Little J Mitts

“You make me some mitts, Mama?” he asked, as I made another pair of Fetchings,  “for my hands?”  How could I not?  Picking up some mystery worsted weight orange yarn my sister brought on Thanksgiving, I cast on. 

Why yes! I AM sitting on my daddy

Little J Mitts

Yarn:  Worsted Whatever

Needles:  Size 8 double points

Cast on 30 stitches using the long tail method.  Divide equally on 3 needles and join for knitting in the round.  You could use a stitch marker if you want to, but these things are tiny and I just use the tail from the cast on to remind me where the beginning of the round is.

Rounds 1 – 8: K1, P1 rib

Rounds 9-18: Knit

Round 19:  Turn your work and purl back across the needles you just finished knitting.  (You’ll be looking at the wrong side.)  We’re making the thumb hole by knitting back and forth on the needles instead of in the round. 

Round 20:  Turn and knit as normal

Round 21:  Repeat 19

Round 22:  Repeat 20

Round 23 – 24:  Knit, rejoining your knitting for knitting in the round.  Pull that first stitch as tight as you can.  🙂

Round 25 – 26:  K1, P1 rib

Bind off in K1, P1 rib.  Weave in your ends.

 

Ta da!  Little J Mitts!  Very fast.  I probably could have finished them during one viewing of the Incredibles if I had started when the movie did.  🙂  The same size also fits my 6 year old.  🙂

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Christmas Meme

Stole this from Bonnie.  🙂

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I’m thinking of using reusable grocery bags this year.

 

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial, though maybe real this year.  I’m thinking about it.

 

3. Why are you willing to answer these questions?  Memes rule.

4. When do you take the tree down? As late as possible.

5. Do you like eggnog?  MMmm.  Eggnog.

 

6. Favorite gift received as a child?  That’s hard.  When I was 3? ish, Santa brought me a fuzzy teddy bear necklace.  Wore the heck out of that thing.  Still have it.  🙂

 

7. Hardest person to buy for?  Uncle T

 

8. Easiest person to buy for? The kids.

 

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes.  Veggietales.  The Baby Jesus is a baby carrot.  Heh.  L used to call it the Baby Cheezit.

 

10. Do you send your card by mail or e-mail? Snail mail…

 

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?  Um.  I appreciate the love and thought behind the gift of giant treble clef candles…

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Muppet’s Christmas Carol

 

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?  I actually started before Thanksgiving this year! 

 

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I plead the fifth. 

 

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?  Fondue!

 

16. Lights on the tree?  Lights are optional?

 

17. Favorite Christmas song? Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas sung by Rowlf the dog.

 

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? Usually we stay home.  Doing the cabin thing this year.  🙂

 

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer’s? I used to teach elementary school.  Are you kidding me?  Oh wait.  You mean right now?  Um.  Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen and Rudolph!  Though I don’t think Rudolph’s actually in the Twas the Night Before Christmas poem.

 

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel made of burlap that belonged to my parents before Mom replaced it with a ceramic duck angel.  The duck is pretty, but I always loved the Burlap Angel.  So she let me have it.

 

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One gift Christmas Eve and the rest is Christmas day.

 

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?  Trying to keep the reason for the season with the kids.

 

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Homemade!

 

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Fondue!

 

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Happy memories with my family.  Oh.  And a cure for cancer.  😛  And maybe some new needles.  🙂

And lest you think I have been slacking on the knitting front…

Sweater for my radiation oncology nurse

 

Doubly Fetching

 

I’ve also been working on my mom’s Cable Luxe Maxi Dress.  Which might be finished sometime this decade.  I’m thinking 2010?

A Glimpse of Normalcy

So.  Where have I been?  Every year I play the piano for my friends Pam and Seana’s musical.  They teach high school (crazy people).  This was my third show with them so I’ve really gotten see these kids grow as actors and performers.  Very cool. 

Crazy high school teachers.

Of course, just like any show, things can go wrong.  Friday, for example.  Well my Friday just started out bad and kept on going.  Got the boy up extra early to go with me to get the tires aligned on the car.  No easy task.  You’ve seen him sleep.  It’s like waking the dead.  The crabby dead.  Found out that the alignment machine was broken when I got there.  They did fix the turn signal though.  While we were in the waiting room, an older couple walked in and asked me if J was my grandson.  Grandson.  I’m 34.  Seriously. 

