I finally finished weaving in ends yesterday. That’s about all I was able to do with yarn. It was a demanding day. Today is shaping up similar.

But, here they are, and they’re nice.

Hand dyed sock yarn. Size 1 needles. Stitch came from the Harmony Guide, Vol 2.

I’m not feeling very interesting today. Everything I type sounds flat. So, I’ll just say that socks are finished. I’m still working on the Log Cabin Blanket and the Esther Williams hat when the boys will let me. I think I’ve picked a stitch (Snails out of this book) for another hat for my mother-in-law, the last I have planned at this point. I’m tired of Clark whacking me in the leg with his head. I’m tired of being perpetually hungry. (Seriously annoying). And I’m just plain tired.

I’m also tired of my body hurting, so I did some physical therapy exercises for my lower back today, stretched for the first time in ages, and did 20 minutes on the elliptical.

It felt good.

My goal is to do a few minutes of something strength building or lightly aerobic every day. And I’m very aware of the little voice in the back of my head laughing her butt off at me for being so foolish as to say that publicly because it’s a long shot. But my body is screaming at me to start taking care of it and it’s getting difficult to ignore.

I really do. While interesting stitch patterns are what I like to knit, nothing is more enjoyable to look at, or makes me feel more happy inside than a perfectly combined group of colors. Which is probably why I’m enjoying knitting this blanket so much.

Liv has knit on one of the light pink/lavender sections. Abby hasn’t shown much interest in knitting on it, but she really likes to cast off edges, so she’s done a couple of those. I’ll get Veronica’s hands in there at some point. We’ve been busy.

Imagine that.

Saturday afternoon, my mother-in-law had her head shaving party. Several of us brought sugar cookies for the grandkids to decorate. My father-in-law, mother-in-law and their six sons all shaved their heads, as well as three grandsons. It was an event. Clark wanted a “haircut” too, but when I asked him if he wanted all of his hair gone, he said no. So, I put up with a bit of crying from him and he still has his hair. He’s been buzzed before, and I don’t really like it on him. Plus, it took all of last year to grow back.

Everyone loves her new hat on her. I’m very pleased.

I’ve knit an entire ball of Cashmerino Aran into most of an Esther Williams hat.

Apparently, it takes more than one ball. I didn’t remember that from the last one I made, but I can’t argue with the fact that the hat isn’t done, and I’m out of yarn. There’s more on hold at the yarn store.

Baby acne has hit little Max pretty hard. Poor thing. His face is all rough, and he looks, well, blotchy.

As for the blanket. I started the center square with 17 stitches on a size 6 needle. It’s a 3 3/4 inch square. The surrounding bars are 16 rows tall/ 8 garter ridges. I’m going to knit ’til the yarn is gone, hoping for a lap blanket about 40 inches square. If I run out of yarn before then, I’ll get more.

The handspun hat fit perfect and looks great on my mother-in-law. It suits her coloring well, I think.

Here’s the Log Cabin blanket so far…

You’ll get a better feel for the color layout when it’s bigger. The colors aren’t balanced yet. But I’m really liking it. Even though it’s garter stitch!

I’ve been up since 3:45 this morning. I was up at 4:30 am yesterday. I’m really, really tired. And have a lot to do today, so I’m going to challenge the fates and take a shower before getting everyone taken care of and out of here.

Oh, wait. Max needs to eat first.

I knit the handspun hat last night. Clark graciously agreed to model it for you all.

It’s just merino wool and silk, but it looks like there’s angora rabbit in there, with the soft halo. You can see it in the pictures. It’s a nice effect, though unintentional.

I’m not going to weave in the tail ’til my mother-in-law tries it on to make sure it fits. It might be too tall for her.

I have two more hats waiting to be knit, and we’ve just barely started the blanket (Cascade 220). I have the middle square done but every time I go to start the next color, Max cries or Clark needs help in the bathroom.

