Proof that my car hates me and wants me to be unhappy (and poor)

Holy cow...do you know how much an ignition coil and 6 spark plugs cost?

$411.66

Dude! My car hates me!

Here is the quick story (if you are interested): yesterday Daughter and I went to the little town where we lived before buying our house in the sticks (stix? styx?). We dropped off some paid sewing and met up with a friend and her son (who is 6 days older than Daughter) for some coffee and a long walk. It was somewhere around 70 degrees so we wanted to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. And we did. To the point where I was very tired indeed (pregnant, remember?). So we parted ways at about 3:15 or so, and Daughter and I scooted through the McD's drive thru on our way out of town so I could have a little salty goodness on the ride home. About 50 yards down the road my car started shaking wildly and making a wub-wub-wub noise. It also felt like it was going to stall, and the check engine light started flashing. I've seen the engine light go on before, but never a flash.

We pulled off into the parking lot of a Goodyear place (which we used for various car needs back when we lived there, conveniently enough), and I called the Hubster. He had me look under the hood (like THAT was going to accomplish anything) and then told me to head into the Goodyear and ask someone to check it out.

Mmmm-kay. So we have an exhausted, hot 11 month old who needs her afternoon nap, a sweaty pregnant woman who needs her McD's filet-o-fish meal (shut up, I am addicted), and approximately $7000 worth of borrowed sewing equipment in the back of the car (all that fancy embroidery I've showed you? Yeah, I totally don't own the machine, they lend it to me to do the work).

So blah blah blah, long story shorter, they hook my car up to "the computer" to diagnose the problem (boom! $90 immediately), I call Hub and wait something like 1.5 hours for him to show up (because he can't just run out of the office, and the office was about 40 minutes away to boot), and I try to entertain Daughter by feeding her little bites of my McD's fish sandwich. Luckily she loves fish. Also, I might have let her eat two very small fries. But I didn't give her any root beer. I have some standards. Anyway, Hub finally gets there, the service tech dude comes out to try to explain what they think is wrong, and then tells us they were supposed to go home 1.5 hours ago but stayed because I had no ride so they figured they might as well try to fix my car (this was at 5 pm). Which is nice. I've always liked this place because when I go for an oil change, they just do it and don't try to get me to buy anything else. Decent guys, really. They asked to keep the car overnight so they could be sure of the problem and repair it properly. So we unloaded the sewing equipment, moved the carseat, and headed out. The night continued to be a bit of a circus, involving some dinner, looking at cars, and a loooooooooooooong drive home - we finally got home at 9:30 and Daughter was so tired I just took her sweater off and let her sleep in her clothes. I was contemplating doing the same thing myself.

I'm sorry, that was kind of a long story about nothing. The moral actually is this: if your check engine light starts flashing that is BAD. I guess it's good I pulled right off the road because one of my ignition coils wasn't firing (or something) so the engine was pumping gas right out the exhaust system. Which can permanently damage the exhaust system, not surprisingly. So if your engine light starts flashing? Pull over. Get help. There you go. The end.

But! We are so getting a new car tomorrow! I don't think I'll share what it is, because that leads to financial information which is private (as opposed to the cost of a repair, which can happen to any of us). I'll just say it's kind of like a small SUV or a big hatchback car, depending on how you look at it. It's got 4-doors and the carseats fit (won that battle) but sporty (Hub's concern). And it's black. It looks super cool. Also it's a brand new model so we decided to do a 27 month lease, just in case it ends up having problems. But Hub is so excited - he has never owned a brand new car in his life, and this one only has 25 miles on it from test drives. I doubt he'll be letting me behind the wheel any time soon.

