Blogging Backwards Today

So no TV week is over and we’ve already fallen off the wagon. But look what they want to watch?!? Rachel Ray has quite the toddler appeal. L wants to make everything she cooks.

and

Look Mom! The kids are wearing church clothes! No, I didn’t go to church just to get my mother’s approval. But it doesn’t hurt. Grins. We’re actually (finally) getting around to J’s Baptism. We seem to have a habit of waiting until they are past their first birthday. Besides that it just feels good to be going. It’s pretty cool when you walk into a place and the ushers greet you with “Welcome Home!”

On Saturday I met the Arvada Knitters (we should make bowling shirts that say that!) over at Knit Knack where I got this…

It’s made of soy and bamboo! Bamboo bamboo bamboo! (Too many VeggieTales!)

I can’t wait to make the Dream Swatch Head Wrap. http://www.knitandtonic.typepad.com/dreamswatchwrap.pdf

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Hooray Yarn Ball Winder!

OK, I have some observations today.

#1 Tofutsie Yarn has shrimp in it!?!? How weird is that? Do people with shellfish allergies break out?

#2 My First Bubble Blower is the coolest toy in the world. (If you’re 1 1/2) (and 4 apparently)

#3 Upon receiving Yarn Ball Winder I instantly had the urge to wind just about everything I could get my hands on into nice neat little yarn cakes. Hooray Yarn Ball Winder! Now I have no excuses for not starting my socks. Again.

Pictures!

Apple Blossoms from the back yard.

My vest blocking.

Log Cabin Baby Blanket

This tv thing is weirding me out.

DH put on a movie for L this morning so I could sleep. When I got up, Mademoiselle Grumpypants had returned. When the movie was over, I turned the TV off. Shiny Happy Daughter came back! TOO WEIRD.

So the reason I needed a little extra ZZ’s was not J’s nocturnal howls, in fact, he’s been a member of Binky’s Anonymous for about a week now and doing well. I stayed up to finish the sweater. I have no pictures yet as I’m blocking it, but I’ll get some soon.

I realize I may not have been clear on my previous sweater post. Cheryl broke my sweater TO fix it. I only had to machine stitch a couple places where the thread was loose. No big. It was just funnier and more dramatic to say she’d broken my sweater. (And we wonder where L gets her dramatic flair as she theatrically tells me, “I am NOT dramatic Mommy!” The girl channels a good Judy Garland, I tell you.)

So now I’m plugging away on a log cabin baby blanket for my neice, pictures to come soon.

Cheryl Oberle broke my sweater!

Now that I’ve got your attention. She actually did. But it was a good thing. It turns out when you steek you’re supposed to stretch the fabric VERTICALLY instead of horizontally as I did. It caused the fabric to bunch up in places which made the neck lie strangely. She said that if she hadn’t broken it, it would have broken when I first tried to wear it. It’s actually very nice to have someone who can show me this stuff. I read everything that I could find on steeks and nowhere did it mention the vertical stretching. I have a few ideas on how to fix it and the neck does look much better.

So I’m now on Day 4 of no TV and I’m noticing serious behaviour differences in my oldest child. I may not have written about it but I have a theory that preschoolers are bipolar by nature, one minute the sweetest thing in the universe and next so scary Rosemary’s Baby would run away. Well since we instituted the television ban, not only has L been more sweet, but she’s doing things that I’ve known she can do for months but fought with her constantly to get done. It used to take 2 hours to get her ready for school and even then she still didn’t eat breakfast. This week she has been dressed and fed a full hour and a half before we need to leave. We used to joke about how grumpy she is in the morning. This morning, as I got ready to take a shower she said to me, “Mommy. I need to see a smile!” “That’s better. No more sad face” Which she then demonstrated for me and ran to get dressed herself. J’s behavior hasn’t changed at all but then he’s not really that attached to TV. I think we will continue to have a No TV in the Morning rule. It’s making things run so much smoother. There’s even been less whine. I realize it may be coincidental and all fall apart next week, but hey, I’ll take it.

