out the nursery and rearranging the yarn stash and shopping for cloth diapers and finding clothes and let's not even talk about the part with the pushing .... well, it doesn't seem completely impossible. Also, I left the house every day this week. That is astonishing.

So Rhinebeck.

Rhinebeck, Rhinebeck, Rhinebeck.

I decided it would be fun to play Stitchy McYarnpants's Rhinebeck Blogger Bingo. So these are the people on my card:

Andrea - Soapbox (http://noricum.blogspot.com/)

Anjeanette - PURLEWE (http://purlewe.typepad.com)

Bethe - Insaknity (www.betheany.wordpress.com)

Brooke - Missy B (http://missyb.typepad.com/missy_b)

Christina - Knitting Goddess #9 (http://www.stitch-witch.net)

Cynthia - CynCyn (http://virtueofpatience.blogspot.com)

Debi - Wild and Wooly Fibers (www.wildandwoolyfibers.com)

Fuchsia Lucia - Rhymes With Fuchsia (http://rhymeswithfuchsia.blogspot.com)

Isela - Purling Sprite (http://purlingsprite.com)

Jenna - Cinemaknits (http://cinemaknits.blogspot.com)

Jenny - Eat.Knit.Sleep. (http://www.jennysbelly.com)

Judy - smatterings (http://www.smatterings.typepad.com)

Karen - Musings of a (mostly) Self-Taught Knitter (http://www.k-knit.blogspot.com)

Kirsten - Through The Loops! (www.throughtheloops.typepad.com)

Lars - Does A Bear Knit In The Woods? (http://www.norskybear.blogspot.com)

Marcy - Habetrot (http://habetrot.typepad.com/)

Martha - Martita Rampage (http://martitarampage.blogspot.com/)

Mary Beth- Alpaca Addict (http://www.AlpacaAddict.blogspot.com)

Paula - Hired Hands (http://www.hiredhands.ca)

Sandy - Sandy's Knitting (http://sandysknitting.com)

Sarah - One Stitch Short (http://onestitchshort.typepad.com)

Stephannie - And She Knits Too! (http://acunningplan.typepad.com/andsheknitstoo)

Teresa - A House made of Wool (http://ahousemadeofwool.blogspot.com)

Vicki - Knitorious (http://www.knitorious.typepad.com/knitorious)

Paul says that since he got his hair cut a little short, he will likely be wearing his orange hat.

So Squares, don't be shy! Orange hat!! I think I will be bringing my bright yellow bag from knitty that says, "I have needles and I'm not afraid to use them." If you can't take a threatening knitting bag to Rhinebeck, where can you take it? Certainly not on a plane. I mean, can you imagine?!? Ha. Anyway.

True Confessions

2006-10-12T12:34:00.000-04:00

This isn't a meme or anything, but just some stuff. Write your own confessions if you dare...

1. I don't like Mr. Food. When he says, "Ooh, it's so good," I shudder. Sometimes not just inwardly. My creep alarm goes off. I don't care how long he's been doing it and that it's his thing.

2. There is a detour through my neighborhood today due to an accident. My neighborhood, for those of you uninitiated, is a maze. Not a real maze, but people get misplaced in here all the time. So the detour is actually on a street that goes straight through, but no one realizes this and keeps turning. There are a ton of cars going through my little intersection here and they are about 4 blocks lost.

3. We have two cats, Mao and Maddie. Mao is named after the only word she says. She asks the question all the time - Mao? mao? So her name is MAO. Not Mayo. Not Mayos. Three letters. Think Chinese dictator, not condiment. It is not that hard. Mao?

4. Speaking of Mao, I may need to start my own damn million dollar cat fund. A scratch on the leg that got infected led to two weeks of antibiotics and two vet visits, plus she was due for shots anyway, led to let's do a Feline Leukemia test first, led to it's faintly positive, we're going to do another one, led to it's even fainter, led to a lab test that came back negative. ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS in leukemia tests alone, to tell me my cat is healthy. This cat has cost me over $300 in the past month.

5. I have this hangup. I can't bring myself to go to the grocery store in sweatpants. I just refuse. But this leads to the delay of grocery shopping, because man am I comfortable.

