Mailbag turned Small Soapbox

Okay, I have two small comment questions to answer and then a bigger one.

Noricum (Andrea) asks whether I have a feed. Yes, yes I do. I just tried it, and if you type or paste http://www.shellykang.com/Blog/ into the form, you'll get a choice between atom and rss. To be honest, even though I have a degree in Computer Science, I still don't know which one of those is better to pick. To be even more honest, Bloglines baffles me. I keep thinking that it is something that would be handy, but instead I use the RSS function in Firefox and somehow understand that better.

Jan asked whether I'm working the blanket from side to side or bottom to top or what. I'm working from the bottom up, or I guess it could be considered top down. I do think you need to work this particular arrangement of miters vertically, so that the decrease lines will run vertically. Unless, of course, you want the decrease lines to run horizontally in which case you would work...are you ready for this...side to side. :-)

Moria asked why I was so hard on a present that someone gave my daughter. She didn't like the tone of the "I guess" at the end of my paragraph about it in yesterday's post. The short answer is that I was giving an honest review or assessment of my feelings about this product. The I guess part, at face value, is my normal attempt at semi-snarky humour, which anyone who's read my blog very much has seen before.

The long answer is that as a parent, I'm always making decisions that I'm not fully comfortable with. Sometimes because I'm taking the easy path that I know is not perfectly right, but makes all of our days easier...like letting Julie watch some TV every afternoon while I start dinner - usually an hour or less, but studies have shown that ANY television is detrimental to small children. Most parents seem to think that certain shows are "educational" and therefore somehow not just an easy babysitter, but actually good for their kids. Sorry to break the news, but that's what the marketers want you to think. TV is actually hampering their brain development. Still, I know of very few parents who never turn on the boob tube for their kids. And even knowing that it's not good for my daughter, I let her watch Sesame Street or a Bob the Builder video pretty much every day. Because it's there, she likes it, and it gives me a moment's peace. Nope, I'm not fully comfortable with that, but I do it anyway. I can live with it, I guess. There are lots of other little things like that which bother me about the way most Americans raise our kids. I'm guilty of some of them, too.

Juice is another great example. It's not good for you, me, or our kids. It's empty calories, linked to obesity, and rots their little teeth. Yet most kids get it, undiluted, every day. Not my kid. I give it to her once a week, maybe twice, and then it's diluted with water. I even had a chat with the preschool teacher when I saw juice as the beverage for snack time the first few days of school. Somehow, many parents seem to think that it's good for their kids, even necessary. So even though I know she doesn't need it, I do give it to her as a treat some times. And that's okay, too...I guess. Don't get me started on all the other really junky stuff like Kraft macaroni and cheese (Kraft Dinner for you Canucks - KD for short, so I hear through my Canadian insider friend) that I hear many kids are eating every day.

And about a million other little battles that we either choose to pick, or just fall in line with what it seems like everyone else is doing because that's the easiest path to follow. Color Wonders products are another tiny little example of this kind of thing to me. They sound like a great idea, till you really think about them. I summarized my opinion about them pretty well yesterday. Yes, they are relatively harmless. I've bought the markers version of them before for the long plane trips when we went to Hawaii a couple years ago. Someone bought them for us this time, and we're using them. But I'm always hearing about how in today's world, creative thinking skills are important for success in our world. It is much better when I pull out the old-style finger paints and let Julie smear them around in the undefined patterns of her own choosing on blank paper. It's maddening sometimes watching her play with them in the way that doesn't seem "right" to me, but I bite my tongue and watch what she comes up with. She's learning creativity, and they hold her interest a lot longer than any coloring book ever has.

And that's the real reason for the I guess. Because even though it is easy, even though they are there, even though Julie seems to like them and asked to play with them, deep down I feel a bit like I'm doing less than I could be as a parent. The I guess says I'm not 100% sure I'm doing the best job I could be, but I'm plowing ahead anyway, and you know what, I am a darn good great parent even if I could do better.

And here's the most important part - the part that I hope you read before you get angry at me and write up a comment. Just because I have these standards for myself and my kids, doesn't mean that I'm judging you and your standards for your kids. Quite the contrary. I know how hard it is to even figure out what the right thing would be. I know that doing it 100% of the time is impossible. I know that we all do our best, and if you're feeding your kids juice every day, you have your reasons and we'll all survive.

Okay, and if you don't think I'm the world's biggest heel after reading this post so far, I'm going to give you a good reason to think I'm a jerk. Yesterday we had some friends over for lunch. Some friends who happen not to eat pork for religious reasons. I was halfway through heating up a pile of lasagna before I realized what I was doing and had to switch to turkey coldcut sandwiches. I feel awful for being so inconsiderate. I mean, I had offered the lasagna on the spur of the moment without thinking it through, and the turkey sandwiches had actually been plan A. But still. I'm a freakin' idiot. Sorry, dear friends! I will try to be more considerate in the future!

I thought I had something

I know that at some point earlier today I had a blog post all ready in my head, but it is after 11 and Sophie just went down, and my brain is fried. So I'm going to throw the blog a small bone and then I am going to go sit on the couch, watch Grey's Anatomy on DVD from Netflix, and self-medicate with a bag of Tostitos and a fresh jar of Paul Newman's peach salsa, which sounds disgusting, but as I discovered over the weekend at a 5-year-old's birthday party, is actually somewhat addictive.

Here are my diaper-bag socks. Jaywalkers made out of Sandy's Palette sock yarn. It's a single-ply wool/nylon fingering weight. So far I kind of like knitting with it. I'm not all that thrilled with the weird little nipple things that poke out where the Jaywalker pattern merges into the toes, but at least they don't show when they're stretched out on the hoof.



Here's Julie today, fingerpainting with the Color Wonder packet someone gave her for her birthday. The thing that makes me laugh about this product is that it's still quite possible for kids to get the paints all over the place, only it's invisible so you can't see it to clean it up right away. But you notice it a week later when it's all crusty and much harder to wipe off. Also, kids are limited to coloring in the pre-printed pictures provided - no creativity there! Still, she has fun playing with it and that's what counts. I guess.


Here's Sophie enjoying some rice cereal and pureed green beans. The last few times we've sat down for dinner, she's actually been opening her mouth and eating the food versus gagging or spitting it out. I don't know if she's decided eating is fun or maybe she just likes green beans. Either way, it's been a lot more fun.


Mailbag questions answered tomorrow, I hope. Good night!

Hello Blankie!

It's been a bit since we got all face to face with the blankie. I don't like to show it off too often, because it feels like the progress is awfully slow and I don't want to bore the world with each and every new miter. Laying it out for pictures every couple of weeks makes me feel better because I can see actual change since the previous set of pictures and know that one day it will be big enough to call finished. So, here's the area on which I've been working the last couple of days:



And here's the whole thing spread out. It took a bit of effort to tuck all the loose ends to the back, which means it is way past time for an end-weaving session around here. If I work on it when Sophie is awake, she loves to grab at them.



Okay, I hope I have caught the attention of everyone who is even mildly interested in the blankie. Ready? If you want to knit it, scroll down on the right hand side and look for "Blankie Tutorial". I get people asking for information about the pattern every day, and it cuts into my knitting time responding individually. This is my own version of the general mitered square idea floating around out there. Go read the tutorial entries and I explain all about it. No, there is no printed pattern and not likely going to be. You have my permission to print it out off the blog for your own personal use.

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to brag on some of the other people knitting blankies of their own (and to nag on some of them - you know who you are - to share some more pictures on their blogs - all in a very friendly manner, mind you!)

I got an e-mail today from Meg, who is blogless, sharing this photo of her blankie. She says much of what's in it is her own handspun. How cool is that? Very.



Andrea just posted an update on her blankie as well. I think it is so cute how she keeps adding on to it and making it into a triangle. You know, Andrea, you're going to have to bite the bullet and work up those edge miters one of these days. They're not that bad - really!

I've had what feels like a lot of other people tell me they are going to start blankies. I would love to see pictures, whether on a blog or via e-mail. If you want to be added to the knitalong list, let me know and I'll put you up.

Changing subject, and interesting thing happened today. Both girls took naps, and were sleeping (albiet briefly) at the same time. I don't think this has ever happened before. Julie doesn't usually nap any more, but I forced her to today because she was super tired (she has a bit of a cold, and pre-school really wears her out). Then, I nursed Sophie down for a nap, and realized I had a photo op on my hands.



When I opened the bedroom door, I found Julie laying on the floor, snuggled under the duvet at the end of the bed. Not sure why she chose that spot, but it apparently worked for her.



The simu-napping lasted only about 20 minutes, but it was long enough for me to take a shower.

Okay, one last thing. Or, maybe two. First, thanks for the apology, Anonymous. I'm glad that you realized I'm not as horrible as you thought. Why don't you stick around and think up some pseudonym to use if you're not comfortable using your own name - just call yourself Betty or something so that if/as you make more comments we get used to your voice and know who you are a bit. Second, Allison left a comment on yesterday's post that left me a little floored. I'm sorry, but I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say entirely. I totally want to avoid shutting of anonymous comments because I DO understand the many reasons why people don't want to sign up for Blogger accounts. Not everybody should have a blog, and the reasons Allison listed are all valid ones. I have, in the past, made comments about being sad that certain people are blogless, only because I wish we could all share them online, not because I think it makes them any lesser. I believe Allison and I mostly share the same attitude, I'm afraid I must have said something misleading, and I apologize for any confusion.

