UPdate!

Heartfail for Mama, Baby, and Dollie

Eloise was asking me for a scarf, and apparently people outside the rock I live under have been making cowls for children, so I took some stashed Caron Simply Soft and some stashed Moda Dea Kickx and made this fuzzy cowl for Eloise.

Started another Clapotis years after my last one.

And I've been spinning, like, on a WHEEL!!!!!

Some cute baking...

Yum!  A pain in the butt with the layering, but mix all six colors with food coloring, and dribble in with a spoon.  It's 20% cooler.


And I finally finished that Pinwheel!!!  Took forever!!!!  Not b/c it was too hard to knit, b/c everything that could possibly get in the way GOT IN THE WAY!!

Surprise, surprise...

So...come with me "now on a journey through time and space"... January 17th I felt terrible, running a fever, tired, PMSie. I was preparing for invetro fertilization within the next few weeks. The grocery bag full to bulging with injectables and pills for the procedure glared out at me each morning from the dining room table like a lopsided snowman melting in the heat of my nervousness.

I woke up on the 18th and when opening the linen closet spotted the dreaded pregnancy tests. I can't tell you how many of these I've used in the past few years, but I know I can't count the number on my fingers and toes. I really try not to use them because they are expensive and I always knew what the result would be...negative.

The morning of the 18th however, something felt different almost from the moment I woke up. My friends words skipping though my head... "I had cramps, my boobs were sore, I was tired," she's said.

"Let me try," I thought. I grabbed the test and did my business, then walked off to brush my teeth. I came back to throw the stick in the garbage...and there it was...days before I was suppose to start my IVF medication injections...a positive result. The cold silence of the morning was pulverized by hoarse voice screaming as best I could for Mr. G to wake up and look at the stick. He was concerned it was wrong; how could we possibly have gotten pregnant the one month we'd used no drugs after three years of nothing.

I took another from a different box...the same outcome. By the end of the day my bathroom garbage was full of pluses and double lines and I was 99.9% sure I was going to be a mom.

Now I'm almost six weeks with a grain of rice sized kid growing inside me. At long last, after years of planning, making decisions about school, career, home with nothing but this new person in mind, I'm pregnant.

And back to knitting...so the Whirligig Sweater for my friends soon to be daughter, Nalani, is finished.

Front shot...

And back. I really like the way this came out.

I also finished the CLAPOTIS! Thank the gods. Pepper can finally get her scarf. I really feared that it would be too hot to use it by the time I gave it to her.

Thank the gods. Pepper can finally get her scarf. I really feared that it would be too hot to use it by the time I gave it to her.

I'm still working on a Spiderman blanket in crochet for my friend's grandson. It looks great but I am such a slow crocheter it's taking forever. I still have to finish the blue repeat, do a whole additional repeat of red, and the black lines shooting towards the middle.

I casted on this too ... the Dax Jacket from 2009 Interweave Knits Weekend. The pattern is by Katie Himmelberg and looks so squishy and soft. I'm just going to wing it with the colors (sea foam and white) b/c I have far more of the sea foam color. We'll see:)

Eh...Feeling Glum

Obviously...I haven't posted since October. I'm not pregnant yet, and after three years (just beginning my 4th year of trying) the fact that the one stupid thing I obsessed about, being a mother before 30, is most likely going to be impossible is weighing on me. I don't know why it was so important to me, maybe b/c I feel that I was shorted years with my own grandmother and Lupie is sick with, well, lupus. I'm not feeling great. People and things occupy my mind, but when I'm alone all I think about is what's next, how long until the next Dr. visit, the fear that next month will be fruitless like this month. I'm usually a very happy, up beat person, but watching children living with indifferent parents (you jerks, you don't know how lucky you are. All my students are awesome whether they are appreciated or not) and no pregnancy is getting me down.

Anyway...I am still working on the clapotis, but started a baby sweater for my pregnant friend (I am pure happy for her, thank the gods, no bitterness - that would drive me crazy). The baby girl is going to have a super awesome name, Nalani, and this will be her girlie sweater (pattern by Stephanie Japel: Whirligig Shrug in Interweave Weekend 2009)

In addition, my sister got me hooked on the Mighty Boosh, a British comedy centering around two pretty original characters. He's a funny clip from the episode Nannagedon.