6. Prizewinners, you have not been forsaken. I am plotting.

7. Plotting, I tell you.

8. I ate popcorn for lunch because it is the only thing that sounded good.

9. I have to go to the store, but I am still wearing sweatpants. Hmmm.

10.

Nope, that was it.

Friends? Not you. Family? Totally you.

2006-10-06T16:13:00.000-04:00

The thing about being pregnant is that eeeeeeeeverybody has an opinion about everything, they are all correct, and you must agree or else be labeled. Labels don't bother me unless they are degrading AND wrong, but ya know, sometimes one out of two is enough. Like just wrong.

The correlary to this "thing" is the other thing, which is that everyone is so willing to share their opinions. And really, truly, honestly, when it's an opinion from a friend, I don't mind hearing it. Mostly because when a friend wants you to know something, they say, "Hey, did you know that *insert something to worry about here* is blah blah blah?" And I either say, yeah, I just read about that or no, that's interesting. I'll look into it. But relatives seem to go more for the, "You really should do *whatever they were told in 1965*." Uhh. Thanks. I think.

But if your goal is to drive me absolutely insane, try this because I am SICK of this conversation (my thoughts are in italics):

them: So, have you gotten the list of things you can't eat yet?
me: Yeah, I've done lots of reading and the doctor went over stuff at our appointment.
them: So what's on that list these days?
me: Well... no smoking or alcohol -
them: Eh, I had wine when I was pregnant. My kid turned out fine.
me: Okay, assuming they "turned out fine," that doesn't really prove anything. I'll decide for myself, thanks!
me: ........ and you have to be careful about fish -
them: They didn't have those rules when I was pregnant.
me: ........well, things change, there's more pollution in the water now................. and you have to only have coffee in moderation-
them: OH! You can't have coffee AT ALL! Coffee is terrible for a baby!
me: looking for the nearest bridge to jump from to end this conversation ...... and some packaged meats can have listeria
them: HUH? Like hot dogs?
me: Yes. Like hot dogs.
them: But that's not a big deal. I mean you can't really get sick from them.
me: Well the risk is small, but the baby has an 80% mortality rate if you get it. It's not worth a hot dog to me.
them: You're a little overly cautious, don't you think?

Hi! My research for my pregnancy choices trumps your blathering. I'm not shoving hot dogs down your throat. But I might. Now shut up!

This has been a public service announcement. Please, if you know a pregnant woman, assume that she has two brain cells to rub together.

You're the Next Contestant!

2006-09-24T20:36:00.000-04:00

Thanks for all the congrats, guys!

For all you creative naming types, I found a contest. Lee at welcome to my pantry is starting a business selling preserves and is looking for a business name.

The rules:

1) It can't have [her] name in it.
2) It needs to be relatively short and end in preserves- i.e. "Naked Berry Preserves"
3) I do jams, jellies, pickles, chutneys and syrups using fruit and vegetables so it should be inclusive. Naked Berry is actually my favorite so far but I have nixed it for this reason.

Contest entry link.

~*~*~*~*~

I really need some kind of line divider thingy.

So now, about my contest....

The competition was tough....

No one completed an iPod offer.....

And since there were only two correct guesses, I've decided I can't just choose between them. Even with slips of paper and a hat, nope. So! There are two contest winners:

Stephieface

and

Radmama

Congratulations to both of you. Watch the email for prize info. :)

The Answers You've All Been Waiting For

2006-09-19T12:06:00.000-04:00

The Drawing

Two people signed up for the i-Pod site but didn't complete an offer (as far as I can tell). If it just hasn't gone through yet or you forgot or whatever, email me and let me know! I will hold the drawing after I have heard from you two - the veggie lover and the knit.purl. Please email me at housewifewithyarn at gmail dot com. I need to hear from you by Friday!

Now, about the guessing portion of our contest. I'll remind you of the clues:

The REASON is really obvious from the pattern.
The PATTERN can be discerned from the reason.

The pattern is not a free pattern, but access is widespread. The pattern was published in the last 5 years.

The object is for me in the near future (that ought to help with the reason).