I'm glad yesterday's comfort food was - well - comforting. Now, off to bed for me - I'm exhausted!

Lasagna

First, I want to thank everyone for their supportive comments. Trolls suck a lot of positive energy out of a blog, and I appreciate you all helping to fill it back up. I'm hesitant to close of anonymous comments altogether because there are people out there not familiar with blogging enough to have an account set up yet, and because I'm willing to let people post anonymously as long as they play nice. If it were to become a regular problem, I would reconsider.

We had a much better day today overall, despite a couple of potty "accidents". It's not the accidents that bother me so much, it's the attitude, and luckily all three of us girls had the right one today.

I made one of my favorite meals, lasagna. We ate it for dinner and it turned out marvelously, and life was good. Most people I know in real life make lasagna by going to the freezer case in their local supermarket and picking out something in a foil pan by Swanson's or Marie Calendar. I can't tell you how many times I have gone to other people's houses for special occasions and eaten store-bought lasagna, and it makes me a little sad. Homemade is so much better, and my particular recipe simply rocks my world.

There are about a million different ways to make lasagna, just as there are a million different techniques in knitting, but tonight I am going to share with you my particular lasagna-making ritual, including a pan that is safe for my multiple-food-allergic Julie to eat with gleeful abandon, or at least the kind of acceptance that ends with a relatively clear plate and unprompted utterance of the sentance "Thanks for making this for dinner, Mama."

My recipe is based on a combination of the ones that used to appear on the Creamette pasta boxes, but I was disappointed to find that they have changed the recipe since the last time I made it, probably about a year ago. I usually make multiple pans at one time, partly because I have to accomodate Julie's allergies so she gets a pan of her own, and partly because it freezes so well and is a mess to assemble, so why not make enough to last a month or so? Let's start off with the ingredients.

• 1-lb box lasagna pasta - either regular wheat or rice-based. Tinkyada and EnerG both make acceptable rice versions, and you'll use about 3/4 box per 9X13 pan.
• 1 lb ground meat - you can use italian sausage, ground beef, or any other ground meat that you prefer. Tonight I used half ground beef and half really high-quality chorizo from the co-op.
• A 25-26 oz. jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce - if you're making more than one pan, go ahead and buy one extra jar so you can be generous. I like Muir Glen Spicy Tomato, but you can pick your own favorite or use homemade if you've got it.
• Ricotta cheese 15 oz container - I buy the lower fat, but under no circumstances should you buy fat free (yuck!)
• 2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs
• Various veggies, pick which ones you find acceptable - onion, red and green bell peppers, spinach, mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant

Let's get cooking!

First, go ahead and brown your meat while you're prepping the veggies. Get the meat nice and safely cooked all the way through, then drain off and discard all the grease. Chop up the onion, peppers and mushrooms, slice thinly the zucchini and eggplant. I usually buy the spinach prechopped in one of those frozen bricks, so thaw that out on the counter or in the microwave and squeeze every drop of water you can get out of it. Remember, you don't have to include any veggies at all, but the more you can include the better it will be for you, and the more complex the flavor of your meal. Really, most of them will be disguised by the cheese and sauce. I did my chopping last night in anticipation of less available time today.

Set the meat aside and sautee the onion, peppers, mushrooms in the same skillet till the mushroom liquid has cooked off and everything is nice and soft. Set these aside for a few minutes, too.

In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs and mix with the Ricotta, the Parmesan and half the Mozzarella. Pull out your 9X13 casserole pan(s) and line up all the ingredients on the counter for the assembly fun. One of the things about making lasagna is that you will use just about every inch of available counter space and get lots of pots, pans and bowls dirty, but somehow it is worth all the clean-up. Here's what my kitchen looked like at about this point.



Take your pan and spread 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom. Make sure for this and all other layers that you spread the ingredient all the way out to the edges and corners. Put a layer of the uncooked noodles on top of it. Trust me, you don't want to boil the noodles. You have enough pans dirty already, and pre-boiling them will just get them overcooked. I can usually fit three noodles across, then I break one just long enough so I can fit it on the end of the pan going the other direction. Spread 1 cup of the sauce on top of the noodles, then half of the cheese mixture on top of that. Spread out your meat as your next layer, then if you're using sliced zucchini and/or eggplant, a layer of those. Add another layer of noodles. This time, put the sideways noodle on the other end of the pan for better stacking balance. Another layer of sauce, another layer of cheesy stuff, then spread out your sauteed veggies. If you have more zucchini or eggplant, add those now, or a layer of spinach would be fine too. Top with one more layer of noodles and another cup of sauce.

If you're cooking for someone allergic to dairy, you will have skipped the cheese layers, or substituted some kind of soy product if you like (I've never tried the soy though, so I can't guarantee how it will work). If you're dealing with an egg allergy, you could still use the cheese layer, just leave out the eggs. It's okay, really, I promise! Julie gets it without the cheese layers at all, and she snarfs it down like it's the best thing ever.

This next step is important. Cover tightly with foil. You want to hold all the moisture in there so that the noodles get cooked. At this point, you can stick the whole thing in the fridge for up to 24 hours if you're assembling ahead of time, or even stick it in the freezer if you're making an extra pan for next month. I sometimes make an extra one in a disposeable pan and take it to someone with a new baby or an illness in the family. When you're ready to eat, bake for one hour at 350, a little longer if it was frozen. You want it to be hot and bubbly and the noodles tender. Take it out and remove the foil. If you're using cheese, sprinkle another cup or so of Mozzarella on top and stick it back in the oven till the cheese is melted. Bring it back out and let it sit for at least five minutes to sort of solidify before cutting into it.

Here's what tonight's cheesy version looked like:



Here's what Julie's version looked like:



And here's some on the plate - YUM!



A couple of other tips - do as much cleanup of the prep dishes as you can while it's in the oven, because you will still have a pan or two and the leftovers to deal with after dinner. This recipe makes about 12 servings per pan, a few less if you leave out the dairy layers or have gigantic appetites. I have a collection of the Ziploc storage containers, and I just go ahead and put individual servings in the freezer, labelled with post-it notes showing the date and either Lasagna or Lasagna-Julie so that it's easily identified. When you want to reheat, it's best to use 50% power for the first half of the cooking, maybe 5 minutes, so that it cooks through the middle without burning the edges. Also, put it on a plate and cover it with waxed paper first so that the plastic chemicals don't seep into your food, and so that the cheap plastic container doesn't melt.

Before and After

Before my class today, I had an appointment at the hair salon. Let's see if you can tell any difference. You might have to look kind of hard because the pictures are a little fuzzy.

Before:


After:


It was nice being away from the family all day, and even nicer to come home and have them excited to see me again. Julie came running in the kitchen, stopped and took a look at me, and said "Mommy, did you get a haircut?" in the cutest little voice ever. Yes, sweetie, yes I did. Even Sophie gave me a good hard look.

Here's Sophie in the tub tonight. Another great reason for them to hate me when they're older.

It sure is fun to watch her playing in the tub. She loves to crawl around and try to catch the bath toys. I took a video of it tonight as well, but I'm not going to post it for the freaks to get to my site already searching for baby pr0n. yick.

Answering today's mailbag...

About the beaded socks - I'm just using cotton crochet thread and a simple chain stitch. You can use a small crochet hook and poke it right through the sock fabric, chain around the edge, chain 4 more, chain around a bead, chain four more, and repeat around. Then I'm just weaving in the ends in my crochet work. My plan is to toss them in a delicates bag and into the washer and dryer with the other whites. So far that is working just fine for the socks Carolyn sent us, and they're all staying on no problem. Hope that helps.

Our friend Anonymous came back today, and I guess she didn't believe me when I said if you want to post mean-spirited comments on my blog you need to at least leave your name with them. So I deleted her hot, steaming pile of horse shit. See, Anonymous? I can be much cruder when I try. I'm not going to continue this conversation any further. You're not worth it. Your comments are mean-spirited and ignorant.

Here's the thing about anonymous comments. People say things in a much meaner way than they would if they considered their adversary might one day look them in the eye. It's perfectly fine to give constructive advice around here. That's actually preferable to just going with the flow to avoid disagreement. But if you're doing that in the context of an ongoing conversation with even a pseudonym attached to your every post, a relationship develops - one where the other's feelings are considered and words are chosen more carefully. I don't like the feeling I get when I respond to these anonymous posts. It is too tempting to say very mean things - much meaner than anything I have yet posted. It leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. It's poisonous. So no more. I don't care how horrible your next allegations or suggestions might be, or how tempting they are. I'm deleting them. I want to get back to my stories and pictures about knitting and children and life.