Lots'a Yarn

Last weekend Mom and I stopped at Yarn Diva in Hillsdale while out. She wound up buying me a Knit Kit. I think Pat said someone had asked her if it was a birth control kit.:)

Pat got her one and she was looking to spread the addiction. As she said on her blog, Mom added a needle to the kit. I'll be doing that too. Above the Knit is pictures from the front with some really vibrant Jitterbug yarn that I picked up at Yarn Diva. Below I'm posting a shot of the back of the Knit with some Aussi sock. That is the same yarn (different colorway) as the yarn I used for the Mary Thank You Socks.

I still have the Lapis Hederas on the needles here next to me. I'm thinking I may give those to Mary as well.

I've made a lot of progress on the BSJ for Mrs. B's new grandbaby.

I think I'm going to make something for the big brother of the new baby, Alex, but I'd want it to be crochet. I've been missing crochet so much. I also sleep with a crochet blanket every night and it's just as snuggly as any knitting! So I'm considering making this Spiderman blanket (Ravelry Link). I'd make one for Griff too, and I'd hope to make one for my other co-worker's son. We will see...that is a buttload of blanket!

Still working on my Clapotis.

It's taking much longer than I'd thought, but then again it is sockish yarn. And it does feel really nice. It's for me, so I'm in no rush.

I've done NOTHING to get ready for school. A little web design on my class site, but it sux so I'll need to re do it. The company that we teachers have our sites through makes good design difficult. Tomorrow (gulp) I'm planning to go in.

Mom, Pepper, and I were supposed to see Julie and Julia today but Pep got sick. Mom and I hadn't been to Stix-n-Stitches in a gillion years so we drove up to Montclair. I miss going there b/c the staff is great. They are so helpful and make everyone feel at home. They truly are a bunch of wonderful broads.

So I'd seen online that another store that had once been in Montclair had relocated. Mom and I decided to drive by and found that they'd moved down the block from Stix. I found this very puzzling. I wish them the best with their venture, and I know Stix will support a fellow yarn store in any appropriate way, but why would you open up a store down the block from another that sells the exact same merch? I also doesn't feel the same as Stix. If I need Rowan and don't want to drive into Hoboken to Patricia's I guess I'd go there, but otherwise I don't think I will. And I think I'd feel totally uncomfortable asking for help there.

While at Stix I finally got to spend the rest of my gift cert from Mom and Dad from December...yes, December! I was really looking for Flat Feet but I couldn't find any. Here's the loot I did get...

Although I love blues I'd never purchased an all blue sock yarn so there it is and it feels great.

I saw that they had all this Araucania Patagonia on sale so I went nuts with that.

I really love this yarn. A few years back I made one of my first sweaters out of it. I don't think I ever posted the final result...I know it's not on my Ravelry, so here's that...

I made it with a huge hood modeled after my favorite sweater ever, some cheep, fuzzy, black cardigan I got for $5 or so at some discount store when I was in college. Both the Patagonia one and the original are very warm, only good for late fall or winter. I knitted on a smaller needle with the cotton to make it heavy and very insulating. I wear it and the original one every day under my coat in the winter.

While at Stix I picked up some yarn to make a fair isle hat with Mom from Brooklyn Tweed's new book (Mom's a Jared Flood fan). Here's the Ravelry link.

The yarn is Fresco from Classic Elite. I eliminated the white from the pattern and changed it to black (I do white as little as humanly possible; my day glow 'how is she a Latin lady' skin it pale enough for any outfit I may wear). There's a pic from Ravelry of the finished fair isle along with a pic of the crochet hat I'm working on now, Raspberry Beret, from the most recent Crochet Today magazine.

Here's what my Raspberry Beret (love that name:) looks like so far...

A bit blurry, but you can see mine it far more grapie. I was originally working on it in Berroco Ultra Alpaca and just b/c I tend to crochet and knit like I'm strangling someone I didn't like the way it was coming out. This is Cascade 220, and the feel is much softer and is better for the pattern.

