Merry Christmas

I hope everyone out there has a wonderful holiday season.

After a bright Hanukkah, and a sweet Christmas, I wanted to give thanks for everything I have. In the new year, I hope to get back to blogging regularly and share all the knitting, kid and cool stuff that I can.

Merry Christmas.

I Can't See the Stars

So my dad calls me the other day just as I am trying to pick up the boys' room and corral them screaming into the bath. He says if I go outside just right now, there's this comet putting on a beautiful show that you can see with your naked eye.

I tell him thanks and will do because I don't have the heart to say that from my front stoop on a relatively clear night, I can't see any stars. Just streetlights and claustrophobic rowhouses.

I have to admit, I didn't even make the effort to go look. And that makes me feel particularly awful, considering I can remember being as young as 6 and my dad waking me up in the middle of the night because we could see Saturn's rings clearly in the telescope.

I need a break.

I know I get like this sometimes when the days get shorter and colder. It's just compounded this year that there are two small, noisy, wiggly beings to wrestle into cold-weather gear and it takes a half-hour to get out the door on a good day.

So my apologies for not blogging. There has been knitting occurring. Maybe I can pull it together enough to show you from vacation. I'm contemplating taking my computer.

I just need a break.

(HA! Now I don't feel as bad: Check this out.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm blogging from the front room of our friends' house in Raleigh. We're celebrating Turkey Day with our other "family" here in NC.

As my astute readers will notice, I did not post any of the blog ramblings that I promised the other day. I am still battling this cold, and it's only slowly going away. But this week, I promise...more pictures and more posts.

Besides I have to tell you about my awesome husband's plans for the stash room...I love the Cap'n.

There are lots of things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving: Good kids, good friends, good family and one great Cap'n. (Oh, and yarn.) ((But maybe not sweater patterns. Grr.)

More later...

Kvetch First, Knit Later

Let's just get the kvetching out of the way, shall we?

1. I am in a Pretty Miserable Situation. PMS, get it?

2. Both kids have spent the last week sick with a fever and sniffly noses. But, you know, on alternating days. Cuz that's how they roll.

3. Another person who also lives in our house is sick and waiting for the Big Ole Boat O' Sympathy to dock at his harbor. But it's not gonna. It crashed into the Iceberg O' Apathy and sank to the bottom of Couldn't Care Less Bay. Because....

4. I am sick. Wah.

5. And today the boys are feeling a bit better. So much so that they decided to take alternating naps and keep me up ALL. DAY. LONG.

6. Did I mention I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night?

Okay, kvetch over. Let's see why these children make it through to see each new day.


Grampy and Grammy pimped our park ride. Swwwwweeeet.

So I like finished a baby sweater? In like a week? And it's like totally awesome? But like, I have no pictures? Because it's like, way too dark? And apparently I've like, been possessed by a Valley Girl?

Yeah.

Tell ya what I'll do. Because I'm in a listing mood, I'll tell you what posts you can expect in the week coming up, and you can tune in if something interests you. Or just to place bets on whether I actually blog when I say I'm going to. (I would not take that one if I were you.)

Here:

1. The Harlot's Hat, or Happy Belated Birthday to Me
2. In Which I'm Liable to Kvetch More About Being Sick (gotta save room for this one)
3. Super Secret Knitting, or Why Knit for Warm People?
4. Baby Sweater Uno
5. Baby Sweater Dos
6. Travel Knitting That Answers the Question of Whether I Cast On Madly for Two Fingering Weight Hats Tomorrow to Finish in a Week
7. Happy Thanksgiving!

See you at the races...

Oh, Burger Cheese!

I really, really am trying to reduce the amount of curse words that I throw around. But can I get an "amen" that it is very difficult to do at 5:30am when you went to bed at 1am and have been woken up at least 2-3 times for nursing duty?

The problem is that EVERYTHING Slim hears, he repeats.

After an "oh, f*#@" out of him today while I was changing his diaper, I apologized to him and told him that Mommy shouldn't say that and neither should he. I made some suggestions like "oh, cheeseburger" and "oh, dinosaurs" to say instead when he (and I) are frustrated.

