Kiss My Knits!

Move over, Lucy Liu, there’s a new star in town. It’s… Clara Barton!

Yes, my daughter is obsessed with the Civil War nurse and activist who founded the American Red Cross. Emily attributes all sorts of amazing, improbable, and very naughty activities to Clara Barton. According to Emily, Clara Barton:

1) left the emergency brake off in a car on a steep driveway
2) hid mashed potatoes in her hat
3) caught a hard baseball in her mouth
4) jumped out of a tree using trash bags as parachutes

The list goes on and on. Clara Barton is her Chuck Norris. Now that she’s been studying about the moon in school, apparently Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, and Clara Barton all went to the moon together. And had a tea party.

This is all hi-LAR-ious to her. She’ll start giggling uncontrollably as she tells me the outrageous things Clara Barton did, and then, in high dramatic fashion, I’ll widen my eyes and wave my arms and say, “Nooooo! Clara Barton did not pop popcorn without a lid!”

Why Clara Barton? I have no idea. But Clara Barton’s lasted longer than Lucy Liu, proving that substance trumps style. And now Emily wants to join the American Red Cross, so I guess that’s a positive development. I just need to warn her that her days will not consist of shenanigans like opening umbrellas in cars. That’s just for Clara Barton to do.

is part of this cute little game called “My Minicity.” Basically, you’ve got a tiny little city, and when someone clicks on it, it increases the population or the level of industry. So she’s hoping people will click to visit her town, Plimpton Snugbury.

Following her lead, I decided “what the heck” and created Jaynehatopia this morning. Right now, there is exactly one inhabitant, but if you click that link hopefully I’ll get a greater population. There’s really nothing to do there beyond click, so that’s, what — two seconds out of your day?

This morning I’m meeting up with a friend at a local coffeeshop and yarn store. They’re close to each other, not the same building. Good lord, combination coffeeshop and yarn store? I’d never leave!

In other news, we finally saw Pan’s Labyrinth, a gay, lighthearted romp. If your idea of “gay, lighthearted romp” means watching a guy get his face smashed in with a bottle by a fascist Spaniard. Oy. Great movie, don’t get me wrong, but probably not one to watch if you’re not ready for something dark.

Also, we’re finally watching Jericho, going through season 1 via Netflix. As a Firefly fan, I feel a certain obligation to check out a show which was cancelled and brought back as a result of a passionate fan campaign. We’re really enjoying this! You have to suspend a certain amount of disbelief, but this is a show I would recommend to others. I need to figure out who at CBS to write to to let them know they’ve picked up another viewer. Best to let them know people are watching before it gets cancelled again.

Today’s interesting links:
“You’re safe to drive, but get that prostate checked out.”
“Thank you, come again!”
World’s largest snow sculpture
“Yes, I do have a lot of time on my hands, why do you ask?”

Continuing to pack up kits and hats. Hats up: Lancashire, Dallas, St. Louis.

What I sent out to our Brownie parents. I’m really psyched for this meeting!

We had a great day off from school yesterday. It was wonderful kite-flying weather and we took full advantage of that.

I think the good day yesterday carried over into today. Emily got up at 4:15 this morning. I went back to bed after getting her breakfast. About 6, she started singing “Accentuate the Positive” at top volume. This is a song she knows because I have a songbook called Ultimate Swing Standards and I regularly play this on the piano. Apparently something stuck a few days ago. Emily decided yesterday that it was hilarious to write out the lyrics, but to spell them all wrong, like “latch on to the a-fur-mu-tyve, don’t eat with mister in-be-tween.” It’s deliberate, I promise you. Oh, for a digital camera.

At 6:30 she came into the bedroom and started putting her pajamas in the clothes hamper, and told me “I’m ready to go to school now! Let’s go!” I was hoping for one more time hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock, but all righty! I guess I’m up now! Emily got to school early, in a stellar mood, singing “Accentuate the Positive.” I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that it’ll be a good day. I further predict she’ll be the only one in the school singing Mercer and Arlen tunes.

Emily frequently wants me to show her how to play certain songs. This usually consists me of pointing to keys for her to push. She does know middle C, and I labeled some of the keys. We’ve gone over a few ideas, like repeats and tie notes, which she’s used with a little lap harp she has. I might try to teach her how to read music. Based on my own childhood experience, though, I learned the piano better from a teacher than from my mother, who also plays. When you’re a kid, there’s just some mental component to having someone outside your family teach you. Go figure.

I wonder at what point Emily might want or be ready to try piano lessons… hm…

Hats up for: Ontario, Illinois, and Lancashire in the UK.

I’ve put the hot pink hair on the new doll, but can’t show you without my digital camera. This doll’s head is less firmly stuffed than her friends’. This was fine when it was just the head, but I didn’t account for the added weight of the cotton chenille hair. Now she’s a little floppy-necked. I showed her to Emily and asked if I should redo her neck, but Emily said she was fine like she is. “That looks like nice hair. Elizabeth and Taylor are going to love her!”

