Mistress Stash Enhancer
The knits of raising 4 small children,the purl-ils of life, and random Stash Enhancement Expeditionsfinished sock parade
I need to get caught up on these FO’s let’s start with the socks, oldest finished one’s first.
-Muddy Nutkins for Diane. I picked up the yarn for these guys at the SOAR market this past Fall, when I showed it to Diane she was, well all over it! I knew then that’s what I would use for her Christmas present. They didn’t get done exactly on time for Christmas, or mailed exactly on time either, no I didn’t just mail them out last week either! I think I mailed them out after I finished them in March, along with goodies of course. She loves them and they fit!
(click to embiggen)
raveled here.
Pattern: Nutkin by Beth LaPensee
yarn: Pagewood Farm Denali Hand Dyed Sock Yarn in mississippi mud
needles: US 1½ / 2.5 mm
Started December 29 2008 and Completed March 1 2009
notes: Worked a picot cuff instead of a ribbed one, and worked a purl row on needles 2 & 3 before starting the toe decreases. Someday I’ll be knitting a pair of these for myself, the yarn was awesome to work with, the color beautiful and the pattern is very intuitive. These where hard to mail off, but the recipient is totally worth it!
-Vintage Monkey’s, oyi. I know these where started sometime in the Spring of ‘08. One sock was finished and then well, the other one wasn’t. It languished until the Spring of these year where I started it and finished it in a few days. I love the colors in this colorway, and how it all knit up. The yarn is a little bit soft, I’m wondering how the toes will wear.
raveled here.
Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
yarn: Pigeonroof Studios KALYPSO sock yarn in vintage purchased from yarn4socks. (on sale btw, I love the reason’s they have for sales)
needles: me thinks US 1 / 2.25 mm (but it might have been a 1.5, I don’t think so but might be.)
notes: I think the reason it took me so long to finish the second sock was monkey burnout, this was my third pair of monkeys. Even with that when I was finishing the second sock I thought “I really should start another pair of these….”
-Crabby McHappyCablepants, I ordered yarn from blue moon for a baby sweater and ya know, it cost the same to ship 3 hanks as it does 1. So… I ordered 3.. .and this just screamed to be knit quickly and into a pair of staggered cabled rib socks.
raveled here.
pattern: my own. My crazy notes are on my rav project page, maybe someday I’ll polish it up more… right… if your not on rav but what the notes so you can knit socks like these drop me a line and I’ll email you them.
yarn: .56 of a hank of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock – Mediumweight in Crabby McHappypants (hehheehee love this name! Makes me think of a nickname I have for Mike ; )
needles: US 2½ / 3.0 mm
Started May 2 2009
Completed May 7 2009
notes: these worked up very quickly on the 2.5’s, 5 days for a pair of socks! I do like the fabric that it created, its dense but not not too much so.
-socks on the go, these socks where mostly knit in the car, sometimes in the house when I had time to knit but not start a new project (I have to be able to knit a few rows when I start a new project or else I feel very cranky). I started these so I would have something to knit last year during Girl Scout camp. These took a little more than a year to knit.
raveled here.
pattern: plain vanilla sock, cast on 64sts worked as many k2, p2 for as I felt like then switched to straight stockinette for as long as I wanted then a short row heel, knit for length of foot then standard toe. Tis’ the way a traveling sock goes. Easy peasy.
yarn: Yarntini Variegated Sock in cosmopolitan purchased by Mike for me from yarn4socks.
needles: US 1 / 2.25 mm
Started June 17 2008
Completed June 22 2009
It hasn’t been a flurry of finished knits over here, there has been plenty of casting on….
raveled here. Yarn was a gift from Carol a few years ago, she used all the colors from my blogspirit blog. I LOVE how this is knitting up! I was going to knit a plain stockinette sock, but after seeing how it knits up I might work something like outside in.
raveled here. Started these up the other night before my Dentist appointment, 1st of 5. Thrilled am I. So far I have had 2 appointments and the office has been either running right on time or early so I haven’t had a chance to knit there! I have a lot of dental work that has to be done, if I wouldn’t have put off going to the dentist for so long I wouldn’t have so much work, that and a lot of the work that I’ve had done by a previous dentist has to be redone. My new dentist gave me a mouthwash to use until a few months after all the work is done, mmm not so tasty.