So while we were downstairs feeding the Little Lion, and he could see that it was difficult for me, he said, "Mommy, oh burger cheese!"

Amen.

Cute Photo Post

Just call me Ms. Obvious re: headline. I can't think of anything else to say, except that it's been a while since little boy pictures have been posted and we've had a proper update on the fam.

Back in the summer, while it was still hot, we had a great visit with Auntie. She really saved our butts again with helping us unpack and with free babysitting. The boys enjoyed having her here.


The Little Lion has started eating solid food, and this is a photo of his first day with rice cereal. This week, his first tooth (bottom right) popped out. It's strange how the time has passed more quickly with Number 2 vs. Number 1.

Slim is talking like crazy and loves to paint. I think he's going to be a performance artist, as he feels like finger paints are more body paints. He's getting to be a real character.

This is Slim's very first self-portrait with his camera. My mini auteur.

I've been knitting, and I have more posts to share with you now that the photos are downloaded. But it's late, and the noisy dishwasher is getting on my nerves, so I've got to get upstairs.

Saved by the SD Card Drive

Yay, Grampy!

We have boy pictures...

Trick or Treat

In my first year with a real house with real trick or treaters, I have learned one very important thing:

Four big bags of candy will last you just over an hour.

Note to self: Next year, more.

Pirate Slim had a good time and took his first picture of himself with the camera. The Little Lion helped pass out candy, and one of the neighborhood kids helped me decorate the porch.

Knitting on a super-secret project is proceeding, and all is well. (Except the pictures being held hostage on the camera....)

Happy Halloween, y'all. I'm off to bed.

Hellllooooo, Giant Time Suck!

I have very, very, very good reasons for my suckassery in blogging.

A) I am a mother of two small children. Free Pass for Life! Or Until They Turn 18!

B) My husband is trying to tear out our kitchen within the next month. I want to let him, but except for, you know, the subsequent lack of a kitchen.

C) I really am going to apply to law school. Really. This year. Really. I swear.

D) I have been writing. Fiction, of all things.

E) I got off my lazy butt, found that Ravelry invitation from July (!) and joined.

Oh. My. God. Why am I such a loser who gets an invitation to join all the cool knitting kids online, and then I sit on it for three months?

'CAUSE RAVELRY ROCKS. HARD.

(I'm muthaknitter if you're on there and wanna friend me. heehee.)

So I put in all the books I could remember off the top of my head (23) and all the WIPs I'm going to publicly admit to (5) and joined some groups. (Look, ma, friends!) I have already spent an inordinate amount of time surfing patterns and people.

In fact, I think Ravelry will help me redeem the unmitigated disaster that is my first sweater. You know, the World's Warmest Sweater of Buttery Goodness (TM) first blogged about in February 2006. Yep, you heard the year right.

It deserves a post all its own, with the horror properly documented in pictures. The Cap'n has agreed to photograph the evidence. And should I ever get out of this hell known as No SD Card Reader, I will be able to download the photos to my computer and blog them.

Because really, the adorability that is the Little Lion's sweater, the coolness that is the Harlot's hat, the wonder that is Lady Eleanor (finally fringed this weekend!) should not be missed.

The State of Things

I just made myself laugh so hard I cried. Either that, or I was about to cry anyway.

So there's been a load of clean laundry in the basket waiting to be folded for 4 days. The other basket is MIA. (Apparently, there is thing in the house called the "laundry room"? Must check to see if it joined friends there...)

So what else is there to do with the three loads of laundry that have piled up in the last 4 days besides kick it out of three rooms (kids bdrm, master bdrm, bthrm) and down the stairs?

No, really. Kick it.

Besides making me laugh at my abominable housekeeping skills, it is an A.W.E.S.O.M.E. way to get rid of the dog hair collecting on the stairs.

Plus: It feels good.

Onward and upward, I say.

Blog posts are pecolating in my head, and except for crapped-out photo thingy, you would have scintillating musings to read and pictures to peruse about a knitting goddess, a FO and a surprise new thingy. (NOTE TO GRANDPARENTS: Your grandchildren's photos are being held hostage on an SD card by a malfunctioning card reader, courtesy of your grandsons who like to pull computer cords and short them out. Save the cuteness.)

