365-12: Modern Conveniences

So, here's where we stand. Younger son: sick from Tuesday to Saturday, finally seems better. Due to inordinate amounts of TV watching (something not usually done in this household), he's turned into a bit of a whiny beats. Re-entry is going to be tough. Older son: lower fever Friday and Saturday, no fever in the morning yesterday and today, then hitting 102 both days. No school for him tomorrow as well. Daughter: first sign of fever - TODAY. *sigh* No, really. I thought we were in the clear. I mean, she was using her brother's straw cup last week, she was totally exposed. She had an awful night last night, we'll see how tonight goes. I am doing better today, a bit more energy, not quite so achy, but just exhausted.

So, tonight I am feeling grateful for the modern conveniences with which we are so blessed. (1) Our freezer. Instead of having to create dinner tonight, I pulled some LOs out of the freezer and we had a really nice meal. Of course, only DH and I ate it, but whatever, it was available. (2) The internet. For many reasons (and I'm sure this one will come up again) but mainly because I have a wonderful support community inside the computer. And because I was able to order DS1 some pajamas without having to leave the house.

FO: More Socks!

No pictures yet on these, I'm still coping with flu and I'm tired and need to go to bed, maybe tomorrow.

But, these are another pair of toe-up, non-pattern socks.

Yarn: Socks That Rock (lightweight, I am pretty sure), Grandma's Flower Garden
Needles: KP Fixed Circs, 32", 2.5 mm

For these, I cast-on 32 stitches using Judy's Magic Cast-On, and increase 4 stitches every other row for 7 rounds, when it seemed like they'd be big enough. Then I knit until they seemed long enough, and did a double-wrapped, short-row heel. Then I knit two rounds, did 7 rounds of 1x1 ribbing and bound off using EZ's Sewn Bind-Off. I made ankle socks because this was leftover yarn from Branching Out (which I must block and will then post about but I'm scared because I've never blocked anything like lace before and what if I totally screw it up??) so I knew I'd be cutting it a bit close. And I sure did...I had about 1 yard of yarn left at the end. Thank goodness I had enough to finish!!

365-11: Thanks, mom!

Today I am feeling grateful for both of my moms. No, my mother isn't a lesbian (though if she were, she'd make a good one, she's very competent at all she tries, my mum), I'm including my mother-in-law here as well. Most people I know don't really love their MILs. Some *really* don't get along with them, some just tolerate them, but very very few people I know have the relationship with their MIL that I have with mine. I guess the fact that my MIL was in the delivery room with me all three times, and cut the cord for my second son really says it all. And I am also very very close with my mom (she was also with me, and cut my daughter's cord, who was named after her) - we talk often, and I really rely on her. I always appreciate it but I'm feeling particularly grateful because in the next 4-5 weeks, I actually have two semi-professional things coming up (a guest lecture and a training), and I've asked for help, and it's been freely and graciously offered to me. I'm really lucky that I not only love my parents and my ILs, but I also really like them, and really enjoy having them in my life. And I'm really grateful for that today.

365-10: in sickness and in health

There are far too many things that I love about my husband to post here, but one of the most important things is that our partnership is truly that, a partnership. Some things we just do (I do most of the shopping, he does most of the yard work); some things we do together (housework) and dome things we trade off. We bolster each other up, when one is not okay, the other steps in. I feel like crap today and he's done so much. It's not like he's "helping" me or "babysitting", he's parenting and I know I can rely on him to step up when I can't, and that's just such a blessing. I feel like a lot of women I know accept things from their husbands that are just...not good. I am so lucky with my love. Not to mention, he's smart, funny, quirky, kind, and sexy too! ;-)


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And because I don't want to lose sight of the Knitting...

I actually DID some knitting!

I got some more done on a sock. And I finished the first part of my sister's Swallowtail! I've moved onto the Lily of the Valley edging! WOO HOO!

