More anNIALLation, sports, and dirty peaches

I really should learn.
Rowan left the kitchen gate open. My bedroom is on the other side of the kitchen.
There was a sharpie on John's nightstand.
the babymonitor...my pillowcase...my quiltI later found that he also got the wall, the window, the headboard, and my lampshade.
It's a good thing I love him.

If you ever doubted that knitting was a sport, here's your proof. I sometimes have to tape my fingers. Hangnails and yarn do not mix. It's a sport if you have to tape things.

I got peaches at the farmer's market so we could make peach ice cream for the 4th.
John was delighted with this particular peach.

Especially when it's placed next to this particular peach. Scandalous!

I am 7 years old

Jenn keeps telling me of all the fun things about living in Sweden and visiting Denmark.

Like towns called Middlefart and Assens.
and

infart = entrance (for cars, it's ingang for people)

utfart = exit (for cars, it's utgang for people)

farthinder = speedbump

fart control = speed trap

maxfart = max speed

fart control! hee hee hee hee hee hee

farthinder! HEE HEEE HEE HEE!


You're laughing too!

What I do when no one is looking

John is out at trivia night tonight. Totally a man date with Rick. If they win they get free beer next week. I think the bar is on to something. Win, you have to come back to the next trivia night to claim your beer. And then you're too smashed to win again, so then you have to come back the next week to regain your glory. They have it all figured out.

And what do I do when the kids are sleeping and the hubby is gone?

I sit on the couch with my dog, knitting and reading blogs. Yes I am wild.
Don't you loooooove my ghettofab footstool/table? It is also a toybox. Shazam!

I also take my ring off so I can photograph my tan. Someone stop me before I get really wild.

This is the knitting of the day. Shorties for Sarah. Fresh blue. Love the softness. I'm nearly to the graft.

Kid news of the day... Niall will now willingly sit on the potty. He made a poo deposit yesteday, but I'm pretty sure he didn't plan on doing that because it freaked him out a bit. So now he will sit, but he will not produce. He knows about the jellybeans though, so it's only a matter of time.

I had to include this because it's so funny. Yes ladies, this is what is coming home to me at the end of the night. Probably smelling of beer. You are soooo jealous. Admit it.

Seseme Street tells me

that a square has 4 straight sides and 4 corners.

I had a problem with each of those concepts today. But I kept at it.
I'm seriously in awe of all you quilter people who can cut straight lines.
But here's my square. Now on its way to Lisa to add to the quilt.
I can't wait to see the whole thing.

In case you were wondering,
I'm lucky enough to be a part of an amazing goup of women.
One of our own lost a child. So we quilt.

Test

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English 15% Dixie 10% Upper Midwestern 5% Midwestern 5% Yankee

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

To the inventor of aloe with lidocaine and menthol

Dear inventor person,

I got a sunburn last week. For the first time in 17 years I got a sunburn. The second sunburn of my entire life. Hey, I have good genes.

Why oh why in the world would anyone want to go outside after having that happen? Some people do this all the time! Fools!

We went to the beach, and Niall took off for the water before we put sunblock on my back. By the time we got it done, it was too late. I was fried.

It wasn't too bad. It's a tan now. But seriously. I'm a wimp. It hurt. Bad. Misery I tell you. Misery!

John put that aloe goo on my back and it helped. Tremendously. I loved it.

I am now healed and able to wear a bra again. While I enjoyed and loved your product immensely, I hope to never use it again. At least not for a sunburn. I know I'll burn myself on the toaster again. That appliance has it in for me. And that Emeril cookware too.

Sincerely,

Milli

Another Rowanism

There's a fashion show on the Today show this morning.

Rowan looks at it and says,

"Mommy, why are those women wearing tip-toe shoes?"

Can you tell I only own one pair, and never wear them?

The stroller that Milli knit

It took 6 months to save up for it, but man is it cool!
I had to pry the boys out of it to get them to bed.
Best part... it fits in the trunk of the car with room to spare.

The night time diaper saga

This looks like a pretty simple bit of sewing doesn't it? It probably would have been if I'd had a pattern to start with. But I didn't. I did have help from the ever lovely Pheobe, and if I hadn't I probably would have gone through even more trials than I did. Thanks to her, there were less than 15.