And! My mom is awesome. For many, many reasons. She got back to town today after more than a week away, and volunteered to drive me to get my car back - we were at my parents' house because of my OB appointment this morning, as my father stayed with Daughter so I could go to the office unencumbered. And she is watching Daughter Monday morning at 8 am so I can go to another MD appointment (a specialist), and then volunteered - without me even asking - to come to my house and stay with Daughter on Tuesday afternoon when I have yet another freaking appointment at the fetal monitoring center in the hospital where I will deliver. Yes, there is a bit of a problem but it is with me, not the babe. At least we are hoping it is not affecting the babe. Not to worry, I will share when the time is right. Now it's just tests and stuff. As of this morning the babe is growing, the heart rate is normal, my heart rate is normal, and things are going about 90% well.

Anyway, not only is my mom tireless when it comes to helping us out, she also brought me two super gorgeous skeins of Lorna's Laces sock yarn from her trip. Shazam! I will take photos tomorrow (dark right now), but suffice it to say the colorway blew my mind. I would never buy this yarn for myself at $10 per skein but my mother knows things are a little weird for me right now and got it for me as a gift. She is amazing. Here I am trying to think of a way to thank her for helping us so much and she gets a gift for me. Oy. Maybe I should knit this yarn up into socks for her?

I've been working a little on my sockapaloooza socks, but had lots of sewing to finish so that took priority. I've been given another sewing project to work on, so I need to get going - have to pay for that car repair somehow. But that's about it. I want to start some sundresses for Daughter but I guess I have time. The temps are going back down into the 50s next week.

And finally, this is random, but are any of you being totally inundated with ladybugs? My goodness, they are EVERYWHERE! And they dive-bomb us! I vacuum up a zillion of them every couple of days. Crazy.

drive by

Hi! I'm still here, just very busy. My car broke again (engine trouble) so it was a stressful day but hopefully it should be fixed tomorrow. It'll probably cost a bundle though. Damn!

Also, tonight we leased a new car - whoo! It's to replace Hub's car that has 90000 miles on it and is threatening to break in a billion places. Long story.

And tomorrow I have an OB appointment so I'll be on the go some more...I promise to be back soon.

A little warning would have been nice...

So the kid and I are sitting on the couch this morning, reading books in our pajamas as usual, when the doorbell rings. We are not expecting any visitors or packages, so that's weird. I scoop up the child and answer the door, and it's a man from the water authority, here to read our meter.

Well for heaven's sake, the sink is packed with dishes (dishwasher was running last night so the dinner dishes never made it in) and our breakfast detritus is spread all over the table and counters. I am in all my greasy-haired, no bra, glasses-wearing, barefoot glory. And there is a strange man in my house. And the water meter is under the kitchen sink due to the weird construction of our house (and the fact that it has no basement). Jeez. I am so embarrassed. Couldn't they have somehow warned their customers that a meter reader was coming? At 9 am? I would have at least put on something besides baby-food splattered pj pants.

So. That's that.

The following is not for the faint of heart. I have received enough feedback on the sockapaloooza socks to know that my feeling was right - the lace pattern has to go.


here's where we were yesterday


first needle coming out


two needles out


no more needles...time to pull


going.....going.....


sniffle

Oh well. Better to rip and start over than to continue on with a project that sucks. I think I may go with a rib...like a 3X1? I was going to try to salvage the 1X1 ribbing I already had but figured by the time I got the needles back into all 60 stitches I might just as well spend the time starting over. This is to be a short sock, so what do you think? Shall I start right in with the 3X1 rib, or do an inch or so of 1X1 first?

I want to point out that I have made a billion socks, but never to anyone's specifications. Typically I decide I'm making socks for myself or a recipient of my choosing, and they get what I feel like making that day. But I'm all nervous to make socks for a stranger. And also, I feel compelled to make something "special," as opposed to just a basic ol' sock. Which is probably dumb, but I see so many people making such gorgeous socks for their sock pals, and I don't want my recipient to think I'm some sort of loser slouch who can't make a fancy, pretty sock. It's just that I LOVE a basic sock, for its look and for its rhythmic knitting qualities. It's tv knitting, waiting-room knitting, mindless knitting at its finest. But I'm really nervous about disappointing my pal.

Of course, she will probably be more disappointed if I don't finish socks for her at all, so I'd better stop whining and start knitting.

