Facebook ramble

I recently came across a couple of old friends on Facebook. And when I say old friends, I mean old friends. Friends from kindergarten and first grade. Friends who I'd always wondered about - where are they now? - but never thought I'd "see" them again. And poof. There they were... Betsy Hagar and Jimmy Hall, right there on Facebook.
My memories of childhood are faded, of course. I moved away from Indiana when I was 13 years old, so 20 years ago. Man, has it really been 20 years? I've found that most of the memories that are solidly layed down in my brain happened after puberty, but there are still those flashes from my earlier childhood that stay with me. How Betsy was one of the tallest girls in kindergarten and I was the smallest, so she was always the mommy and I was always the baby. I admired her for her fashion sense, because she wore 2 polo shirts with the collars popped up and her socks matched them. And I remember going to one of Jimmy's birthday parties and being happy that I could wear my sandals because his birthday was in May and it was finally warm enough to wear them. Or how we picked on each other like little girls and boys do because God forbid you actually be nice to someone of the opposite sex or you'll be accused of liking them. Of course, I adored them both.
I remember seeing the moving Stand By Me and hearing the line "friends move in and out of your life like busboys in a restaurant," (which may or may not be paraphrased. I never said my memory was that good.) and feeling so deeply sad over that. I couldn't deny the truth there, but I could be sad about it.
It's part of my personality to try to reclaim pieces of my past. It's like finding little bits of myself that have fallen away as the years have gone by. The books, pictures, toys... they remind me of the games I used to play and the faces I once loved and thought I would love for forever. And I do still love these old friends. It's almost magical, to be able to connect after all this time - 20 years! - have gone by. I can look at the pictures of their kids, and they can see mine, and we can remember what it was like when we were kids and our biggest worry was if we got to be in the gym or in the classroom for recess, and those awful timed math tests. I remember how loud Hungry Hungry Hippos was, and how I'd hide behind the big red mats at the end of the gym when we had to play dodgeball. I remember swooning over Mr. Sands and speculating that Mr. Whitacre always wore a green tie so the boogies wouldn't show when he wiped them on there. The big green slide on the playground, and how the boys would always drink their jello through a straw at lunchtime. Making bookmarks in the library and playing tetherball outside... it's all in there, and now it's just a wee bit closer than it was yesterday.
Good times.

Purple!

I started this way back during the middle of my pregnancy with Eleri and got all the way to the second sleeve before Niall got ahold of my clicker and went merrily clicking through the house - so I didn't know where I was in the decrease pattern anymore. Pregnancy apathy set in, and it went to live in that space between the couch and the bookshelf.

I finally got it back out for some reason or other, and then when Michelle was here for a short visit I showed it to her, so then I had to get it done.

Pattern: Knitting Pure and Simple Baby Cardigan
Yarn: Carmen 100% Cotton from Goddess Yarns
This is yarn that Kim bought, and then gave to me when she decided to stop knitting. She's crazy.

The Pixie approves.

I should know by now...

If it's quiet, it means that Niall is up to something.
Like using a gluestick to glue googly eyes to his face.
That's what you'd do... right?

It's starting to melt

But we enjoyed it while it was here!

Snow Day!

It isn't often in NC that you wake up to outside looking like this.

What this means is that the kids will be up and trying to sneak outside before 7am. So what you do is you scramble trying to find clothing that will keep them warm when you live in a climate that doesn't usually require more than what people further north would consider a jacket.
So you bundle up the baby.

Who is pretty much clueless but is happy and excited because something is going on! And you make the kids wear their footie jammies under their clothes because you don't have any long underwear and go outside.

I think Niall made that face last time we had a big snow. But he'd still be out there if I hadn't dragged him inside.

Rowan enjoyed it, but got cold quickly. Lightweight. We need to just get a bunch of waterproof mittens to have for this rare occasion. His hands were the problem. But he had a blast while he was out there.

And it's still coming down out there. I expect we'll be out in it again after lunch. One of these days I'll get my hands on those blue plastic sleds that roll up. I always want them on the rare snow event, and never remember them between times. But they'd be super easy to store, so I need to get them.

Eleri

Could you eat her up?

facelift

What do you think?
I have to do something when I'm stuck under a baby half the day. :)

Opening back up

I think the babymoon is over. I managed a pair of britches for Eleri in an okay amount of time, so I'm pretty confident that I can knit for other people again. I'll be contacting the remaining two people on my list and seeing if they still want woolies.
After that, well... there's that whole CPSC lead thing... Wool as a natural fiber should be exempt, but someone said that that only applies to undyed yarn. I don't know. I'm far from expert in that kind of thing. Do I think the feds would come after me? One little knitter in a sea of millions? No not really. But who needs that lurking over her head?
So with that, I'm going to be changing prices a little bit and will go totally YYMN. That's Your Yarn My Needles for those of you who aren't up on the lingo. That will also light a fire under my knitting behind, because I'll really have to use my time wisely if I have something that belongs to someone else. So... with that.
I'm Open!

I'm hilarious

really. I am.

Extreme knitting

I finished these last night, but haven't woven in that last end because y'all have to see...
Let's get in the right frame of mind first.

I chose a light purple for the waist and cuffs, because I was afraid of running out of yarn to make small britches. I know I would have enough, but I feel the psychological need of padding. So anyway... chose the lavendar because I thought it looked pretty.
There is some pooling strangeness with the green on one side and the pinks/purples on the other side in the body, but I don't rip back for pooling unless it's superugly. This is ok.
I parceled out my lavendar into two balls for the cuffs, so I would know I had enough.
I had a bunch left over after the first leg cuff. I mentally gave myself a pat on the back for being so thoughtful as to assure my sanity.
Sometime between that first cuff and the last one... the larger ball of cuff yarn walked off (on little Niall feet). I didn't realize this. I thought I had the good ball with me as I began that last cuff.
And then it seemed to get small really quickly. You know how that happens. You're whipping along knitting and ZOOP! there goes the end of the ball.
I started to sweat. I also may have been muttering some things about Niall that weren't exactly complimentary. I looked for the bigger ball, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I decided to stick it out and see.
I won. Barely. But I won.

Oh and the missing ball? I found it this morning under the microwave.
Well played, Niall. Well played.