projects

Amy asked yesterday if my family looks at me weird when I take pictures of, say, our breakfast. Actually, they don't much care as long as I don't get them personally involved, which obviously happens more often with knitting than with French toast. When I start saying things like, "Hold still so I can get a shot of your feet," or "Hmmm, that's not working, come stand over by this window," they maybe get a little annoyed.

Much better to take pictures of things by themselves; the yarn doesn't care (Actually, I think it kind of likes it, don't you?). Like these:

The latest yarns off my wheel. These are the two merino rovings I got for Christmas. The green I started spinning pretty much immediately, then I got sidetracked by all the January birthdays. As a result, it's pretty uneven. Also, I tried winding it into a center-pull ball, then plying the inside end together with the outside end, rather than plying from two balls or bobbins of yarn. I'd heard this is doable, and you don't end up with any leftovers if your balls aren't quite the same size (hee). I ended up with a tangled mess that broke about a jillion times. Through sheer force of will and my thrifty and sentimental desire not to throw out perfectly good, beautiful merino, I got it finished. But it's not as nice as I'd like it to be.

The brown was my first attempt at spinning a singles yarn, with no plying. As a result, it is also, um, pretty uneven. I was going for a bulky single to make into the Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat, except I was going to make an Unoriginal Neckwarmer, because I already have a hat. The cables, though, just didn't look right with the thick-and-thin yarn I ended up with. It was Just Too Much. So I frogged and made a neckwarmer in just stockinette, with a picot hem at the top and bottom.

It was. . . . a little big.

It was also quickly frogged, lest it become sentient and attempt to eat me. The third attempt is on the needles now, and I sure hope it works, because I've missed having a neckwarmer. It's a little bit of a change from a scarf, a bit less bulky (unless it is big enough to be a tube top, of course), and my old one is currently residing somewhere on the floor of Ikea.

I've also got a sock going for Baby Sister, from the leftovers from my mom's socks, which is going very slowly since it's pretty much traveling knitting. It hangs out in my work bag or my diaper bag, waiting for spare moments I don't often have. Don't worry, I'm making it big.

My other current knitting project is still the seamless hybrid I started a while ago. I've been working on it, I swear, but it is a little boring. It makes good tv knitting, but not particularly interesting photos, so I'll wait until something's going on with it before I show it again. You should look for it sometime in April. :)

Finally, once I started with the spinning wheel again, after a bit of a break in December and January, I can't stop. I'm working on this pretty merino I got at Manmade by Jonne:

Yeah, the colors are a little bright. J called it "circus wool." But after all the green and brown and the white alpaca I had worked on before, I wanted a bit of color. I'm thinking fun bright socks. Next on the wheel, once Jess gets it dyed up, will be the wool for her contest. (If you haven't seen her contest post yet, click the link - I can wait.) It's Shetland, and sooo soft. I think it's going to turn out pretty great, and I'm not just saying that so you'll click the link already.

So, yeah, I've kind of got my hands full. I guess I have a touch of startitis - I've always been prone to it. It's worse than it looks, actually, because there are other things done that are waiting for another post, and stuff that is destined for the frog pond because I suddenly had a desire to do something else and I'm going to need that yarn. There's always something more I want to try!

Man, I just love knitting.

*PS - Happy Birthday Magic Baby!!

reason #6,942 why I love my husband

He makes me breakfast.

Mmmm yummy French toast.

a vacation of sorts

This week the kids are on winter vacation. No school, just hanging around, and the weather even obliged with a little bit of snow. Unfortunately, Sylvan doesn't close when schools do, so I've still had to work most of the week. I did take a day off, which was intended to be part of a little sojourn to the Cape.

