Fabu Day

IKEA. Pronounced: ILOVEYOUIKEA! Had a super-de-duper day there, with kids getting their 45 minutes in Smaland and lots of time in the more kid-interesting sections of the store. Great lunch. Anyone surprised? Note Hoops and Yoyo enjoying everyone's dessert.

Lakeside Mall - spent a good hour in Starbucks with kids while David checked out some ManTiques. Spent a good hour in line for Santa's Grotto with Lily while Davids checked out MORE ManTiques. Yes, David did not want to see Santa. No, we have not had The Chat About Santa with David yet. Is it time? In denial here. Had an AWESOME dinner at Wagamama - something for everyone there. Miso soup for small D, rice and panko-crumbed chicken for Lily, udon for me, ramen for D the Elder, and yum for all.

Santa pic to follow - meanwhile I'm outta here.

We're Off to See Ikea....

...The wonderful IKEA of Oz! We're making a weekend jaunt of it, so I'm hopeful we can go to Ikea on both days. I may have to defer to the wishes of other family members, though.

Ikea has a warm place in my heart, and in all the family's, really. This is because my mother was born and grew up in Sweden. The Ikea in Baltimore opened 19 years ago, on the day my niece was born in Baltimore.

Ever since, we've stopped in often and oftener, to buy Billy bookshelves galore, kitchen gadgets, the best bath towels ever, lighting, and all-important Swedish food.

Mom loved loved loved to have a day out at Ikea, too, so I'm a bit sad at going without her, but I hope it will remind me of a lot of good days together.

Before the days of Ikea, back in the 1970s, getting Swedish food involved a trip to the Swedish Store somewhere in New York City. I have vague memories of stocking up on lingonberries, Swedish fish before you could buy them everywhere, and delightful clogs in perforated red leather. And Dala horses. In my childhood mind, I sort of thought the Swedish Store was an embassy, or consulate, or something official. It was a very important place, at the least.

In any event, Ikea took over that quasi-official Swedish ex-pat destination for mom, and I fell in love with it myself. It will be a lovely weekend, even if we can't buy any flat-pack furniture (No. Room. In. Car.).

Thank You for Being

This little image says a lot. I thank you, my friends, my readers, my family. I thank God for being here, and for your presence here. I'm glad to be in this world, and to enjoy it so much. I'm glad that I have known the people I have, even the ones who aren't here with me now.

My love to you, today.

The Windmills of My Day

Another fun-filled day here at Casa de Susie. I took small D along for the day, combining our myriad appointments and errands. Woke up at Oh-My-It's-Early O'Clock, to make my 7:10 appointment at the dental clinic. David brought a Redwall book along to pass the time in the waiting room. Appointment result - short and sweet triage to bevel the edge of my chipped molar, and an hour-long session booked for next week for a filling.

After that, a quick stop at the laundromat to put in a bunch of towels and bedding in the Mondo Biggo Machines, before heading to get cinnamon rolls and coffee. Laundry finished up in good time for us to waste some time smelling candles and silliness like that in the exchange.

Then off to David's pulmonary function test, which was conducted inside a little glass box like a phone booth. Apparently he did OK, and we call for an appointment next week to hear the results from the doctor.

Oh, wait...not done yet. We still had to pick up new specs and drop off the old ones to get free replacement lenses. The new frames are spiffy - gold rims and oval lenses. Harry Potterish in a subtle way. The undiscerning might think they were the same as D's old glasses, but we know better. MUCH much different. At least, according to him!

It felt like we'd been on the run for hours, but it was really only lunchtime. On the way back, I took an impulse turn toward the Denver Windmill. I've only been seeing the sign for it for 2 years now, after all. The perfect spot for a nice lunch with my big kid on this sunny day. Afterwards, we climbed up the five inner stories of the mill, and had a nice close look at the workings while it wasn't in use. How fun was that? VERY! I am so glad we did it today, as the stairs were narrow, steep ladders and there's no way Lily could have gone up or down, and no way I could have carried her. David really enjoyed himself, and so did I.

Delicious Day

Today, David started his minivacation. Without any specific plans, he and I headed into town for a little browsing and beginning of the Christmas shopping. We have been wanting to eat at Maggie's, a local restaurant, since we moved here 2 years ago, when it was still called Rococo. Today the stars and planets aligned, we dined there, and I had the best lunch I've ever had in England. Potted rabbit to start, with a chutney, toast rounds and cornichons. Then it was a stellar duck breast with medlar jelly and some amazing, life-enhancing veggies. For afters, GREAT coffee (not always found in UK restaurants) and some incredible cheeses. My favorite was the Oxford Blue. Oh. Mah. Heavens. Creamy nirvana, Gentle Reader. I am still reeling 5 hours later.

Diary of a Poor Lad

David was given an assignment to write a diary of a day in the life of a poor child in Victorian times. What he produced is a microcosm of his writing style, and I love it.

Note the handwriting, still not very tidy, and note the brevity. Because David writes slowly, he tends to write less, which is sort of a shame because he writes so WELL for an 8-year-old. Note also the humor, and the complicated phrasing and punctuation. I've transcribed it for you, and added paragraph spacing for clarity.

Thanks, David, for being my willing blog fodder today!

Dear Diary,

This morning I woke up and had breakfast - bread with
some of last night's cheese. I took our last shilling to buy a
small meat pie for lunch and went to the market area. After I
took the pie home, I went to get some more money.

"Clear the street for you?" I asked a man, and when he
nodded, I swept him a path through the muck.

At noon I went home and found the rats had eaten my
blanket. I ate half the pie and went back to work. By the
end of the day, I had 10 shillings and sixpence - enough for
10 days!

By tomorrow my hat will probably have been eaten. Ah well
- time for a bit of sleep

.

What Number Are You?

Thanks, Jill for this link. Interesting. I think it's sort of accurate - what do you think, Gentle Readers who know me in real life?