She's also where I got the windpro fabric for the diaper. We used night time diapers, and then went through a spate of leaky leakiness, so started using sposies. And then those started leaking, so we tried other kinds, and all of them leaked, so it was back to square one. Enter the windpro. It was covered by a knit cover, but even that only worked half the time. So I had to break out the sewing skills.

If his sheets aren't dry in the morning, I'm going to be very put out.

Quicky picture post

How is a person supposed to get anything done around here?
It was quiet. I should have known. But lately here, quiet has meant that little boys are in the book nook reading nicely. Little did I know it was all a setup.
A great big setup. Fooled you, Mom. Ha!

In other Niall news... in addition to powder, he is apparently into interior design. Or graffiti. You decide. Here he's yelling, "Crayon!" for the camera. We have discussed the merits of paper at length. I'm just happy for the magic eraser.

Rowan is still working on giving up his nap. If he holds still long enough he falls asleep right where he is. Even if it looks wildly uncomfortable.

And here's the wildly interesting sock. LOOK! A pattern! Isn't that the most coolest thing you've ever seen in your entire life? The yarn is Lana Grossa if you're wondering. I can't really read the ball band too well. It's in German.

And finally, your Ghettofab home decorating idea of the day:
If the boys are consistently up at 5am, and your 2 year old insists that curtains hanging within reach are to be pulled down immediately, then I would suggest some lovely black poster board. Just use some packing tape and stick that sucker up there. 88 cents at your friendly neighborhood Michael's - the ghettofab choice in home renovations.
It didn't work out too well this morning, but yesterday I had to go in and wake Niall up at 6:50 so we could take John to work.
And I won't be putting stickers up on it either. I thought about glow in the dark stars, but I don't want to call attention to it. I'm sure Niall could find a way to bring it down if I called it to his attention.

You always knew it was true

I'm knitting my first sock, and I'm using self patterning sock yarn for it.
I look at this pretty pattern and think, "oh how cool!"
I keep showing it to John to make him tell me how awesome it is.
I get to a repeat and think, "oh look! It's doing it again!"

I am very simple and easily amused.


Pictures later. Need naptime for that.

I'll have pictures later

But Loki is sleeping on my foot, Rowan passed out in a chair, and Niall's in bed. I have coffee and I'm hanging out on the net. My forum kind of exploded over the past couple of days. Oh the drama! It's entertaining to watch and say "ooooooohhh" over. Like a forum soap opera in real time. I've landed in a good spot.
The ghettifying of the window will take place this afternoon. As will the next and what will hopefully be the last prototype in the pull on interlock wool cover so I can finally make it out of actual wool instead of out of hideous purple with aqua stars.
Rowan has pants made out of that fabric. It's very bright.

And I have succeeded in knitting myself a stroller. Not the actual stroller, but the money from the knitting - saved and hoarded over the course of months - has finally accumulated enough for me to click the buy it now button on ebay. Woo! You'll see pictures when I get it.

And the Fantastic Ribbedity Tube of Rainbow Delight is just that. A tube. Of rainbow. Delight. It's not really for anything at this moment. Just me saying - look it's ribbed! and the colors line up! I'm so cool!

If it's long enough for a scarf, some lucky person might get it.

You gotta know that Pheobe.

I have been having issues with trying to make a pattern for Niall all day long. And in like, two seconds, Pheobe comes along and solves all my problems.
She is quite the gal. Go buy a diaper from her.

Better about blogging

Right. I'm going to do my best to do it up right. If you make a comment, it will make me feel like my efforts are worthwhile. *heavy handed hint*

Sooo. The waiting list is empty at the moment. Stacy's longies are done and drying, and they're way cute. I don't have a picture yet though, because I need to truck them outside for proper lighting, and I'm not doing that until they're dry.

