Category Archives: Uncategorized

Kate has had a mouse problem lately. We’ve had mice a couple of times, but Arthur is a great mouser. He, shall we say, “took care of them” and they’ve been afraid to come in ever since. While I really don’t want a mouse in the house, I can deal. I got used to them while teaching at my old middle school, which had a serious mouse problem (no food outside the cafeteria, kids!) and I got used to them running around my classroom and causing all sorts of mayhem. Knowing I’ve got Arthur in the house, I can stay pretty calm under a mouse invasion.

While reading Kate’s comments, I noticed that Renee said she had a bat in her house the other night. I thought to myself, “Now THAT would suck. How do you even get a bat out? Eeesh!” This was around 10:00, and Little Man was asleep, Knittybaby was on his way to being asleep, and Hubby was out at the Pizza Luce Block Party. I was looking forward to listening to the Creative Mom Podcast and doing some knitting.

I put Knittybaby down to sleep, let Gracie in from her evening romp and made it through two rows of my sock and suddenly, WHOOSH, something was flying at my head. Yes my dears, I was lucky enough to get a bat in my house. You know what I did? I freaked, completely and totally freaked. Arthur was also freaked (so much for my great hunter) Basil was thrilled, and Gracie could care less. I grabbed Knittybaby, ran upstairs, closed the bedroom doors and called Hubby. Meanwhile I can hear Basil leaping at the bat downstairs, but since she weighs about 6 pounds and was declawed before we got her, there was little hope for her help.

Well, Hubby came home and chased the bat out the back door while I hid upstairs in the playroom. I can’t believe what a wimp I was. I actually love bats, and even wanted a bat house for the backyard. I was a Girl Scout camp counselor for two years. I can be tough, I can deal with wildlife, but for some reason I could not deal with this bat. So thanks Hubby, for rushing home and not being on a gig and not thinking I’m a total weirdo when I wouldn’t come downstairs and help you chase him. If you had been working, my brother would have gotten a call instead.

So anyway, I did not finish my sock. I didn’t even get to the toe decreases, which was my goal.
I might try to work on it when we drive out to the Lake Elmo airport this morning (fly-in and pancake breakfast!) but to be honest, I like my Knitpicks doublepoints, but they are the first time I have ever felt some knitting danger in the car. Those suckers are sharp!

Anyway, no sock, so I’ll show you finger painting instead:

Enjoy your Sunday!!!

Finally, my SP8 photos:
Isn’t the Handmaiden lovely? The sheen to the blues is so nice, I wish I could have taken better pictures. I can’t wait until it’s cool enough to get Knitybaby in his socks! Notice the chocolate is missing. Goodies like that don’t last long around me!

Here’s a close-up of the buttons:
I love these, and they will be perfect for the sweater I want to make for Little Man this fall. He loves airplanes, so he’s pretty psyched about them.

I forgot to mention in my last post about the Washington County Fair we stumbled onto last weekend. We took the boys around to see the animals and met a woman who’s llama had a lot more personality than she did. Little Man kept asking her questions and she totally blew him off. I get so angry when that happens. He was being very polite and sweet (he wanted to know if llamas like ice cream) and she acted like she couldn’t wait for us to leave. Luckily I think my feelings were more hurt about it than his, but really, is it that much work to be nice to a little kid?

We came across the knitting entries and these were my favorites:

I wish I had a better shot of the sweater but I couldn’t avoid the glare. The hat is handspun, very nice colors.

As for knitting, I may be nuts, but I signed up for Knittin’ Mom’s Sock-a-Month KAL. I doubt I’ll finish a pair a month, but it’s still a good incentive! I’m also on the homestretch for the heirloom baby shawl, which needs to be done by Knittybaby’s baptism in 6 weeks. I’ve also got his heart blanket design close to being worked up.

I know, you all think your is the best ever, but really, I am a lucky girl because you know what I got in the mail today? Seasilk!!! I have been dying to try this yarn out! It is the most beautiful shade of blue and so, so soft. Just lovely, thank you SP8!!! I was also gifted with some more adorable socks for Knittybaby (I’m loving these litte socks), some very cute wooden airplane buttons, and dark chocolate with toffee (one of the finest combinations I say). Thank you so very much!!!