***You Are 2: The Helper***


You always put on a happy face and try to help those around you.
You're incredibly empathetic and care about everyone you know.

Able to see the good in others, you're thoughtful, warm, and sincere.
You connect with people who are charming and charismatic.

At Your Best: You are deeply giving, altruistic, and humble. You devote your life to others while caring for yourself too.

At Your Worst: You are manipulative and enjoy making other people guilty.

Your Fixation: Rejection

Your Primary Fear: Being unworthy of love

Your Primary Desire: To be loved unconditionally

Other Number 2's: Mother Teresa, John Travolta, Princess Diana, Dr. Phil, and Mr. Rogers.


What Number Are You?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatnumberareyouquiz/

Busy Day

Here's what I did today. I drove down to Mildenhall to browse the Christmas Bazaar, which is a huge fundraiser for lots of organizations all over the base. Two airplane hangars full of vendors (crafts, foods, books, antiques, pottery, and probably other things I can't think of now). There's also a fun fair outside, with some rides and games. Today was really cold and windy, so it's a good thing the kids didn't come.

I spent some quality time with the antique book booths; I could have spent hours, but there were so many more places to check out. One vendor was selling dozens of antique sewing machines. He showed me a few I have never seen before, and I took his number so I can take my UK-spec Singer Featherweight in for repair. Then there was Gracie's Toffee. Wow, that's good candy.

After my browsing/shopping, I did a volunteer shift for the squadron, who man a food booth for Filipiniana. Fantastic food, and it was really interesting to be behind the scenes. Good thing I brought a warm hat and an extra sweatshirt to layer, though, because those outdoor food booths? VERY cold.

What Do YOU Think?

We can't choose our children's friends, I know. However, how do you approach things when your child tires of a friend?

A little background here: D. wants a Harry Potter-themed birthday party, and he's thought of tons of activities, etc. We talked about different ways to do the party, and have decided to go for a smaller group of invitees and having it here at home. He's limited to six guests so we can do more involved things. He didn't choose to invite one child who's among my favorite of all those he hangs out with. They seem to be irritating one another at school these days, and he hasn't invited him around in a while. I don't know exactly why I'm so bothered.

Yes, I do - when he does invite this boy around, they play SO well together, with focus and creativity. They can set up a train layout and go for hours. One on one, they get on so well, it's a shame it doesn't translate to school time. A lot of it stems from David and Friend being at very different levels in some subjects, I think. I worry that he's dismissive of Friend because "he's not as clever as I am" and doesn't see that although they may be on different math/literacy levels, they're probably the closest-matched when it comes to play. I think that's really short-sighted. But he is 8, after all. From my grown-up perspective, I hate to see him throw the friendship out with the academic bathwater, or whatever.

However, it's not my place to make my child's friends. It's not my place. It's not my place.

How would you feel? What would you do? Or not do? I'm really interested to know other people's opinions and ideas here.

I thought I might ask once, only once, if David wants Friend to come over for a play date this week. If yes, and it goes well, we'll ask him if he's changed his mind and wants to invite Friend to the party as well.

I have a week before we need to send out invitations...

Or should I just let it go, and send the invitations as he's decided already? I lean toward "Let it go" right now this minute. How about you all?

Wearables...

I haven't made a lot of knitting progress this past month (too busy having outings, etc.), but here's what I have got done on the Basic Black (that's Khaki in my world) Cardigan. That's 90% of the first sleeve, and it's a 3/4 sleeve at that. Not so much with the progress. I like the pattern, and I can actually knit while watching one of the many millions of episodes of NUMB3RS we've been catching up on. Oooh, dangling preposition. Bad me.





Other wearables are pictured here. The kiddoes wore silly hats at school to raise funds for Children in Need today. Quite fetching, actually....

The Good, The Bad, and The Funny

The Good....a lunch meeting for some volunteer work that I do. I thought the meeting went really well, and some communication hiccups are about to be smoothed. The free lunch was a nice plus, as well.



The Bad...does this image give you a clue? I broke a tooth tonight. It's a back molar that's had a root canal, I think, so no pain. Obviously, some urgent dental work is in my future. The Bad here is mostly trying to work my schedule so I can get that in. Tomorrow is not good - it's the squadron Thanksgiving luncheon and I really shouldn't miss it. Then there's the weekend. I'll have to chew one-sidedly and hope for the best.

The Funny...small D. is a major fan of thinkgeek.com, and found this video linked on their website. How to handle your office stress in a most entertaining fashion.

Pesky Fun...

OK, having fun is NOT pesky, but the aftermath of catching up certainly is. I realized this morning that I didn't post yesterday's post. Does a draft created then count? Backdated that puppy to midnight and posted it just now. In my defense, yesterday evening was a little mad! Left home at 5:45 for the spouses' meeting and didn't get back till 11 PM, and I was shattered...it was a great night out though.

Lots of tasty nibbles, and we talked so much that the "hostess" ended up flipping the lights out on us to get us to scatter, like little ants at a picnic. There were some new faces, which is always great, and I think there'll be a cool day trip coming up. Christmas markets are getting into full swing now, and there's a Dickensian one in York, a HUGE one in Lincoln, all the German ones which are do-able as day trips, possibly even a King's Lynn one, although I haven't heard about it myself and I practically live there. Doing some research on that puppy today!

Today is set to be full of boring but necessary bits, like laundry, vacuuming, picking up, a trip to the grocery store, some volunteer-related calls, some volunteer-related list merging, and the usual stuff. Lily's got a friend coming over for playtime and tea, so I want to pick up some fresh playdough. If I had less going on, I think we'd make some, because that's a lot of fun, but their play time is limited, so I'll just have some ready. Our old playdough has gone sort of gray from repeated color blending, and sometimes it's fun to have the bright stuff.