PS my yard is going to become a giant mud pit next week, no not from all the rain. Holy crap don’t get me started on the rain mmmk? We’re having “some” excavating work done, the driveway is going to be moved over a few feet so its not right up next to the house. That means the hillside needs to be graded back 8 feet, all the dirt from that is going to be moved into the back yard and graded down so its flat(er) and the “garage” is going, so no more pictures with that great brick background. Mike and his brother where busy today emptying out all the “keep” stuff.
PPS Emily Jane is moving right along,
I have to pick up another ball of Noro Chirimen, the sleeves must match, if they are a row or two off I’m ok with that, but the stripes must be the same. My last ball didn’t have two repeats of the blue/grey so I need another ball if the cuffs are going to match. Also, I’m not sure about the sleeve length I do love it, but don’t know if I’ll love it while I’m wearing it. Still thinking of closures, crochet button loops and wood square buttons are up most on my mind.
PPPS I have red, yellow flags all over my front yard, along with white, blue and red spray painted lines marking all the underground utilities. I don’t know if it was the call before you dig that prompted the local water company to replace my curbside shut off today, but they replaced it this afternoon. I was planning on doing some laundry, and washing the floors but instead enjoyed some knitting time. The horror of it all.
Giddy
yes, I’m giddy about a new yarn. Yes, I’m wondering about my current mental status too. But its great new yarn, and I was able to go to the yarn shop all by myself (I say that with so much pride in my head its strange). It was amazing, it was odd, it took me forever to make up my mind! I conned my SIL into watching my two youngest kids, while the older two where at their Dad’s so I could run away for a few hours and have some me time and run up to Stitch your Art out to hit up their anniversary sale (6 years, congrats!) . It was wonderful, it was awesome, it was really odd to be driving an empty mini van. Kept feeling like I was missing something important.
I came home with 6 balls of Noro chirimen, and an orphan ball of Jo Sharp silkroad aran tweed in a beautiful blackberry color, that’ll make a Christmas gift later, maybe. I’ve been wanting to knit a top down raglan with some kinda striping yarn, and since the chirimen was on sale, and it sounds like it would be great for chilly nights this summer and fall. I’m calling it Emily Jane. Emily after the character in the trashy romance novel I’m reading and Jane because I think it sounds sweet with Emily (don’t you think so Mom?; )
I’m going to add a shawl collar/edge thing to it, I’ll share my notes when I’m done. I’m hoping I’ll have enough yarn. I think there is some magic way of figuring out how much yarn you need for a project but I have NO idea how its done. Maths elude me, among a great many things. This sweater in progress will be accompanying me to the dentist tomorrow, I’m very apprehensive, there is a lot of work to be done and I’m trying not to over think it. It needs to be done and I need to quit whining and worrying and just go do it.
Anyway, the knitting. I finished two baby sweaters last week for two mom’s who recently had baby boys.
more pictures on flickr starting here
Now, before you think I’m super speedy lil blue sweater (my rav project page) was started back in May. While I was knitting it, I thought “why don’t I increase up to the larger size? ” The pattern I was using seamless yoked baby sweater is written for sport and I used worsted (Knit picks swish worsted in deep ocean on US size 7’s). And I ran out of yarn with just the sleeves to do so I put it down until I ordered more. The only reason it was picked back up was because I really wanted to finish and gift it before softball was done and over for the season. Since it was for Corra’s one coach and the lady who took over my brownie troup new baby boy. Well, it came out to be about a 2T/3T size, he’ll grow into it sooner or later! The second sweater, the BSJ (my rav progect page) is knit for a friend who just had a baby boy I need to hurry up and mail it before he grows out of it. I used US 5’s and a little less then a skien of STR medium weight in Iolite.
Tonight was Corra’s mother daugheter softball game. It was great fun, more fun than last year. The girls where cheating horribly thanks to their third base coach telling them to steal bases before the ball was pitched. Corra made the All-Star team so softball is going on a little bit longer for us this year. Bryce wanted to play flag football, I’m extremly greatful that it only last a month. Anyway, it was great fun having the softball coaches line up at home plate and letting the girls pelt them with water balloons! mahhahahhaaa.
