I’m getting there!

I have three more lines to stitch, and the ends to weave in. I haven’t charted an angel for Liv’s stocking yet. Do you know where I could find a charted angel that fits in a 30×45 stitch area? Feel free to post any stocking updates in the comments.

Do you know where the term “misery loves company” came from? Well I don’t, but I have a guess, and that would be insomniacs and mothers of infants. I got a grand total of 4 hours of sleep last night, divided into a 1 hour chunk and a 3 hour chunk. After that, when the boy finally went back to sleep and as exhausted as I was, I couldn’t sleep. It really sucks being unable to sleep, wanting to more than anything, and not having anyone to talk to because everyone else is asleep. Misery certainly would have wanted company at 3:30 this morning. I have that horrible pit in my stomach that comes from far too little sleep. It won’t go away, and it sucks.

There’s my superficial complaining, but I am heartbroken for a reason far more serious. My aunt lost her baby at 7 months this week when the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. She had to deliver her yesterday. They also lost a baby to SIDS a number of years ago. In his email, my uncle mentioned her also. So sad. I can’t even imagine.

I think I’m going to be a little more appreciative when I can do nothing but sit and hold Clark today.

Olivia is doing very well on her stocking. I knit the heel flap and turned it for her, and she and I both knit the gusset. Now she’s on the foot, about 17 rows from the toe decreases. We need to start charting an angel pretty quick.

Last night after Clark fell asleep (or while he was crying himself to sleep. I couldn’t hold him one more minute by the end of the day. I was done. And he is feeling better, thank you) I wove in the ends on the argyle stocking.

It looks ok. The back of the leg bulges out right above the heel flap and it really irritates me, but other than that, it’s alright. I need to mess with the seam where the rounds meet each other to try to even out some stitches, but I’ll probably start the duplicate stitch first.

The ornament I broke and then bought again on eBay arrived

I’m not an “owl person” specifically, but this little guy looks just like the main character in an adorable series of books that Nate and the girls love.

While I was at Fred Meyer looking for more sheep ornaments like the one I posted a few days ago, I saw this

It’s a moose! Few of you will know why this means something to me, but for those that do…. It’s a MOOSE!

I bought all three, along with the only sheep they had, which brings me up to two.

Finally, if any of you spinning enthusiasts want to see something amazingly strange, take a look at this! You need to look at all the pictures to really understand what you’re looking at. I have to wonder if whoever made this was making a fashion statement or trying to in some way preserve an old wheel that had meant something to them. In any case, wow.

What? That doesn’t look done to you?

So I have a zillion ends to weave in before I can begin the duplicate stitched “x’s”. I don’t know if I should block it before or after the duplicate stitching. But the stupid thing is done. When and if I ever do the second argyle stocking, I’m going to knit the whole thing flat until I get to the gusset. It’ll go so much faster and be so much more pleasant to knit. I’ll weave in all the ends up until that point before seaming the back together and starting in the round again.

At least now I know that when I eventually knit argyle socks for myself, I’m going to do them flat. Hard lesson learned, but I learned, and not with toothpick needles.

There are tons of errors in the bottom third of this monstrosity, and I don’t even care.

When it’s really done, I’m going to lay all of the stockings out together and ask you what Clark’s should look like. I still don’t know what I want to do for his.

But don’t even joke about argyle. It won’t be funny.

I had a couple good days, and one great day last week. And I did weights and physical therapy once. So far today I’m eating well, and I’ll try to sneak in some physical therapy and weights tonight when Nate will be able to hold Clark.

Clark won’t sleep or nap unless he is latched at the breast and suckling. If I take him off, he wakes up. If I lay him in his crib, he screams and cries, no matter how long he’s in there.

So, how are we doing with our Christmas stockings? Tell me. Show me. Let me know.

Carrie has finished two! (And I never would have thought of the Seahawks, but I’m not a fan, either).

My poor baby Clark is sick. He’s rallying ’round, but his cry has that pathetically sick sound to it. Poor dear.

Here’s my stocking progress-

Am I ever going to be done with this thing? I hate it. The color pattern is not adequately centered on the instep stitches. I don’t know how that happened. I’ve made a color mistake on a rather prominent spot on the side that will be displayed, but I’m ignoring it. I think the whole thing is a huge mess, but I do believe that once the ends are woven in… (I can’t believe I actually typed in “weaved” before erasing it to write woven. I’ve been isolated with my children too long)… and the top stitching is done and it’s FINISHED!!! it’ll look great. But in the meantime…. agony.

The girls are back in school today, for one whole day before the weekend. Yesterday Abigail and I worked on a couple of extra credit projects associated with her book report.

It’s a wubtail. I don’t know what that is exactly, other than an enormous fish that looks like a dragon, or in this instance, a roasted pig. Aside from the dried out pink-ness of it when it should truly be red, it looks remarkably like the pictures in Abby’s book. She’s very proud, and I feel like a good mom. I made salt dough, resisting the thought that I was wasting perfectly good food to do it. And don’t let the fact that it looks awesome lead you to think that I did her project. She did almost all of it. I showed her how to make the tusks, I made the wings and shaped the ridge down the nose, but everything else was her entirely. I’m so proud.