The doll has panties, but still needs a belly button and a pink dress. Emily won’t name her until she’s completely done. There’ll be plenty of time to take pictures. Hopefully Canon will turn my camera around quickly.

Lots of kits to go out, but with Emily out of school today, it’s throwing me a bit off my schedule. I’m right on track with the Jayne hats, though. There’s one boxed up and ready to go to Wisconsin, and the next one goes to Canada. I’m assuming the post office is closed today.

I’m being called away to play. I have a feeling not much grownup work is going to get done today.

Since I don’t have pics, how about links?

Neighbor’s revenge.
Eaten by trees
Judge Judy lays the smack down.
And lastly, after receiving eardrops all week, my cat wishes she had this.

I thought I’d snap a couple more pictures before returning the camera for repair.

To the left is Emily’s new doll. Obviously, it’s not quite finished. She picked out some green and pink embroidery floss for the eyes and mouth today. They look nice together. My kid’s got good color sense. Of course, how it will look with the hot pink hair remains to be seen.

The color quality on this photo is terrible. It’s actually an identical yarn to these two dolls. I’ll be glad to send the camera back, since clearly it’s not working properly now. I just need to pick up some paper to use to print out the shipping label. All I’ve got is cardstock, suitable for printing Jayne hat patterns.

Second non-hat project: slippers for myself. I tend to get cold feet. I’ve made at least six pairs of these for other people, mostly in solid colors. These are a very quick knit, so it’s an easy project to squeeze in among Jayne hats. By the way, wearwithstyle.com queue size is currently down to 31, so it’s looking really good for people hoping for one in time for Serenity Complete in the UK.

The yarns are Lamb’s Pride worsted in Onyx and Noro Kureyon colorway 52 dye lot P2. The Lamb’s Pride felts beautifully, but the Kureyon takes longer to lose stitch definition. I think it’ll be interesting to see how their textures blend into the final product.

I’m also really pleased with the combination of the black Lamb’s Pride and the dark Kureyon. Someone mentioned that these look like Carolina Panthers colors, but that wasn’t my intention. I just like blue. I’d been thinking of a scarf or hat in this combo, and I may still do that.

Normally on Thursday night I’d knit while watching LOST, but my husband is still under the weather and is probably going to turn in at the same time as my daughter. We’ll record LOST and I’ll wait to watch with him. I still want to knit, though, so I’ll dig through the movies and see what strikes my fancy. Hats are up next for orders placed from Dec 12th through the 14th. I’m looking forward to hitting 2008 orders – and also to casting on for that second slipper. I don’t like cold feet!

Writer’s Strike Over!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080213/ap_en_bu/hollywood_labor

Emily’s feeling really good, but she’s sneezing like crazy today. She’s got a bit of runny nose, too. Not sure what’s going on there, since it’s not really allergy season. I suggested she have more healthy snacks than usual. She chose strawberries. (At right: the only strawberry pic I have on my server. Go Kaylee!)

This is kind of weird. She’s never wanted strawberries before, when they’d be samples at the grocery store, or when I’d offer them when I was making smoothies for myself, but all of a sudden, she’s asking for them. I don’t know why, but fine. If she’ll eat them, then that’s one more thing in her diet, and that’s cause for celebration. As my mother would note, strawberries are packed with antioxidants. And the vitamin C has to help, even if she’s got high energy with her sniffles.

Mr. Tvini, on the other hand, is definitely not well. He came home early, feeling sick. This is fairly unheard of. He crashed on the couch and stayed there, watching old Thin Man movies and dozing in and out. When it came time to put Emily to bed, he joined us for her story and stayed collapsed on our bed, fully dressed. I turned out the lights and left him there. He slept until just now, when he stumbled into the den, grabbed his pajamas from the dryer, and shuffled back to bed. Poor guy. I’m glad I took a short nap today so that I’m fully charged to take care of everybody.

As for me, I’m washing my hands and taking lots of vitamins. I do NOT want to get whatever he’s got, and possibly whatever she has. The rule is that one person in the household has to be functional. I guess right now that’s me. Tonight I’m watching African American Lives 2 and knitting like the wind. The orders I’m working on are from Dec 10-12, and they got an “eight to nine week” delivery estimate, but I’d like to pull ahead on the line a little bit. Tomorrow, if everyone’s well, I’ll be out at knit night and I can generally crank at least one out there, so that’ll help.

Also tomorrow night: Girl Scout cookie delivery. Knitters need their Thin Mints!

Hats up for: FL, NV, WI.

ETA: There’s a little scurrying scratching sound coming from the attic. Could be mice. Or possibly gnomes. Note to self: get gnome traps.