I did a closer read of Alison’s Ankle Sock and the sock pattern she used as inspiration. There is no such thing as a backwards yarn over on the knit side. It’s a regular yarn over. Which means, I WAS DOING IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME! Except I probably messed up the knit togethers. Triple Argh. To make myself feel better I bought some new needles and pretty Tofutsie (sp?) from Posh. She’s having a sale, you know. And then I went to the Recycled Lamb because I needed a size 5 16-inch circular to finish my sweater. And then I had to have these two thick and thins from the clearance bin. Oh look! It’s raining again. Woo.

Added note at 4:16 pm. I was able to fix the sweater. No problem. 🙂 Now I’m working on the arm holes…

Ok. So I cut up my sweater.

By some strange coincidence, just as I was writing that I had trouble finding the time to do the steek on my sweater, both children miraculously went down for naps. L even slept through the noise of the sewing machine which was on the table right next to the couch she was sleeping on. It was scary. It’s over and now I’m paranoid that I didn’t stitch it enough, but oh well. The steek is cut, the shoulders attached and one side seam sewn. Now I just have to seam the other side and figure out where to pick up and knit the neck.

Argh! Sock Struggle

Well the sock is now a ball of yarn. Again! I’m still doing something wrong in the short row hell er heel and I’m about ready to just try it the regular short row way with wraps (because THAT’S been so successful in the past; see entries on Stripey Doodlepants). So I’m going to take a sock break and regroup by doing a no brainer (hopefully) log cabin blanket for my niece to be. I really should be cutting the steek on my sweater but I haven’t found a time away from children to use the sewing machine. It’s ridiculous that I’m considering getting a babysitter just to use a sewing machine when I never even get one for an evening out with DH, isn’t it? Ah the yarn obsession takes hold. Anyway, I digress. I think I’m also going to wait for my ball winder to get here so I can ball my new sock yarn to try the sock again. My old yarn has been frogged so many times it’s starting to unravel and it was pointed out to me that the reason my cotton yarns might be so twisty and knotted is because of the way I hand roll a ball. So I used my birthday gift Joann card to order one online. I went to the so called Joann Superstore this morning and they looked at me like I was crazy asking about a ball winder for yarn. They make those? Really. Grr. I really should just quit going there.

So we’re on day two of Turn Off the Television Week. So far this has resulted in my rediscovery of my CD collection, L wanting to play on the computer and to take more naps, and J still refusing to take his; though my newfound CD’s are doing a nice job of masking his discontent. I didn’t even know I had the Brandenburg Concertos! Heh.

I don’t have any relevant pictures for this entry so I threw a dramatic picture of L at the park yesterday. That’s how I felt when unraveling the sock.

Hufflepuff?!?

Ok. I’ve taken three different sorting quizzes and apparently I would be in House Hufflepuff. I guess it could be worse. I think it just weirds me out because it sounds too much like HR Puffnstuff and those freaky muppet/puppet things.

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

If I only had a brain

So I frogged the sock again. It turns out I not only had the wrong number of stitches but I was doing the backwards yarn over on the knit side backwards (does that mean it’s frontwards?)

Yesterday L and I met the Arvada Knitters over at Bliss for lunch before heading over to the matinee of the Wizard of Oz. L was so good, I was proud. She LOVED the show and wanted to meet Dorothy afterwards. She gave her a big hug and told her that she loved the show. It was very cute.

Anyway, L brought her camera to Bliss and took some pictures which I’m now going to share. There were many many pictures of the ceiling. 🙂

Argh! Sock Opinion Poll

So I’m on my second incarnation of the ankle sock and after almost finishing the heel, I realized that I’m supposed to end with the same number of stitches I started with, of which I’m sadly short. Also I noticed that (probably because of the stitch problem) when I start knitting in the round again there will be a 1/2 inch hole on one side of the heel. I figure it happened while I was knitting at midnight last night when I should have been sleeping.

So. If you were me, would you gradually increase stitches on each round until I have the right number and stitch the hole closed upon finishing, or frog the whole thing. Again. 🙂