Just busy busy.

Nate, Sam and I went to a small club in Seattle to see KT Tunstall on Wednesday night. She was solo. I prefer her with the band, but it was still really cool. Aside from the drunk ladies that decided to get into a screaming/pushing fight to the left of me.

(I’m, what, 4 sentences into the blog and I’ve had to get up 5 times to separate fighting boys. Sigh).

I haven’t spent much time in bars. Or any time in bars, really, so I haven’t seen stuff like that. Alcohol isn’t pretty. 2 tall women in their 20s gaining up on a short lady in her 60s and pushing her around, spilling drinks everywhere… I had to catch her a few times so she wouldn’t fall down before the bouncers arrived. What up with that?

But KT is great.

I’m still working on my music as I have opportunity. Which is like, 2 minutes here (with interruptions) and 3 minutes there (with more interruptions), but I really enjoy it (minus the interruptions). It’s satisfying. KT has online tutorials where she shows you how to play some of her songs. They’re really great and I’ve learned a bit more about rhythm guitar.

Then I stumbled across a band called The Living End on YouTube a few weeks ago and wow. I’m totally in love with them. Three masterful musicians and fantastic music, though a different style for me. It’s rekindled my desire to play lead and now I want to do it rockabilly style, which makes Nate incredibly happy. He loves Brian Setzer.

Ugh. Max is screaming. Again. I’ll be back after I make him a waffle.

In other news, I’m back on the horse and am having some success with exercise and watching what I eat. I feel great and have a ton of energy, so that’s something.

I can’t knit at all without my elbows revolting. So I spent some time making batts for the shop instead.

Nate is still looking for new graphic design clients. He re-did his website and it’s really cool. Check it out if you want and spread the word. He’s also doing something fun called Art Patrol. The link will get you to the webpage and explain the details, but he’s asking for submissions of ugly design. Anything that anyone sees anywhere. Take home menus, fliers, postcards, websites… anything. Take a picture of it or send a scan or file or URL to him and he’ll choose one submission a day, work on it for one hour and make it pretty. Then he posts the before and after. It’s neat.

On Saturday, Nate took the kids on their annual romp to “Free Comic Book Day” and they came home with piles and piles of comic books.

That’s all I can think of that’s happening right now. Just a whole lot of busy.

Clark is 5

Abby’s 13

Olivia’s 12

The girls all got haircuts, but Veronica’s was dramatic enough to get a cool picture

Story time

And here’s Max with Abby’s bird

There’s a brief catch-up in pictures. We’ve been busy. I have no idea why the picture quality is so poor, I’m not doing anything differently. Maybe it’s WordPress?

Do you remember when he was born? And the few days afterwards? That was 5 whole years ago? Hard to believe. And I’m an official parent of a teenager now. Abby is 13. That’s not as weird to me for some reason. So, happy birthday to the both of you, my beautiful children!

It’s been a busy weekend, and I’m going to be running around like crazy today, too. I’ll get pictures up later this week.

Thank you for the naming suggestions. I really, really appreciate it. I haven’t decided what I’m going with yet, but it was really helpful and I’ll either go with one of yours, or something inspired by it. So far my favorites are April Showers and Saturday Market… but thanks to everyone for chiming in!

My elbows are hurting a lot right now. I haven’t been playing guitar all that much, but I have been knitting more in the last few weeks than I have in a very long time. This is not a good sign. They really hurt. I’m not sure what I’m going to do about it yet.

Here’s what’s going up next on my etsy shop. What should I call this colorway? I don’t have any fabulous name ideas. Tell me what you think.

I’m carding batts and playing around with product photography today. This is my first try, and the color is pretty good.

I need to get another daylight bulb so I can get some pictures that aren’t so Film Noir. But they’re cool, anyway. Nate designed the card, and I love it!

So, major, major score yesterday. I’ve needed a case for my pedalboard for almost a year now, and there isn’t much in the way of “pedalboard cases” on the market. Sooo I looked on Craigslist and saw a set of old Samsonite suitcases, full sized and briefcase style (so without interior upholstery), less than 10 minutes from my house for $15. They’re PERFECT! The bigger one is housing my board right now, and the smaller one, which is also big, has been Clark’s favorite toy today. He’s loaded, unloaded, reloaded, and hauled that thing all over the house, all day. And he’s trying every angle he can think of to-

1. lay exclusive claim to the suitcase
2. get me to hand over the key

neither of which are going to happen.

Here he is at Jump Planet this morning, wearing his new pair of socks.

He is one grateful little guy. This morning he said, “Mom, the only socks I like are the ones you make for me. I don’t like white socks at all.” That’ll score ya more socks right there, honey. More than that, I realized yesterday that I think I’ve knit him 5 pairs now, and he hasn’t lost a single sock. That’s love.

I had to rip back the toe to add about 6 rounds to Clark’s first sock. It’s not done yet, but it’s very close.

He tries it on periodically, and when I asked him how it felt he said, “warm.” This yarn has alpaca in it, so I bet it’s warm.

I started a cozy house shawl yesterday…

I’ve wanted to knit this pattern for years, and I’m finally getting around to it.

Liv also knit this weekend

She’s making a slouchy hat that isn’t going to end up being as slouchy as she’d hoped, but she doesn’t want to rip it out and redo.

On Saturday, Nate, Liv, Veronica and Clark painted on canvases.

And just now, I turned around to find Max making use of a roll of toilet paper on the couch.

Abby and I are sick. Our family’s been sick for 6 months now, ok 5, and I’m really, really tired of it.

I’ve been wanting to order this yarn (Pirate King) for a long time, and I finally did last week. It came today, and it’s even more beautiful in person!

I’m going to make Clark a pair of socks! We’re both very excited.

Pretty pictures…

Lunch yesterday-

Max with his haircut-

Clark’s haircut, along with the fleece shirt he’s worn every single day since receiving it-

Max loooves books!-

I will frequently see him up on the couch, quietly looking through a book. He also frequently brings books to us when we’re sitting down and looks expectantly on, waiting for us to read it to him. So very, very cute.

I dyed a pound of GORGEOUS wool today. It feels so weird to dye wool brown, ’cause although it started out white, it still looks “natural” when it’s done, like I didn’t do anything to it. Anyway, this wool is now the color of an irish setter.

It’s lustrous and luscious and pretty much irresistible. I’m excited for it to dry so I can start working with it. I have big plans.

Also, I sold 3 more batts last night on etsy! Hooray! To a blog reader, too! (Thank you again)!