Pictures as Promised

Here, Gentle Reader, are some pictures from the shopping trek Chrissie and I took yesterday. I love this one of me in my brown sweater jacket (see "I love you Tschibo" post from a few days back). You can see I don't look anything like The Tschibo Model, but I think it's a nicely cut sweater. Isn't the Royal Arcade a gorgeous place? Nice coffee shop; this is also where we bought the Shoes of Expensiveness for David this fall. The other picture is my New Crush....Beautiful Zara Bag, I LURVE You. Seriously, this bag makes me feel special; it's not like all the other bags. Heh. What a fun day.

Today I did a little erranding, a little knitting, and tonight I'm heading out to a spouse group meeting. I always love these - it's so nice to talk to grownups, especially those who relate to your husband's crazy work...

Shopping Recap and All That

End of a really good day - started at 7:15 AM when my friend and I met up and headed to Norwich, and ended just now, at 9:15 PM having dropped her off and made it home, after shopping Norwich so well we closed the city down. Fun, fun, time. New jacket, new bag, some other new stuff. I love having input from someone with style when I'm trying on clothes. My caffeine and adrenalin are wearing off now, and I sense bedtime in the very near future...

Pictures of the new jacket and bag and me to come, tomorrow, I hope.

Also, go see David's new game.

Remembrance Day

Headache

Some days just feel long and scratchy. Every sound in the house irritates me, even chewing, even laughing. I wish there were a Tylenol Irritation to take that would fix the headache AND the jangled feeling.

Not a big post today as we're heading out overnight. D.'s trying to figure out why our phonemail isn't working...both of us need to be reachable and get messages so it's another annoying thing.

Happy days to all of you, and calm, serene ones I hope.

Quick!

Go see this! Everwhelming Liz is making some teensy socks for tree ornaments, and she's got a pattern, baybee! So cute, so quick. Must. Knit. One. Or. Many.

Lovely New Jacket...

This is my newest clothing purchase. I am in luuuurve. Bought it last week at Tschibo in town for 17 pounds 50, after seeing it and thinking a week. I think it actually looks pretty good, although I am not the sleek chickie pictured here. The fitted cut works for me, and I love the chocolate brown wool.

Tschibo is a great shop - I thought it was only a coffee brand until I arrived in England. I've seen brick and mortar shops here and in Germany - the selection of items changes weekly, or bi-weekly and ranges from cooking gadgets to camping gear, jewelry and clothing to bicycles. You never know what's in stock, which makes it quite the adventure to stop in the shop.

FYI, the potentially bad news has turned out to be not bad, thank God. Life goes on, and life is good. Chocolate is also pretty good. And coffee. And Numb3rs. OK, I'm definitely in an "up" state of mind.

I cast on a new knitting thing yesterday. I'm not participating officially in NaKniSweMo ([Inter]National Sweater Knitting Month) but if a sleeve happens to be on my needles, and sweater bits happen to be knitted in November, it's not a bad thing. Working on the Basic Black cardigan from MagKnits, but in an olive khaki color. It's such a clean-lines sort of sweater that I have a teensy but of faith in my ability to add in bust darts. I'll keep ya posted, you lucky readers.

Has anyone out there started an Unoriginal Hat from the Yarn Harlot's recent post? So cute, so simple-looking. I have a ball of chunky wool that would rock out in this pattern. Maybe this weekend.

Vocabulary and Rice

This is quite an interesting little vocabulary challenge, and the site donates rice for every correct answer.

Thanks to the Shrinking Knitter for the link.

Warm Fuzzies

Friends are a gift. We knew that, didn't we? However, on a day when I'm awaiting potentially very bad news, it was fantastic to be able to meet with a recent acquaintance for our weekly crafty time and end up not knitting at all, just talking about everything under the sun and cementing a new friendship. Maybe even the beginning of a new fitness buddy partnership, too!

Slowly, slowly, I'm gathering good friends here in England. I have tons of friendly acquaintances, but very few friends for just hanging out. Recently, that's been changing for the better, and I am so happy for it.

Thinking Happy Thoughts and Hopeful Thoughts...

Pixels

Still no deep-thoughts posting today...just one burning question:

Do you see in pixels? Stare at something solid-colored - do you see thousands and thousands of little dots? I also see these in busy, multicolored things but it's harder to notice. Comments most welcome - I'd like to know if I'm crazy or not.

All Over the Topical Map, but Not Very Exciting

Well, I'm percolating a slightly deeper post, but it'll have to keep perking a while longer as my mind is full of really mundane stuff that must be purged first.

Item one: Great new sweater pattern in Magknits. I like it a lot - simple, classic, and perhaps achievable for NaKniSweMo? I've been backing off the idea of knitting a sweater in November, but if it could be done, this is the one.

Item two: Wow, do we like Numb3rs (Num-thers, as I call it). We've been catching up with Seasons 1 and 2 so far. Great cast chemistry, way cool math and science, and good crime show plots. I love a show that makes math hot. Plus it stars David Krumholz' hair, all wavy and fabulous. If a little too greasy-looking at times.

Which brings me to item three, also hair-related: The Interwebs Nit-festation of 2007 has made its way from the midwest in the USA (see my girl SusieJ's blog) to here in Merrie Olde. Saw nits and a few crawlers in Lily's hair after her bath tonight, and auuuuuuuugh. Nit combing shows none in mine or small D's, and David's hair is so close-cropped you can check visually. But I will have to deal with Lily's, and the bedding, and the soft toys, and the upholstered furniture and carseat, and any coats, and auuuuuughhh again. I hate hate hate hate hate lice. I was very chilled about it with Lily but they really creep me out. Not a fan of the crawlies.

We had a note a couple of weeks ago from the school that there was a case reported so I have been watching but why, oh, why must they hit here? Whyyyyyyy?

Sorry. So, you see. Not a very deep-thoughts sort of post, but what is completely filling my brain tonight. Now, I'm off to have a beer, and maybe watch one more episode of Numb3rs.