Quick! We need a vote!

Whew, now that Sesame nostalgia and the weekend are over, I've got to ask you all what you think of my sockapaloooza socks. Because I don't think I like 'em.


side 1


side 2

First of all, I'm not enjoying this pattern (Simply Lovely Lace Socks from Spring '06 IK). There's absolutely nothing wrong with it from a technical standpoint, I'm just getting sick of all this ktbl stuff on every stinking round. Plus I really don't think the pattern and yarn are suited for each other. And I'm getting odd striping and pooling, especially on ye olde foote. I've never used this yarn before - it's Sock Landscape from Knitpicks - and it seems a tad heavy for a lacy pattern. It knits up into a slightly "bulkier" fabric than I think would be appropriate for lace. I'm probably answering my own question here, but should I rip this sucker and start over, maybe with just a traditional plain ol' stockinette ankle sock? A little 1X1 rib and then just knit away? I could knock those out in less than a week, as opposed to this little stinker which has already eaten up most of March (mostly because I don't enjoy working on it, so I let it sit on the coffee table and stew).

I am lazy and I don't think I have enough readers to merit a real blog poll, so please leave me a comment with your opinion (if you have one). I'm not knitting another stitch until I figure this out!

Sesame Street Unpaved

This may just make me a giant loser, but I want to confess to the world that I love Sesame Street. We're talking old-school Sesame, of course, before the arrival of hip-hop and Elmo, back when "would ya' like to buy an 'O'," and "I can't hear you, I've got a banana in my ear," and "Monsterpiece Theater" were the order of the day. Back when Supergrover was a regular skit, and the show started with Barkley and the kids running behind that tree but not coming out the other side.

So while Daughter and I were watching the show this morning, I started looking up Sesame trivia on my laptop. And I discovered the existence of this book:


Yep, it's called Sesame Street Unpaved; Scripts, stories, secrets and songs. You guys, I am over the moon right now. I couldn't wait for Daughter to wake up from her morning nap so we could eat lunch and run to the library. This. Book. Is. Awesome.

Excuse me, please. I have to go curl up with my cup of tea and this incredible book of childhood memory crack.

Edited to add: I was reading and got to the part about when Mr. Hooper died...and I got crying so hard I couldn't see the pages anymore. I remember it - it was 1982, I was 6 years old, and I remember the sadness of it. Do you? Tell me this doesn't knock you over:

"I remember the last day I saw him. I thought, he is very ill, but he isn't talking about it. And so I put my arm around his shoulder - I had the bird feet on - and I said, 'I love you Mr. Looper.' And he said, 'And I love you, Caroll.' And that was our good-bye. He died four days later." (Caroll Spinney, who plays Big Bird)

Another finished object I don't get to keep

This is a pillow (cover) that I just finished for the shop. The embroidery is a hydrangea (?) and I surrounded it by making a sort-of pineapple block. As I've mentioned before, I don't pick the stuff out, I just put it together. I kind of like this one, though. It's about 18-19 inches finished, which will probably accomodate an 18" pillow form. The back is just two overlapping flaps of coordinating fabric. Not exciting enough to merit a photo.

*****

I haven't mentioned this because it didn't really seem blogworthy, but Husband and I are quite interested in selling our house. There are various reasons for this, many of them personal - one big reason being that with two babies I'll need some help from our moms and they live 45 minutes away. We'd like to get a little closer. Also we have no basement or garage which is starting to create a real storage problem (a problem exacerbated by the fact that I sew and knit, and husband is a computer-guy pack rat). Also, we have two bedrooms downstairs at one end of the house, and one upstairs at the opposite end. Right now we sleep in one of the downstairs bedrooms, and Daughter is in the room next to us. Both are quite small, but appropriate for children and child-sized furniture. We surely did not plan to have two children while living here (it was always meant to be temporary), but now we are. So we're facing a dilemma as to bedroom arrangement. As it stands, the new babe will have to be in with us...which will be cramped, but we can't put new babe in with Daughter till we've achieved sleeping-through-the-night consistently. I'm not dealing with TWO children waking up 4 times every night. Anyhoo, Husband and I could move upstairs, but then we'd be a mile away from the kids, separated by the front door and the kitchen (read: burglars/kidnappers and potential for fire), so that's not an option right now. We'd love to expand the first floor to make room for all of us to be comfy, but hahaha, we have no money.