I am using Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece in Candy Apple. This yarn is a sub, but the fibers are the same. The ratio of fibers, however, is rather different. I bought 9 skeins.

NOTHING that is guessed will offend me. So don't worry about that.

This clearly stumped a lot of people, judging by the number of entries I got.

The Pattern

The pattern is from the Summer 2006 issue of Interweave Knits (not a free pattern).

The pattern is very much related to the reason.

The item is for me in the near future.

The called for yarn is a merino/cotton blend, in different ratios but the same fibers as Cotton Fleece.

The Reason

The reason is really obvious from the pattern - I would only need this, for me, for one reason.

The reason affects me, which is why the item is for me.

I had to say that nothing would offend me so that someone would screw up the courage to guess it.

~*~*~*~

So!

I guess I'll have to tell you all my little secret.

The pattern is Kate Gilbert's Mommy Snug, from the Summer '06 Interweave Knits issue.

And the reason is this little blob right here.

Helpfully labeled for your identification pleasure (I can't tell you how much better it looked on the screen). We'll be meeting our little blob next spring, when it will be less of a blob and more of a baby. Today I could see the heartbeat, and on the screen I could actually pick out arms and legs and a head. Pretty cool.

Yup. Pretty cool.

2006-09-18T10:31:00.000-04:00

I think I have a very small piece of cheerio in my eye.

Well the contest results are in, of course, since the deadline was last week. I will reveal the secret project and the secret reason tomorrow!

Edited to add: GO TIGERS!

I Need YOU! points

2006-09-15T11:57:00.000-04:00

I need to find the nicest, softest, buttery-feelingist superwash wool in existance. If it's not superwash, I can deal. But I NEED it to be soft.

Long story, but the story ends with someone I know delivering a 28 week (I think) preemie who is doing great, but could use some handknits. Soft handknits. Quick handknits.

Thanks in advance.

The Contest

2006-09-14T10:00:00.000-04:00

Click here for the contest!

Links! 1:7

2006-09-13T11:29:00.000-04:00

I have two links for you today. One to terrify, and one to inspire.

First, we'll terrify! You all knew one day this would happen. We've heard for years that they might overtake the island, since they outnumber the people several times over and all.

Read another knitblogger's take on the scariest movie of all time.

And now that you're thoroughly scared,

RHINEBECK RHINEBECK RHINEBECK, RHINEBECK RHINEBECK RHINEBECK!
RHINEBECKRHINEBECKRHINEBECKRHINEBECKRHINEBECKRHINEBECKRHINEBECK!

Who's going? I'm going. Both days. Oh yeah. We got a hotel reservation already and everything. I've never been before, so my expectations are like, whoa. I am excited. And I should start eating on a Ramen noodle budget any day now, but I won't because I'm not into malnutrition. Bring on the milk, and broccoli. wink wink

She's famous

2006-09-12T23:14:00.000-04:00

Since the CONTEST is still active, I can't say too much, but let me just say that I found a teeny little issue in the pattern for the thing that I am making and emailed the designer, and she emailed me back in three minutes.

THREE MINUTES. How's that for help?!??

I'll be singing her praises a little louder after I tell you who she is. Until then, I just gave you another clue! It's a she!

Housewiferly Musings

2006-09-11T14:52:00.000-04:00

This new modern-woman-doing-beat-poetry NuvaRing ad is making me crazy. You know how some things just annoy you in a skin-crawling sort of way without any real explanation? Yeah. It's like that.

Just so you have as much fun as I am, watch it here.

Finally, I have had an epiphany regarding daytime television. What's with all the people on soap operas being 1) doctors, 2) lawyers, or 3) independently wealthy? All they do is get fancy diseases, or sue each other, or wander around their mansions wringing their hands because they "accidentally" ran over their cousin-in-law or there's a crazed stabber on the lose or someone wrote someone else out of a will. I mean, seriously, these people should have jobs at Target or as tellers in a bank just like all the real people.... which is where my epiphany kicked in, and I realized that they are, after all, just catering (so to speak) to their audience. Because the people who are home watching soap operas are either sick, injured, or manage their money enough that they don't have to have two incomes. Note, I don't say wealthy.