Frivolous Posting - A Britney Fug-trospective

Let's all indulge our inner readers of Hello! OK! and People this morning, shall we? Remember Britney Spears when she was a cute little pop princess? No, no, I can't say I do, either....the trainwreck that is her life has been so much more interesting in the past 3 years. Check THIS out - the Fug Girls have tracked that downward fashion/lifestyle spiral in pictures and snarky commentary. So delicious, so awful. I hate myself a little bit for being so amused. Hope the poor kid really gets rehabbed soon.

Operation Deny Christmas

David came home the other day with the news that, instead of missing Thanksgiving* on a short work trip, he may be gone for Christmas. He referred to these new plans as Operation Deny Christmas. Chances of this happening - approximately 100%.


I don't know exactly why this tickles me so much when it means he will be gone for Christmas, New Year's Eve, David's birthday, his birthday, my birthday and probably Valentine's Day, but I am still amused by it. Whatever makes me laugh, I guess. Now I keep coming up with other fun ways to refer to life events in our house. So far, I've created the following:



Operation Urgent Practice (when small D. has skipped tae kwon do practicing all week and needs to do his patterns a few dozen times to catch up)

Operation Moldy Tangles - tackling all the WIPs I have that are rapidly becoming UFOs in the knitting pile.

Operation Desperate Laundry - the baskets are overflowing and there are no clean schooliform shirts.

Operation Enticing Pizza - proclaiming the charms of visiting Pizza Express in hopes that I will not be making dinner that night.

Task Force Rolling Thunder - me, on a bad day.


* Missing Thanksgiving is no big deal, as there are only four of us, two of whom hate everything about Thanksgiving dinners except maybe pie. Besides, those two have school that day anyway, here in England. I could easily do without the festivities, and be thankful without the added calories.

Post-Halloween Reporting

Let's see. There were pumpkins. And Pumpkin Pi. Snork snork.

There was a naughty witch fairy, who went door-to-door with her small friend Piglet (small James, not pictured). There was also a skeleton pirate, who went door-to-door with his vampire friend (named James as well, also not pictured). There was much candy, and even a wandering candy minstrel, who charmed me. She was escorting her children around the neighborhood and had brought her own bowl of candy to hand out, since she wasn't at home to give it out. Very neat.

As we have for the past couple of years, we traveled to the nearest base housing area so that we could trick-or-treat in a concentrated zone of Americans, who are used to this sort of thing. The kids had a great time, and Lily fell FAST asleep in the car by 7:45 PM.

Funny

Best. Typo. Ever:

PSYCHOPHANTS for sycophants. Rocked me back in my seat.

Happy Halloween to you all, and I hope you're ready for the approaching deluge of postiness from me. Tomorrow NaBloPoMo begins...a post a day for the whole month.

Scary....

I found myself, just now, emptying the dishwasher and lifting a glass to the light to look for streaks. Helloooooo, Stepford. In my defense, I'd used a sample of a new detergent, and wanted to see what the fuss was about. So it's OK. Really. Right?

Quick Post

Still here - sick kid who was AWFULLY miserable and is now much better, and other bad news stuff that I can't do anything about and makes me wish I were in the States...no knitting this week so far.

Instead, let's distract ourselves (look, a puppy!!) with a quick meme, lifted from Robyn at www.bitchypoo.com. Mmmkay?

One word answers.
The Air: cool.
Favorite Fall Indulgence: coffee (wait, that's all-season. Pumpkin pie).
Out Your Window: gardener truck.
On Your Desk: no desk.
On Your Feet: clogs (and hand knit socks).
Favorite Fall Smell: woodsmoke.
Temperature On Your Thermostat: 20 degrees Celsius
Your Shirt: black sweater.
Your Hair: brushed.
Something You Want to Make Sure You Do this Fall: pumpkins.
You Last Took a Fall: ??.
Your Last Drink: water.
Your Last Meal: apple.
You’re Thinking About: blogging.
Hearing: leaves.
Favorite Fall Color: rust.
Your Take On Seasonal Novelty Flags (i.e. turkeys, pumpkins, scarecrows): Ehh.
A New Fall Show You Like: nothing new here.
Your Plans for the Evening: none.
Your Relationship With Pumpkins: friendship :).

In Lieu of a Cool Post from Me...

Go see this - I promise it's interesting. I also bought some mohair almost that shade at a charity shop today. But I digress. More content soon!

Too Many Needles?

Is there such a thing as too many knitting needles? I am in the midst of cataloguing mine for my Ravelry notebook and it's enlightening.

Who knew I had at least a dozen crochet hooks, when I very seldom crochet?

Who knew I had 29 pairs of needles without getting even halfway through the pile? Let alone sock needles and circulars. Hmmm.

This does not include the several pairs of needles living out in the knitting house, and the needles that are living in various WIPs. Hmmmm again.

I have used the opportunity to get rid of almost a dozen pairs of soft plastic needles that were well warped. I have several orphan needles so far, and I think I'll be ditching those too, rather than banding them together hopefully.

In my defense, the vast majority of my needle stash comes from thrift stores and yard sales.

It will be good to have it all organized. I still need to figure out a better storage system then up-ended into containers. Perhaps a long scarf as needle roll for the meantime.

Anyone out there type "doe snot" for "does not" a lot? Anyone out there snort whenever they do this? I do, I do!

Quick Knit?

How cute is THIS? The UK Handknitters website has the pattern available here (scroll down for iPod cosy). Absolutely cracked me up - this is a sweater I believe I could finish.

Not much going on - feeling a bit autumnal. Off to drink a coffee and work on my Argosy a while. If I could just stick to it for 2 nights, I can wear it when I go into London on Sunday, and I just know it wants to see the big city...

Here Comes October...

...and that means SOCKTOBERFEST! Who doesn't want to knit a nice cozy pair of socks as we head into autumn? To join, just start knittin'. There is a Flickr group here. for anyone who wants to post pictures of their socks, discuss others' projects, etc. "We're Not Wooorthy" bows must go to Lolly of LollyKnitting Around; she started this shindig up and this will be year 3!

