Kiss My Knits!

Yesterday I was feeling low, and rather than inflict my germs upon any of my knittees, I decided to lie on the couch, eat tomato soup, watch some DVDs, read some library books, and rest. Anything else made me heave great sighs while my body tried to get enough oxygen. I sounded like I was trying to get attention for poor pitiful me. But I did have enough energy to intermittently knit, so what the heck, I decided to knit for myself. I can count on one hand the number of things I’ve actually made just for me. So I picked out something incredibly bright and cheery and had at it.

Behold! Marilyn Roberts’ “Crusoe” from Knitty! I’ve had this very colorful Koigu in my stash for a couple of months now, and it reminds me of Spring. The best day to indulge is surely a day when the weather is awful and I’m under it.

Modifications so far are that I didn’t do the roll-brim cuff, which seemed bulgy, but instead did some ribbing, so it’ll stay up better. The gauge was supposed to be 6 stitches per inch on a #1, but I was getting 8 stitches per inch, so I cast on 64 instead of 48 which it seems many other people on the web also did. Knitting is so math-y that it’s no wonder so many geeks enjoy it.

I would have preferred to work this on two circular #1 needles, but apparently I don’t have any #1s! Quelle horreur! It’s a pretty astonishing lack in my needle collection. So DPNs it is.


And while I was feeling sick yesterday, what arrived out of the blue?

I got post! From !

At the top is a Tall Card deck! This is a reproduction of the one featured in the Firefly episode “Shindig” where Simon, Book, and Jayne played cards until River went crazy, as she was wont to do. Too cool! I just need to cut it apart and then I, too, can barter for chores. Knock it off, Jayne! I saw that!

Upper right is a card holder made of fabric. I can use this, as my current methods of “stuffed in my pocket” or “loose in my purse” leave a little to be desired. Note also super cute winter-themed emery board.

Lower right is one of Mel’s cool garland kits which looks like a fun project which shouldn’t tax my limited paper-type skills.

Lower left is four big crayons, thoughtfully included for my daughter! How sweet is that? She was excited to get them and has them in with her other craft supplies now.

There was also another little knit-related surprise tucked in for me, which I was very happy to receive.

The timing of this unexpected package was great. Getting a little pick-me-up on a day when I was laid low was perfect. Thanks so much, !

In other news, I meet with a new speech therapist today who specializes in conversational and interactive skills. This is the same speech therapist Emily had when she was about three, who later left to start her own practice. My mother forwarded her name to me, not realizing the connection. I’m feeling good about this. We’ll see how it goes.

After calling Scout HQ on Thursday and Friday and getting no response, I called someone else on Monday, only to have the first person call me back apparently about five minutes later. It was a message on the machine, and she was very interested in finding out what was going on and getting the girls taken care of. I wasn’t able to catch her before she left the office yesterday, so I’ll be calling her back shortly. I’m glad there’s progress on that front.

Jayne hat orders have picked up again, although I can no longer guarantee Christmas delivery on finished hats. The queue’s up to 28 as of about ten minutes ago. Atsa lotta hats.

All in all, physically I still feel like someone’s paving the inside of my skull, but aside from that, life is good. I’m satisfied.

Yesterday I finally caught what my daughter has. If this is how she felt last Thursday, I’m glad we didn’t send her to school. Ugh.

I’m not knitting nothing for nobody today. I’m taking the morning off. Time to rest.

I dreamt last night that while my husband was off camping, my father-in-law hired a deprogrammer to come in and convince me to be less liberal.

Very strange.

Let me say up front that just for this post, I figured out how to make thumbnails linking to larger pics, because these pics are not for those with germ or dirt phobias!
Pictures clean enough to eat off of below the cut.

Bunny!

Pattern: “Lovable Toys” rabbit on page 104 of Last Minute Knitted Gifts.
Materials: Blue Sky Alpaca Sport held doubled for body, Valeria di Roma angora held double for inside of ears, polyfiberfill for stuffing, cotton embroidery floss for face.
Needles: 2 #6 circs

The bunny has reached its new owner, the lovely little girl in ‘s home, so now I can post it.

In spite of the name “Last Minute Knitted Gifts” this was not done last-minute. In the book, it’s under the “six to eight hour” category, along with a full-sized silk camisole and a cabled purse. I don’t know what kind of happy pills the designer takes to be able to knock these projects out “last minute.” This was, however, a good stashbuster since I already had the angora and a ball of the alpaca in my stash. I would have sworn I had two balls of alpaca, but I did have to snag another one at Charlotte Yarn when I was just at the neck.