One last thing - I'm pretty darn honest here. I sometimes share the nitty-gritty of my experience as a full-time mom. I do it after bedtime, when I am not taking time away from my kids. It's theraputic for me, and I have gotten lots of other comments from other moms here and in real life to the effect of "I'm glad it wasn't just me." When my kids and their friend get old enough to be reading the internet, I can always go back and password protect the sensitive parts of this site. In the meantime, it is doing only good.

I don't even like crochet!

It's been a hard week for me and the girls. Julie and I have been in a negative feedback loop where she starts the day off whiny and uncooperative and I struggle with trying to stay positive, sometimes failing into angry frustration. It's not pretty. Sophie is teething and in the middle of a developmental burst where she's working hard on crawling and pulling up, and is just a bit clingier than her normal self. This adds to the problem, since it's that much harder for me to give either one of them the attention they deserve.

By the time Joe gets home in the evening, I just want to run away. But I don't. I hand them off and cook dinner, and try to pull it together somewhat so we can have a positive bed time and hopefully start the day fresh tomorrow. I know it's going to get better, but it's hard to believe when Julie has just soiled her pants for the second time in the day even though she was just sitting on the potty saying she was all done. All I can say is I'm really glad that tomorrow I get to leave the girls with Joe and go be an adult for a few hours while I teach a class at the store.

In the mean time, Sophie did go to bed at a decent hour this evening, and I spent my precious decompression time not working on the blankie (although I did squeeze in a square earlier today during lunchtime); not working on the bavarian twist sweater (which I love, but am avoiding); but instead on this:



That's a beaded-cuff sock for Julie. She loves the ones that Carolyn sent us, and I thought it would be fun to whip up some more for her- they are sort of an instant-gratification kind of project. Julie has been threading beads on and off all week, so she has even contributed to the project in her own maddening little way. I can't tell you how many times I've had to remind her one bead at a time, don't throw the beads, pick the beads up off the floor so Sophie doesn't get them, yadda yadda. But she enjoys playing with them. She kept saying she was making a bunny costume for Sophie out of the beads. How cute is that? Cute enough to keep me from running away with my yarn and becoming a knitting hermit in a cave. Or maybe on top of a cliff. Have y'all seen the video linked on Boogaj today - go watch it it's hilarous.

So anyway, one sock down, one to go. I bought a six-pack of socks at Target and enough beads to decorate them all. I'm thinking they might make good gifts too. Even though I really don't care for crochet.

Let's address a few comments.

Lisa wants a pattern for the pants. Anyone else interested in a pattern for the pants? I'll work one up - they're super easy - but if you volunteer a little data on sizes, the size you want will be available a lot faster. You'd just have to supply me with a few measurements off an existing pair of leggings.

Carolyn, thanks for the great tip on advance preparation for dinner. This is something that I've done in the past, and sometimes just fall out of the habit on. I mean, if it's a choice in solving tomorrow's dinner emergency and getting a little knitting or blogging time in, it's hard not to be selfish and worry about tomorrow tomorrow. Still, I should get back in the habit and life would be better. So thanks for the reminder!

Oooh! This just in! I just got an extremely enlightened comment from an anonymous commenter on yesterday's post. You ready? It so fits the mood I'm in I had to laugh for about five minutes and go share it with Joe before reacting. Here we go.

"Let us hope you get rid of your comments about daughter "crapping in her pants" before she learns to read. Crude. And she'll hate you for it!"

Ooh. Yes. I am crude. I'm telling the truth about my three-year-old, who like every other three year old there has ever been or ever will be, is in the middle of potty training. You don't want to hear about it? Don't come back, because honey, I've got another one on the way up, and we're going to vent about all her issues as they present themselves as well. That way, they can both hate me together. Never mind that while they're reading about crapping their pants, they'll also be reading about how much I love them and how hard I'm trying to be the best mom I can. You want to make a comment like that, put your name on it next time.

Quickie

I spent too much time tonight responding to e-mails and doing various other stuff, and I'm not staying up till 2 a.m. again tonight, so I'm just going to throw at you the pictures I took today before I run off to bed. Except, let me beg you please, pretty please, If you're going to ask me a question on the blog - one that might in any way be one you'd like a response e-mail to - PLEASe! Put your e-mail address in the form, or in the text of your comment. Don't make me come to your blog and find your e-mail address. I'm crabby enough already. Sorry.

Here's Julie showing off the hat-type thing she made at pre-school today.

Julie had a big milestone last night. She finally made poopie in the potty for the first time. Of course, she still took a crap in her pants this afternoon, but I feel like we're moving in the right direction.

Here's Sophie parked in her high chair while I attempted to get dinner started. That lasted for all of about 15 minutes, most of which was taken up by helping Julie with the things she was doing on the other end of the counter. I read A Little Pregnant, and I remember her saying that her son Charlie loved to play with raw carrots around this age. So today I peeled one and handed it to Sophie to see what she'd do with it. Totally not interested. Maybe we'll try again another day. How DO all the other stay-at-home moms manage to get dinner made without their kids screaming at them? 'Cause it's not happening here. Not today anyway.


We've seen these socks many times before. Now that they're back from the Fair, I decided to go ahead and wear them today. Let's take a moment to admire the ribbing that goes all the way to the tips of the toes. Why don't we all do this? For as much as these socks cost to make, I'm not sure I love them all that much. The colors just aren't quite right.


Really bad picture here, but I got a new pair of fall shoes today. They're Birkenstock clogs, and they're dark brown. I used a gift certificate Joe gave me for some holiday that came last spring. They are very comfortable, and not entirely ugly.


Finally, another lovely package came in the mail today from Debi in Florida. Debi sent me a really nice pile of all kinds of yummy sock yarn bits. I'm sorry, I want to tell you more about them, but I am exhausted. The thing I wonder is what does a lady from Florida do with all those wool socks? I'm not sure I care as long as I get her cast-off bits. Thanks, Debi!

After Midnight (again)

Sheesh. It's 12:09 and I just put Sophie in her crib. Poor kid - I do not know why she was so upset tonight, but she sure was, and Joe had to run back to work because the temperature in the computer lab was going up and somehow the system magically text messaged his phone. Thank goodness Julie stayed asleep. Anyway, I have a mishmash of responses to comments and odds and ends to share, so let's get to it.

If you're coming over here from Stephanie's site and you want to read my take on the Eau Claire visit, go here. But feel free to stick around and see what else I've been up to if you like as well. Poor Stephanie - I'm sending her positive thoughts right now as she finishes up that book. Hurry up, woman! I want to read it!

Oh, and for those of you who didn't follow along on the yarn-burial situation - I have a ton of yarn for my blankie. More than I can possibly use. I have already forwarded quite a bit on to others making blankies (see the knitalong list in the sidebar) as well as people making various things for charities. If you still have some sock yarn scraps that you are dying to get rid of, I will still take them and make sure they find a good home (possibly even in my blankie) - just send me an e-mail at shellyk at shellykang dot com, but don't worry about me not having enough.

A couple of people have asked about my knitting patterns. They are sold at a couple of local yarn shops - the Yarnery in St. Paul is where I teach, and they carry almost all of them; All About Yarn in Coon Rapids sells some; and a new store, the Yarn Garden in Anoka, just ordered a small batch as well. I have a small portfolio of patterns written up, including Toe-Up Socks with short-row heels and toes; Two-Needle Mittens for Beginners; Slip-Stitch Baby Hat (scroll down on that page to see them); Fall Leaves Socks; Ivy Motif Socks; Sherbet Stripe Socks; Argyle Vest; Glittens and Holiday Minis. If you're interested in getting a copy, or if you work for a store and are interested in carrying them, please e-mail me and I can either give you a price or send samples.

About the Fair Isle hats, I don't have a pattern written up exactly - I have class notes from a class that I teach at the store where you design your own hat as you learn to knit stranded. It's a popular class and I love teaching it. I might be persuaded to share those too if someone lives too far away to get to the class. I hope that answers the questions well enough.

I want to welcome Katy Kelsey to the blanket knitalong. She says she's starting a blankie in all Koigu. Katy, I want to see some pictures! It sounds luxurious.

Okay, I know I promised a picture of the pants on Julie last week, but she didn't end up wearing them till today. Let me just say it is very hard to get a good picture of pants on a three-year-old. Here's the best I could do:



They fit her pretty well, and she likes them, although she wasn't as over-the-top excited about wearing them as I had hoped. That's life.

Sophie celebrated Talk Like a Pirate Day one day late. Here she is in the little shirt Joe bought for Julie at this age.



And, for comparison, here's Julie wearing the same outfit when she was about six months old.



I'm zonked. I'm going to bed.

Night Out for Blankie

Yesterday was the kind of day about which it is sometimes better not to speak. For fear of overwhelming all y'all with my whininess. We will talk about today instead, which was quite bearable. Almost anything could have happened today, and it would have been okay since I had a night out planned this evening. As it was, things were not perfect today, but they were definitely good enough. I said that already, didn't I? Okay - let's look at a cute baby picture right away.



That's Sophie, wearing a hat that I knit for Julie, but that Julie wore only long enough for a picture because it was a bit too small for her. Here's the Julie pic from the archives. Julie was about a year old in that picture, and she is also wearing a handknit sweater. Anyway, it's a silly hat but I love it.