The plan was this: Jess would take all the kids down Wednesday morning (one adult and five children - an act of sheer bravery) and I would meet them there that night after work. (None of the menfolk could get the time off.) We'd stay until Friday night, hit some of the local attractions, enjoy the hotel's pool. Well, part of it worked. Jess did indeed bring all five children to the hotel on Wednesday and hang out with them there, and they did get to enjoy the pool that day. I did meet them there that night, and the next day we brought them to the Cape Cod Children's Museum, which was pretty cool. But that was about where it ended. We came home early, for a variety of reasons. For one thing, remember that snow I mentioned? It arrived Friday, pretty much all day, when we would have been driving home. Also, we may have overestimated the amount of people we could comfortably fit in the hotel room. (I don't think it was seven.) Lastly, poor Magic Baby had caught some sort of virus, and was pretty miserable. So we packed up and came home a bit early.

It turned out all right, though, and Friday was actually a really nice day, just me and the kids. We braved the snow for a little bit, to bring Little Brother to the dentist but also to do a bit of book-shopping. This was one area (of many) in which I can see how different the two boys are: Big Brother picked out a couple of fantasy stories, where Little Brother went for some nonfiction and a math workbook. I got this book for Baby Sister, and the pictures are just fascinating - it's hard to tell which member of the family likes flipping the pages most.

So all in all, I think my boys have enjoyed their vacation week. They spent a lot of today outside in the snow - we are lucky enough to have a good-sized hill in the backyard for sledding - and tomorrow is, of course, NASCAR day. (I may escape to a yoga class, if I can.) I've enjoyed the week too. Work has been quiet, with a lot of kids away for the break. I've been doing a lot of knitting and spinning - I'll try to show you that tomorrow - and I picked up some books for myself, too.

I think whoever planned out the school calendar had it just about right when they decided to break up the everlasting blah of February. Why is it that the shortest month seems to be about twelve weeks long??

grrr

Did you even know a baby could do this?


I mean, breaking the frame, sure. Even snapping the sides off. But a crack straight through the lens? That girl is talented.

excuses, excuses, and the big day

Every time I get a bad cold, it happens in roughly the same way; the same symptoms, in the same order. Because I can't help analyzing and categorizing things, I like to divide it up into three stages:

• stage 1: This stage includes a stuffy head, runny nose, and most fun of all, some fever and chills. All I want to do is curl up under many blankets and make some attempt at sleeping. During this stage I am absolutely no use to anybody.
• stage 2: I start to feel a bit better, the cold is moving downwards and is hanging out in my throat. Highlights include a sore throat and a bit of shortness of breath.
• stage 3: Cough, cough, cough. I feel okay, but I can't stop fricking coughing. The cold is rattling around somewhere in my chest and is usually pretty reluctant to leave.

At the moment, I'm still chilling out in stage 3, waiting for this stupid thing to go away. And of course everybody else in the house had to get their own, personalized version of Killer Cold 2008 (except J - what's up with that?). So we've had assorted fevers, coughing, sniffling, even a nice barfing episode just to mix it up a little. Really, there should be a biohazard label on my front door right now.

Which is all by way of saying - hi! How've you been? I can't believe I haven't posted in so long! I really want to tell you about the big day - the big Egg Retrieval day, which was a couple of Fridays ago.

We had to be in Lexington (about an hour away) by 7:00, and this is definitely not something you can be a couple minutes late for. So my mom showed up to get the kids to school and everything, and we left the house at about 5:30. We got there 45 minutes early - the parking lot was nearly empty, the main waiting room was empty and dark, and the smaller waiting room where we had to go was nearly empty. There was one nurse there, who seemed rather surprised to see us.

So we sat and waited a while, filled out some paperwork, you know, boring stuff. After a bit we went into a big white room with beds all around, curtains dividing them off. The nurses' station was in the middle and they were all chatting, the doctor there was making them laugh. I got changed into the super-hot hospital gown, waited and talked with J a bit more, eventually got my IV put in. (The IV was, of course, the worst part. It was also the worst part of the births of all three of my children. I hate IVs.) Other couples came in over the hour or so we waited in that room. I didn't mean to eavesdrop or anything, but there was only curtains and natural curiosity in there, so I managed to gather that we were really the only people in there for a donation. Everybody else was having the same procedure I was, but their eggs would then be fertilized and put back in (I think that's pretty much how it works anyway; I don't really know the details of that part). They were getting their instructions for afterward, and I was again thankful that I was able to have my own children without intervention. There were so many reminders that day of why I was doing what I was doing.

