There’s carpet at the bottom of the closet! June 20, 2008

I’ve spent the past 2 days rearranging and clearing out, and I’ve really just started.  I’m not sure how I became such a packrat, but I have way too much stuff that I should have gotten rid of years ago.  I just took my third load of stuff to Goodwill today.  I cleaned out the living room closet, the floor of which I haven’t seen in at least 3 years.  I cleaned out the hall closet which, in addition to my good yarn, also held 3 trash bags full of acrylic.  I used to love acrylic, then I blocked something I knitted from hemp, and it changed me.  Now I won’t knit with anything that I can’t block.  I know there are a lot of people who call that a “yarn snob”, but blocking really does make a difference.  Still, I can’t throw away otherwise good yarn, so I listed it on ebay along with the rest of Norrie’s old clothes.  I have one cluttered closet left.  I’m hoping to get Norrie all the way moved this weekend.  Kelly still needs to put together her bookshelf and move a couple more pieces of furniture out of the way.  Then once the nursery is re-set up, I’ll start on the garage.  It’s pretty serious nightmare.  Specifically, it’s the place where most of the things that should have been given or thrown away were “stored”.  I swear, I’m going to stop saving every little thing.

I have 18 rows left on the first square of my shawl.  Since it’s blocked with live stitches I decided it’s time to invest in some blocking wires instead of trying to pin it like I usually would.  I’d read about cheap wires from the hardware store, but after walking through the store for an hour, I gave up.  I couldn’t find anything there like what I’d read other people were using.  Joann.com had the same ones that Knitpicks had for $7 cheaper, and they always have coupons.  So I googled Joann coupons, thinking I was being sneaky, and after going through about 4 links, I found one for 50% off.  Then I went back to Joann’s site, and there on the front page, was a 50% off code.  So after their insane shipping costs, I got the set for $20.  Still less than the $30 Knitpicks charges.  Of course, I’ll finish the square before they get here, which is going to drive me crazy.

Rip it, Rip it June 16, 2008

I’m about to start hating this shawl.  I got to about row 27 or so last night, and around 2:30 am, I spread it out between my needles for a better look.  It just looked messy.  I could see the design starting, but it still looked messy.  I gave up and went to bed.  First thing this morning, I frogged it.  I re-knit to about row 16, spread it out again, and it looked too holey.  My gauge was dead-on, but it still looked like the yarn was being knit on needles too big for it.  I frogged it again and went down a needle size.  I’m on row 17 again, and I’m determined not to find fault again.

And the house is a horrible mess.  We got the cabinet to my parents’ house and a friend of ours took the couch.  We bought Norrie’s new bedroom furniture and a bookcase for our bedroom.  We still have to move the desk and end table out of that room into the garage, move the bookshelf into the living room, rearrange the living room to fit it, and set up her new room.  Since things from that room are going to be redistributed throughout the house, the entire place is a wreck.  There are piles of books and boxes everywhere.  Kelly’s got the bookshelf up in our room and the new crib set up in Norrie’s room.  He’s going to try to get her dresser put together tonight, then there’s only her bookshelf to put together.  We’re going to clean the carpets before everything gets put in place, too.  I had no idea this was all going to take so long.  I can’t wait for it to all be finished.  That little girl is going to have the coolest room in the house.  She’ll have so much space, and her furniture is really, really pretty.  It makes me feel like I ought to go by the baby a nicer crib.  Although, really, the living room probably needs new furniture next…  Tomorrow’s going to be spent shifting things around.