But sometimes, truly, life does get in the way of knitting. Those law school apps won't write themselves, alas. And social services truly frowns on feral children.

How Harry Potter Almost Ruined My Marriage

Praise Dumbledore! The Cap'n is finally finished with Book 5.

The Cap'n and I have been late arrivals to the Harry Potter phenomenon. We only started reading Book 1 to each other in the car on the way to NYC in June. We finished it just before he left for Iraq.

I read Book 2 and Book 3 in a day each before he left, so he took those with him to Iraq.

I was no better than him...when the boys and I traveled to Indiana to visit my family, I took full advantage of the free babysitting and devoured Book 4. Before I even finished, I sent my stepdad out on a mad hunt for Books 5 and 6. I ended up finishing Book 7 in a night (9:00pm to 4:30am).

I still miss reading the books. I am glad that I was able to read the series in one go and not have to wait in between installments. I really thought they were marvelous, a tad overwritten, but a wonderful story with great characters. I wish they had been around when I was going through my teenage angst. I thought she did a great job of capturing what it means to grow into oneself.

The Cap'n remained a skeptic through Book 3. "They're okay," I believe I heard. When we got back from Ocracoke, he started on Book 4.

And that's when Harry Potter almost ruined my marriage.

For the last three weeks, the Cap'n's preferred bedtime companions have been those not-so-little volumes of Books 4 and 5. He finished Book 4 sometime after midnight one night and immediately cracked Book 5.

His schedule has been staying up to 2 or 3 in the morning to read, and sleeping in late. We do recall, do we not, when the children wake up? Let's just average it out to 6 a.m., to take into account those 5:30 mornings and those 7:00 mornings.

Some of those mornings, the Cap'n was very lucky that I couldn't make the Avada Kedavra work.

So back on the Grand Tour of 2007, I left Books 6 and 7 in NC so my dad could read them. They are still there, and are going to stay for a while. Maybe the Cap'n can have them around Thanksgiving and Christmas, so he has a few days to dedicate to them.

We're going to have to parcel out the remaining Potter.

Warsh the Slate Clean

Tap, tap.

This thing on?

Hello again.

What do you say we just warsh the slate clean? Start afresh. Forget the last three and a half months and call it a new day, a new blog, a new muthaknitter.

Hmm?

Here...




A humble warshcloth. The Mason-Dixon ballband warshcloth, to be exact.

It's one of a matched pair, out of the incomparable Sugar 'n' Cream cotton in red and Christmas colors (red, green and white). Two balls, two warshclothes. Both gifted in thanks for a wonderful vacation on Ocracoke Island after three very stressful months.

And, yes. Those are the only two knitted objects I have managed to complete in months. Thanks for asking.

Let's see. When last we left the Muthaknitter, much excitement was brewing re: a new house, a new baby and a move.

"Let me 'splain. No. There is too much. Let me sum up." -- Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

Bullet points for brevity:

• We moved.
• The floors weren't quite done.
• They fixed them.
• Then we unpacked.
• My sister visited, and she helped us unpack some more.
• The Cap'n packed for Iraq.
• I tried to find a renter for the new house so I could travel.
• The two renters I found fell through.
• I packed the boys and I for a long trip.
• The Cap'n left for Iraq.
• The boys and I drove 3200 miles to Indiana, NC and Brooklyn.
• I read all 7 Harry Potter books in 3 weeks.
• The Cap'n came back from Iraq.
• We left for Ocracoke for vacation.
• We came back from Ocracoke.
• We unpacked again.
• The Little Lion turned 6 months.
• My sister came to visit. (We didn't make her unpack this time.)
• I celebrated my 31st birthday.
• I MET HER! I HELD THE SOCK!! REALLY!!! SQUEE!!!!
• The Cap'n's dad is visiting.

I know I'm forgetting some things, but you get the idea. It's been busy. I am tired. Really, bone-numbingly exhausted. Not "gee, I sure would like a nap," but more like pin-a-note-on-my-shirt "You must remember not to shake the children" tired.