I’d post pictures but I’m having more computer issues and working right now on my vintage iMac. Not cool, plus Knittybaby is ready for bed. More later!

Why, when we have such a willing hound here?

“I know I look so pretty.”

“I’ll do anything for food.”

“See how this bib keeps my lovely fur so clean while I eat?”

“I think Chaos could learn a thing or two from me!”

I know, I know, we’re all complaining about it, but this is why I live in Minnesota, so I don’t have to deal with it that often. Summers like this I start thinking that Minneapolis is not north enough, and that I really ought to be living on Lake Superior; I could use that lake effect right about now!

I took the boys to the Midtown Global Market today to play and cool off a bit. If you’re a local and haven’t been there yet, I highly recommend it! An amazing mix of food, from Somali to Norwegian to Mexican to Soul, along with little shops and markets, plus entertainment AND a play area, all local businesses and not that expensive. We hung out, ate, played and enjoyed the AC for a few hours. We’ve been sweltering with our little window AC ever since.

I finished up another bib but didn’t get a chance to photograph it today. Maybe tomorrow…

Amazingly, for awhile yesterday we were the only ones at the park. Little Man was pretty bummed about this, so when a new girl showed up with her mom, he was on the scene:

Little Man: Hi.
Park Girl: I’m five.
Little Man: I’m three
Park Girl: I’m gonna be six.
Little Man: I’m gonna be eight. (Park Girl seemed confused but hey, it’s true evtually)
Park Girl:I have new shoes, they’re pink.
Little Man I have new shoes too.
Park Girl: I’m a girl.
Little Man: Oh. I’m a boy.

Once they got all the necessary information out of the way they were best friends for the next hour, giving me necessary chill time while Knittybaby snoozed. The bib is nearly done, modeling shots soon.

We had a relaxing long weekend at the farm back in Central Wisconsin:

I love the view out there. One thing about the city is you never get a nice view of the horizon, there’s always something in ther way.

This: (what is with my crap photos lately? The lighting is terrible.)

Became this, my first short row heel:

I can’t say enough great things about this yarn, Spunky Eclectic sportweight in Chocolate Covered Cherries. The color is amazing and the yarn is so soft and springy; I can’t wait for Fall so I can wear these. Service was fast and excellent, and she has sales right now too!

The yarn is great, my heel is not. I just took the pattern with me and had no real reference for how to do a backwards yarnover, so I’ve got these holes now (can you see ’em?). I already had to do the toe three times and the heel twice. Once I got home and looked it up I think I know where I went wrong, but I’m still debating on whether to frog it again. With the boys my knitting time is precious and I have so many other things to work on….ugh, do I just sew over it to tighten it up, or do the right thing and go back? Please tell me I don’t have to go back.

The sock went to the Barnstormers Tour in Wausau, WI and admired a Waco. Hubby is still working on his sock photography. Knittybaby kindly did the sling sleepin’ thing for me the whole time we were there, and Little Man was busy with Grandma so it was a nice afternoon.

Oh, and somehow I missed this in my last post, but here’s my cute little book that I won over at Interval Crafting. You really should check out her Etsy shop; she’s got some cute stuff! (I plan on doing a little holiday shopping there myself.) Thanks again, Jennifer!

Okay, I know I’m late with our contest winner. I tried to get it up last night but we were all just too pooped out from our visit back to the farm. But, I persevered today, and although it is a quarter to twelve on Wednesday night and I almost fell asleep, I got back up after getting Little Man to bed and here Knittybaby and I sit, ready to announce our winner! (Knittybaby is actually asleep and could care less, but hey, he’s still here)

This was actually very hard and I’ve been sitting here for the last 45 minutes trying to make a decision. You see, you are all so funny and have been so great sharing your stories. I’ve loved reading them, and I’m still trying to make sure I’ve replied or found your blog. And the truth is I’m terrible at judging because I always want everyone to win. I’ve been trying to decide and couldn’t, and thought I’d try picking a random winner, but can’t seem to find a site that does that. I tried getting Hubby to help, but he just got home from work and is half asleep on the couch (although he did manage a few chuckles). I thought of drawing names, but that involves scissors and writing and disturbing Knittybaby, so I finally said to myself, “just pick one!” and so I did:

RheLynn, hon, your sweater takes the prize of “I Can’t Believe I Knit That!” As wowed as I was by all the entries, I have to say that this is quite a piece of knitting. The work you put into it must be tons, the herringbone pattern is beautiful, and I so badly want it to turn into a sweater that works…unfortunately I have absolutely no suggestion on how to do that. Anyone else? Anyway, RhyLynn, e-mail me at knittymama at yahoo dot com with your snail mail and the alpaca will be on it’s way to you!