You can see them here though, with my new trick. I've figured out how to read and knit at the same time. This is big folks. The lack of good TV in the summer (I'm in a reality show nightmare) and the fact that we never remember our netflix movie until it's too late to start one... plus I can't watch anything during the day since Rowan no longer naps (the boy is afraid of the Oompa Loompas - even in the new version. So anything with any amount of strife - which is almost anything that's not on PBS - is out). Had to do something to break up the miles and miles of stockinette. And voila. My library card is going to start to smoulder.So I cast on for the Fantastic Ribbedity Tube of Rainbow Delight. It is fantastic. And ribbed. And it is a rainbow. The yarn is from Tara, who got it from her dad, who got it at a yard sale or out of the trunk of someone's car or something. I think he paid $1 for a bunch of it, because he's cool like that. It's 80's Red Heart acrylic. Oh yeah! I tried to use it some in the baby hats, but it made a really ugly baby hat, so I didn't do that. What else can you do? Cast on so the colors will line up and make a tube of Rainblow Delight.
I also started on my first ever sock. See... the payment came due for the coop sock yarn from 3 Irish Girls, and while it is ok to order sock yarn while you still have some lying around that you've never knit - when it comes time to actually pay for this yarn... well you need to quit pretending and actually cast on a sock. So there. I'm now a sock knitter. Oh and I got Clodagh and Elsbeth. Aren't they pretty! Also, the above needles are the teeny addi dpns that are allowed in the courthouse. Just in case you need to know.It's pretty surprising that I have any time to do any knitting at all, what with the feeding Rowan. Here he has a sandwich for his 3rd lunch of the day. He also ate 3 breakfasts. And he's asking for a snack right now. Growthspurt anyone? I fear the teenage years.And finally, for your amusement, here is my latest venture into ghettofabulousness. I duct taped the edge of the stapled down lino to the carpet, because it came up, and I might as well because I have duct tape patches all over the thing anyway. I mean really. Who puts carpet in a dining room? Not me. Not ever ever ever. When we are not renters anymore, I will rip up any carpet that is anywhere near an eating area. Even if we're on the bare subfloor, there will be no carpet in any area that involves oatmeal. Fab! (and Rowan will still sing "In the ghetto" from that Elvis song. It's funny.)

Happy Father's Day

This is also a beard progress picture.

To John, great daddy to my kids. Good for rough housing and silly behavior. He even changes diapers.
Yes ladies, the total package.

Thanks for giving me my job (knocking me up), honey.

I love you.

Because I'm arrogant, or maybe I need a little more time, or something

I'm consolidating blogs. I kept two (actually more than that but two actually get updated) and I've been pretty bad at it. I update when I feel like it.
But I read lots of blogs. I just spent most of today feeling icky and reading blogs. And I feel mildy cranky when other people don't update their blogs. But I don't update my blog very much, so who am I to talk?
Well then. I'm turning over a new somethingorother. Whatever it is when you attempt to be better at something that you've attempted at being better at before. That's it. And because I'm so so arrogant, naturally I think that the knitting people want to know about my family. And my family people are just dying to know what I get up to with all that yarn.

For the knitting people, no worries. You'll still be right here, with the tempting glass of tea on the top of the page (ha Chelle! Go fix some tea!) But now you'll be privvy to pictures of my kids, and stories like the toilet incident and new pictures of John's beard progress.

For the family people, you now get to see what I'm knitting, and how I'm spending my time when I should be taking care of the kids and the house.

I'll probably be a bit more rambly. Because it will feel like I have more free time. Less pressure to keep two blogs going. More time to play Hassee (yes I am secretly a 12 year old girl. Totally John's fault. He showed me neopets to get me to play another game that got to be too hard once you got to the level with all the water and the rocks. I prefer feeding doughnuts to cute things.)

The old blog will stay where it is, so we don't lose the archives and all. Some day I will figure out how to get it all nicely printed out so we can have it on a shelf somewhere. No worries.

I'm pretty sure I'm talking to myself most of the time anyway.

You know what?

I looked at the calendar. July 13th is on a Friday. Remember my last Friday the 13th?
Ya.

I'm reeeeeaaally looking forward to that now.

Just in case you need to know...

The Wake County Courthouse does not allow addi turbo needles. Nor do they allow the long metal Susan Bates DPNs. But they don't mind if you have the very short addi DPNs.
If you wish to keep your knitting needles you can't surrender them to the desk because they will keep them. But if you are ultra sneaky you can go outside and hide them in one of the Free Real Estate Magazine boxes and hope they'll be there when you come out.

Doing a swatch for a sock is much less tedious when you are waiting your turn in line.