The knitting down begins… June 14, 2008

I think I’ve mentioned before that I usually don’t have more yarn than the project I’m working on, one project out, and single oddballs leftover from previous projects.  My stash has started to grow, though, so I’m making myself knit through it before I buy any more yarn.  First up, Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in Iris Heather.  This yarn was part of my Chanukah gift from Kelly last year.  Yes, my husband buys me yarn and knitting paraphernalia for gifts.  He knew I’d been wanting the Harmony sock needle set, so he ordered it for me.  He also knows I like alpaca, so he tossed this on to get free shipping.  6 skeins, so I have more than enough for a single shawl.  I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect pattern for it, and finally chose the Raku Suri Stole.  It’s June now, and the yarn and pattern have been sitting in my hall closet for at least 5 months now, which is not at all like me.  I finally pulled it out last night and wound the 4 skeins this shawl should take (swift and ball winder being a birthday present from aforementioned wonderful husband), but didn’t actually start knitting until this morning.  I’m feeling a little frustrated.  The pattern consists of 3 squares with a large flower in the middle and several joining panels.  You knit the squares, and then pick up their edges to add in the panels joining the squares together.  What I didn’t realize until I started knitting, was that you make the squares by casting on 8 stitches, joining to work in the round, and then knit the squares from the inside out.  It’s extremely difficult to hold 5 double pointed needles with 2 stitches a piece on them without ending up with a tangled mess.  Also consider that this is lace weight yarn, which is pretty thin.  I must have started over again about half a dozen times, because I couldn’t see what I was doing.  Once I finally got about 4 or 5 rows in, it was easier to see what order the needles should be in, but I kept dropping a needle out of the knitting and scrambling to get it through the loops again before a stitch got dropped.  I’ve just completed row 12, and it’s much easier to hold.  I’m just not sure yet if it looks the way it should.  Maybe if I can’t tell, no one else can?  If it is right, the finished product will be beautiful though, and I’ll only have to go through that twice more.  Even if casting on and beginning this project aren’t much fun, the pattern is one of the prettiest shawls I think I’ve seen.  I’m working up to the Forest Path Stole.  It was originally published in Interweave Knits not long after I started knitting.  I bought the issue just for the stole, but didn’t have the courage to try something that complicated yet.  Once I was ready, I spent, oh, about 3 years looking for the right yarn.  I finally bought some Knitpicks Shimmer in spice for it.  It’s not exactly what I had in mind, but it’s time it got knitted already, and I was really taken by the colorway when they added it to the catalog.

Today is the big baby move day too.  Someone from Kelly’s office stopped by to help us load my grandparents’ cabinet on the company van, and Kelly’s already driven it up to my parents’ house and unloaded it.  I’ll miss it.  It’s really beautiful, but there’s nowhere to put it right now.  If we ever sell our house and move, maybe there will be a place for it.  (Like we’ll ever sell our house!  Four showings and no offers since November is not promising.  A big thanks to W for the crappy housing market.)  When he comes back we’ve got a friend coming to load the sofa on the van (they wouldn’t both fit at once) and then it’ll either go to said friend’s house or Goodwill.  He hasn’t decided yet if he can get it in his house.  Lastly, we get to go furniture shopping.  That part should be fun.  It’d be more fun if it wasn’t so expensive.  I feel pressure to get Norrie moved into her new room, though, so I can start getting ready for the new baby.  She’s going to have so much space now!  The nursery was the smallest room in the house, which for a new baby was plenty.  This room is almost as big as the master bedroom, but she’ll have smaller furniture leaving her more floor space than us.

The Tortoise and the Tot June 13, 2008

When I went for my morning walk, I found this tiny little turtle about to get squashed by early morning commuters.  I carried him about 1/2 mile back home so Norrie could see him.  She wasn’t as impressed as I’d hoped, but I got a cute picture or two out of it.

I just pulled my completed Cables and Lace sweater off of the blocking board.  I think it looks pretty good, despite my disappointment with the yarn.  I won’t know for sure for another 11-14 weeks, though.

I also finished knitting another felted yarmulke.  It’s in the the washer felting now.  I used the chart this time, and it looks better, more like the picture.  So, if you buy a copy of this pattern from CozyColeman on Etsy, which I recommend, use the chart not the written instructions.  They aren’t quite right.  I might write to her so she can correct it.

