We’ve both got it now. By we I mean the grown ups in the house. Scratchy throats and naggy coughs. Looks like it’s gonna be a super fun weekend. Not. We’ll be rockin’ the Airborne.

The Boy is sick today. I canceled my walkies so I could stay home with him. He needs his Boppy close right now. Poor little red eyed puffy faced boy.

Here’s what I’ve gotten done so far:

Wound two balls of the Weasley Sweater yarn on my noste, tested out the duplicate stitch on my swatch and cast on for the front of the sweater. I think the duplicate stitch looks ok for the letter on the sweater. I’ve been dreading the two color knitting and all those ends to weave in. I have 7 inches to knit before I have to decide for sure. I’ll see what the Rock Star thinks and maybe practice the dupe stitch a bit more. It looks pretty good though. Feel free to leave an opinion.

Well let’s see. What major happenings have occured since Friday? Does the Boy’s first big boy hair cut count? That’s what we did on Saturday. Went to a place that specializes in kid’s hair. They’re all set up to keep the kids distracted. Each station has lots of things for kids to look at, including tvs playing videos. We don’t normally let the Boy watch tv but had agreed that it would be ok for this. So we sit him up in the chair and he’s looking around. Put the strap around his waist and the big bib/apron thing they put on you at the salon. What’s that thing called? It’s escaped me right now. I told the stylist that I didn’t want a “style”, didn’t want to lose the baby look, but that he needed to be trimmed around the ears, even up the neckline and the bangs. She says ok. He’s sitting there, doing really good,thinking this is all pretty neat when suddenly she spritzed him with the water and it was as if he was slapped. He got this look on his face, then squinched his eyes shut and opened his mouth. Tears were squirting out between his clenched eyelids and he was just bawling as loud as he could. He opened his eyes and I realized he couldn’t see where either of us were and told the Rock Star to get over where the baby could see him. Guess what he does? Stops to take a damn picture. I may have shoved him as my maternal instincts went into overdrive and I simply had to get to where my baby could see me and not be scared. I got down on my knees in front of him and sang ABCs and made all the animal sounds (onlookers be damned) while he stared at me with tears streaming down his face and crying for all he was worth. The stylist was a real pro! She just kept clipping and in a short time (felt like an eternity) she announced, “All done!!”, and I started tearing that apron/bib thingie off of him, unhooking him from the chair and gathered him up in my arms. And that was the last I saw of my little baby boy. He looks like a big boy now. Very cute, and the haircut is just what I asked for, I just had not prepared myself for how much it would change his looks. I’m so proud of him, but I’m sad, too. They grow up so damned fast.

Before:

During:

Check out his face in the mirror:

After:

Everything’s better with breadsticks:

Last weekend we bought him a little table and two chairs at Ikea. Heretofore he’s not figured out how to get himself up on one of the chairs. Facing front that is. A couple times this past week he’s gotten himself up there, but ended up sitting backwards with his legs sticking out the back. Today was a very big day. He climbed up on his chair and turned around and faced the table. He was so proud of himself and we cheered him on! It was so cute.

I’ve been teaching him to say Daddy when I say, “Who’s a spaz?”. He’s catching on very well.

That’s my big boy.

I finished the back on the Weasley Sweater I’m knitting the Boy. Time to cast on for the front.

But first a break to work on the pink socks. I’m almost to the gusset increases. I really love this two socks on two circs thing!! I’m searching the internet for a pattern with a turned heel (not the short row), that’s written for toe up, two socks on two circs. No luck so far. I may have to resort to removing one from needles while I do the heel, then putting it back on. I’m hoping to avoid that. Everything else about this sock is turning beautifully!!

I ordered some Lorna’s Laces yarn from Ebay. Two skeins each of Shepherd Sport and Shepherd Sock. I’ve been hovering over the mailbox ever since. I won’t be able to start them yet, but that won’t stop me from fondling them. Yarn pervert, that’s me.

I got the Aran Knitting book from the library. It’s loverly. I wrote to Interweave Press to ask if they ever planned on reprinting it, and they promptly replied to say that Alice Starmore owns all the rights, and there was some small possiblility she was considering a revision. That would be pretty cool. It’s a shame that this beautiful work is out of the financial reach of many of us. I’d pay the author $35 – $50, but not $230 on Ebay.