They won't tell you beforehand, but you need to bring letters from your insurance company saying that they paid for your car - AND you ALSO need to bring a letter from your insurance company saying that they paid for the other guy's car. If you don't have that they won't even look at you and will tell you, "Come back July 13th." (but at least I'll know a little bit more of what to expect then, right?)

Funny thing: I realized that my turn was next and I was halfway through a row. I didn't say it, but I did think, "let me finish this row." Old habits die hard.

Good thing: The knitting needles were still in the magazine box when I got out.

How many calories does Johnny Depp have?

According to his wrapper....

Casualty

Remember this soaker?
How lovely. How pretty. How well it fit.

Gack. I killed it.

I washed it, lovingly, in the sink.
I put lanolin on it. I let it soak.
I put it in the washer to spin so it would dry quickly in time to be worn tonight.

I forgot it.

I washed it on hot. HOT hot. With a cold rinse.

And then I threw it in the dryer.

*sob*

Now on the needles... A replacement. I wonder how fast I can knit it?

another one done

Here's the finished soaker for Chelle.
I had a little green left, but only enough for one row in each cuff. and you could barely see it, so it looked kind of dumb. So I took it out and just did the cuffs in the purple.

It's really sweet though. I just love how it ended up.

I'm already working on Stacy's rainbow ruffles, and am partway down the body with that one. I'll post a picture once there's enough to really get a look at.

Little pink cute!

You know, one thing I love about summer...
People want soakers and shorties. They're so much faster to knit. Nearly instant gratification. Especially size small.

It's not blocked and it still needs cuffs,
but Chelle needed a peek at this little pink soaker. I've got the barest smidge of green left, and some more purple for the cuffs. It's so soft I want to rub it on my cheek. Can't wait to see her little sweetie in it!

Jill's new bean

All dry and ready to send!
I just have to get the packaging together and weigh it up.

Woo!

New Soaker design

So I've been doing the front loading soaker design for a while now. It was the first kind I made, and I figured out how it went together and I stuck with it.
Lately I've been dissatisfied. I mean, I have to add so many short rows to it to cover Niall's badonkadonk, I might as well move the leg placement. So... I have a new formula. And I like the way it fits MUCH better. And bonus - I can customise it to different thighs that much easier! Woo!
So here it is. Debut of the new design, here in elastic waist. This one is peace fleece with purewool contrast, for the soft. Elastic waist.

Why yes! You CAN use power tools in knitting

So there was a bunch of talk on diaperpin about how you can use a handmixer to make a twisted cord for your drawstring. I don't have a handmixer. I have a kitchenaid. There's a handmixer somewhere in storage, but who knows where and I'm not going hunting. Cabinet space is at a premium you know.

So you take one hook screw thingy...


and stick it in a power drill


and spin it! I tried to take a picture of that, but no dice. It's hard to take a picture of yarn stretching across the room when you're holding a drill and have scissors in your mouth. (They warned me to have the scissors close to hand for this. I took no chances.)

So anyway I got a lovely twisted cord


And put it into the newborn longies I was making


And the bonus with the drill...
It has a reverse if you do too much and need to untwist some.

I have a problem

I just ordered more sock yarn.

I've never knit a sock.

I should probably knit some of the old sock yarn before the new stuff gets here. Then I could say that I ordered it because I knit socks, instead of because it was pretty.

*sigh*

Picture heavy post

I didn't get a picture of the van. They came and got it before I could. I didn't even get to rescue the St. Christopher clipped to the visor. So here's a glum doggy face. Yes it was totaled. No we are not getting a new van right now.



Good news:

I'm no longer wearing this foul contraption on my wrist while I knit. At least not all the time.











Better news:

The adult sized soaker is finished, washed, lanolized, blocked, and mailed on its way to its new home. Woo!
Full sized picture if you want to see it better.













And now:

Here is the beginning of the Christmas Blocks longies for Jill and her little bean to be.

I can't tell you how refreshing it is to work on a newborn soaker after that really big knit. I'm positively flying along!


Anyway, it's knit night. I have cookies (They're buy one get one this week at Harris Teeter. Don't say I didn't warn you.) and Megan will be here with little Jack in a bit. Yay.