No one told me how things change when the kids outnumber you. They are on tag-team nap schedules, and one likes to get up early and the other stay up late. It's a good damn thing they're cute, or they would have been on the evening news by now.

I am going to try to blog a little each week to dip my toes back in the bloggy water. I've been inspired by the new Vogue Knitting, and really want to start some new things. But I'm also anxious to put a few FOs behind me, and with some fringe here, a sleeve there, I should be able to make progress on them.

Anywho, a jolly hello out there to any readers I have left. I've missed the blog, and I promise to keep you all up to date on the new and improved Chez Muthaknitter, blogging from the block, NOFla-style. (That's north of Florida, for you DCizens.)

I leave you with the clan on the Hatteras to Ocracoke ferry, safe and sound and happy after a summer of moving and traveling. (Shiny, happy people alert!)

Things I Have Learned...

That the Cap'n is going to poop rectangular red masonry objects when he notices the (second, oops) big box of knitting and yarn supplies in the growing Pile O' Boxes. (Two-year-old in the 75th percentile in height for his age included for scale.)

That I have more sweaters than I thought I did. A shamefully large number of sweaters, in fact. And none of them handknit.

That I will dig through previously mentioned, menacingly large Pile O' Boxes to dig out the photo retriever thingy from the first knitting box because I love my loyal blog readership. (Hi, you two! Or on good days, three!) And we can have a proper, photo post.

Dining room past

Dining room present

Yeah, the laptop accessories reside in the knitting bag(s). That way I know where they are. It's called "creative use of space."

So, anyway, I finished packing the last of the boxes that we still had left over from our move two years ago. You win a gold star if you noticed the sentence construction: "finished packing the last of the boxes," as opposed to "finished packing." Wow. We have a lot of stuff.

Until the Cap'n brings home more boxes tonight, I'm hanging out with the D-Boys and grabbing a little blogging and knitting time. Yay, me!

Slim had his 2-year checkup and measured tall and thin (25th percentile). The doc wasn't worried, though, so his nickname sticks. And she said his picky eating habits weren't anything to stress about either.

Now for some FO action...I know the suspense has been unbearable. I proudly unveil to you...


A Square.

(Not exactly what you were expecting, huh?)

But it's a very special square. For one thing, it's going to go to Laura to help Rebuild Greensburg as soon as it gets a nice SOAK. Secondly, it's made from a leftover skein of Noro Kureyon from my Lady Eleanor. I believe it's colorway 188.

I can't tell you how much the Lady Eleanor knit saved my sanity during the middle of night feeding sessions post-delivery. I learned so much doing it, and I loved every minute. Until I can do a proper photoshoot (and knot the damn fringe!), I'm going to hold off unveiling the shawl. But I wanted to pass along the love of this yarn and the pretty colors that I got to enjoy. I hope it makes someone else feel happy in Kansas.

Now that it's quiet in the house (both boys asleep at once! Woo! And Hoo!) I'm going to watch Reno 911! and work on my most favorite current WIP, the Stripz sweater from Minnowknits out of Manos Cotton Stria.

This yarn has marinated in my stash since maybe early 2006(?) when I bought the yarn and pattern to make for Slim right after I learned to knit. When I cast on a couple weeks ago, I wasn't sure if I would have enough yarn to make the 2yo size for him, even though I bought an extra skein, so Little Baby is going to be getting this one.

The Cap'n pointed out that it would be smarter to only make sweaters for Slim, that way both boys would get to enjoy them. But that logical observation was made after I finished the back, so this one's just for Little Baby. Slim will get plenty of sweaters in the future. Besides, doesn't Little Baby look happy to get a new sweater?

To the needles!

Reason #38475 Why I Hate Moving

Going through and packing your closet and finding clothes that you wore for work (I had another dream last night that I was back at my old job) that definitely don't fit you anymore.

Yard sale, anyone?

Blog posting may be a little slow this week. The movers come Friday and we're nowhere near ready.

I know I've been teasing you with talk of an FO and some mighty cute WIPs, but I have to find more boxes first. Despite living in this cramped little space, our stuff has multiplied.

Much like the dog hair tumbleweeds that I'm pulling from every corner...