FO: Difficult Daisy*
I’m having a really hard time coming up with some cute story to tell ya’ll that goes with this top. (which btw that’s a tank that I’m wearing under the knit top.)
but I gots nothin. Ok, probably not nothing I can tell ya that I’m a little peeved that the lace is *right* over my b**bs. My Grandmother would have been thrilled with that, completely thrilled. (so much sarcasm is hard to fit into one small sentence 
It’s totally my fault that the lace hits there, I should have put the panel up higher, which I could have done by casting on more stitches. I don’t think it would bother me quite as much if it um, well complemented them more…
The other thing I got, is I bought this basket, with little red handles a few years ago on clearance either at Joann’s or Walmart. (I’m a super sucker for something on clearance.) I thought it would be really cute lined but had no idea how to do it, so it sat and sat and sat in my craft room. A few months ago I was searching through my stash and found an antique red print (a gift from my Auntie Adair a few years ago) and a yellow reproduction print (purchased from a quilt shop, also years ago.) and then a few days ago after realizing that it would look really cute all finished and with my new top I finished it.
really cute, huh? Clicky here for a shot of the inside of the bag.
pattern stats:
7th NaKniSweMoDo
pattern: based on Buttercup by Heidi Kirrmaier
needles US 8 (5.0 mm) US 7 (4.5 mm) for the collar
yarn: 3 skeins Lion Brand Cotton-Ease color Maize
Started May 17 2009
Completed May 24 2009
raveled here.
mods:
*Since I knit this with a heaver weight, I cast on 48sts and divided as follows: 1,8,30,8,1 knit the first row, purl the second start increasing on the third.
* didn’t increase for the gathered back, or for the puffy sleeves.
* sleeves- Row 19- Knit the rest of the row as before, except for the sleeves I increased in the 1 sts after the marker then k2, then kfb of the next sts. (38 sts). When it came time to knit the sleeves I knit them as written except when I picked up my sts from under the arm I had a total of 51sts. My decrease row was k16, (ssk, k1) 3 times, (k2tog k1) 3 times then k17.
* Row 25 knit to the last marker start purling, I did the whole cast on thing like the pattern, however I casted on 20sts to make my total sts for the front be 74. Worked 1 repeats of the lace pattern, then put the sleeves on hold, then worked 3 more pattern repeats before starting the body.
* collar- picked up and knit 96sts, -
* added some shaping right after starting the body. Decreased 2 sts on both sides right under the arm a few times. Knit straight for body, then increased to 127 sts, worked bottom as written.
ya, I guess I didn’t have nothing, nothing.
*named for my own personal tendency to be difficult. No, can’t knit this pattern with DK weight, have to use worsted and make things difficult for myself.
PS. Our cat had kittens a few days ago, these cute little kittenz keep melting my heart.
#6 Licorice Lime
Honestly, I’m really wondering if this is possible, am I counting right? Licorice Lime is my 6th NaKniSweMoDo (that I’ve managed to photograph, I’ve finished 2 more, total of 8). Seriously folks with the rate my brain is farting lately I keep double checking my math. Cause my skillz are rusty and right now its kinda hard to count and actually retain what I just did. Yepper’s Licorice Lime is my 6th sweater for NaKniSweMoDo. I’ve had this pattern in my queue for awhile, I don’t know what took me so long.
I’m not sure if its the lack of brain power or what, but I’m feeling kinda blah about this one. I do like it, I just don’t well, LOVE it. The color is starting to grow on me, its not one I would usually pick out for myself. Mike bought this yarn for me years ago at Michael’s in Virginia. Cotton-ease was on sale, and there was a Michael’s near his hotel., and I whined, a.lot. Still, I’ll never forget that conversation with him in Michael’s and me explaining dye lots over the phone. I do like my mods though, I wanted my neckline to be lower, really hate having shirts or sweaters up close on my neck. So I casted on 84sts (28,14,28,14) and left out the eyelets in the collar. Had to decrease one sts on the front so the lace panel would be centered. When I was almost done with the yoke I realized I could have:
1. moved a stitch from the back over to the front by moving the increase markers or done
2. cast on 86 sts and made placed the increase markers as so : 30,13,30,13. and the lace panel would be 19s, plm, 11sts plm 19s.
but like I said, lack of brain power. Complete, oh, duh moment. It doesn’t affect the way the sweater wears, or anything important like that. Still, its like my brain is a marshmallowy goo. For 3 hours today I seriously thought truancy was a pirate term, not well you know, skipping school. Yes, seriously. I wish I was kidding (wait, read on to Bryce’s cleats, my brilliance shines on.)