Yes. I do have the VCR set up to tape the season ender of Lost. :)

Why are there white boxes around my pictures? I don't know. Ask photoshop.

A period of unavoidable delay

Rowan's having an asthma flare up
Niall has croup
and I crashed the van.

I'll post the story later. Let's just say that everything is bungled right now.

Completely bungled.

Wheeze!

One adult soaker. Grafted.
Still lots of ends to weave in. But it's grafted.

First attempt was last night when I did all 48 - yes 48 - stitches across, and then realized that I'd screwed up waaaaaay at the beginning of the row.

Tonight I took it down and did it again. It HAD to wait until the kids were in bed. I couldn't have any distractions. It took all my fortitude and one mike's cranberry lemonade.

Now to the ends, and the cuffs. I want to get this one done!

Rugby

Go team.

I'm to the flap on the adult sized soaker. For some reason, I always get excited when I get to the flap. I know that most of the body is in the flap, and it goes on for waaaay longer than I think it will, but the prospect of ever decreasing rows makes me happy. Bringing it around to meet makes me happy. The fact that I will bring this one around to meet at an exact point in the striping pattern?

*shiver*

Carry on.

So it can't be misplaced...

I've done the math. again. Round pattern is repeat A, flap goes B, A, B and then will join with the front A. Short rows not figured as part of the pattern... they'll just be there.

Repeat A is
6 brown, 3 oat, 6 brown, 8 purple, 6 brown, 3 oat, 6 brown

Repeat B is
4 teal, 5 oat, 5 purple, 3 brown, 10 teal, 3 brown, 5 purple, 5 oat, 4 teal

204 waist, inc to 226, hold out 50 at the end of A1.

Take that Niall.

The week in review

This will be a picture heavy post. I'm trying to make up for all of the not putting pictures I've been doing.

Item one:
After two years of solid and very hard wear - Niall's longies made of the LTK Christmas Blocks yarn gave way at the knee.
I do have plans to salvage them into shorties, for our summer enjoyment.
*sigh*






Item two:


Niall needed some new jammies, so since Hancock here is going out of business we stopped by once or twice... or a few times.
I promise, I did follow the pattern for size 3T. I did increase the rise to a 4T to account for the diaper, but still, the length was the normal length and I didn't change the shirt at all. Ummm... I don't know what kind of Amazon toddler the folks at Simplicity were designing for, but the jammies fit Rowan (who will be 5 soon) perfectly. So now Rowan has some new jammies, and we are using a diaper pin to keep Niall from stripping in the middle of the night.











Item three:


Ruffles take up a lot of stitches. And they take up a lot of needles. And way more time than you think they're going to. Seriously, look at how many needles I had going over there. That's a size small soaker. Wuh!
But it is done, and marvelously cute. I will take pictures when it is dry.
By the way, Tracy, if you're reading this, I need your zipcode to figure out postage. Will mail on Monday.






Item four:


Reason one billion and seven to be a knitter:
if the boys are playing ball in the house - even though they are not supposed to and they know this - you can depend on your thoughtful and vigilant double points to put a stop to the madness.
Note: These double points are stored on an entertainment center no less than 5 feet off the ground - so you know they were throwing it. Busted!




Item five:

And last but not least, I have started my project for Neil.
205 stitches per round is A LOT.
Problem: I know I did mention that wonderful 56 row repeating stripe pattern that I made.
If you see a little black notebook with a bunch of math scribbled out and "if this happens try this" kinds of notes on it, as well as a code of a bunch of numbers with Ts, Bs, Ns and Ps as part of it....
Would you please let me know? It seems to have wandered off on little toddler feet.




Also in progress but not pictured: I have claimed one of the front rooms as an adult only room. The sewing machine and desk, almost all of the fabric, computer, and phone answering machine are living there. Once I get my hands on a saw there will be a properly fitting cover for the foosball table so I can use it to cut fabric (so long as I mind the handles on it. hmm I see bruises in my future). All manner of things are hiding in there as well -- phone books, library books, tools... The greatest benefit is that this is the room with a door. Why? See the post I made on Tuesday.

good night.

Why I'm not knitting today...

I posted this on my bulliten board, but just in case you wonder why the heck it's taking me so long to get anything done.....