Point is, we want out.

We tried to sell last fall, but had no takers. The problem is we can't really afford realtor fees so we had to jack up the selling price to do so. Which totally made the house over-priced. We are thinking of trying to sell on our own with America's Choice (so we'd get advertising and a company behind us, but save money).

I also have to mention that the area in which we live has NOTHING. I think there are two churches and a hardware store but that's all. You have to travel a serious distance to even hit a convenience store. Grocery shopping? The mall? It's a half-day experience by the time you drive there, shop, and come home. BUT! The whole point of all this rambling is that Hub and I feel we got some great news last night. There was a blurb in the paper indicating that the company Hub works for will be developing this old, burnt-out plaza and making it into a SUPER Wal-Mart, along with a bunch of other retail. This old crappy plaza is only a few miles up the main road from our house. Hallelujah! God has answered my prayers and is making this area attractive! I mean, I kind of loath Wal-Mart, but a hee-yooge new shopping plaza where you can get everything can only help us sell, right?

Please tell me I'm right so I can keep doing my happy dance.

The Royal Quilt, Your Highness...

This is the more accurate photo as far as color is concerned. You can't see it here because I had lousy light, but the words "dream," "wish," "fairy godmother," and "love" are also embroidered.


The colors are garish here but you can see the embroidery placement better.


Extreme closeup of a corner, so you can see a design (frog prince) and one of the words I chose to embroider.


Another closeup to show the little castle embroidery and some "happily ever after..."

Random Stuff

I will probably have a photo of the princess quilt later this morning. Thanks to those who commented with excellent suggestions!

Please go give Beth some support, as her beloved cat has passed on.

It is totally snowing like gangbusters here. It's March 22, so I'm all done with winter now. I guess Mother Nature didn't get the memo. This is, thankfully, light snow...unlike this time last year when it snowed buckets of wet, heavy mess that brought a neighbor's tree down into our yard. The tree is still there because our neighbors suck. We'll be removing it ourselves this spring, I guess. But we're totally tossing the cut pieces back into their yard.

We've got Daughter's birthday party pretty much under control. It's only going to be about 8-10 people, and it's the day before Easter so it'll be low-key. We're just doing a cold cut platter with fresh rolls and toppings, potato salad and probably fruit salad, and some cake and coffee. Done. This will undoubtedly disappoint my mother-in-law who wants a theme, lots of decorations, and probably also a pony. My decorations will most likely be a little happy birthday banner and some matchy cups and plates. Done and done.

Do any of you watch The Shield? Or have husbands who make you watch The Shield (that would be me)? If so, did you watch the season finale last night?? Criminy! I hated the ending. It's still kind of making me mad. Also, um, enough violence already. My kind of cop show is like, Law & Order or maybe CSI if nothing else is on. That's implied violence or maybe violence "lite," just enough so you get the idea of the crime. The Shield? Nuh-uh, man. Stuff blows up right in your face on that show. So do people. Ugh.

On the flip side, I love how Sesame Street still has some of the great little skits from the 70s and 80s worked into the new shows. This week the little cartoon stick figure girl trying to build a sand castle in the surf made me particularly happy. I'm sure some of you remember that one if you're old like me.

Daughter helped me knit my sockapaloooza socks this weekend. She helped by pulling out the needle holding the 30 instep stitches. Which were in a lace pattern. Thanks, Daughter! Sooooooo helpful! It's a good thing you're cute...