I lengthened the legs and body a little, but really it’s pretty much according to pattern. I started out with very nice mattress seaming, then suddenly realized that half the niftiness of having a hand-knitted gift is that you can tell it’s hand-knitted. After that, I was a little more casual with the finishing.

This was the first time I’ve really embroidered, and it was fun. Fun enough, in fact, that I think I’m going to incorporate more embroidery in my work when possible. Special bonus: my mom is good with embroidery, so there’s my reference source.

This was an enjoyable project, even if there was a larger amount of finishing than I’m used to. All those bits had to be sewn together. The finished project was worth it, though, I think. I’m given to understand that the recipient is happily chewing on the ears. Mmmm! Angoriffic!


Bon apetit, Calla!

I e-mailed another mother to find out if she had gone to the Brownie meeting last night, and if so, whether it had actually taken place. She said she had assumed it wasn’t, so she didn’t go. She mentioned that she knew someone involved with scouting who said we should definitely report it, but said that she didn’t want to get the leader in trouble.

I responded that I sympathized, but I needed to worry about my child more than I needed to worry about the leader. She said, “I agree 100%, for the last 3 weeks I have had to console a crying daughter because the meetings have not taken place.”

Crying child? Mother instincts activated! My call’s already been placed to Scout HQ.

Last night, Emily was a little sniffly. She had some trouble sleeping last night, and even overslept this morning. Since she normally has to restrain herself from getting us up at 5am, that’s a big deal.

She says she’s too sick to go to school, and that her throat hurts. The thermometer doesn’t detect a fever, but my patented MomHands ™ say she may have a slight one. When told that staying home from school meant she’d have to stay home from occupational therapy, which she loves, she protested at first. When told it was an all or none proposition, she actually said she’d stay home from both, although she was sad about it.

She has a best friend at school named Tania. Best line of the morning: “Tania will miss me at school.”

It was a close call, but she’s staying home. Right now she’s lying on the couch under a blanket watching her current favorite video, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Thanks for recording this for us, Dad, it’s been a huge hit. It’s nice for her to have something comforting, since I think the photo to the left best illustrates just how Emily’s last couple of days have gone.

Good thing she got that perfect attendance ribbon yesterday at school, because she wouldn’t be getting it if the writing celebration really were next week.


Orders for: CA, CA, and CA.

While getting ready for bed tonight:

Emily: “Mommy, why didn’t you come to lunch today?”

I flash on that note that came home yesterday saying that there was a writing celebration on Wednesday, where the kids can have lunch with their parents and then go back to the classroom to show what they’ve written. Since the note said it was a Thanksgiving celebration, I had mentally filed it away as being NEXT Wednesday. Of course, now I realize it couldn’t be, since there is no school next Wednesday.

Me: “I didn’t know that was today, sweetie. I’m sorry.”

Emily: “Some of the other mommies came.”

Me: “I know. I’m sorry, sweetie, I didn’t realize. Would you like me to come and have lunch with you some other day?”

Emily: “Yes.”

Me: “Okay, sweetie, I’ll definitely do that.”

What was that I said about other people letting my baby down? Ugh.

On the up side, it’s pretty remarkable that she was able to express a sentiment like “some of the other mommies came.” And we spent a LOT of time together this afternoon, just hanging out by the swing out back, then later, playing like crazy.

Yeah, I still feel like crap.

My daughter’s troop has had exactly one girl scout meeting. The next two meetings were cancelled. One was the morning of the meeting for no reason I ever heard, and the second that evening when we showed up and saw a sign on the door saying that the leader had strep. I and a couple of other mothers left e-mails and called her at work and on her cell (she did give us those numbers) to see if there was a meeting tonight. No response on any front. I decided that based on history, there probably wouldn’t be a meeting, so I didn’t go. I didn’t think Emily would mind.

Wrong. I told her earlier that I didn’t think there was a meeting tonight because the leader might still be sick (which I am assuming is the case) and she wasn’t thrilled, but she accepted it. Fast forward to 6pm, when she asks again about Girl Scouts and really, really wants to go. The meeting starts at 6 and is a good 10 minutes away in rush hour traffic. Grr. So we had our own little Girl Scout meeting at home, with a song and a snack and such.

I’m really losing confidence in this woman. I get that things happen, and being sick is out of her control, but there are eight to fifteen little girls and their families relying on her, and the communication is not what it should be.

The parents of these girls have a fair amount invested here. My mother and I have spent money and time on materials, and I spent an entire Saturday taking training on Girl Scouts and the Brownie age level. Some of the mothers, myself included, have offered to help. The leader needs to either take that help, get it together, or drop out.

I’m sure the frustration will pass and I’ll feel more charitable again later. I just get angry when other people let my daughter down.