A Post Several Days in the Making

I started writing this on Friday, but didn't have photos ready to go and didn't have enough undisturbed time to put two thoughts together coherently. So, am finishing, editing, adding pictures today (Sunday).

Current Knitting
I started knitting Mr. SABLE a version of of the Iron Mountain Hat (v.2) with slightly fatter yarn, in blue and black


Still working on Mr. SABLE's Adirondack Pullover

Still working on the Tahki Tweed version of the One Row Scarf


In addition, longer standing WIPs include
Constance Shorewood about 98% done
The very long-standing tweedy slipstitch sweater for Mr. SABLE
Some miscellaneous socks

Finished a few weeks ago:

A quick little hat from Knit Picks Panache. Not sure I like how it looks, but it feels very soft and warm on my head, which counts for a lot around here.

Meanwhile, I've made plans to make another Iron Mountain v.2 for my friend Jim, for whom I made the brown fisherman's knit raglan last year, and a pullover for my brother's wife. I'm hoping to match both these projects up with stash yarn.

Family Life
Maybe part of why I'm so determined to match projects to existing stash has to do with our pre-holiday preparations. Mr. SABLE's brother and his wife came for a short visit on the 26th, which was great fun. There was a lot of hilarity and fun and games. But before they arrived, Mr. SABLE was driven to clean as I haven't seen him in at least 15 years. He purged and cleaned and filled garbage bags and recycling bins. He scrubbed the bathroom. And now our house is further from the brink of chaos than it has been for some time. So that's part of my motivation to reduce stash: having come this far in our house-normalization process, it seems like a good thing to continue.

The other thing is that on Christmas Eve I had to retrieve some "Santa items" I had hidden in my lair. It took me a full hour of dedicated searching, moving, and organizing to find the bag'o'goodies in a bin I thought I had searched early on. D'oh. And through that, I kept finding yarn I'd forgotten I owned. So I had a moment of clarity where the truth of my sickness was made quite clear.

Christmas Day was quiet. The Little Emperor came into our room about 10 minutes before 7, which is amazingly accurate. We had told him that nothing was happening until 7 and he doesn't have a clock in his room. We tried to doze the last 10 minutes then he gleefully announced that it was time. The morning went well. My brother made one of Owen's wishes come true by sending along an electric guitar that he owned but doesn't play these days.


In the early afternoon, The Little Emperor started to act a little sick. He fell asleep on the couch, spiking a fever of 103 F. In the evening we got a dose of Tylenol into him and got him up to bed. He woke us up at 3:30 a.m. saying he felt hungry and also unwell. Then he had big gastro-enteric symptoms (both ends), several bouts, pretty much keeping us up until 5:30. This was the day that R & C, the relatives, were coming, and we worried about them walking into a house of contagion. It seemed like the little guy was pretty much on the mend by late afternoon and was able to eat a good dinner (pizza) that night with no consequence. Still, I worried a bit, because I know gastro-enteric viruses can stay contagious for a few days after symptoms have passed.

R & C were supposed to stay two nights, but we all had an eye on the weather forecasts which were uniformly grim. They decided to return to C's cousin's in Chicago last night, so they were sure to make their flight back to NJ this afternoon. As it turned out, the flight was canceled, along with all the other flights to NJ on United today.

Finishing Post on Sunday Afternoon
R & C were able to get home, albeit, in a very Planes, Trains, and Automobiles kind of way. They got a flight on a different airline out of Midway, instead of O'Hare; to Philly instead of Newark. Then a rental car to to retrieve their car from Newark Airport, and eventually home to Summit.

BTW, here's one of a series of group pictures we had been ordered to produce for that side of the family:

C., manning the camera, had successfully gotten a laugh out of the kids by asking, "What kind of bees make milk?"
Answer: "Boo bees."

Happy New Year to one and all. Stay safe. Friends don't let friends knit drunk.

Beatrix Hat & Cardigan Pattern

The Beatrix Hat and Cardigan are worked in Dale Baby Ull in bright vivid colors. Of course, you can easily substitute a pastel palette. Or swap out the magenta main color for a more masculine choice to suit your favorite boy.






Pattern worked at a gauge of 7.5 stitches per inch, but don't let that scare you. It goes fast on such a small project. This set would make a perfect first Fair Isle project. The motifs are simple and fun. Worked in round with cut steeks at front and arms.

Pattern written in three baby and toddler sizes.

Available for immediate download $5 US

Winter is here.

The weather says "Winter" and so does the calendar. No doubt about it.

Knitting pictures coming soon. I promise.

WIP Progress Pics

Recent photos of my two biggest WIPs:

Taken last night because he was dressed up. Long story, but it's a rare occasion.