For anyone who doesn't know her blog, you MUST check out her posting on photography, especially useful if you want to make beautiful pictures of projects or yarn stash. It's a seminar-in-a-blog and I will be reading, and re-reading, in an attempt to get some better pictures than I have in the past.

That's all. Off to steam my stuffy head and possibly even clean a room or two. Or something.

For My Darling Husband....

A bouquet (image available here):













and an apology performed in interpretive dance (use your imaginations here):


I was wrong. I was soo wroooong. I'm beginning to think I may not have been entirely correct, even.

You were not completely crazy to sign up for Facebook. In fact, you were quite clever. Perhaps even brilliant. Or am I getting carried away?

I got invited in this morning, and have spent much of the day off and on sending invites to friends and locating other friends on Facebook. If you know me, and would like to be my Facebook buddy, shoot me a line!

I'm also loading more patterns into Ravelry, as well as reading some of the group forums, although that REALLY can take up a whole day in itself.

Feeling low and lonely, and it's nice to reach out and contact friends, even when they're pretty darn far away.

It's a good thing I can act in puppet shows, make out-of-season Easter crowns, and supervise glitterglue painting while on the laptop, though, or Lily would be mighty bored today.

Saturday Slow; Whiny Bloggin'

Shaping up to be a very quiet weekend here. We had planned to have a family weekend in London, but Wednesday evening when Lily's sniffles translated into a rotten head cold for me, that plan shifted a bit.

So, early this morning, the boys took their overnight backpack and headed to the City to see Madame Tussaud's and who knows what all... Lily and I are staying home to be sickly in comfort, instead of suffering loudly in London.

Right now I am drinking delicious hot beverages and contemplating my first sinus/headache meds of the day. Lily is painting masterpieces with glue and glitter across from me. My idea of sleeping until 10:00 was soundly rejected at 7:00. Oh, well.

My head is a ball of stuffedness, and now it's traveling down to my chest for a cough. Doped up, I feel OK and function quite well, but without meds I'm a misery. And I don't want to be doped up all day and all night because I believe a cough needs to come out. Lily, on the other hand, got nothing more than a teeny sniffle, a teeny cough for a few hours, and seems to be perfectly healthy now. Good for her :)

On the bright side, David has offered me the chance to go to London next weekend, solo! After the Tae Kwon Do grading, I can go down on the train while he and the kiddies hang out at home. Yarn shops in the great metropolis, time to actually LOOK in the shops in Covent Garden, and maybe a show? Bliss if I feel better by then.

Today's plan for me? A quick library trip to return some (overdue) videos and (not yet overdue) books, and maybe some knitting. Laundry. Whoo hoo. A nap? A girl can dream...

Clapotis

Here it is - the quickest knit I've done in a loooong time. Apologies for the zombie-like coloring but it's a night-time, flash picture of a tired lady...what can I say? In reality, both I and the yarn have a warmer tone.

Details: one skein of sportweight microfiber from Germany, size 5 US needles. Finished dimensions - approximately 12 by 80 inches. I used all but 15 grams of a 180-gram skein. The stitches seemed to fly off my needles, because the pattern is so easy to memorize. Three evenings of mindless TV and some knitting this morning was all it took. I think I'll be making this again, in the wider version. You can see the sheen of the yarn in the close-up shot.

Prize Day

So, a couple of weeks ago, I participated in a little blog contest over at Knitting in a Happy Camper - guess Vyvyan's middle name and win some fun swag. (Her swag picture there is better than mine, so check it out!) I fixated on the cute cute cute devil duckie point protectors, guessed Lorraine, and went along about my business. Lo and behold, I was the winner.

This whole "I often think I'm losing my mind because my memory is so bad" business has its good points - expecting the cute duckies, I was shocked to the socks to see all this:

Aren't I lucky? Yes, I am! The kids have laid dibs on the candy, and report that the fizzy ones are excellent. I'm tickled to death at all the fun stuff. That yarn cutting pendant at bottom right is an awesome teal on the back, by the way. I shall be wearing it as jewelry as soon as I put a cord on. Thanks, Vyvyan - you made my day so much brighter!

Updatey Goodness

Things have been sort of quiet here. Thursday was a wash - I woke up and threw my back out. Reaching for the toothpaste or something arduous like that. It took several Aleve to make it through the day. Friday morning I woke up, and the Magic Chiropractic Fairy must have visited because everything was once more in alignment. Thank you, Magic Chiropractic Fairy.

I took advantage of the lack of pain to take a nice hike through the woods at Sandringham Park, heading off the big paths for some small, hillier ones. Beautiful pines and chestnut, ferns everywhere, and lovely, lovely blackberry brambles. Nothing is better than a blackberry plucked from the brambles, if you ask me.

Had a nice coffee afterward at the cafe, and then headed home where I worked on my Lemming Scarf new Clapotis. I am using some German microfiber sportweight in a natural variegated tone, making it about 2/3 size and probably a bit shorter, depending on when the yarn runs out...

Nice feel to the yarn, two knots so far (grrrrr), and not suited to socks as I had originally planned. Lost the ball band somewhere or I would add it in my Ravelry stash. This is a VERY quick knit. I used the Raveler-suggested modification of making the "k" between the "kbl" stitches into a purl. Doing this allows you to leave off the stitch markers.


Did I mention how much I am enchanted by the Ravelry revelry? It's ever so much fun adding in stash and WIPs, etc. Let's not even mention how groovy the groups are and how much time can be wasted reading the message traffic in one's groups. Not that I would know...

I didn't mention the ultrafabulous knitting bag I bought myself last week - the fabric is so pretty! It's actually a travel toiletry bag/set, with vinyl-covered fabric, but it is just right for a small project or two. The big bag unzips to reveal two huge zippable side pockets, and all those cute little baglets for various and sundry bits. It's extremely fetching. Too bad it doesn't match any of my jackets...