So, when I couldn’t get to a yarn store, I was trying to think about what I might have on hand to use for a hat for my mother-in-law. She requested a pink hat, in the hopes that it will give her face some color. I have a big ball of pink merino top that I’ve had for several years and haven’t known what to do with. It’s not my favorite shade of pink. It’s a cool pink, and if I may say, rather obnoxious. But it’s what I had, so I brought it up from the basement and stared at it for awhile, trying to think of what I could do with it that would be nice for my mother-in-law. As it happens, I’d cleaned out my knitting basket recently, and had a pile of bombyx and tussah silk top that I’d dyed mahogany still piled on the living room floor. I don’t remember what I dyed it for, sampling for something I’m sure. I decided to try to spin the merino into a slubbed single (lumpy thick and thin bits) and ply it with the silk, spun into a thin, even single.

It’s neat! I like it!

I plied it a bit weird, going back and forth to encase portions of the pink merino wool, and making “bumps” here and there of the silk. It reminds me of a medieval dress. Since my mother-in-law was on my mind, it made me think of Gueneviere, which is one of her favorite stories.

I ended up having to run the merino back through the spinning wheel to add more twist before I could ply it and it still could have used more twist. I used all three of my spinning wheels for this yarn. I made the slub on my Clemes, spun the silk on my Ashford Traditional, and plied them together with the wild flyer and big bobbin on my Majacraft Suzie. Clark “helped” by treadling the Clemes for me while I drafted the fibers out.

I’ve knit a swatch to get gauge and see how it feels.

Cool, huh?

It’s really, really soft and will be quite warm, but I’d imagine it’d be a bit breezy outdoors because of the inconsistency in the yarn thickness. It’s a bit wild and crazy for my mother-in-law, but I think she’ll like it. And if she doesn’t, I know someone who does… :-).

My brother met us at the yarn store on Saturday and bought two balls of Cashmerino Aran in different shades of pink for hats for my mother-in-law which is quite sweet of him, as he’s perpetually broke. But he likes her a lot and was happy to be able to do something for her.

My brother, Nate, and Veronica helped pick colors for that Log Cabin blanket I wrote about last week.

After drawing out about a dozen ways to arrange the colors, using colored pencils and paper, I’ve decided on one. I’m excited. It’s going to be really pretty. The girls are out of school the next two days, and I hope to get a good start on it, having them knit.

Liv finally finished her hat, knit with the yarn she spun from the wool she dyed way back whenever that was. Summer break, I think. It’s fabulous.

That’s it for today. I’m anxious to spin more slub yarn. It’s fast, fun, and gorgeous. I have two hand dyed fibers already that I think would look great spun up that way. Have no idea when I’ll get to it though…

I don’t think I’ve shown you a picture of Max in his hat yet.

It fits great, and being 1×1 ribbing with a large cuff, it should fit him for quite awhile.

Yeah, who was I kidding? I had to go to the store and make a cake yesterday, I didn’t have time to take and post pictures!

Here’s Abby’s Halloween costume. I forgot I was supposed to make her belt, so I was up at 6:30 before school Friday morning, sewing a utility belt out of yellow felt that I thankfully had on hand. She liked it so well, we made a leg belt, also.

We didn’t have to buy a thing for costumes this year. I love that!

So, we have Nate’s birthday-

It was really fun. Nate brought home Vietnamese steak sandwiches and spring rolls from a place that’s really cheap, and quite delicious. And I didn’t have to cook! Then he and the kids played Beatles Rock Band in the basement.

Today, Abby is better but still home sick,

and Liv has a low fever, droopy eyes, and the sniffles.

Doesn’t she look miserable? Not. She’s just sick enough to whine a lot and make me crazy.

Max is 4 weeks old now.

This picture really shows his color well.

He has significantly more color than I do. I have more color than Nate does. I don’t know where he got it. The weird thing is, he looks like a redhead sometimes. His hair has a bit of red to it, in certain light, especially. The nurse was sure he was a redhead right after he was born. When he fusses, he turns the most shocking color of red at the drop of a hat… My mom has much more color than I do, but she’d never be mistook for a redhead, and I’ve never seen her look flushed. I totally don’t get what’s up with him.

