And in other news

We had a very fun-filled weekend with the family. Braden was terrified of the water, and then his cousin, Kami, pushed him in and he went all the way under. So yeah, he still hates it. Although he did seem to enjoy riding around on his ultra-cool dragon floatie with Kami (click to enlarge):


Here he is with daddy:


And this is my nephew, Bryce, doing a modified front flip into the pool (please excuse the recently trimmed but not hauled away yet limbs):


For those who have read my recent posts and are interested, my friend Lisa got to take baby Katie home last Thursday and she is doing great. They sent her home with a monitor because the doctor wanted to check her for apnea, and so far so good. Have I finished her baby cardy? Don't ask.

I have been doing a little bit of knitting though. I started the Mountain Colors sock on size 5 dpns and then I decided it was too big after all, so I am back to working it on size 2s. And I think it's going to be perfect. If I would just have a little faith in these pattern designers, my projects would probably go so much smoother. And yet... If you would like to see the progress I've made so far, here it is:

It seems to be going very slowly because I've had so many other things going on in my life that it's hard to find time to knit, and also this is my very first project that could be considered lace, and even though it's an easy pattern to memorize, I'm so worried I'm going to screw it up that I'm going painstakingly slow. Maybe I'll work up the confidence to speed up soon. One thing I can say about this yarn (Mountain Colors Weaver's Wool Quarters) is that I'm finding it to be very splitty and it comes untwisted easily, though I still love every bit of its handpainted beauty.

Oh, and one last thing. To the Size 1 DPN Curse, I AM SO OVER YOU!

Can't keep my mouth shut

I'm sorry - I know the subject has been talked about to death already, and I shouldn't give him any more publicity, but I just can't help it. Tom Cruise. What the hell is up with that egotistical jackass? I am outraged at the comments he made Friday during his interview with Matt Lauer on the Today Show. I personally feel that Brooke Shields was brave as hell to come forward and tell the story of her postpartum depression, and I'm glad she did, because many moms will read her story and empathize, or know they are not alone and seek treatment. And for Tom to insinuate that she could have simply taken care of her PPD with vitamins? Give me a break. Oh wait - and there's "no such thing as a chemical imbalance" and he's "done the research." Is he trying to say that the millions of healthcare and research professionals in the world are wrong? Let me tell you something, Tom. I've gone through mild PPD and I was ON vitamins at the time, and they sure as hell didn't help me. Only the anti-depressants I took for a while helped with the frightening feelings I had. And I know I'm not alone. Now they were VERY difficult to wean off and it was tempting to just stay on them, but they DID help me while I was taking them. And I don't even care that he's promoting Scientology - he's free to have his own beliefs just like everyone else, but I'm concerned that some hormonal, vulnerable new mom is actually going to listen to his bullshit medical advice and not seek help, and that could have disastrous results. I posted a comment on someone else's blog thatI believe Mr. Tom "Passionate About Life" Cruise needs to be held captive and injected with hormones that would simulate PPD and then we'll give his little vitamin theory a try... Oh, and there's also THIS, which is pretty funny. And now I'll put the soapbox away until he does/says something else stupid, which at the rate he's going, should be soon.

Following my bliss

Lookie here:

Pretty Mountain Colors weavers quarters in the Larkspur colorway. Gorgeous, no? I found it on my Ohio vacation and I've been waiting to show it off because I bought a birthday gift for KatyaR at the same place, but that's all revealed now so I can tell you the story behind my purchases. We were staying with relatives and being chauffeured around by relatives, so I didn't want to impose my yarn fetish on anyone even though I really wanted to check out some LYSs. And besides, it's not like I really NEED more yarn right now. So anyway, we all decide to go shopping at the Webster Street Market, which is this fabulous little place where they have basically two long, skinny warehouses and one is filled with antiques and such, while the other is full of farmer's market type items. My son was being all cranky and it was naptime so I was carrying him and doing the motherly swaying thing and trying to get him to go to sleep when I saw it. A yarn booth. A GOOD yarn booth! And there were signs posted everywhere that said "everything 20% off." It was as if the angels sang and a bright light shown down on the booth beckoning me, and I knew this discovery was no accident. I was SUPPOSED to shop for yarn. I unceremoniously dumped the boy into my mother's arms and stared in awe at my good fortune. So many beautiful items that I wanted to buy, but alas, my suitcase had limited space, so I just bought 2 items. However, I did manage to get a card from the lady, and it turns out she has a website (more heralding): JNJ Knit Wits. Go check out her selection. She's super nice.

