My Little Tribe

A weekend of swatching

No pictures. There's the warning. I'm too lazy in this heat to dismantle the usb hub and set it up on the kid's computer. With that said, we've done as much as we can to try to fix my mac. So its probably dead. Our last option is to take it to a data recovery specialist, and pay a small fortune to retrieve the pictures.
Hopefully in the next week we'll be buying another computer.

I spent the weekend swatching for a design idea I have. I'm repeatedly inspired by a garment on one of Cassidy's favorite DVDs, so I'm making a go of it. I've swatched Dale Stork, a Rowan cotton (and its name escapes me at the moment), Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, Laines Du Nord Giunco, and Dale Baby Ull. I'm having great luck with all of the wools, especially the Laines Du Nord, however I originally envisioned this item as summer wear, so cotton is pretty necessary. I have a winter version in my head too, but I want to do the summer version first.
I think once I pick the right yarn, the rest of the process should go smoothly, and I'll be rounding up some test knitters.

If its not one thing.. Its another

Yesterday was a bad day. You know, the sort that makes you want to crawl back into bed and attempt a "do over"?
First.. I dyed my hair. I do this often enough, that I know what I'm doing.. I've been dying my hair since I was in my early 20s. I keep the shade as close to my natural hair color as possible (medium brown with auburn highlights that are particularly more noticeable in the summer sunshine) Anyway, I opted for a different shade this time, but not THAT different (instead of plain medium brown, I chose medium amber brown)
Lets just say.. My hair is not brown right now. Its dark red/burgundy/so-not-what-it-should-be. I will be calling L'oreal today and bitching endlessly. I'll be wearing a hat for several weeks unless I can find a way to tone this wild mess down.

The icing on the cake? I was attempting to install a new mail program on my iBook. It froze up after the install (while it was importing mail from my current folders) So I did what I was supposed to do, first, let it sit for a while and see if it resolves. If it doesn't, force quit and restart. It.did.not.restart.
Nothing worked. Not boot discs, Not resetting the pram, nothing. Hopefully Richard will be able to fire wire it to his apple machine and retrieve the 2 gigs worth of photos on there that I've been working on sorting and archiving (preparing to transfer and burn to disc)
If this doesn't work, I will be crying.. hard.  I love my mac. Sure shes nearly 5 years old now..a G3 500MHz but I love her. Shes served me well, and I so cannot afford another Apple any time soon.

Immeasurable Kindness

Not long after we returned home, from attending Virgil's funeral.. I received a lovely email from Kerstin, asking if she could send me a Brother Blanket to deliver to Jill. This kindness, blew me away.
The package from Kerstin arrived today, and I will proudly be delivering it to Jill next week when we drive down home to help her move. I'm sure she will find the ideal spot in her new home for this incredible gift.
Thank you Kerstin, and every fabulous and thoughtful knitter who participated in not only Jill's blanket, but who also participated in the original Brother Blankets.
I would love to carry on the spirit of this project, you know "pay it forward", and am currently mulling over some ideas on how to approach it. If anyone has any ideas, or would like to participate in such a project, please drop me an email (see upper left hand corner of this page)

Additionally, we finally got around to unpacking some of the office boxes a few weeks ago. In one of them, Richard found the original disc containing all of the photos from Jill and Virgil's wedding. I added about 20 more to the photo album.