I did get one more thing at Stix. I saw this woman lugging tons of bags into the store. I didn't know why she was there, but I felt bad she had to do all that on her own. I wish my knee wasn't so screwed up 'cause I would have preferred to help her bring the bags down the steps into Stix, but the least I could do and did was to hold the door so she could just breeze in once she got her shit down stairs. When she was finally done Mom joked that she now needs to pay me in yarn b/c I was such and excellent door lady. She then proceeded to ask me if I like cool or warm colors and handed me a kid socks size piece of Flat Feet.

Turns out she was a yarn company rep and was there to show Sheila (Stix owner) new Fiesta and Flat Feet (really stunning new Fiesta!). I don't ever do shit expecting things back or b/c I'm thinking of the 3 fold law, although I do believe doing good always brings you good in return simply by just feeling good. I just do whatever little shit I do for others b/c that's what every one should do. And really, holding the door? That's just a little bullshit thing. That was really nice that she gave me yarn and I was touched.

In non knitting news...I'm silly often and one silly thing I do every year is watch the tv show Big Brother. This season I've chosen to cheer for Kevin Campell to win.

He was smart to lay low most of the game and although I guess his house mates would disagree he was as loyal as he could be to his allies while still taking part in the game play and not forgetting that he's playing for money. I think this loyalty mixed with reasonable self preservation will come to be the argument for him to win a freakin buttload of cash if he makes it to the end. Go Kevin!!

And don't forget...PROJECT RUNWAY IS BACK!!!!!! More on that next post.

Taking a Break from my Knitting with...more Knitting

I have been working on the Baby Surprise for Mrs. B's grandbaby. I got the invite for the party but sadly it's on my birthday so I won't be staying for the whole thing.

It's a second kid for the parents, so Mrs. B was asking us in school in June if we thought it was appropriate to have a smaller party. I think that whenever anyone has any sort of excuse to have a party one should do so; maybe a smaller party is called for or asking for donations instead of gifts is an option. I also feel that whenever a child of the opposite gender enters a family (the 1st child a boy, the 2nd a girl, or the 1st two boys, the 3rd a girl,m visa versa and etc) you're pretty much starting from scratch in many areas so a typical baby shower is fine. Mrs. B is just a very considerate person. She never wants to offend people.

So here is a pic of the newest portions of the sweater, now with lavender stripes introduced.

I took a break from sox and the Clapotis to make a hat. Mom (Lupie) had picked out a pattern she wanted to make and I wanted to work along with her, but I was eyeing another pattern from tentenknits.

I worked on it one afternoon at Mom's house and two nights in a row when I was trying to get to sleep and finished quickly. I tried my best with the floats but know that tension will get better with practice.

Tomorrow I'm going knitting with the ChalkDust Knitters for the first time in months. I'm very excited b/c I know Karen will have the latest news from school (she is an administrative assistant in another grammar school in my district). I don't know if I mentioned it yet, but apparently my school has been closed down due to asbestos. Gee whizz, I wonder if all the cave-ins, cracks, and ceiling nipples with dripping asbestos water could have put any of my kids in danger!?!?

Warning...Crazy Teacher Rant...

I really want to know what's going on b/c I had big plans to completely re-do my classroom so that it would be more organized, easier to run, and therefore a less stressful place to be. But who knows what will happen now, and who knows whether or not all the dangerous crap will really be cleared away. I bet any amount of money it won't.

People wanna know why my little dudes can't score as high as other districts (even though we score high compared to other urban districts like our own). It's because my funny, smart, beautiful, clever, awesome, caring, inspirational, terrific students (they are really too wonderful for words) are going to school in a century old building that was permitted to slowly desintigrate. They look at drab beige and brown walls and floors every day, my posters and decorations stretching to cover up the veins of water damage and dusty cracks that have been unrepared for years.

Then people try to blame the custodians. I imagine keeping my school clean must be something like trying to dust and restore an Egyptian pyramid after someone plays paintball inside.

