No, it is too much. Let me sum up.

April has just flown by.  Do you hear that WHOOSHING noise?  That was April.  Happily, I caught a lot of it on film (er, metaphorical film.  I use my cell phone.  But you know what I mean.)

So settle in and buckle up.  Here's a picture heavy, lightning tour of the month of April here at chez woolly.

Stitches South

Right after we last spoke, we loaded up the car with a swatch of knitters and headed up the road to Stitches South.  Since they moved Stitches to Nashville, it's only a 45 minute drive from my house. Atlanta would have been doable (though I never actually did it...) but Nashville is just right there, you know?

Anyway, we were Stitches bound, stopping mid-way between the Opryland Hotel and my place for breakfast and to collect our Jess.

A Swatch of Knitters

Assembled, fed, and caffeinated, we continued our journey.   While there we spent some money (some of us spent a lot of money...) and met up with some dear friends from out of town.

Some of these knitters live in the internet.

I bought some yarns...

Don't give me that look, my goals specifically mentioned Fiber Events as an exception.

...and the best wine glass.

That says "three sheeps to the wind"

Business Trip to Melbourne, FL

The next week saw us starting the process of cleaning for Seder, and the week after that was for a business trip.   I spent the better part of the week in Melbourne, Florida.  I was there to facilitate two leadership workshops on inclusion and empowerment.   

Among other reasons....

I may or may not have also walked on the beach, eaten excellent food, had some wine, and, oh yes, I did some knitting.

Something about knitting a Hitchhiker as travel knitting appeals to my sense of the absurd.

Passover 2016

And after that?  It was time for Seder.

 

Seder Prep Selfies

One of the best things about Seder is the day we spend preparing the meal.  This year the kids were more involved than ever and that just makes my heart sing.  Even little Phoebe got in on the act, with a butter knife and some apples.

That's Morgan, Iris, Phoebe, and Jess making the Charoset

Dinner was lovely, and the remodeled living room served to make things more comfortable rather than less (I'd had some concerns, but all was right in the end).  We fit 30 at table comfortably and with room to breathe.  Barely.  

There's another table out of frame to the right.

Since Seder I've been quietly working on finishing up some old projects, and getting some new things cast on.   I'll tell you more about that next week, as surely this has gone on long enough.

But that's April, more or less in a nutshell.

Oh!  And one more thing...

The iris started to bloom.

Tidings of Peppermint Joy

When Rhiannon was very little, she misheard the lyrics to a classic yuletide hymn, and believed that the Merry Gentlemen in question were being offered tidings of peppermint joy.  

In that spirit, I started the weekend Thursday night at Starbucks with Koren, a Peppermint Mocha, and my sock knitting.

Peppermint Joy in Action

Then Carl and I celebrated our 16th and 18th anniversaries (married and first date, respectively) on Friday.  He's the best husband I've ever had and I'm keeping him.

Saturday and Sunday were spent shopping, getting a haircut and hanging out with Morgan, more shopping, thinking about baking (but not actually doing any) and of course knitting.

Taking a much needed break between Christmas shopping destinations

Christmas shopping the weekend before Christmas can be awful.  But if you go in with the right attitude, the right company, and a healthy sense of the ridiculous, it can be a lot of fun.

My life was empty and meaningless before I knew of the Tinsel Pig

In knitting news, my Christmas socks are moving along nicely.  One sock completely done and the toe well started on the second.  I rather like having a Christmas project that I can work on during the season, without any particular pressure to finish. I finished a pair of Christmas socks on Christmas day last year. I'm enjoying knitting these this year, and I'll enjoy wearing them next year.  (That's the great thing about Christmas.  You get one every year.)

So now I'm sitting in my living room, enjoying my tree, having a cup of peppermint tea, and ... watching Series 22 of Top Gear (3 out of 4 soothing things isn't bad, right?)

G-d rest ye, and let nothing you dismay.  I wish you tidings of peppermint joy this holiday season.

Big Doings

It's been the very best kind of busy here this week.

Morgan's holiday band concert was Thursday night.  It's set up so the music never actually stops from start to finish -- they rotate through the full band, the jazz band, various solos and ensembles without ever stopping.  There was a very cool acapella drum piece done by the drumline."  One of the drummers sat in the middle of the stage and played "air drums" while the rest of the drum line stood behind him and "sang" what he was playing.  It was seriously neat.   