When its too hot to move, sit and knit

So the pattern wasn't knitting up in a pleasant way on US2 needles. So I frogged, and started over with US0. Much better! I also want to clarify, Online yarn is not scratchy. It just felt rough on my hands after having just finished a marathon knitting frenzy with Socks That Rock (can you say silky soft?) I'll probably do the ankle portion through another repeat of the yarn's pattern, then start the heel.
Because the endless knit 2, purl 1 of the ribbed socks was getting to me, I rummaged through my basket and picked up the Chickami again. If you look close in the picture, just above the ribbing, you can see a faint stripe. This is where I left it last. I'm not sure what the stripe is from (just sitting?) Hopefully it will block out.
I'm questioning the size I chose. Isn't it just like me to think about negative ease with cotton, this far into a project? I'm thinking it may be a bit big in the end. And if I try to shrink it in the dryer, maybe it will shrink too much? I have no plans to frog, as my least favorite knitting is this sort.. the endless black hole of stockinette. I shudder at the thought of re-knitting. So, its cross your fingers and hope for the best! Also notice that cool nifty net, gifted from my secret pal. It comes in very handy with this yarn (Berocco Touche`) This yarn is so slippery! A center pull ball becomes a tangled mess in no time without something to contain it. Thanks again SP!

Late night knitting = another pair done!

They're done! I can't find the sock blockers that I made a while back though. If I can find 2 more wire hangers in the house (unlikely), I might make another pair. Otherwise these will arrive in Krissy's mailbox unblocked.
This is a funky pattern. I love the leaves, and I love the knit purl cast on, however those first two rows sucked, and in my opinion, totally unnecessary. I'm also not fond of the heel (flat stockinette) or the closing of the toe. But I decided to follow the pattern exactly.. and more important, Kris seems to like them! These were finished at about 1:30 AM.
(Dark crappy picture alert) Why so late? Well, I was at the urgent care center with Cassidy until nearly 9PM. There she received 5 stitches in her knee, and now will be wearing this leg imobulizer for the next few days (to prevent the stitches from popping by bending her knee)
So the whole night was set back a little. Shes being a trooper now, but you would have never known it yesterday.
Apparently she and Daddy were horsing around while they were at the market. You know, bumping into each other and such. Daddy stopped and Cassidy kept going..right into a metal shelf in the store. Ouch!
While we sat in the backed up waiting room, I started a new pair of socks. Basic 2x1 rib, top down socks with ONLine Supersocke 100 (fun color #764) You would think I'd have gotten more done, but I kept trying to start toe up socks and kept disliking them, ripping, and restarting. Finally I just cast on for a top down.
The yarn? Umm, firstly, its a lot like Opal, and after knitting with Socks That Rock, knitting this stuff can be compared to knitting with scratchy jute twine. Also the colors.. I purchased this skein because the sample sock at the store was knit in the same colorway. THIS sock is not even coming close to resembling the sample sock. I'll keep knitting to see if my favor changes, but for now, the jury is still out and leaning towards conviction.
Now with that said.. I'm going to need to do some shopping around for sock yarn. I've been knitting lots of socks this past year, and not replenishing my stash. At this point, the choices are few. Any suggestions? Any new hand dye sock yarns out there that are not prone to pooling? (A girl can dream, right?)

How DO they do it?

Today our tribe grew by three (at least for the day, and possibly a few hours every day sometime in the future) as I help out a neighbor in need of some emergency childcare. Three more little boys.. 6, 2 and 6 months. I'm only taking the time to post this right now since the infant is blissfully snoozing in the pack and play, the toddlers are amused by Connor's ball popper, and the older boys are mesmerized (for the time being) by a Tonka game on the kid's computer (Cassidy is notably absent since she received a real treat today.. going in to Daddy's office for the day!)
The, how do I put it, sheer chaotic motion.. of an additional three children, only drives home my complete admiration for incredible (and patient) mommies like Fee and Cass (we may passionately disagree on politics..but when it comes to momming, they are tops!)
Last night I finished all chart repeats on the second Embossed Leaves sock. I had planned on finishing up the toe today during Connor's naptime, but with our little visitors here.. its impossible. Tonight I'll be able to finish it up.
Then a quick wash and block, wrapped, packaged, and on its way to... somewhere in Delaware!

Its all Ashley's fault

Ashley took such a refreshing picture of her cucumber martinis, that I kept going back to look. On Thursday, I had to go buy the ingredients and try them myself (click her link for the recipe!)
I couldn't find Hendrick's, so bought Tanqueray instead. But I think I'm just not enough of a gin person. So last night, I made a shaker full with vodka instead. Yummmmm.