Teacher Rant Over

I went out recently with two women I went to high school with. It's weird to call them women:) I still feel 18 sometimes. I think if someone had asked me which one of us I thought would be married and in a stable teaching possition ten years later I would have been my last guess. I tell my students all the time that sometimes life takes you to the complete opposite of where you thought you'd be. And in my case it ended up to be the best thing as I sit here typing next to the man I never thought I'd want to meet, in the home I never imagined I'd own.

And in music news I stumbled across the two year old album of the band She Want Revenge and really liked it. So one may want to check it out...it sits just perfect between Joy Division and The Cars in my iPod, but I wouldn't say it's exactly like either.

Clapotis...Almost Forgot

How have I been able to work on the clapotis in the car, while watching tv, and while reading (even comics!)?

Soul Knitting has this great spreadsheet you can print out as a guide.

Screenshot of Soul Knitting's Clapotis Spreadsheet : Get file here.

I'm making the clapotis in the size written in the pattern, so this works nicely, but I can see how one could easily adjust the spreadsheet if one were making a smaller scarf or larger shawl version of the pattern.

Twilight, Crafting, Clapotis, and Animals

Let me begin with Twilight. It doesn't matter to me that it's Young Adult. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a series so much!
I lied.
Yes I can.
Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.

So I finished Twilight, read New Moon...

And now I'm on to Eclipse.

I love the characters. I feel like Bella's long lost aunt or something screaming in my head when she does something I know is unwise or cheering her on when good things happen. I don't fall for characters so easy either! Stephenie Meyer is a darn good storyteller. People may critisize her writing ability...eh! says I! I like a well told story; it doesn't have to be the linguistic parallel to Shakespeare.

On the crafty front, I've been planning some non-knitting projects and stopped at the Cozy Quilt Shop for the 1st time to buy supplies. It seems it's one of the only places in the area to go for lots of fabric variety since the closing of my beloved Rag Shops :( Here's the stuff I got...all fat quarters (a half of a half yard) except for the half yard of purple.

In knitting news, I made a wonderful, marvelous, too good, excellent mistake:)

I knew I had two skeins of Jitterbug in Mist to do the Clapotis.

Wherever I seemed to stop on Ravelry when searching, though, it seemed people needed about three. I searched the web and found an about 5 buck off sale on Jimmy Beans Wool.

I got some other stuff b/c it was 5 bucks off and ...

Starting at top: Noro Kureyon Sock in S149,

left to right: Colinette Jitterbug in lapis, popsicle, jay, alizerine, and ofcourse the mist not pictured above.

Stuff came, I was psyched.

I went to pull down the second skein of Jitterbug I had stored with my yarn and saw ...

that there was another one behind it! I already had 3:) So now I have a whole bunch of mist.

Good thing I really like the colorway -

and I'm happy I ordered b/c the hidden skein I'd forgotten about is slightly pinker than the two old ones and the new one (as you may or may not be able to see above) so I'll be using the new one for the clapotis.

I'm just starting to form some latters.

And now for something about animals.

On Sunday mom (aka Lupie) watched Sunday Moring on CBS and DVRed a story about how many parrots wide up getting given away b/c they are very difficult to live with.

Mr. G is pretty interested in adopting a parrot and I'm pretty much dead set against it. Why? Not b/c I don't like them, or rather, don't love them. I love birds. But I've learned a bit about parrots and I just don't think they're for us. As tempting as it is to adopt a pretty, smart, attentive pet, there are issues to be considered, as with any animal.

Here's the link to the video of the story.

And here's a link to the blog of a parrot mommy and a woman who has written a book on the subject of the reprocussions of adopting parrots rashly and not researching, Mira Tweti.

My issue with the parrots is their long lives and temperment. I don't want to sentence my future children to keep a pet they may not be able to manage (or may not want to) b/c mom and dad wanted a parrot. I wouldn't want to fall in love with a bird and then have to give him up when she bites my child's finger or when I'm too old to care for her.

This kind of cautiousness and need to research when adopting an animal should go with any animal. You need to consider your abilities, their abilities, your future, and their future. For instance...I love this little guy...