I added short rows to the back neck. First time I’ve done this on a sweater, well that I can remember right now, still not sure if it really made a difference or not. Now, I’m wondering if I didn’t put in enough because it doesn’t seem different really. My other mods, well their kind obvious no lace on the sleeves, no real reason just didn’t want it. Ribbing on the cuffs and waist band instead of the rolled whateveryoucallitIcan’tremember.
stats:
pattern: Licorice Whip by Jenifer Paulousky
needles : US 7 (4.5 mm) for the ribbing and US 8 (5.0 mm) for the rest.
yarn: a little less than 4 balls Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in lime (sorry, don’t feel like getting out the scale)
Started May 8 2009
Completed May 17 2009
knot count- 1 knot found in the first ball. In the third ball when I was looking for the end in the middle of the skein I pull out a 1 yard piece. WTH?
raveled here.
I’ve finished two other sweaters since this one, my difficult daisy and Liesl. Ok but Liesl is done but I still haven’t had a moment to attach her buttons. This has been one crazy week, not to mention the usual twice a week for both baseball and softball games (4 total) that are plaguing me lasting until the 3rd week of June, GS camp is this weekend, this is the last week of school which means teacher’s gifts, there are other things that I just can’t remember now. (wait mental count. Yep, all kids in bed. phew) I haven’t been able to cast on for something new. I’ve been working on my on the go socks and dreaming of a vest for myself out of DIC classy in deep seaflower in a all over waving rib pattern.*sigh* Laundry isn’t that important, is it?
PS. Remember my lack of brain power? I’m still amazed at how well Bryce played and ran during his baseball game tonight, considering he was wearing one (yes, just one) of his older sister’s cleats. This wasn’t discovered till we where all in the van, leaving the ballfield parking lot Corra looks at Bryce’s cleat’s and says “Bryce, are you wearing my cleats!!??” Bryce looks down at his feet “what?? no! Wait, what?? Hey! I have one of Corra’s cleats on!!” well oops. He had one left and one right one on. Still wondering how I managed this one.
PPS. I’m going to bed, I don’t think I’ll ever catch up on my email.
PPPS. Yes, its amazing. I drive and have reproduced. Scared? I am.
Stay calm, carry on.
Goodness. 3 ER visits in a 30 day time period. Thank goodness it was different kids! Twice in May Kailey and then Corra. Then… this month Allysa, I keep telling Bryce this doesn’t mean his turn is next. Here’s the story: We go down to the bus stop to pick up Corra and Bryce, come home and Bryce looses his lego guy helmet under the middle row of seats, which you know is life or death that helmet needs to be found asap! So while I had my head under the middle row of seats Corra and Allysa where playing on the swing-set while Bryce was asking me “did you find it yet?”. I heard Corra say to Allysa “are you alright? (Later Corra told me she saw Allysa’s wrist bent the wrong way) Allysa responded with “no my arm hurts!” so I un-wedged my arm from under the seats and went to go look. Allysa’s left arm had a definite dip about 1″ from her wrist. I said “aw, crap. I think you broke your arm. Lets get in the house, get some ice and then go to the ER. Crap, crap, crap.” Couldn’t find the medical frozen ice packs, and didn’t want to waste 10 minutes looking for them since they where probably in the bottom back of the freezer. I had Corra get two big bags of frozen veggies from our freezer on the back porch and had Allysa put her broken arm on top of one bag and the other bag on top of her arm, we didn’t have any newspaper so I couldn’t make a sling, but thankfully the frozen veggies made it hard for her to move her arm. Grabbed the go-to bag (has toys the kids hardly ever get to see, perfect for ER trips and long car trips) and we where off to the ER. On the drive over there I thought, crap. How am I going to park (which there is never any parking close to the hospital unless its 2am) bring her and the other kids into the ER? So I parked in the fire lane and locked them in, went over to reception (right next to the triage nurse) and asked for help. The nice lady with her door open sent out the security guard, the triage nurse and another nurse. After a couple x-rays (which they gave us paper copies to take home with us!)
they put her arm in a temporary cast/splint gave us a sling, and sent us home with a script for a pain killer. We where in and out in 1 hour and 45 minutes tops. Amazing. We went over to the Orthopedic Dr the next day, and he set her arm in a lovely, shiny, white cast. She didn’t get to pick a color one since the Dr had to grab the supplies he needed since we where not in a casting room. (I blame the guy in the waiting area that called out when our name was called. He was there first. Thanks buddy, yeah you might have been getting your cast off, but um, she doesn’t even have a cast.) I’m pretty sure the ER gave us the wrong size sling, we went back to the Dr and got a smaller one (a pediatric small this time) which I used to make her a pretty sling.
basically I measured the pediatric sling (for reference, Allysa is 5 years old, and wears a childs size 6), it was 11″ long and 6″ tall. I cut out two pieces of fabric and added a 2″ gusset for the elbow, thinking that maybe that would hold her arm better. I used 3 D rings and placed one just after her arm to hold it back (you can see in the pic) and two others over by the end for the strap to come through so its adjustable.