Finally I was brought into the operating room, which was a little bit scary. It was a small room with tiled walls and floor, and it was surprisingly dim. The only light was a bright one right over the bed I was on, and there were about five or six people in there, masked, waiting. I don't really remember too much after that. I laid down on the bed, and the anesthesiologist asked if I was feeling the effects on the medicine yet. I said no, but about two seconds after that I thought to myself, Oh, now I am. Two seconds after that I was back out in the big white room and J was making some joke about how they said he had to carry me out of the building. Of course I believed him at first; I remember thinking that it was pretty icy and that didn't sound very safe. Taking advantage of a woman in a compromised state, can you believe that?

So the whole thing was a success - they got fifteen eggs, which they tell me is a good amount. J and I were back home by 10:00 that morning, and I spent the rest of the day lounging around, watching a chick flick and having the Gatorade and protein bars they told me to. (I feel I have some idea, now, about what it is like to be an athlete. It sucks - I knew it.) I went to work the next day and I felt just fine until Killer Cold 2008. I got an email from the coordinator at Prospective Families and she said the Intended Parents, as they call them, were just thrilled. I can't wait to hear how it all turns out. She also asked if she could continue to present my profile to other couples, if I would be willing to do it again. I haven't gotten back to her yet. Partly because of the cold, but mostly because I'm not sure. I'm leaning towards something along the lines of "Yes, but not right away." But we'll see.

Have a great day! You'll hear from me again soon, I promise.

knitting catch-up

With the holidays and birthdays over (for a little while, anyway), I've been indulging in a bit of selfish knitting. But first, I did manage to finish J's socks.

I used the Yarn Harlot's sock recipe from Knitting Rules, with the addition of a wafflestitch pattern (k2,p2 for two rounds, then knit two rounds). He says they are super warm. They ought to be, as they are made from leftover Berroco Ultra Alpaca - 50% wool, 50% alpaca. There, now he can't say I haven't made him any socks. :)

On to stuff for me! The first thing I finished was a pair of mittens, using the same Rowan Chunky Wool I used for Baby Sister's mittens. Because I am that kind of cutesy matchy-matchy mom. Anyway, I just kind of made them up as I went along, although I did rip off the peekaboo opening from this pattern.

I put a "wildflower" stitch pattern from a stitch dictionary I got for Christmas on the back, which I think is a very pretty pattern.

The pictures are misleading; I made these way too small. I swear, they looked okay while I was working on them, but they are actually ridiculously small. If I use the peekaboo opening and just pretend they're fingerless gloves, they work okay, though. I'll eventually make other mittens - I just didn't feel like doing the same project twice, you know?

I'va also started -gasp! - another sweater. I've really been much more of a small-things knitter, but I'd like to be more of a sweater knitter. I'm just pretty slow, and I lack the necessary attention span. I'm determined, though, because I bought this pretty color of Araucania Nature Wool at Webs, and I deliberately bought a sweater's worth. I'm making a seamless hybrid a la Elizabeth Zimmerman, using my own calculations (I actually did a real, good-sized swatch!). I'd like to try to add a shawl collar, but I don't think I'll have to worry about that for a while. At my pace, the collar is a couple of months away. Here's where the sweater stands so far - a few rounds past the hem.

I am rather fond of that hem, though. I used a little bit of the sock yarn I had dyed with Koolaid last spring, and I picked up the cast-on stitches at the appropriate point so I don't have to sew the hem down later. It is a joy to behold, if I do say so myself.