They wrapped the whole thing up with their half-time show.  This year was Bruno Mars ... which works surprisingly well given the number of brass instruments the band has.  It was awesome.  Loud, since we were in an auditorium, but awesome.

This is what good parenting looks like.

I should back up and mention that earlier that day Carl helped Rhiannon move into her new apartment.  I wasn't there for that, since it happened while I was at work.

I mention it though because with Rhiannon here for a couple of weeks we had extra furniture in the living room.  Which further meant that there really wasn't room to also have Christmas in there.

So Friday morning Carl and I got up and cleaned the bejeebers out of everything, put up the Christmas village, went to all the stores, came home and put up the tree, discovered most of our lights are buggered (note to self:  buy new lights on after-holiday clearance this year), decorated the tree, ate festive Hanukkah fried chicken, had some wine, and then decorated for Rhiannon's graduation party.

Did someone say graduation?

That's right-- Rhiannon graduated magna cum laude, with university honors on Saturday.  We were at Murphy Center at 8:15 Saturday morning to watch my beautiful baby girl complete another major milestone with grace, excellence, and general ass-kicking.  (She smuggled in her knitting and worked on a sock throughout the ceremony.  That's my girl.)  I may have cried.  Just a little. Er... not about the knitting.  About the graduating.

Get a load of this beauty.

Right after graduation we rushed back to the house (by way of Jimmy Johns, because someone forgot to eat breakfast) to finish getting ready for her party.  

We had several friends over to celebrate with Rhi, eat a little nosh, and drink a little champagne.  It was completely lovely.

And then...

(you thought surely I was done, didn't you?)

...and then we got ready to go to my office Holiday Party.  The party was supposed to last from 6:00 to 9:00, but Carl and I bailed at about 7:15.  Lame, but I was so tired and I figured I'd done my due diligence and made an appearance.

I was sound asleep on my couch by 9:30.  What a party animal!

So today my major ambitions have been:  knit a swatch, weave in some ends (there will be some FO posts soon!), and embrace the lifestyle of the roly poly sloth.  

It's been a great weekend, full of really big doings.   As I post this Morgan and Carl are making latkes and jelly donuts.   When I announced that I was too tired and something had to give they looked at each other and decided that they were on it.  

I am entirely delighted, and am choosing to be at peace if some of them are pink.  (There was talk of beets).  There are consequences to choosing not to be involved, and I am prepared to accept them.

Happy Festival of Lights, y'all.

FO: Long-Armed Sweater for a Young Dude of My Acquaintance

So after all that hand-wringing last week, I sat down and got the zipper installed into Rowan's sweater.  It was considerably less traumatic than I expected.  My last zipper/sweater experience was in 2008 in the much-lamented "Man Sweater."  It did not go nearly so smoothly back then.

Turns out, it really ain't no thing.

Pin early.  Pin often.

There are lots of great tutorials out there on how to install a zipper into hand-knits.  I read through this one (Chic Knits), this one (Knit Picks), and just for kicks this one (Techknitting -- this one involves knitting the zipper into the sweater).

And then I went home and just did it.    I pinned the zipper to one side, making sure it was smooth, and laying flat.  Then I pinned the other side, matching the stripes (not gonna lie, the stripes made it easier.)

Then I unzipped and rezipped it a coupla times, just to make sure it was all copacetic.

After that, I hand-sewed it in near the teeth, using a basic back-stitch.  I then used a whip-stitch to secure the zipper-tape down.

See those stitches?  No you can't, and that's the point.

On a sweater for me, I'd probably cover the tape with ribbon, but I didn't bother for this one.

I have no idea what he is doing here, but this is one of the least blurry shots I got of him.

So in summary, after nearly a year (and after knitting the body of the sweater twice -- remember that? -- Rowan's sweater is done and it fits.

And he likes it, so I don't need to make him eat it after all.

Anyway, over all I am very pleased with how it turned out.  In retrospect, I rather regret using Wool-Ease -- at the time my logic was that it's a) cheap and b) easy-care.  But Rowan would have gotten a nicer sweater if I'd gone a different route.  I hesitated to invest a lot into it because I really wasn't sure if this whole "wanting a sweater knit by my mom" thing was really going to last.  Oh me of little faith.

Next time he gets nicer yarn.  (At least, assuming this one doesn't end up covered in chocolate sauce and felted.  I've already given him the "bring it to me to launder or I will end you" speech.)