Hopefully we can quickly get the wireless up next week at our new house, but a higher priority is getting the gas turned on. No cold showers for me, thanks.

Back to the coal mines...

A Day of Note

And now he is 2.

I think I did better with this birthday than his first. We had the pool party, people actually came, and we celebrated with pizza and a big cake. Much better than his single cupcake with one candle and a lonely mom last summer.

Yet.

This is still a day that matters more to me than to him, at this point anyway. He's a happy-go-lucky, easygoing kid -- his birthday day will be one like many others: We went to the park and walked the dog this morning, took a nice long nap and now we're off to the Natural History Museum to see the moon rocks and animals.

But I can't help but remember this day in North Carolina where he was born, the long labor that preceded it, the family and friends that were around to welcome him into the world. Such a challenge and such a reward.

I am so happy that I became a mother. Just as much the second time as the first.

But we've seen a lot of changes over the last two years, and I guess that this day always makes me think of life before kids and before we made the big move to D.C. I am no more than ambivalent about our move here to the city.

In two years, I don't know that I've fully integrated the changes of becoming a mother, leaving the workforce, and moving away from family and friends to a cold (welcoming, not weather) city. But I'm trying. I'm really trying.

I don't regret a single decision I've made alone, or with the Cap'n as a family. I will probably always wonder what would have been if we would have stayed in NC and made it our home. But even as I write this, I know that I would have regretted the decision to stay there more because we would not have had the opportunities we've had here, for the Cap'n at work and for me to stay home with the kids.

In some ways, having kids has made me feel more empowered and confident than anything I've ever done before (or probably will since). And on the flip side, it has uncovered all the uncertainties and anxieties I've ever harbored about being "good enough" too.

The responsibilities of these two tiny human beings makes me want to strive to do my utmost, very best every moment with them, and it makes me realize that I'll never be perfect and will probably fail more times than I succeed.

But it makes me want to strive. And I truly believe striving to be your best is at the heart of the best relationships.

I hope my boys will always know that I want to be my best for them. And that I love them with all my heart.

FOcused on the Positive

This has been one of those days...with Little Baby eating through the night, Slim up at 6am, Slim napping for only 45 minutes in the stroller, to everyone finally falling asleep at 8:30pm. In the meantime, I'm center-stage as Child Entertainer Extraordinaire.

So let's FO-cus on the positive, right?

I have been incredibly remiss in posting two crafty gifts we are loving. First is a non-knitted object gifted by my cousin, Elizabeth.

Liz gave me my first baby knit, a stroller blanket for Slim when he was born. I was in awe of it, but unaware at the time how much it meant to be able to give a hand-crafted gift to a new baby. Now it is one of my treasures that I hope Slim will still have to hand down to his kids.

So when her baby came along, I had to gift a knit. I used up some rainbow-colored Lorna's Laces in the stash to make a wild baby hat. I still haven't finished up the blanket I originally started. (shhh!)

When Mom told me Liz had something for Little Baby, I expected another fantastically cool handknit. But when I opened the package, my mind was blown.

Y'all. She quilts.

Aaaauughh! Now I have to learn another craft. I mean, how cute are these little pirates??

But I admit, the pirate quilt is so cute, I've been shy about using it alot. But I think I will take it along with us as a play blanket for the Little Baby while Slim is running around at the park.

There is another (not my) FO that we have been using nonstop. A certain Crafty Caroline made a visit to D.C. recently with some guy (kidding, Scott!) and gifted the Little Baby with a gorgeous organic cotton baby blanket. Every time I think to take a picture of it, Little Baby is already wrapped and covered for bed.

It's funny...Caroline and I met through our hubbies and hung out, but we really bonded through our blogs and shared love of knitting. Go congratulate her on the new house and leave your thoughts about what spinning wheel she should pick up! (And her mom met the Harlot! Squee!)

Did I ever share KnittinSis's cute little baby booties?

She used the same yarn as I did for Little Baby's kimono sweater. He is so incredibly yummy in the pair.
What else? Oh! Yarn pr0n!

Not that Lady Knitterly had anything else to do (leave behind the Met, knit socks, pack, move across country, start a new job), but she gifted me with an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G package of yarny goodness in trade for a couple skeins of Black Purl Lorna's Laces I traded her.