How gorgeous is THIS?

I bought the wool for this pattern (Sirdar pattern 8955) today at my local-ish yarn shop, Laina Crafts. Mine is a cranberry shade. The model sweater hanging in the window had me from hello. I just hope the massive collar will work for me and my rawther massive front. The model looks like Billie Piper from Doctor Who, dontcha think?

I also got some AWESOME purple Inca Cloud alpaca on clearance. She had some other shades, naturals and a chestnut, that I managed to resist, I know not how. Beautiful wool, perfect for lacy scarves.

Remember NaBloPoMo?

You may recall last November, when I posted every day (well....technically not every day...) because of NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). I don't know if this event is happening again for 2007 but I plan to do it myself either way. It was a great way to get psyched up for posting each day.



To go along with NaBloPoMo and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), here's NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater in a Month). How groovy is that? The new Knitty is out and there are a caboodle of good sweater patterns in there, not to mention the fab socks, and the to-die-for lace stole on the cover.

Aaaanyway, lots of sweaters to be made out there in the big wide world, and perhaps one of them will be mine.

In a completely different vein, this post about "back to school" by Fussy made me snort out loud with laughter. She is SO on.

I'm feeling OK - no knitting today yet, but I am about to sit down with it now...and that's a Good Thing.

Monday, Monday

A new day, a new week. A little bit of knitting for your viewing pleasure...

[OK, looks like Blogger is having a photo issue, so I will link to the pictures in my Flickr queue instead. The first is 2.5 repeats of the basketweave part of the Hanami stole. For Hanami Progress, click here. The second is my driving/waiting for school pick-up/TV project, the Syrian lace shawl from Victorian Lace Today. This pattern is oh-so-simple so far, and shows off the kid mohair colors really well. For Syrian Lace, click here. ]

No walking today, but I did do some laundry and I spent a hour in the knitting house. And the house is clean. Except for the guest room, aka The Dumping Grounds. I really need to go in there and dedicate myself to putting things away. Not today, I think...

Instead, I am off to the grocery store in a minute to shop for this week's dinners. I'm using my Saving Dinner menus all week, and I hope they'll be a relative success with the kids (as in no tears). We're prepared to listen to/ignore the "this looks yucky" drama if necessary, however.

It was a good weekend around here - we wandered the High Street in Lynn on Saturday, had Pizza Express for dinner (I still love me some Pizza Express!), saw a shooting star in the evening. All good stuff. I had Knitting Time yesterday, and Ravelry Exploration Time here and there all weekend. I like the groups feature, and have had some good fun entering projects and books from my library. Haven't seen anyone I know on the site, but I don't know how I would "see" them anyway. There is so much to explore, you could stay busy for months. I look forward to entering stash and needles information. That alone will keep me busy for months :)

Updating Here and There...

Sooo....the kids are back at school. See here for a cute picture and my rant about the cost of wide footwear.

I've cast on the Hanami stole (gorgeous pattern available here). Check out this post at the Hanami KAL blog for my progress pictures. It's looking very nice, I think.

I got my Ravelry invitation. SWEEET! Didn't the kids used-to say that? Heh. I'm Susieknits over there, but have only set up a profile. Will explore the site in greater detail next week, when the kids are in school.

My MS3 stole, the pattern of which has been revealed now, is still holding at Clue 4. I thought I'd dive in to finish when the kids headed to school, but I was distracted by my Hanami start-up. I may alternate days working on them, or I may finish it up after Hanami. I love the MS3 stole so far, had a bit of angst about the big change in style it takes midway through the pattern, and have decided (based on looking at others' blogs) that I will knit it as written. However, I'm feeling the Hanami love right now, so that's what I want to knit.

This seems to be the Year of Lace for me - Snowdrop, Falling Leaves, Argosy, MS3, Hanami... Remember my Argosy scarf? Argosy is sort of geometric lace. I bought some amazing hand-dyed, handspun Blue-faced Leicester wool at the Sandringham Craft Show in May, and it was telling me it wanted to be an Argosy. I cast on last month, I think, and it is knitting up beautifully. So beautifully, in fact, that I am going to rip the first version, and use it for something else. Check out the contrast between versions. The handspun is wider and a bit more vivid. I like it a lot. I also figured out that my decreases had been slanting incorrectly (I am a sort of backwards knitter), so I've corrected that in Version 2.

On the Sock-knitting Front, when last we posted, I had finished the stripey socks and the blue Horcrux socks. I had cast on another Horcrux for small D, but realized I would run short of the yarn I was using, so that's getting ripped out. Love that pattern, though. So quick and so fun!

I also cast on a basic sock in a tan variegated microfiber I got in Germany this spring, but I'm not loving it, and there's enough yarn there to do a small scarf/shawlette, so goodbye to that sock as well.

On the Non-knit Front, I'm doing better every day. I'm sad, but there are good times each day. David and the kids make me happy, a lot. I fell off the Eating-Sensibly wagon, to the tune of 10 pounds, and have pretty much climbed back on. I found a crafting group that meets Tuesdays on the base, and am hoping to make some like-minded friends there. I'll be walking for exercise, which should help my state of mind, too. Knitting is therapeutic as well, as it always is.

A Wonderful Thing...

This week, I found out how you send hugs by mail several thousand miles. Take one amazing, loving friend. Add hours upon hours of painstaking hard work and creativity. Personalize to make this just exactly right. Assemble into the softest blanket ever - add notes and encouragement. Mail box from Nebraska all the way to England, and sit back and wait for the recipient to open package and be bowled over with love and comfort. Here are SusieJ's hugs, sitting on a bench in the garden my mom loved so well.





Y'all, I cannot express how wonderful SusieJ is - we've been friends for over 5 years now and it feels like I have known her so much longer. I'm lucky to know her in the best of times, and even more so now. She knew exactly how to touch my heart, and how to make me feel better in a dark, dark time.