Making this helped me feel better, I felt so bad that she broke her arm (ok, a little mad too) but I also felt helpless. I can’t do anything to make her feel better or make her more comfortable. She loves the pretty sling as she calls it, and she really enjoyed picking out the fabric for it. We go back to the Ortho Dr. tomorrow, and hopefully will find out how much longer she needs to have this cast on. (Which BTW did you guys know there is a waterproof cast?? I found out about it 2 days after she got this one. *grumble*) For now though,
I’m going to “get excited and make things”! I hope to sew a little bit more, I need to get started on teacher gifts since the kids have 2 weeks of school left! Maybe make another sling for Allysa and use some of that antique lace in my stash. I started another sweater, and finished two others that I need to get photographed. Right now though, I think a nap sounds awful nice…
PS I took my GS troop horseback riding this weekend. I think they had fun.
PPS I got to ride too 
FO: Obsession
This is almost like reentering blogland. Gesh. My last knitting post was almost a month ago, even though I’ve been knitting like mad. Hell, I have a stash that could last me into my 70’s I need to have a project on the needles to justify it, so ya know the stash doesn’t make me feel all guilty… (Like my fabric stash does. *sigh*) And if I finish a project, well gee, I have to replace the yarn that I just used right? Right. When I’m not knitting, I’m thinking of knitting. I’m dreaming up or of patterns, whether they be socks, or cowls, or sweaters. I’m thinking of them. Thinking of the color of yarn to use, what weight, tweedy, variegated, solid or semi-solid. What I would want to change if the pattern already exists. Lately I’ve been gushing over sweaters. This one, you knitters understand me don’t you? Anyway, this one I found myself thinking about it while I was driving my kids to school. I knew that I wanted to use up the Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice solid in Antique rose that I’ve had in my stash for a bit, I bought it to make a sweater for Kailey but the pattern that I was using didn’t work out so well. And I had been thinking of U-necks, I’ve never knit a u-neck sweater before so I wasn’t so sure of the construction of it. I thought and I thought, dreamed and I dreamed. Then it hit me. It was a oh, well, duh moment. Basically all it is is a v-neck, but instead of only casting on 1 or 2 stitches after the increases are done before the sweater is connected in the round cast on more and there’s the U.
After a little figuring, I casted on hell, if I know how many I casted on now. Because again, I lost my notes and I didn’t add this part to rav. *grumble* I knit and knit ended up increasing to 130 total body stitches (46 sts for each sleeve) CO 4 sts for each underarm (total of 8 ) Knit 2 rows back and forth didn’t connect yet, then since it was where I wanted the U to stop (or start whichever) I CO 14 sts then connected the round. Add a bit of waist shaping- decreased body sts down to 126. Ended up adding a long rib to the bottom, about 3″. Picked up stitches around the collar, knit 1 row. On the second row where I got to the corners of the U I decreased so the ribbing wouldn’t poof out. Shoulda decreased a little more.
The last sleeve felt like it took forever, and ever. It might have been because I didn’t have as much time to knit, I was knitting this around Corra’s birthday, it was a little crazy getting things ready for her sleepover party. Sometimes it feels like the sleeves take the longest. Anyway the sleeves end just a little wee bit above my elbow. Just perfect for quarter sleeves.
My final thought’s on this little u-neck obsession? I like it, I don’t love it. But I like it. I think I’d love it a little bit more if I found a shirt I liked to go under it. It’s still cute, and a little sassy, but it makes my b**bs look smaller than they already are. I’m not all that thrilled with how the yarn is wearing, its fuzzing a bit and if you look closely at the pictures you can see it.
stats:
pattern: my own, basic top down raglan.
yarn: 3 skeins (510.0 yards) of Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice Solid in Antique rose.
needle: US 8 / 5.0 mm
started: March 9 2009
completed March 18 2009
4th NaKniSweMoDo
raveled here.
Again, I’m obsessing over another sweater. This time a top. After I had finished obsession, I was dreaming about a top down raglan, with lil puffed sleeves and a feather and fan lace panel on the chest. Then buttercup (rav link) was all over my friend activity. Perfect, absolutely perfect, the little bits of lace down at the bottom where even better than what I was thinking up in my head. Except one thing. its written for a dk weight yarn, and I was hoping to use some LB cotton ease in maize I’ve had in my stash for a bit. It’s worsted. I think I can work something out…. again totally obsessed.