So what did I do tonight? I wound that puppy into a pull skein and started this:

The only thing is the pattern called for size 2 needles, but this is worsted weight yarn, so the 2's just didn't do it for me. I threw caution to the wind and cast on with 5's.

And in case you were wondering...no, I haven't finished the baby cardigan, but I just couldn't deal with this tonight:


I'm in a bad mood and I needed to just knit something. Sue me.

Cursed

The Curse of the Size 1 DPNs has struck. I got an email Friday stating that the 2 packages I ordered on Wednesday are on backorder. Clearly it's a message that I am not meant to knit with Size 1 DPNs. And I will obey...for now. The koigu socks will just have to sit patiently and wait. Besides, it's not like I don't have a closet full of projects I can work on and a stash of approriately-sized needles for those projects. Maybe this would be a good time to try some lace. But that will have to wait until I finish weaving in all the ends on the baby cardigan I'm making. Finishing a garment (sewing in sleeves, seaming, weaving in the ends) is without a doubt my least favorite part of the process. And this was made all the more painful by the fact that I couldn't pick up and knit a decent-looking button band on this little sweater to save my life. I attempted it twice as the pattern was written and it looked like crap. I tried doing it my own way and it still looks like crap, but not as crappy as my other 2 attemps so I'm leaving it like it is and dealing with it. So as soon as I finish weaving in all the ends, I'll post a picture so you can see the crappiness in all its splendor.

Pictures
(click to enlarge)
This is the adorable Baby Katie who will receive the crappy sweater. She clearly deserves better. (Sorry, I know the picture is dark, but I was trying to take a picture without the flash so I didn't wake her up.)


And here she is with her mommy, Lisa.


Braden had his first dental appointment recently, and I promised pictures, so here they are. The first pic shows how little trust he had in the assistant. You should have seen his eyes when she pulled the x-ray camera away from the wall. He started saying "Noooooooo!" and she quickly put it back.

And this pic shows the dentist explaining that she's going to brush his teeth with some "special toothpaste" AKA fluoride sealant. He really liked her and it was the coolest dentist's office I've ever seen. I wish I had gone to a pediatric dentist when I was young.


And the last picture I will share is of the new love of my life, Beatrice. See how beautiful she is:

I bought her from Patternworks at 1/2 off because she is being discontinued. And I bought all they had in that colorway so I might have to get a wee bit more from someone else and hope that the dye lot is similar enough so as not to be noticeable. But I just couldn't resist. She's unbelievably soft and going to be a sweater that I will keep all to myself because I'm stingy that way. Ahhhh, merino...

Father's Day

We had an incredibly lazy Father's Day yesterday and the hubby insisted that he didn't want me to cook him anything for breakfast (I wasn't sure if I should be flattered that he didn't want to trouble me or offended that he thought my cooking might be bad.) so I really didn't do anything special for him other than not nag him about the lack of progress on the ongoing remodeling. He had a very relaxing day of doing nothing and then last night we went out to eat. The only thing we bought him were cards because he said the only thing he wanted was a robotic pool cleaner. Really? Is that all? Do you know how much those freaking things cost????? If he buys one, I better get an upgrade on my Mother's Day gift next year. That's all I'm saying.

Making up for lost time

I meant to post yesterday so I could tell everyone to go tell my good friend KatyaR Happy Birthday, but I got busy at work and then the crackhead wouldn’t let me have time to myself at home last night, so I’ll try to make up for it now. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DUDE! Everyone please click HERE and go tell her Happy Birthday.

And speaking of birthdays, some good friends of ours had a baby yesterday. Miss Katie J. was born to our friends T & Lisa at 9:30pm and despite being 5 weeks early, weighed an impressive 7lbs, 6oz and was 19” long. Lisa, you’re lucky you had her early because she would have been one honking huge baby! I’ll post a picture (with mom’s permission, of course) after she’s out of the NICU. And I guess that means this weekend I will be busy seaming the baby gift I knitted for them, because you know, it just wouldn’t be right for me to finish a gift on time.