I just can't take it! I can't keep up!
Niall is constant constant constant. He gets into everything. I babyproof it. He figures it out. This morning I caught him in my sewing drawer that has a baby latch on it that I HAVE TROUBLE getting open! He didn't get it open, but wedged his little hand in there trying to get my pins out anyway.
If it's not that, he's trying to mess with the computer, or outlets (I have to have SOME things plugged in! I can't keep the plastic outlet covers on everything), or the dog, or the fish, or dumping coffee on the couch, or...

it just goes on and on. All day long. I'm tearing my hair out and I feel like crying at the end of the day. Yesterday he moved a toy bin to climb to get to the mantle and tried to grab the fish, and dumped most of it out but luckily Shishy was ok. And JOHN WAS IN THE ROOM. I mean, it's not like we let him run wild here, but he still manages to wreak havok all day long every single day. I just can't do it.
I don't know what to do to make things managable.
I guess I could get rid of all the books so there wouldn't be anything to pull off bookcases and throw. And put all my sewing and knitting things in the shed so he can't get to them (and I couldn't either).
We could sell off all the furniture and sit on pillows on the floor, because basically that's all that I'm up for anymore.
If I just had a house with a freaking closet where I could put things, but then he'd probably figure out how to get it open and just stand there slamming the door all day.

I'm tapped. Anyone want a kid? After that glowing recommendation I'm sure you're all lining right up.

There's something about math...

that makes me feel like my brain is slowly leaking out of my ears.
never mind trying to come up with a repeating rugby stripe that will wrap around and connect at the right point in the pattern. Ummm... ya.
But I have a 56 row repeating rugby stripe pattern, and it will look great. It won't hit at the right spot because that would mean the universe is waaaay too kind. But it will look great anyway.
Now I just have to get it cast on. Tell Niall that, will you? Cause he thinks my lap belongs to him today.
He won't be 2 forever, but some days it feels like it.

I know it's Friday the 13th because

my brilliant dh waited until 10pm last night to tell me that we're out of coffee.

coffee is his job. I buy it, but he has to tell me when we're low. Not out, but lwo. so we dont' run out.

he waited until we're out. until 10pm of being out.

I did'nt really believe him. he wouldn't do that. he'd find a way. like getting starbucks and leaving it on the counter for me.

no

nothing.

no cofeee.

i needs coffee.

now I know. it's Friday the 13. no coffee.

maybe I will load the kdis int he stroller and go get coffe. cause this sure isn't working.

foul words. foul words.

--------------------------

later

oh get this.

I load up my kids in the stroller, their hair sticking up every which way. dont' care. need coffee.
Got my wallet. got my sunglasses. Starbucks is 2 blocks to the right, 3 blocks to the left. yep. Close the door.

no keys.

Locked out.

I'll deal with that later. i need coffee.

Walk to Starbucks. Yay for the crossing signals that chirp and beep to catch my attention.

Get to Starbucks. I never go here. it's right next to the grocery store but the only time I get it is if John gets it for a treat. So I don't know what to order. I'm squinting at the board to see what to get. Light Mocha looks good. That must be a mocha-y coffee with out the fatty stuff, right? I order it.

It's some icey coffee thing. Noooo.

I try a sip. No. It's not going to do it.

I go back around to the order side to try and see what I did wrong? Where did I go wrong? Oh... I ordered off the frappacino menu.

The order girl asks if everything is ok. I tell her what I did. Bless her, she takes the coffee back and says, oh did you want a [she rattles off some name that I can't understand, but it contains "mocha" and "skim milk"] and smiles.

Ummm ok. Bless her. It's hot the way coffee is supposed to be. I put a little sugar in. Taste it. yay.

putting the lid back on, I notice I spilled some on my shirt. Durn cups. Oh well.

Go into the grocery store to buy coffee. Buy 2, just in case.

I realize at the register, that I don't have my keys so I don't have my little VIC card for the discount stuff. No matter. The register guy is nice and takes my phone number so he can apply the discount anyway.

Walk home, trying to answer questions from Rowan like "Why do some people live on hills?"

Get home, go around back to try and find the hidden key [I know I know. But we hide one anyway for times like this] when Rowan asks if the back door is locked too. I try it. Bless my coffee deprived self... I forgot to lock the back door.

Things are looking up.