So we survived our day today. Somehow, both girls managed to take naps, which is extremely unlikely. They didn't do it at the same time, but that's okay because it gave me a little time alone with each of them. I also managed to cook dinner while Sophie was asleep, which worked out perfectly because we ate immediately when Joe got home, allowing me to get out the door in time to make it to the Knitter's Guild meeting, after getting disoriented and driving around for an extra half hour trying to get back on course.

Arriving late was fine, as I missed the boring business part of the meeting and got there just in time to see all the knitters showing off their State Fair entries. I sat in the back row working on the blankie and catching up with a friend that I haven't seen in a long time. I got the scoop on the Knit-Out plans, and know the whole story on the location issue, which has been a local hot button. I got up and showed off my fair stuff, and got some good feedback. It's funny, I ran into a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time, which was great, I ran into some people who had bought my patterns and introduced themselves, which made me a little self-conscious but felt great too...and several people mentioned reading this blog (hi!) which made me actually blush.

When I sit here writing all this stuff, I don't usually think of people I don't know but will actually meet some day reading this. I mean, I know you're out there, and the same thing happened in Eau Claire. It's great. It's just kind of weird because there is a persona out there, an image of me that people create in their heads from my writing. I share all kinds off stuff with the world. I've shared very personal information like Sophie's birth story, I've spouted off a lot of wild opinions and I've even done what could be considered more than my share of bragging. As much as I know that I'm making a permanent record of all this stuff by putting it out on the internet, it's always surprising to me when someone mentions having read about something on my blog. Anyway, I'm glad you're here.

The blanket liked the attention tonight too. Even though I was sitting in the back row, several people approached me and asked about it. I'm off to go visit the cabled sweater for a few rounds before bed.

Two Fine Days

We've had an almost perfect weekend here, with the exception of a little excessive whining on Julie's part. Not sure what's going on there, but it comes and goes, and I'm sure if we trudge on through it will get better again. In the mean time, it didn't stop us from having fun.

We started off Saturday morning with a trip to the Minneapolis Farmers Market - just me and the girls because Joe had to go get his hair cut. I've lived here for something like nine years, and this was my first trip. I don't know why I never went down there before, but I'm glad we finally did. Yes, it was crowded. Yes, I spent more money than I expected to. But oh my goodness there were so many things to see, hear, taste and smell! Right off, I saw a kettle corn booth, and since Julie had been quite whiney about not wanting to go, not wanting to be there up until we got out of the car, I decided to buy a bag and hand it to her to make sure she'd be happy. It worked. The kid chowed on popcorn pretty much the entire time we were there, but I'm okay with that. I had the girls in the double stroller, and although it was a little hard to navigate through the crowds and along the aisles, it was great to know exactly where everyone was at all times, and it was great for carrying all the stuff I bought. Here they are sitting next to one of the many vegetable stands. So many local growers with fresh veg of all kinds!



This guy was cutting samples of his canteloupes, and they were amazing! Just looking at them, with their dark orange flesh dripping with juice had me ready to buy one, but then I caught the smell and tasted a ball and oh boy! I haven't cut mine open yet, but it's smelling up the kitchen and will make great breakfasts this week.


Here's another vegetable stand. Just look at the colors! I felt a little weird about taking pictures of most of the stands, but there were so many beautiful flowers, too. There were several stands selling fresh herbs, and as the wind blew over them, the scent was unbelievable.


There were food stands, too. We bought some frozen tamales from one guy, then in the next aisle there was a lady selling single heated ones. It sounded good, so I bought one to share with Julie. She took a couple of bites and asked for more popcorn, but I thought it was pretty good. Sophie was happy chewing on her plastic rings. She still doesn't have those bottom teeth out yet, but it's got to happen one day soon.


There were street entertainers as well - some musicians, and this guy, a clown making balloon animals. What they say about clowns being scary is true. He knelt down next to her so I could take this picture, and she said "I want my mommy!" It was one of those moments where you feel sorry for your kid but at the same time warms your heart because you know you are their end-all be-all.



She was happy again once he handed her a bunny and backed the heck off. Until the bunny popped a few minutes later.


The morning overall was a complete success, and I came home with fresh corn, beets, apples, peppers, and some other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting as well as the cone of cinnamon almonds that I treated myself to since nobody else in the family can eat them (Joe's allergic and we're holding off on nuts for Julie till she's at least four.)

It really was a fine day out, and the morning had been really windy, so after lunch we all walked to the park and flew our kite. It's a tiger, and we managed to get it up pretty high a couple of times, although the wind had died down somewhat and was coming only in gusts.


Julie had fun for about ten minutes, then wanted to go play on the playground, so Joe took her over there while I played with the kite for a few more minutes (I had Sophie in the sling) and then put it away and joined them.


Here we are sitting on the blanket, Julie having a little snack. It's not so often these days that the circumstances of not having Sophie in my lap and Julie wanting to sit in my lap collide, but it happened and it is wonderful to know for a moment that she is still my cuddle-bunny too.


Today was a good day, too, although much more laid back. Just a quiet day at home, maybe to make up for the fun we had yesterday. We got to eat a nice dinner out for free because the Granite City restaurant that is getting ready to open nearby was having their run-through night tonight. A friend called me this afternoon and told me to call up and make a reservation. They had a limited menu, and we all had to choose different meals, but otherwise it was their practice night to train the wait staff. I'm kicking myself, though, because like a total ass, I didn't think to call more friends till we were on our way home from dinner and then I was all "Why didn't we call so-and-so?" Sorry, friends!

And now on to some knitting. The blanket... The blanket is starting to remind me of "Audrey Jr." from the Little Shop of Horrors. She keeps asking to be fed more yarn, then she gets a little bigger and her voice gets a bit louder and she gets even hungrier. Now she's big enough, even started wrapping herself around me as I knit. I don't think she's dangerous yet. Here's the area I was working on tonight.



Now that the pants are done, there's another project piping up for some action, and I think it makes a good case to hurry up and get it done. This is a dark picture because I captured a lot more of the texture without the flash than with it, but here is the little sweater I was working on for Julie to match Sophie's prize-winning one.



This one is a pale cream color, and the cables are slightly different, but it is turning out just as lovely if not more so. The body is finished up to the underarms, so I need to get started on the sleeves. I'd say this project is at least halfway done. I think my mind just froze up when the time came to map out the sleeve stitches and numbers - and it didn't help that it coincided with a particularly bad moment in Sophie's sleep history. Sophie has been going to bed at a more acceptable time the last couple weeks (knock wood - we're not going to discuss it any further for the moment) so it is time. Time for a finished sweater! I'm going to go figure out and hopefully cast on that first sleeve right now. Wish me luck.

Better

Thanks for all the supportive comments over the doctor's visit. The last couple of days have been significantly better than Wednesday was. Julie woke up Thursday seeming to have forgotten the doctor's office incident entirely. On top of that, it was just about the nicest weather we ever get here in Minnesota both days, and you just can't beat that. So off she went to school and when I picked her up, we went to meet some friends for lunch. Here is Julie with Maymuna hanging out on a bench. I don't know what it is with little kids and benches, but they love to climb up on them and sit. Maymuna and her little sister Hafsa have got to be the second-cutest pair of sisters on the planet. They are really cute.





Sophie enjoyed playing with Hafsa at the park after lunch. Maybe she enjoyed playing with Hafsa a little too much - she's grabbing Hafsa's hair!


Awww...that's better.


One more baby picture, I promise, and then we will move on into a tiny bit of actual content. Warning, though, this one is a little gross. Here is what happens when a baby waits four days to poop, then goes ahead and fills her pants halfway through a car ride. When I realized what she had done, I was actually relieved because she'd been working on it all day and I knew nap time was imminent. Right after I figured out how to get her cleaned up. The positive things you can see in this picture include how long her hair has gotten and the fact that she is crawling. Still, Yuck!


Okay, now to something you might really care about. I got another package in the mail yesterday! Cindy from the comments sent me a few blobs of yarn, and some really cute pictures of her daughter. Cindy made a really kind, insightful comment on the post I wrote last week about Julie's school and my concerns. Cindy, I'm glad I didn't offend you, and I'm glad you understand where I'm coming from. Thanks for the package, and thanks for being a friend. Karly is beautiful.



Speaking of Julie's school - this first week has been great! She's happy when I drop her off and when I pick her up, and has started talking about the other kids a bit. Two more "typical" kids joined the class, which makes me feel a bit better about the balance. It is really nice having a couple hours with just Sophie a few times a week. When you're used to juggling two kids, having just one is a breeze, plus I find myself talking more to Sophie directly, smiling at her more, kissing on her without worrying about making Julie jealous or balancing out the attention.

I also have to mention my office. I've been making some progress in digging out of my mess. The bed is cleared off, most of the yarn is put away, I got rid of one bin of clothes entirely, and everything else is sorted. I do need to run some trash out still, and the thank-you notes are waiting, but I did get four months worth of filing put away, and the checkbook is balanced. Whoo! Of course, not much knitting has happened the last night or two, and the blanket is getting a little upset. I'm going to go give it a little attention here in a few minutes.