This blanket is the opposite of darkness - beautiful soft yarn in colors of lilacs and lavender and all my favorite flowers. The embroidered squares are the best part - one is my mom's name and the dates she lived, and the other is this verse. Just perfect...

I love this picture of the crocheted squares in detail. Can you feel how soft it is? I've wrapped this blanket around me every evening since it came, and I feel better every time I do. Thank you, Susie. Thanks for being my friend.

Answer to a Great Question

Everwhelming Liz left such an intriguing question in the comments that I must answer it in a post!

Q: Nice socks. I have a little question for ya. If you were actually going to make a pair of socks into a horcrux, which pair would you choose? Ignoring for a moment the really evil nature of horcruxes, of course.

A: Of the socks I've already made? The Vanilla Blue socks were my first "wing-it without an exact pattern" pair, so those might be a good choice. Otherwise, maybe something really tough and lacey, or perhaps a sock-within-a-sock project. Did one of those aeons ago when the KnitList was young, in the early 1990s, but my gauge was so off I ended up with two Christmas stockings, pretty much...


(Complete aside - you must go see Liz's veil right now. There's going to be a spectacularly beautiful wedding with such amazing handiwork gracing the bride...)

Socks and Updates

So....here's how the socks came out. Not bad, and the Horcrux socks (blue pair) are adorning my feet as I type this. As always, the hardest part of making socks is the grafting at the toe., but even that went well enough.

In other news, MS3 theme has been revealed, and it's a nifty one. I won't say here, in case a few of the MS3 knitter/readers are trying to wait until they reach Clue 5. I have put aside my charcoal grey stole for the nonce - it really is almost impossible to see the yarn to knit for me right now. I am working my way into Clue 4 of the natural wool one, and have decided to do the shortening option as my knitting's always bigger and the haphazardly stretched stole through Clue 3 seems really large.

I spent a couple of quality hours in the knitting house with it yesterday - I had been knitting on it in the house, with people around, but my concentration just wasn't there. Being all by my lonesome with some mellow jazz on the radio is a much better system. I decided my house-knitting had best be socks. Cast on another sock in a German microfiber yarn in variegated neutrals. My own recipe, all ribbing ankle-length, which I am writing down as I go, the better to replicate. I'm not thrilled with the heel, but the rest looks pretty good. Picture will follow when they're done.

Check out the Family blog (link at left) for a couple of cute summer kiddo pics, as well.

Mood Art

Yep, that actually reflects today's mood pretty accurately. Thanks to Wannietta's blog for that link - I just found her site through the MS3 board, and she's really interesting. Lots of yummy yarn pictures lately.
Click here to create your own painting.

Project monogamy is a difficult thing...

I want to be knitting on the MS3. Honestly, I do. It's just that the dark version isn't quite through Clue 2, and it's murder on my eyes. The sensible thing would be to drop it for a while, and go back to work on Clue 4 of the natural wool version. Do I do the sensible thing? Noooooo. I start a pair of socks instead.

I must be crazy. They're awfully nice socks, though. I am using the Broadripple socks pattern from Knitty, because I love the garter ripple tops. However, I am not using the the ripple lace throughout, just regular stockinette. Made these last summer and they were lovely; I gave them to mom, and I have them in my drawer now.

I'm using Hot Socks German sock yarn for this pair, and size 1 US needles. Here's what I did today. I'll keep working on them tonight, since DH has Blazing Saddles on and I don't think that's conducive to complex knitting. Tomorrow, I rededicate to MS3, although I think it'll have to be the lighter-colored one.

Since I have no knitting to show off...

Check out David's post here for some really keen knit-creativity.

I did finish the Horcruxes and could not stop myself from casting on another one in sport weight for small D. Faced withe a shortage of that yarn, however, I found another complementary ball to use for the feet.

But I think I'm putting that pair on hold to get back to the MS3 knitting. David brought down the tilting laptop desk, so I can display the pattern better. Looking forward to knitting on it, and snuggling up with my sweetie, in a very few minutes once the kids are off to bed.

Harry Potter - party, knitting, book, film, and no spoilers

Hello, everybodeee! We've had a total Harry weekend here.


Friday evening we went down to the base for the big ole party at the bookstore. Lily's "His-mione" costume was first place for her age group, and David's Stan Shunpike won him first place for his as well! Lily had an advantage as she was the ONLY 0-6 year-old in costume. As you can see from the pictures, late night parties aren't really her thing, although she did appreciate the highly frosted cupcakes.













David enjoyed everything from the cupcakes to butterbeer punch to wandmaking, rune reading, crystal ball fortunes, and tarot card readers. He was quite the showman, wandering around saying "Tickets, please" and showing off his moakskin farebox (moakskin contracts and only the owner can open a bag made from it, for all you Muggles out there...). The bookstore went all out, and they did a super job putting together a fun event.




The kids' prizes were free copies of the book. As we didn't need two copies, we decided to give one away to a deserving person. The girl who was wandering around playing Harry's theme on her recorder was our choice - I had a nice chat with her mom, who had been planning to buy three copies of the book to accommodate all the HP fans in their house. So, our extra free copy went to a good home. Besides, Lily thought her little bag of sweets WAS her prize. No harm, no foul...



Friday afternoon I started the Horcrux socks to keep me busy while DH got first dibs on the book. Finished sock number 1 before the party even started. Started sock 2 after we picked up the book, knit on during the waiting/previews at the movie next day, and I finished sock 2 as DH finished the book - perfect timing! Loved, loved this pattern.. Easy, interesting, and fast. Thank you to Susan Pierce Lawrence, who wrote it up. Here's my sweetie with the book, and sock, in hand at 12:30 that night.


Saturday, while he was reading away, I took David to see Order of the Phoenix. We both enjoyed it very much; as the movies go, it's right up there with the best. However, we hope that nothing they left out for time constraints will be too difficult to explain away in the last two movies. I'm just saying...