In knitting..first Embossed Leaves sock was done on Wednesday night. Thursday I casted on sock two and had a slow start. But by last night I turned the heel and picked up the gusset stitches. Now we're truckin' again.

Anger or just jealousy?

If you don't live under a rock, you may recall, on the very same morning that Virg died in a motorcycle accident, that Ben Roethisberger also had a motorcycle accident. I remember being so angry that morning when I heard the news. Here was a guy who has everything to lose, riding around without a helmet. And here was our beloved Virg, who had everything to lose, so therefor practiced good riding safety. You could also say I was jealous that Ben survived.. I wanted Virgil back.
Now today I read that Ben says he won't do helmet safety ads. Its not that he won't. Its why he won't..

"I don't think that's my place," the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback said in a taped interview aired Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"Some people feel that, you know, I probably should be doing that and being a big advocate for that," Roethlisberger said from Los Angeles. "But for me, I'm going to let people make their own decisions ... So I don't think you'll see me doing any kind of billboards or advertisements."

One may argue that Virg was wearing a helmet and still died. True. But how many motorcyclists died on June 12th that were not wearing a helmet? How many in the month of June? How many so far this year?

At a time when we urge our children to practice bicycle safety (I don't know about you, but my kids don't even sit on their bikes unless they have a helmet on) its a bit careless, when a very popular sports hero and idol like Ben Roethisberger dismisses the importance of a helmet. Seriously I can imagine the kids across the country who think to themselves "Ben doesn't wear a helmet and he was ok"

More, its probably the connection of the accidents being on the same day. Any other day prior to Virg's death I probably would have said "damn fool!". But the issue seems much more important to me now. Dude, if I have to wear a seatbelt inside my high rated for crash safety minivan, celebrities like Ben Rothisberger should be wearing helmets, or at the very least for goodness sake, set a freaking example to the children who idolize them and advocate their use!

The cure for the summer time suck ..

.. is obviously some insomnia. Truth be told, I put The Mike Malloy Show on through the kids computer in the living room, while Richard played Mortal Kombat on the Xbox (hurl!). I completely zenned out and stitched like mad, listening to Mike vent about yesterdays house debate on stem cell research. Before I knew it it, several hours went by. Two more repeats to go, and sock number one can be cast off. I may finish before September after all!

Sock Progress

I mentioned the summer time suck a few days ago, and it continues. I can't believe that this is as far as I am on this sock.. ready to start the heel flap. I have cut out a full repeat of the pattern. It calls for 3 repeats, plus the first 8 rows of the chart. I'm only doing 2 repeats plus the first 8 rows. Why? No fiber insurance with this yarn. Can you imagine my distress if I was halfway through the second sock's foot and realized I wouldn't have enough yarn? So.. I'm just being cautious here.
Its a lovely pattern (IK- Embossed Leaves Socks, see the left sidebar for the link) though, you cannot see the details with it all puckered up as it is. I can totally picture this stitch pattern in a shawl (I've already filed this in my mental idea box)
The only issue I have so far, is the pooling of color, as most know.. I hate. I don't mind the blue/green pooling, but that bright purple stripey thing its doing, is bugging me. I will finish them though.
I'm not melting today. Its stayed rather cool in the house for the most part. Its all about the strategic placement of fans throughout the day as the sun changes directions and hits the house in different places. I think I have it down to a system now.
And lastly.. Do gypsy moths eat wool? There are moths everywhere these days, all around the property and I'm also finding them in the sun room (actually there were 15 of them in the sun room this morning) I'm assuming gypsy moths because those nasty caterpillar wormy things were everywhere in the spring. Now the moths are everywhere. I may be wrong. In any case, my fiber is snugly sealed up, but I've heard horror stories. I have far too much money wrapped up in fiber for a measly little moth to screw it all up.