The green socks are DONE!  No small thanks to Charlotte who did half the knitting!

It’s hard to catch these socks between feet and laundry and in fact I had to fish them from the top of the basket for this pic.  Zander loves them and immediately requested a new sweater.  I gladly put in the call to grandma who in fact has a wack of the same yarn, Plymouth Jelli Beenz, to make a child’s sweater or two.  Ball’s in your court, G-Terry.

I started some little green socks for Elinor, knit one almost to completion, crammed it on her foot and thought, Self, this sock is running small.  My daughter has big feet.

Riiiiiiiiiiip.  Cast on for the Size 2.  Immediately set aside because recipient has no long term memory and other things seemed more pressing…

Like this!

Elinor’s Christmas stocking, knit in Rauma Strikkegarn, a rough, sticky yarn that was perfect for colorwork.  The color is deliciously saturated without being a distracting eyesore.  I think the Strikkegarn natural is a little brighter than the Heilo used for the other three.  These stockings make me happy.

As for beginnings, I started a project for myself on Christmas Day:

Urban Aran Cardi is DONE.  Okay, it needs a zipper and I need to bite the bullet and buy one online because it turns out that repeated visits to the big box craft store do not generate enough kismet to make the zipper style/color/length I need magically appear.  Fooey.  But when I sit down to knit, there’s no sweater to work on anymore which makes it done for all intents and purposes.  Besides, if Matt was into nice shawl pins, he COULD be wearing it now.  Mwah.

Jaywalkers are on hold while I knit up this pretty thing as a birthday gift for a person who is otherwise impossible to buy something for.  Despite the fact that I am once again NOT making myself the hat and mittens and scarf I so desperately need, I am having a wildly good time.  The Lace Ribbon Scarf is simple but not too simple (I love the double yarn overs!).  It’s also only a few inches wide so I can finish a row lickety split.  This picture was taken after one evening of knitting.  It’s now about a foot long.  What you might not realize about this pattern (I didn’t) if you have looked at it before (I have) is that there are two mods–one uses 100g of fingering weight yarn and the other uses 200g.  I don’t know about you but I rarely have 200g of fingering weight yarn in the same color/dye lot because 100g is what one needs to make socks, generally speaking.  So yey for flexibility!

In other, but not entirely unrelated, news, last week in my fevered delirium as I read books to escape my unpleasant reality when not even unconsciousness would have me, I decided to give up television for the rest of the year.  It was a simple choice once I realized two things: 1) I could not do it halfway.  I could not pick certain shows or certain days when TV watching was okay; and 2) I could not get the boys to join me but I could probably still make an impression on them with my own actions.

The last show I watched (although I didn’t realize it would be my last at the time): The Office.  The show I will miss the most: The Office.  I can’t quite put my finger on what it is I like so much about that show but there it is.  Luckily I don’t have to worry about missing LOST because that could be grounds for marital estrangement since LOST always leads to long discussions, debates, and theorizing, and no one would thank me for having to avoid spoilers.

I haven’t missed it a bit.  I’ve been reading novels, knitting, writing, listening to podcasts, and reading blogs and everything thing else under the ether online.  I am enjoying my evening adult time even more!  I have noticed that Zander watches almost no TV during the day now and Matt watches less in the evening.  Twice in the past week Matt and Zander have opted to play games instead.  Tonight we decided to have a movie night.  This was a special event and not the kind of thing I am trying to disentangle from so I didn’t count it.  Unfortunately, we ended up choosing Hoodwinked.  Eh.  I was knitting on the Lace Ribbon Scarf.  At the end, Zander told me his favorite part was when Granny showed off her extreme sports.  Of course!  This is the same kid who tried to make a case for me to rent him The Watchmen.  Um, no.  Too scary, I told him.  He told me he liked scary movies.  I’m sure you do.

My goal, after December 31st, is to watch television more carefully and not use it like a pacifier, for me and for my kids.

