Knit today....

... done tomorrow. First the good news, the final two booga bags are done and ready for presentation. So without further ado here they are:

Booga Bag - Teacher 3
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in Lotus Pink and Victorian Pink
Pattern: Booga J's
Started: 11/22/04
Finished: 11/29/04
Felted Size: 7"L x 5"W x 8"H



Booga Bag - Teacher 4
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in Lemon Drop, Clematis and Blue Boy
Pattern: Booga J's
Started: 11/25/04
Finished: 11/29/04
Felted Size: 7"L x 5"W x 8"H



Also on the completed front is the Rose Garden roving. I finally skeined it up and with my primitive kitchen scale, weighed the two skeins. It came out to be somewhere around 7oz with a length of 475 yds. Definitely enough for a couple pairs of socks. I still need to wash it and let dry. I'm pleased with the appearance currently:



Astute readers may have noticed that the Hatmione has been moved from the On the Needles to the In the Queue section of my sidebar. There's a very good reason for that. Here's a picture of Hatmione when I finished working on it on Sunday...



Now this is what Hatmione looks like now :(



Sad isn't it. I came to realize that there was no way that little remaining yarn would finish her. I bit the bullet and recovered the yarn. This partial skein, which I should have realized wouldn't have been enough to start with, has been now added to the Kitty Bed yarn pile that contains all the booga bag lamb's pride leftovers. One skein of lamb's pride that worked the last stripe and the fringe of the Hogwarts' scarf is not sufficient for Hatmione, especially when said pattern calls for one skein of Cascade 220. The next go 'round on Hatmione will be knit of said yarn. I don't consider it a break in my diet that I bought 1 skein, repeat ONE skein, of Cascade off eBay yesterday. It was the yarn called for by the pattern and I didn't have any in stash, nor did I have anything else that was the right color. The black Patons classic merino wasn't sufficient. So having to get the right yarn for a current project isn't a diet breaking binge. There. I said it. Makes me feel better. Leave me in my delusions. I'm still staying strong and plan on avoiding the Smiley's Manhattan Yarn riot this week. Nothing said about the booksellers' appreciation days at B&N this weekend ;) Rikki and I are going Friday night and I'm planning on getting Stitch & Bitch, probably Nation too, as well as the 365 Knit Patterns calendar, EZ's Knitter's Almanac and probably Weekend Knitting. Hmm, I don't remember adding books to the list of verbotten items on the diet. Yeah!

Tonight is spinning night and I'm not entirely sure what I want to spin. I finished the rose garden as noted above. That 6lbs of cormo hasn't arrived from Wooly Knob yet, though I'm not sure if I'm ready to jump into that large an order. I do have about 6 oz of a romney/mohair roving in shades of blue that I got from the same folk as Rose Garden.. though I think I want a break from that blend. I'm sure I can dig up something from the amazing stash of fibers. I might just have to give that CVM from Little Barn a whirl.

I had the quietest night last night. The twins stayed at their grandparents' house. I finally learned to take them up on their offer to keep them overnight. I used to hem and haw, consider it and then wind up bringing the monkeys home. Not last night. After dinner we took them down to the den to play. While I had intended to get them home early and get a bath in before Trading Spouses came on, it didn't quite work out that way. We all wound up watching Trading Spouses together, even Dad who poo-pooed the idea of it when the show initially started. He got sucked into it. Just as the show ended and I started to round up the little people's stuff, Dad told the twins it was time to go home, they needed their sleep as the next day was a school day. Ah, but he was wrong. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Mom watches them so I pick her up in the morning and we all ride to the station together. There she drops me for the train, takes my car and the kids home and Dad picks me up at the station at night. When corrected about their destination Dad suggested that they just stay there. Works for me.

Though I have to admit, the house was strangely quiet. I was saddened this morning not seeing their smiling little faces when I entered their bedroom to get them up. I went it and saw empty cribs. I missed Kat's excited squeal that accompanies her freedom from crib. It was also strange to be able to get into the car in one trip and just leave. No multiple trips for kids and stuff. On a good day it's two trips, but can be as much as 4. There was no Sesame Street on in the kitchen while I got dressed so no "Journey to Ernie" to indicate that I really gotta get moving nor "Elmo's World" to say it was time to migrate to the car. I actually could leave a bit later as I didn't need the first stop at the daycare center (with it's two trips into the building for each monster) nor a stop to pick up mom. I had an empty car and two empty carseats in my rearview mirror. It was an empty feeling. I miss my monsters. I called mom a little while ago to check how all had gone. They slept through the night and didn't get up until 8am. I heard giggling and babbling in the background. I miss them more now.

After a LONG weekend

It's amazing how very fast time flies. It seems like yesterday I was getting ready for the long holiday weekend and here it is over already. But then again, it seems like yesterday that the twins were newborns. Alas, time is indeed fleeting.

I hope everyone had a great holiday. Mine was a bit of a mix. Wednesday evening Alexander whacked me on the head with a block giving me a minor concussion. I woke up Thursday with a heck of a headache and a bit dizzy. Not too dizzy to knit mind you, so I finished Booga 3 and cast on Booga 4. Around 11, I packed up the twins and headed over to my parents' house for the holiday. The holiday gathering was great. My family was together, the twins were in good spirits and all had fun. The food was yummy as always. It was so nice being there that we stayed until Saturday. Well okay the dizziness had me staying there until Saturday. Not to mention the head cold that the twins came down with that had them coughing through the night starting Wednesday. A little benadryl and pediacare and they are spiffing up nicely. Good news by Friday night, concussion healed. Bad news, I got the head cold. Sunday was a crafting day. My Voyager Season 5 dvd's did arrive in time for the holiday and I broke them out Sunday and finished knitting Booga 4 and got it in the machine along with #3. I blocked them last night before going to bed. They're currently drying on my stove. I'll have them finished tonight and get pictures uploaded.





Bag 4 I did something a little different with. I'm quite pleased with these little bags. I will indeed have to make one for myself, and definitely with the Noro I bought originally for it. I just need a break from the things. I need to knit something else. I picked up the Hatmione, only to fight with the circular needle. I don't like short circs and I didn't enjoy cabling with the dpns. I even tried two circs, but only 8's that I have are short ones. Sigh. Might have to break my diet and buy some needles. I'm also not too terribly sure about the yarn. The lamb's pride is a bit of a pain to cable with and I'm not sure if I'm going to have enough to complete the thing. I also finally started the Koigu socks on Sunday. I've got about 1/2" of 2x2 ribbing done for the cuff. 60 sts on size 1 needles is quite the change from the Booga bags.