Besides, I've been shirking my housewifeyness lately with a part-time temporary fill-in job at.... a yarn store. Yeah. If I'm not living the dream at home, I can live it at work. "Work". The owner is in Ireland and they needed someone to fill in here and there while she's gone.

Now, about the contest.... I've only gotten a few entries. Come on, you guys!! I'm going to have to pull out all the stops here. I'm quite surprised with the results so far. Remember, you can guess as many times as you feel like emailing me, so guess away!! Click here for the contest rules and how to enter.

LABOR DAY CONTEST!!!

2006-09-04T21:44:00.000-04:00

Yes!!!! A contest!!!

We here at the Housewife with Yarn (ummm, that would be me) are having our very first blog contest. As this is a very first contest, we might mess things up a bit but I will try really, really hard not to. Here is the dilly, yo (I am sooo lame).

The prize is .............

100 grams of custom-dyed sock yarn

100% merino wool

Approx. 440 yards (yeah, knitpicks)

This is enough for two socks on most people.

I will try really, really hard to dye you some yarn. I do solids best (duh) or I can go semi-solid or multicolor, but I cannot make promises about striping. Not to be confused with stripping, which I also cannot promise.

If merino ain't your thing, I'll just buy you some yarn. Don't let this stop you.

You can get contest entries two ways. You may enter as many times as you like.

1) Paul has signed up for one of those pyramid dealies where you get 5 friends to sign up for free or cheap offers and you get a free i-pod. I have heard about this for like ever and yeah, I signed up. He only needs four more referrals to get the i-pod I've already heard so much about. If you go to the referral site HERE and sign up for an offer, you will be entered into the contest drawing TWICE.

Twice! Don't say I never gave you anything. Paul totally made me do this.

2) THIS IS THE COOLEST CONTEST EVER because this was the part I thought of first. This is the big deal. Here it is.

You can GUESS WHAT I AM KNITTING.

Yup.

Your entry, which should be emailed to housewifewithyarn AT gmail DOT com, must include your guess as to

- what I am knitting (name of the pattern and source) and
- why I am knitting this pattern

Entries must be received by Thursday, September 14th 2006 at 10am EST.

Here are the clues:

The REASON is really obvious from the pattern.

The PATTERN can be discerned from the reason.

This is my gauge swatch.

That's a k2 p2 rib on size 6 needles. The pattern calls for 4 mm needles.

The pattern is not a free pattern, but access is widespread. The pattern was published in the last 5 years.

The object is for me in the near future (that ought to help with the reason).

I am using Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece in Candy Apple. This yarn is a sub, but the fibers are the same. The ratio of fibers, however, is rather different. I bought 9 skeins.

NOTHING that is guessed will offend me. So don't worry about that.

You can enter as many guesses as you care to type, but to be entered into the prizewinning drawing the two parts of the entry must be correct to count.

Let's say I'm knitting Clapotis because my neck is cold.

Entries of, "Clapotis from knitty because you like it" or "Hederas from knitty because your neck is cold" are both incorrect. But since you can enter as many times as you like, you have more chances to hit the pattern and the reason together.

Okay... email away! I'm going to bed!

Is it naptime yet?

2006-08-30T18:03:00.000-04:00

Sorry, too tired for a links post today.

1) I found Mexican food. It's different, but good. They also sell cheeseburgers and caesar salad, and I only saw one actual Mexican. Go figure.

2) Grace was born at 2:30 this morning after making her mommy labor for 25 hours to deliver her 8 pound 9 ounce self, 22 inches long. That is a LONG baby. She was two weeks overdue. But she's reaaaaaaaaaallly cute. And she squeaks!

3) I need to do some spinning before class tomorrow. Spinning-on-a-spinning-wheel-spinning!

And now, naptime.

Notes

2006-08-29T22:12:00.000-04:00

Note to Rhett:

Remember when you sheltered me from the cold cold night while I was in the process of moving across the country? Remember how I said I loved the bed but lacked the eloquence to tell you exactly how much I loved the bed?

This lady put it all into words. Except for the part about it being in NYC. The best bed on earth is in Rhett's guest room. Go visit Rhett. But read this first.

Note to Paul:

I love you dearie! And I know you check my blog because I have a site meter.