Finally, I am 11 weeks preg-o-nant today and besides being so tired I fall asleep sitting up, I feel really good. Other than that little stomach flu problem from a couple weeks ago, I've been in good shape. I cannot even describe the difference between pregnancy with morning sickness and pregnancy without. With Daughter, I was so cognizant of being pregnant from about 8 weeks because I was puking all the time, morning and night. This time I can get stuff done without being glued to the couch with crackers and ginger ale. It's kind of awesome.

That really was random, eh? Sorry for the disjointed-ness. That's just my brain this week.

I'll take "Things having to do with Princesses" for $200, Alex

Can I ask for some help from those of you with children into princess stuff? Or maybe you are really into princess stuff and can offer some suggestions (it's ok, no one needs to know). We are mercifully far away from loving all things Disney and princess-related, and I was never much into that stuff, so I'm at a loss and I need help to finish a project.

I'm embroidering (by machine) a quilt top with all kinds of princess-related junk, and I need some phrases/words having to do with princess life. I already have "princess," "fairy godmother," and "handsome prince." I could probably squeeze "once upon a time" in somewhere, but I need a few (maybe 2 or 3 more) shorter things to add.

The hitch is, I can't use "belle" or "cinderella" or anything from a specific story/movie. I went with "handsome prince" instead of "prince charming" for that reason.

You guys got any ideas? I'm hoping to finish this one up today and get on to other things, so I anxiously await your brilliance!! Thanks in advance, and I'll post a pic when it's done!

Eleven

Daughter is 11 months old today.

In a month I'll have a one-year-old.

How can this be? Where did the year go? I'm sure she was just born a few days ago...

Me 'n Earl

So we left the house at about 8:30 this morning, which on a Saturday is like asking my husband to dunk himself in toxic waste, so that we could drop the dog at the groomer and meet my parents at about 9:00. Remember, we were heading out for the Maple Weekend Pancake Experience.

We drove

and drove

and drove

until we finally reached the sugar shack chosen by my parents. It was totally freezing out, and very windy. We got Daughter out of the car and started walking up to the shack only to find out there was a 1.5 hour wait. For pancakes, people. Pancakes.

So that was a bust. We ended up heading back to the nearest "town" and we pulled into the Earl's parking lot. Earl's is a 50 year-old diner type of place, famous (I found out today) for their pies, and named for this man:



It was packed, mostly with people who went to a sugar shack and freaked at the wait. This was our table - those are the table legs. With jeans and boots on them.



The most complicated thing anyone at our table ordered was steak and eggs (that was Hubby), and it took 50 minutes to arrive. That's fifty. 5-0.

My dad is funny - we are just alike. Quite tolerant of bullshit for a short time, but once we hit the wall we can't help but get mouthy. So Dad finally asked the waitress if there was a problem, and she gave us some line about how there were only two cooks. No apology or anything. A few minutes later Earl himself came to our table to say our breakfast was "just inches away." It finally came and it was good, but do you know what happens when you make an 11-month old baby sit in a high chair for that long? It's not so pretty. Thank god she's as good as she is or we'd have been in big trouble.

Anyway we cruised around some more after that to find a maple farm and buy syrup, which we did. But it was a really looooooooong morning, and Husband isn't about to let me live it down. Every time he asks me for something today I have to do it or he whines about how he drove for 5 hours this morning so I could buy some maple syrup.

Bah. Next year we'll drive straight to the maple farm and buy the syrup. Or just get it at the supermarket.

That was probably a really boring post. I'm sorry - stay tuned for something more interesting soon!

Ya'll, I stole those two photos from another website, but I can't find it now to give credit.

Apparently this is a post about food

I wish I had something interesting to say or show today. I feel like I've been in a holding pattern this week with nothing moving forward in my life. Which I guess makes sense in a week following a sickness...just cleaning up the detritus of a lost week.

Today is grocery day, and general straightening-up day.