Resolution #2, also decided upon as I wrapped up my bout with the flu a week ago, is to knit all the socks in this book, Knitting Vintage Socks:

No time limit although I expect it to take me about a year, maybe longer.  I have already knit two of the patterns, one of which I probably will not repeat and the other I will make again, happily.  My one rule is that I must use yarn I have already, although I may make an exception for the silk stockings with clocks (last pattern) because I have no silk and why would I make them in any other fiber?  This long term project is inspired by my love of Nancy Bush as a designer and textile historian.  You rock, N.B.

Jenny, Chloe, and I went to the 4th annual Ann Arbor Fiber Expo this past Sunday.  My first time out there despite it being but a short jaunt to the other side of our fair but wee city.  Past attempts have been foiled by family plans and the like but this year I was all selfishness.

What’s a good fiber festival without running into friends? We had the pleasure of seeing Charlotte (girlfriend, why don’t you have a blog yet?) and her husband.  While we chit-chatted, we were standing right next to the most enormous angora bunny I have ever seen.  Full disclosure: I have not seen a lot of angora bunnies.  But this guy was larger than a Jack Russell terrier!  We all commented on the largeness and how it was probably mostly hair but I am hear to tell you - especially you, Charlotte! - Jenny and I saw the bunny on our way out a few hours later and it had been shaved.  It was still a VERY big bunny.  I think more to the Thanksgiving end of the scale rather than the Sunday family dinner end.  Not that I want to eat rabbit.  Anyway.

I got some things.  More than I planned but by no means a crazy splurge.  As is only right and proper, first was a gift for my husband. All I can tell you, since he does lurk here sometimes, is that it came from an animal and will keep him very warm.  Hopefully that isn’t much of a clue at all since I was at a FIBER festival, shah.

Second was a delightful felted pumpkin from Wooly Pett’s Creations (no website, sorry and my picture is total crap but do you like our scaaaary dinosaur-themed mantel decor?  Guess who though of that).  I could go in for a whole army of these pumpkins, seriously.  Roxanne Pett’s fibery goodies were fantastic and by no means limited to needlefelting.  She is very talented and industrious.  I look forward to seeing Wooly Pett’s Creations again at the Spinner’s Flock Fleece Fair in Chelsea every February and September.  (The magenta price labels were a dead giveaway!)

Moving on, there was some awesome licorice twist yarn - how to describe it?  Handpainted in gently shifting hues of blue and purple (some skeins also had green) but the yarn had a dark wrapping strand so it had an overall light-dark spiral going on.  Why was this suddenly so beautiful to me?  I don’t know.  I don’t generally like the mash of strong contrasts like seen in a marl.  This website has an example of what I am talking about in general although it is not the same vendor.  I missed who that was.  Jenny might now because she did not resist, good patron that she is!

Next piece sans resistance was Studio June Yarn (website coming soon, they say).  Their colors were so saturated and delicious. Jenny and I were both taken with the Bamboo La La yarn and bought some.  I was originally thinking Clapotis for this plummy delight but I have another idea for that pattern thanks to the new Webs catalog.  The Studio June ladies, both mad scientists, were fun to talk to.  They also had Fleece Maiden! I have never seen Fleece Maiden in person, so wow!  I know who I am calling when I am ready for that Fleece Maiden fix.

Finally, my moment of crazy was had over a booth that specialized in punch needle embroidery and rug hooking.  The small pieces (not rugs despite the words on the package) were so completely freakin’ cute, it made my fingers itch to not make one or a dozen!  This booth was near the entrance so I had the entire expo to hem and haw.  Jenny not so gently pushed me over the edge as we were readying to leave.  Now I have a NEW HOBBY.  Bwahahaha!

I have yet to start, though.  Sadness!  If you spend time with children under the age of 5, you have probably had a moment or two of terror that their bodies could come to harm by way of your knitting tools.  Imagine that, plus a pencil-sized punch needle.  Oy.

Also, it might not be fair to my long suffering husband if I start an absorbing new project with his birthday sweater, the Urban Aran Cardigan, finally in the sewing up stage.  Sewing is not my strength or interest but I am by no means incapable.  More on this later.

Nevermind that my holiday-themed punch needle piece will likely not be done for Halloween this year.  Because the boy-child is ill and if it is the flu and just starting today, he might not be well enough for Halloween.  Sob!  Cross your fingers and toes for my little dinosaur.