Note to Sarah:

What are you doing next Tuesday or Wednesday? I sometimes go to knitting groups that meet those nights and I'd love to see you. There is one in horse-town on Thursday if that distance is more convenient (the other two.. one is where the fair was last week and one is near my JoAnn's).

Wow, were those locations sufficiently vague enough so that stalkers won't figure out where we live but you have any idea what I'm talking about? Ha.

Note to Grace:

Sweetie, I know it's warm and cozy in there but it is time to leave Mommy and come out to meet the family and friends. We're all anxious to meet you. And I bet your mom is ready for you to get out!

Note to Courtney:

Happy 23rd birthday. Yeah I totally called you out on your age, in public! Tee hee. Of course you don't read this (see Note to Paul) but there you go, birthday wishes just for you. I know you'll find your way.

Note to Everybody:

About all the answers you seek - what am I doing with worsted weight and size 3 needles, how are oatmealless oatmeal cookies, meaning of life, where is my Interweave Knits Fall issue, how are those lime green hederas doing, does grandma have a shawl or what?!? and more - all will be revealed in due time. Actually, when I wake up from the perpetual sleepiness I'm currently experiencing. Stupid cats waking me up to meow at me.

While the Cat is Away

2006-08-26T18:01:00.000-04:00

The boys went fishing this afternoon so I'm home cleaning and possibly napping. I clean like a fiend when the right music is on. I apologize in advance. For the humming.

ooooh there's no where to run
no one can save me the damage is done!

shot through the heart and you're to blame,
you give love a bad name!

Not to be outdone by my old favorite -

Oooooh ... we're halfway there
Whoaa-oh! Livin' on a prayer
Take my hand and we'll make it I swear
Whoaa-oh! Livin' on a prayer

These work best while wielding a swiffer and singing as loud as you dare while the windows are open. I am not that daring, we just got new neighbors and I want them to unload their POD before getting scared of us. And I'm kind of anxious to find out if they really own all three tan cars in their driveway. Talk about brand loyalty.

Oh, but don't worry. I don't only listen to Bon Jovi while cleaning. Kelly Clarkson also gets the job done.

SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE..........I CAN -

1. wash dishes in sink and dishwasher
2. clean kitchen counters
3. vacuum. yeah, the whole house
4. swiffer
5. sweep garage
6. straighten porch
7. clean grill

What do you mean, those aren't the lyrics on your Kelly Clarkson CD? Of course they are.

Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow

2006-08-25T13:15:00.000-04:00

Knitting worsted weight slightly fulled wool on size 3 needles.

Ow.

In other news, the number one reason to not bake cookies at 12:30 in the morning - there is a high likelihood of forgetting the oatmeal in the oatmeal raisin cookies. Oops.

Maybe my computer can resist crashing before I post this

2006-08-21T16:48:00.000-04:00

Brady is coming to visit tomorrow from the great wild lands of WhereWeUsedToLive. We're excited to see him, and I have about a million things to do including clean my mess of a kitchen. Yesterday I pulled the stove apart and cleaned all the little parts and OhHolyNight the part underneath where all the little bits fall? I don't think it has been cleaned one bit since the oven was purchased. Circa 5 years ago. The thing about me, and dirt, and me and dirt, is that once I know where it is I'm not happy with it or me until it is gone. I can't always clean it right that second, of course. But I know it's there.

Gosh, I've been semi-MIA for so long that my knitting blogs folder in bloglines has over 400 unread blogs now. Boy. I remember when 20 or so was a good day because I knew I'd be entertained; then I discovered Charmed reruns on TNT.