Project Notes

Pattern: Emilien by Ariane Caron-Lacoste
Yarn:  Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Denim and Natural Heather
Total Yardage:  1381 total yards.  632 in Denim, and 749 in Natural Heather
Needles:   US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 6 (4.0 mm)  I used several different lengths of circulars, and DPNs for the cuffs
Started:  September 28, 2014
Completed: August 11, 2015

Beige and Blue...Knitting Ennui Ensues

It's mid-February and we all know what that means here at chez woolly.   That's right, I'm tired of everything I'm already knitting and I'm longing to cast on something new.

Right on schedule.  This happens every year like clockwork.  I start the month strong, knock something off the needles that's been hanging around 95% done, then turn my attention and focus to the next things on the list...only to rediscover why they weren't done to begin with.

Jess' Cowl is coming along -- I'm about 9 of (probably) 15 repeats in. (I say 'probably' because Jess, who is considerably ahead of me on this endeavor, made it to 15 before running out of yarn.  Gauge being what it is, my mileage may vary.)

Carl's socks aren't much further along than they were -- which is only to be expected as they were only meant to be purse knitting anyway.

Rowan's sweater, you'll be relieved to hear, is not only back to where I started before the Great Frogging last weekend, but actually a bit beyond.

If it doesn't fit him this time, I may make him eat it.

I spent most of last week plugging along on these three projects feeling terribly ho-hum about all of it.  There was so much sighing you'd swear I was a teenager suddenly cut off from cell-phone privileges.   Then it hit me.

Take a close look at those three projects.  Notice anything?

Like how they are all blue.  Or beige.  Or blue and beige?  Like how they are all three gift knits? 

Yep.

Now, mind you, I'm happy to be making all three, and willingly undertook to do so.  I love the people I'm knitting for and will be pleased as punch to hand over the completed goods.

But I'm an inherently selfish knitter at heart.  I don't mean to be, but I am.  Once I realized the cause of all my knitting malaise I realized there was only one thing to do.

You can't see, but there's a hippo in there.

Much better.

A Wiser Knitter

It's been a kind of a weird week here at chez woolly.  We are mostly back in our bedroom -- in fact I made it a point to get the boots out of the bathtub yesterday. (Still not a euphemism).

The light isn't great, but take my word for it,
that's one handsome floor.

My February is for Finishing is moving along, but I'm at the place where you can't see it.  This is what I get for finishing three projects in the last week of January.   The Mullspice hat was a doggle.  Everything else is going to be a bit of a slog.

I've been working on my best Jess' BFF Cowl.  Shown modeled here with the only thing that makes "purl 5 together" seem like a good idea.

TGIF, y'all

It was barely begun when February started, so it is going to be a while yet before we start seeing real progress.

I've also picked Rowan's sweater back up.  Now, I really did understand that when I agreed to knit a sweater for a 13 year old boy that I was risking a lot.  I mean, I get it. He could be fickle, he could wipe chocolate sauce all over it, he could leave it on his bedroom floor and affix a wad of gum to it.

Anything can happen when you're 13.

Like, you could grow for example.

Yeah.  That happened.

So, yesterday afternoon I pulled back more sweater than I care to admit to.

This is an example of anti-progress.

That was an unfortunate happenstance.  A wiser knitter would have tried it on the child before knitting the bulk of the body of the sweater.  A wiser knitter would have chosen a larger size for the sweater in the first place.   A wiser knitter would have married a tiny man, and borne tiny offspring.

Alas, I am not that knitter.

I am, however, a knitter who has properly em-biggened the sweater by adding several more increases before separating for the sleeves.  I've re-separated them and knit about another inch beyond that of straight body.

And yes, he's already tried it on.

It fits.

This week.

Clown Barf Hat (Needs A Better Name)

I've finished another project (or two? I'm having trouble keeping track since I can't actually talk about all of them here) since last we spoke.    A wise friends suggested that if I needed to knit a hat from stash, and all my stash is fingering or lace weight, that there are not actually any ordinances prohibiting holding the yarn double.

Duh.

So, the Clown Barf hat was conceived and born.   Made of a pattern of my own reckoning:  simple-simple...rolled brim on size 6 needles, stockinette on 8s.  CO. 80 stitches, increase to 88 when changing needles.   Knit until you are bored or about 6 inches.  Spread the decreases out evenly across the 88 stitches--first round was knit 9, k2tog around--I decreased in a manner that made sense and ended up without being too flat or too pointy, et voila:

I swear I just took this picture...it is not, in fact, Spring in TN.