PS. I gotta take some FO pictures, every time I look at my rav project page and see all the WIP’s that are really FO’s I get a little cranky. I don’t want to mark them as finished, cause well they aren’t really they need finished pictures taken!
being a mom, my view
I was tagged by Meg over at Tea & Brie. This little meme started at Her Bad Mother, in a post called ‘The world according to Mom.’ To totally steal Meg’s words: “To make a long story short, she wrote out five reasons why she loves being a mom and then tagged five people to do the same. Her goal is for this mommy meme to make it around the world in 80 clicks. I am sure she has reached her goal.”
Mommyhood has to be my best job, most challenging job, my hardest job. We’re not raising children here, we are molding lil adults. Adults that will be able to take care of themselves, be apart of and contribute to society, be independent, loving, creative, basically know who they are as a person, and be themselves. Granted Labor Laws don’t seem to apply to this job. Doesn’t matter how many times you explain that there are labor laws in the US and for every 4 hours of work (or is it 6?) there is a mandatory 20 minute break and Mommy is, well on a damn break right now. There are no breaks, there is no second shift. There are no nanny’s in this house, its just Mommy. Mommy who gets up at 3 am blurry eyed to walk down the hall to the crying 2 year old who had in fact woke up, took off her jammies and for some unknown, ungodly, friggin reason took off her damn diaper *again* and is freaking cold, tired and cranky. Mommy who packs the lunches and puts in the favorite chips, a little treat and milk money, Mommy who provides the snack to the little league team, makes sure the hat, glove, water bottle, bat and batting helmet is ready for the game, Mommy who drives to band practice and has the clarinet and music ready to go, with a snack, a smile and grumbles though her teeth “get in the damn van” and screams during the ballgames “get your bloody mitt outta your mouth!!!!” to her center fielder and yells “great play!!!” for the whole game. Sure there are moments when I lock myself in the bathroom for 15 minutes to read a lil and regroup, (my employer doesn’t understand labor laws, I need to lawyer up!), or hide behind the island in the kitchen and eat some m&m’s so I dont’ have to share, there hasn’t been a day this month where I have fallen into bed with my bra still on, totally not giving a damn, exhausted not ready for tomorrow but on some level I’m fulfilled, happy with that warm fuzzy feeling in my heart because even though I would get a few toes for 20 minutes of quiet where I don’t have to clean up the aftermath I wouldn’t give up this job. Oh, hell no.
So, here it goes – 5 reasons why I love being a mom.
1. It will never cease to amaze me why children pick their favorite things. Why they pick red for their favorite color, why they like turkey (hold the mayo) sandwiches over PB&J, why they pick their BFF. I love how children are the same, but different. With four kids, they have their favorites and their dislikes. It’s almost like its their individual preference and a bit of peer pressure. I love watching the kids interact with their friends, and when Kailey makes a new “friend” at the ballfield during the friggin 4 days a week we are down there. Like I said, it will never cease to amaze me why their pick their favorite things and the things that they don’t like. I love to watch them figure out how they fit in the world.
2. The feeling I get when they think of other people. Wither it be looking before they take off running at the park and waiting when they see someone coming. Holding the door for someone else, or even making something to make someone else feel good. Even a little drawing or pushing in someones chair so they don’t have too, small things have big impacts. The “I HELP!” or “me do!” and pitching in, makes the world go around for me. Kid’s want to feel appreciated just like everyone else does, they want to please the adults in their life. Children give their love freely, they are the most generous little creatures. well, most of the time.
3. Knowing that nothing heals quite as well as a hug. When the world is crashing down in tweendom, or be it a trip and fall complete with a bump a hug from Mom heals the hurt. The love that I have for my children, it seems to have no end. Its so filling, so exasperating, so real it’s almost scary. Being a mom can be down right scary sometimes, knowing that your in charge and lives depend on you. When you see that lil face smiling at you it makes it all worth while. It also helps that as Mom, I have the power over dessert. mmaahhahahaa.