What are you making? June 9, 2008

I bought this beautiful pattern on Etsy for a felted yarmulke with a Star of David in the middle, ran to AC Moore to pick up a couple skeins of Patons Classic Wool, sat down to start, and realized I didn’t have double pointed needles in the right size.  My needle collection is pretty complete, so I’ve long ago stopped checking before I get ready to knit.  They closest yarn shop is at least 30 miles away, and I didn’t want to drive all that way at $4 a gallon for a set of needles, but Kelly was nearby for work.  I called him and asked him to pick up a set of size 10.5 dpns, and even though he doesn’t knit, he speaks knitting and knows where the shops are.  So when he left his meeting, he drove over there, went in, found the needles and was at the register by the time the lady working there noticed him.  She came to wait on him, and cheerily asked, “So, what are you making?”  “Uhhhhh…Errand for my wife?”  Needless to say, the yarmulke is on the needles right now.

My Cables and Lace sweater is blocking, and then I only have to put the finishing trim and belt on it (and block those).  I block in pieces as I go since I don’t have a proper blocking board.  Then when the entire project is finished, it all gets lightly blocked again.

Then there’s my big steal!  Before I got pregnant with Norrie, Kelly and I went to the beach with his father & co., and while we were out we stopped at this store where we saw a beautiful stuffed dragon.  It was sitting on a shelf labeled 50% off, but had no price on it.  We fell instantly in love with it, and went to the register.  We were told that it was $50, and we said, oh, so it’s $25 on sale?  Suddenly, the dragon was not on sale, but misplaced.  Now I should mention that this dragon was on a shelf 12 feet off the ground and out of reach.  Whoever put it there had to be an employee with a ladder.  We felt led on, so we left empty-handed.  A couple of years later, we saw the same dragon in a local mall and then in a craft shop.  Every time it was $50, which we felt was a bit much for a stuffed toy, gorgeous as it is.  When I got pregnant this time, I told Kelly if we found out we’re having a boy, we’re getting him the dragon.

Sunday, we went to a tea tasting (which isn’t as pretentious as it sounds) with my mother-in-law.  When we left, she started walking Norrie down the sidewalk in the general direction of a toy shop.  We were in sort of on outdoor shopping center.  I’d never been in that toy store because it’s in the middle of a bunch of specialty shops and between that and the store’s name, I always thought they sold those expensive toy trains that adults buy and don’t let children play with.  Nope.  Actually a very cool toy store with loads of variety.  While we were browsing, I saw the dragon again.  I picked him up and showed Kelly, but couldn’t find a price tag.  The girl working there heard us and offered to look up the price.  She checked and said, “It’s $40.95.”  I looked at Kelly and said, “Well, we are having a boy and that’s the cheapest we’ve seen it.”  The girl then said, “You know large stuffed animals are 40% off right now.”  So we finally came home with the beautiful dragon for the incredible price of $26.    It’s the first toy we’ve bought our little-boy-to-be.

Isn’t he pretty?

We stopped at Target on the way home to look some more for Norrie’s “big girl” furniture.  We found a bed that goes through several stages that we really like with a matching dresser.  There’s also a bookshelf that should go pretty well with it, so I think we’re going back to buy them.  They’re cheaper than Rooms to Go Kids, not to mention that RTGK didn’t have any bookshelves.  I found that hard to believe.  We have bookshelves in every room of our house, and every one is jam packed with books.  We’re going to have to put the one in what’s to be Norrie’s room in the living room, making 3 in that room.  Books are the first thing we bought for our children each time we found out we’re pregnant, and I can’t imagine people not having bookshelves in their kids rooms.  End bookshelf rant.  Now we’ve just got to find someone to take the couch away, and hopefully help us move my grandparents’ cabinet to my parents to live until we have room for it again.  I’m ready to go ahead and get the room set up.