Speaking of the diet, I've been very good. I haven't bought a single thing, but I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out. I just got the notice for this in my email: Smiley's Yarn Manhattan Riot. That is always a good shopping trip and their featured yarns list has some definitely appealing items. I need more yarn like I need a hole in the head. My eBay super buy arrived on Friday and it is wonderful. I'm definitely knitting Banff with it and will probably cast that on tonight. Saturday that nifty worsted merino/cashmere that I traded for arrived. It's pretty. I cast on the Irish Hiking Scarf using it this morning while waiting for the train. I've made it through the first 3 repeats and have long since memorized the pattern. Once you get past the setup, it is so easy. It should be an elegant, but quick project, while also serving as good cabling practice for the Wensleydale cables sweater.

Veni, Vidi, Knitty

Well booga #3 is getting very close to completion. I bound off the bag last night at my folks' house after dinner while the twins played with their Pop-pop. I started the I-cord this morning on the train. One observation, DPNS don't like when you wear a stiff pea coat. The ends of the needles kept getting caught in the ends of my sleeves. Needless to say my speed had decreased considerably. Speaking of knitting speed, there's the fastest knitter contest. I'm curious as to how fast I knit when i get into the groove. I might just have to try it. I-cord is slow though. I don't like it and I'll be happy when its over. I do have a foot done already so there's 5 left ;)

I've come to the decision that there's no way on earth I'm going to finish the Fairy Tale scarf by Hannukah. I took a gander at the calendar yesterday and got a reality check. Uh huh. I might be fast and can whip out a booga bag in 4 days from cast on to done, but lace scarf? Nope. Not even if I were the fastest knitter. Now maybe if I didn't have to work I might be able to do it. I am taking a week off, but that is a week too late. I do have a short repreive from the two weeks from today being the first day of Hannukah because the family is getting together to exchange gifts on Dec. 18th. That said, the scarf could be Feb birthday material, May anniversary gift or Hannukah '05. We'll see how quickly it goes once it gets going. I'll make some socks instead. Hopefully I have some decent machine washable sock yarn in stash so I can actually make it more than two days on my yarn diet. Does it count if I HAVE to buy it for a gift? I didn't think so :)

Tuesday was spinning night so that is what I did afte the twins went to sleep. I finished spinning the remaining Rose Garden roving like I wanted to. I finished it earlier enough that I was able to ply it as well last night. It is resting on the bobbin now and I'll probably skein it up tonight. I want to get these things washed and drying before the weekend is out. I did have to make my own lazy kate for the WW's bobbins. They really didn't fit on any of my existing kates. The closest was the lendrum with the 3 rods standing up, which I think is his standard new style. I got it with my Saxony. I have a different one with the upright wheel. Anyway, the WW bobbins were a shade too long for the kate and didn't turn well. I wound up taking a shoe box, poking knitting needles through it and using that. It worked perfectly. I'm now storing those needles and the empty bobbins in the box. Have to love multipurpose tools.

In this holiday season, I want to thank everyone who has left kind comments and with or without knowing it, encouraged me to continue knitting and blogging. I've enjoyed this venture far more than I ever expected to and I thank you all for that. I hope you all have a truly happy and healthy holiday season.

Holy Knit, Batman!

Well I won the eBay auction yesterday and got an excellent buy on some Takhi Soho Bulky Tweed. THE yarn called for in the Banff sweater pattern. I don't think I've ever used THE yarn before. Well I did buy the Noro for the booga bag, I just haven't knit that version of it yet. I've always used an alternate commercial yarn, or even a homespun yarn, so I'm looking forward to this:


Soho Bulky Tweed in Oatmeal

And yes, I'm still on the yarn diet, at least technically. I placed the bid prior to my declaration of the diet so it doesn't count as breaking. Works for me :) And I'm also exchanging yarns with someone so that doesn't count as breaking the diet either. As a matter of fact, that was an explicit option I listed yesterday. Anyway, I'm swapping some pink laceweight mohair for a worsted cashmerino that will become the Irish Hiking Scarf.


80/20 Merino/Cashmere worsted

Last night was one of those happy happy nights when I return home to find that a box has been placed behind my storm door. This time it was the USPS that earns my gratitude for delivering my very first Elann.com order. My yummy Peruvian Highland wool arrived and it is gorgeous. I'm starting to really look forward to working the Wensleydale Cables sweater. Here's a couple of skeins along with the picture from the mag:


Peruvian Highland Wool & Wensleydale Cables from IK Winter '99/'00

While I was at it, I took a picture of the Fairy Tale Scarf and it's yarn:


Nandia Silk/Cashmere & Fairy Tale Scarf from IK Summer '00

Booga bag #3 is coming along swimmingly now that I finally settled on which bag and what color pattern to use. I changed the striping on this one. The bottom and the first 11 rounds of the sides are in the Lotus Pink and the remainder will be the Victorian Pink. I'm not sure if I like how they look together, but then again, bold colors really aren't my bag. I'm more of a black/white/brown person. Even the antique rose of the Peruvian Highland yarn is "colorful" though I am trying to expand. I've asked far more fashionably correct folk and they like the color scheme of the bag, so I'm content with that.

I had a very lovely night with the crazy duo last night. Mom called me at the office yesterday that she had the sinus headache from hell and wouldn't be able to pick up the twins from daycare. She's feeling better today, a bit of a hangover, but better. Anyway, it got me out of the office and hour early and I got to pick them up. I enjoy picking them up as they come crawling over to the door when they see me and Kat will squeal. I love that squeal. I also had to make dinner unexpectedly. I hit the freezer and found some of those mini beef raviolis, frozen meatballs and I had just bought jarred sauce this weekend. Add a few veggies and we had dinner. Then they had a bath. Always a good idea after Italian food for toddlers to go straight to the tub. They enjoyed it and much splashing ensued. Kat even helped me wash Alex's hair, well maybe not wash it, but she did pat his head a couple of times after I had lathered him up. Here's they are on the couch ready for bed with Yeti, post crewcut.



I finally gave spinning on the Womack while the twins were about a try. Lo and behold it worked as I hoped. I was able to spin without fear that little curious fingers would work their way somewhere that they were not supposed to go. I did have to fight the boy off the roving. I gave him a short length of it to play with and that kept him happy for a while. That's my boy. Today is spinning day so I'm hoping to finish up the Rose Garden singles so I can ply them before the holiday weekend is through. I want to measure up how much I have so I can part with it more easily.

My Kris Kringle gift is now taken care of, which makes me very relieved. I had had an idea, dawdled about it, thought I'd lost my chance and then got special dispensation this weekend to get it. So it's now gotten and handled. Whew. A backup plan was not really gelling and I was starting to panic.