Look at the lashes, people! Fa-bu-lous

Smudge was most likely an Easter Bunny - (no, sadly not the kind that brings you chocolate eggs:( ). Every year in the months after Easter rabbits all over are turned in to rescues (like the now closed one where we got Smudge), shelters, or left to fend for themselves on the side of the road or in a park, etc.

Most pets are not capable of caring for themselves, especially after having lived in a home. Smudge was found one morning by a pet store owned outside the store in a soaking wet cardboard box that had at least been out there over night in the pooring rain. A faimly adopted him and almost immediately brough him back b/c he was biting their kids. After having lived with him for about three years I'm left to assume that the children were harassing him b/c even when Mr. G and I have had to force medicate him with antibiotics he gets upset, but never attacks.

So I love him, don't know what I'd do without him, but he has negatives (not for me, but would be for others). Usually I crop out the poop when I post a pick. I vacumed his hiding place beneath the coffee table yesterday. He was out for about an hour. I just wanted to do my part and say a little something about researching pets and post the links above. It is really important not to just run out and get any animal. It's like bringing a new family member into the fold. I love the Smudge, poop and all:)

A little bit of everything

Firstly, I'm really enjoying working on the Clapotis. The Jitterbug is so soft and smooth. I really thought that I wouldn't like the looseness of it w/ the size 6s, but I do love it. The Gods know I should be working on the tomten that keeps getting shoved to the side for one emergency project or another (gifts basically) but I can't take my hand off the Clapotis.

Nextly, I'm very tired of my dad being away. He's been visiting his mother - notice I type his mother and not my grandmother. I had a grandmother so I know what one is supposed to be like. Lupie's mother was a truly amazing person and devoted her entire life to her children and grandchildren. My dad's mom - not so much. I honestly don't know how he ended up being such a great person. Anyway, sometimes I wanna smack him but I am very attached to my dad and feel weird when he's away. I worry about how he's sleeping, how his stress level and blod pressure are while he's spending time with this very insensitive woman. I just can't wait 'til he's back tomorrow.

A small shot of Smudge. He's so cute. He's on antibiotics again. This poor guy has had such a tumultuous life!

Abandoned, homeless before he came to us, then the f-ing head tilt last summer (we thought he was going to die. I was just re-reading the posts from then to do the link here...it was horrible. I type this as Smudge is attacking my Ikea window bench in the sun room: ) and now a cold (sneezing and boogers are dangerous for rabbits) for 5 months. The doctor said the next time he has boogers he may want to flush out Smudge's nasal cavity.

Life has been consumed by Pepper house! I'm tired (had a freakin' headache and belly ache all last night and today) but am having so much fun painting with Pepper and our mom. They are hysterical and we all work well together. I love my co workers in school, but not every arrangement is as effortless as, for instance, my working relationship with my mentor. Its even better with my sister and my mother...like we don't even need to speak sometimes and we just do. I love summer with them (we are all teachers so the three of us are off in the summer).

Painting demands comfort so here I am in my good luck over the knee neon orange socks, Pepper's borrowed faux crocks in a Raquel Reed hair shade of blue and my cut off black sweat shorts - Ha ha ha - Jesus! Just a wrong wrong picture! But I was comfortable and the squishy shoes kept foot pain to a minimum.

For lunch we were pretty much out of cold cuts so for the first time in I estimate 15 to 18 years I went to Burger King with Pepper. And I ordered BEEF! I don't eat mammal except for the occasional strip o' pig for breakfast. I just don't care for most beef - anyway, so that was interesting. Pepper noticed that BK has some Star Trek cups for sale so I sheepishly asked her to get one for me. I wondered how they were releasing the cups...one a week or all 4 at once, that sort of thing. I really wanted only Spock and was curious if Pepper knew about my spock obsession. She place the order and the woman asked if it mattered which cup we got. Pepper replied by saying any cup would do...and my geek girl within surged up out of nowhere as I frantically mumbled, "Spock, Spock, SPOCK!"



I'll leave it at Pepper's house so I have my own glass over there. Thax Pep!

Here I Go!

I can't wait to see what's next...there are no "bars" yet.

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:)

---

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:)