Moving on… Here’s a shot of what I have done on Clark’s socks so far

It’s a very soft yarn and really, really thin. It’ll be interesting to see how they hold up with wear.

And here are my Rosebud socks. I was hoping for a more interesting name, but it fits, and I’m somewhat apathetic. It really doesn’t matter.

You can’t see it in the pictures, I guess because it’s subtle, but I did something neat with the cuff, kind of bringing the pattern up into it. Maybe I should get some sock blockers at some point so I can take better pictures?

Whew! Did I get it all?

In reading a certain comment yesterday, and talking to my sister on the phone today, it appears that on my blog I come across as sounding stressed. I was completely surprised to hear this, as I don’t feel remotely stressed. There are moments a la yesterday’s shower, to be sure, but for the most part, my life is pretty quiet. I’ve made efforts to keep it that way so I can feed my baby adequately and get the rest I need. I suppose that I just don’t write about the quiet moments, because they’re not particularly interesting. I spent 30 minutes or so this morning sitting in my favorite chair, feeding Max and watching the leaves fall off the big maple tree in our backyard, enjoying the contrast between the violent yellow of the fall leaves and the blue sky.

Right now the house is quiet and I’m writing a post while Max sleeps in the sling.

Because I couldn’t get him to sleep any other way, but whatever.

So don’t worry about me. I’m content. Things are going well. I’m enjoying the moment and finding humor in the parts that aren’t so enjoyable.

For the most part.

And I’m knitting more than I have in ages. It’s fabulous.

There are just too many possible titles for this post, so I’m going to do a bunch of mini posts in this one. I have no time to add pictures right now. If you feel like checking back, you may see some added later today. So, here goes…

Are you kidding me?

Abby is sick. Again. This is the third time in the four weeks since Max was born. A couple people have told me they think she has the swine flu this time, simply because it came on in a matter of about 10 minutes. Totally fine to so incredibly sick, it hurts to look at her. Half of our elementary school has had it and recovered just fine, so I’m not worried about anyone but Max. I need to call the pediatrician today to see how much danger he may be in.

Oh, PLEASE stop it!

Clark is a pill. I don’t think it’s because of the baby, he was heading this direction before Max was born, but I’m so tired of the tantrums. We’re getting several a day now, which brings me to my next post-

Well, THAT was a disaster!

I attempted to go yarn shopping last Thursday. While Clark wasn’t throwing tantrums, he made it completely impossible to concentrate on anything other than him. He was only interested in yarn that could be made into socks for him. He didn’t stop talking, or demanding my attention the whole time we were in the store. I finally left with nothing and have to figure out how I’m going to acquire the needed yarn for my mother-in-law. Anyone want a 3 year old for a few hours? He used to be such a peach. I could take him anywhere.

Thank you all, very much

My mother-in-law is doing very well. Yesterday was supposed to be her worst day post chemo, and she says she felt good. Tired, but not sick. We’re very happy.

I’m so proud

I ordered a ball of self striping sock yarn from Knitpicks for Clark’s next pair. I’m enjoying the toe up socks so much, that I decided to try it out on Clark’s socks. I cast on 18 stitches, figure 8 style, and increased to 50. I believe his other socks are all 40 stitches around, but this yarn is really thin so I’m using a size 0 needle, and added the extra stitches. I knit a considerable way up the foot before trying them on Clark to see if I guessed right, and it seems to fit perfectly. Yay!

Oh, and how sick is this? I was so excited to get this yarn. $5.39 for a ball that’ll make a pair of socks for Clark. And then it occurred to me that I’d NEVER spend $5 on a single pair of socks for him in a store. In fact, I’d totally scoff. But somehow, $5 or more on a pair I spend hours knitting myself? Well, that’s a deal!

This sock designing thing is FUN!