Two days after my last post I got a new job, thanks to word of mouth passed on to me by my friend Charlotte (of the comments)–a job that changed everything.  I’m teaching a class at the nearby community college, which is both a dream and a nightmare.  It’s a job–yey!–and I tried to get this job a few years ago but there were no openings; now there is a boom in enrollment and a need for new instructors.  The nightmare is the time of the class, which is in the afternoon twice a week.  It has created a huge stress on our family as we try to figure out how to get my son to and from preschool and find a sitter for my daughter.  Also, the ratio of work hours to cash is not as good as my freelance editorial work.  Which I still have to do since I am under contract, so I have almost invisible amounts of free time.  Eeep!

I am going to miss those theoretical but lovely sounding cafe hangouts this autumn.

I am also missing my kids whom I am constantly leaving with other people so I can work. 

No progress on the knitting front has been made except that I am knitting again after getting little done in August.  (My arm/shoulder/neck has greatly improved under treatment, whew.)  My main project is a secret, so sorry in advance for the boringness.

Someone asked me the other day about holiday knitting and I could have laughed except that I probably would have also started crying.  If only I had the time to “suffer” a holiday knitting jag.  I had not even given it a thought yet, much less had a chance to reject the notion or at least dream up thirty ideas and make an impossible plan that sent me swimming through my stash and pattern books.  So. Much. Fun.

I am also a little sad for my busyness this autumn because I have many design ideas that I cannot explore right now since I still need time to do things like shower, sleep, and buy groceries.

The struggles of success.  One step, one day at a time.

Darlings, it has been a mad, mad summer.  I desperately await the day, a month from now, when my little-big boy will leave the bosom of our family and begin his first day of preschool.  I will probably cry because I am sentimental that way but it will be relief all around because he’s smart and social and needs the stimulation.

Me, I wouldn’t mind a break from being his personal entertainment committee.  The charm of the magic trick of producing a sibling from my own body has worn off for him.  Not that he doesn’t adore her but she’s still pretty boring for him 80% of the time.

The baby is starting to get around.  Not crawling but somehow she manages to get from one place to another in her efforts to explore her world.

This has not been the summer - or year - of knitting I usually hope for, plan for.  Something went funky with my neck and arm a month ago and now I am barely knitting.  I probably have a swollen disk.  Is that TMI?  I hope not.  Blech.  That said, I wouldn’t be here writing if I didn’t believe I was on the mend.  I have mostly laid on the couch for three days and had a big improvement.  Now for the chiropractor and the physical therapist so this never ever ever happens again (because of course this is not the first time; I just didn’t understand what it was before).

Today I was struck with the bug to cast on!  You know how it goes, the dreaming up of projects, leaping about Ravelry like a young gazelle…. Weeeeee!  Right now I would like to make an entrelac scarf from Noro Silk Garden or a similar yarn; Clapotis from Lornas Laces Shepherd Sport (lighter weight than the original); and a Katie Beret, probably with a colorful Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarn.  This of course completely disregards all my other knitting plans that have lain in wait all year like the Ribby Cardi for myself and socks for me, my friend, and my husband. Etc ad infinitum.  I make lists as a hobby, I think.  No harm in a list.

Luckily for my knitting plans, I have a pocketful of bday gift certificates.  Sadly I have very little personal time.  Luckily this must change so I don’t become a giant knot of pain again.  So I am thinking maybe I can have an afternoon or two while the boy’s at preschool wherein I sit in a cafe downtown, drinking a silly hot drink, knitting, and being chatted up by my delightfully verbose daughter.  It’s an idea.  Want to join me?

I wish I could use a little bit of my superpowers to keep this blog up more regularly.  Just sayin’.  No regrets and no apologies.  And I’m not giving up.  It is what it is for the summer.  In the fall, Zander will go to preschool and I might have five minutes of quiet strung together.  I’ve started writing my journal again (right before submitting to unconsciousness at night) - always a good sign.  After fourteen years of fairly regular journaling, it is a stable point in my universe.