365-9: Ugh

I've felt like the last week I've been noticing so many wonderful things and each time I've come to post this series, I've thought "how do I choose? Life is so great! I have so many things to be grateful for!" That's not precisely how I'm feeling right now. Both boys are sick (so DS2 is on Day 4 of a 102 fever, DS1 was around 101 this afternoon). I can't tell if I'm actually feeling unwell, or just hyperfocused on every little twinge, and I'm obsessively checking DD's temperature too because I am really worried about her getting this. We've not confirmed that it's H1N1, but it seems to make the most sense that it is, given that that's what's going around like gangbusters. So one blessing is that I guess it makes the question of getting the H1N1 vaccinne moot.

But anyway, I haven't left the house since Monday, I've completely fallen off the exercise and eat right wagon I was on, DH was gone for a couple of days and got back late last night, I got almost no sleep between the kids and him getting in, and WAH, I am just cranky.

Which is probably why gratitude matters even more in this moment.

The thing I keep thinking today is that in fact, so much of what I'm cranky about are really First World Problems. I'm cranky 'cuz the internet is slow, or because we've watched the same goddamn Magic School Bus episodes over and over because we *only* have two DVDs. I'm cranky because my husband, who has a secure and stable job, was away for a couple of days.

I think what I want to remind myself here is that so many of these things are such LUXURIES. Even if we do have the dreaded Swine Flu, yeah, we're sick but it's not that bad. DD's stint in the hospital with dehydration from the stomach flu last March was much worse. Hey! There's another bonus! No one's barfing.

So, thanks 365 Gratitude, for reminding me what really matters.

365-8: Motrin

Whoops, I didn't get to post this yesterday, so I'll post two today.

Very thankful for Motrin which brought DS2's fever down and clearly helped him feel better.


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365-7: Friends and Neighbors

So, it looks like DS2 has the flu of some sort - high fever, cough and congestion, generally cranky and achy. His fever has been bouncing around, but has hit 103.8 today, which is high. He's not a fever-producer be default as some kids are, and while at times he seemed better, at times he seemed really sick today.

I am feeling very, very grateful for the support system we have here. We moved here almost two years ago, and in that time we've made some really wonderful friends. I still feel like we're in the early days of our life here, if that makes sense, but it's so comforting to know that we have people we can call on if we need them. One friend went to the grocery store and picked up a couple of things for us today, and we've had many other offers of help of that sort, which is really nice. It sucks to be housebound, but I think it would suck even more if we had to go out, knowing how sick he is. This is all especially helpful because my husband is out of town on one of his very rare business trips, and won't be back until Friday.

Needless to say, I'm not getting any knitting done.

365-6: Being at Home

Today I am extremely grateful for the fact that I am a stay-at-home mom. There are aspects of it that aren't fun, there are aspects of it that are glorious. One thing I am appreciating today is that when someone gets sick, there's no stress of having to figure out who's not going to work, or canceling clients, or anything like that. It's just clear - I cancel whatever obligations we have, and we stay home. DH doesn't have to worry about it, and neither do I.

This came in handy when DS2 started the morning by running a fever and throwing up.

365-5: No Sleep

So, last night, my daughter woke up at 2:00 am. This had nothing to do with the time change, I think, but lately she's just been having trouble sleeping. This time, unfortunately, she didn't go back to sleep at all. For a long time (a couple of hours at least), she was fine as long as I was with her. She wanted to be held at first, so I did hold her, and then she was willing to go back to bed. She lay there quietly with her eyes open, just looking at me. Even though I was *quite* irritated to be awake in the middle of the night for a long period, I tried to put that aside and just be present in the moment with her. She's our third, and last child, headed towards 18 months and no longer a baby at all. She's incredibly independent and active, so even though she's really affectionate, I don't get a lot of the cuddle-time anymore that I got when she was tiny. I realized that even though I was exhausted and really wanted to sleep, I was also so grateful to have that time with her, in the dark and the still night, listening to the boys breathing and just holding her, feeling her clinging to me in absolute love and trust.

I am so thankful, so incredibly grateful for my beautiful daughter, more than words can express. I am so profoundly grateful for the love she holds for me, and the love I hold for her - so much love, it doesn't feel like my body can quite contain it. How did I get so lucky?

Justice is when you get what you deserve.
Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve.
Grace is when you get what you don't deserve.
- Author Unknown

365-4: Memory Foam

Today I am especially grateful for my comfy bed, where I will be heading soon.