There’s a reason there are so many sock books out there. It’s really fun to make them up! My rose socks are pretty. I’ve about finished one sock (just need to bind off) and am part way up the leg of the other.

Isn’t he supposed to SLEEP the first two months?

The reason the rose socks aren’t finished yet is because Max is much more awake than I think a newborn should be. He still sleeps a lot, but he also wakes up a lot.

The typical rant from the mom of a newborn trying to take a shower

Yeah. So, here’s how it went this morning-

Abby is quarantined downstairs watching a movie, Clark is watching Cars on the computer, Max is sleeping… I’m going to take a shower. I don’t really know why, other than it’s been a couple days and I smell like old milk. The hot water feels good. I turn it off sooner than I’d like only to hear Max screaming and the phone ringing. I ignore both, figuring that I’d put myself first and get dressed before taking care of everyone else. The phone call goes to voicemail, and within 3 seconds, starts ringing again. Max is still screaming. I continue to ignore them as I’m drying my hair with the towel. The call goes to voicemail, 3 seconds later, the phone rings again. Max is still screaming.

Repeat one more time.

Olivia must be involved. She’s the only person I know that produces the level of drama necessary to warrant four back to back phone calls.

It turns out, that was unfair of me. It wasn’t Olivia, it was coincidental timing of many different things proving that I really shouldn’t ever take a shower. That fourth call, which I dove across my bed to retrieve since it was obviously life threatening, was someone who had just stopped by my house and left meals on the porch. (So the doorbell had rung too, during the 7 minutes or so I was in the shower). She was going to leave instructions on my voicemail.

And WHY did I go through the effort to shower? My hair is still wet, and despite my efforts to protect myself, there’s already a bit of spit up on my shoulder.

I have to go to the store this morning (and I’m almost out of morning). Should I even bother to change my shirt?

Happy birthday, baby!

My beloved is 38 today. He wants an angel food cake, and he certainly deserves one. Which is why I’m going to the store for cake flour and oodles of eggs. (I have yet to buy a store-made angel food cake that’s worth eating, but the recipe in Martha Stewart’s cookbook is divine).

Happy, happy birthday, Nate! You’re truly my everything, and not just because you don’t even make a face when you lean in to kiss your wife who’s wearing the same pajama pants she’s been in for the past three days and smells like old milk.

My mother-in-law has ovarian cancer. We found out last night. She starts chemo today.

Being true to my tendency to do things on a large scale, I have a list of knitting I’d like to do for her.

An Esther Williams hat in something soft and delightful. What I like about this hat as a chemo hat is that the scalloped edge is feminine and I think it’s a softer way to frame a face with no hair than a straight line or smooth edge.

A small neck scarf that buttons around the neck and lays on the upper chest for warmth. (I have design ideas playing around in my head already). My mother-in-law is always cold, even when she isn’t sick and a small scarf like that really helps. However, I don’t know in what way chemotherapy makes you feel icky. Maybe having something around her neck will be irritating? I’ll let her decide.

Fingerless mitts. I know that the man I knit a hat and mitt combo for when he was in the hospital with cancer really appreciated them.

Warm socks, however I’m not going to tackle that on my own. I’ll ask her if she wants them, and what she’d want. Slipper socks, sock weight/normal socks, thick and cushy lounging socks….

Finally, a Log Cabin Lap Blanket. I’ve always loved the pictures I’ve seen of these, but haven’t yet had reason enough to knit that much garter stitch. The neat thing about this blanket is that I think the girls would want to help, and this seems like a great blanket to have them help with. Plus, it can be cheery and colorful in a way that wearable items can’t be. At least, I can’t see my mother-in-law wearing something overly colorful. She likes blue. And blue is mellow.

So, that’s what I’ve got swirling around in my brain. I don’t know how many colors to get for the blanket, how much of each color, how to arrange them, whether or not I actually NEED the pattern or if I can figure it out on my own. It doesn’t look hard… What do you think?

Her prognosis is good. She said that they said that it is very treatable.