Last week I attended a new knitting group at a LYS. It was absolutely refreshing, and I'll definitely continue attending. Although I got the feeling they were excited I was under age 40.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Today's fun:

4:06 PM
Paul: so/
dinner?
love-y ness?
me: do you still want me to make sauce?
Paul: what are man's options?
me: well...
there's hot dogs
hamburgers
eggplantios
ummmmmm cake?
Paul: haha
me: chickens!
rice
more mexi-fun
Paul: no. your right
sauce and eggplantios
me: ok
well
i will start the sauce then
Paul: that will be good
me: the big sauce
mmmmmm
Paul: stephanie ourlastname in. "The Big Sauce"
ok i will start the getting ready to go home procedure
me: uh-oh
that means i have to begin the showering procedure
Paul: prep the hot soap!
shower and sauce....
they're cops
one's clean and by the book
the other knows sometimes things get a little messy
me: oh honey
you should probably leave work before someone talks to you
Paul: oh hush

A Housewife with Links 1:6

2006-08-09T13:56:00.000-04:00

Okay, I admit I haven't felt like writing much lately. But I figure everybody goes through phases here and there, and I'm there, so there. Ha.

Knit Nation

So rest assured that I am, in fact, here. I am still not knitting much, although I picked up Grandma's shawl (since I got that mandate from the Harlot) and figured out what was going on. I also figured out that the yarn snapped a few rows back and needed to be reknitted (yeah it really did) so I tinked back and I'm back on track.

Which is why I'm now drooling over another new pattern: the Universal toe-up sock formula.

For Kristy, look here to find out the history of Hedera and my obsession. Although I should note, I did buy the yarn. The rest of that entry should explain why.

Wonderment

Don't laugh. Ever heard of flaxseed? As in, you probably need more flaxseed in your diet? Well. Here you go. Ever since I found the bins and bins and BINS of seeds, granola, flour, all kinds of healthy looking goodness at the grocery store within walking distance, I've been looking stuff up and trying to figure out how to use it! See, this is what happens when you don't work.

I also found this page about what to do with whole grains, once you get them. I have my eye on the brown rice stir fry recipe near the bottom. mmm.

I've also been playing with fitday.com, which does an okay job of tracking calories going in vs calories being used. Overall, it makes a pretty reasonable estimate even though they spell flour as "flower". Ha.

Alas

This week's Blogger of the Week award posthumously goes to punkrockknitter and knittykitty, who gave up the job this week of writing the hilarious and frightening You Knit What?? You will be missed.

Musings in my sauna

2006-08-01T13:25:00.000-04:00

It's hot. Something in the upper 90s with over 100 heat index. I know that some of you are not impressed by these numbers. "Ha!" you might say, "It was that hot here for a week!" All I can say to that is, of course, Nanny Nanny Boo Boo. And yes, I'm running the air. When it's 85 and I'm drinking a ton of water, the a/c doesn't seem so necessary, but today it is. I know my limits!

Gotta go to camp today for the monthly meeting. I don't actually go to the meetings, but I sit with Grandma while everybody else does. The meetings are just awful . . . someone drones on and on about something, while major issues go unaddressed, and people smoke in the back and most people's hands are permanently shaped around a Keystone Light. So Grandma and I will have a good time in the cabin playing with the rabbit ears trying to get channel six.

I hope to be able to work on my Hederas, which I am in love with again now that I've tried it on and know it will fit, and maybe execute the 2 month delayed i-cord bind off on Grandma's Snowdrop Shawl. I emailed the Yarn Harlot approximately a million years ago and never got an answer. *tear* So while I know the truth is my little email probably got lost in the pile, I like to assume it was a non-response to mean I should pull myself up and figure it out myself. A mandate from the Harlot, intended to build my confidence and make me self-sufficient in the end. Tough yarn love, or some such. Clearly I have too much free time, and probably not enough protein to replace lost brain cells. But just go with me here. I'm hungry, after all.

Tomorrow I'm making meatballs and sauce. Who's coming over?

blink blink blink

2006-07-27T11:36:00.000-04:00

Beep beep bedeep beep beep bedeep

We inturrupt your non-linkalicious posts because my father-in-law just emailed me this:

Light-up knitting needles

Buy them here.

A Housewife with Links 1:5 - The Food Edition

2006-07-26T15:38:00.000-04:00

I have a confession to make. I haven't felt like knitting lately.

Now before you guys wrestle me to the ground and take my temperature or feed me some evil-cleansing drink with lemon juice and cayenne pepper, I think it's mostly the weather. Even when the air is on, I feel hotter knitting. Not that kind of hot. The bad hot.

Instead, the links this week seem to have a different theme - food.