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Knitting Content

I did end up finishing both hats and scarves for the boys to wear with their scary skeleton costumes, but it was about 70 degrees so they didn't need them. Which is good, because we couldn't find DS2's green hat anyway. I was mildly disappointed (but more thankful for good weather) and now they each have a hat and scarf for Winter, which probably is going to show up sometime soon anyway.

365-3: Halloween

At this moment, the thing I am most grateful for is that Halloween is over and done with for another year. :)

Many reasons for this, the main one being that my darling oldest boy is far, far too much like me for comfort, and the anticipation for this night has been building and building for a long time. Most of the evening was quite fun - we met up with "the gang" and did a bunch of ToTing with them. Unfortunately, his Halloween ended on a disappointing note. There is a house on a street that we drive on frequently that does it up for Halloween, including a huge blow-up purple spider and a huge blow-up vampire over the door. My oldest has been *so* excited to trick-or-treat there. We went all around the neighborhood with "the gang" and then took a special trip over to this house. The blow-ups were blown up, thank goodness, but instead of being able to trick or treat, they had left a bowl of candy on the front steps.

And the bowl was empty.

Poor kid was deeply disappointed (I think his brother mainly just wanted to go home and really didn't care), and my oldest is one who feels things, deeply and passionately. He managed to recombobulate a bit when I promised he could pick an extra treat out of our stash at home but it is *so* hard to see your child be so excited for something and have it not live up to his expectations. I know, in the grand scheme of life's potential disappointments, this isn't huge, but he's six, you know? My heart broke just a little for him.

We decided that *next* year we'll go over there really early. Before supper, he thinks would be a good idea.

365-2: Not too tired to feel grateful today.

It's funny, thinking about what (and when) I was going to post today, I realized that there are so many things, big and small, throughout the day that I am grateful for. Today was a day where I was busy non-stop from morning until night, including having people over for dinner when we weren't home much at all today, so not much time to get the house semi-in-order or make dinner.

So, today I am grateful for my Crockpot which allowed me to make a meal that was both simple and really good! Our friends seems to really like it too! I did a big batch today - 3 cans of corn, 2 cans of black beans, 3 12-oz jars of Trader Joe's Peach Salsa, and 2 packages of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I rinse the corn and beans, mix them with a jar of salsa. Then I add the chicken, top with more salsa. I cooked it on high for about 3.5 hours, then turned to low, and about an hour before I served it, I turned it to warm (I put it in at 1, and we ate at about 6:30). I served this over rice with shredded cheese and sour cream, though you can also toss a block of cream cheese into the mix about 45 minutes before you serve. Not pretty but so tasty! I served with salad and corn bread and red wine. YUM.

365-1: No Time Like The Present

What really made me think of this project was that I had a small but irritating interpersonal situation this morning that bummed me out. Then I read about a friend's situation who has been in the hospital for *four months*, much of that time spent on a ventilator. I don't know all the details but that just sucks. And it put things in perspective for me.

So, today, I am grateful for my health.

Why I Blog

I read a fair number of blogs - mostly knitting and infertility, and unlike the ones I read, my blog (since I have all of about two readers! Thanks guys!) is really more of an archive for myself - mostly of my knitting (duh) but a bit of my life as well. I do blog much more life stuff over at my LiveJournal account, but since this is more public, well, I try to keep it more anonymous. Not truly so, of course, but I don't name my husband or kids here (for example). I love having this blog, even if I'm updating it more rarely, and even if no one else reads it. I love having the history of my knitting here, I like going back and reading about different projects. This blog keeps me honest in some ways about what I'm working on, and also helps motivate me to finish things so I can blog about them! However, I'm thinking of undertaking a different sort of project. I'm pretty sure I didn't invent this idea (a quick Google confirms that yes, this is not a new idea), but I'd like to try and focus on all the wonderful things in my life, all the blessings, all the things I am grateful for. I try to live an appreciative life, but I find it's easy to get caught up in the annoying minutiae of every day life. So I'm going to try and post something every day that I am grateful for, for 365 days. Can I do it? (First I'm going to need a good iPhone app for posting to Blogger, that's for damn sure.) I'll still be posting the knitting stuff (okay, annoying minutia #1, why is my spell checker no longer working?), and these posts will be separate, but I'd like to try. And for my own sanity, it's not like I have to come up with something different and unique every single day, but rather just something in that day, that moment, that I am grateful for. Maybe sometimes I'll explain more as to why I am grateful for this thing, maybe it'll be self-explanatory, maybe it'll not make sense to anyone but me, but that's okay.

