Turned the first heel on my daughter’s Valentine’s Day socks. It’s an eye of partridge stitch on the back, reinforced with wool/nylon thread. Hopefully these won’t wear through as fast. They’re going to be murder to darn. She seems fine with store bought holiday-themed socks, so I’m going to ply her with those so she won’t want to wear these every day. I hope.
These socks are going on the back burner now as I plow ahead on the Jayne hat line. I want to get back ahead of the curve. A very nice woman just ordered enough hats for everybody in her Browncoat family, including toddlers. They’re for Christmas photos for this coming year. I may have to insist on being on her Christmas card list, because that sounds awesome.
I should really put up a Jayne hat gallery at some point. There are some stellar pics that really should be shared. Today’s favorite: halfway down on this page. Heh.
Fishwatch 2009: Day 2 – fish still alive.
A belated Christmas gift for my daughter, who is very excited by the prospect of having a fish. This came from her cousins up in Raleigh. Ever the optimist, my girl observes that “she’s not dead!” It’s been less than a day. So far, so good.
The fish has no name yet. That may be just as well. I’ve taken great pains with its health, following the instructions included and also the advice from bettatalk.com but… well… we’ll see. Live, little anonyfish! Swim among the stars!
Oh, and I must mention their other gift, the constellation umbrella. This is going to be a hard one not to steal.
These gifts came from the family I made the FuzzyFeet for. I’m glad I made the effort, they’re good people.
After the usual “okay, who’s in the lead now?” chaos, we get rolling. Walking along, minding our own business, we spot some slime. Moving slime. Instantly the decision is made to douse it in oil and set it on fire. Our rogue throws oil at the slime, but misses spectacularly and soaks the Dwarf leading the charge. Looks like the burning starts early tonight!
This is longer than I thought, so the rest is behind a cut. Click here for gory details!
There were terrible storms last night. The windows we got a few years ago cut down on the noise from the street as we wanted, but the driving rain pounding on the metal windowsills is brutal. It even woke me up, and I can sleep though anything non-Em-related.
We got off to school okay, but there was quite a jam in the parking lot. It would appear that there is no power in the building (or apparently much of the street) so all the kids are just piling into the cafeteria for the time being.
I had this conversation with one of the teachers helping out in the car line. She’s my daughter’s speech therapist at the school. As Em got out of the car and walked past her to the building, she let me know about the power and wanted to be sure I thought Em would be okay with it.
Me: “Ah, I see. She’ll be fine with it if someone tells her.”
Her: “Okay, I just wanted to let you know.” (Em is getting farther away)
Me: “Okay, she’ll be just fine if someone tells her.”
Her: “I just didn’t know how you wanted to handle it.” (I’m kind of gesturing with my eyes and head toward Em, who is still obliviously walking, too far away for me to catch from inside my car.)
Me: “Right, if someone tells her before she walks in the… “ at which point she walks into the dark building.
Her: “I’ll be sure someone tells her.”
Lady. She’s inside. She’s a smart kid, she’s going to figure out that the lights are off. Sigh.
I’m sticking close to home today, just in case. Too bad, as I do have errands to run. Guess what idiot forgot to remove the outer tamper-proof shell from the DVD she got at the library via the self-checkout terminal yesterday? Now that I can’t watch it, I find that I want to watch it more than anything. The human brain is a funny thing, eh?
Okay, I’m rambling, so it’s coffee time. D&D update later!
ETA: As of 8:23, the power’s back on at the school.
Been trying to eat healthier recently, and it’s paid off. I finally moved lower than my previous weight plateau. The weight isn’t really going to start moving again until the weather improves and I can get out and run more reliably, but it’s still encouraging.
Last night, curious and maybe fishing:
Me: Are socks that I make for you more special than ones you get from the store?
Em: Well… I like them both. Both socks you make me and socks from the store are nice.
She is nothing if not honest. Okay, then I know a little girl who’s getting a bunch of socks from the $1 bin at Target so that these last longer.
This morning I prepare more packing materials. I’ve got two more Jayne hats ready to go out (Austin and Australia) that need cool boxes. But first, a little wii running. It’s rainy and cold, but I feel like moving my feet.
Em is back in school today, and for all my grumbling about wanting time to myself, I find that I miss her. She is finally, however, excited about going back to school and got off to a good start this morning.
This was by no means a sure thing. She has been very upset about Christmas being over, and had a lot of trouble adjusting to the idea of a new year. There are some changes we can minimize in her life, but stopping the new year from coming is not within our power, so we just had to ride it out.
One of the things she was upset about was me telling her that she would need to stop wearing her Christmas socks. That’s not because I have a problem with having Christmas year round, but they were constantly being worn through and I had to darn or resole them daily. She decided however, that perhaps she could have Valentine’s socks. And Halloween socks. Also, Thanksgiving. You get the idea. So now apparently hand-knitted socks for every holiday are a new tradition in the house. I’m taking it as an opportunity to practice my Fair Isle colorwork. I don’t get enough of an opportunity to do this, so I could use the practice.
Em: I can wear them in April for Easter, too.
Well, that’s one holiday less I’ll have to knit for, but I’m going to have to be more vigilant about not letting her wear them out. The heels and toes on these will be reinforced, but there’s not a thread in the world that can stand up to my girl’s happy feet.
A while back, Charlotte Yarn had a parking lot yarn swap and I purchased a couple of undyed knitted sock blanks. Unlike Flat Feet these were knitted on an antique sock knitting machine. (Someday, when I win the lottery, I’ll have one.) Each was a very long tube about as big around as my upper arm. I kept one and gave one to a friend. On dye day a while back, I dyed mine. I was less than thrilled with the results.
A couple of nights ago I decided to go ahead and try knitting with it, just to see what it was like. Turns out there were little white spots where the yarn touched and the dye didn’t uptake thoroughly. It gave the yarn a mottled character that I liked much better!
I unraveled the entire blank and skeined it up, excited to see whether the white was consistent throughout the blank. Here it is in its kinky glory, still remembering its knitted shape.
The skein was soaked and then hung to dry with a light weight suspended from it in order to straighten the fibers.
And here it is, straightened and dry. It’s much different than I originally imagined when I dyed it. I can’t wait to see how it knits up. Unfortunately, the queue is such that this’ll have to wait until Spring, at least, but still – it’s something to look forward to!
When I need a little energy, there are some things that can always get me on my feet. Sing it, sister!
I’m not making any. I will, however, pat myself on the back for ending the year ten pounds lighter than I started it. Onward!
Thanks to the new camera (and, by extension, my husband) I have a decent picture of the acrylic version of the Jayne hat. It’s a good option for those allergic to wool. This one is going to Texas.
I need to work on my setup. This gave a good result, but the setup was on the floor facing an open door. In that situation, it’s very hard to look through the viewfinder and compose properly.
Mr. Tvini has taken Em to the mall for a bit so I have time to stamp boxes and get a few things done. Whew. I needed a break.