Planning for the Big Girl Room June 6, 2008

So, with a baby brother on the way, Norrie will soon be getting a big girl room. We’re going to move her from the nursery which is also the smallest room in the house, to the room beside ours which is currently being used as a “study” (a room filled with books, a desk, and a couch). We’re trying to find someone who wants the couch badly enough to come haul it away for us, and then we’ll only have to figure out what to do with the books. Hopefully we can work it out pretty soon, because Kelly’s expecting a bonus in a couple of weeks and I want to use that to get her new furniture, even if she doesn’t move just yet. We stopped by Rooms to Go Kids yesterday to look around, and Norrie had a blast. She loved all the tiny chairs and the bean bags. She ran from one pretend room to the next squealing with delight. It was really pretty cool. They had some beds I would have sold my sister for when I was a child. I always wanted one with a canopy when I was little, and they had several, including some that looked like princess rooms. The store overall, was probably more expensive than what we want to spend, so there’s going to be more window shopping before we buy anything. Then it’ll be time to look at living room furniture. We’ve been using ours for 7 1/2 years, and I’m afraid the couch is getting pretty worn out. I don’t even want to think about the dirt…

We’re also starting to accumulate things for the baby, with nowhere to put them. Right now everything is in a box in our closet, but he’ll need more than a few newborn clothes and a couple of books. We didn’t start getting much for Norrie until my third trimester, but she had lots of books by now.  I feel guilty spending so much on Norrie’s new room when he has so little, but then I feel guilty spending money on a baby that’s not here yet when she is.  Sigh.

I’m also getting tired of waiting for the yarn I ordered from Ram Wools.  Their website says it should come in 7-10 business days, and yesterday was the 10th.  Still no yarn.  The site also said they ship UPS in the US, so there’s the problem.  I hate, hate, hate UPS.  The mail is faster than UPS.  I wish more places used FedEx instead of UPS.  They’re so much faster and nicer, too.

I’m getting ready to start the sleeves on my cables & lace kimono sweater.  I’m not all that happy with Elann’s Superwash Bamboo, though.  Once it gets wet, it doesn’t hold its shape well at all.  I love the color, but I’m worried that it’s not going to look good on, because the yarn is insanely stretchy.  It’ll be, what?, another 15 weeks before I can try it on and find out.

Just in time for summer May 20, 2008

I finally finished Kelly’s alpaca sweater.

I had almost 6 balls of yarn leftover too.  I don’t know how I managed that, but I’m thinking I might knit something for the baby.  I couldn’t find any little boy patterns for that weight yarn that I like, so maybe I’ll try making something up.  Maybe I can send it to Knitty.  I’ve always wanted to send them something.  The only problem is when I looked up their deadlines, I probably wouldn’t make the fall deadline and I’m not sure if they’d take a baby pullover for winter or not.  Their submission guidelines said something about patterns for last minute gifts were best for winter.  I’ll probably try anyway.

I spent yesterday going through bags of baby clothes.  Kelly’s still thinking he might want 3 children, but I think I’m sick of being pregnant.  We’ll have a girl and a boy.  I haven’t met the boy yet, but Norrie deserves to be the only girl.  I don’t know how to explain that any better.  I can’t really see her sharing the limelight with another little girl.  Besides, I’ll be 28 having this baby.  If we start when he’s a year old, I’ll be 30 having the next.  I know lots of women have babies over 30 now, but I don’t know if I’m up to being one of them.  I saved a few things to give Norrie when she becomes a mother, 1 box of unisex baby clothes, and had 4 boxes of stuff left over.  I’m going to try taking all that to Once Upon a Child tomorrow, because I can use whatever store credit they’ll give me.  Anything they won’t take, I’m taking over to Kelly’s cousin who has a 4 month old daughter.  Today I’m getting rid of my old clothes.  For a couple years now, I’ve been going through my closet, bagging up clothes that don’t fit or I just don’t wear anymore, and then piling them up in my garage.  I’m not sure what I was saving them for, but I’ve got to stop being such a packrat.  My house is way too cluttered, and I’m sick of it.  All the bags are in my trunk awaiting the Goodwill dropoff box.  We’ve also got to clean out the 3rd bedroom for Norrie, so her little brother can have the nursery.