Things calmed down for a while and just when I think I have my ducks in a row…  Big J called me around 4-ish saying he was heading home.  Which was great!  Plenty of time to get to the show.  Until I got the call that he was stuck in traffic.  And I’d just cancelled the babysitting.  We got that snafu straightened out and I received a worried phone call from Pam.  Did I know that the show started at 6 pm?  Ugh.  She had told me and I forgot to write it down.  A speedy trip down the high way and I make it just in time for curtain.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Apparently the kids (being high school kids) had had some social problems early that day, which was worked out, but stressful none the less.  AND the icing on the cake was the piano lamp was broken.  We taped it together and the show went on.  At one point the top came loose and started spinning.  During the show.  Looked like a rave.  Heh.  Pam and I had the giggle fits pretty much all the way through that number.

So where are all these stories going, you ask?  As perverse as it sounds, for the first time since January, I was completely stressed out by something other than cancer.  And in a weird way, it was good.  Heh.

Oh and the musical?  It was awesome.  Those kids crack me up.

Beethoven Day!

Mahna Mahna

Caught this over at Bowl of Cherries.  And since I now have it in my head, I’m going to share the 1976 version.  Muhahaha!

Feel Yourself Up Friday!

I keep forgetting to post this.  Some role model I am.   There is a wonderful SBE tutorial over at Worldwide Breast Cancer.  Check it out.

Maybe we should turn up the heat?

Evil Boys

This made me laugh on oh so many levels.  And yes I saw it while my kids were watching it.  “Look Mom!  Knitting!”

Balanced, Secure and Realistic. Hmm.

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test…

Balanced, Secure, and Realistic.

7 Impressionist, -4 Islamic, 5 Ukiyo-e, -25 Cubist, -17 Abstract and 7 Renaissance!

Impressionism is a movement in French painting, sometimes called optical realism because of its almost scientific interest in the actual visual experience and effect of light and movement on appearance of objects. Impressionist paintings are balanced, use colored shadows, use pure color, broken brushstrokes, thick paint, and scenes from everyday life or nature.

People that like Impressionist paintings may not alway be what is deemed socially acceptable. They tend to move on their own path without always worrying that it may be offensive to others. They value friendships but because they also value honesty tend to have a few really good friends. They do not, however, like people that are rude and do not appreciate the ideas of others. They are secure enough in themselves that they can listen to the ideas of other people without it affecting their own final decisions. The world for them is not black and white but more in shades of grey and muted colors. They like things to be aestically pleasing, not stark and sharp. There are many ways to view things, and the impresssionist personality views the world from many different aspects. They enjoy life and try to keep a realistic viewpoint of things, but are not very open to new experiences. If they are content in their live they will be more than likely pleased to keep things just the way they are.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Bananas on my pants!

I have to preface this story with this:  one of L’s favorite gifts she received is a microphone on a stand from her Aunt L.  We have been treated to many many many solos of “Twinkle Twinkle” and “You Are My Sunshine”, as well as many improvised tunes such as “It’s my birthday” and “My tights are itchy”.  J has also entertained us with “Hanh.”  Which is Twinkle Twinkle using the word “Hanh.”

Back to the story.

J woke up very grumpy and tired from his nap.  I gave him a banana and headed off the restroom (TMI I know but if you’re a parent you know where this is going.)  I have not been able to use the restroom alone since I was teaching.  Even before kids, the dog would poke her head in to make sure I was alright.  So as I’m in the loo, I hear a whiny 3 year old voice yelling, “Bamamama mam ana pans!”  This is a slightly more intelligible version of what he actually said.  Needless to say, we go back and forth a few times; me trying to get him to wait 2 minutes for me to get out of the bathroom and him yelling the same thing he said before only louder.  Finally, my daughter decided she needed to intervene, parked her new microphone outside the bathroom, opened the door and at full volume told me he had bananas on his pants.  Which, of course, I can still do nothing about because I’m in the bathroom. 

It’s a good thing they’re cute.