Thanks again everyone for playing! I will have updates on our trip up in the next couple of days: Me, my first short row heel, and vintage aircraft. What possibly could be more exciting? (Don’t get your hopes up, I was on the ground the whole time:-)

Today is your last day to put in your contest entry! I’ll pick a winner this weekend and announce on Monday or Tuesday. I may have to use a random name picker though, as your stories are so good I am honestly having a hard time. It’s amazing, the goof ups that we make!

“Is that bib almost done? Oh please, please can I try it on? It will look so much cuter on me!!! Knittybaby will just spit up all over it anyway.”

Do you all know I try to sew? Try is the key word here, as I have a posessed sewing machine. What you see here is Little Man’s cape, because all three-year-olds need a cape, and a cool one at that.

This machine, a Westin, was an alley find by hubby a few years ago. Last year I finallt took it in to get fixed up with the specific instructions to “not do anything if it’s not worth it.” I ended up with a $100 repair bill and a machine that refuses to sew consistantly. Even Hubby, who I personally consider my own mechanical genius, can’t figure it out. There’s a reason it was in the alley.

My other challenge? I’ve joined up with Earthchicknits Seven Things Ring (you may have noticed the link on the sidebar.) The idea is to help clear out the “stuff” that cutters up our lives by getting rid of seven things a week. I’m starting with my junk drawers. I finally gave this stuff up to the recycling bin:

Two Pizza Luce menus from 1999, A Galena IL travel guide from 1997 (we honeymooned there and as people with small children we won’t be doing the B and B circuit anytime soon), a brochure to Canoe Bay (can’t afford that place) and a pet boarding brochure. I also found a bunch of old Christmas cards and the book “Hill-Billy Hits”, which is marching band music for Eb horn. I have no idea where I even got that one. I’ve never played Eb horn, never taught Eb horn, and the music is so bad I would refuse to teach it anyway.

Everything in that drawer is from the late 90’s! It’s more than seven things but it was all in one place, so what the heck. I’m considering setting up a second blog for this project, well see. In the meantime you can all be shocked by the amount of crap we have accumulated in our 13 years together.

Another bib for your viewing pleasure:

Thanks for all the lovely comments about the blog change! Trek and RheLynn both had some good suggestions (thanks!) for my stripe issue, but I couldn’t find the “stuff stuff” in the template and when I changed the color by the ms.moto outerwrap line the stripe stayed the same. I’m going to go back and try it again, however.

Some new funny contest entries today! Only two more days left!

Last but not least, Knittybaby had his four month well baby check up yesterday. He’s a whopping 15.9 pounds now! This is great news as heart babies can have trouble putting on weight, but no trouble here. Aside from the coarctation he is doing great. We see the cardiologist next month and will find out more about his surgery then.

So I spent some time this weekend learning a little about CSS and experimented with changing my blog a bit. I started out by playing around with a new banner, and just grabbed a picture from a past entry to throw in there. I kind of like the clothesline idea, but want to take a better picture where everything is knitted. I also have to figure out where the code is for the pink stripes. I want to change them to a dark brown, but can’t figure out where the code is in my template. Anybody know?

Did I tell you I finished my shawl awhile back? Here she is on the mesy futon in the playroom (I’m so good at posing pictures):

And a close up (it needs blocking badly):

The specs:
Yarn: Atacama alpaca, 2 skeins (missing label, not sure of the color. It’s a blue/brown handpainted)
Needles: size 15
Pattern: I followed the Harlot’s “Knitting Rules” for knitting a triangular shawl. That pretty much means you cast on three and increase at the ends every other row until you are out of yarn. I saw a sample of this same shawl at Yarnover in April.
Notes: I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, although I’m not too fond of knitting with a finer yarn on such big needles. I found it challenging to maintain an even guage. But, it will be a nice light shawl for the fall and I really love the colors.

Only five more days to get your contest entry in! I’m lovin’ your stories!