Next comes that old Jetta in the garage.  The clutch went out, and Kelly was going to put the new one in himself.  He started it 2 years ago and never finished.  I told him I want to call one of those places that comes and hauls away old cars for free, but it’s a diesel, so now he wants to convert it to a vegetable oil car.  I’m not against that if he actually does it.  As it stands now, the thing’s been in the garage not running with a clutch half out for 2 years already.  He’s determined to stop using so much gas.  We’re driving pretty fuel efficient cars as it is, no SUVs or anything, but now that gas is almost $4 a gallon it’s just ridiculous.  His last brilliant plan involved getting a motorcycle.  I just can’t let him do that.  He has to take the interstate to work, and I think it’s way to dangerous for the father of two to be on the interstate traveling 60-70 mph completely unprotected.  I’m just afraid his vegetable oil plot will take more work than he’s willing to do.

Morning at the horse farm May 18, 2008

A friend of ours invited us to the therapeutic riding center where he volunteers, so Norrie could see some real horses. My parents gave her this furry rocking horse for Chanukah last year, and she loves it. When you squeeze his ear, he sings a song. Norrie loves him so much that wherever we are, if we sing the song, she dances. When we got there and started walking toward the barn, there was a horse grazing in the field beside us, so we took her up to the fence to see her. She squealed and pointed. We sang the pony song, and she danced. Once we actually got to the horses she could see up close, she got nervous. Kyle lifted her up to pet one, and she reached for me. When he handed her over, I petted the horse and put her hand on his head. She finally petted him a little bit, but she still wasn’t sure about it. They also have chickens there, so we took her to see them. Here she is, surrounded by chickens and horses, and she sees a kid playing with a ball, screams, “Ball!”, and takes off toward the little boy with the ball. We did get her to sit on a horse, but she mostly looked worried and reached for me.

Shortly after these pictures, I left her with Kelly and went to put the camera back in our diaper bag. I turned just in time to see her trip and fall as she was running across the grass. Not a big deal, except that when she stood up and turned around she was covered in mud and crying. Even her face was muddy. I should have gotten a picture of that too, but she was crying, so all I could think about was getting to her. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring a change of clothes. I thought she’d get dirty, but not that dirty. We had to strip her down to her diaper, put her jacket on her, and take her home with bare legs and feet. By that time, she’d completely forgotten to be upset. All in all, still a good morning.

I finally finished the second sleeve on Kelly’s sweater. Once it’s finished blocking, I can sew it on, knit the neck, and be finished. Just in time for an alpaca sweater to spend the summer in the closet. I’ve also gotten a few inches done on the bris gown.

It’s turning out pretty well, so far, although it is a little thicker than I’d originally wanted. Kelly said that’ll be okay, because newborns get cold. I guess he’s right. I just don’t like when my knitting doesn’t come out as planned. Not to mention, I paid $11.75 a skein for this yarn at the LYS, and then yesterday saw the exact same yarn online for $5.00 a skein. Not happy about that. Not happy at all. I’m trying to find the right yarn to knit Cozy from Knitty.com to use as a nursing wrap. I had an actual nursing shawl before Norrie was weaned, but I found that I preferred using a blanket. I could get more coverage that way. I think Cozy will work just as well as the blanket. I think I want a multicolored yarn for it. The problem is, there aren’t many yarns like that available in aran weight, which is what the pattern calls for. I want to stick with a thick yarn, so it won’t be too holey and see-through. Originally the pattern calls for silk, which would feel great against our skin, but I’m wondering if something machine washable wouldn’t be more practical. Add in that I don’t want wool because I’ll be using this during the summer, and I’ve pretty much ruled out every yarn I can find. I’m not going to buy any more yarn until I get something off my needles, but I think Kelly’s sweater will be done in another day, two at the most.