Fancy Pants

I proudly announce, I have a finished object to report. Hot off the needles, even. You ready? Julie's pants are done. I treated myself to an evening on the couch sewing up the casing around the elastic and watching Netflix DVDs. I needed it after the day we had, but I'll get to that in a minute. Here are the pants:



Julie hasn't tried them on yet because she is fast asleep, and I am not quite crazy enough to wake her up even for freshly knitted pants. I'll get a picture tomorrow because I know she'll want to wear them. From what I can tell so far, I am thrilled with the way they turned out.

Now, on to my craptastic day. Really, I had a pretty good day, there were just about 30 minutes of not so fun, but it left me exhausted with a headache. We went to knitting group this morning, and we managed to show up almost an hour late, then contribute to some serious damage to a piece of antique furniture with a washable Crayola marker that only came partially out of the velour when we used an entire container of wet wipes to hide the evidence. Even so, a good time was had overall, and that was not the bad part of my day. We drove over to the mall and ate a little lunch at Potbelly, and that was also not a bad part of the day, not at all.

Then, we headed over to the pediatrician's office where we had a double appointment scheduled - Sophie's 6-month checkup, which is only a month late, and Julie's three-year checkup, which was right on time. I thought I was being all cool killing two birds with one stone, and for the most part it worked out well. Both girls are generally healthy and on track with their developmental skills, height and weight. I had a nice discussion about Julie's allergies with the doctor, and she offered to test Julie for Celiac and also run some more allergy blood tests to see if maybe she is starting to outgrow them. I took her up on that in a heart beat, since the allergist completely poo-pooed me when I asked for the Celiac test, even though Julie tested negative for a wheat allergy but definitely has a reaction when she eats it. The doctor had a very civilized discussion about our vaccination plan with me, and we agreed to shots for both Julie and Sophie. Can you start to guess where the not-so-great part of my day came in?

The nurse tried to do Julie's blood draw first, and of course I got to help hold her down (gently, with a big hug basically), and of course she did not like it one bit. Especially when the first arm didn't work out after several pokes and quite a bit of prodding. They had about five vials to fill, and didn't even get one out of the first arm. The nurse went and got a different nurse, who tried the other arm and got it to work right away, along with much screaming and tears from Julie, who I was still hugging and trying to distract with some songs while trying not to cry myself. It didn't help that there was a third nurse in the room the whole time doing nothing but saying the incredibly wrong things to Julie in what, I'm sure was a well-intended attempt to distract her. It also didn't help that Sophie was sitting in her car seat this whole time crying because she was mostly naked and overtired and wanted to be held. After the blood draw, then they had to stick her in the leg with another needle. Poor Julie. She got lots of band-aids and stickers and treats this afternoon, let me tell you. I think if she had asked for a pony I would have said "what color?"

I barely got Julie calmed down and they were ready to give Sophie her shots. Sophie who was still upset with me, Sophie my normally-sunny little chub. So then both girls were crying, and I had to get them both calmed down and dressed, and they always say "Take as much time as you need" when you know they want you out of there asap so they can use the room again, but I took a good fifteen minutes or so, and we ended up spending almost two and a half hours in the doctors office in all. Talk about draining.

Ending on a bright note, here is Sophie covered in rice cereal and sweet potatoes. She's still not super into eating solids, but she does enjoy grabbing the spoons and chewing on the wash cloths.

Whirlwind

I am taking a break from all the things I need to be doing in order to write up a little post. My office is still a whirlwind, although some things have been put away, other things have been pulled out, and the to-do list is still frightening. It goes something like this:

Get an order of patterns and a packet of samples out in the mail to a new store that has contacted me (yay!)

Write up thank-you notes for Julie's birthday party and get those out in the mail

Pay some bills and enter the never-ending stack of receipts into Microsoft Money (blech).

Fold some laundry.

Ten other things which I know I promised myself today I would do tonight, but have since slipped my mind and I will be kicking myself tomorrow for not having done them.

Sew in the elastic on Julie's pants. I got started a day or two ago but have just not had time to get to them.

Knit a square or five on the blankie. (Oh, how I wish I had time to do this one!)

I want to share something with you that I found ridiculously funny today. I had to go to Best Buy to get a printer cartridge because the black one ran out just as I was in the middle of a different pattern order last night (when it rains it pours). I really don't care for Best Buy because I hate their customer service - every. single. time. I go in there it sucks. But it seems like every time I go looking for some techno-gadget, I end up there because it is the local place with the best deals and/or that carries what I am looking for. So I go into the one out in Minnetonka, because that was near another errand I was trying to accomplish during preschool time. I find the printer cartridges, and this is what the aisle looked like (sorry for the poor picture quality - I had to use my camera phone):




Does anyone else find it unusual that they had the printer cartridges displayed above and behind the blenders, toasters, and other small kitchen appliances? 'Cause that's where they were. With no prices listed for the print cartridges, just for the appliances. I have no idea why they wouldn't put the ink, say, with the printers. I didn't have time to investigate further because I wanted to have time for my second errand and still make it back to pick Julie up safely. Crazy store.

I know there were a bunch of other, much more interesting things I wanted to write about today, but of course they have slipped my mind. I do want to share that I just signed up for Secret Pal 9. This will be my first Secret Pal swap, and my second swap ever (I did the first Magic Ball swap a few months ago and it was fun.) Like I have time for this stuff. But it should be fun, and hopefully I'll get someone cool to pick out gifts for.

Back to work!

Of Harlots and Heathens

I'm sorry for the delay in posting the pictures of my amazing trip to Eau Claire to meet the Yarn Harlot, but it was I think around midnight when the van dropped me off at home, and I was exhausted from all the crazy excitement. I did a few things to get ready for Julie's first day at preschool and headed straight to bed. Anyway, the girls are in bed (for the moment at least) and now is my chance.

Let's go back to yesterday around 2 p.m. The living room was a mess. Julie was strewing her toys around faster than we could pick them up, and Sophie was scooting around the floor on her belly trying to grab all the toys, leading to many shouts of "MINE!" from Julie.


My fellow knitter-carpoolers started to show up, and I ran around alternately clearing spaces on the couch for them to sit and grabbing my daughters for last-minute squishes and kisses before leaving them behind with Daddy for wanton knitterly fun. We all piled into the van, drove off to pick up the last of us, and hit the open road on our way to Eau Claire and a meeting with the Harlot and lots of other insanely obsessed knitters. I have to tell you that at this point I realized that I was away from my responsibilities as a Mommy and free to really relax and enjoy myself for the next few hours. The sheer excitment of that fact was almost more than the actual plans of the evening. I had all kinds of adrenaline pumping through my body, and I'm afraid I was more than a little irrationally exhuberant.

We arrived at the Yellow Dog, a lovely little yarn shop in Eau Claire that was sponsoring Stephanie's appearance, and took a few minutes to look around. Only, I didn't really get a chance to look much because I started seeing people I know (from knitting camp, from the Guild, from the blog), and people who know me from the blog and just couldn't stop talking to them and showing off the blankie. People couldn't stop coming up and petting the blankie, and I was honestly a bit surprised that they were so impressed by it. I had a brief freak-out when I realized the pendant from my necklace was missing, and everyone in the store took a look around their feet - but we found it five minutes later on the sidewalk outside. Whew!

I took a minute to go talk to Dixie, the owner of the store, about where I could use my breast pump later in the evening when the need should arise. She was SO accomodating, and let me leave the thing in her office and told me to just go on in and make myself comfortable in there whenever I was ready. Dixie was super-nice and I could tell she was a little nervous, but seemed to be handling it all really well. I loved all her little touches for the evening, from chairs set up for people to hang out in while waiting to go see the show, to the pens handed out while signing up for door prizes, to the fact that she had a six-pack of Leinies ready for Stephanie, to the cute arrow-line made out of yarn directing people to the book signing, to the basket full of chocolates she circulated to those waiting in line among many other things. That Dixie, she's a planner!

Somewhere during this time at the store, a very nice knitter came up and told me she had a bit of yarn to contribute to the blanket and handed me a pretty little chunk of Koigu. See?



Because I'm an idiot who can't remember names, and because I was so overwhelmed with joy and excitement at just being around so many cool knitters, I have forgotten who she was. If you're her and you're reading, would you please tell me so in the comments? For that matter, if you're any of the many people I met and/or handed a card to that night, I would love to hear from you in the comments. The whole thing is like a very pleasant dream that is already fading out of memory.

Our little travel-group headed over to the sandwich shop across the street and snarfed down some food, then headed over to the Masonic temple where Stephanie was scheduled to speak. We made sure to get over there in plenty of time so that we scored a row of good seats all together. While we waited, we worked ourselves up with a few innocent hijinks that attracted much more attention than I expected. I said "Let's get a group picture of us before we forget!" Someone said "How about we take a picture of all our handknit socks together?" (That may have been me as well, but I don't want to take the credit if it was someone else.) So we sat down on the floor in a circle and asked a very nice gentleman who was sitting behind us to do the honors, and here is what we got:


Tipper has a picture on her blog with identification of all the feet, but I'll just say that mine are the brown-toed ones at the top, and no, that's not self-striping yarn. Pattern is available on request. Okay, and here is the nice gentleman who took the photo for us - I thought he deserved a public thanks for climbing up on the chairs for us, and for being such a good sport about it. So, thanks, Paul Rogovich! Nice legs.