Tomorrow begins Maple Weekend here - one of the most awesome things about living in New York State. Everywhere you go there are bazillions of maple buckets hanging from the trees as syrup makers tap away. The next two days will be a flurry of pancake breakfasts at all the local sugar shacks. You pay for a breakfast of your choice (bacon and eggs, or whatever) and they bring you unlimited pancakes to go with it. So you gorge yourself and then buy a big ol' jug of fresh maple syrup to (hopefully) last a year until next maple season. We're going with my mom and dad tomorrow morning. The dog will be dropped off at the groomer on our way, so she can get her hair cut whilst we stuff ourselves.

Sunday is St. Joseph's Day, for the eye-talians out there (and whomever else celebrates it, though I know we Italians really do it up). We're heading to my parents' house for that one, where we will again eat ourselves silly. If you've never had a sfingi, (pronounced sfeen-jee), I am so sorry. Find yourself an Italian friend and see if you can't score one of these awesome little treats this Sunday!

And of course today is St. Patrick's Day, so you all have fun drinking your green beer and partying, ok? I obviously won't be participating in that sort of revelry. We will be inhaling Irish soda bread though, that's for sure.

In between all these meals there is sewing and knitting to be done. If I can come out of my food coma we'll see what I can do.

My baloney has a first name, it's b-l-o-g

I don't know if anyone read it, but I have removed yesterday's ranting post about my mortgage woes. No one needs to read that baloney. It's not what this blog is about and it's not why you come here, right?

On to the more fun stuff.

I have a to-do list that's twelve miles long (as I'm sure you do also). On it are:


Dulaan knits. Seriously...how long have the Olympics been over? And this pile still waits for end-weaving. The goal is to get them all done and in the mail by the weekend.


Two baby gift basket liners that need edge stitching, two wallhangings, and a little girl princess quilt that's just begging for a steam pressing. All paid projects, for which I will get some bucks if I ever finish and hand them in.


A purdy hydrangea embroidery that I'm turning into a pillow - needs one more purple before I can finish it, but for that I'll have to go to the shop tomorrow, turn in the rest of the projects, and pick something out.


My companion for the day. I took this photo 1/2 hour ago and already that sunshine is gone. Boo! That stinks! I'm starting to suffer from lack of sun - I don't care if it stays cold outside, just give me some sunshine!

So that's wazzup around here. Also I want to note this so I can write it down later: Daughter is suddenly very much into hugging everyone and even sometimes giving out one of her trademark goopy kisses. She has developed one heck of a throwing arm and uses it to chuck blocks at the keyboard when I'm typing. Also, she has taken some stabs at spearing food with her baby fork. We are so proud!

Drive by...

This is a drive by post to say we're very busy today! Hopefully I'll be back later after appointments and oil changes and errands to say something interesting...

Sockapaloooza and a Recycling Dilemma

I meant to say thank you for all the nice comments over the last week. I was huddled on the couch with my computer, so I read them all. I kept up with all of your blogs though there was nothing pleasant to write on my own. Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't answered comments individually but after a week of sloth, my house...ummmm, yes, well...it looks like a crap hole. I'm just quickly posting and moving on to things like scraping up over a week's worth of accumulated grunge, mail/paperwork, bathroom mess, laundry, etc. That's the worst part about being the sick Mommy. Once you get better you're punished for having been sick in the first place!

So anyway, there has been some late-night knitting. Last night Hub and I watched a movie called The Great Raid. I hadn't heard of it but we both enjoy a good WWII movie so we checked it out. Plus it starred Benjamin Bratt, who is watchable under any circumstances. Can I get an amen?

It was a good story, focusing on the Pacific theater of WWII, which you don't usually see. But it was kind of slow, mainly showing the extensive military planning that went into the rescue/raid. So it made for some decent knitting time. I decided since we're almost halfway through March already it might be nice if I started my sockapaloooza socks. Though in my defense there was some confusion (mine) over the definition of "ankle socks" and I dilly-dallied about starting because I didn't know what kind of cuff my pal wanted. I still don't know the exact definition of "ankle sock" but we're going with a short-ish cuff.


simply lovely lace socks, from Spring 2006 IK

I'm hoping my pal likes a lace sock! This is such a total departure from my usual sock knitting. I live in freaking Buffalo, for pete's sake - I would knit my socks right up to my eyeballs if I could. The concept of ankle socks is so foreign to me! If you know anything about Buffalo you know we go from wooly knee socks weather to Birkenstock weather over about 2 days each "Spring." So there's never even time for a shorty sock 'round here.