4. When I think that something I’ve made or done isn’t quite the way I want it, or I’ve done it wrong. They don’t see the “mistake”, my children seem to think the world of me. (At least now, and yes, I plan to enjoy it while I can because when they are teen’s they are probably going to scream “I will never be like you” or “I don’t like you!” and then when they have children they’ll come back and say. “I.am.so.friggin.sorry.” and “you, where right Mom.” and won’t let their children whistle in the house just like I have. Slowly, but surely I’m becoming my mother, and its not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Love ya mom.) Once when I was sewing something I screwed up and grumbled “shit”. yes, I said shit. And started ripping out the mistake, Bryce asked me why I was taking it apart. I told him it was because I did it wrong and had to start over, he told me that it was perfect and he likes what I make. My heart still warms up when I think of that. And yes, as long as my children will wear them I will continue to make sweaters for them, and sew up lil creatures for them too.
5. Being there when they have mastered a new skill. The look on their faces is priceless. The baby’s first steps, the first home run, first ride without training wheels their eyes are screaming “I’m doing it!! I AM doing IT!!!” All that hard work, perseverance, a little bit of failure, and a push or two from Mom and Dad to accomplish their goal. If it wasn’t for trying there would be no accomplishments.
I love being a mom. Like I said this is the hardest, most challenging job in the world. There are no take backs, there is no fear of unemployment, just well, this. Day after day, as they grow up I grow a little bit too. Every day is a new challenge, every day I am, as a person am tested. My patience, my conflict resolution, my organizational skills, heck even my knowledge in technology is tested (thank you Wii, and your freezing up.) There are moments where my head feels like its going to implode and I want to scream “what the heck was I thinking??”, honestly I would never give this up for the world. Never go back and change anything. I love being a mother, and I love my job, even though there is no pension and they pay doesn’t buy groceries or put gas in the car.
Aw, crap. I think I’m supposed to tag 5 people from another country… well. I don’t think I have blog readers out of the US that have kids…. but then again my memory is mush and its amazing that I’m still allowed to drive a car. So please correct me if I’m wrong, cause you know there is a dang good chance that I am. I tag… Tracey at frugal fuzzy britches, Cayli at Spin a Yarn for Ewe, Julie at Stoneview, Mary at Right Sides Together, and Robin at Perky Knits and Stitches and anyone else too. It’s so much fun reading other people’s views on why they love motherhood.
For a little bit of fun, this video clip is from Corra’s band concert, she is sitting in the last row and is second from the left. She hasn’t been playing for very long, just 4 months. All in all, I think she did a darn good job and that group of 4 & 5 graders did a great job. Anyway I thought a contest would be quite fun. First person to guess the name of this song wins either some sock yarn or some roving. Contest closed, Robin won! Congrat’s Robin. I’ll be mailing out something good to you sometime this week 
here is a link to the video in case it doesn’t embed right.
you gotta see this eye candy.
and this exciting bit of news! Go over and wish my sis the best!!
We are all very excited over here, and sis, so sorry about squealing into your ear last night
FO: Ace Brown
Its been a crazy couple of weeks, 2 ER visits (long story shorter 1. Kailey fell and hit her head on a open drawer and cut her forehead. I thought it might need stitches, thankfully it wasn’t long enough so they glued it shut. 2. Corra fell while at her Dad’s and knocked herself out for a minute, took her to the ER to make sure she was ok. She is, she had a headache that lasted a few days but is otherwise alright. I quite hope we are done with ER visits, I can tell ya’ll this I won’t be going back to the Clarion PA ER where Corra went (I would have rather her gone to Dubois’s ER her Dad lives over there). The ER automatic doors didn’t open, well automatically. Yes, that shoulda been hint to not to even try to enter, cause hmm, if the doors don’t open should we really go in and seek medical treatment? ya know like if a restaurant has nasty bathrooms how clean are the kitchen’s really? Baseball and softball have started, games and all. GS is finishing up, and I had a spring cleaning attack and cleaned out the room of crap. Well, actually I cleaned my crap out of it but Mike’s crap is still in there. My brain isn’t any better off then it was before. But I did finish a sweater a few days before the first ER visit!
I don’t think I’ve talked about my hometown before, I grew up really, in a very rural area. We had a post office, library (complete with the stereotypical librarian hair in a bun, bifocals and a cranky demeanor, but she new her stuff.) general store that sold penny candy, town hall and fire department. To get to the mall was a 45minute drive, to town where the gas stations, grocery stores and movie theater where a 30minute drive.