Am I the only one wondering whether the movie actors have all grabbed a copy of the Deathly Hallows to read, to find out their characters' fates?

David, David and I have now finished the book; small D. wrote a fan letter to Ms. Rowling already. Now, it's back to normal life, including all the laundry I ignored, a little vacuuming, a little grocery shopping...and the MS3 of course!!

Whooo. Barely made it.

Wow. Just in time for the release of Clue 4, I've finished Clue 3 on the first MS3. I decided to finish Clue 1 on my "can't stand the waiting" second MS3 before starting Clue 3 on the first one, so that took a little time. Actually, I must admit that I took more time to re-read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

So. Here we have Stole 1 through Clue 3. Not stretched out at all, and very ramen-esque. I'm still loving it, despite its untidy look right now.















And here's a shot of Stole 2 through Clue 1. If you click on this one, the sparkle of the yarn shows quite a bit better than it did the other day.














Now, to get in the mood for the book release party tomorrow evening. There seem to be no in-store parties where we are in the UK, just queue parties where you are entertained in the street waiting for a midnight opening. Therefore, we are going to the in-store party down at the base where David works. Small David decided last week that he wanted to dress as Stan Shunpike (the Knight Bus conductor). I rounded up some various items, and his costume is going to knock 'em dead! My mom would be proud. Lily wants to be "His-mione" as she calls Hermione, so we've got school skirt, her Gryffindor sweater, and the black velvet cloak Mom made for David when he was 4. He won a costume contest as young one in that one.

Stay tuned for pictures of the costumed ones after tomorrow's festivities.

In honor of Mr. Potter and the final chapter in the tale, I plan to work on some Horcrux socks. I fell in love with these when I saw a striped version on
Tabitha Knits' blog. She can knit an awesome sock, that lady!

Crazy-tastic Waiting Fun

Waiting for MS3 clue number 3. Still waiting.....Must. Keep. Knitting. MS3.

I know - so many people seem to be making two stoles...why not cast on a darker version? Call me crazy but I'm flowing with it. Stash-diving produced a charcoal grey fingering weight yarn in the right amounts. This is a Mystery Yarn itself, from a charity shop. All acrylic, charcoal grey with silvery flash in it that the camera does not capture. The actual color is somewhere between the two shots below, and the shimmer is very groovy. Needles - US size 4 (3.5 mm). I'm knitting this one with no beads because they'd be lost in the shine of the yarn, unless I used fluorescent yellow or something. I think not.

I think I am becoming Lace Literate because Chart A (first 50 rows of the stole) took me only 1.5 hours. I am using several of the tricks I have seen on the message boards, including covering the rows above where I am in the chart and "reading" the knitting. With the bigger 2-part charts, I have found that it goes faster if I look at each chart alone, without taping them together. In other words, I knit the right half chart, then pick up the left chart and do that. My eyes don't boggle quite as much this way.

Noodles, Anyone?

Someone on the MS3 message board on Yahoo referred to unblocked lace as looking like ramen noodles. Sure does look like ramen to me. Fuzzy, beaded ramen, but ramen no less for all that.

Pleased to have finished Clue 2 before the release of Clue 3 tomorrow. It's keeping my brain occupied, which is always a good thing.

Mystery Stole 3

Well, I was away from the blog for a while. We traveled home to see family and have my mother's memorial. We've been back in England a week now - it was a wonderful visit to home, and a really great memorial for my mom, but I really can't talk about it coherently. Perhaps I can in time. Just know, my family and friends reading this, I am so grateful you're in my life. It was so healing to spend time with all of you, and I am so very thankful to Sheila for opening her home and heart for us.

Trying now to fill my mind with things that don't make me sad, and this Mystery Stole 3 project fits that bill. The should-be-famous (is she?) Melanie (see Pink Lemon Twist) has designed and hosted a mystery knit-along for 3 years now, releasing one clue at a time with the end result being a fabulous, themed lace stole.

Here's a shot of my materials before starting. I am using the handspun Swaledale wool from my stash (same stuff I used for the Snowdrop shawl; what a great charity shop score that was) and 6/0 (4 mm) gold glass beads, and knitting on old size 4 (US) Susan Bates needles.


I knitted Snowdrop on size 5s and decided to drop down one size for this, as the Snowdrop is really, really airy after blocking. The wool is a little hairy, but I like it.








Here you can see the texture of the yarn, and also have a better look at the beads. I like the gold color against the natural wool. I tried some greens, blues, lavender and clear beads, but the warmer color just clicked for me.

















Here's a shot of the first clue, knitted up and stretched out a tiny bit. Still looks like spaghetti, but it's going to be glorious when it's blocked. I think the stole width will be more than 20 inches for me, but I'm OK with that...

Back from Germany; Life and Knitting Update

We are back from Germany. Having David back is sanity-saving, and also makes me very happy. It's also very nice to be back home. We had a nice time in Germany, although the rain made it a little stir-crazy the first week when David had his surgery and we all were trapped in our rooms for a few days.

I posted a picture of me in Germany on KnitFarmHealthSpa (check link at the left) and I may put up some more touristy pictures on our family blog page. Or I may not. I'm doing OK mentally - except when I let myself think about things for any period of time. Denial is fine as a grief coping mechanism for the short term, but I think I need to talk with someone in the long term.

Here's what I did in Germany - I ended up ripping the mohair version of Branching Out after the first repeat and going with this wool that I brought along. I call the finished scarf Landstuhl Leaves after the military base where the hospital is located. The color is totally wrong but you can see the detail. This was a stash wool - two 50-gram skeins of Irish tweed in a deep greeny turquoise. Not blocked at all yet.

The unfinished scarf is my Argosy, which I love more with every repeat. This picture is blurry as all get out, but the color is true. When it is stretched to blocking size, it is absolutely lovely.