Here's another view of the beginning of a cuff. I'm using part of my birthday haul - Knitpicks Sock Landscape in spring prairie, which I adore. I was planning to selfishly hoard this yarn but decided to go ahead and use it for my pal. I can always order it again.


I'm hoping the pattern will show up in this yarn. It will certainly look different in a multi than a solid. Also, I'm cheating with the yarn weight and needle size. Neither are what the pattern calls for, but I always knit my socks on size 2 needles with 60 stitches (which I am doing here), so I think these might work out fine.

attack of the giant hand!!!

And now, a dilemma. Do you have Panera where you live? We don't have one in our little 'burb, but in the much bigger, more affluent area where our parents live there are several. I learned to love Panera on my way back and forth to college, as there was one at a particularly nice highway rest stop. So yesterday after I got my car back (yay!) I stopped in there to get some celebratory bagels. Particularly cinnamon crunch bagels, for which I'm pretty sure I would sell my soul. But here is the problem. When you get the "bagel deal" (13 bagels and 2 spreads), you get this thing:

box o' bagels!

My crafty, recyling side just twitches when I think of throwing this awesome cardboard box in the garbage. It's huge! It's sturdy! It's cute! I feel like surely I could use it for something.

Oh well. It will probably end up in the recycling bin (if my husband has anything to do with it). Unless anyone has a better idea...(?)

I'm Baaaaaa-aaack

Hi! Hello there! I'm not dead! Which is a marked improvement over the past week or so, when I'm pretty sure I was, in fact, dead.

Do I still have readers? Or did you all decide I was never coming back?

Hot Knitting Action
Well, the amount of knitting I accomplished between Saturday and yesterday could be most accurately summed up as "zero." But I was feeling better yesterday so I got Secret Garden back out and worked a few more rows.


The color isn't too bad here

I made a mistake, though. And I was too tired last night to try fixing it. I missed a couple of yarn-overs on the last right side row. I know I can drop down and fix them, but not with tired brain.


see? whoops.

But just because my knitting production has stalled doesn't mean there isn't an amazing new FO around these parts!


check it out! my mom is awesome!

This is a little cotton cardigan from a Dale book - I'm sorry, I don't know which one as it's my mom's and it lives at her house. I also can't tell you what this flecked yarn is, though I do know it's cotton, and was knitted on US size 1 needles. The sweater is for my daughter, in the 12 month size. It's quite large though, and stretchy.



Look at those little stitches! I usually do more technically challenging patterns than my mom does, but she kicks my butt when it comes to actual stitch quality. Of course, she has patience, which I sadly lack. Also check out that crochet edging, which also forms the buttonholes. It's just perfect. Thanks, Mom! We love it!

Stuff that is not knitting
In other news, Daughter has made some advances over the last week or so. When I was really feeling sick I just couldn't nurse anymore so we stopped. It's been almost a week and we both seem to be fine. I also gave up on trying to give her formula because it wasn't worth the trauma for both of us. We've been working on milk instead, and I finally got her to drink it - in serious quantity - by putting in a little chocolate syrup. I KNOW, that's not great, but please don't leave me comments about how I'm ruining my child. I use the teeniest squirt you've ever seen and will decrease it as she gets used to drinking the milk. Also, Hershey makes a syrup now that has calcium and some other good stuff in it to offset the sugar & chocolate. And I know chocolate has caffeine. Don't worry, we're watching her like a hawk for any ill effects. Right now we're just happy she's drinking.

Also, she has started rolling around and playing in her crib when she wakes up. Yes, I realize many babies do this around 4-6 months, but we're a lazy bunch. This morning I thought she was sitting up at first, until I got all the way to the crib - she was on her tummy and pushing up on her arms, so all I saw was her head over the bumpers. I know it won't be long till she's sitting and standing in there.