Here is our little group of the van-pool, holding up the blankie (upside down - oops!). From left to right, back row is Meleah, Tipper, me, then in front is Stephania, Roxanne, and Kellee (who really should update her blog more often). These ladies are great! Thanks to Rox for driving, and to all the rest of you for making the trip so much fun. And for putting up with my insane exitement.


Okay, so Stephanie finally came on stage and I laughed so hard for so long that not only did my face hurt from smiling too hard, but my throat was sore as well. I love Stephanie's blog, and I like her books, but the woman is hilarious in person. Especially considering that this was the last stop on the current leg of her tour, and I know she must have been exhausted. I mean, I recognized a lot of the material from having read her books, but hearing her tell the stories out loud and on the fly was so much better. She is not as short as I expected, and her voice is different than I expected, although I can't tell you exactly what I was expecting or why.

Too soon, the talk was over, and we all headed back to the store for the signing. My friends got in line, and I headed into the office to do a little business with the breast pump. [And here I have to add a little aside. If you have a problem hearing about a nursing woman expressing her milk while away from her baby - Get the hell over it! It's part of life. This hostility brought to you by the one snotty knitter in line who got all pissy on me for mentioning in her presence the fact that I had been pumping when I came back out and explained to one of my friends where I had been and how I had gotten separated from them. I do apologize, however, for saying it so loudly because I hope I didn't hurt anyone's ears. I was trying to compromise between shouting over the crowd and pushing my way through the crowd while carrying a knitting bag, a cooler, and a breast pump. Oh my!]

Okay, so I came out and I got in line with my friends, and before I knew it I was meeting Stephanie Pearl-McPhee herself, in person in the flesh. It was a funny little conversation that we had. She saw the blanket and asked me if it had been inspired by the yarn-burial. So I said, "well, no, I'm Shelly". And here comes the funny part. In my excitement, I said, "I'm the Yarn Harlot. Oops, no, I mean, I'm the Heathen Housewife. You're the Yarn Harlot." And a couple of minutes later when someone took this picture, my face was still red with embarrassment. So then I fumbled around, and I gave Stephanie the homebrewed beer sent by my husband, along with a pint glass for properly pouring it. I dug out my book to be signed, we chatted for a moment about just exactly how much yarn I received, and then....



We took a couple of pictures. The blanket even got to meet the sock.


And then it was over, and I went back out into the main room of the store and looked around some more. Dixie came thisclose to selling me some cashmere. It was beautiful and soft, and came in cute little tiny balls of lace weight. But I am a little overwhelmed with recently-acquired stash at the moment, so instead I chose as my souvenir a bag. Because I love buying bags, and I really liked this one. Plus, I get to use it right away and it doesn't have to hide in the closet for months or years waiting its turn for my attention.



We went and had a beer and some greasy food at the pizza joint next door, then headed on back to the cities. The adrenaline subsided as we came closer to home, and by the time we tumbled out of the van, I was exhausted. It was probably the best day of adult fun I've had since Julie was born.

Oh, and one other thing about the trip. This is what I knit while I was out. I had one toe started before we left, and tried to knit the second toe in the van, but kept messing up because I was distracted talking. So I ripped it out and went back to knitting the plain stockinette, which I know very well is just about all I can do while distracted without making some fatal error. On the way home, things were a bit more subdued and I did get the second toe started again without much trouble. Till I started to get car sick, when I put the toe away and brought the stockinette back out again. I'm loving the yarn - it's ONLine, in a cotton-wool-nylon blend. The duck was just sitting on the counter and Julie wanted it to be in the picture.



So today was Julie's first day of pre-school, and I think she had a good time. I forgot to take the first-day-of-school picture when I dropped her off, so here she is with her teacher Kari when I picked her up.


Okay, and now it's time to face the music. I mentioned a few days ago that my office room is a disaster. I normally keep it pretty neat, and I have a hard time concentrating on anything when it gets cluttered. I have never had this much mess out at one time before, and my top priority for the rest of the evening is to clear some of it up. Are you ready to see the mess?


There is a bag of trash on top of the trash can, there are bins of yarn stacked up by the bed, with some baby junk thrown on top of that. There is a play gym that needs to be folded up and gotten rid of, there is the bag from yesterday's trip waiting to be put away, plus the new bag waiting to be filled and used. There are Julie's birthday presents waiting for me to write thank-you notes so I can put them away, there are huge piles, bags, and bins of baby and maternity clothes waiting to be disposed of, the table is covered with leftover goodie bags from the party, more blankie yarn, an empty box, an empty bag, and miscellaneous papers that need some sort of attention before they can be put away or other wise disposed. I'm not even showing you the desk, which is even scarier. Somewhere buried around here is the prescription slip for Julie's epi-pens which I either need to find and turn in or give up as lost and call the allergist so they can call in another one directly to the pharmacy. I guess I better get started.

Three!

Today was a red-letter day, that's for sure. Everything went smoothly, and I hardly could have asked for a better birthday for my new little three-year-old.* The weather was a little chilly and overcast for an outdoor party, and there was more than one kid running around with a pink nose, but - well, let's look at some pictures.

The birthday girl woke up in a pretty good mood, and was delighted to discover a baloon boquet waiting for her in the living room.


Harmony and Haribodji (Grandma and Grandpa) showed up to watch the girls for a few minutes while Joe and I went to the park to set up. They got a little lost on the way to the park and ended up a little late to the party, but it was no big deal. Joe's dad is so sweet holding Sophie. By stopping and taking a picture, I really ruined the moment because they were so cute interacting with each other.


Here is the cake all set up at the park. The kids had a great time checking it out, and I had to monitor it to keep them from poking at it. It's pretty messy, but the three-year-olds didn't seem to mind. See the "dirt" in Scoop and Muck's shovels? That's frosting. I *am* the shiz when it comes to kindergarten-style cake decoration. I had a hard time keeping Julie interested in playing because she wanted to blow out candles and cut the cake.


I found these cool party favors at the paper supply store - they're bubble pans and bigger-sized wands that you wave in the air. They were a hit with the kids and the adults.




People were pleasantly surprised when I asked them to take them home at the end of the party, and I think every family did.


Here's a picture looking down the table as I'm lighting the candles on the cake. Julie is obscured behind the little girl in the yellow, but I know I impressed a few people with how much I can do while carrying a baby around in a sling.


Here's Julie blowing out the candles with Daddy and Harmony looking on. Oh, and I guess that's me and Sophie in the foreground on the right. I was surprised how excited she and all the other kids were about wearing Bob the Builder party hats. Oh, and Julie cried while we sang Happy Birthday to her. I think all the attention focused on her was a little overwhelming.


She recovered quickly, and enjoyed her cake and ice cream with a side of Tostitos, which she doesn't get very often. She also had her first undiluted juice straight from the box today.


My friend Jen had the wonderful insight to offer to take a picture of the whole family, since us moms don't often make it in the pictures when we are the ones taking them. Check out the sweater on Sophie. Look familiar? It fits her really well, and I love the way the cables look all crisp and happy when they are stretched out just a bit on a real human body. It makes her feel all cuddly like a teddy bear.


Here we are opening the mountain of gifts people brought. I specifically asked every single person we invited with the exception of Joe's parents NOT to bring gifts. Nobody listened except for one very good friend who I appreciate. I'm not going to complain. It's just that we have so much STUFF as it is. I wanted lots of friends at the party for Julie, not lots of stuff. Well, we got both and life is good. I was really impressed with the quality of all the gifts. Most were not expensive, but they were all things I would have picked out myself - not just junk. I think by asking for no gifts, I at least achieved moderation - some people brought just a few sheets of stickers or little hair clips. That I can respect.


The party ended and we came home and tried to unload all the junk. Julie got to play with a few of the toys, including the new Lincoln Logs the grandparents bought for her. The rest I am going to put away and bring out maybe once a week so that she can enjoy the newness of each one individually. Joe took Julie to run an errand this afternoon so I got to take a little nap with Sophie. We treated ourselves to dinner out, and then it was time for bed. Here's Sophie in her little footie pajamas for the first time this fall. It's going to be down in the upper 40's (That's around 8 Celsius) again tonight.


My office room is a total wreck. I usually tease Joe about how junky his office room is, but mine is worse by far right now. All the birthday gifts, the clothes I was trying to sell last week, giant buckets of yarn, all kinds of papers and general detritus that has been collecting while I scurry around doing things more fun important than putting it away. It's going to stay that way for another day, too.

