The Knitting Bag

So, I've been knitting a BSJ in stockinette. It's turning out nice. Here it is, in Araucania Ulmo with my many pictures of my kid. I keep thinking how weird it seems that I'm so proud of this person. She's done nothing but grow, probably sleep, absorb nutrients, that's it. But I think she's super amazing. I'm saying/typing she for two reasons a. I hate that he is the default pronoun to this day, and b. I really think it's gonna be a girl. If she is really a he I'll apologize:)



After taking that shot I went to go pull out the Dax sweater from my knitting bag to take a pic of that and found that one of my survival banana's had remained in the bag since Friday and had expired into a frothy, sticky mess. Thankfully, there were few casualties, but I found that there was an enormous amount of crap in the bag.



I have to carry around survival supplies now because the legendary morning sickness that comes with pregnancy is translated in my body to all-times-of-day sickness. I am not complaining, but like the honorary boy scout that all tom boys are, I do like to be prepared. So I always have Canada Dry, crackers (not in pick - sadly they were a casualty of the banana incident), oranges, breakfast bars (not in pic because they've all been eaten), and the dreaded banana. The pic also features an advert for the upcoming gem show in NYC...I'm super excited!



Also in the bag, my pretty new Anne Taintor knitting bag from Yarn Diva!



I always carry around reading material. Right now in addition to the two night table books I'm reading at home I'm finishing Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, just finished Blood + Water, and just got the new WeirdNJ special issue. In the center, surrounded by all this wicked dark stuff, a picture of my kid. She's going to either accept all this and become the most awesome darkling on the playground complete with Wednesday Adams braids, or she'll rebel and be a *GrimmWitch vomits in mouth a little bit* cheerleader.

I have friends who were cheerleaders and they've turned out okay, so even worst case scenario she'll be fine, but the poor thing will be the only one on the squad who's biggest fan sports an Ozzy halter, black long sleeve bolero, Betty Page bangs, and knitting accessories with prominent skull decorations.



The Dax sweater, in Bamboozle by Crystal Palace Yarns is turning out great. It feels wonderful, and the pic doesn't do the colors justice. The blue is a gentle gradient of light blue, sea foam, and all the good stuff in between.



Ah, the casualties of the famous banana explosion of 2010. You can see my Raymore and Flanagan envelope...we finally bought a bedroom set after five years of marriage.



Last night at the Lowes I went berserker with gift money from my parents and took care of the whole new room with curtains...



Paint (sea foam)



and curtain rods...it was a great day with only one hitch....



In moving up to the new room we discovered that the furniture would not fit up the stairs. So Dad and Mr. G removed the banister.



This was the room as the previous owners had it...


And this is what it looks like so far...




The chair surprisingly goes great with the furniture but it's my brother-in-law's, not ours. I don't know, however, when he'll be able to send for it to be shipped to Texas, so I guess it can stay:) I do wanna put a mini fridge in the spot where it is for baby stuff so I don't have to run downstairs at night.

I'm really happy with the set.

And last night, Mr. G and I, reveling in our last months of freedom, went to see Shutter Island. It was great and I highly recommend it. I dare you to guess the ending within the first ten minutes.

The Vampire Diaries

Back in the day...when I was just a tween witch from Jersey (I was rather new to having a two digit age, Nirvana was a new band, I wanted my mom to get me a beeper, and my dad had just introduced us to Prodigy on the computer) there was no Twilight so I read the Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith. That time of life is difficult for everyone, but was made more complicated for me by the loss of my grandparents and one of my two late uncles. School was like being forced into an iron maiden for eight house a day, and as I still do today I used books to escape.

I readlly did love these books . . . I even know for a fact that I still have them in my parent's house somewhere . . . but I'd forgotten about them until just now when I saw the CW will be airing the series version in the fall. If you know someone young who needs something to read during math class (how did I avoid getting a detention for that???), likes horror, swoonie stuff, and stories about sexy dead boys who drink blood, I totally recommend the series. They were like, these sweet little nuggets of peace in an otherwise crazy school day and better than tv at night.

The Tale of the Pepper in the Castle

Once upon a time there was a little sister named Princess Pepper. She had a wonderful husband, two adoring parents with whom she lived, Queen Lupie and the King, a fearsome dragon, named Maggie the adorable, and a wickedly stunning older sister who followed the old ways. She was known as the GrimmWitch.

Pepper was happy where she lived, but she and her prince dreamed of a castle of their own. They finally found it...nestled in the woods among the creeping things and the rowdy beasts of the forest. The thing of it was that the castle was very, very filthy. What was poor Pepper to do? She enlisted Queen Lupie and GW and all sorts of helpful beings from throughout the realm to aid in bringing this frightful mess of a castle back to it's former glory.

The sunken living room is huge. The rug must be ca. 1960. The below pic was taken from the wood panel "den".

Here's the den.

When I got there this was the only panel down in the about 5x5 room. Now they're all down. And Pepper did it by herself (with a little help from me). It was actually really fun. I got to use my hands. We work well together b/c our personalities I think are suited for teamwork.

Above you can see the wallpaper falling off. That is being removed as I type. And there is the gross rug. I feel bad for the elderly people who lived there until about 2007. Clearly someone should have advised their family to help them have the rugs replaced if they didn't know to do so on their own. And the renters left the place gross:(

Above is the 1st floor half bath. Pepper's gonna do a Frenchy theme in there - but in a tasteful way. The renters apparently didn't know that they have to at times clean the lint trap. Pepper and I filled her Dyson completely with filth from the lint trap. I estimate there must have been at least one full cubic foot of lint. When I'd tunneled past most of it I found a happy little surprise.

I had to use a hanger to get it out because the long lint trap brush and the vacuum weren't doing it. I also found a sandwich toothpick (like to keep a club sandwich together), some change, and a zipper pull.

Finally, triumph!
Lupie cleaned the kitchen. Everything was covered in dirt and oily grime. I don't understand why the renters seemingly didn't clean anything. I'm a pretty forgetful, scatterbrained, and lazy person in my opinion and it was even too filthy for me.

So Princess Pepper watched as her castle slowly transitioned from monstrous to modern, from filthy to fabulous. She, and the prince, and the dragon would live happily ever after:)

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In other news...

The fingerless gloves will have to wait, Mom...It's time...

Photo from Knitty.com

I've had the yarn for this for over a year and never started...pictures to come.

And I'm sure all my little emo-ite, rock-esque, goth-lette students will be happy to know that I've bitten the bullet, or been bitten by it in this case, and

Yes, Sunky, I am reading Twilight:)

A sweater's end...

I am on the last few rows of the Baby Surprise Sweater. I'm not quite ready to do another one for a while. It was a nice experience, but I'm movin' on. Mom has started her second and Pepper is doing an adult sized version. Last night I tore out the sweater I'd started with the Shaefer yarn and started it again to knit along with Pepper...but now she's doing the adult sized Surprise Jacket, so I'll continue on alone.
Last night I finished Wideacre by Philippa Gregory. I really love the way Gregory writes...and wrote more about the book under "What I'm Reading."

I just started Nectar from a Stone by Jane Guill. It looks promising.

As far as my own writing is concerned...eh. About two weeks ago my father advised I go back into an unclompleted piece and try to work on that. I've done this before, but this time I didn't go back to the piece I was happiest with, or even the longest piece...I went back to the oldest and was able to work on it for 5 or 6 hours. I just can't seem to write when the Husband is around. Spending time with him is more appealing to me right now than continuing work on all this stuff that I'm just not that happy with. Hopefully I'll soon write something that will feel worthy enough of my attention.