It's been interesting

So, the Southern Contingent moved in a month ago. It's been going well, all things considered. We're developing a routine, the kids have their own agendas. I'm back to knitting. Finished a shawl today. Pics to come. We went to the Children's Museum for J's birthday, and caught colds. I guess I was due for one.

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

And it's about darned time. All I want is a nap. A looooooonnngggg nap. We switched to the day life. Ummmm, being up while the sun shines is a bit boring. There's a glare on the TV. I think it's called fusion. Scary.

On the brighter side, the kitchen is clean, groceries bought, and beans soaking. Tomorrow laundry and packing.

Oh, and we got a 'potty-gram' today. Seem J decided the week of the train trip was the perfect time to potty train himself. So he got to call Mimi and Grampa to tell them. He is so proud of himself. We are too. See you soon, J.

Done with drama....

There has been too much drama lately. I'm sick of it and I am done with it.

Brief recap: Zoot died, stressful days at work, reorganizing the house for the combining of familes, dealing with my mom (or rather, refusing to deal with her), and now S says I don't want to see her while I'm down south. In short, DONE.

BTW: I think I'm allergic to Advantage. I keep breaking out in hives on my arms after I cuddle or brush the cat. Not good.

Oh Zoot of the Mighty Spots,

my tiny lion; already I miss you,

My bed is too big now and my lap has grown cold.

Thank you my friend for the joy you brought to my life.

The tiny little light guiding me through the midnight of my soul;

The heaviest of anchors when all else was lost, adrift upon a desperate sea.

In a darkened wood you were the little white shadow ever next to me.

You taught me how to trust, how to love unreservedly;

And at the end of all… to act bravely, with grace and dignity.

Be now at peace my love.

Be free from your pain.

Sleep now my friend,

Knowing that you have saved me.

Leave behind the cloudy days and the rain.

Go now to the endless Summer of Golden Elysium.

Run fast and far upon those sun dappled fields.

Go now to a hero’s rest.

Zoot Whisperfoot

1993 to 2010

(posted on behalf of my darling Hubster)

Startitis strikes again

My stress level can be gauged by the number of projects I start. My ADHD kicks in, and I way overestimate the reality of what life demands in comparison to my available knitting time.So, as a measurement, I give you the following projects started in the last couple of weeks (in no particular order):


Socks for my hubby, STR Scum Bubbles - need ends woven and they are done.Percy Shawl in Natural Malabrigo Sock - this one really needs to be finished before I leave for Tucson in May. Small hands and white yarn are a bad combination.

Socks for my hubby, in STR color unknown
LaLa Simple Shawl, Malabrigo Sock Archangel
My socks, STR, color unknown, not the laffy taffy wrappers, yet another sign of stress
Andrea's Shawl, in Malabrigo Sock, Deep Chocolate and Tiziano Red
I'd rather be starting this. I picked up the Travelling sweater pattern and Woobu in Jasper today. I had the yarn left skeined, because then I would have to ball it up, and might feel guilty about the other projects that I should finish first.


So, how do you deal with startitis. I still need to start Jakes blanket, maybe for the trip, it should make a great travel project, mindless knitting. mmmmmmmmm.

Welcome Kayleb

Hello World. Please join House Squirl in welcoming Kayleb Lawrence to the planet. He was born today at 10:03 am, 6 lbs 9 oz, 19 inches of perfection. Mom and baby doing well. Daddy needs some sleep. Brother getting used to the idea.

Baby coming, tonight!!!!

Okay, now you can have the baby...

I finished his blankie. Just have to block it tonight.

Here is my Seraphim:

And those socks I promised? The yarn was so dark that the pattern didn't show well. Must do again.

12 rows to go...

and Seraphim is finished. The emergency yarn arrived today. Thank you Eat Sleep Knit. I ordered that yarn in the middle of the night a couple of days ago and it arrived today!!! Now I can finish my shawl. We just won't pay any attention to the baby shawl I'm supposed to be working on. The baby is coming whether I finish or not. Plug gone, contractions started, just not timeable yet. It's only a matter of time.

Hey Em, Can Kayleb come out and play yet?????

Project issues

I've been underestimating the amount of yarn needed for a given project lately. Not just once, but many times. What sucks is I'm on a lace shawl kick. Yep, the punk chick is knitting lace again. So sue me. I like 'em.

Wellllllll, I'm almost through the second skein for Seraphim, in Malabrigo sock Impressionist Sky. I only have 30 rows to go. But the skein is looking a bit small. Time to rip out a couple of stitches, measure the yarn used, calculate the amount of yardage to go with a generous bind off, weigh the skein, and..... discover that I am about 200 yards short. What? Again? Okay so, let's just reinforce what I've been saying all along. I'm a loose knitter. There I've said it. So I went hunting last night. Hooray! Found a skein, ordered it. It should be here by week's end, I hope.

Next post: my own sock pattern.

Trying something new

Okay, so I'll admit I've been posting sporadically lately. To be frank, I've been a bit depressed. The last year had just been too hard. Two surgeries, cancer, work crap, the move that didn't happen crap, mom crap. Sometimes it's just too much. So I've decided to try something different. I'll log in every few days and post something good that happened. We'll see how it goes. Maybe this will help...

The Strangest Move

So, we were supposed to move to a house from the apartment yesterday. We went over Sunday night to do the inspection, and found mold. I had trouble breathing. Once the list of defects in the place exceeded the alloted space to write them down, we decided this was a big mistake. After 9 hours of fretting, we talked to the manager of our apartment complex, resigned a lease, terminated the lease on the house and changed gears. The movers were scheduled for Tuesday morning, so we let them come, but we moved stuff to a storage unit a few miles away. Not too bad, I think. It was weird, though, we were packing and unpacking at the same time, trying to get this together. I think we got it. What we ended up with is a bunch of boxes that still need to be unpacked, and two empty bedrooms. Here comes the family!!!!

I also cast on Seraphim. The stress got me. Oh, well.

Knitting Olympics 2010

It's long been the tradition of the Olympics that the participating countries suspend hostilities against other countries for the duration of the games. In the spirit of the tradition, I will not be participating this year, as the USA is presently engaged in hostile actions in several countries. Please do not miscontrue this as a commentary on the right or wrong-ness of the actions themselves, simply as a traditionalist with some integrity.

Besides, we are moving this week and for it to truly be a challenge for me as a knitter, I would have to execute a 3 skein shawl. In reality, I'll be lucky to knit one row.

Commencement

- a beginning, the first step, a start

We got approved for the house!!! The bear and I are moving in a couple of weeks. We found a house here in PDX with 3 bedrooms, sun porch, basement, garage, tiny attic, and most importantly, a yard. There will be a garden. There will be a washer and dryer. There will be space for 2 small boys to run.

Small boys? Did I say small boys? Yes. Yes, I did. Our household is expanding. My sister, E, and her hubster N, and their two wee ones are moving in with us to join households. Those of you who know me personally know this relationship is a bit more than I am letting on, however, I digress. They are arriving at the end of May. My goal is to have our stuff settled by then, so that they have space to move in as well.

In the mean time, this does not mean that the knitting has stopped. It hasn't even slowed down. See, babies don't wait until Mimi can find time to knit. Nothing finished this week, but I'm getting close.

Ladies and gentlemen, start your tape guns!!!

BTW - if you see Lib, give her a hug. She could use it right now. And maybe some chocolate chip cookies and mac'n'cheese.

SnuzzleBunny Sighting

I finally remembered to take a picture of something I finished. Meet the Snuzzle Bunny.