I've successfully made it through the first day of the yarn & fiber diet. I still wish there was a patch for this. Maybe there is, I think its called TRADING rather than buying. It's a net zero for the stash right? AND I get new stuff for the stash. I like it.

Atkins, South Beach or Weight Watchers...

Which one do you think would work as a YARN DIET?!?!? Or is there Yarnaholics Anonymous?? If there isn't, there should be! Hello, my name is Risa and I'm a yarnaholic. Hello Risa (crowd intones). Oy.

I haven't yet received my order from Elann, though by my reckoning, it should be imminent (another distraction for the long weekend - tis a shame my Voyager Season 5 DVD set won't arrive in time), I've been bidding on more yarn on eBay. Sick sick sick I say. This is the Takhi Soho Bulky Tweed for the Knitty Banff sweater. Oooh that one looks soooooo comfortable. I HAVE to have one. I need more yarn like I need a new hold in my head. BTW, got a call from the nice men at Wooly Knob Fiber Mill that my 6 lbs of cormo are done and will be shipped out Tuesday. Woo, more for the spinning stash. At least it's no longer cluttering up the "to be processed dirty fleece stash". We won't discuss how much is sitting there! Now I just need TIME. Stupid job just gets in the way of the fun stuff.

Oh and wait, there was chatter this morning on the NJFIberFanatics list about Joanns. Well, not having one near me I decided to search and see where the closest one is. No need for that in this wonderful world of ecommerce, they have a large online presence. I hit their site and was greeted with a 50% off one item coupon. Naturally I couldn't turn that down and bought the Artbin Yarn Tote. Yup, need another tote bag. Can never have too many of those.

Now I'm serious, I'm instituting a moratorium on ALL craft stuff. No more yarn. No more needles. No more fabric. No more spinning stuff of any form. No more accessories. Nothing new unless I trade for it getting something I already have the hell out of my home. That's it. A new era of austerity has begun. Hmm, is cold turkey such a good thing? Shouldn't there be a patch for this? I quit smoking with the patch. Sigh.

BTW, I'm back to making booga bags for the kids' teachers. For the life of me, I can't remember why I ripped out Sophie and started the booga on the train this morning.

Battle for midway

.. has been been won. The second felted bag is now complete. While I was terribly tired last night, the drive to finish the damn thing and get it in the wash today was overwhelming. Here's the info on it:

Booga Bag - Teacher 1
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in M-38 Lotus Pink and M-56 Clematis
Pattern: Booga J's
Started: 11/18/04
Finished: 11/21/04
Felted Size: 7"L x 5"W x 8"H


Before felting

Bag done


So now I'm halfway done with the teacher gifts. I started the third bag this morning while the twins napped, and bag two swished around with a load of jeans. The third bag is going to be more of the lotus pink, but this one's companion color is M-34 Victorian Pink. I'm going to do the bottom in the lotus pink, like #2, but the whole side will be in the Victorian Pink. The handles on Sophie are twisted double icord. I'm planning on doing one ply in each color. Fulling can't be all that bad if it got me to do laundry, actually made me look forward to doing laundry. Now that is something that I never expected to happen! I have so many clean clothes, I haven't a clue where to put them now. Which reminds me, there is a gentle load chock full of handknit socks and other stuff still in the machine.

My friend Chris came for a visit today. She's the breeder I got Yeti from and we've become friends since. I made a baked mac&cheese casserole and a tossed salad for lunch. While the twins napped, I fixed a lace afghan square Chris had knit and missed on stitch in the middle of it. It was easy enough to repair with some duplicate stitching. Chris then gave Yeti his much overdue haircut. He's now sporting a crewcut, with the exception of the fuzzies on his ears and his topknot. Poor dude was matted and his coat came off in huge chunks. When I get the chance, I'll see if I can reclaim some of the prime stuff for spinning. If not, it will make wonderful felting material. I've got to learn wet felting. Heck that would be a great way to quickly get rid of a huge amount of fiber from this place. I got quite the lesson while Chris groomed Yeti. I didn't know that grooming made a buck um amorous and he got very friendly with Chris. I'll leave it there.

I thank everyone for all their nice comments regarding my booga bags. I like Nancy's use of the bag as a purse, rather than a tote bag. I might give that a try for myself, but make a much longer strap so I could put it over my shoulder.

As for my freaky looking left-handed eastern uncrossed knitting, I hold the working needle in my left hand and the yarn in my right. The eastern uncrossed is from what I can tell a variation on the continental except the direction the yarn is wrapped around the needle. I seem to wrap in the opposite direction and my stitches wind up "backwards". The leading edge of the stitches on subsequent rows varies depending on what the row before was. Instead of always having the leading edge in front, I have it in back after a purl row and in front after a knit row. Always made it easy to tell which stitch to do in a ribbing situation as I could tell by which edge was presenting itself. It sure made a SSK moot in a stockinette situation. I never had to slip, slip to get the stitches in the right direction as they already were. The only time my knit stitches wind up as someone else would expect them would be when I worked in the round, but then again, purled stitches are "backwards" so their leading edges have traded. I hold the yarn wrapped around my right index finger and use my right middle finger to wrap the yarn around the working needle. In the end it all works for me and I can get projects completed... in record time these days too! Thank you all!

Much ado about knitting

Not much knitting going on here today. It was one of those days where yes, both of the monkeys took naps, but they were not at the same time, other than one short hour this morning. Alex was a cranky mess most of the day which surprised me as he took a 3 hour nap starting in the late morning and another hour and a half late afternoon. He was a bit of a pest. Kat at least was very pleasant when she was up. She even played by herself for a half hour while I made dinner and folded some laundry. I heard my first non-whining 'Mama' from Kat today. I figured I jinxed myself when I mentioned in Friday's blog entry that neither of them said it. She also walked unencouraged for 5 feet without holding onto anything other that what she could carry.

I did get the rest of booga 2's body knit and am just binding it off now. While I'd really love to finish it today and get it in the washer tomorrow, my eyes are drooping already. I still have another load to fold and put away, plus the sheets that need to be transferred to the dryer. No rest for the wicked.

I just had to post this picture of Kathryn and Yeti. Kat loves animals and instead of petting them, she lays the side of her head down on them. So she's "making nice" to Yeti in her own style. So here's my little girl snuggling up to the rather large angora rabbit.



I don't have any pictures yet of the Fairy Tale Shawl from the IK Summer 2000. The scanner just mangled the picture, along with the sweater I want to make. I'll take a picture along with started lace shortly. The sweater is the "Wensleydale Cables" aran from the IK Winter '99/'00 issue. I'm still intimidated by all those cables. I'll take a picture of the shot in the magazine along with the pile of yarn when it arrives.