Taken earlier in the fall at a local park.

Gingerbread Tam

I just made one of the Three Tams by Angela Sixian Wu, from the Winter '07 Knitty. This was a quick fun knit and completely up my alley.


This is the expression of a woman standing in her front yard when it's 14 degrees F, with no coat or gloves, in shoes but not insulated boots, fiddling with a camera and wondering if the autotimer will work.


The back view. Notice all the snow? This is not typical this early in Wisconsin.


The detail.

I used some ancient brown worsted wt wool yarn I picked up at a thrift shop and Knit Picks Bare that Shelagh gave me when we met in NH in summer '06. The kids and I dyed it with Wilton's paste and koolaid. I think the hat looks like a gingerbread house or some other brown confection sprinkled with colorful candy bits. Yum.

Scott's Adirondack Pullover update

Sorry, it's a little fuzzy. Winter light and too cold outside for pictures in full daylight. I added light grey stripes to this one because I don't have quite enough yarn and Mr. SABLE is a big'n'tall kind of guy. And he liked the stripe concept enough that he said he would want them even if I did have enough dark grey. He's really living dangerously with his wardrobe choices these days!

I had an assistant helping, too:


More gratuitous cat pictures:

Should We Call the Experts?

I was unpacking my 6 year old son's backpack from school last night and found this art project:

Should we call a child shrink for an evaluation? Or just apprentice him to Tim Burton and call it good? (click it for a closer view.)


Here's the Solstice Tree '07

The kids put tinsel on after this picture, so now it sparkles a lot more. Every year I have to remind them that we are looking for a Charlie Brown kind of tree, because our living room is not that big. And the trees always seem much bigger when you get them in the house. This one is not very tall, but has a nice shape. The Little Emperor, artist of the work above, chose it. I think he did a nice job.

A note about the painting on the wall above the mantle on the upper left of the photo. This was done by my late grandmother, who was a watercolor painter of some local renown in western Illinois. She gave it to me years ago. It's not particularly one of my favorites of hers but I like the story that goes with it. She called it "Forgotten Landmark" or something kind of sentimentally evocative like that. My dad always comments, whenever my parents visit, "Oh, it's that old whore house down by the river." Somehow, I trust his interpretation more than hers.

A Slightly Sinking Feeling...

I sent a submission packet to a magazine late last month. Their deadline was Dec 7. I sent my submission Priority Mail and requested delivery confirmation. I know that the magazine in question usually sends receipt confirmation pretty quickly, too. And I just realized that I've received neither of these. And it's Dec 9. Hmmm. Must find my postal receipt, but checking back in my blog posts, I know I sent it before Nov 29. Well, as much as it's a drag to get rejected, it would be an even greater drag to never even get in the running because of a postal glitch.

How long does the postal service usually take to deliver the confirmation? I've never paid for that before and don't know what to expect.

edited to add: the confirmation postcard came from the magazine the other day. I just didn't know it because someone else carried in the mail. So, it got there. And now the waiting resumes.

Some Recent Knitting

Scott's Adirondack Pullover

Any color, as long as it's grey.

Gift Scarf 2

Not sure yet just who will get this one.

Gift Scarf 1

The Universal Yarns wool/dralon blend. This feels nice for 70% synthetic. The color sequences were messed up at the factory a bit, but I don't mind too much.

My life in list form: no time for a proper blog post.

Machine conspiracy: one vehicle in shop with unknown malady.

Tomorrow's scheduling complications: re dentist, kids, schools, cars.

Today's expected snow on top of

All the other snow and ice we already have, and

It's cold. It was 1 degree F at 7 a.m. today. (or is that one f'in' degree?)

current knitting: another gift scarf.

Seasonal rant: Maybe this can hold off til around Dec 22?

I hope to make a proper post with pics and fun stuff soon. But my BIL and his wife, who are very nice, but childless and tidy and earn about 10 times (not exaggerating) what we live on are coming to visit the day after Christmas and I'm not sure how we can get ready for that.

The good news is, my sister phoned the other day and we chatted for over an hour. We haven't really talked in about 15 years, so this was interesting.

More anon. I'm off to pick up Thing 2 at his school. Later, will (I hope) be able to pick up Huz-beast, Thing 1, and my car on a subsequent outing. Otherwise, I'll have to get creative.

edited to add:
My vehicle was ready. Whatever made the Check Engine light come on was self-limiting for now. So, I don't need a new transmission today. (Whew!)

Which means tomorrow will be relatively easy in terms of picking up both kids from school and getting them both to the dentist for their appointments.

Whatever snow we're supposed to get tonight hasn't started yet, so I didn't have that added complication to my late-afternoon errand-running.