The Zauberball socks are done and lovely although I was too sleep-deprived to take a picture and Daye made them disappear FAST when they were finally presented.  There will be a photo shoot and FO show off here in the near future.  I have the yarn for socks for her husband and my friend, Pete, who has been taking my ill-behaved puppy for runs (he tells me her nickname is “anchor”).

I started a baby knit for Jenny, who is due to have her first baby in just two more weeks.  Well.  I didn’t have enough yarn.  More is on the way except it’s a different color so I have to restart.  Baby Chloe, don’t wait for me!  I can knit fast when I need to.

My sister Sarah wanted to do a knit-a-long with me and so bought me some Malabrigo lace yarn for my birthday from Busy Hands.  I threw together a simple stole pattern using the hourglass lace pattern from Barbara Walker vol. 1.  I am not a frilly girly-girl but I like to knit lace.  It’s like a dance.  (I like dancing too.)  The stole is yummy and is creeping along.  Sarah’s birthday is in a few weeks and she says we should start another knit-a-long… does she think we’ll be done with the lace?  I’m not sure if she is liking knitting lace.  She is impatient with knitting but she is a wicked fast crocheter.  Maybe it will be a crochet-a-long and I will get my just desserts.

From the Dept of Distractions - Elinor started rolling over for real today.  She is a happy baby, adores her big brother who has decided that he is five years old and not four because he wants badly to go to school.  Only a month and a half until preschool!  I am booked on freelance work through at least March next year which is good news for the freelancer but hard on the mother and on the human being who is waiting waiting waiting for her turn, a vacation, a quiet moment.  Not that I’m complaining.  I’m just going to go lay on the couch for a wee moment….

I’m not sure I ever wrote here about the socks I made Zander for Solstice.  That would be because our GSD puppy chewed a hole in the heel 24 hours after I finished them and put them on Zander’s feet (he loved them and wouldn’t take them off).  This also happened on my husband’s birthday, 5 minutes before he walked in the door.  It still makes my stomach hurt to remember this perfect storm of events.

I have sworn off sock knitting for children until they can demonstrate an ability to defend themselves and their personal property.

I’ve also sworn off knitting baby blankets except for my own children and then only one each.  Turns out my mind was playing tricks on me, saying things like “quick” and “easy” and “not much yarn, you might even have some in the stash already.”  Hah.  The baby blankets I choose always take as much yarn as an adult sweater and I always end up buying new and… no more.

Where does this leave me?  Sweaters, of course.

For some reason yesterday morning, my son decided he was cold and he needed to wear a sweater (in June, I know.  He’s four).  When next he appeared, he was wearing the sweater I knit for him during the holidays.  The arms are a bit too long and the body a bit too short and the neck could use a neckband but I lost interest when I realized he wouldn’t fit the ill-fitted sweater for too much longer.  Nevertheless.  He LOVES it.  “Mommy, this is the sweater you knit for me,” he says happily.

Indeed.  Despite the sock incident, I know no one appreciates my handknits as much as him.  I don’t know what it means to him but I am completely, thoroughly charmed.  Next up for Zander might be a Sherwood, a pattern I have loved since the day it was released.  For baby Elinor, well, we’ll see what emerges.  She would need to develop the ability to spend time being held by people other than her mother if she wants her mother to knit her things.  Just sayin’.

I cannot believe it has been nearly a month.  That word, “nearly,” is an important distinction, like I am making it in before some unwritten deadline.  A month.

Anyway.

I am typing one handed while the baby coos and ogles some red and yellow fish on one of her blankets.  Zander is playing with a keychain that makes fart noises.  Rinse and repeat over the past month.

Good news:  Zander successfully survived to age four.  Elinor is learning how to roll over.  And while we’re thinking positively, the Zauberball socks are three-quarters done and the Urban Aran Cardi only has the top half of the fronts to go.  (Cup half-full, remember–not, omigod whole weeks of no knitting have gone by and I’m ready to do something else with my needles because it’s almost summer!)

My garden, my other passionate (obsessive) hobby, is doing well.  Most things are in — although it’s June and the tomatoes and basil have yet to be planted.  Oy.  I will NOT have the earliest tomato in the county this year, no siree.