Last night I was going to try to squeeze in a couple of rows on my koigu sock, and to my horror I discovered I lost one of my size 1 DPNs. I still have the 4 that are holding the live stitches on the sock, but the working needle is gone. I have searched the car, the house, everywhere, and alas, it is not to be found. (And before you tell me that I can simply transfer some of the stitches to other needles and just use 4 needles, let me explain that I actually considered this last night and decided against it for the sake of my sanity and the few brain cells I have left. 80 stitches divided by 3, but there’s a ribbed pattern and half of the stitches will be used for the heel. Ouch. Thinking. Too. Hard.) Apparently I am not supposed to have any size 1 DPNs because this is the second time this has happened, except the first time was the entire unopened package. So I took advantage of the last day of SWAK’s 20% off sale and ordered TWO packages. Will this turn into something like KatyaR’s Curse of the Vermont Spindle? Stay tuned…

We have some good news at Casa de Blue Candy. One of the squirrels that was inhabiting our house is dead. My husband set a trap and splat – it was all over! I called him at work and said, “You rock, dude!” Now before you go gettin’ all PETA on me, let me say that these are not cute, cuddly little forest creatures. These are urban tree rats who have CHEWED their way into my house and are living between our upstairs and downstairs floor. And besides the scurrying around and fighting and playing that we hear constantly (which drives my cats nuts too), they are probably pooping and God knows what else in our walls. It was clearly a declaration of war on their part and something had to be done. Now let’s hope we can get rid of the other little bugger without my house turning into a scene from Caddyshack.

Pictures tomorrow of Braden's first dental appointment. Woohoo.

I like to move it move it

What a week! The Ohio trip was a great success and it was wonderful getting to see that side of my family again. The reason we went was for a surprise combined 60th birthday party for my aunt and uncle and I'm happy to report that they had no idea what their daughters were planning. It was just too cool. KatyaR was right in that I did doom my flights by telling the internet how good my child had been acting lately. I'm sure I speak for all the passengers on the planes by saying "Thank GOD that's over." If I am insane enough to ever attempt to fly with him again, I'm totally buying something to sedate him. One of the fun things we did while away though was take the kiddo to see his first cinema movie, Madagascar. It was cute - not the best I've seen, but definitely cute. But I've had an ear worm for a week now from the "I Like to Move It" song.

Here are some pictures from the trip. This is my cousin's service dog, Gentry. He's is without a doubt THE best dog on the planet. Truly. And I felt sorry for him because my son subjected him to MANY hours of hugs. But I never had to worry once that Gentry would bite him or growl or anything. See? He's THE best dog ever.


This is at the Great Miami Riverscape. They have an interactive fountain the the kiddos can run through and get all wet. My boy wasn't very brave, but he started having fun right before it was time to leave so he did get a little wet.


This is right outside the Dayton Dragons ballpark. Braden thought he could pick it up and take it with us.


One really fun part of my trip was when I sat down at the table one night and started knitting a new pair of socks and these 2 little boys that were over (my aunt and uncle were babysitting) were just fascinated. If I had to guess on their ages I'd say 8 and 5. They kept asking me questions about it (How long will it take? What's it going to look like? etc) and they would come back to the table periodically throughout the evening to see how much progress I'd made. I felt so honored that they thought it was cool. Here's what the socks look like right now:


I haven't finished the baby shower item I was making because I hit a slight snag. It's a set-in sleeve cardigan and it seems that I wasn't bright enough to make adjustments for the slightly different weight yarn I'm using than what pattern calls for. So the little arms were too small for the arm holes. I've fixed one of the sleeves and I'm in the process of fixing the other one. I went to the baby shower today with other gifts and told my friend I would get the other half of her gift to her as soon as I can stop being a dumbass. And speaking of dumbass, on the way to her shower this afternoon, I missed my exit and wound up on the freaking Turner Turnpike, where the first exit is 30 miles away! I can't make this shit up, people. I called from my cell phone (that was dying because I forgot to charge it, by the way) and said I'd be a little bit late. I finally arrived 45 minutes late! But everything worked out in the end and the shower was great. I got home tonight and thought I'd just relax in front of the TV. No. All regular programming was pre-empted by coverage of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. Oh, and then I knocked a glass of merlot off the table and onto the brand new carpet. And my son who didn't have a nap at all today fell asleep around 7:30, which pretty much guarantees he will be up at an ungodly hour tomorrow morning. Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.