To Eat

Paul suffers from my stories pretty often, and in this case I think I'll share the suffering. I had this friend in high school who was a Barenaked Ladies fan long before it was cool. I liked them also, and introduced their music to my sister who LOVED them. I mean, named pets after them and memorized their birthdays. So the summer before college, the three of us took my mom's car (with permission) and drove to Virginia to see them. My school friend (half-Filipino) had relatives (completely Filipino) in the area as well, who directed us to a Filipino store. There were all sorts of interesting things there, none of which I remember clearly, but I do remember that my friend bought this food that we ate later at home. Soon I understood why she was so excited to find it. I don't know what it was called. It looked like an extra large, pale, dinner roll. Inside the bread was shredded meat and a sauce. The bread was more moist than a dinner roll, slightly sweet. I think the meat inside roughly compares to pulled pork bbq (the only kind) with a sweet ketchup based sauce.

You guys are so nice. I'm getting to the point here.

Off and on, I've wondered about this weird little meal I had eight years ago. Yeah, eight. Now that I'm getting pretty good at pulled pork, I started looking around and found this recipe. I'm going to try it tomorrow.

And you should probably know, if you don't already, that allrecipes.com pretty much rocks.

I found this super cool collection of corn bread recipes.

Lest we forget, Crazy Aunt Purl taught us all how to make fried okra. For those of you about to ask - yes, they sell it here.

Not to Eat

Have you ever gone rummaging through Mom or Grandma's old recipe books to come across a particularly ... um ... old-fashioned looking specimen? Did you mock the cakes? How about the jello molds? If you like old-timey bad food photography and hilarious commentary, check out the Gallery of Regrettable Food. Make sure you see Dr. Pepper.

You're welcome.

These I Would Not Eat, But They Cause Many Questions

Because, as some of you already know, I do not in fact eat babies .

Now, the announcement you've all been waiting for - Blogger of the Week. This week's honor goes to the Yarn Harlot, mostly due to this:

Seriously. Bud is exempt. Turns out that 3.2% beer is considered "food" and can
still be obtained. (Having drunk the first Bud of my life now, I can see why.
With all due respect, it's really more like beer scented water. I drank it with
enormous grateful enthusiasm regardless.)

When I read this, I nearly snarfed the last glass of wine in the house.

She writes knitting humor - a niche if there ever was one - and her most recent book is really top notch. The first two are essentially witty knitting vignettes, which are fun reading but also kind of bloggy. Knitting Rules, however, I have read cover to cover twice. There are tricks, like how to measure a person's foot without the foot, and charts and tables and philosophies. There are also a few basic knitting recipes. It's a great read as well as a reference, and it was money well spent.

2006-07-21T17:08:00.000-04:00

Blackouts darken, roast New York

The marinade also provided a lot of flavor.

The Breaking Point

2006-07-21T13:24:00.000-04:00

Every once in a while, it happens.

It's three-hundred-eleventy billion degrees outside, and possibly hotter inside. You've had the same things for dinner every night since the beginning of time. There are cat-hair tumbleweeds flying across the floor. Those really cute shorts you bought last summer no longer cover your expanding ass. In the one thunderstorm of the past month, you left the windows open on the porch. You run out of toilet paper, mustard, miracle whip, butter, flour, strawberry jam, chocolate chips and little wipey things to clean the floor all at the same time. You're so hot, tired, and disgusted that you can't even bring yourself to knit.

I was outside last night for 10 minutes and got 9 mosquito bites.

I missed my Wednesday links post, which is the only blogging I've done lately, and at this point I'm thinking I'll just have a big one next week, like those supersized July/August issues of magazines. Because I'm cool like that.

And really it's not so bad. I have cookbooks, and a vacuum for the cat hair, and a plan for the ass. I'm overly paranoid about the windows, and it was time for a big grocery trip anyway. And it's not like I can't turn on the damn air conditioner. But nothing helps the mosquito bites, because these babies itch! But do you know what helps me scratch the bites I can't quite reach?

Oh, can't you guess???