And finally, because I do love the small projects, I made my self a hat. It's the Tillie hat found here, and I'm a little bit in love with it. It turned out to be just the perfact marriage of yarn and pattern, although I did not use the called-for yarn. I used my Sheep Shop Sheep One, and I got gauge on the first try (holy crap! swatching again!), the yarn was soft and wonderful to work with, and the colors are just perfect. Best of all, it seems I've finally found a hat that doesn't look stupid with short hair.


Take a look at those colors again. You know you want to.

Aside from finishing the sweater, I think I'm going to fall back into a more evenly distributed gift/selfish knitting pattern now. Already I just finished some garter-stitch slippers for Little Brother. All I've got left is to felt them down to his size, so I'll post about those soon. Big Brother will be getting a pair too. Mmm, garter-stitch slippers, just like my mom makes 'em. :)

a new me?

So it's been about six weeks or so that I've been in the new job, and I feel like I've kind of settled in. I did the important things like cleaning out all the crap in the desk (Hours of operation for fall of 2006? Hello?) and putting a picture of my adorable family on top of it (the same picture that's in the sidebar, actually). I pretty much know how to use the different computer programs. I've met all of the students here, and taught quite a few of them.

I'm really liking this job, which is funny, because it's kind of exactly what I thought I didn't want after I left teaching high school. I hated, hated the fact that when I left work, I wasn't done with work. There was always planning, correcting, etc. to do, and it's just a fact that teachers do a lot of their work at home. (Which is one reason why it kind of drives me crazy when people try to say that teachers aren't actually grossly underpaid, when you look at the hours per year that they work, and summers off, and blah, blah, blah . . . but I digress.) After doing that, and trying to keep both the family and my sanity intact at the same time, not to mention that's when I was trying so hard and wanting so much to get pregnant, and goodness, I'm getting carried away here. What was I saying? Right, I wanted a job where the work would take place entirely at work. Actually, I told myself I wanted a job with the least amount of responsibility I could get away with. I was thinking salesperson, office-filing-type person, something I didn't have to think too hard about. And my job is totally not that. The important part worked out - my work does take place entirely at work. But I actually have a lot of responsibility. I'm planning kids' programs, setting up their testing, checking their books to make sure everything's going the way it's supposed to, doing the scheduling, I even have teachers who, for lack of a better word, report to me. And go figure, I really like it. I guess I didn't want something where I didn't have to think, just something where I could think about work when I'm at work, and home when I'm at home. Not that I don't think about home when I'm at work, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, my original intent with this post was to talk about the changes I've noticed since I've been back at work. Because it is a big difference, and I know pretty much every parent confronts the work/don't work dilemma in some way, at some time. I've pretty much run the gamut of the situation; I've been a full-time mom, a full-time working person, a part-time working person, a full-time student, a part-time student, all since my kids were born. So I figure I can share, well, not my wisdom (stop laughing!), but at least my observations of how I've felt these past six weeks.

• I miss my kids and my husband. Of course. Even when you know they're in good hands, and I do, it's not easy.
• I'm more emotional. This may have something to do with crazy-ass hormone levels at the moment, but I'm not sure. The other day, I was listening to a story on This American Life, and I cried like a baby in the car. The really telling part - it was a repeat of a story I had already heard, and though it was certainly quite sad the first time, it did not have that effect on me.
• I have to really pay attention to keeping up with other things in my life that are important to me. Like knitting, and spinning, and the blog. I don't have as much time, but I do think they're worth it. Frankly, I have to be more than just a mom and a teacher, as important as those jobs are.
• My house is . . . well. I'm sure you can imagine. J does a great job, he cooks awesome dinners and does all the dishes (Yes! My most hated chore!) but it's a lot. My kitchen floor? I don't even want to think about it.

Maybe I am a new me. Probably every time somebody does something new and different they become a new them. ("New them"? Does that make sense?) I know I'm still finding my way through a lot of this, but I think it will be all right. We'll see what the kids say about it all in a few years . . . you know, in therapy.