Parting is such sweet sorrow..

Ooga booga

Booga bag for the first teacher is now done. It was fully dry when I got home from my folks house tonight, so after the twins went to sleep, I set about finishing the bag. Here's the info on it:

Booga Bag - Teacher 1

Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in M-183 Rosado Rose and M-82 Blue Flannel
Pattern: Booga J's
Started: 11/15/04
Finished: 11/19/04
Felted Size: 7"L x 5"W x 8"H




Duchess of aRat gives the bag her seal of approval



It is a little smaller than I expected. For me, I'd probably go for the Big Booga pattern. There's also another pattern, Sophie that I found while reading other blogs today. I'm probably going to make the other two bags in that style. Variety is the spice of life, or so they say. Personally, I like a good routine. Must be the cat person in me.

As a note, Lamb's Pride felts like a dream. One trip through the washing machine with a couple of pairs of jeans and the thing was done. I'd highly recommend it for felting/fulling projects. I do have a minor issue knitting with it. It is a singles yarn. Not an energized one normally so you don't have to worry about biasing in the finished knit. Notice I said normally. I find that while I'm knitting with it, twist is added to the single and winds up much tighter spun. It's probably due to the fact that I knit lefty eastern uncrossed, yeah I know interesting mix, and I tend to believe that the way I hold the yarn and wrap around my index finger adds quite a bit of twist. I should really try this but spinning a single in the opposite direction and see if I have the same problems.

Read my lips. No new knitting projects.

Just when I thought I had tamped down on my natural multiple projects disorder (MPD hereinafter) and was working really sequentially, I had to go and start more. The beginning of the end was last week when I finished the Hogwarts scarf early Friday night and wouldn't be able to get to Majestic Yarns until Saturday afternoon. I couldn't go without something on the needles for that long. Shudder at the thought. So that is when the Hermione Hat was started with the remaining Lamb's Pride from the scarf, decent project, existing yarn, win-win scenario.

I then went to the store and bought all the skeins necessary for the booga bags and started those. Now one is done, went in the wash last night and is drying nicely near the stove on a the box from my stick blender, I've started the next one. Bag 2 was commenced yesterday during the excellent company meeting. By the time the meeting ended, the whole bottom and about 20 rows of the side were done. The commute to and fro bring me up to the point where I'm now at the halfway point on the side. Cool.

After tossing booga 1 in the machine with a couple of pairs of jeans, I sat down and spun up some more of the Rose Garden roving. I'm convinced it will make a lovely sock yarn. Since I have a lb of the roving, I'll probably make a couple of skeins available for other people's stashes as I have no real need for tons of socks in the same yarn, not to mention the benefit of adding funds for further stash enhancement.

For the last two days or so since I saw the advertisement for the Peruvian Highland Yarn at Elann.com on someone's site, I've been eyeing it and trying to decide which color and for what project. I'm proud of myself that I managed to hold out for so long. But I'm only human. So after an exhausting exhaustive search through my back issues of IK, I found the pattern I wanted to knit and then settled on the color of yarn.



I ordered this color, Dusty Rose. 18 Skeins of it for a unisex cabled sweater that was originally in a latte color in the magazine. I don't have the magazine with me and I can't find it in the back issues at Interweave, otherwise I'd post which it was. I'll do a scan this weekend. This will be my big project for after the holidays. I can't get over how cheap the yarn was and I'm not too confident in my ability to finish a cabled sweater, but I do so like a challenge and I've been wanting a sweater like this for a while.

Not satisfied with having sort of added one more project to the list, I found the pattern for a beautiful scarf/shawl in the IK Spring 2000 Issue - Fairy Tale. (Again, no pictures yet). It calls for Zephyr, which I don't have, but I found that the Nandia Cashmere Laceweight silk/cashmere yarn that I bought off eBay in this color blue is an alternate.



Finally I have a pattern that I like for this yarn. I bought it this past spring with the hopes of knitting something for Mom for the holidays. While I doubt I will have it done by Hanukkah, I finally have a good start. I cast on for this last night and was able to get one repeat of the border points done before I really had to go to sleep.

So now I have 3 projects on the needles, and quite a few in the wings, so I'm back to contending with MPD. I should probably add the knitting queue to the sidebar so I don't distract myself with oodles of other projects. Perhaps I should quit reading others blogs. Nah, not going to happen! They motivate me to continue knitting, to finish projects and to expand my knitting horizons and try something new. Thank you all for this!

And now for the regularly scheduled child picture. Feast your eyes on my 13.5 month old boy feeding himself applesauce with a spoon. Yea Alexander! It wasn't a fluke as he did it again last night with ice cream. Kat got in the act and can do it as well! Yea Kathryn! Neither say Mama yet, but I hear twins talk late and it prolongs the time I have before I threaten to change my name :)

One down, three to go

The knitting for my first booga bag is now done. I finished it last night while watching Nanny 911 (kind of giving me lessons of how NOT todo things). I'll give the final project info after I felt it. That should probably be tonight as I really need to wash some clothes. In the meantime, here's a picture of the pre-felted bag.



The colors have been selected for bag 2, which I'll start today at the "All Hands Company Meeting". Normally I would be kvetching about having to go to one of these, but the re-found love of knitting has me all excited for the bonus knitting time today. The colors are: M-38 Lotus Pink and M-56 Clematis.



I plan on a different arrangement of colors for this go around. The bottom will be in one color, probably the lotus pink. The sides will be split into three alternating stripes, starting with the clematis. The icord handle will then be in the pink.


My babies are advancing at a scary pace. Having only walked in my presence two days ago, Alexander took anoter leap forward yesterday when he fed himself applesauce with a spoon. WOW. Dad held the little cup while Alex carefully dipped the spoon in, picked up a bit and then ate it. Holy crud. Should he be doing this yet? I don't think so. Kat wasn't the least bit interested in trying it, but was more content with picking things off the table and putting them in a bowl. My babies aren't such babies anymore.

I spin therefore I am

Having two fiber passions in ones life can be both a blessing and a curse. I have a hard time deciding which I want to do at any given time. I love spinning. I love knitting. I love them both with a passion. I tend to be a bit streaky with them and will do one to the complete exclusion of the other. For a while, I had declared home for spinning and everywhere else for knitting. That worked. Sort of. Then came the children. I could no longer really spin when the kids were awake, so I would have to wait until they were in bed. But then I found I could knit while they were out and about while I sat on the couch supervising their activity. Wow. Fibery activity with awake babies. Cool. The wheels continued to be neglected as I would get thoroughly involved in whatever knitting project I was working on. Well now that the woolee winder has arrived, wonderful tool that I would HIGHLY recommend to all spinners no matter what wheel you are using, I can now spin when the monkeys are around. This still left the decision of what to do when and where. I found that the Yarn Harlot has a really workable solution to this. Tuesday is spinning day. I instituted that last night.