Made from two ancient balls (heh heh) of Knitpicks Memories Sock Yarn.  It will make some clown 11 year old happy.

In other news, Halloween is nearly upon us.  I have had neither time, nor energy, nor spoons to devote to kids' Halloween.    Morgan is planning to be a Hogwarts student (a costume that anyone in this house could put together with their eyes closed, and one hand tied behind their back...although that would make putting the robe on awkward).    Rowan wants to be a cone-head zombie from Plants vs. Zombies.   It'll be adorable, assuming I can come up with a reasonable facsimile of an orange traffic cone to place upon his pate.

Wish me luck.

Thanksgiving IV

I am thankful for:

• Friends who will bring over their ginger when I run out at 10 p.m. on the day before Thanksgiving
• Pandora Radio
• Having my husband help me make my NaNoWriMo word count by use of bribery
• Random passers-by who tag me for meme's that will totally give me blog-fodder on Friday
• Sweet baby boys, snuggled up on the couch

I Like Soccer Balls Better

The good news is, I found my camera. When my boy-o was using the computer night before last, he knocked my camera bay over and my camera fell between my tower and the "random box of old video games" (admit it, you know you have one). I have been having a series of ongoing adventures with my son and the computer. Two weeks ago he got on-line while I was at work and very thoughtfully bought me $20 worth of "gems" on pogo.com. Yes, my little dude spent twenty bucks on electrons. This is as much my fault as anyone's because my password was set to auto-fill. I really ought to know better (and yes, I fixed that little faux pas on my part.)

So, long story short, we are keeping a closer watch on what he does when he's playing his games on my PC, and we've set him up his own account with restricted access (no installing). Yesterday I notice that the little icon for his account has changed. It was a little car, then it was a soccer ball.

Me: Honey, did you change the picture for your profile?
Little Dude: Yes. It was a car.
Me: Did Daddy help you?
L.D.: No.
Me: How did you know how to do that?
L.D.: *shrugs* I like soccer balls better.

Dude is 6.

This morning, it was a frog.

I am in so much trouble.

All Saints Day (and a Hallowe'en Hangover)

Hallowe'en is a pretty big deal here at Chez Woolly. I have made it a point to try to make costumes for the kids while they're still small enough to care—and most years I manage pretty well. This year, Rhiannon (13) originally told me that she didn't want or need a costume, so I factored her out of my time budget. Unfortunately, she changed her mind too late (sorry Rhi!) so she is costume-less this year. I plan to make it up to her this spring when she goes to our local Anime Con, so I tell myself it'll all come out in the wash.

Miss Morgan decided she wanted to be a witch. She was very specific in her design requirements. "I want a black robe just like Rhiannon's, but with blue instead of purple, and not so long I trip and fall on my face."

The wig was her Unka Monka's (Uncle Monkey's) edition to her costume. Not my fault....




At first I tried to talk Rowan into being a Ninja for Halloween (hey, black fabric is cheap this time of year) but he said that would be "too silly." He opted for Ash Ketchum of Pokemon fame (and after a bit of confusion on my part...turns out Ash Ketchum is no relation to Hal Ketchum) I found some pictures on the Intarwebs and commenced to figuring it out. Best news? I already had the fabric — his costume cost me less than $5 to make. I win at life.

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

While this post will not actually mention, show or even link to Soleil, please know that I am still working on it. In fact, we are on the waist now, and about to begin the increases to the bust.

I have been doing some clearing up of some small projects.

I made Rowan a vest what with dinosaurs on when he was two. I also cut out a pair of shorts, but never made them. Until, you know, now.

The good news is, my boy-o is quite a bit taller now (three years later) but not so much bigger in the tummy. The durned things still fit. Go figure.

In other news, I finished the Kitty hat out of Stitch N' Bitch that Rhi conned me into knitting for her. The child can totally knit, and I should have made her do it herself...but I'm a sucker for a kid that begs for hand knits, what can I say?

Here's my beautiful baby girl looking, as she says "Shwah!" I gather from context that this is meant to be positive. I used to speak 13, but there has apparently been a dialectical shift in the intervening 2 decades.