I had my heart set on St Brigid, but the Rock Star said he doesn’t like it. He likes all the detail, but the fit of the sweater looks like a flour sack, he said. I’m bummed. If he doesn’t like it, it takes some of the fun out of it for me. I’m well aware that I can knit and wear any damn thing I like, but I like to have him like what I’m wearing. If I’m gonna put that much money, work and time into a garment, I really want him to like it, too. I like St Ciaran a lot. I can imagine myself cozied up on the couch wrapped in that. And the cables and celtic design is just as gorgeous as St Brigid.

The lawsuit. The client suing me in small claims court. I don’t want to publish details here, so I can’t even write it out and feel better. God knows I spend enough time talking about it…with my husband, with the insurance people, with the pet sitter involved. Actually now that I think about it, I’m kinda sick of talking about it. Unfortunately, I can’t just put it out of my mind. I’m not as upset as I could be over something like this, thanks to my pretty pink pills of anti-anxiety and anti-depression, but it still occupies my mind more than I like. Some people say, just don’t think about it, or don’t worry too much…very good advice. I wish they’s also give me some pointers on how to accomplish that. I mean seriously, how do you just not think or worry about being sued? I know one thing, no matter what the judgement is, I’ll be very happy to have it OVER with. I won’t ever have to worry about it again. I have a lawyer and my insurance company is standing behind me. That is a lot of comfort but this still sucks.

So there I was in the grocery store, feeling grumpy. I’d stopped in to snag some lunch. I knew exactly what I wanted: Cherry Chicken Pasta Salad. As I tried to quickly walk to the item and get it, people and their stupid shopping carts kept slowing me down. *grumple, grumple* I mean, the nerve. Shopping! While I’m in a hurry. Stupid people. *fume and fuss* I finally get to the deli, grab my grub and am walking past the cheese sample lady when she pops up with a huge smile ands says, “I’ve got Gouda!” to someone else, in the most cheery, friendly, exuberant voice you can imagine. I had to actually cover my mouth to keep from laughing out loud. I’ve got Gouda!! I got all the way out to the parking lot before I couldn’t stand it anymore and stopped in the middle of the way, bending over, slapping my knee and just bellowing laughter. I’ve got Gouda!!! It’s so fucking funny.

I’ve got Gouda!!!

Either it truly is funny, or I’m going insane. *shrugs*

Oh. My. God.

Just watched the epi I taped last night (Tuesday). May I just say: Oh. My. God.

How can a show make me cringe in horror and shiver in delight at the same exact time? Tell me!! How is it possible? America is the best country on Earth and this show just proves it!!!

When I grow up I wanna be just like Crystal’s mom. *nods* mmmm, hmmmmm.

Just 3 more inches til I start shaping for the arms. I knit every where, and every when. I knit in line at Ikea. I knit while the baby is napping in the car. If I could figure out how to walk the dogs and knit, I’d do it. I love the tweediness of this yarn. It’s a tiny bit scratchy, but I love the look. I wonder if it softens in the wash at all?

This is the pink sock after it was frogged. It looks like some tasty dessert doesn’t it?

Here’s what it looks like now:

As you can see I’ve figured out how to do two socks, toe up on 2 circs. I’m pretty pleased with it so far. I am just a bit worried that it might be too big. Got kind of crazy with the increases…

I’ve uploaded several new pictures to my Flickr page of the Boy. Click the pic to be taken to the photos. Beware the Cuteness.

A client is suing me in small claims court. This whole thing has been hanging over my head for months. At least after 3/1/06 it should be resolved. I’ll say my piece, she’ll say her’s, a judge will decide. My insurance covers me if the judgement is against me. It’s not about the money. It’s about what’s right. I HATE this crap.

Last night I knit up a little swatch and blocked it. This morning I checked it and was happy to find that I got exactly 6 st per inch with my #5 Addi’s.

So I cast on:
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After one false start I dug into the project and got this much done by Midnight:
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Cast-On is perfect listening while knitting!