I am nervous about posting this because what if I fail? What if I can't do it every day? Maybe it's a good thing I don't have a lot of readers! :)

Knitting Roundup

I've been inspired to do some knitting - it got cold for a bit, so I knit another hat. I've got several hand-knit hats now (including my Fetching Inspired Hat, which I can't find, boo) but one can always use another, right?

This is a replacement for the Foliage that I ruined. I did that one in the Malabrigo Chunky which I loved, and this one in the Malabrigo Worsted, which I also love. :) I picked this color (193 Jacinto, though my skein had much less variation) simply because it's pretty and I like purple. I started this on my KP Options, Magic Loop (of course), and then switched over to my Denise needles so I could just knit it in the round. I *really* wish the KP Options had a short length option than 24", even 20" would work for adult hats. I also didn't do all the lace repeats. The worsted weight version calls for 3 lace repeats, but I did 2.5. Now, historically, I need to make my hats longer, so it was odd to me that I needed to make this one shorter than called for! Not typical. But I am glad I did, because if the same thing happens with this one that happened with the green chunky-weight one, it'll grow a bit. It's fine now, it could be a bit longer, but definitely not 6 rows longer. Since I live in NE, and winter is coming, I do need a hat to cover my ears.

I also went through and organized my knitting basket. OH! I forgot to tell you, I found my missing knitting! It was deep in the knitting basket, hence the need to reorganize the thing. *phew* Such a relief! (Unfortunately one my kids made off with a pair of KP tips on a 32" cord, so I need to find that.) Anyway, I packed up a bunch of leftover yarn to stick in the closet, and some sewing projects which didn't materialize (*hangs head in shame*) and then looked at what's currently in flight:

• DS2's Halloween Scarf (MUST FINISH THIS TOMORROW)
• Sister's Swallowtail Shawl
• Wicked Monkeys (one completed, #2 not cast on yet)
• Lorna's Laces Purple Sock (halfway through the foot of sock one)
• KPPM Socks (one completed, #2 not cast on yet)
• STR Grandma's Flower Garden Ankle Socks (moving through Sock #2, fearful that I won't have enough yarn)
• A random dishcloth but I can only find one of the needles for it. Argh.
• And then NOT in the knitting basket I have a couple of shawls in progress.

Okay, that's way too many projects going on. And, for our preschool auction, I signed up to donate a Hat and Scarf, so I'll need to put everything on hold to get those made once that happens. I really want to get my sister's shawl done for Thanksgiving because we're going up to be with my family for that weekend.

It's nice to have the energy to knit, but where am I going to find the time to get all these things done?? NO MORE CASTING ON ANYTHING UNTIL I FINISH SOME THINGS!!

When I was cleaning out the basket I also came across some crochet projects that have floundered for quite some time, and I'm trying to figure out when you draw the line and just frog the project. Given how much I invested in tools and supplies for some of these crochet things, I really need to get back to them!

And, in non-knitting news...well, there's not much. I'm thinking about going back to work. Not this year though, maybe next year.

Argh!!

So I went to a new knitting group (this isn't the argh part). A woman I'm getting to know asked me to come to the neighborhood ladies knitting group. I decided to go, it's informal, just at people's houses. It's all women about my age all with kids about the same age. It was really fun and I definitely want to go back! I walked over with my friend, and left before her, so another very nice woman gave me a lift back to my car. I *think* I left my knitting in her car! Two bags of socks. So, two completed socks, two in process socks and yarn. I don't know her last name, and the woman I am friends with gave me her email which isn't working. ARGH. This is *exactly* the sort of thing that tweaks me, you know? I can't find something, which I hate, it's stuff I made, which is important to me, and it's money and time. (It's a skein of STR, two skeins of KPPPM, and two skeins of Lorna's Laces, so that's somewhere in the vicinity of $70 of yarn and many, many hours of my time).