It’s a boy! May 1, 2008

Which means, we’ll have one of each. We can stop now, and I think we will. We’d talked about 3 children, but we’ve also talked about private school, dropping our crappy health insurance, and gas is $3.50 a gallon. I think 2 will be enough, especially since we’ll have a daughter and a son now. Most of our nursery stuff, except for some toys and Norrie’s clothes, is unisex, so we can reuse it. We’ll have to get her a new bedroom suit, and turn the third bedroom into a bedroom for her. If we can just find the money for that!

Also, a friend of ours who’s having a boy a couple months before us, has asked me to knit her son’s bris gown. I feel so honored! There are actually no bris gown patterns out there; at least not that I could find. There were “christening” gowns, but those looked a little too formal. All of the other infant gowns were too girly or just ugly. Some of the ones with names like “burial gown” or “gown for baby born asleep” were pretty, but I’m way to superstitious to make something like that for a healthy baby. I’ve decided to design a gown, and hopefully, I’ll post a pattern here. I found a stitch pattern that looks like Stars of David that I think will look really nice.  I’m really excited about it. We’re going together tomorrow to pick out a yarn. My son will be wearing his grandfather’s bris gown. It’s got a couple of tiny holes in it, but I think it’s fitting, especially since I want to name him for my father. I know it’s not the thing normally done, but for some reason, my family has always named babies after living relatives. Or at least, my father’s side does that. My sister and I were both named after living relatives, and I kept that tradition with my daughter.

I finally got to the sleeve on Kelly’s sweater. It’s going very slowly for some reason. It’s not a hard pattern, I just haven’t felt like working on it much. Prior to it, I was in a knitting frenzy, so maybe it’s time to slow down some.

Happy Passover! April 21, 2008

It’s been a really busy weekend. Friday after we cleared all the chametz out of our house, we went to the synagogue to help get ready for the community seder. Norrie got a little fussy, and I thought she was just unhappy about not having my full attention, but it turned out there were two top molars coming in. They were parallel to each other and breaking through her gum at the exact same rate. She didn’t sleep very well, so we didn’t go to the seder at my parents’ house. I was sort of relieved about that. My sister and I haven’t been getting along, and I really didn’t want to be crammed 10 people in an eating space that only comfortably seats 6 with her. Not to mention the two hour drive with a child that hates being strapped in her car seat. We had a seder at home, just the three of us, and it was pretty nice. We wrapped up the afikomen, put it on top of Norrie’s rocking horse, and waited. She didn’t notice it. We set her in front of the horse. She turned around and ran away. We picked up the afikomen, handed it to her, and she shook her head. We gave up.

(I can’t make that “Photobucket” go away, and it’s really aggravating.)

Yesterday, we went shopping for a booster seat, since Norrie seems frustrated by her high chair now, and spinning books. Why spinning books? The other night, Kelly said he needed a hobby, and I suggested he learn to spin and make me some yarn. I wasn’t entirely serious, but he’s actually interested. I figure, if he follows through with it, he’ll make the nicest yarn I’ve ever seen. He’s very detailed. After that, we went to the community seder. While they were serving the meal, I took Norrie to see a girl a couple years older than her that she really likes, but she was running around the back of the room with a bunch of other little kids. I took Norrie back there and set her down to run. She ran straight into the corner and picked up what I thought was a used napkin some kid had dropped. It was actually a piece of the afikomen. So, at home, we can’t give it to her, but there, she finds it in 15 seconds flat. Of course, I think they hid a piece for each child, but I also think she was the first one to pick one up. We didn’t get home until an hour after Norrie’s bedtime. I didn’t even change her out of her dress, I just put her straight in her crib and let her go back to sleep.