I also have to share this cool thing I found in Parents magazine. Daughter's first birthday is around the corner, and I have wrestled control of the occasion back from my mother-in-law (a story for another day). I had been thinking cupcakes rather than a big cake for several reasons, and when I saw this I knew it would be awesome:



Isn't that adorable?!? And the best part is it uses mini cupcakes for the petals (notice the center cupcake is normal size). I know many people don't like a big piece of cake so this will be perfect. I probably won't use the watermelon laffy-taffy for the stem & leaves as I think it'll smell disgusting. Maybe fondant? Or almond paste? Or I could probably just pipe some green icing on the serving tray. Anyway, I'm thinking with some cute coordinating paper plates and napkins I'll be all set. My m-i-l wants a big old theme with decorations up, down, and sideways...and she has repeatedly offered to buy all the stuff. But that's just not my style. Plus the kid is only 1! She won't know the difference anyway, she'll just like smooshing the cupcake.

That's pretty much all the news 'round here. My car is still in the shop as they ended up having to replace the hood. I've been sans car for almost two full weeks now and it's driving me bananas. If I hadn't been so sick this week I'd probably be crazy by now instead, just from being cooped up. But I'm not barfy anymore, and that's all I really care about!

slight improvement

Starting to feel a little better...due to crippling stomach and intestinal pain (think twisting knife) we are pretty sure this is not good ol' morning sickness, but rather some sort of bug. The pain is ebbing, and I've just been sleeping when Daughter does. Other than being a little gross from lack of showering, I'm getting better here.

Obviously no crafting going on. :(

Off to sip more ginger ale and broth. And slurp popsicles, which my darling, darling husband will be bringing home tonight.

A little sick

Hi! I'm not feeling so well. Morning sickness? Maybe. My doctor has also just adjusted the medication I take for my thyroid. So I'll be back soon, when I can sit up straight without barfing.

Confirmation

That there l'il blob is our new babe at 8 weeks.

Cheater

Thank you for your kind comments re: the car hood incident. Everyone is fine, I calmed down pretty quickly (after taking a nap that afternoon) and the insurance company already has a check on the way for the repair and a rental car for me.

I had some pithy things to say about the closing ceremonies, but now...meh. It wouldn't sound right. Suffice it to say: Andrea Boccelli is amazing! But why were Avril Lavigne and Ricky Martin there? And also, that wheelchair flag-waving thing the mayor of Vancouver did was awesome and inspiring.

As for my Olympic performance, the knitting was finished on Friday or Saturday, but the pile o' stuff still sits here awaiting the weaving in of ends. I couldn't bear to do it over the weekend as my fingers just itched to make something else. I don't think there's a big rush anyway - the stuff won't make it overseas until July, I believe. So I have no picture...you don't want to see a bunch of loose ends wiggling around anyway.

So instead of weaving in ends, I made a good start on something new. Which one of the projects did I choose to start? Well...I gave a list of projects I wanted to do, and I've already cheated.


Do you know what this is? The color is horribly wrong here. :(


Secret Garden...enjoy this pic as I'll probably be arrested by the AS police for posting it.

I thought about the projects I have lined up in ye olde stash, and I realized I have two sweaters in mind for Daughter that are roughly 24 month size. Yikes! She is edging into some 18 month stuff now, so I decided I would whip up these two projects before starting something for myself. They shouldn't take long as they're both worsted weight on US size 7 needles. That's some fast knitting, baby! After that I'll most likely attack a shawl - also, I don't have a ballwinder, so I couldn't prepare the laceweight yarn. Once I can get together with my mom to use hers I'll be able to get going on one of the two patterns I talked about before (I haven't decided which to make yet). Jenn suggested that Sitcom Chic might be a good pattern to work on once baby #2 is here and my brain is mush, because it's lots of easy stockinette. She is quite right, so I think I'll leave that one for fall.