I plied the llamney singles that I spun on the womack Sunday:



The fiber was a wonderful 70/30 blend of llama and romney wool. The finished skein is 100yds at @50 grams. The remainder of the 8oz of the original roving are still sitting on the lendrum bobbin and I'll wind them off into a skein tonight. I do think this skein is a might more consistent that the other one will be. I can now take 8oz of roving out of the spinning stash and add yarn to the yarn stash :) Now to reduce the yarn stash.



I also managed to spin about 1/2 a bobbin of wonderful roving that I got from Linden Lane Farms in their Rose Garden colorway. It does speak garden to me in a wonderful combination of light and dark rose colors mixed with two shades of green. It is coming out beautifully and on the womack with the WW, it is so consistently spun. I kicked back and spun until my eyes started to close. I love it. Only had to stop once when the length of roving ended and I had to fish another end out of the bag. This is spinning up very fine and will make excellent sock yarn. Its a 80/20 blend of romney and mohair.

While yesterday may have been spinning day at home, I still had a commute (from hell) and lunchtime to knit. I progressed pretty darn far on the booga bag and as of the end of lunch today, I'm ready to bind off. I'm debating between and i-cord bindoff or a standard one. Not sure yet, but will figure it out by 5 when it is time to leave :) Here's a picture as of it last night before spinning hour:



On the child front, the twins are ever close to walking. Ms. Kat can take quite a number of steps before giggling and falling over. Alex finally took a few steps while I was watching him so it really happened this time. Kat actually started walking when she wanted something without encouragement for the first time. I was also able to walk with her holding one hand while I carried her brother. Yee haw.

Yesterday picked up after lunch. Thanks to Nancy for her commiseration on yesterday's less that wonderful morning. I try to maintain my sense of humor, especially when there's little choice left but to laugh or cry. I much prefer to laugh. Its easier that way and my nose doesn't turn an embarrassing beet red then that I have to explain. Thanks also go to Bridget for the much needed chocolate! Lunch was when the day started to turn around. There's something about getting together with a great group of people, breaking bread and sharing, not to mention knitting after food. Thanks ladies.

To finally warm my heart last night, I was lying on the den floor at my parents' house last night watching the twins play with their grandfather. Alexander turned, crawled over to me and planted 4 juicy baby kisses on my face. Awwwwwww.

One of those days..

I am having one of those days where I wished I had stayed in bed. It started out innocently enough, I actually got up somewhat on time this morning and was able to get a shower in before the lil monsters woke up. That's a good thing. It was all downhill from there.

As I was getting dressed, listening to Kat starting to stir, Casanova, the senior cat in the household, threw breakfast up in my bedroom doorway. Ewww. I clean it up with a handy tissue (which are now on the dresser rather than the nighttable since Kat found them and rather easily pulled out at least a dozen) and went back to the task at hand.

As I was getting out the nifty new finished Happy Trails socks, Duchess started making those distinct cat-gonna-puke noises on my bed. I tried to scoop her up and dump her on the floor, but alas the tightly wound little diamond maker wouldn't have it, clawed my hand and took off for the farthest side of the bed. Before I could get to her, she puked on my duvet, which by the way, the once-every-two-weeks housekeeper changed yesterday. Sigh.

By now, Kat is really awake and Alex is making noises. He's like his mom and not quite a morning person and didn't exactly wake up happy. I pick out his clothes and pick him out of his crib. He wants to cuddle and isn't happy that I moved him to the changing pad. He cries/whines/kvetch's through the entire diaper changing getting dressed routine. He continued this while I prepped Kat for the day. At least he liked the cinnamon french toast sticks that were on the menu for breakfast.

The rest of the early morning routine ran rather smoothly and the twins went into the car happy and giggly so off to mom's house as today is her day to watch them. She dropped me at the train and I was able to scrounge enough change together to get a cup of coffee from the catering truck. A train shows up, damn thing is packed like a sardine can. Feh. I opted to get off the bugger and take the next one. Okay, now on the local rather than the express and arrive at Secaucus Transfer only to find the platform for the trains to Penn hip deep in folks from prior trains. Definitely not a good sign. I can't get on the first train that pulls into the station as it is already crowded and with the mass of humanity trying to get on it from Secaucus, I opt again to take the next one. The next one arrives and it is one of the shorter trains and insists on pulling all the way up the platform so I got to play chase the train. Double feh. At least I got a seat. Made it to Penn and off to the subway. I've recently given up taking the A train and opted for the locals as the A was always so crowded. Well guess what, the C was sardine city this morning too. What the hell is going on? Anyway, while I was trying to get through the nasty full body turnstile at 14th str, my ipod earphone cable got hooked on one of the bars and nearly choked me. Lovely.

Having run Lavasoft's Ad-Ware on my home machine this weekend to find a host of nasties living there, I opted to do the same on my office desktop. Not a smart move. As it was running and turning up a bunch of nasties, Norton flashed a virus warning. What followed was much like the scene in Monsters, Inc. where the sock shows up on the scare floor. Operations called and told me to either power down my machine NOW and/or remove the network cable from the back of it. Someone would be there to get it. Helpdesk personnel swooped over, disconnected all peripherals, scooped it up and took off with it. Sweet. Hard to be a computer programmer WITHOUT A COMPUTER! I knit a row on booga bag#1 (29 rows more to go and its i-cord time) and remembered that I had my laptop locked in my desk drawer. That's a v. good thing. Now you know it doesn't end there. I've misplaced the key for said desk drawer. Not such a good thing. I got the feller with the master keys to unlock my drawer. Wee, good thing. Stupid laptop has nothing installed on it beyond the operating system. It was never really designed to be a "desktop" computer and has only enough that lets me access my DESKTOP machine and use that remotely. v bad right now as that thing is off in the super secret computer closet being cleaned and all the stuff I installed on it (ugh) inspected and deemed against policy. Oh well.

I did spend an enjoyable half hour in Bob's office searching through the box of MSDN disks looking for the install disks for MS Studio so I can actually get some work done. It ain't there, shitload of copies of beta releases of studio .net are, but as I return to my lousy laptop, it becomes moot anyway as I remember that this hobbled machine has no CD drive. Sweet huh?! So now I have a computer, but can't do a heck of alot with it. My knitting bag is calling me.

I need copious amounts of chocolate RIGHT NOW. Speaking of chocolate, I introduced the twins to oreo's this weekend. They loved them and needless to say, got a bit of the yummy chocolate cookie about their faces.