Knitting needles!

* ~~~ * ~~~ *

No, really, it's been a busy couple of weeks. And yeah, a bunch of things kinda built up there, and kinda sucked a whole lot, and there is some secret non-bloggable information hogging parts of my brain, and I accidentally turned on the news and ohmygodwe'reallgonnagetblowedup, but what can I do? Enact my plans and my vacuum and drag all of you along for the ride. And I hereby lodge a complaint - my face is breaking out. NOT. COOL. Breaking out at my age is just so freakin SNAKES ON A PLANE.

Thanks for putting up with my unannounced and unplanned vacation. I am back.

A Housewife with Links, Volume 1 Issue 4

2006-07-12T20:27:00.000-04:00

What, did you think I forgot you?

I didn't. I promise.

Knitting Sudoku. Freakin' awesome. And Rhett - this might be the solution to a knitted reprodution of that rug. You know. THAT rug. That one. My little wheels are spinning.

While perusing the new Knitty scoop, I clicked a link and found out something about the mighty apostrophe. It's not this: '. While that's just fantabulous for some, I can't seem to use the alt-fix on a blogger writing box and you will in turn have to suffer through my "dumb" apostrophes. Luckily I can change my handwriting; if you know me in person, you'll know why that's lucky.

Find a "pick-your-own" farm in your area.

Etsy - it's like eBay for all the handmade hotness.

Ladies - the solution to the age-old question of how to pack that stuff that you pack is here. That is, if you knit. Otherwise, I got nothin'.

Now, for a new award - the lamely titled Cool Blogger of the Week. This week's Cool Blogger is Crazy Aunt Purl. Finding her site is what led me to this knitblogaverse to begin with. Which led to link posts. Which now leads back to CAP. Now that we have some sort of circular logic infinite loop situation going on here, I can proceed. But first, I need to say that the one about the bus ("Just another act perpetrated by The Man")is still my favorite CAP post ever. Followed closely by the origin of the Mary Poppins Gang post ("Just one little story"). Warning: Not safe while drinking. You will snarf that coffee.

And just so you know, I'm serious about the - Do you have a great link? Email me at housewifewithyarn AT gmail DOT com. Seriously.

I didn't think I had any Kaylee answers

2006-07-06T20:37:00.000-04:00

Which Firefly character are you?

"The Mechanic"
Take this quiz!

Quizilla
Join

Make A Quiz More Quizzes Grab Code

A housewife with yarn

Busy Summer

Yay me

Peaches

Calorimetry

Bag Take 2

Spike's Cardigan

Bag 2

Little Cream Bag

Two-color hat

Marvel-ous

Macaroni and Cheese

OMGosh, Y'All

Snooze

Baby Food

Supercold

It's 2008 - Happy New Year!

2007 Finished Objects

Cold

Eerie

November Resolutions

Longies?

With Liberty and Warshrags for All

Well then.

Easy Baby Cardigan - True to its name

The Rhinebeck Post

Things to Tell Paul

Career Center

WIP Week Wednesday - Mystery Stole 3

WIP Week Tuesday - Me, the boring one

Monday slipped away....

I'm playing

Laundry Day

Two-color knitting makes me not want to leave the house ever again (but not for the reason you think)

My Hederas

WIP it good

I've seen it all before

Bliss

Lots of Random Things

Flippin' Fantastic

Nonsense!

Six Weeks

Five Weeks

I dyed.

This is what we've done all week

Introducing....

Stalked

I'm not the only one expecting.

Baby Bunting Bag

I've been busy

Quilt in Progress

Did I ever show you this?

For the People

Probably not the last poop blog

I'm on a schedule here

Stitches of another color

Remember when it snowed last week?

Ghost in the Machine

Resolution Check In - February 2007

Scarftacular

Merino Twist

The Before Picture

Apple Hill Handspun

Oh, and it finally got cold

Cotton's Ease

A New Resolve in 2007

2006 Finished Objects

Trogdor Pumpkin

Not Quite a Month

Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies

I want my time machine

HAHAHA. A-HAHAHAHAHA!

Watch this Space

Rhinebeck Rhinebeck Rhinebeck!

True Confessions

Friends? Not you. Family? Totally you.

You're the Next Contestant!

The Answers You've All Been Waiting For

I Need YOU! *points*

The Contest

I Need YOU! points

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