Right now I'm going to go start *another* pair of socks. I need some plain stockinette to take with me to the Harlot tomorrow so that I can give her my full, undivided attention, and I'm sad to say that even a simple pair of Jaywalkers is not simple enough for that. I have to look at my knitting to do increases and decreases. Can't have that. So, for tonight I will just make a toe or two and have them at the ready. I have a feeling tomorrow will be a second red-letter day. It's going to be a freakin' scarlet-letter weekend, which is perfect for one in which the Heathen meets the Harlot.



*Okay, so technically she's not three till Tuesday at 12:30, but we're limiting our celebration to today to avoid confusion. As far as she knows, today was her birthday.

Cakewalk

Today's main event was the baking and decorating of Julie's birthday cake. While I have no problem with baking a cake*, and I love the idea of decorating one in theory, the reality of decorating a cake is a little scary in our house.

I need enough cake to serve about 30 people** so I made a double-layer 9X13. Here is Julie licking the batter from the spatula while the first layer was in the oven.



Don't worry, everything was washed in between the mixing of the first cake and the second, so nobody's going to get Julie-cooties in their cake tomorrow. Also, our cakes don't contain eggs, so eating the batter raw is perfectly safe. Like I said, the baking was the easy part. While the second cake was cooling off and the frosting was warming back up to room temperature, I practiced my lettering skills with the aerosol-can-icing that I bought as a shortcut. Here's the results of my first attempt:



Be afraid. Be very afraid. The end result turned out much better, although Joe and I agreed that it looks a bit like a kindergarten art project gone wrong. I was only able to do the frosting part of the decorating tonight, since the box I bought to put the cake in isn't tall enough to cover the whole thing with the toys on top too. I'll have to wait till we get it to the park in the morning and quick do it then. I'll take a picture before it's served, though.

I am SO much better at knitting than I am at decorating cakes.



*Yes, even from scratch! Baking from scratch is nowhere near as hard as most people seem to think it is, and yields very satisfying results. My favorite chocolate cake recipe is the one on the Hershey's cocoa powder tin. mmm-MMM! Plus, when multiple food allergies are involved, baking your own is pretty much required.


**How did a birthday party for a 3-year-old end up with this many guests? I do not know. I do know that I was calling around all day today trying to get RSVPs, and more than half the people who are coming didn't bother to call and tell me. I feel lucky that I had enough goodie bags (barely) planned, and I'm still worried that there won't be enough cake. It will all be okay - we have lots of other snacks planned too.

State Fair Results and Party Prep

When we last corresponded, I was in the middle of a week chock full of errands and fun things to do, leading up to a weekend even fuller of fun things, including Julie's birthday party and the storming of the Harlot by a bunch of Twin Cities knitters. Let's resume our story at lunchtime yesterday. This is the exact moment when I was making a critical mistake. Julie was happily eating her left over soup and messing around with her sippy cup in ways that annoy me. Which is partly why she does it. Sophie was busy scooting herself across the kitchen floor in an attempt to come eat my toes. I - well, see in the far right of the picture on the counter? That's the edge of the sandwich that had me in the bathroom for much of the last 24 hours.



Or at least I'm pretty sure it was that. I had some left over chicken in the fridge from grilling on Sunday night, and I stripped it off the bones and doused it with barbecue sauce to eat cold on a sandwich. I really should have reheated it. I do know better, but I was hungry and in a hurry to scarf something down before one or both of the kids needed something. I'm feeling mostly better now, but it took a few doses of Immodium and Joe coming home early from work so I could sleep it off this afternoon. And we missed what I'm sure would have been a very fun play date this afternoon, which is almost the biggest bummer of them all. Bleah.

The good news is that I got just about everything else done yesterday that I intended to before the illness hit. Elastic was purchased, as were party supplies, and most importantly, the State Fair entries were collected from the Creative Activities building. Here we have Harry cat helping me unpack them and remove all the tags and papers.



I have to say, I'm very pleased after reading the comments from the judges. I really appreciate how much time the judges took to write meaninful thoughts and suggestions, especially considering how many items they have to look at and how little time they have. For those who haven't entered the fair before, here is what the scorecard looks like:




In all of my cases for this year, I got full points in all but the last category of Workmanship, and as far as I can remember, that is usually the case for me. The best part of the whole form, however, is the comments at the end. They are the most telling.

Let's start with the hat, for which I got the blue ribbon. "A very interesting pattern and yarn combination. Very nicely knitted. It is rather small in size, more for a new born infant, but it is very well proportioned." It's funny, I actually thought I decreased at the top too quickly. The one I knit for Sophie has a much better shaped top, but they're right - it is meant for a newborn. I appreciate them saying it was nicely knitted, too, but when I got my hands back on it the other day I was shocked with some of the areas that look a bit puckery. Of course I can say that now that there is a blue ribbon on the thing.

Next, the comments for the baby sweater which won a fourth place prize - "A lovely color choice, different from the usual colors. Love your choice of pattern. Sweater well proportioned and your knitting is very well done. Buttons seem a "tad" too large and would like to see buttons closer to shade of yarn." The button comment made me laugh only because the knitters at the Guild love to make fun of the judges for commenting on the buttons. I see nothing wrong with commenting on the buttons because they do make a big impact on the overall look of the garment. When a judge is staring at several sweaters that are all equally executed, buttons make a good tie-breaker. I was a bit surprised by the color choice comment. I mean, it's pale pink. How unusual is that for a baby? It makes me feel really good that they liked the pattern since it is my own design. Reminds me that Julie's matching sweater is waiting for some attention as soon as the pants are done. Fall it is a'coming!

The socks got a simple comment, "Very competitive lot. Nice sox!" I can live with that. I happen to know the judge who wrote that comment, although I'm 99% sure she didn't know they were mine. They didn't win, and I'm fine with that. It is a very competitive lot, and they didn't have anything all that special about them other than being the most expensive socks I've ever knit. I'm going to enjoy wearing them this winter.

On to the crazy glittens. I really almost expected mark downs on either color or materials used here. I mean, the dye job on this yarn was very uneven, and the colors are SO garish. But no, the points lost all came from Workmanship, with a tic mark by Amount of Work. The comment reads "Nice Work - interesting effect using 2 strands of variegated. Watch tension at attachment points." The tension comment here was so spot-on. I struggle with keeping the tension right between the thumb and mitten body, as well as where the flap attaches. The variegated part stung a tiny bit - this was not variegated yarn. I did a spit-splice every two rows, thankyouverymuch. But I guess I did the splices well, because the judge apparently didn't realize that. I did not expect these to win anything anyway, so getting good comments on them was a reward in itself.

Finally, the blanket. Unfortunately, there was no enlightentment here as to why it didn't get a prize. "A lovely choice of color. Nice soft feel - what an afghan should feel like. Good choice of pattern. Your knitting is very well done." Oy! I wish they had had something negative to say. I mean, it is lovely to hear good things about one's work, but I wish I could have touched and felt the other blankets in the category myself. I do know this...the blanket will go either in Sophie's crib or with her car seat this winter, and my darling girl will get to love it as much as she will. I hope she loves it to death the way the blanket on the blue blog has been loved. When I started this blanket, I had a hard time bringing the pile of pink Pomfret out of the stash, to be used and never to have as fresh yarn again. I am very happy with how it turned out, and that is what really matters.

Now on to the kid pics of the day...Sophie is still working very hard on those bottom teeth. Here she is last night sucking on the wet wash cloth I was trying to use to clean her up after dinner. Poor thing, I think she may be allergic to or intolerant of avocado. I've tried to feed it to her twice now, and both times she's spent the evening barfing it and the rest of her stomach contents all up. She does love the rice cereal, though. I think in the next week we'll try some sweet potato.



Here is Julie laying in the corner between the two couches. She likes to hide in there and pretend she's taking a nap. It can be pretty nerve-racking to glance in the living room where I know she's playing and not see her, then a big relief when I hear her little voice and go catch her "sleeping" on the giant pillows.



Oh! I have some other good news. I found an overall dress exactly like last year's but in the bigger size on e-bay. I won the auction for a pittance and should have it in hand next week. Wahoo! Also, I just listed my Sidekick II (the old phone that I replaced with the newer model) on e-bay a couple of days ago, and a local guy bought it today with the buy it now option. I've got a few extra bucks in my pocket, and know that the phone is getting some good use. Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Tomorrow - a trip to the co-op for the one kind of shortening that Julie can eat so that I can bake her cake. I'll bake and decorate it after she's in bed, Joe will go back to the party store for balloons, and I will rush around like a mad woman trying to think of every conceivable thing we might need for the party and get it ready to go for Saturday. I love birthdays. I have to admit, I am probably trying to give Julie the happy birthdays I didn't get as a kid. I'm so glad she likes chocolate cake, 'cause that's my favorite too.

Hitting the Ground Running

I have so many errands to run and things to do this week, it's downright silly, especially considering that the week started with a Tuesday. Of course, I had to pick one of the lower-priority errands to run this morning, but I balanced it off with a super-high-priority and a medium-priority one.