Knitting Progress

Hatmione is coming along nicely. Thanks to Amy, I've decided to try the cabling without a needle. I gave it a go last night. While it was tricking juggling with the dpns, when I switched the project to a circ, it flew. I love it. Made for a much quicker way to cable, and resulted in more even, less tight stitches. Thanks Amy! I'm now on row 12 of 51 pattern rows. Much much faster than futzing with the dopey cable needle. As the usual lament of a knitter, I just hope I have enough yarn to finish it.

The first booga bag is coming along very nicely. I had the bottom done and sides picked up by the end of lunch yesterday. Last night on the train home, I decided how I wanted to break up the two colors. The bottom and the first 30 rows of the side are in the blue (Blue Flannel). I would then have two rows of the pink (Rosado Rose), two more rows of the blue, the rest of the side would be the pink. I plan on a 6ft i-cord handle, so I'm going to split the colors and do one half in each. I'm past the transition and into the pink section of the side. Looks pretty nice if I do say so myself. I'll probably take pictures of it tonight. What a wonderful fast project this is and I should have no trouble finishing all 4 in time for the holidays. Hmm, I don't think i should be tempted the knitting goddess with such a bold statement on a day such as this.

Will this day end without too much more bad happening....

Busy weekends

Life with 13 month of twins is never dull. This weekend was one of those LONG weekends that doesn't seem to end, but then ends all too fast. Saturday wasn't bad, they both took both morning and afternoon naps, each 2 hours. Wonderful. After lunch we did make it out of the house for a trip to Majestic Yarns where I bought 7 more skeins of Lamb's Pride worsted for booga bags for the nice teachers. The Lamb's Pride is a bit more economical than the Noro and I just couldn't afford Noro for 4 teachers. I got a combination of bright colors and each bag will be 2 colors. The 8th skein is the leftover yellow skein I bought for my scarf and didn't even touch. Needless to say, I didn't make it through the evening with NO projects on the needles. I went off to Atypically Knit and bought the Hermione Hat pattern, grabbed my remaining skein of burgundy Lamb's Pride and started it.



Saturday night, I was able to get to the end of the ribbing an started the exciting portion while I tried to get a lot of adware and spyware off my computer. I got a lot of knitting done while I waited for Norton to do a full system scan on my 80 GIG hard drive. I still have something nasty living on my machine as everytime I open IE, I get a popup advertising window. I'll have to give ad-ware another go around. It is better and I found lots of nasties hanging around, including a trojan horse and a key recorder.

Geek stuff aside, I also started the first of the booga bags this morning on the train. I have two more rows to do and the bottom will be done. I'm trying to decide the color patterning on it. For this bag, I'm using a navy blue and rose colored yarns. The bottom is in blue and I figured I'd start the sides with it. At some point, I'll switch to the rose and do the i-cord in the rose as well. I'm considering a few transitional stripes in the middle, possibly the fibonacci sequence. I'll figure it out as I go.

Saturday morning, during the twins nap, I finally opened the box from Mr. Womack with my Woolee Winder in it. WHOOPEE! Bummer man, the darn thing needs to have a bearing epoxied to one end and then sit overnight. Major bummer. No playing with it. I did get it measured, glued and setting during naptime and then tried to forget about it. Sunday I was able to spin in the morning while the twins played! No more having to spin during sleepingtime. I put the spinner up on top of the computer (which Mr. Alex has discovered how to turn on/off - big old piece of cardboard now blocking the button), sat in my desk chair and spun uninterrupted for 30 minutes! I did a fine singles of the remainder of the llama/romney I got from Julie. Here's a picture of the spinner with the WW:



What a great invention that WW is. I didn't have to stop spinning for a second and was able to get a super even single with consistent twist and only had to stop when I ran out of fiber. Amazing. Contrast the even winding on the bobbin with the plied version of the same fiber on my Lendrum Saxony:



Notice how uneven it is wound on? Generally I do a more even job, but not so much while plying. I do a less even job when I discover that I don't have to cram a considerable amount of yarn on the bobbin and can afford to waste the space, as is the case above. I spun those singles on the Journey Wheel, filling both of its bobbins and plied on the much larger Lendrum Saxony bobbins. The joy of having multiple wheels. I'll now let the singles sit for a little bit on the Womack and ply with itself.

One more finished object

My very productive month of November continues. In record time for a pair done in sock yarn, I have finished the Happy Trails socks. Here are the project details:

Pattern: Own
Style: Cuff down-2x2 rib
Yarn: Happy Trails Sock Yarn - Superwash Merino
Started: 11/04/04
Finished: 11/12/04




I don't think I've ever completed so many projects in such a short time. The world of blogging has continued to motivate me, as well as inspire me to try some new things. The above socks are an example of that spirit. Until this pair, all socks, and I've knit quite a number of them, have been very plain, ribbed cuff, straight knit remainder socks. This is the first modification of that. The next pair I make, I'd really like to add some cabling to the cuff part, maybe the twisted rib that I saw somewhere. I have to dig out the 365 knitting stitches perpetual calendar which lives near the spinning wheels and see what speaks to me.

As for the socks, I think I'm keeping them. I've changed my mind on gifts for the ladies at Beth Am nursery and Daycare. Instead of making them all socks, they are going to get booga bags. Thanks to the Knitting Wench for the assistance on this decision. It was with her help that I decided the socks were for me and they get booga bags.. well so will I. She actually dared me to make them and not keep one for myself. Provided it hasn't snowed too badly tonight, I'll head over to Majestic Yarns and pick up a couple skeins of Lamb's Pride in fun colors and make them with that. Whoa, that leaves me without a project on the needles now?!???!?! I can't remember the last time I've had absolutely NO projects in the works. I'm getting all twitchy now with thoughts of completely empty needles. Oh the horror..

Big old happy dance time tonight. I have three favorite people in this world, really favorite. The postman, the UPS man and Mr. Epidural-man :) The first two are serious faves because they leave packages by my door. Since I'm a bit of a senile dork, I have a tendency to forget that something has been ordered and get a huge surprise when I get home. Tonight was one of those wonderful nights. My WOOLEE WINDER for my electric spinner arrived! WHOOPEE. I'm hoping that this will allow me to get some spinning time whilst the twins are out of their cages. I haven't been using any of the wheels since the boy is too curious for his own good. I'm afraid those little fingers will poke through a moving drive wheel before I can stop it. He already has a thing for poking the orifice on the Lendrum castle wheel. I'd like it if I could put my Womack electric spinner on the end table or someplace equally out of little person reach and be able to spin. With the woolee winder I can just spin and spin without having to stop and move hooks. From what I hear, the WW on an electric makes the worlds best plyer. I can't wait to try it out. Maybe tomorrow's post will have a picture of the electric with a bobbin full of freshly spun singles.