I am torn between hoping I *did* leave it in her car, because somehow I'll be able to get in touch with her and get it back, and that I didn't and it's just somewhere unusual in the house.

That's about all that's going on here. I am way, way too busy - this is one of those weeks where I am out every night, I haven't had a conversation with my husband in days, and I'm just exhausted.

From Yarn Purchase to Blog...

Just over 4 hours. That's got to be a record for me. :) There's even a picture!

So, my daughter has this really cute jacket from Costco. It's a fleece/windbreaker thing, reversible, and it's a really pretty purple fleece, with the windbreaker material being a dark purple floral. I'd take a picture but it desperately needs to be washed. Maybe tomorrow. :) Anyway. We're at that awkward stage of Fall where you don't really need a heavy winter jacket, but a hat can be good, especially when it's windy. I decided I wanted needed to knit her a hat to go with this adorable coat. She and I were out this afternoon, so I swung by the yarn store. We got there just before closing and stumbled upon a SALE. Hmmm. Very interesting.

I found a few different things that would work, color-wise, and settled on a skein of Tahki Torino Bulky, in 228. It was on sale for $4.80, and I came home, pondering hats.

I decided to just make a simplSo recommended gae little hat, and thought about size. I did my usual method of swatching, which is to say, I didn't. I looked at the needle size and gauge on the label: 13 sts over 4" on 10 1/2 (US). I measured my daughter's head: 18.5". I did a little math, and decided to go down a needle size to 10s and make it a bit big for her, and came up with c/o of 66 stitches. I did a few rows (6 or 7) of a twisted rib, 1x1 then switched to stockinette. As I knit, I began to get more and more nervous that I was going to run out of yarn. Now, this is a worry of mine, but I really was getting low. It's a 50g skein, but only 55 yrds. I tried it on my daughte and I think it's going to be a bit big but fine in terms of diamter. Unfortunately, she had to go to bed before I was done so I was definitely winging it for length. I did a sort of off decrease pattern. First, I decreased by 2 stitches, to get down to 64. Then, on the next row, I started decreases in blocks of 8 (so knit 6, k2tog, then knit 5, k2tog, etc.). I did 3 decrease rows in a row, then switched to knitting a row, then decreasing a row, until I was down to 8 stitches. Then I decreased down to 4 stitches and knit a tube long enough to knot. I bound off, knotted the tube, and wove in the other end, and voila! Hat is done! I don't actually know if it fits the girl or not, we'll see tomorrow. (I'll try to get a picture then!)

The yarn is quite nice, very lofty. I think it's a four-ply and it's a bit splitty so you have to take a bit of care when knitting because when you split it, it's pretty noticeable. Oh, and I did cut it pretty close. I cut off a short chunk at the beginning because of a knot, and I didn't end up using that, and I had enough to maybe do 1-2 more rows of the body of the hat. I really hope it's long enough because I really don't want to pull out the top and make it longer.

Uninspired

That's pretty much where I am, creatively at the moment. It's funny, the boys had a friend over today and her mom hung out and was so flattering about my knitting (she fell in love with my Wicked Monkey socks). It was really nice, but it also made me feel guilty about my lack of motivation at the moment. I've got some blocking to do, I finished one scarf for Halloween and need to finish the other, I need to get my sister's shawl done by Thanksgiving (the next time I go home), and of course, I need more socks. And I have yarn for another Noro Striped Scarf, I have some gorgeous Malabrigo to attempt another Foliage, and did I mention that I have my weight in sock yarn? That's a lot of yarn. So many projects...so little me to do them.

Even though it's October, I'm still feeling like I'm getting used to this new schedule. I find having my oldest in Kindergarten is actually really tiring - for both of us! It makes lots of things much easier, but I also miss him. The short days are really short, so I don't get much done. Actually, that's not so much because he's only gone for 3 hours, but more because I never have a time without my kids, and my extremely energetic and spirited almost-17 month old runs me ragged most of the time. She's a love, a joy, and a terror, really. :)

There's a couple of things on the horizon for me professionally that are feeling really exciting, and makes me wonder if I am thinking about easing back into work. I don't know, really, but it's sort of fun to think about!