We started at the yarn store where I teach. They needed copies of the supply list for one of the classes I'm teaching this fall, Two-Color Knitting (a.k.a. Fair Isle) by way of designing your own hat. I love teaching this class. It's only three sessions, but it's action-packed and people always leave feeling like they've gotten their money's worth. Even the people who have already knit Dale ski sweaters, but have not yet learned to think outside the pattern box. Somehow, even though I've taught the class like six times, they didn't have the supply list in the class book, and I decided it was worth my effort to drive across town and deliver copies myself rather than have some kind of further delay or screw-up. Like the time when half the class showed up with super-fuzzy alpaca because - well, let's not go there. It was a good excuse to show my face at the store and get a peek of what's going on. It's been a week or three since I got to hang out there. This was the top-priority errand.

Next, we stopped at Once Upon a Child, a resell store, and dropped off the baby clothes I want to get rid of. I guess I wasn't the only one cleaning out drawers this weekend because they were swamped, but luckily took the stuff and said they'd give me a call after they'd looked at it so I could come back instead of waiting with the two kids. (Low-priority)

Finally, we dropped into the post office on the way home to get rid of the packages that have been waiting patiently to go out. On the way in, Julie announced that she'd like to find the potty. I looked around, and of course they did not have a public restroom. I seemed to have ticked off the guy behind the counter just by asking about it, though, and he insisted several times that I should run over to the Target a few blocks away before conducting my business. Maybe he was afraid of having to clean up a puddle of pee off his floor, I don't know, but I knew it would take less time to ship off the packages and get home than it would to pack the kids up and head to Target. So we stayed, and he gave me a little lecture about the importance of being accurate on the U.S. Customs forms when I wrote simply "yarn" on the contents line. He wanted to know how many balls, and I wrote "mixed lot scraps" because I have no idea how many balls I threw in that box. We escaped the irritable postal worker and made it home in plenty of time for Julie to tinkle on the potty, to my great satisfaction and praise.

After lunch, we went back out and collected a few bucks and most of the clothes from Once Upon a Child once more. Apparently, they have a hard time selling newborn sized clothing because the people in our area don't buy used stuff for their newborns. I guess they get too many gifts. The ladies said it was nice stuff and in good condition, though. I'm going to hold on to it for now and see if my newly-pregnant friend is having a girl and wants it (hi, E!) and otherwise it will go to some charity here in town.

So, for the rest of the week - tomorrow morning is knitting group, then I need to pick up my State Fair items in the afternoon (So looking forward to reading the comments!) I really need to make it to the library as well, since we have videos that are more than a week overdue. Why does this happen when I can renew them online from the comfort of my own home? I do not know. I guess I'm too busy writing blog entries. pbth.

That leaves Thursday and Friday. I'm really hoping to squeeze in a play date with a particular cake-eating friend (she knows who she is), I need to pick up paper goods and goody-bag fillings at the party supply store, I need to go to the co-op and get some ingredients for the cake (non-hydrogenated vegetable-only shortening for the icing, which is still incredibly bad for you, but which I will allow Julie to eat) and some snacks for the party and for Julie to take with her to pre-school.

Speaking of pre-school...Julie starts in less than a week. I'm a little nervous about it, even though I know she will do just fine. When we went to the open house last week, she sat down at the art table and immediately told me to leave her there. She was a little ticked off that I decided to stay with her the whole time, and even more ticked off when I told her it was time to leave.

Okay, and WARNING - scatalogical discussions to come. Skip this paragraph if you're queasy!
One of the things that I'm nervous about is that the teachers will not wipe the kid's behinds if they make a poo. On one level, I understand the reasoning for this probably has to do with avoiding charges of child molestation and/or just plain not wanting to deal with the nastiness of wiping poo off of someone else's kid's behind. But on every single other level, I think it makes no sense whatsoever. They accept kids in diapers. They accept kids in underwear. They must have dealt with this issue before if kids who need help wiping themselves. Julie does fine with pee, but even I sometimes have a hard time getting the poo out of all her cracks and creases. Not to mention that she has really sensitive skin and if left unclean for very long (more than 15 minutes) gets really red and irritated. I just can't imagine how this is okay for every other kid and not for mine. I'm thinking about calling the teacher to discuss it, but the resolution just may have to be that if Julie craps her pants while she's there (and her normal time of day for pooping is right after drop-off time), they're going to have to call me and I'll have to come and clean her up myself. Ideas or suggestions on dealing with this welcome.

Okay, this paragraph is safe for the poo-averse. The other issue that I'm worried about is even, believe it or not, more delicate. I knew when I signed Julie up for this program that it is integrated for normal-kids and those with developmental disabilities. However, I was led to believe that there would be about a half-and-half ratio, and run the spectrum from mild to severe. There are nine kids in her class so far, and seven of them are impaired. I don't know exactly what is wrong with each of the kids, but the ones we met at the open house were all pretty obviously not normal. Now, I admittedly have a phobia of disabled people. One of the big reasons why I'm putting Julie in this program is so that she won't grow up with the same stupid phobia. I'm trying to be open-minded. I'm trying really hard. Even so, my gut feeling is telling me that there will be nobody there for Julie to play with at her level, that she will not learn the social skills I'm desperately hoping for her to gain through this program. I SO want her to have good friends and be a social kid, unlike I was up through high school. Somehow I managed to come out of my shell in college and never looked back, but growing up shy and awkward sucked. And, the other parents who were at the open house scared me a bit too. I went over there hoping to connect with one or two, to chat about our kids and our expectations for the program, whatever. Instead, I got mono-syllable answers when I tried to talk to them and zero eye contact. The way I saw them interacting with their kids (or *not* interacting with their kids) threw me for a loop. It just threw up a red flag for me.

I've given it a lot of thought, and I'm going to keep Julie in the program for now. At least to give it a chance and see how she likes it for a week or two. At least the teacher was very attentive when I brought up the food allergies, agreed that Julie would only eat snacks I provide, and that some of the food-related learning activities may have to be modified for her. Which reminds me, I need to make sure to go to Walgreens and get an extra epi-pen for them to keep in the classroom.

But for now, I'm going to go hide in the living room and work on some knitting. Nothing like some good old procrastination.

Clotheshorse

I spent a good part of my day shifting clothes around in the girls' room. The last few days have been a little cooler here in Minnesota, and I figured it was time to dig out and assess the fall wardrobes as accumulated so far. First, though, I had to pack up the clothes that have gotten too small and bring down the baby clothes that we won't be using again. How sad to be looking at those little things and think that we are done with them, but how happy to look forward to all the fun new clothes they will wear in the future!

I thought I was going to try to sell the baby clothes on e-bay, but then I did a search on current auctions and was really disappointed by the going prices. It seems like way too much trouble to hassle with for $15 to $20 in return for a season of my children's clothes. I think maybe I will try to take some to the local resale shop and see if I can do a little better - maybe if I ask for store credit instead of cash. We'll see. It's quite a big pile sitting here. If you know someone looking for an entire fall/winter wardrobe for a newborn girl, hook me up! I have all the onesies and footie suits and cute stuff in sizes 0-3 months and 3-6 months, some of it almost new.

In the mean time, I took a picture of the stash of pants I have for Julie, not counting the pair of jeans she had on today. That's 14 pairs of pants! See?



Somehow, I managed to accumulate all of these through gifts, garage sales, hand-me-downs, and clearance racks over the last year or so. The only thing is that last year she absolutely refused to wear woven pants without a huge fight, so I don't know if she'll agree to wear most of these this year. (Even though she did put on the jeans and other pants today after the three potty accidents we had without a peep). The other thing is that I have almost no tops to go with all these pants. It's time to do some shopping. So many of these are very plain, it shouldn't be hard to find cute shirts to go with them, but I do want to get interesting ones, not just plain solid colors. I'm going to print this picture out and take it with me when I go shopping for reference.

While I was over at e-bay, I did manage to get one item up for sale. I'm finally unloading my Sidekick II. It looks like they've been selling for over $100, so that will be a nice little boost to my checking account.

I got another e-mail from Jo-Anne in Canada - the nice lady who makes the bears for charity. She included a photo of some bears she's made out of our sock yarn. They are incredibly cute, and we should all feel good about knowing some kids will be comforted.



Oh, and about the pants - it sounds like elastic is winning the vote by a landslide. I guess my instinct was right. I can't explain why it feels like cheating to me - I guess just because it's not wool, and I think it's a fun challenge to have the structure of the garment hold itself up. But maybe now is the time to give that up and go for practical. I think I found that dress in the size we need on e-bay tonight, so hopefully I'll win it and the problem will be solved.

Tara was asking about how to join the legs together for the pants. It's really easy. On mine, as I finished the legs, I created a gusset on each one of about 11 stitches by increasing one stitch on either side of the gusset every other row - just like you would for the thumb gusset on a pair of mittens. These stitches went on holders, then later got joined together with kitchener stitch. Match up the places where the gussets are and you have your crotch area, and you can just knit around both legs at the same time going on up. I wouldn't worry about adding a gusset for a doll version, as Tara is making, just pick a number of stitches to graft together for the crotch and knit around the rest. If you're making pants for an actual person, you should also consider adding in some short rows on the back side to account for the roundness of their behind and/or diapers. Hope that helps!<