See, I added a new vegetable bed this year for asparagus and the tomatoes are supposed to be planted in front of the asparagus because they are good companions and do not need to be rotated like the other veggies.  Well.  Getting the trench dug for asparagus took a writ of Congress, ie, “oh shit it’s Mother’s Day and I haven’t bought you a gift.”  Now the asparagus is coming up despite near drowning by torrential rains, which did kill my raspberry canes and most of my black-eyed susans, but the rest of the bed hasn’t been prepared for tomatoes.

I have one bed still unplanted in my vegetable garden.  I am thinking of either skipping cucumbers this year or putting them, for one year only, in the asparagus bed.  The tomatoes are more important.  And I didn’t plant cucumbers until very late last year, early July I think, and they did awesome!  I missed whatever evil thing killed my other curcubits and the vines did not wear out until October, just before first frost.  I may not have had the earliest cucumber but I probably had the last.

That decides it then.

I haven’t even thought about summer knitting, sadly.  Once upon a time in winter, when I was pregnant, I might have dreamed about knitting a Norah Gaughan short sleeved top to wear over my un-pregnant body but I dare not knit a stitch for myself until Matt’s birthday sweater is done.  Only six months late and out of season… so far.

Most important, I promised myself I would skate through this first year of the baby’s life without guilt or unreasonable deadlines and projects.  I love to make grandiose plans but I have no time or energy for the occassional downswing of happiness that goes with said plans.  I might be panicking a bit about the tomatoes but for the most part I am doing quite well at enjoying things that are working out and letting go of what doesn’t.  There might be something to the whole “living in the moment” idea.

First it was the weather, raining raining raining last month, drowning my yard.

Then it was work, of which I shall not complain, but I went from nothing to three jobs (more really, but only three are paid) in a week.  Work is good, I keep telling myself.  Work is money.

Unfortunately, there is nothing interesting to write here about my job, which is freelance writing and editing and even if I would, I can’t because of the contracts, but trust me.  I work on reference volumes and they serve a purpose but it is not to entertain.

The rain kept me from doing much gardening, although it did not stop me altogether because at some point, turns out, even I am desperate enough to garden in a light drizzle.

The baby has kept me from doing much knitting but the good news is that I finished the first Zauberball sock, started the second and, according to the kitchen scale, I have enough yarn to finish the pair.  Fingers crossed for no more knots!

But nothing stays the same forever.  I am writing here today in the middle of a beautiful spring morning - having watered the young plants and taken photos of all the marvelous things that are growing this year - because Baby Elinor has learned, is learning, how to sleep on her own finally.  For more than six weeks, we have held her while she napped because she would get cold and/or move her arms, startling herself awake.  She has now doubled her birth weight and learned some coping/self-soothing mechanisms so nap time is more restful for us all.

Meanwhile, I have lots of work to do so of course all this blogging, knitting, and gardening is on borrowed time.

Matt is bugging me for his Urban Aran Cardigan, aka the birthday sweater.  Since it’s spring in Michigan that means our hot and humid summer will start any moment now.  I swear he’s jealous every time he sees me knitting something other than his sweater.  I tried to explain that the sweater is a lot of yarn to haul around and I still need the chart to check my progress… and I right now I only knit when we go out because then other people are playing with the baby while I knit furiously on the sidelines (at home, I am working while Matt watches baby)… he says he understands but… boys.

And the older child?  He wants me to knit something for him too.  I should grow a third arm.

Elinor finally arrived on March 18.  Labor was fast and intense but over with in time for breakfast, which I heartily enjoyed - and no heartburn!

We are floating through our postpartum period, enjoying the weather, which is mostly Spring-ish.  I’ve been planting seeds and working on Matt’s Urban Aran Cardi, which has one back and one-and-a-half sleeves.  Sadly I had to rip back a significant portion of the second sleeve a few days ago due to skipping a few rows in one of my cables.  But onward, upward…

More pictures to follow.  I’m writing this one-handed while a half-asleep little girl makes funny faces at me.  I think she has gas.