Photoless progress

Just a quick update today. I've been sick recently, not sure exactly what is going on, but feeling pretty darn cruddy nonetheless. Today is my first day back at the office since Monday. The plus side of feeling cruddy and having the twins off in daycare is that I got some knittin' time.

I finished the first of the Happy Trails socks, pictures tomorrow, and hit the heel on the second one. I'm doing a 2x2 rib to the ankle, PG-R short row heel, followed by a 2x2 rib on the top half of the foot. For a size 5US foot, this makes for a pretty quick sock. This first pair is for Miss Ronni, one of the twins' daycare teachers. Miss Lilly will get a similar pair. The skein of HT yarn is 8 oz so I have A LOT of it. On the 56 st that make up the sock, the yarn is self striping. It's pretty and I wouldn't mind a pair of them myself.

I'm still trying to decide which hat I want to make to go with my Hogwarts scarf. The Hermione hat over at knit.atypically.net looks really nice, but I'm not sure. I'll probably wind up doing it anyway. My new pea coat arrived yesterday and it is super nice. I didn't realize how stiff the wool is! I was having trouble bending my arms when I tried it on last night. Comparing notes with someone, this is typical. Good thing too as I started googling last night "pea coat stiff arms". Seems this isn't abnormal. It's softened up a it already today and I can't wait till the thing is broken in. The scarf looks marvelous with it. Maybe I'll get a picture with both the scarf and coat tonight:)

I'm looking forward to having all the holiday knitting done and get back to the real enjoyable stuff. I have to add some cable-y goodness to the list of projects, as well as one of those kitty beds. I can even use the yarn IN STASH to make that. My goal is to actually work down the stash. This includes transforming some of the fleeces to yarn to finished object. Lofty goal, I'll admit, but not unattainable. Certainly not with the daily knitting that I get now. And the highlight of the week is tomorrow.. KNIT CLUB! Which reminds me, Kris Kringle. Make mental note. Can't write here.. victim might read :)

I subscribed to Interweave Knits today. My first issue will be sent out on Nov 25. I'm looking forward to it. I've been disappointed with the other knitting mags of late. I quite buying Vogue a while ago and Knit 'NStyle, I actually put back on the shelf the other day. I have this huge collection of knit mags and either have never made anything from them or they are just uninspiring. However, I've always been happy with the IK so I figured I'd get a subscription to it. I already get Spin-Off by them, my favorite mag.

On the work front, I've decided to "enjoy" my period of inactivity around here. I rode in this morning with a fellow who is about to lose his programming job due to a merger. I listened to him talk about the employment seminars and the classes on how to write a good techie resume and I'm just happy to have a job that hopefully isn't going to disappear at the end of next month like his is. I should just sit back and consider this the nice rest from the harder job at home, catch up on my reading/writing/relaxing, maybe even work towards learning a new language. I should be thankful for lack of crunchtime rather than bemoan it. So I'm turning over a new leaf and will sweat what I can control and go with the flow.

Got my oar all ready..

Productive November!

Two more projects move from WIP to Completed! First is the cardigan for Kathryn that the knitting has been done for ages but just needed buttons. Well I finally had the sweater, the thread, buttons and sewing needle all in one place at lunch today and did it. I used 5 butterfly buttons in different colors to add a nice feminine touch to the straight stitched sweater. So here is Ms. Kat herself modelling it:



Project Info

Pattern: Basic Cardigan - Jacqueline Fee's Sweater Workshop
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Baby
Started: 10/??/04
Finished: 11/08/04

------------------------------------

Ms. Kat had a bonanza of new things today. That hat I finally started yesterday was finished tonight while they played before bed. It was quite a challenge to get her to model it.



Project Info

Pattern: Ann Budd's Knitters Handy Book of Patterns
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft
Started: 11/07/04
Finished: 11/08/04

------------------------------------

While I was at it, I got Mr. Alex to "pose" in his hat that I finished some time ago. Here's my little man:



Project Info

Pattern: Ann Budd's Knitters Handy Book of Patterns
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft
Started: 10/26/04
Finished: 10/27/04


Well I feel kind of icky so I'm going to call it an early night. I'm coming down with something.

Finished Object

The Hogwarts scarf is DONE! Slightly ahead of schedule too. Its fabulous. Alexander is rather partial to the fringe. I umm skipped the blocking step. By my read of the pattern, this was to straighten it out and make it easier to get the color changes to one side. I was able to line everything up without the need to lay it out wet. I think the only things I've ever blocked are the lace shawls.

Project Info

Pattern: Atypically Knit
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride - Spice & Lemon Drop
Started: 10/27/04
Finished: 11/07/04



My next project is well underway. I finally started Kat's hat and am more than halfway through it. I've had a hideous headache today and really didn't have the energy to do much. Thankfully the twins were pretty content to play by together and let me sit quietly. They didn't always play nicely together. Alexander is sporting a nice bitemark on his left arm as Kat bit him in a fit of pique. Time to finish the laundry and get to bed early.

Stash Enhancement eXpedition

Excellent SEX today. I finally have a LYS again. I haven't had one since Auntie Knits in Glen Rock closed down. I can't even remember how long ago it was.. though I do have a bag of yarn I got in their Going out of Business sale. It even made it through the purges of last year to get the nursery done.

Anyway, Majestic Yarns had their grand opening today in Ridgewood! Beautiful shop. Not one of those typical yarn stores where it is so cramped and only the owner has any clue where a particular yarn might possibly exist. Nope, not this place. This is a gorgeous shop with nice cubbyhole type shelves well marked and organized. Its owned by the people behind School Products, a favorite lunch fieldtrip destination (witness my two trips in less than a week). The Ridgewood store is nice an convenient to home and has the bonus of NJ's lower tax rate and NO tax on yarn, only patterns and notions. EXCELLENT. As part of the grand opening, there's a 10% discount on all yarns. Do I need more yarn? Does anyone really need more yarn? Could I pass up a discount on gorgeous yarn? The answer to all is a resounding no. Here's a picture of what has been added to the yarn stash (the spinning stash still goes untouched..)



What you see are six balls of Aurora Bulky in a navy destined to be a sweater for Mr. Alex. I got three skeins of Nuro Kureyon to make a booga bag - maybe that will make a good commuter bag, or at the least a good knitting bag where I can also tuck lunch. Two skeins of Koigu for socks, probably for mom. I think I'm pretty well set for a while yarnwise. Oh an hiding under the Aurora and the Koigu is a set of bambo size 10 dpns. I'm slowly replacing all my dopey aluminum dpns with either a bamboo, casein or bryspun. I dislike the alum ones, they are far too slick, unyielding and just unpleasant to work with.