We're talking Trekking in colors that would have been my absolute first choice if every colorway of Trekking had been laid out in front of me.

We're talking baby alpaca that almost jumped right onto the Options needles for a lacy sumpin-sumpin. Nevermind I have no idea how to knit lace.

And then the laceweight mohair...ooh. The. Laceweight. Mohair. I want to use it right now.

Oh my God. There are so many projects, so little time. I already have more WIPs than is reasonable, and even less time than before to work on them.

But I'll wait until the next post to run through the WIP list and share a FO of my own.

Made in the Shade

It's been a busy, busy place here at Chez Muthaknitter. Slim said his first sentence today, just three days shy of his 2nd birthday:

"I wan col piza!"

[Translation: I want cold pizza!]

The Cap'n says he's now prepared for his Animal House college days.

We had a wonderful pool party to celebrate his birthday early. Slim and Little Baby got decked out in their summerwear.

We had family from L.A., Indiana, New York and Maryland join us, as well as friends from D.C. It was just the right size party for a little boy who got too many presents to even know what to do with them. Today he only played with each toy once. "We're the best no-repeat station for your workday!"

Oy. Work on the house is already attempting to drain the bank account. More on that and yarn-related news tomorrow...

A House and a Home

Well, there's been action, but not here on the blog...


On Thursday, the Cap'n and I got the keys (and a hefty mortgage) to our first house here in D.C. We're so excited to be moving out of the cramped little apartment we've called home for 2 years now. Although, I am starting to feel twinges of nostalgia about it being the first place Little Baby came home to.

I have to admit, I've been feeling a little down lately, a little stressed/anxious/depressed. I think I'm coming around, but it's been difficult. So I appreciate you hanging in there with fewer blog postings.

I am hoping that the next month of packing and moving will yield some positive excitement, though probably not a lot of knitting time.

However, I'll try to post tonight or tomorrow with some exciting knitting/yarn content...some of it my FO, some of it other FOs, some of it straight-up yarn pr0n.

As JenLa said recently: "We've got a blockage!!"

Knit Update

At 11pm exactly, I cast off and wove in the last stitch on Lady Eleanor. Just blocking, crochet-edging and fringing to go. I need to pick up a Size H crochet hook to finish this off.

Wow. I love it.

Probably most of anything I've made so far.

There's one more UFO that I want to get done over the next week, and I will count myself very successful. But it's being a real pill, so I may get frustrated with it and toss it back in the storage bag.

What to cast on next?

Possum in the Day

I felt for this poor girl (I'm sure it's a mom) when I saw her in our neighborhood the other day as I was walking the kids home from the park. It's a bit how I've felt lately, like I'm not in the right time or place at the right moment.

It's been more than a week since a blog post, and I haven't been doing much knitting either. Lady Eleanor is on the last full row, and I'm dragging my feet on finishing her. I think I'm going to miss this knit. What do you do when you're having so much fun with a project you don't want it to end?

The Cap'n is gone again for work (4 times in the last two months since Little Baby was born), and the boys and I need to find more activities to do. We've hit Air and Space and Natural History twice each within the last month. Toddler yoga and music classes only fill up two mornings a week.

I've started packing for the move next month, but I need to get the place really clean for an open house that our landlord wants to hold in two weeks. The Cap'n thinks magic packing gnomes are going to take care of everything in the next 3 weeks, but I can really only get things done when the boys are asleep. Which doesn't give me any time to rest.

And if you have any good mojo to send us, please keep it coming our way to make sure this house closing goes well on May 31.

Little Baby weighed in at 12 POUNDS, 6 OUNCES at his 2-month checkup, which despite the 4-pound gain, only puts him at the 50th percentile. Yet he's so much bigger than Slim and his 10th-percentile-weighing-self. We'll get an update on him at his 2-year checkup next month.

So let's tally: 1. Moving, 2. New Baby, 3. Work absences (for the Cap'n). We'll forget: 4. Law school apps, 5. Summer birthdays (eek! I gotta plan Slim's party!) and travel.

Boy. I am tired.