*starts counting pennies*

On a whim, I checked the website for the local library. Our wonderful library possess two, not one but TWO, copies of Alice Starmore’s Aran Knitting, and one of them was sitting in a library across town apparently just waiting for me to find it!! Our library system has a fantastic transportation system and will actually bring it over to a library closer to me so I won’t have to go more than a couple blocks to pick it up. How fantastic is that!?! I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on this book. Yippeeeeee!! Maybe St Brigid is in my future after all?

I kind of thought tearing out the heel last night would save this sock. But it doesn’t look anymore hopeful to me today. I’m most likely going to frog it and start over.

I was trying a bunch of different stuff here:

1. First time using Two Circs. That went pretty good, although I’m not sure it’s any faster than my DPNs. It does have the advantage of being able to do 2 socks at once. That’s the reason I’ll try it again.

2. Toe up. I’ve done one toe up sock before and like it. I like not having to worry about if I’ll have enuf yarn for the length of leg I want. Just knit til I’m almost out of yarn. I used the Turned Toe from Socks Soar on Two Circs by Cat Bordhi. I really liked this toe. It was a bit of work, but it turned out very nicely.

3. Gaugeless, percentage based sock pattern. I like this idea very much. I’m tired of wanting to knit with a great yarn from my stash, finding a cool pattern only to have it call for a different guage. On this sock for instance, I really like the fabric I get from using size 2’s. I ended up with 8 stitches per inch after I settled into the foot, but it was nice not worrying about it when I started. I want to use the is idea again.

4. Adapted a stitch pattern from somewhere else into all of this. I like this too. I think my mistake was using a stitch pattern that starts with a purl and that caused ladders. I tryed moving a knit stitch over to start with and that made the sock look twisted, didn’t fix the ladder much and just generally wonked it out. It’s likely that all would have been fixed in the blocking, but it was just too much to take after the heel disaster.

5. Short row Garter Stitch Heel. I like the concept but it’s just do damn much fiddling and worry about those gaps. I like the look of turned heels and I enjoy doing them, so why bother with this?

Well, back to the drawing board I guess. *sighs*

This yarn says, “When I grow up I want to be a HP Sweater for the Boy.” and I’m just the knitter to help it. With the demise of my pink sock (see other knitting entry), it was a real cheerer upper to get this package from YarnMarket so quickly!!! Hopefully I can knit up a swatch or two tonight.

Gack!! My pink sock…

Garter Stitch short row heel. The gaps when I started knitting around again where huge. I unknit and tried again. One side was ok, the other was huge. Unknit. Then I decided it’s the whole heel…so I tore it out. Now I’m back down to before I started the heel, and I’ve noticed several mistakes and things I don’t like. I’m seriously contemplating frogging the whole thing and starting over. I hate to do it. It’s bad enough the last two days of work are basically gone, but to lose the whole thing. On the other hand, the mistakes will always bug me…Gack! I’ll decide tomorrow. I’m too tired and cranky to decide now.

I’ve seen links to a the St. Brigid Knit along all over the internet. That is a beautiful sweater, and since I was hoping to do an aran sweater for myself at some point, I thought I’d look into acquiring the pattern for this one. It’s in a book called Alice Starmore’s Aran Knitting. hmmmm, sounds good I say, Googled it and was astonished to find the book sells for $229.00 to $900.00. Holy crap. I think I’ll just have to settle for another Aran Sweater pattern. That is way, way, way outta my league!!! Fantastic sweater, though. And the book looks great. Just more than I could ever pay for it. Maybe the Library has it?

The Subaru is totalled. Now we wait to see how much the insurance company will pay for it. Then we (read the Rock Star) will shop for a new one. In the meantime we are a one car fam. A very small car. Even though we’re a small fam (3 peeps), it doesn’t seem like enuf. As luck would have it, after months of working a contract where he took the bus, the Rock Star recently started one where he needs to drive. Or be driven, as is now the case. I need the car for dog visits and other stuff. I don’t mind. It’s just a bit more planning than, deciding who gets what car on the fly, which is how we used to do it. Plus, I don’t like driving the the Boy in the Ford. It’s a great little car, but the Suby was bigger and heavier and it felt like there was more protection in case of a crash. If the Ford got smashed with us in it, I don’t think the outcome would be so good. So yeah, car shopping. Fun.