I played little league baseball when I was little, wasn’t very good, but I picked my share of flowers. My backyard was a lake, and I spent the summers water skiing if I could get my Uncle to take me out on his boat. I road my bike everywhere I could, usually to the general store or to the park. Always hung out with the same kids, we where all friends for the longest time because well, there wasn’t much choice. My high school was amazingly small compared to the school’s here where I live now in PA. My kids elementary school, which serves just this town has more kids in it then my high school did. Its shocking to a lot of people here, but my high school was so small we didn’t have a football team because there weren’t enough people to play. Football is a way of life here, Steelers country, they live breathe and dream all about football. Sports are big here, for us uncoordinated folk its a challenge.
I love where I grew up, the museums, and the culture. The focus on the arts. The awesome maple syrup. I love where I live now, if I need milk its a 5 minute drive to the grocery store, if I need to put gas in the van there are 2 gas stations in town. The mall is 15 minutes away, everything is closer, granted I do miss the museums, and I really dislike the damned fire whistle (it only has one tone, so its not like it can be used to warn people of different things and I’m certain its gotten louder.) I know who my neighbors are here, in face one brought me a pie and cookies for the kids when I moved in. I’m used to the differnt terms that are used “red up the room” (clean up the room) and I still don’t own a sweeper, its a vacuum damnit. It plugs in, sweepers don’t. I keep catching myself saying “Ant Kelly” not Aunt, slowly I’m loosing my accent. A creek is still a little bit bigger than a stream not as big as a river. Redbank creek, its a river damnit, and I’ll still call Falls Creek, Falls Creak not Falls Crick.
I love my hometown and all my memories of growing up. But I’m not moving back, well maybe when tourist season really becomes a season. Ya know, like deer season. And yes I do realize when I go back to visit I’m essentially a tourist.
details:
pattern: Acer by Kirsten Kapur
size: xs-ish, see mods
yarn: 5.25 skeins (735.0 yards) Greenwood Hill Farm 2-Ply Worsted in chocolate purchased during Rhinebeck ‘08
needles: US 8 (5.0 mm)
Started March 19 2009 and finished April 3 2009
5th NaKniSweMoDo
ravled here.
buttons where a gift from PhenixPottery on etsy.
mods: because I used a lighter yarn that what is called for, and because I wanted my neck to be higher. That ment my yoke had to be longer. I cast on for the XS, knit 6 rows for my collar band. I knit 40 rows of the pattern (total including the WS rows). 22 increase rows total, basically I kept working the yoke pattern and increasing until the it was right under my underarms.
Note about the yarn- If I had to pick my deserted island yarn this would be it. It’s so soft, squishy, light weight and incredibly awesome to knit with. Incredibly soft. Srsly, wool is itchy to me, I have to wear a long sleeve shirt under most of my sweaters. This I can wear a t-shit. It’s from a flock of 100% pure breed merino sheep. It has its faults though, lots of them. 4 out of the 6 hanks had 1 knot in them. There is a great amount of hay in this yarn, it falls out while your knitting and is easy to pick it out. There are spots that are thick and there are some thin spots too. And to me the yarn smells weird, like cedar. The owner told me that she washes the hanks in lavender soap. Doesn’t smell like lavender to me. This time I washed the yarn trying to get rid of the smell, the majority of hay came out. But the smell was still there, some time in a ziplock back with some pretty smelling soap took the smell away. I really love this yarn, even with all the faults.
Overall this sweater is love (100), I’m trying really hard not to wear it every day.
PS. I’m super excited this weekend is supposed to be warm, sunny and overall awesome.
PPS. Mike doesn’t know it yet but we’re painting tomorrow.
PPPS. He does know that I’m sticking him with the kids for a few hours tomorrow so I can snicker away and get some damn quiet time.
PPPPS. I don’t know what’s up with some of the pictures, I had Bryce take them 2 weeks ago while we where doing some yard work. Granted this was the greatest amount of yard work I’ve done in a very, very long time.
Happy Easter!
Sending my wishes for a Happy Easter (for all of those who celebrate)
**panoramic sugar Easter egg, bunny and flowers purchased from Bake it Pretty Can’t say enough of the customer service, great shop**
My Aunt Adair and my Mom would make these sugar eggs when I was younger I can remember looking at the delicate scenes she would make and eating a few frosting flowers too. This year I really wanted to give it a go. After a few false starts I got it right, reading the directions and finding a bit of patience helped too! Even though these are meant to be a decoration I have a feeling a few pieces of frosting will go missing.
Nothing says Easter like a sugar high, am I right?
PS Sorry for the silence, its been a heck of a two weeks. More later. I’m coming down from my sugar high and am ready for bed. Night!
2009- gettin' it on with 7 pairs so far!