I made some significant progress on the Hogwarts scarf. I finished the last yellow band and have started the last burgundy one. I'll have it done tomorrow and more than likely blocked. I'd really like to have it done done by the end of the weekend. The navy pea coat that I ordered is shipping Tuesday so I should have it later in the week, just in time with both of them for the cold weather that is approaching.

Happy days...

Yeti is staying!!! Whoooppeeee. As really the only thing I don't have the energy/time to do with him is groom him, I asked Chris if she would. Could I perhaps lure her to NJ with the promise of lunch, spinning and playing with the twins in exchange? She's willing to arrange something. YEA! I can't express how happy this makes me. I was so upset with the thought of Yeti's leaving... and not because it meant that I failed at something. I really do like the little guy. I love the fur therapy I get from him. I absolutely adore his binkies. I love when he pulls a carrot from my hands and jumps on back to the rear of his cage. He seriously digs brussel sprouts too. Maybe I can even learn the quicker clip method from Chris and even that won't be the chore that it has turned into.



I'm sure Earl Grey will be happy that his white, fuzzy buddy is staying with us. The two of them can continue to romp around.

Knittin' News

More celebrations to be had... I'm now a member of the Knitting Blogs ring. YEA!! I also volunteered to be a ring checker. What the heck, I haven't much to do at work, and I'm surfing the ring anyway. Waiting to hear on that.

Progress has been made on the Hogwarts scarf. I'm halfway done on the 7th yellow stripe. There will be a total of 9 yellows and 10 burgundies. I'm oh so close to finishing this puppy. If not this weekend, early next week. I've found I can do 1.5 to 2 stripes a day and that is nothing more than commuting time and lunch.

I had to rip out the sock last night. It was huge around the foot and the heel was too long and pointy. I know its not for me and while I haven't quite decided who it really is for, either intended victim has feet not much bigger than me. I restarted it, but this time it is cuff down and I'm doing a 2x2 rib that I'll continue through the top half of the foot. I've got about 2" done already. I love socks, they go so fast.

I've given serious thought to the Kris Kringle gift the knit club at work is doing. We drew names today and I think the gift idea I had yesterday will work beautifully for my intended victim .. er beneficiary. Nothing more mentioned in case said victim is a reader. :)

I just wish I had more time. I have so many projects that I want to do without even going into the fact that the wheels are sitting around ignored. In my blogsurfing, I've seen such wonderful projects that just inspire me to try my hand at new things. I really want to knit the thrummed mittens. I want to try two-color work again. I want to do something with texture like the cables that I saw over on ChicKnits. Need more time. Or less sleep. Hmm.. I used to do so much with less sleep. Getting spoiled by the babies sleeping 10 hour straight. Must be getting soft.

What kind of sheep...

We haven't had a quiz in a little bit so here's a good one...




You are a -
Hippy Sheep!
Peace dude, flower power, ban the bomb... more grass please.

Which flock do you follow?

this quiz was made by alanna

Knitting progresses

I've actually been making progress on two fronts so far this week. I turned the heel on the first sock I'm knitting out of the Happy Trails Sock yarn in the Blueberries colorway. Here's a picture of that yummy yarn.



I bought this shortly before I found myself lying in the hospital in 2003. I remember getting my mother to hold her hands out so I could wind it into a ball :) Its a wonderful superwash merino wool and it is patterning nicely. IIRC, I started a baby cardigan out of it before I decided that knitting was far too difficult to do while lying on your side in a hospital bed. Saturday I started the first sock while the twins played on the floor. It's been sitting in the basket next to the couch which my every-other-week housekeeper really doesn't want sitting next to the couch. Oh well, tis better to have to replace the basket than scrub the bathroom :) Anyway, these socks are most likely for the twins' daycare teacher. I'm giving the ladies knit items and probably a giftcard to good old b&n for the holidays. I should have plenty of time.

I've also made progress on the Hogwarts scarf. I'm past the halfway point on it. No recent pictures of it, but close your eyes and imagine 6 red stripes with 5 yellow ones :) It has been my commuting buddy. I've actually discovered that I can walk and knit at the same time.. and NOT fall on my face. Probably not quite as alert as NJTransit would like me to be as to my surroundings. Nevertheless, it is still a great project for working on while standing on the platform. I just tuck the end of the scarf in my pocket, or wrap it over my shoulder. Hell, I was tempted to wear it this morning!

Abominable snow rabbits

While I haven't yet had the time and/or energy to tackle Yeti's much overdue grooming, he has been getting a little out of the cage time and a better selection of foodstuff. Last night he had his first taste of brussel sprouts and a yummy stalk of celery. Looked pretty odd lying together in the cage, but I'm slightly twisted. I don't think there is anything on the schedule for this weekend, so I might be able to clip him then. It's just so difficult... well the clip isn't difficult. Its the psyching myself up to do it that is. The last one was three nights of wrestling with him after the twins went to sleep. I know, I know it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't let it get so out of hand. I tell myself that every single time I clip him. Actually Maria surprised the hell out of me and cleaned his cage this week. Holy bunny droppings Batman. Hmmm, now if I could get her to clip him....

Trick or Treat

The twins had their first real Halloween. Last year they were all of 3 weeks old and I put them in "costume" bibs. Kat was a cheerleader and Alex a pumpkin. I'll have to dig up the picture of that, its on a CD around here someplace. This year we went to Randi's house and they played with their cousins, Danny and Mitchell. At around 4:30, we put on costumes and posed for this picture, followed by Trick-Or-Treating.



Mitchell was Captain Hook, Danny was Peter Pan, Kat was a lady bug and Alexander was a bumble bee (stinger included :) The boys did the doorbell thing while the twins napped in the stroller, first Kat, then Alex. After dinner and a bath, we piled back in the car for the ride home. The monkeys slept the whole way and went from the car to the crib without stirring.

Knit Club

Friday was Knit Club at the office. Once upon a time we called ourselves YARN (Yarnaholics Anonymous Rehabilitation Network :), but we really don't want to be rehabilitated.



Witness my having to go back to School Products today and get more yarn for the Hogwarts scarf. I picked up two more skeins of each color, if I don't use the second one, I can always return them for credit (snicker snicker), though I don't think it will be necessary. I'm sure I'm going to need that extra skein as I hit the middle mark on the burgundy stripes and have 1 yd of yarn from the first skein left. If the second 1/2 of burgundy stripes uses the same amount, and I believe it will, then I wouldn't have any yarn for the fringe. This way, I can complete the thing and make a matching hat. Here's where I was at the end of KNITclub: